The Real Skinny About Exercise

[rubato]

500,000 years of evolution has shaped us to survive hardship, endure great physical trials, and exist on a variable food supply.

If you take whatever you are doing today and cut calories and increased exercise, most of the time you'll be better off.

yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

When you neurotically control your sugar and carbohydrate intake, CALORIES DON'T COUNT.

Calories actually do count. The difference is that when you eat high fat and protein you fill up faster and will take in less calories than if you constantly eat breads, cakes and other fluffy foods that don't fill you up but have high concentrations of calories.

It's a simple formula that anybody who writes a book on diets will always attempt to complicate in order to sell an idea.

Well pre Atkins, the fad was hi carb, fat free diets; I lost a lot of weight (around 70 lbs) by eating only pasta and cereals, no meat or any other fats. I've kept it off for over 20 years, by a later combination of portion control (on a regular diet) and exercise. I think the carb hook was the idea that if your blood sugar spiked while you ate, your body would not want to store unused calories--BS to be sure, but the diet worked.

[Joe Guy]

Well pre Atkins, the fad was hi carb, fat free diets; I lost a lot of weight (around 70 lbs) by eating only pasta and cereals, no meat or any other fats. I've kept it off for over 20 years, by a later combination of portion control (on a regular diet) and exercise. I think the carb hook was the idea that if your blood sugar spiked while you ate, your body would not want to store unused calories--BS to be sure, but the diet worked.

Most weight loss diets are "Hi Carb." The idea is the same. Take in less calories. If someone continues to eat carbohydrates and cuts out fats, chances are good that person will lose weight.

Weight loss diets work mostly because people begin to pay attention to what they are eating.

Anyone here could lose weight simply by writing down everything he/she eats for three or four days and then start cutting out things that are the least nutritious or are empty calories.

The problem as I see it, is that the Joe Guy "Weight Loss Diet" book would only need to be one page long because it wouldn't be packed full of junk science, so most people wouldn't want to believe it so they wouldn't buy it.

[Gob]

I'm willing to admit, this is the best post on this subject and one of the better ones I've read on this site.

The diet advice from 40 years ago is the same today:

Don't eat too much.

Eat a balanced diet with a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, greens and nuts.

Vegetarians live longer and are healthier. (less than 1/2 as much colon cancer for example)


The exercise advice is the same too:

Everybody needs some, several times a week. (to maintain weight, usually 45-60 min/day 6-7 days a week)

Bodies are different and respond to exercise/stress differently, so don't hurt yourself.


And when it comes to life expectancy and health luck is a big factor. This is about common sense, not virtue. Taking care of your body is a part of your obligation to yourself and to your community but no amount of 'virtue' earns you the right to a good outcome. Be thankful for the good things, they are a gift.


yrs,
rubato

[Sean]

This is why I actually hesitated before putting Rubato on ignore (not like the other twat...). Sometimes he comes up with an insightful post like that one.

[alice]

There was a diet sensation that came out when I was in my teens. I don't remember the name, but I remember the concept, and it was one of the 'big sellers' at the time. The idea was that you didn't mix certain foods - such as, you don't eat potato with ?corn? or whatever. It was quite precise in what foods you could eat together and what you didn't, and how long after eating certain foods you could eat something else from another 'group'. It was meant to be all about eating compatible foods that aided the best release of vitamins and minerals, and aided the best digestive process. I didn't need to diet in those teen years, but I remember thinking the concept made sense at the time - I couldn't be bothered regulating my eating habits in any way so I never tried it, but it certainly sounded like an interesting idea. In hindsight, it was just the first time I'd heard of any of those trendy weight loss/healthy lifestyle books. Does anyone remember that particular diet? (or is my description too vague!!)

[rubato]

Alice;

It wasn't a diet in the sense that the goal was weight loss. It was more of a (totally whack) theory about nutrition. I can recall seeing signs about it in the local hippie food store in the 1970s; one was "melons, eat them alone or leave them alone!". I heard a (tiresome crank) woman expounding on this theory recently in the same hippie food store. I have to admit a certain fascination for this kind of implausible sillyness.

There is a tiny tiny grain of truth buried in it. Some foods do promote or inhibit the uptake of nutrients and some foods do react negatively with certain drugs (grapefruit is a frequent culprit) but on the whole if you ignore 'food-mixing' and eat a balanced diet you'll be fine.

Your stomach is a generalist, it takes everything and pumps it full of HCl (to a pH of about 1 to 2) and dumps in a couple of enzymes. Then it gets transferred to the duodenum where things are -really- complicated but it gets made basic and a host of bile salts and other enzymes are added -then- your native flora (hundreds of bacteria that do a lot of the work of digestion for you and which we don't really understand) take over and break stuff down until its in a form which can be passed through the wall of your gut into your body.

It is only recently that they have started to look systematically at the whole bacterial part of digestion; which might be the most important part. To give you an idea of the relative importance 1/3 by weight of fecal matter is bacteria. The early evidence suggests that a lot of disease might be caused by lacking certain bacteria or perhaps having the wrong strains so that disease can be treated by feeding people the right bacteria.

Michael Pollans advice is the most succinct: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.".

yrs,
rubato

[dgs49]

In a similar vein, I have in recent years been a disciple of two fitness guru's whose insights I find compelling.

Dr. Ellington Darden has developed a diet that worked for me once or twice (my weight goes up and down - I am a glutton who exercises a lot). His theory is that a well-selected 300 calorie meal will satisfy any hunger you have; our tendency is to eat until we feel full, which is much more than we need to satisfy the actual hunger. His diet consists of three 300 calorie meals a day along with two or three 100 calorie snacks. It is satisfying and relatively easy to maintain. He claims that combining his diet with a good exercise program can simultaneously burn fat and build muscle. A healthy man can lose a pound a day on this diet, tapering off to about half of that after a couple weeks.

Dr. Al Sears is a horrible self-promoter, but is unique (as far as I know) in that he backs up everything he says with scientific, peer-reviewed medical research. He is the one who induced me to switch from distance running to an interval program which, I believe, has improved my heart and lung conditioning. His basic progressive-interval workout (which he refers to as "PACE") can be completed in 15 minutes, and fatigues you as much as a 5-mile run - with minimal wear and tear on your joints, etc. His diet recommendations pretty much mirror Adkins. He is a big promoter of animal protein, and has long preached that processed sugar and "bad" carbs are the main causes of our obesity epidemic. He is not a proponent of weightlifting, although he does recommend stretching and calisthenics.

FWIW, I have been on the interval training regimen for almost a year now, and I occasionally try a long run (4 miles or so) but suffer for 48 hours afterwards with muscle and joint soreness. I get none of that with interval training (which can also be done on a bike or eliptical machine).

For those of us who are regular attendees at fitness clubs, we are now beginning the worst phase of the year. The clubs will be packed with people who either got fitness memberships as Christmas gifts or who have made new year's resolutions that they will "get into shape" in 2011. They are, of course, welcome to exploit their memberships, but many of them do not know or follow fitness club etiquette, tying up machines for ridiculous periods of time, using benches as coffee tables, walking at 2mph on the treadmills, and so forth. Happily they will all be gone by about the middle of February.

[Gob]

For those of us who are regular attendees at fitness clubs, we are now beginning the worst phase of the year. The clubs will be packed with people who either got fitness memberships as Christmas gifts or who have made new year's resolutions that they will "get into shape" in 2011. They are, of course, welcome to exploit their memberships, but many of them do not know or follow fitness club etiquette, tying up machines for ridiculous periods of time, using benches as coffee tables, walking at 2mph on the treadmills, and so forth. Happily they will all be gone by about the middle of February.

Oh god, that's so right!

Plus watching them use the machines totally wrong, sit on machines while chatting to their friends, use a machine for one set, move to the next one set move to the next, kill themselves on one exercise then do nothing for the rest of the session except sit on machines.

Hen had the idea that our studio should employ a trainer whose job it was was to "police" the gym.

[Sean]

I have never felt the need to enter a gym. I get plenty of exercise through work and dog walking, am not overweight and have never felt the urge to become musclebound in any way shape or form.

My personal philosophy of "No pain... no pain" seems to work quite nicely.

[loCAtek]

Hen had the idea that our studio should employ a trainer whose job it was was to "police" the gym.

At my gym, all the trainers take turns doing that, except they call it 'coaching' and 'instruction'.

[Gob]

I have never felt the need to enter a gym. I get plenty of exercise through work and dog walking, am not overweight and have never felt the urge to become musclebound in any way shape or form.

My personal philosophy of "No pain... no pain" seems to work quite nicely.

And you put all the Gold Coast beach bodies to shame with your perfectly toned muscularity, as I well know Sean!



Sean, yesterday.

[loCAtek]

Sean Today

[Sean]

That is scary Strop... It's beyond me why anyone would want to look like that!

[dgs49]

In my exercise "club" the trainers are very reluctant to correct anybody, particularly about etiquette or even following posted rules. About the only time they will approach someone is when they are doing an exercise in a way that they can hurt themselves.

On the other hand, they are all more than willing to work with anyone to develop a program, work through an injury, or just give workout suggestions.

Sean, it is certainly not necessary to go to a health club - or even to use any equipment - to make oneself strong and flexible. But to simply do nothing to maintain or improve your physical fitness and pretend that it is a conscious, philosophical decision is rather lame. A bit like saying, I never read anything, but I consider myself well-informed.

[Long Run]

For those of us who are regular attendees at fitness clubs, we are now beginning the worst phase of the year. The clubs will be packed with people who either got fitness memberships as Christmas gifts or who have made new year's resolutions that they will "get into shape" in 2011. They are, of course, welcome to exploit their memberships, but many of them do not know or follow fitness club etiquette, tying up machines for ridiculous periods of time, using benches as coffee tables, walking at 2mph on the treadmills, and so forth. Happily they will all be gone by about the middle of February.

Oh god, that's so right!

Just know, that these are the folks that make the fitness industry affordable for you. By signing up with full cost memberships and then going for only a few weeks and then petering out, they way overpay for their use of the gym. This allows you to pay the lower cost that you pay. (This is how Netflix and many other membership systems work.)

[Gob]

Yes, but if they could do it without ever attending the gym I'd be so much happier.

[Sean]

Sean, it is certainly not necessary to go to a health club - or even to use any equipment - to make oneself strong and flexible. But to simply do nothing to maintain or improve your physical fitness and pretend that it is a conscious, philosophical decision is rather lame. A bit like saying, I never read anything, but I consider myself well-informed.

That's a complete dickhead remark... unless of course you can point to the post where I wrote that I did "nothing to maintain or improve (my) physical fitness"...

[Gob]

That is scary Strop... It's beyond me why anyone would want to look like that!

That's Dorian Yates, the greatest bodybuilder the UK has ever produced! He won Mr. Olympia title six consecutive times.

[BoSoxGal]

Gross!