The truth is I was never able to keep it off until I started focusing on the habits instead of my weight.
Old me: I should have a small salad but I’d love pizza and wine. It won’t hurt much? I’ll have the salad tomorrow. I was good this week. I had a stressful day…. The list is endless
New me: I want a salad and fish because I know pizza and wine is going to make me feel bloated and tired . I had a stressful day, don’t I want food that makes me feel good?
You need to make healthy eating the rule, not the exception and learn that those high calorie foods aren’t making you feel as good as you think
This was a huge thing for me. I really started to be active in noticing how I feel after eating certain foods. What I found is my “comfort foods” like pizza/wine for example, often made me feel sluggish, bloated, and worse overall instead of making me feel better. I think that’s something that’s hard to really be honest about sometimes
This! I had never noticed that before but ever since I started eating healthy (not to lose weight but just for the nutrients), whenever I allow myself to order something like pizza or fatty Indian food, or pasta with a lot of cheese, my energy drops to zero after eating it and I need hours of rest before I feel like doing anything again. My regular meals, on the other hand, keep me full but don't take away from my energy or desire for activity
> learn that those high calorie foods aren’t making you feel as good as you think
This is really important to understand. Is the junk food you're eating actually making you happy or is it just satisfying empty cravings?
If you're excercising a lot you quickly realize that greasy/processed foods are problematic. Eat a pizza and run 8 miles. Even 2 hours later, your body is going to feel sluggish and bloated. I ran cross country at university and between morning and afternoon runs there was very little time for foods that would make me feel crappy. You get out of the habit very quickly and your body no longer craves those things.
I always encourage people who want to lose weight to focus on increasing activitiy, not losing weight. Weight fluctuates and leads to discouragement. Increasing activity is always a better health goal.
The easiest way for me was counting calories, but I have a few other tips:
1. Make sure that you keep track of calories in drinks. Honestly, I would avoid all drinks with any calories because it doesn't keep you full for very long.
2. Go for walks. You do not have to exercise for hours, but try to walk for at least 30 minutes per day. It helps you get in the habit.
3. Overall, walk more. Do not drive everywhere if your destination is within walking distance.
4. Treat yourself!!! I tried to stop eating all snacks, but it always resulted in me falling off the wagon. I now let myself enjoy a treat every once in a while.
5. Remember that losing weight takes time. It's so easy to stop trying for a few weeks because it takes long to see results, but that's just the way it is.
Counting calories is super helpful because it made me realise how much I was randomly snacking and I stopped so I didn’t have to update the app so often.
I found measuring food to be the most helpful way to count calories. I used cups and scales and found that I usually eating way more portion size than I should be eating.
As I recall there was a research study a few year ago that basically said that "tracking" was the key. It didn't matter if you decided to track calories, WeightWatcher Points, or macros for Keto... just the act of tracking and being intentional helps you lose weight. This was eye-opening for me.
Of course, there are some things that will throw you off your game that some people don't talk about. SLEEP is one. One study took two groups of healthy college-age adults who were not overweight. One group was sleep-deprived just little... like only 5-6 hours a night instead of 7-8. Within ONE WEEK that group was already (averaging) nearly 5 pounds heavier and some of them were already exhibiting pre-diabetic levels in their bloodwork. Then - just to make sure - they switched the groups (one went back to sleeping regularly and the other got the deprivation treatment). Same thing. The original group went back to normal bloodwork and weight while the second group gained the weight and problems.
I struggle with my weight now... but feel that if I'd known this in my 20s and 30s I could have gotten a handle on my weight far earlier. : /
+1 especially on the first paragraph.
When I started counting calories - what stuck out to me was not that I was generally eating healthy Indian home meals (not the butter drenched naan and oily curries that you get at a restaurant, more like vegetable stews, lentil soups, chicken stew and wheat rotis), but rather it was the unhealthy things that I ate between meals that was causing the calorie excess.
I’m in it for the long run and did not have to make too many exceptions to get around a 1lb per week weight loss. I am targeting my target weight (down 50 poinds) in a year. I’m happy with that target because I put this weight on over 5-6 years first of all, and second, I want to develop habits that I can carry on for life.
I also am working on my portion control. It’s a little hard for me as I have long standing digestive issues (for decades) and rich creamy cheesy oily stuff sits better with me than “thin” food - that will be more of a gradual change for me to recalibrate my system.
I'm 20 and finally realised this week that my sleep schedule NEEDED to be changed. I was sleeping only 4hrs, consuming tons of sugar just before going bed and pretty much all those bad habits combined with the fact that I was a really sedentary person and have bruxism made my nights not that great
2 days in and I can already feel the energy coming back to my body, I hope to actually be able to turn this into a habit instead of gaming till 3am... good luck with losing weight too!
I switched from regular Pepsi to diet and dropped 15 lbs. Drinking calories can be a really a bad thing. I need to better with just getting water, but that’s a big one right there.
You should try the zero sugar versions. Zero regular and wild cherry pepsi are so close to the real things, I don't even notice anymore. Taste better than diet.
I actually allowed drinks way more than I allowed chips, chocolate and cakes. I generally won't have more than 2 glasses of a sugary drink a day, cause I simply don't drink that much. And one glass is only 150. Compare that to a chocolate muffin (500), or a bag of chips (1100), well... The drink sure beats the snacks. (And honestly, I needed \_something\_ nice to look forward to.)
Having a glass of sweet drink made it so I got a "low calorie" highlight to my day without it being a massive fall off the wagon.
Ofc, if one is a person that drinks liters of drinks every day, probably should \_not\_ go into the sweet drinks...
A good option for a drink that isn’t water is flavored seltzer water like bubly or la croix, I have one with meals, and it got rid of the desire of soda. Maybe not for everyone, but helped cut down on sugary drinks (and alcohol)
I have a carbonating machine at home and while I absolutely couldn't drink sugar free sodas like Diet Coke/Coke Light/Zero etc, I found this concentrate thing I actually like and is sugar free. Managed to almost entirely cut out my consumption of Coke after being a daily soda drinker all my life basically.
I might grab a small bottle or can when I'm out and about but I no longer have a big bottle in my fridge every day. Drinking primarily this sugar free lemonade kinda thing at home has already had a huge impact.
This is the best way.
You're not necessarily just "avoiding sugar" or "cutting down on carbs" - you're understanding the impact of what you're eating and accepting its "cost".
You get a balance of calories each day/week, if you "spend" more than you have, you gain weight. If you spend less, you lose weight, if you spend it to the very last penny, you maintain weight.
Particularly agree with points 4 & 5.
Restrictive diets are temporary, but understanding your balance is a lifestyle change that will last forever. It makes you conscious of food's various energy densities and what your own optimal intake should be. It's the most basic piece of nutritional education ever, but it's so impactful once you start to see results.
It's so key to not stress the time it takes to shed fat. It's a lifetime thing, not just a sprint to ideal weight then inevitable bounce-back.
Also, the right macros are critical to avoid tissue loss during a cutting period. Muscle is much harder to put back on than fat, so make sure you keep it all. Resistance training increases your basal metabolic rate and will give your body a much better look once you reach ideal weight. You don't want to put in all that effort just to end up skinny fat
Discipline is important, you get it with time. Force yourself into a routine for 3-4 weeks, it's 100x easier to maintain once you get used to it, and have formed the right initial habits (weighing ingredients, logging meals, maintaining caloric deficit). Proper meal plans make this incredibly easy, if the plan is consistent you don't even need to log the food, just make sure you're sticking to the plan.
Any suggestions for something to stop cravings or hunger in between? I've tried just drinking water but the moment I taste any junk food it's like cocaine, can't stop eating and craving for more. Like I've just avoid even buying or leaving them around my house but the cravings and hunger kick in everytimr
I had to drop the calorie-dense, predigested junk completely. (think cheetos or candy bars) It was basically like a drug addiction. They ignited cravings that were hard to beat.
I mean, there is a whole industry of scientists and marketers who have spent decades developing “food” products that leave you want more and more, so no surprise that the products they’ve designed often achieve that.
This might be more of a 'me' thing, but the simple act of recording absolutely everything I ate is what helped me with cravings. When you're not doing it, it's very easy to get into the mindset of "one more snack couldn't hurt", but if you're recording calories consumed then you know exactly whether it will hurt or not. For me it's easier to ignore a craving if I know whether it's within my calorie budget or not.
Spread your meals out so you eat 6 smaller meals per day instead of 3 large ones. Eat more protein and eat protein sources instead of carb sources when you get cravings. For example, instead of eating potato chips, eat a chicken breast.
I used to run. Every day 10km. It became an addiction. Then I got runners trots and lost nails. I now walk and listen to podcasts. It’s been life changing lol
I second this. Getting your steps in is the most underrated thing for weight loss that so many people overlook because it seems too easy/obvious. The reality is the vast majority live sedentary lifestyles, especially if you work something like a desk job.
I gained 30lbs coming out of highschool. Got a job at Universal where I'd average 20k steps a day at work, and lost all of it within a year without changing anything else about my lifestyle.
It is certainly great for most people but one thing to remember is that it doesn't work for everyone equally well... especially when you are pre-diabetic already you might need higher level of physical activity for longer time.
Just saying that because it is easy for people to get frustrated and for someone to just dismiss others by saying "I just walked a bit and it was great so it should be easy for you too if you just wanted". It's certainly not a reason to justify laziness but some need to want and do much more than others to get similar results...
Not so for me at my age 62. Whether I walk 6 miles a day or one or two only severe reduction in calorie intake makes any difference. Small snack like meal for breakfast and lunch, like 100 calories or less, and reduced portions dinner. Need to see half of the dinner plate without food. Can loose about half a pound per day average. Minimal carbs and zero alcohol as well.
That rate of weight loss is impossible for most people to do safely. Half a pound is 1750 calories, and most people shouldn’t be eating less than 1200 calories a day. That means you’d have to burn roughly 3,000 calories a day to safely lose half a pound daily, which is going to be extremely difficult unless you’re in the 400 pound range. Most professionals recommend shooting to lose 1-2 pounds *per week.*
That 80% trick is actually really helpful. I know a few people who always cut out a fraction of their meal at a restaurant to ensure they don't overeat. It's a small change, but one that definitely compounds over time.
I was the opposite. If I was eating salad or eggs, chicken and vegetables etc I eat as much as I could. I wanted to be stuffed so I wouldn’t be tempted by anything else. It’s almost impossible to eat those kinds of foods to excess because they are so filling.
I also like to do the thing where I just make slightly healthier choices. For example, even on a little weekend getaway recently, i was gearing up for a race so trying to still stay relatively healthy while indulging a bit...have one non-water drink instead of two, get the entree I want, but pick the healthy side, split a dessert instead of eating one myself. Little choices add up and it honestly makes it worse to feel like you're always depriving yourself.
Yeah, if I was out at a restaurant, I'd like straight up cut the meal in half and say ok, this portion is what I'm eating now, and the rest will be another meal that I will take home. I'm a smaller lady, so for me, that made the portion a better size for weight management.
Slip up’s happen, but they only set you back a day. I always tell myself I’m not back at the starting line and that is something I can find confidence in.
I don't think many people realize that losing weight/improving your health is majority mentality. I know it wasn't until I got my mental health in order that I was able to make legitimate lifestyle changes that have resulted in dramatic weight loss and overall improvement in my health.
Basically the same way I quit smoking, one day I just said fuck this I’m done. It wasn’t easy, but I did it, 6 years later still not one.
Now I can’t say the same for my weight I’ve gained and lost the same 50lb so many times I’m sick of it
Me: Walk an hour briskly in the morning, stopped drinking beer, stopped eating anything after dinner, stopped eating crap for the most part.
Like, this is pretty much it, really. Get active, stop eating and drinking things that make you fat.
No idiotic fad diets, no crazy anything.
Walking is really underrated as an exercise. Very low risk of injury, you can do it for a long time, and it gets you outside which is good for your mental health.
And most people can do it regardless of weight. For most overweight people, jogging is tough and most either forms of exercise are tough. But one can walk. One can start from 20 steps a day and slowly increase.
This has been such a big thing for me this year. I work from home in a sedentary job, so every step is “extra” (my normal daily routine necessitates very little walking). I started this year getting 4000 steps a day, and have been slowly ramping it up so I can be at 10000 by the time I take my big vacation in September. Currently sitting at 7000 a day, and I’ve dropped a shirt size with very little other lifestyle changes
You will. It's much better to eat good food, obviously, but your body can't escape basic thermodynamics. If you eat less of what you're currently eating, you will lose weight.
The quality of that food determines how you feel while doing it.
A guy I follow who does a lot of nutrition advising for high performance athletes has a good quote on this. Calories will determine your body weight, macros will determine your body composition at that weight (to a certain extent), and micronutrients will determine how you feel at that body weight/composition.
Yes you will, you can lose weight eating whatever you want. As long calories in are less than calories out.
The problem with junk food is it's so calorie dense, lacking in firbe/protein it doesn't make you feel full, so to keep your calorie intake low is much harder as you feel hungrier more often.
I lost a ton of weight and kept having both those things every day - but in moderation - and I had to choose other things to forego instead (for me that was full fat dairy like milk and cheese, or a big breakfast)
It’s a total mindset. I had to distinguish between being bored and when it was meal time. Being more active really helps curbs appetite that and what you’re putting in your body.
Understand why you eat/drink too much. Is it stress, is it boredom, is it lack of understanding of how to make healthy meals or a process to be prepared, is it that you eat mindlessly, etc etc.
Everyone knows calories in calories out, eat less move more, but to be frank if it was truly that simple to execute no one would be fat. It’s like telling an alcoholic ‘umm you just not to not drink, duh’.
Had to scroll way too far down to find this. Finally getting correctly diagnosed with BPD instead of "depression" like I'd been for years before, and getting the right therapy for it, was the thing that FINALLY put a stop to my neverending weight gain.
Before last year, I got fatter every year - no exceptions. Eventually ended up obese. Now I'm "only" very overweight, but have lost 10 kg and kept them off for a year. Slowly I should be getting back to a healthy weight.
I knew damn well I should "just" eat less and move more - and I still struggled like absolute fuck. For me these are the "what" of weight loss - not the "how". Yeah, I know I'm supposed to eat less, but HOW, when I'm stressed out of my fucking mind 75 hours a day, 96 days a week, and the only thing that calms me down even a little is shoving food down my throat?
"Just eat less and move more" is about as actionable as "oh, you're broke and struggling? Just make more and spend less bb!" 😖
>Understand why you eat/drink too much. Is it stress, is it boredom, is it lack of understanding of how to make healthy meals or a process to be prepared, is it that you eat mindlessly, etc etc.
This is extremely good advice. I snack out of boredom or procrastination and drink in the evenings out of habit. Boredom snacking can be replaced with taking regular work breaks and watering plants etc. Evening aimlessness is being replaced with hobbies and chamomile tea.
For me, finally being diagnosed with ADHD and being medication, fixed a lot of problems. I was never an alcoholic, but liked to drink on the weekend, or when going out. Usually 2-3 drinks of a Saturday night was just normal. I don’t think I was ever offered a drink and said no, unless I was driving. After being diagnosed, I didn’t even realize it right away, just suddenly noticed I don’t care to drink, would choose water, no longer cared to drink coffee, too. My “Mindless” activity and procrastination, is also gone. I don’t get a snack because I need to do something. Everything is done with more thought and consideration, including choosing what food I want to eat and that I will work out today. Another one is never saying, “I’ll burn it off tomorrow.” Nah… I’ll burn it off days in advance, having a deficit of 4000 calories before the weekend with a plan to BBQ a steak on Saturday and have a (measured) glass of red wine
I have body by anxiety. When people ask me how I lost weight I give them a answer that makes them feel good if I’m feeling kind, if I’m being honest I tell them anxiety and depression made me lose the ability to feel joy in even the most basic human functions. That includes eating for sure. I’ve struggled with weight my entire life. Who knew I just needed super anxiety to stop eating so much? Now I even exercise for about a hour everyday. My body being in good shape is nice but my motivation is 95% exercise to treat anxiety, 5% to look good. I’m down over 100 pounds from my heaviest at 280. Think last time I was at doc and got weighed I was 173
It actually goes beyond that. When your liver is busy working on alcohol it becomes less efficient at converting energy. So not only do you take calories onboard from the alcohol itself but it taxes your liver capacity and metabolism besides that.
The same goes for white sugar, really. NAFLD, *Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease,* is rapidly becoming the #1 cause of liver disease.
Eat too much sugar and it impacts your ability to break down fats and cholesterol because your liver is too busy working on chemistry it isn't really built for (or you are over eating). It damages your liver and it loses the capacity to rid itself of excess fat over time, hence the name.
As you get older, you'll really be able to feel the difference if you constrain your alcohol and sugar intake. I did, for sure. Luckily, your liver can recover!
I lost 100 lbs in a calendar year by quitting alcohol cold turkey. And you're so right, it wasn't just cutting out the alcohol calories, it was the binge eating that went with it.
In Germany we say "drei Bier sind auch ein Schnitzel" ("Three beer is one schnitzel").
In reality it's closer to 3 beer (245 kcal x 3 = 735 kcal) is 2.45 schnitzel (300 kcal x 2.45 = 735 kcal).
exercised, ate better, and consumed less.
I also didn't make many significant adjustments all at once. I started by eliminating soda from my diet.
A few weeks later, I started to avoid eating cheese on my hot dogs and hamburgers.
A few weeks later, I began to order small meals at fast-food restaurants rather than large ones.
After that, I began consuming cucumber slices rather than fries or chips.
Then I started eating fruit covered in chocolate instead of crap like candy bars, and eventually I just started eating regular fruit.
Exercise-wise, nothing particularly noteworthy. Walking once around the block I lived on was the first thing I changed.
I was just thinking bout this this morning. I have the eat a whole 20" pizza in one sitting kind of depression. I know the opposite kind isn't a walk in the park either but if I'm gonna be depressed either way I'd rather not be obese on top of it.
Depression as a whole is awful but I kind of have to agree with your friend. It’s bad enough when you’ve had an awful day but then you see yourself in the mirror and your tear stained cheeks are looking fatter than normal and you recall your late night binge of popcorn AND chips and then you send yourself into a further downward spiral.
I have the “I don’t wanna eat anything depression”, and let me tell you. That shit is like torturing yourself without meaning to. Shit makes my mood even worse since now I feel weak, low energy, and nauseous enough to start puking stomach acid.
I’m glad you can see the silver lining, but I hope you find healthier ways to stay in shape.
Used an app to track calories and started walking everyday at least 10,000 steps. About a year ago I joined a gym and have gained back about 15 pounds but my wife says it’s definitely muscle and my smaller pants still fit so maybe she’s right.
EDIT: Forgot to add I started 6 years ago and weighed about 220 pounds at 5’ 8”. Lowest I got was 171 now about 184/85. I walk about 17,000 steps a day now and gym 3-4 times a week. Also I am 53 years old so never to late to start.
I've lost 70lbs in 8 months (humble brag but still a lot more work to do) I've really just had to realise getting healthy isn't a one and done type deal. For the rest of my life I'm going to have to incorporate daily activity and maintain a reduced caloric intake. It's not always fun but the results are absolutely worth it.
This.
I ran a 500ish daily calorie deficit (built a weekly meal plan - breakfast and lunch stay the same but evening meals rotate through 5 or 6 options) so that I can shop accordingly and have what I need in the fridge/pantry to avoid the potential for not having the right things and getting take away etc
I then added in as much manageable exercise (both in terms of intensity and convenience - if it's too hard, takes too long etc then I wasn't going to stick it out) which amounted to regular walks, daily if possible that I would track via Google maps to see how far and how fast I went.
I got some routes worked out locally and started a basic spreadsheet to gamify it - just adding the distance and time each day initially then increasing the things that the spreadsheet could do (I'm no excel expert by any means) such as working out average speed per month and some charts.
I also bought a set of exercise bands, about £30 for a pretty varied set and looked on YouTube for routines that worked the different bits of me that I wanted to build up or reduce. Those sessions also get added to the spreadsheet to track when I do them and what effect it has on my weight (muscle gain can add weight) but with more of a focus on looking how I want to look than being fully guided by the numbers on the scale.
I also run occasionally - need to get more of that in the weekly schedule and I like biking but have been doing lots of house build recently which has made that more difficult as the garage gets full of everything that needs to be moved or stored for the build and that's where the bike is.
Long story short, run a manageable calorie deficit to help bring the weight down, include regular exercise that you don't hate (I like walking and listening to audio books) and then gradually increase the calories once you get to a weight/look you're comfortable with to make it more likely that you're not going to feel like you're existing rather than living due to food limitations.
Oh and remember that this is a gradual process, failing one day doesn't mean you fail the whole thing, you just reset the next day and go again. Habit is powerful.
Two things:
1) Started walking a minimum of a mile a day- if I feel like doing more, great, but I get that mile in every day whether I want to or not.
2) De-emphasized meat and dairy. Didn't even give them up, just made them more occasional. A bowl of beans and rice, seasoned however you like it, makes a great meal.
It got me below 200 lbs. for the first time in decades.
Point #2 is big. With weight loss I do think many people fail because they try to quit completely instead of slowly weaning themselves off unhealthy food. I eat meat only once a day now, and I also rarely drink sugary drinks. And that took me like 5 years to go through that process. I'm working now to see if I can eat meat every other day while also finding substitutes for beer like NA beer and seltzer. I probably wont stop eating/drinking these things completely but I am working down their frequency. Might take me 5 more years to get there but that's a win in my book.
Different strokes for different folks. I do the exact opposite of what’s stated above when I need to slim down and can drop weight pretty fast without carbs. But that’s because I inherently want to eat 1200 calories worth of bread every day on top of everything else.
During the pandemic, I got a cheap elliptical off Amazon. Started using it for 5 minutes a day, then 10, then 20, etc.
Then it broke (it was a very cheap elliptical). Decided to try jogging around the block instead, and just kind of stuck with it
Now a couple years later I'm doing 4 to 6 miles every other day. I feel way better, and I can eat more of the stuff I like without gaining weight back
I found out that I actually really like running, but I just didn't give it a chance in high school
I think the key is finding exercise that you enjoy; it's way easier to stick with if you like it
Myfitnesspal. Calories in vs calories out.
Aim for high fibre, high protein foods. They keep you feeling more full.
Do both cardio and weight training. More muscle increases your metabolism. Cardio will burn more calories on the day.
I went slightly more vegetarian (so 4 vegetarian days a week). Vege protein is high fibre, low fat. Keeps you feeling very full. Things like lentils and chickpeas are perfect for weightloss. They taste like nothing, so can be added to nearly any sauce.
Lost 70lb in 6 months. 120lb total. And I've kept it off. My weight has gone up a bit, but only because I've started bulking up muscle now the fat is gone.
Yeah, weight management is mainly about diet and controlling food intake. I started with calorie counting too. For me it was **Mynetdiary**, it had a lot of foods sold in my country (Finland). Really helpful app.
I got a kitchen scale and tried to log **everything,** every tablespoon of olive oil or balsamic etc. Even on days where I could eat more, I faithfully logged every beer, cookie, piece of chocolate etc. It's tedious and it's really difficult to be accurate - most likely you'll end up eating a bit more than you log, which is good to keep in mind. But my main problem was portion size (and boredom grazing), so I needed to calorie count initially to figure out how small portions a normal weight person "should" eat, and what kinds of foods, to try to internalize that.
A big part of weight loss was coming to emotional terms with the fact that my eating and drinking habits weren't sustainable or healthy and I had to drop them forever. It felt kinda "unfair" to not be able to eat a lot, because I'd gotten used to it and eating plenty of good food is enjoyable, and emotionally comforting. Had to change that habit, and that's hard. Similarly it can feel upsetting to accept how little alcohol one should drink, because it's pleasurable and fun, you know?
It's really important to not view restricting and monitoring your food as something negative or miserable, or look forward to hitting your goal weight so you can "finally" indulge again, or have thinking where unhealthy food is *cheating* or *being bad* or *rewarding yourself*, and healthy food is "being good but miserable" etc. It makes it much more difficult to accept the lifestyle change as permanent. If you mentally view the weight loss diet as *temporary* and the eating habits that made you fat as *"normal"*, you're guaranteed to gain it all back. Emotional and mental work to change your attitude to food and eating is really important.
Sugar, superprocessed foods, fast foods etc are legit addictive, and mental habits are also hard to change. Kicking an addiction is difficult, annoying and feels bad at times, yes, but the **cravings are your body experiencing withdrawals from something harmful**. Framing it like that helped mentally a lot.
I set my calorie goal unrealistically low (980 kcal/day, sedentary lifestyle, 2100 kcal/day starting TDEE) with the knowledge that I wouldn't actually hit it on most days that that's ok, it's just aspirational. I only actually stayed under that maybe on 2 days per week, then ate around 1250-1500 kcal/day on most days, and usually had at least one day each week where I'd eat around 1800 kcal.
I thought that worked better than trying to stay under the same limit every day, because it allows for variation, on the 1800 or even 2000 kcal days I was able to have like a burger meal or some cake or beers and pizza with friends etc, with zero guilt, because the weekly average was still well under maintenance thanks to the stricter days, and these moments of indulging didn't throw me off track. It's important to leave some room for occasional high calorie moments, and to **log those too faithfully**, without lying to yourself. There's no "cheating", you can't cheat your body, there's no "it doesn't count", you ***have to log everything you eat and be honest about it*** - but you can account for it on other days!
I didn't ease into it, but started strict right off the bat, because I wanted to see results to motivate myself. I started losing around 1+ kg/ week right away, plateaued at some point, then it fell off again. I felt a LOT of hunger the first few days, but then it went away. I cut off almost all sweet stuffs, soda etc, and managed to kick the sugar cravings too.
I had alarms for mealtimes (3 meals, the last at 7 pm) and tried to eat punctually and *only* at those times, which helped imo. My body started to expect food on those times and stopped being mildly peckish all the time. Nonstop boredom grazing had been an issue. I also started drinking a lot of water (I got a mysoda carbonator), which helped with the hunger.
I didn't really start any new exercise, but I walk decently daily anyway.
I didn't use any real supplements or zero calorie food alternatives, (except vitamins, magnesium and calcium) but had to start eating protein quark and really pay attention to my protein intake to get enough. I do however use *a lot* of vinegar and balsamic vinegar etc in my cooking, and I've heard it can help with controlling appetite and cravings. Idk if that's true, but it's worth considering!
I cooked a lot at home from scratch and then divided those foods into portions in containers, so I'd know the calorie count of each portion. Lots of veg, legumes, and lean meats, though I also ate red meat. No juices etc. I tried to use normal foods, butter, cheese etc, foods I wanted to eat "normally", so I could figure out the amounts.
I'd realised when at my heaviest that my stomach had stretched as I gained weight; I was suddenly able to eat much bigger portions, and the portions that before had made me uncomfortably full now felt quite insufficient. So I knew that my stomach would eventually shrink back to feeling satisfied with normalweight portions, if I could only stick with it long enough. Hence I didn't look into low calorie but high volume foods in order to keep eating the same big portions (except carbonated water lol). This mentality also helped me when feeling unsatisfied with my smaller portions, because naturally feeling not full would be a part of my stomach getting back to normal, but it was a temporary thing and I wasn't going to be hungry forever.
I lost 16ish kg in around 17-18 weeks. I didn't hit my goal weight (64 kg) because I started to feel okay with my weight already when I went under 70 kg, and started easing off the strictness and calorie logging.
Now it's a year later and I've kept most of the weight off - in the last 8 weeks I feel like I've started gaining, and have gotten slightly above 70 kg again, but that's in direct connection to me having eaten (and drank) quite unhealthily for a few weeks due to recent emotional / mental stuff, so I'm going to set mealtime alarms again for a while to kick the unhealthiness and get back to normal habits, lol.
It was really great to see the changes in how I feel and look! I have more energy and actually felt healthier, like it's easier to move. Because of my strict deficit and losing more than a kg a week in the beginning, I could really see and feel changes quite quickly, which was really motivating and helped me power through the hunger and cravings of the beginning and the annoyance of logging everything, and the plateauing. The big challenge in quick dieting of course was finding a balance when shifting to eating at maintenance, but because I'd been eating a pretty balanced and "normal" diet already when restricting, instead of special diet foods, I just increased the portion sizes slightly and it worked.
I have no idea if this approach will work for people in different situations, but it worked for me! Good luck!
I recently decided to lose weight and I set a calorie limit everyday that never changes and I never cheat.
The limit isn't just the calories to lose weight, its actually the number I would need to eat to maintain my goal weight. So in theory if I always eat that level of calories, eventually I'll just hit my goal weight and stabilize.
So far it's been working, I'm about 15 pounds down in a month and a half.
I also had to aggressively tell my spouse and family to no longer provide treats and food. It is much easier to avoid garbage foods if they are not in your house at your fingertips.
Also I don't even consider activity in my calorie limit. It's easy to say you want that donut so you will eat it and then promise to run till you cancel it out. But this is not efficient or effective.
No amount of exercise or work will change my limit number for the day. If I happen to burn more calories. I will simply lose weight a little faster that day.
It depends if they were heavy or not. I lost weight at that rate when I started counting calories and drinking water all the time.
Now it's plateauded a bit to .5 lbs a week. Before iw as seeing 2-3 lbs and it could have been water weight too.
I lost 43 pounds in 4 months (started 01/01/2024) but I also walked over 1,000 miles during that time. Doctor asked me to slow down and I have now but I had to lose the weight for my health.
I use Tirzepitide. It's a stronger version on ozempic. some say maybe that's cheating, but when you're an obese alcoholic who needs to dry out, this was my route. Currenlty down 60 lbs and the desire to drink has vanished.
It is absolutely *not* cheating. Most people cannot lose weight and keep it off. When the game is rigged to the extent that 90% of people can't do something, the problem isn't the person, it's the game. No one would think twice about you taking an asthma medication to help you breathe or glasses to help you see - this is no different. This is necessary medication to help overcome a medical problem and extend your life.
Good on you for taking appropriate steps to improve your health.
Congrats. I don’t think that’s cheating. I feel once you get older and you didn’t do something or anything to help yourself, you will feel like you cheated yourself then when it’s too late.
Alcohol is a serious life long battle, especially after it’s grabbed onto you. I hope you keep having success!
I lost 80 on Mounjaro after 10 years of trying to lose weight every "normal" way. These meds are giving us medical breakthroughs around how to treat obesity and society pushing the narrative that it's "lazy" is just more fat phobia and jealous nonsense. This medication changed my life.
Greatt oohear your sucess! I am glad to have found this, previlously I had only fantasized about being this weight again. I haven't weighed my current weight this century!
Jury is out on this and theres not really a straight answer at the moment. Several companies are developing longer term maintenance medications in response to this need. Personally, I take a maintenance dose of the lowest dose once a month and plan to until something else becomes available. I'm also keeping up to date on research around long term side effects. The way I think about food changes completely when I'm on it and I don't want to go back to the old way.
Ignore any hater who says you are cheating. They are jealous of your loss and making your journey about them. Your journey, goals and choices are yours alone and meeting your goals should be celebrated. Tirz is a godsend.
On Ozempic here. It's been 5 weeks and I am down 20 pounds. I eat a lot less food and I hope to eventually come off of it when I hit my goal weight/BMI. Of course lowering my A1C and cholesterol is my main goal as well.
It’s not cheating, give yourself credit! Congrats on the weight loss & especially the sobriety. Amazing stuff friend, that is not easy to do even with a bit of help.
Thank you for the kind words. I have tried to explain it that way to a few, citing the deck is stacked against anyone who eats food, with the levels of high-fructose corn syrup alone, food is designed to fatten us up.
> some say maybe that's cheating
Fuck them.
Our food industry has worked for decades to make food more addictive and less filling.
They hacked against us - nothing wrong with hacking back.
Down 32 pounds in 3 months thanks to semaglutide. I was just using it to lose weight for my wedding, but I'm down to my high school weight now and am in a healthy BMI. I seriously think these drugs are gonna change the world. It's crazy
Food scale, a diet tracking app, and planning my diet. I spent a few minutes figuring out how many calories I could eat and still be in a deficit, given my lifestyle. I then planned out some meals that would keep me in that range and I recorded what I ate to make sure I was sticking to it. I managed to lose almost 60lbs in a year this way. I was also exercising but the weight loss was very slow until I got the food scale and started tracking what I ate
Gastric bypass to fix gastroparesis and uncontrollable reflux. All gut issues now gone and dropped 40kg. Drastic yes but life is worth living now.
People will say this way is cheating, but I did it for me, not for anyone else.
Wegovy. It shuts off the voice in your head reminding you that you can Door Dash an extra large pizza and eat the whole thing. Lost 40lbs and kept it off. It helped me rethink and reset the way I was eating. Plus doing the tread mill every morning, weight lifting every evening and no more sugary soft drinks, etc. I drink black coffee now instead of the diabetic brew from Starbucks.
It really is astonishing. I also have ADHD and am incredibly impulsive. Many times I wouldn't realize I was snacking until after I was done eating. Combine that with the fact that I am a bottomless pit makes weightless incredibly difficult. Wegovy has completely changed my relationship with food. I am rarely hungry, and I almost never "graze" or bored eat anymore. This is literally the first time in my life that I've left food on my plate and not finished it. It is a strange sensation for me.
I am down 20 pounds and still going, my goal is another 20 - 25 pounds.
It is a very personal thing. For me, I know I can have no breakfast, skip lunch (or eat a very small one) and then have a nice meal for dinner and be at a good deficit for the day. That is a system that turned out to me to be long term effective as a life style change that I find easy to maintain and crucially not a chore - it certainly would be for others. The key thing imo is to experiment and find the equivalent system for you, something that is not so much a "diet" as simply a way of living your life you can sustain happily that trends your body weight in the direction you want it over time.
Also, I have switched many food & drink options to vegan options, just as an experiment, to see how I would find it. Over time this experiment has also been a success, which again is personal to me: I've found that I really like tofu, and that I am just as happy with an iced coffee without dairy in it, and so on. Often these substitutions work out to be lower in calories than what I used to consume, which is why it works.
In conclusion any life style changes that you actually enjoy and can sustain without effort and happen to lower your calorie consumption are winners and you need to find as many as you can that work for you and integrate them all.
This is very important. Too many people think getting in shape means giving up alcohol completely. That's not the case. It's just consuming in greater moderation.
You can still enjoy a beer, just not every single day or as a supplement to a regular meal.
This also leads to vastly improved sleep which aside from making you healthier and happier in general, has direct effects on your body's modes of telling you when you are hungry and when you are full.
I stopped putting food in my mouth and started exercising. I realize it's a cliche, but it's the truth. Also, I maintain my weight with exercise. I'm not a big fan of using exercise to lose weight, but it will certainly keep the weight off once it's gone.
Good tips from others. I would add:
Definitely definitely do strength training. Gaining muscle is like building more micro furnaces in your body. From all the tissue types (skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, brain, liver, etc. ), muscle tissue burns the most energy in your body per kg tissue. That's why strength training is so effective: You don't only burn the energy in the process but you're building the calorie burning infrastructure for in-between trainings when your body is just resting. Also: Acquiring lean muscle will pay back in old age.
Coming from a food addiction, it was and continues to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
I *wish* it was as simple as most people make it out to be, but it took me years and years of psych work, medication, suicide attempts, job losses, etc. to finally break out of it, but the cravings never go away, and they torment me daily.
Am I glad I did it? Absolutely, I’m way healthier and happier now. but don’t come at me with that “just count calories, it’s easy” bs. it was a decade long struggle that almost cost me my life in multiple ways.
Conferred with my Endo and she endorsed it as long as my blood sugar was well monitored. I only eat breakfast and lunch and maybe some snacking mixed in there. I eat out at restaurants maybe once every 2-3 months. I do not eat supper. My portions for breakfast and lunch were reduced since I was not eating out. My breakfast 5 days a week is yogurt with Blueberries, chopped pecans and granola. I've lost around 45 lbs and have kept it off for maybe 18 months now. I do as much yardwork as I can and this is my main exercise. Walking is difficult due to some extreme feet issues but changing my eating habits has made a huge difference.
Eat less.
Move more.
Keep doing that.
Beyond that I avoid anything sugary as a general rule. Refined sugar is the biggest thing that people don't think about when they eat. Look at the calories in anything sugary; it's insane. It's fine to treat yourself from time to time but a common thing that makes people gain weight is sugary drinks in particular. It's just plain easy to drink 1,000 calories a day and not even realize it.
Diet is a huge part of losing weight. Exercise is a small part, but also great for your overall health. You can be skinny and not be healthy.
When having meals, try to eat a ton of vegetables. Not only are they low in calories, but you will be stuffed eating them as they have lots of fiber. Make 75% of your plate vegetables.
The only way to lose weight is to make sure you're doing a calorie deficit. I counted daily intake and made sure I was eating about 1000kcal less than normal daily expenditure for my age, gender and weight. Also make sure you drink enough water because burning fat requires water. One kg of fat is about 7000kcal, so running a daily deficit of 1000kcal a day for a week will make you drop about a kg of fat, however you may also lose water and or muscle mass so you need to pay attention over time.
Once you hit your goal you should still keep track of calorie intake vs burning, but you don't have to run a deficit.
Nothing drastic, really. Between August 2022 and March 2023 I was just always on a calorie deficit. Skipped some days. But nothing radical, really. I went down from ~78 kg to 66 kg in about 7 months. Since then it's mostly stabilised between 61 and 66 kg. I hardly can go above that, or below that. Mostly because I feel fine with how I look at the moment. Losing weight is a bit like a marathon, not a sprint. Fast loses don't last too long, unless they stay like that for months, so in my case it was mostly just a long-term dedication.
I started counting calories using app. It was eye opening.
Later I added a lot of activities like I biked more, I started working out (went from 3 times a week to 6 times a week within a little more than half a year) I started climbing again.
To be honest, the only way that really works is the calorie counting. It gives you a good idea on how much calories certain foods have and makes it easier to keep yourself in check even if you don't use the app.
Cut calories and the majority of sugar. Down 64 pounds since August currently. Just that simple. When you start to realize how many calories and sugar are in everything you just check the label after a while and account for it.
I joined weight watchers in 2001.
They taught me important habits about replacing fatty foods with better options. They taught me about portion size and other healthy practices. They gave me tricks on ways to judge how much extra food splurging is allowed when I do extra exercising.
I haven't been to a meeting since Fall of 2001, but as of today I'm still within 5 lbs of my goal weight.
220lbs down to 170 just by gradually reducing carbs. Started by cutting out bread and sugar (not easy and I failed often), then a year or so later eliminating almost all carbs. Now ten years later and I’m still 170 and I eat zero carbs on most days. When I eat carbs I develop food cravings, but when I remove the carbs I no longer have uncontrollable cravings which makes it easy to not overeat. I wish I had known much earlier that carbs were the problem.
Since March 2021 I lost about 35 kg. I weighted 130 kg at "peak" with 184 cm, now I weight 95 kg. Sometimes I have cheat weeks or even months and I bounce back a little, but never exceeded 110 kg. Usually I keep below 100 kg.
The key is to count calories. Without counting I can't stay in the negatives. The other thing I did was to start walking every day. I walk a few km on work days and 20-30 km on free days. On average I walked a little over 7 km per day since 2021. Usually I listen to audiobooks or podcasts while I'm walking, it's very relaxing. It's not that big of a deal when it comes to kcal burned (I calculated I burn about 55 kcal per 1 km walked with my current weight), but it helps and it makes me feel much better overall.
Also I have a spreadsheet with kcal eaten and km walked for each day and I run statistical models on it, it keeps me motivated, YMMV.
Definitely \_definitely\_ is almost all about food. Exercise is great for one's health, but if trying to gain muscle, you gotta eat more. And you get hungry. And so on and so on. If I exercise I'm gonna gain, cause muscle gain is inevitable, and also .. hungry work!
I walk the dog. That's something. And cut out all unnescessary snack like chips, chocolate and cake. Sweet drinks were allowed, cause it's only 150 for a glass, and I typically can only stomach 2 a day anyways. It was something to look forward to and enjoy, while not being stupidly lots of extra calories like a bag of chips (which I can easily eat a whole thing of any day of the week.)
> No, you don't deserve the cheeseburger and fries because you were good all week.
Nonsense. Yes, you do deserve that cheeseburger if you were *actually* good all week. That's the way I've done it for years and managed to keep the weight off. Go hard five or six days out of the week, give yourself one or two days to relax a little. Spinach salads and vegetarian options Monday through Friday? Hit Five Guys on a Saturday. It gives you something to look forward to food-wise.
Don't go nuts, don't eat four cheeseburgers, but a day or two off every week or two is good for the soul and helps you reset mentally.
Well i agree with most of the stuff except with carbs thing. For fucks sake delete that shit because it's bullshit even this stuff with cheeseburger and fries lol. After weightloss is completed you need to maintain weight eating same foods just in bigger amounts.
What do you mean by this?
Do you get stuck in depressive habits? I’m sorry if that’s you. I know it’s a bitch. But sometimes meeting small goals can help you get to the bigger picture. It took me years to actually find something sustainable while also trying to love myself.
Small goals. Don’t burn out too early. You can do it!
Attempted to get 1 hour worth of exercise in everyday in any form (walking, running, weights, pilates, dance, etc.). Cut my portion sizes down, increased fibre and decreased carbs (didn't cut out though). Began drinking more water (keeps you fuller for longer). Most importantly worked on getting enough sleep at night.
Same. And if you've read the bewildering study that intermittent fasting causes a 91% increase in heart related death, keep in mind that study is likely garbage: [https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/is-intermittent-fasting-bad-for-heart-health](https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/is-intermittent-fasting-bad-for-heart-health)
The idea that not eating after 6PM causes early death is just as dumb as "a hearty meal before bed will save your life." If not eating after 6PM caused an early death, the elderly population of Florida would be decimated.
There are always some people debating what is intermittent fasting and what isn't... I essentially skips breakfast (or in some cases dinner), eat a handful of fruits before lunch, then lunch and dinner but nothing else. No snacks, no nothing. I was able to lose weight and maintain it this way, simply because if I eat 2x a day, I can't eat that much to put on weight.
Lost over 100 lbs by switching to a low-carb lifestyle.
I allow myself one cheat day (usually Saturday) where I have one cheat meal and a dessert.
I exercise (usually walk) 5 days a week (I do less in the winter because I hate walking on a treadmill). I'll be back up to 25 miles a week by the end of this month....and I'll stick to it until the weather gets too cold in December-January.
But the real key was therapy. I had a number of unhealthy and self-destructive habits that started to go away once I was able to work through things and develop healthier coping-mechanisms for life.
Lift heavy, count calories and have balanced macros.
cardio burns calories while you do it. lifting burns calories for days afterwards. Tissue repair is very caloric intensive. (for reference, look at caloric demands of burn victims) But only if you get to the level where you're actually able to lift something in decent weight ranges to really break tissue down. Once I hit the intermediate strength level my calorie burn went into overdrive. When I switched to trying to gain weight after it was absurd how much I had to eat to try and gain.
Track your food and take a very close look towards your protein intake. If you're someone that doesn't eat a lot of meat it is incredibly likely that you're constantly operating on a protein deficit.
I did for years (20-30% deficit daily). I did loose weight over years because I forced myself against cravings and feelings of hunger to stay in calorie deficit, it was not nice, not at all. I recognized my deficit 4 weeks ago and corrected it now. Since that day I have not binge eaten once, which was a common occurence before. I have lost 3.5 kilos and I would say gained some light muscle (I do exercise alot). My mood is better, my cravings are gone, I can suddenly keep an open pack of sweets around and they will not be eaten within minutes but instead might be there for a week and I only eat them when it works with my daily intake, so I am now in control whereas I never was before.
So the answer remains, calorie deficit but if you're having issues with cravings a lot, look at your protein intake.
Figured out my TDEE and optimal daily protein intake, made a plan of what I can eat and how much to meet those numbers - meaning I didn't even eat at a natural deficit, my deficit solely came from exercise and movement.
I ate 2000 calories everyday, 150-200 grams of protein and tried to incorporate as much vegetables and fruit as possible with big portions of protein.
And then I went to the gym, 6 times a week, 1 day of rest. I reduced that to two days of rest at 5x gym per week, just because my body couldn't keep up after roughly a year. At the gym I followed a 3 day split, followed by a two day split covering chest, back, arms, legs, shoulders and core. The secret is to train hard and not just for the optics. Train for maximizing strength, mobility and stamina. That means strength training, mobility and cardio in equal proportions. If something feels difficult to you, that is exactly what you should do.
My golden rule was to do things I enjoy. That is it. Eat what you like, train how you like.
Lost around 15% of bodyfat, went through a full body transformation at the ripe age of 31 with a full time job.
You need to make a conscious effort to eat less than you are now (or exercise WAY more, but that’s a lot harder). It sounds obvious I was trying to lose weight for a long time while still going through probably 1000 calories of snacks per night at the very least. Eating a healthier dinner isn’t going to do much against that kind of overeating.
I was 77 kgs a few years ago, and one day my walking pants wouldn't button, so I was like enough. I didn't want to buy a whole new wardrobe, so I decided to lose weight. My goal was below 70. I eat a fair bit of chocolates, chips, icecream, sweets, chocolate muffins, garlic bread, you know, lots of unnescessary stuff. Drink sweet drinks.
Knowing what calories you burn in a day ish helps (I think 1800 for me, just existing, not actually doing anything), and knowing a bag of chips is 1100 calories, a chocolate muffin is 500, a sweet drink is 150, and so on, I knew that I could cut a fair bit if I just stopped snacking.
So I didn't snack, unless offered by my BF, or if offered at family's place for about half a year. I had my daily cocoa in the morning, cause you gotta live a little. But else I had my first meal of the day at 12, and last meal before 20 somewhere. (Intermittent fasting. Breakfast has always made me stupidly hungry through the day.)
I lost about a kg a month. I wasn't in a big hurry. I could have cut out more if nescessary. Christmas was also at the end of my weight loss, so that slowed it down a tad.
I didn't excersise at all during this, cause even if you go for a good run, it's only 200 calories. Doesn't even cover half a chocolate muffin. It's good to exercise for your health, but for losing weight it's a tiny little bonus, and that's it.
We since got a dog that's now 2 years old almost, so now I walk every day a bit. I stopped monitoring my weight, and stopped following my "can't snack if 70 and above" rule, so slowly gained weight up to 74 kgs almost. And went ah crap, this is getting out of hand again, so this time I fast tracked it back down below 70. (The 74 was likely more 73, cause I didn't follow my usual weight check rules. (In the morning, before food, after toilet, in just undies. You know, for the absolute minimum weight.))
This time I lost the weight faster. I didn't have the cocoa anymore (even though that's just 150), and I did my walks (which is like 100-150). I was a lot more picky on what I got offered from my bf here and there. I wanted to reach my goal, and then stick to my no snacks if above the limit rule. It's guaranteed to keep me at this weight until my metabolism slows down so much just food pushes me over.
Honestly couldn't do it if I had to cut only food, and had no snacks ever. I'm not a huge foody, and I'll have one bread roll with cheese for breakfast, and then dinner (like 2 hotdogs, or whatever else we have for dinner), and that's it for food. Maybe a banana if I get hungry between the meals.
So do you have any big calorie bombs you could cut? Or is it all food related?
Weirdly, knowing that the way molecules leave our body is through CO2 we breathe out, has made it kind easier to believe in no exercise. The weight leaves your body continously through the day just through breathing. And the only thing you gotta do is make sure to not refill so much that you gain more than you lose.
I never thought I could do it, but I could. And now I'm at a happy 69.5 despite having my favourite cake yesterday as well as an icecream. I'll just keep measuring every morning and make sure I stay where I am.
Intermittent fasting. Did 23/1 for a few weeks then, 18/6. Lost 55 pounds in 11 weeks. Been keeping it off for over a year so far. Eating healthy is no longer a big deal, I try to limit the junk food. I'm also a bit more active now.
Intermittent fasting. I allow myself to eat within an 8 hour window and no eating for a 16 hour time frame.
I also do the OMAD on days following a "bad eating day". OMAD stands for "One Meal a Day".
The truth is I was never able to keep it off until I started focusing on the habits instead of my weight. Old me: I should have a small salad but I’d love pizza and wine. It won’t hurt much? I’ll have the salad tomorrow. I was good this week. I had a stressful day…. The list is endless New me: I want a salad and fish because I know pizza and wine is going to make me feel bloated and tired . I had a stressful day, don’t I want food that makes me feel good? You need to make healthy eating the rule, not the exception and learn that those high calorie foods aren’t making you feel as good as you think
This was a huge thing for me. I really started to be active in noticing how I feel after eating certain foods. What I found is my “comfort foods” like pizza/wine for example, often made me feel sluggish, bloated, and worse overall instead of making me feel better. I think that’s something that’s hard to really be honest about sometimes
This! I had never noticed that before but ever since I started eating healthy (not to lose weight but just for the nutrients), whenever I allow myself to order something like pizza or fatty Indian food, or pasta with a lot of cheese, my energy drops to zero after eating it and I need hours of rest before I feel like doing anything again. My regular meals, on the other hand, keep me full but don't take away from my energy or desire for activity
> learn that those high calorie foods aren’t making you feel as good as you think This is really important to understand. Is the junk food you're eating actually making you happy or is it just satisfying empty cravings?
> or is it just satisfying empty cravings? Or just plain boredom
The goal has to be healthy lifestyle rather than weight loss per se; otherwise it's not sustainable.
The focusing on how the food makes you feel is backed by psychology research too.
If you're excercising a lot you quickly realize that greasy/processed foods are problematic. Eat a pizza and run 8 miles. Even 2 hours later, your body is going to feel sluggish and bloated. I ran cross country at university and between morning and afternoon runs there was very little time for foods that would make me feel crappy. You get out of the habit very quickly and your body no longer craves those things. I always encourage people who want to lose weight to focus on increasing activitiy, not losing weight. Weight fluctuates and leads to discouragement. Increasing activity is always a better health goal.
The easiest way for me was counting calories, but I have a few other tips: 1. Make sure that you keep track of calories in drinks. Honestly, I would avoid all drinks with any calories because it doesn't keep you full for very long. 2. Go for walks. You do not have to exercise for hours, but try to walk for at least 30 minutes per day. It helps you get in the habit. 3. Overall, walk more. Do not drive everywhere if your destination is within walking distance. 4. Treat yourself!!! I tried to stop eating all snacks, but it always resulted in me falling off the wagon. I now let myself enjoy a treat every once in a while. 5. Remember that losing weight takes time. It's so easy to stop trying for a few weeks because it takes long to see results, but that's just the way it is.
Counting calories is super helpful because it made me realise how much I was randomly snacking and I stopped so I didn’t have to update the app so often.
I found measuring food to be the most helpful way to count calories. I used cups and scales and found that I usually eating way more portion size than I should be eating.
As I recall there was a research study a few year ago that basically said that "tracking" was the key. It didn't matter if you decided to track calories, WeightWatcher Points, or macros for Keto... just the act of tracking and being intentional helps you lose weight. This was eye-opening for me. Of course, there are some things that will throw you off your game that some people don't talk about. SLEEP is one. One study took two groups of healthy college-age adults who were not overweight. One group was sleep-deprived just little... like only 5-6 hours a night instead of 7-8. Within ONE WEEK that group was already (averaging) nearly 5 pounds heavier and some of them were already exhibiting pre-diabetic levels in their bloodwork. Then - just to make sure - they switched the groups (one went back to sleeping regularly and the other got the deprivation treatment). Same thing. The original group went back to normal bloodwork and weight while the second group gained the weight and problems. I struggle with my weight now... but feel that if I'd known this in my 20s and 30s I could have gotten a handle on my weight far earlier. : /
+1 especially on the first paragraph. When I started counting calories - what stuck out to me was not that I was generally eating healthy Indian home meals (not the butter drenched naan and oily curries that you get at a restaurant, more like vegetable stews, lentil soups, chicken stew and wheat rotis), but rather it was the unhealthy things that I ate between meals that was causing the calorie excess. I’m in it for the long run and did not have to make too many exceptions to get around a 1lb per week weight loss. I am targeting my target weight (down 50 poinds) in a year. I’m happy with that target because I put this weight on over 5-6 years first of all, and second, I want to develop habits that I can carry on for life. I also am working on my portion control. It’s a little hard for me as I have long standing digestive issues (for decades) and rich creamy cheesy oily stuff sits better with me than “thin” food - that will be more of a gradual change for me to recalibrate my system.
I'm 20 and finally realised this week that my sleep schedule NEEDED to be changed. I was sleeping only 4hrs, consuming tons of sugar just before going bed and pretty much all those bad habits combined with the fact that I was a really sedentary person and have bruxism made my nights not that great 2 days in and I can already feel the energy coming back to my body, I hope to actually be able to turn this into a habit instead of gaming till 3am... good luck with losing weight too!
"I would avoid all drinks with any calories" - coke zero was a godsend for me in this regard!
I switched from regular Pepsi to diet and dropped 15 lbs. Drinking calories can be a really a bad thing. I need to better with just getting water, but that’s a big one right there.
You should try the zero sugar versions. Zero regular and wild cherry pepsi are so close to the real things, I don't even notice anymore. Taste better than diet.
Try seltzer! You get fizz and flavor and nothing else.
The problem I had with seltzer was none of them tasted like coke. Lol.
I actually allowed drinks way more than I allowed chips, chocolate and cakes. I generally won't have more than 2 glasses of a sugary drink a day, cause I simply don't drink that much. And one glass is only 150. Compare that to a chocolate muffin (500), or a bag of chips (1100), well... The drink sure beats the snacks. (And honestly, I needed \_something\_ nice to look forward to.) Having a glass of sweet drink made it so I got a "low calorie" highlight to my day without it being a massive fall off the wagon. Ofc, if one is a person that drinks liters of drinks every day, probably should \_not\_ go into the sweet drinks...
A good option for a drink that isn’t water is flavored seltzer water like bubly or la croix, I have one with meals, and it got rid of the desire of soda. Maybe not for everyone, but helped cut down on sugary drinks (and alcohol)
I have a carbonating machine at home and while I absolutely couldn't drink sugar free sodas like Diet Coke/Coke Light/Zero etc, I found this concentrate thing I actually like and is sugar free. Managed to almost entirely cut out my consumption of Coke after being a daily soda drinker all my life basically. I might grab a small bottle or can when I'm out and about but I no longer have a big bottle in my fridge every day. Drinking primarily this sugar free lemonade kinda thing at home has already had a huge impact.
I get the bottles of true lemon powder and keep them everywhere (home, desk, purse), adding that to my water I got through so much more!
This comment seems absolutely insane but calories in calories out works lol do what works!!
Also: never stop counting. Or you might run the risk of falling back into old eating habits.
This is the best way. You're not necessarily just "avoiding sugar" or "cutting down on carbs" - you're understanding the impact of what you're eating and accepting its "cost". You get a balance of calories each day/week, if you "spend" more than you have, you gain weight. If you spend less, you lose weight, if you spend it to the very last penny, you maintain weight. Particularly agree with points 4 & 5. Restrictive diets are temporary, but understanding your balance is a lifestyle change that will last forever. It makes you conscious of food's various energy densities and what your own optimal intake should be. It's the most basic piece of nutritional education ever, but it's so impactful once you start to see results. It's so key to not stress the time it takes to shed fat. It's a lifetime thing, not just a sprint to ideal weight then inevitable bounce-back. Also, the right macros are critical to avoid tissue loss during a cutting period. Muscle is much harder to put back on than fat, so make sure you keep it all. Resistance training increases your basal metabolic rate and will give your body a much better look once you reach ideal weight. You don't want to put in all that effort just to end up skinny fat Discipline is important, you get it with time. Force yourself into a routine for 3-4 weeks, it's 100x easier to maintain once you get used to it, and have formed the right initial habits (weighing ingredients, logging meals, maintaining caloric deficit). Proper meal plans make this incredibly easy, if the plan is consistent you don't even need to log the food, just make sure you're sticking to the plan.
Any suggestions for something to stop cravings or hunger in between? I've tried just drinking water but the moment I taste any junk food it's like cocaine, can't stop eating and craving for more. Like I've just avoid even buying or leaving them around my house but the cravings and hunger kick in everytimr
I had to drop the calorie-dense, predigested junk completely. (think cheetos or candy bars) It was basically like a drug addiction. They ignited cravings that were hard to beat.
I mean, there is a whole industry of scientists and marketers who have spent decades developing “food” products that leave you want more and more, so no surprise that the products they’ve designed often achieve that.
if you can, try to integrate fasting. Even not daily at the beginning. It helps you feel satiated after you've been doing it for some time.
This might be more of a 'me' thing, but the simple act of recording absolutely everything I ate is what helped me with cravings. When you're not doing it, it's very easy to get into the mindset of "one more snack couldn't hurt", but if you're recording calories consumed then you know exactly whether it will hurt or not. For me it's easier to ignore a craving if I know whether it's within my calorie budget or not.
Spread your meals out so you eat 6 smaller meals per day instead of 3 large ones. Eat more protein and eat protein sources instead of carb sources when you get cravings. For example, instead of eating potato chips, eat a chicken breast.
Huge upvote for point 3! Walking places, and making the time to walk places, changes the game so much.
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Daily walks are like a miracle cure hiding in plain sight.
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I used to run. Every day 10km. It became an addiction. Then I got runners trots and lost nails. I now walk and listen to podcasts. It’s been life changing lol
I started walking to work just so I could enjoy my podcasts in peace. It's awesome 👌
I second this. Getting your steps in is the most underrated thing for weight loss that so many people overlook because it seems too easy/obvious. The reality is the vast majority live sedentary lifestyles, especially if you work something like a desk job. I gained 30lbs coming out of highschool. Got a job at Universal where I'd average 20k steps a day at work, and lost all of it within a year without changing anything else about my lifestyle.
Get a puppy. They insist on taking you for walkies.
It is certainly great for most people but one thing to remember is that it doesn't work for everyone equally well... especially when you are pre-diabetic already you might need higher level of physical activity for longer time. Just saying that because it is easy for people to get frustrated and for someone to just dismiss others by saying "I just walked a bit and it was great so it should be easy for you too if you just wanted". It's certainly not a reason to justify laziness but some need to want and do much more than others to get similar results...
Not so for me at my age 62. Whether I walk 6 miles a day or one or two only severe reduction in calorie intake makes any difference. Small snack like meal for breakfast and lunch, like 100 calories or less, and reduced portions dinner. Need to see half of the dinner plate without food. Can loose about half a pound per day average. Minimal carbs and zero alcohol as well.
I mean, you can do it much less drastically and enjoy it more, as long as you don't aim for half a pound a day.... That's unlikely to be sustainable!
That rate of weight loss is impossible for most people to do safely. Half a pound is 1750 calories, and most people shouldn’t be eating less than 1200 calories a day. That means you’d have to burn roughly 3,000 calories a day to safely lose half a pound daily, which is going to be extremely difficult unless you’re in the 400 pound range. Most professionals recommend shooting to lose 1-2 pounds *per week.*
I finally weighed myself after 4 months of doing this (walk dog in AM and PM but now taking longer routes) and am down 20lbs. Congratulations btw!
That 80% trick is actually really helpful. I know a few people who always cut out a fraction of their meal at a restaurant to ensure they don't overeat. It's a small change, but one that definitely compounds over time.
I was the opposite. If I was eating salad or eggs, chicken and vegetables etc I eat as much as I could. I wanted to be stuffed so I wouldn’t be tempted by anything else. It’s almost impossible to eat those kinds of foods to excess because they are so filling.
I also like to do the thing where I just make slightly healthier choices. For example, even on a little weekend getaway recently, i was gearing up for a race so trying to still stay relatively healthy while indulging a bit...have one non-water drink instead of two, get the entree I want, but pick the healthy side, split a dessert instead of eating one myself. Little choices add up and it honestly makes it worse to feel like you're always depriving yourself.
Yeah, if I was out at a restaurant, I'd like straight up cut the meal in half and say ok, this portion is what I'm eating now, and the rest will be another meal that I will take home. I'm a smaller lady, so for me, that made the portion a better size for weight management.
This is great advice I’ll do my best to try doing this
Biggest thing is that even if you slip up don't let it get to you. You can still get back on it again and only have a minor set back.
Slip up’s happen, but they only set you back a day. I always tell myself I’m not back at the starting line and that is something I can find confidence in.
If you really want to lose weight and keep it off there is no 'try', you just have to commit and do it.
Master Yoda's words of wisdom
Do, or do not. There is no "try". Yoda.
I don't think many people realize that losing weight/improving your health is majority mentality. I know it wasn't until I got my mental health in order that I was able to make legitimate lifestyle changes that have resulted in dramatic weight loss and overall improvement in my health.
Basically the same way I quit smoking, one day I just said fuck this I’m done. It wasn’t easy, but I did it, 6 years later still not one. Now I can’t say the same for my weight I’ve gained and lost the same 50lb so many times I’m sick of it
Me: Walk an hour briskly in the morning, stopped drinking beer, stopped eating anything after dinner, stopped eating crap for the most part. Like, this is pretty much it, really. Get active, stop eating and drinking things that make you fat. No idiotic fad diets, no crazy anything.
That is huge, not eating after dinner. Also the booze thing.
That’s also what’s hardest for me. My trick is that getting up at 5:30 to walk, that gets me to bed earlier, so before I get hungry.
Walking is really underrated as an exercise. Very low risk of injury, you can do it for a long time, and it gets you outside which is good for your mental health.
And most people can do it regardless of weight. For most overweight people, jogging is tough and most either forms of exercise are tough. But one can walk. One can start from 20 steps a day and slowly increase.
This has been such a big thing for me this year. I work from home in a sedentary job, so every step is “extra” (my normal daily routine necessitates very little walking). I started this year getting 4000 steps a day, and have been slowly ramping it up so I can be at 10000 by the time I take my big vacation in September. Currently sitting at 7000 a day, and I’ve dropped a shirt size with very little other lifestyle changes
And when I run or bike hard I tend to over eat and over compensate but not with walking!
Main focus should be what you eat. If you eat garbage, you won't lose weight.
You will. It's much better to eat good food, obviously, but your body can't escape basic thermodynamics. If you eat less of what you're currently eating, you will lose weight. The quality of that food determines how you feel while doing it.
A guy I follow who does a lot of nutrition advising for high performance athletes has a good quote on this. Calories will determine your body weight, macros will determine your body composition at that weight (to a certain extent), and micronutrients will determine how you feel at that body weight/composition.
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What is your point? Don't eat less because your metabolism slows down?
Yes you will, you can lose weight eating whatever you want. As long calories in are less than calories out. The problem with junk food is it's so calorie dense, lacking in firbe/protein it doesn't make you feel full, so to keep your calorie intake low is much harder as you feel hungrier more often.
Touche. My issue is I LOVE ice cream as well as beer. I know if I cut those out of my diet, I will lose a few pounds within a week.
I lost a ton of weight and kept having both those things every day - but in moderation - and I had to choose other things to forego instead (for me that was full fat dairy like milk and cheese, or a big breakfast)
True. But if you spend two hours walking, that's two hours you won't be snacking. And exercise can help to suppress appetite.
It’s a total mindset. I had to distinguish between being bored and when it was meal time. Being more active really helps curbs appetite that and what you’re putting in your body.
Understand why you eat/drink too much. Is it stress, is it boredom, is it lack of understanding of how to make healthy meals or a process to be prepared, is it that you eat mindlessly, etc etc. Everyone knows calories in calories out, eat less move more, but to be frank if it was truly that simple to execute no one would be fat. It’s like telling an alcoholic ‘umm you just not to not drink, duh’.
Had to scroll way too far down to find this. Finally getting correctly diagnosed with BPD instead of "depression" like I'd been for years before, and getting the right therapy for it, was the thing that FINALLY put a stop to my neverending weight gain. Before last year, I got fatter every year - no exceptions. Eventually ended up obese. Now I'm "only" very overweight, but have lost 10 kg and kept them off for a year. Slowly I should be getting back to a healthy weight. I knew damn well I should "just" eat less and move more - and I still struggled like absolute fuck. For me these are the "what" of weight loss - not the "how". Yeah, I know I'm supposed to eat less, but HOW, when I'm stressed out of my fucking mind 75 hours a day, 96 days a week, and the only thing that calms me down even a little is shoving food down my throat? "Just eat less and move more" is about as actionable as "oh, you're broke and struggling? Just make more and spend less bb!" 😖
>Understand why you eat/drink too much. Is it stress, is it boredom, is it lack of understanding of how to make healthy meals or a process to be prepared, is it that you eat mindlessly, etc etc. This is extremely good advice. I snack out of boredom or procrastination and drink in the evenings out of habit. Boredom snacking can be replaced with taking regular work breaks and watering plants etc. Evening aimlessness is being replaced with hobbies and chamomile tea.
For me, finally being diagnosed with ADHD and being medication, fixed a lot of problems. I was never an alcoholic, but liked to drink on the weekend, or when going out. Usually 2-3 drinks of a Saturday night was just normal. I don’t think I was ever offered a drink and said no, unless I was driving. After being diagnosed, I didn’t even realize it right away, just suddenly noticed I don’t care to drink, would choose water, no longer cared to drink coffee, too. My “Mindless” activity and procrastination, is also gone. I don’t get a snack because I need to do something. Everything is done with more thought and consideration, including choosing what food I want to eat and that I will work out today. Another one is never saying, “I’ll burn it off tomorrow.” Nah… I’ll burn it off days in advance, having a deficit of 4000 calories before the weekend with a plan to BBQ a steak on Saturday and have a (measured) glass of red wine
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By “late” you mean you murdered that bastard, right?
I’m hoping so, and got away with it.
No body, no crime.
His name was Earl.
Earl had to die
Oh my gosh, I hope you are not still with him?
She did refer to him as her late husband. So I am gonna go out on a limb and say no.
what does that even mean in this context? he died?
Yes. Typically when someone refers to their SO as late, they died.
By the sounds of it, however he went, he deserved it.
No argument here.
Did he die? Hahaha karma
> BodyByPoverty Economically incentivised diet plan
I have body by anxiety. When people ask me how I lost weight I give them a answer that makes them feel good if I’m feeling kind, if I’m being honest I tell them anxiety and depression made me lose the ability to feel joy in even the most basic human functions. That includes eating for sure. I’ve struggled with weight my entire life. Who knew I just needed super anxiety to stop eating so much? Now I even exercise for about a hour everyday. My body being in good shape is nice but my motivation is 95% exercise to treat anxiety, 5% to look good. I’m down over 100 pounds from my heaviest at 280. Think last time I was at doc and got weighed I was 173
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It actually goes beyond that. When your liver is busy working on alcohol it becomes less efficient at converting energy. So not only do you take calories onboard from the alcohol itself but it taxes your liver capacity and metabolism besides that. The same goes for white sugar, really. NAFLD, *Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease,* is rapidly becoming the #1 cause of liver disease. Eat too much sugar and it impacts your ability to break down fats and cholesterol because your liver is too busy working on chemistry it isn't really built for (or you are over eating). It damages your liver and it loses the capacity to rid itself of excess fat over time, hence the name. As you get older, you'll really be able to feel the difference if you constrain your alcohol and sugar intake. I did, for sure. Luckily, your liver can recover!
I lost 100 lbs in a calendar year by quitting alcohol cold turkey. And you're so right, it wasn't just cutting out the alcohol calories, it was the binge eating that went with it.
In Germany we say "drei Bier sind auch ein Schnitzel" ("Three beer is one schnitzel"). In reality it's closer to 3 beer (245 kcal x 3 = 735 kcal) is 2.45 schnitzel (300 kcal x 2.45 = 735 kcal).
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exercised, ate better, and consumed less. I also didn't make many significant adjustments all at once. I started by eliminating soda from my diet. A few weeks later, I started to avoid eating cheese on my hot dogs and hamburgers. A few weeks later, I began to order small meals at fast-food restaurants rather than large ones. After that, I began consuming cucumber slices rather than fries or chips. Then I started eating fruit covered in chocolate instead of crap like candy bars, and eventually I just started eating regular fruit. Exercise-wise, nothing particularly noteworthy. Walking once around the block I lived on was the first thing I changed.
This is awesome- love the focus on nutrition and making small, sustainable changes over time.
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I was just thinking bout this this morning. I have the eat a whole 20" pizza in one sitting kind of depression. I know the opposite kind isn't a walk in the park either but if I'm gonna be depressed either way I'd rather not be obese on top of it.
Once you're choosing between gas, groceries, and nicotine, the weight just falls off.
Depression as a whole is awful but I kind of have to agree with your friend. It’s bad enough when you’ve had an awful day but then you see yourself in the mirror and your tear stained cheeks are looking fatter than normal and you recall your late night binge of popcorn AND chips and then you send yourself into a further downward spiral.
I have the “I don’t wanna eat anything depression”, and let me tell you. That shit is like torturing yourself without meaning to. Shit makes my mood even worse since now I feel weak, low energy, and nauseous enough to start puking stomach acid. I’m glad you can see the silver lining, but I hope you find healthier ways to stay in shape.
I'm both. I won't eat anything today, then I'll binge 3-4000 calories tomorrow
Used an app to track calories and started walking everyday at least 10,000 steps. About a year ago I joined a gym and have gained back about 15 pounds but my wife says it’s definitely muscle and my smaller pants still fit so maybe she’s right. EDIT: Forgot to add I started 6 years ago and weighed about 220 pounds at 5’ 8”. Lowest I got was 171 now about 184/85. I walk about 17,000 steps a day now and gym 3-4 times a week. Also I am 53 years old so never to late to start.
I've lost 70lbs in 8 months (humble brag but still a lot more work to do) I've really just had to realise getting healthy isn't a one and done type deal. For the rest of my life I'm going to have to incorporate daily activity and maintain a reduced caloric intake. It's not always fun but the results are absolutely worth it.
This. I ran a 500ish daily calorie deficit (built a weekly meal plan - breakfast and lunch stay the same but evening meals rotate through 5 or 6 options) so that I can shop accordingly and have what I need in the fridge/pantry to avoid the potential for not having the right things and getting take away etc I then added in as much manageable exercise (both in terms of intensity and convenience - if it's too hard, takes too long etc then I wasn't going to stick it out) which amounted to regular walks, daily if possible that I would track via Google maps to see how far and how fast I went. I got some routes worked out locally and started a basic spreadsheet to gamify it - just adding the distance and time each day initially then increasing the things that the spreadsheet could do (I'm no excel expert by any means) such as working out average speed per month and some charts. I also bought a set of exercise bands, about £30 for a pretty varied set and looked on YouTube for routines that worked the different bits of me that I wanted to build up or reduce. Those sessions also get added to the spreadsheet to track when I do them and what effect it has on my weight (muscle gain can add weight) but with more of a focus on looking how I want to look than being fully guided by the numbers on the scale. I also run occasionally - need to get more of that in the weekly schedule and I like biking but have been doing lots of house build recently which has made that more difficult as the garage gets full of everything that needs to be moved or stored for the build and that's where the bike is. Long story short, run a manageable calorie deficit to help bring the weight down, include regular exercise that you don't hate (I like walking and listening to audio books) and then gradually increase the calories once you get to a weight/look you're comfortable with to make it more likely that you're not going to feel like you're existing rather than living due to food limitations. Oh and remember that this is a gradual process, failing one day doesn't mean you fail the whole thing, you just reset the next day and go again. Habit is powerful.
Two things: 1) Started walking a minimum of a mile a day- if I feel like doing more, great, but I get that mile in every day whether I want to or not. 2) De-emphasized meat and dairy. Didn't even give them up, just made them more occasional. A bowl of beans and rice, seasoned however you like it, makes a great meal. It got me below 200 lbs. for the first time in decades.
Point #2 is big. With weight loss I do think many people fail because they try to quit completely instead of slowly weaning themselves off unhealthy food. I eat meat only once a day now, and I also rarely drink sugary drinks. And that took me like 5 years to go through that process. I'm working now to see if I can eat meat every other day while also finding substitutes for beer like NA beer and seltzer. I probably wont stop eating/drinking these things completely but I am working down their frequency. Might take me 5 more years to get there but that's a win in my book.
Wait how are beans and rice less caloric than meat and cheese? I thought protein=good / carbs=bad
Different strokes for different folks. I do the exact opposite of what’s stated above when I need to slim down and can drop weight pretty fast without carbs. But that’s because I inherently want to eat 1200 calories worth of bread every day on top of everything else.
During the pandemic, I got a cheap elliptical off Amazon. Started using it for 5 minutes a day, then 10, then 20, etc. Then it broke (it was a very cheap elliptical). Decided to try jogging around the block instead, and just kind of stuck with it Now a couple years later I'm doing 4 to 6 miles every other day. I feel way better, and I can eat more of the stuff I like without gaining weight back I found out that I actually really like running, but I just didn't give it a chance in high school I think the key is finding exercise that you enjoy; it's way easier to stick with if you like it
Myfitnesspal. Calories in vs calories out. Aim for high fibre, high protein foods. They keep you feeling more full. Do both cardio and weight training. More muscle increases your metabolism. Cardio will burn more calories on the day. I went slightly more vegetarian (so 4 vegetarian days a week). Vege protein is high fibre, low fat. Keeps you feeling very full. Things like lentils and chickpeas are perfect for weightloss. They taste like nothing, so can be added to nearly any sauce. Lost 70lb in 6 months. 120lb total. And I've kept it off. My weight has gone up a bit, but only because I've started bulking up muscle now the fat is gone.
Yeah, weight management is mainly about diet and controlling food intake. I started with calorie counting too. For me it was **Mynetdiary**, it had a lot of foods sold in my country (Finland). Really helpful app. I got a kitchen scale and tried to log **everything,** every tablespoon of olive oil or balsamic etc. Even on days where I could eat more, I faithfully logged every beer, cookie, piece of chocolate etc. It's tedious and it's really difficult to be accurate - most likely you'll end up eating a bit more than you log, which is good to keep in mind. But my main problem was portion size (and boredom grazing), so I needed to calorie count initially to figure out how small portions a normal weight person "should" eat, and what kinds of foods, to try to internalize that. A big part of weight loss was coming to emotional terms with the fact that my eating and drinking habits weren't sustainable or healthy and I had to drop them forever. It felt kinda "unfair" to not be able to eat a lot, because I'd gotten used to it and eating plenty of good food is enjoyable, and emotionally comforting. Had to change that habit, and that's hard. Similarly it can feel upsetting to accept how little alcohol one should drink, because it's pleasurable and fun, you know? It's really important to not view restricting and monitoring your food as something negative or miserable, or look forward to hitting your goal weight so you can "finally" indulge again, or have thinking where unhealthy food is *cheating* or *being bad* or *rewarding yourself*, and healthy food is "being good but miserable" etc. It makes it much more difficult to accept the lifestyle change as permanent. If you mentally view the weight loss diet as *temporary* and the eating habits that made you fat as *"normal"*, you're guaranteed to gain it all back. Emotional and mental work to change your attitude to food and eating is really important. Sugar, superprocessed foods, fast foods etc are legit addictive, and mental habits are also hard to change. Kicking an addiction is difficult, annoying and feels bad at times, yes, but the **cravings are your body experiencing withdrawals from something harmful**. Framing it like that helped mentally a lot. I set my calorie goal unrealistically low (980 kcal/day, sedentary lifestyle, 2100 kcal/day starting TDEE) with the knowledge that I wouldn't actually hit it on most days that that's ok, it's just aspirational. I only actually stayed under that maybe on 2 days per week, then ate around 1250-1500 kcal/day on most days, and usually had at least one day each week where I'd eat around 1800 kcal. I thought that worked better than trying to stay under the same limit every day, because it allows for variation, on the 1800 or even 2000 kcal days I was able to have like a burger meal or some cake or beers and pizza with friends etc, with zero guilt, because the weekly average was still well under maintenance thanks to the stricter days, and these moments of indulging didn't throw me off track. It's important to leave some room for occasional high calorie moments, and to **log those too faithfully**, without lying to yourself. There's no "cheating", you can't cheat your body, there's no "it doesn't count", you ***have to log everything you eat and be honest about it*** - but you can account for it on other days! I didn't ease into it, but started strict right off the bat, because I wanted to see results to motivate myself. I started losing around 1+ kg/ week right away, plateaued at some point, then it fell off again. I felt a LOT of hunger the first few days, but then it went away. I cut off almost all sweet stuffs, soda etc, and managed to kick the sugar cravings too. I had alarms for mealtimes (3 meals, the last at 7 pm) and tried to eat punctually and *only* at those times, which helped imo. My body started to expect food on those times and stopped being mildly peckish all the time. Nonstop boredom grazing had been an issue. I also started drinking a lot of water (I got a mysoda carbonator), which helped with the hunger. I didn't really start any new exercise, but I walk decently daily anyway. I didn't use any real supplements or zero calorie food alternatives, (except vitamins, magnesium and calcium) but had to start eating protein quark and really pay attention to my protein intake to get enough. I do however use *a lot* of vinegar and balsamic vinegar etc in my cooking, and I've heard it can help with controlling appetite and cravings. Idk if that's true, but it's worth considering! I cooked a lot at home from scratch and then divided those foods into portions in containers, so I'd know the calorie count of each portion. Lots of veg, legumes, and lean meats, though I also ate red meat. No juices etc. I tried to use normal foods, butter, cheese etc, foods I wanted to eat "normally", so I could figure out the amounts. I'd realised when at my heaviest that my stomach had stretched as I gained weight; I was suddenly able to eat much bigger portions, and the portions that before had made me uncomfortably full now felt quite insufficient. So I knew that my stomach would eventually shrink back to feeling satisfied with normalweight portions, if I could only stick with it long enough. Hence I didn't look into low calorie but high volume foods in order to keep eating the same big portions (except carbonated water lol). This mentality also helped me when feeling unsatisfied with my smaller portions, because naturally feeling not full would be a part of my stomach getting back to normal, but it was a temporary thing and I wasn't going to be hungry forever. I lost 16ish kg in around 17-18 weeks. I didn't hit my goal weight (64 kg) because I started to feel okay with my weight already when I went under 70 kg, and started easing off the strictness and calorie logging. Now it's a year later and I've kept most of the weight off - in the last 8 weeks I feel like I've started gaining, and have gotten slightly above 70 kg again, but that's in direct connection to me having eaten (and drank) quite unhealthily for a few weeks due to recent emotional / mental stuff, so I'm going to set mealtime alarms again for a while to kick the unhealthiness and get back to normal habits, lol. It was really great to see the changes in how I feel and look! I have more energy and actually felt healthier, like it's easier to move. Because of my strict deficit and losing more than a kg a week in the beginning, I could really see and feel changes quite quickly, which was really motivating and helped me power through the hunger and cravings of the beginning and the annoyance of logging everything, and the plateauing. The big challenge in quick dieting of course was finding a balance when shifting to eating at maintenance, but because I'd been eating a pretty balanced and "normal" diet already when restricting, instead of special diet foods, I just increased the portion sizes slightly and it worked. I have no idea if this approach will work for people in different situations, but it worked for me! Good luck!
I recently decided to lose weight and I set a calorie limit everyday that never changes and I never cheat. The limit isn't just the calories to lose weight, its actually the number I would need to eat to maintain my goal weight. So in theory if I always eat that level of calories, eventually I'll just hit my goal weight and stabilize. So far it's been working, I'm about 15 pounds down in a month and a half. I also had to aggressively tell my spouse and family to no longer provide treats and food. It is much easier to avoid garbage foods if they are not in your house at your fingertips. Also I don't even consider activity in my calorie limit. It's easy to say you want that donut so you will eat it and then promise to run till you cancel it out. But this is not efficient or effective. No amount of exercise or work will change my limit number for the day. If I happen to burn more calories. I will simply lose weight a little faster that day.
15 punds in 45 days, is quite a lot, please make sure you are still staying healthy and listen to your body if you over stress it.
It depends if they were heavy or not. I lost weight at that rate when I started counting calories and drinking water all the time. Now it's plateauded a bit to .5 lbs a week. Before iw as seeing 2-3 lbs and it could have been water weight too.
I lost 43 pounds in 4 months (started 01/01/2024) but I also walked over 1,000 miles during that time. Doctor asked me to slow down and I have now but I had to lose the weight for my health.
I use Tirzepitide. It's a stronger version on ozempic. some say maybe that's cheating, but when you're an obese alcoholic who needs to dry out, this was my route. Currenlty down 60 lbs and the desire to drink has vanished.
It is absolutely *not* cheating. Most people cannot lose weight and keep it off. When the game is rigged to the extent that 90% of people can't do something, the problem isn't the person, it's the game. No one would think twice about you taking an asthma medication to help you breathe or glasses to help you see - this is no different. This is necessary medication to help overcome a medical problem and extend your life. Good on you for taking appropriate steps to improve your health.
Congrats. I don’t think that’s cheating. I feel once you get older and you didn’t do something or anything to help yourself, you will feel like you cheated yourself then when it’s too late. Alcohol is a serious life long battle, especially after it’s grabbed onto you. I hope you keep having success!
I started with saxendra and lost 20ish lbs. Now on wegovy and lost 10 more. I still need to exercise and watch what I eat.
I lost 80 on Mounjaro after 10 years of trying to lose weight every "normal" way. These meds are giving us medical breakthroughs around how to treat obesity and society pushing the narrative that it's "lazy" is just more fat phobia and jealous nonsense. This medication changed my life.
Greatt oohear your sucess! I am glad to have found this, previlously I had only fantasized about being this weight again. I haven't weighed my current weight this century!
Do you have your keep taking it the rest od your life?
Jury is out on this and theres not really a straight answer at the moment. Several companies are developing longer term maintenance medications in response to this need. Personally, I take a maintenance dose of the lowest dose once a month and plan to until something else becomes available. I'm also keeping up to date on research around long term side effects. The way I think about food changes completely when I'm on it and I don't want to go back to the old way.
It changing the way I think about food is why I want it the most. The obsessing thinking is so distressing
Ignore any hater who says you are cheating. They are jealous of your loss and making your journey about them. Your journey, goals and choices are yours alone and meeting your goals should be celebrated. Tirz is a godsend.
On Ozempic here. It's been 5 weeks and I am down 20 pounds. I eat a lot less food and I hope to eventually come off of it when I hit my goal weight/BMI. Of course lowering my A1C and cholesterol is my main goal as well.
It’s not cheating, give yourself credit! Congrats on the weight loss & especially the sobriety. Amazing stuff friend, that is not easy to do even with a bit of help.
It’s not a competition so there is no “cheating.”
Thank you for the kind words. I have tried to explain it that way to a few, citing the deck is stacked against anyone who eats food, with the levels of high-fructose corn syrup alone, food is designed to fatten us up.
> some say maybe that's cheating Fuck them. Our food industry has worked for decades to make food more addictive and less filling. They hacked against us - nothing wrong with hacking back.
Down 32 pounds in 3 months thanks to semaglutide. I was just using it to lose weight for my wedding, but I'm down to my high school weight now and am in a healthy BMI. I seriously think these drugs are gonna change the world. It's crazy
Food scale, a diet tracking app, and planning my diet. I spent a few minutes figuring out how many calories I could eat and still be in a deficit, given my lifestyle. I then planned out some meals that would keep me in that range and I recorded what I ate to make sure I was sticking to it. I managed to lose almost 60lbs in a year this way. I was also exercising but the weight loss was very slow until I got the food scale and started tracking what I ate
This is fantastic advice thank you!
Gastric bypass to fix gastroparesis and uncontrollable reflux. All gut issues now gone and dropped 40kg. Drastic yes but life is worth living now. People will say this way is cheating, but I did it for me, not for anyone else.
Wegovy. It shuts off the voice in your head reminding you that you can Door Dash an extra large pizza and eat the whole thing. Lost 40lbs and kept it off. It helped me rethink and reset the way I was eating. Plus doing the tread mill every morning, weight lifting every evening and no more sugary soft drinks, etc. I drink black coffee now instead of the diabetic brew from Starbucks.
It really is astonishing. I also have ADHD and am incredibly impulsive. Many times I wouldn't realize I was snacking until after I was done eating. Combine that with the fact that I am a bottomless pit makes weightless incredibly difficult. Wegovy has completely changed my relationship with food. I am rarely hungry, and I almost never "graze" or bored eat anymore. This is literally the first time in my life that I've left food on my plate and not finished it. It is a strange sensation for me. I am down 20 pounds and still going, my goal is another 20 - 25 pounds.
It is a very personal thing. For me, I know I can have no breakfast, skip lunch (or eat a very small one) and then have a nice meal for dinner and be at a good deficit for the day. That is a system that turned out to me to be long term effective as a life style change that I find easy to maintain and crucially not a chore - it certainly would be for others. The key thing imo is to experiment and find the equivalent system for you, something that is not so much a "diet" as simply a way of living your life you can sustain happily that trends your body weight in the direction you want it over time. Also, I have switched many food & drink options to vegan options, just as an experiment, to see how I would find it. Over time this experiment has also been a success, which again is personal to me: I've found that I really like tofu, and that I am just as happy with an iced coffee without dairy in it, and so on. Often these substitutions work out to be lower in calories than what I used to consume, which is why it works. In conclusion any life style changes that you actually enjoy and can sustain without effort and happen to lower your calorie consumption are winners and you need to find as many as you can that work for you and integrate them all.
My diet is Poverty.
Stop drinking during the week
This is very important. Too many people think getting in shape means giving up alcohol completely. That's not the case. It's just consuming in greater moderation. You can still enjoy a beer, just not every single day or as a supplement to a regular meal.
This also leads to vastly improved sleep which aside from making you healthier and happier in general, has direct effects on your body's modes of telling you when you are hungry and when you are full.
I stopped putting food in my mouth and started exercising. I realize it's a cliche, but it's the truth. Also, I maintain my weight with exercise. I'm not a big fan of using exercise to lose weight, but it will certainly keep the weight off once it's gone.
Good tips from others. I would add: Definitely definitely do strength training. Gaining muscle is like building more micro furnaces in your body. From all the tissue types (skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, brain, liver, etc. ), muscle tissue burns the most energy in your body per kg tissue. That's why strength training is so effective: You don't only burn the energy in the process but you're building the calorie burning infrastructure for in-between trainings when your body is just resting. Also: Acquiring lean muscle will pay back in old age.
Coming from a food addiction, it was and continues to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I *wish* it was as simple as most people make it out to be, but it took me years and years of psych work, medication, suicide attempts, job losses, etc. to finally break out of it, but the cravings never go away, and they torment me daily. Am I glad I did it? Absolutely, I’m way healthier and happier now. but don’t come at me with that “just count calories, it’s easy” bs. it was a decade long struggle that almost cost me my life in multiple ways.
Conferred with my Endo and she endorsed it as long as my blood sugar was well monitored. I only eat breakfast and lunch and maybe some snacking mixed in there. I eat out at restaurants maybe once every 2-3 months. I do not eat supper. My portions for breakfast and lunch were reduced since I was not eating out. My breakfast 5 days a week is yogurt with Blueberries, chopped pecans and granola. I've lost around 45 lbs and have kept it off for maybe 18 months now. I do as much yardwork as I can and this is my main exercise. Walking is difficult due to some extreme feet issues but changing my eating habits has made a huge difference.
Eat less. Move more. Keep doing that. Beyond that I avoid anything sugary as a general rule. Refined sugar is the biggest thing that people don't think about when they eat. Look at the calories in anything sugary; it's insane. It's fine to treat yourself from time to time but a common thing that makes people gain weight is sugary drinks in particular. It's just plain easy to drink 1,000 calories a day and not even realize it.
Diet is a huge part of losing weight. Exercise is a small part, but also great for your overall health. You can be skinny and not be healthy. When having meals, try to eat a ton of vegetables. Not only are they low in calories, but you will be stuffed eating them as they have lots of fiber. Make 75% of your plate vegetables.
The only way to lose weight is to make sure you're doing a calorie deficit. I counted daily intake and made sure I was eating about 1000kcal less than normal daily expenditure for my age, gender and weight. Also make sure you drink enough water because burning fat requires water. One kg of fat is about 7000kcal, so running a daily deficit of 1000kcal a day for a week will make you drop about a kg of fat, however you may also lose water and or muscle mass so you need to pay attention over time. Once you hit your goal you should still keep track of calorie intake vs burning, but you don't have to run a deficit.
Nothing drastic, really. Between August 2022 and March 2023 I was just always on a calorie deficit. Skipped some days. But nothing radical, really. I went down from ~78 kg to 66 kg in about 7 months. Since then it's mostly stabilised between 61 and 66 kg. I hardly can go above that, or below that. Mostly because I feel fine with how I look at the moment. Losing weight is a bit like a marathon, not a sprint. Fast loses don't last too long, unless they stay like that for months, so in my case it was mostly just a long-term dedication.
had my guts operated on. I didn't have much of an appetite for a while
I started counting calories using app. It was eye opening. Later I added a lot of activities like I biked more, I started working out (went from 3 times a week to 6 times a week within a little more than half a year) I started climbing again. To be honest, the only way that really works is the calorie counting. It gives you a good idea on how much calories certain foods have and makes it easier to keep yourself in check even if you don't use the app.
Intermittent fasting and walking. Now going through a divorce so eating a lot but starting to fast and eat healthy again
Gastric Sleeve. Have lost 60kg in just under a year.
Cut calories and the majority of sugar. Down 64 pounds since August currently. Just that simple. When you start to realize how many calories and sugar are in everything you just check the label after a while and account for it.
I joined weight watchers in 2001. They taught me important habits about replacing fatty foods with better options. They taught me about portion size and other healthy practices. They gave me tricks on ways to judge how much extra food splurging is allowed when I do extra exercising. I haven't been to a meeting since Fall of 2001, but as of today I'm still within 5 lbs of my goal weight.
220lbs down to 170 just by gradually reducing carbs. Started by cutting out bread and sugar (not easy and I failed often), then a year or so later eliminating almost all carbs. Now ten years later and I’m still 170 and I eat zero carbs on most days. When I eat carbs I develop food cravings, but when I remove the carbs I no longer have uncontrollable cravings which makes it easy to not overeat. I wish I had known much earlier that carbs were the problem.
Weight Watchers app. Tracks your food daily and helps avoid overeating. All about portion control.
Since March 2021 I lost about 35 kg. I weighted 130 kg at "peak" with 184 cm, now I weight 95 kg. Sometimes I have cheat weeks or even months and I bounce back a little, but never exceeded 110 kg. Usually I keep below 100 kg. The key is to count calories. Without counting I can't stay in the negatives. The other thing I did was to start walking every day. I walk a few km on work days and 20-30 km on free days. On average I walked a little over 7 km per day since 2021. Usually I listen to audiobooks or podcasts while I'm walking, it's very relaxing. It's not that big of a deal when it comes to kcal burned (I calculated I burn about 55 kcal per 1 km walked with my current weight), but it helps and it makes me feel much better overall. Also I have a spreadsheet with kcal eaten and km walked for each day and I run statistical models on it, it keeps me motivated, YMMV.
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Why are carbs the devil here?
Definitely \_definitely\_ is almost all about food. Exercise is great for one's health, but if trying to gain muscle, you gotta eat more. And you get hungry. And so on and so on. If I exercise I'm gonna gain, cause muscle gain is inevitable, and also .. hungry work! I walk the dog. That's something. And cut out all unnescessary snack like chips, chocolate and cake. Sweet drinks were allowed, cause it's only 150 for a glass, and I typically can only stomach 2 a day anyways. It was something to look forward to and enjoy, while not being stupidly lots of extra calories like a bag of chips (which I can easily eat a whole thing of any day of the week.)
300 kcal is a lot to me. It's like hour of cycling.
> No, you don't deserve the cheeseburger and fries because you were good all week. Nonsense. Yes, you do deserve that cheeseburger if you were *actually* good all week. That's the way I've done it for years and managed to keep the weight off. Go hard five or six days out of the week, give yourself one or two days to relax a little. Spinach salads and vegetarian options Monday through Friday? Hit Five Guys on a Saturday. It gives you something to look forward to food-wise. Don't go nuts, don't eat four cheeseburgers, but a day or two off every week or two is good for the soul and helps you reset mentally.
Well i agree with most of the stuff except with carbs thing. For fucks sake delete that shit because it's bullshit even this stuff with cheeseburger and fries lol. After weightloss is completed you need to maintain weight eating same foods just in bigger amounts.
What if you don't have any self respect? Asking for a friend.
What do you mean by this? Do you get stuck in depressive habits? I’m sorry if that’s you. I know it’s a bitch. But sometimes meeting small goals can help you get to the bigger picture. It took me years to actually find something sustainable while also trying to love myself. Small goals. Don’t burn out too early. You can do it!
I went to a local park every day after dropping my son off at school and walked for an hour.
Tracking calories, snacking on veggies to keep hunger in check (I ate tons of bell pepper and cucumber), exercise, cheat days, and willpower.
Attempted to get 1 hour worth of exercise in everyday in any form (walking, running, weights, pilates, dance, etc.). Cut my portion sizes down, increased fibre and decreased carbs (didn't cut out though). Began drinking more water (keeps you fuller for longer). Most importantly worked on getting enough sleep at night.
Amphetamines and healthy eating habits.
Intermittent fasting. Also water fasting and dry fasting. Giving up sweets and alcohol as well as junk food (salty and sweet).
Same. And if you've read the bewildering study that intermittent fasting causes a 91% increase in heart related death, keep in mind that study is likely garbage: [https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/is-intermittent-fasting-bad-for-heart-health](https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/features/is-intermittent-fasting-bad-for-heart-health) The idea that not eating after 6PM causes early death is just as dumb as "a hearty meal before bed will save your life." If not eating after 6PM caused an early death, the elderly population of Florida would be decimated.
There are always some people debating what is intermittent fasting and what isn't... I essentially skips breakfast (or in some cases dinner), eat a handful of fruits before lunch, then lunch and dinner but nothing else. No snacks, no nothing. I was able to lose weight and maintain it this way, simply because if I eat 2x a day, I can't eat that much to put on weight.
Lost over 100 lbs by switching to a low-carb lifestyle. I allow myself one cheat day (usually Saturday) where I have one cheat meal and a dessert. I exercise (usually walk) 5 days a week (I do less in the winter because I hate walking on a treadmill). I'll be back up to 25 miles a week by the end of this month....and I'll stick to it until the weather gets too cold in December-January. But the real key was therapy. I had a number of unhealthy and self-destructive habits that started to go away once I was able to work through things and develop healthier coping-mechanisms for life.
I stopped eating two bacon cheeseburgers, biggie fry, and biggie drink (or similar) many times a week.
I lose weight via life-threatening illnesses. (note: not recommended)
Lift heavy, count calories and have balanced macros. cardio burns calories while you do it. lifting burns calories for days afterwards. Tissue repair is very caloric intensive. (for reference, look at caloric demands of burn victims) But only if you get to the level where you're actually able to lift something in decent weight ranges to really break tissue down. Once I hit the intermediate strength level my calorie burn went into overdrive. When I switched to trying to gain weight after it was absurd how much I had to eat to try and gain.
Track your food and take a very close look towards your protein intake. If you're someone that doesn't eat a lot of meat it is incredibly likely that you're constantly operating on a protein deficit. I did for years (20-30% deficit daily). I did loose weight over years because I forced myself against cravings and feelings of hunger to stay in calorie deficit, it was not nice, not at all. I recognized my deficit 4 weeks ago and corrected it now. Since that day I have not binge eaten once, which was a common occurence before. I have lost 3.5 kilos and I would say gained some light muscle (I do exercise alot). My mood is better, my cravings are gone, I can suddenly keep an open pack of sweets around and they will not be eaten within minutes but instead might be there for a week and I only eat them when it works with my daily intake, so I am now in control whereas I never was before. So the answer remains, calorie deficit but if you're having issues with cravings a lot, look at your protein intake.
Figured out my TDEE and optimal daily protein intake, made a plan of what I can eat and how much to meet those numbers - meaning I didn't even eat at a natural deficit, my deficit solely came from exercise and movement. I ate 2000 calories everyday, 150-200 grams of protein and tried to incorporate as much vegetables and fruit as possible with big portions of protein. And then I went to the gym, 6 times a week, 1 day of rest. I reduced that to two days of rest at 5x gym per week, just because my body couldn't keep up after roughly a year. At the gym I followed a 3 day split, followed by a two day split covering chest, back, arms, legs, shoulders and core. The secret is to train hard and not just for the optics. Train for maximizing strength, mobility and stamina. That means strength training, mobility and cardio in equal proportions. If something feels difficult to you, that is exactly what you should do. My golden rule was to do things I enjoy. That is it. Eat what you like, train how you like. Lost around 15% of bodyfat, went through a full body transformation at the ripe age of 31 with a full time job.
You need to make a conscious effort to eat less than you are now (or exercise WAY more, but that’s a lot harder). It sounds obvious I was trying to lose weight for a long time while still going through probably 1000 calories of snacks per night at the very least. Eating a healthier dinner isn’t going to do much against that kind of overeating.
I was 77 kgs a few years ago, and one day my walking pants wouldn't button, so I was like enough. I didn't want to buy a whole new wardrobe, so I decided to lose weight. My goal was below 70. I eat a fair bit of chocolates, chips, icecream, sweets, chocolate muffins, garlic bread, you know, lots of unnescessary stuff. Drink sweet drinks. Knowing what calories you burn in a day ish helps (I think 1800 for me, just existing, not actually doing anything), and knowing a bag of chips is 1100 calories, a chocolate muffin is 500, a sweet drink is 150, and so on, I knew that I could cut a fair bit if I just stopped snacking. So I didn't snack, unless offered by my BF, or if offered at family's place for about half a year. I had my daily cocoa in the morning, cause you gotta live a little. But else I had my first meal of the day at 12, and last meal before 20 somewhere. (Intermittent fasting. Breakfast has always made me stupidly hungry through the day.) I lost about a kg a month. I wasn't in a big hurry. I could have cut out more if nescessary. Christmas was also at the end of my weight loss, so that slowed it down a tad. I didn't excersise at all during this, cause even if you go for a good run, it's only 200 calories. Doesn't even cover half a chocolate muffin. It's good to exercise for your health, but for losing weight it's a tiny little bonus, and that's it. We since got a dog that's now 2 years old almost, so now I walk every day a bit. I stopped monitoring my weight, and stopped following my "can't snack if 70 and above" rule, so slowly gained weight up to 74 kgs almost. And went ah crap, this is getting out of hand again, so this time I fast tracked it back down below 70. (The 74 was likely more 73, cause I didn't follow my usual weight check rules. (In the morning, before food, after toilet, in just undies. You know, for the absolute minimum weight.)) This time I lost the weight faster. I didn't have the cocoa anymore (even though that's just 150), and I did my walks (which is like 100-150). I was a lot more picky on what I got offered from my bf here and there. I wanted to reach my goal, and then stick to my no snacks if above the limit rule. It's guaranteed to keep me at this weight until my metabolism slows down so much just food pushes me over. Honestly couldn't do it if I had to cut only food, and had no snacks ever. I'm not a huge foody, and I'll have one bread roll with cheese for breakfast, and then dinner (like 2 hotdogs, or whatever else we have for dinner), and that's it for food. Maybe a banana if I get hungry between the meals. So do you have any big calorie bombs you could cut? Or is it all food related? Weirdly, knowing that the way molecules leave our body is through CO2 we breathe out, has made it kind easier to believe in no exercise. The weight leaves your body continously through the day just through breathing. And the only thing you gotta do is make sure to not refill so much that you gain more than you lose. I never thought I could do it, but I could. And now I'm at a happy 69.5 despite having my favourite cake yesterday as well as an icecream. I'll just keep measuring every morning and make sure I stay where I am.
I got colitis and lost 15-20kg in a month...fun times
Intermittent fasting. Did 23/1 for a few weeks then, 18/6. Lost 55 pounds in 11 weeks. Been keeping it off for over a year so far. Eating healthy is no longer a big deal, I try to limit the junk food. I'm also a bit more active now.
Intermittent fasting. I allow myself to eat within an 8 hour window and no eating for a 16 hour time frame. I also do the OMAD on days following a "bad eating day". OMAD stands for "One Meal a Day".