Weight Loss Thread

Some of the dumbest shit I ever read on this forum, and I follow Ossoi and Onoes very closely. Congrats

He didn't state it overly well, but he has some basic stuff right. Changing your mentality about food and eating goes a long way in making positive dietary changes. When I taught myself to stop looking forward to food as a source of pleasure and focus on it as simply a necessary source of fuel, I suddenly started making progress.

I fully expected his last line to be "Respect the cock!"

Yeah he's got the basics right, but there's some key problems with those types of statements. The people who are most likely to look at food as fuel are not the ones that "need" to look at it as fuel. They usually have fitness goals and stuff already in mind, and are probably dialing in their diet already. The people that should are the McCheese's of the world, and they aren't going to change their outlook on nutrition with a few catchy words and some slogans.

Even though I think the message, once you take the hyperbole and campaign rhetoric out, isn't wrong, I think it is probably not right for a very large portion of people in the world. For example, I was a professional cook/sous-chef for a decade; I love the shit out of food. But I also know how to control portion sizes and plan a little bit ahead to make a healthy diet that gives me what I need yet at a slight caloric deficit, which I expand by lifting/cardio to work weight down. Trying to view it as "fuel" simply isn't possible for someone like me. People that genuinely get pleasure from eating food aren't going to be able to make this mindset jump to "food is fuel" with any level of realistic acceptance. If anything, the easier and definitely more easily attained goal would be to limit the amount of "pleasure" you get from eating by making the super good stuff infrequently, and instead having a baseline of good stuff in your meals. That way when you get the amazing item, you are ecstatic. But by making it infrequent, you aren't desensitized to just how good it is, and it will taste better. Then dial the diet around those reward days.

Like others have said, it isn't your day to day intake, it is your overall intake that affects weight loss/gain. Literally planning a full on cheat day into your menu means the rest of the week is geared towards making it less of a blow. That's how you get people to view food intake differently, not this fuel stuff. Make the good stuff the reward, not some abstract concept that non-professional atheletes will have issues accepting.

I think there is a little extra implied when people say "view food as fuel, not pleasure", because, as Rezz said, there are plenty of people who understand portion control but still derive extreme amounts of pleasure from food. The implied part is to not use food as your sole source of pleasure and/or replace other pleasures with the pleasure you get from food.

I ended up in the middle of food as fuel vs. pleasure spectrum. I really enjoy eating, hence being a fatty. However, I still get a large amount of enjoyment out of eating food while losing weight. I am looking forward to what I am going to eat next because it will be delicious, etc. The difference now is that it fits into my daily / weekly macros and I recognize it as energy. Sacrifices will be made, but I definitely appreciate more types of food now (mainly vegetables) than I ever have before. I would say it even expanded my palette by forcing my hand.

THIN FEELS BETTER THAN HUNGRY CAN EVER HURT.

I dunno. There are plenty of people that "food as fuel" works fine for. But it's sort of a joyless mindset. Most of the time food is just fuel, but there are certain things that I very much take pleasure in consuming. And even if it's just something so that I don't get a headache, or something that I can feel a sick coming on and I need some protein STAT... I still want the stuff I'm putting in my mouth hole to be a pleasant experience.

The trick is mostly to have a little self discipline and not over indulge in pleasure. Ultimately food is just fuel, but that doesn't mean it needs to taste like gasoline and coal.

I find tracking calories works best for me. I use an this site/app:Sign In

I will go about six months tracking my calories really well and lose weight. Then I get lazy and think I can control things myself and extra calories start slowly trickling in. A few months later I realize my jeans feel tight and back on the calorie counting I go. Someday I may learn to just never stop counting.

I used to do 1500 calories per day, but now that I have a standing desk at work as well as at home I set my cap at 1700 while still trying for about 1500. The thing I like about calorie counting is that I can eat whatever I want as long as I don't exceed my cap. Dinner is generally my lightest meal which consists of a huge green salad accompanied by a small dish.

I buy clothes at the thrift store, so a big motivation is staying small enough that I have more choices there.

I just eat so I'm not hungry. I find the feeling of being full absolutely disgusting so I've stopped eating until I feel like I'm going to pop like 10 years ago.

I've tried eating until I was full, but that always ends in heartache because I just don't feel full easily. I need a hard stop.

Elsebet_sl said:

I find tracking calories works best for me. I use an this site/app:Sign In

I will go about six months tracking my calories really well and lose weight. Then I get lazy and think I can control things myself and extra calories start slowly trickling in. A few months later I realize my jeans feel tight and back on the calorie counting I go. Someday I may learn to just never stop counting.

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That's a perfectly sane way to live. There is nothing particularly enjoyable about tracking diet every day just to be in maintenance. The mistake most people make is letting it go too long and if your really honest with yourself you know pretty much exactly when you're overdoing it.

Itlan_sl said:

Some of the dumbest shit I ever read on this forum, and I follow Ossoi and Onoes very closely. Congrats

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You're obviously a troll, but I'll bite anyways. What, exactly, is dumb about exercising healthy eating habits and giving your body the nutrients/energy it needs, when it needs? Instead of just gluttonous overindulgence.

No one said not to enjoy the things you eat. Well all enjoy eating. If you have any interest in being healthy, then yes, it does start with the things you decide to put in your body. Tailoring those choices on the demands of your daily activities is a great way to build a foundation for healthy living.

The people that should are the McCheese's of the world, and they aren't going to change their outlook on nutrition with a few catchy words and some slogans.

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Couldn't disagree with you more. One of the best ways to evoke positive change is through education. At least then they have a better idea of what and how to change, if they choose to.

Daestrom,

I think the idea is that your post of "Just change the way you think about it!" is akin to telling a lifelong smoker "Hey man, just realize you don't need nicotine to live a happy life! Stop smoking for a few days and you'll be through the chemical withdrawals; then ignore those silly cravings since they're false and your body is a mean trickster!" While technically true, this approach doesn't work for a lot of people. Just like telling lifelong obese people "Hey man, calories in < calories out, easy!"

Daestrom_sl said:

You're obviously a troll, but I'll bite anyways. What, exactly, is dumb about exercising healthy eating habits and giving your body the nutrients/energy it needs, when it needs? Instead of just gluttonous overindulgence.

No one said not to enjoy the things you eat. Well all enjoy eating. If you have any interest in being healthy, then yes, it does start with the things you decide to put in your body. Tailoring those choices on the demands of your daily activities is a great way to build a foundation for healthy living.



Couldn't disagree with you more. One of the best ways to evoke positive change is through education. At least then they have a better idea of what and how to change, if they choose to.

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You might not have read what you wrote, which is possible sometimes. Your post was worded like a bad Tony Robbins rip-off mixed with some of Portal's Cave Johnson for good measure. Hence my line about "Respect the Cock!" because it literally read like a shitty self help seminar with a slogan.

Like I said in my post, I don't directly disagree with what you are saying, just that I think you are vastly overestimating the effect "Food is Fuel!" type slogans have on people who -need- to make life changes. Not want, but need. The people who want to make life changes like that are, as I said, probably already buying into the mentality that eating healthier and exercising is good for them, as well they should. The people that need to make those changes the most are also the ones who most likely get a great deal of their pleasure from food. So just telling them "Hey just look at it as energy!" is going to have pretty minimal effect on the vast majority.

You may want to rethink how you write if you are trying to educate people, because your post, which is what everyone is pointing at and going "is this guy for real?" doesn't do what you think it is doing.

Kind of unrelated but there is a documentary on Netflix right now called Fed Up and don't watch it unless you want to be triggered. The whole thing is "it's not your fault you are fat, it's the soda and fast food companies". They even try to argue against calories in vs calories out for fat loss, showing some morbidly obese twelve year old doing mild physical activity and giving that "See, she exercises and eats healthy but still fat" tumblr bullshit.

Jimmies are still rustled.

/r/fatlogic

Ossoi_sl said:

I thought it was really good...couldn't help taking pictures of the fat kids and sending to my friends

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I liked half of that movie when they discussed big companies and the school lunches and all that but I can't stand the victim mentality of fat people.