What is Digg?90 Comments
- allaboutdatiki, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33How about this ...
Don't go on some dumbass fad diet (that will only cause you to put the weight back on after you're done with it).
Change what you're eating. Eat better. Eat less.
It doesn't have to cost you a dime more than you're spending on crappy food now. - Artifez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18I like money
- carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15it doesn't cost a dime to lose 30 lbs. you get off your ass and take a jog every day, don't eat like you're getting ready for hibernation, and stop spending more time in front of the tv than you spend at work. gaurantee you lose some blubber or i'll give you back every cent.
- wonderchemist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11I hate eating money.
- amyval81, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Interesting comparison of the costs of different diets, but not necessarily an accurate cost of losing 30 pounds. The original article assumes a loss of 2 pounds per week, which is at the max of the range experts say is a healthy amount of weight to lose each week and is an unrealistic rate of loss if you don't have much to lose.
One more to add: Spark People (sparkpeople.com) - $0
The best weight loss method IMO is free - set small goals for yourself each week to eat better and exercise. Focus on your personal preferences and nutrition pitfalls and change your lifestyle in a way that will stay with you forever, instead of following a one-size-fits-all diet plan that is designed to fail in the long run and keep you coming back for more. - vonskippy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Here's the magic formula for free (so save all the money you would have wasted on the stupid diets the article writes about and send me a gift!).
Log what you eat - every freaking bite. Get a food scale, measure everything. Eat no more then 1600 calories a day (no cheating AND no guessing - be accurate about your calorie count). Eat whatever you want - you'll find that to feel full, you'll need to spend most of your calorie budget on real food (that donut will kill around 500 calories - almost 1/3 your daily allowance, but it's unlikely you'll be full for 6 hours after eating it). Do not at any time drink anything but water, diet soda, or diet tea or coffee with no-calorie sweeteners. Sugar drinks are why America is fat.
Every day (yes, every freaking day) burn at least 300-400 calories by walking, jogging, biking, aerobics, swimming, etc. Look up the burn rate - 400 calories is NOT burned by walking up a floor or two of stairs or walking to the mailbox. It's at least an hour or more of moving. If you're not spending an hour, it's unlikely you're burning 400 calories.
Welcome to your new life. You'll burn thru fat at around 15 pounds or so a month. Once you're at your target weight, you can change to 1800 calories on weekdays and 2100 calories on the weekend days and change your workout to 5 days a week. That will maintain your weight. Holidays - take a break (but not a major stuff your face for a whole week). Weekends, if you've stuck to the diet/exercise the whole week, treat yourself, eat out, have a slice of pizza or a two-pack of twinkies - just don't go back to the old "eat everything" habit.
You probably didn't get fat overnight, so don't expect to get thin in a hurry either.
Do NOT stop logging your calorie intake EVER (get a small whiteboard - stick it on the fridge).
I lost 90 pounds that way (from 280 to 190 - I'm 6'3" - so yes, I used to be a major lard ass),
It wasn't easy, but it wasn't rocket surgery either. Maintaining your new weight is all up to you - just say no to bad eating habits and couch potato lifestyles and it's really not that hard.
No excuses - if you're fat, you have complete control on whether you stay that way or not. - bwjacket, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Jesus had a swimmer's body.
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Fiance signed us up for nutrisytems. Turns out that over 80% of what you're supposed to eat on the diet (vegetables, protein, fruit), you buy yourself, above and beyond what you've already payed for. Also, you're on your own for weekends. So you pay $400 for your month of food (which ends up being a 18" x 18", 10 pound box. That's $40/pound. Not a very good deal), then you have to go to the grocery store, and buy a ton more food. You'd be much better off just using a normal diet plan (low cal) and buying everything at the grocery store.
So yeah. Nutrisystems is just a scam to sell you $50 worth of crappy, tiny TV dinners for $400. - ToxicBomber, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Last I checked he WALKED on water...not in it....
-RAmen - serval, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I've lost 34 lbs over the past 3 months and though I do pay more for some food, I have to say that I didn't use any of these plans, I used
www.thedailyplate.com (FREE) and
The Hacker's Diet (FREE)
The Daily Plate is simple ... you put in your specs (weight, height, gender, etc) and how much you'd like to lose each week (3lbs for me, though I started at 330 so I can go a bit faster than those of you who are already slim, the FDA recommends 1-2lbs as a goal for weight loss) and they calculate how many calories you need to eat, or burn, every day.
Then you search their user modifiable database (this is what makes them better than most others) and input which foods you ate and which exercises you've done.
Basically, it's calorie counting. But that's also what these other systems do too ... each "point" in weight watchers translates into roughly 80 calories (IIRC). Using google's patent search function you can actually read the formula that they use ... it's the same thing as counting calories but broken down into smaller numbers (20 points/day = 1600 calories, etc).
I've tried five other similar sites, they all work fine, but the others take more work because their food databases are much smaller.
For diet advice you really can't beat "The Hacker's Diet" ... much of what that PDF/book discusses is made MUCH easier with sites like thedailyplate.com, and there's exercise and nutrition information in the Hacker's Diet or at The Daily Plate's website (actually a great wealth of it, though there's great info all over the web).
That's my combo for a healthy, consistent rate of weight loss:
(1) Thedailyplate.com
(2) The Hacker's diet (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/hackdiet.html)
My GF has also lost 18 lbs over the same period ... ladies (both of you who visit digg), don't stress if you're finding that you lose weight slower then your male co-dieters, several books and sources I've used suggest that it simply is harder for women, all else being equal, to lose weight at the same rate as men based on muscle distribution and metabolism.
here's my review of FIVE of the different FREE diet websites (thedailyplate.com was the best for me, but check it out, others might be better for your needs):
http://unclezeb.blogspot.com/2007/02/diet-websites-calorie-counting.html - sachmanb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5best way to lose weight: exercise. cost: $0.
- demonotaku, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Wow. Why does everyone just keep posting the Consumerist articles that they take from other places.
Here's the link to the original article:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/pf/weight_loss_programs_a1.asp - meadot01, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5bwjacket - It might be good advice but I'm not sure Penn Jillette should be giving weight loss advice.
- teaguecl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3There is actually a lot of good practical advice in these comments. I did want to add that if your goal is "to lose 30 lbs" you are likely to fail. Losing weight in a healthy and lasting way requires a lifestyle change - so goals like "to be more healthy" are much better. You don't want to hit the 30 lb. mark and think that you are done.
Personally, I lost 35 lbs in the last 18 months, but I spent somewhere around $8k to do it. Of course it was not my goal to lose weight on a budget, I got into triathlon, which requires lots of equipment. More importantly, it required me to become much more active, doing 8-12 hours of workouts a week. After you've started working your tail off in your workouts, it's easy to pass up that twinkie and have an orange instead - because you know how hard it is to sweat out a twinkie!
For people not interested in doing something extreme like triathlon or marathon, I would echo many of the posters above. Priorities would be:
1. Replace empty calories. Drink water. No more soda, coffee, beer, donuts, cookies. Skipping my 2 soda's a day lost me almost 2 lbs a month. (150 calories x 40 a month = 6000 calories = 1.7 lbs). It's hard, but if you don't have the mental strength to give up your sweets, then you aren't really commit ed to being more healthy to start with.
2. Be more active on a regular basis. You don't have to kill yourself, just get your heart rate elevated for 30-45 mins every other day. I know you are busy, but trust me you have the time. Dedicate yourself to staying on a workout schedule for two weeks... I'll bet by the third week it will be easy for you to find the time.
3. Eat as many vegetables as you possibly can. I wouldn't even worry about the calories, give yourself permission to eat as much as you want. Being hungry is no way to lose weight... it's just suffering. The solution is to be full, but do so with good food. - kingfoot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3well, based on the previous story on digg, i would say it will cost you $250 if you want to do it while having fun and only slightly altering your diet! Wii Diet FTW!
- xrisnothing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Dig bicycle out of garage.
Ride it, fat ass. - justice7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4you know what, you're a complete *****.
A lot of us eat healthy, exercise and everything -- but there are A LOT of other factors that come into play
Your Genetics
Your stress level
Your job (desk job?)
Your lifestyle/family
Your health (Diabeties, Thyroid etc)
Not everyone has the same schedule you do, nor do they have the same lifestyles.
I am not going to blame being overweight as a cop out to society -- it has a lot of factors. Sometimes its just not as easy as it is to you -- try walking in someone elses shoes.
I am very health concious and have been succeeding in my weight struggle, but that is exactly what it is.. a struggle.
I am 230 lbs and 5'10. i'd ultimately like to be 180. - MrVisible, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think I've saved a couple of hundred bucks in the past three months while losing 42 pounds.
It's called The Hacker's Diet; you can find it here:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/
If you're looking for a smart way to get down to your ideal weight and stay there, without all the idiocy that surrounds diet methods, try it. It's practical, disciplined, incredibly effective, and most of all, it makes perfect, logical sense. Oh, and it's free.
If you'd like to know how well this has been working for me personally, you can check my blog; today was my three month diet anniversary, so I've published charts and graphs and stuff tracking the diet. But mostly, check out the diet itself. I can't begin to explain how much common sense it makes. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I like your diet plan.
- geoboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Any skinny guy who's gotten into body building knows it's just as expensive (probably more) to GAIN 30lbs. Damn gym membership, quality high protein foods, supplements, etc.
- GoatMonkey2112, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Skeletons are really skinny.
- bwjacket, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Sorry, I've made huge mistake.
- OverThere, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Eat sensibly, avoid the foods that you know you should avoid, and buy some walking shoes and don't expect anything to happen fast. I you can, a treadmill. Get a nice one.. spend the $1000+ and consider it an investment in yourself.
I did 6 months ago and have lost 20 so far. - hunto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2ILLUSIONS, Michael.
- geoboy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Wrong. We have to eat to survive. Unless your idea of losing weight is by decomposing 6 feet under ground.
People like that Jenny Craig ***** because it plans out all their meals for them, and the meals are actually good for your health. - bwjacket, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Which makes his magic that much more mysterious.
- dmightx, on 09/21/2008, -0/+2You said the right things except you said it the wrong way. You are right though and using all those "reasons" are just excuses for not being in a healthy state. We would be able to say the same thing for EVERYONE who is fat but why are we the fattest country? (the US). I say change your priorities or train your mind to help reduce your stress.
This is my personal response to this...
Your Genetics
Unless you are SUPER overweight and/or your family has a history stop blaming your "genetics". Trust me, thats what I used to do.
Your stress level
A lot of my stress came because I was not at peace with certain things in my life but I learned to live with them peacefully and guess what?? Exercise can help with the stress. To me, just being around other healthy people helps me relieve stress and hey don't forget attractive people are usually with you too!
Your job (desk job?)
C'mon, my brother has low physical activity in his job AND goes to school AND has to take care of his child and he STILL goes to work out.
Your lifestyle/family
Are they really keeping you from changing your own style? I understand that your family can make it harder for you but that is still no excuse...
Your health (Diabeties, Thyroid etc)
My dad has diabetes and he is still very fit. I don't know how many different effects diabetes can have on a body but yes, this is probably one of the few excuses I would accept. If a certain disease or disability keeps you from losing weight then yeah its not your fault.
Bottom line is stop making excuses and stop turning it into a struggle. I used to do the same thing and use many excuses to stay the same but it was because I really felt like being fat wasn't that bad... but now that I have become more healthy I see how many mistakes I was making.
Not everyone is the same, granted, but find your own way to loose weight. I always ask people for advice and its usually different. Instead of forcing myself to do things that I felt would not work on me I decided to come up with my own (not anything that would break my back, etc etc...).
My advice is start exercising with a friend and ask a lot people what you should do, and then find or make a routine that you like then change it again later.
Don't call it a struggle, call it a change in lifestyle. - rbond, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I can definitely confirm vonskippy's diet/lifestyle works. The only thing I did different was limit myself to 1500 calories per day and bicycles 14 miles per day for at least three days per week. Since July 06, I went from 240 to 186 lbs. No matter what these fad diets portray, its common sense. You need to burn more than intake calories to lose weight.
- karel747, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It's actually a lot simpler than people think to lose weight. Seeing as the Digg community is a geeky bunch (no negative connotation here), I assume we're ok playing around with numbers.
1 lb of fat = 3,500,000 Calories = 3,500 calories (which is what you see on nutritional labels)
If you eat 250 calories less than you normally do, and you burn 250 calories by working out (which is easily surpassed in 30-45 minutes depending on the activity) every day, that's 500 calories a day, 3500 calories a week. Thus, you lose a pound a week.
If you want to really get things going, eat 500 calories less than you normally would, and burn 500 calories (which takes between 1 and 1 1/2 hours depending on the activity). That's 1000 calories a day, 7000 calories a week, or 2 pounds of lost fat a week.
Obviously, don't starve yourself and don't push yourself too hard. Start off with the "1 lb a week" for a while, then move onto the second.
For working out, jogging and swimming are very good, and should be cycled with weight lifting every other day, otherwise you're just damaging your muscles by not letting them recuperate.
All and all, it really isn't that difficult to lose weight, what is difficult is finding the time to work out and the will to keep your diet. - dmightx, on 09/21/2008, -0/+1I don't know why I don't find that THAT easy but it is an option nontheless I don't know why people are digging you down. It is true when people say "Water cleanses the body".
Its just that people are so used to not drinking water I guess... - dmightx, on 09/21/2008, -0/+1/dugg lol WHY did ANYBODY digg you down. Seriously...
btw if its not any more obious, he/she was dugg down. - justice7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1excellent post -- i've done the WW thing and it does work, but the whole hackdiet/dailyplate seems easier.
- justice7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1running alone will not work
diet needs to change - ace7196, on 11/14/2007, -0/+1Assuming perfect weight loss (ie 3500 calories of fat=1 pound), Then 3500*30=105,000 calories. So you eat 194.4 less BigMacs (@ 540 calories). Not sure of the actual cost, but lets say $3.00 for each BigMac (not including fries or soft drink), which means you save $583.33! Not bad, and considering that most Americans eat out most of the time, and easily consume more than 1000 calories in a sitting (including fries, burger, and cola), you could save a lot by making your own lunch (2 bread slices @ 45 calories each, 5 slices turkey, 5 slices ham, mustard, lettuce =200 calories for about $.20 give or take).
- crazybugger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Easiest way to lose weight is to drink lot of water. 1litre after you wake up and 3 litres split into 500ml, 6 times in a day. You will loose at least 4 to 5kgs in a month. And you will feel energetic, less head aches. And the best part is you can eat what ever you want.
- polyGone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Try running.
- sauved, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1fat asses: diets don't work; running is free
- dmightx, on 09/21/2008, -0/+1Don't forget building muscle also burns body fat. If you are body building you can take MORE calories than usual and still LOSE FAT. You may not lose weight (you gain muscle weight) but you're losing fat.
- Mysk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11.) Stop eating junk food, McD's; eat better
2.) Burn 500 extra calories per day
3.) ???
4.) Lose weight! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1$4798 for the Zone Diet???? I'd rather just cut my leg off.
- sparkmonkeyz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Eat right, and exercise. That doesn't mean eat diet chips or drink diet soda instead of regular, it means eat actually healthy foods, and actually exercise to a point where you know that you couldn't do much more.
If anything, you should save money, and not only will you lose weight, but you will gain character and more self-esteem. - Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How much for lipo, I wonder?
- stephensoto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://bodybuilding.com/fun/index.html
- mrkrabs1, on 01/27/2008, -0/+1Interesting article
- beststrollers, on 05/18/2008, -0/+1http://www.freedietplans.biz/zonedietreceips/zoned ...
- serval, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Sorry, the WW points are closer to 50-70 calories per point (not 80 as I said above)
- mahdaeng, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1losing weight costs less than gaining it
just do some exercise (which is free, btw, no need to go to the gym) and eat less
this article is buried as lame - mykami, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1guess I should go take a walk..
- dmightx, on 09/21/2008, -0/+1I'm sorry I don't consider eating healthy a diet. To me a diet is eating nothing "specially healthy" food. Meaning no junk food AT ALL or no eating McDonald's AT ALL. I really don't think that eating junk food once in a while is that unhealthy and I can say that through experience. What I mean with moderation is that EVERY food should ANY food no matter what food is eaten in excess will have some kind of bad impact on your body. These effects can easily be seen with heavy physical activity (such as weight lifting).
And... I can eat crap once in a while and I am getting into shape. Thats why I also said "moderation". Btw it depends on how your body is not everyone's body is the same so please speak for yourself. - tbb73, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All those diets are BS... Just read and learn about nutrition and training.
Make your own ideas of how your diet should be, don't rely on anybody or any plan... build your own. You will be amazed of the results and you will be proud of yourself! -
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