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Comment by gnicholas | Hacker News Reader

> Every detail has been specified in advance. In Phase 3, for example, a high-fat breakfast is defined as: “2 eggs fried in butter, 2 strips of pork bacon, 2 slices of toast with butter, 4 oz. of hash brown potatoes, and 8 oz. of whole milk… eaten in 20 minutes”.

Quite some details! Presumably this part of the testing is to see if large amounts of fat shouldn't be consumed along with the pill.

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If eating a massive breakfast with it helps the pill work, then it's finally England's time to shine.

UK gave the world its traditional breakfast, USA gave the world the all-day breakfast

America: You’re welcome, world :)

But baked beans and black pudding aren't listed in the protocol :(

Can't be an English breakfast, there were no beans nor tomatoes

Yes. Fat is generally non-polar molecules so has a different solubility profile. This in turn may significantly change absorption, and the location of absorption (stomach v small intensive v large intestine etc).

Huh, that’s nothing compared to an average keto diet.

Or because they think the pill will cause stomach issues. I had one medicine that caused gastro side effects: Taking the pill on a full stomach or while eating a full meal was really important, especially at first. This breakfast would have done well.

I cannot imagine consuming that much food that quickly... what is this supposed to represent?

- 2 eggs: 150 cal

- 2 bacon strips: 50 cal

- 2 toast slices: 150 cal

- 4oz hash brown: 370 cal

- 8 oz whole milk: 100 cal

Before butter and oil, that's over 800 calories...

when i was 20, “monday”.

Two minutes to eat an egg or strip of bacon doesn't seem impossible.

I could easily eat one egg or one strip of bacon in 2 minutes. That doesn't mean I could repeat it 8-10 times without discomfort.

8-10 times, what do you mean? There are only two of each in this meal.

I was referring to the total number of items in the meal. I rarely eat buttered toast, and fried hash browns are pretty heavy (though tasty, to be sure!). I also haven't drunk whole milk since I was 2, so all together this would be quite a meal for me. Each of these items is no problem to eat in 2 minutes, but when you stack them all together it ceases to be a joy to eat (at least for me). I could do it once, but if this is supposed to be an every day affair as part of a pill regimen, I wouldn't love it.

That’s not much at all, though I cut the hash browns and up the eggs and bacon.

Just this morning I probably had 8oz of hash browns, three strips of bacon, an egg and half a pancake with butter. Plus a mocha frap.

Granted, I'm medically prescribed a high fat diet. But there are people who eat that way, sometimes because they work hard and are big guys, so 2000 calories a day would be a starvation diet.

Working hard doesn't consume many calories, as far as I know.

There's some extremely cases like training for the Olympics or body building, but overall, peoples energy usage is pretty similar

That contradicts everything I've ever heard. It varies by both activity level and weight of the person in question.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-weight-loss/calories...

Yes, and it varies immensely by amount of activity.

I add at least 1500-2000 calories a day when I am lifting in addition to normal training (as in, 1-2 hours of intense exercise every day).

I think it's not so much the total calories, but the sheer amount of fat. That is, if we send the pill down your GI tract with 1/4 of grease, will it still work?

Presumably their "high-fat" condition has to be fattier than any reasonable person would eat on a regular basis, so that it establishes a useful upper bound. If it was just a couple eggs and hash browns, then finding it's still effective wouldn't be useful because some people eat fattier breakfasts than that.

So, I'm getting the feeling that you might not be a regular at Waffle House.

Yes it's a big breakfast but if a normal diet is 2000-2500 calories per day, 820 for 1 meal doesn't seem that weird.

People in home office should probably be on 1600-1800.

"People" come in a lot of shapes, sizes and other activity levels. One-size-fits-all recommendations tend not to fit very many.

How does one's office environment relate to how many calories they consume?

If you lift weights or do other strenuous exercise 3-4k calories a day is needed. The trick with calories is just to not consume more than you are using if you don't want to gain weight.

If you're a 50 year old, 5' tall, 100 lbs lady, then sure.

The basal metabolic rate for a 30 year old male who is 5'10" and 160lbs is 1700 calories. So that's how many calories they burn by merely existing and breathing and being warmblooded. Your argument is that someone working from home only uses a max of an extra 100 calories a day over BMR? Doubtful.

> what is this supposed to represent?

America.

Even ignoring the calories that’s a huge volume of food to eat in 20 minutes. I legitimately couldn’t eat two pieces of toast and drink 8oz of milk that quickly without getting sick.

Since you’re expressing your amazement at this, let me just point things out from the other side: being unable to eat two slices of toast and a glass of milk in 20min without a tummy ache sounds very weenie to me. There are people of all shapes in the world with all sorts of fortitude. That breakfast wouldn’t even test mine. Except maybe when coming out.

Or maybe they are spending too much time on a device scrolling through a feed instead of actually eating?

I find that extremely difficult to believe.

Difficult to believe? That not everyone has a massive, bottomless pit for a stomach? I don’t know why that’s extremely difficult to believe since everyone is different and I’m hardly unique.

But you’re certainly not the first. I’ve had plenty of waiters who are convinced I hated my perfectly delicious meal simply because the serving size is way too big for me. I’ve had colleagues make “jokes” about my “girlish figure” when I fail to clear my plate at a business lunch. And someone on the internet even called me “a weenie” while telling me that people come in all shapes! (I mean, honestly?)

For some reason people seem to have a hard time comprehending that everyone isn’t exactly like them. It is what it is. But what it’s not is my problem.

What's hard to believe is that only people with massive bottomless pits for stomachs can handle eating two pieces of toast.

That's about a third of the daily calorie allowance for the average adult. Doesn't sound all that extreme.

Farm and weekend breakfasts are like this, and standard to get at breakfast places in the US. I've had similar at a hotel in Amsterdam, honestly (though it was a buffet). It isn't really that much food or calories as long as you are hungry when it is served.

This looks like a small snack. Swap the milk out for almond milk tho.

That is a totally normal amount of food and drink for an active adult male to consume in a 20 minute meal. That said I do wonder if they should adjust the prescribed diet for people with different calorie requirements.

Bacon more than 50 cal.

That's breakfast of champions right there, what we all wold like to think we could get away with eating ...

Sign me up!

I expect the medium term survival of the participants to this particular trial to be zero.

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