Any other weight loss truisms?

If maintaining goal weight was a matter of money, then there wouldn’t be any overweight rich people (Shatner, Orson Wells, Bill Gates, Ryan O’Neal, Elvis, etc).

95% of weight control is food control.

Exercise has very little to do with weight control. For every five calories you burn exercising, you become six calories hungrier.

Fat people aren’t fat because they don’t exercise, thin people aren’t thin because they do.

People aren’t thin because they run. They run because they are thin.

There are three types of people: thin people, overweight people, and temporarily thin people. If you are overweight, then you are overweight. If you are thin, then 1) you are thin or 2) you were overweight, you lost weight but you are almost certain to put it back on.

Overweight people are in one sense destined to be miserable the rest of their lives: They’ll either be overweight and miserable or hungry and miserable.

It’s easier to lose 40 pounds in six months than it is to keep five pounds off for six months.

The easiest way to lose weight and keep it off for good is to change your genes.

The only diet that has ever worked is the HNM diet: Hungry ‘N Miserable.

People aren’t really fat, they’re just short for their weight.

Overweight people drink Diet Coke; Thin people drink regular Coke.

Vanity and appearance are the biggest (but not the only) motivators for weight loss and exercise for 80% of people under 50. Before 50, biology trumps longevity: Getting layed (men) or marrying rich (women) is more imporant than not dying young and not feeling good. (“Tight butts get rich husbands” and “A man will marry the best looking woman he can afford”.)

Specifically for men: 95% of men lift weights primarily for vanity reasons. Evidence: Most men who lift weights spend more time lifting than doing cardio. (Look around at the gym: men are mostly on weights, women on the cardio machines.) While lifting weights is important, cardio takes priority. So if someone has one hour a day of time in their schedule to exercise (a reasonable assumption) and most of that time is lifting, then it can be argued that health takes a back seat to appearance.

Prioritizing weight lifting over cardio is the fitness equivalent of paying down a 6% mortgage while maintaining an 18% credit card balance.