Fat (topic du jour)

@ GagaJo that is fascinating thank you. I was a life long dieter and very miserable, total comfort! Last year I went to Turkey for a gastric bypass. I’m 8 stone down and never felt better in my life!

I have begun using an app this year. It is not particularly to lose weight, but to analyse what I am eating. I am trying to balance carbohydrates/fat and sugar to the levels that are appropriate to my height and age. I discovered that even when I have consumed the right number of calories, c/f/s can be way out. This may sound a bit obsessive, but in fact takes about 5 minutes to input a day’s food. I am motivated and more in control, and feel healthier.

An interesting article. Thank you for sharing. I have struggled with my weight all my life. My mother was overweight and so was my grandmother. So much for eating what your grandmother would recognise! However, the eating non processed food is a good idea and well worth doing. It is an unfortunate fact though, that foods that fit into the “grandmother” category have been shown to have only a fraction of the nutritional value that the same foods grown 25 years, or more, ago had. Same goes with flavour. So much, so called, “fresh” produce has not been grown in soil, been fed a chemical cocktail and has travelled thousands of miles. I don’t have the answers but it can seem very lonely when you are standing in front of the bedroom mirror trying to find something to wear. I have clothes in sizes 12 through to 22 and look a b**ger in them all, even if I can get them on!

Last year I lost 4 stone in around 8 months - because I was unable to eat anything other than liquids, it dropped off me and I felt very unwell. It is unlikely that I will ever eat a tin of canned soup again! Even that had to be blended if it had any 'bits' in it .... all of a sudden something changed again and I could eat normally, and the majority of the 4 stone has come back.

I became diabetic whilst in hospital for the 5th time in 3 months and 2 surgeries, so trauma can also bring it on too, and now I am diabetic, stress can have a big impact on it too sadly .... after 24 surgeries in 2 decades I am now disabled, my mobility is poor and if I do try to do anything, then I am in bed for 2 days afterwards with severe fatigue, so can't win!

Bread is the food of the devil imo. Feel so much better if I eliminate it but it’s so difficult to do so.

Sugar is the enemy to health, NOT fats. Biggest myth ever perpetrated.

The only diet that ever worked for me was extremely low carb! Unfortunately carbs are addictive so as soon as you attain your goal and eat 'normally' again your weight yo-yos back to where you started, or more!

I studied Food Science as part of my degree and one of our lecturers gave us lots of free booklets about diet. He told us "Read the information but bear in mind who wrote the booklets." They were produced by manufacturers of margarines and lower fat alternatives to butter.

The diet industry has always concentrated on calorie counting and propagated the myth that eating fat causes you to be fat. I've always known that my problems came from eating too much carbohydrate. Eating a high carb meal makes me feel sluggish so I know my metabolism is slowed.

Sadly, eating low carb is challenging if you cook for a family and it is expensive, as the cheap, filling foods tend to be high carb.

I'm now type 2 diabetic and struggle to stick to what I know to be the right foods due to that addiction to some carbs, but I've made progress. I've lost over 4 stones in recent years and as a result am much fitter as it is less of a struggle to exercise. I'm still significantly overweight but fitter than I've been in years. Increasing physical activity little by little means I'm still losing the weight, though slowly. I'm also probably gaining muscle so my weight loss has slowed. (Muscle is heavier than fat!) Wearing a Fitbit helps to motivate me and compete with friends who also wear one.

A book that helped me a great deal is "Eat Fat and Grow Slim" by Richard Mackarness. It explains the problems many of us have many of which are caused by carbohydrates in our diet. Some people tolerate carbs better than others, sadly not me!

My late father always said to sit further away from the table and get some exercise and it worked wonders!

Whiff, I agree up to a point.
There are "no bad" foods if its food that your great grandmother would have recognised. The problem is, much of what is regarded as "food" nowadays is ultra highly processed junk and is most definitely bad news.

Whiff, that is seriously amazing well done

Here we go again sugar is bad, fat is bad ,bread is bad etc .

There are not bad foods unless you are allergic or have health reasons you can't eat certain food or drink items .

It's the amount of all foods that you consume. If you over eat more than your body needs you put weight on .

And yes I do know what I am talking about I was a fat child and teenager and morbidly obese adult until 5 years ago. After I got serious ill with jaundice through 2 tablets I had been taking for years. And no one was dependent on me anymore. I had 5 months of not being able to do much. So made 3 decisions lose weight,move house and get fit .

Moved to the north west , go to active ageing exercise class, and lost over 7st. Still want to lose a stone and a bit. There is no magical way to lose weight it's hard work . But it's a marathon not a sprint. If I lost quarter of pound a week I was happy. If I put on I didn't give up as I had done for decades if it takes me another year to get to 11st stone so be it. I was over 19st size 32 now just over 12st and size 16.

And decades of being so heavy no amount of exercise with make my skin tight but have embraced my flabby bits . The only way to get rid of it is surgical and am not doing that.

I weight and measure everything and count calories. And don't buy foods I can not control.

Everyone has there own way to lose weight it's finding which way is right for you.

‘Weight loss through stress’…..

I look after my husband 23/7… 365 days a year! I was. 10st 9lbs last May . I’m now 9st 10lbs…..nearly a stone in a year without diet in sight! He’s been looked after by me 26 years but this past two have been horrendous. I find having no appetite ( but 2 ulcers through stress) a great way to lose weight. It’s stabilised at 9st 10lb…although I wish it could’ve been slightly ongoing for few more months. But it seems even Wright loss through stress has it’s limits!

Thinking about the Huffington Post article:

//Studies have found that anywhere from one-third to three-quarters of people classified as obese are metabolically healthy. They show no signs of elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance or high cholesterol. Meanwhile, about a quarter of non-overweight people are what epidemiologists call “the lean unhealthy [presumably metabolically unhealthy, i.e. they do show elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance or high cholesterol].”//

So whereas 33%-75% of obese people are metabolically unhealthy, only 25% of non-overweight people are. That’s a difference right there. Obese people are more likely to get diabetes.

That’s without looking at other aspects of health such as cancers, arthritis and, as the article says, heart problems.

//Individuals are not averages.// True. Because individuals vary, some bodies can cope with being obese better than others. But comparing one group of people with another, such as obese people with non-overweight people, can show that not being overweight reduces an individual’s probability of having various health problems. I’m not sure this journalist quite gets that.

If someone does their best to stay at a healthy weight, they are increasing their chances of good health. Of course it doesn’t always lead to good health, because other factors are involved (like nutrition, genetic predisposition to certain health problems, sleep, stress, substance abuse, social isolation, etc). That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing. I wouldn’t like to find out if my body is one of those that will handle obesity without health consequences, in case it’s not.

//diets don’t work/
But even if they don’t, changing what you eat does.

Urmstongran. I agree with you. I recently cut out sweets except for 1 or 2 square of 85% chocolate and I also cut out bread, buns, biscuits, cakes, cereal, etc. I was literally living on all this junk. I don't miss the sweets at all but I do crave bread so I'm allowing a bit of ciabatta now and again (more holes than bread ). I now tend to have far more veggies, but I still have meat and poultry (when I can afford it). I lost 8lbs in the first month. It's slowed down since then but still creeping on a downward slant so I'm not complaining.

GagaJo the health advice back in the 60's was very biased. The one that said that fat was bad for us was actually financed by the Sugar industry and we all know now how lethal sugar is.
One thing I do know for myself, is that trying to follow a diet that gives either 7, 14, 21 or 28 diet plan will fail at Day 3 because they give you fancy recipes that are expensive. Just eat simple meals. Eat more veg that grows on top of the ground rather than undereground (starchy), plenty of greens, steam and poach rather than deep fry and get off the sugar.

It is easy to put on weight and so hard to lose it. I was happy with my weight before pandemic. But for me going to Slimming World is the only way to get back to a slimmer me. I think it is worth the effort.

HazelEyes

So what about skinny people who got fat by over eating. ? Which probably means many people can lose weight to become healthier...

Presumably their fat cells increased in number, then were lurking waiting to be filled up again

Leggings have been my downfall. Back in the days when I wore jeans I knew straight away if I’d put on weight. But over the past few years my leggings just grow with me so I can ignore the fact that I know I’m eating too much.

So what about skinny people who got fat by over eating. ? Which probably means many people can lose weight to become healthier...

I am no expert and this is just a comment. But I think that portion size has a lot to do with weight gain plus not listening to your body. Are you really hungry, for example? Or has it become habit to have three large meals a day at set times, especially when one is, like me, retired? I have always eaten little to no breakfast, even when younger, working and with young children and was busy. I still rarely have more than a small banana. Why? I am simply never hungry in the morning so I can’t see the point of forcing something down, even though we are lectured about it being the most important meal of the day. Similarly with lunch. Never that hungry, might have a yoghurt or piece of toast. In the evening I eat a small meal. My hungry time is later when I might eat a bar of chocolate, a packet of crisps, a sandwich or cheese and crackers or my favourite, yoghurt and muesli. I know I possibly have a smaller appetite compared to others but I rarely feel hungry with what I eat. When I see other members of my family, or when I eat out, I wonder at the huge platefuls of food they consume. With my own family, I think it’s habit. My parents were very food conscious and ate large potions. Both were overweight. I struggled with keeping up but was somewhat ridiculed if I didn’t. My sibling and her family kept up the tradition and are overweight now too. When I stay I’m astonished at how much and how often they eat! At 65 I am slimmer than I was at 18 with no effort other than listening to my body and only eating what I feel I need when I need it. And I deny myself NO treats whatsoever, I must add!

There is no such thing as being obese and healthy

patrish

that first article is a load of tosh

Exactly what are your qualifications which enable you to make that judgement, please?

that first article is a load of tosh

With regard to POW survivors my late BIL came home from a Japanese POW weighing around the four and a half stone and was admitted to hospital in Edinburgh where he remained for over a year. He returned home to the Highlands and two year later married my late DH's sister. He was never a big man but worked away till he passed aged 62 and he drank a lot but worshipped his family. The thing I remember my DH telling me that he never allowed his four boys to leave a scrap on their plates which I think may account for the fact that three of them carry a lot of surplus weight.

I have a Charlotte Halston jacket that my husband bought me in 1980 it is size 12 I still wear it as I wear the cashmere coat he bought me a couple of years later it is a size 14. I have never been slim but am quite proud that I can still button up the coat and look fab in the red jacket.

I was talking about weight with my mother only yesterday. I was saying how it seemed so unfair that I should inherit the weight problems that she has always had while my brother and sister have inherited the leaner build that our father had. I have lipoedema, a condition that causes big legs and hips, as does my mother. I also have an underactive thyroid. Believe me, an overweight person is aware that they are too heavy. Serendipity, l am glad you have willpower but this is a very small part of the problem and does not mean that another person who struggles with willpower is weak - in fact the person who appears to have no willpower is often telling themselves how weak they are and what a terrible person they are as a result. Last year, l read a book called Why We Eat (Too Much) by Dr. Andrew Jenkinson. He is a bariatric surgeon who has actually listened and learned from his patients. Many of his findings are in concurrence with this article. One of the things I remember most was about the four-fold rise in obesity since 1980. There has been a corresponding four-fold rise in sugar consumption in this time. Many of the sugars are hidden in our food. Apparently, in the late sixties, scientists were trying to find the reason for the high rate of heart attacks. Cigarettes were already known but it became a two horse race between sugar and fat. The American sugar industry paid the authorities to "prove" that fat was the culprit and in the last forty years it has become the medical mantra. Unfortunately, low fat alternatives contain many chemicals that break down into carbohydrates and produce sugars. Dr. Jenkinson's conclusion is that butter, for example, is far better for you (and tastier) than low fat spreads full of chemicals.