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Comment by d0mine | Hacker News Reader

As a side note: diet doesn't work long term:

> After about five years, 41 percent of dieters gain back more weight than they lost. Long-term studies show dieters are more likely than non-dieters to become obese over the next one to 15 years.

> ... The study found that a single diet increased the odds of becoming overweight by a factor of two in men and three in women. Women who had gone on two or more diets during the study were five times as likely to become overweight.

More [earlier]:

> men with severe obesity have only one chance in 1,290 of reaching the normal weight range within a year; severely obese women have one chance in 677. A vast majority of those who beat the odds are likely to end up gaining the weight back over the next five years...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/why-you-ca...

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>men with severe obesity have only one chance in 1,290 of reaching the normal weight range within a year

Based on my personal experiences, a pool of anecdotes from friends, and the generally accepted advice of the medical community: sustained weight loss of more than 1 lb per week is incredibly difficult and not realistic for most dieters.

Since, by definition, most "severely obese" people are more than 52lb from a "healthy" weight, statistics like this seem inevitable even if the person does everything perfectly and achieves results that they're satisfied with.

Example: I've totally transformed my body with diet and exercise. But I've failed by this metric, because it took longer than a year, and I'm significantly heavier now than at my lowest weight (albeit much more muscular)

So 59% of dieters sustain their weight loss over 5+ years? That doesn't sound like "doesn't work" to me.

Also there's a big difference between controlling your diet and "dieting". The latter is explicitly a temporary thing, and so of course doesn't have a permanent effect.

You’re right — most people will fail to stick with diets, exercise, and personal organization. Frankly, it feels hilarious that researchers had to spend time proving that claim. Just look around!

On the other hand, there’s a powerful minority of people who do stay disciplined. They get a lot of stuff done.

Lastly, although it’s easy to fail, it is possible to join that powerful minority.

It's not only possible, it's so much easier than most think. It's just a case of just doing it, like cleaning your room or washing your dishes.

"Just doing it" seems to be the solution to a lot of things. Whether it´s trying new things or starting a business. I´ve learnt the hard way that overthinking and then not doing is worse than just doing and then failing. Out of failing you actually learn and get better. Out of overthinking comes .. literally ..nothing.

Gary Vaynerchuk always preaches the "concept" of putting in the actual work. Also a variation of "just doing it" but with the side-note of "actually go out and do something"! Really important stuff because most of the people nowadays don´t get that and think success will somehow come around the corner one day.

I don't really get what you are trying to say. Those who are obese are more likely to be obese again? That seems intuitive. It's also equally as true that not all obese people stay obese. What is your solution to weight loss? I think it depends on the definition of diet is used. Fads don't work, but something has to. In my experience, it's just a lack of commitment and the availability of delicious high caloric food.

> Those who are obese are more likely to be obese again?

Read the link. It answers your question explicitly (twin studies).

I'm assuming that 'diet' refers to implementing a calorie restriction into their diet. In which case it obviously does work, but people not doing it is the issue.

I actually believe education in nutrition and specifically weight manipulation would help a lot. From my experience in talking with others, the average person's views on these topics is almost in the realm of magic due to being bombarded with false information from media and product companies.

With a solid understanding in these topics, one can implement changes into their diet and very easily assess why they are or aren't making progress towards their goals. As it stands the average weight loss attempt with the understanding of weight loss as some form of black magic tends to result in temporary success or outright failure, with no way of being able to assess why or what to do about it. It is then usually concluded that one's 'genetics' are at fault.

I’m think the number of self-defeating replies, on this forum of high achievers, is sad.

What if I listed studies showing how hard it is to stop smoking. Would you say, “well, there it is — pass me the tobacco.” No — most of you would acknowledge that it was difficult, but you’d find a way to quit.

Maybe GTD isn’t your style of personal time management. But time management is an extremely important skill if you want to excel in life.

To dismiss it by pointing to failure statistics is sad.

Diet works just fine.

Human willpower doesn't work long term.

As a tech exec and certified personal trainer, I say: Exactly.

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