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Things That Are Just...Wrong In America

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Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,767
8,762
dumb ass people are being manipulated...anyone with any common sense knows fast food is garbage and eats it sparingly if at all.
I'd blame what we've been fed by the food industry. If a calorie truly is fungible with any other calorie, why not just count calories and eat crap? (including the diet soda)

Note that I totally don't believe this to be true (see my thread for a deep dive into this), but if you just go by the labels, 100 calories of Fritos should have the same effect on you as 100 calories of ribeye, or 100 calories of kale...
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,106
15,187
Portland, OR
I'd blame what we've been fed by the food industry. If a calorie truly is fungible with any other calorie, why not just count calories and eat crap? (including the diet soda)

Note that I totally don't believe this to be true (see my thread for a deep dive into this), but if you just go by the labels, 100 calories of Fritos should have the same effect on you as 100 calories of ribeye, or 100 calories of kale...
Not to be a total ass, but counting my intake vs burned calories was how I dropped 80#. Granted I also used some common sense and tried to "make my calories count" as well.

As a side note, my "Birthday Dinner" this year is a trip to the Chinese Buffet. My wife hates buffets where as I enjoy them from time to time. Not a fan of the Golden Corral or most American buffets, but I enjoy others. Not for the ability to gorge myself, just for the variety.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,767
8,762
Not to be a total ass, but counting my intake vs burned calories was how I dropped 80#. Granted I also used some common sense and tried to "make my calories count" as well.

As a side note, my "Birthday Dinner" this year is a trip to the Chinese Buffet. My wife hates buffets where as I enjoy them from time to time. Not a fan of the Golden Corral or most American buffets, but I enjoy others. Not for the ability to gorge myself, just for the variety.
Yeah, it works for some people. See Eric's example as well, or the 1 of 16 people on The Biggest Loser that kept the weight off after the show.

For many of us (almost all of us in large studies) the metabolic compensation effect causes a swing back to the original weight within a few months, though.

Good on you for making a change, though.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,106
15,187
Portland, OR
Yeah, it works for some people. See Eric's example as well, or the 1 of 16 people on The Biggest Loser that kept the weight off after the show.

For many of us (almost all of us in large studies) the metabolic compensation effect causes a swing back to the original weight within a few months, though.

Good on you for making a change, though.
The Biggest Looser is an interesting case. While my weight loss was pretty big, 80# over 6+ months (or about 25%of my mass) isn't nearly the same level as what they do on the show.

Also, I was in the best shape of my life when I left the Army in '07 and the weight gain was from then to '10, so it wasn't like I was a fat kid my whole life, only a few years.

I need to find the original study that inspired me. It was done in Australia, I think. It was a control group and 3 different diets. Keto, Atkins, and Raw or some shit. The common theme was the caloric intake and activity levels were the same.

The results were near identical results regardless of "diet". That's when I decided to do some rough math and keep notes.

My issues now it I've been shrinking for the last 2 years or so. I struggle to keep my weight above 200 and have lost all my muscle mass.
 

Nick

My name is Nick
Sep 21, 2001
24,918
16,505
where the trails are
Since I've moved into a diet heavy in artesian Opossum gravy I look great and have never felt better. :thumb:

(upping my exercise/lifting frequency and a week of pneumonia, down 7# in about three weeks)

What's wrong with America is we all work too much and ride too little.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,767
8,762
The Biggest Looser is an interesting case. While my weight loss was pretty big, 80# over 6+ months (or about 25%of my mass) isn't nearly the same level as what they do on the show.

Also, I was in the best shape of my life when I left the Army in '07 and the weight gain was from then to '10, so it wasn't like I was a fat kid my whole life, only a few years.
The Biggest Loser people lost 38% of mass on average, so not a tremendous more than you.


Gaining that weight over 3 years probably aided you, in that your body was probably upregulating metabolism to return to its 2007 set point. That may have made shedding that weight easier than for someone who gained 3-5 lbs per year fairly consistently over 15 years.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,106
15,187
Portland, OR
The Biggest Loser people lost 38% of mass on average, so not a tremendous more than you.


Gaining that weight over 3 years probably aided you, in that your body was probably upregulating metabolism to return to its 2007 set point. That may have made shedding that weight easier than for someone who gained 3-5 lbs per year fairly consistently over 15 years.
Like my buddies ex who was a fat kid basically her whole life until about 25, she made changes and has been fit for like 10 years now. But she works hard at keeping it off and doesn't want to go back there.

Vs his wife who had gastric bypass, lost a bunch of weight and has since regained almost all of it. But one puts in the work and the results are obvious.

These days I just make sure I step on the scale at least once a week and make minor adjustments accordingly.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,767
8,762
I need to find the original study that inspired me. It was done in Australia, I think. It was a control group and 3 different diets. Keto, Atkins, and Raw or some shit. The common theme was the caloric intake and activity levels were the same.

The results were near identical results regardless of "diet". That's when I decided to do some rough math and keep notes.
There have been a couple of those studies, yes. The problems with these studies are several:

1) Generally these are ones where each group is given guidelines on what to eat. They all tend to revert to the mean when this happens, so their groups really aren't as different as planned in terms of carb versus fat content, etc.

2) Moreover, they may be based on food surveys. In one egregious example people were followed for 25 years and had 2 food surveys over that period, with a 12 year gap in the middle. From these sparse, crappy data the authors made sweeping claims. No bueno. People have bad memories, they lie, and things change over 12 years!

The good studies are those that have the participants admitted and control their food precisely. Here's one:


Over 4 weeks these men decreased their respiratory quotient (translation: burning more fat) and increased their energy expenditure by 151 calories per day... and this is with the ketogenic and baseline diets identical in calories. (Sure, they also lost weight proportional to the calories and even lost some lean mass, but 4 weeks isn't that long.)

My point here is that the high quality evidence suggests metabolism is indeed affected by the macros in one's diet, and many of the studies out there are crap.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,106
15,187
Portland, OR
I honestly didn't notice I was getting fatter. At 298#, I was still squeezing into my 40" Levi's, but hadn't noticed the button was now concaved. I didn't have a scale and hadn't really been to the doctor, so I thought I was still 250 maybe? But when my dress pants that were 40" didn't fit and I measured 46" around, I was shocked. After I got back from pops funeral, I went to see a doc. Hearing that I was just shy of 300 scared me. Doc was going to put me on blood pressure meds, too. I asked him to wait and see if I could drop it and go from there.

But yeah, I had to GAIN weight at 19 to join the Navy because I was 6'4" and only 168#. :rofl:

So it's not like my weight has been a life struggle.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,164
10,706
AK
Lots of older people in this office have had gastric bypass. Then they get skinny. Then they get fat again. No one actually maintains an active lifestyle. They prioritize everything else in life above it, like getting married, kids, house, job, etc. Business wants you to do these things so you buy more stuff. Family pressures you to adopt social norms like “oh you gotta get married and buy a house!”, etc. if you aren’t around because you have a heart attack, what’s the point of any of this?
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,767
8,762
I would have been one of those people who did well long term on gastric bypass, and I do see them in follow-up CT scans and the like as well as the ones who get fat again.

But if one can replicate that physiology that causes the first year or two weight loss with fasting, then why get cut and risk its own complications? (And also forgo any chance to eat a real meal forever on.)
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,016
22,047
Sleazattle
i'm still rolling with "drinkashittonofbeereatfoodlateatnightandridethefuckouttayourbikemonkey.com"
Sir, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

When I was 25 I weighed 200 lbs. I rode several times a week, ate crap and drank beer. Then one year I started doing longer and harder rides. I lost 50 lbs in a summer, ate crap and pounded beers. 20 years later I ride less but still am closer to 150 than 200. I can't help but think people who complain that they can't lose weight with exercise have an effort issue.