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Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

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Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#71

Post by huhtenberg »

webwright wrote: post #20

Joe Hruska (one of my co-founders at RescueTime, YC08) has lost 42 pounds in the last 3.5 months with approximately zero exercise. He pretty much did the South Beach Diet. It's kinda faddy, but it really is approximately what humans were designed to eat. You should pick up the book, but approximately: no white flour, no white sugar, no rice, no potatoes. First two weeks are pure carb-free (painful) but the rest of th…

First two weeks are painful, but then you are allowed to have some wine and the taste of even a so-so wine is absolutely incredible. I guess these two weeks do something to your taste buds, so they start picking up even minute traces of sugar.

I would actually repeat the South Beach just for this wine tasting experience :)

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#72

Post by ojbyrne »

jgrahamc wrote: post #64
donw wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh. Every time I go to Japan, coming from the United States, I gain weight. Part of this is because I probably get less exercise while in Japan (since I don't lift while I'm there), and part of this is because I love Japanese food, and so I tend to eat a lot while I'm there. People who move and then lose weight probably just don't like the food in the country where they moved. That said, when I stopped drinking soda…

> People who move and then lose weight probably just don't like the food in the country where they moved. Not true in my case because I moved to France and food is _good_. But I've noticed three important differences from the US: 1. Portions are smaller 2. People eat more slowly 3. Meals are more varied (given #1 it's quite normal to eat starter + main course + dessert in a restaurant because all are relatively small…

I moved from Canada to Spain, ate and drank to excess, but lost 30 pounds in a year. Why? Because I started running, working up to the point where half-marathons were routine. The climate was a contributor, but I think the key was just stepping out of my current milieu into somewhere where I could easily change my lifestyle without any of the old triggers.

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#73

Post by ken »

The biggest drop in fat/weight I noticed is when I stopped eating meat. I also saw lesser (but noticeable) improvements when I stopped drinking cola, started running, started martial arts, stopped eating HFCS, and started lifting weights. But empirically, vegetarianism was the single biggest factor.

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#75

Post by Goladus »

I lost maybe 7-10 lbs or so (from 185 to 175ish). I wasn't really trying to lose weight, just get in shape. I focused on heavy cardio (elipticals turned up to a moderate resistance) and swimming, with some running/treadmill and lifting.

For diet, I ate mostly multigrain pasta, chicken, turkey, bread and vegetables. I didn't worry about eating too many complex carbs. You may want to avoid sugars, but otherwise if you like carbs, all you have to do is get enough exercise. I would also suggest beans (though I didn't at the time). Black beans are one of the best foods you can eat.

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#76

Post by mhartl »

webwright wrote: post #20

Joe Hruska (one of my co-founders at RescueTime, YC08) has lost 42 pounds in the last 3.5 months with approximately zero exercise. He pretty much did the South Beach Diet. It's kinda faddy, but it really is approximately what humans were designed to eat. You should pick up the book, but approximately: no white flour, no white sugar, no rice, no potatoes. First two weeks are pure carb-free (painful) but the rest of th…

This is important. To first approximation, all that matters is diet. Exercise has many other health benefits, but as a weight-loss strategy it's almost lost in the noise.

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#77

Post by dkokelley »

donw wrote: post #47
jgrahamc wrote: post #16

1. I moved to Europe 2. I stopped drinking soda

Heh. Every time I go to Japan, coming from the United States, I gain weight. Part of this is because I probably get less exercise while in Japan (since I don't lift while I'm there), and part of this is because I love Japanese food, and so I tend to eat a lot while I'm there. People who move and then lose weight probably just don't like the food in the country where they moved. That said, when I stopped drinking soda…

It's a good thing Japan is not in Europe.

Moving can have a big influence on someone's body/appetite, but moving specifically to Europe has other advantages. There's a book called The French (don't) Diet. I haven't read it, but I know people who have. The basic idea is that French food (and presumably much of Europe's food overall) is naturally healthy. It's not filled with preservatives or infused with high-fructose corn syrup. Those artificial ingredients in most American foods are hard for our bodies to digest, so they move to fat where they are almost never digested. The French food is made of natural ingredients that our bodies can actually use for nutrition and energy, so we don't store the food away - we use it.

The funny thing is that in America, we don't have this artificial food because it tastes better. We have it here because it's cheaper.

On another note, why is this on HN? I know it's tangentially related to the hacker diet, but an Ask YC: How do you lose weight? thread doesn't seem like it would belong here.

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#78

Post by divia »

Seth Roberts has a theory that foods that taste exactly the same every time (particularly those with a high glycemic index) increase appetite and that unfamiliar or flavorless foods decrease appetite. I recommend his paper on the subject: http://sethroberts.net/about/whatmakesfoodfattening.pdf.

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#79

Post by jcl »

Tichy wrote: post #70
neilc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone has a problem with calorie intake.

Many dieting books advise against juice. Not because of the calories, but because it bypasses some parts of the digestive system (you don't chew juice or soup, for example).

I have heard that fructose -- as present in fruits and juice -- can suppress the body's sensation of fullness, causing people to eat more. Some people advance this theory as a reason to not eat or drink anything containing high-fructose corn syrup. I was able to find studies both supporting and refuting the theory, though, so I'm not sure if it is true. Both sites obviously have their own agendas:

http://www.naturalnews.com/022836.html

http://www.hfcsfacts.com/UofWResearchAJCN.html

Re: Ask YC: How do you lose weight?

#80

Post by nraynaud »

2 hours of surf every day, stopped eating almost everything that contains high percentage of fat. But since my project is sport-related, I had to take drastic action to avoid (well, at least damage-control) being a bozo.

I'm far from thin (BMI 24.2), but I don't have time to exercise more for now.

edit: my most important weight loss at once was while doing the Oslo-Trondheim pilgrimage in 2006, 640km in 18 days, even while eating an ice-cream each day made me loose 10kg. But you need time and money.

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