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Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#211
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds more like a malnutrition issue no? If all you were eating is bacon and nothing else.

But does anecdotally disprove the pure calories in, calories out rule.

It doesn't. If you maintain a fully rounded meal while also scaling calories in/out it holds.

I can straight up eat sugar only too for a month and have the same weight loss results, also diabetes.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false. Also, hilarious adventure I went on once: I ate 4000 calories of bacon a day and nothing else for a month... ended up cutting it off a little early because I was losing weight too quickly. Your second and third points however are scientifically supported, but do not confuse this with "obesity is complicated." It is not ho…

> Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false. Citation, please.

Watch "Food Inc" where this has been discussed in detail. http://dailyburn.com/life/health/diet-truth-calories-countin...

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#213

The leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. >90% of these cases can be attributed to an overweight population. It's not an easy problem to solve, but there has to be a way to fix it. Lots of calorie counting apps, activity trackers, motivational reminder apps, etc. Obesity is very complicated, but there are three basic facts: 1. Calories in, calories out is the golden rule. 2. The vast majority of calories…

Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false. Also, hilarious adventure I went on once: I ate 4000 calories of bacon a day and nothing else for a month... ended up cutting it off a little early because I was losing weight too quickly. Your second and third points however are scientifically supported, but do not confuse this with "obesity is complicated." It is not ho…

To add on to this, my understanding is that technically "calories in, calories out" is correct in the sense that weight gain/loss depends on the net caloric intake for your body. But your base metabolic rate, and as a result your daily energy expenditure, is affected by many different things, including the composition of the calories and the timing of the consumption. Insulin plays a major role in weight gain/loss, and simple carbohydrates have a tendency to spike it.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#214

The leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. >90% of these cases can be attributed to an overweight population. It's not an easy problem to solve, but there has to be a way to fix it. Lots of calorie counting apps, activity trackers, motivational reminder apps, etc. Obesity is very complicated, but there are three basic facts: 1. Calories in, calories out is the golden rule. 2. The vast majority of calories…

Gyroscope is doing stuff to combat this! Give it a look https://gyrosco.pe

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#215

A marketplace for specialized micro-consulting(30 minutes to an hour). I've seen plenty of projects that are rife with anti-patterns because a team was unfamiliar with a problem or technology and made a bunch of bad decisions while they were still coming up to speed. The use-case I envision would fix this. Because it's really a travesty that when we're the least familiar with technologies is when we make some of the…

Wouldn't reading a book about React before they started working with it be preferrable?

That's something I've seen getting much worse over the past decade with the proliferation of frameworks. What you call "getting up to speed" is tempting to call "playing with". People work with tools that they have no knowledge of. Learning on the job is good, but I think one should have at least an idea of how the tools are supposed to be used and how they are implemented before doing anything else than throwaways.

I don't know how to fix it really, it more of a cultural thing than a technical. Knowledge must somehow be cool and respected again. Or maybe I'm just getting old and this is really a faster way of building things. I just can't think of any other area where professionals jump to the next tool without even learning the one they use.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#216

The leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. >90% of these cases can be attributed to an overweight population. It's not an easy problem to solve, but there has to be a way to fix it. Lots of calorie counting apps, activity trackers, motivational reminder apps, etc. Obesity is very complicated, but there are three basic facts: 1. Calories in, calories out is the golden rule. 2. The vast majority of calories…

Gyroscope is doing stuff to combat this! Give it a look https://gyrosco.pe

This looks like an app for the quantified self crowd. It seems to just collect all the various body-tracking devices normal people don't use into one dashboard. How's it going to help with the obesity epidemic?

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#217
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is not making the tools, it's getting everybody to learn and use them.

I'm wondering if some kind of mind-map/graph mashed-up with a wikipedia model and "likes" on each node, can help drive decisions or is it just too naive/simplistic and low adoption

It starts with the issue that most people don't especially like to use computers and will avoid them if they can.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#218

The leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. >90% of these cases can be attributed to an overweight population. It's not an easy problem to solve, but there has to be a way to fix it. Lots of calorie counting apps, activity trackers, motivational reminder apps, etc. Obesity is very complicated, but there are three basic facts: 1. Calories in, calories out is the golden rule. 2. The vast majority of calories…

Calories in, calories out is not the golden rule, and this has been scientifically proven false. Also, hilarious adventure I went on once: I ate 4000 calories of bacon a day and nothing else for a month... ended up cutting it off a little early because I was losing weight too quickly. Your second and third points however are scientifically supported, but do not confuse this with "obesity is complicated." It is not ho…

Energy in, energy out sounds pretty basic to me. I would be interested to know where you think your energy intake comes from, unless it is from food?

Or is it just the caloric measurement you think is irrelevant for human energy intake? While obviously imperfect, I'm skeptical it could be an order of magnitude off for example.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#219

The leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. >90% of these cases can be attributed to an overweight population. It's not an easy problem to solve, but there has to be a way to fix it. Lots of calorie counting apps, activity trackers, motivational reminder apps, etc. Obesity is very complicated, but there are three basic facts: 1. Calories in, calories out is the golden rule. 2. The vast majority of calories…

Can't say I'm an expert, but I don't think hobbies or other such activities can replace eating too much and/or shitty food. I mean, the typical stereotypes show the opposite: playing console with friends, going out to the movies or to a party, even programming (solitary or "hackathons"), often involve the consumption of loads of sugary soda and other crap. BBQs and similar social meals are often the same.

Hobbies involving exercise may be an exception, but when you're already overweight, these often aren't so much "hobbies" as ordeals, and unlikely to function as any kind of reward.

As someone in the market, it'd help quite a bit if there were healthier and tasty alternatives. Unfortunately, the current offers seem to be expensive and hard to get (if you have to order a whole box over the 'net, forget it).

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#220
post #211
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But does anecdotally disprove the pure calories in, calories out rule.

It doesn't. If you maintain a fully rounded meal while also scaling calories in/out it holds. I can straight up eat sugar only too for a month and have the same weight loss results, also diabetes.

That's the point, isn't it? If the roundness of the meal matters, it's not just calories in/out.
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