Originally Posted by
Louisa Bannon
And that thin situation can easily change even for individuals. My brother used to be able to eat whatever he wanted when he was younger, as middle age approached be gained quite a bit of weight. His method to reduce was simply to eat only one large meal a day. Technically, his success is easily attributable to the feast and fast idea, he effectively fasts 23 hours a day when he's not eating his single large meal. It's also the case that he may be engaging a persistent calorie deficit, not sure. He's never complained to me of any of the signs of a reduction of his metabolic rate like being cold, tired, etc. The one meal he eats is HUGE, because one day when I watched him eat it I was taken aback by the sheer quantity of what he was eating and asked him what the hell he was doing.
It's just a fact that weight gain and weight loss takes on a different level of difficulty after approx age 25 for women and after age 30 for men. I've never really even seen that fact contested. If you are under those years of age, believe me when I say that your personal anecdotal knowledge about weight loss or gain is basically nonsense because young people simply have it easy - by far. Once you get passed those growing years, the body takes a very different turn. While you are young your body is giving you a pass. But not always, children are starting to have type 2 diabetes in large numbers - something is happening to us as a society that is bad for children. This change is unprecedented in human history.
For myself, I know what works and what doesn't work. I'll listen to others and hear them out about their experiences. But a lot of you jump into this and assume this is all "bing bang boom" and "easy peasy" while for many people and for a whole host of reasons it really isn't that simple.
I am convinced that what you eat and when you eat are critical. Physical activity has no significant meaning on weight loss and it is foolish to think you can regularly overeat and then "burn it off." You lose weight in the kitchen and get fit at the gym. Carbs will leave you hungry and make you hungrier on a constant binge and crash cycle. Fats, proteins, and fiber increase satiety and leave you sated.
I am quite convinced that an excess of processed foods and sugars (in all varieties to include sucrose, fructose, lactose, breads, pasts, grains, starches, etc - but Fructose is probably the worst) is incredibly deleterious to the body. Processed foods are quite heavy in added sugars, salts, binders, weird thickening agents, artificial colors, artificial flavors, etc. In short, food-like substances that really aren't food at all. Once you realize that in addition to all other faults that processed foods additionally remove fiber for longer shelf life and the reality settles in for real - the stuff is literally garbage. And sugars are toxic. Once upon a time, we ate small quantities of sugars and it wasn't a thing. Now sugars go by dozens of names and are in almost everything that isn't a whole food. So now it's a thing you need to avoid.
The processed food industry wants you to eat poorly and to be hungry, that's how they sell more units of products.
When you eat well and carefully, watch what and when you eat, and cook most of your own food from whole ingredients you are performing a revolutionary act that takes back your good health. It is cheaper and better for you to eat that way.
It is also harder to cook your own food and to eat that way and that's why many of you will not do it and lose this fight with processed food, toxic levels of sugars, and the battle of the bulge.