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GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Munchies_Matt1-Feb-18 2:22
Munchies_Matt1-Feb-18 2:22 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
F-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 2:42
professionalF-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 2:42 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Munchies_Matt1-Feb-18 2:52
Munchies_Matt1-Feb-18 2:52 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
F-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 2:54
professionalF-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 2:54 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Eddy Vluggen31-Jan-18 12:43
professionalEddy Vluggen31-Jan-18 12:43 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Ron Anders31-Jan-18 3:40
Ron Anders31-Jan-18 3:40 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Munchies_Matt31-Jan-18 4:56
Munchies_Matt31-Jan-18 4:56 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Foothill31-Jan-18 5:29
professionalFoothill31-Jan-18 5:29 
After reading a lot of the comments I figured I should throw my two cents in here as well. Forgive me, this might run a little long.

Calories in == Calories out is a myth. It's way more complicated than that. It also helps to know a bit of bioligical chemistry since our bodies are just big chemical machines.

  1. Genetics plays a large role on how your body handles fat
  2. Calorie type is important.
  3. How calories are consumed is important

For the role of genetics, you have to think about where your ancestors lived. Over generations, our ancestors bodies adapted to maximize survival chances in different ways. Tribes in areas where food is abundant in summer and scarce during winter, such as the Scandinavian countries, have adapted to put on fat quickly and to lose it slowly due to a slower metabolism (I know several people of Swedish decent like this). It can be quite the opposite for folks descending from tribes in areas with a lot more stable food supplies where fat can come and go quite easily. Genetics can make it really difficult for some people to lose weight in a safe way. For some, loosing weight is an uphill battle.

There are lots of things your body needs to maintain itself.
  Micro-nutrients: these are the vitamins and minerals needed to keep you alive
  Macro-nutrients: these are your sources of energy (i.e. things that can be readily converted to glucose)

Basic Macro-Nutrients
  Protein: needed for cell building and maintenance. Also provides energy in the absence of glucose.
  Carbohydrates-Monosacchrides: long chain sugar molecules. These get broken down into glucose. Examples are fats, starches, and fructose.
  Carbohydrates-Disaccharides: simple sugars that can be easily converted to glucose such as sucrose and lactose.

Right here I could drone on about how all of these are used in the body but that would be the size of a post-grad's thesis so I will cut to the chase: how these are consumed makes a great bit of difference.

If you consume any of these in their natural state, your body first has to digest them. This does two things: it consumes energy and it slows down absorption in the intestines. Slowing down digestion of sugars is imperative for weight control. I will use the obesity problem here in America as an example. The one thing that I would argue that has attributed the most to our little obesity problem is High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). Since the U.S. decided to put a tariff on Brazilian sugar, a lot of companies stopped putting cane sugar in foods and beverages and switched to HFCS because it is slightly cheaper.

Consuming fructose is natural but how it's ingested is the kicker. Putting a bit of HFCS in a pre-packaged meal is not that bad because you still have to digest it with the rest of the food. However, if you put fructose in a drink the effect is much worse. Fructose is readily absorbed by the small intestine and is metabolized exclusively by your liver. When you drink your fructose your blood sugar level spikes really high really fast. Your liver then sees all that sugar, realizes it's too much for it to handle, and calls for help. This cry for help is to your pancreas which releases insulin. The insulin signals your fat cells to start absorbing all the extra sugar. This little process can be seen when you drink a sugary drink, feel the energy from it, then experience the crash at the end. Metabolism in action. To sum up, avoid drinking your sugar.

You should also try to be consistently active. Walking a bit every hour is better than trying to squeeze all that activity into a work-out.
Do some strength training every week. Muscle burns more calories than fat which raises your basal metabolic rate. You don't have to be buff just good muscle tone.

Long story short: eat your calories, never drink them and be active. Also, be sure to vary your sources of calories to balance them out. A bit of protein, carbs, and sugar in each meal is good. Sugars for quick energy, carbs to feed you mid-range, and proteins to maintain energy later. Don't skip meals. Eating regularly will help you make your metabolism more predictable.

It also helps to do a mini-fast once a week (like on your day off), which is basically skipping breakfast and having a late lunch. This will cause your body to burn the fat stored in the liver. Once the fat in the liver is used up, it starts working on the fat stored in your body.

Of course this is my own personal opinion here but, in my defense, I eat three big meals a day, with an afternoon snack, plus drink 2 to 3 quarts of beer a night all while maintaining between 170-180 lbs and I have done this for almost a decade.

And one last little caveat, you also need to drink lots of plain old water. It helps a lot more than you think.
if (Object.DividedByZero == true) { Universe.Implode(); }
Meus ratio ex fortis machina. Simplicitatis de formae ac munus. -Foothill, 2016

GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Munchies_Matt31-Jan-18 6:26
Munchies_Matt31-Jan-18 6:26 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Foothill31-Jan-18 6:30
professionalFoothill31-Jan-18 6:30 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Munchies_Matt31-Jan-18 7:12
Munchies_Matt31-Jan-18 7:12 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
F-ES Sitecore31-Jan-18 22:28
professionalF-ES Sitecore31-Jan-18 22:28 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Foothill1-Feb-18 3:42
professionalFoothill1-Feb-18 3:42 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
F-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 3:56
professionalF-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 3:56 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Foothill1-Feb-18 4:05
professionalFoothill1-Feb-18 4:05 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
F-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 4:14
professionalF-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 4:14 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
Foothill1-Feb-18 4:43
professionalFoothill1-Feb-18 4:43 
GeneralRe: Right, time to lose weight. Pin
F-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 4:48
professionalF-ES Sitecore1-Feb-18 4:48 
GeneralLunar eclipse tonight Pin
User 5924130-Jan-18 21:50
User 5924130-Jan-18 21:50 
GeneralRe: Lunar eclipse tonight Pin
CodeWraith30-Jan-18 22:25
CodeWraith30-Jan-18 22:25 
GeneralRe: Lunar eclipse tonight Pin
Mark Parity30-Jan-18 22:39
Mark Parity30-Jan-18 22:39 
GeneralRe: Lunar eclipse tonight Pin
User 5924130-Jan-18 22:44
User 5924130-Jan-18 22:44 
GeneralRe: Lunar eclipse tonight Pin
ZurdoDev31-Jan-18 2:08
professionalZurdoDev31-Jan-18 2:08 
GeneralCCC Pin
The pompey30-Jan-18 21:26
The pompey30-Jan-18 21:26 
GeneralRe: CCC Pin
A_Griffin30-Jan-18 22:14
A_Griffin30-Jan-18 22:14 

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