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Biohacking Lite

karpathy.github.io

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Re: Biohacking Lite

#21

Post by gtrubetskoy »

I wouldn't rank glucose above fats. As I understand it, it's not exactly a "shorter battery" than fat - it is simply a form of energy that is abundant in plant life, but fat is still a (much) "better battery".

The reason our body always favors burning glucose first is NOT because glucose is "better" but actually because it is an inferior type of fuel (it creates "pollution" and is difficult to burn - you can develop diabetes from too much of it) - so our evolved system tries to get rid of it first, while hanging on to the "good stuff" for as long as it can.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#22

Post by asdff »

filoleg wrote: post #8
curiousgal wrote: post #2

As someone struggling to gain weight it always bugs me how "being healthy" is only associated with weight loss.

I think it is simply because a large number of adults in the US (as well as a lot of other countries) is struggling with this, at about 39% obesity rate and 71% overweight rate [0]. For comparison, only 1.5% of adults in the US are underweight [1]. While I agree that there is way more to "being healthy" than just not being overweight/underweight, I think it isn't a bad idea to approach this in the priority order. Sol…

1.5% of the U.S. population is still over 4 million people, that's a huge market.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#23

Post by NikolaeVarius »

asdff wrote: post #22
filoleg wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is simply because a large number of adults in the US (as well as a lot of other countries) is struggling with this, at about 39% obesity rate and 71% overweight rate [0]. For comparison, only 1.5% of adults in the US are underweight [1]. While I agree that there is way more to "being healthy" than just not being overweight/underweight, I think it isn't a bad idea to approach this in the priority order. Sol…

1.5% of the U.S. population is still over 4 million people, that's a huge market.

Market for...

Re: Biohacking Lite

#24

Post by asdff »

Swizec wrote: post #7
curiousgal wrote: post #2

As someone struggling to gain weight it always bugs me how "being healthy" is only associated with weight loss.

My biggest concern about focus on weight loss as the metric instead of "healthy lifestyle" is that losing weight is easiest when you do it in an unhealthy way. Crash diets are a good example of unhealthy weight loss. Another funfact is that you can literally go to bed for a few weeks, let muscle atrophy kick in, and lose more weight than any diet+exercise regime. Won't make you healthier, but you'll lose the weight.…

Contestants on Alone loose like a lb a day. Loosing weight is so easy if you get used to feeling hungry and eat like a bird. Throw in cardio and you will end up looking cut. Gaining a pound a day of muscle, on the other hand, is probably impossible, even gaining a pound of any kind of mass a day is dubious and will lead to very unpleasant bowel movements at the very least.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#25

Post by fizixer »

curiousgal wrote: post #2

As someone struggling to gain weight it always bugs me how "being healthy" is only associated with weight loss.

Do a Mark Rippetoe program for 1 year. Thank me later.

edit: Caution: don't start on squats without coaching.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#26

Post by nwienert »

andrewzah wrote: post #20
thechao wrote: post #11

If anyone else wants to get into this, there are a few really strong measures that correlate fairly well to the DEXA scans. My favorite (because its easy): measure your waist just above your belly button. This area has virtually no "bulky" muscle and is one of the principle deposits of "internal" body fat. The two measures I take everyday are: 1. Body weight; and, 2. Waist size. I use the following routine for weight…

Intermittent fasting also helps. Many people do 16:8 (16 hours of fasting) and only eat from 12-8 or 10-6. With IF, I lost about ~5 lbs doing nothing besides being more mindful. Once I added in daily runs / walks of ~4-5 miles, I lost another ~10 lbs easily. I think the biggest challenge for people looking to lose weight is mindless eating / snacking. Initially I kept a diet journal and wrote down everything I ate or…

IF only achieves point 1 of the four points above, I’ve done it for years but if I only do IF I’ll still carry usually a small belly. Also if you don’t do minimal exercise it does feel harder - your calorie budget goes down super low when you’re really sedentary. No room for snacks or any indulgence.

Whereas if you workout daily even in a minimal form, suddenly you have a much easier budget.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#27

Post by karpathy »

andrewzah wrote: post #20
thechao wrote: post #11

If anyone else wants to get into this, there are a few really strong measures that correlate fairly well to the DEXA scans. My favorite (because its easy): measure your waist just above your belly button. This area has virtually no "bulky" muscle and is one of the principle deposits of "internal" body fat. The two measures I take everyday are: 1. Body weight; and, 2. Waist size. I use the following routine for weight…

Intermittent fasting also helps. Many people do 16:8 (16 hours of fasting) and only eat from 12-8 or 10-6. With IF, I lost about ~5 lbs doing nothing besides being more mindful. Once I added in daily runs / walks of ~4-5 miles, I lost another ~10 lbs easily. I think the biggest challenge for people looking to lose weight is mindless eating / snacking. Initially I kept a diet journal and wrote down everything I ate or…

Agree, I didn't mention this in the post but I've become a big fan of intermittent fasting, which is a fancy way of saying "skip breakfast". I only eat from 12-8pm and most days from 12-6pm. I also found that even if I wake up a bit hungry my morning coffee suppresses my appetite and I rarely struggle to get to lunch. A hard threshold on 8pm also avoids most of the unhealthy snacking that tends to happen in late hours. I find that as the body winds down for the day and is a bit more tired my defenses and motivation are down a bit and I feel tempted by snacks. With IF it's easy to blanket reject such ideas from my brain because I'm outside of my window. There is also a slight element to which the body "gets used to" the feeding schedule, and doesn't bother you as much outside of it with snacking ideas.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#28

Post by adaisadais »

Time-restricted eating has worked wonders for me. I typically eat between 11a-7p and I track it all through the Zero App. It can be very difficult to start initially but when you power through the first week you truly start to see some results.

I stopped doing it and started eating later and later in mid-march. I weighed 153.2 (the heaviest) on May 31. I resumed time restricted eating on June 1 and have consistently done it. I currently weight 147.6 and I feel much better. Less cravings and my pants fit quite nicely again.

Re: Biohacking Lite

#29

Post by asdff »

underdeserver wrote: post #14

This is more evidence that weight loss happens in the kitchen, not the gym.

Of course it does. Famines tell us as much. Gyms increase your burn rate, though. Running for 5 miles a day will burn up a quarter of a 2000 calorie diet.

That being said, a lot of gym activity that I see is basically useless and probably taken up just to feel good about going to a gym regularly (some examples in my gym: walking on treadmills instead of around the block, paying for membership every month to solely use the 5lb dumbbells for 30 minutes that go for $12 online).

Re: Biohacking Lite

#30

Post by yutopia »

After years of experimentation, lately I’ve decided that eating like my grandparents (i.e., eating like a traditional Japanese) is the easiest way to keep myself lean and healthy.

Traditional Japanese meals follow a standard format [1]: a bowl of rice, several small sides (which can change by the day), and an optional cup of miso soup. Sticking to this format every day can be boring, but it keeps my diet reasonably balanced without the need for conscious efforts like counting calories (which I'm too lazy to continue long-term).

[1] https://elemental.medium.com/ichiju-sansai-how-to-construct-...

I think in modern cities we have too much freedom with regard to what we eat, which is great of course but the downside is that we’ve lost a great deal of local culinary tradition, and along with it intuitive understandings of what is and what isn’t healthy eating.

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