Geeks and Weight-loss?

WideLoad asks: "A decade or so spent at a desk in the IT industry has left me with a physique that can best be described as looking like a half melted wax Buddha figurine. It seems to be a common problem for those of us whose career and hobby tends to promote a sendentary lifestyle. With the holiday gorging season upon us and in need of inspiration and/or motivation I thought I'd ask: what are other geeks doing about their health?"

Comments

Re:Atkins

[Mark Gordon]

It's not true that the body uses up available carbohydrate before starting to burn fat. Different tissues use different sources of energy, regardless of how much is available.

The heart doesn't use carbohydrate for energy. It only burns fat. This means that aerobic exercise, in addition to being good for the heart, has extra benefits for the waist.

The brain, conversely, doesn't normally use fat at all, since fat has trouble crossing the blood-brain barrier. The human brain requires a lot of metabolic energy, so the amount of carbohydrate burned in a day can be fairly significant. Since you use up this energy even if you have your but parked in a chair, this is part of your basal metabolic rate.

Normal muscle (except in the heart) uses either fat or carbohydrate. Of course, this assumes some measure of physical activity. Muscle stores a certain amount of carbohydrate, after which it has to draw carbohydrate from the blood, which gets it from a small reserve of carbohydrate which is stored in the liver after you eat.

The metabolic effect of a very low carbohydrate diet is similar in some ways to untreated Type I diabetes. The brain needs carbohydrate, so the body tries to find a way. Fat is normally stored by the body in a form that connects three fatty acids together with a small carbohydrate molecule. The body breaks up the stored fat into the carbohydrate, which goes to the brain, and the fatty acids, which ends up being waste material. It's not normal for the body to have stray fatty acids around like this, and the fatty acids get shunted through some unintended metabolic pathways, eventually breaking down into acetone and similar substances, which evaporate from the lungs. This type of metabolism is called ketosis, and the resulting sweet-smelling breath (smelling of nail polish remover) was a classic symptom of late stage Type I diabetes in the days before insulin therapy. The diabetes analogy breaks down in that the blood sugar isn't actually elevated.

The whole point of very low carbohydrate diets is to put the body into ketosis, in which fat is broken down into nail polish remover, which is exhaled. This is faster, easier, and less hunger-inducing than exercise. I remain unconvinced that it's healthy.
Low-carbohydrate diets can also be low in water soluble vitamins, since they rely primarily on meat, eggs, and dairy at the expense of grains, legumes, and vegetables.

The excess protein in a low-carbohydrate diet, assuming you're eating meat rather than butter, gets burned up, since there's no good way to make it into fat. This places an extra burden on the kidneys.

If you're heavy because you eat from habit rather than hunger, reducing caloric intake is a good place to start. It's better to start by reducing fat intake, though, since your body already has that in excess. If you're heavy because your appetite exceeds your metabolism, your best recourse is a combination of exercise and reduced caloric intake. Again, the best recourse is to reduce fat intake.

How many times do i have to say this????

[The Iconoclast]

HACKERS DIET!!

It TOTALLY worked for me. I lost like ~40 ponds in 3 months. And, no, the Hacker's Diet isn't Mountain Dew and Twinkies. It was devised by the dude who invented Autodesk who was like, "I'm rich and I have a family and a company, and damn well everything I could ever want, but I'm still a BIG, FAT ASS!!" So he decided to do something about it.

Its got Palm Pilot tools and stuff to help you manage your weight. A diet program written by a geek for geeks.

BTW, this topic has been on /. at least twice in the past few years, but I guess this question is a pretty pressing one this time of year. :-)

Focus on your real problem

[coyote-san]

Having "been there, done that," I can tell you that you're focusing on a symptom, not the real problem.

How much regular exercise do you get? How much "jog three times a week, rain or shine, snow or scorcher" exercise, how much "drink beer with the buddies at weekly softball game" exercise?

Exercise will not cause the pounds to melt away, at least at first. In fact it's common for people to *gain* weight initially - I've been doing a basic "get back into motion" program for 13 weeks, and my weight is back where I started. But my waist is down by over 2" and I can comfortably, if slowly, jog for 3 miles without taking a break.

Most importantly, I'm finally in good enough shape to start one of those "beginner" programs like the "Business Plan for the Body" plan. If I had tried one 3 months ago, I would have soon been injured and had to stop.

As for diets... don't bother. Eat better, not less. Cut out the soda and junk food, replace it healthier choices, and don't worry about it. Exercise is actually an appetite suppressant (unless you're in incredibly poor shape) so you'll eat less naturally. Toss in replacing hundreds of empty calories in a bag of chips with a handful of calories in several handfuls of raw veggies, and that's all the calorie restriction you need.

Re:Focus on your real problem

[Otter]

Exercise will not cause the pounds to melt away, at least at first. In fact it's common for people to *gain* weight initially - I've been doing a basic "get back into motion" program for 13 weeks, and my weight is back where I started. But my waist is down by over 2"...

Remember, also, that the concern is fat, not pounds. Adding muscle mass is the best way to speed up your metabolism and burn fat. Especially after age 25, you start losing muscle and strength-training exercise is the best way to retain or build it. I hate lifting weights, but it is the best way.

Exercise is actually an appetite suppressant (unless you're in incredibly poor shape) so you'll eat less naturally.

Plus, if you're anything like me, how much do you eat just because you're bored? For me, the net of going for a run is a) the calories I burn, b) eating less later because my hunger gets smoothed out and c) the peanut butter sandwich I didn't eat during the hour I didn't spend watching TV or flaming Your Rights Online.

Slowly replace high cal junk with low cal food

[mlinksva]

'Tis a healthy strategy for anyone. Ex: candy/cookies/soda -> fruit/veggies/any drink sans sugar.

2 more ideas

[eugene ts wong]

I agree with the above statement, but I would like to add a couple of ideas.

Take transit to work, because the extra walking each day makes a big difference. If the bus is near your home, then find a farther bus route with less people riding the route. [I realize that the idea of transit was touched on in the above post, but I wanted to state it in a firmer way]

Also, try eating brown rice, lentils [or beans or other legumes], and tofu. You still get protein, carbs and other nutrients, for a rounded diet, but the added effect is that it actually suppresses appetite more than anything that I know. The rice and lentils really slow things down in the digestive tract.

You'd still eat fruits and vegetables to get other nutrients. Go to

www.5aday.org
www.dole5aday.com for kids, but still has good information

For more information, go to your public library and read about how to prepare beans for tasty, gas-free meals.

To put things into persective, in my first year of college, I used to be this 120lb weakling who could eat a large plate of salad, a large plate of the main meal, a dessert, 2 measured cups of drink, and a bowl of soup. That's pretty gross. Anyways, I began to eat healthier and healthier as time went on. About 10 years later [just recently] I began to eat the rice, lentils [sometimes red kidney beans], and tofu. I was really surprised at how little I ate in a day. Sometimes a bowl of poridge and some friut would last me the whole day. Other times, I ate other things. I eventually lost some weight. I went from this 120 lb weakling to 116 lb weakling--not that it is good or anything. I'm trying to gain weight through exercise.

I'm not saying that this will be easy, but I think that this will work for most people, because the taste of the food alone is enough to suppress most appetites. Also, you'll have to do more than these things, but this type of a life style will help to make it easier for you to maintain a healthy weight.

Sincerely, and with thanks,
Eugene T.S. Wong

Body Fueling by Robyn Landis

[iankerickson]

I'm reading this.

It's sort of an anti-diet book that uses basic science to teach you how to eat adequately without a tedious amount of willpower or nutritional accounting. Here's the jist of what I've picked up so far:

1. 3 nutrients in your diet affect most of your dietary health: protien, carbohydrates, and fat. Water, vitamins, and minerals make up the rest.
2. Your body needs carbohydrates to metabolize food at all.
3. Your body mostly burns fat to get its energy, with a little required carbohydrates to jumpstart the fire.
4. If you run out of carbohydrates in your blood, you stop burning fat at all. Your body goes into 'famine-preparation' mode.
5. To prepare for a famine, your body stores any fat in the blood into fat cells to protect you from starving to death.
6. To get energy without carbohydrates, your body cannibalizes its own muscle tissue by de-animating the protien into carbohydrates, which leaves nitrates in the blood as a waste product (ashes).
7. You're basic metabolic rate (BMR) is determined by the percentage of your body that is muscle. More muscle and you burn more calories just sitting still.
8. The loss of muscle tissue caused by famine-preparation lowers your BMR, causing you to burn fewer calories in general.
9. Any surplus of unmetabolized carbohydrates or fat in the blood gets stored as fat.
10. Most people run out of carbohydrates 3 to 5 hours after eating.
11. Digestion itself burns calories to work, but complex carbohydrates take the most calories to digest.
12. The big magic secret to losing weight is: eat more often. NEVER go without food or let it get to the point where you feel a nagging hunger -- that's when your body is starting to archive fat and sugar into your fat cells.
13. Eat some complex carbohydrates (grains, beans, legumes) every 3 to 5 hours, along with a complete protein (amount doesn't matter, almost "any" protein, however little, is "enough"). Check out something on vegetarianism for an explanation of "complete" protiens. (It's easy)
14. Don't eat so much that you feel "full". Digestion takes a lot of power to run. That sleepiness is your stomach diverting energy away from the rest of you to digest. If you eat more often, you don't need to eat so much each time to feel satiated (try it).
15. Eating too much at once overloads your digestion and causes excess food to be either stored as fat or just expelled (which dehydrates you).
16. Moderate eating throughout the day will burn calories just through digestion without making you feel tired.
17. If you eat enough carbohydrates, your body can add protein to your muscles, which will increase your BMR.
18. A little aerobic exersize slightly damages your muscles. They will heal back a little larger if you don't work them too hard. A 30 minute walk is "enough" of a workout.
19. Don't go crazy and hurt yourself. Overworking your muscles will gradually make them smaller. Too much exersize exhausts your blood sugar and causes your muscle protien to be deanimated into fuel. The process that heals back protein into your muscles needs carbohydrates, so overexertion very quickly (a few weeks) will make you weaker.
20. Once you have enough muscle, your body will burn fat mostly, provided you feed it enough carbohydates. Eventually, you won't be able to eat more carbohydrates by volume than your muscles can burn, if you stick to natural food (not granulated sugar).
21. Last and most important: you may not lose any weight. It doesn't matter. Your body composition will change from being a lot of fat with some bones, organs and muscles hiding underneath to a bunch of bones, organs and muscles with some fat in between for insulation (you need to be 5 to 20 percent composed of fat). Muscle is much denser than fat, so your "weight" may actually go up. Scales are useless and tell you next to nothing about your health. Don't weight yourself.

At that point the whole thing kind of runs itself. Supposedly. We'll see, eh?

The diet world is full of scams. Your first clue that something isn't legitimate is if it requires you to continuously shell out money (diet pills, "nutitional" shakes, health clubs for people who aren't atheletes...). The only thing that I see different about Body Fueling is that doctors look at it and give it a thumbs up. Real doctors. The kind with bad hair, ill-fitting clothes, and that far-away look in their eyes left over from years without sleep in medical school. Not the actors wearing stethoscopes you see on TV. PBS did a spot on Body Fueling in the mid-90s, which is where I heard of it. My mom is a biologist who teaches pre-med to would-be nurses and doctors, and she said it checked out with her understanding of human body chemistry and metabolism.

So eat a piece of fruit, some complex carbohydrates (like pasta, rice, lentils, peas, corn, beans, or wheat bread), and a complete protein. Drink a cup of water, juice, or tea before you eat. Drink a cup after you finish (not while you eat, if you can help it -- it defeats the digestive effect of saliva and chewing your food). Do this every 3 hours (not 5, especially if you are just starting out). Use your watch to tell you when to eat. You should stop feeling hunger pangs at all after a few days. If you miss a meal, eat a little something as soon as you can, then set your next meal 3 hours from then. Life usually doesn't cooperate with our intended schedules, so just work around interruptions. Take a 30 minute walk once a day, or something on that order. Until you get fit FIRST, any real level of exersize will probably be counterproductive. But I can't even spell exersize, so what do I know? I haven't even finished the book.

If you have a habit of eating a lot of junk food, fast food, or subsist on soda/coffee (my problem), do the body fueling first. Then see if you still feel as hungry for those things. I find if I bring 2 sandwhiches, 4 peices of fruit, and 1 cup of some entree from home (like lentils or spaghetti) that I can make it through work without the temptation to get a Coke or Mountain Dew to supress my appetite. And I don't feel jittery or tired, just alert.

YMMV. Good luck to you.

Water and foods that inhibit weight loss

[OmegaDan]

Water is *the single* most important dieting device for several reasons ...

1: Breaking a fat molecule off of a lipid chain is a hydration reaction (I don't recall much more then that cuz its been years since I read that). The more water you have around, the more likely a reaction can occur :)

2: Its just good for you. Its almost impossible to drink too much water, it washes away all the shit you put in your body (however this includes nutrients so take vitamins).

3: It helps you loose weight because, if your drinking alot of water -- your not going to be very hungry very often ..

Ive lost 30 pounds this year upping my water intake to around 2 gallons/day. At first this sounds like self abuse, but very strangely I *enjoy* drinking this much water. However, I can get up to use the restroom anytime Id like at work :)

If you want to seriously diet you must limit your intake of caffine, and of nitrates (hot dogs, baccon, processed/packaged meat etc), both which inhibit your bodies ability to loose weight. Also some compound in bananas does this as well, I dont what or why but my mother told me "at weight watchers they told us if you eat a banana, expect to loose no weight for two days"

the only other diet I've ever had any luck on is the atkins diet (protiend diet) but these diets are very dangerous and you shouldn't do it unless you've exhausted other options.

btw, IANAD (dietician), but these are my personal experiences

For me:

[ConsumedByTV]

I was once very over weight in my opinion. However now I am at my optimal weight and body shape. I have a well defined muscle structure and have great stamana. My secret?

I am a vegan. I exercise by walking around. I am also pretty depressed. However with the first two being a change in my life style that has since become stable. I was able to change my weight from 230 pounds to 154 pounds in less than 4 months.

If you want to lose some weight, become vegan. You will find out that the american diet mainly consisits of things that keep you really fat. However it's worth the change if you want to live to hack tommorrow.