Lifting is so addictive. Once you see those first new muscles pop, it's like a switch goes off. I'm almost done with my mandatory post-surgery "no lifting" rule and can't wait to go back to the gym. I never thought I'd hear myself say that, lol. But now I'm also studying to be a personal trainer, nutrition coach, and group fitness instructor to add to my yoga teaching certification. Life is weird, man! Congrats on the ongoing weight loss and muscle growth!
PS my best friend is a fat guy and fully agrees with you. He complains about the "HAES" mentality all the time, because he knows better, because he's been 300lbs+.
There is *some* truth to HAES—in the sense that you can always improve your health, regardless of what sort of body you have...it's just that, if you're overweight, you're likely to lose weight in the process, whether you want to or not. Haha.
You're right about the addiction, though. I was absolutely shocked about how big a difference lifting made in how I looked and felt, and how quickly. Anyone struggling to get healthier should absolutely give it a shot.
Your experience is kind of odd to me. I started cycling in 2020, and it was the first physical activity I really loved, and today it's pretty much all I think about and want to do, and I strenuously cycle ten to fifteen hours a week. I was 330-340 lbs at the time I started, and now I'm down to about 280. Ozempic helped for a year or so, but I've been stuck at this weight for a while.
I do feel better and look better, of course, but I've always, medically speaking anyway, been an extremely healthy person (except for things like blood pressure and cholesterol, of course) and honestly I don't feel a great deal better at baseline now than at my fattest. I definitely still retain a deep fear of hunger, and I still love food like little else, to which I attribute a lot of my difficulty losing more weight. I am definitely going to try cutting carbs by 30-50%, but I'm not super optimistic.
More specifically in this regard, take my blood pressure. Before I started cycling, I was doing run-walk and stair climbing, which was fine but not really enjoyable. This actually really helped my blood pressure even though I didn't lose much weight, and I got down to a normal blood pressure consistently for a year or so. But even then, I was doing moderate exercise for about half an hour a day, 3-5 times per week. I exercise far more now, but my blood pressure remains stubbornly just a little bit over normal; definitely better than at its worst, but still quite frustrating.
Don’t let me act like I’m some sort of fitness guru here (I’m just a guy feeling his way through the dark and sharing his experience), but I notice you haven’t said anything about lifting. As I briefly mention in the piece, weightlifting and cutting carbs really were the key for me. After a couple weeks or so of those two things, I was hit by an indescribable euphoria. All my back pain went away (presumably because my muscles were now strong enough to hold up body), as did all of my depression (probably because I had been mistaking the sugar crash from all the junk food for depression). I dunno, if you haven’t tried lifting and cutting carbs, I’d say they’re at least worth a shot.
I’d been making occasional halfassed attempts to get in shape since my mid-20s (mostly cardio stuff), but the weightlifting/carb-cutting thing was the one that finally made a real, lasting difference for me.
Excellent article and good timing. I’ve got the old story of, when I was young I could eat whatever and not really gain much. Now that I’m not so young, my whatever attitude caught up to me. I’m working on it, and making some progress. It’s empowering. I think kicking refined carbs is key as is taking the long view. Yeah junk food can be fun but I don’t need it. The occasional treat is better for my body and psyche than treating treats like they’re a core food. Also I’m enjoying cycling and walking and trying to get back into weightlifting a bit as well. Thank you for the encouragement and dose of sanity.
If you ever want links to send people who you're arguing with but your brain is processing too slowly for, I highly recommend following Jordan Syatt (he's on I believe all social medias @syattfitness). He posts a lot about basically the same stuff you've said here, along with some great workout tips for proper form and exercises you shouldn't waste time with (which gave me an excuse to no longer do burpees!).
I used to be one of those "BMI is garbage" people and would confidently point out that the BMI said a prime Reggie Bush was dangerously obese. Then I read one of his posts where he points out that, 1) yes, BMI is not the ultimate measure for elite athletes, but also, 2) you are not an elite athlete. That was hard for me to hear, especially because they had just released a new college football video game for the first time in 11 years, which awoken all my childhood dreams of playing elite college football (at 35 [when, even in my prime, I was less athletic than the 3rd-string punter on the worst team you've never heard of (and I don't have any eligibility left, anyway)]).
BMI is sort of like IQ in that it’s just a loose estimate of many things, condensed into a number. And yes, it can be fun to dunk on it, and yes, it doesn’t capture everything, and yes, it lets certain outliers fall through the cracks…but if you look at the numbers, it correlates *pretty well* with the things it’s intended to predict, which is all it was ever intended to do. It’d be a mistake to put *too much* stock in it, but it would be just as big of a mistake to disregard it entirely.
I suppose you can put “RottenTomatoes score” into that bucket, as well
Lifting is so addictive. Once you see those first new muscles pop, it's like a switch goes off. I'm almost done with my mandatory post-surgery "no lifting" rule and can't wait to go back to the gym. I never thought I'd hear myself say that, lol. But now I'm also studying to be a personal trainer, nutrition coach, and group fitness instructor to add to my yoga teaching certification. Life is weird, man! Congrats on the ongoing weight loss and muscle growth!
PS my best friend is a fat guy and fully agrees with you. He complains about the "HAES" mentality all the time, because he knows better, because he's been 300lbs+.
There is *some* truth to HAES—in the sense that you can always improve your health, regardless of what sort of body you have...it's just that, if you're overweight, you're likely to lose weight in the process, whether you want to or not. Haha.
You're right about the addiction, though. I was absolutely shocked about how big a difference lifting made in how I looked and felt, and how quickly. Anyone struggling to get healthier should absolutely give it a shot.
Best of luck in your studies!
Your experience is kind of odd to me. I started cycling in 2020, and it was the first physical activity I really loved, and today it's pretty much all I think about and want to do, and I strenuously cycle ten to fifteen hours a week. I was 330-340 lbs at the time I started, and now I'm down to about 280. Ozempic helped for a year or so, but I've been stuck at this weight for a while.
I do feel better and look better, of course, but I've always, medically speaking anyway, been an extremely healthy person (except for things like blood pressure and cholesterol, of course) and honestly I don't feel a great deal better at baseline now than at my fattest. I definitely still retain a deep fear of hunger, and I still love food like little else, to which I attribute a lot of my difficulty losing more weight. I am definitely going to try cutting carbs by 30-50%, but I'm not super optimistic.
More specifically in this regard, take my blood pressure. Before I started cycling, I was doing run-walk and stair climbing, which was fine but not really enjoyable. This actually really helped my blood pressure even though I didn't lose much weight, and I got down to a normal blood pressure consistently for a year or so. But even then, I was doing moderate exercise for about half an hour a day, 3-5 times per week. I exercise far more now, but my blood pressure remains stubbornly just a little bit over normal; definitely better than at its worst, but still quite frustrating.
Don’t let me act like I’m some sort of fitness guru here (I’m just a guy feeling his way through the dark and sharing his experience), but I notice you haven’t said anything about lifting. As I briefly mention in the piece, weightlifting and cutting carbs really were the key for me. After a couple weeks or so of those two things, I was hit by an indescribable euphoria. All my back pain went away (presumably because my muscles were now strong enough to hold up body), as did all of my depression (probably because I had been mistaking the sugar crash from all the junk food for depression). I dunno, if you haven’t tried lifting and cutting carbs, I’d say they’re at least worth a shot.
I’d been making occasional halfassed attempts to get in shape since my mid-20s (mostly cardio stuff), but the weightlifting/carb-cutting thing was the one that finally made a real, lasting difference for me.
Excellent article and good timing. I’ve got the old story of, when I was young I could eat whatever and not really gain much. Now that I’m not so young, my whatever attitude caught up to me. I’m working on it, and making some progress. It’s empowering. I think kicking refined carbs is key as is taking the long view. Yeah junk food can be fun but I don’t need it. The occasional treat is better for my body and psyche than treating treats like they’re a core food. Also I’m enjoying cycling and walking and trying to get back into weightlifting a bit as well. Thank you for the encouragement and dose of sanity.
I’ve found I appreciate good junk food *way* more now that I only eat it on my occasional “cheat days”
If you ever want links to send people who you're arguing with but your brain is processing too slowly for, I highly recommend following Jordan Syatt (he's on I believe all social medias @syattfitness). He posts a lot about basically the same stuff you've said here, along with some great workout tips for proper form and exercises you shouldn't waste time with (which gave me an excuse to no longer do burpees!).
I used to be one of those "BMI is garbage" people and would confidently point out that the BMI said a prime Reggie Bush was dangerously obese. Then I read one of his posts where he points out that, 1) yes, BMI is not the ultimate measure for elite athletes, but also, 2) you are not an elite athlete. That was hard for me to hear, especially because they had just released a new college football video game for the first time in 11 years, which awoken all my childhood dreams of playing elite college football (at 35 [when, even in my prime, I was less athletic than the 3rd-string punter on the worst team you've never heard of (and I don't have any eligibility left, anyway)]).
BMI is sort of like IQ in that it’s just a loose estimate of many things, condensed into a number. And yes, it can be fun to dunk on it, and yes, it doesn’t capture everything, and yes, it lets certain outliers fall through the cracks…but if you look at the numbers, it correlates *pretty well* with the things it’s intended to predict, which is all it was ever intended to do. It’d be a mistake to put *too much* stock in it, but it would be just as big of a mistake to disregard it entirely.
I suppose you can put “RottenTomatoes score” into that bucket, as well