A small unconventional fitness pamphlet which I hope will convince the unhealthy

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7806002

by _ykl9 • 12 years ago

6 12 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

[link redacted]

There's nothing groundbreaking in here (I haven't gone out and performed novel controlled research), but I think I've nailed the science of fat loss down to a good core set of effective and synergistic techniques. (I've personally dropped from 210 to 160 pounds in the past 3 months.)

I made a post earlier (which I pulled this morning for editing) and got some pretty good feedback ([link redacted]). (Mods, please let me know if I'm asking for a hellban by deleting and reposting this.)

Does anyone else have any suggestions, and is this the sort of material you'd share with friends and family?

pdx• 12 years ago

Some strange encoding issues on Windows Chrome Version 35.0.1916.114 m

  Required: Carbohydrate restriction (specifically, low-carb/high-fat)

LCHF is â€œa high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate dietâ€ most often done for weight loss, but with many advantages over the standard Western HCLF diet, such as lower â€œrisk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and much moreâ€.

_ykl96• 12 years ago

Ah, that must be Google Docs messing up my normal ascii quotes (I had a similar issue with some characters on my Android phone earlier). Thanks.

joshdance• 12 years ago

I would not share this with my friends or family. Primarily because telling someone how to lose weight, is akin to telling them they are fat. If they asked for it, I might share this link.

On another note this is basically 1 page guide to the 4 hour body. Even some of your word choices are the same (force multiplier). Might want to cite that.

runjake2• 12 years ago

This looks to be quite different than 4HB. What leads you to it being similar, other than the wording?

_ykl96• 12 years ago

Yeah, for the record, I've never heard of 4 Hour Body.

_ykl96• 12 years ago

Haha, well, not unprompted / with no context; that would be pretty rude.

I was thinking more like if you already knew someone was trying to lose weight, or if someone were already on your case about eating a high-fat diet. In my case, a bunch of people have been asking me how I lost such a ridiculous amount of weight since they'd last seen me not much long prior.

joshvm• 12 years ago

No mention of canola (rape) oil? Basically lower saturated fat than olive oil and with a pretty high smoke point. I use it for general cooking and use olive oil as flavour enhance for e.g. salads.

There's rising evidence that supplements are bunk and/or unnecessary. It's almost as bad as the anti-oxidant nonsense. Recently it was discovered that fish oil is likely to be bullshit too, based on poor research and a tiny, biased subject pool. Meta analysis has implied that vitamin supplements don't do anything for people.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/17/vitamin-...

The nutrient that folks are (usually) most deficient in is calcium, it's quite hard to find in food. The only place you can get it easily in significant quantities is milk and bones. People on poor diets are typically lacking in staples like Vit B, Vit C, etc but that's usually because they don't eat enough vegetables. Just increase your intake of 'super' greens like Brocolli, Spinach and Kale and you'll smash your RDA easily.

People fail at dieting because they cheat or they're not willing to give up sugar in lieu of sweeteners. Ever look at a pack of biscuits? Each one nullifies about 20 minutes of exercise.

_ykl96• 12 years ago

Canola oil does have a decent smoke point, but I'd never recommend it over ghee on LCHF, because ghee has a higher smoke point, better taste, fairly interesting nutritional properties, and more saturated fat.

Agreed on the supplements; I've been taking the ones I've been taking to hedge my bets, but I wouldn't advise anyone else to take any without a specific purpose (unless they really wanted to of their own accord).

runjake2• 12 years ago

The only thing I immediately disagree with is your recommendation of avoiding beans. While they have starch, they are a great source of fiber (for that feeling of fullness and digestive regularity) and slow-burning carbs (for energy).

It's pretty hard to maintain energy throughout the day just with your "good" list and maintain some sort of digestive regularity.

If you get sick of beans, drown them in some Safeway brand salsa or a dap of lowfat sour cream plus some Sriracha sauce.

Anyway, great project, even if it only inspires one other person. That should be reward enough.

Source: I've been a little overweight, a weight lifter, mountaineer, and ultramarathon runner, so I have food science down for my body.

_ykl96• 12 years ago

Nothing wrong with beans in a low-to-moderate-carb diet; I just wouldn't recommend them to someone on a ketogenic diet. Personally, I get most of my fibre from my bread (there are other similar products out there, but the one I linked basically replaces digestible starch with fibre and resistant starch).

As far as energy levels, I personally feel great, but YMMV I suppose.

Thanks a lot for the positive feedback! This document is actually a slightly expanded version of some notes I emailed a friend a few weeks ago (which got him on LCHF, so it's already made a difference in at least one person's life).

(You'd be shocked at the vitriol I received when I tried to share this on reddit, simply for (god forbid) including my affiliate tag in the Amazon links on the off chance that it would help recoup some of the cost of that expensive .ht domain; granted, I already knew it was taboo there so I won't pretend that wasn't a faux pas on my part.)

curiousphil• 12 years ago

Any thoughts on vegetarians following this plan? Is there a preferred meat alternative in the diet?

_ykl96• 12 years ago

It looks like /r/vegetarianketo recommends TVP: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textured_vegetable_protein (I had some non-keto veggie lasagna made with TVP a few months ago, and I thought it was delicious).

Also, allegedly oysters are okay to eat?

Oysters are generally considered to be fair play on most vegetarian and vegan lists of acceptable foods. They lack a central nervous system, can’t feel pain, are renewably farmable, and are a delicious seafood that is bursting with all sorts of nutrients.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2010/04/consider_the...

A small unconventional fitness pamphlet which I hope will convince the unhealthy

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