[Manics]

There is a major problem with the science of nutrition and exercise in this country. Mainly resulting because people have tried to fit the results of scientific studies into the preconceived notions that lowering fat intake and exercising more will make people lose weight. The evidence for that is null. "The importance of exercise in weight control is less than might be believed, because increases in energy expenditure due to exercise also tends to increase food consumption, and it is not possible to predict whether the increased caloric output will be outweighed by the greater food intake." (NIH conference report, 1977)

This is stupid.

If you eat 2000 calories a day and don't exercise your body will burn calories at a certain rate.

If you eat 2000 calories a day AND exercise, your body will burn more calories than before, thus making you lose weight.

If you go changing the parameters and eat more food when you exercise, then you don't get the benefits of the burning off the calories during the exercise.

[beelzebozo]

i have to say i've always found the "no link between exercise and weight loss" thing hilariously misinformed and crazy too. but i guess i have my own bias, being someone who used to weigh a lot, took up exercise, and lost weight. sure, better dietary habits were part of that too, but exercise was always there for the ride.

i think it's crucial not just for weight loss, but for self esteem, overall body health, and just making yourself feel good physically.

[crowphoenix]

Exercise is very important to losing weight. I used to weight 340 pounds, and had to go to a personal trainer in order to lose the weight. Nutrition is the most important thing to shedding the pounds. You have to eat under what you burn to lose weight. However, if you don't exercise, you just become a smaller fat person.

I eventually got down to 223, but have been eating poorly as of late, and have gotten back up to 246. I ate badly yesterday, so it'll probably go up again, which pisses me off but it's my fault entirely.

[Manics]

i have to say i've always found the "no link between exercise and weight loss" thing hilariously misinformed and crazy too. but i guess i have my own bias, being someone who used to weigh a lot, took up exercise, and lost weight. sure, better dietary habits were part of that too, but exercise was always there for the ride. i think it's crucial not just for weight loss, but for self esteem, overall body health, and just making yourself feel good physically.

Don't get me wrong, you don't HAVE to exercise to lose weight. I lost 65lbs in 10 months through diet alone. Exercising helps tone up the flab though and makes you look much better after the weight loss.

[Jason's Ultimatum]

[IMG]http://i34.************/9qd7qe.jpg[/IMG] Dont think this is dramatic enough, but i certainly lost my baby fat... throughout college..

Are you insane? You look fine on the pic to the left, yet still skinny. Now you don't look so good. Sorry dude. =\

[dragonlife]

Are you insane? You look fine on the pic to the left, yet still skinny. Now you don't look so good. Sorry dude. =\

Are you gay? If not, your opinion is invalid! :P

That said, he did look just fine on the very left--I personally liked him on the second one where the camera's on his face.

[Trident]

There is a major problem with the science of nutrition and exercise in this country. Mainly resulting because people have tried to fit the results of scientific studies into the preconceived notions that lowering fat intake and exercising more will make people lose weight. The evidence for that is null. "The importance of exercise in weight control is less than might be believed, because increases in energy expenditure due to exercise also tends to increase food consumption, and it is not possible to predict whether the increased caloric output will be outweighed by the greater food intake." (NIH conference report, 1977)

Can you read? That quotation clearly states that the problem with exercise for weight loss is that people tend to increase their food intake at a proportional rate. The clear implication is that exercising, while lowering food intake, would cause weight loss. Unless you're drawing some important distinction between fat and food, in which case you're not making a particularly meaningful point anyway. Obviously if you just replace fat with other calories, you're still eating more.

Anyone who has stuck to an exercise regimen and not compensated by funneling Ben and Jerry's into their mouth can attest to the accompanying weight loss.

[beelzebozo]

Exercise is very important to losing weight. I used to weight 340 pounds, and had to go to a personal trainer in order to lose the weight. Nutrition is the most important thing to shedding the pounds. You have to eat under what you burn to lose weight. However, if you don't exercise, you just become a smaller fat person. I eventually got down to 223, but have been eating poorly as of late, and have gotten back up to 246. I ate badly yesterday, so it'll probably go up again, which pisses me off but it's my fault entirely.

get back on the horse, man. all you have to do is decide to do it. first day of the rest of your life and all that.

[crowphoenix]

get back on the horse, man. all you have to do is decide to do it. first day of the rest of your life and all that.

I know. I know. I got pissed and angry ate yesterday (There was some Christmas candy in the car with me on the ride home), which was dumb as hell. I'm finally back in control of my environment. I always mess up at night so I have to watch that. Still, it's on me. At least I'm starting to get disgusted with my weight/eating habits. That will help. I'm 6'6" so my ideal weight is between 225 and 235. I've just got to get back there.

[beelzebozo]

my breaking point: i was lying in bed one evening reading when i looked in the closet mirror adjacent to my bed. i was leaning on my elbow on my side, and noticed i was developing some stretch marks on the inside of my arm, near my armpit.

it all sort of crystallized for me then: i was a guy with stretch marks. if i didn't turn back now, my skin would continue to be damaged by my rapid weight gain, i would get more, worse stretch marks, i would have flappy ass skin even if i ever did lose weight. . . ultimately, i felt disgusting.

and there was just not even a question then.

[gofreak]

*snip*

Holy facking shit, you turned into a completely different person o_0 Wow!

Congrats to you all, also. Some great stories and before/afters here.

my breaking point: i was lying in bed one evening reading when i looked in the closet mirror adjacent to my bed. i was leaning on my elbow on my side, and noticed i was developing some stretch marks on the inside of my arm, near my armpit. it all sort of crystallized for me then: i was a guy with stretch marks. if i didn't turn back now, my skin would continue to be damaged by my rapid weight gain, i would get more, worse stretch marks, i would have flappy ass skin even if i ever did lose weight. . . ultimately, i felt disgusting. and there was just not even a question then.

I have stretch marks around my armpit..but from weight lifting. So it can happen with either kind of weight gain, "good" or "bad"! I'm hoping they'll fade over time though, they are bit unsightly.

[crowphoenix]

At 340, I looked into the mirror and notice I was growing a gut on my back. I had been trying to lose weight for a while then. I had wanted it, but I hadn't wanted it. After seeing that, I wanted it bad. I need to get that want back.

[phalestine]

In summer camp I believe in 98, some kid put glue from a hot glue gun on my neck, and it made this huge burn mark, sort of like a bubble coming out of my skin. the doctor gave me six cortisone shots in my neck (shit hurt like hell) which made me gain lots of weight. I started to work out back in june of this year.

this is me in 05, no idea how much I weighed, I weighed 225 in june 08 though.




and this is me about 2 weeks ago, I weight around 172 in this pic, since then I know weigh 166.

[Jason's Ultimatum]

You looked like goldberg from Mighty Ducks in your before pic.

[Az]

I am 6'0 and I used to be skinny through highschool. Always around 170 probably.

I started working out and got to a very nice 188, which was perfect for me. Got lazy and stopped working out when I ended up at 210. It was horrible, just carrying all that extra weight. So now I started the gym again and I am down to 195 which is decent but my goal is 185 and musular. No more fast food etc.

[Mar]

Around May '07 I met my wife to be. Slowly but surely while dating her I let myself go. We were enjoying ourselves going out and eating whatever we wanted. I also quit the gym during that time. Fast forward to last saturday and I weighed myself. I was at 290 pounds.

This is a very common story. Pretty much every guy I know has ballooned when they've met their first love. You get in a relaxed state, someone loves you for who you are, and you aren't trying to attract anyone else. It's like nothing in the world can make you feel bad, because someone loves you no matter what. It's very easy to just let yourself go and before you know it you're huge. It usually takes a break up scare to wake the person up and start working on their appearance again.

[Zoe]

This is a very common story. Pretty much every guy I know has ballooned when they've met their first love. You get in a relaxed state, someone loves you for who you are, and you aren't trying to attract anyone else. It's like nothing in the world can make you feel bad, because someone loves you no matter what. It's very easy to just let yourself go and before you know it you're huge. It usually takes a break up scare to wake the person up and start working on their appearance again.

That'd be me.

[Shawsie64]

That'd be me.

You look alright in the pics you've posted in the photo thread ;).

As for me I dont reckon im necessarily overweight just need to tone up and loose some fat. I weigh 88.7kg's atm, and want to get down to around 80kg by this time next month and then go from there. Ive started running everynight, stopped drinking a 6 pack of beer a night, quit smoking and started eating a shit load healthier. This thread is some good inspiration. Wish me luck gaf :D

[Oichi]

June 2004 - 360 - 370 pounds or so (right before I moved to Japan
May 2005 - 270 pounds


Sept 2008 - 230 pounds

All done with proper diet and exercise. I'll admit that moving to Japan caused me to lose 20 pounds right off the bat because I walked a hell of a lot more and the food portions were smaller, but after that I settled into a workout program that I used to do for football and hockey in high school and have been losing weight ever since. At the moment I'm at around 225 with a final goal of around 190 - 200 pounds.

The last 20 - 30 pounds are going to be a BITCH to lose, but I'm determined to do it... since my girlfriend is demanding that I see it through, har har. :P

[Loki]

ballooning up to around 315lbs, shrinking myself down to 177lbs in just shy of 8 months,

Holy cow. Have you been to a doctor since you lost the weight and gotten a clean bill of health? That's a ton of weight to take off in 8 months (almost double what I'd normally assume was healthy), but if you're healthy, then congrats.

EDIT: ^^^^ Reno, awesome. Everyone, really. Wow.

[SephCast]

Umm..

Okay, summer 05


and summer 08


Lost about 30 lbs steadily over 2 years. Then started lifting.

[lsslave]

So many GAFfers have done amazing at this :) I am really impressed guys :)

I overate today X.x (I do every Wednesday, it is my 1 day off a week, no work no nothing, just me chilling out with my cousin ^_^)

[Price Dalton]

Good job everyone. Some impressive stories. Here's mine:

About three years back, I injured my knee playing basketball. It got to the point where I couldn't do any sort of cardio, so I just started lifting. Built up quite a bit of muscle, but I couldn't do a whole lot of cardio (up until then, my only cardio had been baskeball, and I hated biking or using the machines in the gym, so I just avoided them altogether). At this point, I got a desk job working at UCLA. I started biking to work and taking my lunch, but I still continued to gain weight. To put things into perspective, I'm 6'0 tall and 230 pounds at this point. About a 36-37 inch waist. Not obese, but definitely unhappy with my appearance.

I eventually quit that job and started working for a Santa Monica grocery delivery service, which consisted of carrying loads of heavy groceries up staircases at the behest of wealthy trophy wives. Not a bad gig, and I got some decent exercise out of it. Still, though, I wasn't losing much weight. I was still eating the same type of stuff: whole grains, lean meat, a fair amount of beer, vegetables, the occasional foray to a fast food place, Thai food, sushi. To most people, my diet was fairly healthy.

Then I got a dog, and started researching the best dog food available. It turns out that the best possible diet for a dog is one that mirrors the dog's evolutionary history. At the genetic level dogs are still basically wolves, so I started feeding him raw meat and bones. Up until this point, I was feeding him IAMs or Nutri Max or something, a "decent" mid grade dog food. He would get sick and throw up and was generally unhappy and unhealthy. Once I started feeding him raw, though, he was in perfect health. Good teeth, shiny coat, no digestive problems to speak of, good temperament. I got to thinking: what if what I was eating was "evolutionarily" wrong for me?

I looked into it and discovered something called the Paleolithic diet. It basically says that, genetically, we're still the same hunter-gatherers that, for tens of thousands of years, subsisted mainly on meat, nuts, roots, vegetables, and fruit. It wasn't until about 10,000 years ago that agriculture came around and people started eating grains, dairy, beans, and legumes on a big level. The population exploded, but so did health problems. If you look at modern hunter gatherers, they have incredibly low incidences of cardiovascular diseases, cavities, diabetes - pretty much all the diseases of civilization. But when you introduce these same people to a Western diet, health problems start to pop up. The Inuit, for example, ate a diet incredibly high - by Western standards - in animal fat (whale, walrus, etc) and cholesterol but rarely suffered from heart disease.

So anyway, I started on this diet. I ate pretty much eggs, beef, chicken, fish, vegetables (broccoli, squash, lettuce, carrots, onions, everything really), loads of nuts, fruits, and I cut out a lot of dairy (except for cheese, cause - c'mon, cheese is just awesome). I avoided all grains, rice, starches (like potatoes), excess salt, refined sugar. I cheat of course, and I'll have cream with coffee or tea and the odd bite of bread or whatever, but by and large I'm pretty consistent.

Just doing the diet, I began to steadily drop weight. Having started a little over a year ago, I dropped to 200 pounds with a 33 inch waist. I ate basically whatever I wanted, and after a short while I stopped caring about grains and bread. For a lot of people, they need some sort of heavy carb to feel "full," but that goes away. Now, if I eat a plate of rice or something, I feel like shit - not guilty, but physically weighed down and unhealthy. I also lifted, but - again - I had the knee issue, so I pretty much stuck to doing body weight exercises: pull ups, pushups, body weight squats (sometimes while holding my 60 pound dog), dips, burpees. I very rarely get sick, and I feel happier and more energized than ever. I had had a problem with depression, and my marriage had been suffering, but ever since I started this new lifestyle I feel like a new person. Got a job I loved (actually writing for marksdailyapple.com, a Primal diet blog), and made it through the death of my father almost unscathed (it was tragic, of course, but I'm dealing with it really well). So it hasn't just had an impact on my body, but also on my mind.

I guess I just feel like I'm eating the way evolution designed us to eat. It just feels right, and I have loads of anecdotal and scientific evidence to reaffirm my decision. If anyone's interested, I can point them to some very interesting stuff. It's worth a shot, at least. Worked for me.

[Zoe]

You look alright in the pics you've posted in the photo thread ;).

July '06


Nov' 08


I don't want people to think I'm just a girl thinking I'm not skinny enough. I seriously did (and still do) need to lose weight.

The most frustrating thing is I actually LOST weight before I met the bf. I didn't have a scale at the time, but when I got to college I went from a size 6 to a size 2 in the first four months. Then I peaked at a size 14 by 2006.

I'm down to about an 8ish now. I think I'm too old for a 2 again, but 6 and maybe even a borderline 4 should be within my limits.

[Geoff9920]

Huh, interesting timing. I'm 5'10", and as of this morning I weigh 176 even. However, at the beginning of the year I weighed ~243. After a bet with my twin brother, which I won, my weight lost got most of my family starting to watch their weight. I have 3 brothers, and this thanksgiving was probably the thinnest we've been for a while. Currently reading through Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength and I'm going to give that a go and try to lose the last bit of fat still around. Sorry about the lack of pictures though.

[Ace 8095]

Huh, interesting timing. I'm 5'10", and as of this morning I weigh 176 even. However, at the beginning of the year I weighed ~243. After a bet with my twin brother, which I won, my weight lost got most of my family starting to watch their weight. I have 3 brothers, and this thanksgiving was probably the thinnest we've been for a while. Currently reading through Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength and I'm going to give that a go and try to lose the last bit of fat still around. Sorry about the lack of pictures though.

Excellent decision.

[SephCast]

Hey zoe, let's date.

[esbern]

Umm.. Okay, summer 05

[SephCast]

Yesssssssss

[Zoe]

Hey zoe, let's date.

Sorry, you look too much like the bf.

[lsslave]

Sorry, you look too much like the bf.

Your brave, I tried to warn ya you didn't have to share picture, I wasn't shocked it came so quickly X.x

Either way, congrats on the weight loss ^_^

[Nathan Rain]

I've actually never seen a chick on GAF.

First! :lol

Congrats BTW!

[Zoe]

I've actually never seen a chick on GAF. First! :lol Congrats BTW!

We're everywhere... we even have an admin!

[Koshiba]

I've actually never seen a chick on GAF. First! :lol Congrats BTW!

Wow, what hole have you been in? :lol I'm sure you've seen us, just haven't realized it. Ever wander over to the post your pic thread? Several other females post their pics there. :P Btw Zoe, nice weight loss! You're looking good. :D

[lsslave]

We're everywhere... we even have an admin!

Wow, what hole have you been in? :lol I'm sure you've seen us, just haven't realized it. Ever wander over to the post your pic thread? Several other females post their pics there. :P Btw Zoe, nice weight loss! You're looking good. :D

ZOMG YOU GUYZ ARE LYINGZ NO GIRLZ ON GAFZ!

In all seriousness, I was iffy about making this thread but I am glad I did, so many great stories from so many members of the forum where I gleefully waste WAY too many hours in a day :)

If only I could remove Wednesday from the week I would lose so much more weight XD

[EmSeta]

Tay Zonday?

[phalestine]

Tay Zonday? [IMG]http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/11/29/tay.jpg[IMG] [IMG]http://www.blogadilla.com/img/chocorama.JPG[IMG]

I can see it in the first pic, but not so much the 2nd pic, but we sound nothing a like.

[iamblades]

As for the exercise vs. diet thing, I lean heavily on the side of exercise.

For one, exercise is fun and dieting is not.

Now exercise does increase appetite, so if you just eat more, you won't get the full benefit of it. In my opinion though, most people do not get fat from eating when they are hungry, they get fat from eating when they aren't.

People are creatures of habit, we get in the habit of eating at certain times, and then we always eat at those times whether we need it or not. Heavy exercise pretty much forces you to schedule your eating around when you actually need to be eating. Of course this can work against you if you get in the habit of eating more and then stop exercising, but that should be obvious.

[Struct09]

As for the exercise vs. diet thing, I lean heavily on the side of exercise. For one, exercise is fun and dieting is not. Now exercise does increase appetite, so if you just eat more, you won't get the full benefit of it. In my opinion though, most people do not get fat from eating when they are hungry, they get fat from eating when they aren't. People are creatures of habit, we get in the habit of eating at certain times, and then we always eat at those times whether we need it or not. Heavy exercise pretty much forces you to schedule your eating around when you actually need to be eating. Of course this can work against you if you get in the habit of eating more and then stop exercising, but that should be obvious.

Diet is still the most important aspect to losing weight, it doesn't matter if you exercise or not.

You can not exercise and still lose weight by restricting calorie intake.

You can exercise all you want and not lose weight if you're still eating too much.

Also, you should never look at it as "dieting". It's not a temporary thing you do, it's a change you make to your lifestyle. Your diet is what you regularly eat from day to day.

[beelzebozo]

agreed struct. i think far too often people see it as a constant string of perpetual sacrifices, and i think that's a silly way to look at it. you can still eat pizza. you just don't choose to eat pizza every damn day. a big part of changing my lifestyle was giving up snacking, and keeping my meals very regular. in fact, that's a good theme of doing things the right way, if you ask me: regularity. i exercise regularly, i eat regularly, and my body acclimates itself.

[ChryZ]

Congrats to all you people who managed to pull it off.

[Leatherface]

WOW. Very impressed with some of you GAffers! Especially Mike Works. Holy fuck dude!!


p.s.- You've got some thick eye brows though. =P

[lsslave]

agreed struct. i think far too often people see it as a constant string of perpetual sacrifices, and i think that's a silly way to look at it. you can still eat pizza. you just don't choose to eat pizza every damn day. a big part of changing my lifestyle was giving up snacking, and keeping my meals very regular. in fact, that's a good theme of doing things the right way, if you ask me: regularity. i exercise regularly, i eat regularly, and my body acclimates itself.

Pizza and Chinese Food are my two biggest weaknesses, I can turn anything down but those 2 things >.<

Once a month I will allow myself to eat either of those (I wish I could cut them out entirely X.x)

Aside from that, for example, today I am going to have a fruit smoothie for brunch :) Its not much, but its low cal and almost all the cals in a smoothie are healthy cal anyway ^_^

[phalestine]

as for dieting, I changed from white rice to brown rice and from white bread to whole grain. but I believe I lost most of my weight from exercising, I also met lots of great people going to the gym.

[lsslave]

as for dieting, I changed from white rice to brown rice and from white bread to whole grain. but I believe I lost most of my weight from exercising, I also met lots of great people going to the gym.

Actually changing from white - brown is less about calorie intake (most good whole grain breads will be higher calorie than white breads) / diet as much as it is getting more nutrients, if your going to eat it anyways it might as well be nutritional for you! :)

[Struct09]

Actually changing from white - brown is less about calorie intake (most good whole grain breads will be higher calorie than white breads) / diet as much as it is getting more nutrients, if your going to eat it anyways it might as well be nutritional for you! :)

Yep, eating for health and eating for weight loss are two different concepts (that people tend to assume are the same). And of course you can do both.

[Zozz]

Yea I'm in the process of getting in shape, been doing the eating less/healthier and join a gym not too long ago to help out.

Like it was mentioned above; when you get in a real good relationship, you tend to let yourself loose. I've put on about 20 pounds in about two years. I've lost a lot of muscle that I had too. I was at 238 about 2 weeks ago, I'm down 10lbs, as of today. I'm hoping to get to at least 200lbs in about 6 to 9 months. While my girl is in shape, she is helping me out too and she's toning up herself.

Maybe I'll revive this thread later down the line to show my progress.

[lsslave]

Yep, eating for health and eating for weight loss are two different concepts (that people tend to assume are the same). And of course you can do both.

Health is also related to happiness though, a little health guide for people quickly: Eat a piece of chocolate a day! Its important for you ;)

Seriously though, the biggest thing that stops people is the whole "HEALTHY FOOD ONLY" and they thinking having 1 piece of candy or something has ruined their diet which is irritating, most people quit after their first treat not realizing that if you don't snack you will burn out of a diet >.<

Yea I'm in the process of getting in shape, been doing the eating less/healthier and join a gym not too long ago to help out. Like it was mentioned above; when you get in a real good relationship, you tend to let yourself loose. I've put on about 20 pounds in about two years. I've lost a lot of muscle that I had too. I was at 238 about 2 weeks ago, I'm down 10lbs, as of today. I'm hoping to get to at least 200lbs in about 6 to 9 months. While my girl is in shape, she is helping me out too and she's toning up herself. Maybe I'll revive this thread later down the line to show my progress.

Good luck :) I've seen much worse in 2 years than 20 lbs though so you shouldn't feel too bad :)

[killertofu]

Wtf, is it possible to gain 3 pounds in one day!?

...and I'm about to get a McGangBang :(

[iamblades]

Wtf, is it possible to gain 3 pounds in one day!? ...and I'm about to get a McGangBang :(

To gain 3 pounds of fat? not likely.

3 pounds of weight is easy though, if you are fasted and dehydrated before.