Science desk
< January 22	<< Dec \| January \| Feb >>	January 24 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Science Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

January 23[edit]

Dieting to lose belly fat[edit]

What is the best diet to use if you want to get rid of belly fat? Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 00:56, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Running 10 kilometres every day. If you do that, you will get a flat tummy, and your body will tell you what to eat. HiLo48 (talk) 01:10, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Running 10 kilometres every day" is exercise, not a diet. I was asking a question about dieting. Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 01:23, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The best diet is to exercise.

You're asking for either specific medical advice for one specific person (whom we've not seen, and we can't do medical advice anyway) or else you're asking a very general question. In which case, assuming that your diet is only averagely bad to start with, the best advice is to exercise.

But really, this is a pointless question. We know nothing about either you, or your current diet. Andy Dingley (talk) 01:38, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It is a general question. I do not ask for medical or other advice here. Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 01:45, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You criticised one sentence of my two sentence response. Clearly the two were meant to be read and comprehended together, and the second (effectively) mentioned diet. It was a serious response, one that worked for me. Very few people lose weight long term without changing their exercise regime. HiLo48 (talk) 01:49, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Talk to your doctor. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:56, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

One's body fat depends more heavily on their diet than their exercise routine. It's not possible to do away with fat in one specific place on one's body; you can only reduce it overall. Temerarius (talk) 04:48, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

As everyone says, you can't do it by dieting alone, you need exercise too. Selectively modifying the shape of your body through a combination of diet and exercise is the sport of bodybuilding. Assuming you're not talking about a level of obesity that calls for medical attention, you can get individualized help by going to a gym and working with a personal trainer. The basic exercise for dealing with belly fat is the abdominal crunch. 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:4FFF (talk) 00:50, 24 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

This is a common misconception. Your body does not burn the fat deposits that happen to be nearer to the muscles getting exercised. It burns fat from all over, evenly. Abductive (reasoning) 02:25, 25 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

True, but abdominal crunches will give the best muscle development in that area. To burn fat, you need whatever sort of aerobic exercise you enjoy enough to keep doing it. I like cycling as it's otherwise pretty low impact, some prefer swimming for much the same reason, people with functional knees might try running. Andy Dingley (talk) 01:32, 26 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There is no evidence that crunches are anything but dangerous. Abductive (reasoning) 01:45, 26 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Can you expand on that? The little I've read on it favoured crunches over sit-ups. Andy Dingley (talk) 13:01, 27 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Coronavirus mortality rate[edit]

Have just read that the Coronavirus now has a 3.6% mortality rate (17 deaths) so far, is that unusually high for infectious disease? Ecolchester (talk) 04:16, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Data on the number infected is likely a little less reliable than data on the number killed. I'm not suggesting a cover-up saying that, either. When dealing with a newly discovered illness, we are going to have early patients that were treated without realizing this was the infection, for example. As for mortality rate being high, that really depends on the infection. The average mortality rate from ebola is about 50%, and ranges from 25% to 90% depending on the outbreak strain. The 2009 Swine Flu had a mortality rate potentially as high as 0.08%, but probably lower (that's calculated based on the lowest estimated number infected and the highest estimated number killed). Another variation of the flu, the H5N1 bird flu, has an estimated mortality rate of about 60%. SARS had an estimated mortality rate of about 15%. These also differ greatly among different effected groups and age ranges. In SARS, for example, those under 24 years old had a mortality rate of about 1%, 6% for those 25 to 44 years old, 15% for those 45 to 64 years old, and a whopping 50% for those 65 years old or older. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 16:28, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A good overview. It's an interesting side note that the so-called Spanish flu had a different mortality age graph than you'd normally expect from a respiratory disease (including this new one, where the deaths are mostly older males with previous health issues, as is the usual case with flus). This is detailed here and should serve as a reminder that questions about expected mortality are always subject to harsh realities. At this early stage, claims for whether this new strain will be more or less lethal than SARS are up in the air. Here is a pessemistic one from the Toronto Globe & Mail and here is a more measured one from the CBC. Matt Deres (talk) 18:55, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Vegetarianism and weight loss[edit]

Does a vegetarian diet help a person to lose weight? Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 05:55, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Not automatically. The first vegetarian I knew well was a somewhat plump lady who ate an awful lot of nuts. HiLo48 (talk) 06:08, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

All right, let me revise the question - what sort of a vegetarian diet would be suitable for a person who wants to loose weight? Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 06:13, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

A diet is often used to lose weight by eating differently. Since the habits that cause the excess weight don't change the weight loss is only temporary, lasting while the diet lasts. As mentioned in the previous section on food, changing these habits (e.g. more exercise, less fast food) is more effective for changing your weight.

What you are asking for is difficult to answer since we aren't dieticians and we don't know your situation. One thing that would work in general is eating the same ingredients/meals as you eat now but reduce the amount (assuming your food is otherwise normal, that should be safe). Vegetarian cuisine would be a good place to start for background info and you could check the internet for some cookbooks (e.g. this list). Rmvandijk (talk) 07:52, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

You should be asking your doctors these questions. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:40, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Depends how many vegetarians you eat. I've been a vegetarian for decades. Generally healthy, but I'm overweight and my cholesterol is higher than I'd like, because of cheese (there's just nothing else I eat which would do this). Also because I ignored the advice given to your previous thread and I don't get enough exercise.

I do not "know many skinny vegetarians". If anything, they're all pretty hefty. Skinny vegans aplenty though. The factors controlling all that are clearly more social than simply dietary.

Is a vegetarian diet a good idea? Of course! (but I would say that, wouldn't I) Advantages all round, for you and the planet (and the cows). But it's not a panacea for everything, and there are still good and bad aspects possible within it.

Really, no-one here can help you in detail, because we've no idea who you are and what your particular issues are. But you probably know them yourself, so yes, you're going to have to address them. Diet of processed food and take-aways? Stop ordering and cook more. No exercise? Do exercise. Simply too much of a good thing? Eat less of a good thing. Andy Dingley (talk) 12:04, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

To be perfectly clear about it, I am not asking for medical advice or help specifically in relation to my health. I am aware that such questions are inappropriate. I am asking general questions only. Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 19:27, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In which case, it all depends on how much of that vegetarian diet you eat, in relation to the amount you exercise. Although having some clear health benefits (mostly from the reduction in some types of meats, a diet which includes fish or some low-fat white meats would have nearly as much benefit), vegetarianism is no guarantee of weight loss by itself. Quantity still matters. Andy Dingley (talk) 23:37, 23 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Losing weight by dieting comes down to caloric restriction. A vegetarian diet doesn't seem likely to help with that. It will tend to have less concentrated energy sources than meat-containing diets, so you end up eating more often unless you're careful. I know plenty of overweight vegetarians. I realize your questions aren't medical but I think refdesk isn't in a good position to advise you, since everyone's requirements will be quite individualized. If you're seriously obese, talk to a medical person; otherwise, see a nutritionist. I do know people who have lost considerable amounts of weight and their basic strategies were similar: 1) eat small portions; 2) deal with between-meal hunger by snacking on low-calorie stuff like carrot sticks or celery; 3) avoid sugary drinks, fruit juices, or large amounts of fruit, since those are all full of sugar that has ridiculous amounts of calories. People often overlook that last one. 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:4FFF (talk) 07:36, 24 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]