Re:Counting Calories Is Not the Key to Weight Loss, New Stud...
by snowwrestler on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @05:56PM
(#16425056)
It's true that bare thermodynamics is not great practical lifestyle advice, but it's also true that a lot of people really, truly, do not know the basics of what calories are and what they mean for weight.
I agree that no one should use thermodynamics as an excuse to be judgmental or dismissive toward people who are having trouble managing their weight.
But I also think that when people directly ask about calories (as the GP zoul did), it's worth being clear and unambiguous about the basic science.
Re:Counting Calories Is Not the Key to Weight Loss, New Stud...
by Nomentatus on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @10:06PM
(#16426511)
Bodies are complex. Less in More Out is only true and a matter of physics if our bodies can never refuse to absorb a calorie, or ever change gears to add tasks (such as extra DNA-repair) in times of surplus rather than always resort to mere storage. It's very unlikely that that's true. Merely altering the speed of motility through the GI tract (degree of peristalsis) alters the action of our biota and substantially changes how many calories and nutrients are available to be absorbed, as one small example.
Re:Counting Calories Is Not the Key to Weight Loss, New Stud...
by LargeWu on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @03:48PM
(#16424051)
Oh, yeah, I totally understand that it's not useful diet advice. I have a desire to lose a few pounds, but that doesn't stop me from having a beer every night as I'm making dinner, or grabbing a piece of candy a couple of times a day while at work.
Of course the arguments to physics are true. But they are largely irrelevant. Its not the truth that's going to help people.
People eat too much, not because they don't know better (and physics! will teach them), but because they have some behavioral issue that prevents them from doing the good actions repeatedly.
It always ends up here: "Just don't put the calories in your mouth. That's all you need to do." Which would be true, if food and eating were entirely volitional. But its an emotional need, a very fundamental one.
Imagine saying "Just put the gun to your head and pull the trigger. That's all you need to do." While its undeniably easy, most of us, because of emotional needs to survive and avoid pain, would find it very, very hard to accomplish. (Not saying a gun-to-the-head loses weight; just comparing an easy instruction with the accompanying difficulty in performing it).