The Hacker's Diet - Dieting As An Engineering Problem

Dieting As An Engineering Problem

Walker describes the diet as approaching weight loss "as an engineering problem", claiming that his approach enabled him to reduce his weight from 215 pounds to 145 pounds in a year, and keep it stable afterwards.

Walker cuts the problem down to the barest elements, modeling the human body as a "rubber bag", where one can ignore many small variables such as food type, frequency, metabolic rates and even exercise as not greatly important to the central problem. Calories consumed compared to calories used is the key, according to Walker; if one eats more calories than one burns, one gains weight; if one eats fewer calories than one burns, one loses weight. All that is necessary to consistently lose weight, at the desired rate, is to monitor the intake, monitor the weight loss rate and make the desired proportional adjustments to reach the desired goal, a very simple control system problem.