How to Lose Weight - An Engineer's Perspective

It seems that everybody is concerned with losing weight.  Even I am looking to shed a few extra pounds these days, and it got me thinking: just how is it that we lose weight?  And I don't mean "dieting and exercise," I mean how do we PHYSICALLY lose weight?  As an engineer, my first instinct was to do a mass balance around the system, in this case the human body, and determine the variables involved.

Engineer's approximation of the human body

Ok, so now we need to know what is represented by each stream.  First, the easy one: Mass in.  As far as I know, the only significant source of mass entering the body is food/drink from eating.  Inhaling air is another source, but considering that inhaling is (nearly) always followed by exhaling approximately the same amount of mass, I'll ignore it for now.

Now let's look at the other side of the equation: Mass out.  Here are all of the ways that I can think of that we lose mass from our bodies:

Urinating, defecating, flatulence, sweating, vomiting, bleeding, loss of dead skin, hair loss/cuts, nail loss/cuts, crying, spitting, boogers/snot coming out of nose, sexual fluids

That, as far as I can tell, is it, unless you count losing limbs/teeth, which, quite frankly, I think is cheating if your goal is to lose weight.  Of that list, I would say that the only significant sources are urinating, defecating, and sweating.  I doubt hair/dead skin loss is significant, but I could be wrong about that, and if you're losing a significant amount of weight with any of the other methods, I suggest you consult a doctor about that.

Ok, so now that we know this, a question immediately comes to my mind:  Do people poop and/or pee more when they are losing weight than when not?  Or is it all lost by sweating more/eating less?

To answer this, I did some light research into the other side of weight loss: energy.  In other words, what happens to food/drink after we consume it?  Well, obviously some part of what we eat is used to make new cells, but that would happen whether we were losing weight or not.  So the key here is how the energy from that food is used.

We're all aware that food has a certain number of calories, or energy, that is associated with it.  When we eat it, our body breaks down the food to release that energy to use it for whatever it is that the body needs to do.  Any energy that is not used is stored as fat, and that's generally accepted as the method in which we gain weight.  So to lose weight, we need to use the energy stored in those fat cells (in addition to the food we're continuing to eat).  So for the purposes of our discussion, we need to know what the byproducts are of breaking down fat.  And it turns out that the byproducts are two simple things: water and carbon dioxide.

The excess water from breaking down the fat can be lost in two ways, as I see it: sweating and urinating.  The carbon dioxide, I assume, is all breathed out.  Pooping is seemingly unaffected.

The second part came as somewhat of a revelation to me: WE LOSE WEIGHT WITH EVERY BREATH WE TAKE.  Carbon dioxide is heavier than oxygen, and breathing is exchanging those two gases.  That said, I did a little more research and some quick calculations and found that, assuming normal breathing the entire time, it takes about 3.3 days to lose 1 pound by breathing alone.  Which really isn't bad, considering.

So in conclusion, my grade-school level analysis suggests that the majority of weight loss is from sweating and urinating, with some loss from breathing more due to exercise.  The best bet to lose weight is to eat less food (which means less mass in), and expend more energy, which will cause you to sweat more and breath more and possibly pee more (which means more mass out).  In other words, diet and exercise.

What a waste of time.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Layla

Hello again loyal reader!  Today we look at a band formed seemingly only so that Eric Clapton could hit on his best friend's wife.  That's right, it's Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos!

Release date: November 1970
Singles: Tell the Truth, Layla, Bell Bottom Blues

Derek and the Dominos only album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, was inspired by the beautiful Pattie Boyd.  The only problem was that she was married at the time to "Derek's" best friend, George Harrison.

Musically, this album is about as good as it gets if you love listening to people play the guitar at a high level.  That's because in addition to Eric Clapton, Duane Allman is on the album.  Even if you don't like love songs, which obviously most of these songs are, you can't help but marvel at these two doing what they do best.  It's really something special.

Back to the inspiration for the album.  While "Derek" may be a pretty weak pseudonym for Eric, he was at least wise enough not to go with his original title "Mattie."  His boldest move on the album was choosing to include a cover of Billy Myles's "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," which is explicitly about being in love with your best friend's wife.  I have to believe that George was a little suspicious.  I imagine their conversation after listening to this song going a little like this:

GEORGE: My sweet lord!  Are you trying to tell me something, Eric?
ERIC: What are you talking about?
GEORGE: Are you in love with Pattie?  You know, there's something in the way you look at her. She's I, me, MINE, Eric.  So, get back!
ERIC: Mate, I didn't even write the song!  It's a cover!  Duane wanted to put it on the album.
GEORGE: Ok, but if I find out you're lying, it'll really hurt me! You'll find me on Blue Jay Way playing my guitar while I gently weep.
ERIC: Trust me, mate, Lay-, er, Pattie and I are just friends.

Rating: 8 thumbs up - A great album and a must have for any Clapton fan.  Perfect for listening to in the car or at a party, especially if your best friend's girl is there and you're trying to seduce her.

Now here is "Why Do Love Songs Got to Be So Sad," which is surprisingly upbeat.


Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Mind Games

Happy New Year folks! To kick off 2013, the random album generator spit out an album by one of the all time greats: John Lennon. The first album of the year is Mind Games.



Release Date: November 2, 1973
Singles: Mind Games

Let's start off where we sometimes do, with the cover.  It was put together by John Lennon himself, and let me tell you, it... could have been better.  I mean, it looks kind of like an eight year old did it.  Not his greatest work, in my opinion.

But luckily, the music is much better.  There are several gems on this album, including the title track, "Bring on the Lucie (Freda Peeple)," "Intuition," and "Out the Blue."  The track that makes this a bona fide John Lennon album is "Tight A$," a little elbow into the side of the censors.  As you'll find out if you listen to some other Lennon albums, he always seems to have at least one song that takes a not-so-subtle shot at somebody who he doesn't like.

Rating: 4 thumbs up - It's a nice album. Though often overshadowed by as his two previous albums, Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, it is certainly a must own for any Lennon fan out there.

Now here's "Only People."  Enjoy!



Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - At San Quentin

Well, the good news is the world has not ended.  The bad news is that that means you get to "enjoy" another episode of Oakland's Vinyl Vault.  Today we get one of the handful of live albums that I have in my stacks.  In order to have seen the live performance that the album captured, you would have had to been a hardened criminal.  That's because today we are looking at Johnny Cash At San Quentin.

Release Date: June 4, 1969
Singles: A Boy Named Sue

The second most famous album to be recorded at a prison, Johnny Cash At San Quentin does not have as strong of a set list as its predecessor, At Folsom Prison.  But what it lacks musically, it makes up for in pure Johnny Cash charisma.  Only Cash could have playful banter with a roomful of some of the most hardened criminals the state of California has to offer, as if they were any other crowd.  At one point, while Cash is addressing the crowd, somebody apparently yells something out, and Cash responds:

"What?  Excuse me, I couldn't hear you, I was talking."

The highlight of the album, for me, is when Cash plays "San Quentin."  The crowd loves it so much (the guards, not so much) that Cash decides to play it again.  And crazy part is that for some reason when they were deciding which songs to include on the album, they opted to keep both performances of "San Quentin," so the second side of the album starts off with back-to-back versions of the same damn song.  I'd be willing to bet there's no other album in history that does that.

Rating: 6 shivs - Johnny Cash really was a unique talent and character in the world of music, and what this album gets right is giving you Johnny Cash, raw and unfiltered (but not uncensored on the original release).  A fun record, even if it's not quite as good as the more famous At Folsom Prison.

And now here's Johnny performing "San Quentin."  Along with the album, the concert was also filmed, so we can watch actual footage!  Huzzah!



I can't believe there wasn't a riot.  Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Meddle

It's that time again, children!  Today we look at another great album, with an awful cover.  It's Meddle, by the Pink Floyd.

Release date: October 30, 1971
Singles: One of These Days

So before we get into the music, let's discuss the cover a little bit.  The image, if you couldn't tell, and I don't blame you if you couldn't, is a close up of an ear.  But not just an ear.  It's an ear underwater, and those ripples you see are caused by sound waves entering the ear. As a concept, this seems like it might make a cool cover.  Unfortunately, in reality it just looks bad.

But luckily for us, once you take the album out of its sleeve and put it onto a turntable, you forget all about the cover.  This album, for me at least, marks the beginning of the golden age of Pink Floyd, in which they would go onto make Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall.  In 1971, it had been roughly 3 years since Syd Barrett left the group.  On Meddle, David Gilmour, who essentially replaced Barrett, finally emerged as a creative force within the group.  The result was that Pink Floyd started making some really good music.  Unfortunately it would also lead to a power struggle between Waters and Gilmour that would eventually break up the group, but what can you do.

Musically, you get a lot of different styles on Meddle.  It starts out with the single, "One of These Days," which other than a bizarre spoken line by Nick Mason, is an instrumental.  That leads to a rare Pink Floyd love song, "A Pillow of Winds."  The album continues with "Fearless" and "San Tropez," a light and breezy number.  The first side ends with "Seamus," which features vocals by a dog, and is what many consider to be the worst Pink Floyd song ever written, but I actually kind of like it.

The back side of the album is what makes this a great album instead of a good one. "Echoes."  It's a masterpiece.  Whether or not you believe that it syncs up with the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey (it totally does), you can still have your mind blown listening to this song.  It is epic.

Rating: 3 black monoliths up - A great album to just sit and listen to (or watch a certain part of a certain movie with a certain song from the album).  Definitely a must-own for any Pink Floyd or prog-rock fan.

And now, because I can, and so you can judge for yourself, here is "Echoes" synced up with the end of 2001.  Enjoy!



Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Head Hunters

Get funky, reader.  This week the randomizer spit out the jazz funk classic, Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock.

Release date: October 13, 1973
Singles: Chameleon

I have to start out by just saying it: I love pretty much everything about this album.  I love the cover art.  I love the fact that there are only four tracks, each one completely different than the others.  I even love saying, "Herbie Hancock Head Hunters."  Must be the alliteration.

Since there are only four tracks, I might as well just go through them in order.  First up, "Chameleon."  If you've heard the single version (which I doubt since it is only available on 45), then you know half the story.  Actually, not even close to half, because the single is heavily edited.  And by "heavily edited," I mean the single is a shade under 3 minutes, and the album version is almost 16 minutes long.  When listening to the album version, it's easy to forget halfway through that you're still listening to the first song on the album, and then the main riff comes back around and you remember.  It's awesome.

Finishing off side one is "Watermelon Man," which I kind of consider to be the core of the album.  It screams "Head Hunters."  It's a fun tune, and is probably one of my favorite tracks on any of the albums I own.  Flipping the disc over gets you to "Sly," a tune dedicated to Sly Stone, of Sly & the Family Stone fame.  Like its namesake, "Sly" is extra funky.  It's another tune that you can sort of lose yourself in in the middle, and then be brought home when the opening riff suddenly reappears near the end of the song.  The album closes with "Vein Melter," which is a fantastic name for a song.  It closes the album on a nice slow, steady groove.

Rating: 10 shrunken heads - A classic album for a reason.  If the words jazz or funk even remotely interest you, then you should pick up this album.  If they don't, then maybe listen to it first.

Now here's "Sly," in all its glory.  Enjoy!



Pat is crazy.

Oakland's Vinyl Vault - Fleetwood Mac

It's been a while, but I'm back with a pre-Thanksgiving treat: another look into my vinyl vault!  The randomizer seems to have enjoyed Rumours so much that it is giving us more Fleetwood Mac.  This time it's their second self-titled album.

Release date: July 11, 1975
Singles: Warm Ways, Over My Head, Rhiannon, Say You Love Me

Let me start out by commenting on the fact that this is their second album simply titled Fleetwood Mac.  Since the release of the first one, in 1968, there had been a few lineup changes.  The only members to appear on both were group founders Mick Fleetwood and John "Mac" McVie, who played drums and bass, respectively.  I find this quite funny, since the drummer and the bassist in stereotypical rock bands are notoriously replaceable.

Moving on.  This album marked a new era for Fleetwood Mac with the additions of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, one of which is a man.  With those key pickups, Fleetwood Mac would soar to new heights, and it all started with this album.  On Fleetwood Mac, you get a preview of the potential of this group, which would be borne out in their next album, the uber-popular Rumours, which we've already discussed.  Three of the singles charted in the top 20 in the US ("Warm Ways" was only released as a single in the UK), and that doesn't even include "Landslide," which is today arguably their most popular song.

Rating: 6 thumbs up - This album is quite good.  It is fun, light, and easy to listen to and enjoy.  I would recommend it for summer get-togethers in the park, drinking on the porch, that sort of thing.

Now here's "World Turning." Enjoy!



Pat is crazy.