[iamgilesbowkett]

I have to disagree with this part:

"do it with drive and intensity or don't expect results"

I made a pretty radical change in my diet and dropped 82 pounds. I think the first 70 or so came off in 6 months. It required some focus, but not a lot. I had done a lot of reading about habit, and was already professionally trained as a hypnotist, so I combined habits with hypnosis and made a fairly dramatic behavior change with pretty minimal effort.

Likewise, at the same time, I was going to the gym every day, but because I had a severe health issue, I was working out very, VERY gently. I was basically walking on a treadmill at 3 miles per hour for an hour every day. It's more active than not exercising at all, but I couldn't call it a "drive and intensity" situation.

I think this whole "drive and intensity" myth is the major problem with Hacker News as a community, in fact. I abandoned hacking entirely for almost a year, during which I just sold how-to videos and coaching on my blog. I made decent money and there was not a lot of drive or intensity involved there, either.

Drive and intensity can be great things, but I've definitely had a great number of experiences which point to them being inessential to success. I'm happy to go so far as to say that neither are of equal value to research, clarity, good logic, or sound strategy.

[hoka]

Yeah, I can definitely see room for disagreement with how I worded it. What I really meant was "do it with drive and intensity or don't expect optimal results."

I'm active enough on enough fitness communities to see plenty of people make good-great progress on their own or ho-humming things. Compared to a completely sedentary lifestyle, ho-humming it will result in great progress.

Drive and intensity for something unproven (working on a side project, startup, etc) obviously yields unpredictable results. That's where the problem with HN is. But for something like exercise that has a long body of research and countless case studies, drive and intensity (provided proper form, nutrition, etc) only improves results.

[iamgilesbowkett]

I think that's fair. I think plenty of people would describe a dramatic change in diet as an intense thing, and I certainly don't think there's any harm in intensity, as long as it's intelligently applied, and it's different from some kind of demented obsessiveness.

[solarmist]

Drive and Intensity to me means frequently (daily or bi-daily for fitness) making small amounts of progress on your goals.

Intensity without drive. Working on something for 8 hours then forgetting about it for a week or more.

Drive without Intensity. Working on your project all the time, but never getting anywhere with it. (Always in planning/research, making it perfect, etc)

[bobbles]

Even though you were walking gently, the fact that you did the exercise every day is generally more drive and intensity than most people will be willing to achieve

[davidhperry]

Would you mind elaborating on your diet change(s)?

[iamgilesbowkett]

Sure. Basically just this guy's work:

http://www.drfuhrman.com/

I eat beans, fruit, and vegetables, and that's basically it. No starchy vegetables (i.e., potatoes, squash), and occasional nuts and seeds.

No meat, grains, salt, sugar, alcohol, or pretty much anything other than fruits, vegetables, and beans.

In addition to losing weight, I lost 100 points of cholesterol and also saw improvements in my blood pressure, my teeth, my skin, and other areas.

I went off it because I got bored, and I got all the weight back. I went back on it about a month ago and I've already lost 16 pounds or so.

[rjh29]

Why are you going back onto a diet that you clearly can't sustain? What makes you believe you won't, in time, gain back the weight you are losing now?

Crash diets work for a few people, sure: people who have the self-control and determination to adjust to a normal diet following the crash period. But the vast majority of people they simply do not work. I'd have given you the benefit of the doubt before, but your past experience clearly puts you in the latter category. So why continue?

[iamgilesbowkett]

"Why are you going back onto a diet that you clearly can't sustain?"

Who are you kidding? I stayed on it for a year and a half and then got bored. It wasn't a struggle, I just stopped making it a priority. It's a pretty gigantic leap from there to "clearly can't sustain."

"Crash diets work for a few people, sure"

It's not a crash diet. Re-read the pages I linked to, and the comments I made. I don't have time to continue this conversation but it's nothing personal.

[rangibaby]

I would consider gaining the weight straight back a sign that it's unsustainable.