Ask HN: If you could spend $100k to get healthy and fit, how would you do it? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: If you could spend $100k to get healthy and fit, how would you do it?

I’m willing go spend up to $100,000 this coming year in order to:

* Lose 30 pounds * Eat a strict carnivore / keto diet for a year * Get stronger * Be more flexible

I know what you’re thinking: It doesn’t cost much to eat healthy, go for walks, buy some running shoes. But these things never last for me.

I’m 47. Overweight (240lb), and I suffer from chronic digestive issues and inflammation. I’ve tried on and off for years everything under the sun but I just can’t stick with it. I run out of will power.

I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars to figure out what’s going on with my body and this is what I know:

- I need to eat strictly carnivore (or Keto Low FODMap) - I need to lose weight. - I want to get strong. - I need to stretch.

Whenever I try and do these things myself it works for a few weeks, and then I go back to old habits. I’m done trying the same thing over and over, and then failing. Instead of a stupid cyber truck I want to buy good health.

If you were me, and you could spend 50k to get healthy. How would you overcome these will power issues?

Looking for creative ideas please. I don’t want to die early, and don’t want the diabetes….etc. that’s coming down the pipeline if I continue this way.

I know you can't buy discipline. But can I kick start it somehow? How would you do it?

I've read all the books, tried all the apps, need something that's a higher level of intervention.

Side note: There might be a startup here. How many millionaires out there are happy to spend 100k for a high-touch, guaranteed upgrade to their health and well being?

View on HN

I think you should spend your money on a respectable in-person personal trainer who will help you meal prep and exercise with you daily. You need to find someone who will force you to be consistent with your efforts, whether that involves exercise or diet. I certainly don’t think you need to spend $100K, but if you have the money, find someone who will help guide you through the hard work you’re already willing to try.

This -- Find someone reputable and meet them 4x/week--make meetings obligatory.

Have them help you with your diet and your workouts.

Separately, find someone to work out with regularly. Join a class you like (e.g., boxing, yoga) that you like and keep going--be a part of a community so you'll want to go more.

Good luck!

Carnivore is FOOLISH. There is no Scientific evidence whatsover that it benefits anything aside from short term weight loss, at the detriment of your health. I would get my whole genome sequenced and get a genetic counselor. Get a personal trainer and an expert on human performance (Get tested from athletic labs you can measure your VO2 max, RMR, Body composition and create a workout routine optimizing for longevity and health) Eat a varied diet rich in Vegetables like Broccoli, spinach, Kale..Carrots (8 servings every dinner 365 days a week), healthy fats like Extra virgin olive oil, Wild Salmon, Sardines, avocadoes, ALmonds, nuts seeds. Spend 1000-1500 a month on groceries if you have to. Get enough sleep, reduce stress, keep purpose and and social connection. Keep up to date with your screenings (Blood test measure Hemoglobin h1c, LDLc, HDLc, get a NMR lipoprofile if you want to), get a private doctor if you have to that is more like a personal trainer and optimizes health rather than just treat disease. Also consider getting on Metformin, Rapamycin and possibly Statins if your LDL Triglycerides etc are high. Avoid too much sun exposure, toxins, polluted air. Get a air purifier...And consider GLP-1 agonist.

Some think that statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure

https://cardiacos.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2015-Statin...

Most think that statins do anything at all.

Most think that cholesterol and LDL is bad and the direct cause of cardiovascular disease.

Most just parrot wrong and frankly dangerous dietary advice. Choosing a dietary plan by throwing a coin is literally better than following the advice of most people, even doctors. Hell, we've gone from recommending low fat to vegan diets for health, while still demonising low carb diets because of misinformation that's 70 years old, and American religious lobbies pushing vegetarianism. Wikipedia still calls low carb diets a "fad", while no such moniker is attached to vegan diets that have only been possible since the 1930s with the discovery of vitamin B12 and its subsequent synthesis.

https://youtu.be/gDq3HHExpnY?si=Vx5rAhsxXHDmWCZ4

It's really hard to understand someone's individual barriers to change without spending time with them in real life, so forgive me if this isn't useful, but the first thing I wonder is how much does your career affect your health?

How much longer do you actually need to work, or work full-time, for your values of 'need'?

Would $100K effectively 'buy' you more time off so you can spend more time on yourself without feeling like you need to always try to carve time out of your day for yourself?

I mention this because I tried my whole life to maintain a healthy weight, and was never super-successful until I retired. Then it's like a switch flipped, and taking care of myself became my job, and I enjoyed doing it. Now it's almost kind of spooky how long I've stably maintained the lowest weight I've been as an adult.

In my case, I think that direct effects of stress on cortisol levels, along with the placating psychological effects of overeating and eating unhealthy foods on my stress levels, made it harder for me to achieve my goals while I was working.

And one easy way to give yourself time out is to go on a long adventure. Walk some ridiculously long track. Cycle North and/or South America. Motorcycle around Europe then to Asia. Spend a year in India. Live in a fishing cabin, or more remotely. The possibilities are endless and $100,000 gets a lot of travelling if you give yourself 12 months. (A lot longer than that even).

(Doesn't work so well if you have dependants of course)

If possible: sell your car, buy a nice bike and ride to work! ( move close to your work if possible?)

As a teacher, I make far less than 100k a year (far less!), but my health hack is that I bike to work every day, so at the very least, I get 5+ miles of exercise. I have the luxury of having bought a house just over 2.5 miles from campus, but it's part of the lifestyle I chose years ago.

Bike to work is awesome. Totally agree. By default it gives you a set of miles.

Do you shower after arriving at work? Seems like a deal breaker for me where I live, given the weather.

I had a 9 mile ride one way to work for a while, no shower. Honestly it wasn’t so bad for me, even though i would have liked one. I had a small towel, deodorant, fresh clothes, and could rinse my face and change in the bathroom.

I remember feeling great everyday.

Now my commute is 20 feet. I miss having an office.

The only thing that worked for me was getting a personal trainer 3 times a week for strength training, and he would also weigh me every session. I would also go one or two times on my own to do some cardio (1 hour on the treadmill at 10% incline while watching tv shows: exactly 600 calories almost every time). Oh, and I drastically reduced my food consumption. The looming weigh-ins helped keep that up. I lost about 50lbs in 6 months and stayed there for a year+ until the pandemic hit and gyms closed down.

To buy:

1) Get therapy. There’s something wrong if you can’t stay reasonably healthy. Don’t have to be a nut just to take care of yourself.

2) Change your lifestyle. Move one mile or so from work and walk everyday. Preferably in a walkable neighborhood.

Standard advice, after the two above: Take stairs, eat vegetables, don’t eat late, have normal size dessert on Saturday evening only. Remove bad people from your life, etc.

Fasting. Without a single doubt. What you need to do is minimally 5 day water fast. This will help you correct your microbiome balance. It is hard but just the 1st day when you're depleting yourself of sugar. Then on 2nd day onwards you're on fat burn but most importantly you're in autophagy mode. Then for couple of days if you can't do longer fast, eat keto-ish meals then do it again. When on water only, make sure you get electrolytes. And btw you can drink things like coke zero and of course black coffee, tea etc. but obviously no meaningful food like carbs, fiber or protein of any kind. But your holy Grail is to correct your microbiome. Absolute worse case, you could spend that money on FMT from a very fit person . Needless to say, don't start fasting unless your doc says you can do something like it. Most doc have no clue. "Water" only fasting is the key to 95% of all aliments we in western culture deal with. Then afterwards like any other "diet.". Maintain healthy Mediterranean diet and do water fasting once a month. You will be weak on day one, but consecutive days, you will be at your max mental acuity and even physical. I do anaerobic while doing water fasting.

Try living in a European city for a few months. I lost 40 lbs in ~8 months after moving to Amsterdam. I was like you, trying to eat keto, working out etc, nothing stuck.

I walk or cycle to work or run errands, it sucked for a month but after I got used to it, I was actually getting proper exercise (along with a 3x gym visit a week).

Food wise the EU is great, no HFCS, no glyphosate in the grain, very limited fillers, and food production leans towards minimal processing. Getting rid of HFCS and seed oils (cold pressed olive oil and ghee are my go-tos here) helped a ton.

Have you tried a GLP-1?

I got fit through diet and exercise, and in the past that’s what I would have recommended. But now it’s 2024 and now there is are working diet miracle drugs. It’s expensive, but within your price range.

Zepbound has a coupon. It’ll be about $550/month after coupon (if the coupon system weren’t recently cyber attacked). You can easily find some online physician to prescribe it for you. Studies show a 22% weight loss in around 18 months, iirc. Its changed my life. Never went to the gym once. Ate whatever I wanted. Simply didn’t want much to eat. When you discontinue, I believe the studies show a 60% regain. But for $100k, you could stay on it for a decade.

Something tells me this isn't really what OP is asking for.

I’m also a 47 year old, obese individual who has tried the gym, and although I can stick with it for about 2 months, it’s never sufficient to really move the needle. Now that I’m 70lbs lighter, going to the gym is much easier in my body. It’s pragmatic to go for the glp-1 first. Include it in your workout routine if you must.

> Its changed my life. Never went to the gym once. Ate whatever I wanted. Simply didn’t want much to eat.

This is really powerful. I think most people are going to want to pair going to the gym with it (hedonic treadmill and all that), but the ease of control over when you want to eat/food noise is actually extremely impressive.

Next, finding ways to boost the body's natural production of GLP1.

Op, why do you need to spend 50k to get healthy?

Maybe you could spend a maximum of 5k, and I would recommend that only for buying exercise equipment, and for other items like a nice road bike. Start exercising 30 minutes to 1 hour everyday

Start with a diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables and cut out sugary crap and oily, fried stuff. Cutting out or drastically minimizing meat might also help. You'll see huge changes in 30 days.

Treat the symptoms or go for the cause?

Most of us go hunting and foraging at the grocery store, which is not particularly challenging, and often stressful with all the colors and choices and exercising willpower to not buy the chocolate (I like chocolate); how might you shift your habits to get more of your food from the land and water? Is there a group of people practicing this that you could join up with?

All you really need to do in life is find sustenance, enough shelter from weather and predators, be part of a community, and maybe pass on your genes (not a need these days, but still a biological directive). My family of three lives a year off the money you're willing to put into this project- I challenge you to go big. I'd emphasize progress with a group of people for the mutual support. I'm excited for you!

While you can't buy discipline you can buy accountability, which is very powerful for affecting change.

Given your budget you can hire a trainer for every session. A good trainer won't just tell you what to do but will also help track that you're doing it. It's only a partial solution, but it's a start.

I'd also suggest tracking more bio metrics so you get a sense of progress before you see it in the mirror, which can take a while.

Some related reading from a few years ago -- A millionaire seeing how far they can get by throwing money at the problem: https://medium.com/hackernoon/im-32-and-spent-200k-on-biohac...

> While you can't buy discipline you can buy accountability, which is very powerful for affecting change.

good line. may steal that.

Take a vacation in one of the East Asian countries. Stay in a less touristy place. Rent a house instead of staying in a hotel / resort and cook yourself. The food, the weather and the need for longer walks to get things done will make you lose weight faster.

Set a goal such as walking a 225 (Larapinta) or 1,000 kilometer (Bibbulmun) walking trail, or traversing the Western Arthur ranges, spend a month working | training | planning, and then go head first into completing an end to end.

Take a friend or hire a trainer for support.

The first week or so will be hell, it gets better - you'll enjoy it by the end.

Plan for the weather, Tasmania in the summer (christmas time in the southern hemisphere), the walking tracks in the winter (no snow, it's the Australian mainland).

Many parts of the world have hiking trails of varying degrees of difficulty, long walks with packs and a commitment to finish are more immersive than intending to go to a gym. If there are track forums it might suit you to walk with a group.

Do what Jesse Itzler did and have someone live with you and be around 24x7 to make sure you’re eating the right stuff, doing the workouts, etc. But it has to be someone who can stand up to you and has the authority to not let you quit when it gets hard or you have weak moments.

I’m sure if you throw up some ads offering a free place to stay for a year and $75k, you’ll get a lot of applicants. Maybe also offer a 25k bonus at the end of the year if they get you to hit your goal, or hit the goal and maintain through the full year.

Itzler wrote a book about his experience called, “Living with a SEAL”. He lived when David Goggins (who you may have heard of). They’ve done some podcasts taking about it as well.

Find a good Obesity specialist near you who does medical weight loss without resorting to gastric bypass surgery, that also provide nutritionist support, and do the program. These days you’ll probably be prescribed medication like Ozempic/Wegovy/etc and be put on medical grade meal replacements for a while. Your Obesity specialist will help you with any comorbidities and help you avoid gallbladder attacks and other complications of weight loss. Get a personal trainer and do regular weight training although be careful not to overdo it! Ease into exercising. Good luck!

I did exactly what you want to do. Here’s how I did it.

Do Wendler 5/3/1 4 days/week. Run couch to 5K 2 days per week.

Cook all your food. Eat 2500-2700 kcal per day. Eat whatever you want Sunday afternoon. Yes, this means food prep the night before and carry your food to work.

Weigh yourself every morning.

2 years. I went from 233 lbs to a jacked 183 lbs with abs. I was a C*O and had a small child and I was single.

Doesn’t cost $100K. If you need to spend $100K, hire a trainer to meet you every day at the gym (who agrees with this or any protocol). Buy food prepped food from any of a number of options.

As someone who doesn't know what all these terms mean e.g. "5/3/1 sets/repxs, 5x5 @first set last" (from the wendler website) can you explain them?

A few thoughts:

* There are a lot of Wendler intro articles around. But his main book is a good buy — it’s affordable, funny, and written as a complete intro. You don’t need any of his other books.

You might need some form help but there are a million videos online about squat and deadlift and bench press form. Of course, if you want the Bible on those you can also purchase Starting Strength. There’s an 80 page chapter on just the form for squatting. If that doesn’t sound like a fun and energizing read, Wendler may not the right path. Learning good form for at least the three major lifts (and overhead press) kept me very invested. I enjoyed getting a bit obsessed with it. I love deadlifting especially.

* I’ve been using this site for programming for over a decade: https://blackironbeast.com/5/3/1/calculator

* The 5/3/1 refers to the goal of the last working set for each of the main lifts, each week. Wendler is a 3 week micro-progression, with a reload week, and then it repeats. The calculator is the best way to start. It makes it mindless and every rep and set is included in the output.

* The Wendler website isn’t the best place for programming, only because it’s all in the book or in that website link. I never liked using spreadsheets for this.

* Also also, if you think this is interesting and want to buy the book but it won’t arrive for a few days.. or you want a starter option before jumping into Wendler, the StrongLifts 5x5 app was basically conceived as a starter version of Wendler, to help get you accustomed to some of these patterns. The author says it’s good through intermediate level progress, but I think that’s underselling it.

But I’d recommend going to black iron beast, putting some nice low numbers for the Real Rep Maxes, switching the program to “Triumvirate (smart man’s program)” and then printing out weeks 1-4. After you do that, increase the rep maxes by 5-10 lbs (upper body versus lower body; Wendler covers this in the book) and repeat.

What I found helpful about this is: it’s programmatic, it follows a set pattern, and you don’t have to think about what to do in the gym. You can go by the program for many months, or even a year, before trying to alter or enhance it (don’t.. for a long time). You just do it and adjust if you can’t. The lack of uncertainty worked wonders for me.

Happy to answer any follow up questions.

Thanks! I'll check all this out. My goal is mainly to lose weight (about 30lbs) but I've been noticing little things like blood circulation isn't what it should be. I get tired quickly after a bit of exercise. Things like that. I'll check out the books. I always get confused over all the terms but haven't had the will yet to actually learn it.

Indeed, I found this style of exercising, plus running, to be especially beneficial for my vitality… physically and mentally. Hitting numbers each week also kept the motivation and discipline in check against negative tendencies.

Some others have already mentioned some of these things. My approach is one of both mind and body.

Mind: 1. Do a 10-day Vipassana[1] to jump into meditation (this could take some time as they usually have a wait list). My belief is everything starts with the mind. This will help establish a foundational meditation practice (which in time will become your ultimate weapon against stress). Not to say one can ever be stress-free, but more along the lines that you will have tools to deal with it in a healthy manner. 2. See a therapist so that you can talk to someone about the struggles you have (using BetterHelp you could start this today). I don't think anyone is immune from stress. Stressors (like work, relationships, money, kids etc) can (for some people) show up as weight on the body as a defense mechanism. Talking to someone regularly may help with this.

Body: 1. Hire a sport nutrition person to come up with meals that work for you that take any food allergies into account. Sounds like you already found something that works for you. 2. Do blood work regularly (every 3 months) to track various health markers. 2. Hire someone to cook the meals from the nutritionist 3. Hire a personal trainer that can help keep you getting to the gym. The personal trainer can help come up with a program that will help you achieve your goals.

Consistency is more important that how much weight you can lift or how far you can walk.

[1] https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index

Give that money to someone close to you who can hold you accountable — hell, I’ll do it if you need — but you’re going to be earning every dollar of that over the next year by counting calories. Here’s how:

It’s approximately 5000 calories per pound of weight that you want to lose. 30 pounds * 5000 calories = 150k calories to lose 30 pounds. That’s pretty close to $100k Pay yourself to count calories, $1 per calorie. Track everything. Every meal, every snack, everything you put into your body. Every week, add up the total calories consumed and subtract the total amount from your weekly “maintainence” calories. To calculate that, multiply your current body weight by 16 or 18, depending whether you exercised that day. For instance, if you weigh 200 pounds, you should eat about 3200-3600 calories daily to maintain that weight, closer to 3200 if you don’t exercise, 3600 if you do. Every week, pay yourself $1 for every calorie you burned, re-weigh yourself, and repeat.

No exercise needed, but that will definitely accelerate the process, but only so much. It took months to get you here, so expect to spend months to get you out.

I would focus on nutrition and exercise:

- hire a chef or use meal service. I know of a few companies locally which deliver premade chicken, beef, etc in all different styles. This beats takeout!

- hire a personal trainer at a gym. You probably don't need to be too picky, just get started doing something! As you get more experience you can adjust.

Good luck!

Low-carb/no-carb/Keto is a very hard way to lose weight over the longer term. I have a note on my wall from a radio show ~2 or ~3 years ago about the fatal metabolic defect of the ketogenic diet.

I have a friend who tortured herself trying to stick to a keto/low-carb routine, even though she knew the slimmest she'd ever been was when she was eating rice cakes and egg whites (iirc - she wasn't that healthy, just was slender.)

Something happened in the early-mid 1970's. The results started to appear 1978 to 1980: the population's weight on the scales started ticking up. I've posted about this a few times recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39493758 All the interventions in the decades since 1980 haven't helped, because they don't address what changed circa ~1975-1977.

I recently found a newspaper article from 1981 that's basically a smoking flare gun. I'm certain it covers what set off the obesity epidemic in the mid- to late- 1970's: the removal of a protective factor in the food supply. The sources cited in that 1981 article were so proud of themselves. Not sharing until I figure out how to take credit. The clues are all out there, you just have to know what's important.

After addressing what happened in the mid-1970's, losing weight should be easier. There are still lots of details, and things that'll be specific to your own personal situation, but it shouldn't be so insurmountable.

I'd be happy to chat with you about 'weight'. I just added a firefox relay email to my profile. I'll check spam to make sure it goes through... I'll respond to anyone who writes with a picture of my note about the fatal defect of 'keto', and a basic strategy for humans to keep themselves from gorging at their meals.

>I know you can't buy discipline. But can I kick start it somehow? How would you do it?

I'm in excellent physical shape with visible abs. While I do have some genetic advantage in general it's as simple as walk a lot & go to the gym once( you read that right) a week.

That's all it takes. Just start walking. Doesn't matter the shoes, doesn't matter where.

How long? How far?

Have your wife file for divorce after you find out she’s been cheating on you for 18 months and been planning for this eventuality since day 1 of her affair. Oh and she’ll have spent $300K in 11 months prior to the divorce.

I’m already $30K down in legal fees on top of it all.

The one bit of good news is that I lost 1/3 of my total body weight since Thanksgiving.

Are you ok mate?

I never know how to answer that question, if I’m being honest.

I’m functional. But, no, I’m not ok.

> Whenever I try and do these things myself it works for a few weeks, and then I go back to old habits. I’m done trying the same thing over and over, and then failing.

Every time I fail like this, it's because I tried to do too much too fast and it wasn't sustainable. If it's not sustainable, it's inevitable that you'll quit.

For me it's been a mistake to focus on the goal (i.e. don't focus on "lose 30 pounds"). Instead, establish exercise as a daily habit, regardless of the goal. Set aside the time to do it every day at the same time of day, a sustainable amount of time (not too much!). Ramp up slowly, don't injure yourself, don't get impatient, just do a little every day. Mentally commit to doing it for the rest of your life. Don't think of it as a thing you're doing for some other purpose, just think of it as part of your life that you must do every day.

It took a few years of weekend hikes before I was willing to make a commitment to walk a whole 1 hour every day -- and the only reason I did that was because I was going to do a multi-day high-altitude hike (EBC trek) and I knew from experience that if I didn't train for it then I'd probably not complete it. It was a decade before I moved on to other forms of exercise -- it's a very long process!

Someone else mentioned you should cook all your food. I agree, cooking your own meals is an amazing habit with some key benefits (not just nutrition). It provides instant gratification and also once it's established as a habit then you can use it as an exemplar for how to establish other daily habits.

Edit: By "exemplar" I mean that you need proof to yourself that a small gradual habit will eventually lead to the benefits you want from it. It's not easy to see the worth of delayed gratification that doesn't come to fruition within a few months. It requires "faith". Having gone through the process once will give you the proof you need to have faith that you can do it again.

Throwaway since it’s kinda personal. I was in nearly the same position last Jan. I started my journey when I told myself “I’m too rich to be fat”.

Here’s the game-plan I’ve followed myself to lose 50lbs and turn my bloodwork from highly concerning to near textbook.

1. See a clinic or doc who will prescribe Mounjaro / Ozempic or the compound pharmacy versions (tirzepatide, semaglutide). This will take all the weight off with little effort. You’ll suffer nausea and other side effects but it’s reactive instead of proactive. Costs about $1k/month. No need for nutritionists or special meal plans at first (not a bad idea though!), you will restrict calories on your own. If you are reticent to take these drugs diabetes may force your hand later. For me it was either now with the option to stop, or later and quite likely forever.

2. See a TRT doc (if male) and make sure your hormones are “balanced”. Most will put you on the very high end of Testosterone range, and may give you HGH or other enhancements. Costs vary, but $500/month should cover everything. My T went from low for an elderly man (220) to the high end of a younger one (950). I also take HCG for aesthetics (ball size) and to maintain some natural production. My doc is willing to give me Deca, Anavar, and others to meet my goals, but I’m not trying to be Hollywood jacked or ripped so I pass.

3. Forget a regular gym membership, that’s too proactive. Go with regular 1-1 training sessions, starting slow with 3/week. FlexIt and other remote training services are great for motivation. You can roll out of bed and start. I’ve never skipped a remote session but in-person can be a chore. You don’t need fancy home equipment, and nothing at all to start. Costs about $40/session so $500/month. The more weight you lose the more energy you have and the easier it is to keep up with the exercise. I actually do some Apple Fitness classes now even for fun.

As for business opportunity, this is a market a ton of TRT / life extension clinics and concierge doctors are already serving.

Change to a job that lets me work 30 hours/week for lower pay. Spend the extra 2 hours a day on gym and healthy meal prep, with a personal trainer for some percentage of the time.

That's what I would do, but I don't have any digestive issues, eat healthy already, and love the gym.

Figure out what is causing the chronic digestive issues and inflammation. Honestly, a strict carnivore diet sounds guaranteed to cause digestive issues. (The digestive system needs fiber.) An elimination diet to figure out what is causing the chronic digestive issues, with the help of a nutritionist and a doctor, would be a good place to start.

If that's what you need to spend to stick with it, hire someone, full time. A lot of people would be happy to take that money to keep an eye on you, and hassle the hell out of you. I know I would.

Consider what would actually make you do something, then pay that person to do it.

To extend on what I've said above, exercise was not my thing at all. It took me time to find what I needed not only to start, but to stick at it. False starts a plenty, amongst boredom and apathy. Perfect now, no, far from it, but better, and that's better.

Did keto 10.5 months of last year, lost 51lbs. Stopped, regained 20lbs and stabilized.

I still want to lose more though as I'm not where I should be for my height, so I'm going the medicated route.

If you're going to spend the money, do it on a trainer and do it often. You're talking a hollywood film prep training budget, that's probably how you should approach it to get to your target and then wean it back.

I talk about both of these because you can achieve the weight loss without spending the money, you just need to power through the first two weeks with strictly less than 20g carbs. At that point, you're probably golden (much like cutting nicotine or caffeine).

But if your goal is a transformation, your budget buys you accountability.

Something pretty obvious comes to mind: you mentioned books and apps, but what about an actual coach/trainer?

Easy to ditch a book or an app, not that easy to give up, futss around, etc when you deal face to face with a human being trying to keep you accountable.

You need a vision, a goal. A long term one. Ironman is perfect for that.

You practice 3 sports - and they are complimentary - you're unlikely to get injured.

It's achievable - yeah, I know that right now at 240lbs it probably doesn't seem like that, but the beauty is that anybody can do it. And once you register, you will have a strong incentive to prepare.

It will completely transform your self-esteem and the relation with your body and food.

PS. It doesn't cost 100k, but it's still expensive - registration, bike, maybe a coach - you're looking at 5-10k probably.

I thought an ironman was a really long triathlon? Is it realistic to go from couch to full ironman in a year? Or do you mean sign up for th shortest triathlon first?

It's a very long one, yes. 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run.

I think it's doable in a 12-24 months time frame - so next year he can do it.

If I was him, I would register for a half one for the end of this year / beginning of the next, and a full one for late 2025.

I don't think OP wants to do an Ironman, they want the things they listed.

Personally I get the pursuit of a goal - I am training for some ultra bike events - but the fixation on that goal didn't emerge out of nowhere, and nobody could have talked me into it before I was already doing 100 mile days.

Indeed, but you don't become happy by wanting to be happy.

OP is 47 and has gut issues. Not saying a 47 year old couldn't register and magically make a change -- i'm sure there is someone on the internet who has, and has gotten a ton of upvotes sharing the story -- but realistically this isn't gonna work for most people.

definitely disagree with "unlikely to get injured" -- i know a lot of people 40+ who get things like jacked up knees from running, tennis elbow, etc. biking and swimming are better choices for an older person but even doing those regularly aren't a magic bullet without serious changes to diet and overall lifestyle.

Some things cannot be bought by money. Such as discipline, will power, consistency.

I recommend you do what I am doing without spending $100,000: Go to the doctor, ask for a prescription for a GLP1 and then take it consistently, and then go to the gym 5x a week, and not worry about it.

GLP1's are the future. The future is here. You don't need to struggle with weight anymore. The mircacle cure for insatiable hunger is here. You will never think about food again.

Hand on heart, the last few weeks i've been on a GLP1 has been the easiest time i've ever had "dieting". It doesn't even feel like a diet because I just don't give a shit about food.

I am extremely biased, but I have to say... This is the way.

I do want to note that GLP1s are not miracle cures for insatiable hunger, they don't necessarily work for everyone and may (rarely) have side effects that aren't worth bearing.

That said, the way it's affecting people's hunger/food noise/etc is absolutely mindblowing.

> Hand on heart, the last few weeks i've been on a GLP1 has been the easiest time i've ever had "dieting". It doesn't even feel like a diet because I just don't give a shit about food.

What's your plan for post-GLP1? You noted going to the gym -- are you going to try and build muscle to up the metabolism in the meantime and then when you get off try to coast after a little regain?

Also, are you taking this chance to build healthier eating habits (i.e. changing what you buy, make, etc)? I wonder if you can still build eating routine while on GLP1 that helps you post-GLP1.

My plan is so long as I lose 5% or more of my body weight within the first 12 weeks, then to continue on Saxenda until I get to 60kgs (I’m a female and I’m currently 80kgs - there was a time where I was 140kgs (I lost that weight naturally (I got down to 72kgs), but it was really mentally exhausting)). Then I had cosmetic surgery to remove excess skin and fat cells etc on my abdomen (I believe that’s helped me to not have more significant weight regain). (I’ve only completed 3 weeks of saxenda, and I’m only on 2.4mg a day and there is noticeable changes in my size as per before/after photo’s, but I’ve not weighed myself yet).

I am going to the gym 3-4 times a week with 20mins of cardio and 25mins of weight training, swimming 2x a week for 60mins per swim, and walking (weather permitting). I was running half marathons until recently, I sprained my ankle and my right ankle is super unstable at the moment so not able to run, but the hope it to return to long distance running within the next 6 months.

Post-GLP1 I’m planning to resume long distance running to maintain a low weight and continue going to the gym. I would prefer to have more muscle tone than I’ve had in the past because I think it looks healthier.

In terms of building healthier habits, something I’ve noticed while on the GLP1 is that I am not impulse buying junk foods at the supermarket. Additionally, before GLP1 I’ve struggled a lot with tasks like grocery shopping and cooking because of my ADHD. But… since I’ve been on this GLP1, I have more mental availability to plan meals (super interesting!) I’ve actually found it a manageable task to plan a meal, acquire the correct ingredients and then prepare the meal, so I’ve been making far healthier meals (and it doesn’t even feel like I’m trying). There is actually part of me that doesn’t want to stop taking the GLP1 because I’m finding it is helping me with impulse control so much, it’s providing significant relief from internal guilt and grief I often would feel from impulsively spending significant amounts of money on shit I quite frankly didn’t need or really want that badly. The GLP1 has been more effective for my impulsive behaviours than the methylphenidate I used to be on for ADHD, without causing me to have the irritability that comes from being on stimulants for ages.

Sorry VERY late here (I somehow missed this), but have you considered weight training? From an efficiency point of view it seems hard to beat. Building muscle (like you'd like to) helps with metabolism, etc.

Of course cardio with a consistent routine is great too, but the potential for injury/schedule stuff can be hard.

If it's within reach for you, a small home gym (but in a room that is NOT the garage) is also fantastic, much easier to do 5 mins spontaneously and feel badly if you miss a day of doing at least 5 mins.

> Additionally, before GLP1 I’ve struggled a lot with tasks like grocery shopping and cooking because of my ADHD. But… since I’ve been on this GLP1, I have more mental availability to plan meals (super interesting!) I’ve actually found it a manageable task to plan a meal, acquire the correct ingredients and then prepare the meal, so I’ve been making far healthier meals (and it doesn’t even feel like I’m trying).

This is a huge thing and I'm pretty sure you're not the first I've seen say it. Impulse control is something a lot of society needs help with and eating is just the beginning.

Carnivo/keto diet (low carb in general) should actually help a lot in losing weight. What do you think is the reason why you can't do them consistently? If making them tasty is the issue, perhaps get a personal chef?

I would also strongly recommend doing a sport that you enjoy whether it be basketball, volleyball, boxing, muay thai, etc. If you enjoy the sport and want to excel on it, you will need to be fit, and it'll give you extra motivation to lose weight if it'll help you become better at something you love doing.

Move to Rio de Janeiro :) I have seen that city change people's life for good both socially and health-wise. Yes, that could be a "startup".

Stop drinking alcohol, soda and eat salad and meat... some carbs are ok. I lost 40 pounds just doing that. Well that and walking every day for 30mins plus moving house by myself.

Keto is hard to stick with and you tend to yoyo. Integrate exercise into your daily routine.. so get a job where you walk to work, or walk to the store or just walk. (Or move a lot of boxes) -- ask me how I know) but it was more about caloric intake than anything.

But more seriously ask your doctor about ozempic.

strict carnivore? brah, you've been drinking the (meat flavored) kool-aid.

keto... kind of a different story, but incredibly hard to sustain. and why are you doing FODMap? do you have a diagnosed gut issue?

it sounds like you're just rattling off diet memes.

with 100k I'd hire someone to design meals and/or get some of the al a carte meals like hello fresh. i'd also pay for a nice gym and a personal trainer.

also a maid, or other cleaning services. outsource annoying or unfun tasks, and find ways to concentrate willpower / stay busy with things I want to do.

and then cutting back some work hours, like going on 2/3 schedule at work for a while. a lot of weight loss is about being able to tolerate not having the dopamine hit from food, and usually that means lowering stress elsewhere or outsourcing other tasks. a therapist or counseling might also help identify what's pushing you to eat or preventing you from forcing the discipline.

but honestly if you keep backsliding then you need to change your life. new job, or new house, or something else. throwing more money at the problem won't fix the habits cuz eventually the cash will run out but everything else will stay the same.

You should check out FitMe - https://www.fitmelabs.com.

It's a cool device that allows you to track your body visually and easily understand how it progresses over time! Fits within your budget and I've found it to be super effective in tracking my body and getting a sense of how my body is changing.

Do you have a clinical “need” to eat meat or just a strong preference? I’d personally recommend eating less meat but that’s tangential: They say “6 packs (abs/shredded abdominals) are made in the kitchen” so if you’re looking to spend 100k get a personal chef and trainer or something similar.

I think your approach to “buying” health is all backwards but you can work with experienced professionals to help achieve your goal.

Best of luck cheers

I'm in my late 30s and evaluating my activity level; 150 minutes of moderate to intense (120bpm) exercise a week is what the gov recommends; probably what I got as a kid or in my 20s, and what I'm not getting now so

Not a money or technology problem, likely a social one

1. Go to a running store and do a group 5k 2x a week; develop friendships; eventually move to the 10k level

2. Join a sports ball league (tennis?) for 2 nights a week

3. Workout to get better at the above

Try a semaglutide/glp-1. Ignore the moralizing - they work, when statistically diets and exercise don’t. Diet and exercise obviously are great, but your odds of sticking to it and being successful are woefully low. Don’t beat yourself up about what is human nature - be analytical and realistic and maximize your chances of success by combining d&e changes with new medicine.

I'd argue the most important thing is an accountability group or partner... Someone who you can check in on daily and who checks in on you, daily, as well. This is why AA works.

If you're interested in an accountability partner, feel free to reach out. I don't need to be paid, and if it works, maybe you can make a donation to a charity I support?

Here if you need me! Good luck either way. :)

TDCS is a form of neurostimulation that can be used to treat addiction, among other things. You can’t outrun a bad diet, and if you look at food as an addiction, then you can treat it that way. There’s even an ultrasound brain surgery they can do for addiction.

https://youtu.be/7BGtVJ3lBdE

I'd use the $100k for living expenses and take a year off of work and focus on diet and exercise...

Diet and weight loss:

Get an app like Macrofactor and a food scale for tracking food. Aim for losing 0.5-1% of your bodyweight per week.

Try to eat a gram of protein per cm of height.

Eat sufficient fiber from whole food sources however you can. At least 20g per day, if not 40g.

Try to get fat from healthy sources like polyunsaturated fats like from olive oil.

If will power is an issue and you have money to burn, just hire a personal chef to make all the food you eat according to the above constraints and eat nothing else.

Strength:

Get a copy of the third edition of Starting Strength to learn the basic barbell lifts. That'll cover the first 2-6 months of strength training. I'd recommend the Tactical Barbell books for more sustainable training after that.

Buy a power rack and weights (barbell and plates) and a bench from a company like Rogue (or check out Garage Gym Reviews for recommendations).

If you don't trust yourself to stick to a training habit, hire a coach who knows how to get any able-bodied adult male to deadlift 400+ lbs. A coach who doesn't know how is fundamentally incompetent.

Cardio:

Get a heart monitor like a Fitbit. Your goal is for all your cardio to get your heart in the 120 - 150 bpm range.

Start just going for walks. Listen to podcasts or something. Gradually increase the distance/duration over time until your walks are an hour or longer. Go for a walk at least 3x per week, up to more than 7x per week.

Or you could just buy a treadmill and put a TV in front of it and watch it while walking. Increase the pace or incline as needed to keep your heart rate in the right range. Maybe even have a rule in place that any passive consumption of video can only be done on the treadmill.

More info:

I'd strongly recommend binging the Barbell Medicine podcast for evidence-based recommendations that deeply investigate the benefits and limits of lifestyle changes for health.

If for any reason you can't sustain any of the above habits, just pay someone alarming amounts of money to keep you accountable. Like they should just show up to your house and work out with you or coach you.

I'd also strongly recommend some form of therapy if you're having trouble sticking to new behaviors that you recognize are beneficial and align with your values.

I recommend a continuous glucose monitor and a new pair of walking shoes. There are multiple services out there, but I’ve seen great results with Signos.

https://www.signos.com/

Sounds like you are describing a diet resort/spa, have you already looked into them?

Personally I'd suggest moving to a new environment that is more conducive with your health goals.

70comments, many with good input, many with questions. No response.

Posting on the internet is easy. As is buying a book or downloading an app.

One might argue accountability is wanting.

Get a treadmill desk with a seat that will sit on top of it - barstool type seat - so you can switch back and forth. Super helpful to get 10k steps per day.

10k steps a day might help OP initially, but I found after getting a full size treadmill 10k steps for the day was usually done after one episode of any TV show if I left my house for any reason that day, even if it's just a walk around a couple blocks for air.

Bathroom breaks, walking around to stretch, doing a load of laundry will easily get you 4k to 6k steps. 10k ends up being a very low goal once you make any attempt.

Eat right, drink water, walk regularly. Get a goal: maybe do a marathon in 6 months? Get a coach to get you there. This will be infinitely less than 100k.

I would eat oats (for real, try it for a few weeks) every morning, hire a good coach and put $95000 to charity if it works.

I would hire whoever is the personal trainer of top celebrities (at the least the ones who look healthy)

I lost ~50lbs (and put on muscle) in the last 8 months. Here's my tips:

- Go on a run every day. Start easy, ramp it up. - Go to the gym twice a week. Same as above. - Skip dinner while you're trying to lose weight.

The key is consistency, honestly. Just stick to it. Also use an app like Google Fit/Apple Health that gives you rings, since it's a good way to subconsciously motivate yourself.

PCT through hike?

At $300/mo, that's 27 years of carnivore diet with high quality grass-fed meat from small regenerative farms. That's enough to get to a healthy body 20 times over.

The rest is nonsense. If you feel good and you have energy, when your body gets better from metabolic syndrome, everything else gets into place.

You don't need 100k to get better. Maybe spend half of it for a year of a live-in chef that can eliminate any kind of junk food temptation. No one would choose a Big Mac if they had someone to cook them really healthy and freshly cooked meals 2 times a day.

If you live somewhere where people are fat, move somewhere where they aren't. Usually there's a reason.

Here are some things I have been trying. To me, it seems there is a loss of microbial function for many people that is contributing to metabolic disfunction. Prebiotics and synbiotics can be used in combination with diet to combat dysbiotic microbiomes in obese individuals [1]. Obesogenic memory is mediated by dysbiotic strains of bacteria, and oral bacteria play a role (you can get oral probiotics and they're more likely to be persistent after a cleaning when the biofilm has been removed).

Evivo with 2'FL from Layer Origins, a synbiotic prebiotic for this strain. My code is EVIVO-1075 if you want 15% off. It's been successfully engrafted in adults [2] and improving acetate, lactate, and butyrate (byproducts of breaking down the HMO) seems to be correlated with better diabetes outcomes, less inflammation and potential appetite modulation [3]. Bifidobacteria have potential to be protective against T2D [4].

Akkermansia muciniphila with a Layer Origins Super Reds [5, 6]. It's a chicken and egg problem, but reduced Akkermansia muciniphila is associated with obesity and supplementation seems to improve metabolic disorder, but research is limited.

Omega-3 and more poly and mono unsaturated fats [7]. Omega-3 reduced all-cause and cause-specific mortality in diabetes patients [8]. I was vegetarian for a long time and avoided saturated fat, then started eating more when I got into Weston A. Price and started keto and continued to eat moderate fat when not doing a low carb diet. Long term, I've had issues with satiety and discipline even with keto, while a diet with grains helps me feel fuller longer. My sibling did 23 and me and found out they have variation on alleles associated with higher weight with increased saturated fat consumption, which has made me reconsider what kinds of fats I consume [9].

Inositol and COQ10 [10]. Peter Langsjoen, who pioneered the research on ubiquinol, has said he has the healthiest cardiology patients and attributed it to ubiquinol. You need a dose high enough to maintain a certain blood serum level and ubiquinol is water soluble where cheaper ubiquinone is less readily absorbed.

Gluten can be inflammatory for people, and I found this talk helpful for understanding more about leaky gut and dysfunction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evQAzGaW1JU. Emulsifiers have been shown to alter microbiota composition, so less processed foods is probably wise [11]. Dishwasher pods and rinse aids contain alcohol ethoxylates that can disrupt the microbiome but you can find ones that clean decently without them.

1. https://bnrc.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s42269-023-01...

2. https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/pdfExtended/S1931-312...

3. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aao5774

4. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-39...

5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10310354/

6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4856456/

7. https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/13/6/1322

8. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00592-022-02003-w

9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214897/

10. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5...

11. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150225132105.h...

Maybe eat some broccoli too? I agree sugar is terrible but be wary of extremes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com