8 ms·

Why I don’t eat on Mondays

83 points by mariusandra 12y ago

JetSpiegel 12y ago
> The idea came from the book “Man 2.0 – Engineering the Alpha“ > Unfortunately most people can’t hear themselves. Does not compute.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
meritt 12y ago
I'm routinely surprised at the popularity of articles in this category. It's no secret that eating less and exercising more leads to a healthier person. Is it just the variety of systems and self-discipline utilized that is found so intriguing?
- poopsintub 12y ago
  I think people would rather read or watch about other people losing weight than actually doing something about it. Seriously, it's hard to lose weight, stop smoking, etc. If anything, at least it gives people momentary hope and a few take changing their diets seriously instead of looking for a miracle pill or momentary diet.
  - tekalon 12y ago
    Some of these comments reminded me of a story Clotaire Rapaille told in his book 'The Culture Code.' He gave a talk at an obesity conference. Each speaker gave their own solution to the obesity problem. Rapaille's observed: “I think it is fascinating that the other speakers today have suggested that education is the answer to our country’s obesity problem,” I said. I slowly gestured around the room. “If education is the answer, then why hasn’t it helped more of you?”
- adamman 12y ago
  Fasting reminds him of what true hunger is and therefore avoids eating throughout the week when he is not truly hungry.
- sp332 12y ago
  He already said he tried eating less and it didn't stick. So the point isn't that eating less is a good idea (he already knew that), but which method works for him.
- rayiner 12y ago
  Articles in this category are popular for the same reason articles in the "don't make these extremely elementary mistakes" category are popular in business magazines. Everyone knows that you need to eat less to lose weight, and everyone knows you need to have strong internal communications to run an effective business. But people have consistently have trouble doing either thing, because they are hard and require a lot of discipline. So people want to read about coping strategies to overcome their natural impulses.
- paul_f 12y ago
  It is well understood that exercise does not generally lead to weight loss and can even be counter-productive. This has well documented by Gary Taubes. Caloric restriction does work, but it is quite difficult to track and maintain. This weekly fasting approach is a new concept, at least to me, and worthy of serious consideration.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > It is well understood that exercise does not generally lead to weight loss and can even be counter-productive. Right, exercise is important in weight loss not because it promotes weight loss directly, but because it enables maintaining muscle loss during weight loss, which is critical to healthy weight loss--which is mostly fat loss--and because it promotes cardio-vascular fitness (which is often an important part of the real goal served by weight loss.)
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Weight is a problem lots of people have, and lots of people are looking for "one simple trick" to make it go away, and there are entire major industries that survive of selling a rotating array of quick fixes. Obviously, free articles offering the same thing are going to be popular. Throw an analytical veneer over it with some charts and references to productivity, to meet the cultural biases of HN, and its popular on HN.
- DanBC 12y ago
  Have you read the research about "eat less move more"? Because while it's obviously true it's also clearly not helping reduce the incidence of obesity. Working out a method to help fat people lose weight would be worth a lot of cash.
swah 12y ago
That blockage was simply low glucose, right?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- Bartweiss 12y ago
  That was the line that alarmed me. Advertising a shot of glucose as "removing a blockage" isn't about the wonders of fasting, it's about the fairly important problems that arise from deciding to just not eat. Similarly, before adopting a super-low calorie diet on the basis of those "long lifespan" studies in mice, look into the part where it induces depression and agoraphobia.
  - pmalynin 12y ago
    Frankly, I would attribute this glucose deficiency to his diet that cut down on rice and the like. By reducing bodily supply of starch (and also lipids) they will interfere with their natural metabolic pathways such as glycogenoysis and gluconeogenesis which stabilize blood glucose levels, however without the underlying resources they cannot achieve their purpose.
- vinceguidry 12y ago
  Probably just mental. Vast numbers of people experience the symptoms of hypoglycemia without actually being hypoglycemic. The condition is known as Idiopathic Postprandial Syndrome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiopathic_postprandial_syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiopathic_postprandial_syndrom...
thejerz 12y ago
> Make it a challenge to see if you can go a full day without eating. What do you have to lose? A lot, actually. Some medical conditions may be seriously affected by not eating for an entire day. As with any medical advice, you should consult your physician before attempting fasting.
- tomp 12y ago
  Which, in particular? Also, note that he explicitly mentions that "A normal healthy adult should not have any problems when fasting for 24 hours."
  - piva00 12y ago
    Diabetes is one of them
    - sremani 12y ago
      A Diabetic is not healthy individual but the best part is Intermittent fasting and cold-showers are some of the few things that help with insulin and prevent diabetes.
      - jason_slack 12y ago
        what do you mean diabetics aren't healthy? I'm diabetic and I am healthy. I'm not going to Hagen Daz on lunch...
        njharman 12y ago
        [Merriam-Webster] Healthy: enjoying health and vigor of body, mind, or spirit [Merriam-Webster] Health: the condition of being well or free from disease [wikipedia] Diabetes mellitus (DM) also known as simply diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases You are not in good health / healthy in the manor meant in this thread and OA. You might eat healthy, exercise, whatever but you still suffer from a disease that healthy people do not.
smallegan 12y ago
"I still try to adhere to a low carb diet, eating mainly meat and vegetables and severely limiting my intake of bread, pasta, rice and potatoes." - I think this is a much larger player in his weight loss success than he may realize.
- throwaway283719 12y ago
  He claims to have been following this diet for three months whilst maintaining the same weight, and only started seeing a drop in his weight after starting to fast for one day a week (standard sample size disclaimer etc etc).
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > He claims to have been following this diet for three months whilst maintaining the same weight, and only started seeing a drop in his weight after starting to fast for one day a week (standard sample size disclaimer etc etc). Its interesting that I don't notice any discussion of caloric intake on either model -- if he was eating the same except skipping one day of food later, then you are looking at a ~14% reduction in weekly caloric intake, which, without any special effect of fasting, you'd expect to turbocharge weight loss.
    - smallegan 12y ago
      That depends on how many calories you are taking in. If you eat 5k calories a day and suddenly fast 1 day a week you aren't going to lose weight you will just stop gaining as quickly.
      - dragonwriter 12y ago
        > That depends on how many calories you are taking in. "Turbocharge weight loss" means that there is existing weight loss to turbocharge. If you are losing weight, reduce weekly calorie intake by 14% and change nothing else, I think the description is accurate independent of the pre-existing intake level.
SandB0x 12y ago
Do we really need health advice from random unqualified people on the internet on Hacker News?
- rayiner 12y ago
  Weight loss is a market in need of disruption. 70% of American adults are overweight, and the solutions espoused by the establishment (eat less and exercise more) are technically correct but practically ineffective. Disrupting weight loss is potentially a hundred billion dollar industry, considering the huge medical expenditures and lost productivity that accrues from people being overweight.
  - normloman 12y ago
    Leave it to the HN crowd to see an epidemic as a money making opportunity. Isn't it good enough just to help people?
    - throwaway283719 12y ago
      Is there something wrong with making money? If we always settled for "good enough" we wouldn't have half of the nice things we have today, and the potential to make lots of money is a great way of motivating people to push beyond "good enough".
    - abakker 12y ago
      It is, though pointing out that obesity is a high cost problem hardly suggests that it is we on Hacker News that need to make that money. If we help people lose weight in any way, we're going to save the country a lot of money in healthcare costs that could be spent elsewhere. Put another way, if the US finds a way to lose weight effectively, the results will have a strong positive impact on a variety of other services that the government provides that will be able to help more people with more available funding.
    - Justsignedup 12y ago
      You seem to equate disruption with for-profit. One does not necessitate the other. However, a proper disruption would be really good for saving people money as the current market is ripe with crazy fees and no progress.
hajderr 12y ago
Fasting has been tested for its health benefits. I advise you to check out this BBC documentary http://www.bbc.com/news/health-19112549 http://www.bbc.com/news/health-19112549
- cliveowen 12y ago
  It's been proven for mice and Rhesus monkeys, but as far as humans go there's no reason to believe the same holds true.
- egb 12y ago
  Quote at the end of that article contradicts your statement...? "Current medical opinion is that the benefits of fasting are unproven and until there are more human studies it's better to eat at least 2000 calories a day. "
normloman 12y ago
So instead listening to my doctor, I should follow the advice of a Belgian entrepreneur with no medical training, based on his experiment with a sample size of one.
- throwaway283719 12y ago
  You'll note that this isn't presented as a medical study. It's presented exactly as you describe it - an experiment with a sample size of one. No one is telling you to follow this advice. This is one guy saying "Hey, here's something that worked for me when I had this problem. Maybe if you have the same problem, it might work for you." You are entirely free to ignore it. You should consider using that freedom.
- jsissom 12y ago
  I'm sorry, but this is something a non-overweight person would say. I've been overweight my whole life. I talked to my doctor. One said (yes he literally said this) Follow the SELAP diet. When I asked what he meant he said "Stop Eating Like a Pig". That was his advice. Another doctor said to get surgery. I finally found another doctor that helped. He put me on a 1,000 calorie a day diet. Tons of people told me it was unhealthy, but I lost weight - 50 lbs. The information out there for dieting is so bad. I had people tell me that if I ate 1,000 calories a day, I would gain weight because of a slow metabolism. These were "professional" people. I've never heard of people who stop eating in food strikes in prisons get to the point where they weighed so much they can't leave their cell! Unfortunately I couldn't keep that extremely low calorie diet up for the long term and when trying to increase it, I've now gained 25 of it back but it's been a year so I consider it somewhat of a success. I'm glad to read about something that works for someone. The doctors you mention are pretty clueless in my opinion.
  - billbrown 12y ago
    I've found the No-S Diet to be fairly maintainable over the years: "No Snacks, no Sweets, no Seconds except on days that start with S" http://www.nosdiet.com/ http://www.nosdiet.com/
  - 12y ago
hammock 12y ago
"It tunes my mind to the station of my body. It makes me feel real hunger and lets me differentiate it from other cravings" What he's describing is congruent with a stoic lifestyle. The core of stoicism is to not be a slave to your feelings and cravings. And this is achieved through mental and spiritual "exercise." I have fasted for 3 days at a time, allowing myself nothing but water. Try six weeks without a drop of alcohol. And don't cheat. It's not a "detoxifying" process- it's a process of gaining mindfulness. You understand, as the author points out, what your body does and does not need, and that many of your feelings of "hunger" (for food, or more figuratively anything) are triggered by your officemate talking about nutella, or hearing some bad news that makes you anxious, or any number of things that you can control if you become aware of them. Once you understand the true control you have over your body and your feelings and actions, you can really start to take it to the next level with what you actually want to accomplish, as opposed to what has been programmed by your social environment.
davidu 12y ago
I'm more interested in what generated that chart? Was it some automated system / program / tool?
- mcnape 12y ago
  It was made in beeminder (https://www.beeminder.com/ https://www.beeminder.com/). It is a website where you pledge a certain amount of money towards a goal and if you don't stay on track, it charges you.
  - davidu 12y ago
    Thanks. And really interesting site / idea. I've seen some before, but none quite as good.
cm2012 12y ago
This actually makes a lot of sense. An obese person burns about 2500 calories a day just be existing (obviously depending on weight/heigh/etc.) 1 day of fasting means 1lb a week lost, basically.
- bryanlarsen 12y ago
  The OP mentions that he eats extra on Sunday.
funkyy 12y ago
Well if Muslims and people from some other cultures can do fasting, and they still manage to live long and healthy like any other culture - why not try this method to actually loose weight and then pick for example Japanese diet to maintain it? I think all this fasting is for self control rather than long term process. You teach your body and mind to say "no" to nasty foods and snacks.
nnnnni 12y ago
Isn't it better, safer, and more comfortable to just eat 200-500 less calories per day? I know that I'd rather eat one less slice of pizza during a meal than to eat NOTHING for a whole day. As we all know, weight is primarily determined by calories in versus calories out. Since 3500 calories equals 1 lb or .45 kg, you can lose 2 lbs or 1 kg a week by eating 500 calories less each day.
- Kevguy 12y ago
  500 calories/day * 7 days == 3500 calories == 1 lb of fat per week. Not 2 lbs.
  - nnnnni 12y ago
    Oops, got mixed up with the conversions!
- frankacter 12y ago
  I think a challenge for many is what constitutes 200-500 calories and whether their will power allows them to accurately gauge and control. Not eating is binary [ ] yes [ ] no, which for many is easier to control versus picking and choosing and limiting quantity.
trendyy 12y ago
For those interested in different approaches to weight loss, I found this article really helpful while trying to shed a few pounds myself: http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html
tekalon 12y ago
One thing about this is paying attention not only to what he eats, but also how his body reacts to food. In high school, I would often only eat one meal a day (I could have had more meals, but I wasn't hungry). In college, I also still only ate the equivalent of one meal a day. Once I had a full time job that included lunch breaks, I felt obligated to eat more, and the more I ate the more I was hungry. Having more money and more freedom to eat what I want, when I wanted (compared to living with parents or in college eating on poor starving student rations), I stopped paying attention to what and how much I ate.
lucidrains 12y ago
Good for you! Health is wealth!
saurik 12y ago
> Still the idea of going for 24 hours without any food seemed alien at first. Was I going to be okay, I wondered. I once forgot to eat for three days, I was just so busy. I walked up the stairs to my second-floor apartment, and I felt light-headed enough that I noticed myself start to black out. I began going through the "usual debugging", asking myself "what did you eat today?", and it turns out I hadn't... nor the day before... and when I realized I hadn't eaten the day before that either, it became very clear what happened, and I immediately ordered an extra large pizza. I take it this is highly unusual? :(
- deadghost 12y ago
  How'd you manage to forget?
  - saurik 12y ago
    How does one manage to forget anything? I guess I was was just really distracted? :( I can easily imagine myself thinking "I should grab some food, but I only have a couple minutes, I'll just eat after class", or "I should eat something, but I'm so tired, I'll just eat a large breakfast", and then "I should eat something, but I'm late, I'll just eat when I get to campus".
    - deadghost 12y ago
      Well typically when I don't eat my body gets angry at me and tells me I should. My body feels like ass and my head gets foggy such that I stop and intake some nutrients. I don't think I can go 72 hours without food without crashing.

83 points by mariusandra 12y ago

> The idea came from the book “Man 2.0 – Engineering the Alpha“ > Unfortunately most people can’t hear themselves. Does not compute.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

meritt 12y ago

I'm routinely surprised at the popularity of articles in this category. It's no secret that eating less and exercising more leads to a healthier person. Is it just the variety of systems and self-discipline utilized that is found so intriguing?

poopsintub 12y ago
I think people would rather read or watch about other people losing weight than actually doing something about it. Seriously, it's hard to lose weight, stop smoking, etc. If anything, at least it gives people momentary hope and a few take changing their diets seriously instead of looking for a miracle pill or momentary diet.
- tekalon 12y ago
  Some of these comments reminded me of a story Clotaire Rapaille told in his book 'The Culture Code.' He gave a talk at an obesity conference. Each speaker gave their own solution to the obesity problem. Rapaille's observed: “I think it is fascinating that the other speakers today have suggested that education is the answer to our country’s obesity problem,” I said. I slowly gestured around the room. “If education is the answer, then why hasn’t it helped more of you?”
adamman 12y ago
Fasting reminds him of what true hunger is and therefore avoids eating throughout the week when he is not truly hungry.
sp332 12y ago
He already said he tried eating less and it didn't stick. So the point isn't that eating less is a good idea (he already knew that), but which method works for him.
rayiner 12y ago
Articles in this category are popular for the same reason articles in the "don't make these extremely elementary mistakes" category are popular in business magazines. Everyone knows that you need to eat less to lose weight, and everyone knows you need to have strong internal communications to run an effective business. But people have consistently have trouble doing either thing, because they are hard and require a lot of discipline. So people want to read about coping strategies to overcome their natural impulses.
paul_f 12y ago
It is well understood that exercise does not generally lead to weight loss and can even be counter-productive. This has well documented by Gary Taubes. Caloric restriction does work, but it is quite difficult to track and maintain. This weekly fasting approach is a new concept, at least to me, and worthy of serious consideration.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > It is well understood that exercise does not generally lead to weight loss and can even be counter-productive. Right, exercise is important in weight loss not because it promotes weight loss directly, but because it enables maintaining muscle loss during weight loss, which is critical to healthy weight loss--which is mostly fat loss--and because it promotes cardio-vascular fitness (which is often an important part of the real goal served by weight loss.)
dragonwriter 12y ago
Weight is a problem lots of people have, and lots of people are looking for "one simple trick" to make it go away, and there are entire major industries that survive of selling a rotating array of quick fixes. Obviously, free articles offering the same thing are going to be popular. Throw an analytical veneer over it with some charts and references to productivity, to meet the cultural biases of HN, and its popular on HN.
DanBC 12y ago
Have you read the research about "eat less move more"? Because while it's obviously true it's also clearly not helping reduce the incidence of obesity. Working out a method to help fat people lose weight would be worth a lot of cash.

swah 12y ago

That blockage was simply low glucose, right?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Bartweiss 12y ago
That was the line that alarmed me. Advertising a shot of glucose as "removing a blockage" isn't about the wonders of fasting, it's about the fairly important problems that arise from deciding to just not eat. Similarly, before adopting a super-low calorie diet on the basis of those "long lifespan" studies in mice, look into the part where it induces depression and agoraphobia.
- pmalynin 12y ago
  Frankly, I would attribute this glucose deficiency to his diet that cut down on rice and the like. By reducing bodily supply of starch (and also lipids) they will interfere with their natural metabolic pathways such as glycogenoysis and gluconeogenesis which stabilize blood glucose levels, however without the underlying resources they cannot achieve their purpose.
vinceguidry 12y ago
Probably just mental. Vast numbers of people experience the symptoms of hypoglycemia without actually being hypoglycemic. The condition is known as Idiopathic Postprandial Syndrome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiopathic_postprandial_syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiopathic_postprandial_syndrom...

thejerz 12y ago

> Make it a challenge to see if you can go a full day without eating. What do you have to lose? A lot, actually. Some medical conditions may be seriously affected by not eating for an entire day. As with any medical advice, you should consult your physician before attempting fasting.

tomp 12y ago
Which, in particular? Also, note that he explicitly mentions that "A normal healthy adult should not have any problems when fasting for 24 hours."
- piva00 12y ago
  Diabetes is one of them
  - sremani 12y ago
    A Diabetic is not healthy individual but the best part is Intermittent fasting and cold-showers are some of the few things that help with insulin and prevent diabetes.
    - jason_slack 12y ago
      what do you mean diabetics aren't healthy? I'm diabetic and I am healthy. I'm not going to Hagen Daz on lunch...
      - njharman 12y ago
        [Merriam-Webster] Healthy: enjoying health and vigor of body, mind, or spirit [Merriam-Webster] Health: the condition of being well or free from disease [wikipedia] Diabetes mellitus (DM) also known as simply diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases You are not in good health / healthy in the manor meant in this thread and OA. You might eat healthy, exercise, whatever but you still suffer from a disease that healthy people do not.

smallegan 12y ago

"I still try to adhere to a low carb diet, eating mainly meat and vegetables and severely limiting my intake of bread, pasta, rice and potatoes." - I think this is a much larger player in his weight loss success than he may realize.

throwaway283719 12y ago
He claims to have been following this diet for three months whilst maintaining the same weight, and only started seeing a drop in his weight after starting to fast for one day a week (standard sample size disclaimer etc etc).
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > He claims to have been following this diet for three months whilst maintaining the same weight, and only started seeing a drop in his weight after starting to fast for one day a week (standard sample size disclaimer etc etc). Its interesting that I don't notice any discussion of caloric intake on either model -- if he was eating the same except skipping one day of food later, then you are looking at a ~14% reduction in weekly caloric intake, which, without any special effect of fasting, you'd expect to turbocharge weight loss.
  - smallegan 12y ago
    That depends on how many calories you are taking in. If you eat 5k calories a day and suddenly fast 1 day a week you aren't going to lose weight you will just stop gaining as quickly.
    - dragonwriter 12y ago
      > That depends on how many calories you are taking in. "Turbocharge weight loss" means that there is existing weight loss to turbocharge. If you are losing weight, reduce weekly calorie intake by 14% and change nothing else, I think the description is accurate independent of the pre-existing intake level.

SandB0x 12y ago

Do we really need health advice from random unqualified people on the internet on Hacker News?

rayiner 12y ago
Weight loss is a market in need of disruption. 70% of American adults are overweight, and the solutions espoused by the establishment (eat less and exercise more) are technically correct but practically ineffective. Disrupting weight loss is potentially a hundred billion dollar industry, considering the huge medical expenditures and lost productivity that accrues from people being overweight.
- normloman 12y ago
  Leave it to the HN crowd to see an epidemic as a money making opportunity. Isn't it good enough just to help people?
  - throwaway283719 12y ago
    Is there something wrong with making money? If we always settled for "good enough" we wouldn't have half of the nice things we have today, and the potential to make lots of money is a great way of motivating people to push beyond "good enough".
  - abakker 12y ago
    It is, though pointing out that obesity is a high cost problem hardly suggests that it is we on Hacker News that need to make that money. If we help people lose weight in any way, we're going to save the country a lot of money in healthcare costs that could be spent elsewhere. Put another way, if the US finds a way to lose weight effectively, the results will have a strong positive impact on a variety of other services that the government provides that will be able to help more people with more available funding.
  - Justsignedup 12y ago
    You seem to equate disruption with for-profit. One does not necessitate the other. However, a proper disruption would be really good for saving people money as the current market is ripe with crazy fees and no progress.

hajderr 12y ago

Fasting has been tested for its health benefits. I advise you to check out this BBC documentary http://www.bbc.com/news/health-19112549 http://www.bbc.com/news/health-19112549

cliveowen 12y ago
It's been proven for mice and Rhesus monkeys, but as far as humans go there's no reason to believe the same holds true.
egb 12y ago
Quote at the end of that article contradicts your statement...? "Current medical opinion is that the benefits of fasting are unproven and until there are more human studies it's better to eat at least 2000 calories a day. "

normloman 12y ago

So instead listening to my doctor, I should follow the advice of a Belgian entrepreneur with no medical training, based on his experiment with a sample size of one.

throwaway283719 12y ago
You'll note that this isn't presented as a medical study. It's presented exactly as you describe it - an experiment with a sample size of one. No one is telling you to follow this advice. This is one guy saying "Hey, here's something that worked for me when I had this problem. Maybe if you have the same problem, it might work for you." You are entirely free to ignore it. You should consider using that freedom.
jsissom 12y ago
I'm sorry, but this is something a non-overweight person would say. I've been overweight my whole life. I talked to my doctor. One said (yes he literally said this) Follow the SELAP diet. When I asked what he meant he said "Stop Eating Like a Pig". That was his advice. Another doctor said to get surgery. I finally found another doctor that helped. He put me on a 1,000 calorie a day diet. Tons of people told me it was unhealthy, but I lost weight - 50 lbs. The information out there for dieting is so bad. I had people tell me that if I ate 1,000 calories a day, I would gain weight because of a slow metabolism. These were "professional" people. I've never heard of people who stop eating in food strikes in prisons get to the point where they weighed so much they can't leave their cell! Unfortunately I couldn't keep that extremely low calorie diet up for the long term and when trying to increase it, I've now gained 25 of it back but it's been a year so I consider it somewhat of a success. I'm glad to read about something that works for someone. The doctors you mention are pretty clueless in my opinion.
- billbrown 12y ago
  I've found the No-S Diet to be fairly maintainable over the years: "No Snacks, no Sweets, no Seconds except on days that start with S" http://www.nosdiet.com/ http://www.nosdiet.com/
- 12y ago

hammock 12y ago

"It tunes my mind to the station of my body. It makes me feel real hunger and lets me differentiate it from other cravings" What he's describing is congruent with a stoic lifestyle. The core of stoicism is to not be a slave to your feelings and cravings. And this is achieved through mental and spiritual "exercise." I have fasted for 3 days at a time, allowing myself nothing but water. Try six weeks without a drop of alcohol. And don't cheat. It's not a "detoxifying" process- it's a process of gaining mindfulness. You understand, as the author points out, what your body does and does not need, and that many of your feelings of "hunger" (for food, or more figuratively anything) are triggered by your officemate talking about nutella, or hearing some bad news that makes you anxious, or any number of things that you can control if you become aware of them. Once you understand the true control you have over your body and your feelings and actions, you can really start to take it to the next level with what you actually want to accomplish, as opposed to what has been programmed by your social environment.

davidu 12y ago

I'm more interested in what generated that chart? Was it some automated system / program / tool?

mcnape 12y ago
It was made in beeminder (https://www.beeminder.com/ https://www.beeminder.com/). It is a website where you pledge a certain amount of money towards a goal and if you don't stay on track, it charges you.
- davidu 12y ago
  Thanks. And really interesting site / idea. I've seen some before, but none quite as good.

cm2012 12y ago

This actually makes a lot of sense. An obese person burns about 2500 calories a day just be existing (obviously depending on weight/heigh/etc.) 1 day of fasting means 1lb a week lost, basically.

bryanlarsen 12y ago
The OP mentions that he eats extra on Sunday.

funkyy 12y ago

Well if Muslims and people from some other cultures can do fasting, and they still manage to live long and healthy like any other culture - why not try this method to actually loose weight and then pick for example Japanese diet to maintain it? I think all this fasting is for self control rather than long term process. You teach your body and mind to say "no" to nasty foods and snacks.

nnnnni 12y ago

Isn't it better, safer, and more comfortable to just eat 200-500 less calories per day? I know that I'd rather eat one less slice of pizza during a meal than to eat NOTHING for a whole day. As we all know, weight is primarily determined by calories in versus calories out. Since 3500 calories equals 1 lb or .45 kg, you can lose 2 lbs or 1 kg a week by eating 500 calories less each day.

Kevguy 12y ago
500 calories/day * 7 days == 3500 calories == 1 lb of fat per week. Not 2 lbs.
- nnnnni 12y ago
  Oops, got mixed up with the conversions!
frankacter 12y ago
I think a challenge for many is what constitutes 200-500 calories and whether their will power allows them to accurately gauge and control. Not eating is binary [ ] yes [ ] no, which for many is easier to control versus picking and choosing and limiting quantity.

trendyy 12y ago

For those interested in different approaches to weight loss, I found this article really helpful while trying to shed a few pounds myself: http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html

tekalon 12y ago

One thing about this is paying attention not only to what he eats, but also how his body reacts to food. In high school, I would often only eat one meal a day (I could have had more meals, but I wasn't hungry). In college, I also still only ate the equivalent of one meal a day. Once I had a full time job that included lunch breaks, I felt obligated to eat more, and the more I ate the more I was hungry. Having more money and more freedom to eat what I want, when I wanted (compared to living with parents or in college eating on poor starving student rations), I stopped paying attention to what and how much I ate.

lucidrains 12y ago

Good for you! Health is wealth!

saurik 12y ago

> Still the idea of going for 24 hours without any food seemed alien at first. Was I going to be okay, I wondered. I once forgot to eat for three days, I was just so busy. I walked up the stairs to my second-floor apartment, and I felt light-headed enough that I noticed myself start to black out. I began going through the "usual debugging", asking myself "what did you eat today?", and it turns out I hadn't... nor the day before... and when I realized I hadn't eaten the day before that either, it became very clear what happened, and I immediately ordered an extra large pizza. I take it this is highly unusual? :(

deadghost 12y ago
How'd you manage to forget?
- saurik 12y ago
  How does one manage to forget anything? I guess I was was just really distracted? :( I can easily imagine myself thinking "I should grab some food, but I only have a couple minutes, I'll just eat after class", or "I should eat something, but I'm so tired, I'll just eat a large breakfast", and then "I should eat something, but I'm late, I'll just eat when I get to campus".
  - deadghost 12y ago
    Well typically when I don't eat my body gets angry at me and tells me I should. My body feels like ass and my head gets foggy such that I stop and intake some nutrients. I don't think I can go 72 hours without food without crashing.