The diet that really works • Hacker News Board

Re: The diet that really works

#21

Post by gaius » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 4:53 PM UTC

menloparkbum wrote: post #18

gaius wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no breaking of the laws of physics involved here. Firstly you are still losing mass in this scenerio - but it is muscle tissue, not fat. Secondly, lower resting metabolic rate manifests itself in forms such as lower body temperature, or general lethargy, so you are burning fewer calories just for maintenance. Your body is a survival machine. If it thinks you are under threat of starvation, it will prioritize…

I read the first article listed on t-nation.com and it starts up with this poignant observation about olympic swimmers: "I'm sorry but these dudes look like AIDS patients. Would it kill you to at least get a tan and not remind the world of the Holocaust? And could you butch up the sport a little bit? Because deep down I know the male divers I just saw are in shower right now, naked, loofahing each other's taut athlet…

Well, you've gotta figure out what works for you. This works for me (30% to 20% bodyfat in 6 months and 25% improvement in deadlift and bench press). I'm eating more than I did and exercising less - in terms of time, anyway. Whatever you decide, good luck :-)

Re: The diet that really works

#22

Post by subwindow » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 4:58 PM UTC

brm wrote: post #10

Tichy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Swimming 6 hours a day is simply not an option for everybody. Besides, even with enough exercise I would imagine that some diets would still make you sick, for example if all you ate were chocolate and ice cream. (Note that I don't advocate the low-carb diet from the article). The "not selling anything but..." bothered me too, also "Thirdly, he is very smart. His reasoning is immaculate and he knows a lot more than y…

yes I agree that 6 hours is unreasonable, but 90 minutes a couple times a week would probably have people in a lot better fitness than removing all the carbs from their diet. Frankly moving up from the 0 minutes most people get to 30 minutes a couple times a week would be more beneficial to most people than a change in diet.

And if you read the article, you would have seen:

"You must have a playful, intermittent form of exercise. And you must exercise. The benefits are profound. Make it fun, intense according to your own fitness and goals, and brief. Brevity and intensity are keys. Intensity means a little burn in the muscle, not heaving and straining. Brevity means you do not release stress hormones."

He agrees with you.

Re: The diet that really works

#23

Post by josefresco » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 4:58 PM UTC

I hereby nominate timesonline.co.uk for temporary suspension from Hacker News.

Too many articles submitted recently that were poorly researched and written.

Re: The diet that really works

#24

Post by vaksel » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 4:59 PM UTC

Diet doesn't really matter, I have a horrible diet I eat anything I want, I don't deny myself anything(junk food, fast food) but I'm in good shape because I work out an hour every day and burn off the calories I gain during the day.

Re: The diet that really works

#25

Post by swombat » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 5:06 PM UTC

vaksel wrote: post #24

Diet doesn't really matter, I have a horrible diet I eat anything I want, I don't deny myself anything(junk food, fast food) but I'm in good shape because I work out an hour every day and burn off the calories I gain during the day.

Wait until you hit your mid-thirties and let's talk again.

Re: The diet that really works

#26

Post by swombat » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 5:09 PM UTC

caglouq wrote: post #11

Here is the ultimate diet "Slow down on the food you like the most" ... you may add to this diet the (always right) corollary "never stop your diet"

Hardly. "Slow down on the unhealthiest foods," perhaps. I love fruit. Should I slow down on fruit?

Re: The diet that really works

#27

Post by gojomo » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 5:09 PM UTC

ars wrote: post #7

Blah blah blah blah blah. The entire article is just blah blah blah. The guy needs an editor to cut it to 10% of it's size. Is he paid by the word or something? He sure knows the art of saying nothing using many words. Heck I can summarize it in 2 words: Modified atkins.

It's easy to criticize 'blah blah blah'. But the style of the article is personal testimonial plus character study. It's going to include discursive storytelling, and it's not trying to boil down a diet/lifestyle/person to the fewest possible words. The cheapest form of criticism is to skewer a work for not meeting some ideal it wasn't even aiming for.

DeVany is a very interesting and credible guy with a different spin on eating and training than you'll usually find.

Check out especially his warnings about marathon/endurance running [1] compared to the typical media celebration of marathon running as some ideal of fitness [2].

[1] "Top Ten Reasons Not To Run Marathons", http://www.arthurdevany.com/2005/08/top_ten_reasons.html

[2] "The Perfect Human", http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/ultraman.html

Re: The diet that really works

#28

Post by rob » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 5:16 PM UTC

swombat wrote: post #26

caglouq wrote: post #11

Here is the ultimate diet "Slow down on the food you like the most" ... you may add to this diet the (always right) corollary "never stop your diet"

Hardly. "Slow down on the unhealthiest foods," perhaps. I love fruit. Should I slow down on fruit?

Most likely yes if you're eating tons of it a day.

Re: The diet that really works

#29

Post by unexpected » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 5:20 PM UTC

gaius wrote: post #13

brm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me get this straight... you're claiming that after 45 minutes of moderately intense cardiovascular exercise, most people begin to see negative fitness effects?

I don't see the phrase moderately intense cardiovascular exercise in my comment. Head on over to t-nation.com and read some of their articles on training.

this explains why marathon runners are so fat.

Re: The diet that really works

#30

Post by ars » Mon, Aug 18, 2008, 5:28 PM UTC

gojomo wrote: post #27

ars wrote: post #7

Blah blah blah blah blah. The entire article is just blah blah blah. The guy needs an editor to cut it to 10% of it's size. Is he paid by the word or something? He sure knows the art of saying nothing using many words. Heck I can summarize it in 2 words: Modified atkins.

It's easy to criticize 'blah blah blah'. But the style of the article is personal testimonial plus character study. It's going to include discursive storytelling, and it's not trying to boil down a diet/lifestyle/person to the fewest possible words. The cheapest form of criticism is to skewer a work for not meeting some ideal it wasn't even aiming for. DeVany is a very interesting and credible guy with a different sp…

Except why do I care that the reporter was early to the interview? Why would anyone care?

It's not a diary, it's an article about a new diet. Tell me about the diet. You want to add a supplement about the author fine. But I don't need 3 pages of useless text about the author without once mentioning what the diet actually is.

Sorry, but there is too much garbage in the world to spend 15 minutes reading all about some dude, and only then discover that the diet is no good for you.

First tell me about the diet. Then, if I'm interested tell me about the dude.