heavens, there are a lot of us!

[Galena]

I joined today and I am amazed at how many people want to lose weight. I realize this is a small number of the actual online groups that feel the need to shed the pounds (or kilograms).
I am in my 50's and need to lose about 125 pounds still. I am going to Curves and using their eating plan right now. It is fairly low carbs and calories but not insanely so, like the Atkins diet - which I followed for a year.
I think my main problem is long term diet abuse of my poor body. I have gained and lost about 4 normal-sized people! Any help to get off this crazy yo-yo mill? (I will admit I am addicted to food)

 

[Steve]

The secrets lies in finding an approach that matches your personality and situation. Being bound by specific diet protocals like Atkins or any other can actually work against some people. No doubt it can help others.

At the end of the day..... it doesn't matter what "Diet" you are following, the net result in terms of fat/weight is going to be a product of your calorie intake. Eat more than your body needs, weight will creep up. Eat less than your body needs and weight will creep down.

Food addiction can be a real issue.

Here's a post I made to another person claiming food addiction:

Hormones can really bugger up even the best of plans. There are regulatory adjustments that happen with long term dieting. Never mind, even short term dieting. Leptin falls, negatively impacting rate of fat loss. The hormone ghrelin, which is related to hunger also increases as well so there is definitely a hormonal/diet-setup element here to consider in cases like this.

However, I whole heartily believe in food addiction which leads to binge eating. Food acts the same as a drug to people. MRI data in study show that for some people seeing something they would crave (trigger food) activates the same dopaminergic brain areas activated in addicts when they see their alcohol/cocaine/morphine.

So I do think there is a definitive difference between the diet-induced cravings and the more psychologically induced cravings. What you experience may be a combo of the two.... who knows.

Here's an interesting article, although I don't have the actual study on hand:

In a study, rats overwhelmingly prefer sweetened water to cocaine, even those already hooked on the drug.

By Denise Gellene, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Researchers have learned that rats overwhelmingly prefer water sweetened with saccharin to cocaine, a finding that demonstrates the addictive potential of sweets. Offering larger doses of cocaine did not alter the rats' preference for saccharin, according to the report.

Scientists said the study, presented this week in San Diego at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, might help explain the rise in human obesity, which has been driven in part by an overconsumption of sugary foods.

In the experiment, 43 rats were placed in cages with two levers, one of which delivered an intravenous dose of cocaine and the other a sip of highly sweetened water. At the end of the 15-day trial, 40 of the rats consistently chose saccharin instead of cocaine.

When sugar water was substituted for the saccharin solution, the results were the same, researchers said. Further testing the rat sweet tooth, scientists subjected 24 cocaine-addicted rats to a similar trial. At the end of 10 days, the majority of them preferred saccharin.

"Intense sweetness is more rewarding to the rats than cocaine," said coauthor Magalie Lenoir of the University of Bordeaux in France.
Lenoir said mammalian taste receptors evolved in an environment that lacked sugar and so were not adapted to the high concentrations of sweets found in the modern diet. Excess sugar could increase levels of the brain chemical dopamine, she said, leading to a craving for sweets.

Cocaine also increases dopamine, she said, but through a different brain mechanism.

 

[Galena]

well, maybe

Yes Steve, energy expended, if greater than calories in, will equal weight loss, but to keep the rest of the body functioning properly the form of calories in are very important.
I must say that I would love to eat 1200 to 1400 calories a day in the form of pecan pie or chocolate cake, but I don't believe I would remain out of the hospital for long. Oh, how I wish that were possible, but being a realist, I know I must avoid sugar like the plague.
I guess my downfall is resisting the temptations people keep offering up to me. Even watching a luscious commercial on TV with horrid, lovely junk-food-type items can make me salivate like Pavlov's dog.
Wearing blinders and plugging my ears and humming do you think?

 

[Steve]

Yes Steve, energy expended, if greater than calories in, will equal weight loss, but to keep the rest of the body functioning properly the form of calories in are very important.

Haha, I wasn't looking for advice. I've been doing this a LONG time.... training people and helping them lose weight that is. I assure you I'm well aware of the fact that composition of caloric intake is critical as well. If you spend some time reading around the forum, especially the stickie threads, you'll see this.

I must say that I would love to eat 1200 to 1400 calories a day in the form of pecan pie or chocolate cake, but I don't believe I would remain out of the hospital for long.

Anyone with a hint of common sense knows this. At least I like to believe by now that the vast majority of the members here realize that 1000 calories of processed sugar is going to worse for you than 1000 calories from chicken and brocolli.

Oh, how I wish that were possible, but being a realist, I know I must avoid sugar like the plague.

Why's that?

I guess my downfall is resisting the temptations people keep offering up to me. Even watching a luscious commercial on TV with horrid, lovely junk-food-type items can make me salivate like Pavlov's dog.

Too much restriction does more harm than good in most of the cases I've seen.

 

[Galena]

smile, Steve

You missed the tongue-in-cheek slant in my message. I guess it is difficult to convey this in a message.
You will have to forgive me as I have not been able to read much on this site yet. I do not know how to find these messages you speak of, but I shall do some exploring.
You seem awfully young to have been doing anything for a LONG time.
Sugar is my nemesis. If I leave it alone I do not want it, if I take even little snorts of it, I tumble out of control.
Going exporing....

 

[Steve]

You missed the tongue-in-cheek slant in my message. I guess it is difficult to convey this in a message.

Ya, one of the downfalls with this medium of exchange I suppose.

You will have to forgive me as I have not been able to read much on this site yet. I do not know how to find these messages you speak of, but I shall do some exploring.

Stickies are found at the top of the various sub-forums. They are 'pinned' so that they always can be found at the top and don't get drowned in the day-to-day banter.

You seem awfully young to have been doing anything for a LONG time.

Young is a relative adjective.

But mehhh, can't win them all.

Last time I checked, stupidity, ignorance and incompetence had no boundaries relative to age so I'm not too concerned.

Sugar is my nemesis. If I leave it alone I do not want it, if I take even little snorts of it, I tumble out of control.

I gotcha. Does that go for all sugars; fruits, veggies, etc?

 

[Galena]

OK, I have read many of the stickies and I have a better understanding of the info exchange.
No, I can enjoy natural sugars in fruit and veggies without the "gotta have more" feelings kicking in. But put an innoccent little donut in front of me and look out momma. I have type 2 diabetes to boot so I really should know better.
Having read many of the newcomer messages I feel like a creaking old timer here. Is there anyone here over 50 or am I an oddity? OK, no comment on that!

 

[squeak]

I'm not over 50, but I'm over halfway there. Does that count?

Welcome, Galena. And good luck with your goals!