Reduced-calorie diet shows signs of slowing ageing in people

So far in 2018 I have had one ~1300-1500 calorie meal per day for all except maybe ten days (where I have gone out for drinks or have extra food late in the evening with friends).<p>The strangest thing so far is how much my body has adapted to this - I skip breakfast and lunch every day, yet don&#x27;t feel particularly restricted (save socially), hungry, or weak.<p>I am just one person, but I now intuitively feel that whatever passes for a &quot;reduced-calorie diet&quot; these days is what used to pass for normal. It feels normal, at least.

No one&#x27;s going to mention that the title is wrong? The experiment showed that a calorie reduced diet slows metabolism in humans. The researcher specifically says that a long term study that follows participants until their death would be required to see if they live longer.

That’s great and all, but you cannot build muscle unless you’re on a caloric surplus. Good bye resistance weight training with the goal of having more muscle.<p>The irony is that having more muscle would also increase the amount of calories you need to maintain (not get bigger&#x2F;fatter, not get smaller).<p>What I’m trying to say is that a “deficit” completely depends on what your current lean body mass is. If I want to go on a 15% calorie deficit, I have to eat 2200 calories a day. A much smaller person would probably GAIN weight at that caloric intake.

IIRC the big problem with calorie restriction is that it brings along a greater susceptibility to infectious disease. After all if it were a cost-free win, a gradient-descending (is that the right term?) optimization process like evolution would have implemented it already.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2009&#x2F;jul&#x2F;14&#x2F;ageing-calorie-restriction-diet" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2009&#x2F;jul&#x2F;14&#x2F;ageing-...</a><p>Regarding suggestions made in another comment that calorie restriction represents the preindustrial norm, I don&#x27;t think this is something modern nutritional science would have missed, considering the amount of research performed into the diets of extant nomadic and otherwise primitive cultures.

I&#x27;ve been experimenting with it for two years, along with a high-nutrient diet based on vegetables (almost no refined foods). I just did about two weeks at 1,000 calories per day and am on day 3 of a water fast. I&#x27;ll increase the caloric intake next week.<p>I hope it&#x27;s safe. Some else posted this link in a comment, and it&#x27;s worth reading too:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2009&#x2F;jul&#x2F;14&#x2F;ageing-calorie-restriction-diet" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;science&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2009&#x2F;jul&#x2F;14&#x2F;ageing-...</a>

Personal anecdote : I always ate little and spend most of my life underweight. I look extremely young for my age. I estimate I rarely eat more than 1500 kcal a day<p>When I think about it, most visibly underweight people I know tend to look young. Does anyone have the same observation?

This is difficult to follow in daily life although not impossible. Given that food is becoming less nutritious as per [1] taking less food will mean less nutrition which can affect general well-being. Figuring out foods high in nutrients, low in calories will require a lot of discipline.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;nature13179" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;nature13179</a>

I cannot find it right now, but I am quite sure that in last few weeks there was a post on HN with roughly the same statement, but for high protein diet.

When I was young(er) I did CR for a few years. The first 10kg was easy, the next 5kg hard, and the last 5kg a total struggle. What really got to me is that all I thought and dreamed about was food - I still remember some of my food dreams from this time and this was 20 years ago.

Likely obvious to many in this group, but I think the right phrasing is &quot;ordinary calorie&quot; rather than &quot;reduced-calorie&quot; diet. People routinely eat more than they need and misunderstand that they are burning most of their calories while working out.

I have been on a reduced calorie diet (one meal a day) since the start of february and have lost over 10 kg of both fat and muscle.

If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it - somebody

Jesus christ, just 1-2 months ago there was another HN &quot;scientific&quot; post that it actually does not.<p>Can we make up our minds already?