Reddit reviews Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
We found 62 Reddit comments about Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Knopf Publishing Group
> As of today i have given up all sodas and am drinking nothing but water
That's a great start!
Empower yourself with keto knowledge and read the FAQ's as per the other responders messages.
My humble opinion: Concentrate on the diet/lifestyle change. Worry about exercise later when you are in the 210/215 range. (I'm biased kuz that's what I did).
Check in here regularly as we love seeing progress and cheering you on. At your size we've seen several people drop 20lbs/month for the first 5 months. Don't expect that kind of loss but it can happen.
I was 265, I'm now 202. I never thought I'd lose the flab - I despised the idea of starving to lose it and eating nothing but crackers & lettuce. I stumbled upon /r/keto in a foodporn post and fell in love.
Don't get discouraged if you "stall". I've been stuck in the same spot for a while now but my waist is shrinking and I'm getting more definition to my body and my BF% is dropping. The scale is often a lying whore.
I would recommend getting hooked up with MFP for your first month and if you feel like you've fallen off the wagon. Set up the MFP macros to suite a keto diet.
Reading:
Why we get Fat and what to do about it by Gary Taubes
this book is referenced many times in the FAQ references.
Also try The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living
Definitely read/visit all the links in the side bar.
Also, when we say "macros" we mean your ratio of calories from fat/protein/carbs.
For keto, you want 65% of your calories to come from fat, 30% to come from protein, or 5% (20g or less per day) to come from carbohydrates, mainly leafy green vegetables and broccoli/cauliflower (and others).
You're asking for help, here it is. You can ignore this or take a chance that I, someone who is bothering to respond to your post, is steering you in the right direction. You have to learn why you get fat, learning the why behind the what will help keep you on the right track. This is not a diet book--because as you know diet books are crap.
This is the real thing, and though you may have heard it before you didn't really learn it, try again because it could mean your life:
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702
After reading Why We Get fat, I can't help but shake my head at all these low fat/'healthy' grain advice.
I also find it difficult to give other people weight loss advice now. It's crazy how people are always looking for a shortcut to losing weight and when keto give them exactly that, they don't want to believe it.
tinkered with my diet
Read Taubes, Why We Get Fat, it's super important and useful about sugar and why the nutrition establishment in general got a lot of stuff wrong for so long.
> Does it matter if fat is unsaturated or saturated? I know saturated is bad for you, but would you just burn it off anyway?
Saturated fats are not bad for you, that is another of those myths surrounding dieting that came about during the "low fat" hype. Yes, certain mono-unsaturated fats, such as olive oil or fish oil, are better for you, but saturated fats aren't bad. A great resource for this information is Gary Taubes' book Why we get fat and what to do about it. When looking for fats, think of the ones that don't require a lot of processing, such as olive oil, coconut oil, lard, butter. Canola and other vegetable oils require a lot of processing and would not have been easy to get during paleolithic times.
> Since it can be hard to get a lot of fat, would it be a good idea to cook with butter/extra virgin olive oil whenever possible?
You should cook with butter/extra virgin olive oil, but getting enough fat isn't too difficult, especially if you are eating fattier meats, such as bacon or steaks. For salads, I love to use just olive oil for dressing.
> Let me tell all of you: obesity is psychological problem that manifests itself on the body of the person who is "sick".
For you perhaps but after reading "Why we get fat and what you can do about it" by Taubes I don't feel this way any more whatsoever and I couldn't agree less.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702
Or listen to the audio book.
Not really for the advanced, but good general reading for others in your company if they want. Also, not $10, but maybe they can pool it.
Starting Strength
Convict Conditioning
Why We Get Fat And What To Do About IT
READ -- "Why we get fat, and what to do about it"
and learn all the research that doctors ignore and what poor and false research all of the common myth that doctors do have today about nutrition are based on.
Also a great source to learn about metabolism, insulin, cholesterol, fatty-acids, testosterone, lipolidsys and all the biological processes that occur between what you eat, and body fat cells, and more. It's a fantastic easy to understand book about all this stuff.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702
It is not a requirement. However, if we stopped eating meat we would, none the less, have to kill off all of the animals we currently eat because releasing them or keeping them as pets would not be sustainable. Lots of vegetarians claim that "meat eaters" have a larger environmental footprint and that if we stopped eating meat that we could somehow feed those who have trouble getting it now.
This position is a bit naive. We currently produce more than enough food to feed the world. The problem isn't with producing the food, it is with paying for, and transporting, it to those who need it. Switching from our current omnivorous diet to a strictly vegetarian one would make this problem worse, not better, because it takes more space to provide sufficient nutrition without meat.
So, while there are just a few self-selected vegetarians they might have a slightly smaller footprint than the average American, but if everyone were to become one we would be worse off. Additionally, the idea that a vegetarian diet is more healthy is also not nearly as clear cut as many vegetarians would like to believe. If you look into the research on how carbohydrates affect obesity (Here is a good source) you can see that it's not the meat that is making us fat. It's the sugar and bread.
Finally, animals (specifically the fat in animals) is delicious and our bodies crave it because it is a good source of long-term energy without causing the insulin spike that carbohydrates cause. So, eating more fatty meat actually helps to regulate hunger and reduce our consumption.
TL;DR : Animals are delicious and good for you but it is possible to exist without them.
Gary Taubes' Why We Get Fat cites a number of studies that have found keto and paleo diets to be two of the most effective at fat loss. Taubes also spends a good amount of time discussing the "many diseases, diseases of cilivization and what not" that have been linked to over-eating of carbs and sugars.
I'll start off by commending you for taking this step. I wish you the best of luck.
The FAQ in the sidebar is a good place to start. I personally started after reading Gary Taubes' "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It". It provided a great overview of the science behind keto, and the health benefits that could result from it in addition to weight loss.
For an entertaining intro to these concepts, you can check out Fat Head. It's streaming on Netflix if you are a subscriber.
Gary Taubes has done a lot of research on the subject. You can check out his books Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories.
I was originally introduced to these concepts by Mark Sisson through his book The Primal Blueprint. He also has a website full of great information; Mark's Daily Apple.
There is also a ton of information you can find online by googling primal diet, paleo diet or ketonic diet.
I will tell you that I was highly skeptical of all this myself given all I was told about nutrition throughout my life. But I now feel better than I ever have. All my health indicators are now in the excellent range. I have more energy than ever. I am rarely hungry. And I have a six pack now. Never in my life, even as an athlete have I had a six pack. And I only exercise about 30 minutes a week (I just follow the simplefit program.)
I now understand what Hippocrates meant by 'Let food be your medicine and your medicine be your food."
And here is a list of ailments I no longer suffer from after switching to a high fat diet.
And don't take my word for it. Do the research yourself. And why not give it a try for 30 days yourself and see how you feel. I think you'll be surprised.
>If you take in more calories than you use, then you will gain weight.
That's kind of obvious, but it's about as relevant as saying "Only cars with wheels get in collisions." Sure, but it's not helpful since all cars have wheels. Also pretty much everyone consumes more calories than their body "uses". The relevant question is what your body does with the excess calories. Does your body convert those calories to fat or does your body expel them?
Everyone knows someone who can eat ridiculous quantities of food without gaining weight (I'm included in that group). Yet other people eat more moderately yet still increase in size. Hormones have a huge effect on how our bodies handle excess calories, specifically how sensitive our bodies are to insulin and cortisol. On the same diet, someone who is more sensitive to those hormones will end up gaining weight while someone who is less sensitive will not.
I get these ideas from the science writer Gary Taubes. From the amazon page for his book Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It:
>In his New York Times best seller, Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes argued that our diet’s overemphasis on certain kinds of carbohydrates—not fats and not simply excess calories—has led directly to the obesity epidemic we face today.
>[he explains] in layperson’s terms the science that debunks the idea that weight control is a matter of burning more calories than one consumes...
I've never been overweight, but I've always found the argument judgmental that "it's as simple as calories in vs calories burned, and if overweight people could simply show some self control they would be thin". Lots of people don't have to live counting calories (like myself), and I know I eat a shit-ton more calories than I "use" (or exercise off, I guess is what people mean), but I don't gain weight.
In light of that is it really that useful to go around pointing out that fat people eat more calories than they burn, when that's not really the issue?
Vegetable Oils? Americans get too much protein!? Are you kidding?
Explain to me how the epidemic of childhood obesity, Type II Diabetes, etc. are related to too much protein? Saturated fat bad? Please cite your sources (Hint: they don't exist, and don't even think about citing The China Study).
OP: as far as healthy oils, Mark Sisson has a solid primer. As far as carbohydrates, I'd suggest reading "Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It" by Gary Taubes. Aside from individual food intolerances, it's becoming more and more clear that most of the illnesses we suffer these days start with excessive carbohydrate consumption.
Disregard pajama's advice. Acquire health.
Why We Get Fat: And What To Do About It
You can start with http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/keto, but for better coverage of what is really quite a complex (and hotly contested) subject, I'd recommend Why We Get Fat (And What to Do About It).
That's actually incorrect. I used to think the same thing, but calories are not equal because of the different effects they have on our hormones and insulin levels. When we eat carbs, the increased insulin levels lead to immediate fat storage rather than burning of carbohydrates for energy.
Eating carbs also increases hunger due to the upward and downward swing in blood sugar(elevated mood followed by a crash) and because our bodies think we're starving since fat/calories are being stored rather than used for energy when we eat carbs.I would recommend reading this book or listening to the audiobook version, as it will really blow your mind in terms of the research behind it:
https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526472619&sr=8-2&keywords=Why+We+Get+Fat%3A+And+What+to+Do+About+It
A short interview of the author where he makes the point that you can eat as much as you want on a keto diet and still lose weight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJnszUbkTNE
This is a slightly longer interview (Just over 22 minutes) in which he goes into the history of how government policies led to the obesity epidemic and people getting fat in general, not just in the United States but around the world since we're the #1 exporter of food globally and carbohydrates are the cheapest and easiest foods to export since they can last so long after they are manufactured whereas meat spoils quickly and is expensive to produce:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpALLBqcYTE
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299642695&sr=8-1
I really liked this book for explaining exactly why low-carb works and why eating lots of fat is healthy
http://www.amazon.com/Paleo-Solution-Original-Human-Diet/dp/0982565844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299642745&sr=1-1
This book is really good for applying what Taubes says to your life and has a nice plan.
The book I am reading at the moment discsses this very question. Have a look.
I can't believe nobody else has said this yet (though maybe they did and I missed it):
Low-carb. Go low-carb.
Do you eat sugar and starches compulsively? Does it feel as though, no matter how much you eat, you still need more food? An hour or two after a meal, do you already want another one? Does trying to just "cut back" or count calories make your body scream at you to eat?
You need low-carb.
To put it as simply as possible, if you eat a lot of carbs, your body has likely been thrown completely out of whack. You eat flour or sugar, and your insulin levels go rocketing upward; a while later, they drop precipitously, making your body cry out for more in an attempt to stabilize the situation. But eating more only makes them rocket up again, and around and around you go. After years/decades of this, your body is pumping out vast amounts of insulin on a routine basis, leaving you with far too much in your system; however, your tissues have become numbed to it (ie, have become insulin resistant), meaning that it continually takes more to keep your blood sugar under control. Eventually the system begins to break down, leading to pre-diabetes, and later on full-blown Type II. Additionally, all the insulin coursing through your veins is the primary cause of your body's over-enthusiasm to store fat.
That's all terribly over-simplified, but for a more in-depth explanation, read this, and for an even more in-depth explanation, read this. To get you started for now, read this.
I am not shitting you: if you have carb issues (and as a pre-diabetic, you almost certainly do), going low-carb can change EVERYTHING. It can be a little bit of a challenge at first, but after a week or so it gets much easier -- it was far easier for me than any of the standard calorie-restricted, low-fat diets I've done, and I've done more than my share of them. Once you're on track, the compulsive eating vanishes. Your appetite drops off, your energy levels go way up, a surprising number of assorted physical complaints diminish. And most importantly, your weight starts to drop, quickly and without struggle.
I can vouch for this, because this is what happened to me. I've been obese for my entire adult life, and have made so many long, grinding efforts at standard diets -- always failing in the end -- that I was convinced there was just something inherently wrong with me. Then someone right here in r/loseit told me about low-carb dieting, and I decided, what the fuck? Why not give it a try? The worst that happens is that in two weeks, I'm still fat, which was going to happen anyway. So I tried a two-week "experiment," just to see what would happen.
That was nearly seven months ago. Since then, I've dropped roughly 80 lbs (of roughly 150 total that I need to drop) and feel for the first time in my life that I can be whatever size I want to be. Hell, a lot of the time I don't even feel as though I'm "on a diet"... it's more like, in soviet russia, diet goes on you. As long as I don't eat more than a certain number of carbs per day, the weight and everything that goes along with it, that all just takes care of itself.
Low-carb diets aren't a fad, they're not a crash diet, they're not unhealthy, though people will tell you all of these things. What a low-carb diet does is allow your body to regain its equilibrium and begin to correct all of the problems that have accumulated from a lifetime of eating refined carbohydrates. There are a lot of ways to go about it -- it's not all Atkins, although that's a perfectly valid place to start. But even just getting the major sources of carbs out of your diet -- the flour, sugar, and starch -- will almost certainly make an enormous, rapid difference in how you feel and what you weigh. It does require some effort, and it does require some sacrifice. Changing how you live your life is never easy. But compared to the tortures of a carb-based, low-fat, calorie-restricted diet (that doesn't work to address the real problem anyway), it's a walk in the fucking park.
If nothing else, it's worth a try. It's worth considering. For me, it literally changed my entire world. And I'm an Oregonian, too -- would I lead you astray? :)
Good luck, girl. I hear you so loud and clear my ears are bleeding. Think about this, and please, please ask if you have questions.
Drink lots of water both with your meal, and in between. It might take a week or two to condition your body to feel better on a different type of diet, though you may never feel satisfied by starving yourself (low calorie diet). Do some research on what types of foods you should and should not be eating. I recommend Why We Get Fat.
Carbohydrates cause water retention. If you are moderating your intake, it is likely that you will lose a lot of water weight in the first week. I also lost 7 lbs in about 1 week, after which my weight loss slowed down a little. Source.
Actually diet and exercise have less effect on weight than is touted
I used to be a skeptic of the low carb diets,though I could never deny that people did seem to lose a lot of weight quickly. After hearing Paul Thurrott talk about the book "Why we get fat, and what to do about it" on Windows Weekly, I picked up the book, mostly expecting to find all the holes in his theory. Somewhere in reading it, I became convinced enough to start eating low carb/keto. The weight started coming off quickly, I wasn't ravenously hungry all the time (the culprit in all my previous dieting failures), my blood pressure dropped, all good things. Even though I still had a taste for breads and sweets, the feeling of losing weight, and feeling better was enough motivation to keep me from hitting the donuts.
I would recommend reading the book. He isn't selling a diet, just documenting what doctors and researchers have found that supports the keto diet, and how social and professional pressures keep the it from being widely accepted by the medical community. I honestly think he could have done a better job presenting some of the information, but I still recommend it.
Keto isn't about calorie restriction, please take some time to read "Why we get fat" by Taubes.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702/ref=sr_1_http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307474259/
If Gary Taubes is right, all you need to do is chuck the bread and your heart will be fine.
I agree, though I think that people underestimate the role of hormones. I recommend the book Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes (not an affiliate link). It's not a typical diet book.
The Low Carb Diet, a fad since 1869. The current "conventional wisdom" is what is lacking supporting studies. See Why We Get Fat and the weighter Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. Also see the more explicitly ketogenic The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Phinney and Volek.
Entire populations have been eating keto long term. Only in the last 40 to 60 years has the cursed food pyramid been espoused.
Stop pushing forth bullshit. It has been proven time and time again that low-carb is the most efficient and healthy way to lose weight.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702
But go ahead and keep paying attention to bad science that is decades old.
buy and read this book :
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702
It is because they eat a relatively high grain/starch diet and over time their bodies stop responding to the insulin released after high starch meals (insulin resistance), so insulin levels remain high. Insulin basically tells our bodies to store fat, so when insulin is constantly high, we cannot use stored energy.
**That is a really quick summary, but if you are really interested, you can check out this fascinating book.
..http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702
Have you read Why We Get Fat and What to do About it?
Also, have you watched the movie Fat Head?
I believe both things would help you tremendously. I would like to add also that the idea of burning more calories than you take in is wrong for many reasons, it is just not that simple. If your insulin level is too high because of a high carb diet, your body will not be able to burn fat. It will just starve. Everybody mentioning primal/paleo is on the right track. With your current weight, you could probably lose 5 pounds a week just by switching to that diet.
Hey man, when I started this I had roughly the same stats as you. A few months later, I'm at about 50 pounds lost and far fitter.
I hope you're a reader because my suggested first step is to read Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. It helped me immensely to understand why, scientifically, I was the way I am. Once I knew, I made the appropriate changes.
For me, the first 30 pounds was diet change alone. No more sugary sodas or processed foods; I typically don't eat anything that comes in a box. My meals consist of grass-fed or free-range meats and organic fruits and vegetables; I don't count calories or fat or anything, I just make sure I know what I'm putting in my body. This goes a long way in making you healthier overall.
Once I dropped the 30 pounds, I started Couch to 5K (C25K) but I truly could've started at the beginning of my journey, I was just lazy. I'm in the forth week of the C25K program, which is about 15 minutes of running separated by small walking breaks, and it's an amazing high when I finish. Just today when I started the first run, I was about a minute in before I had to start breathing heavier. I couldn't go up five steps without wheezing; now I can sprint and it's a piece of cake. IT FEELS AWESOME.
That combined with the consistent, sensible eating has got me to 50 pounds lost and still dropping.
To sum up, STUDY why you're the way you are. CHANGE YOUR DIET and a great subreddit is /r/paleo to help you make wiser eating choices. START RUNNING NOW with C25K and guess what, another great subreddit for that at /r/c25k.
Power through that first week and trust me, it becomes an addiction and a joy, not a struggle.
May I suggest this book? http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702/ref=pd_sim_b_4 or check out /r/keto. Definitely an eye-opener.
I recommend that friend remove or at least seriously limit his intake of refined sugar/hfcs and flour, refined sugar/hfcs being the worst.
I recommend the book by Gary Taubes "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It" and watching the video in the FAQ called "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" by Robert Lustig.
Hey,
I weighted 257 lbs back in February 2011. I've lost approx. 50 lbs since on a low carb diet, while doing absolutely no exercise for the first three months or so due to a sciatica. It is not an easy transition, but it's easily the best thing I've ever done diet wise. It's not a matter of losing weight anymore, but living better overall. I can't tell you how many advantages there are to cutting carbs, but apart from the weight loss, the energy levels always stay constant. No more feeling drowsy or tired after a meal. No more heartburns (which was a daily occurrence for me). No more cravings for sugar before or after a workout or long bike run, or a long day at work. No more feeling bloated.
I've never counted calories during this period. Not a single instant. But I watch the carbs I'm eating very carefully. Still, not to the point of obsession. Most carbs are easily discarded: sugar, bread, starchy vegetables, pasta, etc. Mayonnaise is now my main condiment (not proud or anything, just saying).
I've started biking again recently. I do approx. 250 to 300 km a week with a friend of mine over the course of three, sometimes four rides. During these rides is the only time I "carb-up" (eat a significant amount of carbs). I've literally struggled to keep losing weight since I started biking. Why? Because exercise makes me hungry. I compensate before/during rides, but I'm not doing it to LOSE weight. I'm doing it because I love it and I feel better doing it. Exercise does not help weight loss. It helps build lean mass and make you feel better, but the energy spent will be "asked" for by your body -- hunger, cravings, etc. Exercise is a zero-sum game. Energy spent will come back in. If not, you'll just be suffering for no reason!
When I do fall off the low-carb diet (special occasions, sometimes just for fun), I do end up gaining some pounds very rapidly. Eating pizza one night does often result in seeing a huge increase on the scale (2 lbs easily), but it's temporary. The weight goes away just as fast when going back on the low-carb diet.
I aim to eat less than 20 grams of carbs (except fiber) a day. This is typically called a ketogenic diet, as it results in your body going into ketogenesis. I'm just human, so I'd guess that my average was closer to 30-35 grams a days. I've tested for ketogenesis a few times during the last few months. It was obvious I was in keto after bike rides, but not before.
Oh, and my blood pressure was significantly lowered. My cholesterol levels are better than they were, but not yet perfect. I still have a lot to lose.
Anyways, do you have any time to read? If so, PM me. I'd like to send you a copy of Gary Taubes' Why we get fat. Got the Kindle edition recently, and I have no more use for the printed edition.
Nope, I think you underestimate the self-limiting nature of fat and protein vs. the human bodies nearly endless ability to gorge on carbs.
If you're serious about getting healthy, I would HIGHLY recommend reading this book. I can honestly say it changed my life as well as my understanding of obesity.
This is basically the entire point of keto and why it works. Calories are almost inconsequential in light of the more important matter - our bodies' hormonal response to food (insulin) and the subsequent partitioning of energy.
Here's one good blod by Gary Taubes discussing it. If you want to learn more, he has two excellent books detailing the science, history, and politics of the modern obesity pandemic.
Good Calories Bad Calories
Why We Get Fat
I highly recommend you read them and delve into the actual physiology of it. You're free to make your own decisions but most of us in keto agree based on sound evidence, ourselves included (55 lbs down and counting, and I assure you I eat as much as I want)
But the short of it is that insulin is nearly solely responsible for storing fat in adipose tissue. No insulin = no fat storage. No carbs = virtually no insulin. Your body will regulate the distribution of energy accordingly. It doesn't want to be fat, so it does what it needs to do in order to either use or discard excess energy, since without insulin it's basically incapable of storing it as fat.
> The body can't make energy just disappear because it perceives it differently. If the body absorbs an energy-containing molecule, then eventually, it has to either use that energy or excrete it unused.
At no point did Mob_Of_One imply any such thing. Your name along with the nature of your responses also leads me to not dismiss his creationist statement, either.
If you are really an engineer, I can understand your difficulty here. I read The Hacker's Diet years ago, and it made perfect sense to me... yet I still struggled to lose weight. It wasn't until this year when I read Why We Get Fat that things started to click.
The hump you need to get over is this: the human body is not a black box. You can't just dump any kind of "Calorie" in and expect the same result. The body treats incoming carbs differently from incoming fat. Carbs are digested almost immediately, and can even be broken down significantly in the mouth (try putting a Saltine on your tongue, see how long it takes for it to taste sweet). Because of this:
This doesn't happen with fats. It takes the body much longer to break them down... on the order of hours. The blood sugar level increases much more slowly and stays pretty even over the duration of digestion rather than spiking. A significant insulin response isn't triggered.
It's a hard thing to convince people of. It's not even about convincing them, because I may certainly be wrong, but you can't even get people to consider that there might even be other viewpoints!
I am not an expert by any means, I simply have read very compelling arguments. Nutrition is a tough topic to discuss since the government has brainwashed entire generations into believe their ideas are the best, despite the lack of clear science behind them.
I am basically always downvoted to oblivion for this stuff, but I Gary Taubs' research is incredibly convincing, and very thorough. It's just that his arguments require a 1000 page book to learn.
He actually wrote another book called "Why we get fat and what to do about it" which he's said in interviews is basically a book with the intent of condensing his ultra in-depth work into something the busy policy makers can digest. (Not to mention doctors and the general public.)
http://www.amazon.ca/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702
Congrats on wanting to change your life! All of us r/keto-ers are happy to lend our support and encouragement.
But first, some real talk:
The hard part is re-learning what you know about diet and nutrition. For the past 50 years, doctors have been pushing dietary advice that is well-meaning, but based on some bad science.
For example, you say dietary fat is your "real problem," and that you're concerned about calories. These are the two biggest fallacies of mainstream dietary advice. What researchers like Gary Taubes have discovered is that, if you look at all the scientific research we have, most of what we've been told is just plain wrong. Most notably:
I second the recommendation to read Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. It's extremely important that you understand how and why your body creates fat tissue, and how a low-carb ketogenic diet corrects it. This is not a "fad diet." This is science.
Cut out carbs, increase fat, and never look back.
Do not worry about portion sizes.
Do not worry about calories.
Do not worry about fat.
Do worry about what you eat, not how much. There's overwhelming scientific evidence that carbohydrates quite literally make us fat, and that fat and protein do not.
Exercise does shit for weigh loss. This is a proven scientific fact.
All you really have to do to drop weight is eat less than 20 grams of carbs a day. That. Is. It. Eat whatever else you want. You will still lose weight. Check out r/keto for daily success stories, support, and low-carb recipes.
Actually the way to lose weight has definitively been proven NOT TO BE by "consuming less and burning more" as your metabolism will shift to keep the body in energy balance. The way to lose weight is biological, not physical, and by eating less carbohydrates your body will produce less insulin, which is the "master hormone" in dictating fat storage.
If you eat less you will have less energy and not be able to exercise much. If you exercise a lot you will literally "work up an appetite", as the saying goes. This has all been very clearly explained by Gary Taubes, who explains this in less than 90 minutes here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyXa39ICIrk
and wrote a book on this subject: http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702
> obesity is caused by the consumption of excess calories (energy)
Maybe not: https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702/ref=asc_df_0307272702/
That's the same bullshit advice that got us fat and with a diabetes epidemic.
Food quality is of utmost importance. Read:
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702
Books are a great way to educate yourself and keep you motivated. Check the FAQ for resources. I'm enjoying Gary Taubes' Why we get fat book. I found Tom Venuto's Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle to be a great start also. There are plenty of audiobooks too that you can listen to while running or working out.
Food scale, as suggested earlier, is a must if you're planning to use calorie counters and having more control of the things you eat. And form your comment about weighting your bowel movements, I'm sure you'll have fun using it.
Resistance bands and push-up handles are way cheap. I know fittit will prefer barbells and dumbells and I know they're right. But as you, when I initiated (recently) I wanted to have a range of "equipment" for cheap to get myself started and motivated and all of these stuff I mention helped me.
Work out videos/programs (P90X, Insanity, etc) help too, not only as routines but as a way to learn about exercises/form/stretching. I've been doing Power90 (not P90X) for a few months and I'm waiting for my copy of Starting Strength to arrive and looking to get myself a bench press and barbell/weights.
And mostly r/fitness! Good luck!
Calories certainly matter in a healthy individual, but if there is any sort of metabolic derangement(hyperinsuliemia, insulin resistance, or anything else that falls under metabolic syndrome/ syndrome X) all bets are off.
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Gary-Taubes/dp/1400040787 or Taubes more accessible http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702/ref=pd_sim_b_1 are a good jumping off point, although these subjects can get much more complicated than what Taubes presents.
As far as athletic performance in glycogen depleting(running, cycling, Cross-fit, soccer, etc.) activities and carb intake goes, it can certainly help. Although in one study runners partipiated in a sub-maximal(<%70 Vo2/max) effort to exhaustion. There was no difference in the group who consumed a high fat/protein low carb diet and partipiated in a fasted state and the group who followed a more traditional low fat/high carb diet and were able to eat during the test. (sorry don't have a link, but it can be found in Noakes http://www.amazon.com/Lore-Running-4th-Timothy-Noakes/dp/0873229592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1300301225&amp;sr=1-1)
The flip side of that is that insulin tells your body to refuse to remove energy from fat cells, and eating a carbohydrate-heavy diet dramatically increases your insulin levels. Thus, people can run a caloric deficit and not lose significant weight, but simultaneously experience starvation at the cellular level if their diet is too carb-heavy.
EDIT: Not sure why I'm being downvoted, because it's factually accurate. Sources: Good Calories, Bad Calories; Why We Get Fat; Wheat Belly. There are more, but these are some of the best, fully-sourced books about the subject.
First read this book Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It.
Learn about low, slow, no carb diets and try them until you find one that will work for you. Exercise is good for you but diet is what will determine your weight loss. It sucks but the sodas will have to go, switch to diet if you need something carbonated. Good Luck!
It is not definitive by any means. I've read a couple books on the subject, and there is good research, which also suggests that carbs are at fault. The author of the book below points out holes in a lot of diet research.
Calories in calories out is not proven in the slightest.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702
The explanation for other diets working is that people tend to cut out the simple sugars when they are on any diet.
If I had not found low-carb eating (started with the Dukan Diet and then modified it to include animal fats and olive oil after reading Why We Get Fat) I probably would have started CrossFit sooner. Once I saw that I was steadily losing ~800g/week eating this way, I chose to wait: Plan A was to start CrossFit once I hit the arbitrary round number of 100kg. Plan B came about when I realised I was halfway to my weight goal already and had loads of energy.
The CrossFit forums and this subreddit have examples of people much larger than I was successfully getting into CrossFit, so I'd say that providing you can walk, you will benefit (I'm open to correction here). Speaking purely for myself: I'm glad I was able to lose weight before starting. But that probably says more about my self image than anything.
Ultimately I feel that getting to a safer weight (I was borderline Morbid), in terms of disease and heart risk, is more of a priority than fitness or strength. The latter will lead to the former, but it's no substitute for improving what you eat.
Of course it is, but it is likely.
"Why we get fat" by Gary Taubes would be a good read http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702 he had a good podcast interview I just listened to as well http://www.latestinpaleo.com/paleo-podcast/2011/8/29/latest-in-paleo-episode-30-gary-taubes.html
So would Seth Roberts Shang Ri La Diet http://sethroberts.net/
and
Stephan Guyenet's bloghttp://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
but I can back this up with evidence (facts are hard to come by in science..). This and another book by the same author provides very compelling evidence for the view that obesity is not the result of over eating, but overeating is the result of obesity. The former book has ~100 pages of references for 400 pages of text. The latter is a synopsis of the former.
Obesity is the result of carbohydrate intake (particularly the refined ones like sugar) and your body's reaction. Nothing to do with caloric intake.
EDIT: and this is where I first heard of the book. That post and the comments are worth a read (if I remember rightly!)
This book may be of some interest. I know many people that for years been on the elliptical machines without making progress. What's it said? Keep doing what you've always done and you'll keep getting what you've always got?
I read Gary Taubes' book where he claims that endless aerobic exercise is just about useless for fat loss since it actually stimulates hunger.
Check out this link. I think it's all the encouragement you'll need.
I read Why we get fat recently. I remember there being a body chemical/process - related reason why people crave salt on a carb reduced diet. Unfortunately, I can't remember the exact details. :(
Possibly a nutrient/vitamin deficiency within the diet.
You are welcome. It seems that education, in this diet above all others, is important. You have to understand that bacon doesn't make your heart blow up, and that there are factors for heart disease that are heightened by carbohydrates. In other words, the USDA food pyramid is upside down. Seriously, watch the videos, read the literature, order Why We Get Fat... from Gary Taubes off of Amazon.com ($14.33) and let him read that. You read it too and there will be no more doubt.
Brain damage, damaged vagus nerve, Prader Willi, the list goes on.
EDIT: While I'm in no way defending the uglies of fat logic, obesity is a lot more than "eat less and exercise more" as this subreddit likes to think. Biological forces are in charge of energy balance and once you fuck up that feedback loop strict willpower just won't cut it for weight loss.
EDIT 2: Keep downvoting me, but after you hit that arrow go and read this and this
[Why We Get Fat] (http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702)
I'm not a great writer and I have no need in trying to convince to do something that is against your believing or whatever. We were all told in recent years that getting fit is about keeping calorie deficit because it's what first law of thermodynamics suggest and it would be right when speaking about engine and power plants but our bodies were not made by humans and this law doesn't apply as well as when it comes to any power plant. (couldn't thing of anything better you can blame it on my field of studies)
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/13464859-423/is-a-calorie-just-a-calorie.html
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1199154
this are some articles (first is "interpretation" of second - second is a paper released after research).
Trust me I wasn't convinced at any of it in the first place because I knowledge of biology and chemistry was on high school level and I didn't really thought about how getting fat might work. But after reading http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Get-Fat-about/dp/0307272702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1341526534&amp;sr=8-1 it all actually had more sense that what I was thought to believe.
tl;dr: don't want to write a wall of text explaining why you're 100% correct - just read through links before judging anything
So many Americans are obese because so many Americans believe the myth that in order to lose weight, you have to increase activity and cut calories. Gary Taubes has exposed this lie and proven that it's the quality of the calories you eat and not the quantity that matters.
For the solution, see this lecture: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4362041487661765149#
and this book: http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702
Actually, eating less in order to lose weight doesn't really work, and neither does exercise. I highly recommend the book Why we get fat and what to do about it by Gary Taubes