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People took some potassium and lost some weight

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Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#41

Post by [deleted] »

Waterluvian wrote: post #22
dgfitz wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m quite surprised you haven’t been accosted with the “calories in, calories out isn’t real” yet. Fwiw it is how I and others I know have lost significant amounts of weight. There was a “keto” thread on hn the other day and holy moly was keto/calories in, calories out attacked and rebuked.

Thermodynamics is thermodynamics. However what I think people are meaning to argue is that “just don’t eat as much” can be akin to saying, “just stop being depressed.” It can basically be impossible if not dangerous for some. Also, our calorie furnaces all work a bit differently. Thermodynamics laws hold, but some of us have far wider margins for how generously our body will burn off or otherwise not hold on to those…

[deleted]

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#42

Post by alwayslikethis »

scottlamb wrote: post #26
paulpauper wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why not just eat nothing? That way you only have to focus on the calories out portion? Obviously, some people find it much harder at this than others. Some average-sized adult males get overweight with just 1300-1700/calories a day due to slow metabolisms or other genetic factors.

> Some average-sized adult males get overweight with just 1300-1700/calories a day due to slow metabolisms or other genetic factors. I think this is largely a myth. (The 1700 calorie end is vaguely plausible but not the 1300 calorie end). There was a good article posted here a while ago [1] which talked about this. Now, it isn't necessarily easy to maintain a certain calorie count, in terms of either knowing how much…

Ketogenic or low carbohydrate diets greatly reduce the feeling of hunger and allows you to be burning fat directly most of the times. I assume this accounts for its effect on weight loss: even without counting calories directly, you are eating fewer calories.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#43

Post by oaktrout »

paulpauper wrote: post #20
dgfitz wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m quite surprised you haven’t been accosted with the “calories in, calories out isn’t real” yet. Fwiw it is how I and others I know have lost significant amounts of weight. There was a “keto” thread on hn the other day and holy moly was keto/calories in, calories out attacked and rebuked.

Then why not just eat nothing? That way you only have to focus on the calories out portion? Obviously, some people find it much harder at this than others. Some average-sized adult males get overweight with just 1300-1700/calories a day due to slow metabolisms or other genetic factors.

Some people are born with 12 fingers. 1700 per day is close the basal metabolic rate (laying in bed all day) for a thin adult male. It is less than 3 hot pockets per day, very few people gain weight eating that much.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#45

Post by alwayslikethis »

paulpauper wrote: post #11

seems too good to be true. If this was possible it would would be all over the news. Pharma companies have been looking forever for non-stimulant supplements that induce weight loss without the side effects of conventional weight loss medications. Given that such a drug would presumably be worth hundreds of billions of dollars in sales owing to the widespread obesity epidemic, there is great incentive to find one, ye…

You seem to be too optimistic about the motives of pharma companies. They need profits, and for that they need patentable drugs. They are not going to perform those very expensive randomized controlled trials for things they can't patent and sell for exorbitant prices. That's just the way it is.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#46

Post by amluto »

jupp0r wrote: post #38
paulpauper wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then why not just eat nothing? That way you only have to focus on the calories out portion? Obviously, some people find it much harder at this than others. Some average-sized adult males get overweight with just 1300-1700/calories a day due to slow metabolisms or other genetic factors.

Some people have such slow metabolism that they still get overweight when eating nothing.

Which is how the matrix works: you can use these people as power plants!

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#47

Post by 22c »

Waterluvian wrote: post #22
dgfitz wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m quite surprised you haven’t been accosted with the “calories in, calories out isn’t real” yet. Fwiw it is how I and others I know have lost significant amounts of weight. There was a “keto” thread on hn the other day and holy moly was keto/calories in, calories out attacked and rebuked.

Thermodynamics is thermodynamics. However what I think people are meaning to argue is that “just don’t eat as much” can be akin to saying, “just stop being depressed.” It can basically be impossible if not dangerous for some. Also, our calorie furnaces all work a bit differently. Thermodynamics laws hold, but some of us have far wider margins for how generously our body will burn off or otherwise not hold on to those…

People also seem to think that "calories out" == "exercise" which it doesn't.

For example, if you ate gasoline encased in glass marbles, you'd be eating a lot of calories. The body wouldn't use much of it, though!

It's not really widely understood how much the caloric content of our food is actually converted to fat.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#48

Post by stubish »

Waterluvian wrote: post #9
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #2

Any time you have people start tracking their weight, it’s not surprising that they might start paying attention to their diet and lose some weight. Without a placebo or control group, these numbers aren’t really useful.

I lost 50 pounds in 2020 with this one trick: I counted calories and stayed under 2100 per day. I didn’t even pay attention to what kinds of food I ate. That came automatically as I would look at a treat and think, “130 calories? That’s so expensive.” I naturally learned what foods made me feel full for longer. It was fun. Diet can be complicated, but I have a feeling that for most of us, it really doesn’t need to be…

This is (was?) Weight Watchers. Gamified dieting before that was a word. They used points though rather than calories, which was easier to monetize and meant you didn't run out of fingers.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#49

Post by fbdab103 »

cperciva wrote: post #31

Any biochemists here who want to speculate about potential mechanisms? I can't help thinking about the connection between potassium and insulin -- insulin pushes potassium into cells, to the extent that insulin is the standard treatment for hyperkalemia -- but I can't see how that would result in changes in appetite (which I assume is responsible for the weight loss here).

I have a long expired biochemistry degree, but I think the only answer you are likely to find is wild conjecture. Potassium is common in natural food sources, maintained at a fairly steady concentration, and has not previously received much attention as a potential weight loss treatment.

If you follow the authors, they are pushing a Lithium hypothesis where lithium is tilting the lipostatic equilibrium towards more fat. Potassium is supposedly able to compete with lithium in the brain and reset the body baseline towards a slimmer build.

I have no idea if the theory is correct, but it is more compelling than a lot of the standard hog wash you find. If nothing else, I hope these results push for some more standardized testing: easy enough to pump potassium into a colony of obese mice models.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#50

Post by akira2501 »

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #37

Random potassium trivia: Pot ash manufacturing was an extremely important industry in many countries worldwide from the 1400s-1800s, and potash a highly valuable trade commodity. Mainly for it's use in agriculture as a fertilizer because potassium is an essential plant nutrient. Potash was originally made from wood ashes by soaking the ashes in liquid and drying it out, leaving an alkali potash residue. Nowadays it i…

> Pot ash manufacturing was an extremely important industry

Still is if you have a Dwarf Fortress running.

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