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Posted
6 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Quitting drinking is as easy as not ingesting alcohol any longer, and yet many people don’t really have “choice” in the same way that others do, and there are a lot of reasons for that. It’s not helpful for non-alcoholics to simply profess that people who can’t seem to put the bottle down are choosing not to and are morally or otherwise weak, and it also displays their own ignorance on the subject. For folks who get a lot of pride out of beating that drum, it speaks to their character as well.

But the path to sobriety also involves rigorous accountability.

I’m not addicted to food, but I always imagine it is exactly like that for some people. And I’m guessing the problem with some rx drugs is that they give you an insatiable appetite? And of course there’s the problem that the easiest diet to eat in America will kill you.

 

While recognizing that I don’t have a food addiction, I do think that part of what made losing weight for me very easy this time around is the amount of practice I have shutting out that voice in my head screaming for the thing.

I get this analogy but I've never been sure that it's a very good one. You have to eat to live. You don't need alcohol to live. 

Maybe that makes food addiction even harder to deal with? Idk. 

Posted (edited)

“Fat is a choice,” is ostensibly correct but leaves out a lot and is terribly oversimplified.

Work 9-5, gym membership, Whole Foods delivery makes living lean a bit easier of a choice than someone who works irregularly and hasta drive across town to buy vegetables.  Yes, certainly that person and “choose to not be fat,” but it comes significantly harder.

Not gonna Stan for the fats, but the complexity of the issue is far beyond the mental capabilities of most Surly posters.

Now I gotta hang up.  Personal chef gonna be here shortly.

Edited by Parliament
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Posted

15 years ago I was 6'1 and 202 lbs. I told my wife I was a fat fucking slob & came up with a plan to make better choices and lose at least 20 lbs.

I became enraptured by my success and lost 40. I was down to my high school weight. I thought I looked great. My wife gave me a healthy dose of reality

Since then, I've found my best weight to be simple: 2nd digit should be a 7.

Good luck to everyone on the journey. But if you think your obesity is out of your own control, you're gonna have a longer trail.

Years ago, I said on this thread or a similar one that there's nothing easier to do than lose weight. I still stand by it. Eat less. Exercise more. Follow a supervised plan & you will get the desired results.

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Posted (edited)
58 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

“I stopped drinking and lost 80 pounds in 2 weeks.” - everyone on Surly

I stopped drinking and stopped being a drunk.  Didn't lose much weight.  I was 30 though.

Edited by TwiceHorn
Posted
7 hours ago, Post Oak said:

If you have a bad day get back to the routine tomorrow

this is such a huge deal. for me this is bacially the entire deal. every time i’ve turned my health around i’ve basically been a jolly, happy-go-lucky robot who lives every day by the same routine. if people who want to lose weight/get healthy have things preventing them from keeping a routine (unstable work hours, kids, in my case severe sleep issues) it makes the entire process almost undoable. there’s never been a time where i lost a significant amount of weight/improved my health without adhering to a daily routine. which again, is another example of losing weight not being as simple as, “just choose to do it.”

Posted
12 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I get this analogy but I've never been sure that it's a very good one. You have to eat to live. You don't need alcohol to live. 

Maybe that makes food addiction even harder to deal with? Idk. 

It does.  A lot of folks, me included to a degree, have to remind them/ourselves that food is sustenance.  It can be pleasurable, but that's not the main intention or necessity.  Making that an intrinsic part of your eating habits can make a big difference as to food choices and portion control.

 

Posted
6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I stopped drinking and stopped being a drunk.  Didn't lose much weight.  I was 30 though.

Man, I did. I was 45, though. When you’re hungover, nothing sounds better than a gas station pizza. 

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Posted
18 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I get this analogy but I've never been sure that it's a very good one. You have to eat to live. You don't need alcohol to live. 

Maybe that makes food addiction even harder to deal with? Idk. 

I see your point but I don’t agree with it.
You need to drink to live. Water is different than alcohol. You need to eat to live.  Fresh fruits and vegetables are different than Burger King. 

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Posted (edited)

i do not claim to know or understand the science behind this, but from talking to my dietician i’ve learned that beyond just the empty calories, there’s something in alcohol that has an effect on the calorie burning chain of events, and that imbibing more or less moves fat even further towards the back of the line when it comes to what the body will burn for energy.

so, from my own anecdotal experience, i feel like there are people who drink whose metabolism is still pretty kickass, and when they quit drinking they just get back the empty calories. and then there are the people whose metabolism was affected by the drinking, and when they quit drinking they just shed pounds for 2-3 straight months because of the reduction in calories, the improved metabolism, and the assumed reduction in food calories/binge eating from no longer getting drunk.

Edited by Derka
Posted
2 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

I see your point but I don’t agree with it.
You need to drink to live. Water is different than alcohol. You need to eat to live.  Fresh fruits and vegetables are different than Burger King. 

I don't agree with the way you restated it. 

Alcohol is a heavy, heavy mind-altering drug. Water isn't. 

Fruits and vegetables (fruits aren't very good for you, btw) affect your brain chemistry differently than Popeye's does but it's still very comparable. 

I'm all ears though I think it's an interesting comp and I could be wrong. 

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Posted
34 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

And I’m guessing the problem with some rx drugs is that they give you an insatiable appetite?

i’ve been on rx drugs where i chased that purple dragon all night long, but then ive also had drugs (benzos/anti anxiety) that seem to take me from “im totally full and satisfied, i just had a big meal”, to, “i think i should make some macaroni and cheese with pizza rolls in it” in about half an hour. rx drugs are some powerful shit.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Derka said:

i do not claim to know or understand the science behind this, but from talking to my dietician i’ve learned that beyond just the empty calories, there’s something in alcohol that has an effect on the calorie burning chain of events, and that imbibing more or less moves fat even further towards the back of like when it comes ti what the body will burn for energy.

so, from my own anecdotal experience, i feel like there are people who drink whose metabolism is still pretty kickass, and when they quit drinking they just get back the empty calories. and then there are the people whose metabolism was affected by the drinking, and when they quit drink king they just shed pounds 2-3 straight months because of the reduction in calories, the improved metabolism, and the assumed reduction in food calories/binge eating from no longer getting drunk.

I think it's still just calories in vs. out. The first time I went to rehab I was a fat, out-of-shape sack of shit that was drinking a lot of high-calorie beer and wine. I lost 25 pounds in like a month. And I was eating whatever I wanted. Drinking cokes. Eating candy. Idk. 

1 minute ago, Derka said:

i’ve been on rx drugs where i chased that purple dragon all night long, but then ive also had drugs (benzos/anti anxiety) that seem to take me from “im totally full and satisfied, i just had a big meal”, to, “i think i should make some macaroni and cheese with pizza rolls in it” in about half an hour. rx drugs are some powerful shit.

Benzo munchies are insane lol. You'll eat until you throw up. 

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Posted
23 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I don't agree with the way you restated it. 

Alcohol is a heavy, heavy mind-altering drug. Water isn't. 

Fruits and vegetables (fruits aren't very good for you, btw) affect your brain chemistry differently than Popeye's does but it's still very comparable. 

I'm all ears though I think it's an interesting comp and I could be wrong. 

I think it’s in the dopamine. I think certain people get an insatiable craving for a second drink, a second hit, or a second helping of cheesy hash browns. The dopamine doesn’t come from iced tea, nor does it come from a banana. 
I think we as substance abusers of whatever nature place our lives on the line of whether we can come to terms with the dopamine being stronger than our own willpower, and take steps for the rest of our lives to avoid it. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, Kennythetiger said:

I think it’s in the dopamine. I think certain people get an insatiable craving for a second drink, a second hit, or a second helping of cheesy hash browns. The dopamine doesn’t come from iced tea, nor does it come from a banana. 
I think we as substance abusers of whatever nature place our lives on the line of whether we can come to terms with the dopamine being stronger than our own willpower, and take steps for the rest of our lives to avoid it. 

You're arguing for me, here, though. You don't NEED a second drink or second hit. Meanwhile I can live off of cheesy hash browns and I can do so in moderation without getting fat. 

It's a different equation. 

The dopamine hit for food is intrinsically linked to survival. It isn't that way for booze or fent or gambling or whatever. 

Like I'm saying - maybe that makes it harder to deal with. All I'm saying is that by default I think it's fundamentally different than being an alcoholic or wev. 

Posted

I *think* i remember getting down to about 175 at some point in college and I got down to about 175 after rehab (at 30) as well. I wasn't really eating food anymore in late stage alcoholism, i couldn't stomach it. And so my appetite was all weird and I mostly ate cereal and salad bar. I think if I just *had* a salad bar available all the time it'd be easy to eat well.

Anyways, I'm sure a food addiction is complicated by not being able to abstain from food.  I couldn't drink just a little bit, that's kinda one of the first things you have to deal with in recovery. I think from the little reading about and talking to I've done with people who have big food issues, it sounds like addiction stuff to me.

Kids was raised as a reason why people might not be able to stick to a good diet, and I'll raise again the thing that i discovered, which was that I could structure good choices in a way where the good choice solved the same problem that was being solved by bad choices. I had to stop snacking and make some different choices and what have yous but really for me, I enjoy the cup yogurt/scoop protein powder/tbsp peanut butter powder/bigasshandful of spinach/banana/handful of frozne strawberries/bunch of ice cubes/vitamix goes brrrrrt even more than I enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwich and plate of chips or whatever shitty thing I used to grab for lunch because I don't have any time or emotional energy to make a plan. I had to get into the habit of not eating every time I got the urge to eat. I've discovered that being pretty hungry for every meal makes most food really delicious, so whatever thing it is the wife wants to do for dinner these days is usually great. And I discovered that i'd been fucking myself up by being afraid of counting calories and stepping on a scale every day. It is not that big of a deal (for me, non food problem having person) and I can budget whatever choice I want to make and most of all I *know* quantitatively what it is that I'm doing and I can see the number change on the other side. Which of course is also a big deal because it took a few weeks for my pants to get loose and for me to really be able to tell that I looked any different.

Posted
5 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I think from the little reading about and talking to I've done with people who have big food issues, it sounds like addiction stuff to me.

It absolutely is. And I don't want anyone to think that I'm diminishing a problem with food and acting like it isn't as serious as alcohol/drug addiction. I have empathy for those struggling with overeating just like I have empathy for, well, everyone. 

I just think it's a different issue that needs to be addressed differently. 

8 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

Kids was raised as a reason why people might not be able to stick to a good diet, and I'll raise again the thing that i discovered, which was that I could structure good choices in a way where the good choice solved the same problem that was being solved by bad choices. I had to stop snacking and make some different choices and what have yous but really for me, I enjoy the cup yogurt/scoop protein powder/tbsp peanut butter powder/bigasshandful of spinach/banana/handful of frozne strawberries/bunch of ice cubes/vitamix goes brrrrrt even more than I enjoyed the grilled cheese sandwich and plate of chips or whatever shitty thing I used to grab for lunch because I don't have any time or emotional energy to make a plan. I had to get into the habit of not eating every time I got the urge to eat. I've discovered that being pretty hungry for every meal makes most food really delicious, so whatever thing it is the wife wants to do for dinner these days is usually great. And I discovered that i'd been fucking myself up by being afraid of counting calories and stepping on a scale every day. It is not that big of a deal (for me, non food problem having person) and I can budget whatever choice I want to make and most of all I *know* quantitatively what it is that I'm doing and I can see the number change on the other side. Which of course is also a big deal because it took a few weeks for my pants to get loose and for me to really be able to tell that I looked any different.

Of course. All of this shit is easy(ish) for you just like it's easy for non-alcoholics to not have 14 drinks after they have their first. 

🤷

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, ztejas said:

I get this analogy but I've never been sure that it's a very good one. You have to eat to live. You don't need alcohol to live. 

Maybe that makes food addiction even harder to deal with? Idk. 

Chicago Bulls What GIF by NBA

 

Quote

Man, I did. I was 45, though. When you’re hungover, nothing sounds better than a gas station pizza. 

Chicago Bulls What GIF by NBA

Edited by elfenix
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Posted
Of course. All of this shit is easy(ish) for you just like it's easy for non-alcoholics to not have 14 drinks after they have their first. 


Definitely not easy, but both can be done and are done every day.
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Posted

Not sure what percent of the population has a food addiction, but I definitely think it is real. My FIL, the one that had the quadruple bypass, is a prime example.

Really nice guy but his life is dictated by food. It’s all he thinks about. If we have a healthy meal, he will become visibly depressed like it ruined his day. He has a sentimental attachment to food and associates it with family members that have passed away. It’s almost like he feels like he would be abandoning his culture (white, southern) to eat a different way even some of the time.

I first realized it was a problem when we were going on a camping/hunting trip with some of the guys in his extended family. We went to the grocery store and bought somewhere in the neighborhood of 10x what we actually needed. It’s almost like he’s blind to what an appropriate amount of food is.

He almost lost his life because of it and was very lucky to recover but it has done nothing to change his diet. Last night we had breaded and fried pork cops covered in gravy. He also sneaks out of the house to get fast food.

All of this screams addiction to me but his wife has the most control of the situation and she’s an enabler. White southern men his age don’t exactly go to therapy, but he needed professional help 10-20 years ago. 

Would be interested to see if anybody connects with this on a personal level or has some insight. 

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Posted
14 hours ago, Larry T. Spider said:

One aspect of trying to eat healthier that I hate is holidays with the in-laws. It’s not because the food as I let myself eat more and enjoy the day. It’s the relentless comments about not eating enough or demanding that I get a second plate of food.

My lunch will easily be over 1,000 calories yet showing any restraint in not being a complete fat ass is met with disdain. For the record, I don’t make any announcements about what I’m eating or weight loss. Just make my plate like a normal human.


“Guess you didn’t like the food” ~ guy who had a quadruple bypass and is currently in heart failure but makes no connection to his diet.


I guess I just don't get this. My family is much more direct.  If somebody "demanded" that one of us get a second plate of food, the response would be on the order of "Or how about this? You eat what you want and I'll eat what I want and neither of us try to tell the other what to eat. Does that work for you, dickhead?"

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Posted
3 hours ago, Larry T. Spider said:

Not sure what percent of the population has a food addiction, but I definitely think it is real. My FIL, the one that had the quadruple bypass, is a prime example.

Really nice guy but his life is dictated by food. It’s all he thinks about. If we have a healthy meal, he will become visibly depressed like it ruined his day. He has a sentimental attachment to food and associates it with family members that have passed away. It’s almost like he feels like he would be abandoning his culture (white, southern) to eat a different way even some of the time.

I first realized it was a problem when we were going on a camping/hunting trip with some of the guys in his extended family. We went to the grocery store and bought somewhere in the neighborhood of 10x what we actually needed. It’s almost like he’s blind to what an appropriate amount of food is.

He almost lost his life because of it and was very lucky to recover but it has done nothing to change his diet. Last night we had breaded and fried pork cops covered in gravy. He also sneaks out of the house to get fast food.

All of this screams addiction to me but his wife has the most control of the situation and she’s an enabler. White southern men his age don’t exactly go to therapy, but he needed professional help 10-20 years ago. 

Would be interested to see if anybody connects with this on a personal level or has some insight. 


About 35 years ago I was the best man at the wedding of another Surly poster. It was held in a relatively small town in northern Ohio, where his wife is from. We got up there and it turns out pretty much everybody in her family was enormous. I mean ridiculous. They were farmers and you'd think the physical work would have kept them slim but good lord most of the men, even the younger brothers, were on the order of 350 pounds. The sisters, the cousins --- all of them huge.  Tall people, but huge. I was a hard core cyclist who was averaging 40-50 miles a day and could really put away some groceries myself but I was, and still am, skinny. It was a week of celebration, of course, and these people's lives were governed by food, so every morning breakfast would be pancakes and waffles and syrup and bacon and eggs and sausages and hash browns and all of it in staggering quantities. We would all sit there and gorge ourselves at breakfast and I'm thinking "I can't move. I won't be able to eat until dinner, I've had so much."  They'd be sitting there picking their teeth with toothpicks and talking about where they wanted to go for lunch.  I was thinking "Holy crap ... how can you POSSIBLY be thinking about more food when I just watched you eat four pounds of food in the form of five pancakes, two waffles, eight slices of bacon, a half tube of Jimmy Dean sausages, some eggs, a plate full of hashbrowns etc?"  I'm the kind of guy who eats when I'm hungry and that's it. Being there with them really clued me in to how some people's lives revolve completely around eating. I had never understood this before.

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Posted
On 4/19/2025 at 10:39 AM, Larry T. Spider said:

This is the most simplified/sustainable path to me. Doesn’t require any marathons or drastic changes that are hard for a lot of people to sustain.

1. Calorie deficit. Figure out about how many calories you burn each day. Eat less than that number while prioritizing protein because it keeps you full.

2. Do some type of resistance training/weights at least 3 times a week.

3. Walk. Went over your calories for the day? No sweat, just walk a little more.

4. Don’t beat yourself up over a bad day. To gain a pound you would have to eat 3,600 more calories than you burned that day. Just get back on track tomorrow.

 

Great advice but if someone is not serious about #1 then they’re not going to lose weight. It takes a tremendous amount of exercise to lose weight. On the other hand, most can lose weight lay relatively easy if they just lay off the snacks and high calories restaurants meals.

On 4/18/2025 at 12:54 PM, msucolt45 said:

I’m 5.91/2 in height. ‘88 went into Army BT weighing 205 after working my ass off all Summer, prior to reporting that September. I did play FB and lifted weights the whole HS experience.

Eight weeks, post BT I shrank from the waist up! I had to get new dress jacket and dress shirts issued prior to graduation, as I went from 48-44 and 171/2 neck to 16.
My parents the day prior to graduation, didn’t even recognize me while marching right past them. After graduation, Dad cut some kind of rope to help keep my original blue jeans up to go back home to SETX - weighing 170. All mass seemed to come from the waist up.

I got down to around 165, by the age 23, while stationed S Korea, as I was more active. Outside of morning PT, I’d play racquetball or soccer in the evenings and sometimes hiking the mountains with my KATUSAS (Korean soldiers).

It didn’t take long post Army exit in ‘95 for the weight to add on. No longer running 2-3 miles daily five days a week, as well as the other exercises. Going to UT and eating Blue Bell while watching the 10:00 news and “studying” made me lazy.

Not even 5 years post graduation I sent the wife to get three pairs of slacks for work from a particular style/brand. The wife called me from Dillard’s saying you know that 40 is the largest they have on the racks? Bigger than that, you’re going to have to order from the Fat Boy catalog! Eye opening!

I’ve tried my best to stay b/t 200-210 ever since. I officiated HSFB for roughly a decade and that forced me each summer to get ready for the afternoons each year, as running around with Jr High kids at 5:00 in SA is hot as Hades! Friday nights were a breeze, as I was an Umpire, so very little running.

Now 55, still battle weight issues, but in reality it’s my fault as I like beer too much to lose more. I equate beer to watching sports or playing golf, or even finishing doing yard work and admiring my results.

My son and wife are slim/normal BMI. My daughter, bless her heart got my genes for hair and bone structure (big chest). She actually got on Wegovy about 2-3 months ago now that she’s teaching post-graduation.

I feel for anyone facing weight issues. Even though “heavy” most of my adult life, I’ve usually been in decent shape for my size, because even two years ago I could lace up a pair of shoes and go run two miles. I’ve found walking in the evening 45-60 min is enough to maintain where I’m at 205-210, which is still bad according to BMI, but my Doctor says you’re fine with activity level, but cut back on the beers!

Hook’em!!!

Why not go a month or two without beer. It’s really not that big of a deal. Sounds like it’s just a habit for you that most likely can be cut in a short time.

Posted
16 hours ago, HenryJames said:

“I stopped drinking and lost 80 pounds in 2 weeks.” - everyone on Surly

Not me.  I stopped drinking and gained a few pounds.  It's very frustrating although I do feel a lot better even with the added weight.

Posted
On 4/18/2025 at 12:14 PM, Gatorubet said:

IMG_4444.jpeg.abd4592d0b8de293f9743a819b0b0dd0.jpeg

Yeah…, but bacon taste good. Pork chops taste good. Fucking foreign women feels good. Getting Social Security payments feels good.

I don’t have any grandchildren, so if I ever have them, by the time they reach the age of consent you will be too old to fuck them.  But it’s true that a man needs a dream.

Lets not discount the fact that he just likes fucking children.

Posted
16 hours ago, Kennythetiger said:

Man, I did. I was 45, though. When you’re hungover, nothing sounds better than a gas station pizza. 

I'm 45, and I still drink regularly, and when I'm hungover, I'm pretty sure a regular delivery pizza  still sounds orders of magnitude better than a gas station pizza. 

As Derka has referenced, I think people struggle to understand just how addicting sugar is, and how sugar is in ALL of our fucking food, often unnecessarily but just as a way to sell more fucking food. This is why I think food addiction is a real thing, because sugar addiction is a real fucking thing. Generative AI, so grain of salt, but:

 

Quote

 

Sugar Addiction

Sugar can be considered addictive due to its effects on the brain, similar to those of addictive drugs. Research indicates that consuming sugar triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward, which can create a reinforcing cycle leading to cravings and seeking out more sugar.234+4

Studies have shown that intermittent access to sugar can lead to behavior and neurochemical changes that resemble the effects of a substance of abuse.234+4 These changes include cravings, binging, and withdrawal symptoms.234+4 For instance, rats in animal studies have demonstrated behaviors indicative of addiction when given intermittent access to sugar.234+4

However, while sugar can be addictive for some individuals, it is important to note that sugar addiction is not recognized as a formal diagnosis in medical or psychological literature.234+4 The concept of sugar addiction is still under investigation, and further research is needed to fully understand the complex relationship between sugar and addiction.234+4

In summary, while sugar can exhibit addictive properties similar to those of addictive drugs, the extent of its addictive nature varies among individuals and is still a topic of ongoing research.234+4

AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.

Now, in America we pour sugar into fucking everything. Specifically, Corn Syrup, which we basically created to be an additional government subsidy for farmers. I've been on and off Keto for a few years now, and the side result is that you look at all the labels. The amount of "Added sugars" in the columns for foods like fucking bread, or condiments, snacks, and sometimes even processed meats, is staggering. And that's before you get to sugary drinks, even "healthy" ones like Gatorade. We lace everything with sugar, to make it more addicting, and then ignorant parents feed this shit to their children from day one. My son has a friend who's parents are overweight. The kid is still a rail, but he won't be, and he's gobbling down just koolaid and candy and ice cream and pizza and such at all times. I think his relationship with food might have never had a chance. And it's worse for poor children, where their access to food is limited to processed, sugar addicting shit. 

For many people, and in many regards, being fat is a choice. Maybe for all people, on some level, it's a choice. It's also a choice for me to climb Mt. Everest. Technically, I can do it. But realistically, I'm going to fucking die. And I say that as a 45 year old, reasonably in shape person, who probably needs to drop 15-20 lbs and quit drinking the way I drink. 

 

 

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Posted

You gotta' get better the same way you got sick.

You made incremental, consistent choices over time to gain weight, you have to do the same to lose it.  Daily movement, track your calories, and learn more about the ingredients in all the stuff that you eat.  For me, it's a high protein, low carb diet.  Lots or water.  Daily movement + makeshift home gym.  

If you're working out, avoid isolation exercises.  Focus on compound movements that engage multiple muscles.  These can be bodyweight stuff, like pushups, pullups, body-weight squats.  I have a cheat band on the pullup bar because pullups kick my ass.  

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Posted
18 hours ago, Derka said:

if you believe that being fat is a choice then that means you also believe that rich people have more will power and self control than poor people do. 

ftr, the “being fat is a choice” crowd are maybe half a step removed from flat earthers for me. there is so much overwhelming scientific and anecdotal evidence which proves you wrong, but you ignore all of that and decide that you’re the expert anyway, because you lost some weight that one time, or because you’ve never had a weight problem. you guys aren’t aware of it, but the rest of us are looking at you in a bit of disbelief that you can believe something so patently untrue. i would recommend that you have a conversation with your doctor, or a registered dietitian, or a personal trainer, and see if they’re willing to back up your “fatties choose to be fat” claim. see how it goes.

I have been overweight.  All my life I was fit, and admittedly it is easier because I come from a family with no obesity as they are health conscious. It also helps that I am almost 6'3", so I will have a higher base calorie burn.  Then my brother, who I was very, very close to, died unexpectedly in my mid 30s and it wrecked me.  Instead of running 4 miles 5x per week, lifting 3x per week, and eating right, I made poor choices.  Ate too much.  Drank too much.  Became sedentary.  Gained like 10 pounds a year over a period of years.  I think subconsciously maybe I was trying to commit slow suicide.  Got to where I could not easily do the things I love and realized I needed to stick around for my family, so I decided to make changes.  I cut alcohol cold turkey more than 3 years ago.  Started off exercising just by walking my dog.  Then started walking more.  Then started lifting weights and training for marathons.  Now I sit around 190 (if I get lower than that I look like I have AIDs with my frame).

Losing weight is simple.  But it is not easy.  You cannot look at it like a diet.  But as a lifestyle change.  Diets do not work long term.  Healthy lifestyle changes do.  

Now your situation with medicine -- that is something I know nothing about so cannot judge.  I would think you need medical intervention of some sort and wish you the very best.  

 

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Posted
18 hours ago, Derka said:

seriously folks, talk to any personal trainer, any one- ask them if they’ve ever had a client who has done everything by the book- from calorie intake to diet to sleep to water to sunlight- who did get healthier, but who stayed fat. ask them if genuine had a client like that. if they’ve been a PT for any amount of time, they will say “yes”, universally.

your idea that this calories in/calories out formula is a universal trick for not being fat is about as accurate as the early 2000’s food pyramid that told everyone to eat as much bread and pasta as possible for optimal health.

Most people who claim they are eating 2000 calories a day and cannot lose weight are eating a lot more.  Watch an episode of Secret Eaters.  Unless you accurately track calories, most people either lie or are just wrong about how much they consume.  And don't get me started on how many calories Americans consume in their drinks.  You want to lose weight?  Start by only drinking water and black coffee.

 

Posted

Speaking of secret eaters, being fat is the one interesting "vice" in that it always manifests itself outwardly to others. You can be a functioning addict of drugs or booze and maybe keep it hidden and "appear" well. But the fat people saying of "What you eat in private, you wear in public" is so true because you essentially cannot hide your weight via irresponsible or irrational eating decisions.

I don't think being fat is a moral failing. I've also been alternatively really fit, I've been probably too thin, and I've been fat. These are for a variety of reasons (some health and prescription medicine related) but what I've found is that being really fit takes a lot more work than not. So just maybe there is a bit of privilege in not being a fatty in America in 2025?

Posted

All calories are not equal either.  There are a number of ways to track these, but to keep it simple just eat whole foods.  Nothing processed.  Water, black coffee, basic tea without sweeteners.  

Proteins such as eggs, beef, chicken, fish.  Use salt/pepper and whole butter.  Vegetables and fruits.

The "potato hack" is kind of cool if you crave carbs.  Boil potatoes, then let them cool down and the carbs turn into insoluble starches/fiber.  Think potato salad.  It's glycemic index becomes effectively zero.  You can reheat, broil or bake them, etc.  

Posted

There are few secrets to losing weight, but if there was, rucking might be up there.  Walk the dog with a little weight vest or backpack up.  It compounds everything.  You can take shorter walks and still get a hell of a workout.  I now have to rucks in the back of the truck.  My big one is 50lbs, and I have a smaller 35lb'er if I'm not feeling great or the distance will be quite long.  It will kick your ass at first, but you adapt quicker than most any other exercise as the entire body has to get it's shit together to stabilize the weight.  

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Posted

As far as peer pressure to eat at family/friend get together, I dated a latina for a while. I'm pretty sure her mother and abuela were trying to turn me into jabba the hutt.

There's no saying no to them. Especially if I wanted the get laid by their hot ass progeny.

Also they don't let the men do anything in the house. Got up to get a beer and magically one appeared in my hand before I could stand.

It's recipe to get the beet us, but God damn what a great time.

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Posted
11 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:


About 35 years ago I was the best man at the wedding of another Surly poster. It was held in a relatively small town in northern Ohio, where his wife is from. We got up there and it turns out pretty much everybody in her family was enormous. I mean ridiculous. They were farmers and you'd think the physical work would have kept them slim but good lord most of the men, even the younger brothers, were on the order of 350 pounds. The sisters, the cousins --- all of them huge.  Tall people, but huge. I was a hard core cyclist who was averaging 40-50 miles a day and could really put away some groceries myself but I was, and still am, skinny. It was a week of celebration, of course, and these people's lives were governed by food, so every morning breakfast would be pancakes and waffles and syrup and bacon and eggs and sausages and hash browns and all of it in staggering quantities. We would all sit there and gorge ourselves at breakfast and I'm thinking "I can't move. I won't be able to eat until dinner, I've had so much."  They'd be sitting there picking their teeth with toothpicks and talking about where they wanted to go for lunch.  I was thinking "Holy crap ... how can you POSSIBLY be thinking about more food when I just watched you eat four pounds of food in the form of five pancakes, two waffles, eight slices of bacon, a half tube of Jimmy Dean sausages, some eggs, a plate full of hashbrowns etc?"  I'm the kind of guy who eats when I'm hungry and that's it. Being there with them really clued me in to how some people's lives revolve completely around eating. I had never understood this before.

Farming doesn't involve near the physical labor it used to, and not for a long time now.  The diets didn't change with the technology, unfortunately.  And now I'm really craving some biscuits with cream gravy for some reason.

Posted
19 hours ago, Derka said:

seriously folks, talk to any personal trainer, any one- ask them if they’ve ever had a client who has done everything by the book- from calorie intake to diet to sleep to water to sunlight- who did get healthier, but who stayed fat. ask them if genuine had a client like that. if they’ve been a PT for any amount of time, they will say “yes”, universally.

your idea that this calories in/calories out formula is a universal trick for not being fat is about as accurate as the early 2000’s food pyramid that told everyone to eat as much bread and pasta as possible for optimal health.

"stayed fat"

I think most people don't look at people that re 395 pounds and wonder "why can't that dude lose 200 pounds". I think they look at those people and wonder "how the hell did he let himself go like that?"

 

Posted
21 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

There are few secrets to losing weight, but if there was, rucking might be up there.  Walk the dog with a little weight vest or backpack up.  It compounds everything.  You can take shorter walks and still get a hell of a workout.  I now have to rucks in the back of the truck.  My big one is 50lbs, and I have a smaller 35lb'er if I'm not feeling great or the distance will be quite long.  It will kick your ass at first, but you adapt quicker than most any other exercise as the entire body has to get it's shit together to stabilize the weight.  

Cutting booze and adding compound lifts was like a cheat code for me to shed 40lbs of bad weight without changing much else from 2023-2024. I'm going to add rucking once I get the time back from having a newborn thrown in the mix. 

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Posted

I had a thought last week. Is there a future one day where obesity is a "choice" in the sense that ozempic or wegovuy type meds (which apparently have a ton of good health benefits from reducing heart disease risk to blood pressure and diabetes, etc. and not just weight) are so cheap and readily available? It seems like the optimal and efficient government policy (in long term costs, healthcare burdens, etc.) would be to heavily subsidize or make free these drugs for the poor and obese.

Posted

In some ways, it is easier than ever -- and cheaper than ever -- to get fit.

I have been in a rut with weight lifting.  I had Grok design a new workout program for me to change things up and prevent boredom.  Cost me $0.

My gym membership costs $0.  I spent maybe $2k total on used weights, squat rack, pullup/dip bar, a used commercial treadmill, and a used concept two rowing machine.  People sell quality barely used workout equipment for next to nothing on the internet because they just want to get rid of it.  30 years ago it would be harder to find.

Walking is free.  So is jogging.  If you can't afford weights, do that plus body weight exercises.  Get a body weight fitness program for free online or a free app on your phone. Costs nothing.

Nutrition and fitness information is everywhere.  You can read it or listen to a podcast.  Lots of good stuff out there.

My breakfast every day is a protein shake that all in costs about $2.  Lunch is meal prepped.  Costs probably $3.  This is a hell of a lot cheaper than fast food or spending $13 on a sandwich and chips at the deli in my office building.

Again, it is simple and not complicated.  Just have to have the discipline.

Posted

I think some of you "it's only thermodynamics" people don't know any menopausal women. If your hormones are out of whack, especially insulin, and you're insulin resistant, which I suspect Derka is, weight loss becomes more complicated than thermodynamics.

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Posted
2 minutes ago, DaysOff said:

I think some of you "it's only thermodynamics" people don't know any menopausal women. If your hormones are out of whack, especially insulin, and you're insulin resistant, which I suspect Derka is, weight loss becomes more complicated than thermodynamics.

Yes. There are a % of people whose overweight issues are medical in nature (e.g. hormones, autoimmune, medicines, organ functionality, etc.). I don't think anyone denies or doubts that and some of us probably know of someone like that, but those instances are likely dramatically overstated or real.

But also I think the number of people who default or think they can't lose weight because of the above are usually defaulting an easier mental and emotional state of not undertaking the hard work to make some uncomfortable changes. Pre-built excuses which, if you are obese, you likely aren't that disciplined or self-controlled to begin with.

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Posted
43 minutes ago, Da Fino said:

Cutting booze and adding compound lifts was like a cheat code for me to shed 40lbs of bad weight without changing much else from 2023-2024. I'm going to add rucking once I get the time back from having a newborn thrown in the mix. 

Baby backpack for the win.  Wife will love you getting the little one out of the house and you get the exercise.  Win-win!

Posted
4 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Not me.  I stopped drinking and gained a few pounds.  It's very frustrating although I do feel a lot better even with the added weight.

Well then you clearly weren't drinking enough.

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