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0 pointsdayvid3y ago0 comments

Spend 2 days and write down everything you eat or drink in a spreadsheet with calorie count (including oil and condiments). Use a digital scale if possible for more accurate measurement. The answer will be glaringly obvious.

Most people don’t do this and spend their lives wondering why they can’t control their weight.

Some quick culprits: sodas and juices (huge amount of calories), excess oil in food cooking (oil has a ton of calories), side dishes and snacks (chips, French fries, crackers, etc.).

On the satiety level, if you eat out a lot or processed foods, most have little fiber and aren’t that satiating (e.g. you can eat a whole bag of chips or thing of crackers and want more). Either more fiber or protein.

Really the main solution is to limit eating out if you live in America. I eat out once a day maximum. Otherwise you’ll most likely hit a caloric surplus.

0 comments

acuozzo3y ago

> Most people don’t do this and spend their lives wondering why they can’t control their weight.

My experience with obese and morbidly obese individuals in the northeast US suggests to me that the problem is more related to mental health & addiction than a lack of information & education.

elil173y ago

Right, you'll see how many calories you eat. But you won't see why you eat that many calories. Plenty of people try very hard to count and limit calories, but stories of successful weight loss are still the minority of cases. Most people can't lose more than 10 or 15 pounds without starting to get really hungry. Similarly, most people can't intentionally gain more than 10 or 15 pounds without starting to feel that they are unable to eat more.

You can say the main solution is not eating out, or anything else, but the fact that losing weight is hard demonstrates the fact that no solution is easy.

bombcar3y ago

The immense marketing around "healthy" vs "unhealthy" food has also contributed to it. Most people consider a glass of orange juice to be "healthy" and a can of Coca Cola to be "unhealthy" but a can of coke has 140 calories and the exact same size of orange juice is 150 - but most people drink a glass of orange juice which is often 16-20 ounces, getting you up near 300 calories.

Sure the orange juice is probably "healthier" per calorie, whatever that means, but you're still drinking a lot of calories.

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