The Harsh Truth
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard people say ‘I barely eat anything , I eat like a bird and I still gain weight’. Oh really. You are eating fewer calories than you need and your body is gaining weight? Impossible. This violates the law of thermodynamics. Usually it’s a case of not really being aware of how much you are actually eating. Because let’s face it, if your body was capable of producing body weight from nothing, then we better get you sent over to NASA or UNICEF immediately , with magical genes like yours, we might just be able to solve the Third World’s hunger problem.
Or another one I hear often is “I tried calorie counting but it didnt work, now im doing and that works great!”.
EHHHH WRONG!
Either you were kidding yourself that you were calorie counting, or not measuring because it WILL work. Its proven. and your Brand Name new diet will do the EXACT same thing, only they will no doubt force you to eat foods you dont like or stop you from eating foods you do like.
The only time Calorie counting will not work is on the occasional plateau.. these can last anywhere from a week up to a couple months (though if its at a couple months or more you might want to check what you’re doing wrong …).
The other time that calorie counting wont work (it always works for at least a short while in the beginning) is if you are on some stupidly low amount of calories like 500-600 a day or similar and your body has gone into starvation mode.
I agree with being sleep deprived will screw your diet up and make you overeat – im a classic example. However i disagree with the “proof” that being overweight is genetic. Genetics can explain possible slower metabolism, or even chemical imbalances, however majority of obesity is from a generation of people who love to use excuses.
I mean people psychoanalyze EVERYTHING. ‘Oh my parents are divorced thats why i steal stuff’ sort of mentality. Its making an excuse. THIS is the major cause of people not doing anything.
Ive talked to many many people over the course of my weight loss and everytime i hear the same excuses ‘oh no its not because i eat to much .. its because of ‘.
One lady at the mall i talked too was trying to tell me she was not overweight because she ate to much, she barely ate anything and only ate one meal a day! then she went on to tell me about what a great weekend she had getting totally shitfaced on booze that weekend just been … HELLOOOO!!!
Time and time again people will make up crap excuses for overeating. Sure we all are falible and all have cravings. But are you going to make excuses like ‘oh well ive screwed up now .. i cant get anything right .. may as well quit now’ and then go on to tell people ‘oh no i tried this diet but it didnt work …’ which is blatent crap.
There is a generation (or three) of people who are so busy looking for a reason to be fat or lazy, that they seem to forget that they are accountable to themselves. Your brain is in control of your body .. not the other way around. I mean its YOUR body .. should you not have the right to tell it what it can or cant have? just like a child!
Your body is stupid, it only acts and reacts. it doesnt think. If you give it food, it processes it. Sure it might send a message via chemicals ‘hey i need ‘ , but its your brain that has to say ‘umm no we just ate .. give it 20 mins’ or ‘how about a bargin … ill give you something that tastes similar but has less calories’
Quit waiting for others to ‘help’ you. Stop waiting for motivation (heck if i waited for motivation i would never have lost weight!).
There are always going to be take aways, testing and trying times. Stop using excuses to quit and start looking for alternatives to your usual behavior.
October 28th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Feel better after your rant? Anyway, you neglect to consider that many people with health issues put on weight. Like myself, I developed an illness then suddenly my weight regulation feedback mechanism didn’t exist. Many medicines cause people to put on weight also. Also, obesity is partially genetic. Don’t believe me? Google “identical twins and obesity”.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Whilst some medications and illnesses can CONTRIBUTE to weight gain and lack of loss, it wont be the sole cause usually. The reason some can contribute is because they mess with your metabolism and slow it down. You may need to cut down on some things to lower your average calorie intake when taking some medications, or use exercise and more ‘raw’ foods less processed to raise the metabolism.
However for the most part, people often use medical conditions and medication as an excuse for being fat, when in fact they got to 20-30 years of age and their metabolism naturally slows and they gained the weight. The illness/medication is often co-incidence.
As for studies, I would be very wary of how they are interpreted, especially by the press. Often they hand over a bunch of technical statistics, and the media claim one thing, however what the study says is something altogether different.
May 28th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Hey Liz
Wow thanks for this, I came across your site and found the sacred heart quick diet and am starting it tonight / today to kick start myself – you are SO right – I have been lying to myself A LOT and it’s time to go – I am putting on weight because I am eating more than I am burning up lazy bum!!
Will continue to trawl through your site for motivation (haha, now I have it there is no excuse).
Thanks very much 🙂
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:06 pm
This is one of the best weight loss sites I have ever encountered. I will be making regular visits here. Thank you for your honesty, it’s sometimes painful to hear isn’t it? Reality check time for me. And it’s Kiwi!
December 20th, 2010 at 4:05 am
Just wanted to thank you for sharing this.
Sometimes hearing the truth can be hard on people who are not ready to hear it. It’s easy to be molly-coddled into thinking being fat is ok. I’m fat. I also have an “excuse” for being fat. I can psycho-analyse the hell out of why I am fat. But, in the end, it doesn’t matter what you have been through in your life you eventually have to face your own reality and do something about it. I think I am ready to do that now. =)
December 20th, 2010 at 6:34 am
Good for you! thats awesome, i believe thats probably half the cure is admitting most of that 🙂
December 30th, 2010 at 6:38 am
The twin studies do show some compelling evidence – but in the end it seems that more people are susceptible to gaining weight. There are very few healthy individuals who will magically gain weight because of genes. There are medical disorders that do affect weight gain/loss but if you need calories to put on weight then obviously it is the food going in contributing the most. If these people were not eating they would not gain weight no matter the medical condition. It just makes it harder with a medical condition/medication not impossible in “most” cases.
I am not claiming to me a phd in diet and medicine hence why I said most. I gained a heap of weight when I became disabled. However I think it was more to do with my lying in bed and unable to get up and get food so my friends bringing me take out that had to do with it.
With my condition it is hard for me to exercise, however I lost 15kgs on diet alone in bed. I have gained some back,however I am only 5kgs overweight and want to lose 10kgs so I sit lower in the healthy weight range.
If someone bed ridden on 20 medications with a spinal injury, brain problems and brain surgery with multiple other disorders affect most of my body can do it it is possible for a majority of people and for a healthy individual there is not reason it shouldn’t work.
I have friends who love to claim they are on 600 calorie a day diets and gain weight….ok…..then I see pictures of about 5 cakes they baked that week. When questioned they claim not to eat it and their husband eats the entire thing. Trips to maccas etc…I am with you in they are not counting because as a healthy person they should be breaking natural law like that.
December 30th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Thank you very much for that comment! It’s hard for people to accept things I think because you have a perception of who and what you are, and its hard to admit you may not be that
May 15th, 2011 at 6:31 am
I have a question. I have read that if you eat anything, even something small like an apple, before you go to sleep, it will slow weight loss down. The things that I have read say that if your body is busy digesting the food, then it can’t burn the fat.
What are your thoughts on that?
The main reason I ask, is because I work midnights. Sometimes, when I come home, I am super hungry. I don’t want to eat before I go to sleep, though, because of reading all of that.
May 15th, 2011 at 10:46 am
It may affect your metabolism, but it would be very minor. So long as your overall calories eaten are less than the ones burned you loose weight. When i lost weight i ate most evenings right before bed. I just cant sleep on an empty stomach, so i just made sure i had enough for 100-200calories snack before bed, often just a couple scrambled eggs, or piece of toast, etc plus cup of tea
April 4th, 2012 at 8:59 am
Hey Liz,
Great Site very inspiring. I have a knee injury and can only walk so I do a good 40-1 hour every second day do you think this is enough, If I stick to the calories I worked out on your site to eat per day?. I really can’t afford the gym and find the weights just make me sore all over.
April 4th, 2012 at 9:01 am
Yep, that should be fine. Its all about getting the heart rate up. IF you can swing your arms fast for a good period even without using your legs that will also get the heart rate up 🙂
April 26th, 2014 at 6:24 pm
Great site thanks for creating it 🙂