
Permanent Weight Loss - shawndumas
http://www.crockford.com/pwl/
======
thisisnotmyname
This has gotten a lot of upvotes in a very short time, so it must be ringing
true with a lot of readers. I'd encourage some healthy skepticism.

1) It is really tempting to try to understand ourselves based on the assumed
lives of our evolutionary ancestors, but the fact is we know almost nothing
about their lives, and conclusions we draw from what we can guess are unlikely
to be accurate.

2) There is not one citation in this entire article. This is all opinion, no
matter how true it sounds.

3) He offers medical advice based solely on his personal experience. Sleep
apnea may not be the same to all people.

~~~
mhd
With all that "paleo diet" rage, raw-foodians etc, I think that pop
evolutionary biology is the new pop psychology.

Nutritional science is friggin' hard. Extrapolating from biological reactions
has to take a huge load of variables into account and empirical studies have
to monitor a huge bunch of people over a long period of time -- and all of
them are lying.

~~~
jacobolus
Do you know of any _good_ nutritional science resources/explanations? I wish I
knew where to find a readable overview based on careful research.

~~~
eru
There was an article on HN about the subject a while ago
([http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t....](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html))
that was quite interesting and modest.

~~~
dmm
That article is as much BS as the rest. Take the first line:

> Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Why should I eat "mostly plants"? He hands out a bunch of advice and never
bothers to lay out a basis for his opinions.

~~~
count
He spent 4 books laying out the basis for his opinions, along with citations,
medical research, and the like. That article is just a summary of a long body
of work by Pollan.

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callmeed
_"There is one other thing. You must exercise at least an hour every day.
Walking is best."_

Last month, we exhibited at our largest trade show of the year–at the MGM in
Vegas. I ate like a pig for a week. The Grand Buffet. Kobe ribeye at
Craftsteak. Sushi. Beer. In N Out Burgers. You name it.

When I came home, I had lost 6 pounds.

We also walked a ton that week, stood in our booth for 8 hours a day, and
hauled a lot of stuff during the setup/teardown.

I think people misunderstand what it means to "exercise" (at least in terms of
losing weight). You don't have to go to a gym ... just get on your feet and
move.

~~~
ghshephard
Agreed. It's remarkable - My weight has varied between 160 pounds and 210
pounds, and almost has 100% correlation with a single factor - whether I was
carpooling or walking into work. Diet, secondary exercise, type of food I'm
eating - none of them seem to have anywhere near the causative impact as just
simply walking 25-30 minutes into work (and back) each morning. Every morning.
Every Day. For months on end.

I have friends who mock this, and talk about how much more important it is to
get into their peak-heart-rate on their at-home treadmill. That they've
actually used maybe a couple dozen times.

I don't have a choice - have to walk to work. And Back. 3 1/4 miles a day.
Every day.

That's almost a marathon a week. :-)

~~~
mannicken
Walking 3.25 mi in 25-30 minutes? That sounds a bit too fast :)

PS. Sorry I'm just in a bad mood and feel the need to be anal.

~~~
blangblang
I read it to be 3.25 mi total each day and 25-30 minutes each direction making
the 3.25 mi tile ~ 1 hour. That seems a reasonable pace to me.

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zyb09
Yes and no. To be honest I think right now nobody has a god damn clue how the
body regulates fat and how weight gain really works. People recommend fruits,
while fructose is probably one of the worst things you can eat. I can only
recommend the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" from Gary Taubes. Basically
it explains the philosophy behind low carbohydrates, no sugar and high protein
& fat. Makes evolutionary sense, too. At least that's what I believe in.

~~~
anamax
> To be honest I think right now nobody has a god damn clue how the body
> regulates fat and how weight gain really works.

And, it's unclear that it necessarily works the same way in all people.

My opinion is that decomposition is the only permanent weight loss. Before
then, there's maintenance, both successful and not which varies by both
individual and circumstance.

------
Evgeny
_the initial role of big brains was for sexual attractiveness. For a long
time, hominid females were selecting for big brains. Big brains served the
same purpose as big tails do for peacocks. I think perhaps that those females
were determined to someday produce a man with the mental capacity to
understand women._

While this abstract is slightly funny, I suddenly realized that I have no idea
about why humans evolved big brains. Why most of the other species do not
select for bigger brains, while human evolution seems to suggest that a bigger
brain is a much better survival tool compared to sharp claws or protective
colour? Certainly, other species would have offspring which have slightly
larger/smarter brains. Why is that only a few species (humans, dolphins ...)
evolved relatively large brains?

~~~
ZenzerNet
Probably random mutation that happened to turn out beneficial for us. In
evolutionary sense, a larger brain doesn't seem to be of utmost importance for
reproduction.

~~~
_pius
_Probably random mutation that happened to turn out beneficial for us._

Yes, but isn't that just restating the theory of evolution and natural
selection?

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mattmaroon
There's strong evidence that exercise is actually counterproductive when
trying to lose weight.

~~~
axod
bs. How many fat joggers do you see?

It's pretty simple - burn more fat, eat less crap.

~~~
mattmaroon
If you assume that's a causation rather than a correlation do the world a
favor and don't go into science.

~~~
axod
My point is, if fat people jog, they don't stay fat for long.

Perhaps I should have been clearer. But I'm lazy.

~~~
mattmaroon
Yeah, but evidence suggests that isn't true. Studies of people trying to lose
weight show that those who exercise and those who don't lose the same amount
if you control for eating.

People who cut out calories and exercise lose the same as people who cut out
calories and don't. People who exercise without changing eating habits don't
lose weight, just like those who do nothing at all.

~~~
axod
It's best obviously to do both though. You really don't want saggy skin
falling off your body all over the place...

------
pier0
Consult an attorney before applying any of the tips

