Lose Weight: Tips & Strategies for 5'10" 92.5kg People

[pivoxa15]

I am 5'10 & 92.5kg. And looking to lose some substantial weight like 15kg or more in order to get into some competitive endurance sports.

What are the best ways? How long would it take?

I am thinking of doing lots of excercises and becoming a vegetarian with a low fat diet. So have a high carb diet as needed for endurance sports. Anything else?

 

[ice109]

LOL start weight training doing olympic lifts, don't become a vegetarian, eat the right amount of fats, protein and carbs, do HIIT. do research

 

[siddharth]

Thermodynamics says all one needs to do is eat less and exercise more. Running, walking, sport, whatever.

 

[dontdisturbmycircles]

If you want to become a vegetarian, go ahead, but I don't know that a vegetarian diet would be good for sport performance seeing as you would want to build muscle mass. The magic recipe(imo) as siddharth already pointed out is a moderate caloric intake and daily exersize (at least 20 mins a day)(As for the caloric intake, around ~1600cals/day is about right for me if I gain some weight, I don't know what is right for you). If I do any heavy exersize I eat another 200-400cals depending.

Weight training is supposed to be very good for losing weight because the added muscle demands energy from your body passively, all the time, raising your metabolism and making it easier to lose weight.

Oh and I have heard that you should aim to lose not much more than 1kg/week unless you want to risk loose skin (as well as other health related issues I presume).

 

[pivoxa15]

I have tried a vegetarian diet before and it works better than anything. That was with no sport whatsoever. But if I want to do sport than I guess I need to eat more including meat. But my first priority is to lose the weight.

 

[Astronuc]

Diet and exercise. I would provide the same advice as dontdisturbmycircles.

With respect to diet, reduce and eliminate processed foods and simple sugars. Eat lean meats, vegetables and fresh fruit. Breads should be whole grain.

Start walking 2 miles (~3.2 km) each day, and ease into running. Then extend the distance. Also, do stretching exercises.

I run or walk a few miles a day. I also run hills. In addition to running distance at a moderate pace, I interject sprints, especially on hills, or on flats toward the end of a distance run. Back in my university days, I'd run 3-5 miles, and then do a set of sprints over 100m, 200m or 400m.

Find some light weights, e.g. 1, 2, 5 kg, and start weight-training. Slowly build up to heavier weights.

At 5' 10", one should target about 75 +/- 2 kgs.

My heaviest was about 83 kgs (I'm ~ 5' 8''), but my fat content was only about 5% or less. It's gone up a bit since then, but at the moment I'm about the same mass as I was in high school ~35 years ago.

 

[JasonRox]

I have tried a vegetarian diet before and it works better than anything. That was with no sport whatsoever. But if I want to do sport than I guess I need to eat more including meat. But my first priority is to lose the weight.

Just eliminate red meat and pork. That's what a lot of athletes do nowadays, or the hockey players anyways.

Like, Astronuc said, fresh foods and foods low in processed sugars.

If you drink and consume a lot of dairy, maybe stop that and only have 2 servings a day. Dairy isn't easy for the body to consume. Anything that isn't easy for the body to consume can cause weight gain and slow down recovery in sports. Which is why athletes no longer eat red meats and pork. I know most people think Milk is like the healthiest thing ever, but I hate to burst their bubbles, but Milk is not even close to the healthist thing.

You know you're losing weight at a safe rate if you're losing 1kg a week, so 15 kg is 15 weeks. Anything faster isn't good.

I would say exercise, but in general I believe it's all in the diet. People eat **** nowadays and I believe that's the main reason for the obesity epidemic. In the past, especially the rich, they did virtually nothing and didn't gain weight. I don't know of too many fat aristocrats of the past. So basically raise your standards when it comes to food. If you eat at McDonald's, your standards are very low. If you eat frozen diners, your standards are still low. And so on...

Of course it's a pain to cook and prepare things, but you know what, it tastes sssssssssssssooooooooooooooooooo much better. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm... ggggooooooooooddddd.

After awhile, you think it's so bad. I know people have "no time" in the morning, but even when I started work at 6am I had time to make chicken bacon and eggs before work everyday. It takes 15-20 minutes to make it and eat it. If your life is in such a rush that you can't even make a good meal, try evaluating the way you lead your life. If you like a rushed life, evaluate your life in such a way so that you can fit cooking meals in somewhere. Even if you rush to cook it, that's fine. I, myself, enjoy a rushed environment at work and a semi-rush after work with a dead night every now and then. I strive at being rushed and being fast-paced.

Note: I ate beef last night for the first time in 7 months and I felt like pure ****. My stomach definitely can't handle it anymore. It was a burger at Kelsey's though. I don't think I'll try beef for atleast another 6 months.

 

[gravenewworld]

Diet and exercise.

All that really matters in terms of weight loss is Calories in-Calories out. You need roughly 2000 Calories per day to maintain your weight, if you are trying to lose weight you should only cut out about 500 Calories per day. Any more than that and your body's metabolism will just slow down and it will be harder to lose weight.

How to lose weight:

1.) QUIT DRINKING. Consuming alcoholic beverages even just on weekends packs on tons of calories.

2.) Drink only water. Cut out all fruit juice drinks and soda. OJ, cranberry juice, etc. all have about 200+ or more calories for a typical serving a person would drink.

3.) If food comes in a package, don't buy it! This is really hard to follow, but try to buy as little packaged and processed foods as possible. Buy only fresh meat and vegetables. Stuff like frozen vegetables, yogurt, and eggs would be OK though.

4.) Low fat diets aren't the best. Just cut out saturated fats. Use only olive oil for cooking and eat lots of nuts. Diets high in mono and unsaturated fats are good for you. A big way to cut out bad fat is to eat as less cheese as possible and avoid deserts.

5.) Definitely lift weights. The more muscle mass you have the more calories you will burn while at rest.

6.) Cardio! Probably the most important part of weight loss. Try to run/walk as much as possible. Swimming is also very good for you.



Trying to lose 15 kg AND keep it off is going to take a while. Probably at least a year (you really want to try to just lose 2-3 kg per month, anymore than that and you are starting to push it). Just stay motivated. Try to find someone else who wants to lose weight too that you can exercise with. People who have partners to exercise with tend to stay motivated more and lose more weight.

 

[chroot]

Losing weight and keeping it off really requires lifestyle changes, so I don't advocate that you begin any kind of diet or exercise program that you don't sincerely believe you will continue doing long-term.

In my opinion, the best ways to lose weight are:

1) Condition yourself to eat only when genuinely hungry. There's an entire spectrum of sensation between hungry and satiated, and many people are not familiar with most of it. It's okay to have your stomach rumble from time to time, and it's normal to salivate over the thought of the sandwich you're going to eat at lunch. If you go through your day casually munching every time you feel the slightest hint of hunger, you're going to be overweight.

I've never been overweight, but one method of avoiding snacking that I've heard used with success is simply deciding that you're going to brush your teeth every time you eat anything. This simply makes you think twice about small snacks, and encourages you to consolidate your eating into actual meals.

2) Condition yourself to eat only until you're "almost" full. Most people will go to restaurants and eat until they're literally uncomfortable. It's very tempting, but you need to train yourself to stop eating once your hunger subsides, and long before you actually feel "stuffed." If you truly can't control yourself at restaurants, try to limit how frequently you eat out.

3) Eat multiple small meals. You don't want to provoke your body's starvation mechanisms, which means you don't want to eat nothing but one large meal every day. It's much easier on your body to eat multiple small meals (400-500 kcal each) several times a day. It's also much less likely that you'll overeat, becase you're not going to surround yourself with 4,000 kcal of spaghetti at once and then be tempted to eat it all. One of the largest correlations with the recent obesity epidemic is simply the gargantuan portions people now consider "normal."

4) Eliminate sugary soft drinks. Many people consume 400-600 kcals or more a day of pure sugar. Your body doesn't need this, and you're typically consuming it when you're not genuinely hungry. For some people, cutting out soda is all it takes to begin healthy weight-loss.

5) Replace high-calorie foods with low-calorie foods. Learn to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables. Focus on the characteristics you genuinely enjoy -- crispness, taste, tang, mouth-feel, whatever -- and soon you'll be desiring them.

6) Low-intensity exercise is far better for weight-loss than high-intensity exercise. Some people, desiring to lose weight quickly, will go and practically kill themselves on a treadmill or exercise bike for a few days in a row. It's not sustainable, it's not good for your joints, and it's not even good for weight-loss. You should not be exercising hard enough to be out of breath. Walking, light jogging, leisurely cycling, are excellent. Intense exercise does build up your cardiovascular system, but it's not appropriate for weight-loss. Interval training (brief periods of intense exercise) is also acceptable.

Try to integrate these kinds of light exercises into your daily routine. Walk to lunch every day instead of driving. Ride a bike to your local convenience store. If you can find ways to integrate exercise into your life in such a way that it doesn't need to be planned or prepared for, you'll be much more likely to continue doing it.

- Warren

 

[chaoseverlasting]

Join salsa. I did it for a month (5 days a week), and I totally slimmed out. Surprising actually... but the routine was very vigorous.

 

[hypatia]

I think chaoseverlasting, has hit on one of the great points for weight loss, enjoy it! Do something that is really fun.

 

[Knavish]

Go ride your bike!

 

[pivoxa15]

Losing weight and keeping it off really requires lifestyle changes, so I don't advocate that you begin any kind of diet or exercise program that you don't sincerely believe you will continue doing long-term.

That is good advice. i was on some of a program 2 years ago and lost 8kg basically eating a vegatarian subway every week day without much excercise. However put it back on again plus more. But that is because I stopped eating the subways.

 

[durt]

You should exercise whether you want to lose weight or not, so just get in the habit of swimming, running, biking, rowing, or something as often as possible. You want to ease yourself into it by doing the chosen activity 5 or 6 times a week for maybe 30 to 60 minutes.

I disagree with chroot's advice (the snippet you just quoted; the rest of his tips are good). I think it's best that you just start doing something, no matter how minor it may seem. You might say, "Every weekday, I'm going to jog around the block," or "Every other day, I'm going to go to the pool and do a 500 free." You'll feel a lot more confident because you'll feel like you're making progress (and you will be).

 

[wildman]

Mt. Rainier diet. Eat whatever you want in as great of quantity as you want. All you have to do is climb 4,100 meters per week either on foot or a bicycle. I will guarantee that you will have no fat on your frame in no time. (Of course, you may also die, but that is another issue).

 

[pivoxa15]

Mt. Rainier diet. Eat whatever you want in as great of quantity as you want. All you have to do is climb 4,100 meters per week either on foot or a bicycle. I will guarantee that you will have no fat on your frame in no time. (Of course, you may also die, but that is another issue).

So a 4.1km uphill ride or walk. How steep is the climb? How would you find such an uphill or mountain?

 

[Integral]

Sometime around last Thanksgiving (end of November) I started a daily walk of 35-40min with my dogs. Since then I have steadily been losing weight. I have dropped nearly 20lbs and am not sure where it will stop. I need to lose more. I was a bit over 250lb (~113kg) I am now below 240lbs. I have not changed my diet in the least. My walk is just short of vigorous, cus the dang dogs keep stopping to sniff.

 

[ranger]

Portion your meals...

 

[Ronnin]

I'm a big believer in playing a sport for exercise along with weight training. I got so sick of riding the bike and doing the hampster thing on the treadmill. My gym has racquetball courts and a half hour in there you can really get your heart pumping. The great thing is that it's a lot more fun and you'll tend to stick with it longer. Plus, you won't just be loosing weight you'll be getting your body as a whole in better physical condition.

 

[nsimmons]

Theres some good advice here and some misguided.

Diet (properly proportioned meals, not low fat starvation) is key to weight loss, but without a proper resistance program, (not running or swimming but weights) you will loose as much muscle as fat. Goal is to be lean, not thin and skinny/fat. chroots lifesyle change is the key. A diet/fitness plan is short term thinking. Your life should consist of constant diet/fitness variations indefinitley.

Weights > Diet > Cardio (if really needed)

Go here www.t-nation.com and read

 

[Defennder]

Well, it's not difficult to lose weight, if you put your mind to it, that is. I used to weigh about 68 kg (no I don't measure in pounds or feet/inches). I then went on a diet, ran about 5-plus km at least every other day, sometimes consecutively, and managed to lose 8 kg (now 60kg) after about 2-3 months. And I've maintained that weight, (about +/- 1 kg) for about 3 months. Of course this advice is mostly applicable if you're still young and energetic, and have no joint problems. I'm living proof it's possible.

 

[BillJx]

If you want to maintain the change for a lifetime, you need to create a lifestyle that you can maintain for a lifetime. Pick your activites accordingly. Fat matters, type of fat matters, calorie density matters, glycemic index matters. But what matters most is developing eating/cooking/activity habits that become natural for you.
If it was easy everyone would do it. But since most people don't seem too successful at it, it's probably best to not go about diet and exercise the way most people do.

My ignorant opinion only.

 

[BobG]

Join salsa. I did it for a month (5 days a week), and I totally slimmed out. Surprising actually... but the routine was very vigorous.

Mmmm, salsa ... especially with nachos, burritos, and tacos. I never seem to lose much weight, though, even if I do it every day. (Actually, I did have to read that a couple times before I realized what you were talking about. )

I am 5'10 & 92.5kg. And looking to lose some substantial weight like 15kg or more in order to get into some competitive endurance sports.

What are the best ways? How long would it take?

I am thinking of doing lots of excercises and becoming a vegetarian with a low fat diet. So have a high carb diet as needed for endurance sports. Anything else?

If your ultimate goal is an endurance sport, cycling will help lose weight and build your endurance. Encountering a lot of different terrain helps your body develop the ability to recover on the fly. Running intervals with short sprints, jogs, etc, does the same thing, but cycling is usually more enjoyable. The scenery changes more quickly.

 

[Mk]

Thermodynamics says all one needs to do is eat less and exercise more. Running, walking, sport, whatever.

I am personally a big fan of http://muller.lbl.gov/TRessays/22-ThePhysicsDiet.htm" and think all the hubbub about eating plants instead of animals and lifting or exercising to lose weight is crap. Exercising makes you look better, eating less keeps you from looking bad. And no, being overweight does not make you an unhealthy human being.

 

[pivoxa15]

I am personally a big fan of http://muller.lbl.gov/TRessays/22-ThePhysicsDiet.htm" and think all the hubbub about eating plants instead of animals and lifting or exercising to lose weight is crap. Exercising makes you look better, eating less keeps you from looking bad. And no, being overweight does not make you an unhealthy human being.

WOW the physics diet really works from personal experience. It just shows how useful physics really is as it attacks the fundalmental questions. My experience is the same as what the physicst described. I lost 8kg by eating less. I use to have huge dinners. So there was a period of time when I ate only vegetarian subways, got over the hunger at night and lost kilos fast. Its easier to get over the hunger at night because you are sleeping. I also didn't do purposeful exercises. I then gained it quickly after not eating subways. I then started exercising but that didn't seem to help because I was still eating a lot. It seems like eating less is the key. Eating only plants is a way of eating less so that works. Excercising helps but it makes you hungary so you might eat more. With net more than you would have ate had you not excercised. That was why I didn't excercise when I was eating subways as I was hungary enough. As he was saying, food is cheap and overeating is just too easy.

 

[Moonbear]

Chroot's advice is pretty much spot-on. People who STAY thin, not just lose weight and rebound, eat and exercise very much the way Chroot describes, and it's a part of their lifestyle, not something they force themselves to do.

Zenmaster has recently lost a lot of weight (the downside is, he doesn't like going shopping for clothes, which he needs to do now). That's basically the change in habits he made. He just stopped eating until stuffed and instead only eats until satisfied. Many of us were raised by the "clean your plate" club of parents/grandparents, and were made to feel guilty if we left behind food. However, food portions have changed very dramatically within the last 20 years or so. It still astounds me that I can go to a restaurant and get a plate handed to me that has more food on it than we put on the table to feed the entire family of 4 when I was a kid. If you force yourself to finish all that food, or even half of it, you're overeating. There is nothing wrong with just eating what you want to feel satisfied, and save the leftovers for later meals, even if it means a lot of leftovers.

In combination with that suggestion of only eating until satisfied rather than full (and at first, it may require feeling a little hungry if you're used to very large meals, but eventually, your body will readjust to eating smaller meals and it will feel more satisfying), rather than worry about a specific type of exercise, pick an exercise you find enjoyable. If it's fun, you'll keep doing it, which is more important again than forcing yourself to do something you don't enjoy that you'll quit after a few months. Zenmaster, like Chroot, enjoys biking and does it all the time. But, he looks at the roads around here and accepts that unless you're training for the Tour de France, most normal people aren't going to start biking in this area, and it won't be enjoyable to kill yourself just to get up one hill. On the other hand, I enjoy things like weight lifting, although I haven't needed to go to a gym in a long time because I have a job that gets me plenty of exercise without resorting to specific sports or gym activities, and I walk or take the stairs whenever possible, which around here, there are a lot of stairs to take. Other people might enjoy starting tennis or racquetball lessons, or swimming, or going for long walks on nature trails, or heading to the gym for some aerobic classes. Some people prefer something more competitive, while others just want to challenge their own limits. Figuring out the exercise that you'll enjoy is key to continuing it.

My experience is that most science-y types enjoy an activity where you can track progress. (Maybe others do too, but I hang out with a lot of scientists ). Whether it's keeping records on weights lifted, or blocks/miles jogged/biked, or laps swam, etc. Then you can see that you've accomplished something and feel good about it. There's no need to try to kill yourself jumping right into a 5 mile bike ride. If you're only comfortable going around the block the first time, great, it's a start. As you get in better shape, you'll go further distances and feel a sense of accomplishment.

 

[JasonRox]

Chroot's advice is pretty much spot-on. People who STAY thin, not just lose weight and rebound, eat and exercise very much the way Chroot describes, and it's a part of their lifestyle, not something they force themselves to do.

I think you once posted something like this before, like an article or something.

 

[cronxeh]

I have tried a vegetarian diet before and it works better than anything. That was with no sport whatsoever. But if I want to do sport than I guess I need to eat more including meat. But my first priority is to lose the weight.

I can tell you one thing - if you want to do competitive sports then you don't want to just lose weight. Instead, try to 'convert' this fat into muscle - a 5'10" guy / 200 lbs with little fat is a force to recon with. If I was you I'd get one of those weight vests - from Modells or some online outlet source - 30, 40, 50 lbs vests, put them on and walk for 2 miles like Astro said, and eventually you'll not only lose weight, but also gain resistance training. And don't eat fruit - that crap has more sugar than a piece of candy sometimes. Stick with cereal, vegetables, sea food (not salmon though - too expensive and too many calories), chicken breast is great, skinless of course, and if you going to eat fruits then eat apricots - least amount of calories of all fruits.

Many people who do diet and no exercise thing like starvation diet - lose the muscles, lose the water, and lose the weight in shortest amount of time, except once they do they go back to their old daily eating habit and rapidly gain weight because there are less muscles to burn off calories. Your muscles are your best friends. Keep them, gain more of them, and the fat will melt away passively.

 

[Astronuc]

Portion your meals...

Really one wants to eat according to the amount of physical activity. When I started running long distance regularly, and riding a bicycle or playing soccer, I could eat twice as much and not gain wait.

In order to lose weight (fat), start exercising gradually, and eat less (especially eat much less processed food or starch) and more fresh fruit and vegetables.


Exercise/activity-wise, consider swimming in addition to weight training, running and cycling.

Also here is Bruce Lee's workout -

Bruce Lee is possibly the best example of a slim body pushed to its fullest potential. The late martial artist remains a role model to many short, skinny guys around the world. Gyms have pictures and posters of the "legend" plastered on their walls, and for good reason: not all men can be big, beefy dudes - and one doesn't need to be.

Bruce Lee experimented with different routines and this one fit his style best.

Shoulders: Clean and presses: 2 sets, 8 reps

Lats: Barbell pullovers: 2 sets, 8 reps

Biceps: Barbell curls: 2 sets, 8 reps

Pullups are also a good way to strengthen arms.

Chest: Bench-presses: 2 sets, 6 reps (one can do pushups as well - especially rapidly) I used to get my kids to sit on my shoulders and back while I did pushups.

Lower Back/Glutes/Hamstrings: Good mornings: 2 sets, 8 reps

Quads: Squats: 2 sets, 12 reps

Abs:
· Waist Twists: 4 sets, 90 repetitions
· Sit up Twist: 4 sets, 20 repetitions
· Leg Raises: 4 sets, 20 repetitions
· Leaning Twist: 4 sets, 50 repetitions

Bruce Lee's training emphasized toning and compound exercises rather than concentration and mass. Bodybuilding played only a small part in his physical conditioning, with stretching and aerobics taking up the rest of his exercise cycle. He would perform this weight-lifting routine every other day.

 

[ShawnD]

I'm surprised chroot even needs to post that stuff since it's basically common sense. Only eat when you're hungry? Eat until you feel comfortable? Drink diet coke instead of regular coke? Walking? Does this mean there are idiots out there who eat when they're not hungry, eat until they're uncomfortable, drink regular coke and think it's good for them, then go straight to bed without burning any of it off? Come on now, really. People aren't that stupid.

siddharth nailed it in 5 words:
"eat less and exercise more"

 

[chroot]

I'm surprised chroot even needs to post that stuff since it's basically common sense. Only eat when you're hungry? Eat until you feel comfortable? Drink diet coke instead of regular coke? Walking? Does this mean there are idiots out there who eat when they're not hungry, eat until they're uncomfortable, drink regular coke and think it's good for them, then go straight to bed without burning any of it off? Come on now, really. People aren't that stupid.

It should be common sense -- but it's not. Look at the McDonald's menu. Go to an all-you-can eat Chinese buffet and just observe the way people eat. Sit on a bench in a city and just watch the people waddling past you. We have an entire industry of diet programs and products that really do nothing but teach people common sense. The number of people in the US who routinely visit restaurants and gorge themselves until they feel ill, and routinely drive around in parking lots looking for the closest spot to avoid walking an addiitonal twenty feet, is astounding.

- Warren

 

[ShawnD]

It should be common sense -- but it's not. Look at the McDonald's menu. Go to an all-you-can eat Chinese buffet and just observe the way people eat. Sit on a bench in a city and just watch the people waddling past you. We have an entire industry of diet programs and products that really do nothing but teach people common sense. The number of people in the US who routinely visit restaurants and gorge themselves until they feel ill, and routinely drive around in parking lots looking for the closest spot to avoid walking an addiitonal twenty feet, is astounding.

Come to think of it, you're right. I always park far from the door so my car is less likely to get hit. I call it my "fat guy theory", which assumes fat people would need to open the car door all the way, possibly hitting my car, just so they can get out of theirs

 

[Mk]

It should be common sense -- but it's not. Look at the McDonald's menu. Go to an all-you-can eat Chinese buffet and just observe the way people eat. Sit on a bench in a city and just watch the people waddling past you. We have an entire industry of diet programs and products that really do nothing but teach people common sense. The number of people in the US who routinely visit restaurants and gorge themselves until they feel ill, and routinely drive around in parking lots looking for the closest spot to avoid walking an addiitonal twenty feet, is astounding.

- Warren

I eat at least 3000 calories a day, do not exercise at all, am skinny but have some visible muscles, and hardly leave my house. I'm somewhere 140 pounds last I checked. I think most of it just has to do with individual biology more than "you're fat because you have no will power"

 

[moose]

I eat at least 3000 calories a day, do not exercise at all, am skinny but have some visible muscles, and hardly leave my house. I'm somewhere 140 pounds last I checked. I think most of it just has to do with individual biology more than "you're fat because you have no will power"

Yeah, and that's why you should adjust your diet to what works for you. If I were to eat 3000 calories a day, I would be very overweight. However, I don't and I'm not.

 

[chroot]

I eat at least 3000 calories a day, do not exercise at all, am skinny but have some visible muscles, and hardly leave my house. I'm somewhere 140 pounds last I checked. I think most of it just has to do with individual biology more than "you're fat because you have no will power"

The fact that two-thirds of the American population is overweight as of 2007 -- yet were not as of, say, 1977 -- is an indication that it's a social problem, not one of individual biology.

The vast majority of obese people are obese simply because they eat too much. Any dieititian or doctor will agree with me. Re-labeling it 'biological' is just a popular mechanism to avoid accountability.

- Warren

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Aye in the UK as the fattest in Europe we know this, making excuses is pointless, it's really much a part of our respective cultures, not a biological issue.

Our food is stupendously cheap and our restaurants and supermarkets supersize portions, not quite as badly as the US so I hear. How do you keep though a sense of freedom of choice of lifestyle, and legislate against such a lifestyle? I mean we're here going the same way as the US, in all honesty how do you stop it in a liberal system, without infringing on peoples rights? Fat taxes

 

[Moonbear]

I'm surprised chroot even needs to post that stuff since it's basically common sense. Only eat when you're hungry? Eat until you feel comfortable? Drink diet coke instead of regular coke? Walking? Does this mean there are idiots out there who eat when they're not hungry, eat until they're uncomfortable, drink regular coke and think it's good for them, then go straight to bed without burning any of it off? Come on now, really. People aren't that stupid.

siddharth nailed it in 5 words:
"eat less and exercise more"

Chroot already addressed most of your comment. I'm wondering what would make you think Diet Coke is good for you though? Neither is good for you, but given the choice, I'd opt for the corn syrup vs artificial sweetener. It's not like Diet Coke is "unsweetened."

As I think I mentioned earlier, though, a lot of us were raised by parents and grandparents who insisted we clean our plates, and taught to feel guilty if we "wasted" food. Keep in mind, my parents were born just about the start of WWII and my grandparents had just lived through the Great Depression before having to face rationing. Food was very precious then, and it was considered a very bad thing to waste any of it, because you couldn't be sure what your next meal would be or when. When you take the same people who have had it ingrained into their mind that they should never waste any food and pile mounds of food on their plate, they would rather make themselves sick than leave it behind. I used to hate visiting my one set of grandparents for that very reason...my grandmother would serve huge portions that I couldn't finish and then yell at us if we wasted food and didn't clean our plates. I would feel so sick, I didn't want to eat there at all.

 

[out of whack]

How do you keep though a sense of freedom of choice of lifestyle, and legislate against such a lifestyle? I mean we're here going the same way as the US, in all honesty how do you stop it in a liberal system, without infringing on peoples rights? Fat taxes

Here's one suggestion. Right now, goods are either simply legal or illegal, with minor legal refinements for controlled substances (your country's mileage may vary). A similar refinement for "detrimental" products and substances could be passed into law. Products in this category would not be to outlawed since voters would shout "freedom!" from rooftops. They would however be discouraged by forbiding their advertising and restricting their sale to minors, for example. Whatever is widely considered detrimental to society would be thus clasified and discouraged in suitable ways. Alcohol and tobacco would surely fit in this category, urban tanks might be included as well, and possibly unhealthy snacks. Such products would remain legal for the benefit of the addicted but at least they would no longer be on TV and billboards all the time shouting "eat me, eat me".

 

[chroot]

out of whack,

Our society already operates that way. We have huge taxes on cigarettes because they're bad for you. We have huge taxes on gasoline because cars are bad for the environment. We limit the sale of tobacco and alcohol to adults. We prohibit the advertising of those products except in certain time slots on certain TV channels. It goes on and on -- we already do this for many products.

Now, if we can find a way to make the public willfully accept a "pasta tax" and an "oreo tax," we'd be doing quite well as a society. But trust me, no one's ever going to vote for the politician who says he'll put a $12 tax on all meals at McDonald's.

- Warren

 

[out of whack]

Our society already operates that way. We have huge taxes...

True, but these are ad hoc efforts on very specific items. My suggestion is for a legal category (such as restricted products) that, compared to ad hoc regulations, would normalize the approach and make it more palatable to the public. I agree that a huge tax on donuts is political suicide. But simply ending their advertising by putting them on the list of undesirable products is acceptable. Taxing the most undesirables is a separate issue which, in specific cases, can be added on to the more acceptable restrictions that apply to the new category.

 

[chroot]

It doesn't have much to do with advertising, either. Even if you levy huge taxes on donuts, it won't stop people from eating too much of other foods. Everyone knows restaurants serve huge piles of good food already. Where do you draw the line? Could restaurants no longer advertise? Could they no longer show pictures of their food? Would they have to pay addiitonal fees to a regulatory agency if they wanted to tell people they'd be satisfied by their meals?

How on Earth could any of that kind of regulation really be done? The critical difference between cigarettes and food is that no one needs cigarettes, yet everyone needs food. And unless we hire an army of inspectors to go to restaurants and measure calorie values and assess fees accordingly, there's no way to stop it. Such a system, of course, will never be built, so it's not worth discussing.

Currently, the market demands gargantuan portions at restaurants, and the market always gets what it wants.

- Warren

 

[out of whack]

Warren, you're adopting a defeatist approach. I disagree with you that neither advertising nor taxes have much effect. I think one is indeed positive and the other is indeed negative, and that combining them is effective.

Your take on restaurants is unrelated to what I was saying. I made no suggestion that food in general would be classified as detrimental to society. You're extrapolating. There is indeed no need for your army of inspectors that "will never be build, so it's not worth discussing".

Categorizing products is relatively simple, albeit open to debate as per the nature of a democratic society. Those considered to account for health problems are added to the list and are no longer advertised. You make it sound complex but it isn't.

 

[chroot]

Categorizing products is relatively simple, albeit open to debate as per the nature of a democratic society. Those considered to account for health problems are added to the list and are no longer advertised. You make it sound complex but it isn't.

Good grief -- it took our societies decades just to get cigarettes categorized this way, and even a single cigarette is unanimously agreed to be unhealthy. Are you suggesting we go on a decades-long campaign to get oreos categorized as unhealthy by the surgeon general? Food, particularly restaurant food, is almost impossible to reliably quantify as "healthy" or "unhealthy," particularly because it depends heavily on how much the customer actually eats!

You might be able to get a label stamped on oreo boxes that says they're unhealthy, but restaurants are a far bigger problem than food people eat at home. You're trying to make it sound like this a simple problem, but it really, truly isn't.

- Warren

 

[mathwonk]

eat less, exercise more. i myself find this impossible however.

 

[mathwonk]

another suggestion, garnered from watching television: eat all you want, do no exercise, and send me hundreds of dollars a week.

(apparently the theory is at some point you will not have enough money left to buy food.)