Hacker News Reader

Comment by empressplay | Hacker News Reader

I've lost over 100lbs in the past year.

* I only eat one meal a day (supper). It's usually a very large meal, very high in lean protein.

* I avoid sugars and starches of all kinds and minimize other carbs (fruit, root veg, grains).

* After eating, I do 30 minutes on the treadmill.

For a middle-aged woman (a category which finds it particularly hard to lose weight) this has worked rather well. I can eat as much meat, (non-root) veg, dairy and soy as I want and I just keep losing weight.

So no, calorie restriction isn't the 'only way'.

View on HN

isn't one meal a day another form of calorie restriction though?

It's very difficult to not be in a calorie deficit when you only eat once a day and are consistently active.

How do you know that spreading that one meal out throughout the day wouldn't have the same effect? I bet you'd have more energy as well.

Unless you have tested this, I find it hard to believe that this isn't really just a caloric deficit compared to whatever you were doing before losing weight, assuming the same activity level.

> spreading that one meal out throughout the day

Probably yes. But you're minimizing the difficulty of staying in caloric deficit.

IF you can stick to one meal per day AND eat mostly protein (vs. mostly sugar / carbs) THEN it's very hard to overeat i.e. be in caloric surplus.

If you snack many times a day, mostly sugar / carbs, and slosh it down with coke or red bull (non-diet, sugary version) it's very hard to keep eating under calorie limit. Sugar / carbs stimulate your hunger, leading to more eating. It's the opposite of Ozempic.

And your glucose levels are chronically elevated which is bad for our bodies. It's basically chronic inflammation.

Now, if you eat a steak once a day, you'll find it very hard to overeat. Like physically, you won't be able to eat too much.

It's still not easy to stick to that but it's simpler and easier than calorie count everything you eat throughout the day.

It probably would have the same effect, but the point is that a lot of people find it easier to stick to one meal a day (or similar) than multiple smaller meals.

I've always thought that you can lose weight on almost any diet - as long as it makes you think before you eat and almost by definition any diet will make you do that. For me at least most (probably all) of the time I eat it has nothing to do with hunger and if I just stop for a second I'll probably not eat at all.

> a lot of people find it easier to stick to one meal a day (or similar) than multiple smaller meals

I am highly skeptical of this take... is there any science behind it?

I believe research has mixed results on dietary compliance.

I can only speak anecdotally - if I start doing something enjoyable, it's hard to stop while it's still enjoyable. One of the benefits of an IF diet is you can start eating your main meal and continue until you're full.

What you've described is calorie restriction.

You restrict calories to one meal where you can't possibly eat 2000 calories at once with the ingredients.

Exercise + starting off at a high weight helps further.

What you describe in your diet is significant calorie restriction...

... is it? It really depends on how large that meal is. What if it's a daily mukbang?

> * It's usually a very large meal, very high in lean protein.

> * I avoid sugars and starches of all kinds and minimize other carbs (fruit, root veg, grains).

With lean protein and no sugars/starches, it's just not really possible for most people to overeat in a single meal that much unless you're really, really forcing yourself.

Not sure how seriously I should take diet info from someone named Kirby...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com