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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?

#601

Post by mod »

honkdaddy wrote: post #586
flexie wrote: post #246

Just eat less. Much less. And don't drink alcohol, juice, milk, ice tea, or soft drinks. Drink water. My suggestion: Skip breakfast. Take a cup of black coffee. A lunch consisting of a salat made of half a cucumber and a medium sizes tomato and either 1) a can of tuna (in brine, not oil) or 2) smoked salmon (100 gram), will make you quite full without adding more than 200 calories. Afternoon snack: Lots of chewing gu…

As an anecdote, I’ve been happily somewhere between skinny and sufficiently toned (depending on how much I’m working out) my whole life, and I largely attribute that to the fact I hated my mother’s cooking growing up (sorry mom), so finishing my meals often didn’t happen. I got used to only eating until the hunger signals stopped, not until the full signals started. Fast forward 20 years later, I almost never finish…

> I’m consistently blown away by friends who claim to be struggling to lose weight, yet will still get two beers, an app, and a main, and finish all of them. Just eat less!

It's not a struggle to comprehend how to lose weight. They understand that they can just eat less.

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

#602

Post by jamil7 »

hit8run wrote: post #218

Here is a short list of little things to adjust: - Take just a little less calories in than you use (you don't want jojo effect). - Waive soft drinks (even sugar free). - Drink a lot of water. - Start flexing your muscles from time to time (build tension in your body). - Stand up. - Do Push ups. - Increase the steps walked per day. - Take stairs not the elevator. - Eat low carbs in the evening. - Eat enough proteins…

Doing a few push ups while compiling or CI is running is a great hack - aside from the fitness my back, shoulder and neck issues went away.

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

#603

Post by pc86 »

StevePerkins wrote: post #561
JKCalhoun wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exercise is great, but I found it was not enough. I looked for low-hanging fruit in my diet (example: soft drinks) and cut those (lost 10 pounds just losing the lunchtime soft drinks). Even with the exercise (have "closed all three rings" since COVID) I hit a wall below which I am not losing weight. From experience though I know I need to cut the portion size of my meals. Years ago when I was preparing to undergo sur…

> Exercise is great, but I found it was not enough. I just want to reach through the screen and shake you while screaming. This is what I'm talking about, with every mention of exercise being dismissively pivoted back to diet hacks! Exercise is not a substitute for eating better, it is a tool for helping you eat better. Of course you should cut out sugary soft drinks and eat smaller portions! It's just that a minimum…

Exercise is not a substitute for the health aspects of eating (e.g. cholesterol, heart health, "feeling" good, etc.), absolutely. But losing weight is 100% calories in/calories out, and you can "outrun a bad diet" as they say provided you're physically able to exercise for long enough or at a high enough intensity. It's certainly much easier if you put the garbage food in the trash and eat reasonably, but it's not a prerequisite. A big caveat though is that if you're already 350 pounds, you almost certainly don't have the cardiovascular stamina to lift heavy weights in the morning and do a high intensity workout in the evening.

In my 20's I was completely sedentary, weighed nearly 200 pounds / 91kg at 5'9" / 175cm, and had basically no muscle mass. I could barely press an empty 45#/20kg barbell overhead. 8-9 months of high intensity workouts, without any dietary changes, and I was down 50# with a lot of strength gains. I absolutely could have lost the weight faster, and gotten stronger faster, if I stopped eating fast food multiple times a week, but at the end of the day if you're physically able to do the work it's not a necessity.

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

#604

Post by pc86 »

galangalalgol wrote: post #549
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…

I also prefer 2-3 lifts per week for health, but it amplifies my already prodigious appetite to rediculous levels. I can and have eaten 6000kcal in a sitting. I usually end up gaining fat when I start lifting and haven't ever managed a cut. I always lose weight by not lifting and restricting calories. Right now the intermittent fasting is working well for me. I'm curious how that will work when I start lifting again.

Eating 2-3 days worth of food in a single sitting is not normal, and well beyond the realm of "prodigious appetite." You need to see a doctor if that's true.

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

#605

Post by watwut »

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…

> has to be lifting weights, I don't see this benefit from cardio alone)

I have that effect from running and cardio - it makes me not want to eat. After HIIT cardio, I do get hungry, but a little protein usually do the trick. The strength training makes me much more hungry then normally.

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

#606

Post by unfocussed_mike »

Things that are easier if you live alone:

Just don't buy rich foods over which you have no willpower.

Don't go down those aisles in the supermarket. Don't keep biscuits (by which I mean cookies) and snacks in the house at all.

Don't buy "meal deal" lunches that give you a discounted fizzy drink and snack.

It's all very well people telling others that they need to develop willpower over knowing when they've had enough, etc., and I admire people who can do that. But it's just a lot easier to exercise that control at the point of purchase.

And never, EVER go food shopping while hungry, for more than just lunch. Try to buy/order your lunches before you get hungry.

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

#607

Post by mrighele »

Although not weird, my tip is to eat better and exercise more, and yes, I know that it's easier said than done.

The first thing is that if possible you should try both: eating better makes it easier to exercise and exercising makes you eat less. In my case at least, I eat more when I am nervous or depressed, and regular exercise keeps my hormones in check, reducing the cravings.

Another important thing is to find what works for you and, more importantly what you are both willing and able to stick to long-term. Eating better and doing exercise means not doing any more some of the stuff that you like, either because you don't have time anymore, or because it's not healthy: are you willing to do it for the next 50 years ?

For example it took me years to find the right dietary regimen; I finally found that for me intermittent fasting is the best solutions since I find it is easier to avoid eating most of the day than being much more careful about what and how much I eat.

Similarly for physical activity: try many alternatives until you find the one that you enjoy and keep doing for long time. You may realize that you like something unexpected (for me it was going to gym; I always considered it a stupid activity, but once I tried I realized it was perfect for me and I have being doing it for more than ten years).

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

#608

Post by layer8 »

The only thing that works for me: Count calories, and do some physical exercise (doesn’t have to be a lot) to prevent your metabolic rate from going down with the caloric restrictipn (and for general health). With calorie counting, you can pace your weight loss to a level that works for you.

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

#609

Post by randallsquared »

StevePerkins wrote: post #591
randallsquared wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly everyone always says to also combine a diet with exercise, but there's been a shift recently toward noticing that exercise energy budgets largely come out of the rest of your day for people who aren't primarily athletes[0]. Additionally, for many people, doing a little exercise on top of the normal day makes one ravenous, although I get that some people report a decrease in appetite as you did. Google[1] finds…

I typically need 40 minutes of "intentional" walking per day (i.e. two laps around my subdivision) to supplement my "incidental" walking (i.e. going from the bedroom to kitchen to bathroom). I'm highly skeptical that anyone needs a trip to the gym to walk . It's walking !

I was leaving aside the gym trip:

> A 30 minute workout, two or three times a week is sufficient (i.e. hit 6 or 7 machines, for 3 sets each)

...which was separate from the hour+ walk every day.

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

#610

Post by Pasorrijer »

randallsquared wrote: post #582
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…

Nearly everyone always says to also combine a diet with exercise, but there's been a shift recently toward noticing that exercise energy budgets largely come out of the rest of your day for people who aren't primarily athletes[0]. Additionally, for many people, doing a little exercise on top of the normal day makes one ravenous, although I get that some people report a decrease in appetite as you did. Google[1] finds…

This is a super important point, but someone touched on it above. A major part of fitness is the lifestyle aspect, whether it's finding activities that combine social activity and fitness (sports!) or taking things you do already (like commuting) and making those physical (living where you can walk to commute instead of driving). None of this is easy, and yes, this lifestyle means you have to want to make the change. But for me I'm not trying to stay fit to look fancy or buy new clothes. I'm trying to stay fit and build patterns at 30 so that I'm still able to learn new tech and play with my great grand kids at 90. I look at this as investing in my future and my investment in fitness now is going to pay more mental health dividends than any amount of money. Speaking of course from a position where I have the privilege to make these choices.
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