Cut Carbs Lose Weight -- then again....

[RodentWhisperer]

We all have health class in grade school today I believe [...] No willpower, no self control, and in many cases, no self esteem.

I've no way to tell, but something tells me not all grade schools devote the same amount of time to teaching students about nutrition.

I'm not trying to be combative here, but making those arguments just buys into the idea that, if someone gets fat, it's all their fault-- and they have't paid attention to what they've been told, and what they've been told is the right way to eat. It's essentially saying that doing what you're told by certain people is better than thinking about it-- in other words, be gullible.

[RodentWhisperer]

Odd Man-- your post reminded me of Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories. Have you read it?

[cliffordbarnabus]

here is the truth for all thee that seek it

eat once a day at night. as much as you want. after the last bite, brush and floss and then close your eyes and sleep. do one active thing a day for at least an hour.

repeat. oh, and eat healthy stuff.

[Wise Old Owl]

Agree on the conflicting studies.....

When I stripped most of this out of my diet and started to time my carbs around exercise it made a dramatic difference in my fat percentage. Oh and that's another thing. Folks trying to slim up and get more healthy should care less how much they weigh (a useless measurement) and measure their body fat percentage (useful measurement) instead. Impedance scales cost only slightly more than mid-range bathroom scales and can tell us so much more than weight alone. I'm 5'7 and 161 pounds but my body fat percentage is around 8%. According to BMI (weight and height) I'm overweight.

I am not disagreeing with you but the last time the pounds came off - that "electronic" measurement barely changed.

[max patch]

Right now at Costco they have a regular scale for sale for $20 and a scale with a bodyfat analyzer on sale for $25. While that would be a great value if it worked, I'm guessing that the results would be so inaccurate as to be meaningless except for amusement purposes. IMO the extra $5 would better spent on a pair of bodyfat measuring calipers.

[Wise Old Owl]

here is the truth for all thee that seek it

eat once a day at night. as much as you want. after the last bite, brush and floss and then close your eyes and sleep. do one active thing a day for at least an hour. repeat. oh, and eat healthy stuff.

Not sure how you came about that little gem, seriously - your post would shorten your life by ten years... because I do work with old folks homes there are two facts amongst the 80-90 year olds.

1 there are no fat people.
2 the older generation eat a good breakfast.

While at a well respected weight loss system - its 5 meals a day. more protein, more fish, more vegetables, more apples and oranges than i can count and unsaturated oils and less process foods... secretly counting calories...

[max patch]

here is the truth for all thee that seek it

eat once a day at night. as much as you want. after the last bite, brush and floss and then close your eyes and sleep. do one active thing a day for at least an hour.

repeat. oh, and eat healthy stuff.

I think my "system" of 3 meals a day and 3 small snacks a day is much healthier.

[MuddyWaters]

Not sure how you came about that little gem, seriously - your post would shorten your life by ten years... because I do work with old folks homes there are two facts amongst the 80-90 year olds.

1 there are no fat people.
2 the older generation eat a good breakfast.

While at a well respected weight loss system - its 5 meals a day. more protein, more fish, more vegetables, more apples and oranges than i can count and unsaturated oils and less process foods... secretly counting calories...

My mother is in a nursing home
I have 2 observations from my time spent there as well.

1) there are no fat people
2) women outnumber men 10-1

[Toolshed]

you got that right!!!!

[Odd Man Out]

Odd Man-- your post reminded me of Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories. Have you read it?

No I haven't. Will look it up.

[Darwin13]

I think what people need to know is that carbohydrates are incredibly important to being healthy and losing fat in the body, as well as fueling it. However, a distinction between the 'bad' carbs and the 'good' carbs needs to be made. Limiting your carbohydrate intake to whole grains, fruits and vegetables is going to help you lose weight with an exercise program.

[Seatbelt]

[QUOTE=MuddyWaters;1373439].

We were walking on a tour around a college campus in a small group last week, and one of the guys with us was tired of walking and complaining about it. He wasnt huge by any means, more like average. We probably didnt walk more than an easy 1/2 mile at most.

This brings up another issue--maybe for a different thread, but I was driving to work the other day and while driving thru a small country town, the school bus in front of me stopped at every other house on main street to load children on its way to the school --all of 2 blocks away!! We spend millions on busing kids to school, many of whom are close enough to easily walk and then spend millions more on a gymnasium for them to get exercise. I knwo lots of areas are not safe--but this small rural community is pretty safe for the most part--heck you can't even fart in this town without somebody telling it.

[FarmerChef]

Right now at Costco they have a regular scale for sale for $20 and a scale with a bodyfat analyzer on sale for $25. While that would be a great value if it worked, I'm guessing that the results would be so inaccurate as to be meaningless except for amusement purposes. IMO the extra $5 would better spent on a pair of bodyfat measuring calipers.

I'm not disagreeing with you at all max. Measuring body fat percentage via the skinfold test and calipers is notoriously difficult unless you have a trained individual administering the test in exactly the same place each time. Plus it does not account for visceral fat.

That said, it IS a much more useful tool than a plain old bathroom scale in measuring body fat percentage. And I don't put much stock in a cheap bathroom scale or a cheap induction scale either.

My main point is that we measure our health with an average formula (height vs weight) and that's like using a chef's knife for eye surgery. We all have a unique body that makes measurement by an average hardly reliable. A body builder is considered obese by BMI standards when in fact, he may have below 6-7% body fat at a show (underweight by BMI standards). The only way to know with a bit more certainty what our body fat % is is to test it utilizing a system that more directly measures it. Induction and calipers are not perfect by far but offer more information to work with than a simple bathroom scale. If a person doesn't want to get either, than measuring their waste with a measuring tape or just seeing how they fit into their clothes may be the next best thing. Still better than simply looking at pounds lost or gained.

As far as the carbs versus protein versus fat thing...I agree with Darwin13. Most people on the "Western diet" eat highly refined and processed carbs. Substitute whole grains, whole fruits and whole vegetables for white bread, fruit rollups and fried green beans and I believe most people would begin to quickly lose fat. One has to wonder what the big food and big ag industries would start to do if that happened.

Oh and schools teach nutrition - sorry, just have to chime in here. I was sadly never taught about proper nutrition growing up. My kids on the other hand get taught (at school) the food pyramid which is largely driven by lobbying interests from the food and agriculture industries. Hmmm... have you ever noticed how, magically, cereal boxes and fruit rollup boxes, etc., etc., proudly display how they are part of a "healthy, nutritious diet" or "this complete breakfast" with a gleaming picture of the food pyramid on the back of the food packaging? I don't think Americans are generally lazy but I do think we are being sung to sleep on obesity by the sirens of big food marketing campaigns telling us how Lucky Charms or a bowl of sugary instant oatmeal can be part of a healthy breakfast.

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Plenty of carbs in those plants. Still sound advice, imo.

[Odd Man Out]

That said, it IS a much more useful tool than a plain old bathroom scale in measuring body fat percentage. And I don't put much stock in a cheap bathroom scale or a cheap induction scale either.

The problem is not with the scale. You can measure your mass accurately to the nearest gram and the info is useless. Our local news did a very nice story on the BMI and how misleading it is. They got three college kids to participate. The posed in their gym shorts (no shirts) for the camera. One was pretty normal looking, one was thinner, and one was ripped (body builder, washboard abs, etc...). They accurately measured their height and weight, and using the standard BMI charts, the bodybuilder came in as "overweight" to nearly "obese". Then they measured their body fat by weighing underwater and calipers at a University exercise physiology lab. The bodybuilder came in at about 5% body fat.

[Namtrag]

My diet advice: no one ever got fat from eating too much protein.

[JAK]

There might be something to that, as oversimplified as it first sounds. It is hard to over eat on a diet that is relatively high in protein, i.e. relatively low in fats and carbs which is what you are implying. Still takes some willpower not to overdo fats and carbs, i.e. stick with foods that are high in protien, but the high protien foods do satiate, and digest slow. High protien can cause some health problems in some people, if overdone, but overweight isn't one of them. More of a kidney issue, and gout.

[q-tip]

I lost 40 lbs.on Weight Watchers and kept it off---very balanced diet with real food.

[Namtrag]

There might be something to that, as oversimplified as it first sounds. It is hard to over eat on a diet that is relatively high in protein, i.e. relatively low in fats and carbs which is what you are implying. Still takes some willpower not to overdo fats and carbs, i.e. stick with foods that are high in protien, but the high protien foods do satiate, and digest slow. High protien can cause some health problems in some people, if overdone, but overweight isn't one of them. More of a kidney issue, and gout.

Exactly! If you eat a greek yogurt, chicken breast or a pouch of tuna when you get hungry for a snack, it is really difficult to overeat. Even if you overeat the chicken breast, and have 4 of them, how harmful is that compared to eating a whole bag of Doritos or a half gallon of ice cream? Plus, I really don't think you would be hungry enough after two chicken breasts to eat anymore!

Did you know you can survive eating only protein, but if you ate only carbs, you would eventually perish? Your body would eventually run out of the essential amino acids you need to function.

[MuddyWaters]

Exactly! If you eat a greek yogurt, chicken breast or a pouch of tuna when you get hungry for a snack, it is really difficult to overeat. Even if you overeat the chicken breast, and have 4 of them, how harmful is that compared to eating a whole bag of Doritos or a half gallon of ice cream? Plus, I really don't think you would be hungry enough after two chicken breasts to eat anymore!

Did you know you can survive eating only protein, but if you ate only carbs, you would eventually perish? Your body would eventually run out of the essential amino acids you need to function.

You will eventually die eating only protein as well.

[chief]

You will eventually die by eating a healthy, well balanced diet. Of boredom!