APPARENTLY … All that nonsense about clocking a workout at the gym is not going to help you lose weight. Exercising makes you hungrier, and folks who might not be inclined to over-indulge often do so post-gym, since all that sweating works up an appetite. Also, the $19 billion we spend on fitness club memberships only encourages us to be lazy in other aspects of life, often where stairs-vs-escalator decisions must be made. So: Should you work out?
OF COURSE. Cardiovascular exercise keeps you healthier, and about twelve billion studies will show you it fights major killers like heart disease and alleviates stress. (Then again, those same studies will say merely walking is good, too.) But here’s the real trick to losing weight: STOP EATING SO MUCH.
And this is the part where you start envying rats:
Fundamentally, humans are not a species that evolved to dispose of many extra calories beyond what we need to live. Rats, among other species, have a far greater capacity to cope with excess calories than we do because they have more of a dark-colored tissue called brown fat. Brown fat helps produce a protein that switches off little cellular units called mitochondria, which are the cells’ power plants: they help turn nutrients into energy. When they’re switched off, animals don’t get an energy boost. Instead, the animals literally get warmer. And as their temperature rises, calories burn effortlessly.
Because rodents have a lot of brown fat, it’s very difficult to make them obese, even when you force-feed them in labs. But humans — we’re pathetic. We have so little brown fat that researchers didn’t even report its existence in adults until earlier this year. That’s one reason humans can gain weight with just an extra half-muffin a day: we almost instantly store most of the calories we don’t need in our regular (“white”) fat cells.
Brian
FAT = LAZY
It’s very simple.
FAT is Unhealthy.
FAT in Unattractive.
Be FIT.
TikiHead
If you have ANY extra weight, it’s because you have deep moral flaws.
Everyone knows this.
M Shane
Without reducing your calorie intake, aerobic exercise should make you healthier ,but could also kill you if you overdo. Also it’s good to avoid diabetes.
But by and large if you are chubby and exercise, your fat will be shaplier, also you will be stronger. I have a couple who are friends one of whom is on the small well shaped side the other who is large but muscular-a nice looking fellow.
Exercise , for me, has always been a high, so I like it better than eating. You get to like the endorphine output and the food isn’t that important.
fitz
Fat does NOT = Lazy! Jeebus. It equals a lot of things, but lazy isn’t even in the top ten. When obesity #s are this high, it’s time to look at it as a bigger problem than laziness or personal choice.
I feel very sorry for fat people- it looks like hell.
TikiHead
I really recommend ‘Good Calories, Bad Calories’ by Gary Taubes. It cuts through a lot of the moral censure and blame the victim BS to be found in society. It is NOT, as a matter of fact, such a simple matter as reducing calories and exercising more. This has failed repeatedly in controlled tests.
Read it!
ChristopherM
@Brian:
You know what else is unattractive? Smug gym queens who think they are Judge Judy.
Brian
@fitz: It’s laziness. It takes some work to stay healthy and fit. For many, it’s just too much work. It is incredibly lazy to not put your health first.
Cinderfellow
FAT = LAZY
It’s very simple.
FAT is Unhealthy.
FAT in Unattractive.
——————————-
In view if the rampaging epidemic of obesity in the US the previous post means that most of Americans are unattractive, lazy bastards and fugly
damon459
Why am I not surprised to see this “blog” as well as the comments it came with gay men are so ***** high and mighty I’m really sick and tired of gym bunnies telling me how to live if I want to eat I’ll eat if I don’t want 6 pack abs I won’t have them BTW i’m not fat but damnit if we all looked the same we would be one boring bunch I’m exercise the way I want to eat the way I want to a i’ll be damned if a bunch of stuck up *&*(&#(*# will tell me how to live just to be excepted into their little group and the next time I see a gym bunny dead from a meth OD I’m just going to laugh my way to the nearest buffet. I could easily have the required gay body but I’m not a sheep I won’t follow just because I’ll stick to being happy and healthy without looking like some steroid queen.
ioni
Hey 🙂
THere is only one way to loose weight, my trainer always told me – tun and diet. Diet and run – nad run and diet. Nothing else helps.
To loose wiehgt you need to run and diet. To sculpture body – fitness and swimming and tennis; but to loose wiehgt : run and diet. Fullstop.
ChaseInAustinTX
@damon459: Apparently YOU are FAT. Doesn’t the fact that you are unhealthy mean anything?
Dismissing “gym bunnies” is very shortsighted. Many of those “fit” guys will live happy, healthy lives. Your life expectancy is reduced by 10-20 years and probably lonely – well except for your relationship with food.
We have a healthcare crisis – obesity. It is the biggest “preventable” cause of health care costs. It is now worse than cigarette smoking.
Healthy is a choice. Stop apologizing for fat people.
terrwill
I am going to reveal to you all right now the ultra, ultra secure, highly guarded, double secret triple method to lose weight!!! YOU NEED TO BURN MORE CALORIES THAN YOU EAT!!!! Its that simple, there are no magic pills, potions, incantations, machines, exilars, enemas, etc. which will cause you to lose weight. The author of the Time article claims that he still has a layer of fat hanging over his belt after all that exercise. Well of course, if you gorge yourself on a cheesecake pretending you are sitting with Dorothey, Sophia, Blanche, and Rose every night you will never lose the weight………………..
Peter
I’m someone who works out about 4 times a week, am 6’0, 225, and yeah I have some pudge around my stomach…not much but I admit it’s there. I’m also one of those incredibly broad shouldered guys who will never be smaller than a 36 in a waist and a 46 in a jacket because my body frame won’t allow me to go smaller than that. According to most medical “norms” I’m considered obese…
You cannot simply reduce your caloric intake and exercise more and expect to continually lose weight. Your body will catch up to you and you will see a drastic slowdown in weight loss. You will actually have to eat MORE to lose weight because your body will need the extra fuel in the system to continue to burn off the pounds.
You can eat properly/healthily and have a “cheat day” where you eat your favorite “bad” foods and still lose weight.
Andrew
You don’t have to be a “gym bunny” or “judgmental” to be fit. And… there’s some truth to saying that obese people are (in part) lazy. Maybe a better word would be “unmotivated?” I don’t know. But I do know that the fat folks riding around food stores on motorized carts could burn a few calories if they’d just walk. If medical reasons prevent them from walking, then fine. If not, then it points to a type of laziness. They’d also benefit from not loading up their carts with chips and empty calorie foods. Ignorance is not an excuse — there’s tons of information out there now on how to eat a healthful balanced diet. I sympathize with people who struggle with obesity, but cutting calories by a third and going for a 1/2 hour walk every day would solve a lot of it.
ChaseInAustinTX
You are what you eat and how much you eat.
6 billion people in the World.
1 billion people are starving.
2 billion people are fat.
There is a solution there. Somewhere.
Sam
I’m not going to touch this with a forty foot pole, except to say that there are definitely societal factors at play in the U.S. that make us – as a whole – fatter than other industrialized nations. Just the way that restaurants make up for low-quality ingredients and poor cooking techniques by dousing their food in salt and fat has a HUGE impact on our collective waistlines.
I hope other cities follow NYC’s lead and make restaurants post calorie counts on their menus. It’s knowledge, which helps you decide what’s worth it to you and what’s not. I still get the full fat ice cream instead of the low fat frozen yogurt, because that’s worth it to me. But when I found out that the Quiznos sandwich I like has ALMOST THREE TIMES AS MANY CALORIES as the Subway one I like, I stopped getting it. It’s not THAT good.
Andrew
@Sam: And guns kill people, right?
Anybody who is FAT, and there are way too many of them, THEY did it. It takes some EFFORT to be FIT. Without the “effort,” or effortless means LAZY.
It is no coincidence that two-thirds of Americans do not exercise daily. That’s not a “societal factor” it is simply a demonstration of individual laziness. There is no excuse for not exercising and eating smart.
strumpetwindsock
@Andrew:
You are partially right. But guess what – Sam is too.
And even if you discount things like junk food, lack of access, poverty, sedentary jobs, lack of education, lack of cooking facilities (and yes.. laziness) there are still emotional, mental health metabolic and addiction factors that contribute to people being overweight.
And let’s not forget our society’s fixation on being thin, and that some people are at their healthiest when they are what many would consider overweight (not obese, obviously).
It’s not just as simple as you make out.
Timmeeeyyy
So are underweight people just too lazy to put on weight?
M Shane
I suppose I’m a poor one to say anything because Ive been prety healthy all my life. I was raised that way, so I always feel better if I exercise and don’t carry lbs’ around that I don’t need.
But then too that’s what it’s about; fat people were raised with bad habits nutritionally and with regards to exercise.
If you want not to be heavy, you have to change your habits.
Don’t expect thngs to happen overnight, but they will happen with persistence. If you continue increasing the amount that you do and decrease your intake. It’s guaranteed, and well worth the lack of health problems you’ll avoid as you get older as well as worth the self esteem you get from looking good.
Hundreds of people are doing it , because Doctors have wised up to the idea that overweight is such a killer.
I personally have always gotten more joy out of running 5-10-15 miles than eating a big piece of cake. The endorphine lift gets to be incredible as your body gets efficient. That takes time but people do it. I’veheard of people starting in their 60’s and eventually running marathons, so don’t underestimate your resources. And you will guaranteed be happier.
hardmannyc
This study only shows why studies of human behavior are so idiotic: because there are so many variables. Of course if you take fat women and make them exercise, they’re gong to want to “reward themselves” by eating a lot of crap.
The vast majority of people who have been exercising hard for a truly long period of time don’t need to reward themselves by stuffing their bodies with crap.
Oh, and to anyone who says he can’t lose weight: Try not eating any processed foods for a month.
Fitz
What has changed is the food industry. Specifically the addition of corn syrup onto everything. Go to the kitchen and read a few labels. Unless you are making a strong effort to avoid it, it’s pretty much everywhere. PLUS… we don’t even know if there isn’t a microbiology component. (are mitochondria prone to infection?). The #’s are high enough to warrant asking questions instead of just name calling. Even for the fit, this matters- because it is going to cost us a ton (no pun).
Fitz
@ioni: Get a new trainder. Yours has the IQ of a golden lab. Running is about as unhealthy a cardio activity as there is. I have seen WAY to many messed up hips and knees. Not to mention that the exercise itself is too hard for a truly obese person. Unless your trainer ends each session “happily”, you are getting ripped off.
AJ
I am disabled vet, and have never been ashamed to be a gay man until reading this thread. Everybody sitting around scratching each other’s eyes out like a bunch of junior high girls! Some people are fit. Some are fat. Some are skinny and everything in between. If we can’t treat others in the community that are different as equals and with respect, how can we expect the breeders to do so for us? All of you that have sat here and insulted someone for living differently than you should be ashamed of yourselves and need to grow the hell up if you ever expect for our community to be treated equally.
BramNash
There has to be something in the water nowadays. Fags have always been shallow as hell, but there seems to be a militancy in the air now. I’m convinced that most of these “fit” fags are deeply disturbed. I mean the level of vehemence some of them display whenever the topic of weight is introduced, just blows my fucking mind. They speak as if they have an AXE to grind with people that are heavy. Despite their “healthy” bods and supposed longer life-spans, there is still something gone awry in their heads. They really should seek help. Surely, most of them think their psychotic obsession is motivated by a concern with other’s health or where taxpayers dollars are going (as if heavy people do not pay taxes) but there is something else happening. I’ve believed that fags uses “fitness” and hyper-masculinity like a baby uses a pacifier. Move over fashion designers and interior decorators. We have the fitness instructor. They really need to grow up though. Unlike AJ, this thread is only reinforcing what I already knew about the gay “community”. Gay pride may ass. There is nothing to be proud of.
FatFagsShutUP
LOL at bunch of UGLY DISGUSTING fat pple trying to justify their LAZY IGNORANT behaviors. You need to be shipped to Africa and put through year-round bootcamp.
I grew up in a country outside the US and we laugh at FAT UGLY Amerikkkkans. I starved loooong time–we didn’t have food–I ate rice for 2 years and nothing but it. When I saw bottle of olive oil delivered as humanitarian aid, I cried. I killed and ate dogs, yup, they’re meat like any other. YOU ARE FAT BECAUSE YOURE DIGUSTING, IMMORAL, LAZYASS AMERICANS WHO’S SUCKING THE RESOURCES OFF THE REST OF THE WORLD. How’bout that??
No, NORMAL, DECENT, HEALTHY, disciplined person DOEN’T want to reward themselves with a cheesecake after a session in the gym. The “reward” for me may be a homemade protein shake… or some dried fish. I didn’t eat cheesecake until I was age 25. Sorry, normal people don’t need or want your Amerikkkan gross filthy cheesecakes, corn syrup, candies, chips, sugars, etc. I eat Stevia instead of sugar. I eat fish oil instead of cheesecake and do I love fish oil (could drink whole bottle if it was ok, but ya only supposed to eat 1 spoon at a time :[[) When I was growing up A LITTLE BIT
FatFagsShutUP
A LITTLE BIT of homemade fruit/berry jam was ALL I got for a special day when I can eat sweets, it was a special occasion. That was a “reward”.
LOOOOL, some twat here says he’s fattt cause he’s naturally “big framed”! LOL–so ur bones give u big waist yeah? Nope. If you DIET you WILL lose weight. NO, your body will NOT preserve your mass and fat by “slowing down metabolism”–don’t eat calories and you will lose all your fat–IF YOU FAST, BITCH ya will lose. Lol, have ya heard that entire world FASTS regularly for about 10,000 years?
Yukk, disgusting American hippopothamuses all ya do is stuff your piehole all day and sit on your sagging, fat ass and then whine how you can’t lose weight.
Go to the bootcamp bitches and read books on healthy nutrition. Yes it’s going to be rough ride to get through losing that huge mass of dead fat you accumilated–at first. Then, if you keep eating right AND WORKING OUT, LIFTING WEIGHTS and doing CARDIO–it will be easy. It’s good to lift and build muscle to keep skinny as muscle burns a lot of calories, even if you sleep.
(–from athlete at 12% bodyfat–healthy, not superfreak-skinny)
justnow
@Brian: not too much work, just management, but like christopher said…
@ioni: sounds great
@ChaseInAustinTX: you are right however it sounds like a broken record…..
@ChaseInAustinTX: 6 billion people in the world 1 billion are starving 1 billion are over-consuming the world’s resources, there’s a solution in THIS somewhere
@strumpetwindsock: love you…..
justnow
@Fitz: EXPLAIN…… its important
@AJ: i guess you must be the new kid, however youre partially wrong yet partially right
@BramNash: Lets hope that changes this new decade
@FatFagsShutUP: do you know whats in these foods? how addictive they are- or the hard transition to diet, I guess if your grew up poor it would be easy for you
@Brian: @Brian: hmmmm…… i was about to describe your stats or what forum you normally visit however that would make both look bad