Have any of you come down from major obesity to normal weight or even 
leanness? I've been reading in a popular political blog--a sub-group 
there of people struggling with their weight and health and posting on 
those topics regularly. It's amazing to me how none of them know the 
first thing about metabolism, carbs, insulin. I thought there was 
growing awareness of those things among educated people, but I guess I 
was wrong. Not even any mention of Atkins, let alone Cordain, Eades, 
Taubes, or Rosedale. They probably think that's all a bunch of 
dangerous hype, and they either think their genes are cursed, or they 
are wracked with guilt over their laziness and lack of willpower. They 
have no idea that it's just ignorance and that it's actually not that 
hard or painful to lose weight. I could find amusement in it, except 
that these people are in a lot of pain.

Here's one real question I have:
If you were trying to come down from a BMI of 50-something (like if I 
weighed 400lbs at 5'-11"), would you exercise at all, or just go 
zero-carb? (Well, even meat has carbs, but I mean really low.) These 
people think they have to not only starve themselves, but exercise as 
well. I think they are cutting calories but not carbs, so they're 
shooting themselves in the foot. They're not maximising fat-burning, 
and are losing precious lean mass as well as fat, if they're losing at 
all. It seems to me that getting their 400 pounds off the sofa and 
over to the refrigerator is workout enough. Getting up off the toilet 
is a major leg-press. Just to be able to move at all at 400 lbs. means 
they've actually got some muscles under there. Seems like they should 
go on full Atkins for maybe a year before actually trying to do any 
formal exercise, and not wreck their joints any further, or whatever 
other damage they might do. See, with all that fat, not only are they 
putting tremendous extra loads on all their joints, but the fat also 
puts their whole body in an inflammatory state, including their 
joints, I would expect, compounding the damage.

Thanks,
Hilary