So this is my first diary here after almost 2 years of lurking and 1 of random commenting. I never knew what my first diary would be but I had some ideas. suffice to say I never thought it would be about nutrition and weight loss.
Last night I got into a 'pissing' match with someone here that really got to me. On reflection I know that they meant well so I should have taken it a little easier on them - we are all friends here and have people's best interest at heart. I believe that to be a core value of being a democrat, progressive, and/or librul.
In America it is clear we have an obesity problem and many people suffer without the tools to attack the problem head on. So I want to give a few bits of info that are common sense in the fat fight. These things should not be controversial but they may be to some. Then I will give my opinion on more controversial topics.
Follow me over the bump.
As a member of reality based community I take pride in knowing that most if not all the info dispensed here is rooted in fact, BS tends to be derided quickly. It seems that this is done with politics and topics with only a tenuous relationship to politics. I like that as I get quite angry when people lie, twist the truth, etc. This extends beyond political discussion into science, as science has become so connected to the political world due to ideology. So I hate it when people spew info that is easily refuted or has no scientific basis.
So last night I got into a pissing war with someone that I do regret because I ventured down the road of 'almost' deriding the person and not their argument. But the point is that I saw the emotion come out again on the topic of obesity and weight loss. I understand that this can be a sensitive topic and I understand why those that are dealing with it are justifiably defensive. Although the majority of 'merkins are overweight/obese I have often likened their status to ethnic minorities. Why? The obvious (of course) point that their difference is phenotypical expressed - you can see it. But less obvious are the daily things that reinforce those differences and inexorably result in feeling of wrong, bad, etc. This can feed a horrible cycle resulting in further weight gain and more intense feelings of self-worthlessness and low self-esteem and low self-confidence/efficacy to attack the weight.
I am not here to demonize you (me) nor am I here to reflexively absolve you (me) of responsibility. Disclosure: I am a not the leanest person in the world but I do have a significant reserve of self-efficacy to know that I can change it. Being in school I can easily put on 25 pounds in one semester - my largest increase was 35lbs. I don't know if that sounds like a lot to anyone but it is a big weight gain for 4-5 months. For a 25lb wt gain in 4 month period you would have to eat an excess of 750+ calories a day. That is mere child's play for me. I can just call my friend little debbie over for a play date and i'm good. For a 35lb wt gain in that period you are looking at 1050 calories/day excess - i didn't even know I was doing it. when you sit in class for 6 hours and then study for 8 at home an excess of 1000 calories a day is nothing. So yeah, I know from what I speak but I don't pretend to understand the mind of someone that doesn't have the reserve self-efficacy that I have. I didn't live my formative years overweight. Instead, I spent them doing top level athletics and living with 5-8% body fat out of season. So I will not pretend to know what it is like for someone that has been overweight all their lives.
But this brings us back to our fact based world and where my pissing match last night began. we must start from a base fact level. What is fact is that no matter what underlying disease process/co-morbidity you have if you consume less calories than you expend throughout the day you will lose weight. This is part of the Energy Balance calculation. Without accepting/acknowledging this fact a discussion cannot go further. In regards to this I don't care about your thyroid problem, your genes, your whatever. Your body burns a certain amount of energy and you need to fuel it. If you fuel it with more fuel than it needs, for a long period of time you will gain weight - Positive Energy Balance. If you fuel it with less than it requires you will lose weight - Negative Energy Balance Daily deficits/excesses don't really matter as it is not practical to stay too regimented in our small 'd' diets. But longterm systematic excess lead to weight gain. If you don't or can't acknowledge this point there is no point in you reading any further. If you can then go for it.
Todays topic is the most basic thing to understand for weight loss. Energy balance has to be considered when looking to lose weight. So to understand energy balance you need to understand how your body uses said energy. The body's energy usage can be broken down into 3 compartments: BMR*DIT*, and EIT.
BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate.
It is sometimes called resting energy expenditure (REE). This is the amount of energy you use regardless of what you do. If you stayed in bed all day and did not move this is the minimum amount of energy needed to do that. As our bodies have a federal reserve system in the form of fat we can run deficits and excesses without a problem. And of course this was very useful back in the day when we might go a few days trying to find food.
BMR is the largest part of your daily energy expenditure accounting for 60-80% - for lance armstrong probably not. then again if you were lance armstrong you wouldn't be reading this diary cause you would have 6 nutritionists around you, with a couple that probably went to culinary school. But BMR is the issue that many people are angry over. this is the part that seems 'undemocratic' to those of use in the 'democrat party'-yes i love hearing the pubes say that. It cracks me up. Some people are born with higher BMR than others. This is where that thyroid problem comes in. If you are hypothyroid (low) you may have a lower BMR than a person of similar age, gender, height, etc. Also, females tend to have lower BMRs than males. Body composition has a lot to do with this as males have more lean body mass (muscle and bone) than a similar female. But we are cursed with testosterone so you could call it a wash;-). But this is also why men lose weight easier than women. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat. I think the number is 60% more active. so women, don't be afraid of weight bearing exercise. It is your friend and you will not, cannot get bulky like the female weight lifters you see. They have roided up with male hormones to add that size. and if you are overweight the last thing you should be concerned with is too much muscle. When you workout, and/or add muscle you raise you BMR. This is a great thing because it is 'cheap' weight loss. You are losing weight 24/hours a day!!!! That is why weight bearing exercise is your friend.
as an aside, for those of you that have had the pleasure or financial displeasure of raising a teenage boy you have experience massive BMR increases. All that muscle and bone growth has to be fueled by something. They are bottomless pits hoovering everything edible food item available.
Infections also raise you BMR. This is why you lose so much weight when you get sick. You immune system has to ramp up to fight the infection so you are burning more energy than you usually do. When you couple that with the decrease intake that normally occurs when you are sick you get big, rapid weight losses. I hasten to add that this is not an advisable weight loss strategy however.
DIT stands for Diet-Induced Thermogenesis.
This is the increase in you energy usage (metabolism) due to digestion of food. Think about an automotive factory and nothing coming down the conveyor belt. Then nobody is doing any work. when you send some food down everybody has to jump up and start assembling. this is what happens when you eat. Your body expends energy to break down the food and repackage it in a manner that it can use it or store it. DIT only accounts for 10% or so of your daily energy needs/usage cause it is only active for 2-3+ hours after you eat. This is the logic behind the eat 6+ little meals a day instead of 3 large meals. See? If your body is doing extra digestive work 6 times a day for 3 hours instead of 3 times a day you are burning more calories on the cheap. So say you can raise DIT 5% by doing this. On a 2000 calorie diet that is 100 calories/day without even exercising one lick and eating exactly the same amount of food!!!! That 100cal/day over a year equals a 10lbs weight loss over the year with no work except putting the fork down halfway through the meal and coming back to the other half later. Disclosure: I am not sure exactly what the actual increase in DIT is. You would have to go get a very complex test done that is only used for research purposes that I know of. But the point is that whatever you DIT is you would be raising it by making your body work to digest food and incorporate it into your body twice as many times throughout the day.
EIT stands for Exercise-Induced Thermogenesis
This is pretty self explanatory. This is the all the energy used for physical activity throughout the day. So the second you get out of bed you are on the EIT clock. Typically, EIT is the second largest part of energy expenditure, accounting for 20-35%, and the most variable. They more you workout the more energy expended. Very simple. But this is why docs, nutritionist and trainers advise you to take the stairs, or park farther away from the store, or when you are getting that 'fatburger' to at the very least park and walkin instead of hitting the drive thru. These are 'cheap' and easy ways to increase energy expenditure. If you sit all day for your job you need to do these things to stay in energy balance. For big-time athletes this number can easily eclipse BMR on training days so they are not concerned about taking the stairs. Actually they probably want to avoid further wear and tear on their bodies.
So hopefully this was somewhat interesting and illustrative. Losing weight is not magical in any sense. anyone that tries to complicate it beyond the basic energy balance idea is trying to sell you something. No matter what 'problem' you have been told you have it does not alter the fact that if you take in less than you expend you will lose weight. and the truth is that you can only cut back on intake so far. After a certain point you will not be satisfied and you risk micronutrient deficiency. Plus, will power can only take you so far.
but it only takes very small changes over a reasonable amount of time to make a change. Again, a 100cal/day/year deficit = 10lbs wt loss. I bet everyone on dkos could stand to lose 10 lbs. so if you drink soda I advise you to not drink soda. a typical coke has 150 calories...that is per serving. and lo and behold a 16 ounce bottle has 2.5 servings in it. That is 375 calories that you can avoid by drinking a diet soda. And I would advise avoiding a daily soda anyway for other nutritional/medical reasons but if you must make it a diet. 375 calories over a year equates to 38 lbs of cheap weight loss if you switch to diet soda. typically, drinking your calories is a bad way to go in all instances. It is better to have an orange than orange juice. but of course orange juice is better than soda. Plus, you can eat a pretty good meal for that 375 calories.
well I hope this is half way decent for a first diary.