Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

There are no real "hacks" for weight loss; there is no easy answer, or any 'lazy' trick like a magic pill, an app, or getting an oxygen tank.

Eat different, move more; if those don't work, get your thyroid checked out. Don't go in for fad diets like intermittent fasting, focus on eating "normally" first; three meals a day, breakfast lunch and dinner, between 2000 and 2500 kcal total - or a bit more depending on how overweight we're talking or how active you are. Stick to that for a year. It won't be miraculous, but do you want a miracle or just improve your lifestyle?

A lot of the weight loss culture is about clever hacks, fads of the year, etc, but for anyone that follows these, when is the last time you had a normal meal? So many people go from one fad to the other, one form of self-punishment and guilt to the other ("I should feel bad for eating carbs", "I should feel bad for drinking", "I should feel bad for eating red meat"), but they've never been able to maintain a stable weight or, indeed, a stable diet / eating habits.

Water is 27x more thermally conductive than air, so standing in water burns 27x more calories than air of the same temperature. So, go cold water swimming!

(Plenty of normal healthy ways to lose weight but that's the weirdest hack I can think of)

> The key is consistency and recognizing that you may be eating for reasons other than hunger.

This is the most important part of the above comment; the rest can be completely ignored until this is addressed. How much and how often do you eat now, and what does it add up to calorie-wise. Figure that out first, that Insight might already help you towards making adjustments in your lifestyle.

Don't try and change everything all at once, people are resistant to change. Change one thing, stick to it for six weeks, then observe and change something else.

I’ve never struggled with weight but I’ve been able to eat cleaner by trying to change my relationship with food.

Instead of thinking about it as a pleasure, I thought about it as a way to satisfy an urge in much the same way we need to satisfy many other bodily functions.m

Over time, this made it way easier to eat rather bland food.

What's your go-to replacement for bread? I'm a bit fan of bread (brown / whole meal bread), it's a filling, slow release and (not unimportant!) cheap source of carbs, which you need for regular functioning. Going "no carb" is extremist and can be dangerous long term. Balance out the macronutrients first, then start adjusting a little in favor of protein.