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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   3018 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for December 27, 2023

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Commitments time for the next year. New desk job and long commute messed up my habits and now I weight about 10-15kg more than I would like to. Also my lifts (very decent but not overly high number) haven’t increased during this time at all. So it’s almost entirely fat that I put on. Any suggestions? Is it sensible to try to get an ozempic prescription for a relatively little amount of weight like this? I am not doing so far with losing weight via simple self discipline.

I've heard that a lot of the people on Ozempic ended up losing quite a lot of muscle, in fact more than fat. That's not some inherent property of the drug, but the reality that for normal people, suppression of appetite can lead to someone cutting out the normal healthy food from their diet and leaving the hyper palatable junk food. So I think it's maybe a little bit soon to try it.

there is no consensus about this. Often, lean mass is conflated with muscle mass. not the same.

Well, if not muscle, what kind of lean mass did you think they lost?

Water and organs.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523232815#:~:text=Relative%20changes%20in%20organ%20weights,during%20weight%20loss%20(0.4%25).

Have you tried intermittent fasting? Limit yourself to just the catered lunch meal for the day.

I haven’t thought of this at all. Going to research about intermittent fasting

I've founded skipping breakfast and having a light lunch to be great. You are less hungry all day.

Don’t you feel weak and hungry if you don’t have breakfast? I could skip lunch or dinner but not breakfast

At first I was hungry, then it went away. It takes a couple weeks to get used to it.

It works well for me, having one sinful meal every 24 hours optimizes for my gourmand tendencies, the state of my wallet, and the diameter of my belt.

It takes a few days to get used to it, but I manage just fine even with a hectic schedule.

While I can empathize with people that have repeatedly failed at weight loss resorting to pharmaceutical options, I really don't think mind-altering substances should be the first resort for simple problems. Weight loss really isn't all that complicated and developing good dietary and fitness habits is character-building in its own right. Fix your habits before reaching for the drugs.

If someone has repeatedly failed at weight loss, then drugs aren't their first resort, by definition. I myself am hesitant to try a pharmacological solution to a willpower problem, but I don't think it's unreasonable for someone to go "I keep trying and failing, it's time to see if this helps because it may literally save my life".

how many calories/day you eating now?

Can’t count because I rely on work catering for the big meal of the day (lunch). I had a period of strict calorie counting for fun a couple years ago and realised how many calories I was getting from snacking. I think if I break that habit I can have a consistent calorie deficit. But really difficult to break it honestly

work catering

Do they order from outside restaurants? Many of them are required to post calorie counts somewhere, and many who aren't required do it anyway. See if you can find them. It probably won't be as 'pristine' as when you make your own, but it'll get you in a decent enough ballpark.

I was going to suggest tracking calories and avoiding calorie dense foods, but it sounds like you already have an impression on where your calories come from. Habits by their nature are hard to break at the start, but it gets easier over time. I find you have to psyop yourself a little. Figure out which low calorie density snacks you enjoy. Tell yourself you can have as many carrot sticks as you want, instead of framing it around restrictions. Try being mindful and asking if you're snacking because you're hungry, or just because you've conditioned yourself to eat at a particular time or setting.

If all else fails, try croissants or potatoes.

https://fireinabottle.net/introducing-the-croissant-diet/

https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2022/07/12/lose-10-6-pounds-in-four-weeks-with-this-one-weird-trick-discovered-by-local-slime-hive-mind-doctors-grudgingly-respect-them-hope-to-become-friends/

Something I've never seen mentioned but am curious if it works for others is choosing to only walk to the grocery store. It seems to align a lot of things the right way, and seemed to help me lose weight. It's basically the only exercise I do and fitbit says I'm burning like 1500 calories a day (not sure how accurate that is). But you do buy less groceries, and what you do buy you are carrying back all the way, and you also generally are making more trips since you can only carry so much.

Dedication-wise I think it's nice as well because you only have to stick to one choice, instead of a bunch of different will-testing choices.

Edit: Forgive me, I am a noob at calorie counting, so scanning through walking calories burned online, with weights etc. I think it should be around six hundred for my particular route.

I don’t have a car and already walk or cycle everywhere unfortunately so not much I can improve in this regard

It's basically the only exercise I do and fitbit says I'm burning like 1500 calories a day (not sure how accurate that is).

Active calories or total calories per day including your basal metabolic rate? Burning 1500 calories is typically a couple hours of running, much more for walking.

Yeah I edited with what I think is a better estimate, I don't know where the app is getting calories from, possibly just adding to some baseline. Never really bothered double checking the number since I was losing weight anyway but now I know!

It's basically the only exercise I do and fitbit says I'm burning like 1500 calories a day

I doubt you're burning anywhere close to that amount walking to and from the grocery store. There is no 1-1 relationship between calories burned with exercise and the "CO" in CICO. Just because the app says you burned 400 does not mean you can eat a 400 calorie cookie and not gain weight. Or that you will lose .1 pounds. it's impossible to know. Research shows that the body compensates by burning fewer calories after exercise.

Research shows that the body compensates by burning fewer calories after exercise.

Perhaps if you're already active enough to be in the plateau regime.

fitbit says I'm burning like 1500 calories a day

How far’s the grocery store lol?

Man's going uphill both ways, on Mount Everest. Skookum would be proud.

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