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The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

dberkholz.com

71–80 of 93 posts

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#71
post #5

> Moderate alcohol intake (vs none, occasional, or heavy) I thought it had already been shown that the only healthy amount of alcohol is zero. I'm also surprised that "moderate" is better than "occasional".

Pretty well-known finding. Probably because increased sociality leads to greater longevity, not because alcohol is directly healthy.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those living in "blue zones" would disagree, and they live longer than anyone. https://www.wellandgood.com/alcohol-in-blue-zones/

Other than a single line asserting reduced cortisol levels, that article provides no evidence for causation over correlation.

It certainly shows alcohol isn’t the limiting factor. Anyone could change any number of things to be as healthy as those folks, but for whatever reason academics instead insist alcohol is the problem.

If the best software engineers in the role all consistently use rubber duck debugging, it may not be the case that rubber duck debugging is what makes them the best software engineers in the world, but it’d take a whole lot more evidence than some academic on a podcast saying “rubber duck debugging is harmful to software engineers” to convince me it isn’t at least worth a shot.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#73
post #45

I have no idea if this will work for anyone else and I don't have any data on which components are more important than others or how they interact, but the following is how I lost 35 kgs down to my target of 79 kg. from 1st of January 2023 to 15th May 2023, a weight which I retain +/- 2 kg. as of today. I walk 10 km every day, no exceptions. (I still do this) I had a banana + coffee w. skimmed milk for breakfast. I h…

10km in one go, or 5k twice, or something else? Is this about 2 hours walking a day? Outside? Desk treadmill?

90% of the time it is in one go, 10 % 8 and 2. In the beginning it was about 2 hours, now it is around 1 hour 40 mins. Outside always, mostly in the morning. I listen to podcasts, news and audiobooks.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why, because it sounds like an HR announcement?

Wow, sorry for trying to show some encouragement for someone online. Screw me right?

No, more a misguided attempt at humor about HR. My apologies.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#75
post #45

I have no idea if this will work for anyone else and I don't have any data on which components are more important than others or how they interact, but the following is how I lost 35 kgs down to my target of 79 kg. from 1st of January 2023 to 15th May 2023, a weight which I retain +/- 2 kg. as of today. I walk 10 km every day, no exceptions. (I still do this) I had a banana + coffee w. skimmed milk for breakfast. I h…

What you claim here is too easy for people to accept. They need apps, clocks, shakes and fads for their weight loss to make sense. Most people don't want to put in the work it takes. That is primarily the reason why the sports and food industry is so big. But you can't cheat your way into a healthy living. It is hard work. As a long time amateur bike rider, the advice and habits you dictate here are very much in line…

Thanks. I love gadgets, apps etc. but I felt the rules around this had to be so simple I did not need any support to keep them. Originally I had planned to start running after a month or 2, to save time, but when I saw the progress I decided to stick with walking to be sure I did not get injured. At age 50 that is a real possibility.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#76
post #5

> Moderate alcohol intake (vs none, occasional, or heavy) I thought it had already been shown that the only healthy amount of alcohol is zero. I'm also surprised that "moderate" is better than "occasional".

I wonder what research he was looking at too. There was lot of fuss made over the “French paradox” and their wine consumption, and follow up studies which purported to show that one glass of red wine a day had tremendously positive effects on longevity. Turns out the researcher behind those studies faked data and got caught up in the replication crisis.

Red wine in particular has a lot of flavonoids, which are particularly healthful, so it's plausible that there are some health benefits from it. The alcohol itself is probably not conferring any health benefits, though. As with most things, it's probably too simplistic to reduce it down to a single variable.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#77
post #49

I think the author's take on the role of exercise is kind of harsh compared to my own experiences and of those around me. > 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…

> you can gain significant muscle mass with just 90 minutes a week of strength training.

I’ll second this. I’ve recently begun StrongLifts 5x5 and it has changed my appearance and strength so quickly as to defy my most optimistic expectations. I’ve been a daily runner for years, rarely skipping a day, and forgot the joy of trying something totally new and greedily getting all the early, low hanging gains.

Stronglifts 5x5 is super easy to start with and I’d highly recommend it.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#78

A lot of weight loss suggestions - the linked article included - start with "improve your diet", "eat healthy", "substitute fruits for hamburgers" and the like. 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.…

First off, as much as possible, eliminate liquid calories. Those really add up fast and don't contribute to satiation.

Second, try reducing simple sugar/starch intake in favor of complex and higher fiber alternatives where possible. Increasing the ratio of protein and fat in your diet can help you reach satiety much faster, too. Fat is 9kcal/g, protein and carbohydrates are 4 kcal/g, but in terms of satiety, fat > protein >>> carbohydrate.

If you're biohacking-inclined, look into how your specific diet impacts ghrelin (hunger hormone) and leptin (satiety hormone) production and uptake. You might find that you're eating things which provoke hunger or delay satiation. And don't discount that many of us just eat because it makes us feel good - that's a much harder hill to climb, but it is possible.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#79
the equation changes a lot if you eat for emotional regulation / as a form of self-medication. then messing with what you eat quickly messes with your mental state. so to fix that (or go into it with a clean-ish slate) you have to get professional help for your mental health problems. but when you go there, you'll find that there rarely is a quick fix, or a fix without side-effects (which might make you more prone to weight gain for various reasons). even with bariatric surgery, many people fall into a deep depression because they are forced not to take their "self-medication" which was food all their life, but that is intolerable after the surgery. so they are forced to face their demons head on. for some people food is a drug for them to feel "normal" and they need to replace their drug with some sort of professional help that is tolerable and aligned with their goals before (or while if you are adventurous) trying to cut back on food and most probably failing (which might make future attempts harder).

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#80

> At this point, I knew I needed to eat 1000 calories/day less than I burned. I used this calculator to identify that, as a sedentary person, I burned about 2450 calories/day. I've seen plenty of calculators like this around the web, and even seen calculators that estimate how many pounds per time you'll gain/lose depending on the activity level and food intake, but they never show their formulae or cite sources that…

1000 calories per day deficit (kcal for those using a sane system) is HARD.

More power to him for pulling it off, but most people's bodies will fight them really badly with that kind of deficit.

After two weeks on that kind of caloric deficit I get really angry and grouchy all the time. I have done it, but people around me definitely made comments when I went back to "normal" as to how much nicer I was.

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