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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?

#871

Post by Merad »

supermatt wrote: post #810
Merad wrote: post #738

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> walking just ~8k steps per day You kind of gloss over this, but 8k steps is around 3 miles of walking for the average person. You might be able to get that "naturally" if you live in an urban area and go out on foot every day to get coffee, groceries, etc., but if you're a typical WFH software engineer living in the suburbs, you're probably going to have to spend 45 min to an hour every day walking for exercise to…

It’s 6pm. I’m WFH. I’m seeing 7451 steps on my iPhone. I wouldn’t say I’ve walked anywhere today, but I water my horses a few times a day (at bottom of garden).

No doubt it can vary wildly depending on your life circumstances. Personally most of my hobbies are sedentary (reading, gaming, plastic models) and I don't have kids or pets that require me to be active in some way. A normal day for me if I don't go anywhere and make no effort to exercise is usually less than 2500 steps.

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

#872

Post by EamonnMR »

pc86 wrote: post #628
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…

A couple nits from someone who has owned multiple gyms, done nutrition and weight loss counseling for various specific populations, etc. 1. This is overly prescriptive advice ("eat this exact thing", "no tea!", "no breakfast!", "no dessert!") that isn't appropriate for everyone, and will set a lot of people up to fail. 2. I don't have a problem with chewing gum specifically, but it's a crutch. There's nothing wrong w…

Most of your calorie deficit comes from your Basal Metabolic Rate and it's very hard to excercise enough to achieve a calorie deficit. While strictly possible, practically speaking for most people the only term you control in the equation, if any, is the intake.

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

#873

Post by shabier »

aenis wrote: post #857
knicholes wrote: post #710

I'm shocked to see how many people are saying that exercise is the way to lose weight. Exercise is a great way to strengthen your lungs, heart, and other muscles, but it's not going to be the way you lose fat. Diet is the answer. I know this because I've seen it time and time again, and because of recent research showing that a tribe who moves far more than we do burn about the same amount of calories as those who ar…

Yeah, this! I was doing 13,000km by bike every year for years and kept gaining weight until I hit 122.5kg. I was able to go on a 40km hike, cycle for 200km and bench press my body weight easily, but kept getting heavier. I stopped all excercise except for walking and moderate cycling (I have a habit of watching coding tutorials while on a starionary bike), and started alternate day fasting. I lost 18kgs in 3 months w…

That's insightful and inspiring. What did/do you eat on the fasting days? And on the regular days?

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

#874

Post by cflyingdutchman »

brimble wrote: post #870
cflyingdutchman wrote: post #845

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been thinking about writing a kids book with Red and Green armies waging a battle in their tummy and feeding green things helps the good guys win. Too many red (fats, sugars, simple carbs) arm the baddies. Maybe a child psychiatrist would tell me this is a horrible idea, so I haven't asked any. :)

Parents really don't like war-type stuff these days, especially for young kids. Cops & robbers or playing war or anything like that—IDK about anyone else, but, like, the main activities of my childhood ages ~4-10, rivaled only by crashing toy cars and building LEGO stuff (often for war or car-crashing purposes)—is now gauche. Play like that happening at school can get kids in serious trouble, now, too. Consider themi…

Good point, thank you. I grew up playing with army men and cap guns, and don't think I would encourage my kids to do the same.

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

#876

Post by eukaryote »

1) Before eating a snack in the evening, ask yourself "Am I tired, thirsty or hungry?"

If you are tired, go to bed.

If you are thirsty, drink some water.

If you are hungry, eat a small amount (20g) of lean meat, cheese or nuts and leave the kitchen immediately.

2) Gradually cut all sweet food and drink from your diet. This will re-adjust your taste buds for a healthier diet, and you won't even notice.

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

#877

Post by gadders »

listenallyall wrote: post #850

Since you specifically asked for weird tips (not necessarily smart or healthy): consider smoking cigarettes. They do a pretty remarkable job at both suppressing hunger and substituting for a snack. You don't need to chain-smoke, something like 5 per day might be enough. I'll take more shit for saying this, but I think the negative health effects of smoking are quite minimal, for most people, for the first 20 years or…

You can ditch a lot of the bad health effects by just eating nicotine gum.

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

#878

Post by pnt12 »

swat535 wrote: post #855

Eating less is key, but there a few items that important to keep in mind: 1. You have to replace your food with healthy variants, fruits, vegetables, proteins, etc. Otherwise your body will not be satisfied and ironically eating healthy food with the right portion will fill you up just fine. 2. Drink water during the day, this reduces craving, keeps you hydrated and is refreshing! 3. Get your sleep under control. In…

You don't need to eat less: you need to spend more calories than you consume. So, there are different ways to arrive there :

- eat food with less calories, such as veggies, soup, shrimp, mushrooms - exercise more, but this is hard, as it's often said "you can't outrun a bad diet" - eat the same type of food but less of it, ie eat less/be hungry

I've done 1 with success, then gained some weight during the first pandemic year and then tried 3, with intermittent fasting. Both worked, but I wouldn't recommend fasting or being hungry as a 1sr option to anyone, as it can reenforce the idea that "you need to starve to be healthy", which is quite wrong.

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

#879

Post by crispyambulance »

y-c-o-m-b wrote: post #863

This is "weird" in the sense that nobody else I know wants to do it, but they'll gladly sign for all sorts of fad diet programs, blogs, etc and become demotivated when they're still not losing weight. It's dead simple: calculate your BMR ( https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html ) and restrict your calories to about 150-200 calories more than your BMR. That's literally all you need for weight loss. It can be i…

Yes, advice for weight loss THAT ACTUALLY WORKS is always boring, simple, and hard to do.

Calorie counting helps a lot with this. There's easily accessible databases that have detailed data (https://www.nutritionix.com/, https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/). It's funny sometimes how the calories you think you're eating don't match up with reality. My biggest blind-spot was pasta and bread, both of which had A LOT more calories than I had thought. Peanut butter is another one-- you can put a ridiculous amount of calories on one spoon of peanut butter.

Many folks can lose weight "simply" by sticking to whatever one's BMR + activity level suggests. A sustainable and easy to maintain rate of loss for most folks is between 1 and 2 lbs/week.

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

#880

Post by valbaca »

It's not "weird" but weight is lost in the kitchen, NOT the gym. Adding more exercise will actually increase your hunger and likely cause you to overeat. You need to exercise to be healthy, but it's actually counter to immediate weight-loss. Exercise regularly, but don't overdo it and cause hunger cravings.

In the long term, however, more muscular bodies burn more calories at rest. But cut first, then bulk.

Greatly increase your intake of protein and veggies. 0.8 Grams of protein per your body weight in kgs. By cranking up your protein intake by a lot, you'll decrease how much you eat in "junk" Obviously you need veggies too, so make your plate mostly protein, a lot of veggies and you'll have very little room left for the rest. Tons of chicken and protein shakes (watch the sugar in them) are practically necessary.

Tons of water. No other liquids besides water (or black coffee or tea). Getting calories from liquids is useless. NO alcohol, sodas, or fancy coffee.

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