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Comment by tiew9Vii | Hacker News Reader

A lot of these articles ignore bodybuilders.

Bodybuilders are experts at loosing fat getting in to single digit body fat percentages consistently and methodically.

Most follow the same rough diet and manipulate calories in the same way, it’s kind of cookie cutter, do this you’ll loose fat.

Most of it is learnt over years of professional bodybuilders keeping meticulous diaries of every training session, every calorie eat, every small change made and every result seen.

Bodybuilders take it to the extreme to be the best, still I think if you are interested in loosing fat there’s a lot that can be learnt from bodybuilders without going to the extreme.

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Bodybuilders by definition are self-selected subset of people who can consistently apply high self discipline and dedicate a lot of energy and willpower on that. I think it's pretty safe to count them as outliers when looking at solutions to obesity in the general population.

Actors also have to bulk up or slim down for roles. Probably however you have a higher self discipline when you're getting paid for it.

on edit: quick nme listicle on actors gaining losing weight, body modification for roles https://www.nme.com/photos/15-actors-who-underwent-incredibl...

I think an actor successful enough to make that list is likewise far from typical. Maybe some get lucky, but most actors detail years of discipline breaking into the field.

Also the glossy mag articles don't get written about the actors who fail or struggle with it. Or drop out of acting with long term weight/diet/eating disorder problems as a result. Survivor bias.

Bodybuilders are not a representative population. There is extreme selection bias. They are obsessed about one thing, go to extreme length to achieve it, often to pathological lengths. It's like pointing out monks taking vows of chastity, solitude and silence and claiming that anyone can easily ignore their sex drive and other social needs.

Bodybuilding is rife with PED usage, which is itself a form of hormone manipulation.

I don't think they ignore body builders.

Body builders just have a lot more discipline and will to win at this than the rest of us. So the straight "cut down on calories" strategy can work for them.

For everyone else, they need to not feel hungry while doing it.

In the same way that the most motivated students will overcome a bad teacher, but most will instead not learn anything compared to an interesting teacher.

Bodybuilders are at their weakest after they loose all that fat for competition. And they dehydrate themselves as a bonus. They sometimes even faint due to that.

It is not healthy what they do around competition. It is not workable advice for general population either, because acting like that all the time is pretty much definition of eating disorder.

Yes they take it to the extreme, the unhealthy extreme. Competition day is not a maintainable look and is your body at its weakest, it’s a one day event only. No normal person needs to or aspire to be a competition day bodybuilder unless they want to win a bodybuilding competition, guessing most don’t and most people couldn’t.

It’s definitely not healthy to go to that extreme but I do think there is a lot in following the process and general diet to loose fat then maintain it at a reasonable level.

If you take the competition extreme side out of it the bodybuilding diet is pretty good. Complex carbs, lean meats, lots of greens, nuts and seeds for fats. Fitness model might be a better example as they don’t push it to the extremes are lean but can maintain the shape quiet healthily.

If you've followed bodybuilders cutting weight you'll notice they talk about few of the most important things. Counting calories, diet and rest.

One of the top things they change in their diet is cutting sugar and carbs.

This suffers from potential selection bias. Bodybuilders may be among those with the right hormones to do that while everyone else doesn't approach it or drops out eventually.

>A lot of these articles ignore bodybuilders. >Bodybuilders are experts at loosing fat getting in to single digit body fat percentages consistently and methodically.

Or maybe body builders don't include the subset of the population that has the claimed hormone problem.

What does the "bodybuilder cutting fat" diet look like?

Basic carbs mainly oats, rice or potatoes etc. Lean meat mainly chicken or fish. Lots of green veg, often steamed, a salad etc. Fats are from things such as nuts, avocados, eggs etc not cooking oils. Maybe a banana or odd piece of fruit but generally lots of veg and greens over fruit to avoid sugar. Avoid dairy as calorie dense.

Carbs will be reduced compared to non cutting but still consumed regardless. Normally it’s carbs that get manipulated, lowering them slightly or increase slightly depending on if cutting or bulking.

It’s simple and unglamorous and that’s likely why most people don’t eat like that as it’s simple or as people will say bland and boring. Even if you mix it up with spices and how you cook/prepare it, it’s the same basic core meal.

If you are not bodybuilding and only interested in loosing fat you can likely reduce the amount of protein (meat). You then end up close to a “whole food” diet I see people talk about these days minus the oils and sauces which are calorie dense.

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