3 ms·

This is all fluff. There are a few simple rules I followed for successful weight loss (15 lbs in the last 5 months. 1) Burn more calories than you consume. 2)

This is all fluff. There are a few simple rules I followed for successful weight loss (15 lbs in the last 5 months. 1) Burn more calories than you consume. 2) Losing more than a pound per week means you'll gain it back again. 3) If you like the taste of the food item then it's unhealthy.

war1025 8y ago
Was with you until that 3rd point. Lots of healthy foods taste plenty good.
- orev 8y ago
  One could say that is both true and false. Many people eat so many processed foods and artificial ingredients they literally have no idea what real food tastes like, and anything that doesn’t have a sugar/salt/fat “hit” just doesn’t taste “good” to them. Essentially their taste has been trained to think that only things in the very narrow range of industrial flavorings are good, and everything else is bad or bland. E.g. people who can’t drink water without adding some kind of flavoring. Once their taste is retrained, then yes, many healthy things taste good.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
Having lost and kept off about half my body weight, I'd say 1 is correct. The most reliable way to control your weight is calorie counting, end of story. 2 is not. No matter how much you lose, you will gain it back once you start eating more calories. In fact, it will probably take much fewer extra than it did the first time around. 3 is kinda irrelevant. "healthy" doesn't have a concrete meaning, which is why people selling things love it so much as a word. However, if you don't like the taste of what you're eating you are a lot less likely to overindulge, so there is that.
lhl 8y ago
Sure #1 is what it all comes down to, but how much are you in control of the calories that you burn? You can find scientific studies as far back as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment that shows that your body tries to maintain homeostasis when calories are reduced via regular caloric restriction, or with extreme overfeeding. Weight, like much of the bodies processes is a strictly hormonally regulated, the the biochemistry/process of fat burning is actually pretty well understood. Oxidation of fatty acids competes w/ glucose (which is generally preferred), known as the glucose-fatty acid, or Randall cycle (doi: 10.1007/s10545-010-9061-2, PMC2950079). The easiest way to increase FAO is therefore to reduce availability of glucose (don't eat carbs, or simply don't eat). This also lowers insulin levels, which independently inhibits lipolysis. (doi: 10.2337/db08-0281) What's also interesting is that as you fast, your ghrelin levels (hunger hormone) goes down (as does insulin, cortisol spikes) - doi: 10.1210/jc.2004-0604 I know everyone's an expert here on HN and I'm glad you were able to lose some weight, but #2 has no scientific or statistical basis, and #3 is prima facie laughable and its hard to imagine any animal surviving if that were the case. (Just stick to tasty natural, minimally processed, real food and you'll be fine).
- beobab 8y ago
  I like the Hacker's Guide to weight (and hair) loss through stress and malnutrition. https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/ An engineer's take, and most entertaining.
Fire-Dragon-DoL 8y ago
I know #3 has no science behind it, but it's incredible how easy is to spot foods with more calories in this way. It's a good rule of thumb. If I eat vegetables, a zucchini with no topping is ok (I really like zucchini). If I eat red beet, I like eat a lot. Check the calories of red beet and they are 3 times zucchini calories. Same goes for squash. Eggplant only double. Infact eggplant tastes incredibly good, but even better if you add some extra virgin olive oil. I eat everything home cooked and a lot of raw ingredients, but you xan easily tell what things have more calories based on the flavour (regarding unprocessed food at least) And to be fair, it does make sense in some way. Isn't your body supposed to use flavour to suggest if you are eating the right things?

war1025 8y ago

Was with you until that 3rd point. Lots of healthy foods taste plenty good.

orev 8y ago
One could say that is both true and false. Many people eat so many processed foods and artificial ingredients they literally have no idea what real food tastes like, and anything that doesn’t have a sugar/salt/fat “hit” just doesn’t taste “good” to them. Essentially their taste has been trained to think that only things in the very narrow range of industrial flavorings are good, and everything else is bad or bland. E.g. people who can’t drink water without adding some kind of flavoring. Once their taste is retrained, then yes, many healthy things taste good.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago

Having lost and kept off about half my body weight, I'd say 1 is correct. The most reliable way to control your weight is calorie counting, end of story. 2 is not. No matter how much you lose, you will gain it back once you start eating more calories. In fact, it will probably take much fewer extra than it did the first time around. 3 is kinda irrelevant. "healthy" doesn't have a concrete meaning, which is why people selling things love it so much as a word. However, if you don't like the taste of what you're eating you are a lot less likely to overindulge, so there is that.

lhl 8y ago

Sure #1 is what it all comes down to, but how much are you in control of the calories that you burn? You can find scientific studies as far back as the Minnesota Starvation Experiment that shows that your body tries to maintain homeostasis when calories are reduced via regular caloric restriction, or with extreme overfeeding. Weight, like much of the bodies processes is a strictly hormonally regulated, the the biochemistry/process of fat burning is actually pretty well understood. Oxidation of fatty acids competes w/ glucose (which is generally preferred), known as the glucose-fatty acid, or Randall cycle (doi: 10.1007/s10545-010-9061-2, PMC2950079). The easiest way to increase FAO is therefore to reduce availability of glucose (don't eat carbs, or simply don't eat). This also lowers insulin levels, which independently inhibits lipolysis. (doi: 10.2337/db08-0281) What's also interesting is that as you fast, your ghrelin levels (hunger hormone) goes down (as does insulin, cortisol spikes) - doi: 10.1210/jc.2004-0604 I know everyone's an expert here on HN and I'm glad you were able to lose some weight, but #2 has no scientific or statistical basis, and #3 is prima facie laughable and its hard to imagine any animal surviving if that were the case. (Just stick to tasty natural, minimally processed, real food and you'll be fine).

beobab 8y ago
I like the Hacker's Guide to weight (and hair) loss through stress and malnutrition. https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/ https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/ An engineer's take, and most entertaining.

Fire-Dragon-DoL 8y ago

I know #3 has no science behind it, but it's incredible how easy is to spot foods with more calories in this way. It's a good rule of thumb. If I eat vegetables, a zucchini with no topping is ok (I really like zucchini). If I eat red beet, I like eat a lot. Check the calories of red beet and they are 3 times zucchini calories. Same goes for squash. Eggplant only double. Infact eggplant tastes incredibly good, but even better if you add some extra virgin olive oil. I eat everything home cooked and a lot of raw ingredients, but you xan easily tell what things have more calories based on the flavour (regarding unprocessed food at least) And to be fair, it does make sense in some way. Isn't your body supposed to use flavour to suggest if you are eating the right things?