Secrets of Weight Loss Revealed! - A little is easy, a lot is hard, and results may vary.

Reason ^ | January 2008 | Jacob Sullum

[A knight without armor]

Once a coworker told me that one sleeps in 90 minute cycles and if you awake before it is up you are groggy. I find that to be true. I am definitely not a morning person (coffee helps though) but if I wake up less than an hour and a half before the alarm is set for and there is time for a little more sleep I know I will be groggier that day.

[A knight without armor]

LOL! You crack me up with that Kelpie Diet! Yes for Pete’s sakes walk the kelpie!

[Neoliberalnot]

“Um, fat is NOT a organ. Biology calls shenanigans on you.”

You are reading an old biology book. I have spent the best part of 30 years working in the biological sciences and yes, indeed, the view of the fat paradigm is changing. Fat has the characteristics I mentioned previously that warrant reclassification as an organ unto itself. The complexity of its defenses are legion.

[jdege]

Ah, but it matters WHEN said calories are ingested as to how rapidly they are burned. Calories ingested late in the day tend to be deposited as fat at night.

Most people have no idea how many calories they are consuming, even the religious calorie counters gives you only a rough guess.

And as for how many calories people are burning? It's impossible to measure outside a laboratory.

Weight control is primarily a feedback problem, and the sole meaningful measure is the scale. Unfortunately, that's a noisy measurement, and not many people know how to extract the real data from the noise.

That's what John Walker introduces, in his "Hacker's Diet". Not information on what to eat, or when to eat, or how much to exercise. There are plenty of diet books with advice on that. "The Hacker's Diet" provides methods that will tell you whether what you are doing is working - feedback so that you have the information you need to eat more, or less.

[A knight without armor]

“Fat is an organ and will defend its position and mass.”

OMG. Then diets make the fat mad. That explains a lot.

[Neoliberalnot]

“It can be done! Start slow & don’t overdue it. Watch the calories on the treadmill meter. Then when you think about eating sometheing you shouldn’t, think about how long it will take to burn it off.”

Bravo, starting slow and not burning out early is key. As a former college wrestler, we would eat, some of us as much as we wanted, then go ride the bike until most calories were burned off. Think about it, next time you eat too much, just go ride the bike at the appropriate level to burn off the calories.

[Neoliberalnot]

I have a revolutionary idea. Routinely burn more calories than consumed. I know, it’s a really radical idea!””

This is called starvation.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Oh very clever. Unfortunately, it is what is required to lose weight. Sad but true.

[Neoliberalnot]

Let me recite a typical day’s food for a poor farmer in South Carolina who walked behind a plow all day. I lived this way myself until I graduated high school and went straight into the Navy to get out from behind a plow.

Breakfast: two fried eggs, ham, grits with the ham drippings poured on, biscuits made with lard, whole milk, some sorghum molasses over biscuits, butter, coffee.

Dinner: (lunch to you city types) vegetables,(usually field peas, green beans, butterbeans, corn etc. more pork, more biscuits, corn bread, butter, iced tea, maybe some more molasses and or milk, maybe pie and or cake.

Supper: (dinner to you city types) often just some corn bread and milk, maybe some field peas, this was the light meal of the day, you don’t want a full stomach when you go to bed with the chickens and rise with the chickens.

This diet coupled with at least 12 hours of strenous manual labor including at least 25 to 35 miles of walking during the day will keep you as skinny as a broomstick! A lot of people ate this way and lived to be well past eighty and I know whereof I speak.””

Rip, you must have some age on you guy. My Dad farmed with horses and I am 57. We used tractors when we could but hauling hay (my brother, Dad and I put about 15,000 in the barns every year), fencing, and working cattle was no picnic except compared to farming with horses. My sweaty cap off to you. You probably gained weight in the Navy.

[MarkL]

“we cannot legislate or tax people into eating Brussels sprouts."

Another blow for the Brussel Sprout industry.

I happen to LOVE Brussel Sprouts. Have since I was a child (granted, I was a weird child.) I claim your share, and that'll keep the industry happy!

[MarkL]

I hate the thought of exercising in the morning

Anybody here remember the "Twenty Minute Workout?" It was this aerobics show with girls in tights jumping about. In Kansas City, it was on from 6:40am until 7:00am. One summer when a bunch of us were in college and living over the summer in the fraternity house (Delta Chi), a bunch of us would get up every morning for that show. We'd get up at about 5:15 to get ready for it, then we'd all walk down to the Hardees about 3 blocks away, grab some breakfast biscuits take out, and get back to the house just in time to sit down and enjoy our breakfast while watching the 20 minute workout! :-)

Those were the days! lol

Mark

[MarkL]

When you get a lot of strenuous exercise, you can get away with eating just about as much as you want of anything... When I was in college and played Lacrosse, during the pre-season we were having 2 a day practices, and I was eating a huge amount of food. Then I wrecked my knee and ankle, but foolishly didn't immediately stop eating like that... I gained 20 pounds before I realized what was going on!

Mark

[fanfan]

Back away from my baby cabbages, before you get hurt.

;-)

[Scotswife]

“Losing weight requires cutting carbs and exercise and no carbs ingested after 4 pm. Eat hearty in the morning and sparingly in the evening and never at night.”

That is exactly how I finally managed to be successful.
When I got the “muchies” at night, I made myself a protein shake, and that took care of the carb cravings.

[Alberta's Child]

Sleeping erratically probably doesn’t help at all. My experience is that getting into a regular sleep pattern goes a long way toward getting your body into a good daily routine.

[Alberta's Child]

Do you have a source for this?

I don't have a link to a source, but I remember reading something about this in a medical journal a few years ago. It does match my own personal experience, too.

[Alberta's Child]

You work all day (i.e., during all daylight hours) in the summertime? Wow!

[Alberta's Child]

Why do you think that is so? I thought deep, uninterrupted sleep was the goal to maintain healthy metabolism.

I believe this is correct, but "deep, uninterrupted sleep" does not necessarily occur over longer periods of time. I think the point is that it's easier to get a deep, uninterrupted sleep while the sun is down -- especially if you go to bed at the same time every night.

That last point may be more important than most people realize. I once lost quite a bit of weight during a "change-of-lifestyle" period in my life, and one of the keys was that I was taking a review course for a professional licensing exam on Saturday mornings. This meant that I couldn't stay up late on Friday nights like I was used to doing, and I think this played a big role in my success.

[RockinRight]

Well except for about an hour in the morning and an hour and a half in the evening...it varies. I usually get home about 7.

[RockinRight]

Between my constant congestion problems and mild sleep apnea...