Comment by NotOscarWilde | Hacker News Reader

Comment by NotOscarWilde | Hacker News Reader

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> People are complaining about the length of time (...) All that stuff is avoided by losing weight.

I strongly disagree on the point of time. It is important to realize how slow actual weight loss is. By my naive googling, losing 1kg of fat per week will require quite a lot of calorie restriction, and it is not achievable easily. If you are say 20kg overweight, you will need at least 20 weeks to lose that weight, likely more as nobody is perfect and stress factors here as well.

I am stressing this point as I would like to encourage anyone who suffers from sleep apnea to start both treatment and losing weight. Telling yourself "I don't have to seek treatment, I'll just lose weight" may lead you into several weeks of diminished productivity (as a PhD student with apnea, when not getting enough sleep my scientific productivity is close to zero).

I am not claiming any of the original commenters suggest this, but still: "I'll just suffer until I lose enough weight" is a terrible decision.

> It is important to realize how slow actual weight loss is

That's a good point.

> I am not claiming any of the original commenters suggest this, but still: "I'll just suffer until I lose enough weight" is a terrible decision.

Well, yes, but treatment will change as weight changes. Why go through risky surgery if weight loss might help? Why go through the hassle of sleep studies and waiting for machine fitting if weightloss will help? The alternative to weightloss is not "instant cure", there's still time delays built in.

Worst case it doesn't help your sleep and only improves the other million things that being overweight is bad for. Darn.

/working on it

Weight loss is slow, but there are other benefits that might make it more palatable. I'm 5'9, currently 230, was 240+ (weighed myself after I started losing, so maybe 245), just those 10-15lbs have helped my sleep enormously. I have about 60lbs more to go until I'm at a comfortable weight, and this will take a long time (Should reach my goal by Feb '16). At my weight though, 3lbs of loss a week isn't that uncomfortable. I still eat 1500-1800kcal a day which, depending on what I eat that day, fills me up quite nicely.

I agree with your other points, but I'd say that getting a CPAP is probably a good idea, but that losing weight could make that unnecessary down the road and there are a myriad of other benefits.

I lose about 3lbs of fat per week on the ketogenic diet. High fat, moderate protein, low carb (under 20g a day of carbs). I eat all of the cheese, meat, and vegetables that I want. You learn to love eggs if you don't already.

Losing weight is not hard. Change your diet and start walking (just walking) 30-60 minutes a day.

https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

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