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Comment by AnIdiotOnTheNet | Hacker News Reader

Intermittent fasting was a big part of the early stages of my own climb down from 320+lbs. One thing I will warn about is that, in my case, my body eventually caught up with me and my appetite became uncontrollable again, leading to compulsive eating that I was powerless against until I started taking ephedrine as an appetite suppressant. Don't underestimate the power of a ghrelin/dopamine feedback loop.

Also worth noting: according to my caloric intake log, I now need to eat well under the average to maintain my weight. My understanding is that there is no known way to avoid this kind of metabolic damage when losing large amounts of weight, so you just have to get used to it.

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Have you tought starting going a gym. Getting more muscle definitely helps.

I took up rock climbing early on, and in fact that hobby became motivation for losing weight instead of the other way around. I sped a good 6+ hours at the rock climbing gym every week. It was not sufficient to fight the compulsion and I still have to average around 1600kcal/day to maintain.

have you tried low or zero carb diets? I have found that I can much more easily go without eating on a high fat high protein diet.

This matches my experience. I've found that when I'm unable to resist the compulsion to eat, I can at least save on the calories and be better satiated by eating something high-protein rather than the carbs I'm craving.

Not a perfect solution, but it beats the heck out of losing control and bingeing on carbs.

Yes. Believe me, I tried everything.

Also, IIRC, while fat doesn't produce a ghrelin response, protein still does.

This is true. You should limit protein intake to 20 grams in 2hr period to avoid glyconeogenesis, which is the process your body uses to convert protein into glucose. This plus reducing net carbs to 20g or less per day should put you into nutritional ketosis within a week or two. Going keto makes fasting a lot easier. I typically fast between 8pm and noon and find it much much harder when I slip out of keto. If you keep up the program and lift weights (find a good strength program at a gym) your body composition will improve. I managed to get to 8% body fat this way.

I get the impression that people think I'm in search of advice here. I'm about half the bodyweight where I started and have been in this range for years now. I don't know what my body fat % is, but an ultrasound tech called me "skinny" when I was 15lbs up from here so it's probably pretty low.

Keto is like some kind of religion with fitness people. My personal opinion is that people use it as an excuse to eat pounds of steak and bacon while virtue signaling that they're being healthy, but clearly some people really do believe it has helped them and who am I to say otherwise? What I can say, is that I certainly didn't see any of its supposed appetite suppressant effects, and there's a way to get there without becoming some kind of dietary zealot.

Didn't mean to come off as some kind of zealot for keto. For me it's a tool. It has downsides. Your muscles need glycogen to perform at their peak, so you lose strength on keto vs a balanced diet with carbs. Also, I'd never recommend taking the "bacon and cheese" approach to keto. There are much healthier fats to consume and they won't leave you feeling like crap.

Anyhow, was just trying to share some knowledge not give advice. Everyone is different when it comes to preferences but the satiating effects of fat and protein are pretty well studied.

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