Category Archives: The Hacker’s Diet

Deficit Eating, planning for calorie shortfalls


Posted by katiebird

Just today, I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll use the tools and guidance from The Hacker’s Diet to help me reach (and keep) my goal.

With a (fantasy) goal of losing 40 pounds by New Years, I’m aiming for a 920 calorie shortage a day. Using information from The Hacker’s Diet a woman of my height burns about 1633 calories a day and based on past experience, that seems pretty close. It might be a little closer to 1700 calories, but this number is close enough as a starting place (you might want to check the formulas I referred to a couple of months ago — they give slightly higher results).

I’m going to assume that the 1633 includes walking 3 miles a day but that walking more would add to the calories I’m burning. I figure the 3 miles makes me moderately active, but more than that is a boost in activity level. And that’s why I’ve been aiming for 6 miles of walking a day (yesterday I walked 5.3 miles.) The Walking Site estimates that we burn about 100 calories for every mile we walk.e So that extra 3 miles would mean I’m burning closer to 1900 calories a day.

And that means if I’m aiming for a 900 calorie shortfall, I shouldn’t eat more than 1000 calories a day. Which is possible.w But, unlikely to last for the full 5 months until New Years. At this point, I’m just working with estimates.o I haven’t been tracking both calories and my trendline long enough to know for sure how many calories I’m burning a day. Walker (in The Hacker’s Diet) says:

With the true calorie balance now known, adjust your calorie target to match your body’s burn rate. Suppose you started assuming your body burned 2200 calories a day and planning to eat 1700 calories a day in order to lose a pound a week. After the first month of the diet, you examine the trend chart and discover you actually lost weight faster than you planned: at the rate of 1 1/4 pounds a week, evidence of a daily shortfall of 600 calories instead of the 500 you intended.

As long as you’re carefully following the meal plan you know your calorie intake is close to 1700. The only possible cause of the discrepancy, then, is that you’re actually burning 2300 calories a day rather than the 2200 you guessed. Now you get to choose; if you feel fine losing 1 1/4 pounds a week and prefer to get the diet over with so much the quicker, stay with your original meal plan. If, on the other hand, the extra calorie shortfall is bothering you, simply adjust your meal plan to supply 1800 calories a day: the 2300 you really burn minus 500 for the planned weight loss. In a couple more weeks, you should see a trend line that’s falling one pound a week.

So I’m going to start out aiming for a 900 calorie shortfall and hope that with the extra walking I might actually burn more calories than I think. If that happens, I’ll get a fast start on the weight loss (always an encouraging experience) and I can either stick with it or eat a little more.


What will you weigh on New Years Eve or fun with numbers


Posted by katiebird

I was playing around with numbers earlier today and thought I’d share the results:

1 pound = 3,500 calories | There are 151 days until New Years

To lose 40 pounds by New Years:
40 pounds = 140,000 Calories
140,000 (calories) / 151 (days until New Years) = 927 calorie per day shortfall

To lose 40 calories by New Years (my dream), you need to eat 927 calories per day fewer than you burn.

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To lose 30 pounds by New Years:
30 pounds = 105,000 Calories
105,000 (calories) / 151 (days until New Years) = 695 calorie per day shortfall

To lose 30 calories by New Years (more realistic), you need to eat 695 calories per day fewer than you burn.
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To lose 20 pounds by New Years:
20 pounds = 70,000 Calories
70,000 (calories) / 151 (days until New Years) = 463 calorie per day shortfall

To lose 30 calories by New Years (actually possible), you need to eat 463 calories per day fewer than you burn.

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To lose 10 pounds by New Years:
10 pounds = 35,000 Calories
35,000 (calories) / 151 (days until New Years) = 231 calorie per day shortfall

To lose 20 calories by New Years (seriously, any of us here could do this), you need to eat 231 calories per day fewer than you burn.

Over at The Hacker’s Diet, John Walker says,

Meal schedule can affect how hungry you feel, how much energy you have at various times in the day, how well you sleep, and a host of other things. But, as long as it’s regular, it doesn’t have a whole lot to do with whether you gain or lose weight. So, stay with what works for you.

(One exception is worth noting. If you eat a large meal and then immediately go to sleep, all those calories are going to be lazily paddling around in your bloodstream for hours while your metabolism is at its very lowest level. Fat cells will start banking the extra calories and you’ll end up packing on weight yet wake up ravenously hungry the next day [since all the calories were turned into fat]. There’s an easy solution: don’t do it. Eat meals early enough before retiring so your body has a chance to burn the calories.)

But otherwise, what we eat and when doesn’t matter. But if you’re hoping to start the New Year with a new look, you’ve still got 5 months to work on it!


Is Sonic’s Large Strawberry Shake really worth 860 calories to you?


Posted by katiebird

Just today, I/m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll use the tools and guidance from The Hacker’s Diet to help me reach (and keep) my goal.

Did you know that a large Sonic Strawberry Milkshake has 860 calories and 143 carbohydrates? And their large Blasts range from 900 to 980 calories (carbs are somehow just about 140 for all.)

Those Sonic commercials with the couple that has the funny arguments as they order and eat large ice cream treats are my favorite commercials this summer. But, they’re advertising early death as near as I can tell (even the ‘Regular’ shakes have 500 to 600 calories. And the ‘Regular’ Blasters? Almost 700.) Sonic’s ads are on all the time, they must be effective. Who is eating these things? And how often do they have them?

How do we know if the Shake is worth it? Most people aren’t closely monitoring their calories. And they aren’t weighing themselves every day. So the effects of a Sonic milkshake are obscured by the extravagant meals they’re eating — that we’re all eating if we don’t make a conscious effort to control ourselves.

I’ve noticed that since I’ve been posting my weight in The Hacker’s Diet Weight Log that my attitude toward food has changed. Lately I have more of a sense of cost/value about what I eat. And it’s because I know exactly how the food I eat will affect the trendline of my real-weight.

I’m not saying that I’ll never have a milkshake again. But (even ignoring the impact of 140 carbohydrates on a diabetic), I just don’t think it’s worth 900 calories. If I get one at all, I think I’ll split it with at least a couple of friends.


August 1, 2006 — Just 4 Today


Posted by katiebird

Just 4 Today, I’m going to walk 6 miles (I only walked 3 miles yesterday. It was still above 90 at 8pm so we didn’t take our evening walk) take my fiber supplement 3 times (I’ve taken it once today.e 3 times yesterday) and drink 2 liters of water (I’ve drunk nearly a liter this morning. Drank 3 liters yesterday) and continue to write in my journal when I’ve got something to say.

What are you going to do today?


Avoiding the destructive path toward weight gain


Posted by katiebird

Just today, I’m not going to eat between meals and I’m not going to take seconds. And I’ll use the tools and guidance from The Hacker’s Diet to help me reach (and keep) my goal.

Even though I know that obesity is forever, I still sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that I’ve got it licked. That feeling of security allows me to do stuff I shouldn’t do — because I can handle it. Which starts me down a destructive path toward weight gain.

I think that since I can handle it, a few saltines won’t hurt. And because I’m in control, I can have a treat at the Border’s coffeeshop. Or that because I haven’t done it for months, I can stop at a bakery and get an apple fritter (luckily they were sold out.) Well, all these things happened in the same week — and they added up to proof that I wasn’t in control. That, in fact, I can barely stop myself from eating foolishly if that switch is shut off in my brain.

Well, the fact is there is no treat on earth worth me weighing 155 pounds again. My goal is to lose 30 pounds. I’m not interested in letting my weight drift up. Remember, I naturally eat like Bulky Blown-up Buster, constantly at the far right of the eating curve. And that’s not going to change just because I’m feeling optimistic after a successful couple of weeks controlling my diet — even if those weeks are almost a year. Since that’s my natural tendency, I’m never going to be safe. Continue reading →