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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?

#941

Post by knicholes »

idsout wrote: post #930
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…

Exactly this. I'm 30yo, have been overweight most of my life and I've finally learned this. Since last May I've lost 65lbs by simply putting my height, weight, activity level, and age in an online calorie calculator and have weighed myself every day and kept my calories at or under this target. I just started feeling energetic enough to start weight lifting as of one month ago and my weight hasn't changed (started ea…

That's great! Like you said, the scale can lie. You could be losing fat and gaining muscle mass. In that case, I'd say your next step is to make sure you're eating enough protein in addition to the right amount of calories so as to provide your body what it needs to build that muscle. I use MyFitnessPal to track my macros.

Fun ways to track your progress other than the scale include body measurements (with a measuring tape) and pictures! Or DEXA.

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

#942

Post by copperx »

draven wrote: post #505
curun1r wrote: post #266

I got one. I ended up accidentally losing 25lbs when I did this, but ymmv. Basically, about 6 years ago, I got into freediving while on vacation. Once I got back to the real world, I got obsessed with training to hold my breath for longer. So I started doing breathing exercises just after I woke up and just before I went to bed. Each session took 15-25 min and was done lying down to minimize the danger from passing o…

You should have a look at the Buteyko method. The basic premise is most of us suffer from chronic hyperventilation, which comes with a lot of issues including obesity, and the method aims at training us to better tolerate higher CO2 levels. Training for max breath holds would also help you tolerate higher CO2 levels and breath less.

Having less oxygen would help reduce oxidation, I would think

However, there are cognitive effects from having too much CO2.

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

#943

Post by copperx »

curun1r wrote: post #266

I got one. I ended up accidentally losing 25lbs when I did this, but ymmv. Basically, about 6 years ago, I got into freediving while on vacation. Once I got back to the real world, I got obsessed with training to hold my breath for longer. So I started doing breathing exercises just after I woke up and just before I went to bed. Each session took 15-25 min and was done lying down to minimize the danger from passing o…

Were you also freediving? Because extended periods in water consumes many calories.

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

#944

Post by copperx »

syntheweave wrote: post #265

Have some diluted vinegar after meals. It's the world's original "miracle tonic", with anecdotes dating back to antiquity, and mostly acts to facilitate digestion, which can smooth out indignities within your actual diet and therefore leave you feeling better rested and fed with lower intake. You don't need to take vinegar at full strength to see benefit, so I often have it with bubbly water. (If you actually search…

Vinegar might increase the risk of stomach cancer. There is a strong association between pickled foods and stomach cancer.

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

#945

Post by sprague »

Weirdest tip of all: eat 2 TBS of a tasteless oil (e.g. avocado oil) every morning at 10am.

The theory is that obesity is cause by a misalignment between the body's sense of how much food it's eating (which it determines largely by smell and taste) and the actual number of calories consumed. High density, tasteless calories fool that system into thinking you're already full, so you won't want to eat more. Search for "Shangri La Diet" to learn more details.

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

#946

Post by nkozyra »

edanm wrote: post #915
nkozyra wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 unders…

I don't think we're saying different things, you're just pointing out that exercise's contribution pales in comparison to diet.

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

#947

Post by Confiks »

copperx wrote: post #944
syntheweave wrote: post #265

Have some diluted vinegar after meals. It's the world's original "miracle tonic", with anecdotes dating back to antiquity, and mostly acts to facilitate digestion, which can smooth out indignities within your actual diet and therefore leave you feeling better rested and fed with lower intake. You don't need to take vinegar at full strength to see benefit, so I often have it with bubbly water. (If you actually search…

Vinegar might increase the risk of stomach cancer. There is a strong association between pickled foods and stomach cancer.

Most vinegar is filtered and pasteurized.

In the context of the relation with gastric cancer, pickling is about fermentation, not acidity. The studies suggesting a relationship are all epidemiological and suggest a weak link at best [1].

The stomach is already very acidic; much more acidic than vinegar, which makes both gastric cancer and any potential benefits unlikely.

[1] https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/oct/05/ask-the-doctor...

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

#948

Post by curun1r »

copperx wrote: post #943
curun1r wrote: post #266

I got one. I ended up accidentally losing 25lbs when I did this, but ymmv. Basically, about 6 years ago, I got into freediving while on vacation. Once I got back to the real world, I got obsessed with training to hold my breath for longer. So I started doing breathing exercises just after I woke up and just before I went to bed. Each session took 15-25 min and was done lying down to minimize the danger from passing o…

Were you also freediving? Because extended periods in water consumes many calories.

Not after I got back from vacation, no. There’s not much opportunity where I am and I didn’t have training partners, so I the only thing I could do safely was dry training.

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

#949

Post by afarviral »

buzzert wrote: post #901
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…

It’s not just the nicotine that acts as a appetite suppressant; it’s mostly the menthol. You can get the same effect just consuming cough drops. They’re cheaper and won’t cause cancer.

Can you elaborate? I dont think there is any meaningful relationship between menthol and weight or menthol and smokes.

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

#950

Post by thmorriss »

ambivalents wrote: post #816
Timpy wrote: post #514

This is a weird tip I think I could only share with the hacker news crowd. Once I learned about gut bacteria I started thinking of my cravings as something external to me. Like instead of saying "I'm hungry and I'm in the mood for something sweet" I would realize "the hormone ghrelin is sending hunger signals to my brain and the gut bacteria in my body is asking for something that's not actually in my best interest."…

I take it even further. Emotionally distance yourself from your cravings, sure, but also your entire body. I now think of my body as separate from 'me,' my soul. But I do need my body to express my soul. So I take care of it, I give it what it needs, I exercise it. Counterintuitively, this practice makes me love and respect my body more than I ever did when I equated body and self.

I like this mindset, thanks for sharing.
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