The Hacker's Diet Group

by ThinOnceMore on Feb 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm

Could you tell me a little more about the diet? I need to lose 15 pounds tooo (which I just recently gained back)...and I am looking for all the help and inspiration I can find!

Edited by ThinOnceMore, on February 24th, 2008 at 7:22 pm.

by paulhat on Feb 25, 2008 at 5:59 am

The diet is very simple. Keep track of calories and your weight in a spreadsheet or on a website to generate a graph for each. The graph will show you your progress and if you need to adjust what you eat.
You can pretty much eat whatever you want so long as you watch the calories.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker%27s_diet for more info.

by jenniferwarren on Apr 9, 2008 at 3:45 pm

So the Hacker's diet is just calorie counting - that is NOT a new idea or diet! It is part of many other diets and systems, and has been used alone for decades.

Of course you will lose weight if you burn off more calories than you take in - is there really anyone out there who does not know that?

The reason that calorie counting ALONE does not work for so many people, is that SOME types of calories are more filling, satisfying, healthful, and nutritious than others.

You might lose weight, but you might be unhealthy, unless you choose healthy food for your calories. Remember, skinny people have heart attacks, and even diabetes, too! The QUALITY of food makes a difference for your health.

Also, it is hard to stick to limited calories, if you choose unsatisfying/nutritionally poor quality foods - they just don't keep you full, and you want to eat more calories. Long term success is more likely with healthy food choices, and real, sustainable lifestyle change.

by JoeyPetrone on May 4, 2008 at 4:34 pm

This is a good way to lose weight. All people should keep track of how much they eat, as well as what they eat. This way of weight loss works better with daily exercise and healthy food choices.

by tauceti on Jun 13, 2008 at 12:44 pm

From what I can see it's not just calorie counting; it's more like calorie counting with a feedback loop. For more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_system

by dudeinmo on May 21, 2009 at 4:58 am

I just started reading about this diet and even though most of us will see it as just another calorie counting diet, if your a "hacker" you get it. It's a way to "hack" your life and make it your own.

by nzat on May 21, 2009 at 12:05 pm

I just started reading it yesterday. 

by alathea on Nov 22, 2009 at 8:10 am

 While it is not a new idea, it was put together by an engineer who had some serious weight problems that needed to show himself the whys and hows of losing weight, so he turned it into a project. As an IT person his method 'clicked' for me and since I can see the direct result of a choice, it works. AND since I also work in software my hours are lousy and my diet is worse-he takes the guilting out of the weight loss. Eat what you want, here is what it does daily, keep your stats. Its pretty simple and works without exercise if you are disciplined (or eat the same things every day like i do out of habit ).
There is a website called 'physicsdiet.com' that takes the calculations of the Hacker Diet and lets you store them there-it smooths out the spikes and shows a weighted average chart that is really handy if the 'hacker diet' page is on the fritz, or not detailed enough for you.

Edited by alathea, on November 22nd, 2009 at 8:13 am.

by nzat on Jan 29, 2010 at 1:29 pm

Aside from a couple of health set backs I like the daily log provided by the author on his site. Took a while to not stress about the daily weight fluctuations, but I rely on it now to help keep me on track.