The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving • Hacker News Board

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#61

Post by AimForTheBushes » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

partialrecall wrote: post #58

scarface74 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to be blunt. But this is as much pseudoscience as the anti vaxers. Losing weight and gaining weight is simple physics. There is also a big difference between losing weight based on water weight and losing real body mass. I sweat like a pig anytime I work out. I use to teach two hour fitness classes and even now after the end of a workout, I’ve “lost 5 pounds” but that’s pure water weight. I’m burning around 10…

> "The chess players are forgetting to eat. " This surprises me. I find that being hungry dulls my edge and makes me noticeably less clever. It's easy for me to forget to eat if I'm doing something mindless, but when I'm actively problem solving I find that I become more aware of my hunger (and other forms of general discomfort.)

Odd. I find the high from being hungry makes me output my best work. I feel sharper and energized.

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#62

Post by buckthundaz » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

achenatx wrote: post #25

I was 175 and have been trying to lose 5 pounds for 8 years. In the last 2 months Ive lost 10 pounds. I hit as high as 180 I started doing brazilian jiu jitsu about 7 hours/week. My body was sore for the first 1 month. I also did a low carb diet (moderate adherence) Keto generally reduces my hunger so I would skip dinner because the exercise would kill my appetite. I would then not be hungry until lunch the next day.…

These two resources should be very information for you:

https://www.dietdoctor.com/dr-ted-naiman-carb-vs-fat-metabol... http://www.burnfatnotsugar.com/IF.pdf

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#63

Post by whyaduck » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

achenatx wrote: post #25

I was 175 and have been trying to lose 5 pounds for 8 years. In the last 2 months Ive lost 10 pounds. I hit as high as 180 I started doing brazilian jiu jitsu about 7 hours/week. My body was sore for the first 1 month. I also did a low carb diet (moderate adherence) Keto generally reduces my hunger so I would skip dinner because the exercise would kill my appetite. I would then not be hungry until lunch the next day.…

I've done intermittent fasting (on a low carb diet) without any other significant lifestyle changes and after a week or two hunger pangs essentially disappear during 24 hour fasts. I suspect it's just habit that makes it tolerable; your body/brain eventually become accustomed to the new rhythm of your mealtimes.

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#64

Post by papito » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

After 30, one should seriously evaluate breakfast. Three meals per day becomes just too many calories to burn. Two meals for an adult is plenty. Coffee in the morning suppresses hunger, so one can go until 12-12:30 before getting woozy.

At some point I noticed that I was force-feeding myself lunch if I ate breakfast. Hunger is a normal feeling - embrace it.

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#65

Post by coldtea » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

RobertRoberts wrote: post #19

specialp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is more of the effect of not eating or drinking for ~8 hours. 1 pint of water weighs around 500g. Also the average human exhales 1kg of CO2 a day which about a quarter of that is carbon weight. You will lose weight if you do not drink or eat for 8 hours awake. "Morning weight" == fasted and somewhat dehydrated weight.

>"Morning weight" == fasted and somewhat dehydrated weight. I was tracking weight loss over time, so it's not just water loss. I tracked weight multiple times a day to see when weight loss actually happens. If it was simple dehydration then sleeping would be irrelevant, but sleep is when something is processed, an action occurs that expels the waste/water.

>I was tracking weight loss over time, so it's not just water loss. I tracked weight multiple times a day to see when weight loss actually happens.

And what you saw was just repeated measurements of water loss each morning, plus some actual weight loss, when the real weight loss happened 24/7 but was too spread for you to notice.

>If it was simple dehydration then sleeping would be irrelevant

Sleeping is irrelevant (it is needed to be less stressed, but it's not the time you "actually lose weight" any more than any other time of the day) research has shown.

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#66

Post by tvanantwerp » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:11 PM UTC

riazrizvi wrote: post #27

RobertRoberts wrote: post #9

I did tests for weight loss. I found that you don't lose weight until you sleep. (stay up all night and weigh your self repeatedly, in the morning, no loss, but after you sleep and wake, your weight goes back to "morning weight") I found that if you don't sleep well, you don't lose as much. If you eat too late before going to bed, you don't lose as much. If you adjust your diet (however you want is my experience) to…

The difference in the grandmaster situation is that their extreme focus on chess completely displaces their hunger, hunger which needs real estate in your attention to be effective, just like any other felt sensation. And this focus lasts for the majority of the tournament, months. This is different to most people. When you have an immersive job you can get in the zone for many hours of the day, but you do stop worki…

I definitely remember losing 15 pounds in my freshman year of college because I preferred sitting in my dorm playing video games to going out for a bite. Actually quite a positive experience, as I'd been overweight previously.

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#67

Post by coldtea » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

gms wrote: post #29

RobertRoberts wrote: post #9

I did tests for weight loss. I found that you don't lose weight until you sleep. (stay up all night and weigh your self repeatedly, in the morning, no loss, but after you sleep and wake, your weight goes back to "morning weight") I found that if you don't sleep well, you don't lose as much. If you eat too late before going to bed, you don't lose as much. If you adjust your diet (however you want is my experience) to…

This is very interesting; thanks for sharing your experiments!

The "experiments" are bogus, consult an actual doctor.

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#68

Post by EGreg » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:12 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #51

RobertRoberts wrote: post #9

I did tests for weight loss. I found that you don't lose weight until you sleep. (stay up all night and weigh your self repeatedly, in the morning, no loss, but after you sleep and wake, your weight goes back to "morning weight") I found that if you don't sleep well, you don't lose as much. If you eat too late before going to bed, you don't lose as much. If you adjust your diet (however you want is my experience) to…

I hate to be blunt. But this is as much pseudoscience as the anti vaxers. Losing weight and gaining weight is simple physics. There is also a big difference between losing weight based on water weight and losing real body mass. I sweat like a pig anytime I work out. I use to teach two hour fitness classes and even now after the end of a workout, I’ve “lost 5 pounds” but that’s pure water weight. I’m burning around 10…

I never understood this point of view. It’s like people who didn’t believe in washing hands until bacteria were discovered.

Yes sure calories in calories out. But metabolism has so many variables. It can be revved up and burn a lot of calories. It can become quiescent when you are in starvation mode. What causes it to start using the fat reserves is definitely more than a univariate analysis. If there is a catalyst that starts breaking down fats faster it won’t matter that you are eating more.

Some people are naturally skinny and others put on weight quickly. This is already well known and shows that there are complex genetic inputs as well as other ones. We have to discover what those are. So saying it’s just calories in/out, stupid... nope!

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#69

Post by aluminussoma » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:13 PM UTC

half-pixel-off wrote: post #16

aluminussoma wrote: post #5

I track my vital metrics religiously. Last week, I interviewed at three companies who have intensive technical interviews (Dropbox, Google, Apple). The morning after the second interview, at Google which was intensive, I was my lowest weight ever in several years (dropped three to four pounds from five days before) I gained the weight back after a week. But it was interesting to observe the physiological effects from…

I was going to ask: actual weight or water weight? Because I do tend to dehydrate myself in new/unfamiliar places, especially when forced to do things to someone else's schedule and without my favorite things to drink on hand. But a week seems too long to gain it back unless you weren't measuring very often. I'd love to track blood pressure, pulse, and weight religiously but it's hard to remember to do any more than…

This included water weight. My body's water weight during that time, if my scale is to be trusted, was between 52.0-53.0% during that week of interviews. It is consistent with levels before my interviews.

I was wearing a HRM tracker for two of the interviews, but I didn't turn it on any activities to track frequent metrics. Heart rate was elevated for the entire interview, like I was briskly walking. In my hardest Google interview, my heart rate was at its peak.

Re: The grandmaster diet: How to lose weight while barely moving

#70

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 6:14 PM UTC

partialrecall wrote: post #58

scarface74 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to be blunt. But this is as much pseudoscience as the anti vaxers. Losing weight and gaining weight is simple physics. There is also a big difference between losing weight based on water weight and losing real body mass. I sweat like a pig anytime I work out. I use to teach two hour fitness classes and even now after the end of a workout, I’ve “lost 5 pounds” but that’s pure water weight. I’m burning around 10…

> "The chess players are forgetting to eat. " This surprises me. I find that being hungry dulls my edge and makes me noticeably less clever. It's easy for me to forget to eat if I'm doing something mindless, but when I'm actively problem solving I find that I become more aware of my hunger (and other forms of general discomfort.)

Elsethread another poster was downvoted for saying it[0], but amphetamines make it much easier to get so focused on a task you forget to eat. I experimented with it for a while and even I, a food addict, forgot to eat if I was truly engaged in something.

[0] Probably because his tone was accusational, though anyone who thinks chess grandmasters are any less willing to use performance drugs than any other high-end athlete is kidding themselves.