I know that diet well. I call it the āfirst law dietā. as in the 1st law of thermodynamics.
There are lots of folks whoāll say itās not that simple, and of course theyāre right.
But then again, you wonāt see any obese peeps in POW photos.
The Go Fund Me is run by someone named Kay Cole. I canāt find any reference to it on the website. Iām not convinced that this person has anything to do with Brian Flemming and his weight loss. I would be very wary giving her money.
Feck this, whereās my skinny pill!?
I started at 250lbs (5ā 9", male) and for the past month or so Iāve been just counting calories and sticking to under 1800 calories / day. It took some getting used to but itās pretty easy to adhere to now. Iāve only lost about 7 pounds so far but Iām still glad to be making progress. Justin_Forposti has it right. Itās just a matter of making sure energy in = energy out. My wife started at a similar point and is making even better progress with essentially the same technique (she actually exercises as part of her job, though).
I think the thing that some diets actually accomplish is focusing you on eating foods that arenāt very energy dense so that you feel full without consuming very many calories. Itās certainly viable to do that but if you have enough will power or practice, you can just adjust portion size and keep eating what youāre used to.
Think about what your priorities are: is it more important to chug that 2L of soda or is it more important to feel full throughout the day? Both have the same caloric ācostā but one will keep you happier in the long run.
iāve been on that diet for 5 years now. iāve lost around 40 kilos. at all points iāve made small incremental changes either in my food intake or my exercise output. each change has been small enough that iāve barely noticed and iāve stuck with it until the weight loss stopped for more than one month and then made another small incremental change. at no point along the way have i felt deprived or overworked. iām currently at a plateau because my normal mode of exercise is hampered due to one of my knees being at severe bone on bone arthritis and iām getting ready for a replacement surgery later this year after which i will be able to increase my exercise level again. i started at 185 kilos and my target is 120. it wouldnāt bother me if i got lower but 120 kilos represents the best shape iāve been in as an adult so that would easily do.
That guy is awesome. Amazing transformation. But to me the obvious take home message is not eat less and exercise more, but change your diet. It looks like he was managing his calorie budget, but he almost completely changed what he ate as well and thatās a hugely confounding factor.
What about an alternative hypothesis? That not all foods are equally susceptible to being shuttled off to fat storage. You eat more of the right kinds of food and you have more energy available for exercise and less going into fat. To me, thatās as intuitively obvious an answer as ācalories in = calories outā or the First Law.
I started at 305 and am now 230ā¦on the same idea as this guy. BUTā¦I first had to get over some very serious mental hangups about my own self-worth and learn habits that I was never taught in school or at home.
Yes, itās as simple as eating less and doing more (basic physics). No, it is not as simple as eating less and doing more (mental and emotional). Hooray for overweight people who understand the first of that. Skinny people who donāt accept the second of that can just fuck off.
Iām so glad Xeni decided to point out to fat people that they should eat less and exercise more. No one has ever suggested that before! Such wow. Many innovative. So helping.
āWhile most obesity docs insist that restrained eatingācounting calories or points or exchangesāis necessary for good health, not everyone agrees. About 10 years ago, Ellyn Satter, a dietitian and therapist in Madison, Wisconsin, developed a concept she calls eating competence, which encourages internal self-regulation about what and how much to eat rather than relying on calorie counts or lists of āgoodā and ābadā foods. Competent eaters, says Satter, enjoy food; theyāre not afraid of it. And thereās solid evidence that competent eaters score better on cardiovascular risk markers like total cholesterol, blood pressure, and triglycerides than non-competent eaters.ā
Of course it concludes āletās just TRY HARDER at this thing that basically doesnāt work,ā but the science is valuable.
But everybody knows you canāt be fat and fit, right?
http://www.obesitymyths.com/myth4.1.htm
Please, continue to inform us of how we just need to try this ONE WEIRD TRICK to lose weight.
This focus on weight loss and counting calories is all well and good, but focusing on your weight is really putting the cart before the horse.
The focus of any sane health plan should be: What activity do you want to become proficient at? For most folks, itās running or swimming. Maybe you want to be a better basketball player, cycle for 100 miles, or be able to hike up that mountain. Iām not saying become some superstar athleteā¦just an active person who loves to run or swim or whatever sport/activity brings you joy.
Once you have your athletic goal in mind, then work at becoming better at that sport or activity. So, that will entail foods that will help you reach that goalā¦which is invariably more veggies, less meat and processed food. Actually, Iām not too keen on the āeat lessā mantra. It should be āeat smarter.ā Because once you become active, you do need extra calories to maintain your active lifestyle. So it isnāt a case of āeating lessāā¦itās more of a case of āIāll eat steamed fish and kale instead of a cheeseburger and friesā. Replace that stupid Diet Coke with good old water. Think QUALITY, not volume.
And stop thinking in terms of āIāve lost five poundsā. Youāre better off thinking in terms of āIāve run an extra half mile todayā or āI can lift five more pounds nowāā¦or even just āI can go up five flights of stairs without being windedā. Track your progress by your athletic prowess, not your weight. Compete against yourself, not the weight scale.
Weight loss is the cherry on top of a sundae. Itās nice, but it isnāt the point of being healthy. Muscular endurance/strength and preventing disease is the point of being healthy. And most important, being physically fit is MORE FUN. It seems a lot of folks miss this obvious point.
Thatās still calories in = calories out, itās just the calories are coming out two paths: out your lungs when you exhale (for calories that were processed) and through your, uh, other hole (for calories you ate but your body doesnāt absorb).
Congratulations, you have invented Health at Every Size. 
In one context, yes, but itās the wrong context. Saying more people are going into a room than coming out might be true, but why is that true? You canāt tell someone whose body is abnormally retaining water as edema to ādrink less and sweat moreā. Might it not be true in the same way for the obese? The idea that the obese are suffering from a metabolic condition that causes some foods to be more quickly partitioned into fat storage than others just hasnāt been widely considered until recently. In this context, itās much more important to address what is being eaten rather than how much.
Canāt doctors use donated skin for burn victims etc? Seems to me a burn unit should do the surgery for free if it could be used to help some one else.
Or do they only graft skin from the same person?
I think the point is that is not a one weird trick, but a change in lifestyle. Losing weight (as I am trying to do as we speak) is a slow process that requires planning and goalsā¦ along with some trial and error, because you donāt know how your body is going to react.
And yes, if you are happy with your body, there is no reason to lose weight. But I doubt many folks 400 pounds overweight are happy with it. just a guess though.
hm, I wonder. itās probably dictated by the normal organ donation stuff, the receiverās body has to not reject it, either thru close genes or drugs, right? they always say the skin is the largest organ of the body, so I guess the same rules apply? anyhow, your idea is a great one, provided the people are compatible for a donation.
