1. Hacking Fat Metabolism
Notes from a personal journey
Noisebridge 5MOF Jan2010, Copyleft Praveen Sinha

2. My diet and fitness
routines are being
iteratively developed
much like prototyping
an engineering
applicaiton

3. Weight Loss Idea #1
Fun Easy and Quick!
(not opposed to it for a couple of pounds, but need something else for
dramatic body change)

4. Design Constraints
Sustainable
fun
effective
healthy
energy producing
All that good stuff
Two Fronts: Diet and Exercise
Data Driven and Research oriented

5. PART 1: DIET
A world of radically different
diets, a lot of which work
Mediterranean:
Somewhere in between
Okinawa: High Carb
Low Fat
Atkins: High Fat Low
Carb
I hear Breatharians lose weight too

6. Hack: Fat is great! (except trans-fat
and excessive omega-6) While dieting
eat lots of fat, sending hormonal
signals to keep your appetite in check
Fat, in of itself, is hard to digest and the Atkins camp is partially right in
that body fat comes mostly from carbs
In fact, “calories in/calories
out” is a partial myth (though I
still constrain my calories)

7. In a nutshell, the more carb/sugary
you eat, the more you have to be
concerned with calories.
(and hunger signalling as well)

8. Carbs are Evil! Yes!
No! Maybe
But what About the
Okinawans and the
Tarahumara who pig out on
carbs and have the highest
longevity on the planet?

9. As it turns out, much like fats and proteins there
are a lot of different types of carbs
Okinawans and Tarahumara Eat lots of
starchy carbs like potatoes and rice but
not so many high sucrose/fructose
foods

10. In particular, Fructose is metabolized
quite differently than other carbs
It is seeming like fructose is a bee-line to
produce 2x more fat than glucose, for a
number of reasons

11. Hack: Avoid Lots of Fructose Unless
Sports Training (but other carbs are probably okay)
HFCS is in everything
in America (read Michael Pollan or just check
ingredients) AND
There has been a steady increase in INFANT
OBESITY as well in the USA -- WTF?

12. PART 2: Exercise
Hack : Track Your Metabolic Rate in Real Time
morning workout Walking home
Sleeping
Coding at work
Walking home
GoWear Fit
BodyBugg
FitBit
and more on
it’s way

13. If you are really concerned
about calorie expenditure, I’ve
found:
1) If you are in an office chair sitting, you may as well be
sleeping
2) Walking/standing around in any form (cooking, running
from police, even shopping) *significantly* adds in up
calorie burn

14. HOWEVER...
“Lots of moderate exercise will
burn calories and lead to
weight loss” -- The official line
Bullshit!! (well sort of)
Why do they keep saying
this!?

15. I moderate exercised for months, boring my ass off in the
gym and was still no better off than this proto-lolcat

16. Hack: Use HIIT
(pulsing to max heart
rate); It’s quick; It’s
effective; it works;
The Tabatha studies had a High Intensity Interval
Training Group, a moderate endurance training
group, and a control group. The HIIT group got
immediate results and lost WAY more in the end
than the other groups.

17. Once again calories in/
calories out is a partial
myth
High Intensity Exercise seems to produce hormonal
changes which increase fat metabolism throughout the day
long after your workout has ended

18. Hack: Insulin is the
most used performance
enhancing drug
I haven’t tried it myself, but insulin combined with dietary
glucose == inexhaustible supply of energy for your
muscles

19. I’ve lost almost 30 lbs
o/ and I’m sure I’ll have
another list of hacks as
the year goes on

20. I <3 you noisebridge