The Hacker's Diet • Hacker News Board

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#11

Post by justinator » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 4:39 AM UTC

gumby wrote: post #8

justinator wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I commend the effort, I'm not sure if John Walker himself is a good example of this diet's effectiveness.

Why? It’s been a few years since I saw him last but the diet had really helped him to lose a lot of weight and keep it off. I know others who have lost a lot of weight with it. And his “floater/sinker” graph has been copied in several applications.

I think it's solving the wrong problem. If I look at a picture of Mr. Walker himself,

https://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interf...

(just the first one that came up on a Google Search)

This doesn't look like a fit and healthy man and I don't some that isn't fit and healthy should dole out advice on how to control a chaotic system such as human physiology using engineering.

Perhaps - and this is a theory I subscribe to: less fat/weight loss isn't what we're trying to achieve as a goal. Perhaps just being fit is. And fit looks different for different people because genetics. And what I mean is, is there lean muscle mass on a person's body (irregardless of % of fat, to a large degree). If I look at this photo of Mr. Walker, to me he looks skinny fat, which I think is just as bad as being "fat".

Just as an idea - as one who has a BMI of 25.8 and who could also run a marathon, then pump out 10 or so pullups. I think fat % or weight in general is just the wrong metric to use.

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#12

Post by anonporridge » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 4:45 AM UTC

rex_lupi wrote: post #6

For me the challenge is not to lose weight, but to gain weight and develop muscles. I'm an otherwise healthy young male but even with proper diet my weight gain rate is way too slow. I'm guessing I've a high metabolic rate. Is there any actually good guide for gaining weight quickly in a healthy way?

You're not eating enough. That's it.

Eat more and lift heavy weights.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stronglifts5x5/comments/37bxer/hard...

https://www.reddit.com/r/gainit/wiki/index

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#13

Post by baash05 » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 5:10 AM UTC

rex_lupi wrote: post #6

For me the challenge is not to lose weight, but to gain weight and develop muscles. I'm an otherwise healthy young male but even with proper diet my weight gain rate is way too slow. I'm guessing I've a high metabolic rate. Is there any actually good guide for gaining weight quickly in a healthy way?

Careful what you wish for boss. But it comes down to eating more chicken. Lift and Eat. Do not just cram your gut. Plan what you eat.

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#14

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 5:12 AM UTC

justinator wrote: post #11

gumby wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It’s been a few years since I saw him last but the diet had really helped him to lose a lot of weight and keep it off. I know others who have lost a lot of weight with it. And his “floater/sinker” graph has been copied in several applications.

I think it's solving the wrong problem. If I look at a picture of Mr. Walker himself, https://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interf... (just the first one that came up on a Google Search) This doesn't look like a fit and healthy man and I don't some that isn't fit and healthy should dole out advice on how to control a chaotic system such as human physiology using engineering. Perhaps - and this is a th…

[deleted]

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#15

Post by baash05 » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 5:19 AM UTC

I read this pdf years and years ago.. I wish that I could say I followed it. It's rather brilliant in its simplicity, and honesty. The math can't be argued with. Eat X, expend < x and M++.

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#16

Post by baash05 » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 5:23 AM UTC

justinator wrote: post #11

gumby wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? It’s been a few years since I saw him last but the diet had really helped him to lose a lot of weight and keep it off. I know others who have lost a lot of weight with it. And his “floater/sinker” graph has been copied in several applications.

I think it's solving the wrong problem. If I look at a picture of Mr. Walker himself, https://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interf... (just the first one that came up on a Google Search) This doesn't look like a fit and healthy man and I don't some that isn't fit and healthy should dole out advice on how to control a chaotic system such as human physiology using engineering. Perhaps - and this is a th…

What is "lean muscle" regardless of fat?

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#17

Post by BFLpL0QNek » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 5:48 AM UTC

rex_lupi wrote: post #6

For me the challenge is not to lose weight, but to gain weight and develop muscles. I'm an otherwise healthy young male but even with proper diet my weight gain rate is way too slow. I'm guessing I've a high metabolic rate. Is there any actually good guide for gaining weight quickly in a healthy way?

Go get a resting metabolic rate test.

The one I had was cheap and consists of fasting the night before then breathing in to a machine for 15 minutes. It measures the amount of oxygen your body burns in your breast to calculate your resting metabolic rate which then gives you the base number of calories your body burns a day if you did absolutely nothing.

They should then give you a recommended reasonably accurate number of calories to eat depending on your goal and lifestyle. This means you can calculate a reasonable surplus without going overboard and just getting fat.

Also if progress is slow gaining muscle, remember for the majority of people it’s is a long slow process. A lot of the rapid transformations/strength gains we see have help from synthetic testosterone which is a completely different ball game.

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#18

Post by mwattsun » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 5:51 AM UTC

I found the local discount grocery store selling Soylent for 70 cents a bottle, normally $4, so I bought the store out, all 6 cases. I'm not living exclusively on it, but it's nice to have a meal in the bottle for someone who doesn't always like to cook. I especially like it for breakfast because I feel good afterwards, like it gives me everything my body needs.

Soylent was introduced in 2014 after a crowdfunding campaign...In January 2013, American software engineer Rob Rhinehart purchased 35 chemical ingredients—including potassium gluconate, calcium carbonate, monosodium phosphate, maltodextrin, olive oil—all of which he deemed to be necessary for survival, based on his readings of biochemistry textbooks and U.S. government websites. Rhinehart used to view food as a time-consuming hassle and had resolved to treat it as an engineering problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(meal_replacement)

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#19

Post by ctur » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 6:13 AM UTC

The Hacker's Diet has helped me lose a good bit of weight over the years, but it is a somewhat simplistic model. Metabolism isn't quite as simple as CICO and can adjust over time to compensate for lowered metabolic rate. Herman Pontzer's recent book, Burn: the Misunderstood Science of Metabolism, goes into metabolic differences in quite a bit of detail and is very well researched and based in science.

https://www.chemistryworld.com/review/burn-the-misunderstood...

Re: The Hacker's Diet

#20

Post by justinator » Sat, Jan 08, 2022, 6:33 AM UTC

baash05 wrote: post #16

justinator wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's solving the wrong problem. If I look at a picture of Mr. Walker himself, https://through-the-interface.typepad.com/through_the_interf... (just the first one that came up on a Google Search) This doesn't look like a fit and healthy man and I don't some that isn't fit and healthy should dole out advice on how to control a chaotic system such as human physiology using engineering. Perhaps - and this is a th…

What is "lean muscle" regardless of fat?

Take a look at a sub elite/elite power lifter. They may be have a body composition of 20%+ fat, but they are also packing a lot of lean muscle. For the most part, I would call that a healthy individual, even though they're BMI (which is... problematic) would say that this person is overweight and in need of a diet. That doesn't even pass the sniff test for me.

Thinness is not the goal you want to achieve. It's a very easy goal to achieve when compared to being a fit individual. Starve yourself and you're done.

You can not starve yourself into being a fit individual.