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Comment by danielvinson | Hacker News Reader

> Even if you're getting calories from your coffee it doesn't impact your weight loss because you're still eating less calories than your body needs to maintain the weight.

This is completely dependent on other factors. Weight loss is dependent on a hell of a lot of things in tandem. It is mathematically strictly better to say, drink only black coffee or sugar-free energy drinks in the morning. Caffeine is an appetite suppressant. The difference is that most people don't have the personal willpower to stick to the fasting without a few calories to help them along.

Weight loss in general is precisely mathematical in pacing and it will absolutely make you lose weight faster if you consume less calories.

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This assumes calories are all equal and the best measuring stick. Do we know this to be a fact?

> The difference is that most people don't have the personal willpower to stick to the fasting without a few calories to help them along.

You are ignoring an important factor: If you don't have enough calories the body will switch to starvation mode, you'll have low energy, be cold, etc.

The net result is that, unless you are actually starving (which is bad for you), you'll actually lose less weight that way!

> If you don't have enough calories the body will switch to starvation mode

This is a myth which has been proved to be absolutely false. You are simply wrong if you are basing any conclusions at all of of this.

> proved to be absolutely false

I'm perfectly willing to be shown that I'm wrong, but I'll need more than just a sentence from you saying so.

You said "proved" - can you show me the proof?

A quick google search results in multiple well cited articles discussing it.

I'm sure it could also yield multiple well-cited articles on the other side as well. It would be much more helpful to actually provide some research that you stand behind.

Lyle McDonald: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/meal-freque...

Probably the best and most researched article on this.

Bullet point 4 here: http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debun... has an article reference.

Basically, you can certainly go into starvation mode, but not in any reasonable amount of time. Skipping meals or even fasting for a whole day will not cause "starvation mode". Prolonged calorie restriction can affect hormones like Leptin and affect energy expenditure.

Bear in mind that Lyle believed in "starvation mode" 10-17 years ago; I believe he mentions it in his first book. He was also a firm believer in strict caloric arithmetic and that microbiome didn't matter. His content is only as good as the current scientific literature is, and that has changed a lot in the past 20 years.

A quick Google search also shows several well cited articles supporting the flat earth theory.

Dr. Jason Fung has done extensive research and experiments on this topic including fasting. You can read his research in his book obesity code. Very eye opening.

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