5 ms·

Look at me, I'm skinny

43 points by feverishaaron 17y ago

kingkongrevenge 17y ago
> Eat five or six times a day This is bad advice. You want to eat two large meals and a light one to minimize total insulin exposure. If you eat and snack all the time you keep insulin spiked up too much. Working out six days a week to stay thin is completely ridiculous. Once or twice should be sufficient if you're eating right.
- TFrancis 17y ago
  Hmm...I think eating five or six times a day is generally considered good advice because it assumes you've selected food that are whole grain/have a low glycemic index so that your insulin levels remain level throughout the day.
  - kingkongrevenge 17y ago
    You don't want constant insulin levels. You want as much time with very low insulin levels as possible. You get that by eating two or three meals and avoiding snacks. It's also beneficial to skip a meal every now and then and have a longer than 12 hour fast.
    - lanaer 17y ago
      As I’ve seen advice urging you to keep your insulin level constant throughout the day, and this is the first time I’ve seen anyone trying to contradict that, do you mind citing something?
- scott_s 17y ago
  Eating many meals a day keeps your metabolism up. Spiking insulin is only a problem if you're eating mostly carb-rich foods, and it will happen no matter how many times a day you consume it.
  - kingkongrevenge 17y ago
    No it doesn't. It actually keeps your body in more of an anabolic and fat storing state, because of the constant insulin. Your body becomes poor at burning fat. Longer fasting periods train your body to switch to running off fat reserves quickly. Metabolism does not slow.
    - scott_s 17y ago
      We're now at "Yu-huh!" / "Nu-uh!", so I'll just add that what you're saying disagrees with every body-building, strength-training, weight loss and general fitness article and book I've ever read. I do agree, though, that if you're eating, say, nothing but pasta and sugar for all of your meals, your insulin will stay high. But that's because of the food you're eating, not the frequency.
      - kingkongrevenge 17y ago
        I'm aware frequent small meals is often recommended. It's just baseless. I'm not just talking about pasta and sugar. Snacking and many meals is bad, period. Fasting periods raise growth hormone levels, snacking and insulin suppress growth hormone. You should fast an hour after lifting for this reason. If you eat immediately after lifting you shut down a large surge of growth hormone. (Bet your exercise articles didn't mention this either.) No culture has ever done six meals a day. It's not going out on a limb to suppose we're made to eat two or three times a day.
        scott_s 17y ago
        Sources?
    - csbrooks 17y ago
      You sound pretty certain. Could it be that opinions differ? And that yours is not the majority opinion at the moment? You might want to qualify your statements a little bit...
- thisisnotmyname 17y ago
  What are you basing this on?
KirinDave 17y ago
So let me get this straight: 1. Give up all your free time to working out. 2. Eat nothing that is delicious ever again. 3. Statistically, not significantly prolong your life. You could still die of heart disease at 50 because your genes are just not good genes. You could get cancer and keel. You could sleep an hour to long, and throw a clot and die. 4. Some people feel better in general doing the above 3 steps. I am overweight, by a fair margin. But I'm not especially unhappy, insecure, or immobile. I have plenty of hobbies that involve outdoor things and my lifestyle doesn't inhibit those. My doctor says that losing weight is more for reducing long-term stress on my joints: my cardiovascular system is fine so long as I don't gain more weight. So why the fuck should I, or the legion of people like me, care or listen to what this exercise freak says? I've got dogs, a girlfriend, and some hobbies taking up all the non-work time in my life. Who actually wants to do what he says, especially when the benefits are so incredibly dubious?
- scott_s 17y ago
  Statistically, it does prolong life, since being overweight is correlated with heart disease. Yes, you can die of heart disease when you've done everything right, but it's not likely. Your argument is "Look at these things that are very unlikely to kill me. That's why I feel justified doing things are likely to kill me." Trying not to overeat and get more exercise don't have to take up all of your free time.
- pmorici 17y ago
  I think you are missing the authors point. He's saying that he doesn't care what others do just don't assume his situation is god given. This goes with something I heard on the radio last week. There was a news segment about how a group was lobbying the American Medical Association (AMA) to classify obesity as a "disability" which would give them free benefits under some government health insurance program. Then they trotted out a sound bite from a poor over weight soul who proclaimed "It isn't my fault I am the way I am". I find it exceptionally hard to believe that that there is anyone who genuinely follows a healthy diet and is reasonably active and still can't maintain a healthy weight. Bringing it back to this article it's like a broke business owner looking at a successful one and saying if only I was born with their smile and sense of charisma I could start a successful company too. When, in reality, it probably came down to persistence and hard work as the separating factor.
feverishaaron 17y ago
I thought I would post this (via @bfeld) because of the discussion about startups and sacrificing health to succeed. Here's a guy who runs an up and coming startup who is doing the opposite. Brad's post is here: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/06/how-to-be-skinnier.html http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/06/how-to-be-skinnier.h...
johnswamps 17y ago
I don't like being skinny. I've been skinny my entire life. Last year, I was 6'0 and 135 pounds. I started working out and eating more. I'm up to 160 and look a lot better. I don't look like I'm starving, I fit in my shirts a lot better, etc. If you want to gain weight and are interested in a food hack, buy lots of milk. Over here it's about $1/1000 calories. You can't beat that. I drink half a gallon a day and it's done wonders for me. You probably want to be weight lifting if you do this though.
- stevenjames 17y ago
  could also eat lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
  - pmorici 17y ago
    Peanut butter and jelly is horrible for you. Peanut butter just has a bunch of sugar in it.
    - yummyfajitas 17y ago
      That may be true for some brands. Smuckers (the kind in my fridge) contains only peanuts and salt.
      - pmorici 17y ago
        As it is the brand in mine but a lot of people eat that trash, Jiffy, or Skip for example, and you might as well just each a candy bar at that point.
        pingswept 17y ago
        A very interesting typo-- Jif or Skippy, I think you mean.
        LogicHoleFlaw 17y ago
        My guilty snack - peanut butter and nutella sandwiched between two tortillas. I call it the Tortilla Abomination.
antidaily 17y ago
He eats (what looks like¹) around 1400 calories a day: Pre-workout: Protein power, Glutamine, and Lecithin mixed w/water Breakfast: Whole grain non-instant oatmeal w/ Oat Bran, Raisins, Almonds, Skim Milk (no sugar), plus a multivitamin and some omega 3 pills Lunch: Small salad w/protein (lettuce, broccoli, tuna, tofu, garbonzos, black beans, salsa, flax seed oil) Afternoon snack: Cottage cheese Dinner: Some lean protein (fish, eggs, etc) w/veggies, ideally Bedtime snack: Plain yogurt w/berries and maybe some protein powder ¹Based on a calorie counter and normal serving sizes.
- maximilian 17y ago
  I was going to say that it didn't seem like much food, especially that salad at lunch and itsy bitsy afternoon snack. I'm a skinny kid and I have to eat waaaay more than that to keep my weight.
weegee 17y ago
it's a great article. lots of will power in there. I like it. I've recently decided to get into a routine as well to try to lose 25 pounds. I'm not fat, but if I can lose 25 pounds I'll be at my target weight. And working out is fun if you get into a habit of doing it regularly. Don't think I could go as far as to stop eating meat, but I am planning to stop drinking beer on weekdays as a start, and most likely stop all together later on this summer. Thanks for sharing the link on HN.
quizbiz 17y ago
Eating less is the one proven way to live significantly longer. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502143834.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502143834.ht...
- evgen 17y ago
  You don't live longer on those diets, it just seems longer.
proee 17y ago
I can promise you that it takes more than a "lunch salad" to keep Oprah fat. Your body is a two-port function - it's not rocket science. What comes in must come out, and if your body doesn't use up all that food energy then... (you get the idea)
ciupicri 17y ago
> Trying to eat less sugar/carbs, so I swapped out the boxed cereal (even the healthy one I used to eat) for oatmeal. As far as I know, oat is a cereal. > I stopped eating meat What's with this anti-meat movement? I'm not saying that we should eat a lot of meat, but still a steak (barbecue) tastes very good. I don't eat a lot of meat compared to other persons, I tend to eat the vegetables, but I sure like some steak once in a while, especially when it's pork. In case someone wonders, I'm thin.
- shard 17y ago
  As far as I know, oat is a cereal. In America, "boxed cereals" conjures up images of Captain Crunch or Frosted Flakes, which are full of sugar, and usually eaten cold with cold milk. Oatmeal, while it may be a cereal and may come in a box, is usually not placed in the same group as it is usually eaten hot.
jsz0 17y ago
Taking weight loss advice from someone who admits to always being slim seems a bit silly to me. This guy seems to have a long standing exercise routine and enjoys his flaxseeds and cottage cheese just fine. Very few people are going to just wake up one day and start exercising religiously, give up meat, and buy some tubs of protein powder. It may work for him but it's not going to work for most people who aren't used to it. So what's the net value of this article? Someone masturbating about their lifestyle choices after proclaiming that was not their intent? Lame. Ultimately I think the biggest problem with obesity in the US is how out of proportion calories are to the amount of food ingested. It's probably something that the brain has trouble dealing with. Visually it's hard to imagine this little candy bar being more calories than a gigantic salad. And as Americans have proven time and time again they are found of not accepting logic and reality in favor of house wife superstitions and slack jawed common sense. Of course on the other extreme I've met (grossly) overweight nurses and doctors who obviously know better but cannot deal with it. That's also hard to explain given. If it were so simple I would think these smart people with first hand experience (everyday) of the health risks of obesity would be among the most capable group to deal with the problem. To me this suggests there is a very real mental or chemical cause for obesity that isn't as simple as "eat less, lose weight"

43 points by feverishaaron 17y ago

> Eat five or six times a day This is bad advice. You want to eat two large meals and a light one to minimize total insulin exposure. If you eat and snack all the time you keep insulin spiked up too much. Working out six days a week to stay thin is completely ridiculous. Once or twice should be sufficient if you're eating right.

TFrancis 17y ago
Hmm...I think eating five or six times a day is generally considered good advice because it assumes you've selected food that are whole grain/have a low glycemic index so that your insulin levels remain level throughout the day.
- kingkongrevenge 17y ago
  You don't want constant insulin levels. You want as much time with very low insulin levels as possible. You get that by eating two or three meals and avoiding snacks. It's also beneficial to skip a meal every now and then and have a longer than 12 hour fast.
  - lanaer 17y ago
    As I’ve seen advice urging you to keep your insulin level constant throughout the day, and this is the first time I’ve seen anyone trying to contradict that, do you mind citing something?
scott_s 17y ago
Eating many meals a day keeps your metabolism up. Spiking insulin is only a problem if you're eating mostly carb-rich foods, and it will happen no matter how many times a day you consume it.
- kingkongrevenge 17y ago
  No it doesn't. It actually keeps your body in more of an anabolic and fat storing state, because of the constant insulin. Your body becomes poor at burning fat. Longer fasting periods train your body to switch to running off fat reserves quickly. Metabolism does not slow.
  - scott_s 17y ago
    We're now at "Yu-huh!" / "Nu-uh!", so I'll just add that what you're saying disagrees with every body-building, strength-training, weight loss and general fitness article and book I've ever read. I do agree, though, that if you're eating, say, nothing but pasta and sugar for all of your meals, your insulin will stay high. But that's because of the food you're eating, not the frequency.
    - kingkongrevenge 17y ago
      I'm aware frequent small meals is often recommended. It's just baseless. I'm not just talking about pasta and sugar. Snacking and many meals is bad, period. Fasting periods raise growth hormone levels, snacking and insulin suppress growth hormone. You should fast an hour after lifting for this reason. If you eat immediately after lifting you shut down a large surge of growth hormone. (Bet your exercise articles didn't mention this either.) No culture has ever done six meals a day. It's not going out on a limb to suppose we're made to eat two or three times a day.
      - scott_s 17y ago
        Sources?
  - csbrooks 17y ago
    You sound pretty certain. Could it be that opinions differ? And that yours is not the majority opinion at the moment? You might want to qualify your statements a little bit...
thisisnotmyname 17y ago
What are you basing this on?

KirinDave 17y ago

So let me get this straight: 1. Give up all your free time to working out. 2. Eat nothing that is delicious ever again. 3. Statistically, not significantly prolong your life. You could still die of heart disease at 50 because your genes are just not good genes. You could get cancer and keel. You could sleep an hour to long, and throw a clot and die. 4. Some people feel better in general doing the above 3 steps. I am overweight, by a fair margin. But I'm not especially unhappy, insecure, or immobile. I have plenty of hobbies that involve outdoor things and my lifestyle doesn't inhibit those. My doctor says that losing weight is more for reducing long-term stress on my joints: my cardiovascular system is fine so long as I don't gain more weight. So why the fuck should I, or the legion of people like me, care or listen to what this exercise freak says? I've got dogs, a girlfriend, and some hobbies taking up all the non-work time in my life. Who actually wants to do what he says, especially when the benefits are so incredibly dubious?

scott_s 17y ago
Statistically, it does prolong life, since being overweight is correlated with heart disease. Yes, you can die of heart disease when you've done everything right, but it's not likely. Your argument is "Look at these things that are very unlikely to kill me. That's why I feel justified doing things are likely to kill me." Trying not to overeat and get more exercise don't have to take up all of your free time.
pmorici 17y ago
I think you are missing the authors point. He's saying that he doesn't care what others do just don't assume his situation is god given. This goes with something I heard on the radio last week. There was a news segment about how a group was lobbying the American Medical Association (AMA) to classify obesity as a "disability" which would give them free benefits under some government health insurance program. Then they trotted out a sound bite from a poor over weight soul who proclaimed "It isn't my fault I am the way I am". I find it exceptionally hard to believe that that there is anyone who genuinely follows a healthy diet and is reasonably active and still can't maintain a healthy weight. Bringing it back to this article it's like a broke business owner looking at a successful one and saying if only I was born with their smile and sense of charisma I could start a successful company too. When, in reality, it probably came down to persistence and hard work as the separating factor.

feverishaaron 17y ago

I thought I would post this (via @bfeld) because of the discussion about startups and sacrificing health to succeed. Here's a guy who runs an up and coming startup who is doing the opposite. Brad's post is here: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/06/how-to-be-skinnier.html http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/06/how-to-be-skinnier.h...

johnswamps 17y ago

I don't like being skinny. I've been skinny my entire life. Last year, I was 6'0 and 135 pounds. I started working out and eating more. I'm up to 160 and look a lot better. I don't look like I'm starving, I fit in my shirts a lot better, etc. If you want to gain weight and are interested in a food hack, buy lots of milk. Over here it's about $1/1000 calories. You can't beat that. I drink half a gallon a day and it's done wonders for me. You probably want to be weight lifting if you do this though.

stevenjames 17y ago
could also eat lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
- pmorici 17y ago
  Peanut butter and jelly is horrible for you. Peanut butter just has a bunch of sugar in it.
  - yummyfajitas 17y ago
    That may be true for some brands. Smuckers (the kind in my fridge) contains only peanuts and salt.
    - pmorici 17y ago
      As it is the brand in mine but a lot of people eat that trash, Jiffy, or Skip for example, and you might as well just each a candy bar at that point.
      - pingswept 17y ago
        A very interesting typo-- Jif or Skippy, I think you mean.
      - LogicHoleFlaw 17y ago
        My guilty snack - peanut butter and nutella sandwiched between two tortillas. I call it the Tortilla Abomination.

antidaily 17y ago

He eats (what looks like¹) around 1400 calories a day: Pre-workout: Protein power, Glutamine, and Lecithin mixed w/water Breakfast: Whole grain non-instant oatmeal w/ Oat Bran, Raisins, Almonds, Skim Milk (no sugar), plus a multivitamin and some omega 3 pills Lunch: Small salad w/protein (lettuce, broccoli, tuna, tofu, garbonzos, black beans, salsa, flax seed oil) Afternoon snack: Cottage cheese Dinner: Some lean protein (fish, eggs, etc) w/veggies, ideally Bedtime snack: Plain yogurt w/berries and maybe some protein powder ¹Based on a calorie counter and normal serving sizes.

maximilian 17y ago
I was going to say that it didn't seem like much food, especially that salad at lunch and itsy bitsy afternoon snack. I'm a skinny kid and I have to eat waaaay more than that to keep my weight.

weegee 17y ago

it's a great article. lots of will power in there. I like it. I've recently decided to get into a routine as well to try to lose 25 pounds. I'm not fat, but if I can lose 25 pounds I'll be at my target weight. And working out is fun if you get into a habit of doing it regularly. Don't think I could go as far as to stop eating meat, but I am planning to stop drinking beer on weekdays as a start, and most likely stop all together later on this summer. Thanks for sharing the link on HN.

quizbiz 17y ago

Eating less is the one proven way to live significantly longer. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502143834.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070502143834.ht...

evgen 17y ago
You don't live longer on those diets, it just seems longer.

proee 17y ago

I can promise you that it takes more than a "lunch salad" to keep Oprah fat. Your body is a two-port function - it's not rocket science. What comes in must come out, and if your body doesn't use up all that food energy then... (you get the idea)

ciupicri 17y ago

> Trying to eat less sugar/carbs, so I swapped out the boxed cereal (even the healthy one I used to eat) for oatmeal. As far as I know, oat is a cereal. > I stopped eating meat What's with this anti-meat movement? I'm not saying that we should eat a lot of meat, but still a steak (barbecue) tastes very good. I don't eat a lot of meat compared to other persons, I tend to eat the vegetables, but I sure like some steak once in a while, especially when it's pork. In case someone wonders, I'm thin.

shard 17y ago
As far as I know, oat is a cereal. In America, "boxed cereals" conjures up images of Captain Crunch or Frosted Flakes, which are full of sugar, and usually eaten cold with cold milk. Oatmeal, while it may be a cereal and may come in a box, is usually not placed in the same group as it is usually eaten hot.

jsz0 17y ago

Taking weight loss advice from someone who admits to always being slim seems a bit silly to me. This guy seems to have a long standing exercise routine and enjoys his flaxseeds and cottage cheese just fine. Very few people are going to just wake up one day and start exercising religiously, give up meat, and buy some tubs of protein powder. It may work for him but it's not going to work for most people who aren't used to it. So what's the net value of this article? Someone masturbating about their lifestyle choices after proclaiming that was not their intent? Lame. Ultimately I think the biggest problem with obesity in the US is how out of proportion calories are to the amount of food ingested. It's probably something that the brain has trouble dealing with. Visually it's hard to imagine this little candy bar being more calories than a gigantic salad. And as Americans have proven time and time again they are found of not accepting logic and reality in favor of house wife superstitions and slack jawed common sense. Of course on the other extreme I've met (grossly) overweight nurses and doctors who obviously know better but cannot deal with it. That's also hard to explain given. If it were so simple I would think these smart people with first hand experience (everyday) of the health risks of obesity would be among the most capable group to deal with the problem. To me this suggests there is a very real mental or chemical cause for obesity that isn't as simple as "eat less, lose weight"