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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

#91

Post by Brian_K_White »

oaktrout wrote: post #43
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 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.

You say "3 hot pockets" as though this were an example of some obviously small thing. I would probably feel overstuffed if I tried to eat 3 hot pockets a day and nothing else.

I could do it for a few days but I probably couldn't keep it up for long. I'd throw up probably within a week from gradually basically not being able to keep up. I would still be full from the last one when it came time for the next one, and that would get a bit worse each day.

People are in fact different, and most Americans are like fish that aren't aware of water when it comes to their concept of what is a reasonable amount of food. They are swimming in it all day since birth, and these gross amounts seem normal.

I am thin and energetic. I burn my food. But fairly sedentary and lazy, IE, my job isn't chopping wood all day nor do I ever go to a gym. But I just have nervous energy and am very thin. I'm willing to do active things when there is something to do, I typically go up and down stairs with energy etc. I almost always feel grossly overstuffed after about the 2nd meal if I'm staying with other people and eating on their schedule for more than a day. Normally I just eat one not-large meal late at night and nurse one large (say 14oz) coffee most of the day.

So it's not a slow metabolism, at least as far as most cliche signs appear. When I do eat too much, I don't gain weight much. And yet, I just can not gag down a fraction of what everyone around me eats.

Oh and I'm American too. This isn't coming from an Asian or something when I said Americans. Mostly German & French ancestry. Raised in upper middle class, north east, moved around a out equal parts rural and urban. Basically I was raised in the same environment that I'm saying warped most Americans, and the same quality (good and bad ie processed) and quantity of food was available.

People simply vary and you just can't make many assumptions based on one's own experience.

Wait I just realized something ... unless capitalism has done it's usual thing and hotpockets are much smaller now than the last time I had one. In which case disregard. The more I think about it the more I fear this is entirely likely. :)

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#92

Post by wrp »

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…

Counting calories has a dramatic effect because it makes you aware of how much eating is habitual rather than because you need the input. People start eating less without consciously trying to. I've read that calorie counting is the most effective strategy for losing weight, but it is also the strategy people are most resistant to trying because of the perceived hassle. It is a pain for the first few weeks as you go about measuring everything, but once you acquire data on your habitual foods it's not a big deal.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#93

Post by parineum »

nsxwolf wrote: post #76
jwiz wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just track calories in, and weight. If you stop losing weight, reduce calories in. It doesn't matter if you "have a slow metabolism" or whatever, because that just means you don't get to eat as much as someone else who weighs the same as you. There are confounding factors so that you can't predict how much weight will be lost by a given calorie deficit. But that doesn't matter. You will lose weight if you eat les…

And here’s where the problem comes in for me - when I reach that level, where weight loss begins to be measurable, I am so miserable I can’t think about anything but food 24/7. It’s like being in a staring contest where the other person never, ever blinks.

I'm not a massive proponent of regular fasting but, having done it long enough, I've learned what hungry really means. The experience was invaluable because of that.

I had (and still have to some extent) that same feeling you have but that's not hunger. For me, sometimes it was boredom, sometimes it was routine ("it's 6pm, dinner time!") or just straight up gluttony but that's not real hunger. Want to eat and need to eat are very different.

I'm saying all of this with a bag of cheezits next to me at 12am.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#94

Post by suprfnk »

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…

> I lost 50 pounds in 2020 with this one trick: I counted calories and stayed under 2100 per day.

Yes, I don't think there's anyone that will dispute this. Weight loss is pretty simple.

However, it's definitely not easy. "Just keep your calories below X" is way easier said than done. It's like saying: "Everyone can run an ultramarathon, just keep putting your foot in front of the other until you're there. It's really simple."

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#95

Post by Grustaf »

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.

Because eating nothing is not sustainable for more than a few weeks.

If you have that slow of a metabolism then you should either build more lean mass and get more active, which drives up the metabolism, or eat less. One way to eat less without feeling hungry is to eat bulkier food, more fibre, and lower GI foods. Since I started eating pure rye bread I'm much less hungry.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#96

Post by mkraft »

Waterluvian wrote: post #13
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“130 calories? That’s so expensive." That's exactly how I came to lose all the weight I have - I started counting calories which caused me to treat it like a budget. I never deprived myself of what I wanted, but new if I splurged on supper I'd not be able to do as much dessert.

My favourite part of it is that it’s so simple you can barely call it a system. The diet industry/community really disinterests me because there is so much complexity.

Imagine trying to reign in spending without a budget by drinking lots of water to avoid buying starbucks and other similar indirect tricks. Without the budget you’d easily overspend. This is how I think of calorie counting as the only proper way and other diets as inefficient indirections.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#97

Post by wrp »

melling wrote: post #27
Waterluvian wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I didn’t even count calories and lost 30 pounds last year. Eat less food. Stopped snacking between meals, and ate a salad for dinner a few nights a week. Also, tried to reduce my meal size, in general. Getting that hungry feeling between meals that I would always satisfy meant I was creating a deficit.

As we get into middle age, our hunger sensations grow more out of alignment with our body's caloric needs. I think the focus of most diet strategies is to find ways of minimizing hunger pains while keeping caloric input at or below maintenance level.

Aside from calorie counting, which is very effective, the most important thing I found for avoiding discomfort is to go short on calories earlier rather than later in the day.

I've read surveys on how French women stay thinner on average and it boils down to having just a coffee and cigarette for breakfast and maybe even lunch. Both caffeine and nicotine suppress hunger. I don't recommend smoking, but I rely a lot on coffee sometimes.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#98

Post by fragmede »

nsxwolf wrote: post #76
jwiz wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just track calories in, and weight. If you stop losing weight, reduce calories in. It doesn't matter if you "have a slow metabolism" or whatever, because that just means you don't get to eat as much as someone else who weighs the same as you. There are confounding factors so that you can't predict how much weight will be lost by a given calorie deficit. But that doesn't matter. You will lose weight if you eat les…

And here’s where the problem comes in for me - when I reach that level, where weight loss begins to be measurable, I am so miserable I can’t think about anything but food 24/7. It’s like being in a staring contest where the other person never, ever blinks.

What's your diet like though? I found satiety only roughly correlates to calories in. That is to say, some foods I could eat a ton of calories worth and still feel hungry. Other kinds of food would have me feeling full with far fewer calories.

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#99

Post by quickthrower2 »

> In April 2022, we announced the Potato Diet Community Trial. We expected that the potato diet would be really hard to stick to and people would only lose a little weight, if any. But we were wrong — people said the potato diet was easy, enjoyable, and on average, people lost 10.6 lbs over 4 weeks.

Not surprising at all. This is the fad diet. Big business. Can they get to an ideal weight and stay there for 10 years (pregnancy excepted)? - is the real question!

Re: People took some potassium and lost some weight

#100

Post by quickthrower2 »

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…

The diet people really want is the eat and drink what the hell you like in any quantity and lose weight. That would be a real hit.

The diet mentioned here is a restriction diet which is hard work. It is like the revelation of getting an extra $500/m side hussle by waiting tables.

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