Live data from Hacker News

What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

intentapp.com

111–120 of 194 posts

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#111
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In German, they're still separate words, I think "diet" made its way into German and became "Diät".

In Danish there's both "en diæt" (what you eat, permanent) and "på diæt" (on a diet, temporary). I didn't even think about the fact that that word didn't always have the temporary meaning of the word.

The meaning is more fluent. The doctor can put you on a strict diet with a mealplan "lægen har sat mig på en streng diæt med kostplan og det hele", that isn't necessarily temporary.

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#112
My anecdote: I lose weight very easily by CICO. Over the course of of a few months in college I ate a very strict diet of x calories. At the time it was something like 1100/day as a ~200lb 21 year old. Supposedly dangerous, but a lot of things are. Anyway, by keeping an excel sheet of the exact calories I ate every day, minus my calculated metabolic rate, I knew exactly what %/lb I lost per day/week. I kept such good track that by measuring my weight every day I was able to reverse calculate my metabolic rate by the daily weight loss (it was very close to online calculators so I wouldn't bother going out of your way to try it).

The most important thing for me is seeing it as a game. Being able to see daily results even if they are fractions of pounds a day or week. Knowing exactly what I'm aiming for at the end of the week and how I'm getting there.

The most difficult party is meticulously counting calories and ratios when making things. A kitchen scale is essential.

Anyway I was 50 lbs lighter when I quit. It has come back over the course of 6 or 7 years but I'm a pig and I will just lose it again when the time comes.

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#113
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In German, they're still separate words, I think "diet" made its way into German and became "Diät".

In Danish there's both "en diæt" (what you eat, permanent) and "på diæt" (on a diet, temporary). I didn't even think about the fact that that word didn't always have the temporary meaning of the word.

There is also "slankekur" which more or less translates to "slimming-cure"

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#114
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hardest part of dieting is realising that in order to keep it off, you will have to continue like that forever. In the back of your mind, you want to think that the diet is temporary. Once you have lost the weight, you can go back to eating all the great tasting foods that you ate before. True success is the acceptance that, no, your life will be worse in very real ways. You will no longer be able to just eat whe…

True success is the acceptance that, no, your life will be worse in very real ways. You will no longer be able to just eat whenever you feel like it. You will no longer be able to eat until you are full, ever again. None of these things are true. With a good diet and exercise, you will feel better and be happier, with way more energy. That makes your life better, not worse. As another commenter mentioned, abstaining…

You're completely neglecting that sugar is addictive. No matter how sensitive to sweetness you are, the very moment you eat anything sweet, you will need something that is either more sweet next time to get the same chemical "fix" in your brain, or you will need to abstain from sweet stuff until your palate and brain have reset.

So even when you cut back on sweet stuff, you will need to continually and consciously hold back, otherwise you will crave it more and your palate will desensitize to the sweet flavor - this is simple biology that no one can escape (except for rare medical conditions).

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#115
post #73
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody who's trying to lose weight knows it is about sustaining a calorie deficit. The problem is how.

Pick any number of options!

There goes that simplicity then. How do you pick one? How do you stay on it? How do you decide whether to switch, when to switch and what to switch to? How do you motivate yourself to try again once you've failed? And on it goes.

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#116
post #86
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody who's trying to lose weight knows it is about sustaining a calorie deficit. The problem is how.

Decide that you want to not be fat more than you want to over-eat. Then choose to sustain that decision by re-affirming it daily.

This 'just try harder' approach doesn't work for everybody. For one, an affirmation might feel strong and decisive when you first make one, but it can simply lose its hold as the novelty wears off. You can say the words to yourself but they'll begin to seem more and more hollow. I don't see how this is a choice.

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#117
post #94
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also can put a strain on your organs if you are not too healthy. Consult a Doctor before trying it.

Any references for that claim (assuming 5 days water fast or less)?

"[I]ntermittent fasting diets may actually damage the pancreas and affect insulin function in normal healthy individuals, which could lead to diabetes and serious health issues." (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/20/fasting-diet...)

The National Council Against Health Fraud "strongly advises against the use of prolonged fasting for health purposes, and believes that requiring children to fast is a form of child abuse." https://www.ncahf.org/articles/e-i/fasting.html

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#118
post #102
post #16

The weight loss is not really what matters. anybody can lose weight. with a little education you can do it. the problem is doing it in a sustainable way and to actually keep it off. the hardest part about weight loss is keeping it off. you have limited will power and unless you are willing to change the way you live your efforts are in vain. Sure it may make you feel good about yourself and your journey but it's doom…

You're right! I agree with your "90% kitchen / 10% gym" for weight loss, but to maintain your weight I think the gym is more important than that. The problem with people doing hardcore diet is that they will lose a high % of muscle, and after their weight loss their basal metabolism will be really low. The gym itself doesn't burn that many calories, but increases your muscle mass, leading to a much higher basal metab…

If you're not looking at it from the point of view where weight is about the food you eat, and health is about the exercise you get - you're bound to run into trouble at some point.

The only way to control your weight is to control your diet. It doesn't matter what your basal metabolic rate is. Will it play a role? absolutely, but it's not what you adjust to keep your weight in check. If you can manage your weight with a low metabolic rate, you can manage it with a high metabolic rate. Gaining muscle mass will make your body signal for more food, so it can be counter productive if you want to lose fat.

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#119

I have a friend who I watched try a bunch of diet systems. Pills from amazon that she researched. Trying to not eat as much. Calorie counting. More expensive pills. Doing one of those "we send you all your meals" programs. Nothing worked or was even close. Maybe she'd lose 5 pounds and then immediately gain it back. Finally she went to a clinic. The Dr. gave her a prescription to phentermine and she had to show up ev…

That isn't addressing the underlying problem of eating too much. There was quite a study at Odense University Hospital where they enrolled women that had tried everything to lose weight. They was asked to meticulously write down everything single thing they ate. They they was admitted to the hospital and they was fed exactly what they had written for the past month.

Every single woman lost a significant amount of weight.

So if your friend have counted calorie counting without losing weight she didn't count correctly or truthfully.

Re: What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies

#120
post #46

I had read somewhere that after about 45 minutes of cardio your body will start using it's fat stores, and continue burning fat for 6 to 8 hours afterwards. So when I found myself overweight I started doing long trail runs or bike rides, about 2 hours long, 3 times a week. Insomuch as I looked forward to doing the exercise, losing 3-5 pounds a week was nearly effortless. My appetite actually goes down during these pe…

Exercise is good, but you need to have your diet it check first. Otherwise you will explode as soon as something prevents you from training. It's also easier to not eat 1000 kcal that to burn 1000 kcal.
Post reply on HN