Home > Uncategorized > Short rant about diets

Short rant about diets

February 26, 2018

I’m off of Twitter and Facebook, so my blog is starting to become my go-to rant spot once again.

This morning it’s Jane Brody that’s got me ranty, with her unbelievably incoherent take on exercise and diets:

More Fitness, Less Fatness

Let me give you my snarky summary of this piece:

  1. Diets don’t work.
  2. People are beginning to understand this.
  3. They’re starting to accept their bodies as they are and go on with their lives.
  4. This makes Jane Brody feel bad for them, because they really should feel bad for themselves.
  5. Turns out people should exercise instead of diet to be healthier.
  6. But Jane Brody suggests they should diet too, even though it doesn’t work.
  7. Jane Brody concludes by entitling the piece to imply exercise makes people lose weight even though there’s plenty of evidence that it doesn’t.
Categories: Uncategorized
  1. JamesNT
    February 26, 2018 at 9:58 am

    In all the times I’ve lost weight in my life and gained weight back, I have found the following to be total truth FOR ME (your mileage may vary).

    1. Go to the gym and weight train. Weight training needs to be minimum 3 hours a week.
    2. Do at least 5 miles of cardio a week.
    3. Cease and Desist all fast food (except for subway, they are ok enough).
    4. Cease and Desist all soft drinks – even diet.
    5. Cease and Desist all other food that is pure shit but may not be fast food (Pizza, chips and salsa, etc.).
    6. Increase protein intake (tuna, salmon, etc.).

    The problem, in my view, is that people keep looking for a quick fix to lose weight and get healthy. Rather, find what works for you. And, yes, finding what works for you may take real work. And real time.

    JamesNT

    Liked by 1 person

    • Cathy O'Neil, mathbabe
      February 26, 2018 at 11:51 am

      JamesNT,

      Please see Priscilla’s comment below. It’s the fact that you consistently gain back the weight that I’d argue is not your fault at all and is also proving my point. Said another way: it’s rational and it’s actually ok to stop doing something that doesn’t work.

      Cathy

      Liked by 2 people

  2. sheldongitis
    February 26, 2018 at 10:07 am

    Pardon my ignorance, and I know I could find out with a simple search, but who the hell is Jane Brody, and why would anyone be wasting their time reading the sort of garbage she apparently writes?

    Like

  3. Aron B Miodownik
    February 26, 2018 at 10:51 am

    With billions of dollars spent by commercial food and drink companies, perhaps it’s not surprising that our bodies’ complex bio-chemistry becomes so easily addicted to high-salt, high-sugar and high-fat diets that fill the supermarket shelves. While there is little new evidence in her article, I feel that Jane’s repetition of the indisputable scientific logic that calories absorbed (eating/gorging) minus calories spent (exercise) does makes good health sense (even if we lack to discipline to follow through). “The goal is not radical change but a reduction in calories of 500 a day and/or an increase in physical activity to achieve a weekly deficit of 3,500 calories, the approximate amount in one pound of body fat.”

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Alain
    February 26, 2018 at 10:58 am

    First time commenter here.

    I’m off of Twitter and Facebook

    Congratulation 🙂

    I took the decision to get off Facebook last year and this year, LinkedIn (this one because _some_ peoples uses the data to infer their opinion & perceived value of me).

    That said, to get back on Jane Brody, my perception of her look like something fresh out of the executioner, victim and savior triangle with her, part executioner and savior with some shame thrown in.

    She cherry pick the evidence to support her position instead of taking an unbiased look.

    That is how it felt to me.

    Alain

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Priscilla Bremser
    February 26, 2018 at 11:47 am

    At least Brody didn’t give yet another personal anecdote about her virtuous lifestyle. Then again, this is the first article of two, so I may speak too soon.

    Metabolism is complicated. An article in Brody’s own New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html) says “what obesity research has consistently shown is that dieters are at the mercy of their own bodies, which muster hormones and an altered metabolic rate to pull them back to their old weights, whether that is hundreds of pounds more or that extra 10 or 15 that many people are trying to keep off.” I wish she’d read that. (I also wish the NYT would institute double-blind refereeing of its own columnists’ pieces, but oh well.)

    Like

  6. American Declutterer
    February 26, 2018 at 12:30 pm

    In my experience, my own periods of weight loss accompanied extended periods — one to three months — of high positive sexual anticipation. As soon as the situation calmed down my weight would go back up. It took awhile to see that diet and exercise were not factors.

    Like

  7. GP
    March 2, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    This is such a great blog post I am going to buy your book even though I’m innumerate.

    🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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