[sw104]

> The entire experience made me feel like the fitness industry is bordering on fraud with the promises.

The fitness industry is very broad and is by no means just about weight loss. There's a large amount of people who are a normal weight, but not "fit" (ie. skinny fat).

It has been established for a long time that weight is generally diet based ("abs are made in the kitchen" etc), and every diet under the sun is some variation of CICO. Nobody is hiding it, nor is it a secret. It's just hard, and it takes work.

That said, exercise can boost weight loss. If you run 5 miles, you burn 500-ish extra calories which can be used to eat more or accelerate weight loss. I burn around 1500-2000 extra calories a day as a semi-professional athlete (3/4 hours per day).

Having lost a similar amount of weight (12kg) in a similar timeframe (2-3 months) last year, it's important to realise that a big portion of the initial weight loss upon a sudden diet change is water weight. You're probably eating less salt, which means your body isn't retaining as much water (which is very heavy in the body). It's important to keep doing something (like your resistance training) so your body doesn't burn off muscle mass as well, and it's important to ensure that the diet is sustainable, and as a side note, at some point weight loss will hit a slowdown or plateau somewhere above your target weight. Keep at it!

A lot of people lose a lot of weight, then go back to their former habits and put it all back on, plus extra. You have to be careful and make sure the changes you make are sustainable. Unless you're a very heavy weight, it's better to steadily lose weight than lose it very quickly, as this makes it more sustainable.

Exercise can make weight loss more sustainable because it can give you different goals that take your mind off of the number on the scales. For example, if you take up running and work up to 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathons, and improving your own time, you can stay slim without really thinking about it, and reap the benefits of better cardiovascular health and a stronger body.

I'm surprised your doctor/nutritionist expresses shock at the weight loss. If they have a rough idea of what you eat, they shouldn't be shocked. I'd advise finding another.

All that said, great job on the weight loss so far! What's your end goal if you don't mind me asking?

[mrcode007]

Yes, my bad. I described the fitness industry with too broad terms but implicitly I was referring to weight loss promoting workouts. A lot of them promise unrealistic effects unless you commit to becoming an athlete and working out 6 to 8 hours a day. The modern food technology has gotten so good the processed foods pack extremely high density of calories into very small volumes. It’s not uncommon to have a dinner with 3000-4000 calories without even realizing it. Grab an 800 calories smoothie after a workout, a burger for dinner, you’re well on your way already.

As for water and salt, I’m supplementing salt and drinking about 4-5 times more water than I used to. I used to live on coffee and tea. No actual pure water. I don’t know if that’s more or less salt than before but I’m drinking waaaay more water than I used to. This seems to help digestion and with metabolic processes.

My goal was to address my health comprehensively and eliminate feeling like crap and chronic low key inflammation of the whole body.