Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

physiqonomics.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 501 posts

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#91

Post by digisign »

retrac wrote: post #60
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

Someone finally wrote this article. So refreshing. It's obvious when you live with a fat person why they have trouble losing weight, even when they're on a diet: they're usually not actually following it. Whether they don't understand portion sizes for calorie math, or look at calories at all, or eat things that they say "do not count", there is almost always a failure to understand what and how much they are eating.

One of my roommates tried everything, including good hard exercise and all sorts of diets. Nothing seemed to be working. It was kind of perplexing me, actually. Then we started working the same schedule, breakfast together. The whole thing unravelled with a casual comment he made. "Wow, you're really stingy with the sugar in your coffee." Except I wasn't. I was actually indulging myself, like two tablespoons. Show me…

Yes, over one tablespoon is more sugar than an adult should have per day. (Not to mention all the added sugar these days.) Maybe an ice cream on the weekend.

I usually combine with a Almond/Coconut milk and it is fine without sweetener. May take a bit to get used to if you have habits to break.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#92

Post by alistairSH »

ntlk wrote: post #67
javert wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To lose weight you have to do a lot more exercise than you think consistently. And you have to eat a lot less than you think. I think this is a misleading cliche. I seem to have a lost a significant amount of weight just from eating less, without exercise. Which makes sense. It's amazing how many miles you'd have to run to burn the calories you get from a Big Mac. Basically, our food is super dense in calories, and…

A Big Mac is 563 calories. Hardly unreasonable for a meal.

On its own maybe. But add large fries and a soda and it’s ~1300 calories. Way more than half most peoples daily requirement.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#93

Post by rileymat2 »

> You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (Even When You Don't Think You Are)

I read through the whole article, it is true, but the headline is wrong, you are not losing weight because you feel miserable. If it was just an issue of calorie restriction with no other effects, yes, this would be the reason.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#94

Post by jeffrallen »

jrootabega wrote: post #57
jeffrallen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have had the luxury to learn to cook with simple ingredients, you'd not need to read labels. Here's a shopping list for three meals, see if you can guess what they are? 1 kg apples, 1 kg other fruit in season, White unsweetened yogurt, Unsweetened granola, Garlic, 1 can diced tomato (no salt, no sweetener, just tomatoes), 1 onion, Olive oil, 150 gr dry pasta (bonus points for "integral pasta" -- don't know the…

Meal 1: 1/2 cup of pasta with vegetables, 8 oz. of white wine Meal 2: Half of the white wine Meal 3: Everything else, other half of the white wine

I'm coming over to your house! Party on, dude!

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#95

Post by Blackthorn »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #82
retrac wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my roommates tried everything, including good hard exercise and all sorts of diets. Nothing seemed to be working. It was kind of perplexing me, actually. Then we started working the same schedule, breakfast together. The whole thing unravelled with a casual comment he made. "Wow, you're really stingy with the sugar in your coffee." Except I wasn't. I was actually indulging myself, like two tablespoons. Show me…

That's why I always drink my coffee black. The amount of calories in sugar and especially "Coffee Mate" is amazing (in a bad way). A serving size of Coffee Mate is actually 1/5 of what I see most people actually put in their coffee. It only looks "low-ish" calories because the serving size is so small.

For folks who don't want to drink their coffee black, erythritol and monkfruit powder make fine zero calorie substitutes. For a lot of things, actually.

Modern zero calorie sweeteners are really impressive. We've come a long way from the days of saccharine.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#96

Post by jodrellblank »

jeffrallen wrote: post #42
tayo42 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

its exhausting to do that. Im switching my diet up a little to bit to reduce cholesterol and some liver enzyme thing lately and Im starting to get tired of thinking so much before every meal and shopping trip. wish it was easier to not fall in to unhealthy traps. so many labels, and so much meal planning.

If you have had the luxury to learn to cook with simple ingredients, you'd not need to read labels. Here's a shopping list for three meals, see if you can guess what they are? 1 kg apples, 1 kg other fruit in season, White unsweetened yogurt, Unsweetened granola, Garlic, 1 can diced tomato (no salt, no sweetener, just tomatoes), 1 onion, Olive oil, 150 gr dry pasta (bonus points for "integral pasta" -- don't know the…

> ""integral pasta" -- don't know the translation, "pasta integrale" in Italian"

In the UK I think that's variously: whole wheat pasta, wholemeal pasta, wholegrain pasta, or brown pasta.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#97

Post by gitfan86 »

vlunkr wrote: post #65
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

Someone finally wrote this article. So refreshing. It's obvious when you live with a fat person why they have trouble losing weight, even when they're on a diet: they're usually not actually following it. Whether they don't understand portion sizes for calorie math, or look at calories at all, or eat things that they say "do not count", there is almost always a failure to understand what and how much they are eating.

Or alternatively, they know they are eating too much, but simply don't have the will power to quit. I'm no food expert, but to me it looks like any other addiction. They rely on food emotionally, so when they are ashamed or depressed that they aren't losing weight, they turn to food, which continues the addiction cycle.

American society is basically brainwashed as to what is and isn't healthy. It takes actual effort to become well informed.

So many food products are marketed as "Fat Free, Organic, High In Fiber, Heart Healthy" and so on, even though the products are just a bunch of processed low quality crap. Even beer is frequently marketed as "Low Carb". In reality, there is no reason in include any calories for alcohol in any diet where the goal is losing weight.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#98

Post by Blackthorn »

digisign wrote: post #91
retrac wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my roommates tried everything, including good hard exercise and all sorts of diets. Nothing seemed to be working. It was kind of perplexing me, actually. Then we started working the same schedule, breakfast together. The whole thing unravelled with a casual comment he made. "Wow, you're really stingy with the sugar in your coffee." Except I wasn't. I was actually indulging myself, like two tablespoons. Show me…

Yes, over one tablespoon is more sugar than an adult should have per day. (Not to mention all the added sugar these days.) Maybe an ice cream on the weekend. I usually combine with a Almond/Coconut milk and it is fine without sweetener. May take a bit to get used to if you have habits to break.

By whose measurement? AHA says two tablespoons for women, three for men, is a maximum.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#100

Post by gonehome »

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #6
elmerfud wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

I don't eat particularly healthy, and I don't exercise much, yet I'm perpetually borderline underweight. Why does the math not matter for me, while the next person watches every calorie, goes on long walks, and yet struggles to lose any weight?

You just don’t eat that much naturally (maybe you get less pleasure out of it).

Fat people eat a lot and often don’t know how much.

Post reply on HN