Body hacks for healthy weight loss

mybasicfitness

So studying many doctors over the years and other nutrition specialists. I noticed there is so many paths to weight loss and so much good advice and bad advice. But I noticed if you look at both ends of the spectrum the all carb diet to the all fat diet, and look at commonalities there is more truth in what is agreed upon. Also fasting has had also so many benefits as well.
Hoping to find people who would like to share types of information that they have heard helps with weight loss, healing the body, and even muscle growth????

estherdragonbat

There's really only one path to weight loss (well, leaving aside amputation, anyway) but many vehicles you can take down that road. It comes down to a calorie deficit. Everything else is trying to find a way to stay in that deficit as painlessly as possible.

I've dropped 107lbs as a kosher ovo-lacto vegetarian focusing on my protein and iron and letting everything else fall where it falls. And most days it falls slightly over 50% carbs and slightly under 30% fat. I also exercise long, but not strenuous. In other words, I try to get in a 2-hour walk daily and my speed over time has naturally increased to around 3.5 mph, but that's a nice easy pace for me now. On days when I can't walk at least 90 minutes, I've got a Gazelle-Edge glider in my basement. I strength-train with dumbbells 5 days a week, alternating days between upper/core and lower body with two rest days.

If you're trying to lose weight, don't expect to gain much muscle. The processes are different. In general, you build muscle in a calorie surplus, you lose fat in a calorie deficit. That doesn't mean you can't hang onto the muscle you've already got and you can definitely build strength without building muscle.

Fasting really doesn't have any proven benefit I can think of. Some people find intermittent fasting (eating their calories within a limited window each day) helps them curb hunger.

As for healing the body, losing weight is often a great place to start. Talk to your doctor about any underlying medical issues though.

L1zardQueen

CICO

AnvilHead

There’s one path to weight loss - consuming fewer calories than you expend. There are many ways to accomplish that.

The ‘benefits’ of fasting, beyond assisting some people with satiety and adherence, are highly overstated and not proven in human research.

Keto_Vampire

Slight kcal deficit, adherence, accurate tracking/accountability, & lots of time.
Consider increasing protein/fiber intake for satiety

Horsekeeper

CICO, while true, is kind of an over simplification. Look at this 2009 study
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0004377
which demonstrates that if you lose weight with just calorie restriction, your TDEE goes down significantly. If you combine calorie restriction with appropriate exercise, the study found that your TDEE actually goes up. This will have a significant impact on your maintenance. This is important because many people find that they can lose weight, but have trouble keeping it off.

Many people can and do lose weight eating some amount of sugar, snacks, and fast food as long as they limit their calories. However, a study from Stanford University showed that significantly reducing sugar intake in overweight children resulted in reducing insulin resistance, which in turn makes it easier to lose weight.

Another (less scientific) experiment was done where 24 people were recruited from a hiring center, split into two groups of 12, and told they were helping with a study on how easy it was to assemble furniture. In fact, one group was provided with bottled water only, and the other group was provided with water and healthy snacks. At lunch (for the real experiment) each was given the same amount of money and told to buy their lunch at a nearby grocery store. The ones in the bottled-water-only group bought 2-3 times as many calories as the ones who had been supplied with healthy snacks. While different people have different metabolisms, and breakfast isn't for everyone, this suggests that letting yourself get really hungry may result in consuming more calories than you might have with balanced meals.

lynn_glenmont

Horsekeeper wrote: »

CICO, while true, is kind of an over simplification. Look at this 2009 study
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0004377
which demonstrates that if you lose weight with just calorie restriction, your TDEE goes down significantly. If you combine calorie restriction with appropriate exercise, the study found that your TDEE actually goes up.

Shocker. TDEE at point A is higher than TDEE at point B, when body weight is lower at point B, all else being equal.
TDEE at point A is lower than TDEE at point B, when body weight is lower at point B but activity and energy expenditure is higher.

Yes, CICO is "kind of an over simplification" if you compare it to all the ways people try to make weight loss complicated and the ways they focus on things that have, at best, very marginal effects, like TEFF. And even after all that focus on things that have a minor effect on CI or CO, CICO remains true.

Another (less scientific) experiment was done where 24 people were recruited from a hiring center, split into two groups of 12, and told they were helping with a study on how easy it was to assemble furniture. In fact, one group was provided with bottled water only, and the other group was provided with water and healthy snacks. At lunch (for the real experiment) each was given the same amount of money and told to buy their lunch at a nearby grocery store. The ones in the bottled-water-only group bought 2-3 times as many calories as the ones who had been supplied with healthy snacks. While different people have different metabolisms, and breakfast isn't for everyone, this suggests that letting yourself get really hungry may result in consuming more calories than you might have with balanced meals.

How many calories in "healthy snacks" did that group consume? Did the unfed group actually consume all the calories they bought? I.e.g, was there a real difference in overall calories consumed during the period of the study?

OddDitty

Here's a secret: do what is right for you and YOUR needs when it comes to weight loss. People will tell you all kinds of things. I know a woman who swears she lost 50 pounds drinking vinegar. Well, she developed an ulcer too, which made eating a pain until she got the ulcer fixed.

What I have to do for me may not be right for you and your needs. Talk with a doctor and nutritionist and for goodness sakes, don't let people on here tell you how to lose your weight! No offense to anyone but its not always a one-size-fits all proposition.

I'm first stage non-alcoholic cirrhosis. My liver says "please rescue me!" And it also affects the gall bladder as well. While I love our keto friends, I cannot eat keto! My system doesn't like the fat that is often found in keto diet plans; and my digestive tract thinks almond flour replacement for whole wheat is a nuclear assault (if you were around my bathroom after I've eaten something made with almond flour, that would make sense).

Our friends who recommend nutrisystem, etc, have no idea what the sodium does to a liver patient, either.

So I do the basic stuff:

• Make menus out in advance as much as possible
• Keep counting the stuff I need to count to lose the weight and take care of my internal organs.
• Enjoy an occasional treat.
• Pray a lot.

Good luck!

Horsekeeper

If you get a chance to look at the paper, it was the sedentary EE was higher in those who exercised as well as cut calories, and was lower in those who only cut calories, rather than TDEE. I should have been more careful in the summary.

As to the third experiment, yes, the total calories consumed were much less in the group who had the "healthy snacks". Good question - I wish I could find the pointer to the description of the experiment.

MikePTY

You do not need to "hack" your body. You just need to eat less calories than you are burning, creating a calorie deficit. You will see CICO preached here endlessly, because it is the truth.

The problem with "hacks" is that even when they do work for a time to encourage you to do certain types of behaviors that will allow you to have a calorie deficit and lose weight, they are often not sustainable. When choosing the best practice to lose weight, you need to think "is this something sustainable long term." Can you really see yourself eating like that for the rest of your life (adjusting your calorie goal to a maintenance level when you want to maintain), or is the plan to eat like that for a couple of months until you lose the weight, and then go back to how you were eating before? The former works much better than the latter.

AnnPT77

mybasicfitness wrote: »

So studying many doctors over the years and other nutrition specialists. I noticed there is so many paths to weight loss and so much good advice and bad advice. But I noticed if you look at both ends of the spectrum the all carb diet to the all fat diet, and look at commonalities there is more truth in what is agreed upon. Also fasting has had also so many benefits as well.
Hoping to find people who would like to share types of information that they have heard helps with weight loss,

For weight loss:

Eating an appropriate number of calories for my activity level (daily life + exercise), making food choices that are satiating for me personally, that I enjoy eating, and on a schedule that keeps me full and happy most of the time.

healing the body,

For healing and health:

Making sure that the foods I eat provide well-rounded nutrition, by getting enough protein, enough healthy fats, and plenty of varied, colorful fruits and vegetables. I look to evidence-based, respected sources of nutritional guidance for the majority of my eating; and sometimes add food choices that less well-validated research suggests may be health-promoting and that I have a reasonable belief won't hurt me (based on their use in human history, mainly). However, I only eat things that I personally find tasty, because there are enough things I like that are also healthy choices, and happiness (part of mental health) is also important. For the same reason (happiness), I also eat some less nutrient-dense treats, and drink some alcohol. (There are tradeoffs.)

Getting regular exercise that I find fun, including things that promote cardiovascular health, strength, and general flexibility/mobility. Outdoor exercise, if the outdoor environment is reasonably clean, is a plus for health promotion, IMO.

Getting adequate sleep.

and even muscle growth????

For muscle growth:

Strength-promoting exercise (and physical work) on a regular basis, adequate protein intake, and generally well-rounded nutrition. Adequate rest and recovery.

In general:

Extremes are unnecessary for most people (absent unusual health conditions), unless they contribute to a particular person's happiness. "Hacks", if taken to mean tricks or shortcuts, are IMO a fool's game, as they're generally just tactics of slimeball marketers who promise a quick fix without putting in the necessary work (which is not really a lot of work).