# Dieting



## mummylulu (Sep 23, 2002)

Has anyone ideas on losing weight.I have tried many different diets but can't lose weight


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## Mike NoLomotil (Jun 6, 2000)

HI LUIE-LUIE.







Let us assume you have had your thyroid profile checked and you are normal. what I say is in that context.Due to the circumstances of the work I do, I have had occasion to read quite a bit on weight loss/control/managment/obesity/psychological aspects ad nauseum right up to the so-called "fat gene" and all manner of weight control programs from Weight Watchers to Atkins and travelled from The Zone to the Bo-Zone. And to have spent time on the subject with some knowledgeable dieticians and bariatric phyisicians. Keep in mind this is one of the most lucrative industries in our society, THE most common source of "health protocols" or "symptom management programs" and, overall, has the poorest long term outcomes of any "morbid" condition, as recidivism is the rule not the exception.No other problem leads to industry victimization of more women, with the possible exception of the victimization of women perpetrated by the cosmetics industry (another place I spent some time on the inside and had my eyes forcibly opened widely).Now that the diatribe has been truncated....There are going to be people who will read what I am about to write and writhe in agony over what they will denounce as oversimplification.I don't really care because with some things the plain truth is too simple to be marketable.Again, I repeat, I am speaking in the context of assuming your doctor has thoroughly examined you for organic causes of whatever weight problem you believe you have, or do have (there is a difference, both problems exist, and have different solutions.......so lets assume you have a real weight problem...your BMI is too high).Some people gain some weight they cannot get rid of from simple changes in water balance that cause them to , well, retain too much water in the bodies storage depots for water. This can come from certain hormonal imbalances, and from certain reactions which can occur in the digestive tract to foods or chemicals which alter the permeability of the gut wall due to the effects of certain naturally occurring chemicals and thus they carry round a few extra pounds. When these kinds of problems are brought under control, they shed those pounds. I lost about 6 pounds or so from this when my problem was corrected. I was not fat, I was a water-bearing skinny guy. This has nothing to do with fat, it is weight and unwanted weight can be water and/or fat.Some doctors who know this happens try to postulate further that these chemicals also alter lypolisis and/or lypogenesis and thus can cause more fat to be stored.ehhh....







...from what I read this indeed can be an effect of certain mediators but it has not been actually quantified under controlled conditions.This is some of the more esoteric stuff, but about the only way that FST WEIGHT LOSS occurs...diuresis, or, protocols which make you lose water weight fast one way or another. Be aware of this as a possibility in any weight loss protocol as the idea is to get the water off for fast-weight loss and thus create not just the therapeutic benefits, but also a "hook" which will keep you coming back if "products" are involved. This hook is used to create what is called "continuity revenues"..backend-sales...can we say "buy these bars" or "eat these meals" or "drink this magic liquid"...whatever...which is the basis for the next phase of weight loss...loss of physiologic weight or, hopefully, fat.No, I will not go into all the various pontifications about how to make sue the body metabolizes fat instead of muscle tissue yadda yadda yadda. This is often from the marketing-guys-disguised-as-weight-control-authority-figures.Nope. Lets just be simple. If you reduce your caloric intake BELOW your caloric needs based on your present metabolic rate you will lose weight. And if you do it with a balanced diet which is just about 300-500 calories per day lower than your steady-state caloric intake (the caloric rate which keeps your weight steady...or "baseline") one can look forward to losing roughly a pound a week.Simple.The CAVEATS are as follows:1. It seems there is enough support in the literature to safely say that you can generally only vary your body weight within +/- about 10% of whatever weight you are "geneticallly programmed to"...or, yout normal weight your body will adjust itself to maintain. You can fool around inside that range easily.2. Once you lose weight enough to start getting past that -10% set-point your metabolic rate will begin to slow, thus your caloric baseline will get lower...approaching and even equaling your new base dietary intake and...weight loss ceases. UNLESS you push-it with metabolism-accelerating chemicals...OTC or prescription. So it does not matter if the doc gives you a scrip for speed or if you swallow it as "natural", like OTC ephedra...do not be misled speed is speed and it is not natural and it is not a safe way to lose weight. Sorry whomever is selling any such formulation MLM or otherwise, but that's the fact and consumers are certainly allowed to choose to use legal speed if they want, but that does not make it a fuzzy-teddy-bear. It has teeth and one needs to be aware.3. INSTEAD what one needs to do if one wants to get to a goal weight, and it turns out that goal weight is lowere than your base set point your body is going to try to maintain, the only way to do that is to exercise along with the reduced caliric intake.####. I knew he was going to say that.







3. BUT not just nay old exercise. In the olden days we used to use charts of caloric consumption from walking, for example, and shjow how walking so many miles burned so many extar calories etc etc etc.So this works for awhile too if that is what you do..walking, stairmaster, aerobics, Jazzercise, step-aerobics, Mung Shung Bung Martial Arts Weight loss videos, WHAT-ever.







"What are you so cynical MNL?", they query. BECAUSE many peoples bodies are quite diabolical about this...you do not really do anything this way which will avoid the need to keep doing this constantly and forever at a fairly accelerated pace, and forever restricting your dietary intake, since this form of caloric burning ALONE does not alter metabolic rate except transiently for the most part.So what is recommended if you want to get the weight down, keep it down, and not have to necessarily eat in a fashion where you must constantly count calories and constantly keep buying new jump-around-flailing videos (most people get pretty bored pretty quick with the jump-around-exercise or walking..its easy to get jaded and then recidivise).To me, and most dietcians I know (who are the people a person should be working with on a real weight control program which is nutritionally balanced, not the 'Counselor' at the [INSERT POPULAR NAME] Weight Loss Center) the thing a person must add to make this work is something which adds muscle mass.You can increase your base metabolic rate, and burn more calories not only when you are working out but when you are sitting or sleeping or doing whatever you do for adult entertainment and probably do it better, by forms of exercise which increase the mount of muscle on your body.OH NO I DON'T WANT TO SOME FEMALE BODY BUILDER is the first thing that is blurted by, oh, 40% of the women I mention this to, or men for that matter. When we examine this objection closely in people who stick to it we find this is mostly a way of justifying avoidance of somehting that does not please them...this sounds too much like work, but if we know it is what we must do to succeed, the human mind is a terrible thing...it will rebel against what pleases it not but often cannot just say outright "I ain't lifing weights because I don't want to....I'd rather just take that pill you talked about sounds better already" etc. So we orally and loudly denounce an objective as if it exists, which it does NOT, which we believe others will accept as a good reason to not do it. "Oh that dietician is trying to make you into some freak with weight lifting...her and that trainer I am SURE are conspiring. Bet they do this 20 times a day, girl. Sc-w them, MY counselor over at Midas Mufflers and Weight Loss has a GREAT program with these supplements and energy bars you need to look into...and you can eat whatever you want as much as you want and still lose 100 pounds a week!!!" [GTREAT! Off the hook without blame or guilt! ]So, for the readers recoiling from the idea, well, these are your choices. I can only eel you want I have learned on pretty good authority and then you do as you wish. BUT we are NOT talking about CHARLOTTE ATLAS as a goal here...rather healthy toning via skeletal muscle exercise with weighted resistance in one form or another so as to increase the muscle mass enough to increase the resting metabolic rate. It burns more calories at rest than other types of tissue. And you don't have to look like Peggy Schwartzenegger to achieve the effect.Anyway, that's my take on the question, and most RD's will confirm that the general concepts I have set forth do hold water, and a good RD can put you on a rational, balanced diet and exercise plan which will accomplish this. BUT like any lifestyle change one does have to accept that you must do it the way the therapist says to do it or it will not work.Or, one can follow one of the many other protocols which, while requiring less physical commitment often require a much deeper commitment: out of your pocket, and for your money you may become a statistic&#8230;not a success story but one who counts in their high recidivism rate.The scientific advances in passive weight loss, while there may be some on the research horizon, are not nearly ready for the mass market yet so options are limited.If you would like more info I recommend you email or post Jan Patanaude, RD, who is head of the LEAP HomeCare program as working with IBS victims is far from her only work...she is very knowledgeable in this area and could guide you to perhaps a local dietician (she gets around alot) who could work with you.







MNL


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## Julia37 (May 9, 2001)

Hi, I'd like to add a couple of things.When it comes to changing your diet, try substituting low-fat foods for high-fat foods. For example, if you're in the habit of eating fried chips, eat crackers instead. Instead of ice cream eat low-fat yogurt. Instead of spreading your bread with butter, dip it in olive oil. Etc. This is much easier than depriving yourself of favorite foods, and you can do it indefinitely. Once you get in the habit of eating the low-fat, you'll lose your taste for the high-fat. I promise - I had to give up butter because of my dairy sensitivity, and about 2 months ago I ate some, and it didn't even taste good! The same thing happened with potato chips.For exercise, it has to be an exercise you enjoy, or you won't keep doing it. I never exercised much until I started swing dancing. I went dancing 3 times a week and put on 10 pounds of muscle in a year.







But I looked thinner. Now the forms of exercise I enjoy most are dancing and bicycling. If you don't know what kind of exercise you like, you'll have to try them until you find one.Some people are genetically programmed to be big. From time to time I've read articles in lay magazines about big women who exercise, eat right, all their vital signs are perfect - and they're still big, so they just accept that. There's no reason to let being big hold you back. I knew a big beautiful woman who had dates all the time, it was her grooming and social skills that determined her lifestyle, not her size.


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