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Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

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Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#521

Post by palindrome818 »

bin_bash wrote: post #457
bjoli wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A colleague of mine decided to do an orthodox fast like his Romanian mother. In whatever how many weeks it was, he ended up losing 6kg and dropping his total cholesterol by something like 100 points. He now eats mostly pescetarian.

Reminds me of Loma Linda in California. The healthiest community in the country is made up of highly religious Christian, vegetarian teetotalers. https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/25/health/longevity-blue-zone-we...

the blue zone diets are all really interesting because it really makes the point that, while what you eat is important, there are huge variances. Like that Japanese blue zone that eats spam

Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#523

Post by prepend »

_williamkennedy wrote: post #373

Some of the advice here is bordering on dangerous. From intermittent fasting to only eating one meal a day. These are dangerous things to jump into and recommend without some fact finding first. Although I appreciate people are speaking from their own experience. I don't know your particular circumstances so I'm not going to recommend specific advice. I need to know some things about you such as: How overweight are y…

I don’t think one meal a day is dangerous advice at all. It’s not possible to permanently harm yourself doing it.

There are risks in all endeavors. And intermittent casting’s risk is something like failing and gaining weight.

But anyone should be able to try it for a week and see how it works without serious risk. It’s not a dangerous chemical or medication.

Of course, fact finding is good before all things and I kind of assume that HN readers are naturally curious so are but into fact finding before, during, and after new things.

Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#524

Post by thecolorblue »

Cooking my own food is the most effective hack I've used. Find salad recipes you like, add some grilled chicken breast, and that should be enough for a dinner.

I have found that a weight tracking app that connects to a digital scale gives you a very accurate picture of your weight. When I was really trying to lose weight, I would weigh myself multiple times a day, and the app would be able to show trends in the data.

Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#525

Post by alfl »

StevePerkins wrote: post #513

Lift weights two or three times per week, and walk just barely enough to avoid being completely sedentary. Nothing crazy, I'm talking about using the weight machines at a gym, and walking just ~8k steps per day with a pedometer watch to gamify it. I'm a naturally obese person, and I've read a thousand of these threads over the years. Nearly every comment is either: * Telling you to "hack your body", with keto or what…

Brilliant comment, completely agree, would upvote more if possible.

Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#526

Post by mightybyte »

The biggest thing that helped me lose weight was subscribing to a meal delivery service and sticking to it (drink water if you need to feel more full and avoid the desire to eat more). Outsourcing my food choices to someone else made it substantially easier to avoid consuming more and unhealthier calories because of the enjoyment of putting things in my mouth or the challenge of controlling portion sizes. I grew up in a home where we had to finish all the food on our plate, and that combined with the the absurdly large portion sizes that you get at almost all restaurants in the United States presents a significant obstacle to weight control.

That's the hack that worked best for me, but I wouldn't say its a "weird tip". It really boils down to the following three factors which really all need to be present.

1. Exercise - You have to demand things of your body so it will send energy to rebuilding rather than conservation.

2. Calorie intake - You have to consume fewer calories than your body is demanding.

3. Food quality - Eat mostly whole foods and low glycemic index carbs that are less calorie dense.

Many people tend to focus on just one of those three things, and while that can work, doing all of them is far more effective. I tend to think that the "weird trick" mentality is a significant obstacle to success (in this as well as many other areas of life). The one weird trick is that hard work is the path to accomplishing things.

Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#527

Post by forgetfulness »

water-your-self wrote: post #275
imperialdrive wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eat the same, eat whatever you crave. Eat junk if you insist but give an occasional serving of fruits and/or vegetables a chance. Don't ever read the ingredients unless you're deathly allergic to something. Alcohol is poison, but as long as you recognize that, proceed however the hell you want. Get a chair that makes you uncomfortable. Sit up straight, move around, take a walk around the block, try moving to music (d…

This is mostly terrible advice. Being aware nutrition and ingredients in the foods you consume is very important. Dont accidentally eat 40% of your daily sugar intake because you were craving a powerade.

The only way to make it without ever reading the labels is to only cook everything from scratch. Else you'll think that eating granola bars every day is good for you, or simply think that hot pockets are normal food.

Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#528

Post by bradfa »

Please don't mess around with treating yourself with high levels of oxygen without first consulting a medical professional. Humans aren't meant to have 100% oxygen in their lungs and even what might seem like short durations to you or me might at high levels could be dangerous to your health in other ways.

Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

#530

Post by jwally »

If you're into data and metrics and what not, I can't recommend "Burn the fat, feed the muscle" enough:

https://www.amazon.com/Burn-Fat-Feed-Muscle-Turbo-Charged/dp...

Basically this:

1.) You can't lose weight by netting fewer calories than you use; you can't gain muscle by using more calories than you net

2.) A good macrobiotic (carbs|protein|fat) calorie ratio to go by is 50%|30%|20%. (if you're calculating percentages by grams instead of calories its 56%|33%|10%)

3.) It takes more energy to eat some foods than others (thermic effect of food). You see this in TV shows like "ALONE" where the contestants starve despite a surplus of lean protein since protein is hard to digest. Ditto salads.

4.) Do cardio

5.) Do resistance training

6.) Bonus: So your body doesn't adapt, go 3 days of lower calories, 1 day of higher calories

7.) Bonus: To lose weight faster, go 3 days of lower carbs, 1 day of higher carbs

8.) Bonus: Eat smaller meals as the day goes on

The first 5 are critical; the last 3 are if you want to dork out over it.

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