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The Hacker's Diet

• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
  • pliny 11y ago
    TFA: This book is written for successful, intelligent, and motivated people who happen to be overweight
• JustSomeNobody 11y ago
  My weight is good, so I haven't read much on the actual diet, but I am trying the ladder. Being a developer, I sit most of the day and for me I have developed a lower back pain so I figure I need more exercise. Hopefully this will work out.
  • mvanvoorden 11y ago
    The ladder works pretty well, it starts out so easy that it's almost boring but gets quite some bite when you progress. I do the 5BX myself though (where the ladder is based on), as I mentioned in an earlier comment :)
    • JustSomeNobody 11y ago
      Yeah, I'm having a problem with the boring part, so really hoping I don't lose focus. :)
      • mvanvoorden 11y ago
        Just keep it up for a few weeks and it becomes a habit. It's now the first thing I do every morning. Protip: Make (or find and print) a calendar and hang it in a visible spot. Put an X every day you do the exercises, and then it's just a matter of not breaking the chain :)
        • JustSomeNobody 11y ago
          I will try that! Thanks.
  • kbart 11y ago
    I have the same problem. What I've found really useful is this simple exercise: hang from the pull up bar (like you do when preparing for pull-ups), lift both of your legs until they make 90 degree angle with your back, then slowly lower them down; repeat as many times as you can, but 10-20 repetitions daily after work are usually enough for me. Another simple exercise is a little less effective, but doesn't require any equipment: stand upright your back, shoulders and heels touching the wall, extend your hands forward then do normal squats.
• rb2k_ 11y ago
  After cross-reading this, my impression is that this was written with the nutritional knowledge that was prevalent 20 years ago and mostly focuses on counting calories, not about the nutrients present in the food. From what I understand about modern nutritional science, this is not all that useful without having a look at e.g. the amount of carbohydrates and the glycemic index of the food you eat. It seems that most studies agree that losing wait is most successful with a low carb + high protein diet. Most other approaches going with higher carb content usually just lead to insulin spikes and make you feel hungry at unnecessary times. Unless you like suffering, have impressive self control and don't mind what bloodsugar does to your body, that's probably not a good idea. If you really want to eat carbohydrates, at least make sure you get a good amount of fiber with them, so it slows down their intake and reduces the amount of insulin your body fires off in response. I would say the behavioural part (tracking weight etc) is probably a good idea. The actual diet part of this should probably be discarded.
  • jdmoreira 11y ago
    Yeah, it's only calorie counting, but it will work anyway. It's a very basic approach but if you stick to the math... you will lose weight.
    • rb2k_ 11y ago
      Running a marathon every day would also work, but both of them are pretty tedious and sub optimal ;) A focus on nutrient dense foods will make you feel fuller and will be better for your nutritional status and disease risk.
      • dylanjermiah 11y ago
        >"Running a marathon every day would also work, but both of them are pretty tedious and sub optimal ;)" Nop, you can still eat enough calories to gain weight while running a marathon every day. Eating at a caloric deficit isn't independent of eating micronutrient dense food.
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• c0nsumer 11y ago
  Seeing this again takes me back. After reading this a number of years ago (2002 or 2003 or so?) I actually gave my first effort to trying to lose some weight and get in better shape, which caused me to learn / figure out a bunch more, and actually start taking an interest in my physical abilities. While I'm no serious athlete I now enjoy -- and recognize that I enjoy -- getting out and doing things, pushing myself when hiking or biking, and this has given me the ability to spend good deals of time outdoors enjoying the world. It's a great change of pace from the almost-completely-computer-focused stuff I'd done previously.
• pakled_engineer 11y ago
  The Peter Jackson weight loss method consisted of replacing editing room trays of food full of junk with veggies he grazed on instead. There's also the Prof Might method http://matt.might.net/articles/least-resistance-weight-loss/ http://matt.might.net/articles/least-resistance-weight-loss/
• mvanvoorden 11y ago
  The exercises in this book are a slimmed-down version of the 5BX plan by the RCAF. I started doing these about 3 months ago and can really recommend this. It only costs about 11 minutes of your daily time. The full version of these exercises have some more variety, as every 12 steps the exercises get a bit more challenging. Link: http://fit450.com/HTML/5BX_Intro.html http://fit450.com/HTML/5BX_Intro.html
• this_iswater 11y ago
  Low carb high fat diet. Count your macros, stay in ketosis
  • mvanvoorden 11y ago
    Like Keto/Paleo/Bulletproof? This definitely works! I used to drink coffee with grass-fed butter every morning when I woke up and also took a few other things of Bulletproof diet to heart and lost over 30 kilo's in two years time. Friends of mine are very positive about this and Keto seems to very successful as well, as seen here: http://www.reddit.com/r/keto http://www.reddit.com/r/keto
• purplelobster 11y ago
  Don't diet, but eat a healthy diet. By this point I'll get burned at the stake for this, but there is something to the Paleo diet. Our current diet is a nightmare in terms of not just weight, but health in general, more specifically, the rise in auto-immune disease. Research shows that a leaky gut is a _prerequisite_ (but not only factor) for developing auto-immune disease. One thing that causes leaky gut is gluten. Grains and seeds contain stuff that hurts your gut, why? Because grains and seeds have developed a defence for digestion because they need to come out the other side. I'm not a fad-following hipster, I just read literature on this, and I've seen first hand what gluten does to someone who's not even gluten intolerant. My wife has Grave's disease which is auto-immune. Her options were taking meds that devastate the thyroid and liver, or operate her thyroid and in the process likely develop the opposite of Grave's: hypothyroidism. She tried every other option, including different kinds of diets, until we read about the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), which is a strict version of the Paleo diet. Her symptoms (constant 100-120 bbm heartbeat) went away within days. We've pinned it down to gluten as the main factor. Counting calories is an extremely simplistic world view, and while it's very comforting to have a simple rule to follow, I believe it's a very bad idea to not care what you put in your body, as opposed to just how much of it.
  • rimantas 11y ago
    Yup, paleo people are known for their great health. We are really lucky they left all these recipes books so we know exactly what they ate.
  • acdha 11y ago
    The main reason the paleo people get flack comes from trying to claim historical accuracy when science has consistently shown that claims about e.g. how long humans have been eating grain or dairy products are off by thousands of years. See e.g. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-half-baked-how-hunter-gatherer-really-eat/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-paleo-diet-hal... or dozens of subsequent pieces. The better way to phrase this is to avoid trying to claim unique merit: “This diet works for me. Maybe it will work for you.” That keeps the truthful part but drops the magical claims about why everyone else's choices aren't as valid.
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• jgaudette 11y ago
  For those interested in tracking your weight online there is http://myhackerdiet.com http://myhackerdiet.com It connects to withings too if you have a wifi scale.
• FidesFacitFidem 11y ago
  How to lose weight the short(ish) version; 1) You need to be in a calorie deficit. (consuming less calories than you use) 2) Use a calorie calculator to find out roughly what your maintenance daily calorie allowance is. (eg http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm) 3) Eating less calories than this will result in you being in a calorie deficit and losing weight. 4) Every ~3500 calories under maintenance will result in 1 lb weight loss (so eating 500 less calories than maintenance per day will result in 1 lb/week) 4a) Likewise when bulking 500 calories per day above maintenance will mean you put on 1 lb/week (approx). 4b) 250 calories under maintenance per day, 1750 per week and you'll lose 0.5 lbs in that week. (You get the idea..) 5) A slightly higher protein diet will help hold on to muscle mass while cutting this weight. 6) Muscle mass helps loss weight because the more of it you have the more calories your body consumes. 7) Some general recommendations on macros (protein = 4 calories/gram, carbs = 4 cals/gram, fat = 9 cals/gram) - protein: 0.6g-0.8g/lb of body weight - fat: 0.4g-0.6g/lb of body weight - carbs: fill in the rest of your calorie allowance Example for 200 lb male trying to eat 2200 calories; protein: 200 x 0.8 = 160 gram | 160 x 4 cals = 640 cals fat: 200 x 0.5 = 100 grams | 100 x 9 cals = 900 cals carbs: 900 cals + 640 cals = 1540 | 2200 - 1540 = 660 | 660 / 4 cals = 165 grams Therefore the 200lb male will consume 2200 calories by eating 160g of protein, 100g of fat and 165g of carbs. When and how these calories are consumed doesn't really matter unless your really care about athletic performance.(1-2% to be gained maybe in meal timing and nutrient partitioning) So eat how and whatever you prefer. If that means 1 huge meal or 5 small ones no problem. I'd recommend a balanced diet consisting of fresh natural foods. Also 1 hour of exercise per day (some days cardio, other days weights(focus on compounds; squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, pullups, rows)).
  • wmil 11y ago
    > focus on compounds; squat, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, pullups, rows This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but recommending pull-ups to someone out of shape who needs to loose weight is just bizarre. If someone was a beginner on the bench press, would you start them at 250lbs and yell at them to push harder? No. That would be stupid and dangerous. Yet somehow fat people are supposed to will themselves to do a pull up, which is basically the equivalent.
• mjklin 11y ago
  For me the main takeaway from this was the "moving average" method to calculate weight, which smooths daily spikes into a trend curve. An excellent app for this on iOS is True Weight. Saves you from making calculations. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/true-weight/id287941226?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/true-weight/id287941226?mt=8
• gitaarik 11y ago
  Many people don't seem to like the approach of the Hackers Diet, as it only focuses on how much and not what you eat. I actually really like this approach. Everybody has different ideas about what is good to eat or what isn't, but in the end, you only lose weight if you eat less than you burn. The Hackers Diet gives you the freedom to choose what you think is best to eat, while giving you feedback about what kind of effect it has on your weight. Also one very important realization: your fat cells will only release fat when your blood sugar level is low, and when that happens, your brain will receive messages you should eat. So if it's strong or not, if you want to burn fat, you will be hungry. Exercise suppresses this feeling a bit though, but unless you can do that everyday, it won't be very effective.
  • simik 11y ago
    > your fat cells will only release fat when your blood sugar level is low Nope, it's low insulin that unlocks fat cells, not low blood sugar.
    • gitaarik 11y ago
      Ehm, I think you have it the wrong way around. Insulin has the opposite effect, it will stimulate glucose going to muscles and fat cells.
      • natecavanaugh 11y ago
        You're correct. Insulin is the storage hormone, cortisol is the teardown hormone (putting it all very simply).
• skidoo 11y ago
  I survived some lean years on what I called the Yin-Yang diet: black coffee and white rice. Regular exercise also played an obvious role.
• anthony_romeo 11y ago
  Well, I lost about 100 pounds. I'm pretty sure I looked at this website at some point while I was doing this. What I can say anecdotally is that there are two main issues at play for those who are obese: 1. Food is too damn good. We've developed food to be tastier and tastier, setting off more and more pleasure sensations, almost to the point where it loops back around and becomes disgusting. 2. Some people under stress do not eat. Other people under stress eat more. People who eat more when stressed will gain weight, and become more stressed about their weight gain. I'm talking about the morbidly obese here, not just people about twenty pounds overweight. What I did for myself was to make a few adjustments: 1. Eat healthier versions of food that I actually like. I mean, sure, a fried chicken sandwich or a hamburger can be delicious. But so is a turkey sandwich, or grilled chicken. When I lost weight, I chose the lower calorie options that I still enjoyed. 2. Avoid pointless food. French fries are great, but they're just filler. Soda is tasty (though I actually dislike it now that I've had distance from it), but it's not substantively adding to my enjoyment of a meal. Stop focusing on sides and enjoy the main course on its own. 3. Exercise reasonably and consistently. It's not sustainable to go from sedentary obesity to daily hill sprints. Start with walking more, move on to exercise twice a week. Progressively build up from there. Find something you can enjoy doing (for me, I enjoy lifting weights). There's a lot more I could talk about (e.g. better sleep, realistic expectations, tolerating hunger) as well. I can't say I'm perfectly healthy now, but I've hopefully saved myself from the long-term health effects of obesity.
  • bryanlarsen 11y ago
    I lost about 30 pounds 10 years ago. It was a time when I was fairly active, but I'm convinced that the main part of the weight loss came from one thing: I stopped eating French Fries. Replacing french fries with a different (or no) side had a small effect. But it also altered where I ate. You're not going to go to McDonald's if you can't order fries.
• michaeljbishop 11y ago
  I used to use this site, long ago and I did lose weight in my 20’s. Now in my 40’s I find it emphasizes a way of thinking that I think is missing the point. I don’t necessarily disagree with calorie counting, but forcing yourself to not eat when you are hungry is the key to failure. I think this is at the root of the low-carb approach in which the foods that you eat don’t stimulate your body’s fat-making hormones. If your body is being asked to make fat (through raised insulin levels), it doesn’t matter how many calories you eat, they are mostly being stored and you will continue to be hungry. Low-carb helps you eat fewer calories because more of the calories you eat are available for energy and your body will signal that you are satiated. If you want to go really low-carb, you can go into ketosis, where your body realizes it can also start eating its own fat for energy and promptly does so. Then you are satiated on even fewer calories because your body can get what it needs from itself. I’ve found ketosis to be very reliable and even better, I find I concentrate much better because I’m not so distracted by how I’m going to get my next snack to much while I code. That concept is no longer a part of my consciousness. You don’t realize how noisy your brain is around food until it’s quiet.
• lotsofcows 11y ago
  Is there some sort of unwritten rule of dietary advice that one should never cite one's sources?