This Is What We’re Up Against

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This is what we’re up against. The media acts like the media in that it takes an idea and then turns it into a big ball of fuck. In this article, researchers allowed fat people the option to have sugar-dense (fattening) food in the morning (i.e. cakes, cookies, chocolate, and ice cream) and found that those people lost more weight than the other group. The average American will see this, fist pump, and proceed to continue eating like shit.

There are numerous problems with the news article itself. It points out that the “cakes breakfast” was also “protein enriched”, though it doesn’t indicate any quantified amounts. It doesn’t note if the non-cakes group also focused on “enriching their protein” or not, and if so what the quantified amounts were. Both groups were essentially on a calorie deficit diet, but the emphasis on a balanced breakfast — or having breakfast period — is going to play a major role in metabolizing fat. In other words, the author fucking sucks because they didn’t describe the study well. And if the author was restricted by editors, the editors fucking suck because they are okay with providing a stupid-ass message as a perceived authority. Even if half of the population understands basic science to realize that this article blows (they don’t), that still leaves the other half of the population that is going to say, “Hey, I can eat like shit and lose weight!”

CONTINUE READING

This irritates the shit out of me for several reasons. First, it provides a shortcut. If you’ve been training for a while, you know that there are no shortcuts. To anything. The first line on the back of “FIT” says, “Fitness is hard. Very Hard.” Giving people the erroneous impression of ease makes me sick. More often than not, fat people are fat because they do things that make them fat. Poor people are poor because they do things that make them poor. While this isn’t always the case, the belief that it is empowers the individual to actually give a shit.

Second, the food choice itself is a selection of crap that will only cause problems. Eating like shit is going to have shitty consequences; garbage in = garbage out. It must be nice to have the mindset that you can eat whatever you want and not worry about the repercussions of those choices. People who do that are called “lazy” or “mediocre”. It’s not easy to make a choice that’s going to help you recover better, or to have the creativity to find or make the things that can still make you strong and muscular. It’s not easy to make the choices in life that lead to what you want. But if you want to be mediocre, then keep doing mediocre things.

Lastly, the article coddles people and reinforces their shitty behavior. The little shit dog is barking incessantly at others? Pick it up in your arms and soothe it. The kid whines about not getting their way? Hug them and console them. The fat person wants to lose fat but not at any real expense? Tell them they can eat fucking cake for breakfast. CAKE! Literally eating a big-ass cookie for breakfast! Positions of perceived authority shouldn’t reinforce negative behavior because it results in a sub-par follower.

This is what we’re up against. The world wants to make things easier. Ease reduces sacrifice, but sacrifice is the thing that makes us better. Sacrifice is necessary to be great, and being great is the maximization of your potential. If you truly want to achieve what you’re capable of, then ignore shortcuts, consider the consequences of your actions, and don’t coddle your feelings. It’s not always easy, but neither is lifting weights.

46 thoughts on “This Is What We’re Up Against”

  3. Whenever you rant like this I feel like you are the Mike and the rest of us are Sam and Will. And you are telling us to go blow up some fucking isos. Like my adrenaline is pumping for some reason right now.

    I laughed pretty hard. This was good. I played Sam in high school, often in a cocked 9 two point stance on the tight end. College was Sam/Hammer in a 3-4.

    –Justin

  4. I strongly agree with the general message and think this is a great post, but I’m not happy about you casting CM in a negative light.

    Also the second last paragraph is a missed opportunity to post Rush.

    The cookie monster pic was just kinda random. For the record, he is awesome and not the enemy. It was either him or a fat person trying to eat a cookie off their shoulder.

    –Justin

  5. “Easy and strong are opposing concepts” – Mark Rippetoe (i’m possibly paraphrasing.

    Also, people who are in the hospital die at higher rates than those outside the hospital. So if you get sick, stay the hell away from hospitals.

  7. Thank. Fucking. You. An unfortunate side-effect of the ease provided by modern life is the twisted notion that everything SHOULD be easy. You don’t have to look very far to see this, from how the educational system works to fitness to the workplace and so on. Even more dangerous than the notion presented by this “study” is the FDA’s recent move to fast-track Qnexa, a mix of phentermine (half of phen-fen, remember how well that ended?) topiramate (an anti-seizure medication) because the risks associated with using the drug, to their twisted thinking, are lower than just being a fat sack of shit.

    And before anyone criticizes me for making fun of fat people, I WAS a fat sack of shit for most of my life before I decided that I wanted to make my own decisions, get strong, and stop being coddled by the food and medical industries. I’ve lost about 200 pounds and 70’s Big has been a big part of moving to a healthier lifestyle precisely you don’t attempt to trick your readers into quick fixes and fad bullshit. Rip’s outlook and ideas on this level seem to fall in a similar line.

    Lots of people ask me what they should do and balk at the idea of putting the effort in, either nutritionally, educationally, or under the fucking bar. Yeah, it’s hard, but anything that is hard is usually good for you and worth your time and attention.

    Thanks for the comment. Glad you’ve got things on lock down.

    –Justin

  11. Not everyone cares to be ripped, jacked, super-fit individuals. Most people just want to look decent, be decently healthy, and able to move decently. I don’t see how having one dessert a day within a moderate or small serving size would make someone a completely unhealthy fat sack of shit. Just don’t eat a whole cake. It’s the whole “moderation” thing.

    I never said you couldn’t moderate.

    –Justin

  14. this is the story of my life. I’m surrounded by mostly women all day at work, and not smoking hot chicks, and they eat terribly all day long and are always talking about a new fad diet, then they look at me like i’m a caged rino when I drink my protein shake or bring in lunch and it’s all meat. Justin you nailed it in the last paragraph about sacrifice.

    Everyone typically wants it, but no one wants to work their dick off for it.

  16. That is sad. Anyone who has studied science or statistics in college knows how hard it really is to pull off a solid analysis. 144 is a small sample. And the turds in the media are worse than the turds who do the poor studies. It’s all a gimmick from the study to the coverage…couldn’t they use protein enriched toast? oatmeal? granola? Nope – cake.

    ps – was it beefcake?
    http://static.zoovy.com/img/2bhip/W1001-H1025-Bffffff/T/ts934_00_closeup_of_south_park_eric_cartman_beefcake_weight_gain_4000_cartoon_t.jpg

  17. Fist pump to this post! Sometimes a 70sBig post is like the guy with the American Flag shirt in Forest Gump. “He’s talking about the perpetuation of the obesity Epidemic in the wester-fucking-world world world!!!” The news article reminds me of when people don’t want to quit smoking because they’re afraid to gain weight. I learned a new word this morning: schadenfeud. It means finding joy in the misfortunes of others. And although it’s not the post’s intent, this post reminds me of that becuase it reminds me of one of the main reasons I have a facebook account–so that I can watch the people who never wanted to work hard at anything slowly deteriorate into the failures they swore they’d never become; the type of failure they figured I’d be. A few weeks ago we talked about what motivates us to train hard no matter what. That fucking motivates me. One trip to the doctor’s office where the waiting room is filled with obese, chronically ill people waiting for their meds motivates me.

    “You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal.” –Henry Rollins

    Not everyone wants to be jacked, but most people would take a pill for it if one existed.

  22. whatever, eat cake and cookies if you want, be responsible about it, but shit, eating cake for breakfast is such a fucking fat move. I know this because I’ve eaten cake for breakfast before…and I have been fat as fuck before too.

    Now I just keep the cakes and shit to celebrations/holidays and it’s all good.

    I have plenty of pictures around the house that remind me why i don’t eat cake for breakfast anymore.

    p.s. how excited do you think the obese participants of this study were when they realized they get to eat cake for breakfast.

  24. Yo great post. @maslow, you are crazy man but I agree, this type of shit gets me up as we used to say in college. Gets me jacked to go crush kilos no matter how many times the bar tries to kill me. On a similar note, two weeks ago I was prepping for my competition and eating super clean and really watching water intake and in general looking more shredded than I have in a while. You could noticeably tell on my shin/ neck area. Well this girl from my office noticed and asked me about it and I said I had been working out a bit more than before. She then said, oh with guys its so easy, you just start doing a few more push ups and it looks like you are working otu all the time. And at that point I wanted to punch her in the face because if she had any idea the sacrifice, dedication, and not to mention the lack of eating that had gotten me to that place plus the hours and hours in the gym, at the squat rack, cooking my food, etc… it would blow her mind. eff all that

  29. So I just got my haircut and as I was finishing up I overheard the guy next to me say something to his barber about his wife/girlfriend being into crossfit. The barber asked if he worked out as well. He replied with a resounding “No, look at me I am gorgeous.” She proceeded to ask if he had a six pack and he replied in the affirmative. Anyways, only sort of relevant to this article but my next workout is going to be a beast because seriously, fuck that guy.

  30. Great fucking post. I’ve been disgusted with society lately on how complacent people are. It’s like no one gives a shit that they’re not all they can be.
    @Maslow- what you said about the pill was so true it gave me a boner. I have a truth boner.

  32. Kia ora everyone,

    I’m a powerlifter and (budding) oly lifter from New Zealand. Have been lurking on 70sbig for some time now, so thought it’s about time I shared my insightful and considered opinions with y’all.

    First, I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment of this post. The media is pretty much unrivalled at misreporting scientific papers/findings, misconstruing results and plucking ridiculous conclusions right out of their collective A-holes (Czech out Bad Science by Ben Goldacre if you’re after an entertaining/terrifying look at stuff like this).

    I also regularly alternate between laughter and tears when I come across yet another fucking example of our unfaltering willingness to believe that we can achieve all our dreams with little to no effort at all. I weep for the future…

    One minor point tho: I disagree with the assertion that poor people are poor because they do things that make them poor. There is a wealth of research (and historical information that has been subjected to the scientific method) that refutes this. Sorry, not trying to offend anyone or hijack this thread.

    Thanks and great to meet you all!

  35. “But if you eat what you like, you decrease cravings. The cake — a small piece — is important.”

    This is not a scientist who says this. This is a FUCKING RETARD!!!!!
    Yeah, you never feel like eating shit when you eat shit. If I could punch someone in the face through my computer only once per year, I would have spend it on this douche.

  39. Chris2004, same deal here. I want to know when it became something worth remarking on to eat actual food for lunch at work. I’ve been in this job since April and I don’t think there’s been a stretch of more than two days where someone hasn’t brought in a load of cake, sweets, cookies or whatever. But while they’re snacking on this shit day in day out, they’ll be moaning about their weight or how they can’t lose it, or obsessing over some celebrity diet bullshit.

  40. dave h – all day i hear about BMI and how many calories they’re allowed to have. I just heard this one yesterday “HeY Do YoU KnOw HoW MaNy of tHeSe cHiPs I’M aLloWed tO HaVe oN mY dIeT? 20 cAn yOu bElIeVe tHat?” yea i can…that’s amazing, that’s why you’re not shedding pounds and sound like a badger devouring them.

    then they look at me funny when they catch me watching lifting videos.

  41. Yeah same kind of thing here. Someone asked me about my diet and I said I mostly just eat meat, fish, veg, fruit and nuts, with stuff like bread and rice here and there to support my training. I got all these baffled looks in return, as if by avoiding cake I’m missing out on the most important food group.

  43. People where already disguising that they where eating cake before breakfast.

    “It’s breakfast and I can’t have cake…sigh. I’ll have a muffin!”

    “You know what the difference between a cake and a muffin is? Nothin! A Muffin is a Bald Cupcake.”

  44. Long time lurker, first time poster. That article is just ridiculous. Compelled me to come out of my corner and post. Have to agree with all the above posts, especially about at-work diets. I also work in an office with mostly women, and the way they stuff themselves with unhealthy things is outrageous. Every friday they bring in bagels, donuts, or muffins. they order take-out all the time, be it chinese, pizza, etc. its awful. they learned a long time ago not to ask me if i want to order. i work at a hospital, and i am behind an effort to build up an employee wellness program, because our hospital went overbudget last year for employee healthcare cost. by A LOT. i wonder why….
    it’s like waging a daily battle against their awful food choices. and these are not small people…maybe once upon a time.
    anyway, rant over.

  45. This reminds me of the time I had a friend try an experiment (something us psychology majors seem to do to waste time)- if he believed that he was losing weight while eating food, he could eat whatever he wanted.

    He successfully gained 30lbs in a year.

    Yay empirical research!!!!!!

  46. Pingback: February 28, 2012 « CrossFit Motivate

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