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The Hacker's Diet: How to Lose Weight and Hair Through Stress and Poor Nutrition
This is not a normal diet book, and I am not a normal diet book author.
I'm not a doctor. Nor am I a nutritionist, psychologist, sports hero, gourmet chef, or any of the other vocations that seem to qualify people to tell you how to lose weight.
I'm an engineer by training, a computer programmer by avocation, and an businessman through lack of alternatives. From grade school in the 1950's until 1988 I was fat--anywhere from 30 to 80 pounds overweight. This is a diet book by somebody who spent most of his life fat.
The absurdity of my situation finally struck home in 1987. ``Look,'' I said to myself, ``you founded one of the five biggest software companies in the world, Autodesk. You wrote large pieces of AutoCAD, the world standard for computer aided design. You've made in excess of fifty million dollars without dropping dead, going crazy, or winding up in jail. You've succeeded at some pretty difficult things, and you can't control your flippin' weight?''
Through all the years of struggling with my weight, the fad diets, the tedious and depressing history most fat people share, I had never, even once, approached controlling my weight the way I'd work on any other problem: a malfunctioning circuit, a buggy program, an ineffective department in my company.
As an engineer, I was trained to solve problems. As a software developer, I designed tools to help others solve their problems. As a businessman I survived and succeeded by managing problems. And yet, all that time, I hadn't looked at my own health as something to be investigated, managed, and eventually solved in the same way. I decided to do just that.
This book is a compilation of what I learned. Six months after I decided being fat was a problem to be solved, not a burden to be endured, I was no longer overweight. Since then, my weight hasn't varied by more than a few pounds. I'm hungry less often at 145 pounds than I was at 215. I look better, feel great, and have more energy for the things I enjoy. I spend only a few minutes a day maintaining this happy situation. And I know I'll be able to control my weight from now on, because I have the tools I need, the will to use them, and the experience to know they work.
The tools are now in your hands.
Live long and prosper.
I'm not a doctor. Nor am I a nutritionist, psychologist, sports hero, gourmet chef, or any of the other vocations that seem to qualify people to tell you how to lose weight.
I'm an engineer by training, a computer programmer by avocation, and an businessman through lack of alternatives. From grade school in the 1950's until 1988 I was fat--anywhere from 30 to 80 pounds overweight. This is a diet book by somebody who spent most of his life fat.
The absurdity of my situation finally struck home in 1987. ``Look,'' I said to myself, ``you founded one of the five biggest software companies in the world, Autodesk. You wrote large pieces of AutoCAD, the world standard for computer aided design. You've made in excess of fifty million dollars without dropping dead, going crazy, or winding up in jail. You've succeeded at some pretty difficult things, and you can't control your flippin' weight?''
Through all the years of struggling with my weight, the fad diets, the tedious and depressing history most fat people share, I had never, even once, approached controlling my weight the way I'd work on any other problem: a malfunctioning circuit, a buggy program, an ineffective department in my company.
As an engineer, I was trained to solve problems. As a software developer, I designed tools to help others solve their problems. As a businessman I survived and succeeded by managing problems. And yet, all that time, I hadn't looked at my own health as something to be investigated, managed, and eventually solved in the same way. I decided to do just that.
This book is a compilation of what I learned. Six months after I decided being fat was a problem to be solved, not a burden to be endured, I was no longer overweight. Since then, my weight hasn't varied by more than a few pounds. I'm hungry less often at 145 pounds than I was at 215. I look better, feel great, and have more energy for the things I enjoy. I spend only a few minutes a day maintaining this happy situation. And I know I'll be able to control my weight from now on, because I have the tools I need, the will to use them, and the experience to know they work.
The tools are now in your hands.
Live long and prosper.
336 pages, E-Book, html, pdf
First published January 1, 1991
22 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
About the author
John Walker
1,208 books163 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 2, 2012
Note: This book is available as a free ebook on the author's website, along with the web tools & spreadsheets for weight tracking.
I think this is a useful book, but significantly too long for what is a pretty limited amount of content. The book can be summarized as follows:
1. Calories in / calories out are all that matter for weight loss.
2. Track your weight consistently; preferably first thing in the morning, naked.
3. The trend line of an exponentially-smoothed moving average of your weight can be used to compute your average daily calorie balance. He has built a convenient web tool for doing this, as well as various spreadsheets that seem to be broken on the Excel 2011.
4. The trend line should be tracked to ensure that you are staying at a consistent calorie deficit until your goal weight is achieved.
5. Count calories and plan your meals to create a negative feedback system between your calorie balance and diet.
6. Exercising is good for your health and you should do it, but only slightly useful for weight loss.
(1) is a truism, only useful as an axiom. I think (2)-(4) are true, useful, and innovative. For (5) I've found counting calories to be an enormous PITA, and I doubt that I'll ever succeed in following a weight loss plan that involves counting calories. (That's just my personality, your results may vary.)
I think he really understates the case for exercise. First burning an average of a few hundred calories a day can be achieved by a vigorous workout several times a week. Increasing muscle mass can add to your base metabolism. Finally, I've found that exercise seems to help fix my "broken appetite". When I exercise regularly, I find it much easier to eat reasonable amounts of food without having to count calories.
I'd recommend skimming the book, not reading it.
I think this is a useful book, but significantly too long for what is a pretty limited amount of content. The book can be summarized as follows:
1. Calories in / calories out are all that matter for weight loss.
2. Track your weight consistently; preferably first thing in the morning, naked.
3. The trend line of an exponentially-smoothed moving average of your weight can be used to compute your average daily calorie balance. He has built a convenient web tool for doing this, as well as various spreadsheets that seem to be broken on the Excel 2011.
4. The trend line should be tracked to ensure that you are staying at a consistent calorie deficit until your goal weight is achieved.
5. Count calories and plan your meals to create a negative feedback system between your calorie balance and diet.
6. Exercising is good for your health and you should do it, but only slightly useful for weight loss.
(1) is a truism, only useful as an axiom. I think (2)-(4) are true, useful, and innovative. For (5) I've found counting calories to be an enormous PITA, and I doubt that I'll ever succeed in following a weight loss plan that involves counting calories. (That's just my personality, your results may vary.)
I think he really understates the case for exercise. First burning an average of a few hundred calories a day can be achieved by a vigorous workout several times a week. Increasing muscle mass can add to your base metabolism. Finally, I've found that exercise seems to help fix my "broken appetite". When I exercise regularly, I find it much easier to eat reasonable amounts of food without having to count calories.
I'd recommend skimming the book, not reading it.
May 27, 2008
It is hard to describe what it feels like to suddenly have some control over an area of your life where you previously felt powerless. After reading this book I started tracking my weight daily and lost over 25 lbs; simply tracking my weight as described in the book made me aware of my progress even when it was otherwise undetectable, preventing me from giving up too soon.
Most diet advice is written by professionals who spend all of their time thinking about health and are acutely aware of all the nutrients you need to be ingesting on a daily basis so as not to contract scurvy. As a result, the advice they give tends to be overwhelming and to hold it all in your head you must summarize it as YOU ARE DOING EVERYTHING WRONG.
John Walker is a software engineer who decided one day to approach his weight as an engineering problem: your body has inputs (food) and outputs (water and waste) and the difference between the two dictates your weight loss or gain. It's slightly more complicated than that, but not much.
Walker has the credibility of someone who is recommending something that they have done themselves. More importantly, he did not lose weight and become a fitness guru who advocates that you do the same to change your life, too. He, like a lot of overweight people, already had a pretty good life and just wanted to lose some weight and keep the rest of it mostly the same.
Most diet advice is written by professionals who spend all of their time thinking about health and are acutely aware of all the nutrients you need to be ingesting on a daily basis so as not to contract scurvy. As a result, the advice they give tends to be overwhelming and to hold it all in your head you must summarize it as YOU ARE DOING EVERYTHING WRONG.
John Walker is a software engineer who decided one day to approach his weight as an engineering problem: your body has inputs (food) and outputs (water and waste) and the difference between the two dictates your weight loss or gain. It's slightly more complicated than that, but not much.
Walker has the credibility of someone who is recommending something that they have done themselves. More importantly, he did not lose weight and become a fitness guru who advocates that you do the same to change your life, too. He, like a lot of overweight people, already had a pretty good life and just wanted to lose some weight and keep the rest of it mostly the same.
November 21, 2010
Somewhat famous in select circles, an engineer's take on diet books, written by the guy who co-founded Autodesk. Dude just rocks in every chapter of the book - down-to-earth, rational, cynical in a good way, everything you would expect from a seasoned hacker.
His basic ideas:
- no miracles, the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat.
- 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat. By changing intake you can manage how fast you will lose/gain weight.
- Difference between people who stay slim no matter what they eat is not metabolism, but their body feedback loop (i.e. they don't feel hungry for a while after they eat a lot)
- don't ever look at day-to-day weight, use running average only
- just measure and plan everything you eat, could be anything - just manage calories. But there are useful hacks. Dude has a huge table of ingredients with calories
- Exercise not for the sake of losing weight, but to live longer. Has his own program, if you want it.
Book includes a ton of excel spreadsheets to do tracking and planning, actually very useful.
And it's very motivational, at least for geeks.
Simple system that's easy to track and optimize, a lot of handles to tweak, hacks and formulas. If you make diet into RPG, how bad could it be?
Can't say I have weight problems (maybe yet), but I definitely want to at least try measuring and living with it sometime.
His basic ideas:
- no miracles, the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat.
- 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat. By changing intake you can manage how fast you will lose/gain weight.
- Difference between people who stay slim no matter what they eat is not metabolism, but their body feedback loop (i.e. they don't feel hungry for a while after they eat a lot)
- don't ever look at day-to-day weight, use running average only
- just measure and plan everything you eat, could be anything - just manage calories. But there are useful hacks. Dude has a huge table of ingredients with calories
- Exercise not for the sake of losing weight, but to live longer. Has his own program, if you want it.
Book includes a ton of excel spreadsheets to do tracking and planning, actually very useful.
And it's very motivational, at least for geeks.
Simple system that's easy to track and optimize, a lot of handles to tweak, hacks and formulas. If you make diet into RPG, how bad could it be?
Can't say I have weight problems (maybe yet), but I definitely want to at least try measuring and living with it sometime.
January 19, 2009
The intro to the book really catches you -
And John Walker is true to his word. The book is short and simple, with an analytical approach to dieting from an engineer's perspective that really made sense to me.
The book gives you the tools you need to succeed, and it's been working out very well for me.
There's an old Wall Street tale: a tyro asks an old-timer, “How do you make money in the market.” The wise man answers, “Nothing could be simpler: buy low, sell high.” The beginner asks, “How can I learn to do that?” The sage responds, “Ahhhh…that takes a lifetime.” Simple doesn't mean easy.
There is no magic secret to losing weight and keeping it off, just as there is no hidden key to instant wealth. Nonetheless, every year another crop of “magic diet” and “secrets of investing” books appear on already-creaking shelves. The human capacity to ignore inconvenient facts and avoid unpleasantness is immense. Success in any endeavour requires coming to terms with the true nature of the task at hand and, if the goal is worth the effort, getting on with it.
“How can I lose weight?” “Simple, eat less food than your body burns.” “How can I learn to do that?” Read this book.
And John Walker is true to his word. The book is short and simple, with an analytical approach to dieting from an engineer's perspective that really made sense to me.
The book gives you the tools you need to succeed, and it's been working out very well for me.
February 1, 2016
Read for the second time (at least; maybe third)... I've used it before, and most recently used its methods to get halfway to a weight loss goal. But I got lazy and started to plateau, so I read this again as a way to refresh my memory. It's all great stuff, especially if you're an engineer or statistician and you want to just cut all the mushy feelings stuff out of dieting and just get in control of your weight.
December 1, 2015
I read this book about the year 2000, and have used the weight tracking tool ever since. I really appreciate the way Mr. Walker has made it available to all who want to use it. I read a hard copy, but it is available, free, electronically. Out of the goodness of his heart, he maintains a website where I continue to log and track my weight. He and it have helped me. Plus, he has lots of other nifty things on his website.
November 14, 2021
This book gave me an eating disorder.
I first read this book in 2005, when I was 15, lonely, and overweight. It seemed, by far, to have the most practical advice for how to lose weight and keep it off. I counted calories dutifully, ate what I wanted, and lost 10% of my body weight. It was great!
After a year, I became used to the counting, and allowed myself 'breaks' from the plan. Very quickly I put the weight back on (and more). I learned I could not trust my instincts w/r/t food, and lost the weight by counting calories and restricting intake.
If you google that last phrase, you will see that it is almost the definition of disordered eating. Thinking about food all the time from ages 15-17 completely destroyed my ability to intuit my caloric needs. Even when not dieting, I still practiced calorie counting habitually. During hard periods of my life, when my willpower was in short supply, I would "treat myself" with a day of excessive intake.
As I entered medical school - and life got very hard - I began to spend excessive amounts of money on these binges. I hid them from my friends, embarrassed. I didn't know it at the time, but this is called binge eating disorder. I was eventually diagnosed and, 12 years after reading this book, began to get treatment for my eating disorder.
I thought I was being healthy when I followed this book's advice. Instead it cost me friendships and a good portion of my mental health.
The only time I lost weight without calorie counting was the year before medical school, when I had a relaxed work schedule, a loving relationship, and little stress. I hardly ever binged. Instead, I followed one simply rule: Do not eat if you are not hungry. By listening to my body, I lost *more* weight than I ever did following this book's advice, and it was the most healthy year of my life.
If you want more information about how to lose weight, I highly recommend 'Intuitive Eating'. While it's oriented to women, like most advice about weight loss, I still found it to be very helpful.
I first read this book in 2005, when I was 15, lonely, and overweight. It seemed, by far, to have the most practical advice for how to lose weight and keep it off. I counted calories dutifully, ate what I wanted, and lost 10% of my body weight. It was great!
After a year, I became used to the counting, and allowed myself 'breaks' from the plan. Very quickly I put the weight back on (and more). I learned I could not trust my instincts w/r/t food, and lost the weight by counting calories and restricting intake.
If you google that last phrase, you will see that it is almost the definition of disordered eating. Thinking about food all the time from ages 15-17 completely destroyed my ability to intuit my caloric needs. Even when not dieting, I still practiced calorie counting habitually. During hard periods of my life, when my willpower was in short supply, I would "treat myself" with a day of excessive intake.
As I entered medical school - and life got very hard - I began to spend excessive amounts of money on these binges. I hid them from my friends, embarrassed. I didn't know it at the time, but this is called binge eating disorder. I was eventually diagnosed and, 12 years after reading this book, began to get treatment for my eating disorder.
I thought I was being healthy when I followed this book's advice. Instead it cost me friendships and a good portion of my mental health.
The only time I lost weight without calorie counting was the year before medical school, when I had a relaxed work schedule, a loving relationship, and little stress. I hardly ever binged. Instead, I followed one simply rule: Do not eat if you are not hungry. By listening to my body, I lost *more* weight than I ever did following this book's advice, and it was the most healthy year of my life.
If you want more information about how to lose weight, I highly recommend 'Intuitive Eating'. While it's oriented to women, like most advice about weight loss, I still found it to be very helpful.
November 25, 2011
Written by an engineer for engineers, apparently without the help of an editor. I'm an engineer and it was hard for me to not lose focus and skim over parts of this book, but(!) overall, I really liked his engineering approach to managing weight. He broke the problem down well and came up with very some simple, pragmatic, and effective tools (the hallmark of good engineering). Using moving averages (exponentially smoothed, no less) show weight trends and to keep the fluctuations in daily weight from driving you nuts is genius. The fact that he provides Excel spreadsheets and Hacker Diet Online versions of his tools for free is a nice added bonus, and maybe a nod to non-engineers who might want to try out these no-nonsense techniques for losing and managing weight.
January 29, 2016
The difference between energy in and energy out dictates whether you are going to pile up fat our burn it; some people require less energy, some require more, but in the end, the universal laws of Thermodynamics won't change just because you have a lazy thyroid. Engineering can be summed up as the art of simplifying complex models, and the author accomplished that regarding human physiology in a quite elegant fashion in this book. By the end of the book you'll understand why counting calories, although tedious, is the only dieting method which stands the test of time.
June 13, 2012
A very nerdy way to approach dieting but exactly what I was looking for! Even though this plan allows you to ignore healthy foods and ignore exercise, he makes logical arguments to not do so and encourages you to look at the plan as a whole.
There is a lot of work to do in the beginning to track calories and get in the habit of recording your weight every morning, but if you are the nerdy, computery, mathy, engineery, logical type and are looking to lose weight, this is it!
There is a lot of work to do in the beginning to track calories and get in the habit of recording your weight every morning, but if you are the nerdy, computery, mathy, engineery, logical type and are looking to lose weight, this is it!
August 5, 2019
The Hacker's Diet is the weight loss book for engineering types. Its recipe is really simple:
To lose weight, you should eat less and exercise more.
The chapter on Signal to Noise where he explains moving averages and daily calorie excess/deficit is inspirational.
Keep track of your weight everyday but, rather than panicking every time you weight goes up a few ounces, focus on the moving average for more realistic feedback. If your weight today is below the line, you get a green dot and you are good. If it's above the line, you ate too much yesterday and should be a bit more careful today.
Your daily deficit is the difference between your calorie intake and the number of calories that you burn each day. A daily deficit of 500 means you will lose about a pound per week. Mr Walker wants us to count calories to figure out the deficit/excess but I've found that you can get really close by estimating it from your recent weight loss/gain. I wrote a little web app to keep track of it.
If the number is red, you are gaining weight. If it's green you are losing weight. The most amazing thing is that the difference between gaining and losing is usually the difference of an extra can of Coke (190 cals) or side of french fries (320 cals).
If eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight.
To lose weight, you should eat less and exercise more.
The chapter on Signal to Noise where he explains moving averages and daily calorie excess/deficit is inspirational.
Keep track of your weight everyday but, rather than panicking every time you weight goes up a few ounces, focus on the moving average for more realistic feedback. If your weight today is below the line, you get a green dot and you are good. If it's above the line, you ate too much yesterday and should be a bit more careful today.
Your daily deficit is the difference between your calorie intake and the number of calories that you burn each day. A daily deficit of 500 means you will lose about a pound per week. Mr Walker wants us to count calories to figure out the deficit/excess but I've found that you can get really close by estimating it from your recent weight loss/gain. I wrote a little web app to keep track of it.
If the number is red, you are gaining weight. If it's green you are losing weight. The most amazing thing is that the difference between gaining and losing is usually the difference of an extra can of Coke (190 cals) or side of french fries (320 cals).
June 24, 2024
All models are wrong but some are useful. This book provides a couple of useful models for STEM types who want to lose weight:
1. 1lb (0.45kg) of body fat contains 3,500 calories. If you have a calorie deficit of 350 calories per day over 30 days then, roughly, you will lose 3lb.
2. 10-15 minutes of circuit training each day can help with the diet and improve your expected healthy lifespan.
3. Keep track of the moving average of your weight, not the day-to-day fluctuation. Some days you'll be up, others down, just keep track of the moving average.
4. The best way to stick to the diet is to calorie count and prepare your meals. Unfortunately this is the hardest part for a lot of people, but I plan to roughly do it by reading the calorie counts on foods and going roughly based on that.
5. A lot of people's weight fluctuates a bit like a temperature control system - they don't notice that they're gaining weight until it gets to an unacceptable high, in which case they "turn on the air conditioning" and start dieting (or "turn on the boiler" and start eating if they're underweight). The aim is to keep track of your weight, and once you've reached your target then make small adjustments instead of repeatedly gaining weight and going on crash diets.
I do agree with others that the book could be trimmed down a bit, but there are lots of clear heading titles etc in the book so if you're not so interested in a section then it's very easy to just skim it and go to the next one.
It's given away for free by the author as a pdf & e-book and he provides free tools as well (he also explains how to do it all yourself if you prefer).
1. 1lb (0.45kg) of body fat contains 3,500 calories. If you have a calorie deficit of 350 calories per day over 30 days then, roughly, you will lose 3lb.
2. 10-15 minutes of circuit training each day can help with the diet and improve your expected healthy lifespan.
3. Keep track of the moving average of your weight, not the day-to-day fluctuation. Some days you'll be up, others down, just keep track of the moving average.
4. The best way to stick to the diet is to calorie count and prepare your meals. Unfortunately this is the hardest part for a lot of people, but I plan to roughly do it by reading the calorie counts on foods and going roughly based on that.
5. A lot of people's weight fluctuates a bit like a temperature control system - they don't notice that they're gaining weight until it gets to an unacceptable high, in which case they "turn on the air conditioning" and start dieting (or "turn on the boiler" and start eating if they're underweight). The aim is to keep track of your weight, and once you've reached your target then make small adjustments instead of repeatedly gaining weight and going on crash diets.
I do agree with others that the book could be trimmed down a bit, but there are lots of clear heading titles etc in the book so if you're not so interested in a section then it's very easy to just skim it and go to the next one.
It's given away for free by the author as a pdf & e-book and he provides free tools as well (he also explains how to do it all yourself if you prefer).
March 8, 2022
The Hackers Diet is a fun and worthwhile read for hacking the body to better health for those in the market. John Walker is a self-proclaimed "hack" who has lost over 100 pounds through diet and exercise modifications. The book is geared towards men, as the author himself is a man, but anyone can apply it to anyone looking to make healthy changes to their diet and lifestyle.
One of the best things about The Hackers Diet is that it's straightforward to follow. The book contains a 12-week meal plan that anyone can adapt to fit any individual's needs and preferences. The program focuses on eating natural, unprocessed foods and avoiding empty calories. The book also includes a variety of exercises that you can do at home with no equipment required.
Overall, The Hackers Diet is an excellent resource for anyone looking to make healthy changes to their diet and lifestyle. The plan is simple to follow and includes a variety of delicious and nutritious foods. The exercises are easy to do and tailored to any fitness level. If you're looking to lose weight, improve your health, and feel better about yourself, The Hackers Diet is a book you need to read!
One of the best things about The Hackers Diet is that it's straightforward to follow. The book contains a 12-week meal plan that anyone can adapt to fit any individual's needs and preferences. The program focuses on eating natural, unprocessed foods and avoiding empty calories. The book also includes a variety of exercises that you can do at home with no equipment required.
Overall, The Hackers Diet is an excellent resource for anyone looking to make healthy changes to their diet and lifestyle. The plan is simple to follow and includes a variety of delicious and nutritious foods. The exercises are easy to do and tailored to any fitness level. If you're looking to lose weight, improve your health, and feel better about yourself, The Hackers Diet is a book you need to read!
October 22, 2018
This is the first health book that I could not put down. This is the book that is helping me to manage my weight and my health. So, it is a life-saving book for me.
I was worried about my weight gain, and my lack of time to do exercises. I have 2 kids now and have an hour commute to my work. Both of these leave me with very less time to do exercises regularly, and I was constantly feeling worried about weight gain.
This book helped to break the problem into two.
a) Managing Weight.
b) Doing Exercises.
For a), I completely understood how this can be controlled by paying attention to the Calorie intake. That' it. I adjusted my calories and I went back to -3KG within 3 weeks. I have goal to go -13 kgs further so that I can maintain my weight at a desirable number. I am into managing of my weight now.
Once that is done, I know the need and utility value for exercises and I will able to make time for it to live for longer so that I could continue doing whatever I like.
Rarely, self-help books have proved valuable to me. This the 2nd self-help book that I can say that, it has proved valuable to me and the concepts taught will remain with me for the rest of my life.
Thank you, John Walker.
I was worried about my weight gain, and my lack of time to do exercises. I have 2 kids now and have an hour commute to my work. Both of these leave me with very less time to do exercises regularly, and I was constantly feeling worried about weight gain.
This book helped to break the problem into two.
a) Managing Weight.
b) Doing Exercises.
For a), I completely understood how this can be controlled by paying attention to the Calorie intake. That' it. I adjusted my calories and I went back to -3KG within 3 weeks. I have goal to go -13 kgs further so that I can maintain my weight at a desirable number. I am into managing of my weight now.
Once that is done, I know the need and utility value for exercises and I will able to make time for it to live for longer so that I could continue doing whatever I like.
Rarely, self-help books have proved valuable to me. This the 2nd self-help book that I can say that, it has proved valuable to me and the concepts taught will remain with me for the rest of my life.
Thank you, John Walker.
December 23, 2024
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June 20, 2020I was listen to Krista Scott-Dixon speak on the Barbell Science podcast about how some health and nutrition clients want all the data and to track all the things. John Walker (co-creator of AutoCAD!) would be this kind of clients I suspect. Walker gives a feedback method for maintaining weight loss with a thermometer metaphor and a tiny bit of math (but if you want all the math he's got that too at the end of the book) Just think, there was a time before MyFitnessPal! You had to look up all the calorie counts yourself! Maybe you kept track of things on paper!
Anyway, I loved all the old school references. Maybe get a meal service instead of frozen meals, I hear they are pretty good. And like he says: the method that works for you is the method that works.
Anyway, I loved all the old school references. Maybe get a meal service instead of frozen meals, I hear they are pretty good. And like he says: the method that works for you is the method that works.
August 31, 2021
Entertaining book that gives you a straightforward and simple (though not easy!) mechanism to control your weight. I've tried tons of diets and diet books/programs before and this is the first time I've read something that made sense to me and seems like it will be sustainable over time. I'm 83% of the way through my diet right now, so the proof will really be if I keep it off for the rest of my life, but the tooling laid out in the book is lightweight enough that I can see myself sticking with it forever.
August 12, 2017
promotes false information and incomplete information.
ur better off reading some keto book
ur better off reading some keto book
July 8, 2012
There's a lot of good advice in this book, but it doesn't start offering direct instruction until p89 (out of 199), so it takes a few hours of reading to get to that point. By contrast, you can be up and running with WeightWatchers (online) in about 5 minutes.
I started reading this book on his website a few years ago, but never finished it; now that it's available in epub format, I've actually been able to stick with it, because I can read it on the train etc. On my Sony Reader, it works pretty well: the only problems are tables (e.g. his fitness ladder) and equations, which don't display properly.
The author talks about "true weight", but doesn't say how he calculated it. If he just made the figures up, then came up with a trend formula that matches his fictitious numbers, that's not particularly useful. I do actually believe him, but it would work better with some kind of neutral verification. E.g. "we used calipers and my Excel formula, and the results match, so you can use this as a simple alternative to invasive procedures".
Based on my own experience, I've found that his trend line (based on daily weight) is much better than the weekly weigh-in at WeightWatchers. My trend has consistently gone down over the past few months, whereas my weekly weight fluctuates, and I either get warnings that I'm losing weight too fast or condolences that I've been regaining weight.
I read the 4th edition, which still talks about saving Excel files to a floppy disk. He explains how to do all the calculations on paper, and also talks about the Excel files that you can download from his website; unfortunately those were designed for an older version, so they don't work in Excel 2010. The good news is that he now has online tools on his website, so you don't need to use Excel or pen and paper; it's just a pity that he only mentions this as a "by the way" section at the very end of the book. Since the book is free, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it would benefit from a more thorough overhaul.
He advocates calorie counting, which is very similar to WeightWatchers. The main difference is that he considers all calories to be equal, whereas WW look at protein, carbohydrate, fat, and fibre.
I started reading this book on his website a few years ago, but never finished it; now that it's available in epub format, I've actually been able to stick with it, because I can read it on the train etc. On my Sony Reader, it works pretty well: the only problems are tables (e.g. his fitness ladder) and equations, which don't display properly.
The author talks about "true weight", but doesn't say how he calculated it. If he just made the figures up, then came up with a trend formula that matches his fictitious numbers, that's not particularly useful. I do actually believe him, but it would work better with some kind of neutral verification. E.g. "we used calipers and my Excel formula, and the results match, so you can use this as a simple alternative to invasive procedures".
Based on my own experience, I've found that his trend line (based on daily weight) is much better than the weekly weigh-in at WeightWatchers. My trend has consistently gone down over the past few months, whereas my weekly weight fluctuates, and I either get warnings that I'm losing weight too fast or condolences that I've been regaining weight.
I read the 4th edition, which still talks about saving Excel files to a floppy disk. He explains how to do all the calculations on paper, and also talks about the Excel files that you can download from his website; unfortunately those were designed for an older version, so they don't work in Excel 2010. The good news is that he now has online tools on his website, so you don't need to use Excel or pen and paper; it's just a pity that he only mentions this as a "by the way" section at the very end of the book. Since the book is free, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it would benefit from a more thorough overhaul.
He advocates calorie counting, which is very similar to WeightWatchers. The main difference is that he considers all calories to be equal, whereas WW look at protein, carbohydrate, fat, and fibre.
May 30, 2018
This book succeeds at being exactly what you would expect it to be. I had discovered the companion online weight tracking tool, which I used for a while before finally wondering "What is actually going on behind the scenes here?" So I read this book to find out.
This is a no-frills, engineering approach to tracking and managing weight loss. The book is simply meant to describe the methodology, and it does just that. It was probably longer than necessary for my purposes, but I appreciate that Walker put in all of the information so that we, the readers, can choose to engage with as much of the minutiae as we so desire.
I found this interesting and informative to understanding Walker's weight loss tool, and I would recommend it for that. But that is probably the extent of it; I can't imagine anyone else would find it of much interest or use.
This is a no-frills, engineering approach to tracking and managing weight loss. The book is simply meant to describe the methodology, and it does just that. It was probably longer than necessary for my purposes, but I appreciate that Walker put in all of the information so that we, the readers, can choose to engage with as much of the minutiae as we so desire.
I found this interesting and informative to understanding Walker's weight loss tool, and I would recommend it for that. But that is probably the extent of it; I can't imagine anyone else would find it of much interest or use.
May 15, 2016
About a decade ago I was 50 pounds overweight and my body was starting to complain. I lost 20 pounds on my own and then plateaued, figuring that was as good as it would get. Then I read this book and used the tools it provides to lose the remaining 30, which I have kept off ever since.
There is no trick to this diet, which is best summarized as "eat only as many calories as you need." That's hardly novel, but what is novel is the author's presentation of the human body as a system of inputs and outputs. He turns weight loss into an engineering problem that can be solved by math.
The book is written in straightforward language, with insights that seem obvious only after the fact. If it didn't save my life, it improved it a great deal, which isn't bad for a text that the author generously makes available for free.
There is no trick to this diet, which is best summarized as "eat only as many calories as you need." That's hardly novel, but what is novel is the author's presentation of the human body as a system of inputs and outputs. He turns weight loss into an engineering problem that can be solved by math.
The book is written in straightforward language, with insights that seem obvious only after the fact. If it didn't save my life, it improved it a great deal, which isn't bad for a text that the author generously makes available for free.
May 4, 2016
A look at dieting and weight loss from an engineering perspective written by the creator of AutoCAD. For a book written by a software engineer and with that title you'd expect it to be a some dense tome but it's actually a pretty easy read. The book does a great job of explaining the central idea that weight loss can be looked at as engineering problem and what that means for losing excess weight and maintaining a goal weight afterwards. I'd definitely recommend anyone thinking about weight loss to check it out.
May 27, 2016
An engineer's approach to diet: identify the problem, fix the problem, ensure that the problem never reappears. Energy in - energy burned - energy eliminated = fat stored or burned.
Given that background, leave aside all the fluffy stuff and the fad diet books and get down to brass tacks and your ideal weight. And then he gives you the tools to make it happen.
His computing tools are outdated -- who uses spreadsheets for behavior modification in the day of the smartphone? -- but it turns out there are a bunch of apps out there that will do the same thing.
Given that background, leave aside all the fluffy stuff and the fad diet books and get down to brass tacks and your ideal weight. And then he gives you the tools to make it happen.
His computing tools are outdated -- who uses spreadsheets for behavior modification in the day of the smartphone? -- but it turns out there are a bunch of apps out there that will do the same thing.
April 2, 2013
Well motivated, but drags on far too long. However, this book was written pre-1990 and while the basic principles still hold, the book might not be current on some details.
I like that he recommends a frozen/microwavable food diet. I independtly found that to be easiest to manage.
I like that he recommends a frozen/microwavable food diet. I independtly found that to be easiest to manage.
July 15, 2009
An engineer's perspective on how the body gains and loses weight. Well thought out and well written.
February 4, 2010
2010.0201-2010.0204
September 11, 2011
An engineer's take on dieting. Well written, entertaining and at the same time insightful.
October 18, 2011
Un enfoque "ingenieril" para perder peso. Curioso, pero interesante.
October 31, 2012
I used this book to lose about 65 pounds.
July 28, 2012
Quite good. A plan for weight loss and maintenance based on engineering and rational thought, rather than some gimmick. Makes it seem like it's actually possible.
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