The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

Fasting promotes autophagy and improves insulin resistance, if you do actual fasting (no calories during fasting). Many people have what's called "metabolic syndrome" which is low insulin sensitivity (high insulin resistance) and that causes many problems eventually leading to Type 2 diabetes.

Fasting with small "breaks" (100-200cal snacks) breaks a true fast (>50cal) but still results in overall reduced calories, and is more sustainable for many (or a path towards true fasting).

You lose weight in fasting due to reduced calories. How you do it determines the benefits - merely reduced calories, or more. Some people have very little weight loss with reduced calories diets b/c their metabolism (insulin sensitivity) is really messed up and won't see benefit until they do true fasting.

I like OMAD (one meal a day) as it feels the "easiest", though I have done regular multi-day fasts in the past and the hardest part is figuring out what to do with yourself since you're not spending time cooking/eating.

A good book is The Obesity Code[1], with lots of background and fasting schedules.

Really, the most benefit I've had from fasting is resetting my appetite - I am now satiated and full from a "normal" meal, and thus eating a reasonable amount of food. I used to easily be able to eat a large pizza and then a pint of ice cream every night (obv that leads straight to obesity). Now 3-4 slices of pizze + side salad is more than enough to fill me up and I have some pieces of chocolate for dessert.

[1] https://a.co/d/9ZfHjr7

On a side note, the article started in US customs (pounds), and then uses kcal for measuring the energy, and finally uses grams and g/lb for proteins. Just switch to metric :)

I walk 10 km every day, no exceptions. (I still do this) I had a banana + coffee w. skimmed milk for breakfast. I had a plate of 2/3 heavy vegs (e.g. carrot, cabbage) 1/3 protein for lunch. I had ONLY one serving of whatever we were having for dinner. No alcohol, beer, crisps, candy at home - ever. When we went out I drank and ate whatever everyone else did.

Those are the broad strokes. Feel free to ask any questions you might have.

I am fat despite eating healthy. Or rather, because of it: I almost entirely avoid junk food and alcohol, rarely have restaurant food, but I love healthy, nutritious, home-cooked meals and fresh fruits and vegs so much that I simply eat far too much of them. I wonder if anyone has been in my situation and has suggestions?

> An hour of intense exercise might burn 500 calories, and it’s very hard to keep up that level of effort for even one full hour — especially if you’ve been sitting in a chair all day for years on end.

This is probably true, though it doesn't factor in the effect of muscle mass and "afterburn" on resting metabolism. Muscle is expensive, that's why your body gets rid of it quickly when you don't use it. And you spend a lot of calories replenishing energy stores and repairing your muscles in the days after your exercise, because that's far from a 100% efficient process.

If you're male and an absolute beginner (as sitting in a chair all day implies), you can gain significant muscle mass with just 90 minutes a week of strength training.

The direct calorie expenditure of exercising that much may be minor. But you will soon be burning an extra 150kcal/day in afterburn and muscle maintenance just sitting on your ass on your off-days. That adds up to a nice beer budget.

Intensive strength training isn't for everyone though, I can see why a guide for the lazy person might leave it out. But if you're even slightly more of a minmaxer than just lazy you should consider it, given all the other additional benefits of exercise.

Finally the protein paragraphs are very spot on. Especially now quality protein shakes are cheap and easily available. One of those (125kcal) fills me up like lunch, and two like dinner. They're an incredible weight loss hack.