3 ms·

It's not a HN-exclusive thing. This is just the universal take on weight loss which happens to also pervade throughout HN. Weight loss always creates an enormo

by sw104 3y ago

It's not a HN-exclusive thing. This is just the universal take on weight loss which happens to also pervade throughout HN. Weight loss always creates an enormously contentious discussion because for so many people it is interpreted as a personal indictment of their choices and behaviour. I fully agree with your whole post, from a background of general fitness (healthy diet, heavy daily exercise), and because I've been through the process of losing weight. It was difficult (at first), and is still sometimes difficult maintaining it. If I hadn't experienced that weight loss experience (and the success it brought), and if I ate worse, didn't exercise, and weighed 10kg+ more, I'm sure something in my brain would probably lean me towards disagreeing with the simple model of weight loss. I'm sure I'd also look for blame elsewhere and look for workarounds, which a multi-million dollar industry would happily (not) provide. Humans are funny.

throwaway22032 3y ago
Thanks for your post. Something I think about a lot is that fundamentally people don't treat physical activity and their diet as seriously as they would if it were really a priority. I include myself in that even as someone who works out often. A software developer might sit in a chair for 8 hours a day on mental pursuits. But on the main page of HN, there's a "15 minute stretching routine" for people to do to help with pains. Not so they can be fit mind, so that they can manage sitting in that chair. The whole mindset is bonkers. If you manage to get the balance of physical to mental to even be 20%/80%, hell let's do 10%/90%, and you treat your diet even 50% as well as you treat your financial budget, you will almost certainly be in fantastic shape compared to most of your peer group.
- sw104 3y ago
  That's quite alright. On the exercise front, it might be just due to most people not finding "their sport". When people find exercise they enjoy, it can easily start taking up a lot of their time and fulfilling that physical/mental balance you mentioned. I think a lot of people take up rather cliche sports/exercises simply for weight loss, and thinking of it that way just doesn't stick. Running is the big one. I love running myself and I know many people who also do, but it seems like the go-to "lose weight exercise", and a lot of people seem to hate it. Sometimes the path to start a sport / exercise you love can be very strange. I was pretty out of shape last year this time and July/August I just spontaneously decided to walk home from work (1.5 hour walk) and that stuck as a daily thing. One of those walks made me mull over joining a gym, so I did that and have been almost every day since last August. The treadmill there shunted me onto running outside, and revisiting a sport I did when I was younger (orienteering), and sports kept stacking on top, as well as interest in nutrition and health. I lost about 15kg, taking me from overweight to the lower/middle of healthy, with a lot more strength and I'm barely ever ill now compared to before. I could easily have not walked home on that day and none of it would have happened. I'd probably still be overweight (and unhappy). It was just random really. I know that doesn't help most people, but it's what I've found with myself and others. A few people I've gotten to know through the gym and other sports is that the "kick" was either a health scare or being in a dark place, and using exercise as an outlet got them into a way better place than they were before. You just have to be so careful not to relapse though. There can just as easily be a kick in the other direction, and I try to keep that in mind.
  - throwaway22032 3y ago
    Agree with all of this. I hate running. Cardio is my weakpoint in general. I enjoy cycling, but only with a purpose, like if I go from A to B to pick something up. I would also say though that personally, I find going to work and doing the 9-5 way way harder than going to the gym. My main source of confusion in life is that maximising money (not just having enough to survive but actively maximising it and giving up all of your time in order to do so) is standard, but maximising health is just like, I mean whatever, maybe. I feel like you could give most people ten million dollars and they still wouldn't get in shape.

by sw104 3y ago

throwaway22032 3y ago

Thanks for your post. Something I think about a lot is that fundamentally people don't treat physical activity and their diet as seriously as they would if it were really a priority. I include myself in that even as someone who works out often. A software developer might sit in a chair for 8 hours a day on mental pursuits. But on the main page of HN, there's a "15 minute stretching routine" for people to do to help with pains. Not so they can be fit mind, so that they can manage sitting in that chair. The whole mindset is bonkers. If you manage to get the balance of physical to mental to even be 20%/80%, hell let's do 10%/90%, and you treat your diet even 50% as well as you treat your financial budget, you will almost certainly be in fantastic shape compared to most of your peer group.

sw104 3y ago
That's quite alright. On the exercise front, it might be just due to most people not finding "their sport". When people find exercise they enjoy, it can easily start taking up a lot of their time and fulfilling that physical/mental balance you mentioned. I think a lot of people take up rather cliche sports/exercises simply for weight loss, and thinking of it that way just doesn't stick. Running is the big one. I love running myself and I know many people who also do, but it seems like the go-to "lose weight exercise", and a lot of people seem to hate it. Sometimes the path to start a sport / exercise you love can be very strange. I was pretty out of shape last year this time and July/August I just spontaneously decided to walk home from work (1.5 hour walk) and that stuck as a daily thing. One of those walks made me mull over joining a gym, so I did that and have been almost every day since last August. The treadmill there shunted me onto running outside, and revisiting a sport I did when I was younger (orienteering), and sports kept stacking on top, as well as interest in nutrition and health. I lost about 15kg, taking me from overweight to the lower/middle of healthy, with a lot more strength and I'm barely ever ill now compared to before. I could easily have not walked home on that day and none of it would have happened. I'd probably still be overweight (and unhappy). It was just random really. I know that doesn't help most people, but it's what I've found with myself and others. A few people I've gotten to know through the gym and other sports is that the "kick" was either a health scare or being in a dark place, and using exercise as an outlet got them into a way better place than they were before. You just have to be so careful not to relapse though. There can just as easily be a kick in the other direction, and I try to keep that in mind.
- throwaway22032 3y ago
  Agree with all of this. I hate running. Cardio is my weakpoint in general. I enjoy cycling, but only with a purpose, like if I go from A to B to pick something up. I would also say though that personally, I find going to work and doing the 9-5 way way harder than going to the gym. My main source of confusion in life is that maximising money (not just having enough to survive but actively maximising it and giving up all of your time in order to do so) is standard, but maximising health is just like, I mean whatever, maybe. I feel like you could give most people ten million dollars and they still wouldn't get in shape.