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Ask HN: What's your secret diet tip you can share?

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61–70 of 95 posts

Re: Ask HN: What's your secret diet tip you can share?

#61
Consume less energy than you burn.

Works for me for decades, my BMI is around 20.0. If it starts going up I just limit the intake (obviously I use for reference my weight in kg from my scale, instead calculating BMI each time).

Other than that I am eating whatever I want/like.

I am always amazed by people expecting some miracle diet to lose weight instead just either eat less or burn more or both, but they think they can cheat simple physics.

Re: Ask HN: What's your secret diet tip you can share?

#62
post #6

You won't die if you starve for 3 to 7 days, and drink only water.

You won’t die but that doesn’t seem like it won’t come with any ramifications nor does it sound healthy.

I've done nine days on water only and it was fantastic. It reset my tastebuds and simple foods tasted great again. Not to mention the weight loss.

Re: Ask HN: What's your secret diet tip you can share?

#64
Integrate a substantial calisthenic exercise into your daily routine.

Something like a hundred pushups and a dozen pull-ups. Increase the count as you get lighter and stronger so you're always within 10-20% of the maximum you could do in a set.

Make it a non-negotiable part of your day akin to brushing your teeth and showering.

This way when you fuck up your diet/lifestyle, you have a very strong negative feedback signal when you suddenly can only do 75% of the e.g. pushups you did last week.

When you work on this for years and get your sets up in a range that feels hard-earned, it becomes quite upsetting to see the numbers regress.

For me this is all it takes to correct any emerging bad habits that start putting on pounds like drinking socially too much or eating cookies at the cafe.

It's easy to ignore a slowly increasing number on a scale, assuming you even step on one. Not so easy to ignore yourself sucking at this thing you've been getting awesome at for years. Not for me anyways.

Re: Ask HN: What's your secret diet tip you can share?

#68
post #4

I just read this review of The Hungry Brain. It sounds interesting and matches some anecdotal experience I’ve had. Basically: eat boring food. I live in the USA but I grew up in Australia. The USA is big on highly rewarding food. Australia is too, but not to the level the USA is. Whenever I go back to Australia, I will always lose 5-10 pounds without changing anything about my diet. It’s just less rewarding to our ca…

Was it this review? https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/04/25/book-review-the-hungry...

This also lines up with my anecdotal experience, and the best boring food I've ever found were potatoes. I used to avoid them because of the carb content, but they always seem to give me good energy while also being 'filling'. If you look up various satiety indices, potatoes always seem to be at the top, even higher than most meats.

With regular consumption, I've found simple, unprocessed potatoes to become very boring even while being very satiating. It's strange, like I have this strong psychological urge to consume something with more exciting flavor to it (i.e. processed food) while being completely satisfied physically. Regardless, I think it's a food that can really help people who struggle to lose weight.

Re: Ask HN: What's your secret diet tip you can share?

#69
post #64

Integrate a substantial calisthenic exercise into your daily routine. Something like a hundred pushups and a dozen pull-ups. Increase the count as you get lighter and stronger so you're always within 10-20% of the maximum you could do in a set. Make it a non-negotiable part of your day akin to brushing your teeth and showering. This way when you fuck up your diet/lifestyle, you have a very strong negative feedback si…

Agreed, having a fun and social physical activity that I need good Muscle and Fuel for, has started to greatly shape my appetite towards Protein and Fat, and away from Sugar and Carbs. (Eggs, Cheese, Milk, Meat, Eggs, any and all Greens that are fun to Crunch on) Been reading ingredients lists very carefully, and increasing my sensitivity to Sweetness to the point that a Vegan Zucchini Bread was delightfully sweet. I think it had 5g of sugar per serving.

The final straw that began my diet (the Exercise re-lit and carries it on) was a batch of Costco Grapefruit cups with about 25g sugar per cup - Tasted like nothing, and was almost mildly nauseating. Leagues from the bitter grapefruit I imagined, and a waste of sugar and profit margins to add so much sugar IMO.

Re: Ask HN: What's your secret diet tip you can share?

#70
post #64

Integrate a substantial calisthenic exercise into your daily routine. Something like a hundred pushups and a dozen pull-ups. Increase the count as you get lighter and stronger so you're always within 10-20% of the maximum you could do in a set. Make it a non-negotiable part of your day akin to brushing your teeth and showering. This way when you fuck up your diet/lifestyle, you have a very strong negative feedback si…

100 pushups?? I can't even do 5 in a row. No upper body strength at all.
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