

John's Amazing Diet Secrets Revealed - jgrahamc
http://www.jgc.org/blog/2010/01/johns-amazing-diet-secrets-revealed.html

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rms
>And, boy, was I hungry at first. After a while I wasn't hungry any more...

That's the real secret, and it could use some expansion. Isn't that where 99%
of dieters fail? Why were you able to overcome your hunger when so many people
find that an impossible challenge?

People have a great deal of difficulty overcoming that feeling of hunger --
realizing that just because they feel something, they don't have to act on it.
I've jokingly considered writing a diet book focused on this concept;
apparently diet books are the only types of books that consistently make
money.

~~~
gvb
The Atkin's theory, which I believe has been largely substantiated, is that
carbohydrates (sugar, HFCS) do not satisfy hunger, they tend to trigger
hunger.

John cut out the sugar and his hunger dropped. FWIIW, my experience was the
same and there are many others who echo this.

See "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" (UCSF lecture) which goes into detail on the
metabolism of carbohydrates, especially HFCS
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM> and discussed on HN:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1006980>

One of many references:
[http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/riskfactors/a/lofatlocarb_2...](http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/riskfactors/a/lofatlocarb_2.htm)

~~~
kingkongreveng_
You have to say specifically "carbohydrate" and not single out sugar. People
try to make this false distinction between "complex" and simple carbohydrates
and sugar. ANY starch is broken down rapidly in the small intestine and
absorbed as sugar.

~~~
gruseom
_ANY starch is broken down rapidly in the small intestine and absorbed as
sugar._

That may be an oversimplification. Lustig, in the lecture mentioned by the GP,
shows that there are big differences between how the body metabolizes glucose
and fructose. If these differences are significant enough (Lustig's thesis is
that they are), then it isn't a "false distinction" to single out sugar/HFCS
from other carbohydrates.

~~~
kingkongreveng_
He's talking about the uniquely hepatoxic properties of fructose vis-a-vis
other sugars. I'm talking about the metabolism damaging insulin responses
triggered by all carbohydrates, regardless of whether it's a piece of whole
grain bread or a spoonful of honey (fructose).

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wheels
Cola is the big one for me. When I start feeling a bit pudgy, it's the first
to go. I drink a good deal of coffee and tea, but when I worked out the
calorie math, it's actually pretty insane how much sugar is in cola:

    
    
      - 250 ml (about 8 oz) of cola has 120 calories
      - 350 ml (about 12 oz) of tea or coffee gets 2-3 sugar cubes
      - 2 sugar cubes is 24 calories
      - Cola has 10x the calories/volume as sweetened coffee or tea
      - I drink 1-2 liters of coffee + tea + cola daily.
    

So even switching from cola to sweetened tea is a big cut back. Other than
that, I just do restraint at the grocery store. Usually I'll allow one
chocolate bar every couple weeks.

One thing that I learned when we were out in California for the summer is that
the portion sizes in the US can really get you. I shot up _15_ pounds (175 ->
190) in 3 months without noticeably altering my diet. After 4 months back in
Germany it was gone again, without any intentional intervention.

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shin_lao
Cutting sugar is extremely efficient and is guaranteed to make you lose weight
(as well as reducing the odds of getting a cancer).

Reducing the amount of food works as well, but it depends on what you current
food intake is.

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alrex021
There is no real "secret". Its simple mathematics. Getting to know what the
caloric numbers mean is the starting point. (Its like in personal finance
knowing what the debit and credit columns mean.)

For the "math" part, I wrote this short blog post:
<http://www.hackersinshape.net/archives/109>

Oh and the diet part will get you only so far and it is the most challenging
part, but without exercise you are missing the big step in speeding up your
metabolism that in return burns more calories and the combination which
results in exponential results. (Leaner more muscular look. Unless you want
you leftover skin to be hanging on the floor of course, I'd strongly recommend
exercise as part of the program)

I weighed 85kg on +/-179cm with 25% body-fat. Year later, I weighed 73.5kg
with 7% body-fat. Healthier I have ever been and am still sticking to it three
years later. Here is my 1 year review:
<http://www.hackersinshape.net/archives/16>

[edit] Know that there is no secret or any form of black magic :), its a
combination of "a) some basic knowledge" (Know what you eating [1 avg. donut
== +/-250 calories. That equates to about an hour of running.]), "b) smaller
quantities of whole foods at more frequent intervals" and "c) exercise" (Both
cardio and resistance).

~~~
WilliamLP
> There is no real "secret". Its simple mathematics.

It's math but it is definitely not simple math. Both overeating and
undereating lead to adaptations and those adaptations can be very different in
different people and different conditions, for example stress levels and
macronutrients. Those adaptations can affect the body as well as the mind
(through perceived energy levels). And body and mind are intertwined in a way
you cannot ignore.

Ultimately there is a delta calorie equation that is simple, but it's as
useless and trite as saying that a pregnant woman gains weight because she
eats more calories than her body burns. It's trivially true, but misses the
most important levels.

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e40
This is essentially the diet I've followed over the years. There are a couple
more things I do:

1\. Only eat when hungry. When I gain weight, it's always because of this one.
Over time, I become less sensitive to the state of my stomach. It's OK to skip
or push back a meal if you really aren't that hungry. There's a difference
between "yeah, I could eat now" and "my stomach is completely empty from the
last meal".

2\. Absolutely no snacking between meals.

3\. Walking. I walk a lot and I think it aids in digestion. My body doesn't
work as well without it. I'm sure any other exercise would do.

4\. Drink lots of water. (I realize this isn't a new item, but it's important,
so I listed it.)

Lastly, on the hunger aspect: yes, it's very difficult to work through the
desire to eat. After a few weeks I find that it subsides and I can easily
ignore it. What I did was make a game of it. "I'm hungry now." "I'll bet I can
wait another hour and not be distracted by it." "Wow, an hour's gone by!"

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cschneid
I'm going to chime in with my own progress I've made over the last few months,
and it shows a slightly different path than what the author took.

I started at 220 pounds. I am currently 220 pounds. The difference? My body
fat percent has gone down 5 or 6% (from high twenties to low twenties), I have
muscles where there were none before.

In the end, my goal weight is still below where I am, but if I had just cut my
diet, I would have not made the same kind of progress I have with exercise.
(specifically, with a trainer who pushes me harder, with appointments that
force me to show up).

To be fair, I still have a gut, and that'll be lost by diet, but the huge
progress I've made is entirely attributable to exercise.

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dzlobin
He's got the right idea. As Michael Pollan( author of the Omnivore's Dilemma,
which everyone should read) says: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants"

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philk
Weightlifting is a useful adjunct to a well thought out diet as it encourages
the body to retain muscle and drop fat.

Ideally you'd add in some decent lifting with free weights three times a week
with the standard compound exercises (bench press, squats, deadlifts, overhead
press and pullups/chins).

Additionally, as far as dealing with hunger there's a few things you can do:

1) Prepare a whole lot of salads and other calorically sparse things. The
volume of food will displace more energy rich foods. One particularly easy
implementation of this I've seen includes eating three apples each day.

2) You can stave off hunger by chewing ice chips or drinking water (even just
chewing with an empty mouth seems to promote satiety).

3) Find more interesting distractions. Often it's hard to avoid eating food
because there's not much else around to occupy yourself with. If you find
something better/more interesting you can often go much longer without eating.

~~~
Mc_Big_G
_2) You can stave off hunger by chewing ice chips or drinking water (even just
chewing with an empty mouth seems to promote satiety)._

Chewing gum really helps me in the same way.

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JadeNB
I don't know why we need 'amazing diet secrets' at all; it seems to me that,
barring metabolic disorders, most of it is just "Do _something_ , anything,
about your diet".

I pursued the following program for a semester: 1 meal a day (a sizable, but
not huge, dinner at the end of the day --often McDonald's), and a 2/3 mile
walk. I lost 15 kg, from over 80 kg to just over 65 kg, in the semester, and a
few of those kilograms went away already in the first _week_ \--talk about
instant gratification.

When that drop was done, I went back to 2 meals a day but kept up the walking
(although essentially no other regular exercise). I basically eat what I feel
like, although, after a semester of eating 1 meal a day, what I feel like
eating is much less than it used to be. I have been a bit over 60 kg for about
3 years now.

~~~
larsberg
You'll find that something more substantial can be required once you're no
longer in your 20s :-)

~~~
JadeNB
I was about to respond indignantly to that, but then I realised that, 3 years
ago, I _was_ in my 20's. Well played, sir!

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tome
I've just started the cutting phase of my weightlifting diet. I'm eating
healthily but at about 500 kcal per day less than my resting metabolic rate
(2500 kcal down from 3000 kcal).

It's not so much the hunger I have problems with but the _tiredness_. I can
still concentrate well on my work, but social situations seem to be a lot
harder! I guess I feel a bit more grumpy than usual.

~~~
bobdole2695
You don't drop below your resting metabolic rate, you drop below the level you
need to maintain _PLUS_ the weightlifting activity you're preforming. Large
shortfalls in calories are counter productive unless it's in a short burst.

Also, make sure you're getting enough dietary fat. Many make the change to a
low carb diet by just dropping carbs from their low fat diet. You need to up
your fat intake because what you were taking in for EFAs previously are now
going to be cannibalized for energy instead.

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brianpeiris
I'm on the Hacker's Diet right now! As John and others have said, it's all
about the math and the self-feedback.

I weigh myself everyday and record it on the online Hacker's Diet
application[1]. It gives you a moving average (newer measurements count more
than older ones) and gives you a great trend chart to track your progress and
give you immediate feedback.

I don't exercise (yet) since I'm already losing weight at an acceptable rate
and I've managed to get past the point of craving more from a meal. However,
the choice is entirely yours -- if you want to eat a little more on the side,
you have to make up for those calories with some (daily) exercise.

[1]: <http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/online/hdo.html>

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jessriedel
ooohhhhhh....I had been eating _more_.

~~~
JadeNB
It's the bulimic's secret: Eat enough to experience ingredient overflow. :-)

~~~
JadeNB
OK, I'm a newcomer to YCombinator …. I thought it was almost exactly as
tasteful as jessriedel's comment
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1083582>), with that added techie twist
to make it fun for the crowd; but obviously I misjudged the proper level of
discourse. I am sorry. (Were this Reddit, I would delete it, but I see that
that is (probably sensibly) not an option for posts that have been voted
upon.)

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csomar
Stop watching TV while eating

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kingkawn
That's not hunger, its the feeling of getting pretty.

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andrewcooke
how did this get 5 votes so quickly when almost everything else on the new
page has a single vote? is this an example of "friends" voting together?

~~~
dzlobin
Surely it could not have been genuine interest in the article, right?

~~~
andrewcooke
well, it could be, but it doesn't seem like the usual kind of link for here
[edit: for example, when i posted, almost all comments - including one now
deleted - were negative]. on the other hand, it seems that it's a popular user
so perhaps people are simply interested. it's also possible that it got to the
front page with just a couple of early votes and then took off (a post of my
own just behaved as strangely, which has made me think that is likely).

on the other hand, the pile of downvotes before anyone makes any kind of
attempt to explain, tends to confirm the worst.

~~~
dzlobin
The pile of downvotes is quite likely a stab at the naysayery you displayed in
disregarding an interesting article under the ASSUMPTION that someone did not
truthfully obtain their votes

~~~
pmichaud
Actually, if you read his post, he's just asking if that happened or not.

