_Stupid question: Wouldn’t a calorie restriction diet allow Eliezer to lose weight?_
Not a single person who’s done calorie restriction consistently for a long period of time is overweight. Hence, it seems that the problem of losing weight is straightforward: just eat less calories than you would normally.
I posted a version of this argument on Eliezer’s Facebook wall and the response, which several people ‘liked’, was that there is a selection effect involved. But I don’t understand this response, since “calorie restriction” is defined as restricting calories below what a person would eat on an ad lib diet (as distinct from a diet that involves having a a weight that falls below what the person would weight normally).
ETA: There’s now a lucid post on Eliezer’s Facebook wall that answers my question very well.
Let’s assume the following extremely simplified equation is true:
CALORIES_IN = WORK + FAT
Usually the conclusion is “less calories = less fat”. But it also could be “less calories = less work”. Not just in the sense that you consciously decide to work less, but also that your body can make you unable to work. Which means: you are extremely tired, unable to focus, in worst case you fall into coma.
The problem with calorie restriction is that it doesn’t come with a switch for “please don’t make me tired or falling in coma, just reduce my fat”. -- Finding the switch is the whole problem.
If your metabolical switch is broken, calorie restriction can simply send you in a zombie mode, and your weight remains the same.
The problem with calorie restriction is that it doesn’t come with a switch for “please don’t make me tired or falling in coma, just reduce my fat”. -- Finding the switch is the whole problem.
Great explanation. I didn’t consider this before, will update accordingly.
do you mean that this is a plausible hypothesis, supported by evidence, or just a speculation which would, if true, explain why calorie restriction might not work for Eliezer? If the former, could you point me to the relevant evidence?
I think I remember Eliezer complaining somewhere that calorie restriction (or something like that) makes him tired or just unable to do his work, but I don’t remember the source. I’m pretty sure that he tried it.
Not a single person who’s done calorie restriction consistently for a long period of time is overweight.
All the people for which the diet produces problems quit it and don’t engage in it consistently. If your brain function goes down because you body downregulates your metabolism to deal with having less calories and you want to keep your brain functioning at a high level you will stop engaging consistently in the diet.
There also the issue that you deal with a hunger process that evolved over tens of millions of years and try to beat it with a cerebral decision making process that evolved over 100,000s of years.
It just like telling someone with tachycardia of 100 heart beats pro minute to switch to 80 heart beats per minute.
It’s just a switch. Just go and with your heart beat. If I sit down on the toilet my body has no problem to go down 20 beats per minute in a few seconds.
I however have no way to fire of the same process by a cognitive decision. Food intake seems like it should be easier to manage than blood pulse via cognitive decisions because you can do voluntary decisions over short time frames. But over long time frames that doesn’t seem to be the case.
_Stupid question: Wouldn’t a calorie restriction diet allow Eliezer to lose weight?_
Not a single person who’s done calorie restriction consistently for a long period of time is overweight. Hence, it seems that the problem of losing weight is straightforward: just eat less calories than you would normally.
I posted a version of this argument on Eliezer’s Facebook wall and the response, which several people ‘liked’, was that there is a selection effect involved. But I don’t understand this response, since “calorie restriction” is defined as restricting calories below what a person would eat on an ad lib diet (as distinct from a diet that involves having a a weight that falls below what the person would weight normally).
ETA: There’s now a lucid post on Eliezer’s Facebook wall that answers my question very well.
Let’s assume the following extremely simplified equation is true:
CALORIES_IN = WORK + FAT
Usually the conclusion is “less calories = less fat”. But it also could be “less calories = less work”. Not just in the sense that you consciously decide to work less, but also that your body can make you unable to work. Which means: you are extremely tired, unable to focus, in worst case you fall into coma.
The problem with calorie restriction is that it doesn’t come with a switch for “please don’t make me tired or falling in coma, just reduce my fat”. -- Finding the switch is the whole problem.
If your metabolical switch is broken, calorie restriction can simply send you in a zombie mode, and your weight remains the same.
Great explanation. I didn’t consider this before, will update accordingly.
Thanks. When you say that
do you mean that this is a plausible hypothesis, supported by evidence, or just a speculation which would, if true, explain why calorie restriction might not work for Eliezer? If the former, could you point me to the relevant evidence?
I think I remember Eliezer complaining somewhere that calorie restriction (or something like that) makes him tired or just unable to do his work, but I don’t remember the source. I’m pretty sure that he tried it.
Yes, he did. He found that as little as missing a meal knocked him out.
Currently, he’s found a ketogenic diet which is working for him at least in the short run.
Do a three day fast and see if you can still be as active physically at the end as you are at the moment. That’s a very easy experiment.
If you don’t believe that changes in eating have any effect on how your body works there not even a price involved.
All the people for which the diet produces problems quit it and don’t engage in it consistently. If your brain function goes down because you body downregulates your metabolism to deal with having less calories and you want to keep your brain functioning at a high level you will stop engaging consistently in the diet.
There also the issue that you deal with a hunger process that evolved over tens of millions of years and try to beat it with a cerebral decision making process that evolved over 100,000s of years.
It just like telling someone with tachycardia of 100 heart beats pro minute to switch to 80 heart beats per minute. It’s just a switch. Just go and with your heart beat. If I sit down on the toilet my body has no problem to go down 20 beats per minute in a few seconds.
I however have no way to fire of the same process by a cognitive decision. Food intake seems like it should be easier to manage than blood pulse via cognitive decisions because you can do voluntary decisions over short time frames. But over long time frames that doesn’t seem to be the case.