I have to take prednisone. It's a hormone.

I know that when I first went on it, I did not change my eating and I gained 40 pounds in 3 weeks.
I would not even have thought that was humanly possible.

A lot of pollutants like BPAs mess up your hormone regulation.
I wonder if the western world isn't having an epidemic of pollution that is causing an epidemic of obesity.

Originally posted by ANNED
One strange thing i have found on one men's fibromyalgia website i am on is that over 50% of the men there were weightlifters. runners. or did other sports and were in very good shape when hit by fibromyalgia.
But by the time the doctors had DXed the fibromyalgia 3 to 5 years later the doctors blamed the fibromyalgia on them being out of shape. They were out of shape by then because they were not treated for the debilitating pain and other disorders like sleep apnea cause by the fibromyalgia.
Doctors only see what they want to see(or what they are told to see) and disbelieve what the parson they are treating tells them.

As you mentioned CFS earlier in your post i hope you don't mind me chiming in as it is the condition i suffer from. Happiily i don't suffer from metabolic syndrome and have managed to keep my weight healthy, however i was just like you, incredibly active. Martial arts nearly every day of the week, moderate weight lifting, heavy cycling and various other bits and pieces, including intensive circuit training regimes.

Sadly i lost all the muscle i had and like you when doctors who were new to my case saw me after 3 years of inactivity they thought i was simply lazy. It's not just doctors who see what they want to see, it's people in general i'm afraid. Still i got that diagnosis in the end.

Good luck with your condition man.

I would like to thank devolutionevolve for his post. It makes sense and i'll try the method you shared. Devol is sharing some knowledge for the purpose of helping others. He is not endorsing some product he has developed. I realise we can debate in here but throughout the forums, members, in my opinion, get attacked for thinking differently. Lets keep it peaceful hey?

Eating less is the only way to weight loss - and that is logical.

If you exercise, you burn more calories obviously, but cutting down meal sizes is the key.

Also, not eating when you are not hungry, even if it seems to be meal time.

Originally posted by catwhoknows
Eating less is the only way to weight loss - and that is logical.

If you exercise, you burn more calories obviously, but cutting down meal sizes is the key.

Also, not eating when you are not hungry, even if it seems to be meal time.

I agree. Ive been trying to lose some weight the last 6 mths or so and lost about 9kg. I was 95kg at my heaviest then dropped to 87kg, then dropped to 79kg when I had a change of lifestyle about 6 mths ago. This change included a major change in diet & regular gym work. I slackened off a bit recently, for a short while, and put 3kg back on. Ive gone back to my diet and gym and in a short time Ive started to drop the weight again. So for me, losing weight is simply a change of lifestyle. All I've done is make a decision to become more active and cut out rubbish food...

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd

Fat deposition is INDEPENDENT of caloric intake.

That's an absolutely ridiculous statement.

Your thread is interesting to me, however you make a lot of assumptions and say a lot of things that are highly questionable, if not flat-out incorrect. The above quote being one example.

I am very conscious of what I put in my body, and I personally have been on a Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (High fat, low/no carbs, with occasional carbohydrate 're-feeds') for almost one year. I understand that one of the reasons this eating plan works so well is because it keeps insulin levels extremely low (as well as forcing the body to use fat for fuel). HOWEVER, that being said, if I were to suddenly increase the calories I am consuming to above the level that I am burning them, my body would of course store (what it could not use for energy) fat, regardless of the fact that my body is producing almost no insulin.

Of course there are other factors involved besides calories in Vs. calories out when it comes to adipose tissue retention, but in the end, that is the PRIMARY factor. To say otherwise is simply wrong.

You should read some bodybuilding forums if you really want to educate yourself. In bodybuilding, it's common to cycle between high calorie (meaning a caloric surplus, as in MORE calories than you are burning) 'bulking' periods in order to put on muscle (which also puts on fat), and then switch to low calorie (meaning a caloric deficit) 'cutting' diets in order to loose the fat gained, while attempting to keep muscle loss to a minimum.

Of course, if you stay on a low-calorie diet too long, or cut calories too drastically, your metabolism will slow down. That's why periodically eating a huge meal, or occasionally bringing yourself out of a low-calorie diet is indeed helpful because it increases your metabolism. Also, MUSCLE itself actually burns calories, so having more muscle increases your Basal Metabolic Rate.

Bodybuilders also eat high-GI carbs before, after and during their workouts. They literally eat pure sugar (dextrose/glucose), in order to purposefully give themselves an insulin spike, which, as you have described correctly, causes the body to store nutrients. In the case of weightlifting, this is a good thing, because your body uses the insulin to help move protein and glucose into the muscles, which helps them recover and grow more quickly and efficiently.

Also,another thing you forgot to mention (I think) is that high body-fat levels in men REDUCE endogenous testosterone production, which is not good for business.

In conclusion, I think you presented a lot of valid and important information, but the conclusions you then came to are completely misguided for the most part. Being conscious of the AMOUNT as well as the TYPE of foods you are eating - that is BY FAR the most influential factor when it comes to body composition.

As one final note, the meaning of the word 'diet' has become completely misused. Your 'diet' is simply what you eat, so of course we are all on a 'diet'. Whether or not our diet consists of a caloric surplus, or a caloric deficit is another matter. When people say they are 'going on a diet', what they really mean is 'I'm going to introduce a caloric deficit into my eating plan with the desired outcome of losing adipose tissue deposits while retaining lean body mass'. You never go 'on' or 'off' a diet, you just modify your eating plan.

I have been attempting to self cure CFS for 2 years.
I abandoned my doctor because he said all my symptoms were 'old age' (I am 67)
I am well versed in the principles of healthy eating/living, and implement them.
...organic food
...filtered water
...no trans fats
...no processed food
...no synthetic toiletries or cleaning products
...I don't own a microwave oven
...I even filter the indoor air I breathe.

I am aware that even organic food has fewer nutrients than 50 years ago, so I do use food supplements. Because I am retired, I can eat when I'm hungry and sleep when I am tired, and have ZERO stress.

I experienced a gradual weight gain of 28lbs during the past two years, all of it on my waist and belly.
The healthy lifestyle I have rigourously adhered to for 2 years lacked only excercise - because I did not have enough energy to do any (any CFS sufferer knows what I mean).

I have had my energy levels increase by good nutrition, but by far the biggest boost was DETOX.
The detox Herxheimer reaction revealed to me the true cause of my ill health - systemic CANDIDA overgrowth.

For the past month I have followed a diet designed to starve candida, and have used herbal fungal killers and the weight is rolling off.

There was a mention earlier of 'Ketogenic Diet' and Atkins diet - mine is very similar in many respects -
My already healthy diet has been further refined by -
....total elimination of all sugars - even honey, milk and fruit!
....total elimination of all yeast - no bread, wine, spirits, vinegars, and all products which have yeast in their manufacture (that includes some food supplements)
....very restricted intake of carbs - green veg OK, but potatoes and carrots NO
.... no mushrooms and cheese (other than cottage cheese)
.....eating lots of live/active plain yogurt (lactose has been drastically reduced by the ferment process)

The result is a diet comprising mainly of organic meat and fish home cooked, free range eggs, lots of green veg/salad. Grains have to be whole grains and the intake limited.
For fats I use butter and olive oil as usual, but have added coconut oil as a natural fungicide.

So this is a high protein diet. I have lost 4lbs in the past week despite still being very 'sedentary'

I feel sure that more people have parasitic fungal overgrowth without realising it.
The main causes are - antibiotics and birth control pills (incl HRT)
...and most of us have used one of them at some time.

while your thread is interesting, not all things apply to everyone.

not eating as much will lead to loss and then regain because metabolism slows down. Metabolism is like a fire, if the fire is small and you throw a bunch of big logs on it, it takes a long time to burn (not eating all day and then eating a big dinner for example), but if you put a few smaller size logs on it constantly it will burn with ease (5 small meals a day)

combine that with eating HEALTHIER (not eating less), celery instead of potato chips for example, you will lose weight. Exercise is a must also to keep the metabolism up. If you're hungry you need to eat something, not just sit around starving all day.

none of this works overnight and most people quit before they see real results or slip back to their old ways, you really have to change your way of life. I have went from 230 lbs to 170 lbs by eating healthier and exercising alone, and have kept it off for over a year even though I cant lift weights anymore, I play disc golf all the time and go for walks during lunch, and still eat healthy.

So the old ways definitely work if done correctly, however not for everyone as some people really do have hormone problems.

You can exercise for an hour with intense running, burn 700 calories, and have some fast food with 1000 calories in it. So diet is important. Most would agree that diet is a bigger part than exercise, seeing as how most people eat from morning until evening, but an hour of exercise a day and really can't do much more reasonably.

I think people forget that they can exercise multiple times a day, for 10-15 minutes. Do your workout quick, and once you get fatigued, stop and wait a couple hours. Not like you can burn that many calories when you've hit that point of exhaustion. Exercising multiple times a day also keeps your metabolism up since it takes a while for the body to return to normal metabolism. High intensity interval training sounds like it's the best method in some ways for weight loss and general fitness but it really can beat the crap out of you more than running at a constant speed. It's tricky I suppose since it's been shown that high intensity exercise can trigger hunger while moderate and light exercise suppresses it.

Eating whole foods is important too, for weight loss and for health. No added sugar either since your body won't be burning fat as much if it has access to sugar.