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Comment by gremlinsinc | Hacker News Reader

Hot damn, I may be > 400 lbs but I'm taking Vitamin D, Zinc, AND have o-positive. I also wear masks everywhere, cause I'm not stupid. I'll let you know if I survive.

Before the lectures about 'have you tried losing weight', I was 690 in 2012, so yeah, it's just a SLOW burn, not a fast overnight thing, still going down, just slow and about 80 lbs is skin that needs removed and I just haven't been able to afford that surgery yet and was wanting to get lower still first anyways.

W/ covid here, seems not the best time for electives anyways.

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Congratulations. 690 lbs to nearly 400 lbs is an incredible amount of weight loss. Well done.

Thanks, I had VSG which helped, but got stuck at 510, then crossfit + switching to diet soda got me down to 420 where I'm floating now... Need to go back to crossfit when covid is over w/...

"I'm taking Vitamin D, Zinc"

Why aren't governments promoting this? For most people it is relatively easy to get and it is already proven to have benefits. You can still get Covid-19 but it reduces the effects significantly. It is also safe to take but you should not overdose (especially with zinc).

As far as I know we only have observed correlation, and didn't do any studies to show causation.

As someone w/ a very deep D Deficiency, it can't hurt and may benefit, having o-positive blood is also a plus, so I guess we'll see as I'm sure I'll catch it someday. It's starting to explode here in Utah lately.... we went from 100/day avg to 560 last friday in new cases.

Most people who do not spend much time out of doors in sunshine should take vitamin D3 supplements according to my doctor. Especially in the winter in high latitudes. As far as I can tell this is standard national health service advice here in Norway, so some governments are promoting it but not specifically for COVID-19.

being careful with Zinc is VERY important.

I was in the Royal Free in the UK (for a Kidney transplant) and the guy next to me had over done Zinc and had completely shut is kidney function down due to complications with other prescribed medication!

Yes I believe too much zinc reduces copper intake.

I've been doing 50mg, but not religious/daily probably remembering 3-4 days per week... Vitamin D is daily though as my surgery I had causes some vitamin deficiency and I'm VERY D deficient.

It's not a 'proven' but a lot of 'talk' and studies, but I'm D deficient anyways, so it can't hurt me, and if I live through covid infection, well even better :) At least it's something I can do to feel 'productive' for my health and maybe it's just a placebo but sometimes those actually work themselves - to protect from severe outcomes with illness.

You had almost 2 of me reduced in weight from your body. That's an incredible achievement. Keep it up! And stay safe.

Oh boy how I envy you, those five pounds I need to make that ratio exact are the hardest of my life.

And here I am at <70kg/150 pounds (@1.95m tall) and have more or less given up trying to gain weight.

The amount of happiness to be gained if only we could trade such character traits...

Take up a competitive endurance sport like running or better, if you have access to hills, cycling, you'll start to love that low weight of yours.

Yes, have done the Alps on a bike and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Hi, fellow lanky dude here. I blame everything on having a shitty appetite.

It's a slight struggle to maintain 77kg at 190cm. What have you been trying? I used to think nothing works, but they do say to keep a food (intake) and exercise journal so you hold yourself accountable.

I do have a small frame (thin wrists, smaller bones, etc) so I suspect my biology wants me to stay at like 75kg.

You’ll love the low weight when you get older. My 60+ parents say their peers from university, even many who were really fit but with higher weight, struggle a lot with their mobility at higher age.

It looks like a curse due to current body ideals, but it’s probably a blessing.

Underweight elderly people also struggle with mobility. Muscle atrophy and loss of bone mineral density causes falls and fractures. They often break a hip and are then stuck in a bed for weeks, which triggers an accelerating downward spiral.

Did you ever do barbell lifts + GOMAD?

If you can sustain that without gaining muscle or fat, I would suspect some sort of medical issue.

(I wouldn’t recommend GOMAD to most people. Even in your case, barbells + massive amounts of food would be my primary suggestion. However, I wouldn’t start immediately, as the whole gym/train/mer/physio system is mostly down or inadvisable from covid. You can hurt yourself with barbells)

I’m 6’2” and weighed about 150 lbs. last year. Now I weigh 180 lbs. and I attribute the weight gain almost exclusively to eating the number of calories I actually was supposed to (chronic under-eater before). It sucked at first, shoveling all the food I could in... but now I’ve tapered off and have maintained 180 for the last twelve months or so with relative ease. You just gotta EAT.

Isn't wearing a mask more for the benefit of those around you if you're asymptomatic? I thought most masks didn't do anything to prevent you from catching coronavirus, only spreading it.

I heard it decreases your likelihood like maybe 10-20%, but I'd imagine viral load goes way down compared to if you're not wearing one, so that could possibly have a better outcome from wearing one vs not wearing one... Imagine if healthcare workers just said fuck it and wore no PPE's how much sicker and faster would we start losing med workers?

holy snapping duck shit, you're a big dude and that amount of loss is amazing!

I was pretty please with 12kg over 6 months but hooly dooly, those stats are impressive!

seriously, you can do that you can do anything.

I lost 100 about 2 years ago by rededicating, and doing crossfit, been a bit lazy past year so kinda just stagnating then dieting a month or so if I gain some so I at least don't go up...

Was gonna go back to crossfit in March, but covid hit lol.

That's really impressive weight loss! Just keep pushing weights and exercise, it will zip that skin right up even if it takes quite a while.

Good for you, keep it up!

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