Help! I'm Fat - *** Official Exercise and Weight Thread ***

[cowgirl836]

I highly recommend the Beach Body on Demand app/subscription. There is a workout in there for anyone plus you can shake things up whenever you want if you feel like your workouts are getting stale. Honestly, going to the gym is the WORST.

I did do Insanity back in the day, still have those downloads somewhere. Have moved on to a program specific to pregnancy/post partum and love it. Been using it for just about 5 years now. If you have pregnant/newly post partum women in your life send them my way and I'll evangelize lol. Developed by sisters who are a women's PT and an exercise science grad/nurse. Made to prevent all the mom aches and can fully vouch it.

I like growingananas on YT as well.

 

[cowgirl836]

This is the best way to go because it also starts teaching your kids the importance of movement for health at a young age. And it is just easier to fit it in with everything else.

yes! I've taken a couple pictures of the oldest mimicking me, doing his breath work or using the 2lb weights and it cracks me up. It also teaches them independent play because we'll go to the basement and I'll do my workout and encourage them to play. I'm around and can watch but I'm not in it with them. Plus doing family walks, bike rides - just making being outside and being active more of a lifestyle thing and not a "I have to do this to lose weight/look a certain way" thing.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

No disagreement.

We need to disconnect weight from health. They are certainly correlated, but weight alone is not an indication of overall health. Any measurement in isolation is incomplete. Like BMI. There are fat people who are healthy, and skinny people who are unhealthy. Fat people could be "healthier" if they lost weight, but if through their weightloss method they also screwed up their cholesterol or BP or any number of other indicators, they could end up skinnier and less healthy.

There is a lot of wiggle room for a person to find their preferred healthy diet. But there are more constraints than JUST "Calories In Calories Out" IF we assume the goal is health rather than just weightloss.

By definition there aren’t “fat” people that are healthy, and by “fat” I’m going with true obesity here. Their lab results and physical might read that they are within ok limits but carrying around all that extra weight puts extra strain on your joints, makes you far more likely to develop diabetes later on, and most importantly greatly increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. So yes someone in their 20’s, 30’s or even 40’s might be coming back with fine test results but no medical professional would be calling them healthy.

 

[cycloneML]

I’m convinced my free feeding and a drink or two at night is my downfall.

 

[carvers4math]

As far as making good food choices, my husband just got back from his routine doctor visit, and the only number a bit off in his blood work was he was slightly low on sodium. Well that and his total cholesterol was a bit low. He always has plenty of the good cholesterol.

This somewhat mystifies me. He eats a whole bag of black bean jalapeño Sun Chips as an afternoon snack. The entire bag is 49% of the daily amount, so I guess I am not cooking with much salt. I do cut it at least in half in recipes when baking, especially stuff with baking powder, which is loaded with salt.

 

[ghyland7]

The best advice I got was “you can’t outrun your diet.”

I am not super muscular or fit, but I’ve lost the 10-20 pounds I gained over the pandemic. I cut out sugary drinks entirely, and I eat a little bit less. I’ll never be the marathon-running fitness freak, but I can definitely eat better and be less sedentary.

 

[CascadeClone]

As far as making good food choices, my husband just got back from his routine doctor visit, and the only number a bit off in his blood work was he was slightly low on sodium. Well that and his total cholesterol was a bit low. He always has plenty of the good cholesterol.

This somewhat mystifies me. He eats a whole bag of black bean jalapeño Sun Chips as an afternoon snack. The entire bag is 49% of the daily amount, so I guess I am not cooking with much salt. I do cut it at least in half in recipes when baking, especially stuff with baking powder, which is loaded with salt.

Some people just process stuff different / faster, due to genetics or other habits. Sodium, cholesterol, glucose, caffeine, et al. That's why it is so important to know your self really well, as what works for most people may be terrible for you.

Hypothetical example - your husband was probably fasting for his blood work. Maybe he is just always a bit low on sodium, so his body says "gimme me some salty chips!" everyday to keep in balance.

 

[besserheimerphat]

By definition there aren’t “fat” people that are healthy, and by “fat” I’m going with true obesity here. Their lab results and physical might read that they are within ok limits but carrying around all that extra weight puts extra strain on your joints, makes you far more likely to develop diabetes later on, and most importantly greatly increases your risk of cardiovascular disease. So yes someone in their 20’s, 30’s or even 40’s might be coming back with fine test results but no medical professional would be calling them healthy.

I don't disagree with anything you said.

Differentiating the social definition of "fat" vs clinically obese is important. Pretty much everybody is "fat" in their non-medical opinion, and they could be perfectly healthy and low risk. People who are obese with good lab work (this is me, by the way) are currently "healthy" but are on track for future problems. I've lost 100lbs but am still obese. I have reduced my risk and gotten healthier, though I'm still not where I'd like/need to be.

To meet my health goals, I can't just eat anything as long as it's less than my RMR. I would probably lose weight, but also lean mass and strength, which are both positively correlated with health outcomes. So again it's not that "Calories In Calories Out" is wrong, but by itself it's an incomplete prescription for how to achieve health.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I don't disagree with anything you said.

Differentiating the social definition of "fat" vs clinically obese is important. Pretty much everybody is "fat" in their non-medical opinion, and they could be perfectly healthy and low risk. People who are obese with good lab work (this is me, by the way) are currently "healthy" but are on track for future problems. I've lost 100lbs but am still obese. I have reduced my risk and gotten healthier, though I'm still not where I'd like/need to be.

To meet my health goals, I can't just eat anything as long as it's less than my RMR. I would probably lose weight, but also lean mass and strength, which are both positively correlated with health outcomes. So again it's not that "Calories In Calories Out" is wrong, but by itself it's an incomplete prescription for how to achieve health.

If you were strength training while being a calorie deficit the muscle loss would be minimal.

Totally agree though that calories in/out does not benefit total body health but it is the key to weight loss. Also when post people use these examples they always use extreme examples like the gummy bears mentions prior. Almost no one really eats like that and realistically most people when they go to a calorie deficit tend to be eating healthier or can make a couple really simple changes to get the same result.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Front squats are dumb. That is all.

 

[madguy30]

Front squats are dumb. That is all.

So are multiple family reunions consisting of lots of booze and food to start the summer.

I fell off a bit and need to synch things back up.

 

[cycloner29]

Just got my weight, blood sugar, and A1C results from my Dr. on a 6 month follow up. Had a physical the end of January. Weight was 225, Blood Sugar was 113 (prediabetic condition), and A1C of 6.5. Dr. challenged me to get to 210. Well..... I got close dropped 12 lbs, Blood Sugar down to 101 and A1C is at 5.7. I just cut back on sugar, fried foods and lowered my carb intake. Also have been riding bikes about 5 days a week. He was pleased with the results as was I.

 

[KnappShack]

Just got my weight, blood sugar, and A1C results from my Dr. on a 6 month follow up. Had a physical the end of January. Weight was 225, Blood Sugar was 113 (prediabetic condition), and A1C of 6.5. Dr. challenged me to get to 210. Well..... I got close dropped 12 lbs, Blood Sugar down to 101 and A1C is at 5.7. I just cut back on sugar, fried foods and lowered my carb intake. Also have been riding bikes about 5 days a week. He was pleased with the results as was I.

Sugar. I'm not opposed to drinking a half can of the regular and Diet Dew has been a one-a-day habit.

We ran out of soda. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm just dragging ass after eating. Total crash.

It has to be the Diet Dew beating the hell out of my energy. I really didn't notice before I jumped off of the stuff for a bit.

Now it's now very noticeable when I have one. Big crash.

 

[cycloner29]

Sugar. I'm not opposed to drinking a half can of the regular and Diet Dew has been a one-a-day habit.

We ran out of soda. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm just dragging ass after eating. Total crash.

It has to be the Diet Dew beating the hell out of my energy. I really didn't notice before I jumped off of the stuff for a bit.

Now it's now very noticeable when I have one. Big crash.

I do have a mountain dew energy drink in the morning and a zero sugar dew in the afternoon. I did cut back on alcohol to. A semi green banana every day (the more they yellow it converts more sugar), I will have either an omlette or oatmeal (with some peanut butter) each morning. I also will have a smoothie with both. I used to have waffles, pancakes, or french toast in the morning. Have not done anything really drastic, just being better educated and being vigilant of watching what I should be eating.

 

[NATEizKING]

Bought some adjustable dumbbells 5-25lb on Amazon and got them Tuesday, $160 for the pair. Big step up from my wife's 8lb I was using, feeling it today.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Sugar. I'm not opposed to drinking a half can of the regular and Diet Dew has been a one-a-day habit.

We ran out of soda. Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm just dragging ass after eating. Total crash.

It has to be the Diet Dew beating the hell out of my energy. I really didn't notice before I jumped off of the stuff for a bit.

Now it's now very noticeable when I have one. Big crash.

Not sugar, carbs. A carb from bread is the same as a carb from Mt Dew from a metabolic standpoint. You could eliminate all "sugar" from your diet - candy, sweets, sodas, juices, etc. - and still eat too many carbs for blood sugar management from just bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and fruit. Diabetics need to mindful of ALL of it. And some people are just naturally more sensitive to carbs than others.

I need to stay below about 150g of carbs per day or my blood sugar starts to rise. If I can average that over a week, my blood sugar stays normal. I can do that by eating a lot less starchy foods and then still have room to get some chocolate. That's the tradeoff that works for me. Using a 2000 cal diet with about 50% coming from carbs, as recommended by most government health organizations, that would put me at 250g per day - too much to manage my glucose.

 

[KnappShack]

Not sugar, carbs. A carb from bread is the same as a carb from Mt Dew from a metabolic standpoint. You could eliminate all "sugar" from your diet - candy, sweets, sodas, juices, etc. - and still eat too many carbs for blood sugar management from just bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and fruit. Diabetics need to mindful of ALL of it. And some people are just naturally more sensitive to carbs than others.

I need to stay below about 150g of carbs per day or my blood sugar starts to rise. If I can average that over a week, my blood sugar stays normal. I can do that by eating a lot less starchy foods and then still have room to get some chocolate. That's the tradeoff that works for me. Using a 2000 cal diet with about 50% coming from carbs, as recommended by most government health organizations, that would put me at 250g per day - too much to manage my glucose.

Seems in my case the diet soda is causing one heck of a crash. I know the sweeteners are so good they fool the body, but this new super crash mode is new.

Or maybe I'm just now noticing. Weird either way

 

[besserheimerphat]

Seems in my case the diet soda is causing one heck of a crash. I know the sweeteners are so good they fool the body, but this new super crash mode is new.

Or maybe I'm just now noticing. Weird either way

Maybe the caffeine? Or I know people can have sensitivities to different sweeteners, so one "diet" thing gets a different reaction than a similar "diet/zero calorie" thing. That is weird.

 

[madguy30]

Seems in my case the diet soda is causing one heck of a crash. I know the sweeteners are so good they fool the body, but this new super crash mode is new.

Or maybe I'm just now noticing. Weird either way

When I drank a soda about every day years ago, I would notice a ton more energy at the end of the work day on days I skipped it.

Quit cold turkey years ago and still snack on sugary stuff occasionally but if I go on long streaks of no candy or alcohol I notice a big boost in energy and mood too.

 

[AirWalke]

Reading through this thread has been illuminating. I'm obese by definition but I'm constantly told that I eat like a bird. I don't snack between meals a lot. My weight has not fluctuated over the years, but instead tracks right alongside the inflation rate.

Probably my biggest sin is caffeine consumption. I have an energy drink once a day every morning. If I don't, the headaches I get by the afternoon sure let me know in a hurry. Occasionally I have a pop to drink for lunch. I've learned that caffeine in the afternoon/evening disrupts my sleep so I've cut that out.

I have managed to cut pop out once in my life and promptly lost about 15-20 pounds. As with most vices though, you start to feel invincible again and think "ah hell I can manage it".

My current goal is to ditch caffeine again, but I was wondering if anyone else had advice regarding this goal. My poison of choice is Mt. Dew's Kickstart drinks, so I think what I'm actually chasing is the sweetness that those drinks provide.