Ah, but that’s not an exercise gadget, it’s a transportation gadget!
And if it’s a fad, it’s a 140-year-old one…
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That’s what @michaeljtobias posted a little further up - one drink. I assume he has another one he’s hiding from us, to make sure he reaches the recommended dose.
I really don’t like to be that guy that proclaims his dieting fad as the magic cure-all to all your problems but when I read things like this, I can’t help it, that suffering sounds really familiar and the fact that it isn’t necessary really pains me.
The key revelation for me when I switched my diet was that cutting carbs really helps with managing or even eliminating hunger. So much so that I (very) occasionally notice I’ve been eating too little because I’m feeling a bit weak. No hunger cues at all. This makes losing weight so, so much easier.
People are still right when they say it is about calories in vs calories out, but if you have no hunger keeping those numbers balanced becomes 100 times easier.
I got started with this via Paleo, reading on http://marksdailyapple.com/ You have to cut through the commercialism of that site to get at the relevant info but if you are a boingboing reader you should be used to that 
But it doesn’t really matter what regime you follow, as soon as you remove all added sugars and drastically lower the amount of carbs, cutting bread, pasta, white potatoes, etc, your good. Replace with fat, protein or a mix of both. The feeling of having real control over your weight without too much in the way of suffering is really worth the sacrifice of giving up part of my old food habits to me.
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You’ll shoot your eye out.
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Thanks for writing just what I would say too.
The one recommendation I would make about reducing carbs is to start keeping track of your diet via an app; I use “Lose It”. Then start ramping down your carbs until you get between 100-150 a day.
Also try as much as possible to eliminate grains, sugars and processed cheeto type starches.
The key is to increase your fat consumption to make up for the lower carbs; ie avocado, butter, olive oil, nuts, sunflower seeds. Fat is our body’s energy storage mechanism and if you eat higher carbs then your body uses those for energy and stores the fat.
It is tough cutting down the carbs, and you will probably feel cruddy at first but as you get used to it you can reduce fat as well so that you access more of your body’s own fat.
Don’t go crazy with protein either. 0.7 grams of protein per pound of LEAN body mass (your weight minus all your fat) per day is the recomendation I have heard.
I too recommend Marks Daily Apple. He just released a book called the Keto Reset Diet which I highly recommend. The first half describes in more detail what I mentioned about fat. I am not sure if I have the discipline to go Keto, but a lot of people seem to be geeking out on that these days.
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My housemates and I have been trying various things over the years to lose weight, and the one that’s worked has been Rising Heroes, a program by the Nerd Fitness guys. It’s basically a virtual life-coach/personal trainer based around a secret agent style game; you get weekly missions and tasks that might be puzzles, fitness goals, life goals (“cook three meals this week from scratch using vegetables you don’t usually eat”), etc. Its nutrition aspect is very paleo-focused so we combine it with Weight Watchers to count points rather than calories. The most recent revamp to WW encourages cutting carbs and sugars.
The three of us started it last summer. I started at 200 and am down to 165; my two housemates have both lost around 60 lbs each. We’ve all plateaued but are working hard to push for more loss.
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Which part, more than one drink for a woman, more than 2 more a man, or the legal drinking age?
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Touché. I should have been more clear.
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Like @kingannoy, @doctorow and @Kabochahe, I lost a significant amount of weight and have kept it off by removing sweeteners and other processed carbs from my life. I do have to keep my calcium levels up - but luckily, I like milk.
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To be fair, I’m gonna break that rule, too, tonight (more than one alcoholic drink for wimmins)!
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Fat female and 50? Is that what you’re invoking? I guess you’re unaware of the withered old crone that used to be the image of older women?
I’m 48. I have great body composition. I didn’t always. I got here by exercise, educating myself on portion sizes, counting calories, and lifting weights. In other words, I followed guidelines for diet and exercise.
Fat, female, and 50 is a myth sold to the public by people who want to undermine you so they can sell you things or keep you down.
My great grandma wasn’t fat. My grandmothers weren’t fat. The idea that peri-menopausal women can’t be healthy with proper body composition is ageist and sexist. How many men do you see over at 50 who have the body they had at 20, 30, or 40? How often do you here hear derogatory remarks about “dad bod.” In fact, “dad bod” was considered “attractive” a few years ago. The idea that a woman should still look like a young hot chick at 50 continues the sexist attitude of valuing a woman on her appearance, sex appeal, and youth.
The idea that people at 50 should still look like they did in previous decades also ignores physiological changes. As we age, we actually need more body fat, not less (see chart). Expecting peri-menopausal women to maintain body standards that only apply to younger people risks their health. Pressuring women of any age to maintain strict body standards risks their health, from bone density to lean muscle mass to reproductive health. And the same is true for men.
That older people are heavier now than they were a few decades ago is another aspect of the obesity crisis in full force in most western advanced societies. If women at 50 are less fit and weigh more now, it is because almost everyone in society does, including men and women of all ages. It is not because their hormones betrayed them. This is not a female condition, it is not a hormonal condition, it is a societal condition.
Sorry if my reaction is too strong but the idea that women can only be healthy when young at best displays lack of knowledge and experience and effort or it’s unexamined sexism and ageism. Now, if I may excuse myself, I’m going to the (Olympic) bar for some high grade squats.
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That’s not what I’m saying. Not sure why you picked the age of 50, but I agree that someone’s weight has nothing to do with their age. I picked a different age, based on when most of my friends started feeling less energetic than before.
My comment was intended to point out that the majority of these articles focus on men. Men and women do not generally have the same muscle mass, so I am doubtful that a woman doing the exact same thing touted in these personal experiments will get the same results.
If you’ve followed these guidelines for a year and had similar results, great!
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I picked that age because “fat, female, and 50” is a phrase commonly thrown around, including by health and fitness professionals. Sometimes it’s “fat, female, and 40.”
But why would any person of 30 expect to have the energy they had at 20? Does a 20-year-old have the energy of a 10-year-old?
A woman’s health is based on gender standards, not by expecting men and women to achieve the same muscle mass. Women aren’t expected to have the same muscle mass as men. The chart I posted is also broken down by gender. The guidelines do not deliver a goal weight or body composition (muscle to fat ratio). The guidelines establish baselne activity levels and base nutrition needs. The guidelines say in general you need 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity exercise for baseline health. The dietary guidelines say in general, you need x servings of fruit and vegetables, fats, protein, carb. Actual needs depend on gender, activity level, height and weight. A man who is 5’6” has different needs than a man of 6’2”. The exercise guidelines are general for all people. They are not specific to men. Therefore anyone can follow the guidelines and improve their health.
Dietary guidelines are basic as well. The goals of both guidelines are to maintain basic health. They aren’t the guidelines for improving strength, losing weight, changing body fat, prepping for a marathon, or building energy to chase your kids.
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Perhaps it is the hormones in the food process that makes them (veggies) grow faster and in the case of meat, fatter.
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Who do mean by “them?”
Honestly people don’t realize how little we move and how much we eat and how poor our nutrition is. Michael Pollan was right that we need to eat food that people recognized as food before World War I.
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Mine were! And decades before menopause!
Luckily, I have the maturity and lifestyle habits of a little kid. Time to go pet strange dogs and play in the dirt…
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If I weren’t married and peri-menopausal, I might have to ask you on a date. We might have to agree to disagree on Airodynes, however. And maybe politics (guessing about the red part). But we could get together and make mud pies and pet dogs.
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Chillax. ‘RedFury’ was my very ironic nickname for my second car, whom I raised from the dead more than once. I was trying to boost it’s self-esteem so it wouldn’t strand me all the damned time like its POS predecessor.
I forgot what Airodynes were, so I had to Google them rather quickly. Look at it this way: If you are a fan (huh-huh…‘fan’) of Airodynes, and I pull exercise bikes out of dumpsters, modify them with hacksaws, then destroy them from abuse…well, aren’t you glad I’m not doing all that to an Airodyne? You get to have all the ones I didn’t get my filthy paws on.
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The stuff that gives nutrients.
Not Solyent Green level.
NYet?
