You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016) • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by mpalczewski » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:08 PM UTC

ehsankia wrote: post #124

vlunkr wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

We have literally evolved to overeat. And one thing people don't consider is that genetics does play a real role. Just because it's easy for you to not overeat as much doesn't mean it's the same for others. I personally believe the solution will ultimately have to come from science/technology. We need a safe and efficient appetite reducer that people can take regularly.

Obesity started to be a thing in the last 100 years. It wasn't evolution.

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

#152

Post by dataflow » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:08 PM UTC

csours wrote: post #73

I weigh 350 pounds. I'm very obese. I know this. When I was a teenager, I looked at people who weighed 300+ pounds and though, how do you get that way. Don't you realize that you are gaining weight? Don't you know that you just have to eat less to lose weight? Anyway, now I realize that I am hungry. It never goes away unless I eat a significant amount of food. My body told me to eat, so I ate. It doesn't even take th…

> There is a very good chance that someone is writing a reply with some suggestion as to how I should eat so that I'm not hungry.

Actually I was wanted to ask the opposite: what prevents you from letting yourself go hungry a fraction of the day? You might get a stomachache for a bit, I know, but have you tried and seen any consequences beyond that? Note I'm not suggesting "eat absolutely nothing the whole day", but like if you cut your portions into a half or a third of the usual (or eat fiber/etc. so as to at least fill your stomach)... is that going to actually cause you any problems beside a bit of stomach pain? (and might trying a mild pain reliever like acetaminophen potentially help with that until your body gets used to it?)

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

#153

Post by gamblor956 » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC

heavyset_go wrote: post #109

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…

If anyone remembers the internet personality Ulillillia, he claimed he lost weight by removing the grease from pizza he ate. Not exactly the diet plan anyone should really choose, but it shows that even changes that feel like they shouldn't matter actually do, even when eating what most would describe as an unhealthy diet. There are a lot of calories in fats and oils, and apparently removing some of them can have sig…

A tablespoon of grease (or fat in general) is about 120 calories. A slice of pizza has anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of excess grease per slice (especially pepperoni pizzas).

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

#154

Post by heavyset_go » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC

Blackthorn wrote: post #130

heavyset_go wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anyone remembers the internet personality Ulillillia, he claimed he lost weight by removing the grease from pizza he ate. Not exactly the diet plan anyone should really choose, but it shows that even changes that feel like they shouldn't matter actually do, even when eating what most would describe as an unhealthy diet. There are a lot of calories in fats and oils, and apparently removing some of them can have sig…

I love pizza and never get to eat it because of the caloric load, and I really doubt that. Fats are 9 calories a gram. If you remove the available grease you're getting, what, two grams off per slice, maybe? Doesn't seem like that's really moving the needle. Though now I want to rigorously test this, so the next time I have pizza I'll weigh the napkin before and after soaking up available grease.

There's a lot more than 2 grams of fat in a slice of pizza. I've tried it before because Ulillillia's pizza degreasing meme has lived rent free in my head for like a decade, and I could easily soak a couple of paper towels in pizza grease from just a slice of pizza.

Apparently, all he ate were pizzas, so it wasn't just one slice he was degreasing, but whole pizzas.

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

#155

Post by gpsx » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC

When I started the article I thought it would be completely misguided, but there was a lot of good information inside. I just don't agree with the emphasis on counting calories. As the article says, we are bad at it. But supposing we could do it perfectly, then what is the right number we should ingest? Besides, we eat for more than just calories. Nutrients are more important. Your body might tell you to keep eating after you get enough calories because it is missing something else.

Our body has an amazingly good, built in mechanism to control what we eat without us consciously tracking our input. The only problem, as mentioned in the article, is some modern foods throw off our system. So don't eat those. I don't find avoiding processed foods or even foods with processed sugar a sacrifice in any way, at least from a pleasure point of view.

Disclaimer - eating refined sugar gives me headache so maybe that makes it easier. (Fruit does not give me a headache. Fruit cooked in the oven at high temperatures to caramelize the sugars does. ? )

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

#156

Post by mdoms » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC

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.

I lived with a dieting obese couple who would reward themselves with a "cheat" dinner if they'd been good for a whole 2 meals prior.

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

#157

Post by ehsankia » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:10 PM UTC

mpalczewski wrote: post #151

ehsankia wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have literally evolved to overeat. And one thing people don't consider is that genetics does play a real role. Just because it's easy for you to not overeat as much doesn't mean it's the same for others. I personally believe the solution will ultimately have to come from science/technology. We need a safe and efficient appetite reducer that people can take regularly.

Obesity started to be a thing in the last 100 years. It wasn't evolution.

You misunderstood what I said. We evolved in a world where food was scarce, hence why we evolved to overeat once we do find food. In the past 100 years, food has no longer been scarce (for people living in a first world country), hence the obesity.

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

#158

Post by daenz » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:11 PM UTC

csours wrote: post #73

I weigh 350 pounds. I'm very obese. I know this. When I was a teenager, I looked at people who weighed 300+ pounds and though, how do you get that way. Don't you realize that you are gaining weight? Don't you know that you just have to eat less to lose weight? Anyway, now I realize that I am hungry. It never goes away unless I eat a significant amount of food. My body told me to eat, so I ate. It doesn't even take th…

Thanks for sharing. Here's my perspective as a lean person who has no problems literally starving themselves to do other things.

It does indeed sound like your hunger is more intense than my hunger. I think I benefit from a ton of experience in transitioning past "I'm very hungry" to "I'm fine" when I choose not to eat. There's a clear point (for me) when the body just says "oh we're not going to eat now? ok, I'll stop interrupting the brain with 'I'm hungry' signals." It just goes away and I'm no doubt in a caloric deficit.

Some of this is self-discipline, and some of it is an ability to find something more engaging/interesting than eating. If I push past the hunger threshold, it's easy to just not eat for a long stretch of time. Eventually, I notice that I'm extremely physically weak and mentally fatigued (but still not very hungry), and I realize that I have to eat, or it's going to start causing problems.

Anyways, take that for what it's worth.

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

#159

Post by heavyset_go » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:11 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #153

heavyset_go wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If anyone remembers the internet personality Ulillillia, he claimed he lost weight by removing the grease from pizza he ate. Not exactly the diet plan anyone should really choose, but it shows that even changes that feel like they shouldn't matter actually do, even when eating what most would describe as an unhealthy diet. There are a lot of calories in fats and oils, and apparently removing some of them can have sig…

A tablespoon of grease (or fat in general) is about 120 calories. A slice of pizza has anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of excess grease per slice (especially pepperoni pizzas).

Yeah, he said all he ate were pizzas, so he was doing this for a lot more than just one slice everyday, as well.

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

#160

Post by notatoad » Sat, May 14, 2022, 9:12 PM UTC

Vladimof wrote: post #2

yeah, exercise is not for losing fat... it's just for staying in good health

this is another one of those things that's true in a sort of broad sense, but factually incorrect. exercise burns calories, and burning calories makes you lose fat - that's just basic math.

but exercise makes you hungry, and to the article's main point: people are terrible at estimating calories. a one-hour easy run, a two-hour bike ride, or a full day of alpine skiing burns what's basically an irrelevant amount of calories. if you're taking in any extra amount of calories, normal amounts of exercise doesn't help you lose weight.