Weight loss

General Gibberish Forums The Dog's Breakfast
1

Im a fat B*!stard. Yep. 6months After my hernia surgery, I started getting pain around the scar where thre mesh was. My Doctor checked it out… pretty much, fat mass is pushing against the stomach lining and mesh. His verdict, lose the weight and then try and maintain.

So here I am. Random thread I know, but needed to be accountable. I was 94kg and at 5ft 6… not good considering my waist line is bout 110cm and a bmi in the severe obese.

Since starting on medical vitadiet (his opinion to help lose it quick) and trying to aim for 10,000 steps (or 8km in walking) a day I’ve shrunk 3cm off the waist and now lost nearly 6kg in 3 weeks.

Mods delete if rubbish thread.

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2
If you have a chance listen to Joe Rogan and Mark Sisson podcast (3 hrs) so download onto our mp3 player

Listen a couple of times to the podcast, he talks alot about nutrition - very interesting and insightful - especially around the exercise (he maxs the gym to twice a week)

Isn’t he a comedian?

An MMA fighter, and well known for his UFC commentary, and reality tv hosting is Rogan. I used to like him, before I listened to a podcast of his, and found out what a complete effing jerk he is.

I’m not sure where you got the fighter part from
Obviously well known in MMA circles for his work with the UFC, however I think you’ll find he’s never stepped into the ring (or octagon)

edit
My 2 cents regarding who you should/n’t listen to

  • if you’re not involved within the fitness community, and know of the person, don’t listen to them. If you’ve heard of them they’re likely to be famous because they sell themselves well or are known for other reasons rather than actually being good at the health/fitness side of things
  • Definitely don’t listen to high level athletes. Most are heavily reliant on natural talent and direction from other people; find out who the other people are and listen to them
  • If a guy claims to be an expert but only lists his own accomplishments, or the accomplishment of one client/athlete odds are he’s full of ■■■■
  • If their social media page is full of posts of themselves or selfies ignore vehemently
  • If you want big biceps, seek out the guy with a 190 IQ not the meathead with 16" arms (Louie Simmons quote/paraphrase)
  • most people you’ll ever aspire to look like are using gear (particularly actors)
3
Keep it simple. Keep it realistic. And if your diet requires cheat days, it is beyond you.

Even the best give themselves cheat days.

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4
Keep it simple. Keep it realistic. And if your diet requires cheat days, it is beyond you.

Even the best give themselves cheat days.

All this time, and that’s all he was cooking?

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5
I lost just on 20kgs about five years ago through a very strict exercise and diet regime. It's slowly all come back on as the discipline slipped. It's very easy to give up and I'd got to the very sad point last week where instead of being able to do the 300 challenge without too much trouble I was barely capable of doing 5 minutes on a cross-trainer. This thread inspired me to get off my fat ■■■■, embrace exercise again and, trust me - it's they key- watch what I eat. Thanks guys!

Your problem wasn’t discipline. Your problem was the diet you were on sucked. If you can’t do it forever it sucks. Fullstop. If your TV stops working you don’t blame yourself, same with stupid diets.


I was wondering how long you’d hold out.

Shelton10 I think you’re talking about a diet that is temporary - I’m going to stick to X calories for Y weeks. And it’s where a lot of people fall over in their efforts. What megz is talking about is a diet that is intended to be stuck to for the rest of your life. If you have an eating plan that you cannot see yourself maintaining forever then of course your discipline is going to slip up.

(before you chime back in megz, I couldn’t think of a better word than “diet” for both explanations)

Too many people set themselves up for failure when they start. " I plan to lose X kgs" will probably lead to either failure or putting the weight back on. “I am going to change my eating and exercise habits for good” is a better approach - weight loss is just a by-product of that change, rather than being the primary focus.

I wasn’t thinking of a temporary diet, but a permanent one. But I think you’re right that the word “diet” covers many different things. I was using it to mean an eating regime that involves watching how much food you put in and matching it to the amount of energy that you burn – or, if you’re trying to lose weight, making sure that it’s consistently less than the amount of energy you burn. And the point I was trying to make was that in today’s world that requires discipline and conscious restraint. If you’re starting from a position where you’ve been overeating, and eating crap, for 20 years and you’re grossly obese and probably incapable of sustained exercise, then the amount of effort required will be great, because it has to involve changing the habits of a lifetime and establishing completely new ones – and dragging spouse, children and friends along with you. If, like me, you don’t enjoy continually overeating and you’ve been brought up on a pretty good diet and you’re only relatively a little overweight, then the effort required is not so great. But even for someone like me, who doesn’t find sticking more or less within the limit too hard and quite enjoys the exercise component, it’s very easy to let slip once in a while, and the more you let slip, the more you’re tempted to do it again.

From what I’ve observed, for people who are severely overweight and go on a crash diet of some kind, what happens is that they stick to the diet religiously at first and the weight just falls off – 3 kg in a week!! – but after a month or two or six, when the weight isn’t dropping so quickly and the cupcakes are looking extremely tempting, the discipline cracks, and that’s the end of the penny section.

I hesitate to predict what Megz would say, but I’d guess that she’d say to a truly obese 30 year old that if he/she really wants to get back to a decent body shape and BMI, the important things are to realise a) that it’s a long journey involving a complete reshaping of your eating and exercise habits, b) losing weight necessarily involves eating less and/or exercising more, c) there’s no point adopting an all protein or paleo diet or something like that because it’s not practicable for the rest of your life, and d) that you need to be prepared to face temptation and say no – if not always, then almost always.


Cool. With you there on everything.

However I hesitate to use words like “effort” and “discipline” when it comes to describing my experience. That makes it sound way harder than it’s been. I saw it as desiring a better lifestyle - I wanted to be the kind of person who makes delicious healthy meals and exercised regularly (DEM ENDORPHINS YO), so the choices I were painfully obvious. Instead of having to go to the “effort” of not inhaling nachos, it was a matter of recognising that “the version of simmo41 that I want to be doesn’t inhale nachos” and eating something else instead.

Same deal with being active. “The version of simmo41 that I want to be gets off the train two stations early, loads up Paul’s Boutique on the iPod, and walks the rest of the way home.” Boom, done.

6
I lost just on 20kgs about five years ago through a very strict exercise and diet regime. It's slowly all come back on as the discipline slipped. It's very easy to give up and I'd got to the very sad point last week where instead of being able to do the 300 challenge without too much trouble I was barely capable of doing 5 minutes on a cross-trainer. This thread inspired me to get off my fat ■■■■, embrace exercise again and, trust me - it's they key- watch what I eat. Thanks guys!

Your problem wasn’t discipline. Your problem was the diet you were on sucked. If you can’t do it forever it sucks. Fullstop. If your TV stops working you don’t blame yourself, same with stupid diets.

Megz, you’ve said that sort of thing before, and I know you’re a dietitian, but don’t you think that for many people, keeping their weight under control really does require some discipline?

In the past many people didn’t have enough to eat, food availability depended on the season, junk food didn’t exist, advertising of food didn’t exist, TV didn’t exist to entertain us and keep us indoors, and the way you got to the shop to buy food was by walking there.

Life’s different now. Food is everywhere, portion sizes are immense, we’re bombarded with saturation advertising telling us to have a Mars bar or a sweet sport drink or a “snack” (the eqivalent of a small meal) mid-morning at Maccas. Malnutrition is (with a few exceptions) a thing of the past, obesity is an epidemic and getting worse, and the average Australian is significantly overweight.

In the face of all that temptation, don’t you think that many people need to make a real effort in order to lose weight and get themselves in reasonable shape? And that part of that effort has to involve deciding on a sensible eating regime – i.e., a diet – and sticking to it – i.e., discipline? And if the person, after doing this for a period of time, perhaps years, begins to succumb to the temptation to miss days of exercise, have that chocolate muffin or whatever, is that always the fault of the diet the person chose to follow? Or is it sometimes that the person gets a bit slack and stops following it – i.e., lack of discipline?

I’m not saying that there are no bad weightloss diets. The protein only, no oil, paleo, Pritikin, no doubt many others, they’re all essentially fad diets and hopeless for the long term. Two Dogs didn’t say that he was on one of those, he said he was on a strict diet regime, and discipline slipped. My 1450 calories a day is a diet regime, and if I get slack over Christmas and bust the limit day after day and put on weight, I regard that as my fault, not the diet’s.

In today’s society keeping control of your weight really does require constant attention to what you eat and how much exercise you do. There’s no effortless diet, and wherever effort is required, there’s always the temptation to relax, just this once. And just this once more. And again.

Sure, so called discipline is important but what’s MORE important is to figure out why your eating what you’re eating. Boredom? Angry? Tired? Happy? Sad? Etc etc. If you can dig deeper and figure this out and work on it then discipline is unnecessary.

What about just, “All this salt and sugar and deep fried food tastes good, and filling up on it and washing it down with a Coke makes me feel nice and full. And if I cut out the mid morning snack of muffin and latte with two sugars then I get hungry.” I mean there’s a reason why junk food contains all that crap: it tastes good and it gives you instantaneous satisfaction. Why is it always some psychological reason rather than the fairly obvious one that it’s nice to eat lots of tasty foods and sitting on your aarse doing nothing is easier than getting off it and working up a sweat?


Because people who think like that don’t understand that the light, energetic feeling of a post-exercise endorphin rush feels one million times better than that.

Comparatively these days, eating “tasty” food and sitting on my ■■■■ doing nothing makes me feel like absolute sht, when 18 months ago that was the best feeling I could get at the time, so I thought it felt good.

Yeah, but that’s how it feels NOW.

How it feels when you’re overweight and out of shape is more ‘oh god my lungs are on fire, and i look like a giant sweaty haystack here at the gym where everyone else is lean and fit,’ and ■■■■ it’s pathetic I can only keep going on the treadmill for 10 minutes without feeling like I’m dying and this sucks and I’m sooo damn hungry and ■■■■ my life i’m so sick of vegetables and I’m having a ■■■■■■■ Cornetto and I’ll never be fit anyway so it doesn’t matter’

Which is why so many people have so much trouble.

7

Your point about gear is a good one. They look like bagged walnuts.

8

Just as a matter of interest, does anyone know how Weight Watchers works? There’s one I walk past most days at lunchtime and there is always a group of about a dozen women sitting around in a circle. What do they actually do?

Apart from the fact that I’ve never seen a single male in there, the other thing I’ve noticed is that none of the women seem to be very much overweight. I can’t recall seeing anyone that I would call obese (unlike the lifts in my building, where I would genuinely estimate that one in every three or four women who get in is definitely obese, and at least another one is noticeably overweight), and they mostly look like average sized women.

Anyway, do they do motivational talks, or prescribe diets, or sell prepared meals like Light and Easy, or what?

9
I tried all these diets, all at once, ate everything mentioned and put on 10 kg!

That’s the problem with diet advertising. They don’t say it explicitly, but the implicit message is, You can really pig out on all this delicious stuff day after day and you’ll look like Elle McPherson in a couple of weeks!

It’s not surprising that most people who sign up don’t last the course.

Statistical fact (at least as of 2011): less than 10% of people with a Fitness First gym membership use it over a 6 month period, and something like 70% have never used memberships they have paid and signed up for

There’s a gym chain in the US I was listening to a podcast about, all of their gyms have 10x more members than the place can hold at once. Because they know no-one turns up. For the ones who do they come to use the massage chairs while the workout gear is hidden in a back room.


It’s the most cynical business model I’ve seen and it works a treat. When the first one opened up near by I gave it three months. Now there are 4 of this style of gym within a 5k radius. The idea that enough people will pay for something they won’t use is mental.

It’s actually a more common business model than you’d think too. Costco bases their stores around the idea of you having a membership and never coming in

With Costco, you just need to buy a couple of big ticket items and you’ve made your money back in one go. Now I’m so far from town, I make sure I go every time I am in town, but if this drops off, I’ll drop off.

And my free RACV gym membership is fine…if only I get to use it. Gym is hectic at the expected times - before work, lunchtime and after 5.

You must know someone I don’t, because my RACV gym membership costs $500 a year.

It’s still great value, and I work approximately 250 metres from the club so I use it all the time. I go early mornings (6.30) and there are a lot of people there, but never more than the gym and equipment can accommodate.

How long have you been a member? I rejoined back in the early oughties, after I’d been out in the suburbs for 15-odd years. I think after 5 years, it’s free gym membership.

I think you’re right. I’ve been an RACV roadside assist member since I got my first car but only joined the club a couple of years ago.

10
I tried all these diets, all at once, ate everything mentioned and put on 10 kg!

That’s the problem with diet advertising. They don’t say it explicitly, but the implicit message is, You can really pig out on all this delicious stuff day after day and you’ll look like Elle McPherson in a couple of weeks!

It’s not surprising that most people who sign up don’t last the course.

Statistical fact (at least as of 2011): less than 10% of people with a Fitness First gym membership use it over a 6 month period, and something like 70% have never used memberships they have paid and signed up for

There’s a gym chain in the US I was listening to a podcast about, all of their gyms have 10x more members than the place can hold at once. Because they know no-one turns up. For the ones who do they come to use the massage chairs while the workout gear is hidden in a back room.


It’s the most cynical business model I’ve seen and it works a treat. When the first one opened up near by I gave it three months. Now there are 4 of this style of gym within a 5k radius. The idea that enough people will pay for something they won’t use is mental.

It’s actually a more common business model than you’d think too. Costco bases their stores around the idea of you having a membership and never coming in

With Costco, you just need to buy a couple of big ticket items and you’ve made your money back in one go. Now I’m so far from town, I make sure I go every time I am in town, but if this drops off, I’ll drop off.

And my free RACV gym membership is fine…if only I get to use it. Gym is hectic at the expected times - before work, lunchtime and after 5.

You must know someone I don’t, because my RACV gym membership costs $500 a year.

It’s still great value, and I work approximately 250 metres from the club so I use it all the time. I go early mornings (6.30) and there are a lot of people there, but never more than the gym and equipment can accommodate.

How long have you been a member? I rejoined back in the early oughties, after I’d been out in the suburbs for 15-odd years. I think after 5 years, it’s free gym membership.

11
I lost just on 20kgs about five years ago through a very strict exercise and diet regime. It's slowly all come back on as the discipline slipped. It's very easy to give up and I'd got to the very sad point last week where instead of being able to do the 300 challenge without too much trouble I was barely capable of doing 5 minutes on a cross-trainer. This thread inspired me to get off my fat ■■■■, embrace exercise again and, trust me - it's they key- watch what I eat. Thanks guys!

Your problem wasn’t discipline. Your problem was the diet you were on sucked. If you can’t do it forever it sucks. Fullstop. If your TV stops working you don’t blame yourself, same with stupid diets.

12
I tried all these diets, all at once, ate everything mentioned and put on 10 kg!

That’s the problem with diet advertising. They don’t say it explicitly, but the implicit message is, You can really pig out on all this delicious stuff day after day and you’ll look like Elle McPherson in a couple of weeks!

It’s not surprising that most people who sign up don’t last the course.

Statistical fact (at least as of 2011): less than 10% of people with a Fitness First gym membership use it over a 6 month period, and something like 70% have never used memberships they have paid and signed up for

There’s a gym chain in the US I was listening to a podcast about, all of their gyms have 10x more members than the place can hold at once. Because they know no-one turns up. For the ones who do they come to use the massage chairs while the workout gear is hidden in a back room.


It’s the most cynical business model I’ve seen and it works a treat. When the first one opened up near by I gave it three months. Now there are 4 of this style of gym within a 5k radius. The idea that enough people will pay for something they won’t use is mental.

It’s actually a more common business model than you’d think too. Costco bases their stores around the idea of you having a membership and never coming in

With Costco, you just need to buy a couple of big ticket items and you’ve made your money back in one go. Now I’m so far from town, I make sure I go every time I am in town, but if this drops off, I’ll drop off.

And my free RACV gym membership is fine…if only I get to use it. Gym is hectic at the expected times - before work, lunchtime and after 5.

You must know someone I don’t, because my RACV gym membership costs $500 a year.

It’s still great value, and I work approximately 250 metres from the club so I use it all the time. I go early mornings (6.30) and there are a lot of people there, but never more than the gym and equipment can accommodate.

You can also get a gym membership rebate from your health insurance depending on your plan and the gym

13

I’ve had a fitbit for a year and I’ve only just got to the point where I won’t let it rule me. I was doing 10,000 steps a day (every day no matter what) and lost weight and reduced my waist but after 6 months my weight started to edge up. After 12 months of stepping 10,000 steps a day and having my weight creep up I increased my steps to 12,500 per day and it has worked really well and quite quickly. The difference this time is that if I miss I day I’m not stressing about it and I have probably got the balance right.

I rarely have fruit juice and soft drinks and have switched to water but still appreciate a beer.

14
I tried all these diets, all at once, ate everything mentioned and put on 10 kg!

That’s the problem with diet advertising. They don’t say it explicitly, but the implicit message is, You can really pig out on all this delicious stuff day after day and you’ll look like Elle McPherson in a couple of weeks!

It’s not surprising that most people who sign up don’t last the course.

Statistical fact (at least as of 2011): less than 10% of people with a Fitness First gym membership use it over a 6 month period, and something like 70% have never used memberships they have paid and signed up for

There’s a gym chain in the US I was listening to a podcast about, all of their gyms have 10x more members than the place can hold at once. Because they know no-one turns up. For the ones who do they come to use the massage chairs while the workout gear is hidden in a back room.


It’s the most cynical business model I’ve seen and it works a treat. When the first one opened up near by I gave it three months. Now there are 4 of this style of gym within a 5k radius. The idea that enough people will pay for something they won’t use is mental.

It’s actually a more common business model than you’d think too. Costco bases their stores around the idea of you having a membership and never coming in

With Costco, you just need to buy a couple of big ticket items and you’ve made your money back in one go. Now I’m so far from town, I make sure I go every time I am in town, but if this drops off, I’ll drop off.

And my free RACV gym membership is fine…if only I get to use it. Gym is hectic at the expected times - before work, lunchtime and after 5.

You must know someone I don’t, because my RACV gym membership costs $500 a year.

It’s still great value, and I work approximately 250 metres from the club so I use it all the time. I go early mornings (6.30) and there are a lot of people there, but never more than the gym and equipment can accommodate.

15
I often eat when I'm thirsty but don't realise until after I've stuffed my pie hole that I'm actually thirsty.

This is apparently something pretty much everyone who doesn’t get enough fluids experiences. We aren’t built to perceive dehydration as well as we are an empty stomach. Somewhere along the way the wrong circuit gets tripped. I find making a rule for yourself where, no matter how hungry you feel you drink 500ml of water 5 minutes before you eat (which shouldn’t be so many times a day that you end up drinking 10 litres of water) is the way to go to minimise this effect as well as just getting plenty of fluids. I won’t get into how many litres of water people should drink per day because it obviously depends on how much water you’re getting out of you foods, etc.

16
I tried all these diets, all at once, ate everything mentioned and put on 10 kg!

That’s the problem with diet advertising. They don’t say it explicitly, but the implicit message is, You can really pig out on all this delicious stuff day after day and you’ll look like Elle McPherson in a couple of weeks!

It’s not surprising that most people who sign up don’t last the course.

Statistical fact (at least as of 2011): less than 10% of people with a Fitness First gym membership use it over a 6 month period, and something like 70% have never used memberships they have paid and signed up for

There’s a gym chain in the US I was listening to a podcast about, all of their gyms have 10x more members than the place can hold at once. Because they know no-one turns up. For the ones who do they come to use the massage chairs while the workout gear is hidden in a back room.


It’s the most cynical business model I’ve seen and it works a treat. When the first one opened up near by I gave it three months. Now there are 4 of this style of gym within a 5k radius. The idea that enough people will pay for something they won’t use is mental.

It’s actually a more common business model than you’d think too. Costco bases their stores around the idea of you having a membership and never coming in

With Costco, you just need to buy a couple of big ticket items and you’ve made your money back in one go. Now I’m so far from town, I make sure I go every time I am in town, but if this drops off, I’ll drop off.

And my free RACV gym membership is fine…if only I get to use it. Gym is hectic at the expected times - before work, lunchtime and after 5.

17
I tried all these diets, all at once, ate everything mentioned and put on 10 kg!

That’s the problem with diet advertising. They don’t say it explicitly, but the implicit message is, You can really pig out on all this delicious stuff day after day and you’ll look like Elle McPherson in a couple of weeks!

It’s not surprising that most people who sign up don’t last the course.

Statistical fact (at least as of 2011): less than 10% of people with a Fitness First gym membership use it over a 6 month period, and something like 70% have never used memberships they have paid and signed up for

There’s a gym chain in the US I was listening to a podcast about, all of their gyms have 10x more members than the place can hold at once. Because they know no-one turns up. For the ones who do they come to use the massage chairs while the workout gear is hidden in a back room.


It’s the most cynical business model I’ve seen and it works a treat. When the first one opened up near by I gave it three months. Now there are 4 of this style of gym within a 5k radius. The idea that enough people will pay for something they won’t use is mental.

It’s actually a more common business model than you’d think too. Costco bases their stores around the idea of you having a membership and never coming in

18
I lost just on 20kgs about five years ago through a very strict exercise and diet regime. It's slowly all come back on as the discipline slipped. It's very easy to give up and I'd got to the very sad point last week where instead of being able to do the 300 challenge without too much trouble I was barely capable of doing 5 minutes on a cross-trainer. This thread inspired me to get off my fat ■■■■, embrace exercise again and, trust me - it's they key- watch what I eat. Thanks guys!

Your problem wasn’t discipline. Your problem was the diet you were on sucked. If you can’t do it forever it sucks. Fullstop. If your TV stops working you don’t blame yourself, same with stupid diets.

Megz, you’ve said that sort of thing before, and I know you’re a dietitian, but don’t you think that for many people, keeping their weight under control really does require some discipline?

In the past many people didn’t have enough to eat, food availability depended on the season, junk food didn’t exist, advertising of food didn’t exist, TV didn’t exist to entertain us and keep us indoors, and the way you got to the shop to buy food was by walking there.

Life’s different now. Food is everywhere, portion sizes are immense, we’re bombarded with saturation advertising telling us to have a Mars bar or a sweet sport drink or a “snack” (the eqivalent of a small meal) mid-morning at Maccas. Malnutrition is (with a few exceptions) a thing of the past, obesity is an epidemic and getting worse, and the average Australian is significantly overweight.

In the face of all that temptation, don’t you think that many people need to make a real effort in order to lose weight and get themselves in reasonable shape? And that part of that effort has to involve deciding on a sensible eating regime – i.e., a diet – and sticking to it – i.e., discipline? And if the person, after doing this for a period of time, perhaps years, begins to succumb to the temptation to miss days of exercise, have that chocolate muffin or whatever, is that always the fault of the diet the person chose to follow? Or is it sometimes that the person gets a bit slack and stops following it – i.e., lack of discipline?

I’m not saying that there are no bad weightloss diets. The protein only, no oil, paleo, Pritikin, no doubt many others, they’re all essentially fad diets and hopeless for the long term. Two Dogs didn’t say that he was on one of those, he said he was on a strict diet regime, and discipline slipped. My 1450 calories a day is a diet regime, and if I get slack over Christmas and bust the limit day after day and put on weight, I regard that as my fault, not the diet’s.

In today’s society keeping control of your weight really does require constant attention to what you eat and how much exercise you do. There’s no effortless diet, and wherever effort is required, there’s always the temptation to relax, just this once. And just this once more. And again.

Sure, so called discipline is important but what’s MORE important is to figure out why your eating what you’re eating. Boredom? Angry? Tired? Happy? Sad? Etc etc. If you can dig deeper and figure this out and work on it then discipline is unnecessary.

What about just, “All this salt and sugar and deep fried food tastes good, and filling up on it and washing it down with a Coke makes me feel nice and full. And if I cut out the mid morning snack of muffin and latte with two sugars then I get hungry.” I mean there’s a reason why junk food contains all that crap: it tastes good and it gives you instantaneous satisfaction. Why is it always some psychological reason rather than the fairly obvious one that it’s nice to eat lots of tasty foods and sitting on your aarse doing nothing is easier than getting off it and working up a sweat?


Because people who think like that don’t understand that the light, energetic feeling of a post-exercise endorphin rush feels one million times better than that.

Comparatively these days, eating “tasty” food and sitting on my ■■■■ doing nothing makes me feel like absolute sht, when 18 months ago that was the best feeling I could get at the time, so I thought it felt good.

19
I lost just on 20kgs about five years ago through a very strict exercise and diet regime. It's slowly all come back on as the discipline slipped. It's very easy to give up and I'd got to the very sad point last week where instead of being able to do the 300 challenge without too much trouble I was barely capable of doing 5 minutes on a cross-trainer. This thread inspired me to get off my fat ■■■■, embrace exercise again and, trust me - it's they key- watch what I eat. Thanks guys!

Your problem wasn’t discipline. Your problem was the diet you were on sucked. If you can’t do it forever it sucks. Fullstop. If your TV stops working you don’t blame yourself, same with stupid diets.

Megz, you’ve said that sort of thing before, and I know you’re a dietitian, but don’t you think that for many people, keeping their weight under control really does require some discipline?

In the past many people didn’t have enough to eat, food availability depended on the season, junk food didn’t exist, advertising of food didn’t exist, TV didn’t exist to entertain us and keep us indoors, and the way you got to the shop to buy food was by walking there.

Life’s different now. Food is everywhere, portion sizes are immense, we’re bombarded with saturation advertising telling us to have a Mars bar or a sweet sport drink or a “snack” (the eqivalent of a small meal) mid-morning at Maccas. Malnutrition is (with a few exceptions) a thing of the past, obesity is an epidemic and getting worse, and the average Australian is significantly overweight.

In the face of all that temptation, don’t you think that many people need to make a real effort in order to lose weight and get themselves in reasonable shape? And that part of that effort has to involve deciding on a sensible eating regime – i.e., a diet – and sticking to it – i.e., discipline? And if the person, after doing this for a period of time, perhaps years, begins to succumb to the temptation to miss days of exercise, have that chocolate muffin or whatever, is that always the fault of the diet the person chose to follow? Or is it sometimes that the person gets a bit slack and stops following it – i.e., lack of discipline?

I’m not saying that there are no bad weightloss diets. The protein only, no oil, paleo, Pritikin, no doubt many others, they’re all essentially fad diets and hopeless for the long term. Two Dogs didn’t say that he was on one of those, he said he was on a strict diet regime, and discipline slipped. My 1450 calories a day is a diet regime, and if I get slack over Christmas and bust the limit day after day and put on weight, I regard that as my fault, not the diet’s.

In today’s society keeping control of your weight really does require constant attention to what you eat and how much exercise you do. There’s no effortless diet, and wherever effort is required, there’s always the temptation to relax, just this once. And just this once more. And again.

Sure, so called discipline is important but what’s MORE important is to figure out why your eating what you’re eating. Boredom? Angry? Tired? Happy? Sad? Etc etc. If you can dig deeper and figure this out and work on it then discipline is unnecessary.

What about just, “All this salt and sugar and deep fried food tastes good, and filling up on it and washing it down with a Coke makes me feel nice and full. And if I cut out the mid morning snack of muffin and latte with two sugars then I get hungry.” I mean there’s a reason why junk food contains all that crap: it tastes good and it gives you instantaneous satisfaction. Why is it always some psychological reason rather than the fairly obvious one that it’s nice to eat lots of tasty foods and sitting on your aarse doing nothing is easier than getting off it and working up a sweat?

That’s definitely a reason. And if that’s yours then its good to know it so you can combat it (or give in on occasion so you’re not constantly thinking about it)

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I lost just on 20kgs about five years ago through a very strict exercise and diet regime. It's slowly all come back on as the discipline slipped. It's very easy to give up and I'd got to the very sad point last week where instead of being able to do the 300 challenge without too much trouble I was barely capable of doing 5 minutes on a cross-trainer. This thread inspired me to get off my fat ■■■■, embrace exercise again and, trust me - it's they key- watch what I eat. Thanks guys!

Your problem wasn’t discipline. Your problem was the diet you were on sucked. If you can’t do it forever it sucks. Fullstop. If your TV stops working you don’t blame yourself, same with stupid diets.

Megz, you’ve said that sort of thing before, and I know you’re a dietitian, but don’t you think that for many people, keeping their weight under control really does require some discipline?

In the past many people didn’t have enough to eat, food availability depended on the season, junk food didn’t exist, advertising of food didn’t exist, TV didn’t exist to entertain us and keep us indoors, and the way you got to the shop to buy food was by walking there.

Life’s different now. Food is everywhere, portion sizes are immense, we’re bombarded with saturation advertising telling us to have a Mars bar or a sweet sport drink or a “snack” (the eqivalent of a small meal) mid-morning at Maccas. Malnutrition is (with a few exceptions) a thing of the past, obesity is an epidemic and getting worse, and the average Australian is significantly overweight.

In the face of all that temptation, don’t you think that many people need to make a real effort in order to lose weight and get themselves in reasonable shape? And that part of that effort has to involve deciding on a sensible eating regime – i.e., a diet – and sticking to it – i.e., discipline? And if the person, after doing this for a period of time, perhaps years, begins to succumb to the temptation to miss days of exercise, have that chocolate muffin or whatever, is that always the fault of the diet the person chose to follow? Or is it sometimes that the person gets a bit slack and stops following it – i.e., lack of discipline?

I’m not saying that there are no bad weightloss diets. The protein only, no oil, paleo, Pritikin, no doubt many others, they’re all essentially fad diets and hopeless for the long term. Two Dogs didn’t say that he was on one of those, he said he was on a strict diet regime, and discipline slipped. My 1450 calories a day is a diet regime, and if I get slack over Christmas and bust the limit day after day and put on weight, I regard that as my fault, not the diet’s.

In today’s society keeping control of your weight really does require constant attention to what you eat and how much exercise you do. There’s no effortless diet, and wherever effort is required, there’s always the temptation to relax, just this once. And just this once more. And again.

Sure, so called discipline is important but what’s MORE important is to figure out why your eating what you’re eating. Boredom? Angry? Tired? Happy? Sad? Etc etc. If you can dig deeper and figure this out and work on it then discipline is unnecessary.

What about just, “All this salt and sugar and deep fried food tastes good, and filling up on it and washing it down with a Coke makes me feel nice and full. And if I cut out the mid morning snack of muffin and latte with two sugars then I get hungry.” I mean there’s a reason why junk food contains all that crap: it tastes good and it gives you instantaneous satisfaction. Why is it always some psychological reason rather than the fairly obvious one that it’s nice to eat lots of tasty foods and sitting on your aarse doing nothing is easier than getting off it and working up a sweat?


Because hunger is a psychological phenomenon affected by mood?