Hacking Weight Loss: What I Learned Losing 30 Pounds

reifman writes The CDC reports that 69% of adult Americans are overweight or obese. Techies like us are at increased risk because of our sedentary lifestyles. Perhaps you even scoffed at Neilsen's recent finding that some Americans spend only 11 hours daily of screen time. Over the last nine months, I've lost 30 pounds and learned a lot about hacking weight loss and I did it without fad diets, step trackers, running or going paleo. No such discussion is complete without a link to the Hacker Diet.

Comments

Common sense

[sadness203]

Eat well.
Exercice

Everything else is plain wishful thinking.

Here's the scientific evidence

[nbauman]

I realize that randomized, controlled trials in peer-reviewed journals may not be the whole, final truth, but this is a nice catalog of everything that you can argue over.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/1...
Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity
Krista Casazza, Kevin R. Fontaine, Arne Astrup, et al.
N Engl J Med 2013; 368:446-454. January 31, 2013. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1208051 [FREE]

Results. We identified seven obesity-related myths concerning the effects of small sustained increases in energy intake or expenditure, establishment of realistic goals for weight loss, rapid weight loss, weight-loss readiness, physical-education classes, breast-feeding, and energy expended during sexual activity. We also identified six presumptions about the purported effects of regularly eating breakfast, early childhood experiences, eating fruits and vegetables, weight cycling, snacking, and the built (i.e., human-made) environment. Finally, we identified nine evidence-supported facts that are relevant for the formulation of sound public health, policy, or clinical recommendations.

Re:Eat less than you burn

[Anonymous Coward]

"How fricking complicated is it to eat less than you burn?"

Followed by a huge, complicated, wall of text.

I suppose it's THAT complicated!

Here's an easier alternative:
1. Eliminate all sugar (read labels... do not eat anything over 2g of sugar)
2. Eat vegetables (brussel sprouts, celery, broccoli, peppers, onions)
3. Eat fish
4. Eat nuts
5. Eat salad
6. Eggs and bacon for breakfast
7. Drink lots of water, and eat salt as you crave it

Fat is good, protein is good, carbs should be avoided, but if you must eat carbs, eat fresh potatoes.

Re:Move more, eat less

[NatasRevol]

Not everyone puts the *exact* right amount of calories on their plate. Apparently that's not obvious to you.

This helps you feel fuller before all the food is gone & not finish everything on your plate.

Re:eliminate extra sugar

[cayenne8]

Reading the article I saw this:

It helps greatly if you are willing to eat similar foods day to day that are easy to track

THIS is my problem. I tend to rarely eat pre-packaged processed food, or simple things. I cook from scratch, large batches of things, to eat as leftovers for most of the week.

Let's say since greens are in season now, I cook a HUGE 6-7QT pot of greens, Basically the only fat in the thing is 1lb of Andouille sausage. This pot will easily be 6-10 portions/meals. Granted this is a simple dish with few ingredients, but what about the same size pot of mushroom chili? Or something else that is complex and has a lot of ingredients and I don't really know how many meals will come put of it, or maybe it is something I'd combine with other leftovers into a different dish, for example I might grill out a bunch of eggplant, onions and zucchini...I might eat some in a salad, or maybe some as a wrap with yogurt sauce..etc.

The thing is...I rarely cook anything simple with an easy to find and read ingredients list, It would take forever to figure what the calories and all were from what I cook since so much of it is fresh vegetable and meat based, etc.

I dunno what a portion would be in so many cases...although it is largely healthy food.

Re:eliminate extra sugar

[NotDrWho]

First off - congrats on losing the weight. 30lbs is nothing to scoff at.

Not to be too much of a dick about it, but I never congratulate someone for losing weight. If pushed, I'll tell them I'll congratulate them in 5 years, if they've managed to KEEP it off.

Losing weight is actually not that hard. Some of us have done it many, many, many times. It's keeping it off in the years that follow that's really tough.