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My brother has always been on the chubby side, but in recent years he's gained so much weight that he can now be classified as obese. If he was happy with this state of affairs, I don't think I'd mind; his life, his choice, and all that. However, apart from the health issues (bad back, bad knees) he is really unhappy about the way he looks. He's struggling with depression, and his weight is really feeding into his over-all sense of self-hatred. He wants to be thin, but the problem is that he's an all or nothing guy. Since he can't lose 100 pounds in a week, he's just given up. - Smaller food portions? Less soda and chips? What's the point if he can't look like Brad Pitt in time for Easter? I'm trying to be supportive and helpful, but I don't want to be yet another person nagging him (our parents are doing a swell job of that on their own). He knows he's fat. He really doesn't need yet another person pointing that out. Does anyone have any advice about how to help him get past the first hurdles?
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 12:21 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 20:29 |
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Go run/lift with him? Maybe just make a habit of taking a walk every week?
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 12:31 |
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Have you shown him the ultimate transformations thread in YLLS?
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 12:51 |
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It seems like he needs a strict regiment of exercise every day/week and needs to follow up with it. It's like. Try to do it with him! Point him in the direction of YLLS. There are many options available to him. He need only grab them and stick to it. You're already doing your part by being supportive. If it helps, yeah, do it alongside him!
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 12:54 |
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Does he drink a lot of soda? If so simply replacing that with something else (even diet soda) is a massive positive step and something that takes relatively little effort. If you live together maybe you could get him to agree to a 'no regular soda in the house' policy which you could then enforce.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 12:56 |
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Rurutia posted:Have you shown him the ultimate transformations thread in YLLS? Seriously, show him. There is a very good support network for those willing to try, maybe if he understands that he will feel more motivated?
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 13:03 |
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I had to make this decision (to lose weight) recently and it was something I was struggling with for a long time. Ultimately, no matter what anyone said to me, the only thing that could change my mind was me. Like with addiction, he probably needs to hit his breaking point and he unfortunately hasn't reached it yet. That's just my opinion here, and my personal experience. Not saying it's the same with him, but I had to kind of hit rock bottom self esteem-wise to get anything done.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 14:29 |
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Rurutia posted:Have you shown him the ultimate transformations thread in YLLS? OP's brother, please click this link if you would like continued complacency in your current state: link 2 (Presented as I originally read that post)
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 15:12 |
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Is he being treated for depression? Is he seeing a therapist? He has to WANT help with losing weight before allowing you to help. The all or nothing thinking and the depression, can be major roadblocks to making positive (or any) changes in a person's life. He has to decide that he is worth it and his life is worth it to take the time, energy, and the hard choices needed to lose a significant amount of weight.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 15:31 |
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It also depends wiht how you present it to him. If you make it that "you should exercise bcause you're fat" it won't work as opposed to "people should exercise in general". Don't be advising him to do something you wouldn't do yourself.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 15:41 |
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Well, if you live with him, a small step is for you to stop bringing junk food into the house. But it sounds like your brother might need help with his depression more than his weight. Changes in appetite are a symptom of depression, so trying to treat the symptom rather than the cause could lead him deeper into self-loathing. Is he in therapy and/or taking meds?
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 15:42 |
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Getting someone else to lose weight is very difficult, especially if they aren't very willing to. Losing weight is very stressful to both your body and mind. He gonna have to feel better about himself before he starts to lose weight.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 15:48 |
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Still Fluxing posted:Does anyone have any advice about how to help him get past the first hurdles? No one can keep up weight loss unless they're motivated enough to do it. The problem with trying to help is that you can easily be the next thing he blames his failure on and it sucks to be put in that position. My suggestion would be to try and ignore the weight loss part and just try to get him treating himself better. Does he make his own meals or is it all microwavable stuff? Making your own food is a super important part of improving your lifestyle, and if he's just surviving on soda and chips he's never going to healthy even if he does lose weight.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 15:58 |
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Our very own forums trainer Swole (ikillhostages) over in SA-Mart helped me lose 175lbs through a combination of excellent dietary and exercise advice. I'd say talk to him, if he's serious about losing weight. I'd also suggest making sure he knows that: - He's not going to look like Brad Pitt in time for easter. He likely won't even start noticing the changes until he's several months into the program, although other people who don't see him every day definitely will. It's going to take time, dedication and hard work. But it's so, so worth it. - It's going to be difficult. It's a constant fight to stick to the program, but it gets easier after every trip to the gym. - A good diet will do wonders on its own. After he gets into the habit, eating healthy food and staying clear of unhealthy food will almost happen naturally. - It's a lifestyle. Sure, he could find some miracle diet and somehow lose enough weight that he feels good about himself again, but what then? The biggest problem for most people is that they go on a diet (or lipo, gastric bypass, what have you) and then dive right back into their old habits. He wants to be healthy? He can't just take a break from eating unhealthy food and work out for a couple of months. He has to change how he lives his life completely. - He's going to fail. It's not a bad thing. Failing and then giving up is a bad thing. I fell off the wagon several times, but I got back up there and did what had to be done. - Avoid rewards. It's easy to go "Man, I had a really good workout today. I deserve to eat an entire cake!", but that entire cake is going to cancel out all that hard work, and get the snowball going down the hill towards failure again. - Find healthy food that tastes as good as (or better than) unhealthy food. Swole is pretty good at this. He doesn't have to give up bacon and burgers to eat healthy, and there are a plethora of fruits and vegetables that are absolutely delicious, not to mention all the different ways to prepare a healthy meal that tastes as good as it feels. After changing what I put in me every day, I've started noticing how absolutely disgusting all the chips, sodas and candy I used to stuff myself with makes me feel physically. I never realized Coca Cola was so exhausting until I stopped drinking it. - An exercise partner helps. When I was starting out, I felt more committed to the plan when I had planned to meet someone at the gym rather than going by myself. It's easier to skip days and stay at home if you don't have someone waiting for you. - No excuses. Any excuse his boss wouldn't accept for not coming to work is not a good enough excuse for not going to the gym. - Don't go for any fashionable new "easy fix" diets. Eating right and exercising is a tried and true method that just works and I have never seen any reputable superdiets that help one lose weight any faster than the normal way. Today, instead of looking back and thinking "God, I wish I had started exercising a long time ago, then I wouldn't be so fat today", I look back and think "God, I'm so glad I finally got my poo poo together" and "Holy cholesterol, Batman, is that seriously a picture of me? I looked like a house!" Earl Nightingale said it best: "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." Talk to Swole. He's not the cheapest alternative but he's good, and incredibly helpful. At the very least, get a free sample session from him if he's still doing those, and read his blog. e: Bonus gross-rear end picture of what all that hard work will do. Nastyman fucked around with this message at Mar 2, 2013 around 18:09 |
| # ? Mar 2, 2013 15:59 |
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Is your brother a goon as well? I've been reading the weight loss mega thread on ylls and the whole group/team/were in this togetherness of it had really helped to keep me motivated. Maybe direct him there? Also get the junk food outta your house. That's a huge start.
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 16:26 |
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Thank you for your input, everyone!Sistergodiva posted:Go run/lift with him? Maybe just make a habit of taking a walk every week? We currently live in different cities, so I can't really physically be there for him. When I've visited him I have encouraged him to take walks with me, but there's only so much I can do from 200 miles away. His wife isn't overweight, but she's not that fond of exercise either, so I can't really set my hopes to her. Rurutia posted:Have you shown him the ultimate transformations thread in YLLS? I was actually thinking about getting him some books on sensible weight loss methods, but I worried he'd take it the wrong way. Since a lot of you seem to think that pointing him in the direction of that information could be helpful, I'll definitely consider it.  BoogerPrincess posted:Is he being treated for depression? Is he seeing a therapist? He is actually. He's on some kind of anti-anxiety medication and he's seeing a therapist. I think the rest of us kind of naively felt like everything would be fine after he sought help with that issue, but of course it's not that simple. FordPRefectLL posted:I had to make this decision (to lose weight) recently and it was something I was struggling with for a long time. Ultimately, no matter what anyone said to me, the only thing that could change my mind was me. Like with addiction, he probably needs to hit his breaking point and he unfortunately hasn't reached it yet. That's just my opinion here, and my personal experience. Not saying it's the same with him, but I had to kind of hit rock bottom self esteem-wise to get anything done. That's what I was afraid of. He's got so much stuff weighing down on his mind right now he really doesn't need to hit another rock bottom.  Nastyman posted:
That was the way he originally went from chubby to svelte. He basically starved himself until he was thin, and then he found himself a girlfriend and they encouraged each other's bad habits until he far exceeded his original weight. The family tried to tell him that it wasn't a sustainable way to lose weight, but he didn't listen. And now he's older and his metabolism won't play ball any more. 
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| # ? Mar 2, 2013 20:32 |
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Other people have pretty much said it - people only change when they want to (absolutely true for me). However, you can help, at least a little, if you're smart about it. First I should say that only a habit of better eating and a habit of exercise will help him in the long term. Crash diets might "work" but really a "diet" isn't a slog you have to endure before you get to your "reward" (beach body, abs etc). The new habit is the reward. That's the way he has to think of it, otherwise he'll just gain it all back. Education also plays a significant role - once he decides to get started, it'll be better if he's doing something that works. I'd check out YLLS for info on this. Diet is 60-80% of this effort. Exercise should supplement diet, not the other way around. Beyond that, he should lift weights, but if he doesn't like that, whatever he'll stick with activity-wise is what you should encourage. Better to do years of semi-effective ultimate frisbee playing than five weeks of the best free weight workout possible. Dig? So: it's got to be a habit, and he's got to think of it as just his new normal, not some ordeal he has to go through to get to the promised land of Brad Pitt. Diet is most important. Exercise should be whatever he can stick with, though lifting is best. Now, how do you approach this? This Stanford professor gives a very good explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJ3bvmYkPGs#t=133s Basically when motivation is high you can strategically use it to lock in systemic wins that make future adherence to a new habit easier. BJ's example of getting in to tea is a good one - instead of just saying "yeah, I'll start the tea thing tomorrow" he waited til he was super motivated, and then bought all the supplies (tea itself, kettle, teacups, etc) at once (and a lot of them) so that in a week when he was feeling "eh" about it, he didn't have to go buy something or do anything beyond just make a cup. Sounds somewhat obvious, but what about buying more teacups than he'd strictly need so that having to wash a dirty cup before making a fresh one never stops him? Or buying months worth of tea so that two weeks from now "I don't have time to go to the store and get more tea" doesn't kill the new habit? This is the thinking you have to engage in. So maybe for your brother, a short-circuit in eating better is "I don't know how to cook" or "I don't have the supplies to cook." So maybe the next time his motivation crests, sign him up for a healthy cooking class and gift him all the pots/pans/utensils he'll need, in triplicate, so "dirty frying pan" is less likely to result in a McDonald's run? If you want him to read more and get educated, hit him where he lives. Does he read books regularly? Then a book is probably ok. Or does he mostly read blogs? Find a fitness blog. Hell, there are fitness tumblrs if that's how he spends a lot of his time. Does he cruise forums? Maybe buy him an SA account and point him to YLLS. The point is, you want to use that motivation wave to do the most work in as little time as possible. You want to avoid as many stumbling blocks as possible, too - buying twice the dishes sounds stupid (and wasteful), but it could very well be the difference between beans and chicken for dinner and a Whopper and fries. Seriously. Ramit (the other guy in that video) gives another example that sounds almost absurd, but most people will probably recognize something of themselves in it. He wanted to start a gym habit and go every morning. Weeks went by and he would go sporadically, but it wasn't catching on. Finally he looked hard at what was stopping him - he certainly wanted to go get fit, it just wasn't happening. So he paid close attention to how he felt in the morning, and realized that the act of getting out of bed, then going to his closet and getting his gym clothes on was mildly uncomfortable - he was chilly. That discomfort was enough to avoid getting up in time and working out. The solution? He started putting his gym clothes next to his bed the night before. Now he can wake up and immediately get changed. That was the systemic change that made the habit stick. I do something like this myself with my cooking/eating. I eat a lot of ground turkey. Partly that's because it's pretty lean and has a ton of protein, and the taste is good too. But there are deeper, and on the surface sillier, reasons. It's cheaper to buy meat in bulk - 2 or 3 or more pounds at a time. But I never eat or cook all of it in a day, so the rest has to be frozen. The same goes for bulk turkey or ground beef. Well it turns out that I'm lazy as poo poo, and that thawing frozen meat in the microwave for 4-6 minutes is enough of a hassle that I'll just put it off until I end up going out. Seriously. I tried to battle this "stupid" tendency for years, and could, for a month or two at a time when motivation was high. Eventually I would cave and my eating would go off the rails. Opps, I'm fat again. Initially I thought I had it beat when I stopped buying chicken breasts - they thaw slower than ground beef, and then you have to cut the fat off and dice it up before you throw it in the pan. And this dirties a cutting board, which has to be cleaned later. That was literally too much work for me to reliably do. Beef was easier, but still a slog. Now I buy ground turkey in small packages. Costs slightly more, but I stick to my eating plan, because it lets me cook with meat that's only refrigerated, not frozen. I just open the package and throw it all in the pan. Way less hassle. Furthermore, it comes in 1.3 lb packages, which is exactly the right amount to make two meals at a time. So, in another self-hack, I started cooking my meals the night before. Now when I'm hungry I'm just three minutes of heating in the microwave away from food. Eating plan adherence shot through the roof. This does mean that I have to shop more (every other day) but I happen to work a block from my grocery store, so it's literally a five minute detour. Obviously this fact is part of why what I do works for me. It sounds petty and lazy, but I think it's way more useful to acknowledge your fallibility and limited willpower and work around it (successfully) than heroically try and become somebody you're not. Maybe in a few years I'll be a more accomplished cook. But right now I'm not, and I've structured my life so that that fact never stops me. Another example of a structural trick is that I set aside one day a week (Saturday) where I eat whatever I want. In any quantity. Today I ate a whole box of Girl Scout cookies, a giant bag of mini donuts, bags of skittles, had nachos with cheese with lunch, and I've still got some Cheetos, chips, and a pint of Ben & Jerry's to finish. Sunday though Friday I stick to my eating plan 100%, zero excuses. It can wait til Saturday. 6 days on, 1 day off is still good enough for me to lose weight while my lifts in the gym go up. I love it and it works for me. It's not optimal. But you're not after optimal. You want something that sticks for years. So that's how you need to think about helping your brother. Each person's pitfalls will be different, and some things can't be hacked around, but little things like this can mean the world once you realize their importance, and your ability to address them. And the time to address them is when the motivation wave crests.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 02:46 |
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The e/n frog has put on some weight himself. 
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 07:13 |
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Issues like a bad back and knees make working out hard enough to lose weight extremely difficult for some people. The trick is to find an exercise that will have minimal impact on the joints, yet burn calories. Water aerobics or just plain swimming would be good options for him.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 07:50 |
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Part of Everything posted:Issues like a bad back and knees make working out hard enough to lose weight extremely difficult for some people. The trick is to find an exercise that will have minimal impact on the joints, yet burn calories. Water aerobics or just plain swimming would be good options for him. Yeah. Because of his health issues (brought on by physical work, but not helped by his excess weight), right now, water aerobics or swimming are the only feasible methods of exercise for him. Mom and I have been trying to encourage him to go swimming, but he's too ashamed of his body to go to the public pool. Maybe this summer he can be talked into going swimming in the river with me. We used to to it all the time when we were kids, so it wouldn't be a chore for him. Lots of good insight there, thank you. You've certainly given me something to think about.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 11:19 |
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I've lost quite a lot of weight in the last year or so. I wasn't obese, but I was definitely unhappy with how I looked. Something that is important to remember is that the first week or so is going to feel *awful*. Hell, I ran for 10 minutes, and I could hardly walk for 2 days afterwards. Now, I'm all trained up to run a half marathon. It's really difficult to start exercising, but when it becomes part of his routine I think/hope he will start to enjoy it. I actually broke my ankle, and can't run for 6 weeks and it is driving me insane. I know a poster above me said to avoid rewards, but if he can keep a regime up for a week (at least) or something, maybe offer to buy your brother a game he wants or something? The knee/back problems make it difficult to flat out start running, so maybe going for a "quick walk" for 15 minutes every day or every other day is a good way to start? When I started running I used to get lower back pain because my core muscles were weak, but there are loads of way to improve these gradually, and the pains should go away when the muscles are being used regularly anyway. If he has an iPhone or iDevice, I would recommend this for core muscle strengthening as the workouts are short and the easy ones are quite forgiving although still provide enough of a challenge. You also get a "medal" for every workout you complete, and although yes, this is just a thing in the app, it still provided a little incentive for me to fill up the 10 medal bar at the bottom of the screen. Maybe stretching regularly would also help. This would probably help in some ways with the lower back and knee pains, and your brother might find it relaxing and therefore mentally beneficial. I don't actually know enough about this to give advice, but maybe another goon will, I just thought it sounded like a decent idea. Also, whilst an exercise buddy can be great, when I started running, I lived in fear of anyone seeing me when I was out. Exercise can be quite an individual thing. Exercise buddies definitely aren't for everyone, although it could potentially give your brother a competitive drive. Other than that my final piece of advice would perhaps be to persuade him to invest in some trainers or something. Decent exercise trainers aren't cheap, and the investment may prompt him to use them? I made sure that I could stick to a regime before investing in a proper pair of running shoes myself, but if you can persuade him to buy them, it might just be the nudge he needs? I haven't been in your brother's situation exactly, and I tend to find people have quite individual preferences when it comes to working out, but I hope there's something useful in there.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 12:40 |
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From a medical perspective, crash diets are a very bad idea. Weight loss and weight gain are both associated with long-term changes to the levels of certain appetite-related hormones, which usually results in making you hungrier. Drastic weight loss will lead to you getting really ravenous once you stop it, and you'll just gain even more weight as a result. Sounds like this phenomenon may have been a contributing factor in how your brother became obese. When it comes to losing weight, it is absolutely true that there is no "ideal diet." While this may sound discouraging, it's actually a pretty good thing since your brother can test different strategies to see what works for him and what he can stick to. Dietary changes play a major role in weight loss, exercise less so. Exercise however is important in maintaining that weight loss, but his priority should be to change his diet. Some dietary strategies include: *Reduce portion sizes by using smaller plates, or divide takeout meals into halves. Eat one half now and another half later. Learn to eat until you're satisfied, not until you're full. *Eat more fiber. It fills you up much more and improves digestion. Avocados are especially great for this, even if they're rather high in fat. Even then it's the nice monounsaturated fat that's good for your heart. Alternatively he can buy some fiber supplements. I get this orange-flavored fiber powder that I'm supposed to mix into water, but I kinda like to let it congeal into what is essentially a fiber-rich orange jello. *Increase the protein content of meals while reducing fat and carbohydrates. Protein is much more satisfying than fat or carbs, and it'll lead to him feeling "Eh, I'm finished with this" on less food. *Prepare one-dish meals. The greater the variety of food in front of you, the more you tend to eat. When it comes to exercise, have him focus on strength training first. When you build muscle, you also increase your basal metabolic rate and you end up burning more calories while at rest. Recovery also takes a ton of calories: a person's required daily caloric intake post-workout can reach 3000 or even 3500 calories not because he burns so much extra while working out, but because his body needs way more calories in order to repair his musculature. I've been trying to stuff myself to the gills post-workout to aid in recovery, and I still take 5 days to recover from weight training and I'm hovering at a constant 160 lbs. He should also do some cardio of course. Way too many gym bunnies focus on weights too much. Cardio is still crucial for a healthy heart though.
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 19:16 |
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If somebody isn't self-motivated when it comes to getting fit, you won't be able to help them. They will find any excuse to quit or fail. You prodding him to work out with you will only lead him to give up and blame you for his failures. "I tried working out with my brother and what he made me do didn't work."
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| # ? Mar 3, 2013 19:38 |
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I lost 30 lbs just switching from sugar soda to diet, and lost another 50 cutting down on useless carbs (bread, fries and pasta). Just those two little changes were huge to my overall quality of life. They're EASY things to do (cutting out pizza and french fries, who knew?)
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 22:11 |
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I honestly believe you cannot will anyone to change lifestyles, but once that person makes the neccessary mental switch, your support is invaluable. Food today is made to make you feel happy when you eat it, but makes you feel like poo poo as soon as you're done. Eating crap is comforting and it feels safe, in a sadistic way. Your brother is either on board with changing that or he's not. If he is, help him kick rear end. If he's not, you have to pray that he will hit a rock-bottom where he knows he has to do something about it. Just give him a link to YLLS. If he's committed, he'll start reading and learning. If he's not, he's not. e: Actually, give him this link. Losing weight isn't some complex mystery, it just takes consistent effort over a period of time.
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| # ? Mar 4, 2013 22:33 |
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nomapple posted:I know a poster above me said to avoid rewards, but if he can keep a regime up for a week (at least) or something, maybe offer to buy your brother a game he wants or something? This is a pretty good idea actually. When I said reward I just meant in the sense of justifying eating something you're not supposed to. The old "I know I'm not supposed to eat at Burger King but I think I deserve to treat myself". I'm not saying never ever have snacks ever but don't make up excuses to do so. Save them for special occasions like a bag of chips and a pizza at movie night, and don't eat the entire thing on your own. Also consider what ShadowCatBoy said about smaller plates. It's a ridiculously simple way of regulating calorie intake. A normal portion of food will look smaller on a big plate, and you end up piling more food on without even realizing what a huge meal it becomes. The same normal sized portion on a small plate will look more satisfying or even overwhelming. It's a really cool trick you can play on your brain to automatically cut down on calories. Nastyman fucked around with this message at Mar 5, 2013 around 11:41 |
| # ? Mar 5, 2013 10:50 |
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Dead Cow posted:I lost 30 lbs just switching from sugar soda to diet, and lost another 50 cutting down on useless carbs (bread, fries and pasta). Just those two little changes were huge to my overall quality of life. They're EASY things to do (cutting out pizza and french fries, who knew?) Cutting down on useless carbs has really been key for me. I'm not trying to do a specific "low carb diet", but I noticed that when I'd sit down and gorge out on stuff, it was always pasta, ice cream, chips, pretzels, pie, pizza, chinese food with a bucket of rice... bakery bread loaves slathered with butter... loads of carbs. And I never felt satisfied even if I had a fuckload of them. Now I try to find filling things that aren't carbs and are fairly low calorie compared to how much they fill you -- eggs, turkey bacon, and turkey meatloaf have been staples, along with veggies and salad. Also I treat myself to a steak about once a week. When I'm feeling bored with this I look up some low carb recipes online. For instance one of my main weaknesses is lovely American-Mexican food, so I found out there's a company that makes tortillas that are low carb and have some dietary fiber. Voila, burritos. Or one day I wanted pizza, so I looked up a recipe that used mozzarella for crust. Unhealthy as gently caress but it didn't trigger that "omomom must eat the entire thing in one sitting" reflex for me. And cooking food is delayed gratification so I'm not just thinking "MMM HUNGRY" and then opening a bag and shoveling food in. Unfortunately as another poster suggested I basically had to hit rock bottom in multiple areas of life to get my motivation -- out of work, in debt, kicking my best friend out. If he's comfortable enough with his situation despite his complaining it'll be tough to motivate him. Extremely tough if you're in a different city and his wife isn't in on it too.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 14:44 |
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There isn't anything wrong with carbs, it's not the carbs which make you fat but the 2k calorie portion of chips you just ate. If a low carb diet works for you then that's great though.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 15:02 |
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Out of the three main energy sources, carbs provides the least amount of satiation. Second best is fat, highest is protein. Basically you could eat 500 calories worth of beef and feel super full, but on the other hand eat 500 calories worth of bread or pasta but still be hungry for more.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 15:12 |
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Yeah that's kinda the point I was trying to get at -- from personal experience, high carb foods tend to be less filling and easy to snack on. I could eat a whole bag of chips or two big bowls of pasta no problem, but 500 calories of turkey stuffs me. If I tried to go for 2k I'd end up curled into a tiny ball on my bathroom floor. It's a strategy that helps me moderate my eating, not so much about the intrinsic value of carbs. Anyway it's all about what works for this guy but if he's got a problem with soda and chips then it might help.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 15:32 |
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ShadowCatboy posted:Out of the three main energy sources, carbs provides the least amount of satiation. Second best is fat, highest is protein. Yea I do agree, I just felt like we were edging a bit towards the idea that carbs are evil which comes up from time to time. I also feel that it might be healthier for the OP's brother to just focus on the basics like portion control and calorie counting rather than trying to go for a diet which can deprive you of nice things. NoneSuch fucked around with this message at Mar 5, 2013 around 16:06 |
| # ? Mar 5, 2013 15:59 |
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Exercise is important but if weight loss is what he is looking for then looking at what he eats is really the best way to drop in pounds. If you go about it correctly you can adjust your diet without really having to "diet". Most people at a healthy weight don't feel like they're starving on an hour to hour basis otherwise pretty much no one would have the willpower to do it. OP try to get your brother into cooking. Pretty much every kind of processed food out there is presently designed to be minimize how much it satiates you and maximize how much it addicts you. Economically, a business would rather sell you twice the amount of food than you need, and ethically it has zero qualms with tricking you into doing this. Maybe show him this article on it. However if he gives up the processed foods and just starts cooking for himself, he'll close to immediately find himself just naturally eating less. You'll be fuller longer with the same amount of calories, and if you're careful about what you buy you'll be a lot less likely to mindlessly snack because most things will require some preparation anyways. Eggs don't take too long to cook but the few minutes of cooking and cleaning involved might make your brother think twice rather than just grabbing another can of soda and some chips when he's bored rather than hungry for example. I was starting to put on a bit of weight later in my undergrad because I was chowing on garbage all the time, I was buying all sorts of stuff for snacks and just inhaling them no matter how much I promised I'd pace myself. Ultimately the easiest thing to do is just not buy that stuff and then he won't eat it. It's honestly not even that big of a sacrifice and he'll quickly discover how much better tasting homecooked food (or even just more reasonable snacks like fruits/nuts/granola) taste and make him feel. Exercise is certainly something he should do too obviously, but the amount of calories you burn doing most physical activities is surprisingly low and all that work will be gone with one bowl of chips or soda when he gets home so he really needs to get at the root of the problem if he want's to make notable improvements. I can't say I've really changed my excercise lives much between then and now, (maybe go climbing a bit more often) but I've never looked better. ArbitraryC fucked around with this message at Mar 5, 2013 around 17:25 |
| # ? Mar 5, 2013 17:17 |
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Lead him to the treadmill under the guise of Transformers or cheeseburgers. When he steps atop the treadmill, handcuff each wrist to its respective bar. Turn on the treadmill and remove his cell phone (maybe you should have done that before you turned it on; this isn't going well). Alternatively, every time he gets up to walk somewhere, follow him with little oinking sounds.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 18:28 |
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My brother is 18 and about 360 lbs. I've been trying to motivate him, but I'm about 300 miles away so I only really get a chance to chat on Facebook. When I'm in town, I make it a point to go to the gym with him. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to really grasp the gravity of his situation. I also try to bitch at my dad, grandparents because they cook for him and all they do is cook fried this/fried that and refuse to grill or cook anything that isn't heavily fattening. This is okay for them because they work outside constantly so don't pack on too much weight, but as my brother is in college he just gets fatter and fatter. But I remember last year I went to the gym with him, we hit the weights, cardio, etc. and I asked if he wanted to tag along with me to the bookstore. I order a black coffee, and he orders a VENTI CARAMEL MACHHIATO with a slice of STRAWBERRY NEW YORK CHEESECAKE after which I proceed to inform him that with those two actions, he undid the hour worth of work we did at the gym earlier that day and then some. Some people won't listen though, and when I decided to drop weight it was due to realizing that I felt like poo poo. People have to realize it themselves. I've done everything from get him on Myfitnesspal (where he started tracking poo poo like "Burned 22,000 calories playing basketball" which was wildly inaccurate and he felt he would drop 50 lbs in 2 weeks) to suggesting he purchase his own George Foreman grill and cook healthy food.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 18:29 |
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To be fair it's no surprise he's not going to want you to help him if you're a dick to him about it. I might be getting the wrong vibes off your post but it seems like you're trying to make him do it which will never ever work.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 18:48 |
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LLJKSiLk posted:But I remember last year I went to the gym with him, we hit the weights, cardio, etc. and I asked if he wanted to tag along with me to the bookstore. I order a black coffee, and he orders a VENTI CARAMEL MACHHIATO with a slice of STRAWBERRY NEW YORK CHEESECAKE after which I proceed to inform him that with those two actions, he undid the hour worth of work we did at the gym earlier that day and then some. He liked juice, no big deal I guess I drank fucktons of orange juice too before I realized it was pretty much the equivalent of having a soda with added vitamin c. But this dude had a cup that must have been able to hold an entire forty, he'd just fill it up with sugar water and pound it back and repeat throughout the day. Perhaps he saw one of those benefit races for diabetes and thought he'd compete at home. He liked various microwavable frozen foods, again not the healthiest and often calorie dense, but like it's not impossible to eat a reasonable amount of chicken nuggets or pizza rolls or whatever. However his approach to eating them was to treat an entire bag as if it were a single serving, he'd literally just dump out an entire day+'s worth of food onto a plate, microwave it, and then eat it as a single meal. Same goes with his bowls for cereal, pasta, etc, whatever food this guy ate or drank he'd select the biggest possible container, load it was thousands of calories worth of food, and just go to town. I wonder if some people just somehow don't understand the link between food and their weight. Is it really that hard to get to coffee/tea with a reasonable amount of sugar/milk/etc? I mean I'm not even a big fan of coffee and as long as it isn't garbage I can drink it black. People who put tea in sugar absolutely floor me. Similarly food isn't going to run away from you if you only grab a reasonable amount at a time, but you will eat pretty much everything you bring to your computer with you if you're the type to snack out of boredom. e: Like I just went and checked Starbucks for the calories on those things, your brother literally just had enough calories for a meal as a post workout snack. It'd probably take 2+ trips to the gym to burn that amount. Exercise is so much less important than just not being a disgusting fatty when it comes to food. ArbitraryC fucked around with this message at Mar 5, 2013 around 19:04 |
| # ? Mar 5, 2013 19:00 |
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NoneSuch posted:To be fair it's no surprise he's not going to want you to help him if you're a dick to him about it. I might be getting the wrong vibes off your post but it seems like you're trying to make him do it which will never ever work. You're right, trying to make someone lose weight will never work unless that person is internally motivated to make a life change. But I disagree with the first sentence, there is no reason to be nice to obese people.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 19:04 |
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ArbitraryC posted:I wonder if some people just somehow don't understand the link between food and their weight. Is it really that hard to get to coffee/tea with a reasonable amount of sugar/milk/etc? I mean I'm not even a big fan of coffee and as long as it isn't garbage I can drink it black. People who put tea in sugar absolutely floor me. Similarly food isn't going to run away from you if you only grab a reasonable amount at a time, but you will eat pretty much everything you bring to your computer with you if you're the type to snack out of boredom. Most people have no idea how many calories the food they eat actually has, or assume that if they don't feel full, they didn't eat much - alternatively that liquids are ignored as a means of adding calories, so that huge rear end soda or sugar filled latte doesn't impact their food intake. Snacking is a huge culprit for so many people that just being able to say no to snacks will make you shed pounds like mad. I hope they require calorie counts on all restaurant menus someday. I'd really like that for my own use!
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 19:12 |
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Sloober posted:Most people have no idea how many calories the food they eat actually has, or assume that if they don't feel full, they didn't eat much - alternatively that liquids are ignored as a means of adding calories, so that huge rear end soda or sugar filled latte doesn't impact their food intake. Snacking is a huge culprit for so many people that just being able to say no to snacks will make you shed pounds like mad. If you absolutely have to eat between meals (because be honest you're not going to have a smaller dinner just because you had a soda and some chips at 3), eat stuff that is either legitimately satiating (like nuts or granola, which actually might end up making you have a smaller dinner or pushing it back), or eat stuff that takes up volume but doesn't have much in the way of calories (oranges are delicious). Oranges are like the size of a tennis ball and only have 60-80 calories, think of the 100 calorie cookie/chip packs, you get like 2 chips. It's way more satisfying to have a piece of fruit even if it ends up being less calories.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 19:45 |
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| # ? May 23, 2013 20:29 |
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ShadowCatboy posted:Out of the three main energy sources, carbs provides the least amount of satiation. Second best is fat, highest is protein. I guess if it's lovely bread and pasta (whole wheat exists), but blanket statements like carbs are bad (fiber is a carb) are why the poster should just go to the food subforum. Obviously you know that you can subtract off fiber from the total carbs, but the average person will hear that and assume sprouted berry bread and raspberries are bad for you because they have a lot of carbs.
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| # ? Mar 5, 2013 19:46 |
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