Exercise will make us FIT, and
If It causes us to eat more,
it will ... indirectly ... cause us to be FAT

The 3 Most Dangerous Words in Weight Management
                               By Yoni Freedhoff

"Because I exercised."

For folks trying to lose or maintain their weight, those three words are dangerous. Our perception of the virtues of exercise often makes us feel as if we deserve or have earned more—an extra helping, an indulgent sweet, or, in my case, a beer or two.

But at what cost?

The calories burned through exercise are anything but fair. To be blunt, you simply can't outrun your fork. What you can consume in minutes might easily take you hours to burn off, yet many people consider exercise to be the bigger player in weight management.

Perhaps the belief comes from television shows like The Biggest Loser. Each episode ends with a "last chance" workout—as if a few hours of overly aggressive gym work will immediately translate into weight loss.

Perhaps it stems from the food industry, which goes out of its way to explain obesity as a consequence of a lack of exercise.

Wherever it comes from, the belief that weight is something you can simply burn off if you hit the gym hard enough is firmly entrenched in the gospel of public perception.

Truth be told, unless you make a living through exercise, for the average Joe or Jane, exercise is likely responsible for—at most—20 to 25 percent of their weight, leaving diet responsible for the lion's share.

While there is no behavior more conducive to good health than regular exercise, if weight's your concern, food is where it's at, and there are two incredibly straightforward things you can do to help.

1. Keep a food diary. I do. In fact, I'm on my longest streak ever, at 550 days without missing an entry. It takes a few months to get good at, but once you're there, it'll take you fewer than five minutes of work a day; five minutes of work that clinical studies have proven will double your weight loss. You can keep food diaries old school with a pad and paper, or download one of the dozens of apps that'll do the math for you.

2. Cook from fresh, whole ingredients. Don't worry about low this or low that, just focus on transforming raw ingredients into homemade meals and you'll be playing it far safer than you would be by dining out or eating a highly processed, but healthy sounding meal.

At the end of the day, if weight's your concern, you're far better off spending time in your kitchen with a pen, than time in your gym with a barbell. And if "because I exercised" really translated well, the gyms that fill up in January wouldn't be empty by March.

 I don't try to follow Rule No 2. Although  I cook a lot, I often eat processed foods. Sometimes I choose to cook with "fresh" "whole" ingredients, and sometimes I choose not to do so.
However, I totally agree with Rule No 1.  I've been keeping a food diary now since September 2004.  I use a computer software program called DietPower,  This morning it tells me that during that 3044 days, I have no missing data.  This means that for the past consecutive 3044 days, I have logged all of my food intake into that computer food diary.  THIS is what helped me lose weight, and I know that it is the primary reason that I'm now beginning my 8th year of maintaining my  weight-loss.

           


While it's a good thing to follow your heart,
it is important to keep Dreams grounded  in Reality.

The 5-year cure rate for obesity is less than the 5-year cure rate for the worst cancer.
This has been the view of the American Medical Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs for the past 25 years. If dieting were a drug, it would have failed the regulatory process due to the fact that it is, generally, not a long-term success.

Are there any successes?
Yes, but these require life-long adherence to a restricted food intake.

Basically speaking, when we gain weight and retain that gain for some time, that new weight is recognized biologically as a new norm. When we lose weight, that same norm -- our new higher weight -- is constantly there and constantly wishing to re-establish itself. Comparatively, losing weight is easy.  It is retaining that weight loss which is a huge challenge.

Rule number one in weight management: If you are at your High weight... whatever it is now, don’t gain any more.

There are lots of reasons for Obesity, and Scientific Research--as reported by the media - continually spins the Wheel of Chance in order to pick one. The high-calorie-sugared-water commonly known as SODA would certainly be a contributing factor for those people who choose to drink lots of it.

Below is a sneak peak of an advertisement that Coca-Cola prepared to possibly air during the Superbowl showing us that they are helping us fight obesity.
..... Uhhh....Right ......

Coca-Cola makes a lot of money selling sugared water.
… I must admit that It also makes a lot of money from me personally from the Coke Zero and Diet Cokes that I choose to drink.

In this ad, Coca-Cola indirectly admits that drinking a lot of sugared water might affect weight. However, it also attempts to reinforce the erroneous belief that you can "out train a bad diet", and it gives Coca-Cola ammunition against “unfriendly” legislation by suggesting that it is working hard to be “part of the solution”.

Coca-Cola wants to sell products.
As many as they possibly can.
That’s it. 

  It’s the way our society is built.

The aim of this advertisement is to do that.   Soda taxes or policies that restrict sales will be far worse for business than an ad like this which is designed to deceive the Public to make it believe that Coca-Cola is "part of the solution", and that we can "outrun" our glasses of sugar.