Dr Rick

Here's a link to the <a href="http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/prctgd_b.pdf" target="_blank">NIH's</a> current recommendations on the diagnosis and treatment of obesity.

Rick

Bree

I could not agree with you more!

There are just some types of people out there that just don't understand what it's like to look at yourself in the mirror and just break down and start crying. Fat is fat. Fat is ugly. That is what our society has taught us, and it's very difficult to shake that when you're thinking about yourself (since you're always harder on yourself than anyone else).

I think I am healthy enough now to realise that doing anything to lose weight is bad (I have the secret to weight loss, up to 7 pounds a day, but it's not healthy!) but I still am stuck when it comes to binging/purging. I think that a lot of these "diets" and fads are to trick you into thinking you are doing something to lose weight. That's all binging/purging is - doesn't make you lose weight, but makes you FEEL empty, makes you FEEL good about something.

The Other Michael

In diets/exercise (e.g. the Atkins diet) there is often a mention that the first weight to come off is "water weight".

Is the water loss due to the body trying to flush out byproducts from the change in metabolism, or does it have some other cause?

thanks,
Michael

Dr Rick

...not exactly; what happens is that the ongoing metabolic changes associated with a calorie-deficient diet shift the osmotic load, which in turn shifts fluids and electrolytes.

The adaptive response to weight-loss dieting involves specific metabolic alterations that increase the use of body fat as a fuel and spare the use of glucose. With intensive dieting or fasting, a marked shift in fuel use occurs during the first day; by 24 hours of dieting or fasting, the use of glucose as a fuel will decrease and as little as only 15% of liver glycogen (sugar) stores may remain. Fat stores become the body's major fuel, and the rates of adipose tissue lipolysis, liver ketone production, and fat oxidation are increased as the rates of liver glucose production and whole-body glucose oxidation decrease. The increase in fatty acid delivery to the liver increases liver ketone production. With continued dieting, plasma ketone body concentrations can increase up to 75-fold and cause an osmotic diuresis (increase urine output) with compensatory shifts in body fluid compartments. Decreases in intracellular sugar stores which occur early in dieting probably accentuate the effect of the osmotic changes in the extracellular fluids.

...at least, that's what I think happens...

Rick

[ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: rbochnermd ]</p>

jess

ok, time for the obligatory plug---

I lost 40# on Richard Simmons' food mover.

All it does is teach you to balance your diet and portion your food and uses pictures to do it.

He recommends about 50% carbs 40% proteins 10% added fats ( like fried foods and butter and marbled beef and hot dogs, not the fats in chicken or lean beef)

It is really easy and the program is cheap and I am never hungry. Even when I go off the plan (like this last 2 weeks, of remoldeling) I eat better--- even when hitting the pizza place or Long John Silver's... deep fried flour bits, yum!

His plan is similar to the older weight watchers, nad a lot of other programs, but instead of counting calories, you close windows (the updated version of moving cards ) and it is easy. Really easy.

And recommended by my ob-gyn (to counter my pcos) and my mom's cardiologist.

universatile

<a href="http://beyondveg.com" target="_blank">http://beyondveg.com</a>

for all you vegetarians who are wondering why you are weak. Like that guy who played spiderman.

Bokonon

Weak?

Tell that to Carl Lewis.

brighid

Carl Lewis is genetically superior to most human beings. The man is magnificent, and just like many other fine athletes who succeed because of those genetic advantages (and despite their other practices) he may very well have been able to succeed as a vegetarian or not. But we can’t really speculate on that very much. But most people don’t have those gifts, or the professional staff he had to insure he received proper portions of protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals, dedicated training, and medical staff and the best this country has to offer and therefore aren’t able to maintain that level of muscle on a strictly vegetarian or vegan diet. Most people don’t have a clue about nutrition and that includes omnivores and vegetarians and therefore their health suffers in a myriad of ways. I don’t think it is proper to say that one will be weak if one chooses vegetarianism or one will be strong for choosing an omnivores diet. Carl Lewis’ example defies that, but then again Carl Lewis’ defies most everything!

There are basic rules to follow for health and fitness and because of the individual needs and obstacles each person faces, the INDIVIDUAL must make educated decisions about their health. Vegetarian diets work for some and not for others. If one can be healthy and strong as a vegetarian then no one should complain. But people can and ARE healthy being omnivores or strictly herbivores and people are unhealthy, sedentary and overweight as both. So, let’s not disparage each other with sweeping statements that aren’t accurate and a bit prejudicial. Furthermore your overall health is more drastically effected by the amount of physical activity you engage in then any other factor, even though nutrition is vitally important to longevity as well.

Edited to add - We must not forget the other supplements and legal enhancements many athletes take that should be factored into the fitness of their bodies and diets, things that the average person isn't aware of or would ever use. And that endurance sports have high carbohydrate requirements to sustain extended and rigorous physcial output, especially at the Olympic level. Carbohydrates are out bodies favorite source of fuel and therefore pastas, whole grains, rice and legumes are important sources for the average person and athletes. But TOO much for us regular folk make us fat.

Brighid

[ July 24, 2002: Message edited by: brighid ]</p>

universatile

I certainly appreciate your input regarding sweeping statements and prejudices and agree. However, the conversations they can stir up when expressed tend towards interesting and entertaining. It is a habit of mine to be overdramatic.

Regarding your statement about grains- there are numerous health problems associated with a startch based diet, including just your regular weakness and apathy (as so many vegetarians are.) So your wrong.
Soon everyone shall see. Grains should only be a part of our diets, not the mainstay them. As soon as the health industry is seperated from being a buisness, (greed undermines the sanctity of it) a whole lot of truths will come out about everything.

Claudia

I have lost weight without any diet. 2kg in 21 months I was 72kg for 1m62, and I am now 70 kg. I am still overweighted, but nothing dramatic, I have never been obese.
I know, it is not a lot, but what is more important is that I have visibly lost volume, and it was visible with the eyes before being visible on the scales.
How did I obtain it? suppressing snack food (too busy for it), and exercise. Which kind of exercise? I began to practice scuba diving, and trained for it in my local swiming pool, twice a week. Which involves a lot of swimming with palms.

If people are obese, any diet whould be done with medical assistance. For people just overweighted like me, there are basic common sense principles to be applied before trying a diet:
Learn to cook, to avoid pre-processed food as much as possible
Drink only water at meals (except for breakfast)
Eat no snack food, but seat at table to take real meals (preferably with your family if you do not live alone)
Exercise, but chose a kind of exercise you like, it does not need to be boring.
Allow exceptions the previous rules, but they should stay exceptions (I drink wine from time to time, for example)
Note that excepted for soft drinks and snack food, nothing is forbidden yet (and exceptions are authorized, if they stay exceptions).
If you lose weight by taking these habits, does not follow a harder diet, even if you find it is too slow (the slower you lose weight, the less likely you are to gain it again). Try a diet only if you do not lose weight after several months of these regular habits. And the first diet should be: do not take twice of any dish (still, with authorised exceptions).

CipherGirl, this no grain diet can fit you and your medical problem, and it is OK. But I would have strong doubts about the competences of some one who say that men did not eat grains before neolithic! of course they ate a lot less of them because they ate only wild ones, but why would men have grown them if they didn't know it was edible? Hunter gatherer takes profit of most that is available in their environments, and grains are part of that (together with nuts, roots, leaves anf meat). Samething, use of fire is older that homosapiens species, so I doubt that homosapiens is not adapted to processed food.
I have recently read that one possible reason for increase of brain size in man evolution could have been availability (because they have learned how to find it) of good quality food, part of if being food which hs to be cooked/heated to be fully digestible!
This diet can be OK for you, it is nice, but the reasons they give to propose it are charlatan reasons!