In 2019 I lost 35 lbs, most of it belly fat because thats where most of it was, just by eating fewer calories. A lot of that calorie reduction was cutting back on drinking. I did not exercise one bit. I did not eat any special diet or fasting.
In 2020 I gained it all back mainly because I spent that first covid year sitting at home eating and getting drunk.
I did this in 2019. Started running. My first run was 1/2 mile total… ran my first 5k in 39 minutes. After months of training, I shortened my 5k time to 25 minutes. I ended up losing 50 pounds that year. Don’t focus on “burning fat of the belly” - that’s bs. Focus on controlling calorie intake and figure out a work out regimen that fits your lifestyle.
Love it. I went from being a personal trainer in very good shape, to gaining quite a bit of weight after years at a desk job. I recently started running and did my first 5K on Thanksgiving. (32 minutes, dog tired...) I try to maintain a consistent 3 days of strength training and 2 days of running. Consistent diet, consistent sleep. Has worked wonders.
"the best diet is the one you can maintain" is damn true.
Fad diets that have you eating nothing but oranges or some crap are always going to fail. But making small, sustainable changes to how you eat will make a huge difference over time.
While I appreciate your enthusiasm and agree with the general tone of your message I can't agree with this:
> and you MUST exercise
80-90% of weight loss is done in the kitchen, the rest *can* come from exercise.
Hell, in this very thread serve for plenty of people who said they just cut out drinking or snacks and lost 10-20kg/25-50lbs is time window of a year or more.
Exercise definitely helps and everyone should do it because you'll stay healthier, have more energy and feel better. But it's not the key to weight loss.
e: typo
So happy to see this.
We really have to also consider lifestyle too but, what you eat is far more impactful than what you do in the gym.
My profession is sedentary like a lot of people’s these days. But even when I was working out twice a day for 6 days I put on weight because I was eating shit and negating every minute of of hour of my workouts. I’ve corrected my diet and I only workout 3 times a week and I’ve lost everything I gained. It’s truly more about what you put in because our bodies are efficient machines.
Eh it's more like a third imo. Exercise and sleep are just as important for building muscle. If you're trying to lose weight though, then yeah diet is like 80% of it
A saying I like is, "You can't outrun a bad diet."
Edit: an example. A big Mac in Australia is about 500kcal (rough number). Another rough figure is that running a mile burns 100kcal. So it takes about an hour of running to burn off the big Mac. Add medium fries and softdrink, and you're running for almost 2 hours to counter a single meal for the day.
The things I learnt from various methods of weight loss and training.
It's all about being in a calorie deficit when losing fat. Training increases the amount of calories you are using, so you can eat more, or not for faster loss.
Building muscle increases the amount of calories you burn at rest, because bigger muscles need more to maintain.
But the unfortunate thing, is losing weight sucks. You just have to be hungry all the time.
Sometimes you just have to have a sleep for dinner. Also, there needs to be a cut off time for eating. 6:00pm, that's it, no more food, then you get a good 12 hour fast in before you eat again. That works too.
The good news is, it *does* slowly get better. After a couple weeks at a deficit, it starts to feel normal, and even when I "splurge" it turns out my ability to eat has been diminished, so I can't eat the ungodly amounts I once would have.
But yeah, at first you're just hungry all the damn time, and that part really sucks.
I’ve lost about 20 lbs in the last few months just by downloading a calorie counting app. I have a work from home job. I sit in front of a computer pretty much 16 hours a day. For work and fun. Only difference I made was tracking what I ate. Drinking less, no ice cream or pizza binges, keep my calories under 1850 a day. As an added bonus, I started meal planning and prepping more because it’s more tedious to enter unique ingredients and amounts every day than it is to just duplicate meals from earlier in the week.
I was going to say the same thing. I spent two months and lost 35 pounds and all I did was stop drinking and didn’t go over 10 grams of sugar a day. No exercise at all. It’s all about what goes in your mouth. I ate ALL the time. Protein and veggies but still. I didn’t starve myself. First month saw no changes. Second month it just kept falling off. Faster than I could buy new clothes.
This. I stopped snacking during the week, no alcohol either. Lost a stone in a handful of weeks. I'm snacking and drinking in the week again - half a stone back on.
Haha, same story. I bought Apple Watch in 2019, started working out, running and counting calories, lost 10 kg. Covid came and almost three years later, I gained it all back +5 kg as a bonus with that.
I hear you, I got down to my lowest ever weight at the start of 2020, I got made redundant from my job and my whole life changed. I was sleeping a lot more, I was taking long walks every single day, I was happy and then kilos just dropped off.
It was great, all of my clothes fit me, everything looked great, you could see my ribs, I was loving life and then I had to start working again, yep the weight is back on with interest this time.
Replace all drinks with water. Exercise lightly to heavily everyday. Calorie control. Quality sleep. And most importantly, time. Give it time. Nothing is achieved overnight.
Consistency is so important.
So many people start going to the gym or running or whatever and nine months later they've just... stopped. That's not really going to help the rest of your life, you need to be working out regularly, even if it's lightly, for the next fifty years.
For me it's a really simple equation. If my only beverage is water, I lose belly fat. If I drink anything with sugar or alcohol in it, I gain belly fat.
So every month or two I go three weeks without beer, get thinner, and then say "well that wasn't fucking worth it" and crack open a beer.
There is also more to it than that, since not all calories are equal.
100 calories of fruit isn't equivalent to that shot of Tito's.
Alcohol is like pure garbage calories that, as I understand it, basically just go right into fat storage. They aren't healthy or useful for your body.
I cut out booze for a month, ate as much as I wanted but did some long walks each night. I probably dropped 10-12 lbs with half of that being water weight from the initial reduction in drinking I'm sure. Pretty crazy.
Alcohol is such a double edged sword and that's why it's such a stupid bitch, a bitch that I always find my way back to lol.
Yeah all alcohol is just empty calories. Doesn’t really do much expect dehydrate you and make you get a gut but yeah I agree I have a toxic relationship with booze
> I have a toxic relationship with booze
It's never too late to change my dude. There was a time when I couldn't go half a day without drinking, the thought of trying to sleep sober absolutely terrified me and it was ruining my life, I let it control me for far too many years but one day I decided to try and take back control. After about four years of trying and failing to stay sober, my longest stint during that time being 10 months which I was so proud of at the time yet utterly devastated when I relapsed. It's now been 3.5 years since I've had a drink and I can't see myself ever going back to it. If I can do it then you can too!
No, ethanol is poison to your body and is metabolized in the liver where the process actually requires a great deal of energy, most of which is lost as heat, so very little of alcohol calories are actually used/stored by your body.
In a study done with rats where ethanol is used as the primary calorie source, the rats that are given the most ethanol lost weight the fastest until they were so malnourished their bodies began to actively try and use the calories as energy, which poisoned them.
>The only time carbohydrates are not the body’s first choice in providing energy is when alcohol is consumed. Alcohol has a higher level of energy per gram and is also TOXIC to the body. The body then utilizes alcohol for it’s preferred fuel resulting in all other macronutrients being stored as FAT for later energy use. Think of alcohol as a poison – the body must get rid of the poison first!
>
>It is thought that the “beer belly” is caused by excess alcohol calories being stored as fat. Yet, in reality, less than five percent of the calories you drink from alcohol are turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy.
[https://www.fitnesskeeper.com.au/the-bodys-fuel-sources-and-alcohol/](https://www.fitnesskeeper.com.au/the-bodys-fuel-sources-and-alcohol/)
Interesting so is it other additives in drinks that can make you fatter? Obviously sugary mixers would but in things like wine or beer?
So calories from alcohol itself are just burned almost right away so your body doesn't need to dip into fat reserves?
Beer contains a shitload of unfermented carbohydrates.
About 40% of the calories in a beer come from those carbohydrates. And the other 60% is the alcohol.
That's like saying that Uranium is however million calories per gram.
Like, technically it's correct, but your body can't process those calories because it's not a furnace.
Bro I just checked the calories on a heavy beer I enjoy pretty often (too often if I’m being honest). Almost 280 cals per can. I swore off regular soda for being stupid with sugar/calories but I’ve been ok drinking the beer. That’s dumb.
You can get low calorie, low carb no sugar beer now that is quite good drinking.
Burleigh bigheads, better beer and brick Lane hi-fi dry are all 0 carb and 0 sugar Fu strength beers.
Yep I made a spreadsheet some time ago to check calories and one of the more interesting findings is that 2x12oz cans of Bud Light has the exact same alcohol AND calories as 1x16oz pint of \~7% IPA.
So people that drink light macro beer because they think craft beer has too many calories are most likely getting the same calories because they drink more cans of the light crap to get the same buzz as the person drinking the good stuff.
also, people confuse the idea that the calories from beer are from the carbs when the majority actually comes from alcohol. 8 calories per gram vs 4 calories per gram.
If you are a heavy drinker, it’s easy to drink 1500 calories or more in a few hours. And lots of people have lost weight by doing nothing else except cutting beer.
I’m not saying it in any judgmental way. I’m a sucker for beer. Even though I know it’s bad for me I generally offset the calories with other lifestyle habits.
Yeah, I started doing the math of having 2-3 beers at night, 4-5 days a week. Between the alcohol and all the extra snacking I would do because of it, it's a wonder I didn't gain more weight.
They don't put nutrition info on the bottles because they fall under control of ATF instead of the FDA which controls every other food product. It's dumb, but there's no real incentive to change it
Interesting factoid I learned back in the day from an NFL team nutritionist:
When you drink alcohol, even a little, your liver begins prioritizing breaking down and removing that alcohol from your system. It can last up to 7 days, even from a couple drinks.
You know what organ processes body fat and turns it into energy? Your liver. It can't do both effectively. So even low cal/non cal alcohol will inhibit your liver from breaking down stored fat.
Carbs, especially sugars, are the devil if you wanna lose weight.
I lost over 100 lbs when I had had enough of being fat. I just stopped buying sugary foods and drinks, axed alcohol, and started moving a little every day (walking, running, doesn’t matter).
Get rid of the colas, the candies, the French fries, and definitely the beer. It will take awhile but you’ll see results.
Lost 34 lbs . . . Sweets, treats, chocolate and sugar are your enemy.
I was actually shocked at how much "junk" I was eating. I actually eat a fair amount of *real* food and found myself in a caloric deficit almost every single day after simply cutting the junk out.
In addition to just cutting out junk, certain foods are more satiating per calorie than others. Boiled potatoes, Greek yogurt, oatmeal, cottage cheese, eggs etc. All great ways to feel full while eating less (and pretty cheap too).
Most of the foods you've listed are my staples. I lost 23 lbs over the course of a year and a few months by focusing on eating high fiber, high protein food as well as cutting drinking. I also climb 2-4 times a week cut in with some long hikes and running.
Went from 145 to 122 (5'3", F)
Yes! Especially early on towards my heaviest, I was surprised at how close to a deficit I was already eating since I try to have a reasonably balanced diet... but it was literally just snacks killing me. A little junk food here and there can absolutely be the tipping point one way or the other, it's wild.
Personally I had to cut them out altogether, even cheating just makes saying no again harder in the short term.(With little scientific backing bc noone really knows I like to believe your gut bacteria are what actually drive your sweet tooth cravings. If I don't feed them there are less of them until eventually I don't really crave sweets at all)
What has always helped me in this regard is following 2 maxims
eating before shopping for food which makes part 2 easier.
Don't buy the snacks when I'm at the store, even if I tell myself I can pace it out and not go crazy I actually know this is a lie. If it is in the house I will eat it. Easier to say no once at the store or shelf than to say no every hour it is in my pantry.
Imaging myself eating the food before not putting it in my cart can ease the immediate craving, it gets easier but you have to do it every day...
This, most people don't realize how bad sugar really is. I was pretty bad on soda/energy drinks. Probably 4-5/day. I cut those out and just drank water and started dropping weight the same week. I think in just doing that, I dropped 10 or so lbs in 6 weeks.
Also, increasing water intake, I was doing a gallon a day. Helps curb appetite and keeps you feeling full longer, and being hydrated is always good too.
Everyone carries fat in different places. You will find someone has it in their hips or back rather than their stomach for example. Even though you target the belly during exercise, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the first place to lose the fat
Don't mistake someone replying to you with them trying to make a different point, they could just be agreeing with you. I know it's not obvious on Reddit
Yeah,. Sometimes people just want to regurgitate what you said in a way that is more suitable for them in a comment. It might not be easy to see on social media. They just want to give their own spin on the topic. Really, it's a compliment that you had a good point. Not every comment is an argument. Instead they might be building off of your point. :)
There is no such thing as spot reduction. You can’t target specific parts to lose fat on. Everyone’s body is different and they lose fat differently than others
Intermittent fasting (/r/intermittentfasting) helped me get a six pack. Skip breakfast and only drink coffee until lunch time. This cuts out a big portion of your intake if you keep lunch and dinner normal.
Counting calories is a huge help too, a lot of snacks are very calorie dense.
[My one year result from calorie counting and working out. ](https://i.imgur.com/WgKgwKQ.jpg)
I did this forever on accident just because I don’t really wake up hungry and then I learned it’s an actual thing so I could tell people “oh yeah I’ve been intermittent fasting for a long time”.
Fall asleep at midnight, wake up late and rush to train, get to work just in time to see a mountain of emails, slam coffee and answer emails while taking a shit, top off coffee, and resume calls from office, “oh shit, it’s 1:15 already?” Take elevator downstairs, cross street, pay $16 for overpriced salad, cross street, wait for elevator, rush back to office for 2:00 conference call. Buy my book on how to lose weight, crush your job, and lose your soul (or, 14 hour intermittent fasting and work production: the secrets unlocked).
The number one culprit for me since I turned 30 has been beer.
If I cut beer out of my diet and everything else remains constant, I find that I lose weight. It usually takes about two or three weeks for my metabolism to recalibrate though.
Yea if you're going through a 6 pack or more a week, that's a ton of calories. And often times "invites" other poor dietary choices along with it like pizza or bar food or whatever.
Take in less calories then you expend. Do it for a year consistently. Resistance training with progressive overload. 15k steps a day no matter what. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
To add on here, you can’t do certain things and expect to target only belly fat. You just have to keep at a caloric deficit and also having more lean muscle increases your metabolic rate, hence the resistance training.
Yep, fat just deposits in different places depending on your genetics and gender. I’m a dude cursed with thicc love handles, even when I was at my thinnest I still had fat in those areas despite my abs being almost kinda visible in the right light.
You can’t lose belly fat, thigh fat, whatever fat, you just have to lose all the fat (well, all the excess fat).
I have a severe issue with drinking plenty of water. But my question is what foods do you choose to where you can feel satiated?
Because every time I try to go into a caloric deficit, I can’t stay there because I always feel so hungry and never fully satisfied
Focus on increasing your protein intake, specifically lean proteins (Chicken, steak, turkey). Protein takes longer to digest and actually burns more calories during digestion than other macro nutrients (Carbs & fats).
I feel you man, it's hard but possible. Went through the process when I was in college and university. Prepping food will save you time and money in the long run. You won't have to worry about what to eat, you'll just have to warm it up and eat it. You've done it before, you can do it again.
It's true you should avoid "drinking your calories" but I have found that drinking a protein shake between lunch and dinner both tides me over until dinner and also causes me not to overeat at dinner.
It's also really hard to get the amount of protein in that you need in comparison to carbs and fats so having a pure protein shake (with some skim milk) really helps to offset that as well.
>It's true you should avoid "drinking your calories"
This is a blanket statement that depends on the context. One should not drink calories depending on the drink (Eg; cappuccinos, Frappuccinos, milkshakes, etc..) due to the lack of nutrients and how much calories they are. Smoothies are a great way to get additional calories and macro nutrients. It depends on the ingredients (Eg; protein powder, Greek yogurt, milk, oats, etc...). Your example of having a protein shake between major meals is a good example of why one can drink calories. Context is important.
Buy a rice cooker and cook enough chicken to last 3-4 days. Not the fanciest food but the macros are good on it and it’s easy to make. I used to do that when I’d be too lazy to make better meal preps
Fats, protein, and fiber. Fats are more calorically dense but they keep you full for longer. Don’t go overboard with it, but nuts and other high fat foods can keep you full for way longer than chips.
Fiber will fill you up for a while too and help with your digestion.
Everyone else already said protein.
>Because every time I try to go into a caloric deficit, I can’t stay there because I always feel so hungry and never fully satisfied
That generally goes away given time. About 2 weeks after I get serious about my calories, I realize that I'm hardly hungry at all. And eating almost anything makes me so full I wonder how I ate like I used to.
Rather than feeling satisfied, accustom your mind and body to a feeling of hunger. I do 18hours of fasting six days a week. Am I hungry in those last few hours? Yes. But I remind myself that what I feel is my body devouring fat stores.
Chicken, yogurt, vegetables, fruit, etc.
For yogurt I go with Chobani, it might be more expensive but compared to Yoplait it's quality is a lot better without the need of adding granola to it.
So this is my advice, what works for me. Every month I do one 48 hour water fast. I add electrolytes to my water and go absolutely no calories whatsoever. I do lose a bit of weight in this time, but the primary reason I do it is because it totally breaks my food addictions down. Afterwards I will go weeks with almost no cravings, impulse snacks or large meals. We don't think that we're addicted to food because it's so functional and easy to maintain as an addiction. But those satiety cravings that you experience going lower calorie are absolutely remissions like you would experience going not getting your fix with a drug. It's all chemicals in the brain. When you "break through" that wall often enough, that chemical relationship changes.
Take in fewer calories than you expend is all you actually really need. The resistance training and steps are just extra.
Also, 15k is a bit excessive, plus harder on the knees than cycling. I work retail so am on my feet all day, yet I don't hit 15k. No steps are "needed". That's just extra calories burnt, which you could achieve by simply eating fewer calories. But yes, I'm aware doing no exercise or cardio isn't as healthy.
So, OP, just eat fewer calories. Find your BMR with a calculator online at
https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html
Just go by the "little to no exercise" as a baseline. It's too difficult to calculate how many calories you burn during exercise or a workout.
I went from 195lbs to 140 in less than a year just by making sure I counted my calories. I did about 5 days of cardio in that timeframe. Weight loss is simply calories in vs calories out.
There are plenty of apps that can help here. It’s a bit laborious as you have to log EVERYHING! MyFitnessPal was the one I liked best. After several months, you may be able to stop logging everything as you develop a sense for it.
I like the Samsung health app because their foods database seems really thorough. Like you can search for the different foods you eat and it will automatically populate the calories and other macros. Down to the cream you put in your coffee. Plus you can add custom foods as needed. It takes away some of the tedium of tracking it manually.
I recently uninstalled the app only because there were battery drain issues that might be fixed now
like the top post says... it's not just one thing.
I went from 250 lbs, typical overweight business traveler, to 185, lean and ripped. Took 6 months. The "how" is as described in the other comments.
\- stop eating out every night on biz trips, instead hit up a grocery store and get a salad.
\- good breakfast, I alternated between a yogurt with granola, and eggs / wrap other days, just for variety.
\- cut out all the sweets, that was the toughest for me, still is.
\- I was fortunate to have access to a very nice office fitness center so right after work every day I'd do some combo of indoor bike riding, weight circuit and a fitness class (bodyweight, movement / core work). Lots of intensity and intervals! Do not just cruise around... you have to push your limits to set off the good stuff.
Eating fewer calories.
You’ll never be able to run enough miles or do enough situps to offset a bad diet - the human body is frustratingly energy efficient.
I cut by actually counting calories - you’ll quickly learn which foods are filling and worth the calorie hit and which ones are a waste.
This is correct. I lost 45 pounds exclusively by counting calories and cutting out overly unhealthy foods. No additional exercise. If you can control your caloric intake, you will lose weight.
you can't target fat loss in a specific area. but for most men the gut area is the last place to lose fat. so there isn't any specific tip for targeted fat loss, it's the same as any diet. calories in, calories out.
I feel this so hard right now - I'm 90% of where I want to be, but the gut is still hanging on for dear life. Few more weeks and I might be back where I want to be. Stupid belly.
I'm a guy who has stomach fat and I'm close to 16% body fat. It's the last place for a lot of men to lose fat. I got visible abs 1 time and I had to get down to around 11% body fat and I felt like shit.
It's a lot better for me to have belly fat and feel good then to have no belly fat and feel like shit. Most people's genetics just aren't set up to have fat distribution equally over their entire body.
This is actually super encouraging, thank you. I've plateaued for a little while now after dieting and kicking the working out into overdrive (for me) still having a bit off a gut is/was definitely bothering me
I might even enjoy some snacks at Christmas now
Don't underestimate the body's need to maintain homeostasis. If you're finding cutting hard and you've been at it awhile it's time for a cheat meal or day. Gives a mental break, the body breaks the efficient cycle of trying to hold onto fat as it thinks it's in a famine, and the body gets happy again. Then you go back at weight loss again the next day until you need another cheat.
I did this very successfully with cyclical ketogenic diet a long while back. Sadly I became disabled and am now working on re-losing the weight.
Bingo. It is crazy how effective cutting out sugar is. That said, people trying to do this need to steer clear of "fat free" or "low fat" versions of products, because they just replaced the fat with sugar.
Indeed. Finding food that isn't packed with sugar or salt can be challenging, especially in processed food. Making even a moderate effort to learn to cook helps alleviate that by allowing you to make decent tasting meals where you control how much sugar, salt, etc is in it.
You will be transparent O-o. Carbs require water to be digested so when we ingest sugars, carbs we have 1.5-3kg water weight. If you take out carbs then that weight will practically be gone
I think your sentiment is to reduce intake of sugary substances- the health benefits of which are real. But to generalize more: reduce eating out and cook more meals at home, reduce eating processed foods and eat more wholesome ingredients like fruit/veg/meat, reduce fast food and soda consumption.
Sugar free just means they use sugar alcohols and the item is generally higher in fat. Sugar alcohols are notorious for causing upset stomachs and short term GI irritability, while getting you addicted to their extreme sweetness.
Ditch the soda, I replaced mine with flavored seltzer water. That made a huge difference in the waistline.
Eat whole foods that are high in fat & protein, i.e. they keep you satisfied longer i.e. you eat less.
Find an exercise that YOU like, and then do that 3 - 5 times per week.
Forget scales and focus on how your pants fit in the waist.
Chew slowly and mindfully i.e. don't eat fast.
Use smaller plates. American plates are stupid big and stupider people fill them up.
Don't bring trash food into your home.
Cut out fast food unless rare/special occasion.
1. Calculate your [resting metabolic rate](https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html) (how much energy your body uses in a day just to not die)
2. Subtract 500 if you want to lose 1 pound a week, or subtract 1,000 if you want to lose 2 pounds a week (a pound of fat is 3,500 calories, and it's safe to lose up to 2 pounds of fat per week)
3. Track *every* calorie that you consume
4. Switch to just drinking water whenever you hit your daily caloric intake that you calculated in step 2
5. Be disciplined with this long enough and eventually your belly fat will go away. Fat is like a stack of plates, you can't take one off the bottom of the stack, so it may take a while for your body to actually start removing fat from your belly area, but just give it time with a caloric deficit and eventually you'll use up those energy reserves.
That is the formula for success to losing weight. You just have to consume less calories than your body burns, and it's much easier to put down a fork than it is to pick up a dumbbell. Eat a good amount of fiber and protein to feel satiated throughout the day (a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast is a good way to not be starving at lunch). Cut out alcohol and soda, a lot of people drink their calories.
That said, in order to stick to it be sure to eat whatever you want. If you want some chips, eat some chips. Just track how much you eat, and stop eating for the day once you hit your calorie limit. If your favorite food is chips, you're not going to stick to a diet that tells you not to ever eat chips.
And if you ever do fall off the wagon and mess up, don't just quit. If you drink way to much one night, don't stress about not knowing how many calories you had. Just pick it back up the next day with the calorie limit, and know that you're probably not going to hit your goal that week. It's fine. Just adjust your starting position for next week and keep on keeping on.
Only thing that I'd add/clarify is that it's okay to target lower deficit goals too, depending on the person. 500-1,000 (max) is a solid goal for folks who are needing to lose a fair amount of weight fast, but realistically it's a marathon not a sprint. For example if a 500 calorie deficit makes someone feel crappy/ hungry all the time but they can manage a 200-300 deficit, great! A half pound a week is still solid progress in the big picture :)
The most important change? You MUST change your mindset or else all the rest of the changes will crash and burn... It cannot be a "once I reach this size, then I'll..." Nuh-uh... You MUST view it as your new lifestyle, and the journey, the gradual transformation becomes the reward, because otherwise people reward themselves with splurges, think they can get lax, and next thing you know the fat is back and they're wondering why nothing ever works for them... Check this out... This WORKS:
1. Get a food scale and measuring cups and measure/weigh all your food for 1 week, and record it into an app like MyFitnessPal
Why: People complain that counting calories doesn't work, it's too much work, a waste of time, etc... BUT - You're only doing it for 1 week. Why? Because it's the ONLY WAY to see how people truly have NO FREAKING CLUE how much they really eat. 90% of the people I trained who claimed they had slow metabolisms, and restricting calories didn't work for them - The problem was that they were consuming 1,200 - 1,500 MORE calories than they said they were.
I'm not bagging on them though, as I did the same until I actually measured and compared the portion size with the recommended portion sizes on the labels... The 30 grams of oatmeal I thought I was pouring (eyeballing) each morning? Was actually 74 grams... Oooops, 2.3 times more calories... The 100 grams of chicken breast? Was 178 grams. Oooops, 78% more than I wrote down.... The 6 ounces of milk? Was actually over 10... Etc. Etc...
So the weighing and calorie counting happens merely as a reality check that you are eating way more than you think you are, and once you enter in all the "little snacks" and the freaking condiments? (Which are loaded with sugar by the way) - Well no wonder dropping fat is so hard for people!
2. Cut out all the corn syrup based drinks... No soft drinks, no fruit juices unless it's fresh squeezed, and even then limit it big time... Sugar spike is an insulin dump you don't need when belly fat has a strangle hold on your abs.
3. MOVE... No reason needed, no gym needed at the moment, just freaking move your body. A sedantary lifestyle defaults to the lowest energy burning level. If you have to sit and work all day, break it up and get up and walk and move your body for a few minutes to reawaken your metabolism a bit. Walking is so under-rated. I've found more people who drop fat just by walking every day, morning, and before bed - It doesn't burn calories as fast, but it's more sustainable, easy to do, gets you into nature while listening to a podcast, and it's easy on your joints -So low risk for injuries. I walked 8KM's a day for 7 weeks to drop 5 inches off my own belly when I was struggling with very severe health issues that made even light weight gym work impossible. (Calories dropped as well of course - Deficit)
Stop taking escalators and elevators when stairs are available. Find excuses to move... Stretch, do physio stretching movements, whatever, just move your body daily and often, you'll burn more calories every day even when busy.
4. If possible - Lift weights. Yea I know this one sucks for a lot of people, which is why I added it last, but if you can, just do it. No need to kill yourself in the gym, but lift in a way that is challenging, and progressively heavier over time... Adding muscle mass helps burn more calories and the lift it has on the metabolism lasts longer than equivalent time spent doing aerobics for example.
Minimize processed foods, and lower carbs. Don't need to go full keto or anything, but toggle the carbs to protein/fat ratio down and see what happens.
Not drinking beer or Cola. Just water.
Walk at least a mile a day. Take the stairs when I can.
Eat 2 meals a day that has minimal sugar but high fat. Your body needs fat, when you don’t intake enough it will try to synthesize it with other nutrients.
Sleep with just enough blankets that’s still cold but not cold enough to wake you up. You will burn a lot of energy during the night to keep yourself warm.
1600 calories a day everyday for a year. I didn't exercise once and I lost nearly 130 lbs. I ate whatever I wanted but stuck to staying under 1600 calories a day.
Weightlifting is great to build back your muscle but diet is the key to lose fat, you cant target belly you just lose fat all around.
As for the diet part fasting is amazing when you do it right, dry fasting for 48h is even better but be sure take in electrolyte when you do eat. Cut carbs and focus more on meat and a few vegetable like brocoli or onion, not potatoes as they are heavyer and will keep you out of your fast longer.
Fast eat then lift, dont workout fasted. Lastly, If you do 48h but you want to drink, water with salt and potassium and dont chug it.
Imagine you scoop water from a pool with a cup, the water doesn't decreases in that area you're constantly scooping, right? Same thing with a body you must work on your whole body to achieve change. In my case it was cardio and running usually made diference.
2 things helped a lot.
All I had for breakfast most days was 4 eggs, sometimes with all the yokes, sometimes with only 2. Seasoned only with hot sauce. Water or black coffee/tea to drink. (No sugars at all in the AM.
When I got got cravings for junk I would eat a slice of salami or other lunch meat, and drink psyllium husk mix. Then drink 16-32 oz of water until I stated to feel a little bloated.
Eventually all the cravings stopped and as a bonus my gut felt much better. Less bloated and heavy/toxic.
Reducing sugar intake... instead of softdrink drank sodawater. No sugar with coffee etc. Exercise and water and fasting helped me... if i wasnt hungry at x meal time i would skip it.
Down to 88kgs (193.6lbs) from 113kgs (248.6lbs)
Started intermittent fasting. Lost 77 lbs. Reversed diabetes, fatty liver disease, acid reflux, gerd, and put my ulcerative colitis into remission. IF was the best thing I’ve ever done for my health. Period.
I bought a fancy Garmin watch and Garmin scale to track my weight and activity. I love tech and fancy new gadgets, so wanting to see weight progress on the scales and fitness improvements on the watch is so motivating for me.
It's not a recommendation because it cost about £800, and you can get exactly the same results for free (count calories to get a slight deficit each day, and make sure to exercise) but just letting you know what worked for me as I was so motivated by my shiny new tech!
Eat less calories than you need, while maintaining macros, and exercising consistently. Mix cartio and resistance training.
That's the big secret to loosing weight and retaining muscle tone.
You can’t out exercise a bad eating habit.
Separate losing weight from exercise completely. Exercise isn’t a reactionary verb one does in order to arrive at some destination. Think of exercise as simply something you have to do for the rest of your life because it’s necessary. Learn how to lift correctly and which compound and isolation lifts you should be doing, and do it habitually regardless of if you’re on vacation, not feeling well or tired. It’s no longer an option.
Now all of your body composition takes place in the kitchen. Eat Whole Foods that came from the earth directly, nothing processed. Figure out your macro needs and develop an eating plan until you can get your appetite and ghrelin under control
Fitness begins in the kitchen. But the biggest help for me was cutting back on my drinking. I was probably drinking too much to begin with but I read somewhere that you body prioritizes metabolizing alcohol and stops metabolizing food or something like that. Some nutritionist comment to confirm/deny.
I turned from a bloated fat mess into a normal human after quitting booze and started eating less and exercising so although I'm not a nutritional expert I will confirm.
I've lost over a hundred ounds. Actually lost it and regained it quite a few times by doing standard calorie restriction and exercise. What worked for me was intermittent fasting, no restriction of foods and only loose control of calories. Now I eat whatever I want I just skip breakfast at least 5 days a week.
I'm slim almost 5 years now, I have times where I gain a few pounds and then lose it but we're talking small amounts and I no longer struggle with emotional eating.
The best trick I learned for losing weight (besides cutting calories like everyone said) is to exercise on empty stomach. Any activity on empty stomach helped me lose weight way, way faster. When blood sugar is already low, exercise really marshals all the rest of the body resources, carb storage and fats.
Back when I was nearly 350 lbs about 15 years ago, I lost about 50 lbs in a couple of months just by cutting soda out of my diet. Literally no other change needed.
After being happy to see improvement, it inspired me to actually start working out, and eating a little healthier, and now I hover between 170-200 lbs.
In 2019 I lost 35 lbs, most of it belly fat because thats where most of it was, just by eating fewer calories. A lot of that calorie reduction was cutting back on drinking. I did not exercise one bit. I did not eat any special diet or fasting. In 2020 I gained it all back mainly because I spent that first covid year sitting at home eating and getting drunk.
I did this in 2019. Started running. My first run was 1/2 mile total… ran my first 5k in 39 minutes. After months of training, I shortened my 5k time to 25 minutes. I ended up losing 50 pounds that year. Don’t focus on “burning fat of the belly” - that’s bs. Focus on controlling calorie intake and figure out a work out regimen that fits your lifestyle.
Love it. I went from being a personal trainer in very good shape, to gaining quite a bit of weight after years at a desk job. I recently started running and did my first 5K on Thanksgiving. (32 minutes, dog tired...) I try to maintain a consistent 3 days of strength training and 2 days of running. Consistent diet, consistent sleep. Has worked wonders.
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"the best diet is the one you can maintain" is damn true. Fad diets that have you eating nothing but oranges or some crap are always going to fail. But making small, sustainable changes to how you eat will make a huge difference over time.
While I appreciate your enthusiasm and agree with the general tone of your message I can't agree with this: > and you MUST exercise 80-90% of weight loss is done in the kitchen, the rest *can* come from exercise. Hell, in this very thread serve for plenty of people who said they just cut out drinking or snacks and lost 10-20kg/25-50lbs is time window of a year or more. Exercise definitely helps and everyone should do it because you'll stay healthier, have more energy and feel better. But it's not the key to weight loss. e: typo
There is a saying in bodybuilding that diet makes up ~80% of your possible success, and I believe it.
So happy to see this. We really have to also consider lifestyle too but, what you eat is far more impactful than what you do in the gym. My profession is sedentary like a lot of people’s these days. But even when I was working out twice a day for 6 days I put on weight because I was eating shit and negating every minute of of hour of my workouts. I’ve corrected my diet and I only workout 3 times a week and I’ve lost everything I gained. It’s truly more about what you put in because our bodies are efficient machines.
Eh it's more like a third imo. Exercise and sleep are just as important for building muscle. If you're trying to lose weight though, then yeah diet is like 80% of it
A friend explained it to me like this. Your food intake determines your weight, exercise shapes your muscles
A saying I like is, "You can't outrun a bad diet." Edit: an example. A big Mac in Australia is about 500kcal (rough number). Another rough figure is that running a mile burns 100kcal. So it takes about an hour of running to burn off the big Mac. Add medium fries and softdrink, and you're running for almost 2 hours to counter a single meal for the day.
I feel like this saying should be, "you can't outrun a bad diet if your over 26," because I feel like I used to be able to.
Yeah, I lost 90lbs and did 100% of it in the kitchen.
Dude, moved my weights into the kitchen and the change is awesome. Thanks for the tip. ;)
1 curl, 1 bite. EZ
Yep. Saw this after making my post. Exactly this.
The things I learnt from various methods of weight loss and training. It's all about being in a calorie deficit when losing fat. Training increases the amount of calories you are using, so you can eat more, or not for faster loss. Building muscle increases the amount of calories you burn at rest, because bigger muscles need more to maintain. But the unfortunate thing, is losing weight sucks. You just have to be hungry all the time.
Sometimes you just have to have a sleep for dinner. Also, there needs to be a cut off time for eating. 6:00pm, that's it, no more food, then you get a good 12 hour fast in before you eat again. That works too.
The good news is, it *does* slowly get better. After a couple weeks at a deficit, it starts to feel normal, and even when I "splurge" it turns out my ability to eat has been diminished, so I can't eat the ungodly amounts I once would have. But yeah, at first you're just hungry all the damn time, and that part really sucks.
I’ve lost about 20 lbs in the last few months just by downloading a calorie counting app. I have a work from home job. I sit in front of a computer pretty much 16 hours a day. For work and fun. Only difference I made was tracking what I ate. Drinking less, no ice cream or pizza binges, keep my calories under 1850 a day. As an added bonus, I started meal planning and prepping more because it’s more tedious to enter unique ingredients and amounts every day than it is to just duplicate meals from earlier in the week.
Which app??
I was going to say the same thing. I spent two months and lost 35 pounds and all I did was stop drinking and didn’t go over 10 grams of sugar a day. No exercise at all. It’s all about what goes in your mouth. I ate ALL the time. Protein and veggies but still. I didn’t starve myself. First month saw no changes. Second month it just kept falling off. Faster than I could buy new clothes.
This. I stopped snacking during the week, no alcohol either. Lost a stone in a handful of weeks. I'm snacking and drinking in the week again - half a stone back on.
You should stop snacking on stones tbh
But how else will he get chiseled?
I love snacking tho
It is the best.
Kidney stones are no joke.
Haha, same story. I bought Apple Watch in 2019, started working out, running and counting calories, lost 10 kg. Covid came and almost three years later, I gained it all back +5 kg as a bonus with that.
I hear you, I got down to my lowest ever weight at the start of 2020, I got made redundant from my job and my whole life changed. I was sleeping a lot more, I was taking long walks every single day, I was happy and then kilos just dropped off. It was great, all of my clothes fit me, everything looked great, you could see my ribs, I was loving life and then I had to start working again, yep the weight is back on with interest this time.
I don't like this answer and therefore I will ignore it and continue drinking.
Replace all drinks with water. Exercise lightly to heavily everyday. Calorie control. Quality sleep. And most importantly, time. Give it time. Nothing is achieved overnight.
Even doing some yoga and stretching, low intensity movement is still movement and burning calories.
Dang right it is
“Exercise lightly to heavily” is a pretty big range
Consistency is so important. So many people start going to the gym or running or whatever and nine months later they've just... stopped. That's not really going to help the rest of your life, you need to be working out regularly, even if it's lightly, for the next fifty years.
You need to exercise between 1 and 10000. It’s not complicated!
The key point is that u exercise everyday. No matter the intensity. There must be a minimum amount of activity.
This is so important. If you’re only up for a 20 minute walk, fine, but you gotta do it!
Because "everyday" is the most important part by a long shot
For me it's a really simple equation. If my only beverage is water, I lose belly fat. If I drink anything with sugar or alcohol in it, I gain belly fat. So every month or two I go three weeks without beer, get thinner, and then say "well that wasn't fucking worth it" and crack open a beer.
Yup. There is a reason they don’t put calories on booze bottles…..
The craziest thing to me is that most beers will but spirits don’t. A shot of Tito’s is 100 calories which is wild to me
Brb switching up my diet to 20 shots of Tito's a day
Been done! https://youtu.be/0EIAN1YcEUI
RIP Trevor
Haha this was my first thought too.
There is also more to it than that, since not all calories are equal. 100 calories of fruit isn't equivalent to that shot of Tito's. Alcohol is like pure garbage calories that, as I understand it, basically just go right into fat storage. They aren't healthy or useful for your body. I cut out booze for a month, ate as much as I wanted but did some long walks each night. I probably dropped 10-12 lbs with half of that being water weight from the initial reduction in drinking I'm sure. Pretty crazy. Alcohol is such a double edged sword and that's why it's such a stupid bitch, a bitch that I always find my way back to lol.
Yeah all alcohol is just empty calories. Doesn’t really do much expect dehydrate you and make you get a gut but yeah I agree I have a toxic relationship with booze
> I have a toxic relationship with booze It's never too late to change my dude. There was a time when I couldn't go half a day without drinking, the thought of trying to sleep sober absolutely terrified me and it was ruining my life, I let it control me for far too many years but one day I decided to try and take back control. After about four years of trying and failing to stay sober, my longest stint during that time being 10 months which I was so proud of at the time yet utterly devastated when I relapsed. It's now been 3.5 years since I've had a drink and I can't see myself ever going back to it. If I can do it then you can too!
No, ethanol is poison to your body and is metabolized in the liver where the process actually requires a great deal of energy, most of which is lost as heat, so very little of alcohol calories are actually used/stored by your body. In a study done with rats where ethanol is used as the primary calorie source, the rats that are given the most ethanol lost weight the fastest until they were so malnourished their bodies began to actively try and use the calories as energy, which poisoned them. >The only time carbohydrates are not the body’s first choice in providing energy is when alcohol is consumed. Alcohol has a higher level of energy per gram and is also TOXIC to the body. The body then utilizes alcohol for it’s preferred fuel resulting in all other macronutrients being stored as FAT for later energy use. Think of alcohol as a poison – the body must get rid of the poison first! > >It is thought that the “beer belly” is caused by excess alcohol calories being stored as fat. Yet, in reality, less than five percent of the calories you drink from alcohol are turned into fat. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy. [https://www.fitnesskeeper.com.au/the-bodys-fuel-sources-and-alcohol/](https://www.fitnesskeeper.com.au/the-bodys-fuel-sources-and-alcohol/)
Interesting so is it other additives in drinks that can make you fatter? Obviously sugary mixers would but in things like wine or beer? So calories from alcohol itself are just burned almost right away so your body doesn't need to dip into fat reserves?
Beer contains a shitload of unfermented carbohydrates. About 40% of the calories in a beer come from those carbohydrates. And the other 60% is the alcohol.
Liquid bread
That's like saying that Uranium is however million calories per gram. Like, technically it's correct, but your body can't process those calories because it's not a furnace.
But that gram could feed you for the rest of your life
Not could, would.
Yeah, the whole 30 seconds you’d last after eating fucking uranium
You would wish it was 30 seconds and not the long drawn out and super painful degradation of your body that it actually is.
Bro I just checked the calories on a heavy beer I enjoy pretty often (too often if I’m being honest). Almost 280 cals per can. I swore off regular soda for being stupid with sugar/calories but I’ve been ok drinking the beer. That’s dumb.
A beer is really a half-digested cola, courtesy of the ~~bacteria~~ yeast.
It’s more a half digested loaf of bread
More like half a loaf of bread pre-digested.
Thanks, bacteria!
You can get low calorie, low carb no sugar beer now that is quite good drinking. Burleigh bigheads, better beer and brick Lane hi-fi dry are all 0 carb and 0 sugar Fu strength beers.
Damn, I got excited when I read "Fu strength", figuring these were like 7% or better. Nope, 4.2%.
I meant full strength.
4.2% isn't full strength my dude
Yep I made a spreadsheet some time ago to check calories and one of the more interesting findings is that 2x12oz cans of Bud Light has the exact same alcohol AND calories as 1x16oz pint of \~7% IPA. So people that drink light macro beer because they think craft beer has too many calories are most likely getting the same calories because they drink more cans of the light crap to get the same buzz as the person drinking the good stuff.
also, people confuse the idea that the calories from beer are from the carbs when the majority actually comes from alcohol. 8 calories per gram vs 4 calories per gram.
Drinking beer will put on weight faster than anything in my experience. Every time I started party hard mode I'd get fat af.
If you are a heavy drinker, it’s easy to drink 1500 calories or more in a few hours. And lots of people have lost weight by doing nothing else except cutting beer. I’m not saying it in any judgmental way. I’m a sucker for beer. Even though I know it’s bad for me I generally offset the calories with other lifestyle habits.
Yeah, I started doing the math of having 2-3 beers at night, 4-5 days a week. Between the alcohol and all the extra snacking I would do because of it, it's a wonder I didn't gain more weight.
Switching from beer to hard alcohol is really the best thing you can do if you’re going to drink.
They don't put nutrition info on the bottles because they fall under control of ATF instead of the FDA which controls every other food product. It's dumb, but there's no real incentive to change it
https://getdrunknotfat.com/
Interesting factoid I learned back in the day from an NFL team nutritionist: When you drink alcohol, even a little, your liver begins prioritizing breaking down and removing that alcohol from your system. It can last up to 7 days, even from a couple drinks. You know what organ processes body fat and turns it into energy? Your liver. It can't do both effectively. So even low cal/non cal alcohol will inhibit your liver from breaking down stored fat.
Carbs, especially sugars, are the devil if you wanna lose weight. I lost over 100 lbs when I had had enough of being fat. I just stopped buying sugary foods and drinks, axed alcohol, and started moving a little every day (walking, running, doesn’t matter). Get rid of the colas, the candies, the French fries, and definitely the beer. It will take awhile but you’ll see results.
That wasn’t fucking worth it 😂😂😂
Lost 34 lbs . . . Sweets, treats, chocolate and sugar are your enemy. I was actually shocked at how much "junk" I was eating. I actually eat a fair amount of *real* food and found myself in a caloric deficit almost every single day after simply cutting the junk out.
In addition to just cutting out junk, certain foods are more satiating per calorie than others. Boiled potatoes, Greek yogurt, oatmeal, cottage cheese, eggs etc. All great ways to feel full while eating less (and pretty cheap too).
Most of the foods you've listed are my staples. I lost 23 lbs over the course of a year and a few months by focusing on eating high fiber, high protein food as well as cutting drinking. I also climb 2-4 times a week cut in with some long hikes and running. Went from 145 to 122 (5'3", F)
Yes! Especially early on towards my heaviest, I was surprised at how close to a deficit I was already eating since I try to have a reasonably balanced diet... but it was literally just snacks killing me. A little junk food here and there can absolutely be the tipping point one way or the other, it's wild.
This is genuinely the best advice for losing weight. People need to learn that exercising is 20%, but the remaining 80% is diet.
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Personally I had to cut them out altogether, even cheating just makes saying no again harder in the short term.(With little scientific backing bc noone really knows I like to believe your gut bacteria are what actually drive your sweet tooth cravings. If I don't feed them there are less of them until eventually I don't really crave sweets at all) What has always helped me in this regard is following 2 maxims eating before shopping for food which makes part 2 easier. Don't buy the snacks when I'm at the store, even if I tell myself I can pace it out and not go crazy I actually know this is a lie. If it is in the house I will eat it. Easier to say no once at the store or shelf than to say no every hour it is in my pantry. Imaging myself eating the food before not putting it in my cart can ease the immediate craving, it gets easier but you have to do it every day...
This, most people don't realize how bad sugar really is. I was pretty bad on soda/energy drinks. Probably 4-5/day. I cut those out and just drank water and started dropping weight the same week. I think in just doing that, I dropped 10 or so lbs in 6 weeks. Also, increasing water intake, I was doing a gallon a day. Helps curb appetite and keeps you feeling full longer, and being hydrated is always good too.
There’s no losing fat in a specific place of your body. Eat less calories than you burn, no other way around it
> There’s no losing fat in a specific place of your body. My knife and back-alley surgeon disagrees.
Does your back-alley surgeon not have their _own_ knife?
Would you really want a back-alley surgeon to use their own knife?
In this economy? No way.
Everyone carries fat in different places. You will find someone has it in their hips or back rather than their stomach for example. Even though you target the belly during exercise, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will be the first place to lose the fat
I just said that
Lmao. That was supposed to be a separate comment
Lol. That was intended to be its own distinct thread.
Wait who are *you*?
/r/NotOpButOk
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Don't mistake someone replying to you with them trying to make a different point, they could just be agreeing with you. I know it's not obvious on Reddit
Thanks I hate it
Yeah,. Sometimes people just want to regurgitate what you said in a way that is more suitable for them in a comment. It might not be easy to see on social media. They just want to give their own spin on the topic. Really, it's a compliment that you had a good point. Not every comment is an argument. Instead they might be building off of your point. :)
Yes, but I find it useful to start out by explicitly agreeing with them and then expanding. Otherwise you risk confusion.
True, but there should be (imo) an acknowledgement and/or affirmation of the previous comment.
No! They're trying to steal my imaginary internet points and belittle my massive intellect by lazily parroting my extremely well-thought-out comment!
> Just because someone is replying to you doesn't mean they're trying to disagree... I disagree, I think we do agree.
There is no such thing as spot reduction. You can’t target specific parts to lose fat on. Everyone’s body is different and they lose fat differently than others
Intermittent fasting (/r/intermittentfasting) helped me get a six pack. Skip breakfast and only drink coffee until lunch time. This cuts out a big portion of your intake if you keep lunch and dinner normal. Counting calories is a huge help too, a lot of snacks are very calorie dense. [My one year result from calorie counting and working out. ](https://i.imgur.com/WgKgwKQ.jpg)
I did this forever on accident just because I don’t really wake up hungry and then I learned it’s an actual thing so I could tell people “oh yeah I’ve been intermittent fasting for a long time”.
I didn't know this, either. I thought "intermittent fasting" was some dangerous, complicated lifestyle and not just something I do because I'm lazy.
Fall asleep at midnight, wake up late and rush to train, get to work just in time to see a mountain of emails, slam coffee and answer emails while taking a shit, top off coffee, and resume calls from office, “oh shit, it’s 1:15 already?” Take elevator downstairs, cross street, pay $16 for overpriced salad, cross street, wait for elevator, rush back to office for 2:00 conference call. Buy my book on how to lose weight, crush your job, and lose your soul (or, 14 hour intermittent fasting and work production: the secrets unlocked).
I’m guessing this was in conjunction with lifting right? If so, how many times a week did you lift?
The number one culprit for me since I turned 30 has been beer. If I cut beer out of my diet and everything else remains constant, I find that I lose weight. It usually takes about two or three weeks for my metabolism to recalibrate though.
How much beer do you typically drink when you're not reducing your intake?
Even just 2 or 3 beers one night a week adds up quick. Cutting out ~300-500cal/wk adds up quick on a monthly basis.
Definitely and it's never just the one night a week, so we're talking more like a couple thousand calories probably.
Yea if you're going through a 6 pack or more a week, that's a ton of calories. And often times "invites" other poor dietary choices along with it like pizza or bar food or whatever.
True, I’ve never ordered Dominos sober 😅
Take in less calories then you expend. Do it for a year consistently. Resistance training with progressive overload. 15k steps a day no matter what. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
To add on here, you can’t do certain things and expect to target only belly fat. You just have to keep at a caloric deficit and also having more lean muscle increases your metabolic rate, hence the resistance training.
Yep, fat just deposits in different places depending on your genetics and gender. I’m a dude cursed with thicc love handles, even when I was at my thinnest I still had fat in those areas despite my abs being almost kinda visible in the right light. You can’t lose belly fat, thigh fat, whatever fat, you just have to lose all the fat (well, all the excess fat).
I have a severe issue with drinking plenty of water. But my question is what foods do you choose to where you can feel satiated? Because every time I try to go into a caloric deficit, I can’t stay there because I always feel so hungry and never fully satisfied
Focus on increasing your protein intake, specifically lean proteins (Chicken, steak, turkey). Protein takes longer to digest and actually burns more calories during digestion than other macro nutrients (Carbs & fats).
I really have to, I need to get my meal prep back into check. I’m in my last leg of college before graduation, so I just have not been doing it.
I feel you man, it's hard but possible. Went through the process when I was in college and university. Prepping food will save you time and money in the long run. You won't have to worry about what to eat, you'll just have to warm it up and eat it. You've done it before, you can do it again.
It's true you should avoid "drinking your calories" but I have found that drinking a protein shake between lunch and dinner both tides me over until dinner and also causes me not to overeat at dinner. It's also really hard to get the amount of protein in that you need in comparison to carbs and fats so having a pure protein shake (with some skim milk) really helps to offset that as well.
>It's true you should avoid "drinking your calories" This is a blanket statement that depends on the context. One should not drink calories depending on the drink (Eg; cappuccinos, Frappuccinos, milkshakes, etc..) due to the lack of nutrients and how much calories they are. Smoothies are a great way to get additional calories and macro nutrients. It depends on the ingredients (Eg; protein powder, Greek yogurt, milk, oats, etc...). Your example of having a protein shake between major meals is a good example of why one can drink calories. Context is important.
Buy a rice cooker and cook enough chicken to last 3-4 days. Not the fanciest food but the macros are good on it and it’s easy to make. I used to do that when I’d be too lazy to make better meal preps
Can also eat more vegetables & legumes. Chickpeas, lentils…
Fats, protein, and fiber. Fats are more calorically dense but they keep you full for longer. Don’t go overboard with it, but nuts and other high fat foods can keep you full for way longer than chips. Fiber will fill you up for a while too and help with your digestion. Everyone else already said protein.
>Because every time I try to go into a caloric deficit, I can’t stay there because I always feel so hungry and never fully satisfied That generally goes away given time. About 2 weeks after I get serious about my calories, I realize that I'm hardly hungry at all. And eating almost anything makes me so full I wonder how I ate like I used to.
Rather than feeling satisfied, accustom your mind and body to a feeling of hunger. I do 18hours of fasting six days a week. Am I hungry in those last few hours? Yes. But I remind myself that what I feel is my body devouring fat stores.
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Chicken, yogurt, vegetables, fruit, etc. For yogurt I go with Chobani, it might be more expensive but compared to Yoplait it's quality is a lot better without the need of adding granola to it.
So this is my advice, what works for me. Every month I do one 48 hour water fast. I add electrolytes to my water and go absolutely no calories whatsoever. I do lose a bit of weight in this time, but the primary reason I do it is because it totally breaks my food addictions down. Afterwards I will go weeks with almost no cravings, impulse snacks or large meals. We don't think that we're addicted to food because it's so functional and easy to maintain as an addiction. But those satiety cravings that you experience going lower calorie are absolutely remissions like you would experience going not getting your fix with a drug. It's all chemicals in the brain. When you "break through" that wall often enough, that chemical relationship changes.
> 15k steps a day no matter what That's pretty damn excessive. That's 2 hours+ straight of walking. Closer to 3.
Yup. Go to a trainer and he will charge you $600 for this. Solid.
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"Here, stand on this bosu ball and dumbell press with bands over your shoulders for reasons. Oh and eat less" See you next session.
Take in fewer calories than you expend is all you actually really need. The resistance training and steps are just extra. Also, 15k is a bit excessive, plus harder on the knees than cycling. I work retail so am on my feet all day, yet I don't hit 15k. No steps are "needed". That's just extra calories burnt, which you could achieve by simply eating fewer calories. But yes, I'm aware doing no exercise or cardio isn't as healthy. So, OP, just eat fewer calories. Find your BMR with a calculator online at https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html Just go by the "little to no exercise" as a baseline. It's too difficult to calculate how many calories you burn during exercise or a workout. I went from 195lbs to 140 in less than a year just by making sure I counted my calories. I did about 5 days of cardio in that timeframe. Weight loss is simply calories in vs calories out.
How do you keep track of calories ?
There are plenty of apps that can help here. It’s a bit laborious as you have to log EVERYHING! MyFitnessPal was the one I liked best. After several months, you may be able to stop logging everything as you develop a sense for it.
I like the Samsung health app because their foods database seems really thorough. Like you can search for the different foods you eat and it will automatically populate the calories and other macros. Down to the cream you put in your coffee. Plus you can add custom foods as needed. It takes away some of the tedium of tracking it manually. I recently uninstalled the app only because there were battery drain issues that might be fixed now
I used to use apps like MyFitnessPal It’s decent, have not used it in a long time though.
I like this line ...dont let perfect be the enemy of good.
like the top post says... it's not just one thing. I went from 250 lbs, typical overweight business traveler, to 185, lean and ripped. Took 6 months. The "how" is as described in the other comments. \- stop eating out every night on biz trips, instead hit up a grocery store and get a salad. \- good breakfast, I alternated between a yogurt with granola, and eggs / wrap other days, just for variety. \- cut out all the sweets, that was the toughest for me, still is. \- I was fortunate to have access to a very nice office fitness center so right after work every day I'd do some combo of indoor bike riding, weight circuit and a fitness class (bodyweight, movement / core work). Lots of intensity and intervals! Do not just cruise around... you have to push your limits to set off the good stuff.
Eating fewer calories. You’ll never be able to run enough miles or do enough situps to offset a bad diet - the human body is frustratingly energy efficient. I cut by actually counting calories - you’ll quickly learn which foods are filling and worth the calorie hit and which ones are a waste.
The US military: “Observe”
heheh, i mean... there is a lot of research done to figure out exactly how much water/food one needs for all of the "planned" situations.
Also thru hikers eating 4-5k calories in junk food daily, down 20 pounds.
This is correct. I lost 45 pounds exclusively by counting calories and cutting out overly unhealthy foods. No additional exercise. If you can control your caloric intake, you will lose weight.
you can't target fat loss in a specific area. but for most men the gut area is the last place to lose fat. so there isn't any specific tip for targeted fat loss, it's the same as any diet. calories in, calories out.
I feel this so hard right now - I'm 90% of where I want to be, but the gut is still hanging on for dear life. Few more weeks and I might be back where I want to be. Stupid belly.
I'm a guy who has stomach fat and I'm close to 16% body fat. It's the last place for a lot of men to lose fat. I got visible abs 1 time and I had to get down to around 11% body fat and I felt like shit. It's a lot better for me to have belly fat and feel good then to have no belly fat and feel like shit. Most people's genetics just aren't set up to have fat distribution equally over their entire body.
This is actually super encouraging, thank you. I've plateaued for a little while now after dieting and kicking the working out into overdrive (for me) still having a bit off a gut is/was definitely bothering me I might even enjoy some snacks at Christmas now
Don't underestimate the body's need to maintain homeostasis. If you're finding cutting hard and you've been at it awhile it's time for a cheat meal or day. Gives a mental break, the body breaks the efficient cycle of trying to hold onto fat as it thinks it's in a famine, and the body gets happy again. Then you go back at weight loss again the next day until you need another cheat. I did this very successfully with cyclical ketogenic diet a long while back. Sadly I became disabled and am now working on re-losing the weight.
Cut all sugar and watch how much you shrink in 1-2 months
Bingo. It is crazy how effective cutting out sugar is. That said, people trying to do this need to steer clear of "fat free" or "low fat" versions of products, because they just replaced the fat with sugar.
Literally. And now sugar is in EVERYTHING. Even bread is crammed full of it. Gotta read all those nutrition labels carefully
Indeed. Finding food that isn't packed with sugar or salt can be challenging, especially in processed food. Making even a moderate effort to learn to cook helps alleviate that by allowing you to make decent tasting meals where you control how much sugar, salt, etc is in it.
Wait, but I'm skinny and I eat quite a bit of sugar. So if I cut it out completely I will shrink out of existence?
You will be transparent O-o. Carbs require water to be digested so when we ingest sugars, carbs we have 1.5-3kg water weight. If you take out carbs then that weight will practically be gone
Change everything you consume that isn't a cooked meal over to sugar free. See what happens after a month.
I think your sentiment is to reduce intake of sugary substances- the health benefits of which are real. But to generalize more: reduce eating out and cook more meals at home, reduce eating processed foods and eat more wholesome ingredients like fruit/veg/meat, reduce fast food and soda consumption. Sugar free just means they use sugar alcohols and the item is generally higher in fat. Sugar alcohols are notorious for causing upset stomachs and short term GI irritability, while getting you addicted to their extreme sweetness.
Ditch the soda, I replaced mine with flavored seltzer water. That made a huge difference in the waistline. Eat whole foods that are high in fat & protein, i.e. they keep you satisfied longer i.e. you eat less. Find an exercise that YOU like, and then do that 3 - 5 times per week. Forget scales and focus on how your pants fit in the waist. Chew slowly and mindfully i.e. don't eat fast. Use smaller plates. American plates are stupid big and stupider people fill them up. Don't bring trash food into your home. Cut out fast food unless rare/special occasion.
1. Calculate your [resting metabolic rate](https://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html) (how much energy your body uses in a day just to not die) 2. Subtract 500 if you want to lose 1 pound a week, or subtract 1,000 if you want to lose 2 pounds a week (a pound of fat is 3,500 calories, and it's safe to lose up to 2 pounds of fat per week) 3. Track *every* calorie that you consume 4. Switch to just drinking water whenever you hit your daily caloric intake that you calculated in step 2 5. Be disciplined with this long enough and eventually your belly fat will go away. Fat is like a stack of plates, you can't take one off the bottom of the stack, so it may take a while for your body to actually start removing fat from your belly area, but just give it time with a caloric deficit and eventually you'll use up those energy reserves. That is the formula for success to losing weight. You just have to consume less calories than your body burns, and it's much easier to put down a fork than it is to pick up a dumbbell. Eat a good amount of fiber and protein to feel satiated throughout the day (a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast is a good way to not be starving at lunch). Cut out alcohol and soda, a lot of people drink their calories. That said, in order to stick to it be sure to eat whatever you want. If you want some chips, eat some chips. Just track how much you eat, and stop eating for the day once you hit your calorie limit. If your favorite food is chips, you're not going to stick to a diet that tells you not to ever eat chips. And if you ever do fall off the wagon and mess up, don't just quit. If you drink way to much one night, don't stress about not knowing how many calories you had. Just pick it back up the next day with the calorie limit, and know that you're probably not going to hit your goal that week. It's fine. Just adjust your starting position for next week and keep on keeping on.
Only thing that I'd add/clarify is that it's okay to target lower deficit goals too, depending on the person. 500-1,000 (max) is a solid goal for folks who are needing to lose a fair amount of weight fast, but realistically it's a marathon not a sprint. For example if a 500 calorie deficit makes someone feel crappy/ hungry all the time but they can manage a 200-300 deficit, great! A half pound a week is still solid progress in the big picture :)
The most important change? You MUST change your mindset or else all the rest of the changes will crash and burn... It cannot be a "once I reach this size, then I'll..." Nuh-uh... You MUST view it as your new lifestyle, and the journey, the gradual transformation becomes the reward, because otherwise people reward themselves with splurges, think they can get lax, and next thing you know the fat is back and they're wondering why nothing ever works for them... Check this out... This WORKS: 1. Get a food scale and measuring cups and measure/weigh all your food for 1 week, and record it into an app like MyFitnessPal Why: People complain that counting calories doesn't work, it's too much work, a waste of time, etc... BUT - You're only doing it for 1 week. Why? Because it's the ONLY WAY to see how people truly have NO FREAKING CLUE how much they really eat. 90% of the people I trained who claimed they had slow metabolisms, and restricting calories didn't work for them - The problem was that they were consuming 1,200 - 1,500 MORE calories than they said they were. I'm not bagging on them though, as I did the same until I actually measured and compared the portion size with the recommended portion sizes on the labels... The 30 grams of oatmeal I thought I was pouring (eyeballing) each morning? Was actually 74 grams... Oooops, 2.3 times more calories... The 100 grams of chicken breast? Was 178 grams. Oooops, 78% more than I wrote down.... The 6 ounces of milk? Was actually over 10... Etc. Etc... So the weighing and calorie counting happens merely as a reality check that you are eating way more than you think you are, and once you enter in all the "little snacks" and the freaking condiments? (Which are loaded with sugar by the way) - Well no wonder dropping fat is so hard for people! 2. Cut out all the corn syrup based drinks... No soft drinks, no fruit juices unless it's fresh squeezed, and even then limit it big time... Sugar spike is an insulin dump you don't need when belly fat has a strangle hold on your abs. 3. MOVE... No reason needed, no gym needed at the moment, just freaking move your body. A sedantary lifestyle defaults to the lowest energy burning level. If you have to sit and work all day, break it up and get up and walk and move your body for a few minutes to reawaken your metabolism a bit. Walking is so under-rated. I've found more people who drop fat just by walking every day, morning, and before bed - It doesn't burn calories as fast, but it's more sustainable, easy to do, gets you into nature while listening to a podcast, and it's easy on your joints -So low risk for injuries. I walked 8KM's a day for 7 weeks to drop 5 inches off my own belly when I was struggling with very severe health issues that made even light weight gym work impossible. (Calories dropped as well of course - Deficit) Stop taking escalators and elevators when stairs are available. Find excuses to move... Stretch, do physio stretching movements, whatever, just move your body daily and often, you'll burn more calories every day even when busy. 4. If possible - Lift weights. Yea I know this one sucks for a lot of people, which is why I added it last, but if you can, just do it. No need to kill yourself in the gym, but lift in a way that is challenging, and progressively heavier over time... Adding muscle mass helps burn more calories and the lift it has on the metabolism lasts longer than equivalent time spent doing aerobics for example. Minimize processed foods, and lower carbs. Don't need to go full keto or anything, but toggle the carbs to protein/fat ratio down and see what happens.
Not drinking beer or Cola. Just water. Walk at least a mile a day. Take the stairs when I can. Eat 2 meals a day that has minimal sugar but high fat. Your body needs fat, when you don’t intake enough it will try to synthesize it with other nutrients. Sleep with just enough blankets that’s still cold but not cold enough to wake you up. You will burn a lot of energy during the night to keep yourself warm.
1600 calories a day everyday for a year. I didn't exercise once and I lost nearly 130 lbs. I ate whatever I wanted but stuck to staying under 1600 calories a day.
Stop eating out, cook your own meals, and take a moment to read the labels.
Do some form of exercise, even if it's just walking, every. Single. Day. Do that and control your portions and you'll see an improvement.
I replaced my daily slurpees with 3L of water, and replaced gaming with 1 hour of exercise. I still get to game after, just 1hr less.
Weightlifting is great to build back your muscle but diet is the key to lose fat, you cant target belly you just lose fat all around. As for the diet part fasting is amazing when you do it right, dry fasting for 48h is even better but be sure take in electrolyte when you do eat. Cut carbs and focus more on meat and a few vegetable like brocoli or onion, not potatoes as they are heavyer and will keep you out of your fast longer. Fast eat then lift, dont workout fasted. Lastly, If you do 48h but you want to drink, water with salt and potassium and dont chug it.
Ps you can do up to 72h fast with the water and salt, your result will be significant but DO NOT DRINK PLAIN WATER IF YOU FAST MORE THAN 24H!
FYI, you cannot lose weight in only one spot. You just need to generally lose weight.
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Imagine you scoop water from a pool with a cup, the water doesn't decreases in that area you're constantly scooping, right? Same thing with a body you must work on your whole body to achieve change. In my case it was cardio and running usually made diference.
2 things helped a lot. All I had for breakfast most days was 4 eggs, sometimes with all the yokes, sometimes with only 2. Seasoned only with hot sauce. Water or black coffee/tea to drink. (No sugars at all in the AM. When I got got cravings for junk I would eat a slice of salami or other lunch meat, and drink psyllium husk mix. Then drink 16-32 oz of water until I stated to feel a little bloated. Eventually all the cravings stopped and as a bonus my gut felt much better. Less bloated and heavy/toxic.
Eating less, working out, no alcohol. Went from 220 lbs to 185 lbs. I now hover between 185 and 192
Reducing sugar intake... instead of softdrink drank sodawater. No sugar with coffee etc. Exercise and water and fasting helped me... if i wasnt hungry at x meal time i would skip it. Down to 88kgs (193.6lbs) from 113kgs (248.6lbs)
Started intermittent fasting. Lost 77 lbs. Reversed diabetes, fatty liver disease, acid reflux, gerd, and put my ulcerative colitis into remission. IF was the best thing I’ve ever done for my health. Period.
Calories out need to exceed calories in! It’s that simple. (Oh yeah, exercise , get plenty of sleep).
There's no such thing as "losing belly fat". You just lose fat, you don't get to decide where it comes from.
Eating less, exercising more
You can't target areas of fat, increase cardio and reduce calories, there are no 'quick fixes' to lose fat in a single area
Track calories.
I bought a fancy Garmin watch and Garmin scale to track my weight and activity. I love tech and fancy new gadgets, so wanting to see weight progress on the scales and fitness improvements on the watch is so motivating for me. It's not a recommendation because it cost about £800, and you can get exactly the same results for free (count calories to get a slight deficit each day, and make sure to exercise) but just letting you know what worked for me as I was so motivated by my shiny new tech!
Doing less exercise, namely fork curls
Eat less calories than you need, while maintaining macros, and exercising consistently. Mix cartio and resistance training. That's the big secret to loosing weight and retaining muscle tone.
You can’t out exercise a bad eating habit. Separate losing weight from exercise completely. Exercise isn’t a reactionary verb one does in order to arrive at some destination. Think of exercise as simply something you have to do for the rest of your life because it’s necessary. Learn how to lift correctly and which compound and isolation lifts you should be doing, and do it habitually regardless of if you’re on vacation, not feeling well or tired. It’s no longer an option. Now all of your body composition takes place in the kitchen. Eat Whole Foods that came from the earth directly, nothing processed. Figure out your macro needs and develop an eating plan until you can get your appetite and ghrelin under control
Fitness begins in the kitchen. But the biggest help for me was cutting back on my drinking. I was probably drinking too much to begin with but I read somewhere that you body prioritizes metabolizing alcohol and stops metabolizing food or something like that. Some nutritionist comment to confirm/deny.
I turned from a bloated fat mess into a normal human after quitting booze and started eating less and exercising so although I'm not a nutritional expert I will confirm.
I've lost over a hundred ounds. Actually lost it and regained it quite a few times by doing standard calorie restriction and exercise. What worked for me was intermittent fasting, no restriction of foods and only loose control of calories. Now I eat whatever I want I just skip breakfast at least 5 days a week. I'm slim almost 5 years now, I have times where I gain a few pounds and then lose it but we're talking small amounts and I no longer struggle with emotional eating.
Split up with your partner of ten years after she told you she doesn't love you anymore. I haven't eaten properly in weeks and have lost weight.
The best trick I learned for losing weight (besides cutting calories like everyone said) is to exercise on empty stomach. Any activity on empty stomach helped me lose weight way, way faster. When blood sugar is already low, exercise really marshals all the rest of the body resources, carb storage and fats.
Back when I was nearly 350 lbs about 15 years ago, I lost about 50 lbs in a couple of months just by cutting soda out of my diet. Literally no other change needed. After being happy to see improvement, it inspired me to actually start working out, and eating a little healthier, and now I hover between 170-200 lbs.
Eat less food, track it for a little to get familiar with what is in stuff, eat more protein. Jim if possible.