[jackero]

Less obvious things that I’ve found over the years are:

- Some people just don’t like to eat that much. They don’t actually have a faster metabolism. Eating is just a chore to them so they rarely do it.

- Some people like eating more and may eat when bored.

- If I’m busy working on something, I will go 12 hours without eating on accident. If I’m doing nothing at all, I may overeat.

- Some people eat much faster than others. It doesn’t matter if you’re eating protein or fat if you inhale two steaks in 10 minutes. You already consumed too many calories. And because you ate double the amount of calories doesn’t mean that you will be full for double the time.

- Some people who eat too fast do something called low-calorie volume eating so they eat fewer calories and this works better for them than eating protein and fat.

- It’s true that exercise doesn’t make up for a bad diet. It’s easier to eat less.

- There are days when I’m out playing sports for like 10 hours. I burn a ton of calories that does need to be made up by eating.

- A lot of people did sports or were outside for hours growing up but don’t anymore due to lifestyle changes (kids for example). That’s an extremely major loss of a calorie sink that isn’t obvious.

- Water weight is a thing but it really doesn’t matter in the long term. It’s more like an offset from your “real weight” but it can only get so far from it. Trends are better for tracking your real weight.

[dkarl]

> - Some people just don’t like to eat that much. They don’t actually have a faster metabolism. Eating is just a chore to them so they rarely do it.

I had two friends exactly like this. One of them was 6' and 135lbs when he started college. Another was 5'5" and under 120lbs. They both said that growing up they thought food was gross and only ate because it was the only way not to be hungry all the time. They both started enjoying food in college and gained a bunch of weight. The one who is 5'5" topped out over 200lbs and now weighs around 180. The other I lost track of, but he was on the same trajectory, gaining 30lbs during our undergrad years.

Your first thought might be that they grew up poor, or that their parents didn't have tasty food around the house, but they were both middle-class, and there were lots of regular foods like pizza and burgers that they disliked as kids and ended up enjoying to excess as adults.

[conception]

Diet is the way to lose weight for certain. People don’t get it but cut out one slice of bread or one coke out of your daily diet and it’s the same as running one marathon a month calorie wise. If you were at equilibrium before you’ll also lose a pound a month.

Adding a coke a day is the reverse of that.

[mrweasel]

> It’s true that exercise doesn’t make up for a bad diet. It’s easier to eat less.

That one always gets to me, because it's not universally true. I get the point, and to some extend even agree with it. To me personally, especially when I was younger and had the time, working out more always felt much easier. Controlling what I eat has always been incredibly tricky, simply exercising to the point where it doesn't matter what I eat, fairly easy, it's just a matter of putting in the hours.

Workout for 2.5 hours a day, plus 60-90 minutes transport on a bike, you can pretty much eat anything you like.

[robrenaud]

I recently got to know someone with a resting heart rate of 45, who will pretty frequently do 8+ mile trail runs and 100 mile bike rides. He is also an amazing cook who makes decadent and delicious foods. He says he consumes 4,000 calories a day. He still has a sizeable belly. I'd say he is at like 10/10 on exercise, but 3/10 on diet. I was surprised at his extreme cardiovascular fitness while still managing to be overfat.

[SapporoChris]

"Workout for 2.5 hours a day, plus 60-90 minutes transport on a bike, you can pretty much eat anything you like."

Trivial to debunk. Assuming 150 pounds. Weight lifting 2.5 hours: 1051 calories Cycling Moderate 1.5 hours: 1051 calories I'll generously add 2000 calories for the rest of the days activities.

Water intake daily 3.7 liters. 3.7 liters of soda: 1600 calories Burger and Fries: 1000 calories, 3 times a day: 3000 calories.

Calories burned daily total: 4102 calories Calories ingested daily: 4600 calories Yearly weight gain: 498*365/3500 = ~51 pounds.

You can flex the numbers a number of ways, but it's obvious that you cannot pretty much eat anything you like. Exercise does not make up for a bad diet.

[bluecheese452]

Pretty much anything is not the same as anything. Being able to consume 4k calories a day is pretty much anything for the vast majority of people.

[jackero]

Yeah it’s not universally true.

But for some people, there are low hanging fruit like “cut out 4 Pepsi’s a day” (600 calories).

If you are already eating reasonable healthy and still gaining weight, then adding more exercise can be easier than trying to skimp on food.

[znpy]

> If I’m busy working on something, I will go 12 hours without eating on accident.

I used to be the same when I was in my early twenties. Now i’m in my early thirties and I don’t seem to be able anymore.