Not for as far back as I can remember. One of the scarier parts of my childhood was having to hide food so that I could get something to eat on Yom Kippur, and hoping my parents never found out. I do remember at some point being too exhausted to walk either to or from the synagogue even with my father yelling at me—maybe that was when I was young enough to believe enough to actually fast?
I reasonably expect I would do better now, especially if I’d eaten all protein for a couple of days previous—my adult metabolism is not quite as bad as I remember it being in childhood, and my mind is a whole lot stronger. I’m not particularly inclined to test it, though.
When I was younger I would often consider buying a mini-fridge to put under my bed solely so that on Yom Kippur I would be able to eat without the fear of getting kicked out of the house and shunned because “you aren’t respecting our traditions.”
Thank you for your response, I have another question: Under normal circumstances, do you find yourself from time to time resisting the urge to consume superstimulus type foods?
To illustrate, consider your typical educated middle aged American man who is moderately overweight. He may not be actively dieting per se, but when he wakes up in the morning, he may have the urge to eat a plate of nachos or a slice of pie for breakfast. He might then tell himself “oh come on, don’t be such a fat slob” and have a bowl of cereal and fruit instead. Of course, he might have nachos and beer that night we he is hanging out with his buddies, but the point is that he makes some degree of effort to eat healthy.
So my question to you is do you exert some degree of mental effort to eat healthy (even if it’s not enough effort to make you thin)? Or do you just eat whatever you feel would be tastiest in the most satisfying quantities?
I don’t know what the hell your mental model of me is like, but I can’t eat the tasty things that normal people around me eat, on pain of blowing up like a balloon. If you go to the SIAI office, you’ll see a lot of thin people eating chocolate, candy bars, chocolate-coated nuts, and so on—just their normal way of getting energy for a workday—and me drinking protein-powder in water.
If you go to the SIAI office, you’ll see a lot of thin people eating chocolate, candy bars, chocolate-coated nuts, and so on—just their normal way of getting energy for a workday—and me drinking protein-powder in water.
I don’t know what the hell your mental model of me is like, but I can’t eat the tasty things that normal people around me eat, on pain of blowing up like a balloon. If you go to the SIAI office, you’ll see a lot of thin people eating chocolate, candy bars, chocolate-coated nuts, and so on—just their normal way of getting energy for a workday—and me drinking protein-powder in water.
Thank you for your response. Sorry if I insulted you, but a few posts back you seemed to be saying that you did not want to expend the mental energy to diet and get and stay thin. At the same time, I think it’s worth keeping in mind that you do (apparently) spend some amount of mental energy to keep your weight in check. Which I think is totally reasonable and normal.
I am trying to develop my own theory of diet, exercise and weight loss. One idea which I had today is that perhaps one can take the mental energy which a normal, non-dieting person expends on his food intake and focus it so as to get the most bang for the buck, so to speak.
Here’s what you said that I was thinking of (it’s in the companion thread):
The basic answer is that you can do the impossible but it comes with a price. Burn down every obstacle, sacrifice whatever it takes, devote any amount of time and any amount of energy required? You only get a few shots of that magnitude. Sure, if I made it the one priority in my life and gave up that FAI stuff, I could lose weight.
Perhaps I misinterpreted your words, but I understood you to be saying that you thought you could get thin and stay thin if you devoted the vast majority of your mental energy to the project. Which I think is probably true.
P.S. What do you make of the posters here and in related fora who claim to have achieved and maintained significant weight loss? Do you think they are lying?
P.P.S. Are you really that optimistic about Adipotide? My sense is that over the years, I have heard many reports about promising new drugs; usually the excitement fizzles out. Based on past history, it would seem to be a bit of a long-shot. Any reason to me more optimistic on this drug?
Not for as far back as I can remember. One of the scarier parts of my childhood was having to hide food so that I could get something to eat on Yom Kippur, and hoping my parents never found out. I do remember at some point being too exhausted to walk either to or from the synagogue even with my father yelling at me—maybe that was when I was young enough to believe enough to actually fast?
I reasonably expect I would do better now, especially if I’d eaten all protein for a couple of days previous—my adult metabolism is not quite as bad as I remember it being in childhood, and my mind is a whole lot stronger. I’m not particularly inclined to test it, though.
When I was younger I would often consider buying a mini-fridge to put under my bed solely so that on Yom Kippur I would be able to eat without the fear of getting kicked out of the house and shunned because “you aren’t respecting our traditions.”
Good times...
Thank you for your response, I have another question: Under normal circumstances, do you find yourself from time to time resisting the urge to consume superstimulus type foods?
To illustrate, consider your typical educated middle aged American man who is moderately overweight. He may not be actively dieting per se, but when he wakes up in the morning, he may have the urge to eat a plate of nachos or a slice of pie for breakfast. He might then tell himself “oh come on, don’t be such a fat slob” and have a bowl of cereal and fruit instead. Of course, he might have nachos and beer that night we he is hanging out with his buddies, but the point is that he makes some degree of effort to eat healthy.
So my question to you is do you exert some degree of mental effort to eat healthy (even if it’s not enough effort to make you thin)? Or do you just eat whatever you feel would be tastiest in the most satisfying quantities?
I don’t know what the hell your mental model of me is like, but I can’t eat the tasty things that normal people around me eat, on pain of blowing up like a balloon. If you go to the SIAI office, you’ll see a lot of thin people eating chocolate, candy bars, chocolate-coated nuts, and so on—just their normal way of getting energy for a workday—and me drinking protein-powder in water.
I can confirm this. :)
Thank you for your response. Sorry if I insulted you, but a few posts back you seemed to be saying that you did not want to expend the mental energy to diet and get and stay thin. At the same time, I think it’s worth keeping in mind that you do (apparently) spend some amount of mental energy to keep your weight in check. Which I think is totally reasonable and normal.
I am trying to develop my own theory of diet, exercise and weight loss. One idea which I had today is that perhaps one can take the mental energy which a normal, non-dieting person expends on his food intake and focus it so as to get the most bang for the buck, so to speak.
Thank you again for responding to my question.
Reread. I was and am saying that mental energy doesn’t work to do that. There is no known procedure for “become thin” except Adipotide.
Here’s what you said that I was thinking of (it’s in the companion thread):
Perhaps I misinterpreted your words, but I understood you to be saying that you thought you could get thin and stay thin if you devoted the vast majority of your mental energy to the project. Which I think is probably true.
P.S. What do you make of the posters here and in related fora who claim to have achieved and maintained significant weight loss? Do you think they are lying?
P.P.S. Are you really that optimistic about Adipotide? My sense is that over the years, I have heard many reports about promising new drugs; usually the excitement fizzles out. Based on past history, it would seem to be a bit of a long-shot. Any reason to me more optimistic on this drug?
Thank you again for responding to my comments.