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Yes but fewer calories might also make you less productive at work. Might affect your reasoning and executive skills. They might also reduce your sex drive. No

Yes but fewer calories might also make you less productive at work. Might affect your reasoning and executive skills. They might also reduce your sex drive. Not sure maximum age is what you want to optimize for unless there is more data.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> fewer calories might also make you less productive at work. Might affect your reasoning and executive skills. They might also reduce your sex drive. Fewer calories doesn't mean starvation. We have evidence time-restricted feeding decreses fat mass without compromising musculature or strength while reducing inflammation [1]. Curiously, while "resting energy expenditure was unchanged," basal metabolism did go down. I don't think the solution is everyone time-restricting their feeding. But there is something here that suggests a broad quality-of-life improvement for many Americans. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27737674/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27737674/
- kuhewa 3y ago
  > Curiously, while "resting energy expenditure was unchanged," basal metabolism did go down. REE was the proxy for basal metabolism. They measured respiratory ratio which decreased, but that's not BM just (should) reflect what macros are being burned
helboi4 3y ago
I dunno skipping breakfast makes me way more productive at work. The only reason I don't do that all the time is because I want to build muscle.
- piva00 3y ago
  Skipping breakfast will not change your muscle building if you are eating enough calories and protein. I personally know a few bodybuilders who have been strictly doing intermittent fasting for years, you need to get your macros, breakfast isn't necessary.
  - edanm 3y ago
    Technically speaking, it appears that to optimize muscle-building, spacing out protein feedings is better, with optimal being 5-7 feedings IIRC. Of course this is only for optimizing - not relevant for almost anyone except elite athletes, I believe.
  - kuhewa 3y ago
    Sure it is totally possible, but for most people it will take concerted effort. Most aging people at a relatively healthy weight don't get an optional proportion of protein in their diet, reducing the number of meals makes it only more difficult to do so without careful planning (which most of us don't do with our diets).
    - piva00 3y ago
      There's not much planning involved in consuming whey protein (or a similar protein supplement product). You put 2 scoops in and get some ~50-60g of protein in your diet. It's much, much less effort than measuring/weighing your daily food intake to check if it matches your protein needs. If one is actively working on building muscles there's already a pretty concerted effort to the whole goal, adding some protein supplement to that is much easier than carefully planning your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks to reach your daily intake needs.
      - kuhewa 3y ago
        I agree with all of that and my point still stands. Older people, for which frailty and maintenance of lean muscle mass are real concerns, tend to get suboptimal protein, and they aren't supplementing with whey en masse. Bodybuilders aren't eating low numbers of calories so they as a model are kind of a moot point for this topic There is also a limit to the rate at which you can assimilate amino acids which is why all things being equal spacing out the protein throughout the day is more optimal.
        piva00 3y ago
        I was specifically replying to someone saying they can't skip breakfast because they want to build muscles. I have not generalised to frail old people or any other case that wasn't the original comment's intent, for that comment my point still stands: there's no need for breakfast if you are managing your macros during the day. I understand your point but it feels to me a little bit of soapboxing. Being more optimal only really matters at a very high level of athleticism goals, if one is at the point where they need to optimise their protein intake windows they'd already know about it given that reaching such high level requires a lot of nutrition knowledge. I'm stating this because there's a tendency on Hacker News comments to overoptimise everything. Yes, there are optimal ways that can give an edge for people requiring that edge but most people here are just normal people who shouldn't at all be caring about that, the tendency to min-maxing will just become an obstacle.
oldpersonintx 3y ago
[dead]
ImHereToVote 3y ago
I'm extra productive during a fast. I go into this ultra hunter mode. Try it.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
s_dev 3y ago
I actually would expect less calories to make you more productive at work, increase cognition and libido. Obesity has been shown to negatively affect all three. More data is always useful for drawing more precise conclusions but the available data suggests there is no benefit to over eating.
- PakistaniDenzel 3y ago
  There's a huge gap between eating fewer calories and being obese...
- cheekibreeki2 3y ago
  Starving does not help the brain whatsoever.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> fewer calories might also make you less productive at work. Might affect your reasoning and executive skills. They might also reduce your sex drive. Fewer calories doesn't mean starvation. We have evidence time-restricted feeding decreses fat mass without compromising musculature or strength while reducing inflammation [1]. Curiously, while "resting energy expenditure was unchanged," basal metabolism did go down. I don't think the solution is everyone time-restricting their feeding. But there is something here that suggests a broad quality-of-life improvement for many Americans. [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27737674/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27737674/

kuhewa 3y ago
> Curiously, while "resting energy expenditure was unchanged," basal metabolism did go down. REE was the proxy for basal metabolism. They measured respiratory ratio which decreased, but that's not BM just (should) reflect what macros are being burned

helboi4 3y ago

I dunno skipping breakfast makes me way more productive at work. The only reason I don't do that all the time is because I want to build muscle.

piva00 3y ago
Skipping breakfast will not change your muscle building if you are eating enough calories and protein. I personally know a few bodybuilders who have been strictly doing intermittent fasting for years, you need to get your macros, breakfast isn't necessary.
- edanm 3y ago
  Technically speaking, it appears that to optimize muscle-building, spacing out protein feedings is better, with optimal being 5-7 feedings IIRC. Of course this is only for optimizing - not relevant for almost anyone except elite athletes, I believe.
- kuhewa 3y ago
  Sure it is totally possible, but for most people it will take concerted effort. Most aging people at a relatively healthy weight don't get an optional proportion of protein in their diet, reducing the number of meals makes it only more difficult to do so without careful planning (which most of us don't do with our diets).
  - piva00 3y ago
    There's not much planning involved in consuming whey protein (or a similar protein supplement product). You put 2 scoops in and get some ~50-60g of protein in your diet. It's much, much less effort than measuring/weighing your daily food intake to check if it matches your protein needs. If one is actively working on building muscles there's already a pretty concerted effort to the whole goal, adding some protein supplement to that is much easier than carefully planning your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks to reach your daily intake needs.
    - kuhewa 3y ago
      I agree with all of that and my point still stands. Older people, for which frailty and maintenance of lean muscle mass are real concerns, tend to get suboptimal protein, and they aren't supplementing with whey en masse. Bodybuilders aren't eating low numbers of calories so they as a model are kind of a moot point for this topic There is also a limit to the rate at which you can assimilate amino acids which is why all things being equal spacing out the protein throughout the day is more optimal.
      - piva00 3y ago
        I was specifically replying to someone saying they can't skip breakfast because they want to build muscles. I have not generalised to frail old people or any other case that wasn't the original comment's intent, for that comment my point still stands: there's no need for breakfast if you are managing your macros during the day. I understand your point but it feels to me a little bit of soapboxing. Being more optimal only really matters at a very high level of athleticism goals, if one is at the point where they need to optimise their protein intake windows they'd already know about it given that reaching such high level requires a lot of nutrition knowledge. I'm stating this because there's a tendency on Hacker News comments to overoptimise everything. Yes, there are optimal ways that can give an edge for people requiring that edge but most people here are just normal people who shouldn't at all be caring about that, the tendency to min-maxing will just become an obstacle.

oldpersonintx 3y ago

[dead]

ImHereToVote 3y ago

I'm extra productive during a fast. I go into this ultra hunter mode. Try it.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

s_dev 3y ago

I actually would expect less calories to make you more productive at work, increase cognition and libido. Obesity has been shown to negatively affect all three. More data is always useful for drawing more precise conclusions but the available data suggests there is no benefit to over eating.

PakistaniDenzel 3y ago
There's a huge gap between eating fewer calories and being obese...
cheekibreeki2 3y ago
Starving does not help the brain whatsoever.