Weight Loss - The Perfect replica of Control Engineering

[Santosh Ostwal]

I registered today itself over this forum on diabetes-weight loss and found very interesting discussions.
I am 58 year old Electrical Engineer and entrepreneur. I am trying to understand the weight loss process with engineering sense and surprisingly it became quite interesting for me when I got the results. I am emotionally attached to weight loss since a decade due to healthcare reason but since last couple of years I am interested to understand the whole journey with technical happenings inside our body along with Brain software which is different for everyone.

Every year I reduced weight from 220 to 195 pounds during rainy seasons (July to October in India) but not consistent enough to sustain with the reduced weight. The weight increases again during next couple of months. Facing some healthcare issues like lower backpain & umbilical hernia since 2019.

Last month I initiated a self driven weight loss program based on learnings from earlier attempts. That includes fasting, 60% vegetables, very low added sugar, low calories (< 600 Kcal) and daily yoga for 75 minutes. I am maintaining the excel log sheet of daily intake, weight, calories, remarks on acidity / constipation, day count & dates. During 25 days I reduced the weight from 101 Kg to 95 Kg. The challenge is to continue the movement till I reach to a target weight of 72 Kg.
Though I tried to understand the engineering inside about weight loss process, I need help for making the life style of food and diet for keeping myself fit at 72 kg weight with full of activities.

 

[s'nic]

Welcome to the forum
You will find that you cannot precision engineer weight loss, this is because every persons body is individual regardless of basic biology. What you can do is seek out basic solid facts and base your actions around those.
Have a look around the internet and read about the effect of weight loss on metabolism
What I found in my reading is that dieting can slow down your metabolism, and it takes time to speed up again (with no guarantee it will recover to it's previous speed). This is why repeatedly dieting is not helpful (exercise during a diet can help prevent a slow down of metabolism).
Also read about the effects of food as a fuel
I read that if calories in food = the calories I burned as energy then my weight remains stable. Therefore to lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit, either by a choice of different food, or by more exercise. If you are putting any weight on, that is the time to tweak your calories in = calories burned equation.

Take a look at this link about How calories are calculated in your food
(Note how the energy content of certain foods, such as nuts, cannot be accurately calculated by that method).
While I don't suggest you try to calculate the calories in all you eat, it is useful to know what foods contain the most.

Ultimately you need remember that diets have a start and an end. It's no good reverting to previous eating when a diet ends - that's when weight returns.
Ideally you need to choose a sustained way of eating which will enable weight loss. Then when you reach your target weight you continue that way of eating but allow yourself either a few more calories (in food), or a little less exercise.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Santosh Ostwal

I think one of the reasons why there are so many different diets, approaches, and theories around weight loss is that the human body is so astonishingly complex. And as s’nic suggests - each person is a unique combination of genes, gut biome, metabolism, and bundled with cultural, environmental, and socio-economic factors.

Things like taste preferences, satiety, and what a person’s body a
ultimately does with the food energy consumed (eg a predisposition or not to lay down adipose tissue and/or visceral fat) mean that the optimum weight loss and weight maintenance menu will be as individual as you are.

Overall the theory of calorie balance is very well established, but the body is a good deal more complex than that I think, and some types of nutrients are required for certain things (repair and maintenance) so personally I don’t think it can ever be as simple as

deficit of x calories = weight loss of y lbs over z weeks

 

[s'nic]

personally I don’t think it can ever be as simple as

deficit of x calories = weight loss of y lbs over z weeks

I totally agree, which is why no x y or z were put in my equation. But over time a deficit would mean weight loss (to a greater or lesser extent) would happen.
The individuality of the body, and as you say, cultural, and socioeconomic influences etc etc play a huge part, meaning no one diet will be right for everyone.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I totally agree, which is why no x y or z were put in my equation. But over time a deficit would mean weight loss (to a greater or lesser extent) would happen.
The individuality of the body, and as you say, cultural, and socioeconomic influences etc etc play a huge part, meaning no one diet will be right for everyone.

Yes you can see that calorie deficit will always work eventually - just look at those poor souls living in areas ravaged by famine

But it does seem peculiarly difficult in the Western World to manage to achieve gradual, sustained weight loss to a target weight in a healthy way, that then doesn’t rebound with additional weight gained back.

 

[Santosh Ostwal]

My very core thought of engineering sense is on the existing mechanism (framework) offered by the nature which is common for every human being though the set points parameters might be different for individuals based on their various dynamics as described by respected senior members.

My view is that brain and psychology play a dominant role in weight loss or gain process in setting these parameters based on five senses inputs, beliefs, reference parameters, stress handling ability, childhood brain development and situations. These dynamics have surely made every individual's weight related process unique.

In short, the hardware of the whole human body is same but software is different. Its similar to the new mobile phone device which performs commonly for basic functions but differently with different apps for different people though the basic device is same. For example - Setting of hunger of a thin person can be very high and his intake can be more as compared to the obese person with very few calories intake for feeling him full. A person eating five times a day has different internal setting of various hormone secretions as compared to a person having meal only twice a day. In all these cases, basic engineering structure is same but the response system is different along with the internal set points.

What we have received in our hand at the time of birth is a standard body (in general with exceptions) which can be grown with added software as life forwards. So, my view is that an individual who is genuinely interested in the weight loss or gain has to be ready to study himself in multiple directions of hardware and software (complex task).

Though the physical body is same, light must be thrown on learning the subtle body like emotions, thoughts, mind abilities, responses ability, affirmativeness and perception towards life. These parameters are dynamically different for everyone. But, once these points are learnt, an individual can re-program himself his set points and then weight loss or gain process can be eased up. Currently, I am working on this approach and want to learn more and more on various aspects of weight loss helpful for me and the society as a whole.

By the way, thanks for looking into my thoughts as a new member.