Sugar sense

[Jwolf]

Dr. J, when you said "Weight "melting away" happens when you finally tip the balance and start burning fat stores, either by exercise or eating less than you need for regular daily activities. "

Do you mean that your body start better at burning fat b/c of the more aerobic activities u are doing?

I just mean that I finally got to the point where I was burning more calories than I was consuming. The ONLY way that you will lose body fat. How you tip that balance can be done in many ways. Either by a diet that helps curb your appetite and lower your calories, by conciously lowering portion sizes and eating less, or by exercising more witout increasing food intake. There's no secret or mystery. If people think that the "calories in/calories out argument" is a myth, it's probably because they are miscalculating the "calories out" part. There are many assumptions that calorie-calculating programs make, which may not apply to each individual.

[Ironboy]

My point was just that fitness is about simple smart choices, not magic diets. I think Americans talk about those smart choices more and more but employ them less and less.

The Montignac method isn't a diet though, it's a lifestyle, a way, of eating. A healthy way, ask any diabetic, they already know about low GI diets. And perhaps, you are right about the whole calorie intake thing. But regardless of fitness level, a balanced healthy diet, with out processed sugar, flour and oils will result in weight stabilisation near optimal.

[ckct]

When someone talk about losing weight, I just tell them to train a marathon.

To them it sound nuts. Anyone here who have done it knows that by training for a marathon will change your lifestyle. It got to. U start eating more healthy, u start exercising more (obviously) and u learn more about nutrition and how it affects your health.

Plus, we get more ppl coming here

[dgrant]

Well then, lets agree to disagree.

The funny thing is I think we're all totally on the same page... Lowering the glycemic load is a good way to lose weight.

I think Dr J and I are just viewing it as lower glycemic load = lower insulin levels = fewer food cravings = fewer calories = weight loss. In my opinion it's just old-fashioned healthy eating, rather than anyone's proprietary idea.

[Ironboy]

In my opinion it's just old-fashioned healthy eating, rather than anyone's proprietary idea.

On this point we can definately agree!

[Jwolf]

In my opinion it's just old-fashioned healthy eating, rather than anyone's proprietary idea.

On this point we can definately agree!

OK, I'm with you there.

[ChrisL]

Is it fair to say North American life is more stressful than European life?

It is true that the European have more holidays than Americans, but most of there holidays are taken all the same time, so holidays are actually pretty stressful.

In many ways, I think that Europeans are as stressed as Americans. But what Europeans are not is "rushed". They seems to have more a family life, and do not fall into the "if my kids do not have 15 activities at night I am a bad mother" frame of mind. Tonight, just before supper, I was walking the streets and the boulangeries were packed with people, mostly women, buying the bread for supper. I always saw countless people walking the streets eating the tip of the baguette on their way to home. No one seems to be rushed. I had supper next to the hotel in a Japanese restaurant. For a "quick" meal, it took me over an hour. The dessert was a golf ball size ice cream ball with a very small piece of brownie-like cake and an expresso (the whole thing was called "café gourmand", probably less than 200 calories. Right now, cafes and restaurants are packed with people, many of them with there families. Life is a lot slower here.

Paradoxially, people here spend more time preparing food and eating than North American, but eat less. Our rushed life makes us make poor food choices, frozen or delivered pizzas, McD, KFC, etc.

I think that we try to find a complicated answer to a simple problem.

[Irongirl]

When someone talk about losing weight, I just tell them to train a marathon.

To them it sound nuts. Anyone here who have done it knows that by training for a marathon will change your lifestyle. It got to. U start eating more healthy, u start exercising more (obviously) and u learn more about nutrition and how it affects your health.

Plus, we get more ppl coming here

I gained 10 pounds both years that I trained for a marathon!!

I had the "I'm training for a marathon, I can eat whatever I want" idea....so, I ate too much!!

The thing about ANY weightloss plan/program/lifestyle is that you are AWARE of what is going into your mouth. I would hazard a guess that a majority of people don't realize what they are putting in their mouth - however, if you are following a program that allows some things/doesn't allow others and/or has you tracking food/calories, you HAVE to be aware of what is going in...THAT is in my opinion where/when things will start to change for you.