dive into mark

How America Is Making You Fat. [via WebWord] Modern “time-saving” and “labor-saving” devices do exactly what we want them to do: save us time and labor, and therefore reduce our opportunities to burn calories throughout the day. Ditto for delivery services. And drive-throughs. And all-in-one superstores. And by the way, fast food companies are not conspiring against us; they are just responding to what we want with no regard for the consequences.

This reminds me of a story. It’s a story with a happy ending, but you’re not going to like it.

I lost 60 pounds in 11 months on The Hacker’s Diet, and I’ve kept it off for over a year. Despite the too-cute title, it is full of detailed, down-to-earth advice that you don’t want to hear. Here’s what I learned:

• Your body is a rubber bag; food goes in, calories are burned by various activities, and shit goes out. You can’t control how much shit goes out. (Actually, this is no longer true; if you’re seriously overweight, there are drugs that can help, but it’s dangerous and, um, messy.)
• You would be surprised how few calories you burn by various activities, even serious exercise like jogging five miles a day. (Don’t kid yourself; jogging five miles doesn’t even cancel out a single fast food burger.)
• The only alternative, the only variable left in the equation, is to eat less food. It’s a simple concept, but most people don’t want to hear it.

You should, of course, also exercise, since this will increase your metabolism in the long run, as well as firm up your shape as you lose pounds by eating less food. “The Hacker’s Diet” gives details on a very simple exercise regimen which takes no more than 15 minutes a day. You can do it in the privacy of your own home, and it requires no equipment whatsoever. It is built like a ladder; you start on the bottom rung (2 bends, 3 sit ups, 4 leg lifts, 2 push ups, and 105 steps running in place) and work your way up slowly, about 1 rung per week (assuming you really do it every day). At rung 15, the exercises themselves become slightly harder, but other than that, you do the same thing every day until you plateau at your optimal exercise level. I’ve plateaued on rung 30 — that’s 36 bends, 28 sit ups, 40 leg lifts, 23 push ups, and 515 steps running in place. Every day. Which is why I’ve maintained my weight loss for 14 months since reaching my optimal weight.

That, and I’m still eating less food.

Here are some more unpleasant truths from “The Hacker’s Diet”:

• Your body is a summary of your lifestyle. If anyone tells you that you can be exactly who you are now, only thinner, they’re lying.
• Any fad diet that tells you to do something extraordinary in the short term and “gradually go back to normal” (like the Atkins Diet) will work in the short term and fail in the long term. Your normal habits are what got you where you are in the first place. (Note: the people responsible for the Atkins Diet now claim that they were sorely misunderstood and that you should eat healthy forever. Glad they finally figured that out.)
• Fast food companies are not in a conspiracy against you, your thighs, or any other part of civilization. They are methodically responding to what their customers want, without any regard for the consequences. If you don’t want those consequences, stop being one of their customers.

Oh, and eat less food. Forever. Starting now.

I told you you wouldn’t like it.

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