Mewis
1mo ago
The thesis of CICO is that it's not just a useful guide, but literally an iron law of the universe. Ever heard of something called thermodynamics? So it's not obvious to me how a "metabolism" (whatever that is) can conjure up, or delete, energy or mass.
Personally I found CICO useful for losing weight and not useful for gaining weight. But, based on my own direct observation, you'll probably just call me a liar or say that I was tracking wrong. That is of course, what every CICO advocate does immediately. After all, CICO is (apparently) totally perfect and based on thermodynamics.
Mewis
1mo ago
There is a small coterie of fat acceptance activists that is occasionally wheeled out like the Washington Generals or the Libertarian Party to be laughed at, but for the most part, no. That's why 600lbs Life even exists in the first place, it's a show that as we have just discussed in this thread, make fat people look even worse. Why does such a show exist? So people can watch it and feel justified in hating fat people. Which is to say, it makes them feel better about something they were already doing. It's not by accident that you are, yet again here, casually mentioning how easy* it is for you to gain fifty pounds of muscle or lose fifty pounds of fat on a dime. It's not because you're embarrassed.
- It comes and goes, but it was once the fashion for people to brag about how hard they trained or how strictly they didn't. In the year 2024 it seems the opposite - fitness models take pictures of themselves eating donuts, and now people seem to brag about how little they need to train.
Mewis
1mo ago
You might benefit from reading what I said. I said I'm not interested in judging others, not that I didn't - I of course, pass judgment on others, naturally and uncontrollably, and according to values I did not generate. But that judgment is rarely useful - if someone irritates me, or displeases me, what can I do about it other than seethe? Isn't that the real poison in whale watching on reality TV? Why not watch Sam Sulek instead?
Oh, come on now. You literally have reality TV shows devoted to displaying fatties like circus freaks for the people in this thread to hate on. If you needed to be told by your television set that it's okay to hate fat people, then you're not being brave. If you're watching it, it's for you - people watch shows like this to be told they're right, not to be challenged.
I didn't scold the OP at all. It's quite normal to judge others, particularly men, for being small or weak, and I've been on the receiving end of that judgment many times. Of course, there is a difference between observation and judgment. I can observe someone's behaviour without forming an opinion on it. I also don't agree that judgment is always necessary. This is not meant in a cuddly liberal way. Rather in a kind of sense that one should treat events and people sort of like passing clouds. And I would add that I also think that I am very judgmental - I just don't think that's a valuable or desirable trait in myself.
Mewis
1mo ago
I've finished a four day hike through beautiful Abel Tasman here in New Zealand. This was my first time camping outside probably for over 20 years so it was a bit of trial and error but I am interested in doing more. Some thoughts -
The Walk
The route I took ended up being close on 70km. Abel Tasman has very well maintained paths but just about every beach has a big headland separating it from the next, and while none of them are that high you still end up spending nearly half your time going uphill. By the end I was very glad to be done walking, I had blisters on my feet. The second day was the hardest - I tried to cross the Torrent Bay Estuary in the rain with shoes on, and got them wet, and then had to walk eight hours, by far the longest day. Crossing the Arawoa Inlet was less pleasant - with no shoes the water is very cold and the inlet is covered with sharp, tiny shells, but I had company to share my misery with, which makes a great difference.
The Fauna
At this time of year the park was very empty. I probably saw more weka than humans, and when you see so few people you're genuinely happy to talk to them. The weka are cute, but mostly just pests that hang around hoping you'll drop a piece of food. There are seals at Separation point, lazing around on the rocks. The beaches also have sandflies, which give me horrible swelling. My insect repellent didn't seem to bother them, but I was given a tip - 50/50 Dettol and baby oil. Would that actually work?
The Weather
It is still early spring and so far a pretty cold spring on South Island. Temperatures were a damp 3 degrees at night and going up to 15 in the afternoon, but it still feels very warm going up hills and in the sunshine. Only a light rain on the second morning. Around Whariwharangi the wind is much stronger than elsewhere, since it comes off Golden Bay. I never felt cold past the early mornings, while wearing affordable polyester base layers. My cheap raincoat from my old job and over trousers kept me dry through the rain, but it wasn't much of a test.
The Accommodation
I wanted to try camping, which was my choice - but it was saddening to walk past some very comfy looking huts and pitch my tent. My tent is very easy to set up, but more difficult to sleep in. I am tall enough to brush one end with my toes and the other with my head, and I only had a thin foam mat to sleep on, so slept poorly, though the sleeping bag I got for a song was very warm.
The Food
I elected not to pack a gas cooker and just eat cold dry foods. Cheese, crackers, nuts, chocolate were the menu. I also filled a container with a mix of milk and protein powder and made milk along the way. I had some caffeine and electrolyte powders to have in the morning. I was quite happy with how little I felt hungry. Taps are common in the park, but according to some health and safety regulation, you are officially instructed not to drink from them. I did, and the water was clear and without taste, and suffered no harm.
The Pack
With my tent and mat strapped to the back of my pack and 65l of space, I'd hoped to have plenty of room. Unfortunately my dirt cheap bedroll took up a vast amount of that space, forcing me to squash nearly everything down the sides.
The Lessons
I think I definitely need some kind of inflatable mat, and maybe a more compact bedroll. This would free up space for a book and travel chess set. Everything else I think I'm happy with. I will definitely take more advantage of huts in the future - perhaps one per walk.
Mewis
1mo ago
Well, I'm not really interested in judging others (beyond ways that are immediately useful). Fundamentally, people base their judgment not on their own, spontaneously generated values, but on the values they were taught by society. I don't think it's possible or even worth trying to truly escape from those values, though of course you can react against them superficially or engage in dialogue with them.
Mewis
1mo ago
To what extent do you think it's appropriate to judge someone else for their body type? Would you assess someone that was weak, small, or skinny as also lacking in character?
I think these days basic nutrition knowledge is pretty widespread. I mean it's not very good quality - someone that says "you need carbs for energy" is missing the mark but they at least have the concept of a macronutrient. I did meet a guy once who I had to explain what calories, protein and carbohydrates were to.
Mewis
1mo ago
For the most part, pro-CICO people seem to reject the idea of fast or slow metabolisms.
Mewis
2mo ago
I think an in-depth examination of this topic would demand its own thread. But to surmise, I believe the left is the political expression of intellectualism, and this is a secular pattern, not limited to any particular culture or nation.
Mewis
2mo ago
It's not really that much of a twist to me that no college education men continue to break for Trump even in the context of a union.
As for the town halls, I don't know how much to credit them. Town halls and "popular assemblies" are easy to pack and direct, and I assume union leadership would have directed them towards Biden.
Mewis
2mo ago
She prepared, but she prepared a bunch of talking points that were mostly unconnected to the questions. If she knew what the questions were, wouldn't her responses have been more relevant?
Mewis
2mo ago
It's nonsense, anyway - if Kamala was told the questions in advance, she didn't do anything with that information, all she did was give weird scripted answers that barely engaged with the subject while Trump exploded.
Mewis
2mo ago
Sharing a land border and being poor should make the job harder. But you're right - it's a question of motivation.
Mewis
2mo ago
No offense, but the willingness of any individual to believe in something always reflects on the individual. It is in fact, your responsibility to use your brain.
Mewis
2mo ago
As far as the specific function of keeping out Haitians goes, they seem to be doing a much better job than the Americans.
Mewis
2mo ago
I don't think there's any peace deal that doesn't result in some combination of territorial gains for Russia and robust security guarantees for Ukraine, which might take the form of NATO membership. This is obviously not what either side really wants, but Russia cannot force Ukraine to accept vassalization, and Ukraine cannot force Russia to release the territory they have taken.
Mewis
2mo ago
In Afghanistan, the US should have not invaded Iraq. It's as a result of divided attention that OBL escaped to Pakistan. Once OBL was captured and executed, government should have been left in the hands of the various Talibans. AQ was the enemy, not the rest of the country.
Mewis
2mo ago
You make it sound like a failure but this all sounds like a success from the perspective of US policymakers. Europe is the way they want them - poor, dependent. Russians are dying. They get to spend lots of money. What exactly is the problem?
Mewis
2mo ago
You don't understand the US government - they like spending money. The prospect of pouring ten trillion dollars into a Ukraine-shaped hole in the ground gives them unimaginable pleasure, just as it pleases them to squander billions of dollars on missiles to destroy antique Russian tanks. Americans don't want to be rich, though they are - they want to feel rich.
Mewis
2mo ago
I think this is highly unlikely. Ukraine currently has sovereignty and still about 80% of it's claimed territory. There's no reason for them to give that up for nothing, not while they can still fight and launch effective offensives. If Russia wants all Ukraine, it's going to have to get it the hard way.
Mewis
2mo ago
I have to wonder what exactly your mental model is here. When you bite into an apple you're tasting sugar, and though I have a pretty awful sense of taste, I really don't believe that others can taste vitamins. So I don't really know if when I bite into a tasteless, watery carrot, I'm actually missing out on nutrition.
Mewis
2mo ago
Generally very good, though I understand some of the FE5 patches are a little glitchy. You get save states as well, but I find they can actually undermine the experience a bit if not used sparingly.
Mewis
2mo ago
It's an interesting take but I think it's a combination of a particular Japanese insistence on quality, and also doing a novel take on something familiar - for all that Castlevania is obviously derivative of western tropes, it's really very different in practice to any existing version of the Dracula story.
Mewis
2mo ago
https://scholars-stage.org/why-chinese-culture-has-not-conquered-us-all/
You are absolutely wrong here. China has hit it big with Wukong, and also saw success with Genshin Impact. But there are fundamental reasons why these successes are isolated in the big picture. All of these other games you mentioned are designed are Western or Japanese developers.
The first issue here is a lack of cultural exchange, or a lack of equivalent cultural exchange. China writes the code for the newest Call of Duty, but it is obviously impossible that China could have developed Call of Duty, or League of Legends, or Final Fantasy, or any other modern video game touchstone. For that matter, it's totally implausible that they could write a Harry Potter, film an Alien, or produce The Sopranos. This is because the CCP explicitly seeks to reduce foreign cultural influence. But China cannot just adapt JttW and RotTK forever. If they want to make cultural exports, that has to be based on a broader and deeper cultural dialogue than is currently allowed. Final Fantasy could not have existed without Dungeons and Dragons. Anime could not have existed without Disney. K pop could not have existed without Michael Jackson.
On to the second issue - the CCP and their economic management of China. After all, k pop and Nintendo were originally developed for a domestic audience. Why can't China build up a robust video game industry behind the Great Wall and then seek to export? Well, the CCP doesn't really want to. It doesn't want young Chinese men to get soft and fat playing video games. It wants them to look like this, and who can blame them?
https://images.app.goo.gl/iT46jnqmyMuf64TY9
In some ways, this is a mess of contradictions. China wants us to consume and influence its cultural products, but not to consume ours. Its not even sure if it wants to consume its own cultural products, insofar as it interferes with its other goals. If a Chinese product was ever too successful domestically, it's easy to imagine the CCP swooping down on it, just as it has done before. This to say nothing of the way that China regulates its own culture with an increasingly heavy hand.
This is also why Japan and Korea are different. They have robust domestic consumption and cultural exchange with the rest of the west.
I don't hate CICO advocates, I just don't know if there's a constructive conversation to be had with people who consistently respond to everything with "you're lying" or "you must have missed something". This is also epistemic closure - anyone who struggles with CICO is always accused of lying.
As I've already said I did get some benefit from calorie tracking. I think it's useful even just to learn how many calories are in your food. So of course, I don't hate CICO, but of course this kind of defensiveness is also very typical of CICO advocates.
If the defense of CICO epicycles is that "uh, actually sometimes people just burn extra calories for no reason", that's not that compelling. Isn't the point of CICO that it should always give you predictable results, and that if your results are wrong, it's because you made a mistake or are lying?
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