Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet | Hacker News Reader

Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet

nytimes.com

5 pointsflippyhead4 comments

I really wish that more people understood these concepts... As someone who is very overweight, I struggle daily to even maintain, and I've been in the same 20# range fro the past 6 years after losing about 130# and gaining 50 of it back... That doesn't even consider my other health issues.

Unfortunately, doing more, and eating a broader variety of foods, that include leafy vegetables and lower GL fruits in addition to avoiding starchy foods, foods with refined sugars and overly processed foods in general isn't easy. Many people don't get any vegetables beyond the lettuce on their burger.

The environmental aspects (fat shaming) does nothing to help. Far fewer people respond positively to shaming, than those that will sink further into depression and reinforced negative behaviors.

I do hope that sometime in the next decade there is finally a treatment to adjust the "set point".. though that could be dangerous in and of itself.

Let me suggest you stop counting calories and start looking at your various health issues through a lens of nutritional deficiency and try treating them with supplements and nutrient dense foods. Keep a journal that both records what you eat and any details of physical health.

That is a big part of what I have done. I am not thin, but I am a lot smaller than I used to be. I had no goal of losing weight. I just wanted to get healthier.

Best.

I'm actually already doing that... as I mention above, I try to eat a variety of foods that include leafy vegetables, and low-gl fruits... I avoid the aforementioned items as well. I've been taking mineral supplements for about a month now, and have added a fairly high count/diverse culture probiotic supplement as well.

I've also been parking at the ass-end of the parking lot wherever I go to make myself walk more.. though I live in Phoenix and "Summer Is Coming!" so not sure I will make it doing that through the summer. I try not to obsess over calories, just avoid certain things and make an effort to have some variety, etc.

Okay, I am probably wasting my time, but "eating a variety of foods, including leafy vegetables," is essentially unrelated to anything I said.

Instead, I mean, for example: "Gosh, I have symptoms of being low on selenium." Googles high selenium foods and finds that brazil nuts are, hands down, a gazillion times better as a source of selenium than the next closest thing. Buys mixed nuts containing brazil nuts, because a single brazil nut has more than you need for the entire day (and, plus, I couldn't find brazil nuts by themselves).

I don't eat a highly varied diet. I don't even eat all that many fruits and veggies. Most days, I have pizza for lunch (from Little Caesar's or Domino's) with some kind of potatoes on the side. But I do eat the things that I have determined over the past 15 years that my body needs regularly to be able to not be completely broken.

I do blog about this, which no doubt does not interest you, in spite of your lament that everything science currently knows does not work and everything you currently know does not work.

Best.

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