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The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

dberkholz.com

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Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#81

Post by nradov »

miggol wrote: 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…

The extra energy consumption from increased muscle mass makes a difference, but it's not even the most important reason. Skeletal muscle is a crucial part of the endocrine system in that it acts as a glucose sink. When blood glucose levels rise, if you have enough lean muscle mass then much of the glucose will be stored as glycogen in the muscles rather than being converted to fat and stored in that form. People who lose weight strictly through dieting without doing intensive strength training often end up "skinny fat" which is problematic for long-term metabolic health.

https://gabriellereece.com/muscle-as-the-cornerstone-of-long...

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#82

Post by nradov »

jasonpeacock wrote: post #41
adastra22 wrote: post #24

I lost 20 lbs with this method (another vote for MyFitnessPal!), though I gained it back when work got stressful and I stopped being able to control my calories. I’m trying to get back on the wagon again. I’m also investigating water fasting as both a rapid weight loss and longevity strategy, due to the forced senescence of unhealthy cells. Have you or anyone else here tried that?

Fasting is good, and depending how strict you are... 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 (>50c…

Books like "The Obesity Code" are a mix of solid information and "bro science". I wouldn't necessarily take everything you read there at face value.

Techniques like fasting and OMAD can certainly be effective as temporary measures for some people to lose weight. But they probably aren't a great idea as a sustained practice to maximize healthspan. In particular, to prevent sarcopenia as we age, we should probably be eating at least two high-protein meals per day. There are limits to how much protein the digestive system can absorb in a single meal.

https://peterattiamd.com/donlayman/

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#83

Post by grudg3 »

kurts_mustache wrote: post #29
grudg3 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious why that is? While I'm not doing keto right now, it has had some really good effects when I did it. Wife's also doing it for over 2 years now and reversed her pre-diabetic diagnosis and also lost close to 40kgs since she started it. Is it just too preachy and is causing people to be tired from hearing about it?

Wow, 40kbs is fantastic progress! Congrats to your wife. I've lost around 15 lbs by run/walking on the treadmill every day. I started at around 20 minutes/day, now I'm up 30-45 minutes per day 5x/week and just watching my calories, especially the sugar intake. Haha, yeah I think it's the "fanbase" around it (don't want to offend anyone). It's like that old joke, how do you know someone is (a vegan, doing keto, plays…

The best diet is one which you can do long term and achieves your goals.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#85

Post by radiojosh »

303uru wrote: post #59
miggol wrote: 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…

Ya, I dunno. I spend 3-5 hours lifting and 12-20+ hours a week on my bike training. I can still quickly gain weight and you don't present the ultimate difficulty, training makes you really fucking hungry. I burn 1000 KJ/hour average on the bike and I can undo that real quick, 150kcal/day is a small handful of chips. I'm extremely dubious of any answer to weight loss which isn't get your diet in line.

It is my understanding that some people who don't exercise at all have a hard time controlling their appetites, and then when they introduce moderate exercise, they find it much easier to keep their eating in check. I think it's synergistic.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#86

Post by vidarh »

voisin wrote: post #77
miggol wrote: 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…

Also done Stronglift 5x5 and similar before it, and it's great. Before that, I was at one point up to 1h30m per session, and the extra time in the gym added surprisingly little. It's so much easier to stay consistent with a program that's so simole and limited.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#87

Post by vidarh »

MH15 wrote: post #33
metadat wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a kcal here? It doesn't seem plausible to me that a pound of muscle only takes 10 kcal (aka 1 Calorie, with a capital "C") per day to maintain. Are you saying, for example, maintaining 20 pounds of muscle only requires consuming 200 Calories per day more of food? Edit: According to the Internet, this is actually approximately correct, 20kcal/lb/day. I must just have high metabolism, because I must consume more…

What we call a calorie in the US many other countries call a kcal, because our “calorie” actually 1000 of the base unit. We abbreviate for whatever reason.

We'll often say calorie when we mean kcal elsewhere too, in most day to say contexts.

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#88

Post by cperciva »

miggol wrote: 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…

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.

Can confirm, almost 3 year ago I started lifting and carrying around a weight. I started with a bit under 8 lbs and I lift 32 lbs now, and I've gained about 10 lbs of muscle mass and doubled my upper body strength.

Mind you, it hasn't helped with weight loss. Eating her left overs has resulted in my gaining another 10 lbs of fat. :-(

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#89

Post by woleium »

basil-rash wrote: post #15
rKarpinski wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a vacuum, zero is best since it's a poison. But the real world is full of trade offs and confounders. Like the increased socialization with friends & co workers could have health benefits that outweigh the negatives of alcohol. Or that many people who drink nothing are ex-alcoholics.

The folks in so-called "blue zones" that live longer on average than anyone else in the world drink alcohol regularly yet moderately. https://www.wellandgood.com/alcohol-in-blue-zones/

I read many of these blue zones are places where folks have lost everything and lied about their age in order to get old age benefit earlier. This is certainly true of the Japan and Spain locations

Re: The lazy technologist's guide to weight loss

#90

Post by MattRix »

danielovichdk wrote: post #58
macmac wrote: 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…

While I don’t disagree with you, I feel like I have to point out that this post does something that I see a lot in discussions around weight loss, which is conflating “simple” with “easy”. It is simple to walk 10k every day, but it is not easy. I did a similar thing once where I ran 5k every day for two months straight. It was a simple plan, but not an easy one to follow.
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