5 ms·

> I also noticed that calories counting was the most efficient way to drop off extra weight, but counting calories is a very-very-very daunting task. If you eve

> I also noticed that calories counting was the most efficient way to drop off extra weight, but counting calories is a very-very-very daunting task. If you ever used MyFitnesPal or similar tool you know how much time it takes: unlock your phone, find the app, wait till it loads, go through the list of categories, find the right food (if you are lucky), try to measure what you ate/about to eat and adjust numbers, save. Eventually, it became “I will add all these things in the evening,” then I started missing days until I gave up entirely. If you are embarking on a diet, I would highly advocate minimizing meal variability to remove the cognitive overhead associated with meal planning. If you pick 3-5 healthy meals that you can eat everyday, calorie or macro counting becomes simple because you already know that what you are going to eat will fit into your daily totals. I cut from 300 to 215 lbs several years ago and kept the weight off. If you're interested in reading some high level dieting advice, please refer to my post here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15604761 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15604761

dagoat 8y ago
This. But whilst I completely agree that eating the same meals/foods every day makes dieting much easier - the dieter should make sure to not rely on any one source of food too much. Make sure that you're getting your nutrients from a variety of foods. Things like beans, nuts, spinach, etc are all very healthy - but if you made them a staple of your diet you could be overloading your body with iron and/or oxalates. Every person processes nutrients differently, so one person can eat a bag of spinach a day for years and have no ill effects - another person could find themselves developing kidney stones. My point is not to focus on any one food or nutrient being "bad", just that moderation and variety applies even when eating healthy
ghostbrainalpha 8y ago
I noticed the same thing, but used it to my advantage. I ended up losing weight just because sometimes I would rather not eat a late night snack, than find my phone and figure out the calories in 1/2 a cupcake.
Fnoord 8y ago
The amount of weight you have or had or lost (in lbs or kg) does not tell the reader anything about your height, age, or BMI.
- Thriptic 8y ago
  When I started my diet I was a very obese, 300 lbs, untrained (no lifting or running experience), 6'2" male in my early 20s. I am now 225 lbs and have put on significant muscle mass. I don't know what my BMI is, but BMI for a lifter is a useless metric as it doesn't take lean muscle mass into account. I achieved almost all of my weight loss over the course of one year; obviously putting the muscle on took much longer than that.
  - nradov 8y ago
    If you care, you can get an accurate measurement of lean muscle mass from a DXA scan for about $50.
hippich 8y ago
I tried that before many times. in the end I ended up eating "wrong" food again. I guess changing meal variability means changing your lifestyle. Which is good, but harder for me than trying to put a measure on a food I already it.
kimi 8y ago
Agreed. For me, I plan in advance (a week) with a template; then I go buy all the stuff I need, and then I don't buy anything else. Nothing else at home or at work, so there is no "It's just one cookie" excuse. I lost 100+ lbs 8yrs ago and am stationary.

dagoat 8y ago

This. But whilst I completely agree that eating the same meals/foods every day makes dieting much easier - the dieter should make sure to not rely on any one source of food too much. Make sure that you're getting your nutrients from a variety of foods. Things like beans, nuts, spinach, etc are all very healthy - but if you made them a staple of your diet you could be overloading your body with iron and/or oxalates. Every person processes nutrients differently, so one person can eat a bag of spinach a day for years and have no ill effects - another person could find themselves developing kidney stones. My point is not to focus on any one food or nutrient being "bad", just that moderation and variety applies even when eating healthy

ghostbrainalpha 8y ago

I noticed the same thing, but used it to my advantage. I ended up losing weight just because sometimes I would rather not eat a late night snack, than find my phone and figure out the calories in 1/2 a cupcake.

Fnoord 8y ago

The amount of weight you have or had or lost (in lbs or kg) does not tell the reader anything about your height, age, or BMI.

Thriptic 8y ago
When I started my diet I was a very obese, 300 lbs, untrained (no lifting or running experience), 6'2" male in my early 20s. I am now 225 lbs and have put on significant muscle mass. I don't know what my BMI is, but BMI for a lifter is a useless metric as it doesn't take lean muscle mass into account. I achieved almost all of my weight loss over the course of one year; obviously putting the muscle on took much longer than that.
- nradov 8y ago
  If you care, you can get an accurate measurement of lean muscle mass from a DXA scan for about $50.

hippich 8y ago

I tried that before many times. in the end I ended up eating "wrong" food again. I guess changing meal variability means changing your lifestyle. Which is good, but harder for me than trying to put a measure on a food I already it.

kimi 8y ago

Agreed. For me, I plan in advance (a week) with a template; then I go buy all the stuff I need, and then I don't buy anything else. Nothing else at home or at work, so there is no "It's just one cookie" excuse. I lost 100+ lbs 8yrs ago and am stationary.