2000 Gals 2500 Guys

[TammyCat]

I have studied many of today's diets and it all boils down to one reality. If you stay below 2000 cals a day you cannot get fat nor can you stay fat.

Why is it that people won't do that?

[Grant]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Hi Tammy, Welcome to the board. I have to wonder if you are here trolling. On a board with overweight people making a blanket statement like that could be very inflamatory.

I''ve chosen to take your statement at face value, and assume you really believe this, and so will give a straightforward answer

Unfortunately what you say is just not true. It's way too simplistic to think that there is one caloric number per sex which is some sort of magic bullet which = weight loss. There are many many factors to weight loss but I'll point out just one. Metabolism. Everyone has a different metabolic rate. I might burn 1400 calories if I layed around in bed all day. You might burn 900 or you might burn 1200. (If you are interested in calculating this look up Basal Metabolic Rate, there are a number of websites to help you). Two people with different metabolic rates taking in the same amount of calories may have two totally different weight change results. One may very well lose weight, and one could actually gain weight.

Cheers!

[TammyCat]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Hi Tammy, Welcome to the board. I have to wonder if you are here trolling. On a board with overweight people making a blanket statement like that could be very inflamatory.

I''ve chosen to take your statement at face value, and assume you really believe this, and so will give a straightforward answer

Unfortunately what you say is just not true. It's way too simplistic to think that there is one caloric number per sex which is some sort of magic bullet which = weight loss. There are many many factors to weight loss but I'll point out just one. Metabolism. Everyone has a different metabolic rate. I might burn 1400 calories if I layed around in bed all day. You might burn 900 or you might burn 1200. (If you are interested in calculating this look up Basal Metabolic Rate, there are a number of websites to help you). Two people with different metabolic rates taking in the same amount of calories may have two totally different weight change results. One may very well lose weight, and one could actually gain weight.

Cheers!

No body is trolling and my brother is a doctor. My statement aout metabolic rates is 100% true. I am simply asking a question so that I can figure out why 65% of Americans are overweight and only 4% were overweight in 1970.

The fact is Americans over eat. I just want to know why. That is why I am asking. Don't be such a baby.

[Kent]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Don't be such a baby

Please modify your tone immediately. I see Grant making wise observant reply to you, and you again being inflammatory in response. Consider yourself warned.

Here is why Americans are overweight -- they (like the rest of the world) overeat, eat the wrong foods (the amount of refined "whites" and processed foods have skyrocketed, the diet industry legitimizes false starvation diets, and the majority have stopped exercising. All of that together leads to an epidemic. It is not simply eat less. It is eat right, eat healthy, and exercise more. That is for the healthy individuals. There are of course a lot of individuals who no matter what they eat it wouldn't matter due to metabolic out of whack due to one medical reason or another.

[TammyCat]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Please modify your tone immediately. I see Grant making wise observant reply to you, and you again being inflammatory in response. Consider yourself warned.

Here is why Americans are overweight -- they (like the rest of the world) overeat, eat the wrong foods (the amount of refined "whites" and processed foods have skyrocketed, the diet industry legitimizes false starvation diets, and the majority have stopped exercising. All of that together leads to an epidemic. It is not simply eat less. It is eat right, eat healthy, and exercise more. That is for the healthy individuals. There are of course a lot of individuals who no matter what they eat it wouldn't matter due to metabolic out of whack due to one medical reason or another.

Have you ever been to China? The rural Chinese get 75% of their calories from carb and they are not fat nor are they scickly like Americans.

Metabolism cannot get "out of whack" enough to effect metabolic rate more than 40 calories per day. That is a fact. If you think I ma wrong show me one study that says something different.

[Grant]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

If you stay below 2000 cals a day you cannot get fat nor can you stay fat.

The fact is Americans over eat. I just want to know why.

Heya Tammy, If you were trying to lead to the second statement, the first statement probably wasn't the best way to go

Haivng said that, I think Kent's answer is great. I don't really have anything more to add to it other then to say that I often see people use other cultures for dietary examples. You mentioned China as a group that eats a lot of carbs and are healthy. On the opposite side the Eskimo people get mentioned a lot as eating a lot of fat and few carbs and being healthy. Personally I think both ways of eating can potentially be just as healthy. What both of those cultures have in common are an increasing rate of obesity and heart disease as they become more modern and their intake of "western" foods like fast food and soda become more common.

That ties right back in with what Kent was saying.

[TammyCat]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Grant, why don't you just answer the question? I am right about metabolic rate so answer the question why won't women eat under 2000 and men eat under 2500?

It's pretty simple. Do I need to give you a course in metabolism 101?

[sallyseachange]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Grant, why don't you just answer the question? I am right about metabolic rate so answer the question why won't women eat under 2000 and men eat under 2500?

It's pretty simple. Do I need to give you a course in metabolism 101?

Because many of them simply don't lose weight that way. Many people have the following issues that hinder weight loss:

Candida
Medications they take
Faulty insulin response
Hormonal disturbances
Food sensitivities
Thyroid issues

These are all very real problems for a lot of us.

I'd suggest you talk in a less abrasive fashion if you wish to keep posting here at ADBB. We're all for discussion, when it's kept polite, but don't appreciate remarks that are provocative and/or patronising in tone.

[cgdat136]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

he says he is writing a book?!

[cgdat136]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

good luck with your pursuit to write a book. i am happy that you have interested publishers as you say. when it hits the bookstores please let us all know. please respond to my last PM as well.........

[TammyCat]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Because many of them simply don't lose weight that way. Many people have the following issues that hinder weight loss:

Candida
Medications they take
Faulty insulin response
Hormonal disturbances
Food sensitivities
Thyroid issues

These are all very real problems for a lot of us.

I'd suggest you talk in a less abrasive fashion if you wish to keep posting here at ADBB. We're all for discussion, when it's kept polite, but don't appreciate remarks that are patronising in tone.

Nothing you listed can effect BMR significantly. Also 65% of Americans are obese and most of them do not have the problems you claim. If they did losing weight would cure them.

Metabolism can only vary by 40 cals per day. That is reality!

If you can find any study that shows BMR can vary by more than 30 calories post a link. I'd like to see it. If you would like I can explain why BMRs cannot vary.

[Grant]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

Grant, why don't you just answer the question? I am right about metabolic rate so answer the question why won't women eat under 2000 and men eat under 2500?

It's pretty simple. Do I need to give you a course in metabolism 101?

Hmmmm. Well look, I can't accept the validity of your 2000/2500 magic weight loss number . So instead I'll interpret your question as "Why do men and women overeat" as I think that is essentially what you are asking.

On the one hand that is a very easy question to answer. Many people on this board have given their very personal stories explaining why they are overweight. Some, as Sally mentioned, didn't get that way by overeating but by very real physical problems. However, those that got overweight by overeating have given a number of reasons: eating for comfort, eating out of boredom, too lazy to cook healthy food etc. There are probably thousands of reasons. Personally, I got overweight because I just enjoyed food more then I cared about being fit. When I eventually got to the point where that wasn't true I was able, through Atkins, to do something about it.

On the other hand that is a very hard question to answer. I wonder how many millions of dollars and years of research have been spent to answer that very question? The issues are so complex you'd need at the very least a psychologist, a sociologist and an economist to give you a good answer. I am none of these things so I'm going to shut up now and leave it at that.

Baby finally fell asleep, so I'm going to hit the sack while I have a chance, have a good night!

[sallyseachange]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Grant again.

[woodym]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

First, for the sake of accuracy, let's toss out this notion that 65% of Americans are obese. The most recent data I've seen says 63% of Americans are overweight, as defined by a BMI greater than 25 (like mine). The number drops to 31% over a BMI of 30, their cutoff for the category obese. reference Yup, the guy in my "after" picture in my signature below would have to lose 12 more pounds to not be considered part of that 63% "overweight Americans."

Volumes have been written on the subject of American weight. You have approached a self-selected group who have found the food management strategies suggested by Dr. Robert Atkins have worked for them. Many of us have very strong feelings about this, that he has vastly improved or even saved our lives. If you really want a thorough explanation of what Dr. Atkins thinks about the reasons for the epidemic of overweight, you will find no better source than his book Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution. His statements will undoubtedly be much clearer than whatever a smattering of part-time forum posters can cobble together a few minutes at a time.

I can restate his thesis in my words, and we could kick that around a little. But please don't make me fully restate the contents of a book that we normally assume is familiar territory to members of our community.

Here's my brief paraphrase of Atkins' thesis: Atkins believes that large numbers of us (Americans) who have grown up in the age of plenty, especially in the "low fat health craze" era, have over a lifetime consumed far more refined carbohydrate and sugar than at any other time in human history. This has caused our pancreas over its lifetime, to compensate by producing ever larger doses of insulin to cope with this new type of food intake. At some point, the cell receptor points for the insulin/sugar groups become overloaded and resistant. The cells already have more fuel than they ever wanted, and they resist. The pancreas secretes overlarge amounts of insulin and this will not change once we lose weight. The resulting rapid drop in blood sugar makes us hungry, and this is part of why you can't just say "don't eat, you've had your 2000 calories, so sorry," ... this ebb and flow of blood sugars wreaks havoc with the appetite. By managing our carbohydrate intake, we can manage this hyperinsulism. And yes, I think a large part of American obesity is due to exactly this hyperinsulinism.

Again, let me stress that you are asking a broad question to people who have had (or hope to have) life changing experiences regarding weight loss. We've seen this approach work where others have failed. That may or may not be your experience, or anyone else's.

As for the Chinese, for how long have they had an economy of plenty to match with the last 40 years of the US economy? One can wave the hand grandly and say these people eat rice and are slim, but a lot of detail gets washed away in that. Brown Rice or Frosted Flakes? Natural rice in its bran casing, or white stuff with the fiber milled off of it? And how much? Have there been limitless piles of rice available for all these years? And by the way, as times-of-plenty come to China, they are in fact getting fatter:

The incidence of obesity in China is increasing rapidly; currently one-fifth of the world's obese people are in China. Prevalence is still low compared with the West, but the rise in numbers of obese children is particularly worrying. Changes in the intake of animal sources and the reduced opportunity for and engagement with physical activity have contributed to the changes. There is an urgent need for public health initiatives to avert a health crisis.

reference

[SandyL2002]

Re: 2000 Gals 2500 Guys

I think American's are overweight because our foods are so processed with JUNK in them.. I know for a fact we are way too busy and do a lot of eating on the run. Now about the Metabolism..I don't know if I agree.. There is NO WAY I have the same Metabolism as my 15 year old daughter...she eats WAY more food then me and doesn't gain an ounce.


Moderators....I sure hope you don't let someone stay here too long that is so negative