President's Challenge Group

[dwb]

Weight is gained or lost in the kitchen. We have access to such an abundance of calories, and so many of those foods are addictive and have no redeeming nutritional qualities. I think it's harder to be a healthy weight today than it probably ever has been.

The President's Challenge is fine to get people moving, but the federal government needs to stop subsidizing unhealthy food ingredients if they want to combat obesity.

[THRAWN]

Weight is gained or lost in the kitchen. We have access to such an abundance of calories, and so many of those foods are addictive and have no redeeming nutritional qualities. I think it's harder to be a healthy weight today than it probably ever has been.

The President's Challenge is fine to get people moving, but the federal government needs to stop subsidizing unhealthy food ingredients if they want to combat obesity.

It's an excellent opportunity to exercise (literally) some personal initiative and become informed about what you're ingesting. It's not Uncle's job to make sure that I have a trim waistline.

[winterg]

I have to agree with Thrawn. I packed on the pounds because I took the convenient route with my diet and ate what was fast and cheap instead of making more responsible choices with healthier foods. It is my responsibility to fix it.  If we, as a society, stopped patronizing the fast food joints they would stop popping up on every corner. 

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

[Майор Хаткевич]

I have to agree with Thrawn. I packed on the pounds because I took the convenient route with my diet and ate what was fast and cheap instead of making more responsible choices with healthier foods. It is my responsibility to fix it.  If we, as a society, stopped patronizing the fast food joints they would stop popping up on every corner. 

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

It's not just fast food, it's the (majority of) supermarket. Grains are the biggest component of the food pyramid table? Carbs! Carbs! Carbs!


Which is wrong. We need the Protein, we need the Fat, and we need Carbs, yes, but not nearly as many as we're told to eat. Right now my diet, at 2034 calories (which is a 700-800 deficit / day without workouts), consists of 180g of Carbs, 66g of Fats, 180g of Protein per day. For about 2 months it was 100g of Carbs, 80g of Fat, 160g of Protein at just over 1800 cals per day. The latter wasn't sustainable. At about the 6 week mark I had a 10-20% power loss, and all of my weight training peak points dropped. I'm talking drastic power loss, so yes, I needed more Carbs. But since I use MFP, and log even on cheat days, the food that I'd "normally" eat was way Carb/Fat heavy, and way low on protein. So that means not enough muscle gain/maintenance, and a lot of fat creation.

[dwb]

It's an excellent opportunity to exercise (literally) some personal initiative and become informed about what you're ingesting. It's not Uncle's job to make sure that I have a trim waistline.

I have to agree with Thrawn. I packed on the pounds because I took the convenient route with my diet and ate what was fast and cheap instead of making more responsible choices with healthier foods. It is my responsibility to fix it.  If we, as a society, stopped patronizing the fast food joints they would stop popping up on every corner.

I was responding to the article about the President's Challenge, saying that while encouraging exercise is great, it's not going to combat obesity, which is driven largely by diet.

It is not Uncle Sam's job to make sure I am a healthy weight, but it's also not his job to subsidize the corn, wheat, and sugar that is making me fat to begin with. If incentives are being paid for by the government, those incentives should at least be geared toward healthy outcomes.

[THRAWN]

It's an excellent opportunity to exercise (literally) some personal initiative and become informed about what you're ingesting. It's not Uncle's job to make sure that I have a trim waistline.

I have to agree with Thrawn. I packed on the pounds because I took the convenient route with my diet and ate what was fast and cheap instead of making more responsible choices with healthier foods. It is my responsibility to fix it.  If we, as a society, stopped patronizing the fast food joints they would stop popping up on every corner.

I was responding to the article about the President's Challenge, saying that while encouraging exercise is great, it's not going to combat obesity, which is driven largely by diet.

It is not Uncle Sam's job to make sure I am a healthy weight, but it's also not his job to subsidize the corn, wheat, and sugar that is making me fat to begin with. If incentives are being paid for by the government, those incentives should at least be geared toward healthy outcomes.

Call your congressman and make that point. It's a bit outside of our span of control. Diet and exercise are complimentary in the "battle of the bulge". It's good that you remind us of that.

[Spaceman3750]

... but it's also not his job to subsidize the corn, wheat, and sugar that is making me fat to begin with. If incentives are being paid for by the government, those incentives should at least be geared toward healthy outcomes.

Corn, wheat, and sugar has been part of (human)kind's diet for about the last forever, and only in the last few decades has obesity become the widespread problem we know today. It's more likely that America's habit of overindulgence is to blame. I could also buy that preservatives and chemicals play a role, but overindulgence is probably a good place to start.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to go order my lunch - double porkwich with bacon and mayo.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Corn, wheat, and sugar has been part of (human)kind's diet for about the last forever, and only in the last few decades has obesity become the widespread problem we know today. It's more likely that America's habit of overindulgence is to blame. I could also buy that preservatives and chemicals play a role, but overindulgence is probably a good place to start.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to go order my lunch - double porkwich with bacon and mayo.

They have not, actually. Only in the last few hundred years has corn become what it is.


This is corn, with the smallest being what it was when the Europeans came here:



Sugar?





Wheat specifically is an odd duck, but plenty of carb increase.


The reason the subsidies hurt is that it drives the price down on the "staples". Good in theory, so that the people don't go hungry, but bad because it's really not the healthy choice, which is what dwb is talking about.


The subsidies allowed for these things to become staples, while selective breeding and improving harvesting technologies allowed for larger crops and cheaper prices.

[SarDragon]

My various doctors over the years have pushed the idea of portion control along with exercise as the primary method for weight control. I eat what I want, but watch the quantities. Package sizes help a lot. For instance, we get the boxes of small bags of chips, instead of the huge bags. It's a little more expensive, but now we have defined portions.  My Sweetie does try to cook healthy meals, and that helps, too. She makes enough for a couple of meals, splits it up, and freezes what we don't eat that day. Our menu is planned out a month at a time, so we can keep track of what's in the freezer, and what needs to go on the shopping list for the biweekly trip to the Commissary.

I've never been what anyone might call fat, but my weight has inched up over the years. At my peak, the gain amounted to 50 pounds over 45 years, from 130-something when I graduated HS, to a high of 188. I have a little bit of a belly, but I'm no longer doing a couple of hundred situps a week, either. My hospital stay got me back down below 170 from something over 185, and I've managed to stay below 175 since then. I even went down a pants size from 38 waist to 36.

[winterg]

I just earned the Great Barrier Reef badge on my Fitbit for hitting 1,600 miles!

I am also about 40% of the way to the Bronze award in the President's Challenge.  How is everyone else doing?

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

[THRAWN]

I just earned the Great Barrier Reef badge on my Fitbit for hitting 1,600 miles!

I am also about 40% of the way to the Bronze award in the President's Challenge.  How is everyone else doing?

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

I'm in the same zone for the PC Bronze. Sleeping better, had to buy new pants already. Bridey is happy.

[winterg]

I just earned the Great Barrier Reef badge on my Fitbit for hitting 1,600 miles!

I am also about 40% of the way to the Bronze award in the President's Challenge.  How is everyone else doing?

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

I'm in the same zone for the PC Bronze. Sleeping better, had to buy new pants already. Bridey is happy.

Glad to hear it!

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

[MHC5096]

I slacked a little bit over the past week while on a cruise, but I still manged to get a little over 58k steps. As of today I am at 98.81% towards the Bronze Award. 😎

[winterg]

I slacked a little bit over the past week while on a cruise, but I still manged to get a little over 58k steps. As of today I am at 98.81% towards the Bronze Award. 😎

Outstanding! I'm about halfway to my Bronze now. 

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

[tribalelder]

Late joiner.  Using a vivoactive--my bride's idea.  Lost about 20 lbs over last 2 yrs--mostly portion control collateral damage as my better half pursued WW.  Wish all success!

Using vivoactive-- will need to figure out how to report/ synch.

Snowbird--in FL, can do a lot of our errands by bike 3-5 miles each way
IL- both Il prairie path and great western trail within 1.5 miles

[winterg]

Late joiner.  Using a vivoactive--my bride's idea.  Lost about 20 lbs over last 2 yrs--mostly portion control collateral damage as my better half pursued WW.  Wish all success!
Using vivoactive-- will need to figure out how to report/ synch.
Snowbird--in FL, can do a lot of our errands by bike 3-5 miles each way
IL- both Il prairie path and great western trail within 1.5 miles

Welcome to the group!

The President's Challenge site currently only lets you sync a Fitbit, Garmin, or Misfit.  Any other trackers you will have to manually enter your data.

[MHC5096]

Presidential Champions Bronze Award achieved on 07/02! Now on to Silver! 

[winterg]

Well done!

Transmitted via my R5 astromech.

[MHC5096]

Keep at it. The good new is that by the time you get the Bronze award you will already be close to 50% of the way towards the Silver award.

[winterg]

How is everyone doing? Are you still crushing it? 

If your social media is like mine it is completely filled with Pokemon Go.  Not a bad idea.  It gives a lot of people a reason to get off the couch and get moving.  But maybe hunting pocket monsters in the latest iteration of a 90's game doesn't appeal to you.  Here is another option.

The first geolocation game made by Niantic Labs is called Ingress and is still wildly popular.  Give it a try.  Maybe it will be another reason to go for a walk today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6-JAm3NCAk

P.S. Enlightened rule.