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Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

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Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#31

Post by vamerock »

Don't let the fact that he was 24 deter you. Over at r/bodyweightfitness, there are hundreds of people who started above 45 and are in better shapes than 20 year olds.

Obesity is now a taboo topic in tech because you might unfortunately step on the toes of a few sensitive people and be labelled a fat shamer. This is not the case.Obesity in tech is a disease on it's own and it needs to be fought with a sharp edged pitchfork. We need to help our colleagues who have lost hope and given up on ever being fit again.

It is never too late to get healthy again. If you're overweight and believe your work schedule cannot allow you to lose weight, give yourself a 6 - 8 month break. Step over to the r/bodyweightfitness Recommended beginner routine and make a big change in your life. You don't need an expensive gym membership. You can use the floor, parks, chairs, tables, doors, ledges, trees etc.

Sustainable weight loss is achievable by everyone, whether you're 40 or 50 years or 400 pounds or 600 pounds.

Consistency over time is the key!

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#32

Post by allover »

tptacek wrote: post #24
allover wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note the bit of GGP I quoted was around the the insulin hypothesis. That supposed connection between insulin from high GI foods causing weight gain (or reducing weight loss), that is what the studies referenced in the article disprove. "According to the insulin-carbohydrate model, we should have seen an acceleration in the rate of body fat loss when we cut insulin by 50 percent," Hall said. But they didn’t, which he…

You've conveniently stopped quoting right before the "Can pasta and bread lovers now rejoice?" section detailing the limitations of the study.

(Sorry, I edited my post to clarify. I'm specifically referring to the 'insulin hypothesis', so the rest of the article's ramblings aren't all that relevant).

(And the so-called 'limitations of the study' according to the article, are that it was a controlled, scientific study apparently, yay journalism).

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#33

Post by mootothemax »

cheald wrote: post #15

If you're data-inclined, it's a powerful tool to drive health and fitness. Extracting actionable meaning from your data isn't that hard, as long as you understand the basic mechanics of what you're doing and can compute things like percentages and moving averages. I'm 34, spent the last ~15 years at sedentary desk jobs, and became quite out of shape. I've lost 70lb over the last year doing little more than just loggi…

Data-based exercise rocks. I never knew I'd enjoy the rowing machine quite so much until I got into the stats side of thing. It helps that the major manufacturer has a beyond awesome online logbook for analysing and comparing with other real people, plus challenges and so on.

If you're looking at creating an exercise app or community, take a look at what Concept2 do, it's lean yet pretty much well perfect.

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#34

Post by dimgl »

vamerock wrote: post #31

Don't let the fact that he was 24 deter you. Over at r/bodyweightfitness, there are hundreds of people who started above 45 and are in better shapes than 20 year olds. Obesity is now a taboo topic in tech because you might unfortunately step on the toes of a few sensitive people and be labelled a fat shamer. This is not the case.Obesity in tech is a disease on it's own and it needs to be fought with a sharp edged pit…

Not everyone can afford to take a 6-8 month break......

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#35

Post by forgotmysn »

vamerock wrote: post #31

Don't let the fact that he was 24 deter you. Over at r/bodyweightfitness, there are hundreds of people who started above 45 and are in better shapes than 20 year olds. Obesity is now a taboo topic in tech because you might unfortunately step on the toes of a few sensitive people and be labelled a fat shamer. This is not the case.Obesity in tech is a disease on it's own and it needs to be fought with a sharp edged pit…

a 6-8 month break from work? Who can afford that?

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#36

Post by subcosmos »

jjawssd wrote: post #16
manmal wrote: post #10

His advice reminds me a lot of things Mr Berkham has to say over at leangains.com. IF, multivitamin, fish oil, cutting/bulking phases - those are not all things exclusive to advice given by Berkham, but it's a quite similar subset. Here's a post from another software developer having similarly spectacular success: http://merowing.info/2014/02/fit-geek/ I lost ~20kg myself by following Leangains loosely over a period…

I don't buy into your endocrine/metabolic system theory whatsoever. Do you have any evidence that this is even possible?

Hi. Neuroendocrinologist here. Body fat is regulated by specialized circuits in the hypothalamus. We now know that inflammation of these central nuclei is a key feature of weight gain in both animals and humans.

There are two sets of neurons: those that promote feeding and slow metabolic rate, and those that suppress feeding and increase metabolic rate. The former class of neurons is GABAergic (inhibitory in neuroscience) and the latter is glutaminergic (stimulatory). Generally in animal experiments, the gabaergic neurons that drive feeding and conserve stored energy outnumber the glutaminergic neurons by a great deal, and over the lifespan of an organism, they increase in number.

Its been noted in some animal models that weight loss interventions are not permanent because they lead to alterations in this circuit to further promote weight gain and energy conservation. This may be why most humans also regain weight after losing it. If you think about it, it makes sense for most control loops in the body to "fail safe", IE, its much preferrable to gain weight than starve to death. This circuit thus fights to preserve fat mass.

Some "food for thought"

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2017/07/407571/brains-immune-cells...

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2015/02/123466/ucsf-researchers-re...

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#37

Post by dsacco »

vikiomega9 wrote: post #29
cheald wrote: post #15

If you're data-inclined, it's a powerful tool to drive health and fitness. Extracting actionable meaning from your data isn't that hard, as long as you understand the basic mechanics of what you're doing and can compute things like percentages and moving averages. I'm 34, spent the last ~15 years at sedentary desk jobs, and became quite out of shape. I've lost 70lb over the last year doing little more than just loggi…

+1 on having a lifting routine. Cardio by itself doesn't seem too sustainable as compared to watching what you eat and building muscle.

Cardio on its own is very sustainable.

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#38

Post by greenshackle2 »

tobltobs wrote: post #8
sawmurai wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you say so?

The upper part of the door in the background doesn't fit to the lower part. Addendum: I was wrong with my accusation.

I don't see it.

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#39

Post by KVFinn »

manmal wrote: post #10

His advice reminds me a lot of things Mr Berkham has to say over at leangains.com. IF, multivitamin, fish oil, cutting/bulking phases - those are not all things exclusive to advice given by Berkham, but it's a quite similar subset. Here's a post from another software developer having similarly spectacular success: http://merowing.info/2014/02/fit-geek/ I lost ~20kg myself by following Leangains loosely over a period…

>your body might not like rapid weightloss, everybody is different.

For people doing it for health rather than competition weigh-ins or whatnot, no reason to be rapid and risk negative effects. Slow and steady.

Re: Data Driven Weight Loss: Losing 66 pounds and gaining a six pack in 8 months

#40

Post by cheald »

vikiomega9 wrote: post #29
cheald wrote: post #15

If you're data-inclined, it's a powerful tool to drive health and fitness. Extracting actionable meaning from your data isn't that hard, as long as you understand the basic mechanics of what you're doing and can compute things like percentages and moving averages. I'm 34, spent the last ~15 years at sedentary desk jobs, and became quite out of shape. I've lost 70lb over the last year doing little more than just loggi…

+1 on having a lifting routine. Cardio by itself doesn't seem too sustainable as compared to watching what you eat and building muscle.

Cardio works for some people, but I think a lot of people go run for 20 minutes and then decide they've earned a Big Mac with Behemoth Fries. Data has completely freed me of that delusion - I've learned that I'm not willing to do enough cardio to outrun my diet. I'd rather just not have cheese on my salad than have to go hate the world for an hour on the treadmill. There are the people who run 10 miles on a daily basis because they enjoy it - I am not one of them! :)

Lifting for me is less about weight loss than it is just about personal improvement, though. I want to be strong (and hey, if I'm losing this weight, I want to look good!), and lifting moves the ball towards that goal. I've found that I really enjoy it, too - it's not something that I tolerate as some grueling price I have to pay to get the body I want, it's a hobby that I genuinely enjoy and derive a lot of satisfaction from. The fact that it helps me lose weight is a great bonus, but I've found that lifting lets me hack my internal tendency to "try for a high score" by giving me a whole suite of metrics that I can rate, rank, and compare myself on. I love it.

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