Earlier quoted context omitted.
> at lunch, eat a 1000gr plate of wholemeal pasta gr = gram? 1kg of pasta? Or do you mean 100g?
100 gr. Sorry for the exceding zero!
This was funny though. Italian eating 1kg pasta/day to lose weight :)
Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
911–920 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#912Apples(if you like them). If you are hungry, and an apple doesn't sounds good to eat, you are probably bored and not hungry. It helped me from eating snack foods.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#913Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've never lost weight faster than when I was on ADHD medication. It makes you stop realizing you're hungry, and you can easily go an entire day without eating anything at all. You'll feel tired, but not instinctively realize why. It was really unhealthy, too. I felt like my heart was racing throughout the day, and I couldn't stand it. Ultimately, ADHD is a unique kind of superpower when applied correctly. It gives y…
The problem with the hyperfocus is that it's kind of hard to control when it hits. My medication helps me focus on things I actually need to do instead of just bouncing between distractions and not making progress at anything. I deal with the appetite suppression pretty well since I'm used to fasting anyway, and while it does raise my tension slightly, I've noticed that as long as I don't drink too much caffeine whil…
I don't know if this trick will work for you or not, but I've been able to control my hyperfocus by leaning into "side projects" and interests. These are actually just the things I want to do with my life anyway. I can maintain fervency even during the "mundane parts" when it's in support of what I love.
It's worked really well for me and I'm incredibly, incredibly productive.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#914I'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…
exercise is one way to lose weight.
Those tribes might move more than most of us, but that does not mean they burn a lot of calories.
I you have a few hours and do an efficient excercise like cycling or rowing, you can burn about 700 kCal once you get in shape. If you can do that 5 times a week you will loose weight (assuming that you have body fat to loose).
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#915Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Just eat less man. It's pretty straight forward. Just eat one meal a day (lunch) and you'll see the weight fly off. You're suggesting a diet that requires a discipline that, empirically, is obviously beyond the reach of most people. Here's much, much simpler advice, that is also more enjoyable to do: Just eat better. Or just somewhat better, and do some exercise. You'd be surprised how easy it is to purchase or coo…
> I enjoy lifting weights but you don't lose weight with that, you do it with endurance sport Weight lifting w/ hypertrophy is one of the most effective forms of exercise for weight (fat) loss. In addition to causing a longer rise in post exercise caloric burn, it also changes body composition such that your calorie requirements/quota increases over time. Cardio is not a particularly great option for fat losses for a…
I used to think the same as you. I'm no longer convinced.
The "afterburn" effect is, as far as I can tell, fairly minimal, on the order of 10s of calories per day only.
As for body composition, while it's true that your "calories out" increases if you add muscle, the increase is, again, negligible. Just plug in higher bodyweight numbers into TDEE calculators and see how little difference it makes. (Though they undershoot it a bit, IMO, because they don't assume that all the weight gained was muscle... it's still fairly small).
The only way to lose weight is to make sure you eat less than you burn. For most people, that means eating less, and possibly adding in a bit of exercise.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#916Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. Exercise helps you eat well. This is so goddamn true, there is a magical threshold of enough exercise where you suddenly just start craving healthier food and lose interest in junk. I have been across this threshold multiple times in my adult life and it’s always really fascinating.
I think this threshold is as much to do with mood as it is body requirements. Regular exercise is a mild antidepressant, and many people who do not realise they are a bit depressed and comfort-eating may no longer find the need.
This feels eminently plausible. There's a lot of subtly connected systems at play here.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#917Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably goes without saying but vaping the nicotine would be the 80/20 approach here (or perhaps just 100/20), and I'll second that oral administration is also good. Lozenges in particular seem to have no downsides as long as you can find a flavor you like. (gum is great but stains your teeth) (EDIT: the gum probably does not stain your teeth, or at least I can't dig up anyone claiming it does)
> gum is great but stains your teeth I thought gum was supposed to clean your teeth and remove leftover food particles, is nicotine gum somehow different?
Nicotine gum surely does have the same teeth-cleaning function as regular gum. And, now that I look it up, it seems there's basically nothing online that claims nicotine gum itself causes staining (results are mostly just a study or two that establish that nicotine gum helps remove staining from prior smoking, which yeah that's probably true). I, or someone else talking to me, might've gotten confused about a claim originally made about smokeless tobacco products and thought it applied to gum too.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#918Since 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…
Might be true.
My father tried to quit smoking multiple times and sad he always gained weight, so he started again.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#919Do a 24 hour fast (or longer if you can) to feel the sensation of hunger, and train yourself to understand that "it's okay to feel hungry" and that you don't need to always have your stomach filled with food.
I started losing weight when I counted calories and switched to an intermittent fasting window where I only eat between Noon and 5 PM. Yes, I feel hunger when I wake up but I'm "OK" with feeling that way until I allow myself to eat at noon.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#920Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> it's very hard to exercise enough to achieve a calorie deficit
I don't know what your definition of "very hard" is, but you can burn anywhere from 100-150 calories for every ten minutes of high intensity work (more calories burnt as your weight increases, for the same level of intensity). So 30-40 minutes a day will get you 1500-3k calories over five days depending on your starting weight. Unless you're eating 3-4k calories a day you will very likely lose weight with that level of activity.
Your last sentence is so wrong I'd say it's dangerous. The hard truth is a lot of people "go to the gym" for two hours every day, but end up doing 30 total minutes of low-intensity work. That might be a nice social activity but there is very little physical benefit. Or they go on a 15-minute walk that doesn't get their heart rate up. Again, if you want to do it because it's enjoyable I'm all about that (I love walking my dog). But don't fool yourself or lie to other that you're doing something for your health, because you're not.
Put bluntly, most people just don't work out hard enough. Spike your heart rate, sweat, lift heavy weight and have sore muscles. If you're trying to lose weight, and you don't break a sweat and you're not out of breath, you're not going to get where you want to go. Do a group class like OTF or CrossFit if you aren't sure what to do or want the supervision. But you have to be uncomfortable (not in pain, which is an important distinction) to change your body.