Stats like 65% of Americans being overweight make so much sense in this context. Develop a relationship with your body, it's not hard and you'll reap the rewards throughout life. Better _everything_.
Walking to and from the platform of my nearest tube station is about 2.5k steps....
There are no side walks where I live. The roads have 55mph speed limits and are lined with drainage ditches even if I wanted to walk them. Working from home, I might get ~900 "organic" steps/day unless I go somewhere explicitly to walk (15+ minute drive each way). It's a structural issue more than personal choice
This doesn't sound very bike-able at all
This was my walking commute to first grade at 7 years old in somewhat rural Slovenia. I believe in you.
edit: okay I guess the speed limit was 60kph for the most part because that was the default back then for named towns
Why do you think walking isn't exercising properly? Exercise doesn't have to be weight-bearing or high-intensity to count. In fact, since those types of exercise increase injury risk, moderate exercise is probably better. Study after study after study - which I can cite just as soon as you cite some of your own - shows that walking or similar exercise captures practically all of health benefits without any risk (even to those who are older or who have already had heart attacks etc.) and with more likelihood of people sticking to it. Why go harder? And yes, when you dismiss walking as not exercising properly you are suggesting that.
Because there's a dose dependent relationship between aerobic activity and positive health outcomes - the more you do, the more you get - and aerobics that are more intense than walking provide more "bang for back". And because there are unique benefits to weight bearing activities. Strengthening your muscles, for example, improves your ability to handle your body in space and reduces risk of falls, in addition to increasing bone density, which reduces severity of such injury from any falls. Sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) is associated with significantly worse mortality when in the hospital. Having strength and confidence in your body improves quality of life through enabling you to keep up with physical tasks as you age. Reinforcing that movement is safe, especially loaded movement, is associated with better pain outcomes.
Exercise does not have to be weight bearing or high-intensity. But if you are able and interested in your health, you should do those things. I only agree with your implication re:injury risk in the sense that lifting something up is inherently more dangerous than not because there is more load involved. This is a nonsensical reason to only walk, as humans adapt well to loading given reasonable fatigue and load management. Most people should not be concerned about any increased injury risk - but you should always consult with your doctor.
See the physical activity guidelines for Americans: https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Acti... (There's lots of evidence provided).
> There are enormous health benefits to be had by small incremental increases
Yes incremental. The more people pile on about doing even more before it "counts" as "real exercise" the fewer people will do even the first part. Not everyone is in their twenties, or built exercise into their lifestyle when they were. I myself started a bit late, and it's only because I'm more stubborn than most that I've kept progressing. People need encouragement, goals they can meet and victories they can savor, not "everyone should exercise the way I do" from people in more favorable circumstances. Ten people sticking with a modest exercise program is better than one person sticking with a more aggressive one, as far as public health is concerned.
just listen before you talk
just breath before you send that email
Just just just
We are humans just anything is hard and lacking compassion isn’t helping
y u not just have compassion?
so many folks don’t try because they feel bad.
the key isn’t to up the shame, it’s to show how even a little bit can help.
encourage people to walk more today than yesterday, make one healthy food substitution. small baby steps with encouragement makes people generally happier and less likely to shame binge. Or give up.
you can white knuckle this stuff or find love and enjoy the journey.
What’s more sustainable?
"Just eat 80% of TDEE" is easy advice for someone who only has attention span for "quick tips" or wants it to sound easy.
"spend 6 weeks attempting to eat at maintenance until the scale stops moving, and use this formula to calculate what delta from TDEE is, before then making any changes to diet. Then once you're ready to start making changes to your diet remember two things increase the volume and make it permanently sustainable. Some examples are almond milk replaces full fat milk, or whole unprocessed fruit replaces sugary things, replace excess grains with leafy greens, choose lower fat meats like chicken/turkey breast, white fish or shrimp, over fatty meats like pork ribs or 85% fat ground beef. At most lose 1% of body weight per week, keep tracking everything you eat so you know the calories you ate and keep using the delta formula to recalculate the calories you should eat this week cause the TDEE is going to literally change every day but we'll settle for recalculating each week. "
see how complex that gets? People's eyes glaze over. There's a balance between good advice being short, and good advice being nuanced enough.
buy Apple Watch it tracks it all for you.
switch 2% for whole milk.
Do it for a week. Then do it again the following week. In 12 weeks tell them you should start to see changes and not before.
right expectations is Key.
Many people are overweight because their sense of hunger is poorly calibrated. To overcome that, they need to change something permanently. They need changes in their lives that help them to stay at a healthy weight without being hungry for the rest of their lives.
Yes, the common pathway is energy imbalance, but the implication that "fixing" that is in the realm of basic human choice is disrespectful.
Consider that obesity is heavily influenced by your food environment, genes, and lifelong habits. Do any of those things sound easy to change?
I am interested in the complicated part, which is why that delta exists, and how to actually do something about it. You implied in another comment that following a diet is a solution. I think you should acknowledge how disingenuous this comes across given that doesn't work for millions of people. I think other commenters have gotten this across: how simple your response sounds compared to what it actually takes to "follow a diet" for the rest of your life. Do you tell people with high blood pressure to "just relax"?
But I can see why people are reluctant to go out and get some exercise from their boxes in the sky, especially when it’s cold out!
The human body is literally designed for walking - not running, cycling, swimming, lifting - walking.
It's become pretty boring to see so many HN threads devolve into people nitpicking a single word in their post.
most early hunting was by running animals to exhaustion. The fact we are bipedal and have very efficient heat dispersion (sweating) all point to the fact that we were meant to run.
Seems like a poor way to go about it to be honest. Sure you just ran that gazelle down over 20 miles, but now you're 20 miles from home and have to carry a gazelle back.
Running, cycling, swimming, lifting, and walking are all safe activities. The human body is extremely adaptable, and we do not need to encourage even more fear of movement.
See the 2019 physical activity guidelines for Americans (the minimums of which 80-90% of us don't meet) for evidence based recommendations: https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Acti...
Obesity is yet another problem either created by, or exacerbated by our absolutely abhorrent urban planning and architecture practices.
While they enable density, certainly better than the suburbs do, they're not a great solution. For large cities you want to look at a city like Paris (Ignoring the central business district which is set aside like an upset child that needs to think about what they've done) for even better and more appropriate density.
I think often times people assume more skyscrapers == more density therefore good. But I think that level of density isn't healthy either, it's just more healthy in comparison to the abysmal and wasteful suburbs.
Also your statement is a bit contradictory. If the skyscraper apartments are an extremely low portion of units, how do they enable density if there are so few?
I agree that habit forming is very difficult - and specifically that, given somebody doing no activity, starting them with walking/aerobics vs a relatively specific/strenuous exercise like pullups is a good idea.
I think obesity is influenced by urban planning - in the context that obesity is influenced by many environmental factors. Like the US's obsession with car-sprawl at the expense of integrating activities like walking/cycling into one's daily life.
You should read about some of Herman Pontzer's research: https://dupri.duke.edu/news-events/news/herman-pontzer-expla... Specifically, that doing more physical activity doesn't mean you "burn more calories". You may also find his research on metabolism interesting: https://today.duke.edu/2021/08/metabolism-changes-age-just-n... (Age 20-60, it doesn't change much at all)
If you spend a day inside or doing sedentary activities then you're more likely to reach for crap food. If you're in touch with your body, even if you're doing something like a weightlifters' dirty bulk you're probably at least targeting the correct macronutrients.
You think people like being unable to control their body?
Increasing sin taxes (alcohol and cigarettes) and raising insurance rates on those who choose to overindulge on those aren't effective so this wouldn't be either. Forbidding people health insurance because they're not "in shape" just feels wrong and a pathway to eugenics imo
And besides that, in countries where health insurance is to some extent or entirely public, you don't tend to see a rise in rates since health care is considered a kind of right.
Yeah, right after we yank insurance for anyone who refuses to get vaccinated. Or is the heavy hand of authoritarianism (and the sneakier one of eugenics) only welcome when it falls on Other People?
In my opinion a lot of people would be served well by holistically thinking about what they're doing here on this planet.