Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

> How exactly you limit your calorie intake while starting to burn off more, i.e. the specific diet is the uninteresting part. You first need the mental framework that allows you to change your habits

Not sure about your specific strategy of fat shaming yourself, but the above quote is on point.

At the end of the day it all comes back to reducing calorie intake. However you can trick yourself into doing that long-term, great.

For me it was becoming vegan (and lost 50 lbs in about 10 months). I didn't go vegan because I want to "save the animals" or anything. Purely a way to (severely) limit the available options when eating out at restaurants, shopping for groceries, etc. No more fried chicken 5 days a week!

This is not "weird" but may be weird to some. I'm going to let you in on the most obvious way which is used by MOST animals, as low as arthropods to lose weight... and that is "not eating" a.k.a. fasting.

Other animals do it out of real scarcity during various times. We have evolved for scarcity, so we store fat for when food is not available. (Un)fortunately, there has been no food scarcity most people in developed nations for decades on end, even centuries... hence the obesity problem.

The lack of food scarcity for longer times has happened before in various cultures in various parts of the world. Therefore, all of them had introduced ritualistic fasting into their culture. The current western culture (which is also prevalent in most of the westernized world) is based on selling, so they have only ever sold eating something else to lose weight... which is not the real solution. Lately, selling apps, books and other content at scale became profitable so we have seen some rise in fasting but it is still drowned out by other highly profitable non solutions... like pointless physical labor (a.k.a. "working out" or "exercise") or complicated and mostly pointless dietary restrictions (a.k.a. "diets").

I can point to some resources to get you started with fasting:

- Book: Complete Guide To Fasting by Jason Fung

- YouTube Channel: The Fasting Fatman: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheFastingFatman

- YouTube Channel: Snake Diet: https://www.youtube.com/c/SnakeDiet

- Forum: Reddit's r/fasting: https://www.reddit.com/r/fasting/wiki/index

I struggled with weight for decades but this last year I've lost 60+ pounds, and I will lose more. All the weird tips in the world won't help IMO. I used an app that worked for me finally. It worked because I was able to get the education, and mindset / motivation I needed. Little tips and tricks won't work, you need a comprehensive solution that works for you. I'm not shilling for some company, this was the only thing that has worked consistently for me after decades of trying. Anyway, at the risk of sounding like an advert which this is not, it was noom. It takes a lot of work and persistence but having the reasons and knowledge to make it all come together and be consistent is what is key.

Something really weird: Start wearing those t-shirts that don't fit you anymore and stick close to your body instead of bigger t-shirts. This will make you cognizant of the extra weight and help you eat healthier/workout.

If you're overweight and unable to lose anything try bariatric surgery. Our food culture is not built to allow overweight people to survive and at this point the ONLY way to do it without massive willpower and endless failure is a surgical solution. Saying "Eat less" isn't an answer any more effective than telling an alcoholic to "Drink less."