The photo on the left was taken summer 2011; the photo on the right was taken June 2013. He lost 75 pounds in 5 months. Morex writes:
All my life I had been the fat guy. I was that kid in school that couldn’t run or go out and play because I was too heavy. You know how that is.
My teenage years and all my adult life I had been the fat guy. Until today.
I tried every kind of diet to my knowledge. I exercise since I have memory. But I never could lose enough weight or maintain the little weight loss I could achieve.
Until I read Freakonomics, which led me to research about Seth and SLD, which led me to these forums and to reading the book.
So last January [January 2013], after reading a little about how SLD works, I decided to give it a go.
He gives details here.
That is incredibly impressive. I am happy for the great success he has had. But I wish we knew why it worked so well for him, but not for others. I’ve tried SLD three times and did not have any significant success.
Seth: If you contact me, I’d be happy to try to answer your question: why it worked for him but not for you.
Thank you for posting about my little SLD adventure. All the credit is yours, really. You, sir, are awesome.
But now you made me curious. I know what I did, of course, but is there any particular scientific reason why SLD worked with me?
Morex — When I’ve tried SLD I have noticed that food often didn’t taste as good as it had before and it did feel like I got full a bit faster, but those effects were fairly small and did not amount to any significant appetite suppression. So after a week or so food cravings start to kick in and willpower (to eat less) runs out. From reading your page on the SLD forums, it seems like you experienced noticeable appetite suppression by Day 4 and the effect only got stronger from there. Is that correct?
Seth — I’ve sent you an email.
Hi David.
In my experience, yes, food tastes different under SLD. The things you used to like will no longer be appealing and you will develop new tastes. For example, I now love jalapeños and peanuts. I crave for them and I didn’t even think about them before SLD.
Also, I rarely use spices anymore. I don’t need them. Simple food now is so intense that I may use a little pepper here and there. But that’s it.
So yeah, food tastes a little different. I think it has to be that you are breaking the addiction to always have very strong flavors on your mouth.
And yes, you get full REALLY fast after AS kicks in in all its force. Take a look at my journal and you’ll see the portions I have nowadays.
My AS was good from the beginning. But it took a little more than a month for it to be this huge.
I am not an expert, of course, but I always advise to be VERY patient. In a world where we are used to instant gratification, waiting a few weeks might seem a daunting task.
Just have your oil or sugar in the amount appropriate to your body and be patient. I had to read the FAQ a few times and the book twice. And follow SLD like a bullet list. Don’t stay too far away from the plan.
That was my only secret, really.
Hope that helps.
Re “why it worked for him but not for you” – if there’s anything new here, or if its some aspect that most people miss, I’d be interested to read more about it on the blog .
Seth: My theory is this. Your weight is controlled by (say) five factors. SLD changes one of them, pushing you toward a lower weight. It is powerful only to the extent that your eating is based on how hungry you are. SLD will appear to fail — no lost weight — when (a) the other factors are pushing your weight upward strongly enough and (b) hunger has little control over your eating (= you often or usually eat when you’re not hungry), which reduces the downward push of SLD.