What I learned from reading over 100 weight loss studies • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by _xerxes_ » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #11

To me, it would seem that there's a couple things that aren't considered in most of these studies. A lot of them have a lot of controls in place for the starting size/weight range of the individuals. Given this, and the change in hormone (particularly insulin) response it's not always the same advice depending on how overweight you are, how much you are showing insulin resistance or elevated/deflated insulin response…

Every annual physical and every work-related health exam I have had here in the US has included some kind of fasting glucose test.

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

#32

Post by nonbel » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

Negitivefrags wrote: post #23

mirceal wrote: 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…

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…

>"You will no longer be able to eat until you are full, ever again"

This is totally false. Just eat a low-carb diet and you will feel "full" after consuming much less food.

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

#33

Post by atom-morgan » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:22 AM UTC

Negitivefrags wrote: post #23

mirceal wrote: 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…

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…

> You will no longer be able to eat until you are full, ever again.

Wrong. I just ate and I'm very full. I could even fuck off and eat like shit more often than I do but I choose not to. I'm 6'0" about ~175lbs/80kg.

And yet I often have people approach me in the gym to ask questions, advice, etc: https://www.instagram.com/adamjmorgan/. It's possible to eat until you're full and still look good.

-Signed, former chubby kid.

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

#34

Post by mirceal » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:23 AM UTC

taurath wrote: post #18

mirceal wrote: 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…

Your comments while I agree with the correctness are incredibly disheartening and demotivating.

sorry. it's meant to be motivating.

it's telling you in compressed form what you need to do to be successful

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

#35

Post by erik_seaberg » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:26 AM UTC

nonbel wrote: post #32

Negitivefrags wrote: post #23

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…

> "You will no longer be able to eat until you are full, ever again" This is totally false. Just eat a low-carb diet and you will feel "full" after consuming much less food.

Protein has as many calories as carbohydrate, and fat has even more. To feel full you have to stuff yourself with placebos like fiber instead of food.

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

#36

Post by willsun » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:28 AM UTC

peteretep wrote: post #7

I feel like the studies of specialty diets bring misleading conclusions, because they always count calories for both sides. If you’re on a calorie controlled diet, then calories in calories out holds. But most speciality diets (I’m on something pretty similar to slow carb) are targeting adherence, a factor that’s removed if you’re only measuring calories in and calories out. Without white carbs I find it much much ea…

Most of the studies I looked at would "enforce" diets through direction, coaching, and meal plans, while a few provided meals to participants. Very few required daily calorie tracking. So while it is possible there is an adherence improvement for certain diets (e.g. low-carb has better satiety, better adherence, and therefore better weight loss), that improvement doesn't appear to be significant enough to regularly appear in research studies. Of course, one could make the methodological critique (e.g. "the studies aren't good enough yet to detect this"), but at least it seems to set a ceiling on the magnitude of a possible adherence improvement.

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

#37

Post by viburnum » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:30 AM UTC

I quit sugar five years ago, didn't diet, and was surprised when I lost of ton of weight. It never came back. I can't be the only one.

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

#38

Post by Oras » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:30 AM UTC

From personal experience * with weight loss, diet is good for short terms but will not work in long terms.

I have tried limiting calories, intermittent fasting, and keto. The only thing worked long term was loving exercise and setting challenges (cycling 20 miles a day, running 10k .. etc). Exercise will allow me to eat the food I like (within limits) and not caring if I will gain some weight as I will lose it potentially with exercise.

* I lost 20% of my body weight in 8 months doing strictly 1500 calories a day for 8 months with moderate exercise then gained 10% of it back and since then I will lose/gain 5% every now and then.

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

#39

Post by atom-morgan » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:32 AM UTC

mirceal wrote: 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…

> if you are not willing to adjust your lifestyle and consistently make the better choices when it comes to diet you will fail.

This statement applies to anything in life you want to get better at.

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

#40

Post by chongli » Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 2:34 AM UTC

Negitivefrags wrote: post #23

mirceal wrote: 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…

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 from sweets increases your sensitivity to sweetness. If you go long enough, you'll find most candy cloying rather than addictive. So throw away those cheap, mass market candy bars. By some expensive dark chocolate candy from a reputable chocolatier. Eat one piece instead of a whole bunch and just take your time to enjoy the flavours. It is sooooo much better!

The way I see people (including myself at times) eat candy bars and potato chips bears more resemblance to a starving dog than a human who really enjoys good food. Stop being a dog! Take your time and enjoy something really good instead of swallowing a whole bunch of junk in front of Netflix.