agent-maroon said:

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techno-ag said:

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agent-maroon said:

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When you get to the 400lb++ size weight then you're really trapped. You have to diet for literally years if you want to lose weight safely (~ 1lb a week) and you risk injury from your own mass if you try to exercise. Who is going to go 1800 calories a day for 5 to 15 years? Not reasonable.

If she dropped 400lbs in a year then her heart couldn't deal with the fluid shifts.

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The only real way to lose weight is by reducing carbs. Carbs are mostly from grains and sugar. There are enormous forces in our society promoting the consumption of grains and sugar. Thus all the many diets promoting everything but the reduction of grains and sugar.

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Balance is the key. You have to have at least some glucose (from carbs) in your diet or risk the same keto acidosis complications that occurs in an insulin diabetic crisis. BTW - the "keto" in diet plans of the same designation are referring to the artificial keto acidosis that they impose. You'll lose weight quickly but at risk to your overall health.

I would argue that a near (but not complete) elimination of fat in the diet is safer and more effective. Some fat is required to absorb the fat soluble vitamins. Again, balance is the key.

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I understand where you're coming from but the vast majority of people take statements like that as medical approval to consume all the bread, pasta, chips and candy bars they want. Because after all, "carbs are important and reducing fat is what's needed to lose weight."

The reality is the average American consumes far too many carbs every day, all the while wondering why they can't lose weight. The "balanced" part of your statement is missed entirely.

Meanwhile if someone simply eliminates sodas, candy, cookies, cake and heavily processed food from their diet they miraculously drop a few pounds.

Street Fighter said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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How in the hell does any person reach 400 lbs much less 800 lbs?

I hit 350 lb @ 6'3" and finally became disgusted enough with myself to do something about it.
I just don't see how somebody could weigh more than 2x as much as I do let alone damn near 3x.

I finally stopped traveling and I haven't had a drink in a month now and I've lost 17 lbs. I need to hit 285 lbs to fit into my snowboard pants so I've still got almost 50 lbs to go. Can't imagine losing 400 lbs.

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Need me to put you on a John Matlock program dude?

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Too bad Richard Wariner isn't here to enforce it.

Do hey have a Corps of Cadets Bloody Cross fitness program for alumni?

MouthBQ98 said:

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I lost ~55lb and it took me about a year for the first 40 and 2 more for the last 15. But it was a 30% reduction in body weight.

It takes a long time to get overweight and a long time to make the necessary changes to drop the weight AND sustain it and make it a permanent way of life. It isn't easy, but in my view it is better than slow suicide plus the general miserableness of being obese. Nothing fits, sweating, tiring easily, more body odor (don't deny it), double chins, meds, etc. After fighting back out of that hole, I don't know why so many people tolerate falling into it. I can tell you for me it was a gradual thing and I despised it, but I lacked a mechanism to change it without making major life changes and finding an adequate support structure for the process.

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Lots of reasons, just off the top of my head:

• Working a demanding job with high levels of risk, stress, reward.
• Working a salary job where you can never possibly finish all the work in front of you.
• Cultural - work hard / play hard culture
• Lack of Sleep
• Easy access to foods that are no good for you (in 2003, the month I spent consulting at Microsoft in Redmond, WA, I went from drinking 2 Cokes/day to drinking 8 Cokes/day because they were free and I was working long hours under a lot of stress)
• Lack of time to prepare proper meals - I'd rather work and grab something quick to eat versus spending an hour a day in the kitchen.
• Sedentary lifestyle - I'm up over 30 lbs since the new Zoom culture started almost 3 years ago now.
• Lack of access to exercise you enjoy or are motivated to participate in - out here in California, the Governor closed the beaches in 2020 and they posted LA County Sheriff Deputies to keep you off the hiking trails. Late 2021, they started allowing indoor gyms. Early 2022, they started allowing you to remove your mask if you presented a vax card.
• Lack of motivation to exercise on your own - it's so much easier to skip exercise
• Poor diet - see my love for Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Mexican Food. The converse of that is when I first moved to Australia, I lost 20 lbs in the first month or two because I didn't have access to the foods I would normally eat. And the portion sizes were much smaller.
• Doing things like eating and drinking too much as a coping mechanism for stressors in your life due to family situations or work situations.
• Gauging your self-image based on your relatives, friends and family in places like Houston. I'm fat but... my family members who are operators at "The Plant" look just as bad so, I'm not that bad.

I've had four iterations of large weight loss in my adult life and it definitely takes a combination of diet, exercise and determination.

• 1992 - Army ROTC Advanced Camp at Ft. Lewis Washington. Six weeks of nonstop movement and limited access to food took me from 205 lbs down to 192 lbs. At 192 lbs, I looked anorexic.
• 2003 - I lost my job and spent two months not traveling, not eating out or drinking and walked my dog about 4-5 miles/day. Went from 290 lbs down to 257 lbs.
• 2007 - moved to Australia and couldn't get sugary cereals or Mexican food or American sized portions. Went from 290 lbs to 270 lbs in about two months without any exercise.
• 2011 - I decided that I was going to walk 4+ miles every day and drastically reduce my food intake and cut out certain things from my diet. Over a 4 month period, I went from about 290 lbs down to 248 lbs. Felt great. Looked great. Then I changed jobs and it's been bad health wise since then.

I had gained 50 lbs at my peak since the beginning of the California lockdowns and that's when I decided enough was enough.

I know what needs to be done. It's just finding the motivation to do it.

Which back to the OP premise. At what point on your way to 800 lbs, when do you say enough is enough? 200 lbs, 300, 400, 500, etc.

I saw the late comic Ralphie May perform at a small bar in San Diego back in 2000. He must have been 400-500 lbs at that time and was one of the largest human beings I'd ever seen. He could barely fit into the passenger seat of the SUV he was riding in (a Chevy S-10 Blazer). I know how you get to 300, 350. I have no idea how you get to 400, 500 and beyond.

To Ralphie May's credit, he could still walk. Earlier this year, I did some work at Hermann Hospital in Houston and I saw a lady on a scooter of some sort who must have been 500+. She took up the entire back of the Houston Metro Van that came to pick her up. That was crazy.

Agreed. If the everyday man on the street could understand the term "balance" and were willing to demonstrate that understanding then we wouldn't be having this conversation. Although I'm not entirely without sympathy as we have been programmed by natural selection to consume the highest calorie foods we can get into our mouths as a protection against the inevitable famine that has always occurred in our history before now. Having a plentiful and reliable food supply isn't something that humans were built to deal with, so it's not surprising that so many fall into the "if it feels good then do it" trap that nature has set for us. But the self control light should turn on when you hit the 40 BMI mark no matter who you are.