I went the exact opposite route. After losing 180 pounds via bariatric surgery and then regaining 70 of it, I <i>dove</i> into the science. I read books, but only books that pointed directly to scientific literature I could read. More importantly, I learned how to differentiate good nutrition studies from bad nutrition studies (hint: at least 90% of nutrition studies are <i>bad</i>) so I could tell when an conclusion is warranted by the data versus when it isn't. I also started completely ignoring anything said in the media, since, invariably, they get it wrong or they hype the afore-mentioned bad studies. Everything became about the science and the n=1 experiments.<p>What I found was that I could lose weight without effort, improve every health marker, and enjoy the foods my body really seemed to desire (as opposed to foods engineered to cause cravings). The 70 pounds disappeared without any tracking of anything[1]. More importantly, that 70 pounds was gone a year ago, and maintaining the loss has been just as straightforward.<p>I applaud anybody who finds the method that works for them. It's pretty clear our bodies are striving to be healthy and get what they need; once you find that, the rest comes relatively easy.[2]<p>1. There was some early tracking as I learned about different foods and how they interacted with me and my goals.<p>2. Unfortunately, some people lost the genetic lottery (less than you might think) or are so metabolically disturbed (becoming more and more) that it isn't always easy. I have a huge amount of respect for those who persevere through that and work towards a healthier life.
I want to upvote this a dozen more times. I've always thought MMOs could "hack" the brain into doing all sorts of cool, productive things.<p>Somebody needs to create an MMO for language learning. Instead of "go kill 12 dragons" the questgiver would say "matar a 12 dragones" or "matar a 12 dragones verdes" or "matar al dragón en la cima de la montaña". The immersion and addiction would have hardcore players speaking 10 languages, I guarantee it.<p>And I think this could be extended to quantifiable human-necessary tasks, too. Like a mechanical turk, but fun.
Good inspiring article.<p>I recently added 3 rules to my life.<p>1.) No pop
2.) Track calorie intake via loseit
3.) Exercise everyday (even if it's just a 10 minute walk or some pushups)<p>Two weeks in and I feel way better. I find that I'm trying to control my calorie intake and get it where it needs to be without exerting as much effort as I would be if I was simply counting calories to lose weight. I find that I'm doing more than the minimum in terms of exercise too just because I'm already doing some exercise.<p>At least I found having rules helped me not push off weight loss until next week forever.
I am actually testing the 1 day fasting diet, exercising every day (either speed walking 5K, jogging for 5K or tennis) and limiting liquid calories.<p>The things people forget:
-your body is unable to calculate liquid calories (pop, juices etc) - so even after drinking 2K calories in Cola you can be still hungry<p>-fasting for 1 day a week (200-300 intake in sugars calories like sugar tea) or 2 days a week (500 calories in fruit sugars a day) is extremely healthy as for first 24 hours since eating your body will use gathered sugars in your body to maintain itself burning all the nasty stuff logging your veins and stomach. This also helps you to say no to food - next day after fasting you wont feel like extremaly hungry and even very small meals through the day will be enough to you<p>-track calories - but be honest, always round it up DOWN to full 50s and 100s.<p>-calculate calories weekly, not daily. Make sure on the end of the week you are good. Start Monday with fasting - you will have 1,500-2,000 calories deficit already so basically you can eat most of stuff through the week.<p>I have lost already 10 pounds in 4 weeks, I can run easily and I feel much better. 2 more months and I am done!
Ha, I’ve done similar things, but I’m still in the middle of it, 62 pounds in to be exact, that’s about the half-way point.<p>The key component turned out to be the scale for me. Automatic tracking works much better for me than manually keeping track of it. (I also got a Withings scale, but I don’t think the brand matters. As long as the scale automatically logs everything without you having to do anything or even look how much you weigh in the morning it’s great.) Seeing your whole progress in one graph really helps me keep on track.<p>A week without progress even though you did all the exercise you always do and ate like you always do? With the trend-line and the chart going all the way back you can easily see that it’s just a statistical anomaly, most likely random noise (probably mostly dependent on when you drank your water and when you went to the toilet). It doesn’t mean progress has stopped.<p>That 2lb setback, probably because I wasn’t careful about what I eat? Now I look back all the way I have come and those 2lbs seem harmless. That’s a ridiculously tiny amount of weight to lose. It’s so easy. Just some extra care to what I eat and how active I am and I’m all set.<p>With manual tracking (mostly memorising what I weighed and remembering it the next day) I would at these points just get afraid of the scale and eventually stop weighing myself. The whole process was less transparent with manual tracking and the automatically logging scale demystified it for me. During my previous attempts weeks without any progress just doomed me and got me to this really dark place. No I’m not even bothered by them. The trend-line is going down. Always.<p>Now, step counters may not be accurate or even a good way to track how active you are (and walking or cardio may not the best ways to aid weight loss) but the built-in step counter in my iPhone that I have always with me (plus my podcast addiction and the beautiful weather this summer) actually lead me to automatically want to beat those 10,000 steps per day. And at some point I just started doing it. I think there isn’t one day during the last two months where I didn’t walk at least 9,000 steps per day, without even consciously deciding to do that. I just wanted to beat those 10,000 steps. I want to see the bar turn green and the 10,000 to light up. That has helped me tremendously to stay active (and not just move less when I started eating less).<p>I also started driving the ergometer for 30 minutes every day and while I don’t really track that I’m seeing my progress (I can drive with more and more resistance and without any breaks in-between) – also with my scale. The heart rate measurement doesn’t work so well (it fails two times out of three) but it also shows steady downward progress. From a resting heart rate in the high 80s I’m now down to a healthy one in the low 60s. I also feel much better and sleep much better. (This would certainly be beneficial for me, even without any weight loss.)<p>All this progress also motivates me to constantly optimise. Next step: Buy good shoes and convert some of that walking distance into running distance. (70 minutes of walking per day are a bit long, but doable. However, with some running I can bring that time down.)<p>(The eating story is similar. I don’t particularly care about what I eat, but when you restrict how much you eat you will automatically tend to prefer food that makes you feel fuller. That’s at least how it was for me so far. I don’t want to eat pasta every day because then I wouldn’t ever feel full. And when I do eat pasta I would rather make the portion a bit smaller and add a salad for the saved calories to feel fuller.)<p>Will it work? Ask me in three years. I hope so. I think keeping up my weighing routine forever will be the key. If I can do that I see no reason why I can’t keep at it and at least hold my weight (but most likely lose some more and hold the weight I want to have). I’m cautiously optimistic. This is the most weight I have ever lost in my life and the longest I have been at it and I don’t even feel constantly starving or demotivated or crushed (something that was common during previous attempts). I actually feel great most of the time.<p>Get tracking! It helped me.
This is genius. Really. In my mind you've just "jiu jitsued" the candy bars, by applying the same mechanisms they use to keep you hooked, but against them. By creating habits that are prone to compulsive behavior (the phenomenon at play when you want to check your diet data is the same as when a teen checks his/her Facebook/WhatsApp/Whatever for messages).
The surprising thing here is that you could keep this going long enough until it actually became a habit (or so I suppose). This is the trick, and I couldn't figure out what made you keep it so (willpower may be the answer here, but s there any other thing going on?) Anyways, kudos, you data aficionado diet jiu jitsu guy :D
For the record, and for those asking for this to be a real game, FitRPG for iOS is planning to deliver on some of that very notion. It's a super cool app; and I say that with absolutely no affiliation (srs). Google it.
This is exactly what I'm doing, down to the MFP app and the Withings scale. The results have been amazing so far, and I look forward to writing a similar blog post by the end of the year.
I'm surprised nobody has linked the obligatory xkcd yet: <a href="http://xkcd.com/189/" rel="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/189/</a><p>I think about this every time I run.
> The idea is to track everything you take in and track what you spend through exercise.<p>Wouldn't it just be easier to weigh yourself once a week, and if your weight goes up, eat less calories the following week and/or do more exercise? Unless your memory is that bad, or your eating patterns that random, it should not be hard to cut out things you know are high calorie and you can do without.
It's the guiding principal behind weight watchers. If you get into the habit of at least noticing what you are eating, you'll give yourself the opportunity to accept/deny it. The points system for weight watchers is genius and removes the complexity around nutrition as long as you how many points that thing your eating contains.
I imagine a future where we will be able to track everything we eat automatically without having to enter any data in onto an app. Imagine seeing data about your body right on your arm. I eat a sandwich and it tells me exactly how many calories it was. I'll be the first to signup for something like this if/when this comes out.
In case the site isn't loading for anyone else: <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.polygon.com/2014/4/22/5625906/weight-loss-mmo-video-game" rel="nofollow">http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.pol...</a>
The story reminds me of REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson. In fiction, the protagonist Richard also creates his own MMO and uses immersion as a way to loose weight.