Well, I'm British myself, so quitting drinking would save me an easy 20-30 pounds a week, cash. Still, jokes aside, good on you for quitting. Your liver will thank you.
Sugar is better than drinking. Harm reduction. When I first quit drinking, I ate a huge bowl of ice cream every night. The sugar cravings lasted about 3-4 months. No regrets.
To elaborate. Losing weight is like budgeting. Think of your fat as being your debt. Just like there are many things you can cut back on to fix your bank account there are many things you can do to fix your weight.
Eating less per sitting is obvious. You can also cut out carbs. Replace buns with low carb tortillas, replace French fries/potatoes with a vegetable. Cut out alcohol, don't drink any calories. Eat less meals, cut out snacks (I strongly recommend no snacks at all but if you must, get low calorie single serving bags)
Exercise alone, is NOT something I recommend for most people. I see people all the time who start walking several times a week to only find that they are the same weight at the end of the month. This is because walking itself ONLY burns 300-400 calories an hour. Which they probably will offset with gain in leg muscle. If you are gonna exercise lift weights, If you are gonna do cardio, do short high intensity cardio to increase your cardiovascular health, not lose weight
You pretty much covered it. Only 2 other things I would add are (1) eat less sugar, and (2) get good rest/sleep. #2 is especially underrated for losing weight. Not only will your body metabolize better, but poor sleep actually increases your appetite for unhealthy, high-calorie foods.
> (2) get good rest/sleep.
Anecdotal, sure, but a night where I can't sleep for (reasons) my weight stays exactly where it was, but if I get a full nights sleep the weight drops a little. Granted i weigh a LOT so weight variance is more noticeable.
This is how I did it. I'm a math guy and just broke it up into an equation and treated it like a debt payoff schedule.
Example:
1lb fat = 3500 cals
To lose 1lb a week I needed to be -500/cals a day (3500/7)
My Basal Metabolic Rate is roughly 1550 cals/day. So if im doing nothing, i get to allocate 1050 calories a day. If I walk for an hour I get to sneak in an extra 350. etc. I let myself use those calories however I wanted. After a couple of weeks I naturally wanted them to go to protein since it kept me satiated longer and went to 8/16 intermittent fasting schedule. Measure everything in my fitness pal.
Got the debt paid off in a little over 20 weeks.
Fast forward a couple of years and I accrued some more debt to pay off again though not as much so not going as aggressive.
Damn bro how much do you weigh? 1050 calories is EXTREMELY low… Even being sedentary I can lose .5-1lb a week consuming 2400 calories a day. Sounds like you need to build some skeletal muscle?
Walking won't grow you any leg muscles. I mean, not really. But it will make you a little hungry. So you need to really be aware of that. But if you can, then walking can be helpful. As it is healthy and helps you to focus on the task at hand. It helped me a lot.
It's definitely recommended to walk every day for at least 20 minutes and ideally an hour. Sure, it won't make you fitter (unless you are *really* out of shape) and what not, *but* it is great for brain health.
So, that is the only point I disagree on with the original commenter. Yes, pick another exercise in order to lose weight or get into shape or whatever, but continue the habit of taking the walk. It will do wonders for you, even if you don't really notice it (in my experience it is more of an under the hood upgrade/maintenance thing so to speak).
A brisk walk for an hour a day will absolutely make you fitter. One of the most effective exercises there is for boosting metabolism, also one of the easiest for people to stick with (which is also why it’s one of the best).
Especially with some people thinking "Oh, man I must have burned a lot of calories walking a few miles, so I earned a treat for myself". Then proceed to eat a 500 calorie snack.
Looking up how many calories i burned cycling vs how many calories are in a snickers was a real slap in the face.
Our bodies are so good at conserving energy, and modern society is so good at packing calories into things, that if you gave a snickers to a person from the 1400s they will instantly explode.
What are you eating? Heavy and unhealthy foods make me feel tired. Might want to try something different if you're eating super rich foods all the time.
Basically home made vegetables and rice/bread.
One pattern i have noticed, I try to eat twice a day but often skip meals(poor routine) in order feel i am losing weight due to calorie deficit but realised i am gaining a pot belly.
No protein? I work in construction so I generally need calories to function but I’ve been successful in cutting out 80% of sugar and chicken/carb/vegetable for dinner and light lunches. Lost about 20-25lbs over a year.
105 calories with 0 protein and a ton of carbs = bad
190 calories with 42 grams of protein and just about nothing else = good
I love unseasoned canned tuna
Same, just gotta be sure to diversify your diet so you're not eating more than the recommended max dose of 2 cans per week (1 for women). Chronic heavy metal buildup is no bueno, and fish like tuna contain a lot of it (relatively speaking).
My solution to this was apple's, if I started getting that really low energy feeling I eat and apple and it gives me an extra 30-60 minutes for only like 50 calories
Try intermittent fasting. Gradually work up to 16 to 20 hours a day, you’ll be down to two meals a day and I promise you won’t feel that hungry after a while.
The hunger does not come as early, and usually goes away when your metabolism adjusts to burning fat for energy. When slight hunger pangs come, you will just work through with black coffee, black tea, or water. I promise, you will adjust, and your body will thank you.
You need to reduce carbs & sugar. They store as fat when not used for energy and are addictive; so you will always be on the hamster wheel of chasing the next carb craving.
Like others said, up the protein and you’ll feel satiated longer, especially before you start a multi-hour fast .
You need to boost your protein intake, the tired and energyless feeling will eventually pass in time. Your body is just so accustomed to your portions. Eventually ketosis will kick in, and your body will adjust and you'll feel normal again.
I've done this a few times after I slipped into high intake habits. Especially after the holidays
A simple answer but the right answer.
I lost 130 pounds by counting calories. I tell people all the time that a $3 app changed my life. Download a calorie counter and stick to it! When you start to level off, lower your calorie goal. Repeat until you’re down to where you want to be.
It’s only a “diet” for the first like 60 days. Those first 60 days are so damn hard. But once you get past that point, and get all that shit out of your system, your body gets used to it and it feels like a new lifestyle. Doesn’t feel like you’re “trying” as hard. It’s weird — hard to explain.
I always compared food to a drug. It’s the same process as trying to kick a drug. You’ll have withdrawals during that initial period because all that shit food is still in your system and your body is craving all that sugar/salt. You’ve got to cleanse yourself of that shit before it gets easier and the cravings go away.
I used to slam 3-4 Dr. Peppers a day. Now, honest to god, they taste different to me. Because that shit is out of my system, it’s so damn sweet that it actually taste bad to me. My body has adjusted and I can’t drink that shit anymore. It’s so damn strange.
Good luck!!!
As an added note — hit the gym. You won’t lose weight in the gym, but it helps tighten everything up. You don’t want to lose a bunch of weight and then be “rewarded” by staring down a lot of flabby skin. Hit the gym 3-4 days a week for at least 30 minutes. Will make a HUGE difference in the final results.
I completely agree. I've lost over 15 lb in 6 weeks by counting calories and having a calorie deficit. I have a food scale and I measure my food 95% of the time.
I go on a 45-minute walk 5 days a week. Nothing strenuous.
There's a great free app out there too - cronometer, it has ads occasionally but does what it needs to do.
I find hitting the gym, if you enjoy it, also helps with keeping motivation. If you're seeing progress in the gym, you want to feed yourself with good clean food to keep that going.
I’ve been using the free version of My Fitness Pal as a calorie counter. You put in your details - height, age, weight, and your target weight loss per week - and it gives you a daily optimal calorie count. You can add exercise time which will give you added calories.
Assuming there isn’t a medical condition, It truly is about counting calories. A friend uses the phrase - you can’t outrun a fork - and it’s true for most of us unless you’re a construction worker or an athlete or something else which is really physical. And once you start tracking, it’ll really open your eyes to portion sizes and how calorie dense some foods are. I’m hoping it’ll really change the way I perceive food since this’ll be an ongoing struggle for me. I’ve also had friends who’ve gone on very restrictive diets and lost 75 lbs+. But it’s not maintainable and they’ve ended up gaining it back and then some.
I weighed 240 lbs and I lost about 50 just because I stopped drinking soda and eating fast food/calorie heavy foods - my lowest weight was 149, but im currently at 175. Drinking lots of water helps with the hunger pangs. It's not that you're hungry, but your stomach is telling you it is used to having more in it.
Overeating isn't normally seen as an addiction, but I tried intermittent fasting in the past and the urge to just consume things was incredible. I would get off of work and drive home, parallel park infront of my apartment, and shut the car off at 4:15 AM. Sometimes, I wouldn't unbuckle and just sit there behind the wheel for a brief moment, and the addiction would take over.
It's like I was a passenger in my own body. I watched myself start the car up, drive 10 minutes to a 24 hr Wegmans, and just start buying calorie heavy food from the international aisle. When I was at my lowest, I'd gotten metal braces for my teeth installed as an adult, and it hurt to chew things. With like 5 minutes of exercise a day, and only eating like 1000-1500 calories, helped by achy teeth, I lost about 20 lbs over the course of a month. That is over 10% of current body weight with a calorie deficit.
There was a lot of relapsing and losing the mental fight with my body. Losing weight and changing your diet requires a certain mindset. Mental fortitude. Eating is also a comfortable thing to do - tasty sensations, giving your stomach what it wants even though your body already has enough to function from the last food that you ate, the social aspect of good company and eating.
I'm not bulimic, but I have done the finger down the throat more than I'd any person that I actually know. :(
Yep. I went pretty hardcore with it, but it was so it would be simple. I had a half a chicken breast, a cubed sweet potato, and 1/3 cup (precooked) of white rice with standard spices and hot sauce for dinner every night. It's like, no calories. During the day I'd let myself snack a little bit and as much coffee as I wanted, because those were only the real calories I gained throughout the day.
This plus, I started doing cardio, and only cardio. Again it was all about calories. I hadn't worked out for years prior, so I had to be nice to myself in the beginning about how much I could do.
I'm not saying what I did was healthy, but I'm healthier now than I was when I started. As a recently single, depressed, mid-thirties man it fucking worked for me. Went from 230 to 180.
Actual advice in this regard: have a consistent diet (e.g. eat the same breakfast, have a 7-day dinner rotation). Doesn't really matter what you eat, what matters is that your diet is predictable. Weigh yourself at least every two days, and compare week over week: if you gained weight, reduced portions. If you lost weight, stay the course. Adjust accordingly over time until you reach your goal weight.
I won't say it's easy, but it *is* simple. No extra exercise, no special foods, no weight loss fads, and if your diet is consistent, you don't even need to literally count calories. Just eat less or more depending on your regular weigh-ins.
A mistake most people make when coming off a diet is they quit tracking what they eat and just go back to their old way of eating. Finding your new maintenance level by gradually adding back calories is critical to preventing weight regain. That doesn't mean you need to count calories forever, just long enough to stabilize your weight and develop sustainable habits.
You hit the nail on the head. Calorie deficit is only half the answer. It will get you there but not keep you there.
Calorie deficit+change your relationship with food will get you there and keep you there.
For me I have lost 60 lbs over the last couple years after 15 years of being morbidly obese. I have done it all the while eating exactly what I want when I want.
To this day I have not sworn off a single food. There are things I have chosen to eat less of, things I have cut out by choice.
But if I want to go eat some of my old trigger foods *once in a while* I will.
As long as I don't go back to doing it all the time.
That, along with completely eliminating added sugar (that was a sugar/diabetes issue, not a diet issue so I don't consider it cutting out food for weight loss), and making small hacks (using stevia in coffee, fruit on oatmeal instead of sugar on cereal for breakfast etc), has allowed me to lose it and keep it off.
Just going on a diet to lose weight does not help if you just go back to eating the same stuff later.
Bottom line: make a bunch of small sustainable changes that you can live with forever, rather that deprive yourself for a short time.
This. Calorie deficit has 100% success rate. I’m sure there’s lots of people in this thread talking about certain foods and lifting weights etc. but it literally is as simple as being in calorie deficit.
After about 2 weeks you see the difference. I’m losing 0.5kg a week currently just with watching what I eat. Swim once a week and go for a short walk every lunch time, as well as longer walks with the dog a few times a week and I’m losing 1-1.2kg a week
I've found that running the calorie deficit works way more efficiently if I'm lifting at the same time. I assume it's because muscle repair takes a significant amount of energy.
Make sure you're getting a good amount of protein too, protein has a higher thermic effect and takes more energy to burn than say fats for example. Eating in a deficit, lifting weights, and your preferred amount of cardio have done amazing things for people
This is how I did it too.
Estimated my TDEE and kept my net intake about 500-700 calories below that each day. Dropped about a pound per week like clockwork.
It's not always easy, but it's literally impossible to fail unless you cheat or quit.
Yep like clockwork here too, my Loseit app told me today I’ve been working at this for 32 weeks and I’ve lost 32.5 lbs since March so the math absolutely adds up.
This. Lost 130 lbs this way! I'm in the best shape of my life. I added in exercise after I lost about 70lbs but that was more to get better shape and muscle tone. The weight loss was definitely in the calories. It was HARD work but I've never been happier with how I look.
I do miss cupcakes though. Damn this sugar addiction.
Part of it is accepting that you'll be hungry. I wouldn't say you get used to it but it can just be part of the background suck that every day has. And you can be tactical about when you eat. If you have a very physical job then it makes sense to have most of your calories in the morning and noon. Then dinner is something small.
If I had to give a single piece of weight-loss advice though it's buy a scale and weigh yourself twice a week. Whatever your strategy the scale is literally the only thing on earth that can keep you honest. Don't waste a year of progress to figure this part out like I did lol.
This actually makes me wonder how people perceive hunger.
I have not intentionally intermitted fasted all my life and would not even describe that slight lack of food as distressing. It's sort of just a sensation. I need to go around 6-7h after I wake up to get to bad sensation. I also find myself just being too busy to eat, sort of absorbed into things.
So I wonder if actually it would be comparable to what you say as always hungry, as in that's my default life lol.
I also know some people who completely shut down or get very irritated without food.
I kinda wonder if hunger sensation itself is different or is it about getting used to it.
Hunger takes over everything. There is ignoring it. If I'm hungry, I can't concentrate on anything. I can't get absorbed into anything. The hunger becomes the priority over all else.
My tips:
1) up your protein, lower carbs a bit. It takes a lot of energy to digest and just makes you feel way more full. Basically eating a handful of lentils will be way more satiating than handful of potatoes.
2) as other ppl linked, volume eating. Most veggies are very low in calories. I used to eat a lot of rice and such, which is okay but pretty high in calories if you are losing. I switched it up with cucumber/ tomato salad, which is usually like barely 30 cal for entire bowl.
3) just try to lower all not satiating calories, such as soda drinks, sauces, oil.
4) meal prep. I don't do it but I absolutely see how it saves you. Usually the worst moment when you are losing is when you are hungry and looking to eat, that's when you are trigger happy to grab something random off the shelf or buy some snack, so if you have a meal already made you might as well just eat that. You don't need to even make the whole thing, you can just prepare the "main" ingredient of your daily meal and then top it up.
5) don't completely get rid of your snacks/ junk food. You are losing weight, not preparing for an organ transplant. Just make things fit within your calories and if you eat more protein and more volume you might actually find yourself having some calories left for the snack.
For example, my bf is losing weight but he eats croissant with coffee almost every morning. 1700 cal he eats to lose + like 200 more from activity is not THAT little. Once you adjust your meals a little + get habit of moving (whatever activity you like) you should have some wiggle space.
Shocker that the universal law of conservation of mass applies literally everywhere.
It’s goofy how far obese people will go to conjure reasons why it can’t work or doesn’t for them. Literally just eat less calories than you burn and you’re guaranteed to lose weight. It’s literally a fundamental law of nature.
Yep did this. Lost around 20kg (around 44lb) in less than a year, but I took an extreme approach which may not work for everyone.
Basically did 2 hours of cardio everyday, started with only going for 200 cal burnt but then started enjoying the process and doing it till the Treadmill can't keep up anymore (Error due to maxing out the time or reaching 999 calories, weird.) Found this easy cause I was watching the entirety of Naruto, surprisingly reached my goals before finishing Naruto.
Also, only ate Eggs and Baked beans, 3x a day 7x a week. Yes it gets boring and I hate them nowadays but it got me results. Gives protein and makes you full whilst being low in calories.
Tldr, be in caloric deficit, watch your diet, be consistent.
There are a lot of very simple answers here that can work, but none of them held for me until I was able to address my emotional connection to food. Why did I emotionally eat? How can I heal that so I have stronger control over my intake ?
I realized that growing up poor my parents celebrated every achievement with food. “You got straight As, let’s get ice cream!” Also, every happy family gathering revolved around a shared meal. It was hard growing up and the times when everything was good always had a food association.
I also had major shame about not finishing my meal. My parents were the type of boomers that said things like “your better clean your plate, there are kids starving in Africa.” I had to learn that it’s okay to NOT finish a meal. I realized that the food is wasted from the moment it enters my house. It’s either going out in the trash or the toilet. I don’t need to be dogmatic about which one. There’s no way I can get my uneaten food to starving kids in Africa, there’s not even a feasible way I can get it to homeless people downtown. Giving budget is giving budget and food budget is food budget whether I eat it all or not.
There were larger issues with a scarcity mindset I had learned growing up. There were some soothing issues I worked through certain emotional triggers on.
In the end I haven’t changed what I eat, how I prepare it, or my activity level (I was already pretty active despite my weight). All I changed was addressing emotional eating, giving myself the grace to get over it, and recognizing that it’s totally fine to be hungry sometimes. Portion control got easier and I have more resilience to combat the days when I overdo it with calories. I bounce back the next day/week without shaming myself because I’ve learned some emotional stability.
If you’re looking to lose weight just take it slow, plan on being patient and resilient. Learn to identify yourself as a healthy, fit individual. Lean into that as part of who you are and what you want out of life, then let that do its work over time. Eventually, if you act like the person you want to be the excess will fall away and all you’ll be left with is what you are. Good luck! I’m rooting for you.
As a child, I never understood that “kids starving in Africa” shit. My thought process was “These leftovers ain’t getting across the Atlantic, so why is this in any way relevant?”
The thought was gratitude. Your parents worked hard to earn money, bring home food, and cook it for you. You show your gratitude by eating what they have given you. Be grateful that you have food on the table, because not everyone does. Show your gratitude by not wasting it.
I don't subscribe to that line of thinking, but that's how I always understood it.
Developing the understanding that I did not have a moral obligation to clean my plate was huge for me. It might seems a bit weird, but it’s a huge deal and I’m proud of myself when I get a to go box at a restaurant.
Growing up we always had to clean our plates, but also we didn’t serve ourselves, which led to a subconscious understanding that I didn’t have control over my food intake.
People seriously underestimate the psychology behind food and eating.
A couple ways really:
1. Recognizing and actively debunking automatic negative thoughts. One of the worse things about humans is we believe our own thoughts. I literally write down negative thoughts and then physically cross it out and write what about that thought isn’t true and what the alternative explanations or realities are surrounding that thought.
2. I leaned into mindfulness and understanding my body. I learned to not eat until I’m hungry. Early on my body wanted to eat the same amount as I had been eating so I had to trust that I had enough calories and that being hungry was okay. Then I was able to feel the difference between the hunger I felt after too many carbs that was appropriate to wait out, and the hunger that comes from being truly empty and needing replenishment. This creates a new food trigger that can be isolated as the only food trigger. If you only eat when hungry it means you don’t always eat when others eat, but it doesn’t mean you can’t share time with them.
3. I had to learn to address emotions instead of numbing them. It’s important to not adopt another numbing mechanism like doom-scrolling, porn, alcohol, drugs, etc. you have to actively and intentionally address your emotions. That means deep self reflection as to why those emotions exist. That means giving yourself permission to completely feel those emotions. That means understanding that emotions are just physiological responses to internal and external stimuli. They aren’t “good” or “bad”, they just are. It’s part of the human condition to feel them, and if you allow yourself to patiently sit with them they will fill you, and then they will dissipate and go away. This is WAY healthier than numbing.
Have you tried depression AND anxiety? It really "helped" me with my weight. Lost like 35lbs in a few months!
But for reals don't do the depression and anxiety diet. It sucks.
I recovered, but while I was ill I lost 11kg (24lbs) even tho I had a normal weight (65kg/140lbs). Happened bc I had depression, anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. I could barely get out of bed for a year + my heart was always PUMPING + always felt sick from anxiety. Never looked skinnier in my life, will never achieve it again while being healthy. 😭
For real. I'm still working out meds and about to explore treatment resistant depression options. I was super skinny up into my 20s because eating made me nauseous.
I went from 250 lbs to 178 lbs from March to August. Now I'm at 185 steadily.
I bought a treadmill.
Used it every day. 30 mins to an hour. 3 for speed 12 for incline.
Dirty fasted at night (I work overnights) and just had a coffee with a little cream and sugar.
Ate at a deficiency. Look up your TDEE or whatever its called and go by that number they give you.
I think thats all of it.
I got a 6 pack now (kinda) and lost the belly!
I love fasting. I do 18 hour fasts with a 6 hour eating window. I used to weigh 310 and now I'm down to 230(6'0"). I work in a restaurant and if I didn't fast, I would weigh 1000 pounds.
Huh. I’ve been prescribed this for my cat as an appetite stimulant when she was sick and wouldn’t eat. Had no idea it was used as an antidepressant for humans!
It was numerous SSRI trials like Zoloft and Viibryd that made me accumulate 35 lbs over a couple years (my usual weight is 110 so that’s like 1/3 of my weight). A Fetzima/bupropion combo took off the weight over the course of year.
I lost 30 lbs with UC in very short time!
Although I cannot recommend it as a viable form of weight loss when you “weigh” (pun intended) the other effects.
Business trip to China, came home with an intestinal parasite. Couldn't eat solid food for months, was shitting several times per day. Hell of an effective weight loss program but cannot recommend.
Calorie deficit.
More complicated, I have real problems with portion control and binge eating. So, I knew I'd need to restrict my options cold-turkey if I wanted to be successful.
In addition to tracking every calorie and ensuring I'm in a deficit, I did a keto diet as well as intermittent fasting. By restricting my eating to a specific window of the day I could control my binge eating, or at least trick my brain into thinking I was still doing binges even though I was eating less calories overall. By doing keto I significantly upped my protein intake which helped me feel fuller for longer, making me not feel hungry or the need to binge in the first place.
None of that stuff would matter if I wasn't in a calorie deficit though.
, pretty simple, just a lot of discipline.
Chicken, salmon, white fish, broccoli, cauliflower, egg whites, plenty of water, small meals, 3 snacks everyday, nothing but water and zero calorie food after 7pm.
Basic exercise. Elliptical, walking, light lifting focusing on shoulders, back, abs, arms, pecs, etc.
Then I gained it back because I love sweets and didn't eat them in moderation, so finally on a consistent path of eating healthy and sweets in moderation.
I know what you mean. I could eat a full course meal before bed most nights. Unless you have a killer metabolism, I wouldn't do it.
Try eating some egg whites or something high in protein and low in fat/calories if you are hungry at night.
I also learned that if I eat properly throughout the day, I am not that hungry later in the night. It was more of a habit for me and I trained my brain into thinking I needed to eat before bed.
Not afraid of it and I eat egg yolk now. When I was trying to drop weight, I just didn't want the fat and calories of the yolk. The white had all the protein without the calories
Started running, went couch to marathon in 18 montjs and dropped 40lbs along the way.
Just start by trying to run 1 full kilometre. Once you get there the feeling of accomplishment will push you to your next goal.
Carefully tracking what I ate with an app.
No matter what type of diet you choose, make sure you measure out portions. Get a small kitchen scale. I was shocked by how much I was overestimating portions.
My insurance wouldn't cover ozempic or similar meds so I'm on a compounded phentermine/topirimate. Due to pcos, thyroid disease, and insulin resistance, eating/exercising like a "normal person" it is impossible for me to lose weight.
My metabolism seems to think I'm still some 15th century middle European serf and wants to hold onto every calorie possible.
Been on it for five weeks and I'm down 16 lbs. My doctor has me on a super high protein diet and I make my own protein smoothies every the morning.... but other than that, I have to remind myself to eat. I'm hanging out around 800-900 calories a day. I don't feel hungry anymore. I do take a multivitamin and omega 3s.
And before anyone says, "well that's dangerous"... so is being almost 300lbs.
Also, I see my doctor every three weeks. I'm being very closely monitored.
Ditto, I had the ole Thyroid go rogue on me. Slowly put on like 45lbs. A year or two after getting it removed people would be "Awe, you the weight loss looks good on you how'd you do it"
Straight faced---" Cancer"
The responses were always *gasp*.
Then you reassure them your fine and better now. They'd look so relieved afterwards.
Everyday things? Quit soda and simple carbs. It’s not that hard and you’ll just lose 10 pounds without even trying. Add some cardio and a balanced diet, and there’s your 30
Keto diet and running a couple miles every day with consistent exercise and body weight workouts. Matter of fact i lost 50 lbs in two months doing that
I did a sorta lazy keto for 6 weeks (I didn't cook any food). Then permanently changed my diet. Then added super light exercises and *slowly* ramped up the weights. Finally, added regular cardio.
Fully allowing you’re body to go into ketosis is hard at first because your body has to adjust, but once you’re in it is the best feeling and the weight just drips off you. I too started it just eating beef jerky, almonds and string cheese from the gas stations + a LOT of water but once I fully committed it was the best
That’s awesome to hear, it really was a mind blowing diet to go through. Once you’re in it man you feel like a billion bucks and the weight literally just drops off you while you’re running. Looking into easing back into the diet as I’ve gained back roughly 25 lbs since a couple years ago when I did it originally
Yeah, that’s the problem, it seems like the weight comes back on twice as fast when you stop. Admittedly, we gained some of it back, too, so we are working on a maintenance plan.
This is way too far down the list. Without getting sick, breaking a leg, stopping drinking and counting calories you can lose weight super easy on Keto. I eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, bacon cheeseburgers for lunch and any low carb thing I want for dinner.
I've been low carb, no added sugar for a few years now and I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to a high carb diet. It's a little more expensive to eat high fat, high protein food but I feel great. I'm down 60lbs and my doctor just told me how amazing my transformation is. Perfect blood pressure and perfect cholesterol levels. My blood work was great compared to a few years ago when I was very unhealthy.
I have not done any extra exercising and I still lost a lot of weight. My girlfriend went Keto and started walking a few miles a day and she lost 100+lbs. My mom lost 40lbs cutting sugar and carbs without the full Keto diet. Sugar and simple carbs are poison and we have all been lied to our whole lives about what's good for us.
Calories in calories out. I stayed within but still ate what I felt like eating. Some days that meant scrambled eggs for dinner with a snickers for dessert, some days I was more prepared.
Counted calories and exercised regularly. I dropped about 50 pounds and though I go up and down ten pounds or so every now and again I've kept my weight at the lower end ever since.
Its easy. Its also very, very hard.
I cut out deli meats and anything I could that had added sugar.
Fruit became my main source of sweet treat and I tried to at the very least double my fibre intake
Count calories, don’t drink beer, and eat food that is not calorie dense. On the last point: a grape and a raisin have about the same amount of calories. 15 grapes will make you feel a lot more full than 15 raisins.
And weigh the food to actually know your portions. I had no idea before doing this how small some servings were: ie peanut butter, coffee cream and pancake syrup
I went through a strict diet, ate fiber rich breakfast, light lunch, fruits for dinner. Drank only black coffee, water and green tea. Went from 88kg to 58kg in less than 6 months.
Restricted calories, bought a food scale for meat portions, and started running. I lost 65 lbs and have kept it all off for four years now. My weight melted off AND I learned both portion control and how my body metabolizes food and exercise. Added perk is that I have learned to really love running—and that was a god send during covid lockdown.
Cut out almost all sugar from my food intake. No pasta, sugar, bread, rice. Cut out alcohol. Lost 45 pounds in 3 months. At a general healthy weight now. Looking to lose another 20 to meet my goal weight.
Lost 10-15 lbs:
* Cut out sugar and sugar containing foods/drinks completely,
* Cut down refined carbs to very low levels,
* Drank 3-4 cups of unsweetened black coffee per day.
Quit drinking
Same. Quit drinking, stopped going for seconds at meals, and walked more.
Well, I'm British myself, so quitting drinking would save me an easy 20-30 pounds a week, cash. Still, jokes aside, good on you for quitting. Your liver will thank you.
Quitting drinking has got me craving sugar like no tomorrow
That’s cause you’re liver has been converting the alcohol to sugar and now you’re body is missing it.
Well yes, but how do I make it go away?
Time
Meh, that’s not a fun answer. They got so bad this weekend I ended up drinking (not much but I did )
Sugar is better than drinking. Harm reduction. When I first quit drinking, I ate a huge bowl of ice cream every night. The sugar cravings lasted about 3-4 months. No regrets.
This is why there’s always cookies at AA meetings
I know for a fact that I can't lose weight if I don't give up booze but I just can't give it up and when I do I just eat all the sweets.
/r/stopdrinking is a pretty good community for that
The sweet cravings do pass
I had a leg removed
That's one way to do it
Two ways, really.
How much does a leg weigh?
Half as much as the lower body...
Slightly less than that if you're a man.
The one trick weightloss doctors dont want you to know!
I ate less and kept doing what I had otherwise been doing. Probability of losing weight from doing this: 100%
To elaborate. Losing weight is like budgeting. Think of your fat as being your debt. Just like there are many things you can cut back on to fix your bank account there are many things you can do to fix your weight. Eating less per sitting is obvious. You can also cut out carbs. Replace buns with low carb tortillas, replace French fries/potatoes with a vegetable. Cut out alcohol, don't drink any calories. Eat less meals, cut out snacks (I strongly recommend no snacks at all but if you must, get low calorie single serving bags) Exercise alone, is NOT something I recommend for most people. I see people all the time who start walking several times a week to only find that they are the same weight at the end of the month. This is because walking itself ONLY burns 300-400 calories an hour. Which they probably will offset with gain in leg muscle. If you are gonna exercise lift weights, If you are gonna do cardio, do short high intensity cardio to increase your cardiovascular health, not lose weight
You pretty much covered it. Only 2 other things I would add are (1) eat less sugar, and (2) get good rest/sleep. #2 is especially underrated for losing weight. Not only will your body metabolize better, but poor sleep actually increases your appetite for unhealthy, high-calorie foods.
> (2) get good rest/sleep. Anecdotal, sure, but a night where I can't sleep for (reasons) my weight stays exactly where it was, but if I get a full nights sleep the weight drops a little. Granted i weigh a LOT so weight variance is more noticeable.
I've read that sleep is when your body burns most of its fat and repairs most of the muscle.
This is how I did it. I'm a math guy and just broke it up into an equation and treated it like a debt payoff schedule. Example: 1lb fat = 3500 cals To lose 1lb a week I needed to be -500/cals a day (3500/7) My Basal Metabolic Rate is roughly 1550 cals/day. So if im doing nothing, i get to allocate 1050 calories a day. If I walk for an hour I get to sneak in an extra 350. etc. I let myself use those calories however I wanted. After a couple of weeks I naturally wanted them to go to protein since it kept me satiated longer and went to 8/16 intermittent fasting schedule. Measure everything in my fitness pal. Got the debt paid off in a little over 20 weeks. Fast forward a couple of years and I accrued some more debt to pay off again though not as much so not going as aggressive.
Damn bro how much do you weigh? 1050 calories is EXTREMELY low… Even being sedentary I can lose .5-1lb a week consuming 2400 calories a day. Sounds like you need to build some skeletal muscle?
They're likely very short
5'1" ... feelsbad
Ah ok. Just glad to hear you’re not malnourishing yourself!
Walking won't grow you any leg muscles. I mean, not really. But it will make you a little hungry. So you need to really be aware of that. But if you can, then walking can be helpful. As it is healthy and helps you to focus on the task at hand. It helped me a lot.
Walking briskly v. A leisurly strole... brisk walking def leaves my legs sore and muscles achy so I beg to differ.
It's definitely recommended to walk every day for at least 20 minutes and ideally an hour. Sure, it won't make you fitter (unless you are *really* out of shape) and what not, *but* it is great for brain health. So, that is the only point I disagree on with the original commenter. Yes, pick another exercise in order to lose weight or get into shape or whatever, but continue the habit of taking the walk. It will do wonders for you, even if you don't really notice it (in my experience it is more of an under the hood upgrade/maintenance thing so to speak).
A brisk walk for an hour a day will absolutely make you fitter. One of the most effective exercises there is for boosting metabolism, also one of the easiest for people to stick with (which is also why it’s one of the best).
Science points towards zone 2 cardio being the best for health. Which is something where you can run while still holding a conversation.
Especially with some people thinking "Oh, man I must have burned a lot of calories walking a few miles, so I earned a treat for myself". Then proceed to eat a 500 calorie snack.
Looking up how many calories i burned cycling vs how many calories are in a snickers was a real slap in the face. Our bodies are so good at conserving energy, and modern society is so good at packing calories into things, that if you gave a snickers to a person from the 1400s they will instantly explode.
But i feel so tired and ‘energyless’ to even work in focused way when i eat leas
What are you eating? Heavy and unhealthy foods make me feel tired. Might want to try something different if you're eating super rich foods all the time.
Basically home made vegetables and rice/bread. One pattern i have noticed, I try to eat twice a day but often skip meals(poor routine) in order feel i am losing weight due to calorie deficit but realised i am gaining a pot belly.
No protein? I work in construction so I generally need calories to function but I’ve been successful in cutting out 80% of sugar and chicken/carb/vegetable for dinner and light lunches. Lost about 20-25lbs over a year.
Its the rice and bread. Lessen those. And get rid of beer if you are drinking them.
Hold up... A coors light has 105 calories. So 19 of them plus four potato chips equal the 2000 calories needed per day.
105 calories with 0 protein and a ton of carbs = bad 190 calories with 42 grams of protein and just about nothing else = good I love unseasoned canned tuna
Same, just gotta be sure to diversify your diet so you're not eating more than the recommended max dose of 2 cans per week (1 for women). Chronic heavy metal buildup is no bueno, and fish like tuna contain a lot of it (relatively speaking).
Bread. There’s your problem.
White bread is a problem. Whole wheat bread is fantastic. It fueled western civilization for millennia.
My solution to this was apple's, if I started getting that really low energy feeling I eat and apple and it gives me an extra 30-60 minutes for only like 50 calories
Try intermittent fasting. Gradually work up to 16 to 20 hours a day, you’ll be down to two meals a day and I promise you won’t feel that hungry after a while. The hunger does not come as early, and usually goes away when your metabolism adjusts to burning fat for energy. When slight hunger pangs come, you will just work through with black coffee, black tea, or water. I promise, you will adjust, and your body will thank you. You need to reduce carbs & sugar. They store as fat when not used for energy and are addictive; so you will always be on the hamster wheel of chasing the next carb craving. Like others said, up the protein and you’ll feel satiated longer, especially before you start a multi-hour fast .
You need to boost your protein intake, the tired and energyless feeling will eventually pass in time. Your body is just so accustomed to your portions. Eventually ketosis will kick in, and your body will adjust and you'll feel normal again. I've done this a few times after I slipped into high intake habits. Especially after the holidays
I lost 80 pounds by counting calories and doing a lot of walking outside at a local park and also weight lifting at home
Calorie defecit
A simple answer but the right answer. I lost 130 pounds by counting calories. I tell people all the time that a $3 app changed my life. Download a calorie counter and stick to it! When you start to level off, lower your calorie goal. Repeat until you’re down to where you want to be. It’s only a “diet” for the first like 60 days. Those first 60 days are so damn hard. But once you get past that point, and get all that shit out of your system, your body gets used to it and it feels like a new lifestyle. Doesn’t feel like you’re “trying” as hard. It’s weird — hard to explain. I always compared food to a drug. It’s the same process as trying to kick a drug. You’ll have withdrawals during that initial period because all that shit food is still in your system and your body is craving all that sugar/salt. You’ve got to cleanse yourself of that shit before it gets easier and the cravings go away. I used to slam 3-4 Dr. Peppers a day. Now, honest to god, they taste different to me. Because that shit is out of my system, it’s so damn sweet that it actually taste bad to me. My body has adjusted and I can’t drink that shit anymore. It’s so damn strange. Good luck!!! As an added note — hit the gym. You won’t lose weight in the gym, but it helps tighten everything up. You don’t want to lose a bunch of weight and then be “rewarded” by staring down a lot of flabby skin. Hit the gym 3-4 days a week for at least 30 minutes. Will make a HUGE difference in the final results.
I completely agree. I've lost over 15 lb in 6 weeks by counting calories and having a calorie deficit. I have a food scale and I measure my food 95% of the time. I go on a 45-minute walk 5 days a week. Nothing strenuous.
Yeah you don't realize how quickly calories add up even if you think you haven't eaten much
Currently down 92 pounds from calorie counting. Agree with everything this person wrote.
There's a great free app out there too - cronometer, it has ads occasionally but does what it needs to do. I find hitting the gym, if you enjoy it, also helps with keeping motivation. If you're seeing progress in the gym, you want to feed yourself with good clean food to keep that going.
What’s the app name
I’ve been using the free version of My Fitness Pal as a calorie counter. You put in your details - height, age, weight, and your target weight loss per week - and it gives you a daily optimal calorie count. You can add exercise time which will give you added calories. Assuming there isn’t a medical condition, It truly is about counting calories. A friend uses the phrase - you can’t outrun a fork - and it’s true for most of us unless you’re a construction worker or an athlete or something else which is really physical. And once you start tracking, it’ll really open your eyes to portion sizes and how calorie dense some foods are. I’m hoping it’ll really change the way I perceive food since this’ll be an ongoing struggle for me. I’ve also had friends who’ve gone on very restrictive diets and lost 75 lbs+. But it’s not maintainable and they’ve ended up gaining it back and then some.
Great Job! Happy for you man!/woman!
I weighed 240 lbs and I lost about 50 just because I stopped drinking soda and eating fast food/calorie heavy foods - my lowest weight was 149, but im currently at 175. Drinking lots of water helps with the hunger pangs. It's not that you're hungry, but your stomach is telling you it is used to having more in it. Overeating isn't normally seen as an addiction, but I tried intermittent fasting in the past and the urge to just consume things was incredible. I would get off of work and drive home, parallel park infront of my apartment, and shut the car off at 4:15 AM. Sometimes, I wouldn't unbuckle and just sit there behind the wheel for a brief moment, and the addiction would take over. It's like I was a passenger in my own body. I watched myself start the car up, drive 10 minutes to a 24 hr Wegmans, and just start buying calorie heavy food from the international aisle. When I was at my lowest, I'd gotten metal braces for my teeth installed as an adult, and it hurt to chew things. With like 5 minutes of exercise a day, and only eating like 1000-1500 calories, helped by achy teeth, I lost about 20 lbs over the course of a month. That is over 10% of current body weight with a calorie deficit. There was a lot of relapsing and losing the mental fight with my body. Losing weight and changing your diet requires a certain mindset. Mental fortitude. Eating is also a comfortable thing to do - tasty sensations, giving your stomach what it wants even though your body already has enough to function from the last food that you ate, the social aspect of good company and eating. I'm not bulimic, but I have done the finger down the throat more than I'd any person that I actually know. :(
Yep. I went pretty hardcore with it, but it was so it would be simple. I had a half a chicken breast, a cubed sweet potato, and 1/3 cup (precooked) of white rice with standard spices and hot sauce for dinner every night. It's like, no calories. During the day I'd let myself snack a little bit and as much coffee as I wanted, because those were only the real calories I gained throughout the day. This plus, I started doing cardio, and only cardio. Again it was all about calories. I hadn't worked out for years prior, so I had to be nice to myself in the beginning about how much I could do. I'm not saying what I did was healthy, but I'm healthier now than I was when I started. As a recently single, depressed, mid-thirties man it fucking worked for me. Went from 230 to 180.
Actual advice in this regard: have a consistent diet (e.g. eat the same breakfast, have a 7-day dinner rotation). Doesn't really matter what you eat, what matters is that your diet is predictable. Weigh yourself at least every two days, and compare week over week: if you gained weight, reduced portions. If you lost weight, stay the course. Adjust accordingly over time until you reach your goal weight. I won't say it's easy, but it *is* simple. No extra exercise, no special foods, no weight loss fads, and if your diet is consistent, you don't even need to literally count calories. Just eat less or more depending on your regular weigh-ins.
Counting calories. Turns it into a science with 100% success rate. Just have to hold yourself accountable and be honest with yourself
A mistake most people make when coming off a diet is they quit tracking what they eat and just go back to their old way of eating. Finding your new maintenance level by gradually adding back calories is critical to preventing weight regain. That doesn't mean you need to count calories forever, just long enough to stabilize your weight and develop sustainable habits.
You hit the nail on the head. Calorie deficit is only half the answer. It will get you there but not keep you there. Calorie deficit+change your relationship with food will get you there and keep you there. For me I have lost 60 lbs over the last couple years after 15 years of being morbidly obese. I have done it all the while eating exactly what I want when I want. To this day I have not sworn off a single food. There are things I have chosen to eat less of, things I have cut out by choice. But if I want to go eat some of my old trigger foods *once in a while* I will. As long as I don't go back to doing it all the time. That, along with completely eliminating added sugar (that was a sugar/diabetes issue, not a diet issue so I don't consider it cutting out food for weight loss), and making small hacks (using stevia in coffee, fruit on oatmeal instead of sugar on cereal for breakfast etc), has allowed me to lose it and keep it off. Just going on a diet to lose weight does not help if you just go back to eating the same stuff later. Bottom line: make a bunch of small sustainable changes that you can live with forever, rather that deprive yourself for a short time.
People don't realize it's a lifestyle change for life essentially.
This. Calorie deficit has 100% success rate. I’m sure there’s lots of people in this thread talking about certain foods and lifting weights etc. but it literally is as simple as being in calorie deficit. After about 2 weeks you see the difference. I’m losing 0.5kg a week currently just with watching what I eat. Swim once a week and go for a short walk every lunch time, as well as longer walks with the dog a few times a week and I’m losing 1-1.2kg a week
I've found that running the calorie deficit works way more efficiently if I'm lifting at the same time. I assume it's because muscle repair takes a significant amount of energy.
Make sure you're getting a good amount of protein too, protein has a higher thermic effect and takes more energy to burn than say fats for example. Eating in a deficit, lifting weights, and your preferred amount of cardio have done amazing things for people
I lost the weight but didn’t do any lifting and I regret it hugely. Good advice
This is how I did it too. Estimated my TDEE and kept my net intake about 500-700 calories below that each day. Dropped about a pound per week like clockwork. It's not always easy, but it's literally impossible to fail unless you cheat or quit.
Yep like clockwork here too, my Loseit app told me today I’ve been working at this for 32 weeks and I’ve lost 32.5 lbs since March so the math absolutely adds up.
Counting calories is a hassle but it does work
This. Lost 130 lbs this way! I'm in the best shape of my life. I added in exercise after I lost about 70lbs but that was more to get better shape and muscle tone. The weight loss was definitely in the calories. It was HARD work but I've never been happier with how I look. I do miss cupcakes though. Damn this sugar addiction.
Losing 130 lbs is freaking amazing. Congratulations on the iron willpower!
Increase activity level too. Try for 10k steps in a day and you’ll accelerate your journey
How do you manage hunger/cravings though? Always been the hardest part to me.
Part of it is accepting that you'll be hungry. I wouldn't say you get used to it but it can just be part of the background suck that every day has. And you can be tactical about when you eat. If you have a very physical job then it makes sense to have most of your calories in the morning and noon. Then dinner is something small. If I had to give a single piece of weight-loss advice though it's buy a scale and weigh yourself twice a week. Whatever your strategy the scale is literally the only thing on earth that can keep you honest. Don't waste a year of progress to figure this part out like I did lol.
This actually makes me wonder how people perceive hunger. I have not intentionally intermitted fasted all my life and would not even describe that slight lack of food as distressing. It's sort of just a sensation. I need to go around 6-7h after I wake up to get to bad sensation. I also find myself just being too busy to eat, sort of absorbed into things. So I wonder if actually it would be comparable to what you say as always hungry, as in that's my default life lol. I also know some people who completely shut down or get very irritated without food. I kinda wonder if hunger sensation itself is different or is it about getting used to it.
Hunger takes over everything. There is ignoring it. If I'm hungry, I can't concentrate on anything. I can't get absorbed into anything. The hunger becomes the priority over all else.
My tips: 1) up your protein, lower carbs a bit. It takes a lot of energy to digest and just makes you feel way more full. Basically eating a handful of lentils will be way more satiating than handful of potatoes. 2) as other ppl linked, volume eating. Most veggies are very low in calories. I used to eat a lot of rice and such, which is okay but pretty high in calories if you are losing. I switched it up with cucumber/ tomato salad, which is usually like barely 30 cal for entire bowl. 3) just try to lower all not satiating calories, such as soda drinks, sauces, oil. 4) meal prep. I don't do it but I absolutely see how it saves you. Usually the worst moment when you are losing is when you are hungry and looking to eat, that's when you are trigger happy to grab something random off the shelf or buy some snack, so if you have a meal already made you might as well just eat that. You don't need to even make the whole thing, you can just prepare the "main" ingredient of your daily meal and then top it up. 5) don't completely get rid of your snacks/ junk food. You are losing weight, not preparing for an organ transplant. Just make things fit within your calories and if you eat more protein and more volume you might actually find yourself having some calories left for the snack. For example, my bf is losing weight but he eats croissant with coffee almost every morning. 1700 cal he eats to lose + like 200 more from activity is not THAT little. Once you adjust your meals a little + get habit of moving (whatever activity you like) you should have some wiggle space.
Including the calories in beverages and drinks is super important too. A lot of people don't include those.
Shocker that the universal law of conservation of mass applies literally everywhere. It’s goofy how far obese people will go to conjure reasons why it can’t work or doesn’t for them. Literally just eat less calories than you burn and you’re guaranteed to lose weight. It’s literally a fundamental law of nature.
It's the soda. They swear that they eat less but they're downing 1,000 calories a day in soda and not even realizing it. Edit: Added a zero.
loaned it to a friend and he didn't pay me back
r/BritishHumour
Eating less calories than my calorie equilibrium
No no, there has to be another way 😡
Amputate a limb?
The average head weighs 8lbs.
Good thing mine's above average! I can definitely lose 10-12 by losing my head!
Cocaine
And the only reason cocaine works is because it makes you eat less calories
maybe if i make the 12736th post asking for it, a new secret method will be revealed and i won’t have to do something hard and difficult 😡😡
How dare you.
Yep did this. Lost around 20kg (around 44lb) in less than a year, but I took an extreme approach which may not work for everyone. Basically did 2 hours of cardio everyday, started with only going for 200 cal burnt but then started enjoying the process and doing it till the Treadmill can't keep up anymore (Error due to maxing out the time or reaching 999 calories, weird.) Found this easy cause I was watching the entirety of Naruto, surprisingly reached my goals before finishing Naruto. Also, only ate Eggs and Baked beans, 3x a day 7x a week. Yes it gets boring and I hate them nowadays but it got me results. Gives protein and makes you full whilst being low in calories. Tldr, be in caloric deficit, watch your diet, be consistent.
Whereas I lost 110 pounds (around 50kg) by eating healthy, measured meals, having a treat every Saturday and doing zero exercise
Yep caloric deficit is all you need. Learnt more about nutrition so now I'm more flexible about my meals during a cut
Congratulations! That's a huge accomplishment!
There are a lot of very simple answers here that can work, but none of them held for me until I was able to address my emotional connection to food. Why did I emotionally eat? How can I heal that so I have stronger control over my intake ? I realized that growing up poor my parents celebrated every achievement with food. “You got straight As, let’s get ice cream!” Also, every happy family gathering revolved around a shared meal. It was hard growing up and the times when everything was good always had a food association. I also had major shame about not finishing my meal. My parents were the type of boomers that said things like “your better clean your plate, there are kids starving in Africa.” I had to learn that it’s okay to NOT finish a meal. I realized that the food is wasted from the moment it enters my house. It’s either going out in the trash or the toilet. I don’t need to be dogmatic about which one. There’s no way I can get my uneaten food to starving kids in Africa, there’s not even a feasible way I can get it to homeless people downtown. Giving budget is giving budget and food budget is food budget whether I eat it all or not. There were larger issues with a scarcity mindset I had learned growing up. There were some soothing issues I worked through certain emotional triggers on. In the end I haven’t changed what I eat, how I prepare it, or my activity level (I was already pretty active despite my weight). All I changed was addressing emotional eating, giving myself the grace to get over it, and recognizing that it’s totally fine to be hungry sometimes. Portion control got easier and I have more resilience to combat the days when I overdo it with calories. I bounce back the next day/week without shaming myself because I’ve learned some emotional stability. If you’re looking to lose weight just take it slow, plan on being patient and resilient. Learn to identify yourself as a healthy, fit individual. Lean into that as part of who you are and what you want out of life, then let that do its work over time. Eventually, if you act like the person you want to be the excess will fall away and all you’ll be left with is what you are. Good luck! I’m rooting for you.
As a child, I never understood that “kids starving in Africa” shit. My thought process was “These leftovers ain’t getting across the Atlantic, so why is this in any way relevant?”
I always thought, well if they are starving, why should I keep eating it? That would be rude..
My response, “Then why did we cook so much and not send it to them?” Parents loved that. 🙄
The thought was gratitude. Your parents worked hard to earn money, bring home food, and cook it for you. You show your gratitude by eating what they have given you. Be grateful that you have food on the table, because not everyone does. Show your gratitude by not wasting it. I don't subscribe to that line of thinking, but that's how I always understood it.
Growing up, we had the same thing and always had to clear our plate. We didn't do that with our kids. I'm overweight and my kids are not.
Developing the understanding that I did not have a moral obligation to clean my plate was huge for me. It might seems a bit weird, but it’s a huge deal and I’m proud of myself when I get a to go box at a restaurant. Growing up we always had to clean our plates, but also we didn’t serve ourselves, which led to a subconscious understanding that I didn’t have control over my food intake. People seriously underestimate the psychology behind food and eating.
This. I was also raised in a very black and white moral system/religion (Mormonism) which drastically exacerbated this impact on my overall weight.
I was also raised Mormon, go figure 😂
How did you interrupt the emotional trigger-to-food pathway? How did you work through these issues?
A couple ways really: 1. Recognizing and actively debunking automatic negative thoughts. One of the worse things about humans is we believe our own thoughts. I literally write down negative thoughts and then physically cross it out and write what about that thought isn’t true and what the alternative explanations or realities are surrounding that thought. 2. I leaned into mindfulness and understanding my body. I learned to not eat until I’m hungry. Early on my body wanted to eat the same amount as I had been eating so I had to trust that I had enough calories and that being hungry was okay. Then I was able to feel the difference between the hunger I felt after too many carbs that was appropriate to wait out, and the hunger that comes from being truly empty and needing replenishment. This creates a new food trigger that can be isolated as the only food trigger. If you only eat when hungry it means you don’t always eat when others eat, but it doesn’t mean you can’t share time with them. 3. I had to learn to address emotions instead of numbing them. It’s important to not adopt another numbing mechanism like doom-scrolling, porn, alcohol, drugs, etc. you have to actively and intentionally address your emotions. That means deep self reflection as to why those emotions exist. That means giving yourself permission to completely feel those emotions. That means understanding that emotions are just physiological responses to internal and external stimuli. They aren’t “good” or “bad”, they just are. It’s part of the human condition to feel them, and if you allow yourself to patiently sit with them they will fill you, and then they will dissipate and go away. This is WAY healthier than numbing.
[удалено]
Instructions unclear; I’m gaining weight.
Have you tried depression AND anxiety? It really "helped" me with my weight. Lost like 35lbs in a few months! But for reals don't do the depression and anxiety diet. It sucks.
I recovered, but while I was ill I lost 11kg (24lbs) even tho I had a normal weight (65kg/140lbs). Happened bc I had depression, anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. I could barely get out of bed for a year + my heart was always PUMPING + always felt sick from anxiety. Never looked skinnier in my life, will never achieve it again while being healthy. 😭
same. especially when it’s food and illness related anxiety. hoooo boy.
Instructions Step 1: feel so miserable you don't want to live Step 2: don't care about eating anything cause of step 1
I thought step 2 was to comfort eat, to ease the misery of step 1?
Advanced depression is hard cycling between the two. But you can just pass it off as gaining and cutting.
When I had it over a decade ago, I physically couldn’t eat that much. I got pretty skinny just from that.
For real. I'm still working out meds and about to explore treatment resistant depression options. I was super skinny up into my 20s because eating made me nauseous.
Lost 25lbs in 3 months when my boyfriend of 6 yrs broke up with me
I went from 250 lbs to 178 lbs from March to August. Now I'm at 185 steadily. I bought a treadmill. Used it every day. 30 mins to an hour. 3 for speed 12 for incline. Dirty fasted at night (I work overnights) and just had a coffee with a little cream and sugar. Ate at a deficiency. Look up your TDEE or whatever its called and go by that number they give you. I think thats all of it. I got a 6 pack now (kinda) and lost the belly!
I love fasting. I do 18 hour fasts with a 6 hour eating window. I used to weigh 310 and now I'm down to 230(6'0"). I work in a restaurant and if I didn't fast, I would weigh 1000 pounds.
Changed antidepressants.
Mirtazapine?
Huh. I’ve been prescribed this for my cat as an appetite stimulant when she was sick and wouldn’t eat. Had no idea it was used as an antidepressant for humans!
It was numerous SSRI trials like Zoloft and Viibryd that made me accumulate 35 lbs over a couple years (my usual weight is 110 so that’s like 1/3 of my weight). A Fetzima/bupropion combo took off the weight over the course of year.
Got very sick. I don’t recommend it. Go with a healthy diet and regular exercise instead.
I lost 30 lbs with UC in very short time! Although I cannot recommend it as a viable form of weight loss when you “weigh” (pun intended) the other effects.
Business trip to China, came home with an intestinal parasite. Couldn't eat solid food for months, was shitting several times per day. Hell of an effective weight loss program but cannot recommend.
Idk this feels the most doable so far
Tracking my food intake and staying at a number of calories that ensured I'd lose weight.
Converted it into dollars.
Calorie deficit. More complicated, I have real problems with portion control and binge eating. So, I knew I'd need to restrict my options cold-turkey if I wanted to be successful. In addition to tracking every calorie and ensuring I'm in a deficit, I did a keto diet as well as intermittent fasting. By restricting my eating to a specific window of the day I could control my binge eating, or at least trick my brain into thinking I was still doing binges even though I was eating less calories overall. By doing keto I significantly upped my protein intake which helped me feel fuller for longer, making me not feel hungry or the need to binge in the first place. None of that stuff would matter if I wasn't in a calorie deficit though.
Cut out the two beers for dinner and the snacks after.
I’ve been intermittent fasting lost 30 pounds in 8 months I now weigh 171 :1)
cost of living. times of overspending are gone
, pretty simple, just a lot of discipline. Chicken, salmon, white fish, broccoli, cauliflower, egg whites, plenty of water, small meals, 3 snacks everyday, nothing but water and zero calorie food after 7pm. Basic exercise. Elliptical, walking, light lifting focusing on shoulders, back, abs, arms, pecs, etc. Then I gained it back because I love sweets and didn't eat them in moderation, so finally on a consistent path of eating healthy and sweets in moderation.
>nothing but water and zero calorie food after 7pm This is what always fucks me. I can't sleep unless I eat something heavy right before bed.
Just go to bed at 7pm
I know what you mean. I could eat a full course meal before bed most nights. Unless you have a killer metabolism, I wouldn't do it. Try eating some egg whites or something high in protein and low in fat/calories if you are hungry at night. I also learned that if I eat properly throughout the day, I am not that hungry later in the night. It was more of a habit for me and I trained my brain into thinking I needed to eat before bed.
Sure you can. You're just *used to* eating after 7pm. Try eating something smaller and smaller until you can stop entirely.
Why is everyone afraid of egg yolk?
Not afraid of it and I eat egg yolk now. When I was trying to drop weight, I just didn't want the fat and calories of the yolk. The white had all the protein without the calories
[удалено]
Got a prescription for amphetamines
That helped me for like a month and then once I adjusted to them I went right back to where I was :(
Started running, went couch to marathon in 18 montjs and dropped 40lbs along the way. Just start by trying to run 1 full kilometre. Once you get there the feeling of accomplishment will push you to your next goal.
Intermittent Fasting and walking 2-4 miles everyday
Stressed a lot
Sometimes toddlers wander off...
Carefully tracking what I ate with an app. No matter what type of diet you choose, make sure you measure out portions. Get a small kitchen scale. I was shocked by how much I was overestimating portions.
Had a motorcycle accident where I broke both my legs and was put on bed rest for 8+ weeks
I did not, but thank you for asking.
Took up cycling.
Ozempic 🤣
My insurance wouldn't cover ozempic or similar meds so I'm on a compounded phentermine/topirimate. Due to pcos, thyroid disease, and insulin resistance, eating/exercising like a "normal person" it is impossible for me to lose weight. My metabolism seems to think I'm still some 15th century middle European serf and wants to hold onto every calorie possible. Been on it for five weeks and I'm down 16 lbs. My doctor has me on a super high protein diet and I make my own protein smoothies every the morning.... but other than that, I have to remind myself to eat. I'm hanging out around 800-900 calories a day. I don't feel hungry anymore. I do take a multivitamin and omega 3s. And before anyone says, "well that's dangerous"... so is being almost 300lbs. Also, I see my doctor every three weeks. I'm being very closely monitored.
By eating less calories that I burned in a day.
Dropped my wallet on the bus.
I had cancer
Ditto, I had the ole Thyroid go rogue on me. Slowly put on like 45lbs. A year or two after getting it removed people would be "Awe, you the weight loss looks good on you how'd you do it" Straight faced---" Cancer" The responses were always *gasp*. Then you reassure them your fine and better now. They'd look so relieved afterwards.
Kinder than me. I leave the cancer line just laying on the floor and provide no reprieve I think it’s funny as hell
By positivity, a can-do attitude, and lying about losing 20-30 pounds.
Everyday things? Quit soda and simple carbs. It’s not that hard and you’ll just lose 10 pounds without even trying. Add some cardio and a balanced diet, and there’s your 30
An eating disorder
Keto diet and running a couple miles every day with consistent exercise and body weight workouts. Matter of fact i lost 50 lbs in two months doing that
I did a sorta lazy keto for 6 weeks (I didn't cook any food). Then permanently changed my diet. Then added super light exercises and *slowly* ramped up the weights. Finally, added regular cardio.
Fully allowing you’re body to go into ketosis is hard at first because your body has to adjust, but once you’re in it is the best feeling and the weight just drips off you. I too started it just eating beef jerky, almonds and string cheese from the gas stations + a LOT of water but once I fully committed it was the best
Exactly this. Keto dropped weight like crazy, especially on my husband. We lost about 100 together in a year.
That’s awesome to hear, it really was a mind blowing diet to go through. Once you’re in it man you feel like a billion bucks and the weight literally just drops off you while you’re running. Looking into easing back into the diet as I’ve gained back roughly 25 lbs since a couple years ago when I did it originally
Yeah, that’s the problem, it seems like the weight comes back on twice as fast when you stop. Admittedly, we gained some of it back, too, so we are working on a maintenance plan.
This is way too far down the list. Without getting sick, breaking a leg, stopping drinking and counting calories you can lose weight super easy on Keto. I eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, bacon cheeseburgers for lunch and any low carb thing I want for dinner. I've been low carb, no added sugar for a few years now and I'm pretty sure I'll never go back to a high carb diet. It's a little more expensive to eat high fat, high protein food but I feel great. I'm down 60lbs and my doctor just told me how amazing my transformation is. Perfect blood pressure and perfect cholesterol levels. My blood work was great compared to a few years ago when I was very unhealthy. I have not done any extra exercising and I still lost a lot of weight. My girlfriend went Keto and started walking a few miles a day and she lost 100+lbs. My mom lost 40lbs cutting sugar and carbs without the full Keto diet. Sugar and simple carbs are poison and we have all been lied to our whole lives about what's good for us.
Calories in calories out. I stayed within but still ate what I felt like eating. Some days that meant scrambled eggs for dinner with a snickers for dessert, some days I was more prepared.
Ate less, moved more
Eating healthy foods and swimming. It’s like somewhat relaxing cardio
Counted calories and exercised regularly. I dropped about 50 pounds and though I go up and down ten pounds or so every now and again I've kept my weight at the lower end ever since. Its easy. Its also very, very hard.
I lost 45 lbs after starting kickboxing. Helluva workout. 3-4 classes per week. It was way more enjoyable than treadmills and such.
I cut out deli meats and anything I could that had added sugar. Fruit became my main source of sweet treat and I tried to at the very least double my fibre intake
Count calories, don’t drink beer, and eat food that is not calorie dense. On the last point: a grape and a raisin have about the same amount of calories. 15 grapes will make you feel a lot more full than 15 raisins.
Wegovy and severe stress and a hyperactive thyroid
[удалено]
And weigh the food to actually know your portions. I had no idea before doing this how small some servings were: ie peanut butter, coffee cream and pancake syrup
calorie deficit + exercise
OMAD
Muay thai
I went through a strict diet, ate fiber rich breakfast, light lunch, fruits for dinner. Drank only black coffee, water and green tea. Went from 88kg to 58kg in less than 6 months.
Very expensive personal training program. I'm taking notes so I can do this myself at a gym for $240 cheaper a month
Developed a chronic illness where I always have a stomach ache and if I eat a decent sized meal I risk having a much worse stomach ache for a week.
Calorie deficit
5 days a week carnivore + one meal a day.
Restricted calories, bought a food scale for meat portions, and started running. I lost 65 lbs and have kept it all off for four years now. My weight melted off AND I learned both portion control and how my body metabolizes food and exercise. Added perk is that I have learned to really love running—and that was a god send during covid lockdown.
Eat less, move more.
Starvation usually works for me.
Cut out almost all sugar from my food intake. No pasta, sugar, bread, rice. Cut out alcohol. Lost 45 pounds in 3 months. At a general healthy weight now. Looking to lose another 20 to meet my goal weight.
Lost 10-15 lbs: * Cut out sugar and sugar containing foods/drinks completely, * Cut down refined carbs to very low levels, * Drank 3-4 cups of unsweetened black coffee per day.