How to Lose Weight. Obesity. #13
So, you want to lose weight. Good. Let’s start.
After reading a bunch on the topic, I found myself back where I started: the fundamentals.
Becoming healthier in a way that naturally loses weight requires
assessing who you spend time with and their influence on you (family is a big one)
your good habits to cultivate
your bad habits to shed
your self-image
whether you have a system or a goal or both
your cooking skills and attitude
your beliefs about how your past influences your present
what you think food is (are Doritos food? Grass-fed beef? Whole wheat?)
More nutrition information is unlikely to help you become trim. We are drowning in information with all the books and blogs and podcasts out there. Yet we are still obese, diabetic, addicted, and depressed. I’m not impressed with our results so far.
So I don’t give nutrition information in this video. Nutrition customized to you requires a one-on-one.
Instead, I focus on optimizing chances for success with a general framework and initial strategy. By “success,” I mean becoming trim and lean and fit for the rest of your life without eternal struggle.
As I stress in the video, it’s a big undertaking. Some can do it alone. But you shouldn’t be shy about hiring professional help if needed. We are talking about a change that elevates your well being forever until you die. That’s worth something.
The links below the video illustrate that you are not stupid if you are confused about conflicting nutrition information. Mutually incompatible assertions made by credentialed people who cite their sources up and down are a dime a dozen. You’ll notice that I arranged them so that one source is followed by a reasoned critique of that author’s position. As I stress in the video, the crucible of your own experience will reveal what works for you. The proof is in the pudding. It’s not in the bibliography or the clinical trial.
video content timeline
This is a long-haul proposition [0:58]
This is about changing your life in a way that results in your body losing fat. Don’t think this is a diet you fit into your life. This is fitting your life into a different you. [1:36]
Personal trial and error tell you what works. Your results speak for themselves. Don’t seek finality in nutrition books. [2:16]
If you expect a truthful result, you must be truthful with your effort. [3:18]
Just about any whole food nutrition program is better than the standard American diet. That’s why just about every book can truthfully report that its nutrition program got good results: there’s nowhere to go but up. Anything is better than the bottom of the barrel. [4:10]
Junk food is designed to push your brain’s buttons and tell you to eat more. [5:34]
Consider acquianting yourself with the paleo diet’s features. [7:22]
Your environment includes the people in your life. VERY IMPORTANT. [7:56]
Love is wanting what’s best for the other person. Do the people in your life do this for you? [8:34]
“Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.” –Jerzy Gregorek [9:11]
Change your habits. [9:37]
Being well the rest of your life is worth a lot. Consider hiring a pro if you need it. [10:25]
Run your new plan past your medical doctor. You might not need your prescriptions anymore after you lose weight. But don’t expect much nutrition guidance from an M.D. [11:14]
Citations and resources
“Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.” –Jerzy Gregory
Ioannidis J. P. (2005). Why most published research findings are false. PLoS medicine, 2(8), e124. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124
Goodman, S., & Greenland, S. (2007). Why most published research findings are false: problems in the analysis. PLoS medicine, 4(4), e168. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0040168 [rebuttal to the above]
Ioannidis J. P. (2007). Why most published research findings are false: author's reply to Goodman and Greenland. PLoS medicine, 4(6), e215. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0040215 [rebuttal to the rebuttal]
Ioannidis J. P. (2013). Implausible results in human nutrition research. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 347, f6698. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f6698
Ramsden, C. E., Zamora, D., Majchrzak-Hong, S., Faurot, K. R., Broste, S. K., Frantz, R. P., Davis, J. M., Ringel, A., Suchindran, C. M., & Hibbeln, J. R. (2016). Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73). BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 353, i1246. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i1246 [“Paradoxically, … participants who had greater reductions in serum cholesterol had a higher, rather than lower, risk of death”]
Howard, B. V., Van Horn, L., Hsia, J., Manson, J. E., Stefanick, M. L., Wassertheil-Smoller, S., Kuller, L. H., LaCroix, A. Z., Langer, R. D., Lasser, N. L., Lewis, C. E., Limacher, M. C., Margolis, K. L., Mysiw, W. J., Ockene, J. K., Parker, L. M., Perri, M. G., Phillips, L., Prentice, R. L., Robbins, J., … Kotchen, J. M. (2006). Low-fat dietary pattern and risk of cardiovascular disease: the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial. JAMA, 295(6), 655–666. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.295.6.655 [“Over a mean of 8.1 years, a dietary intervention that reduced total fat intake and increased intakes of vegetables, fruits, and grains did not significantly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, or cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women…”]
Good Calories, Bad Calories. Gary Taubes. Anchor Books, 2008. [Simply put, Taubes argues that we overeat because we get fat, and we get fat because we eat too much carbohydrate.]
The Hungry Brain. Stephan Guyenet. Flatiron Books, 2018. [Guyenet differs with Taubes. He argues we’re obese because our brains are wired to interact with modern food choices in ways that promote obesity.]
Taubes defends himself against Guyenet. The back-and-forth never ends!
How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Michael Greger and Gene Stone. Flatiron Books, 2015. [Greger argues for a plant-based diet.]
Critique of Greger’s How Not to Die by Denise Minger.
The China Study. T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II. Banbella Books, 2016. [The China Study argues for a plant-based diet.]
Critique of The China Study by Denise Minger.
The Big Fat Surprise : Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet. By Nina Teicholz. Simon & Schuster, 2015. [Teicholz makes the case that “our bodies are healthiest on a diet with ample amounts of fat” (page 7).]
Critique of The Big Fat Surprise by Seth Yoder.
Red Pen Reviews takes a scientific perspective to assess books on nutrition and explains their assessments.
Atomic Habits, a book to help you start good habits and shed bad habits. By James Clear.