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Source: Todd Easton, 785-532-3478, teaston@k-state.edu
Video available. Visit http://ow.ly/wfPL
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu
Monday, Nov. 2, 2009
TESTING DIETING PLAN ON HIMSELF, K-STATE ENGINEERING PROFESSOR USES MATHEMATICAL PROOF TO MAXIMIZE 1xbet online casino EFFICIENCY AND PUBLISHES BOOK 'THE WHEN DIET'
MANHATTAN -- Leave it to an industrial systems engineer to look at shedding a few pounds as a problem that can be solved by maximizing efficiency.
That's how a Kansas State University professor came to write a diet book, &1xbet online casino ;The When Diet: Mathematically Optimizing Eating and Exercise for Weight Loss,&1xbet online casino ; published in October by Ithaca Press.
&1xbet online casino ;I never, ever intended to write a diet book,&1xbet online casino ; said Todd Easton, a K-State associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering.
Easton said he began to think about dieting as a matter of efficiency while teaching a lesson on bottlenecks in a simulation class.
&1xbet online casino ;By the time that discussion ended I realized that you could optimize dieting,&1xbet online casino ; he said. &1xbet online casino ;The body is a system, and it's possible to optimize systems --it's in the title of what engineers like us do.&1xbet online casino ;
Easton said when he began the dieting project he was in the middle of the overweight category.
&1xbet online casino ;I'd tried several diets, and it's miserable,&1xbet online casino ; Easton said. &1xbet online casino ;At first you feel all excited about the diet. You're on it for a couple of weeks, and all of a sudden you're not losing weight as quickly and you're really missing that food. About the time when the misery is bigger than the weight loss benefit, you quit. It's fundamental decision theory.&1xbet online casino ;
That's where the systems engineering comes in. Easton sought to maximize 1xbet online casino while minimizing deprivation.
&1xbet online casino ;The goal of any diet should be to minimize the misery of weight loss,&1xbet online casino ; he said.
Easton became his own test subject, weighing himself each morning and experimenting with how much he ate at different times of the day. Easton compared how much misery he incurred during the day with his 1xbet online casino .
&1xbet online casino ;When you're doing experiments on eating, you do crazy things,&1xbet online casino ; he said. &1xbet online casino ;Sometimes I didn't eat at all throughout the day and started eating at about 4 p.m. On those days, I increased my misery but still gained weight. Other days I tried the exact opposite strategy.&1xbet online casino ;
The experiments coincided with the mathematical analysis, and limiting calories at night is a method to optimize 1xbet online casino , he said. In the process of his experiments, Easton developed a mathematical proof, lost 30 pounds and has kept them off for five years.
&1xbet online casino ;The basic idea for the mathematical proof is that the amount of time you don't eat before going to bed is the unknown,&1xbet online casino ; Easton said. &1xbet online casino ;If you're not losing weight with five hours, try six hours, and so on. One thing I'm excited to find out from other dieters is whether the misery incurred is less than the benefit of their weight loss.&1xbet online casino ;
Easton said his book doesn't delve into health and fitness in the way that many other dieting books do.
&1xbet online casino ;When you talk about dieting it's very easy to change the topic to health,&1xbet online casino ; he said. &1xbet online casino ;I know the healthiest way to diet -- it's to eat the recommended number of calories, follow the food pyramid and get that 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise every day. But very few people want to do that.&1xbet online casino ;
Instead, Easton's book looks at dieting as an engineer would look at a system's inefficiency.
&1xbet online casino ;Pareto's principle states that 80 percent of the trouble comes from 20 percent of the problems,&1xbet online casino ; Easton said. &1xbet online casino ;By identifying the most critical habits that lead to weight gain and loss, dieters on 'The When Diet' can avoid making sacrifices that only marginally impact weight loss and can be assured that every sacrifice directly impacts weight loss. Thus, waste is eliminated from the dieting system.&1xbet online casino ;
