"The Hacker's Diet"
http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/
Written by John Walker, author of Autocad. He claimed to have solved every problem he had except weight loss, so he just treated it as another engineering problem. Very interesting read for those with scientifically oriented minds. The Palm software is cool, too.
Quick summary of what has worked for me:
1. Stopped eating anything between meals. I probably cut out 12 cans of Coke, 2 chocolate bars, and 2 cakes/treats per week. I estimate this at 2,640 kcal alone
2. Started listening to my stomach so that I'd stop eating when I was full, and didn't take second helpings that I didn't actually need.
3. Have been following the exercise plan and now avoid taking lifts or escalators.
4. I am not counting calories for my meals since excluding my between meals rubbish I eat fairly balanced food.
Also I'm saving money... basically I'm losing weight, feeling better and saving about 26 Euro per week. Since I plan to cut out that stuff permanently I'll be able to afford a spanking new iPhone after 6 months.
Lose Weight, Save Money, Feel Better, Get an iPhone!
I'd follow a diet by an engineer as much as I would listen to algorithms from Nonagenarians from Okinawa.
Okinawans (Japan) have the longest life expectancy on Earth due not only to a good dose of genetics but through a) regular hard physical work, b) good diet and c) community of friends ~ http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/026/e/long.html
Following the link shows me a great application. But listening to Engineers about food, exercise is a waste of time. While engineers may be educated. They are also stupid. Take for an example ~ http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/exercise.html some of the reasoning in the HD diet:
1. Exercising consumed time.
2. Exercising was not programming.
3. Therefore, by exercising, less
time was available for programming
Here's a couple.
1) Exercise a lot
2) Eat lots of vegetables, fruits, some meats and stay away from processed foods.
3) Eat with other people (reduce chance of eat too much)
4) Practice, "'hara hachi bu', eat until your four-fifths full" ~ http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2257391.htm A peculiar Japanese concept to counter over-eating.
Part two is becoming a problem as Industries have sprung up claiming to solve this and substituting unprocessed foods with highly processed foods. Good for making money, bad for health.
I like Ted, foul and potty mouthed as he is. He's made of the stuff "Goo-Micro-Hoo" software corps wants in employee. Well educated, hard working. The mould of hacker that will do everything to avoid exercise. I went to my hacker cousins birthday a month or so back. I had to give up my usual game of "spot the fit bastard". Playing a game of cricket in the park was a fun experience. These engineers exhibit the same boolean logic as Ted. It's ironic listening to hackers like Ted whine about how exercise is hard. Just like Jocks complaining Calculus should be removed from math because it's too hard.
Now if he'd just get off his arse, exercise and eat well.
The real secret is to eat fresh, whole, minimally processed food. It doesn't matter if it's organic, free-range, hormone-free, genetically engineered, or anything else, as long as the first three hold.
That said, anything is better than nothing.