[Decky]

The NHS is free at the point of use. It is paid for through general taxation. In addition to this payment by everyone, there are big taxes on alcohol and tobacco that go to the NHS meaning that the most unhealthy people pay a little more, if that was not the case then the difference would be made up by everyone (more taxes would go to the NHS rather than to something else).

[Saeko]

How about leaving us alone and minding your own business? Seems like a good place to start.

How about no?

I'm aware my weight is a problem and I'm working to fix it. Having people judge me every step of the way doesn't help.

How many pounds have you lost so far?

[Kaiserschmarrn]

As far as I know, the most expensive people in terms of healthcare costs are those who grow very old. Obese people's life expectancy is up to 10 years shorter than average, so I suspect by dying earlier they make up for their increased use of healthcare for the most part, if not completely.

[Suntzu]

Smokers seem to be the least expensive. They did earlier and quickly.

[Godstud]

Are we going to ban race car drivers/snow boarders/skiers, etc. for their unhealthy lifestyle choices? Most of those people are injured numerous times and are a burden on the healthcare system.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

Suntzu, that might well be true. For instance:

Despite the higher annual costs of the obese and smoking cohorts, the healthy-living cohort incurs highest lifetime costs, due to its higher life expectancy, as shown in Table 1 . Furthermore, the greatest differences in health-care costs are not caused by smoking- and obesity-related diseases, but by the other, unrelated, diseases that occur as life-years are gained ( Table 1 ). Therefore, successful prevention of obesity and smoking would result in lower health-care costs in the short run (assuming no costs of prevention), but in the long run they would result in higher costs.

[jaydedjen110]

How about no?



How many pounds have you lost so far?

I cut soda out and replaced it with water and tea and lost about 30 pounds. Brought me from 341 to 320. My target weight is 175.

[Saeko]

Goddamn. Good for you!

[jaydedjen110]

Goddamn. Good for you!

It's hard as hell, but it's possible. I'm diabetic, so cutting the soda out (diet and regular) helped dramatically. Other than that, just trying to stay away from carbs and sugar is mostly how I do it. I slip occasionally, though.

[Saeko]

Just count your calories, and maintain a deficit of about 400.

[Frollein]

Cut down on all carbs, not just sugar. That means no cereal, no pasta, no bread, no starchy vegetables. Low carb, high fat (LCHF) is the way to go.

[LV-GUCCI-PRADA-FLEX]

Why cut down on carbs? Cutting down on carbs isn't going to give you a calorie deficit. Counting calories and eating a balanced diet high in fruits and vegetables (especially vegetables) and low in red meats/pork is going to give you the best results. Anyway nobody maintains weight loss without counting calories. You can lose weight for a while, but as soon as you give up on your "diet" you go right back to the poor behaviors that you never replaced with good behaviors.

Also, carbs are fucking delicious and give you a different kind of instant energy than protein and fat, so cutting them out is going to be a losing strategy in the long run.

Just count your calories, and maintain a deficit of about 400.

This. Get a scale, get a food scale. Weigh yourself daily, keep track of the food you eat. Stop making excuses. Don't start tomorrow, start today. Tomorrow never comes.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

While losing weight is no doubt hard - just like stopping smoking and drugs - it's not the hardest part. The real challenge is maintenance, i.e. not gaining weight or starting drugs again.

What works depends on your metabolism and possibly on your microbiome, with the latter influencing the former. See here and here, for instance. I think that metabolomics and a better understanding of our microbiome will in the future shed some light on this. Strictly speaking you'll lose weight if you maintain a deficit by cutting calories, but your metabolism and your microbiome will probably determine the likelihood of your success to some extent.

Obviously I don't want to put anybody off trying to lose weight, but it's worth keeping an eye on these things.

[LV-GUCCI-PRADA-FLEX]

Metabolism is junk science.

Energy lost + Energy gained = Weight loss/gain

That's the only equation that people losing weight should be concerned about.

[jaydedjen110]

I didn't cut all carbs. I cut out things like white bread, rice and pasta, cookies, cakes, things like that. I stick to whole grain bread, brown rice and pasta. I haven't entirely gotten rid of things like bacon or pizza but I eat less of them.

And of course, water and lots of it. I put things like frozen berries and peaches in there and it's better than soda.

[Frollein]

There are source materials for LCHF but I only have them in German and frankly, I don't care enough about other people's health problems to dig them up in English. We had excellent results with my mother's illness, so I'm sold on it. Eat your carbs, I don't really care.

[LV-GUCCI-PRADA-FLEX]

I didn't cut all carbs. I cut out things like white bread, rice and pasta, cookies, cakes, things like that. I stick to whole grain bread, brown rice and pasta. I haven't entirely gotten rid of things like bacon or pizza but I eat less of them.

And of course, water and lots of it. I put things like frozen berries and peaches in there and it's better than soda.

Cutting out processed foods and soda is going to make you feel better, of course, but a calorie deficit is the only way to lose weight. Eating less is great, but unless you know how much you're eating in terms of calories then you're just going off of estimation. If you have struggled with portion size your whole life then your estimations are usually going to be underreporting how much you eat. Keeping exact track of what you eat is the only proven way to lose weight.

There are source materials for LCHF but I only have them in German and frankly, I don't care enough about other people's health problems to dig them up in English. We had excellent results with my mother's illness, so I'm sold on it. Eat your carbs, I don't really care.

I'm not saying that it's not effective, I'm saying that the only way to lose weight is to keep track of calories. I'm also saying that a balanced diet can include carbs, and a high proportion of them at that. ~70% of my calories are carbs.

[Kaiserschmarrn]

Metabolism is junk science.

Hard to respond to such an ignorant statement. You are denying the existence of the Krebs cycle and other metabolic processes?

[LV-GUCCI-PRADA-FLEX]

Sure, but it has nothing to do with the low metabolism vs. high metabolism false dicotomy. Like I said, for weight loss it's important to disregard the notion that you have a naturally low metabolism or other such nonsense because your metabolism is likely fine and you're just eating too much.

[AFAIK]

Eat this:



I stopped cooking with oil. I use a non-stick pan and a little water. It's an easy way of cutting empty calories. I use vegetable or soybean oil when I need to.

Tips for portion control;

- Eat off small plates with a colour contrast to the food you're eating. I.e a white plate for tomato sauce, a red plate for white sauces.
- Serve from the stove rather than from the table.
- Serve healthy foods first and unhealthy foods after.
- Drink out of tall thin glasses rather short fat ones.

These methods encourage people to consume less.