Why do we get fat?

[MRG]

That cup of oatmeal is about 25 grams of carbs. It has a lowish glycemic index, but the glucose meter will show him how much that affects his blood sugar. Whatever he is eating for breakfast appears to clamp his body's ability to use fat.

I would agree. Additionally on 1400 calories a day I would be ill. Even more so at 60% carbs. When I ate high carbs losing my ability to continue physical activity was normal.

I understand the need to cut, attempting to lose 2(1000 calorie daily deficit) pounds weekly at close to a normal BMI is very aggressive(IMO). I would look at slowing down the loss over a longer period of time.

A question for the folks that are not sure of calories or macros. What technology are you using. I've been using MyFitnessPal for almost a year and feel I understand our calories and macro distribution very well. At least to the extent the nutritional data is accurate. We don't eat out much and I cook very simply, weighing our food..

In the same amount of time I could remember what I ate, I log it and view a chart of my macros and can get to the raw data. I don't think it takes any more time. Better yet it's free there's probably another 5 or 6 that do the same thing.

 

[NW-Bound]

I just had another ham-and-cheese sandwich. It's a substantial 6" long roll, not flimsy sliced sandwich bread. I ran out of my favorite cheddar, so try my wife's camembert "fabriqué en Normandie", and it's not bad. Oops, this is not the cheese thread.

Anyway, I guess people's bodies are built very differently, because I never have to avoid carb completely to lose weight or to lower fasting blood glucose.

 

[ivinsfan]

Dude, are you trying to rub it in....nothing wrong with the cheese or meat, but good on you if you can still enjoy bread. I found out I can give up donuts, cookies, cake and the like but I stand in the bakery drooling over a nice loaf of sourdough, or marble rye.If only you could buy fresh bread by the slice.

 

[NW-Bound]

You can buy a fresh baked French baguette, pinch off the end to eat (that's the part my wife likes, and she calls it the "elbow"), and hand the rest to the hobo sitting outside the bakery.

PS. By the way, breads generally have a very high glycemic index, almost as high as pure sugar. It gets right into your bloodstream as if you are swallowing pure sugar. Very, very bad for diabetes.

 

[Amethyst]

open bracket url=your full link end bracket your description open bracket slash url end bracket

Aha! Threadjack! And here's where it goes entirely off the rails...Make America Grate Again! Great Cheese Glut

I just had another ham-and-cheese sandwich. It's a substantial 6" long roll, not flimsy sliced sandwich bread. I ran out of my favorite cheddar, so try my wife's camembert "fabriqué en Normandie", and it's not bad. Oops, this is not the cheese thread.

.

 

[NW-Bound]

From the above article:

Per capita consumption of cheese in the US: 36 lbs/yr.
Per capital consumption of cheese in France: 57 lbs/yr.

Does cheese make the French fat?

Average BMI in the US: 28.6 for adult men, 28.7 for adult women.
Average BMI in France: 25.3 average for both sexes.

And I bet the French still eat tons of baguette. They drink less wine in recent years though. And the French have been getting bigger too. Actually, the whole world is getting bigger, except for those poor sub-Saharan Africans.

 

[NW-Bound]

Look here. The Brits are skinnier than the French, and in fact the skinniest of all Europe.

Body Mass Index (BMI) by Country

 

[Fedup]

Look here. The Brits are skinnier than the French, and in fact the skinniest of all Europe.

Body Mass Index (BMI) by Country

They walk a lot. I'm already get my exercise in the last few days. I walk every where. Stairs up/down to take the tube and such.

 

[NW-Bound]

People walk a lot in Europe, particularly in large cities like Paris or London. However, the statistics are for entire nations, and we do not know if the British villagers walk more than the French paysans or Italian paesani. It may be the food they eat, or don't eat.

 

[eytonxav]

Look here. The Brits are skinnier than the French, and in fact the skinniest of all Europe.

Body Mass Index (BMI) by Country

But BMI is not the best indicator of health, as a lot of lean muscle mass can make one look unfit. Percent body fat would be more meaningful.

 

[haha]

But BMI is not the best indicator of health, as a lot of lean muscle mass can make one look unfit. Percent body fat would be more meaningful.

The great advantage of BMI is that it is available.

Ha

 

[eytonxav]

The great advantage of BMI is that it is available.

Ha

Of course, but it can be very misleading.

 

[NW-Bound]

But BMI is not the best indicator of health, as a lot of lean muscle mass can make one look unfit. Percent body fat would be more meaningful.

That is true for individuals.

But when looking at the entire populace, those muscular few do not change the statistics for nations. Or if they do, there's no reason to think the English are overall more muscular than other Europeans.

 

[photoguy]

I thought BMI was explicitly designed for population studies and not for use on an individual level.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[eytonxav]

Thats true, it is not accurate for individuals, but rather populations. Here are some other points about the problems with BMI:
Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus : NPR

 

[Amethyst]

I've always suspected BMI to be bogus. My BMI is 20.4, which sounds thin, but my physique is quite substantial. I am one of those people who look thinner in clothes than in a bathing suit or gym outfit - so much so that people who see me in both types of garb have commented on the difference.

Thats true, it is not accurate for individuals, but rather populations. Here are some other points about the problems with BMI:
Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus : NPR

 

[photoguy]

I hadn't seen a critique of BMI before but while the NPR comments may be true, they seem a little harsh. Their article seems to pan it for being essentially a curve fit that fails to account for many physiological factors -- but I wouldn't say that's bad statistics. It's just an approximation which for many uses is still perfectly good. It would be bad statistics however to apply a general approximation to an individual when you know the assumptions don't apply.

Is there an alternative measure that is better than relies only on height & weight?

It also doesn't bother me that it's systematically biased against fit, lean, healthy people. I mean it's going to be obvious if that's the case.

 

[NW-Bound]

BMI also does not take into account body shape, or bone structure. The same BMI on a person with large bones may be OK, but on someone who is lanky may indicate obesity.

While BMI may not be good as an absolute measure of health, the fact that it is creeping up world-wide over the years is undeniable. And we can just look at photos of people or movies back in the 50s or even as late as 70s to see that BMI does not lie.

 

[eytonxav]

Is there an alternative measure that is better than relies only on height & weight?

The best measure is % body fat, but that measure is independent of height and weight.

 

[Fedup]

How do they know of everybody BMI? I don't even know my BMI.

 

[Viking]

I subscribe the the calories in/calories out school of weight gain/loss. For me, increased exercise and restricting calories really work to control weight. I just have to find that happy median where I can sustain a healthy weight without feeling deprived.

This:

(homemade sourdough cheese bread, OMG good!)

and a sedentary lifestyle is why I got overweight. Well, that and former cravings for ice cream and chocolate bars.

I was diagnosed with diabetes earlier this month, with an HgA1C of 13.5%! But things are getting better. Fasting BG this morning was 5.0mmol/l - or 90mg/dl as the US measures things.

Metformin, and a few other diabetes drugs, along with diet changes and increased exercise, seem to have brought the blood sugar under control. I no longer have large BG swings during the day.

Cutting back on bread and pasta, and this:


is why I'm starting to lose weight. My exercise buddy and I go for a 6 km walk two or, rarely, three times a day. Starting to do some walk-runs now. I've lost 3 kg since the diagnosis. Ideally, I really need to lose another 9kg to get rid of the excess fat around my middle.

 

[MRG]

How do they know of everybody BMI? I don't even know my BMI.

Sure you do:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm


I believe there are several different ideal weight calculators not sure any of them are any better than BMI. Since these just work on height/weight/sex they all appear to have the same limitations.

 

[photoguy]

The best measure is % body fat, but that measure is independent of height and weight.

I don't doubt that BMI is going to be the least accurate way of measuring obesity for an individual, but the advantage of it, as noted earlier, is that it's available *everywhere*. And it's probably good enough as a general screening tool (not diagnostic).

Sure if you have access to a more accurate method for determining body fat and can afford the cost, then go for it.

But I will note that even a "gold standard" method like a dunk tank doesn't directly measure body fat. Pretty much all methods measure something else and then convert it to a body fat percentage using a mathematical approximation (ultimately calibrated against cadavers that have been chopped up/dissolved). Each of these approximations have varying accuracy, assumptions and costs.

 

[haha]

I've always suspected BMI to be bogus. My BMI is 20.4, which sounds thin, but my physique is quite substantial. I am one of those people who look thinner in clothes than in a bathing suit or gym outfit - so much so that people who see me in both types of garb have commented on the difference.

How very polite!

 

[eytonxav]

I think most folks that are involved in fitness/sports science or even a medical Dr would say a dunk tank is a reasonable measure, while a dexa scan is even better. For me, I use the mirror, and the mirror does not tell me I'm overweight like my BMI suggests. If you are happy with what BMI tells you, fine, stick with it.