There's not a big difference between fat and thin people

[Tobin S.]

At least in terms of what they eat. The difference between me weighing 160 pounds and 360 pounds is about 1000 calories a day. I'm a 5'10" mostly sedentary 44 year old male. That's a Big Mac and a side of fries a day.

People think that if you are obese you must be eating twice as much as someone who is thin. I've weighed as much as 356 pounds and it turns out I was actually averaging about 3000 calories a day.

More talk about losing weight later. I'm typing from my phone now. BTW, thanks for the hearts. It feels good to be loved!

[Lithos]

1. It's the accumulation over time which kills you

And yes, I'm not one to talk about it....

[Lotusflower70]

2. Everyone is different

Some people eat a lot of empty calories and gain weight. Some people gain because of the lack of movement in addition to food choices. Sometimes there is a medical issue. Also if you don't eat enough calories, you won't lose weight. Just like some thin people have a high metabolism or can't gain weight. When people say mean things to overweight or thin people, it says more about them. It is weak and pathetic to be cruel to someone else.

[guillaumeb]

3. Good luck on losing weight.

As long as output exceeds input you cannot gain weight. But calculating output and input can be difficult.

[Tobin S.]

5. Yeah, it takes some fine tuning.

You first have to look at how much it should take to maintain your weight. Then adjust your calories according to how rapidly you'd like to lose weight. A pound of body weight has about 3500 calories. I'm going for a 1000 calories deficit daily. I should lose about 2 pounds a week doing that and that has been the case.

But like someone alluded to above, we all differ in the way we lose and store fat. That's where the adjusting comes in. However, I wouldn't think it would deviate more than a few hundred calories either way daily to get the same results.

[guillaumeb]

6. My wife lost 60 pounds over 3 years.

We started walking 4-5 times a week. We started at 1 mile a day and we currently walk 4-8 miles a day, 5 days a week. Our walking pace is a 15 minute mile so it is not too fast. As to caloric intake, we are vegetarian so many sources of fat are not in our diet, but we do eat eggs and cheese.

Again, good luck and, as I told my wife at the beginning: You did not gain it in a week, you will not lose it in a week.

[JudyM]

7. You are sweet to be so supportive!

[GeoWilliam750]

11. Wishing you every success in achieving your goals

[Phoenix61]

4. I wish this were different but there are 3,500

in a pound of fat. So to gain one pound a week all you have to do is eat 500 more calories a day then you burn. That is not that hard, 1 cup of ice-cream will do the trick. It doesn't help that as we get older we typically need fewer calories a day.

[nolabear]

8. A fascinating new book about that is The Story of Fat.

It's written by a biochemist who began to realize at some point that she could eat stunningly fewer calories than some of her friends and not only not lose but gain weight. And yes, she exercised. She began to research it and has written a really great and readable book about what fat is (an organ), the relationship between fat and the brain in the creation of leptin, which stimulates hunger, the varieties of fat in the body and the effect it has on all kinds of health issues.

I'd encourage anyone who has that "calories in/calories out" understanding to read it. It's far from that simple.

Hang in tere Tobin. I'm right there with you. I get crazy hearing all those "give up sodas, give up fast food, give up junk food" bits of advice. I eat high quality fast food about twice a year and might drink a soda once a month. I don't have junk food in the house. I'm sedentary, yes, but no more than many people who eat a lot more and struggle a lot less.

On the other hand I'm healthy as a horse in most ways and don't have any of the problem associated with it. Life is strange.

[SaschaHM]

9. So I've experienced something like this recently

I've been displaced from the Hurricane Matthew Flooding since Oct. The apartment we are staying at is a single level and as such, I'm not running up and down stairs as much as I used to. It's also smaller so I'm sitting or laying down more. As such, I've probably gained between 10-15 pounds over the past 3 months without really making any dietary changes and given my prior weight, it's pretty noticeable.

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. You could have higher cortisol from stress

And that can promote weight gain. Are you sleeping well?

[SaschaHM]

13. I've been sleeping well. That being said, this election cycle was pretty stressful.

[Kali]

10. check this out!

https://stumptuous.com/fuck-calories

author is funny as hell but really knows her stuff