8 ms·

Learning how to lose weight and avoid being judgemental

65 points by jor-el 10y ago

donquichotte 10y ago
I found this guys webpage some years ago, he has done awesome work casting resin cogs and other shapes in CNC milled molds. [1] Regarding the post, I'm not a nutritional expert, but cooking yourself is a great method to keep better track of what enters your body. [1] http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/gcnc/ch4/ http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/gcnc/ch4/
xupybd 10y ago
Some more specifics would be great. I've never managed to hold off weight long term.
- bartread 10y ago
  I was in a similar position to the article's author and, by age 34, was starting to looking properly flabby around the middle, as well as having a genuinely terrible level of fitness. A couple of months snowboarding in 2011 and I came back looking sleek and fit but it all piled back on again over the next 18 months. So, at 36 years old I'm flabby around the middle and cripplingly weak with sticks for arms and legs. I also discovered a varicose vein in my right leg, which freaked me out. I discovered Scooby's Workshop (http://scoobysworkshop.com/ http://scoobysworkshop.com/) through a recommendation from my uncle, started watching his videos, picked up his beginner workout (http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/ http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/) and have been plugging away with different workout plans ever since. Took me about 5 months to start with before I could do a single pull-up. I've now been doing something based on Starting Strength (by Mark Rippetoe - https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Mark-Rippetoe-ebook/dp/B006XJR5ZA/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486027208&sr=1-1&keywords=starting+strength https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Mark-Rippetoe-ebook...) for about 18 months. (If you're a bit older I don't recommend you follow his dietary advice too strongly in terms of Gallon Of Milk A Day, but you may need to up your food intake to lose weight in a controlled way - do NOT try to lose more than 1kg/2lb per week or you may start to lose muscle mass as well as fat.) It's been a bit of a struggle with the new client I'm working with, so it's a case of exercise when I can. I've had a couple of injuries that have slowed me down as well, but progress is still occurring. I've gone from being as weak as a kitten (struggled to deadlift 25kg) to the point where on a good day I can deadlift 150kg for 5 reps. My aim is to get to 200kg. Bottom line is the only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to increase your metabolic rate, and that means strength training to increase your muscle mass. The problem with a diet and cardio only approach is that you can end up atrophying your muscles, which drops your metabolism, and thereby makes it easier to pile weight back on again. (Being strong also has the benefit that it just makes life in general a lot easier, and will increase your confidence.) HTH.
  - mido22 10y ago
    here is question, why do want to deadlift 150kg, how does it help (with anything other being muscular)?
    - Lewton 10y ago
      deadlifting heavy weights is the single best way to avoid lower back pain
    - adrianN 10y ago
      * A strong back is less prone to injury. * Building muscle mass while you're young helps you stay mobile instead of becoming frail when you're old * It feels nice to be able to lift heavy stuff.
    - eru 10y ago
      It doesn't actually make you look very muscular. But it does make you stronger. The strength feels good, gives confidence, and keeps you healthy. (Especially back injuries will be less likely. And for women fighting osteoporosis is always an additional concern.) As for looks: you won't magically get a six pack and bulging muscles. I deadlifted 160kg and squatted 170kg (yeah, my grip sucks..) at a bodyweight of 70kg, and I'm no hulk. But, the extra muscles will help you carry whatever fat you have better.
    - snovv_crash 10y ago
      Everything else in life is easier: running to catch a train, carrying heavy luggage, moving furniture. I also find I get sick less. Also, as you get older, having denser bones from lifting while younger helps offset osteoporosis.
    - hackerblues 10y ago
      Anecdotal, but my grandfather has always advocated building physical fitness in your youth primarily to to have a strong base to carry you into old age.
    - bartread 10y ago
      I think everyone who's already responded has done a great job of answering this already, but what I've noticed is that it just makes anything and everything that involves any form of physical activity either easier. This can be as prosaic as doing DIY work around the house, working in the garden, going shopping, helping my parents move house, pushing my motorcycle around, etc. It also makes holidays involving sports or physical activities (skiing for example) much more enjoyable - you can do more, and push yourself harder, and you have more confidence in doing it. The routine I'm doing does not make you look like a bodybuilder - as others have pointed out, it makes you strong. This does involve some increase in muscle mass, but I don't think I look particularly big even though I'm much stronger than I used to be. The last reason is very personal: it's frank curiosity. I grew up as the weakest kid in the class, one of the weakest in the school. I didn't think I could be strong, so when I realised I was wrong, I wondered how strong I could become. It's obviously a harder journey because I'm older, but still I don't feel like I'm near the limits yet.
- tallanvor 10y ago
  Honestly, the specifics will vary according to the person, but it comes down to constant discipline. Those of us who struggle with weight will often hit our goal and then slowly stop paying attention to what we eat and what our activity level is.
jwr 10y ago
Losing and maintaining weight is hard, and I agree with Michał that there are no quick and easy solutions. It's about making a firm decision and sticking to it for the rest of your life. Incidentally, I found that losing ~10kg (22lbs) is the easy part. The really hard part is losing those last 2-3kg or burning the remaining fat. And all of that becomes more difficult as you age.
- elpocko 10y ago
  How is 2-3 kg even an issue? I mean, for what reason would anyone say "I need to lose 2 kg"? What difference does it make? I'm a little bit underweight and my weight naturally fluctuates by +/- ~2 kg from one week to the next. If I lost 2 kg, I wouldn't notice.
  - cuu508 10y ago
    Everyone has an idea of their "ideal weight". If you're trying to lose weight, it is always a little (or a lot) below your current weight. In everyday life losing the last 2kg doesn't make much difference, but we naturally like to set goals and challenge ourselves.
    - elpocko 10y ago
      In my experience you're not going to maintain that exact weight anyway. If I wanted to lose 2 kg, I would dehydrate myself for a day and the weight is gone. Why not lose weight until you feel good, instead of setting some arbitrary exact number as your goal.
      - nicky0 10y ago
        We're talking about maintaining a certain average weight over a period of time. Day to day fluctuations are not important. I've found regular weighing and having a certain target weight useful, together with food intake logging. It helps me stay objective, and helps me with my self-control, especially with avoiding bingeing on unhealthy foods.
mido22 10y ago
losing weight is simple (not easy), what worked for me is, strict Vegan diet.
- swombat 10y ago
  You can eat a very unhealthy strict vegan diet, made of pasta and canned tomatoes and lots of fizzy drinks and fries and tacos...
  - mido22 10y ago
    canned tomatoes is bad??? :-O, trust me, unhealthy vegan food is not easy to find, because, most times, it is hard to find processed vegan snacks to begin with, and quickly get bored of eating the same brand of unhealthy ones
    - cyphar 10y ago
      > canned tomatoes is bad??? Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but all canned fruit/vegetables are insanely packed with sugar and salt. So yes. They're bad for you. Granola is also bad for you. Nuts contain a lot of fat. Kale is bad for your thyroids. And so on.
      - lorenzhs 10y ago
        Not sure how this is in other countries, but here (Germany) canned tomatoes contain: tomatoes, tomato juice, citric acid. Why would there be added sugar and salt?
        rwmj 10y ago
        I'm guessing the GP means tomato (pasta) sauce, which is usually stuffed with all sorts of terrible stuff. Making incredible pasta sauce is so easy I don't know why anyone buys it pre-made.
        eru 10y ago
        And even salt is not actually unhealthy (unless you are part of that population whom salt gives trouble with their blood pressure). Of course, make sure you drink enough non-sugary, non-alcoholic liquids with your salt. But people automatically get thirsty on salt anyway---so no need for advice.
gabemart 10y ago
From my experience, which is mirrored in the article, the single most helpful item of advice to someone looking to control or change their weight is to track consumed calories in a strict way. The first step is not to change diet or exercise at all, but simply to track calories of the current diet. Everything else, in terms of strategy, action and results, comes from this.
- kranner 10y ago
  I would add timestamps to that. It matters a lot IMO whether calories are consumed in the first half of the day or the second half.
  - eru 10y ago
    Not sure whether it does, but the extra information probably doesn't hurt. Some people suggest taking a picture of everything you eat, too. Forces you to stop and take the picture _before_ --- one can procrastinate on recording calorie entries in a journal, but you can't procrastinate on the picture.
    - csydas 10y ago
      I think this is related to some theories about how the body processes food as it approaches its rest period or something like that. I have not read any of the articles or theories, but I have heard the idea repeated many times, and across the world (heard it in the US, hear it here in Russia). I'm not sure if there is any validity to it really so much as just giving yourself a stopping point for the day, but I have not done any research in this regard.
    - danieltillett 10y ago
      I think I am going to do this photo idea - at the very least it should be an interesting data set for my future self.
      - eru 10y ago
        If you like wacky ideas, consider the 'graph meta-diet' for weight loss. Goes like this: Determine your current weight, w_0 Define a target weight, w_t Pick a reasonable target weight function w(d) of the number of days elapsed since the start of the diet: w(d) := max (w_t, w_0 - 100g * d) (Ie aim for losing 100 grams a day, until you reached your target weight. Important, we are aiming for a specific level for each day, so any lost ground has to be made up; but getting ahead of the game will give you a breather.) Get yourself a spreadsheet. Google Sheets works well. Draw that function's graph. Every day, record your weight. If it's below the line, follow whatever other primary diet you want. Important: if your weight is above the line, fast that day. If you hate fasting, make sure your primary diet loses you weight at the right pace. If you don't mind fasting days, feel free to stuff your face with cake. I guarantee, if you follow the graph, you will lose weight. (But I can't guarantee that you will have the discipline to follow the graph.)
danieltillett 10y ago
What I have found with losing weight is that the ability comes out of your self-control budget. I can lose weight easily when I don't have to concentrate on work, but the more stress and work I have the harder it is to hold down my weight.
- kranner 10y ago
  Self-control budget or ego depletion was recently debunked in a large-scale experiment: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2016/03/ego_depletion_an_influential_theory_in_psychology_may_have_just_been_debunked.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story...
  - Chris2048 10y ago
    psychological has problems reproducing results - How many independent studies debunked it?
    - Chris2048 10y ago
      s/psychological/The field of psychology/ Also, to back this: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/12/beware-the-man-of-one-study/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/12/beware-the-man-of-one-s... suggesting you actually need to see the normal curve of study outcomes to see which outcome it converges to...
  - danieltillett 10y ago
    I wish this experiment was close to real life. I can of course only speak for myself, but for me when faced with huge demands on self-will with work, self-will over food fails.
  - nicky0 10y ago
    But from personal experience, it is a very real thing. I'm a little suspicious of any paper "debunking" something I experience on a regular basis.
gadders 10y ago
I'm glad you lost your body fat, but I would now recommend you work on building muscle and strength.
deevus 10y ago
Off topic: Geez. I wish I had bought a house and had a kid by 26. I'm 31 and I don't know if I'll be able to afford a house for 10 years. My partner is studying to be a primary teacher and she's 3-4 years away from finishing. The housing market in Australia is a bit broken though, and I don't exactly work for Google. Back on topic: The hardest thing for me is giving up Coke. I love that stuff. I think I would have to lose 20kg to get to a healthy range.
- rosege 10y ago
  Maybe try to get out of Sydney or Melbourne where its most broken. But yeah crazy system that rewards the rich massively.
- ClassyJacket 10y ago
  As a 27 year old Australian, I know how you feel. I will likely never own a house, especially with the Liberal Party actively pushing house prices as high as possible. They want us renting forever, so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I'm glad I didn't have a kid last year though. Would've made getting that house a whole lot harder, and I've still got plenty of living and travel and women to do! As for not exactly working for Google... I have a useless IT degree so I know what you mean. Nothing exciting is going on here. There's no real tech industry. CTRL-F the 'who's hiring' thread from earlier - two results for Melbourne, 167 for San Francisco. I'm trying to start my own business because screw working for some accounting firm. As for the Coke... I'm gonna assume you mean the drink, since if it was the drug you'd probably have no trouble with losing weight (and not capitalize it). A few years ago I switched to sugar free softdrink to lose weight. It worked wonders, although I did also count food calories and exercise. But it was a valuable part of losing 30Kg. Going to Coke Zero was the easiest change I made. However, sugar-free soft drink still has acid that rots your teeth, so I've given even that up as of about two weeks ago. And you know what? It was surprisingly easy. I thought it'd be impossible, but after I got the bad news from my dentist I just started drinking water, and it's just... not that hard. I just drink when I'm thirsty and then I don't crave a sweet drink anymore. The caffeine addiction though? Well, I have still had a little coffee... but you can have caffeine pills or tea or plain coffee for that, and not all the sugar. Even sugar WITH coffee is nothing compared to how much is in Coke.
GotAnyMegadeth 10y ago
Sorry for off topic, but those slightly rotated pictures and captions almost made me feel dizzy
pipio21 10y ago
Well, I don't see any problem in the first three photos. I also was very tall and skinny as a kid and it is very normal(and healthy) to become a man and get some weight. I personally met Michael long ago and don't remember thinking he was fat at all. The last photo worries me, it does not look healthy, quite the contrary. I would recommend him to practice an sport(or going to the mountain, whatever) he likes, not just something that he does to lose weight, something that makes him stronger, not just skinny, and something he enjoys . I had made sport all my life and it is part of my routine. And also eating real food, instead of fast food, both burritos or hamburgers are fast food. Anglo world has lots of amazing things and a few terrible things, food is one of those. Calories counting is a very simplistic model. For example you have to take into account the oils used in your food, and in America those tend too be the lowest quality(cheapest). Olive oils have nothing to do with palm oil, but most fast food use palm for being the cheapest. When you eat fast food you will deprive your body of essential supplies. For example feed-fed animals generate too much Omega6 and too few Omega3. Your body requires omega 3 and will demand eating more until it gets it, but as much as you eat you don't get satisfied. The same happens with lots of other things like enzymes, vitamins, fiber and so on that gets destroyed by refrigeration. If I were as rational as Michael I would probably write "The guerrilla guide to good eating" in order to learn proper nutrition and document the process.
- Luc 10y ago
  > it is very normal(and healthy) to become a man and get some weight. I personally met Michael long ago and don't remember thinking he was fat at all. The last photo worries me, it does not look healthy, quite the contrary. All this says is that you're prejudiced against skinny people. Probably because that's how you grew up.
- rhizome 10y ago
  Not only that, but the whole "judgemental" angle is a single sentence buried as a parenthetical. All in all, it sounds like his solution for not being judgemental is to lose weight so you don't remind yourself of the fatties you (still) think of as lazy.
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rm1293 10y ago
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koreyb 10y ago
Slow carb / four hour body diet. I've used it myself a few times and the pounds shed off. Everyone that I've recommend try it has lost weight. Eat as much protein (meat, fish, etc.), vegetables & beans as you want. No whites (carbs or dairy), no fruit, junk food, etc. 1 cheat day a week to go nuts and eat whatever you want. More info here http://tim.blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds/ http://tim.blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds/ Lots of issues with counting calories, mainly it is a pain in the ass. Not all calories are equal, we all absorb & burn calories differently, portion sizes aren't always correct, etc.

65 points by jor-el 10y ago

I found this guys webpage some years ago, he has done awesome work casting resin cogs and other shapes in CNC milled molds. [1] Regarding the post, I'm not a nutritional expert, but cooking yourself is a great method to keep better track of what enters your body. [1] http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/gcnc/ch4/ http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/gcnc/ch4/

xupybd 10y ago

Some more specifics would be great. I've never managed to hold off weight long term.

bartread 10y ago
I was in a similar position to the article's author and, by age 34, was starting to looking properly flabby around the middle, as well as having a genuinely terrible level of fitness. A couple of months snowboarding in 2011 and I came back looking sleek and fit but it all piled back on again over the next 18 months. So, at 36 years old I'm flabby around the middle and cripplingly weak with sticks for arms and legs. I also discovered a varicose vein in my right leg, which freaked me out. I discovered Scooby's Workshop (http://scoobysworkshop.com/ http://scoobysworkshop.com/) through a recommendation from my uncle, started watching his videos, picked up his beginner workout (http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/ http://scoobysworkshop.com/beginning-workout-plan/) and have been plugging away with different workout plans ever since. Took me about 5 months to start with before I could do a single pull-up. I've now been doing something based on Starting Strength (by Mark Rippetoe - https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Mark-Rippetoe-ebook/dp/B006XJR5ZA/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1486027208&sr=1-1&keywords=starting+strength https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Mark-Rippetoe-ebook...) for about 18 months. (If you're a bit older I don't recommend you follow his dietary advice too strongly in terms of Gallon Of Milk A Day, but you may need to up your food intake to lose weight in a controlled way - do NOT try to lose more than 1kg/2lb per week or you may start to lose muscle mass as well as fat.) It's been a bit of a struggle with the new client I'm working with, so it's a case of exercise when I can. I've had a couple of injuries that have slowed me down as well, but progress is still occurring. I've gone from being as weak as a kitten (struggled to deadlift 25kg) to the point where on a good day I can deadlift 150kg for 5 reps. My aim is to get to 200kg. Bottom line is the only real way to lose weight and keep it off is to increase your metabolic rate, and that means strength training to increase your muscle mass. The problem with a diet and cardio only approach is that you can end up atrophying your muscles, which drops your metabolism, and thereby makes it easier to pile weight back on again. (Being strong also has the benefit that it just makes life in general a lot easier, and will increase your confidence.) HTH.
- mido22 10y ago
  here is question, why do want to deadlift 150kg, how does it help (with anything other being muscular)?
  - Lewton 10y ago
    deadlifting heavy weights is the single best way to avoid lower back pain
  - adrianN 10y ago
    * A strong back is less prone to injury. * Building muscle mass while you're young helps you stay mobile instead of becoming frail when you're old * It feels nice to be able to lift heavy stuff.
  - eru 10y ago
    It doesn't actually make you look very muscular. But it does make you stronger. The strength feels good, gives confidence, and keeps you healthy. (Especially back injuries will be less likely. And for women fighting osteoporosis is always an additional concern.) As for looks: you won't magically get a six pack and bulging muscles. I deadlifted 160kg and squatted 170kg (yeah, my grip sucks..) at a bodyweight of 70kg, and I'm no hulk. But, the extra muscles will help you carry whatever fat you have better.
  - snovv_crash 10y ago
    Everything else in life is easier: running to catch a train, carrying heavy luggage, moving furniture. I also find I get sick less. Also, as you get older, having denser bones from lifting while younger helps offset osteoporosis.
  - hackerblues 10y ago
    Anecdotal, but my grandfather has always advocated building physical fitness in your youth primarily to to have a strong base to carry you into old age.
  - bartread 10y ago
    I think everyone who's already responded has done a great job of answering this already, but what I've noticed is that it just makes anything and everything that involves any form of physical activity either easier. This can be as prosaic as doing DIY work around the house, working in the garden, going shopping, helping my parents move house, pushing my motorcycle around, etc. It also makes holidays involving sports or physical activities (skiing for example) much more enjoyable - you can do more, and push yourself harder, and you have more confidence in doing it. The routine I'm doing does not make you look like a bodybuilder - as others have pointed out, it makes you strong. This does involve some increase in muscle mass, but I don't think I look particularly big even though I'm much stronger than I used to be. The last reason is very personal: it's frank curiosity. I grew up as the weakest kid in the class, one of the weakest in the school. I didn't think I could be strong, so when I realised I was wrong, I wondered how strong I could become. It's obviously a harder journey because I'm older, but still I don't feel like I'm near the limits yet.
tallanvor 10y ago
Honestly, the specifics will vary according to the person, but it comes down to constant discipline. Those of us who struggle with weight will often hit our goal and then slowly stop paying attention to what we eat and what our activity level is.

jwr 10y ago

Losing and maintaining weight is hard, and I agree with Michał that there are no quick and easy solutions. It's about making a firm decision and sticking to it for the rest of your life. Incidentally, I found that losing ~10kg (22lbs) is the easy part. The really hard part is losing those last 2-3kg or burning the remaining fat. And all of that becomes more difficult as you age.

elpocko 10y ago
How is 2-3 kg even an issue? I mean, for what reason would anyone say "I need to lose 2 kg"? What difference does it make? I'm a little bit underweight and my weight naturally fluctuates by +/- ~2 kg from one week to the next. If I lost 2 kg, I wouldn't notice.
- cuu508 10y ago
  Everyone has an idea of their "ideal weight". If you're trying to lose weight, it is always a little (or a lot) below your current weight. In everyday life losing the last 2kg doesn't make much difference, but we naturally like to set goals and challenge ourselves.
  - elpocko 10y ago
    In my experience you're not going to maintain that exact weight anyway. If I wanted to lose 2 kg, I would dehydrate myself for a day and the weight is gone. Why not lose weight until you feel good, instead of setting some arbitrary exact number as your goal.
    - nicky0 10y ago
      We're talking about maintaining a certain average weight over a period of time. Day to day fluctuations are not important. I've found regular weighing and having a certain target weight useful, together with food intake logging. It helps me stay objective, and helps me with my self-control, especially with avoiding bingeing on unhealthy foods.

mido22 10y ago

losing weight is simple (not easy), what worked for me is, strict Vegan diet.

swombat 10y ago
You can eat a very unhealthy strict vegan diet, made of pasta and canned tomatoes and lots of fizzy drinks and fries and tacos...
- mido22 10y ago
  canned tomatoes is bad??? :-O, trust me, unhealthy vegan food is not easy to find, because, most times, it is hard to find processed vegan snacks to begin with, and quickly get bored of eating the same brand of unhealthy ones
  - cyphar 10y ago
    > canned tomatoes is bad??? Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but all canned fruit/vegetables are insanely packed with sugar and salt. So yes. They're bad for you. Granola is also bad for you. Nuts contain a lot of fat. Kale is bad for your thyroids. And so on.
    - lorenzhs 10y ago
      Not sure how this is in other countries, but here (Germany) canned tomatoes contain: tomatoes, tomato juice, citric acid. Why would there be added sugar and salt?
      - rwmj 10y ago
        I'm guessing the GP means tomato (pasta) sauce, which is usually stuffed with all sorts of terrible stuff. Making incredible pasta sauce is so easy I don't know why anyone buys it pre-made.
      - eru 10y ago
        And even salt is not actually unhealthy (unless you are part of that population whom salt gives trouble with their blood pressure). Of course, make sure you drink enough non-sugary, non-alcoholic liquids with your salt. But people automatically get thirsty on salt anyway---so no need for advice.

gabemart 10y ago

From my experience, which is mirrored in the article, the single most helpful item of advice to someone looking to control or change their weight is to track consumed calories in a strict way. The first step is not to change diet or exercise at all, but simply to track calories of the current diet. Everything else, in terms of strategy, action and results, comes from this.

kranner 10y ago
I would add timestamps to that. It matters a lot IMO whether calories are consumed in the first half of the day or the second half.
- eru 10y ago
  Not sure whether it does, but the extra information probably doesn't hurt. Some people suggest taking a picture of everything you eat, too. Forces you to stop and take the picture _before_ --- one can procrastinate on recording calorie entries in a journal, but you can't procrastinate on the picture.
  - csydas 10y ago
    I think this is related to some theories about how the body processes food as it approaches its rest period or something like that. I have not read any of the articles or theories, but I have heard the idea repeated many times, and across the world (heard it in the US, hear it here in Russia). I'm not sure if there is any validity to it really so much as just giving yourself a stopping point for the day, but I have not done any research in this regard.
  - danieltillett 10y ago
    I think I am going to do this photo idea - at the very least it should be an interesting data set for my future self.
    - eru 10y ago
      If you like wacky ideas, consider the 'graph meta-diet' for weight loss. Goes like this: Determine your current weight, w_0 Define a target weight, w_t Pick a reasonable target weight function w(d) of the number of days elapsed since the start of the diet: w(d) := max (w_t, w_0 - 100g * d) (Ie aim for losing 100 grams a day, until you reached your target weight. Important, we are aiming for a specific level for each day, so any lost ground has to be made up; but getting ahead of the game will give you a breather.) Get yourself a spreadsheet. Google Sheets works well. Draw that function's graph. Every day, record your weight. If it's below the line, follow whatever other primary diet you want. Important: if your weight is above the line, fast that day. If you hate fasting, make sure your primary diet loses you weight at the right pace. If you don't mind fasting days, feel free to stuff your face with cake. I guarantee, if you follow the graph, you will lose weight. (But I can't guarantee that you will have the discipline to follow the graph.)

danieltillett 10y ago

What I have found with losing weight is that the ability comes out of your self-control budget. I can lose weight easily when I don't have to concentrate on work, but the more stress and work I have the harder it is to hold down my weight.

kranner 10y ago
Self-control budget or ego depletion was recently debunked in a large-scale experiment: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story/2016/03/ego_depletion_an_influential_theory_in_psychology_may_have_just_been_debunked.html http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/cover_story...
- Chris2048 10y ago
  psychological has problems reproducing results - How many independent studies debunked it?
  - Chris2048 10y ago
    s/psychological/The field of psychology/ Also, to back this: http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/12/beware-the-man-of-one-study/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/12/12/beware-the-man-of-one-s... suggesting you actually need to see the normal curve of study outcomes to see which outcome it converges to...
- danieltillett 10y ago
  I wish this experiment was close to real life. I can of course only speak for myself, but for me when faced with huge demands on self-will with work, self-will over food fails.
- nicky0 10y ago
  But from personal experience, it is a very real thing. I'm a little suspicious of any paper "debunking" something I experience on a regular basis.

gadders 10y ago

I'm glad you lost your body fat, but I would now recommend you work on building muscle and strength.

deevus 10y ago

Off topic: Geez. I wish I had bought a house and had a kid by 26. I'm 31 and I don't know if I'll be able to afford a house for 10 years. My partner is studying to be a primary teacher and she's 3-4 years away from finishing. The housing market in Australia is a bit broken though, and I don't exactly work for Google. Back on topic: The hardest thing for me is giving up Coke. I love that stuff. I think I would have to lose 20kg to get to a healthy range.

rosege 10y ago
Maybe try to get out of Sydney or Melbourne where its most broken. But yeah crazy system that rewards the rich massively.
ClassyJacket 10y ago
As a 27 year old Australian, I know how you feel. I will likely never own a house, especially with the Liberal Party actively pushing house prices as high as possible. They want us renting forever, so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I'm glad I didn't have a kid last year though. Would've made getting that house a whole lot harder, and I've still got plenty of living and travel and women to do! As for not exactly working for Google... I have a useless IT degree so I know what you mean. Nothing exciting is going on here. There's no real tech industry. CTRL-F the 'who's hiring' thread from earlier - two results for Melbourne, 167 for San Francisco. I'm trying to start my own business because screw working for some accounting firm. As for the Coke... I'm gonna assume you mean the drink, since if it was the drug you'd probably have no trouble with losing weight (and not capitalize it). A few years ago I switched to sugar free softdrink to lose weight. It worked wonders, although I did also count food calories and exercise. But it was a valuable part of losing 30Kg. Going to Coke Zero was the easiest change I made. However, sugar-free soft drink still has acid that rots your teeth, so I've given even that up as of about two weeks ago. And you know what? It was surprisingly easy. I thought it'd be impossible, but after I got the bad news from my dentist I just started drinking water, and it's just... not that hard. I just drink when I'm thirsty and then I don't crave a sweet drink anymore. The caffeine addiction though? Well, I have still had a little coffee... but you can have caffeine pills or tea or plain coffee for that, and not all the sugar. Even sugar WITH coffee is nothing compared to how much is in Coke.

GotAnyMegadeth 10y ago

Sorry for off topic, but those slightly rotated pictures and captions almost made me feel dizzy

pipio21 10y ago

Well, I don't see any problem in the first three photos. I also was very tall and skinny as a kid and it is very normal(and healthy) to become a man and get some weight. I personally met Michael long ago and don't remember thinking he was fat at all. The last photo worries me, it does not look healthy, quite the contrary. I would recommend him to practice an sport(or going to the mountain, whatever) he likes, not just something that he does to lose weight, something that makes him stronger, not just skinny, and something he enjoys . I had made sport all my life and it is part of my routine. And also eating real food, instead of fast food, both burritos or hamburgers are fast food. Anglo world has lots of amazing things and a few terrible things, food is one of those. Calories counting is a very simplistic model. For example you have to take into account the oils used in your food, and in America those tend too be the lowest quality(cheapest). Olive oils have nothing to do with palm oil, but most fast food use palm for being the cheapest. When you eat fast food you will deprive your body of essential supplies. For example feed-fed animals generate too much Omega6 and too few Omega3. Your body requires omega 3 and will demand eating more until it gets it, but as much as you eat you don't get satisfied. The same happens with lots of other things like enzymes, vitamins, fiber and so on that gets destroyed by refrigeration. If I were as rational as Michael I would probably write "The guerrilla guide to good eating" in order to learn proper nutrition and document the process.

Luc 10y ago
> it is very normal(and healthy) to become a man and get some weight. I personally met Michael long ago and don't remember thinking he was fat at all. The last photo worries me, it does not look healthy, quite the contrary. All this says is that you're prejudiced against skinny people. Probably because that's how you grew up.
rhizome 10y ago
Not only that, but the whole "judgemental" angle is a single sentence buried as a parenthetical. All in all, it sounds like his solution for not being judgemental is to lose weight so you don't remind yourself of the fatties you (still) think of as lazy.

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koreyb 10y ago

Slow carb / four hour body diet. I've used it myself a few times and the pounds shed off. Everyone that I've recommend try it has lost weight. Eat as much protein (meat, fish, etc.), vegetables & beans as you want. No whites (carbs or dairy), no fruit, junk food, etc. 1 cheat day a week to go nuts and eat whatever you want. More info here http://tim.blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds/ http://tim.blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds/ Lots of issues with counting calories, mainly it is a pain in the ass. Not all calories are equal, we all absorb & burn calories differently, portion sizes aren't always correct, etc.