Weight Loss Thread

Most people looking to lose weight don't actually lift weights though, even though body recomposition will be way more successful than just dieting with tons of cardio.

Having been heavily into lifting now for a few years, I've determined that 99% of the population doesn't have the willingness to dedicate themselves to the gym like I do. There are always excuses why they have to skip a workout. That leads to skipping multiple workouts and then finally just not going anymore.

The people I work with don't get to see me force feeding myself during a bulk or almost passing out from a heavy squat or deadlift day. It's not just a day to day thing, it's literally dedicating myself hour to hour with diet choices. It's a complete lifestyle change. I can absolutely understand why someone wouldn't want to subject themselves to that, but there's a reason most people look like shit and I don't.

That said, I feel like if people put in even a quarter of the effort I do, they could be drastically healthier.

This rambling is brought to you by my coworkers who asked me to help them out at the gym, went once or twice, and then flaked out week after week (there have been several now, and I basically won't take people anymore). If you can't free up 2-3 hours a week, you're not worth my time. The part that really bothers me is that if they just would've stuck with it for 3-4 months, they'd probably be at their goal by now. But that's just way too much work.

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I think the problem, other than working out just being plain boring for most people, is that they try to make massive lifestyle changes all at once, diet for a day or two, hit the gym once or twice and then hate it and they're bored and tired and they give up. IMO it's absurd to go from lazy and overweight to hardcore dieting and gym 3x a week, like sure it'll work for some people, but the majority, no way.

For myself, I've started with basic diet changes, drinking mostly water instead of soft drinks and the like, cutting off fast food and junk food, reducing the amount of cheese I put on sandwiches, less frozen food and shit like that, along with 20 or 30 minutes on a treadmill every afternoon (at home where I can watch TV while I do it) and really basic exercises during the day (20 pushups while stuck a loading screen kinda thing), and just that as it is has me losing 1kg/week or so. I can guarantee you if I'd tried to do a 180 with my diet and hit the gym every other night, I'd have given up after 2 days. Seen the same thing in so many of my friends, they stock up on protein powder and buy a year long gym membership, then 2 weeks later they're back to sitting around drinking beer, smoking weed and eating pizza every night. We're creatures of habit and we resist sudden or forceful change on a subconscious level.

Honestly, the people I feel really bad for are the ones who have terrible parents, were fed KFC and McDonalds every night from childhood and were obese by the time they hit late teenage years. It'd be a fucking nightmare, changing after that kind of lifestyle, for that long, in that kind of environment, and even if they manage it, they've already done massive damage to their body. Should be qualified as child abuse imo.

Azrayne_sl said:

I think the problem, other than working out just being plain boring for most people, is that they try to make massive lifestyle changes all at once, diet for a day or two, hit the gym once or twice and then hate it and they're bored and tired and they give up. IMO it's absurd to go from lazy and overweight to hardcore dieting and gym 3x a week, like sure it'll work for some people, but the majority, no way.

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This. Whenever I had tried to lose weight previously I bit off more than I could chew. When I was not successful I just gave up. Introducing things bit by bit is definitely the way to go. I still do not enjoy working out, but setting small goals can help in the interim.

Current goal is touching my palms to the floor. I can get my fingers / top of palm down so far. I am about 2 inches from having palms flat when I stretch. Then I will just have to figure out something else.

That may be goal #3 or #4, I have to have something to look forward to.

Elurin_sl said:

Most people looking to lose weight don't actually lift weights though, even though body recomposition will be way more successful than just dieting with tons of cardio.

Having been heavily into lifting now for a few years, I've determined that 99% of the population doesn't have the willingness to dedicate themselves to the gym like I do. There are always excuses why they have to skip a workout. That leads to skipping multiple workouts and then finally just not going anymore.

The people I work with don't get to see me force feeding myself during a bulk or almost passing out from a heavy squat or deadlift day. It's not just a day to day thing, it's literally dedicating myself hour to hour with diet choices. It's a complete lifestyle change. I can absolutely understand why someone wouldn't want to subject themselves to that, but there's a reason most people look like shit and I don't.

That said, I feel like if people put in even a quarter of the effort I do, they could be drastically healthier.

This rambling is brought to you by my coworkers who asked me to help them out at the gym, went once or twice, and then flaked out week after week (there have been several now, and I basically won't take people anymore). If you can't free up 2-3 hours a week, you're not worth my time. The part that really bothers me is that if they just would've stuck with it for 3-4 months, they'd probably be at their goal by now. But that's just way too much work.

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Bro fist. Good posting bro. Tell those other bros to get on your level bro.

nate_sl said:

Bro fist. Good posting bro. Tell those other bros to get on your level bro.

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Watching people go to the gym and then jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes and call it a workout just bugs the hell out of me.

Endless cardio for no real benefit. They're not training for anything. They don't adjust their eating habits. Just jog and pretend it'll make a difference.

Definition of a skinny-fat guy at work who does the treadmill and then does random isolation exercises for his arms and some behind the back shrug in the smith machine at minuscule weights and randomly selects which to do. Large gut, no definition anywhere else.

I'm just rustled that people won't stop believing that cardio>everything else and just throw their time away all the while wondering why they're not getting results.

I know why I'm not getting results, I'm not eating enough because I still don't fully understand nutrition but I'm working on it (what do I consume on workout days vs rest days, number of calories on each in order to properly bulk, etc).

Confirmed rustled jimmies.

Haven't gone to the gym in two weeks due to illness/work/school.

Do you know what it's like to want to deadlift so bad you dream about it?

Pretty sure I have bronchitis though.

30 minutes on the treadmill can be a lot or little, depending on how much someone works. It also doesn't matter how much you exercise if you're still downing deep fried food full of trans fats several times a week. I think these are the people Leadsalad is talking about. I swear to god I walk faster when I'm doing grocery shopping than some people on treadmills at the gym.

Absolutely. I fully support anyone making healthier lifestyle choices, even if it's only a half-hearted attempt. However, I think a big problem a lot of people have is that they use their "exercise" to justify eating more junk than they normally would. For example, they make an extra trip to McDonalds because "they earned it at the gym". They almost certainly end up taking in more calories and unhealthy fats than they burned. That's a dangerous mindset to have, but I know a lot of people who think that way.

Well to be fair the only reason you walk so fast at the store is so you can get home and make your Bagel Bite and pizza roll sandwiches dipped in Frito's Queso sauce as quickly as possible.

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You don't know how true this is. Last weekend I bought Doritos, cookies, and ingredients for chili cheese tots and the cookies didn't even survive the drive home.

Incoming "I can't find any reputable sources right now because everything is blocked at work so someone help corroborate or vilify these claims"

From what I understand jogging is a pretty fruitless routine to get into and it can actually be bad for your heart in the long run. Short duration, intense bursts of exercise are way, way more effective at both burning calories and keeping you in good cardiovascular shape. The arguments I've heard that put this in real world terms (for me) are that traditionally, athletes like hockey players who play short shifts at high intensity are in much better cardiovascular shape than athletes like marathon runners because of this and at considerably lower risk of heart failure during their exercise routines. I don't really know, and it's been a long time since I read about it but I'm actually interested in seeing some proof if anyone cares to look it up since I can't right now.

I did find one interesting study which deals more with how effective short bursts even over just a 2.5 minute period per day can help burn up to 200 calories more than if you had done nothing for the entire day:

http://health.india.com/news/short-h...r-a-long-time/

Comparing anything to marathon runners is always going to come out on top. You ever seen someone after a marathon? It's like they want to fucking die. Marathons are stupid.

Elurin_sl said:

Comparing anything to marathon runners is always going to come out on top. You ever seen someone after a marathon? It's like they want to fucking die. Marathons are stupid.

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I meant it more as an overall health kind of thing. Not a "right after a marathon" kind of thing. Even people who run marathons typically only run one or a two a year and as I understand it, even when they are training they rarely run more than 13 miles at once.

Every distance runner I've ever known has run (lol pun) into knee problems eventually. Running long distances--yes, 13 miles is still a fucking long distance--just doesn't seem natural to me. Human bodies aren't designed to do that kind of prolonged running.

I agree, and am genuinely interested in the cardiovascular health implications of the two as well, which is why I'm hoping someone will look it up and drop some knowledge before I leave work because I'm going to forget by then.

Deathwing_sl said:

Is it fair to use marathon runners as a comparison? Marathon running can affect your immune system among other things I'm not going to bother substantiating because ain't nobody here running marathons.

Khane, I'll be honest, your post about short bursts being better than cardio might actually be true, but my initial reaction was that it sounded kinda bro-ish.

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It was just an example. Forget marathon runners then and just use "runners" in general. Most runners I know do between 3 and 6 miles 3-4 times per week (some do more than that). How did it sound bro-ish?

I'm interested in studies that have researched the cardiovascular implications of short intense bursts vs prolonged periods of low or moderate intensity. It doesn't even have to be running. Meh, I hate my company's web filter. Not sure why rerolled isn't blocked when practically everything else is. Even MS technet articles are blocked here.