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No Bread, Beer or Biscuits: How I Lost 63lbs in 100 Days

110 points by hiccup 13y ago

andrewcooke 13y ago
isn't that rapid? it sounds awesome (and congratulations), but i would perhaps check w a doctor or something that you're not losing weight too fast? [edit: not to ask why you're losing weight so fast (because you're not eating, duh), but whether that rate is healthy.]
- staunch 13y ago
  If you start rapidly losing (or gaining) weight with no obvious explanation that is a cause for concern. If you start eating much less, and exercising much more, you probably don't need to ask a doctor why you're losing weight.
  - adamnemecek 13y ago
    I believe that the healthy rate is around 1 lbs per week with 2 lbs pushing it.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
    - chollida1 13y ago
      Not when you are morbidly obese like the author was. When you are that big( pushing 300lbs) it's not uncommon to loose 5lbs a week at the start.
      - adamnemecek 13y ago
        Why is the weight loss mechanism different under those circumstances?
        jadyoyster 13y ago
        Might be due to the muscle mass needed to carry such a heavy body around? Big muscles waste energy, even doing nothing much at all.
        chollida1 13y ago
        http://www.livestrong.com/article/406097-why-do-overweight-people-lose-weight-faster/ http://www.livestrong.com/article/406097-why-do-overweight-p... http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121373121&page=1 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121373121&pag... Higher Metabolism, more water weight to shed.
        deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]
        Someone 13y ago
        Is it that much different? 5/300 vs, say, 2/150 is only 25% larger.
    - adeaver 13y ago
      The average weight loss is supposedly that. Not everyone falls into that range and so long as you are eating enough to live, are enjoying yourself and not starving to death and are getting exercise it's not dangerous. That said, he (and anyone doing it) should probably check in with the doc just to make sure something internal isn't getting out of whack.
    - pyrocat 13y ago
      I dropped 40 lbs in 5 weeks when I changed my diet to solely fruits and vegetables (no gluten or dairy). Dropped from 185 to 145 with no exercise. The point wasn't to lose weight but to eliminate most of the possible food allergies (and later slowly add them back, to figure out what you're allergic to), and as a side effect I lost 40 lbs. I felt perfectly healthy and I've managed to stick around 150 lbs since then, after switching back to a mostly normal diet (minus gluten). No idea why "2 lbs a week" would be the "safe" rate.
grecy 13y ago
After attending hundreds of weight watchers meetings, and being involved with hundreds and hundreds of people losing a ton of weight, I still genuinely believe too many people make weight loss too complicated, which leads them to give up. Keep it simple (as the article did) If you burn more calories (energy) than you eat, you will lose weight. Obviously, you have choices. You can cut down on all the really high calorie stuff. You can increase your exercise to burn more. You can (ideally) do a bit of both. Of the hundreds of people I've known that have lost life-changing amounts of weight, I would estimate less than 1% of them had any idea how calorie dense the foods they were eating (and drinking) every day really are. For the majority of people that are severely overweight, all they have to do is cut out high calorie snacks like chips, soda and anything deep fried and they'll lose significant weight, without even getting off the couch.
- kcbanner 13y ago
  This is true. I found by simply cutting out soda and juice I began losing weight. I also found that after not drinking soda for several weeks, when I would drink it I would find it far too sweet and have actually lost the taste for it.
  - nicksergeant 13y ago
    Try "flavored" seltzer water. I'm addicted to it now, and regular soda is largely undrinkable. You start to get used to the very, very subtle flavor in the seltzer water and after a while it just tastes like soda, but you're basically only drinking carbonated water.
    - kps 13y ago
      Agreed. Unflavoured seltzer is fine too. I don't like plain water, and was never a big fan of carbonated drinks (and definitely not soda water), but I do like carbonated water. Since there is no inexpensive seltzer in my region (only stuff that costs more than milk or juice) I finally got a CO₂ tank and carbonate tap water myself, usually with a squirt of lemon. It's easier than I had expected.
- 13y ago
Miyamoto 13y ago
You should trade some of that fat with muscle gain (especially upper body), instead of shedding it all. Develop a consistent weight lifting routine at the gym. You'll feel a lot better about yourself. Stationary cycling might make your legs great, but your upper body will probably start to look "skinny fat".
- ihsw 13y ago
  Can't forget the core muscle groups -- a solid core is essential to balancing yourself out. Lower back and abdominal regions being the main focus.
bcrescimanno 13y ago
While it's always great to hear success stories, I think the broader point of this post (and others like it) is that there's no "great secret" to weight loss. There's no silver bullet and certainly no short cut. The simple truth is: people in the western world eat crap and don't exercise. The success stories all boil down to a few simple points: eat real food, cut down on alcohol, and do some exercise that you find enjoyable enough to do it every day.
- ericcholis 13y ago
  Agreed, this story is as much about self-motivation and determination as it is about weight loss techniques. They both go hand in hand. I saw myself at 192 and didn't like that number, so I got myself down to 174 after a year and maintain that weight. It's not a huge difference in size, but I feel better because of it. I also learned the value of staying away from bad habits, like junk food and sedentary activities.
- WhitneyLand 13y ago
  The western world is no worse off. We die from poor nutrition but the rest of you kill yourself with cigarettes. At least when you're in the west second hand food smells better than second hand smoke.
netcraft 13y ago
I'm 31. A recent physical revealed that I have both high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They've put me on meds for the bp (which is now under control rather well) but they wanted me to try a lifestyle change before putting me on cholesterol meds. I was ~ 10 lbs overweight, nothing major - and while I wouldn't say I am fit by any means I wasn't out of shape either. But they wanted me to lose the 10 lbs and so they told me to stay under 2500mg of sodium per day, and less than 150g of carbs per day - no more than 50g per meal. And no red meat - all I can have meat wise basically is chicken, turkey and fish. Occasional lean pork. I am two months into it - and have already lost 15 lbs, without any additional exercise. The carbs were rather easy to give up really - less sugar in my coffee, no pasta, few potatoes. Sodas were a little harder, but at 40g of sugar for a single Dr. Pepper, the choice between that or a whole sandwich is an easy one to make. The sodium is quite hard if not impossible though, unless you make every meal at home and only use fresh ingredients. If it is in a box, bag or can you can forget it. There is hardly anything at any restaurant you can get that is low sodium though. Even salads are absolutely loaded with sodium. I will say I feel a little better, and not just from losing a couple inches around my waist. Water all day certainly helps. I don't think my cholesterol numbers are going anywhere really, I think my genetics are to blame, but I hope not. Just a short anecdote, but if you sit behind a desk all day and have put on a few lbs, its fairly easy to give up the fast food and watch your carbs. It sure didn't seem like it at first though.
- gte910h 13y ago
  Not everyone is salt sensitive. Talk to them about measuring your salt sensitivity (or you can do it at home, but less reliably). If salt is hard and the rest is easy, you may find losing weight and exercise the two you worry about, and ignore salt.
  - ihsw 13y ago
    Salt sensitivity is also far easier to manage, and its impact is limited to putting you over the top when shit hits the fan (eg: high-sodium diet can make or break you when you stray into heart-attack territory).
seiferteric 13y ago
Interesting. A few months ago I was really ill one day. The night before I had drank heavily, but I think in this case I also got food poisoning from something. Anyway, I vowed to stop drinking that day, and have. What I realized is how much alcohol was affecting me. Even two days after drinking, I feel tired, less enthusiastic and more depressed. What I have found is that now I can exercise routinely (for several months now), where as before I would give up after a few days or weeks of trying. I think it's important for everyone to evaluate what in their lives may be holding them back, even if they don't realize it. Also, want to point out that I am not advocating everyone stop drinking, just that it seems alcohol affects me more so than others.
deleted 13y ago
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HPLovecraft 13y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat,_Sick_and_Nearly_Dead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat,_Sick_and_Nearly_Dead
- taude 13y ago
  I was going to post a link to this movie. I think they have it on AMZN Prime. Netflix has it. It's pretty inspirational, and discusses a great way to eat. Another one of interest is Forks Over Knives, which talks about the benefits of eating a mostly plant based diet. http://www.forksoverknives.com/ http://www.forksoverknives.com/
swanson 13y ago
I dropped around 60lbs (5'10" SW: 285) in first half of 2012 and have roughly maintained since (crept back to 235 - down to 230 again, still aiming for 200!). I made two small habit changes that I feel made a drastic difference: * Bring lunch to work everyday (brown bag, leftovers) * If I want to watch TV, I must be moving on the treadmill I would still go out to eat at work about once every two weeks and I would sometimes sneak in an episode of Breaking Bad on the couch, but overall, I stuck to those rules and everything else seemed to fall into place.
- angersock 13y ago
  Hah, awesome! I started in a similar build, and am down about 35 pounds mostly just through dietary changes (and stress, sadly). I've been biking everywhere this month and I can pretty clearly feel a difference. Congrats man.
OriginalAT 13y ago
This is an excellent writeup, and one that I have a few friends that could benefit from. I try to tell people that it is the little things you do every day that add up to big change. My friends mostly have this idea that you have to make huge sweeping changes to your life to see any results at all, but that is simply false. Start going on a walk or jog every evening instead of sitting in front of the television. Start having nuts instead of candy bars for snacks. Stuff like that adds up quick to some pretty impressive results. Excellent read, and keep up the good work!
001sky 13y ago
I upped my exercise, cycling 30-40 miles a day, every day for the first couple of weeks. Good to see!! When you are burning this level of level of energy every day, its actually <hard> to keep a stable weight. (Author must have had some base fitness, too so good for him.) At its core, Weight change is simple input/output math. The key variable is %deplete your glycogen levels (as % of full everyday.) That is the "cache" of energy from your daily diet. If you burn enough energy to deplete this, you will lose weight, as your body replenishes itself from non-dietary reserves (fat, protein en extremis). Surprisingsly, these are highly realistic numbers (<1lb/day>), even for relatively fit (height/weight proportionate) people. Moderating the pace to emphasise endurance over power will lead to more loss of net-mass. Asympotically, you will reach a point of gradual returns, but it is not at all surprising to lose significant mass under such prolonged workloads. TLDR: Glad to see this is not a crash diet. edits: clarity
- ironchef 13y ago
  "At its core, Weight change is simple input/output math." But I also think that...at its core it's very complex. What if you do all of that input in a single large meal vs 6 smaller meals? That's a BIG difference. Similarly just doing lots of cardio (and "burning" calories) vs high intensity workouts (like crossfit) have very different results.
  - 001sky 13y ago
    If you're interested in simplifying the analsis, don't look at people who are trying to lose weight for your data. Look at people who are fighting to keep it on!! Read up on people who have to do significant amounts of work under limited caloric availability (not caloric restriction per se). At that level, 6 smaller meals keeps weight on (more efficient digestion). Eating fat leads to more weight loss (heat entropy). At a certain stage, how you do the work (cardio/crossfit) etc is irrelevant, because the order of magnitude of output=input. For a normal person at a gym, they are at a fraction of this workload. Walking an 4m/hour a day burns 400 calories a day. That's an order of magnitude off your metabolic rate of 2500/day. Walk or run 10 hours a day, you will burn 4000-8000 calories a day. You will deplete glycogen at hour 3-4 without a couple of those six meals. If you do this for 60 days on a 2500 calorie diet, even if its 40% fat, you will lose weight. Probably pushing yourself into unhealthy territory afer only a fraction of that time (if you have a standard BMI). That's a non-cardio, non-intensive workout BTW. That stuff is irrelevant, provided your metabolism is set to max by dynamic caloric consumption requirements at the same order of magnitude as base metabolic reuquirements. Cycling 40 miles a day (as the author claimed) is much closer to this threshold than other examples.
bluedino 13y ago
>> I’ve gone from a 42” waist to a 36”. I’m now buying t-shirts in a medium or maybe a large rather than an XL or XXL. Clothing is not sized that way in the USA. 36" waist fitting into a medium?
- korethr 13y ago
  Waist sizes for pants in the US are deceptive. When I started working with a personal trainer, I was wearing pants with a '34 inch' waist. However, when it came time to take measurements, and I finally relaxed my gut instead of sucking it in so we could get an accurate measurement, my waist measured 38 inches. Also, one can get 'adjustable waist' pants with elastic slots in them that allow the waist to expand such that someone with a 42 inch waist might fit into a pair of '34 inch' pants comfortably. They don't help the situation any.
gxs 13y ago
This is great and certainly don't want to discourage anyone. Some people need extreme transformations like this to be successful. Most people, however, don't. You'll have a much higher success rate if you're patient and change just one little thing at a time. Once you're comfortable, you move on to the next. I myself have lost over 30lbs and increased strength tremendously (power clean 250+). I went about it by doing one small thing at time. First I got used to going to the gym a couple days at a time. Once I was used to going to the gym, I started a strength program. Once I was used to going to the gym and being on a program, I started crossfit. Then after I was used to that, I started omitting wheat from my diet. Once I was used to that...you get the point.
- readme 13y ago
  I'd have to say of the three things, the one that definitely has to be given up to lose the weight is beer. Beer is not only caloric, but contains alcohol. When alcohol is ingested, the body's fat metabolism practically stops until it's out of your system. Drinking a beer each day would almost make it impossible to lose fat efficiently. It wouldn't matter if you were eating under, because your body would not be able to easily burn fat for fuel. Instead, it would burn other things, acetate (from the alcohol), carbs, your own muscle, then fat, etc.
  - deleted 13y ago
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  - 127001brewer 13y ago
    Instead, it would burn other things ... your own muscle, then fat, etc. That's the first I've ever heard that a human body would burn muscle before fat. Also, a beer each day would be out of your system relatively fast, so it should have no lasting affects on your body's metabolism. Also, if you're drinking a beer a day, then be sure it's at least bottle-conditioned craft beer since the suspended yeast has many nutrients. ;)
    - pa5tabear 13y ago
      Is this true? I used to work out a lot, and was in good shape- muscular and probably 12% body fat. I haven't been working out for about eight months and I've lost probably ten pounds. I don't feel leaner though. I'm pretty sure I'm still at least 12% body fat, and that I've lost a significant amount of muscle. I think I have been significantly losing muscle without losing any significant amount of fat.
fingerprinter 13y ago
Since this is another weight loss post on HN, I'll tread out the old lines again[1]: If you only care about weight loss: calories in vs calories out. However If you care about maintaining muscle while losing fat, the story is still pretty simple, and calories still count, but the macro ratio of those calories are very important. In this case, keep protein high and get the rest from carbs and/or fat. I personally recommend a more Keto approach in this case because most people will be satiated longer. The point being, weight loss is one thing, but muscle sparring while losing weight is another. Understand what you are going after and know the correct path. [1] - When most people say they want to "lose weight", they really mean fat. Really, who wants to lose muscle? Probably no one. That is why calories don't tell the whole story. If, however, you absolutely don't care about muscle (and if you say "yes" here, I would personally question that), sure, just pay attention to calories and ignore the macro ratios.
- WhitneyLand 13y ago
  Bullshit. The fallacy is that someone can care only about weight loss. I tried it for years. I burn 2200 cal/day so I can eat a large Cinnabon every day (800 cal) and still lose weight. The problem is it fucks your insulin resistance and turns into diabetes. So, I don't consider a solution viable if one of the side effects is death.
  - fingerprinter 13y ago
    I'm not going to fight you on the point, see my note at the bottom. I feel most people say weight when they mean fat. Medically speaking, it is always about fat. If a doctor tells you to lose weight, they mean fat.
- revelation 13y ago
  Can you give some more detail on how burning muscles works? Wikipedia isn't particularly helpful.
joelle 13y ago
"But I made a decision to stop right there and then. I didn’t want to wait until Monday, or until we’d run out of crisps in the cupboard. I was putting an end to it." This is so true... why do we always say we'll start something on Monday? I'll start eating better... on Monday. I'll start my new workout routine... on Monday. Where did this come from? Why is it so hard to make the same commitment to yourself today? Congrats on making up your mind and following through! Super inspiring!
EricDeb 13y ago
A couple diet strategies that have worked for me: Drink a lot of calorie free, caffeinated liquids. I probably drink more diet soda than I should, but tea and coffee are great as well and healthier I find eating small amounts of crap can actually help. If your diet wasn't amazing in the first place, and your goal is to lose weight so you cut out all unhealthy foods, you're fighting two battles at once - cravings for sugary/unhealthy foods, and hunger cravings. Eating a small amount of ice cream or a few french fries can satisfy the unhealthy cravings, and work as diet foods as long as your calories are sufficiently low.
- mason55 13y ago
  > hunger cravings A good diet should almost never leave you hungry. The problem is the no meat/no fat diets that people try to go on. When you eat high carb you get very little bang for your buck in terms of both volume and satiety. 1 pound of chicken is only 520 calories and the protein will keep you fuller much longer than 520 calories of Oreos. 1700 calories is a good target for a typical male who wants to lose weight, which on a high protein diet can look something like: Breakfast: 16 oz non-fat cottage cheese (300cal) Lunch: 10 oz chicken breast (330cal), 1/2 cup dry rice = 1 cup cooked rice (300 cal) Dinner: 10 oz chicken breast (330cal), two pieces bread (220 cal), bbq sauce (140 cal) You're at 1620 cals so you can still have an afternoon snack and be right at your target. Add some veggies to your lunch and dinner and I challenge you to eat all that and still feel hungry. I'm not even recommending keto or paleo or any of that stuff, just that the reason people feel hungry when they diet is that they generally don't eat enough protein.
WhitneyLand 13y ago
>>I’m 6’4” and I’ll never be slight in appearance, that’s just genetics Maybe not - I bet somewhere in your ancestry we're lean, ripped, warrior/hunters who were like that due to the type of work they did, and because people didn't bring donuts every time someone in their tribe had a birthday. Serious congrats and well wishes to you in any case.
ja30278 13y ago
Exercise is wonderful, and (particularly strength training) can dramatically change how you look and feel. If you just want to lose weight though, just stop eating carbs. It really is that simple. There are many ways to lose weight, but dropping sugar (in all it's forms) is the most straightforward. It's the closest thing to a 'weight hack' I've ever seen. If you are currently overweight, just cut out carbs completely for 3 months..don't bother to count calories; don't fret about nonsense like whether your food is organic, or free range, or locally sourced. Just stop eating sugar. No rice, no potatoes, no bread, no sugared soft drinks, no pasta.
- jaggederest 13y ago
  Elimination diets work because people fail to replace the missing calories, not because there's something magical about the thing you choose to eliminate. You can do this with colors of food, textures, anything that eliminates ~30-40% of the available food options.
  - albemuth 13y ago
    Most of what's left if you eliminate high carb foods is either not calorically dense or hard to eat above maintenance calories. Going vegan limits a lot of choices while making overeating quite easy.
  - penguindev 13y ago
    You couldn't be more wrong. You realize you can stock different foods in your house, right? Or buy different things at the store? You really think people go to the store on a wheat belly / LCFH (low carb high fat) diet and buy 30-40% less stuff? I've lost over 10% body fat cutting the bread and carbs with NO exercise. Get a clue and either 1. try a no wheat / sugar / starch diet for just 2 weeks 2. read up on insulin, its causes and effects.
    - hughlomas 13y ago
      While we're on anecdotal evidence, I stay at a steady 155 (6 feet tall) eating pints of Ben and Jerry's and Krispy Kreme donuts fairly often.
daddykotex 13y ago
You were riding 100-150 miles a wee kand you didn't loose weight due to that? What was your caloric inputs...?
xyfer 13y ago
I once lost 140 pounds in a day. She was just weighing me down..
el_duderino 13y ago
Great. This is going to turn into a weight loss show off site. Nothing wrong with that & congrats but here?
jaredsohn 13y ago
Reddit /r/loseit and /r/fitness have excellent FAQs for weight loss and becoming fit and they offer communities if you are looking to learn or for support. http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq
- angersock 13y ago
  /fit/ on 4chan is an interesting place.
- SheepSlapper 13y ago
  /r/loseit helped me lose about 50 pounds, and getting another desk job helped me gain about 20 of those back :) Regardless, loseit is highly recommended.
hiccup 13y ago
Here's the author when he's heavy: https://www.everpix.com/public.html?id=cKG7XXCRD8BUu1tC https://www.everpix.com/public.html?id=cKG7XXCRD8BUu1tC And at the 1 year anniversary of his epic hangover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjlambert/8753966380/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjlambert/8753966380/
andykmaguire 13y ago
That's just badass
peterwwillis 13y ago
I have never looked fat, in baggy clothes. In tight fitting clothes, years ago when I was at my grossest, someone called me "the fattest skinny person i've ever seen." I began to exercise a lot. A lot to lose that beer belly. Finally it mostly came off. Then I fell for the excuse of "you need to eat more to gain muscle!" and ate the amount of calories some online calculator told me i'd need to maintain a given weight. I've never had abs, and I didn't get them then. I could out-run, out-squat, out-jump any crossfit contender I met; and I was still kind of flabby. My motivation sank. I moved away and stopped my routine. I went back to drinking and eating a lot, without working out as much. I lost strength. The belly began to return. Recently I arbitrarily decided to cut out drinking for two months, which helped a lot. Then I decided to cut out wheat. Not gluten, just wheat and products made from it. So far? I'm looking more cut than I ever did, and i'm hardly exercising. Eating smaller portions and less empty calories/alcohol is giving me the body image I always wanted. (It's probably just the lack of calories and not the wheat specifically)
penguindev 13y ago
This person has rediscovered the William Banting original low-carb diet from 1863[1] : "The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter." Banting knew carbs made you fat over a century ago, but of course since the scientists couldn't figure out WHY they discredited it. And so it ever was. They also knew carbs should be avoided by diabetics, but when insulin was invented they chose to (more profitably) just shoot people up all the time and make them sicker. Do you know what shooting yourself up with insulin constantly does, by the way? [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Banting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Banting [2] http://garytaubes.com/2012/02/on-the-greatly-exaggerated-demise-of-the-insulin-hypothesis/ http://garytaubes.com/2012/02/on-the-greatly-exaggerated-dem... [ see disturbing picture ]
yeureka 13y ago
This insistence in demonizing food groups or finding quick fixes by eliminating some sort of magic food stuff is fascinating to me. Isn't it obvious this is incorrect? I mean, go to Japan, where people live on white rice and wheat noodles and count how many obese people you see on the street. You will also notice that consumption of bacon, butter, eggs and dairy is very low compared to western diets and even though they consume fatty fish they don't eat it in the portions westerners consume meat.
- pyrocat 13y ago
  So you're saying, don't demonize or eliminate food groups, but cut out the bacon, butter, eggs and dairy?
- damian2000 13y ago
  Minor point but Japan is one of the world's foremost consumers of eggs. One of their popular dishes is raw egg on steamed rice. More here - http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional-diets/inside-japan http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional-diets/inside-japan - it mentions they eat more eggs per person than the US.
alexPetrov 13y ago
I've lost a little over 40 pounds (272 to 230-ish) since February (and I'm still losing weight pretty steadily). Here's what I do: 1. Bike to work (~5 there plus ~5 miles back for a total of ~10 miles per work day) 2. Stopped drinking soda (and most sugary drinks) 3. Switched to a standing desk at work (I pace when I think so it's almost like walking all day) 4. Do minor exercise during down time at work (push ups, dips mostly) 5. Regularly asking myself if I have time to go to the gym and actually going when I find I don't have a good excuse (I got this idea from that lucid dreaming trick). 6. Consistently trying to eat less in general (based on rough calorie counts) by asking myself if I need to eat more or cook that much. 7. Continually improving balance in diet (more fruits/veggies is usually what I need to do) 8. Cooking as much as I would eat in one sitting, but saving half for lunch the next day (no more seconds) I've always been pretty physically active, but I've also always had a tendency to eat as much as I wanted constantly. This led to rapid weight gain whenever circumstances had me exercising less. Restraining myself was a steady process, but now I actually can't eat as much as I used to, and I find I actually eat less when exercising less, which is good.
pyrocat 13y ago
OP probably has a gluten sensitivity. It causes inflammation and cuttiing it out of your diet like that can cause dramatic weight loss, even without exercise.

110 points by hiccup 13y ago

isn't that rapid? it sounds awesome (and congratulations), but i would perhaps check w a doctor or something that you're not losing weight too fast? [edit: not to ask why you're losing weight so fast (because you're not eating, duh), but whether that rate is healthy.]

staunch 13y ago
If you start rapidly losing (or gaining) weight with no obvious explanation that is a cause for concern. If you start eating much less, and exercising much more, you probably don't need to ask a doctor why you're losing weight.
- adamnemecek 13y ago
  I believe that the healthy rate is around 1 lbs per week with 2 lbs pushing it.
  - deleted 13y ago
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  - chollida1 13y ago
    Not when you are morbidly obese like the author was. When you are that big( pushing 300lbs) it's not uncommon to loose 5lbs a week at the start.
    - adamnemecek 13y ago
      Why is the weight loss mechanism different under those circumstances?
      - jadyoyster 13y ago
        Might be due to the muscle mass needed to carry such a heavy body around? Big muscles waste energy, even doing nothing much at all.
      - chollida1 13y ago
        http://www.livestrong.com/article/406097-why-do-overweight-people-lose-weight-faster/ http://www.livestrong.com/article/406097-why-do-overweight-p... http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121373121&page=1 http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121373121&pag... Higher Metabolism, more water weight to shed.
      - deleted 13y ago
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      - Someone 13y ago
        Is it that much different? 5/300 vs, say, 2/150 is only 25% larger.
  - adeaver 13y ago
    The average weight loss is supposedly that. Not everyone falls into that range and so long as you are eating enough to live, are enjoying yourself and not starving to death and are getting exercise it's not dangerous. That said, he (and anyone doing it) should probably check in with the doc just to make sure something internal isn't getting out of whack.
  - pyrocat 13y ago
    I dropped 40 lbs in 5 weeks when I changed my diet to solely fruits and vegetables (no gluten or dairy). Dropped from 185 to 145 with no exercise. The point wasn't to lose weight but to eliminate most of the possible food allergies (and later slowly add them back, to figure out what you're allergic to), and as a side effect I lost 40 lbs. I felt perfectly healthy and I've managed to stick around 150 lbs since then, after switching back to a mostly normal diet (minus gluten). No idea why "2 lbs a week" would be the "safe" rate.

grecy 13y ago

After attending hundreds of weight watchers meetings, and being involved with hundreds and hundreds of people losing a ton of weight, I still genuinely believe too many people make weight loss too complicated, which leads them to give up. Keep it simple (as the article did) If you burn more calories (energy) than you eat, you will lose weight. Obviously, you have choices. You can cut down on all the really high calorie stuff. You can increase your exercise to burn more. You can (ideally) do a bit of both. Of the hundreds of people I've known that have lost life-changing amounts of weight, I would estimate less than 1% of them had any idea how calorie dense the foods they were eating (and drinking) every day really are. For the majority of people that are severely overweight, all they have to do is cut out high calorie snacks like chips, soda and anything deep fried and they'll lose significant weight, without even getting off the couch.

kcbanner 13y ago
This is true. I found by simply cutting out soda and juice I began losing weight. I also found that after not drinking soda for several weeks, when I would drink it I would find it far too sweet and have actually lost the taste for it.
- nicksergeant 13y ago
  Try "flavored" seltzer water. I'm addicted to it now, and regular soda is largely undrinkable. You start to get used to the very, very subtle flavor in the seltzer water and after a while it just tastes like soda, but you're basically only drinking carbonated water.
  - kps 13y ago
    Agreed. Unflavoured seltzer is fine too. I don't like plain water, and was never a big fan of carbonated drinks (and definitely not soda water), but I do like carbonated water. Since there is no inexpensive seltzer in my region (only stuff that costs more than milk or juice) I finally got a CO₂ tank and carbonate tap water myself, usually with a squirt of lemon. It's easier than I had expected.
13y ago

Miyamoto 13y ago

You should trade some of that fat with muscle gain (especially upper body), instead of shedding it all. Develop a consistent weight lifting routine at the gym. You'll feel a lot better about yourself. Stationary cycling might make your legs great, but your upper body will probably start to look "skinny fat".

ihsw 13y ago
Can't forget the core muscle groups -- a solid core is essential to balancing yourself out. Lower back and abdominal regions being the main focus.

bcrescimanno 13y ago

While it's always great to hear success stories, I think the broader point of this post (and others like it) is that there's no "great secret" to weight loss. There's no silver bullet and certainly no short cut. The simple truth is: people in the western world eat crap and don't exercise. The success stories all boil down to a few simple points: eat real food, cut down on alcohol, and do some exercise that you find enjoyable enough to do it every day.

ericcholis 13y ago
Agreed, this story is as much about self-motivation and determination as it is about weight loss techniques. They both go hand in hand. I saw myself at 192 and didn't like that number, so I got myself down to 174 after a year and maintain that weight. It's not a huge difference in size, but I feel better because of it. I also learned the value of staying away from bad habits, like junk food and sedentary activities.
WhitneyLand 13y ago
The western world is no worse off. We die from poor nutrition but the rest of you kill yourself with cigarettes. At least when you're in the west second hand food smells better than second hand smoke.

netcraft 13y ago

I'm 31. A recent physical revealed that I have both high blood pressure and high cholesterol. They've put me on meds for the bp (which is now under control rather well) but they wanted me to try a lifestyle change before putting me on cholesterol meds. I was ~ 10 lbs overweight, nothing major - and while I wouldn't say I am fit by any means I wasn't out of shape either. But they wanted me to lose the 10 lbs and so they told me to stay under 2500mg of sodium per day, and less than 150g of carbs per day - no more than 50g per meal. And no red meat - all I can have meat wise basically is chicken, turkey and fish. Occasional lean pork. I am two months into it - and have already lost 15 lbs, without any additional exercise. The carbs were rather easy to give up really - less sugar in my coffee, no pasta, few potatoes. Sodas were a little harder, but at 40g of sugar for a single Dr. Pepper, the choice between that or a whole sandwich is an easy one to make. The sodium is quite hard if not impossible though, unless you make every meal at home and only use fresh ingredients. If it is in a box, bag or can you can forget it. There is hardly anything at any restaurant you can get that is low sodium though. Even salads are absolutely loaded with sodium. I will say I feel a little better, and not just from losing a couple inches around my waist. Water all day certainly helps. I don't think my cholesterol numbers are going anywhere really, I think my genetics are to blame, but I hope not. Just a short anecdote, but if you sit behind a desk all day and have put on a few lbs, its fairly easy to give up the fast food and watch your carbs. It sure didn't seem like it at first though.

gte910h 13y ago
Not everyone is salt sensitive. Talk to them about measuring your salt sensitivity (or you can do it at home, but less reliably). If salt is hard and the rest is easy, you may find losing weight and exercise the two you worry about, and ignore salt.
- ihsw 13y ago
  Salt sensitivity is also far easier to manage, and its impact is limited to putting you over the top when shit hits the fan (eg: high-sodium diet can make or break you when you stray into heart-attack territory).

seiferteric 13y ago

Interesting. A few months ago I was really ill one day. The night before I had drank heavily, but I think in this case I also got food poisoning from something. Anyway, I vowed to stop drinking that day, and have. What I realized is how much alcohol was affecting me. Even two days after drinking, I feel tired, less enthusiastic and more depressed. What I have found is that now I can exercise routinely (for several months now), where as before I would give up after a few days or weeks of trying. I think it's important for everyone to evaluate what in their lives may be holding them back, even if they don't realize it. Also, want to point out that I am not advocating everyone stop drinking, just that it seems alcohol affects me more so than others.

deleted 13y ago

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HPLovecraft 13y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat,_Sick_and_Nearly_Dead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat,_Sick_and_Nearly_Dead

taude 13y ago
I was going to post a link to this movie. I think they have it on AMZN Prime. Netflix has it. It's pretty inspirational, and discusses a great way to eat. Another one of interest is Forks Over Knives, which talks about the benefits of eating a mostly plant based diet. http://www.forksoverknives.com/ http://www.forksoverknives.com/

swanson 13y ago

I dropped around 60lbs (5'10" SW: 285) in first half of 2012 and have roughly maintained since (crept back to 235 - down to 230 again, still aiming for 200!). I made two small habit changes that I feel made a drastic difference: * Bring lunch to work everyday (brown bag, leftovers) * If I want to watch TV, I must be moving on the treadmill I would still go out to eat at work about once every two weeks and I would sometimes sneak in an episode of Breaking Bad on the couch, but overall, I stuck to those rules and everything else seemed to fall into place.

angersock 13y ago
Hah, awesome! I started in a similar build, and am down about 35 pounds mostly just through dietary changes (and stress, sadly). I've been biking everywhere this month and I can pretty clearly feel a difference. Congrats man.

OriginalAT 13y ago

This is an excellent writeup, and one that I have a few friends that could benefit from. I try to tell people that it is the little things you do every day that add up to big change. My friends mostly have this idea that you have to make huge sweeping changes to your life to see any results at all, but that is simply false. Start going on a walk or jog every evening instead of sitting in front of the television. Start having nuts instead of candy bars for snacks. Stuff like that adds up quick to some pretty impressive results. Excellent read, and keep up the good work!

001sky 13y ago

I upped my exercise, cycling 30-40 miles a day, every day for the first couple of weeks. Good to see!! When you are burning this level of level of energy every day, its actually <hard> to keep a stable weight. (Author must have had some base fitness, too so good for him.) At its core, Weight change is simple input/output math. The key variable is %deplete your glycogen levels (as % of full everyday.) That is the "cache" of energy from your daily diet. If you burn enough energy to deplete this, you will lose weight, as your body replenishes itself from non-dietary reserves (fat, protein en extremis). Surprisingsly, these are highly realistic numbers (<1lb/day>), even for relatively fit (height/weight proportionate) people. Moderating the pace to emphasise endurance over power will lead to more loss of net-mass. Asympotically, you will reach a point of gradual returns, but it is not at all surprising to lose significant mass under such prolonged workloads. TLDR: Glad to see this is not a crash diet. edits: clarity

ironchef 13y ago
"At its core, Weight change is simple input/output math." But I also think that...at its core it's very complex. What if you do all of that input in a single large meal vs 6 smaller meals? That's a BIG difference. Similarly just doing lots of cardio (and "burning" calories) vs high intensity workouts (like crossfit) have very different results.
- 001sky 13y ago
  If you're interested in simplifying the analsis, don't look at people who are trying to lose weight for your data. Look at people who are fighting to keep it on!! Read up on people who have to do significant amounts of work under limited caloric availability (not caloric restriction per se). At that level, 6 smaller meals keeps weight on (more efficient digestion). Eating fat leads to more weight loss (heat entropy). At a certain stage, how you do the work (cardio/crossfit) etc is irrelevant, because the order of magnitude of output=input. For a normal person at a gym, they are at a fraction of this workload. Walking an 4m/hour a day burns 400 calories a day. That's an order of magnitude off your metabolic rate of 2500/day. Walk or run 10 hours a day, you will burn 4000-8000 calories a day. You will deplete glycogen at hour 3-4 without a couple of those six meals. If you do this for 60 days on a 2500 calorie diet, even if its 40% fat, you will lose weight. Probably pushing yourself into unhealthy territory afer only a fraction of that time (if you have a standard BMI). That's a non-cardio, non-intensive workout BTW. That stuff is irrelevant, provided your metabolism is set to max by dynamic caloric consumption requirements at the same order of magnitude as base metabolic reuquirements. Cycling 40 miles a day (as the author claimed) is much closer to this threshold than other examples.

bluedino 13y ago

>> I’ve gone from a 42” waist to a 36”. I’m now buying t-shirts in a medium or maybe a large rather than an XL or XXL. Clothing is not sized that way in the USA. 36" waist fitting into a medium?

korethr 13y ago
Waist sizes for pants in the US are deceptive. When I started working with a personal trainer, I was wearing pants with a '34 inch' waist. However, when it came time to take measurements, and I finally relaxed my gut instead of sucking it in so we could get an accurate measurement, my waist measured 38 inches. Also, one can get 'adjustable waist' pants with elastic slots in them that allow the waist to expand such that someone with a 42 inch waist might fit into a pair of '34 inch' pants comfortably. They don't help the situation any.

gxs 13y ago

This is great and certainly don't want to discourage anyone. Some people need extreme transformations like this to be successful. Most people, however, don't. You'll have a much higher success rate if you're patient and change just one little thing at a time. Once you're comfortable, you move on to the next. I myself have lost over 30lbs and increased strength tremendously (power clean 250+). I went about it by doing one small thing at time. First I got used to going to the gym a couple days at a time. Once I was used to going to the gym, I started a strength program. Once I was used to going to the gym and being on a program, I started crossfit. Then after I was used to that, I started omitting wheat from my diet. Once I was used to that...you get the point.

readme 13y ago
I'd have to say of the three things, the one that definitely has to be given up to lose the weight is beer. Beer is not only caloric, but contains alcohol. When alcohol is ingested, the body's fat metabolism practically stops until it's out of your system. Drinking a beer each day would almost make it impossible to lose fat efficiently. It wouldn't matter if you were eating under, because your body would not be able to easily burn fat for fuel. Instead, it would burn other things, acetate (from the alcohol), carbs, your own muscle, then fat, etc.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- 127001brewer 13y ago
  Instead, it would burn other things ... your own muscle, then fat, etc. That's the first I've ever heard that a human body would burn muscle before fat. Also, a beer each day would be out of your system relatively fast, so it should have no lasting affects on your body's metabolism. Also, if you're drinking a beer a day, then be sure it's at least bottle-conditioned craft beer since the suspended yeast has many nutrients. ;)
  - pa5tabear 13y ago
    Is this true? I used to work out a lot, and was in good shape- muscular and probably 12% body fat. I haven't been working out for about eight months and I've lost probably ten pounds. I don't feel leaner though. I'm pretty sure I'm still at least 12% body fat, and that I've lost a significant amount of muscle. I think I have been significantly losing muscle without losing any significant amount of fat.

fingerprinter 13y ago

Since this is another weight loss post on HN, I'll tread out the old lines again[1]: If you only care about weight loss: calories in vs calories out. However If you care about maintaining muscle while losing fat, the story is still pretty simple, and calories still count, but the macro ratio of those calories are very important. In this case, keep protein high and get the rest from carbs and/or fat. I personally recommend a more Keto approach in this case because most people will be satiated longer. The point being, weight loss is one thing, but muscle sparring while losing weight is another. Understand what you are going after and know the correct path. [1] - When most people say they want to "lose weight", they really mean fat. Really, who wants to lose muscle? Probably no one. That is why calories don't tell the whole story. If, however, you absolutely don't care about muscle (and if you say "yes" here, I would personally question that), sure, just pay attention to calories and ignore the macro ratios.

WhitneyLand 13y ago
Bullshit. The fallacy is that someone can care only about weight loss. I tried it for years. I burn 2200 cal/day so I can eat a large Cinnabon every day (800 cal) and still lose weight. The problem is it fucks your insulin resistance and turns into diabetes. So, I don't consider a solution viable if one of the side effects is death.
- fingerprinter 13y ago
  I'm not going to fight you on the point, see my note at the bottom. I feel most people say weight when they mean fat. Medically speaking, it is always about fat. If a doctor tells you to lose weight, they mean fat.
revelation 13y ago
Can you give some more detail on how burning muscles works? Wikipedia isn't particularly helpful.

joelle 13y ago

"But I made a decision to stop right there and then. I didn’t want to wait until Monday, or until we’d run out of crisps in the cupboard. I was putting an end to it." This is so true... why do we always say we'll start something on Monday? I'll start eating better... on Monday. I'll start my new workout routine... on Monday. Where did this come from? Why is it so hard to make the same commitment to yourself today? Congrats on making up your mind and following through! Super inspiring!

EricDeb 13y ago

A couple diet strategies that have worked for me: Drink a lot of calorie free, caffeinated liquids. I probably drink more diet soda than I should, but tea and coffee are great as well and healthier I find eating small amounts of crap can actually help. If your diet wasn't amazing in the first place, and your goal is to lose weight so you cut out all unhealthy foods, you're fighting two battles at once - cravings for sugary/unhealthy foods, and hunger cravings. Eating a small amount of ice cream or a few french fries can satisfy the unhealthy cravings, and work as diet foods as long as your calories are sufficiently low.

mason55 13y ago
> hunger cravings A good diet should almost never leave you hungry. The problem is the no meat/no fat diets that people try to go on. When you eat high carb you get very little bang for your buck in terms of both volume and satiety. 1 pound of chicken is only 520 calories and the protein will keep you fuller much longer than 520 calories of Oreos. 1700 calories is a good target for a typical male who wants to lose weight, which on a high protein diet can look something like: Breakfast: 16 oz non-fat cottage cheese (300cal) Lunch: 10 oz chicken breast (330cal), 1/2 cup dry rice = 1 cup cooked rice (300 cal) Dinner: 10 oz chicken breast (330cal), two pieces bread (220 cal), bbq sauce (140 cal) You're at 1620 cals so you can still have an afternoon snack and be right at your target. Add some veggies to your lunch and dinner and I challenge you to eat all that and still feel hungry. I'm not even recommending keto or paleo or any of that stuff, just that the reason people feel hungry when they diet is that they generally don't eat enough protein.

WhitneyLand 13y ago

>>I’m 6’4” and I’ll never be slight in appearance, that’s just genetics Maybe not - I bet somewhere in your ancestry we're lean, ripped, warrior/hunters who were like that due to the type of work they did, and because people didn't bring donuts every time someone in their tribe had a birthday. Serious congrats and well wishes to you in any case.

ja30278 13y ago

Exercise is wonderful, and (particularly strength training) can dramatically change how you look and feel. If you just want to lose weight though, just stop eating carbs. It really is that simple. There are many ways to lose weight, but dropping sugar (in all it's forms) is the most straightforward. It's the closest thing to a 'weight hack' I've ever seen. If you are currently overweight, just cut out carbs completely for 3 months..don't bother to count calories; don't fret about nonsense like whether your food is organic, or free range, or locally sourced. Just stop eating sugar. No rice, no potatoes, no bread, no sugared soft drinks, no pasta.

jaggederest 13y ago
Elimination diets work because people fail to replace the missing calories, not because there's something magical about the thing you choose to eliminate. You can do this with colors of food, textures, anything that eliminates ~30-40% of the available food options.
- albemuth 13y ago
  Most of what's left if you eliminate high carb foods is either not calorically dense or hard to eat above maintenance calories. Going vegan limits a lot of choices while making overeating quite easy.
- penguindev 13y ago
  You couldn't be more wrong. You realize you can stock different foods in your house, right? Or buy different things at the store? You really think people go to the store on a wheat belly / LCFH (low carb high fat) diet and buy 30-40% less stuff? I've lost over 10% body fat cutting the bread and carbs with NO exercise. Get a clue and either 1. try a no wheat / sugar / starch diet for just 2 weeks 2. read up on insulin, its causes and effects.
  - hughlomas 13y ago
    While we're on anecdotal evidence, I stay at a steady 155 (6 feet tall) eating pints of Ben and Jerry's and Krispy Kreme donuts fairly often.

daddykotex 13y ago

You were riding 100-150 miles a wee kand you didn't loose weight due to that? What was your caloric inputs...?

xyfer 13y ago

I once lost 140 pounds in a day. She was just weighing me down..

el_duderino 13y ago

Great. This is going to turn into a weight loss show off site. Nothing wrong with that & congrats but here?

jaredsohn 13y ago

Reddit /r/loseit and /r/fitness have excellent FAQs for weight loss and becoming fit and they offer communities if you are looking to learn or for support. http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq http://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq

angersock 13y ago
/fit/ on 4chan is an interesting place.
SheepSlapper 13y ago
/r/loseit helped me lose about 50 pounds, and getting another desk job helped me gain about 20 of those back :) Regardless, loseit is highly recommended.

hiccup 13y ago

Here's the author when he's heavy: https://www.everpix.com/public.html?id=cKG7XXCRD8BUu1tC https://www.everpix.com/public.html?id=cKG7XXCRD8BUu1tC And at the 1 year anniversary of his epic hangover: http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjlambert/8753966380/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterjlambert/8753966380/

andykmaguire 13y ago

That's just badass

peterwwillis 13y ago

I have never looked fat, in baggy clothes. In tight fitting clothes, years ago when I was at my grossest, someone called me "the fattest skinny person i've ever seen." I began to exercise a lot. A lot to lose that beer belly. Finally it mostly came off. Then I fell for the excuse of "you need to eat more to gain muscle!" and ate the amount of calories some online calculator told me i'd need to maintain a given weight. I've never had abs, and I didn't get them then. I could out-run, out-squat, out-jump any crossfit contender I met; and I was still kind of flabby. My motivation sank. I moved away and stopped my routine. I went back to drinking and eating a lot, without working out as much. I lost strength. The belly began to return. Recently I arbitrarily decided to cut out drinking for two months, which helped a lot. Then I decided to cut out wheat. Not gluten, just wheat and products made from it. So far? I'm looking more cut than I ever did, and i'm hardly exercising. Eating smaller portions and less empty calories/alcohol is giving me the body image I always wanted. (It's probably just the lack of calories and not the wheat specifically)

penguindev 13y ago

This person has rediscovered the William Banting original low-carb diet from 1863[1] : "The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter." Banting knew carbs made you fat over a century ago, but of course since the scientists couldn't figure out WHY they discredited it. And so it ever was. They also knew carbs should be avoided by diabetics, but when insulin was invented they chose to (more profitably) just shoot people up all the time and make them sicker. Do you know what shooting yourself up with insulin constantly does, by the way? [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Banting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Banting [2] http://garytaubes.com/2012/02/on-the-greatly-exaggerated-demise-of-the-insulin-hypothesis/ http://garytaubes.com/2012/02/on-the-greatly-exaggerated-dem... [ see disturbing picture ]

yeureka 13y ago

This insistence in demonizing food groups or finding quick fixes by eliminating some sort of magic food stuff is fascinating to me. Isn't it obvious this is incorrect? I mean, go to Japan, where people live on white rice and wheat noodles and count how many obese people you see on the street. You will also notice that consumption of bacon, butter, eggs and dairy is very low compared to western diets and even though they consume fatty fish they don't eat it in the portions westerners consume meat.

pyrocat 13y ago
So you're saying, don't demonize or eliminate food groups, but cut out the bacon, butter, eggs and dairy?
damian2000 13y ago
Minor point but Japan is one of the world's foremost consumers of eggs. One of their popular dishes is raw egg on steamed rice. More here - http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional-diets/inside-japan http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional-diets/inside-japan - it mentions they eat more eggs per person than the US.

alexPetrov 13y ago

I've lost a little over 40 pounds (272 to 230-ish) since February (and I'm still losing weight pretty steadily). Here's what I do: 1. Bike to work (~5 there plus ~5 miles back for a total of ~10 miles per work day) 2. Stopped drinking soda (and most sugary drinks) 3. Switched to a standing desk at work (I pace when I think so it's almost like walking all day) 4. Do minor exercise during down time at work (push ups, dips mostly) 5. Regularly asking myself if I have time to go to the gym and actually going when I find I don't have a good excuse (I got this idea from that lucid dreaming trick). 6. Consistently trying to eat less in general (based on rough calorie counts) by asking myself if I need to eat more or cook that much. 7. Continually improving balance in diet (more fruits/veggies is usually what I need to do) 8. Cooking as much as I would eat in one sitting, but saving half for lunch the next day (no more seconds) I've always been pretty physically active, but I've also always had a tendency to eat as much as I wanted constantly. This led to rapid weight gain whenever circumstances had me exercising less. Restraining myself was a steady process, but now I actually can't eat as much as I used to, and I find I actually eat less when exercising less, which is good.

pyrocat 13y ago

OP probably has a gluten sensitivity. It causes inflammation and cuttiing it out of your diet like that can cause dramatic weight loss, even without exercise.