Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less • Hacker News Board

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#101

Post by MatthewPhillips » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 6:58 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #95

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you already lose your water weight? If not, drink 10 8-ounce glasses of water a day, and you'll lose 10-15 in less than a month. I don't know about this "one big meal a day" stuff. I used to do that as my normal diet in my early to mid 20s (not trying to lose weight) and it did not keep me in shape. I lost weight when I started eating more, normal sized meals (yogurt or granola for breakfast, sandwich and apple f…

Where did you get this idea from? Drinking water isn't going to help you lose much weight, especially not 10-15 lbs in a month. 1-3 lbs a week is a normal rate for people dieting, water alone isn't going to come close to that. It will help keep you satiated but not enough to cut 500 kcal out of your diet a day.

Water retention is definitely a cause of extra weight. We are used to/trained to not drink as much water as our bodies actually need. Fixing that by drinking a lot of water is a quick way to lose some pounds. Of course it doesn't work if you're already properly hydrated and it only works until the problem is remedied; you will hit a plateau early in your diet. And it doesn't work if your consuming more calories than your burning. But if you're already dieting (which the grandparent was), it's absolutely a good way to kick start your diet.

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#102

Post by jdbentley » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 6:58 PM UTC

kzkg wrote: post #11

You should check you gallbladder for gallstones. They are often caused by crash diets and can cause that kind of pain you described.

I had my gallbladder removed in February of 2007 after several attacks, so thankfully it's not something for me to worry about. The pain I experienced lasted only one day and I haven't felt even a hint of it since.

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#103

Post by jdbentley » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:05 PM UTC

baddspellar wrote: post #73

Radical, one-time, short-term actions like this aren't lifestyle changes. They're not sustainable, so they don't work in the long term. If the author said he made sustainable lifestyle changes I'd have some reason to believe he's won his weight battle. If he said he's been getting up an hour early each morning for the past 3 months to walk, or has been learning how to prepare tasty low-calorie meals and has kept that…

I felt that the post concluded better at the end of the fast rather than dragging it on, but since breaking the fast I've continued walking daily, I lift weights 3 day a week, I'm eating far more fruits and vegetables (especially apples) and I'm getting about 100g-150g of lean protein per day (from chicken, turkey, occasionally beef, and protein shakes). My water habit from the fast has carried over into everyday life. Lots of water, no sodas or other sugary drinks.

The fasting wasn't the change I was looking for, but a catalyst for that change. It put me on the right path.

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#104

Post by MatthewPhillips » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:05 PM UTC

emp_ wrote: post #81

MatthewPhillips wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you already lose your water weight? If not, drink 10 8-ounce glasses of water a day, and you'll lose 10-15 in less than a month. I don't know about this "one big meal a day" stuff. I used to do that as my normal diet in my early to mid 20s (not trying to lose weight) and it did not keep me in shape. I lost weight when I started eating more, normal sized meals (yogurt or granola for breakfast, sandwich and apple f…

Thanks Matthew, will pay more attention to the water. Also, I'm in Brazil and our culture is to eat the big 1000+ calorie meal at lunch and very little in the morning or at night, I eat pretty much what you described but the rice/fish is for lunch and sandwich/apple for dinner, I do go a little off on weekends with the eventual pizza/pasta/barbecue (the Brazilian type, which I think is rather unique) in rational port…

Yeah, my experience has always been that it's the seemingly little things that get you. I used to be addicted to ice tea. I'd drink a pitcher a day by myself. It's a liquid after all, you don't get fat from liquids, right? 5 ice-cream scoops of sugar per pitcher. Now I have no desire for it, ever.

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#105

Post by jdbentley » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:08 PM UTC

maeon3 wrote: post #18

If you fast, when you stop fasting you will gain 20 pounds because your brain and body will be in "famine mode" and you will store everything to fat. Go ahead and try it. I've been hovering around 155 to 160 my whole life, that is until the day I fasted for about 2 1/2 days, at which point I immediately started gaining weight after. It's been a daily battle since to not overeat. My subconscious mind says: "Eat, consu…

During my six-day fast, I dropped from 252lbs to 228lbs. After the fast, I leveled out at 233lbs and then continued to drop because I didn't return to my old eating and exercise habits.

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#106

Post by lupatus » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:09 PM UTC

einhverfr wrote: post #41

tptacek wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really believe that? Maybe the antibiotics in the chicken --- although truly healthy chicken is spectacularly expensive, and even products labeled "organic" can still be flooded with antibiotics "to prevent disease outbreaks" which are inevitable in factory farms. Other than antibiotics, I generally call BS on the health benefits of "organic" and "grass fed" protein. You should eat organic --- or, VERY prefera…

Fats are shown to be qualitatively different in animals which are afforded range space and fed their natural feed than which are fed in CAFO's.

Have you ever observed a ruminant's behavior even if it has acres and acres of free range?

It will spend the day milling around in the same area with its friends and then lay down in its own excrement for a nap. How is this qualitatively different from a CAFO operation?

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#107

Post by brown9-2 » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:21 PM UTC

ebbv wrote: post #43

z0r wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1526539 Summary: resistance training is most effective, then interval training (high intensity and lower intensity), and then steady state high intensity cardio training, and finally least effective steady state low intensity cardio training.

What a shock that a body building website would say that. I can't believe it. Let me ask Microsoft if I should use Linux for my servers or not, hold on BRB. The reality is that an hour of cardio is going to burn many, many more calories than 15 minutes of lifting. Now, if you hate cardio and can't stand to do it for an hour, but you love lifting, then obviously you're better off lifting. But if you can learn to enjoy…

> What a shock that a body building website would say that. I can't believe it. Let me ask Microsoft if I should use Linux for my servers or not, hold on BRB.

The source of the argument does not take away from the validity of the argument itself. You should be able to evaluate an argument on it's points alone.

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#108

Post by JoshTriplett » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:23 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #98

JoshTriplett wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also don't want to stay in it too long because your body will start eating muscle, not just fat.

For fasting, yes that's true. For a ketogenic diet with adequate amounts of protein, no it won't.

I only mentioned it due to the topic of fasting. Yes, you can carefully control the process to ensure you don't burn protein, but fasting doesn't do that.

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#109

Post by dextorious » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:25 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #99

driverdan wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a) Your wording is weird, but yes, they are just as healthy. All scientific research on the topic has shown no health benefits to organic plants. What makes you think organic chicken is grass fed? b) Why do you think organic chickens are any different? USDA organic cert is a joke. It doesn't mean the chickens spend their days frolicking in fields. IIRC they can be kept in cages if they have some exposure to outdoors.…

Chickens are omnivores, not ruminants like cows. They'll eat grass but can't subsist on it. There's no such thing as "grass-fed chicken"; people who say "grass-fed", when they know what they're talking about, mean cows. Small farms do not flood their livestock with antibiotics to increase yield. It's a bit of a straw man to suggest that people are saying antibiotics should never be used on animals; it's their routini…

"""Chickens are omnivores, not ruminants like cows. They'll eat grass but can't subsist on it. There's no such thing as "grass-fed chicken"; people who say "grass-fed", when they know what they're talking about, mean cows."""

Well, re: wording, no native english speaker. With "grass fed" I mean naturally fed, not necessarily grass or solely grass. In my chicken hen I used wheet, corn, wild grass, and something that I don't know it's name in english, but I found a translation here as: " small seed of any of various annual cereal grasses especially Setaria italica millet"

http://www.lexvo.org/uwn/entity/ell/%CE%BA%CE%B5%CF%87%CF%81...

Re: Six Days without Food: Hacking Your Mind to Make Do with Far Less

#110

Post by mahyarm » Tue, Dec 06, 2011, 7:31 PM UTC

r00fus wrote: post #90

mahyarm wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Skip organic, save your money, eat purified mercury free fish oil softgels? I have 3-5 1200mg pills of it a day.

You're probably better off getting the theraputic grade stuff... my dad with Parkinsons has this drop shipped: https://omega-cure.com/ If you have a freezer, you store a 2 month supply for less than 2 months of softgels.

I looked at the pricing, it costs $34 for the '2 month supply'. 100 Softgels are $5 each and last a month, so I can get at least 6 months for the same price as your boutique 2 month version.