I guess if we're going for "weird" tips: Only shop for groceries on a full stomach. I've found it helps me against being tempted to buy unhealthy things (sweets, snacks, soda)
Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
411–420 of 1001 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#4121. Take a couple weeks vacation doing something active all day like hiking, skiing, cycling.
2. Quit your desk job and do manual labor for a couple months.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#413Eat less. But here's the thing that people somehow seem to miss: that means it's a battle with your appetite. So focus on things that reduce your appetite, or don't increase it.
Bad carbs, that turn into sugar in your body, will stimulate appetite. When farmers want to fatten up pigs, they give them carbs. Avoid sugar, white bread, etc. Go for low glycemic breads.
Exercise has a lot of benefits and you should definitely exercise. It burns calories, but also stimulates appetite, so for weight loss, it's a wash. Sadly, exercise won't help you lose weight. But you should still do it for other reasons.
Fatty foods will actually make you feel full, so can be good. Snack on nuts. Eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, if you get jelly without added sugar and use it sparingly, on low glycemic bread.
In the end, you also need to up your mental tolerance for feeling hungry. Try to train your brain to be ok with feeling a little hungry, not eating at the first sign of hunger.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#414The obvious answer is "eat less". If you can do that, great! Most people have trouble.
The thing is, we evolved to have homeostatic regulation of our food-seeking behaviors. That means we have a set of unconscious impulses that guide most of our decisions for when and how much to eat. We didn't evolve to use executive function, and only executive function, to decide how much to eat. And if we fight those impulses, we're fighting ourselves.
Obviously, the problem isn't simple. Otherwise, everyone would be at their ideal weight! So what can we do?
Instead of fighting against your instincts, manipulate them. Why do we get those impulses to eat too much? In a modern environment, we have easy access to hyperpalatable food – in other words, junk food. It's highly rewarding for very little effort, so your brain not only tells you to eat more of it at once, it also tells you to seek it out more often.
But how do we manipulate our food-seeking impulses? By changing your food environment. Don't surround yourself with junk food. Choose to surround yourself with healthier foods, and choose to eat foods that require some effort to obtain or prepare. If you don't have time to cook, make time. You'll feel full after fewer calories, and your food seeking behaviors will naturally change. Don't do anything crazy, just eat healthy foods in sensible combinations.
Now, you can certainly throw some self-control into the equation. And if you can't fully control your food environment, you'll have to. But if you keep your self in the same food environment that got you fat and try to lose weight entirely through self-control, statistically your odds of success are quite low.
This is my answer. Your answer may be different, but this is what worked for me.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#415Self loathing.
You do not deserve to eat to excess. You deserve the discomfort of eternally unfulfilled hunger.
You deserve the pain of exercise, and the struggle of lifting weights, and the only thing you can look forward to, if you get comfortable with the current weight you're lifting, is adding more weight.
I can't recommend it though as the cons far outweigh the pros.
Lifting weights though, do it, but start slowly to develop technique without risking injury. Make a habit of it.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
any unhealthy side effects of only eating one meal a day? what if that meal is 1800+ calories?
Eating only once a day is very bad advice. If you make a regular meal, one meal a day nets a negative of 1300/1500 calories per day, which will cause considerable muscle tissue loss (note how the parent writes "losing weight", not "losing fat", but also "yes, I have significant fat even at 150lb and 5'10"), besides having no energy. If you make instead a massive mels, you're going to give a massive glucose shot to yo…
Tell that to the 1.8 billion muslims that don't eat for a month out of the year.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#417There’s no magic. I tried “better habits” including using a bike for literally all transit, no candy, gym three times a week, etc. with zero effect on my weight. Then I just started counting calories using an app and hitting a calorie target. Bam, 15 kg off.
The challenge is “will power” at the start, but you adapt. Part of adaptation is getting accustomed to new feelings and part of it is learning how different foods effect your sense of satiation.
When I would be too hungry, I would go ahead and eat, but still count everything and then the next day I would experiment with different foods.
Through part of it I remember hitting a very low carb target (under ten percent) and this working for me.
I used an app, Fat Secret, which has a good product database for Poland, and I would actually just not eat things if they’re hard to count. So my diet would need to be more “legible” and so, ironically, I could eat McDonald’s but not other places because its food was better documented.
Once I hit my target I changed my diet to bulk deliberately (I am weight training) but I still count everything. It’s just different targets. (Learning to use free weights and lift is it’s own adventure. I recommend.)
I have to say a positive and surprising part of the experience is women blowing smoke up my ass about it. My pet theory is that basically everyone now lives like a 90s “nerd”, binge watching Star Trek with a six pack of beer, so if you put literally any effort into your body and clothing, you’re ahead of everyone.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’re suggesting a strategy that, empirically, is obviously beyond the reach for most people. That’s the mainstream method of losing weight. Every single person that’s wanted to lose weight has tried it, likely many times. I’m not saying IF is the solution, but it’s insulting to say it’s as simple as “diet and exercise”. If it was, 80% of Americans wouldn’t be overweight.
Fair enough. Although my intention wasn't to imply that it was easy in general, just easier than the suggestion I was replying to. In any case, the first step in losing weight is actually wanting to do something about it, as the submitter of this story does. You mentioned Americans in particular, but I think that the problem with obesity in the U.S. is a kind of its own. When even the bread is sugared, I think a sign…
Each time I gain weight, it's indeed a LOT easier for me to skip some meals and get back to where I want to be, rather than eating less or better.
Just 1 data point confirming the parent post.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#419The old saying about you lose weight in the kitchen not the gym is absolutely true for me.
If I exercise I feel great but the more I do the more I eat, because it makes me hungry and I justify eating more because I'm working out.
In the first month of our first lockdown I lost 15lb with virtually no exercise, just cutting out the snacks/beer/sugar and measuring my portions.
Re: Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?
#420Learn to love broccoli. Eat it raw as a snack instead of potato chips, perhaps with a small serving of some dip if you must. It's the best way to feel full without cheating your calorie budget.