Sometimes I get mad and the keys start flying. This is one of those times! I just read a blog by an M.D. who is going to lay out the secrets and steps to cure obesity and diabetes. It's more exciting if we number the steps and make it seem like a secret that only that one expert knows. STOP!
All these teasers to cure obesity lead to one place, and one place only: eat healthy, whole, unprocessed foods and move more. THE END! Your body counts calories. That is how it determines what you weigh. If you feed it fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats (in small quantities) and lean protein you will be healthy but not necessarily thin. If you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It is very hard to be healthy and eat less than you burn if you eat a lot of processed foods, high fat foods and/or fast food. It is even hard to be thin and healthy if you eat out a lot. Have you seen the calorie counts on restaurant menus? I suggest you start asking for them and looking at what you are being served.
To determine how many calories you need per day: women take your weight and multiply it by 10 (men use 12) and that will give you the calories you need to maintain that weight without exercise. So, for example, I weigh 130 lbs. I get 1,300 calories per day (without exercise) to maintain 130 lbs. If I exercise I can take in more and still weigh 130 lbs. It is really very basic and simple.
The best selling diet books out right now want to make you think there is another way. Why? Because you want another way and those books sell. I Can Make You Thin is one of the best selling diet books. The title alone probably sells this book because it implies that he can do it for you. Very attractive indeed. The Four Day Diet is also a bestseller. Eat Right For Your Type says if you eat certain foods based on your blood type, you will be thin. I think you get my message. There is no easy way. No one can do it for you and it takes a lot longer than four days to lose weight, unless you only have a few ounces to lose.
So, if you want to be thin and healthy, you can do it. Eat well, exercise, pay attention to your calories and give it time. It's worth it!
If you'd like to make contact with Irene, you can find her here.
Follow Irene Rubaum-Keller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/irenekeller
David Katz, M.D.: The Paleo Diet: Can We Really Eat Like Our Ancestors Did?
The Truth About 10 Trendy New Year's Diets - ABC News
The Truth About 10 Trendy New Year's Diets
Avoid the Trendy Diets and Lose Weight the Right Way - Associated ...
Are Vegetarians And Vegans Biased Against Plants?
NHS dietician denies promoting 'faddish' foods
Why I Recommend Organic Foods To My Weight Loss Patients
My routine typically is moderate to heavy exercise every other day, and rest on the off days. Some may need and like to try for every day, but I usually end up getting too thin if I do( I was at 172 lbs at one point and couldn't eat enough to maintain weight)
As far as food goes, the more crap and preservatives there are, the worse it is for you. I could go on at length, but I think y'all get the general idea.
Diets for the most part, are temporary fixes that lack sustainability and may give you gains (or losses as it were) but unless it is a *lifestyle* of good eating partnered with exercise, one will gain the weight back and become frustrated and give up. The secret is that there is no secret.
From everything I've read around the diabetes and weight loss social media these fundamentals often seem to get lost. I've observed that making things more complicated often confuses and immobilises people, resulting in either no sustained action or busted expectations. As for all the fad diets, book peddlers, and "milk-haters" these people just seem to prey on the fear of people who need more basic advice.
The biggest single issue I have picked up on that stops people doing this sumple stuff is that they find it very hard to stop eating sugary stuff. The addictions play out. That is a real problem and I don't have any advice about that.
Happy New Year.
It took me over a decade, and this place figured it out-
http://www.holtorfmed.com/
I think, apart from the obvious (moving more and eating less) one of the best ways to lose weight is to commit to giving up two things: wheat and refined sugar - neither of which you need nutritionally. That's it. If you completely commit to not having those two things I guarantee you'll lose weight. You can still have rye and other grains for bread, and pasta comes in alternative forms such as brown rice, quinoa, millet and buckwheat. Delicious and it doesn't make you tired and bloated afterwards. Use honey instead sugar for tea etc and have a piece of fruit when you crave a sweet snack.
I personally had so much stress in my life that it was causing me significant problems with my appetite and made me eat way too much. It didn't matter that I generally ate a healthy diet. I was too worn out to even attempt exercise. So, I had to make major life changes, which has helped.
Most dieters undereat: sure, you'll lose weight if you eat 1200 calories a day, but why eat 1200 calories when you can lose weight at 1800? I think a better indicator of maintenance calories is the Harris-Benedict Formula, which accounts for activity level and basal metabolic rate. At 110 lbs, my BMR is over 1300 calories (your "maintenance" calories at 130 lbs), which means if I didn't get out of bed all day, I could maintain at that level. I think you'd be surprised how much you can eat and still lose weight; you just need to let your body adjust to the higher caloric intake.
I think dieters, particularly those with more to lose, are better off focusing on making healthy food choices and becoming familiar with portion sizes rather than obsessing over every little calorie.
I agree on the healthy food choices comment. I just eat fresh lean protein, eggs, walnuts, fresh grilled veggies, and salads-nothing processed. I would STILL have to decrease calories by multiplying about .7 or .8 if I simply counted calories.
Blood chemistry first, calories second.
I'm an engineer that had insulin resistance, some other problems. My metabolism pretty much stopped, like someone that was on a starvation diet (but I wasn't).
I have studied all the calorie counts I can find, and I have yet to find one that has a metabolism correction, or anyone that knows how to do it.
I find it hard to believe that everyone's metabolism is 100%. If it's not 100%, calorie calculations are false.
Metabolism can slow to as much as 40%, which means a 2,000 calorie answer is really 800.
Focus on blood chemistry, not calories. Then you will find the answers. I did and lost 120 lb.
I use this name because Apollonius of Tyana lived 2,000 years ago and healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead... :)
I am in fact hypothyroid and would be diabetic if I didn't do something about it. That's why I study this in detail and noticed the error just about everyone makes in assuming metabolism is always 100%.
In fact, I'm pretty sure most people are not, and people with weight problems are probably all over the place, so the calculations people are passing around are wrong.
We hear all the time about diabetes getting worse, and you hear about syndrome X, metabolic syndrome, etc. All these people are going to get the wrong calculation for calories if they only use body weight. Sometimes the "number" (whatever it is) can be as low as 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. Just cutting calories is not going to solve the problem. (I learned this the hard way.)