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(The Week)   Majority of Americans are not getting to the gym in 26 minutes   (theweek.com) divider line
36
    More: Scary, Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Disease, Physical exercise, Person, Chronic condition, United States, City  
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1093 clicks; posted to STEM » on 28 Jan 2023 at 2:05 AM (8 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



36 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
Likwit
2023-01-28 2:27:51 AM  
4 in 10 are obese and another 2 are overweight. I'm shocked that people aren't exercising enough.

Well, not that shocked.
 
Sin'sHero [TotalFark]
2023-01-28 2:38:06 AM  
This is my shocked face not getting a work out.
 
Concrete Donkey
2023-01-28 3:21:19 AM  
Oh look, a desk monkey is belittling what it takes to work an 8 hour shift in retail, fast food, or any other job that requires being on your feet for 8+ hours a day


Shocking. Perhaps he should change the title to reflect that office drones dont get enough exercise
 
BlazeTrailer
2023-01-28 3:39:22 AM  

Concrete Donkey: Oh look, a desk monkey is belittling what it takes to work an 8 hour shift in retail, fast food, or any other job that requires being on your feet for 8+ hours a day


Shocking. Perhaps he should change the title to reflect that office drones dont get enough exercise


Right, there are no obese or slothful people working the jobs you are citing. Just full of supremely fit people.
 
Tom Marvolo Bombadil
2023-01-28 3:52:13 AM  

Concrete Donkey: Oh look, a desk monkey is belittling what it takes to work an 8 hour shift in retail, fast food, or any other job that requires being on your feet for 8+ hours a day

Shocking. Perhaps he should change the title to reflect that office drones dont get enough exercise


The more you comment on fark the less those burgers are getting flipped, son.  Also, you're going to drop your phone in the fryer if you aren't careful.
 
dericwater
2023-01-28 4:54:41 AM  
The number one, and really, the ONLY, way to lose weight is to eat less. Americans eat way too much food. Most Americans pack in well over 3,000 Calories (=kilocalories) every day. There is not enough exercise that one can do to counterbalance the amount of food eaten.

For example, a vigorous full hour of swimming, as in doing continuous laps for a whole hour, would burn just under 500 Calories (depending on vigorousness, weight, and choice of stroke). That's 500 Calories. The person can then go to Cheesecake Factory, get a burger and fries and top off with a slice of cheesecake and he'll have about 700 additional Calories, net. Most swimmers don't do an hour of laps, much less two. Most people don't have time to do an hour of swimming. It takes 15 minutes to an hour just to get to the pool. Then another 20 minutes to change. Then another 20+ minutes to shower off and change back, then another 15 to 60 minutes to get back to wherever. That's close to 3 to 4 hours just for an hour swim.

The simplest way to reduce intake is to STOP GOING TO RESTAURANTS! Just stop. Any meal at a restaurant, even without appetizers or desserts, is going to top 1200 Calories, unless you went there to drink diet water and look at others eat. If you want to support your local business, which is often a restaurant, limit yourself to once a season. Yup: a maximum of four times a year to restaurants. (Most people go everyday for lunch: five times a week or 260 days a year, not including dinners.) So, step 1: stop going to restaurants. Also, not only will your body thank you, your pocketbook will thank you as well. A $6 value meal at McDonald's every weekday is more than $1,500 for the year!

Step 2 is basic: cook your meals. No pre-packaged, processed foods. No bags of chips. No frozen dinners. No candies, cookies, sodas. Just don't buy meals from the supermarket. Buy ingredients, not meals. Whether you cook for yourself or for a family, make sure you make 1 serving, as defined on the nutrition label, for each person eating. 1 serving of a ribeye is not a 16 oz or even a 12 oz ribeye. It's 4 oz of meat, a quarter-pound of meat. Don't cheat by having 1 serving of 20 items. Have a normal meal, but have 1 serving of each of the main items: 4 oz of meat, 2 tbsp of rice (dry), 2 oz of green beans, etc. 1 serving of pasta is 2 oz dry pasta and is 200 Calories. I can slurp that up in a single bite. But I limit myself to 1 serving almost every time I cook pasta. You're allowed to cheat with low caloric food items. Want to eat two pounds of lettuce? Have at it. You just ate 130 Calories. Now, you're so stuffed you can't eat anything else.

Step 3 is a bit onerous. Count calories. There's two way to go about this. First way, if you're going to actually exercise, then make sure your net for the day is no more than 2,000 Calories (and don't tell me that you're 6' 10" so you should have more; just stick with the 2K Calories net for the day). This means if you don't do anything more vigorous than walking to your kitchen and then to the dining table, you should eat no more than 2,000 Calories. But if you walk to work, do a 2 mile run afterwards, lift weights for 30 minutes, then your intake could be 3,000 Calories (or more!) just so the net after subtracting the Calories expended in your workout is 2,000 Calories or less.

The second and more challenging way is to limit yourself to 2,000 Calories intake, regardless of your workout expenditure. You eat no more than 2,000 Calories, and if you manage to walk, run, bike, swim, dance, do calisthenics enough to burn an additional 1,200 Calories, great. But your intake should still be limited to 2,000 Calories. If you do that, you will definitely lose weight. You could also die, too. This rather extreme diet plan can be medically dangerous. You're basically doing a Bataan Death March, but with about 4x the Calories and none of the disease floating about.

But the TL;DR is EAT LESS.
 
Concrete Donkey
2023-01-28 5:52:53 AM  

dericwater: (Most people go everyday for lunch: five times a week or 260 days a year, not including dinners.)


What drugs are you taking that you actually believe that and how do we get stuff that good


also, stop huffing paint thinner
 
NINDroog
2023-01-28 6:14:36 AM  

dericwater: But the TL;DR is EAT LESS.


While slightly draconian I would agree with your basic premise. I would add that I strongly advise looking into properly preparing meal combinations that will keep you sated, you shouldn't be starving and if you are you will probably break relatively quickly.

As corollaries to this, I would say two things. 1.) The first step is making up your mind to do it. Not because it's "the new year", not because you want to wear a bikini in July, not because you want to date some hot guy or gal. Those are all perfectly fine goals, keep those in mind if it helps keep you motivated, but I would argue that the most important first step is that you decide you are going to do it. This entails being really honest with yourself, being honest about your caloric intake, and being honest about how hard how much you are actually working out. You can start with something simple like "I am going to walk 3 miles a day" or do a 15 minute kettlebell workout 3 times a week. Whatever, you come up with your own program. But it means holding yourself accountable because you said you will do it, and when you're tired and sore still making sure you got in the time. If you want to lost weight, and especially if you want to do that and get into shape, you need to lay the mental groundwork upfront.

2.)  If you have time (and I understand a lot of people work long shifts, have kids, etc.) I would suggest a taking up a hobby or activity. Obviously things that burn calories would be most helpful (like hiking or camping), but anything that keeps your mind occupied and active. Learn to code, write a book, join a board game club, whatever. I advise this because it will both increase you caloric burn as well as distract you from any hunger pains, but also, if you just sit around watching Netflix and YouTube not only are you not burning calories, but movies and TV are absolutely loaded with product placement with food that is subconsciously poking you in the brain. I'm not saying you have to give them up (I probably watch more movies than 90% of people out there), but it's usually worth actually managing how long you spend in front of a screen and how much marketing for food and drinks you're beaming directly into you brain holes.
 
Colonel_Angus
2023-01-28 6:24:30 AM  
The CDC recommends that adults 18 and over do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and two days of muscle-strengthening activity per week.

For the math-impaired, that's only 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week.

Think of all the people, like Concrete Donkey, who spend hours online every day posting the dumbest sh*t imaginable, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise.  Hang out on the Entertainment tab, seeing comments about the hours they spend every day watching TV shows and movies, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise.  Do the same on the Fandom tab and read the comments about games being played, and you have the reason.  And then, look at the number of hours every day the average American spends on their smartphone (5+ hours).

We fill up our time by doing meaningless bullsh*t and then claim we don't have time to take care of our health.  And then when we do get sick, it's not our fault.  Oh no, it's never our fault.  That's when we blame the high cost of health care, when the cost of exercising is ridiculously cheap.  Despite subby's assertion about the gym, all you need is comfortable footwear so you can walk/run/hike, and some inexpensive resistance bands for muscle-strengthening.

But people will continue to ignore the simple, basic science behind being healthy.  Ignoring science is what we do best, after all.  We ignored the scientists who were telling us about climate change (and the environment in general) for decades, and then claimed it wasn't our fault when the sh*t started hitting the fan, that we were lied to by businesses, that they somehow managed to hide the truth that was being reported regularly.

Our individual health or the health of the planet, we just don't care.
 
emtwo
2023-01-28 7:32:06 AM  

dericwater: The number one, and really, the ONLY, way to lose weight is to eat less. Americans eat way too much food. Most Americans pack in well over 3,000 Calories (=kilocalories) every day. There is not enough exercise that one can do to counterbalance the amount of food eaten.

For example, a vigorous full hour of swimming, as in doing continuous laps for a whole hour, would burn just under 500 Calories (depending on vigorousness, weight, and choice of stroke). That's 500 Calories. The person can then go to Cheesecake Factory, get a burger and fries and top off with a slice of cheesecake and he'll have about 700 additional Calories, net. Most swimmers don't do an hour of laps, much less two. Most people don't have time to do an hour of swimming. It takes 15 minutes to an hour just to get to the pool. Then another 20 minutes to change. Then another 20+ minutes to shower off and change back, then another 15 to 60 minutes to get back to wherever. That's close to 3 to 4 hours just for an hour swim.

The simplest way to reduce intake is to STOP GOING TO RESTAURANTS! Just stop. Any meal at a restaurant, even without appetizers or desserts, is going to top 1200 Calories, unless you went there to drink diet water and look at others eat. If you want to support your local business, which is often a restaurant, limit yourself to once a season. Yup: a maximum of four times a year to restaurants. (Most people go everyday for lunch: five times a week or 260 days a year, not including dinners.) So, step 1: stop going to restaurants. Also, not only will your body thank you, your pocketbook will thank you as well. A $6 value meal at McDonald's every weekday is more than $1,500 for the year!

Step 2 is basic: cook your meals. No pre-packaged, processed foods. No bags of chips. No frozen dinners. No candies, cookies, sodas. Just don't buy meals from the supermarket. Buy ingredients, not meals. Whether you cook for yourself or for a family, make sure you make 1 serving, as defined on the nutrition label, for each person eating. 1 serving of a ribeye is not a 16 oz or even a 12 oz ribeye. It's 4 oz of meat, a quarter-pound of meat. Don't cheat by having 1 serving of 20 items. Have a normal meal, but have 1 serving of each of the main items: 4 oz of meat, 2 tbsp of rice (dry), 2 oz of green beans, etc. 1 serving of pasta is 2 oz dry pasta and is 200 Calories. I can slurp that up in a single bite. But I limit myself to 1 serving almost every time I cook pasta. You're allowed to cheat with low caloric food items. Want to eat two pounds of lettuce? Have at it. You just ate 130 Calories. Now, you're so stuffed you can't eat anything else.

Step 3 is a bit onerous. Count calories. There's two way to go about this. First way, if you're going to actually exercise, then make sure your net for the day is no more than 2,000 Calories (and don't tell me that you're 6' 10" so you should have more; just stick with the 2K Calories net for the day). This means if you don't do anything more vigorous than walking to your kitchen and then to the dining table, you should eat no more than 2,000 Calories. But if you walk to work, do a 2 mile run afterwards, lift weights for 30 minutes, then your intake could be 3,000 Calories (or more!) just so the net after subtracting the Calories expended in your workout is 2,000 Calories or less.

The second and more challenging way is to limit yourself to 2,000 Calories intake, regardless of your workout expenditure. You eat no more than 2,000 Calories, and if you manage to walk, run, bike, swim, dance, do calisthenics enough to burn an additional 1,200 Calories, great. But your intake should still be limited to 2,000 Calories. If you do that, you will definitely lose weight. You could also die, too. This rather extreme diet plan can be medically dangerous. You're basically doing a Bataan Death March, but with about 4x the Calories and none of the disease floating about.

But the TL;DR is EAT LESS.


This is not sound health or nutrition advice, but it's a pretty good demonstration of hyperfixation and mental disorder.
 
Hunter Biden's Oversized Yogurt Slinger
2023-01-28 8:20:38 AM  

dericwater: The number one, and really, the ONLY, way to lose weight is to eat less. Americans eat way too much food. Most Americans pack in well over 3,000 Calories (=kilocalories) every day. There is not enough exercise that one can do to counterbalance the amount of food eaten.

For example, a vigorous full hour of swimming, as in doing continuous laps for a whole hour, would burn just under 500 Calories (depending on vigorousness, weight, and choice of stroke). That's 500 Calories. The person can then go to Cheesecake Factory, get a burger and fries and top off with a slice of cheesecake and he'll have about 700 additional Calories, net. Most swimmers don't do an hour of laps, much less two. Most people don't have time to do an hour of swimming. It takes 15 minutes to an hour just to get to the pool. Then another 20 minutes to change. Then another 20+ minutes to shower off and change back, then another 15 to 60 minutes to get back to wherever. That's close to 3 to 4 hours just for an hour swim.

The simplest way to reduce intake is to STOP GOING TO RESTAURANTS! Just stop. Any meal at a restaurant, even without appetizers or desserts, is going to top 1200 Calories, unless you went there to drink diet water and look at others eat. If you want to support your local business, which is often a restaurant, limit yourself to once a season. Yup: a maximum of four times a year to restaurants. (Most people go everyday for lunch: five times a week or 260 days a year, not including dinners.) So, step 1: stop going to restaurants. Also, not only will your body thank you, your pocketbook will thank you as well. A $6 value meal at McDonald's every weekday is more than $1,500 for the year!

Step 2 is basic: cook your meals. No pre-packaged, processed foods. No bags of chips. No frozen dinners. No candies, cookies, sodas. Just don't buy meals from the supermarket. Buy ingredients, not meals. Whether you cook for yourself or for a family, make sure you make 1 serving, as defined on the nutri ...


Wow. You really typed all that out, huh?
 
natazha [BareFark]
2023-01-28 9:02:29 AM  
Haven't been to a gym in years, but we have dogs and they get walked 1-3 times a day depending on the weather. If the weather is really bad (raining, drizzle and snow are not a problem), the walk might only be to the edge of the front porch. Or it can be a hour long.
 
trialpha
2023-01-28 9:42:05 AM  

Colonel_Angus: Think of all the people, like Concrete Donkey, who spend hours online every day posting the dumbest sh*t imaginable, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Hang out on the Entertainment tab, seeing comments about the hours they spend every day watching TV shows and movies, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Do the same on the Fandom tab and read the comments about games being played, and you have the reason. And then, look at the number of hours every day the average American spends on their smartphone (5+ hours).


Americans don't exercise because exercising is awful. It's boring, exhausting and unpleasant in basically every way. There's no surprise people aren't doing it. Would anyone be surprised if the article was "Most Americans aren't punching themselves in the face daily"?
 
OptionC [TotalFark]
2023-01-28 9:49:45 AM  

trialpha: Colonel_Angus: Think of all the people, like Concrete Donkey, who spend hours online every day posting the dumbest sh*t imaginable, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Hang out on the Entertainment tab, seeing comments about the hours they spend every day watching TV shows and movies, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Do the same on the Fandom tab and read the comments about games being played, and you have the reason. And then, look at the number of hours every day the average American spends on their smartphone (5+ hours).

Americans don't exercise because exercising is awful. It's boring, exhausting and unpleasant in basically every way. There's no surprise people aren't doing it. Would anyone be surprised if the article was "Most Americans aren't punching themselves in the face daily"?


If exercise is boring and unpleasant you're doing it wrong.  Find something active that you do enjoy and do that instead.
 
trialpha
2023-01-28 9:57:40 AM  

OptionC: If exercise is boring and unpleasant you're doing it wrong. Find something active that you do enjoy and do that instead.


So I've been told. But I'm not aware of any activity that classifies as exercise that isn't unpleasant at best.

I've done the gym stuff - even had a personal trainer for a while. Obviously boring and unpleasant. Sports? Ugh. Biking, running? That's just gym activities with more steps.

The only thing I can think of is just walking around. But that's barely classifiable as exercise. Doctors are all "you need to strengthen core / improve cardio / etc", which walking definitely isn't going to do.
 
OptionC [TotalFark]
2023-01-28 10:05:34 AM  

trialpha: OptionC: If exercise is boring and unpleasant you're doing it wrong. Find something active that you do enjoy and do that instead.

So I've been told. But I'm not aware of any activity that classifies as exercise that isn't unpleasant at best.

I've done the gym stuff - even had a personal trainer for a while. Obviously boring and unpleasant. Sports? Ugh. Biking, running? That's just gym activities with more steps.

The only thing I can think of is just walking around. But that's barely classifiable as exercise. Doctors are all "you need to strengthen core / improve cardio / etc", which walking definitely isn't going to do.


Hiking?

Or VR gaming?  30 minutes of expert level Beat Saber or one of the boxing games will definitely work up a sweat.

Actually, that reminds me that I should work some VR stuff back into my routine...
 
Communist Middleschool Student
2023-01-28 10:13:21 AM  
Exercise triggers my cervical dystonia. So unfortunately my options are an early death or daily pain running around a 5/10.
 
trialpha
2023-01-28 10:37:58 AM  

OptionC: Hiking?

Or VR gaming? 30 minutes of expert level Beat Saber or one of the boxing games will definitely work up a sweat.

Actually, that reminds me that I should work some VR stuff back into my routine...


I've tried VR gaming. It was less boring than "regular" exercise, but still unpleasant, as anything that works up a sweat is. I've never understood the people enjoy things like "runner's high". The only sensation I get when doing strenuous activity is my body going "stop, please, for the love of god stop".

Hiking would probably be the least unpleasant, if not for the requirement to find places that can be hiked on a regular basis, getting there, etc. Not to mention that it's not really doable in the winter here.
 
Loren
2023-01-28 12:42:57 PM  

Concrete Donkey: Oh look, a desk monkey is belittling what it takes to work an 8 hour shift in retail, fast food, or any other job that requires being on your feet for 8+ hours a day


Shocking. Perhaps he should change the title to reflect that office drones dont get enough exercise


I see a lot of fat clerks.

dericwater: The second and more challenging way is to limit yourself to 2,000 Calories intake, regardless of your workout expenditure. You eat no more than 2,000 Calories, and if you manage to walk, run, bike, swim, dance, do calisthenics enough to burn an additional 1,200 Calories, great. But your intake should still be limited to 2,000 Calories. If you do that, you will definitely lose weight. You could also die, too. This rather extreme diet plan can be medically dangerous. You're basically doing a Bataan Death March, but with about 4x the Calories and none of the disease floating about.


Agreed--when I go out for a hike I don't find myself desiring to eat anything like the number of extra calories I expended.

trialpha: Americans don't exercise because exercising is awful. It's boring, exhausting and unpleasant in basically every way. There's no surprise people aren't doing it. Would anyone be surprised if the article was "Most Americans aren't punching themselves in the face daily"?


Hiking is fun.  And when you go 10+ miles, good exercise.

trialpha: The only thing I can think of is just walking around. But that's barely classifiable as exercise. Doctors are all "you need to strengthen core / improve cardio / etc", which walking definitely isn't going to do.


Hiking = walking around with some gear on your back.  And, especially when the terrain isn't flat, pretty good exercise.  When conditions are optimum I can push my heart rate to 90% of max--walking, not running.

trialpha: I've tried VR gaming. It was less boring than "regular" exercise, but still unpleasant, as anything that works up a sweat is. I've never understood the people enjoy things like "runner's high". The only sensation I get when doing strenuous activity is my body going "stop, please, for the love of god stop".

Hiking would probably be the least unpleasant, if not for the requirement to find places that can be hiked on a regular basis, getting there, etc. Not to mention that it's not really doable in the winter here.


I've never experienced a runner's high--I've never been able to do anything more than an abysmal performance at running and these days my knees would be screaming.

As for hiking, you have to build up for it gradually.  It's an endurance sport with very different demands.  It does mean a decent number of miles, but look for local hiking groups, they typically carpool.  Snow can be an issue, I'm lucky to live where I have other choices--I was just out yesterday and it was actually on the warm side.
 
runs with mutts [TotalFark]
2023-01-28 12:52:20 PM  
I love exercise that involves going somewhere. I'm mostly a mountain biker right now, but I recently took up rollerblading. Basically things kids do with their friends in suburbia.

I have never found a "muscle building" thing I liked. The air quality at the gym is weird, and my form is a little off from a non-exercise injury, and fark it, I'm going to go play with my friends.

/I'm 54
 
Heliodorus
2023-01-28 12:52:46 PM  

emtwo: dericwater: The number one, and really, the ONLY, way to lose weight is to eat less. Americans eat way too much food. Most Americans pack in well over 3,000 Calories (=kilocalories) every day. There is not enough exercise that one can do to counterbalance the amount of food eaten.

For example, a vigorous full hour of swimming, as in doing continuous laps for a whole hour, would burn just under 500 Calories (depending on vigorousness, weight, and choice of stroke). That's 500 Calories. The person can then go to Cheesecake Factory, get a burger and fries and top off with a slice of cheesecake and he'll have about 700 additional Calories, net. Most swimmers don't do an hour of laps, much less two. Most people don't have time to do an hour of swimming. It takes 15 minutes to an hour just to get to the pool. Then another 20 minutes to change. Then another 20+ minutes to shower off and change back, then another 15 to 60 minutes to get back to wherever. That's close to 3 to 4 hours just for an hour swim.

The simplest way to reduce intake is to STOP GOING TO RESTAURANTS! Just stop. Any meal at a restaurant, even without appetizers or desserts, is going to top 1200 Calories, unless you went there to drink diet water and look at others eat. If you want to support your local business, which is often a restaurant, limit yourself to once a season. Yup: a maximum of four times a year to restaurants. (Most people go everyday for lunch: five times a week or 260 days a year, not including dinners.) So, step 1: stop going to restaurants. Also, not only will your body thank you, your pocketbook will thank you as well. A $6 value meal at McDonald's every weekday is more than $1,500 for the year!

Step 2 is basic: cook your meals. No pre-packaged, processed foods. No bags of chips. No frozen dinners. No candies, cookies, sodas. Just don't buy meals from the supermarket. Buy ingredients, not meals. Whether you cook for yourself or for a family, make sure you make 1 serving, as defined on the nutrition label, for each person eating. 1 serving of a ribeye is not a 16 oz or even a 12 oz ribeye. It's 4 oz of meat, a quarter-pound of meat. Don't cheat by having 1 serving of 20 items. Have a normal meal, but have 1 serving of each of the main items: 4 oz of meat, 2 tbsp of rice (dry), 2 oz of green beans, etc. 1 serving of pasta is 2 oz dry pasta and is 200 Calories. I can slurp that up in a single bite. But I limit myself to 1 serving almost every time I cook pasta. You're allowed to cheat with low caloric food items. Want to eat two pounds of lettuce? Have at it. You just ate 130 Calories. Now, you're so stuffed you can't eat anything else.

Step 3 is a bit onerous. Count calories. There's two way to go about this. First way, if you're going to actually exercise, then make sure your net for the day is no more than 2,000 Calories (and don't tell me that you're 6' 10" so you should have more; just stick with the 2K Calories net for the day). This means if you don't do anything more vigorous than walking to your kitchen and then to the dining table, you should eat no more than 2,000 Calories. But if you walk to work, do a 2 mile run afterwards, lift weights for 30 minutes, then your intake could be 3,000 Calories (or more!) just so the net after subtracting the Calories expended in your workout is 2,000 Calories or less.

The second and more challenging way is to limit yourself to 2,000 Calories intake, regardless of your workout expenditure. You eat no more than 2,000 Calories, and if you manage to walk, run, bike, swim, dance, do calisthenics enough to burn an additional 1,200 Calories, great. But your intake should still be limited to 2,000 Calories. If you do that, you will definitely lose weight. You could also die, too. This rather extreme diet plan can be medically dangerous. You're basically doing a Bataan Death March, but with about 4x the Calories and none of the disease floating about.

But the TL;DR is EAT LESS.

This is not sound health or nutrition advice, but it's a pretty good demonstration of hyperfixation and mental disorder.


You sound fat.
 
Heliodorus
2023-01-28 12:54:22 PM  
Also, there is still no edit button. Thanks Drew.
 
Single Malt
2023-01-28 12:55:01 PM  
https://scholar.harvard.edu/exercised/home

I highly recommend this book. Not linking to Amazon -- find it at your local shop.

Also this one:
https://www.penguinrandomhouseretail.com/book/?isbn=9781609617356

I lost 60 pounds 2019-2021. Wasn't initially by choice but my wonderful wife convinced me to lean into it. It's really hard, but really worth it. It helps to find someone to go on the journey with you. Keep at it.
 
Fark_Guy_Rob
2023-01-28 1:15:20 PM  

OptionC: trialpha: Colonel_Angus: Think of all the people, like Concrete Donkey, who spend hours online every day posting the dumbest sh*t imaginable, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Hang out on the Entertainment tab, seeing comments about the hours they spend every day watching TV shows and movies, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Do the same on the Fandom tab and read the comments about games being played, and you have the reason. And then, look at the number of hours every day the average American spends on their smartphone (5+ hours).

Americans don't exercise because exercising is awful. It's boring, exhausting and unpleasant in basically every way. There's no surprise people aren't doing it. Would anyone be surprised if the article was "Most Americans aren't punching themselves in the face daily"?

If exercise is boring and unpleasant you're doing it wrong.  Find something active that you do enjoy and do that instead.


Exercise is boring and unpleasant. By definition:

activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness.
 
OptionC [TotalFark]
2023-01-28 1:17:21 PM  

Fark_Guy_Rob: OptionC: trialpha: Colonel_Angus: Think of all the people, like Concrete Donkey, who spend hours online every day posting the dumbest sh*t imaginable, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Hang out on the Entertainment tab, seeing comments about the hours they spend every day watching TV shows and movies, and you have the reason why Americans don't exercise. Do the same on the Fandom tab and read the comments about games being played, and you have the reason. And then, look at the number of hours every day the average American spends on their smartphone (5+ hours).

Americans don't exercise because exercising is awful. It's boring, exhausting and unpleasant in basically every way. There's no surprise people aren't doing it. Would anyone be surprised if the article was "Most Americans aren't punching themselves in the face daily"?

If exercise is boring and unpleasant you're doing it wrong.  Find something active that you do enjoy and do that instead.

Exercise is boring and unpleasant. By definition:

activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness.


Nothing in that definition requires boring and unpleasant.
 
milizard
2023-01-28 1:52:12 PM  
Exercise is great for maintaining health and ability to move as you get older, but you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet.  I'm 50, and just started running last July. It was hard to start, but now that I've achieved some endurance I don't want to stop. Also, although I'm overweight, I weigh a few more poubds now that before I started running 3 days/week. However, I'm getting closer since starting a diet 1 week ago. I've lost 30 pounds in the past, so I've already figured out how I need to eat, and i now abstain from drinking alcohol. (Covid lockdowns/boredom/wfh led me to snack more and start drinking.
 
The Weekend Baker
2023-01-28 2:04:49 PM  
Yet another study repeating something doctors have been telling us for at least the last 50-60 years, once Americans started transitioning to sedentary lifestyles.  Surely this time people will listen.

If you're like some of the people in this thread, who think any physical activity is distasteful, I hope your plans involve gradually buying larger and larger clothes, ending up with reduced mobility, and watching your money go towards medical bills.  Because those are the kinds of things that go with a sedentary lifestyle.

Exercise or don't, it's up to you.
 
psychosis_inducing
2023-01-28 2:53:30 PM  
All you people with helpful advice are ignoring some key points.
1) Aside from the most expensive cities in the country, America is car-based. Among other things, that means no walking to the grocery store (you'd get run over), no biking to work (you'd get run over), no walking the last quarter-mile between the subway stop and where you were headed (no subway), and no walking to visit people (you'd get run over).
This means you can't be active throughout every day. Instead, you have to drive everywhere, do all your work, your errands, your family time at home (if you live with a spouse/kids), and everything else in life. Then, after all that you have to squeeze in the time to drive to the gym and flagellate your body to make up for all the daily activity you can't get because you'd get run over.
2) American food is designed to be addictive. To lose weight by dieting, food vigilance practically has to become a personality trait.
3) Everyone merrily suggesting that we cook for ourselves, it's so easy... Well, a lot of people have two jobs, kids, and who knows what else going on in their lives. When are they supposed to find a few hours every day to start chopping onions? And of course, all cooking ends with cleanup, which takes a long time on its own. Those dishes don't wash themselves!
And before you suggest people make a huge vat of soup once a week.... That can take half a day. America famously doesn't give people days off from work. Do you realistically think anyone is going to have the energy to slog it in the kitchen on the one day a week they could get some goddamn sleep? Or take their kids places? Or visit friends they don't get to see often?
 
milizard
2023-01-28 4:41:58 PM  

psychosis_inducing: All you people with helpful advice are ignoring some key points.
1) Aside from the most expensive cities in the country, America is car-based. Among other things, that means no walking to the grocery store (you'd get run over), no biking to work (you'd get run over), no walking the last quarter-mile between the subway stop and where you were headed (no subway), and no walking to visit people (you'd get run over).
This means you can't be active throughout every day. Instead, you have to drive everywhere, do all your work, your errands, your family time at home (if you live with a spouse/kids), and everything else in life. Then, after all that you have to squeeze in the time to drive to the gym and flagellate your body to make up for all the daily activity you can't get because you'd get run over.
2) American food is designed to be addictive. To lose weight by dieting, food vigilance practically has to become a personality trait.
3) Everyone merrily suggesting that we cook for ourselves, it's so easy... Well, a lot of people have two jobs, kids, and who knows what else going on in their lives. When are they supposed to find a few hours every day to start chopping onions? And of course, all cooking ends with cleanup, which takes a long time on its own. Those dishes don't wash themselves!
And before you suggest people make a huge vat of soup once a week.... That can take half a day. America famously doesn't give people days off from work. Do you realistically think anyone is going to have the energy to slog it in the kitchen on the one day a week they could get some goddamn sleep? Or take their kids places? Or visit friends they don't get to see often?


Wow, that's a whole lot of lame excuses. You can do all your exercises at home for free, or walk around whenever you have an extra minute. Most people don't work 2 jobs. I still managed to carve out time last fall while working full time, taking 2 grad classes, and carting my 2 kids around to a million activities. You make time for what's important. What I didn't do during that crazy time: watch tv.
What else was there? Oh yeah, take some responsibility for what you choose to put in your mouth. Nobody is pinning you down shoving the garbage in. And it doesn't require perfection either. Just being mindful goes a long way.
 
trialpha
2023-01-28 5:23:42 PM  

milizard: Wow, that's a whole lot of lame excuses. You can do all your exercises at home for free, or walk around whenever you have an extra minute. Most people don't work 2 jobs. I still managed to carve out time last fall while working full time, taking 2 grad classes, and carting my 2 kids around to a million activities. You make time for what's important. What I didn't do during that crazy time: watch tv.


It's understandable that people might want to use their limited leisure time for something vaguely enjoyable, as opposed to torturing themselves further.
 
Autoerotic Defenestration
2023-01-28 9:30:33 PM  
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thelandsurfer
2023-01-29 3:19:31 AM  
Exercise doesn't have to be boring. I ride a 36 inch unicycle at least five times a week for upwards of three quarters of an hour, I very rarely eat desserts and mostly we have home cooked meals. At 60 I'm the fittest person in our group of friends.
Unicycling is one of the most amazing fitness regimes you can follow, with the plus side that folks from age 4 to  90 give you s**t eating grins as you roll on by, which is great incentive not to mention, good karma.
Grow old disgracefully...
There's nothing like jumping off gutters on a  unicycle outside the old folks home, not that any of them ever see it.
If you stop using it you lose it, peace...
 
Concrete Donkey
2023-01-29 6:38:53 AM  

trialpha: milizard: Wow, that's a whole lot of lame excuses. You can do all your exercises at home for free, or walk around whenever you have an extra minute. Most people don't work 2 jobs. I still managed to carve out time last fall while working full time, taking 2 grad classes, and carting my 2 kids around to a million activities. You make time for what's important. What I didn't do during that crazy time: watch tv.

It's understandable that people might want to use their limited leisure time for something vaguely enjoyable, as opposed to torturing themselves further.


Limited leisure time?

I have 8-16 hours a day to do whatever I want. Maybe you should have had some critical thinking before setting on your life path that left you a soulless empty desk drone
 
The Weekend Baker
2023-01-29 7:00:27 AM  

milizard: Wow, that's a whole lot of lame excuses.


Americans love lame excuses to explain the consequences of the choices we make.  It's what we do.  It's why one of my favorite quotes from Babylon 5 is...

There is always choice. We say that there is no choice only to comfort ourselves with a decision we have already made. (Lady Morella)

And the choice we've overwhelmingly made, as a country, is to eat garbage food in quantities that are too large, and to sit on our asses as much as we possibly can.  We'll continue to rationalize (lie to ourselves) why we can't do anything but that until we end up sick, and then wonder why the hell it happened.

As you described your busy life, my wife and I are the same.  We both work full-time jobs, yet we both prioritize our health.  Dinners are made from scratch every night in far less time than it would take to have a pizza delivered, which includes the time it takes to do the dishes.  We each spend a little time on the weekend prepping a few things for the upcoming week.  About 30 minutes for her to make a batch of muffins to last an entire week of breakfasts, and I spend a little longer (about 3 hours) prepping more -- muffins, a couple loaves of bread, boiling some eggs to go with weekday breakfasts, prepping an ice cream base that I churn on Sunday mornings, etc.  What else am I going to do, sit and watch football?  I've already dealt with cancer once, my health is more important to me than mindless entertainment.
 
redbucket
2023-01-29 8:59:36 AM  
I guess I'm not meeting the recommendations. I do 4 days of strength training/week but only 90 minutes of cardio (three 5k runs on the days I don't lift).

150 minutes of cardio/week seems like a lot to me. Oh well.
 
lostsatellite
2023-01-29 11:28:03 AM  

trialpha: OptionC: If exercise is boring and unpleasant you're doing it wrong. Find something active that you do enjoy and do that instead.

So I've been told. But I'm not aware of any activity that classifies as exercise that isn't unpleasant at best.

I've done the gym stuff - even had a personal trainer for a while. Obviously boring and unpleasant. Sports? Ugh. Biking, running? That's just gym activities with more steps.

The only thing I can think of is just walking around. But that's barely classifiable as exercise. Doctors are all "you need to strengthen core / improve cardio / etc", which walking definitely isn't going to do.


If you don't enjoy exerting yourself, treating your body well or the feel of conquering a challenge, that's not a problem with the people trying to convince you or the methods involved. You're just a lazy slob who is too undisciplined, pampered and weak. You want someone else to do the dirty work while you reap the benefits with no investment. You're an American.
 
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