You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#11

Post by [deleted] » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:33 PM UTC

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #6

elmerfud wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

I don't eat particularly healthy, and I don't exercise much, yet I'm perpetually borderline underweight. Why does the math not matter for me, while the next person watches every calorie, goes on long walks, and yet struggles to lose any weight?

[deleted]

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#12

Post by Darmody » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:34 PM UTC

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #6

elmerfud wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

I don't eat particularly healthy, and I don't exercise much, yet I'm perpetually borderline underweight. Why does the math not matter for me, while the next person watches every calorie, goes on long walks, and yet struggles to lose any weight?

Eating healthy doesn't mean not gaining weight and not eating healthy doesn't mean gaining it.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#13

Post by [deleted] » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:34 PM UTC

Darmody wrote: post #10

elmerfud wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

Yes, but the most calories consuming activity we do is just living. Your body spends calories to digest food and get more calories. Your brain needs around 400 daily calories. If you want to burn 400 calories doing some cardio, you'll need an intensive 30 min session or so. If you don't fix your eating, the effort you'll have to put into exercising will be huge, sometimes even unachievable.

[deleted]

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#14

Post by 1270018080 » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:34 PM UTC

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #6

elmerfud wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

I don't eat particularly healthy, and I don't exercise much, yet I'm perpetually borderline underweight. Why does the math not matter for me, while the next person watches every calorie, goes on long walks, and yet struggles to lose any weight?

Because you don't eat enough to gain weight. And the other person eats too much to lose weight.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#15

Post by tayo42 » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:35 PM UTC

Sparkle-san wrote: post #4

This seems like a good primer on how to look at food differently. The problem with diets is that people relapse due to the fact that dieting is done through force of will and willpower is limited. For long lasting change, you need to reshape your relationship with food and be content with what and how you eat. Understanding some of the things in this article can be a good place to start.

its exhausting to do that. Im switching my diet up a little to bit to reduce cholesterol and some liver enzyme thing lately and Im starting to get tired of thinking so much before every meal and shopping trip. wish it was easier to not fall in to unhealthy traps. so many labels, and so much meal planning.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#16

Post by HidyBush » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:35 PM UTC

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #6

elmerfud wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

I don't eat particularly healthy, and I don't exercise much, yet I'm perpetually borderline underweight. Why does the math not matter for me, while the next person watches every calorie, goes on long walks, and yet struggles to lose any weight?

I think that if you're going to make such a strong statement you should back it up with data. Are you really convinced there is some misterious thing at play that keeps your weight down? Then actually record everything you eat in a week and what physical activity you do and see if your perception matches reality

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#17

Post by dvh » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:36 PM UTC

elmerfud wrote: post #3

Vladimof wrote: post #2

yeah, exercise is not for losing fat... it's just for staying in good health

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

Yes but then you have to keep exercising for the rest of your life. When something happens (e.g. you are busy in job or you get injured) you no longer can exercise as much as you need so you start gaining weight.

Fundamentally using exercise to lose weight is long-term unachievable because it is unpredictable. Losing weight via diet is much simpler you just eat less, there isn't anything that would objectively stop you from following diet, where as simple incident or scheduling issue can prevent you from exercise. Exercise is fundamentally wrong tool for managing weight.

Exercise is for building muscles, diet is for managing weight.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#18

Post by formerly_proven » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:36 PM UTC

Sparkle-san wrote: post #4

This seems like a good primer on how to look at food differently. The problem with diets is that people relapse due to the fact that dieting is done through force of will and willpower is limited. For long lasting change, you need to reshape your relationship with food and be content with what and how you eat. Understanding some of the things in this article can be a good place to start.

Modern food is kinda weird in how high-energy and very energy-dense food is the default and cheap, and it somehow is more expensive to buy less calories.

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#19

Post by seppel » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:36 PM UTC

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #6

elmerfud wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not wrong because it's about calorie deficit of which exercise can help you achieve. Also since the way fat gets "burned" for weight loss is by exhaling carbon atoms, aerobic exercise can assist with this process. As always do not add more mass than you expel.

I don't eat particularly healthy, and I don't exercise much, yet I'm perpetually borderline underweight. Why does the math not matter for me, while the next person watches every calorie, goes on long walks, and yet struggles to lose any weight?

> I don't eat particularly healthy

Because it is about the amount you eat and not about eating healthy (whatever that means anyway).

Re: You're Not Losing Fat Because You're Eating Too Damn Much (2016)

#20

Post by wswope » Sat, May 14, 2022, 8:36 PM UTC

Gonna throw out an plug for Nutritionix and their calorie tracker iOS app for anyone inspired to go that route by the article - I tried a lot of options out back when I used to do serious powerlifting and it’s by far the best UX I found for recording macros. They’ve got a barcode scanner, a great DB of common fast food options, and you can even freetext stuff like “200 grams of chicken thigh” and record stuff that way if you use a food scale.

Eyeballing calories becomes way easier after a few months of practice and pays off for life. Was able to get all the examples listed spot on except the popcorn, which I had no frame of reference for.