Why is dieting and exercising such an unprecise area?

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

This has worked for me. I finally just shut my mouth and stopped eating crap. Most people make excuses as to why they can't lose weight, and so did I. Once I finally just started working my ass off and started eating right, it was easy.

It will work for virtually everyone. A guy I know recently flew himself and his wife to france so she could get a stomach operation (stomach shrinking of a sort, but it wasn't a stapling). It was cheaper there than in the US. It cost $6500 plus the trip. My obseration is: I've never seen a treadmill cost $6500.

People get stupid when it comes to weight loss. By definition they are overweight because they ate more calories than their body required to maintain its body fat levels. And yet when it comes to losing the weight for some reason they let themselves go stupid. Although everyone knows that overeating puts on fat too few are willing to realize that eating less (or excercising more or whatever) will take off fat. Go figure

More like lazy. Which is more difficult: getting a stomach staple job or eating healthy and exercising? The problem is that people look at exercise as a chore and stuff like treadmills only reinforces that. They're boring, you never actually get anywhere or see anything cool; it's exercise for its own sake. If people would learn to incorporate fun into exercise, they'd stick with it. Sure, I spend an absurd amount of time on my bike every week but it doesn't seem like work. I'm chatting with friends as we ride, seeing the countryside, and enjoying some friendly competition when the pace goes up or we hit a big hill. Never even crosses my mind that I've been doing the same thing for three hours, its kinda painful and I'm really sweaty.

 

[Arkitech]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Because the industry is inundated with psudo-science which caters heavily to those who don't want to put in the effort. Then those who are willing to give it their all have to filter out fact with crap. And there's a lot of crap. Most who have been successful long term know that a healthy diet (all food groups, reasonable ratio of macronutrients,etc. - you know basic common sense) with excercise plus the ability to say no to that burger is what will make you thinner and fitter. Everyone else is chasing their tails in a big mass of confusion but the answer is in front of them: Get off couch. Eat a smaller portion. Stop going to mcdonalds. Stop drinking 5 cokes a day. Find out what it feels like not to be bloated on high calorie foods. Etc. etc. losing weight is easy for most of us - if we're willing to look in the mirror and do what we know in our heart is the only thing that works.

I agree the biggest factor is controlling the diet and exercising. However I still have problems with a lot of the so called facts about whats possible and not possible when it comes to losing weight. I've always been under the impression that the best way to lose fat and gain muscle is to exercise. If you want to cut fat then you need to build more muscle and do lots of cardio, if you want to build muscle you need to perform resistance training and give the body the appropriate amount of nutrients and rest for the muscles to grow. But it gets confusing when all these experts out here keep introducing information that conflicts with the other experts across the street. I guess the best way to approach something like this is to experiment with a little of everything and stick with whatever brings the best results.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Because the industry is inundated with psudo-science which caters heavily to those who don't want to put in the effort. Then those who are willing to give it their all have to filter out fact with crap. And there's a lot of crap. Most who have been successful long term know that a healthy diet (all food groups, reasonable ratio of macronutrients,etc. - you know basic common sense) with excercise plus the ability to say no to that burger is what will make you thinner and fitter. Everyone else is chasing their tails in a big mass of confusion but the answer is in front of them: Get off couch. Eat a smaller portion. Stop going to mcdonalds. Stop drinking 5 cokes a day. Find out what it feels like not to be bloated on high calorie foods. Etc. etc. losing weight is easy for most of us - if we're willing to look in the mirror and do what we know in our heart is the only thing that works.

I agree the biggest factor is controlling the diet and exercising. However I still have problems with a lot of the so called facts about whats possible and not possible when it comes to losing weight. I've always been under the impression that the best way to lose fat and gain muscle is to exercise. If you want to cut fat then you need to build more muscle and do lots of cardio, if you want to build muscle you need to perform resistance training and give the body the appropriate amount of nutrients and rest for the muscles to grow. But it gets confusing when all these experts out here keep introducing information that conflicts with the other experts across the street. I guess the best way to approach something like this is to experiment with a little of everything and stick with whatever brings the best results.

As always, the "keep it simple stupid" approach works fine. Eat good stuff, don't eat tons of it, run around, lift heavy things......you'll get fitter and stronger. I think people often get bogged down in the minutiae and overload of information. Witness the endless questions even here on AT about supplementation, Atkins diet, etc.

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: Arkitech

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Because the industry is inundated with psudo-science which caters heavily to those who don't want to put in the effort. Then those who are willing to give it their all have to filter out fact with crap. And there's a lot of crap. Most who have been successful long term know that a healthy diet (all food groups, reasonable ratio of macronutrients,etc. - you know basic common sense) with excercise plus the ability to say no to that burger is what will make you thinner and fitter. Everyone else is chasing their tails in a big mass of confusion but the answer is in front of them: Get off couch. Eat a smaller portion. Stop going to mcdonalds. Stop drinking 5 cokes a day. Find out what it feels like not to be bloated on high calorie foods. Etc. etc. losing weight is easy for most of us - if we're willing to look in the mirror and do what we know in our heart is the only thing that works.

I agree the biggest factor is controlling the diet and exercising. However I still have problems with a lot of the so called facts about whats possible and not possible when it comes to losing weight. I've always been under the impression that the best way to lose fat and gain muscle is to exercise. If you want to cut fat then you need to build more muscle and do lots of cardio, if you want to build muscle you need to perform resistance training and give the body the appropriate amount of nutrients and rest for the muscles to grow. But it gets confusing when all these experts out here keep introducing information that conflicts with the other experts across the street. I guess the best way to approach something like this is to experiment with a little of everything and stick with whatever brings the best results.

You're on the right track man. I'll give u an idea of what works for me... I only do cardio 2-3 times a week at most, and never for more than a half hour (This is in the morning or on my off lifting day if I'm not out having fun with friends). Lifting wise, I hit the gym in the evening Mon-Fri, for 1 hour or less a night and only train 2 diff bodyparts (never the same bodypart in a given week). Lifting wise, I do 4-6 reps going super heavy, per 2-3 sets (Max-OT program). I take weekends off to recover. Don't you think 5 hours a week at the gym (whereas 2/3 of this time is spent resting between sets), plus an hour of cardio is worth looking great?

Keep in mind that many people will not be able to conform to a schedule like this and discipline their eating habits simultaneously (Married with kids/odd job hours/fat people who can't quit the junk food). And that is where their body goes to crap.

 

[StageLeft]

I agree the biggest factor is controlling the diet and exercising. However I still have problems with a lot of the so called facts about whats possible and not possible when it comes to losing weight. I've always been under the impression that the best way to lose fat and gain muscle is to exercise. If you want to cut fat then you need to build more muscle and do lots of cardio, if you want to build muscle you need to perform resistance training and give the body the appropriate amount of nutrients and rest for the muscles to grow. But it gets confusing when all these experts out here keep introducing information that conflicts with the other experts across the street. I guess the best way to approach something like this is to experiment with a little of everything and stick with whatever brings the best results.

Well what's possible and not possible is in great part determined by your body. If you weigh 450 pounds you can safely lose a lot more than 2 pounds a week when you start. If you are an already slim female weighing 115 you don't want to lose more than a pound a week. That's based in part on size and in part on genetics but the results, though different, don't mean that the means are any different.

The best way to lose fat is to maximize the deficit between what your body needs to maintain body weight and the actual calories you're taking in. You can increase excercise, lower calories, raise metabolism (multiple meals or more muscle or thermogenics, etc.), but losing fat is quite simply nothing other than the difference between maintenance levels and what you're taking in (Atkins and other things that won't work long term for 99% of people notwithstanding).

And the best way to gain muscle is with resistance training and adequate (or optimal) nutrition, like you said. There are zillions of weight training programs and many different diets for this of course, but most of the weight training programs you'll find in a book or magazine are all pretty similar and most will tell you to take in a good amount of protein and keep calories pretty high so that your body feels it has enough free energy to allow muscle growth.

But it gets confusing when all these experts out here keep introducing information that conflicts with the other experts across the street.

Scientific studies are excellent but basing an approach to fitness on a single one is poor. Something you'll find in common with all people who are muscular and thin and fit and have been that way long term is that they all have heavily overlapping ideas about what they need to reach their goals, and in the majority of cases it's just what the layman would think would work and just what the layman considers to BE work: Regular excercise and/or vigilant monitoring of food intake both in portion quality and quantity.