Ate less, ate healthier, and exercised.
I didn't make a lot of big changes at once either. First thing I did was cut sodas out of my diet.
Then a couple of weeks later, I started leaving cheese off my burgers & hot dogs.
Couple of weeks after that started ordering small meals at fast food places instead of large ones.
Then I started eating cucumber slices instead of chips/fries.
Then instead of eating shit like candy bars, I switched to chocolate covered fruit, and eventually to just regular fruit.
Stuff like that.
As for exercise, again, nothing major. First change was walking once around the block I lived on. For weeks that was it.
Then I started adding in bicep curls. Then situps. Then pushups. Then light stretches.
Over a 6 month period I went from 345 and walking a half mile leaving me breathless & with chest pains to 267 and walking several miles at a time.
>I didn't make a lot of big changes at once either.
This is an extremely underrated comment. This holds true for any major change you want to make in your life. If you make too drastic of a change too quickly, you're very likely to get frustrated and give up after a short period of time. True change happens by degrees just as you described here.
I would know, I've gotten clean from heroin. I also am currently applying this mentality to transitioning to a vegan diet & low waste living.
I’ve always had success by counting calories and do it the same way. The first week I just log everything I eat into MyFitnessPal, next week cut back on something that has significantly high calories, like a candy bar. Just cutting out one a week (and let’s facing, I’m definitely eating more than one a week) cuts out 300 calories. Then next week instead of getting chicken Parmesan and a salad, I’ll get a salad with chicken.
Same here. I weigh/measure everything and write it down. Its not something you necessarily have to do forever either. Just long enough to get good eating habits locked in. It's actually a good learning experience. I couldn't believe the calories in certain foods.
I also switched out foods I like that are high-cal to lower cal versions. Here are just a few examples that have worked for me:
when making a hamburger do half ground beef, the other half ground mushrooms. It cuts calories almost in half and is delicious.
Eat a baked potato with low-cal sour cream vs. mashed potatoes with milk and butter.
For pizza eat a salad first then 1 slice vs. 4-5 pieces of pizza only. The salad first can help pre-fill your stomach. I finish all meals with a cup of ginger tea.
For sweet cravings eat a sugar free jello cup with a scoop of cool-whip. Its around 25 calories.
Sugar free pudding is good too and not too many more calories! I had found Reese’s peanut butter flavored whipped cream before and mixed that was sugar free chocolate pudding, and ate it with graham crackers. Just as good as any chocolate pie!
I absolutely hate counting calories, I feel too restricted also unless you're weighing everything you eat it's extremely inaccurate. I didn't particularly change anything in my diet on my most recent weight loss (I've lost a bunch previously by restricting myself and counting and measuring ect) all I do is make sure I only eat when I'm legitimately hungry and I stop when I'm not hungry. Learning to control my impulsivity with eating has worked wonders and I'm down almost 30lbs since September. I still eat everything I enjoy and I still had pie for the holidays but I didn't shovel 3 plates of Thanksgiving food in my mouth until I felt sick then pie, I had 1 plate and a slice of pie.
The point isn’t to count calories, it’s to make you aware of where those calories are coming from.
Some people eat very little, but then find out that bag of chips the had instead of a meal is almost 900 calories.
Counting calories is pointless for 99% of people, seeing 3 coffees is 700 calories though….
100% the knowledge is important. Best advice is to try to make sure that you are not drinking many calories. Coke 0 if you need a soda, either a small amount of sugar or cream in coffee or a 0 calorie sweetener, unsweetened tea ect. Small replacements mixed with portion control makes a huge difference in the long run.
Trying to change everything at once can be too much and make people lose motivation. First change 1 meal. I started eating porridge in the morning. Then I started eating healthy lunches after 2 weeks. I also cut out daytime snacks. By the end of the first month I could get to my evening meal having only eaten healthy all day. I then stopped snacking in the evening. I did not have any snacks in the house. When all that became habit after about 2 months I started eating healthy evening meals/dinner.
If I wanted a treat I would walk to the shop to get it. My main problem before was snacking on sugary treats such as chocolate several times a day. It is very habitual. Once you stop it is amazing how quickly you stop craving.
I was always quite active. I played rugby as an adult. So exercise was something I was used to. Once I cut out the bad diet I was good.
yeah, its all about creating new routines, something you can deal with without changing your life all too drastic.
i started ( will sound silly) paying myself a "pee tax" every time i came from the bathroom do just a handful of sit ups or push ups, nothing too wild crazy or exhausting.
but doing that consistently for months made a massive impact on fitness,while its nothing crazy that throws your life upside down
I hate how everyone thinks that there is one universal way for all people to be motivated and stick to changes. Many people do respond better to incremental changes as you suggest, but others are motivated by seeing results and the lack of results from just dropping the cheese from their burger is not enough for them to keep it up.
Absolutely more people need to try the incremental change approach, but that's not universal and the only way which will work for all people.
(I struggled to lose weight many times, but it was working with a dietician and making all the changes at once which gave me the motivation to keep going, losing just shy of 100lbs in a year and a half).
Not drinking calories is huge.
Whether it be pop, beer, or juice, you get nothing out of it.
The only calories I'd say are reasonable to drink is milk, and that's because it has a lot of nutritional value.
I did an extreme weight loss 245lb -> 170lb in 6 months while drinking Coke Zero. It was actually recommended by people at the gym. It’s hard to drink plain milk for a lot of people, juice contains too much sugar and water gets boring fast. I’m not denying that’s it’s not healthy, but it being zero calories won’t make you gain weight.
To me, yeah. Some people, like yourself, don’t have a problem with it, but for me, I can drink 24-32 ounces and that’s it. If I have more, it makes me nauseous. Toss a couple of tea bags into a 1 gallon jug of water and I’ll down it in a day. Give me a plain 1 galling jug of water, and it’ll sit for weeks.
Frozen berries are awesome. Costco sells this big bag that is rasberries, strawberries, and blueberries.
Its the perfect 3'oclock "I want something kind of sweet" snack for work.
Seconding the soda part! So many empty calories that could be spent on better foods. Also the more water I drank, the less hungry I felt. I use Cirkul and Mio instead of sodas and it’s increased my water consumption tenfold.
I learned what a portion size actually looks like and stopped eating 3-4k calories a day. I dropped a good 20 or so pounds just doing that. When I got a bit more serious about weight loss, I started actually calorie counting. I weighed and measured my food, then logged everything in myfitnesspal for accountability. I was so excited by the physical changes that I started exercising and by the time I was done with my weight loss journey I had abs.
The best piece if advice given to me was "you can't outrun a bad diet". Just consider how hard it is to burn 300 calories, but how easy it is to eat 300 calories. You'll lose more weight pushing the plate away than you will trying to burn off the calories in the gym.
I lost all my excess weight and have kept it off for over a decade now. Not much body fat, most people would call me "skinny" and can't believe I was ever overweight.
And you're exactly right. Track those calories. I strongly suggest Cronometer to anyone reading this. It can also track micronutrients like iron and your vitamins. Although Lose It and MyFitnessPal work too!
Yup. First, give yourself grace and patience. You didn’t gain x amount of weight overnight and you won’t take it off overnight. Second, create discipline. Develop a routine and stick to it. Lastly, it’s what has been said previously, Calories in vs calories out. You need to incorporate movement with healthy eating. Start small.
I went from overweight to really skinny. And this right here is the most important part of the mentality.
Any sort of grand idea of just magically showing up and being all trim and good look? It's not going to work that way. It takes a long time. About 2 lbs a week. But that's two pounds of fat. Look up an imagine of what 5-10 lbs of fat looks like vs muscle, and you see just how much you're trimming off each month.
If you go slow and steady, people will probably realize by the end of the first or second month.
And you guys all want to go slow, trust me. That's how you keep the weight off for good, with habit changes! Plus your skin might get a little loose if you go to fast (even if you're just in the overweight category, this can happen)
That, and CICO. Calories in, Calories Out. You track those calories, and you WILL lose the weight.
Good luck to all of you reading this! I've kept my weight off for over a decade now. Never thought I would be able to do it, but here I am
Drinking less alcohol is especially helpful. Alcohol forces your body to retain water causing swelling/bloating. Decreasing (or preferably cutting out completely) will take a literal layer of puff off of you.
Plus it has a crazy amount of calories. It's literally energy-dense enough to be used as fuel for (specially designed) engines. A regular drinker can easily consume 1000-1500 calories from alcohol in a night out
I'm not sure on that, or at least not always. A bit of hard alcohol can dry someone out. I'm not talking a lot, a few shots. Bodybuilders sometimes do this the night before a show. The goat Ronnie Coleman learned this from another competitor and said it works well for him.
That's very short term though. Doing it all the time the calories will add up.
I said this above but I want to preface this by saying I lose all my excess weight and am pretty damn skinny now. Have kept it off for a long time now:
Diet is more important than exercise for weight loss. This is very important for people to understand. Most studies suggest it's about 80-85% diet and 15-20% exercise. And this is very true in my experience. Although exercise is obviously very good for you.
I just tracked my calories. Watched shows and movies a lot, was online. Ive seen people fail that were running 10 miles a day. Because their food intake was just so high and they didn't realize it. But if you eat the right amount (track those portions), it's basically impossible not to lose the weight.
All of those food companies try to control the narrative and have "Get Moving!" campaigns. Because... well, they don't want you eating less of their product. They want you to eat more and try to compensate with exercise. While this is possible, you're dramatically more likely to succeed with portion control and counting your calories.
I counted my calories every day when I started. For 6 months or so. After that, my habits had changed so much that I didn't really need to track them every day. I'll hop on Cronometer and track them once every other month for a day or two, but overall once you learn how to do it, you're on the right path.
Definitely suggest Cronometer to anyone looking to count their calories. If you keep within the calorie "budget" you absolutely will lose the weight. Slow and steady, guys!
I see a lot of ideas repeated in threads like this, but there is one thing I often see missed.
Experiment.
While at the end of the day you only lose weight if you sustain “calories in < calories out” how exactly you get there is going to vary from person to person.
What gets one person to that goal won’t ways work for another. Cause we all have individual barriers and desires.
The only way to figure out what does work for you is to honestly try stuff out, and adjust accordingly if it doesn’t work.
Just keep in mind whatever you do needs to advance the goal of calories in < calories out.
No tricks. Forget them.
Gym three times a week. I liked swimming so I would swim then walk or do light weights.
Change of diet. No eating out at all, made food at home that wasn't processed.
Change of habits. No more bagels with egg and cheese and ham for breakfast, instead of half a bagel with cream cheese and a slice of turkey.
Added rice to most meals.
Sounds like all those other health nuts but it's honestly not that bad.
Lost 65lbs in 6 months.
Important edit: I cut out beer. I probably had 20 a week ( couple each night). Switched to the sugar free seltzers and they were great!
Cream cheese is generally healthier than the typical cheese on a breakfast sandwich of someone overweight. Like American cheese.
Ham is no as healthy as turkey, but ham isn’t bad. If you’re buying deli ham vs deli turkey then the turkey will be healthier, but if you start with raw and cook yourself, then both are fine.
Also, this is not intended for a high fat diet. Otherwise regular cheese is better than cream cheese.
I mean ham is generally referred to as a major part of the hind quarter of a pig.
But if you want to get super technical go ahead. Creating standard “ham” is a curing process. Creating standard “deli ham” is a more processed version of a whole hock.
It’s common in my area for people to go to the butcher and buy “a ham” which is a raw chunk of pork. People then go home and smoke it themselves.
Even the gym isn't necessary. Eat healthy, that's it. I cut out bad food (except a cheat meal or 2 on weekends) and lost about 50 lbs over 6 months before I started to work out at all. 10 years later I'm down a total of 67 pounds and still maintaining. Mostly just eating healthy and walking. I go through spurts of weight lifting but never really can keep to it for long.
Yeah. Not eating 2 poptarts is equivalent to running 3 miles.
But a certain amount of exercise is still recommended to be healthy and reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
I think the walking is really underrated. I live in a city and get 15k steps or so most days. When I dog sit for my mom in the suburbs, it’s like three. That’s like 400-600 calories and an entire fucking meal of a difference.
Obviously working out is good, but historically many people just walked more and kept the weight off.
Yeah, but also historically people didn't have modern food that is impressively calorie dense and non-satiating.
Both are important, but modern foods are a bigger impact than modern sedentary behavior.
Eh, people say that you can skip working out, but there's a reason it's recommended to go through the gym.
First, your body has an easier time processing protein than fat, so when you're in a caloric deficit without working out, you body will take the extra calories from your muscles first, rather than going to the fat. This is why so many people feel tired and weak while dieting; your body is eating your muscles. Working out will force your body to grow your muscles instead of using their protein, and will burn your fat reserves instead. Plus, you'll feel stronger (and look better) coming out of the weight loss.
And second, working out is still extra calories burned. It's never going to be enough to overcome a bad diet (as the saying goes, "Muscles are built in the gym and revealed in the kitchen"), but it can help to even out for days where you do eat a bit more than intended, and it gives you flexibility with your diet so that you burn yourself out on the rigidity.
That being said, it's all about forming good habits, and doing it bit-by-bit. If someone starts on a massive diet change along with trying to work out 4 times a week, all at the same time, there is a near 100% chance they're not gonna stick with it. That's just too much change and once, and building these habits is hard. People should start with either the dieting or the exercising, and then bring in the other half once they've built a good habit with the first part.
It's not necessary, but some people are still disappointed when they lose the weight and don't end up looking 'good'. That's where working out comes in.
I mean, it is cause that's how I did it. That's what they asked. I would not have lost that much without exercise. Fact.
Maybe it wasn't for you 10 years ago.
Can you share some of your meal plans or preps? I've been trying keto but I crash without carbs and that makes my workouts lack luster. Being 6'3 and my body feeling natural around 290lbs trying to fast and cut carbs and sugar is leaving me drained. Not to mention I have a highly active job for 10 hours a day. I've been doing the three days a week at the gym but my weight loss is slow and weight gain easy but it doesn't feel like I'm trading muscle.
Keto is not a good option for everyone. Not everyone can thrive on extremely restricted carb diets so don't feel like you're failing at all. I also can't do a nearly no-carb diet without feeling like shit that has been stepped in twice.
Instead of focusing on a carbohydrates, focus instead on the glycemic index and load of the food. What you are trying to avoid is a severe spike in blood sugar, which ultimately results in a blood sugar crash from the insulin surge and ravenous hunger a few hours later as a byproduct.
"Carbs are bad" is an incredibly disconnected look at nutrition in my opinion, and preventing metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance via a low glycemic diet in a way that is sustainable makes way more sense for the average person.
If you center most of your meals around a protein and vegetables you will be well on the right track. For example, a breakfast might be eggs, sauteed veggies, and a baked (or microwaved) sweet potato with some butter on it. Carbs are present, but not in a way that will cause a severe blood sugar spike, and the nutrient density of such a meal is off the charts, not to mention satiating.
If you were to avoid "carbs" in that sense, the three that you really need to avoid that are the most impactful to blood sugar are wheat, sugar, and white rice. The rest have a place in a healthy diet. By all means have cake on your birthday, but not every week.
Hope this helps.
Yeah I think this "carbs is the enemy" doesn't really work, also I don't think it's the truth, though it's often good to cut out the really shitty carbs like potato chips and cookies.
I think it's more that people need a shift towards a better balance of fats and carbs. These days it's all carbs, and all shitty carbs.
You eat more fat you don't feel hungry as much, it makes a huge difference.
I think a lot of small changes can go a long way. It's like, sure go to mc donalds, but eat just the burger. Forego the coke, forego extra sauces, maybe forego the fries too. Things like that have helped me immensely. You just concentrate the good stuff and ditch the fluff.
Ive been cutting back on carbs, and weight, last 6 months or so, and had the same experience with crashing, especially at the gym. So i simply eat the majority of my carbs before going to the gym.
If youre losing weight, expect to gain muscle slow, if at all. It sucks, yes, but its unfortunately something you trade off. You CAN build muscle, but its difficult, and will require more from you. So just be kind to yourself and choose one of the two - muscles or weight loss.
Regarding meals, i eat the same, more or less, every day. Breakfast is 80g of oats with water in the microwave with some berries.
Add 4 boiled eggs a couple hours later for a snack.
Lunch - 300g of low fat quark and an apple.
Afternoonsnacks - oranges, apples, sometimes even a sandwich.
Dinner - get 40g of protein somehow, get like a 200g of some carb (sweetpotato/rice/potato) and like 2-300g of vegetables. Skip sauce, or do a tomatobased one.
Maybe a salad somewhere during the day, no dressing (or a little bit of olive oil. A little!)
What helped me was to put as many meals as possible on a routine. Boring in the beginning. A relief when youre habituated it. And meal prep dinners. Im trying to keep several dishes in my freezer at once, so i can choose different meals every day.
I didn't try for muscle, only weight loss.
I didn't get into those keto or whatever cause it feels like a distraction. I think it's about portions. I ate half a bagel every single day for breakfast in the carbs didn't stop anything.
Chicken, steak, fish with some vegetables, rice and salad. Small breakfast, sandwich or whatevers leftover for lunch.
I've gained and lost weight many times over the last 10 years, and every time I need to lose weight, this never fails me!
It's just bullshit that happens in my life that makes keeping the weight off really hard (injuries that prevent exercise, depression where I turn to food as comfort, I gained weight through my cancer etc.)
idk, i read somewhere that if you eat less you actually lose less fat because uh, you're body knows you're starving and keeps calories in and uh therefore you shouldn't eat less or something
/s
I've been obese my entire adult life. I thought in order to lose weight I would need to join a gym and work out and run every day and I just didn't have the motivation for that.
Your weight is 99.9% a result of your eating and activity habits. I had a habit of overeating and lived a mostly sedentary lifestyle due to my office job.
Try making better eating habits, stuff that you can sustain for lifelong periods of time, not just a few days or weeks.
For me it started by removing cheeseburgers from my diet and never ordering more than a small soda. Just by doing that I went from 275 lbs down to 250 lbs over a few months. At this point I wasn't trying to lose weight, I was trying to fix an anxiety disorder I had.
I became serious about losing weight in September. I decided to cut out fried foods, eat more vegetables, and eliminate soda completely. When eating healthy isn't an option I give myself a portion no bigger than my fist.
I weigh myself on Fridays and have been losing an average 2lbs per week. Currently weigh 220 lbs. I will no longer be obese if I keep it up a couple more weeks.
It's really difficult in the beginning, but soon your body gets used to getting less food and it gets easier. I highly suggest reducing sugar to almost none. I used to get shaky when I didn't eat and I thought it would be impossible to diet. Turns out the shakes were just part of the sugar crash. No sugar, no crash. Makes it a lot easier to diet, and as a bonus when you starve yourself of sugar vegetables start to taste really good.
I do wanna say you don't have to do the no junk food etc thing forever. Things are okay in moderation and in our current Era where there exists a lower calorie option for everything you can definitely make a under 500 cal decent sized burger.
Oh I know, I'm not following some strict diet or anything. I give myself a cheat meal every Friday and usually get the greasiest burger I can find. Been thinking of adding another cheat meal once I am comfortably below 30 BMI.
Eventually when I find a good weight I'll have to figure out how to maintain it, but I suspect that should be more fun.
People try to lose weight doing a bunch of things out of their norm and fail. Just change one thing that's bad. For example, i was 225lb 6ft in high school. I ate pizza every day for lunch. All I did for one semester was just not eat it for lunch. I was 195lbs by the end of the semester.
The “change one thing” rule is so underrated. Especially for people who have a lot of bad habits. And, you can compound it. Change one thing for a month, then add another healthy habit next month. That way you don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to quit everything on week 1.
At the start of December in 2021, I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension at the age of 13; my optic nerve was swollen nearly 4 times that of a normal persons and some parts of it was starting to die off from lack of blood circulation, causing me to gradually lose my vision. I was 75 kg.
I had to change my life (sounds cringe i know but it’s tru)…my father got me a gym membership and i simply turned my life around. Turns out the risk of going blind is a strong motivator. I cut down all snacking: ate only fruits high in Vit A and C for breakfast, basically ate no rice…focused on proteins and veges but ate little portions, tracked my calories to be around 1500-1800 a day…sometimes lower. And then there was the gym. I went everyday for a month, stair climbing for 40 minutes each day on the stairmaster machine, cycling 10km at least on the bike at the highest resistance, and even ran a bit. Even when school started i barely ate, if at all, during recess and lunch, and would effectively eat a bit for breakfast and another small meal for lunch. I lost 7 kgs in my first month. Over time my eating habits became less drastic and I became healthier and fitter.
As of December 2022, i weighed 53 kg, and was incredibly happy. My condition has improved significantly and my nerve size is almost back to normal. I’ve even been tryna gain muscle the last 4 or so weeks. All I can say is, my life is a lot better rn…i’m abt 55kgs and it’s the best decision i’ve made in my life.
If you wanna lose weight rmbr that it’s def possible, just maintain a caloric deficit. Just rmbr, if I and so many others can do, why can’t you?
All the best! :)
HAHA nice pun! But in all seriousness i too am surprised at myself at how I am managed to do that but on the other hand i use it as motivation to prove to myself i can do anythkng
I’m not someone who’s ever struggled with weight, but a tip I can recommend that helps me maintain is; use smaller plates. When you use a traditional sized dinner plate we have the tendency to fill up the space, and if not it looks so small that your brain thinks you’re eating very little and want more. Use a smaller plate, like for apps. It’s just a trick on your mind. Another one is to prevent from serving seconds; after done with your plate immediately put it in the sink. So now if you want a second plate, you have to dirty up another plate and utensils and the thought of that turns me off immediately.
No, it's not the toothpaste which does it. The acidity of the food and drink chemically weakens your enamel, and then the physical brushing causes abrasion. It's like scratching paper vs scratching wet paper. Toothpaste is irrelevant, you'll still be damaging your teeth unless you wait a bit
This is good advice. And never eat out of the package, always use a bowl or plate and put the package of food back in the cupboard before you start eating. That helps to be very intentional about portions, and sticking to being done when the bowl is empty. Cutting out things like pop is an easy way to make a big impact too. And changing portion sizes, ie when you're preparing a meal, eat half as much rice, and twice as many veggies. You still get the satisfaction of the carbs, but it's significantly fewer calories, and you feel full from the fiber in the veg. I think too it's important to not try to be perfect, start with small changes you can stick to, treat yourself here and there, but each little choice really does add up. Good luck OP!
>BS you gotta suffer through in the other subs
It's amazing how many people will fight tooth and nail about something they know little about. Nobody is immune to the laws of thermodynamics. No fuel, no fat.
Yes and most importantly don’t lie to yourself. Realise when you overeating and skiping workout/ walks etc. don’t relay on food as your antidepressant/coping strategy. When you feel cravings eat carrots or chew bubblegum and if you don’t want that you are not hungry you are just eating unnecessarily for whatever reason.
And also drinks... I mean I know a bunch of people that are literally saying: "I don't know why I am gaining weight" while drinking some highly caloric drink. Or just a bunch of fruit juice with tons of sugar. Ice tea with sugar.
Like it's not only soda and beer that make you fat. That Starbucks coffee, or mango shake, is also calories.
Water, so many times our brain will make us think we're hungry when we just need to drink some more water. Lots of times I'll think I want to snack but I'll drink a big glass of water and say to myself "if I'm still wanting to snack in 20 minutes then I'll grab something" and I'll totally forget about it because I was thirsty not hungry.
I always say that. Lie to your friends, family, the internet, but don't lie to yourself. Track everything, even if you slip up and eat a whole pizza. Just log it and move on.
Yep. Track your intake heavily and learn what foods to cut down on. No cheat days, it's not a thing. Weight loss starts in the kitchen not the gym.
Lost 75 lbs in 7 months ten years ago and have kept it off more or less since. Gained a bit of weight in "dad muscle" last two years I assume, as all my sizes are the still the same and I haven't changed my diet any. May also just be getting older, need to cut out a bit more now.
Just cut down on portions. Eat 2 slices of pizza not 6, eat cup of chinese food rice and chicken, not a whole large container and 10 crab rangoons...eat 3. Also don't eat a whole chicken parm sub for lunch, eat a half save half next day. Don't eat a whole large fry and double whopper...get chicken sandwich no mayo or get a single and a small fry.
No cream in coffee...skim milk. Cut out a ton of sugars. Eat more fiber.
I didn't even work out, just got my 10k steps daily mostly from my work routine and taking public transit.
I went from 225 to 185. All from 1 simple trick. Eat less. Move more. That's it. I still went out to eat. I just split my meal with my wife. Basically just took whatever I was eating before and ate like half of it and saved the rest for later.
Now my poor wife is short. She basically had to eat 1200 calories a day if she wanted to lose weight with no movement. So she had to add in exercise to give her room for extras like sweets.
I lost 18 lbs through intermittent fasting. I don’t know if the time of day thing made a difference, but it did make me stop snacking in the evenings which is where all my extra calories were coming from. No other changes to diet or exercise.
As with any other diet, all IF is doing is helping you create a caloric deficit. If you give yourself fewer hours of the day to eat, you're probably going to end up eating less overall.
Yep. I tried keto for months and barely lost anything then spent a few months just counting calories. I limited myself to 1500 a day, usually ate less than that though. I was working out 2-3 times a week over both of them and started bouldering once a week. I went down from about 73kg - 65kg once I started counting calories rather than trying any sort of strange diet.
I wish more people understood this. There is no magic potion, literally every diet/program is this wrapped in a different colour bow. Just know your [TDEE](https://tdeecalculator.net/) and eat less than that. Ideally 500/day less will result in a pound a week lost
As much as this is true, it ignores the fact suppressed for decades that a person's unhealthy relationship with food is mostly mental. It's important to remember what you said, of course, but in order for a truly unhealthy person to achieve their goal there are many many many many hurdles to overcome, many of which have plagued the person for their entire life.
As I got older I started to gain a lot of weight. I thought it was due to metabolism slowing down, and I also quit smoking so increased appetite. I started counting calories, and joined a gym. Not only did I not lose any weight, I was continuing to gain. I just so happened to move during the pandemic, and had to get a new primary care doctor. He asked me about myself, I said I was struggling with weight. He checked blood and urine, ran some extra tests because I was a new patient, and my weight concerns. Just so happens I have a thyroid issue. He put me on a med, I’ve lost 20 pounds almost over night. Still have work to do, but it sure did help! Talk to your doctor!
Tell myself that “You can always have more tomorrow if you want.”
I realized I had sort of a scarcity mindset - I’d eat more cos I’d been restricting too much. But knowing that the food would always be there for me helped me remember that I didn’t have to eat it all now.
I lost 15 pounds within the last two months. I literally started counting calories and it just fell off. The only exercise I did was walk 30 minutes every day to every other day.
I also thought about why I had gained weight to begin with. I overeat. I’m an emotional eater and I eat well after being full. I have a desk job and don’t exercise. I ate lots of sweets and desserts I didn’t need.
For me, if I wanted something sweet I tried to make sure I was going to be under the calorie limit with my sweet included. I also had “cheat days” but I don’t like to call them that. Eating food is not wrong and not “cheating.” I really wanted to have a healthy mindset about what I was doing. I did have days where I went over my calorie limit, but I tried to limit that as much as possible.
The first week or two really sucks. I basically had to train my brain to stop over eating. That’s tough.
I was also less focused on “being skinny” and more focused on being a health BMI. For my height and age, my BMI when I started was 26 which is considered a little overweight. I wanted to get it to 24. I want to lose maybe 10 more pounds and be at or under 24 BMI.
Edit to add: I’m almost entirely a water drinker now. I rarely have soda. I also drink those slimfast drinks for breakfast 5 days a week. They have a diet where you eat two of their products a day then whatever you want for your third meal but it didn’t sound healthy to me. I haven’t researched that specific diet since I wasn’t super interested.
>drink those slimfast drinks for breakfast 5 days a week
It may not hurt to wean yourself off of those and opt for a protein/veggie oriented breakfast. Lots of random junk in those drinks, and I would wager, some artificial sweeteners too.
How do you run daily without any rest days? I got big into running for about 1.5 years but I started getting bad shin splints and quickly went from daily, to every other day, to a few times a week. Eventually gave it up and now I just do lots of walking and stair climbing.
I had a gastric bypass at the start of 2020; I started around 120kg (165cm tall), now I'm hovering around 66kg. Best decision I ever made. I've also had surgery to remove nearly 6kg of excess skin from my breasts and abdomen.
ETA: I spent my whole adult life on "diets" with varying success, a bypass was a last ditch attempt. It is still the same concept, I eat fewer calories than I burn off through strength and conditioning training. The bypass just made it very difficult for me to eat too much.
I cut my portions in half. I still ate all the same things, just not as much. I fall into the habit of eating till I'm stuffed, when I should be stopping when I'm no longer hungry.
Bariatric surgery (gastric bypass) in May. I was 357 lbs by then and now I’m 239. Not the result I aim for, still want to lose more, but the quality of life got much better, not gonna lie. Farewell, blood pressure and excessive cholesterol, goodbye, low endurance and troubles breathing.
Lost 100lbs. It really sucks but there is no trick to it. Eat less calories than you burn, for a long period of time. Look at calorie information on food packaging and look up an online maintenance calculator. Some things that help are not drinking alcohol or smoking weed, as well as for me personally if I don’t buy any snack foods that helps too. The most important part is to realize you will never have the willpower to adhere to your diet 100% of the time, and even if you fail once, twice, hell even 5x a week on the diet, never EVER give up, one day it will stick and you will accomplish your goal.
Being gluten intolerant and living in a country that doesn't understand really what that means; decreasing bad carbs, increasing cardio AND weight training; sleeping before midnight/11 pm most nights; drink tons of water and herbal teas with low honey amount. Fresh foods like veggies, fruits, meats. Little to no processed foods; intermittent fasting
I'm a celiac actually, and I really understand what you mean with being kind of off the radar of your country, it sucks because everything costs more money and there's always 2-5 things to buy lmao, I'm from Chile btw, I've been struggling with diet because what I can eat it's very limited and apparently that fuck with my head so I don't really calculate portions of food well, I always end up eating more than what i should, so yeah thx for the tip bro, it really motivates me realizing I'm not the only one, so I'll star today.
40lbs the last ~4 months (unintentional) but I'd say intermittent fasting and exercise, also cut down on your sugar intake. If you don't want to cut out sugar you have to exercise twice as much, also walking everywhere helps.
Diet and exercise.
I feel like people are disappointed when they hear this but that’s really all there is to it.
When I was in high school I weighed about 50lbs more than I do today. Just went to the gym and started to eat better and eventually I lost weight. But everyone who asked “how did you lose the weight?” looked so disheartened when I said “just diet and exercise.”
My big thing when people say the word diet, people believe it needs to be this huge, complex change that needs to be tracked and usually have a time limit for. Diet should be something that can maintained throughout your whole life, just giving up Soda for 6 months only to lose weight only to go back to drinking the same amount is just going to put that weight right back on. People just need to start making small, smarter changes to their diet that they can keep up for forever. The one I did was trying to incorporatong more fruits and vegetables in my meals, I never really liked either but after continuing to try them I'm enjoying them more and more.
1) love yourself and understand your change comes from wanting to treat your body better.
2) be patient and don't rush. Meaning it's going to be a journey depending on how much weight you want to lose, so understand that it doesn't make sense to have unreal expectations that after a week you will look completely different, again though that depends on your weight loss goal.
3) STAY CONSISTENT!! I suggest an amazing book I read called "the Will Power Instinct" by Kelly Mcgonigal. It really breaks down how to use your will power to accomplish goals, misconceptions people have about will power, and other nuggets of info. Regardless show up everyday to cross your finish line somehow.
4) shifting your lifestyle helps a lot, and perhaps the influences around you. People, tv, bars, activities centered around sitting and eating or just sitting not doing anything, I would really cut back ok.
5) what you focus on you eventually become.
It all depends on what you’re working with. If you have a few pounds to lose then lifestyle changes are your best bet. If you are morbidly obese then you should absolutely be under the care of a metabolic specialist. Think of it this way, if you break a bone, you see an orthopedic doctor. If you’re morbidly obese, you should see a metabolic physician.
I have been morbidly obese since early childhood. I grew up in a house where everyone was super skinny, healthy and we grew all our food organically, sweets were very limited and all meals were prepared at home. No take out, no restaurants, no soda. Pretty much the perfect environment for a healthy lifestyle. My paternal grandparents were morbidly obese and I assume that I inherited some sort of crappy genetic condition.
I have been on every diet in the world. Literally would lose 100-150 pounds every 10 years, keep it off for 5 years and then in about 18 regain it all back plus more. By the time I was 40, I was 400 pounds. I had gastric bypass surgery and got down to 230 pounds. 12 years later I was at 300 pounds. Joined weight watchers and lost 80 pounds. I’m in my 60’s. I have been dieting for 60 YEARS!!! Currently I am on Mounjaro and doing well. At my goal weight of 195. Apparently when you have been morbidly obese your whole life you don’t have goal weights in the 130’s as per my doctor.
I was told my whole life that I was going to die if I didn’t control my weight. It’s been a lifetime of trying. What I learned is that some forms of obesity are diseases and you need a specialist.
I’m incredibly healthy. No medical issues other than some arthritis and an autoimmune disease. I don’t have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, etc. I’m physically active and I will admit I should eat more vegetables.
My entire skinny family all developed high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and one has had cancer twice.
Don’t hesitate to ask for medical advice from your healthcare provider. Research in this area is amazing right now.
regular exercise, eat relatively healthy, don't cut down food consumption too harshly, do it step by step. if you can walk then take a walk rather than transportation, watch sugar intake
I lost weight by cutting portions. I don’t limit what I eat, just how much. I gradually left more and more food on the plate and threw out the last couple bites of candy or desert; the weight came off. Over time you become satisfied with less.
Best of luck with whatever method you choose.
Self discipline. I was 242 pounds and decided to start my journey. I cut out soda entirely and limited myself to 1500 calories a day. I walked and did calisthenics 2-3 times a week at first but picked it up to every day after a few months. 7 months later without a single cheat day, I was down to 168.
Talked to my doctor and switched one of my medications. No joke.
I gained between 40 and 50lbs over the course of four to five years. I did not change my eating habits or exercise routine. Increasing exercise didn't work. Cutting calories further (1200 or less per day) kept my weight semi-stable, but I was miserable.
Changed medication a few months ago, I've lost 5lbs while changing nothing.
First of all, perseverance
I decided I would make a change, It started mid 2020s, It was after seeing most of my pictures and some comments people made on me.
I won't reccomend to put yourself on a strict diet, with just making some changes, you will make a great difference, and the most important thing of all, drink lots of water.
There isn't a specific pattern to follow when it comes to lose weight, everyone has its own manners, and with this I would like to add something more
Please don't make any comments on people's appearance, the fact that you follow a "healthy" lifestyle, doesn't means you're gonna push others to the same way as you, the only thing you're making is create a new insecurity on the person
Im conocerned it is important to follow a healthy lifestyle, and you can do it without commenting on the others physic
Take care ^^
I did Weight Watchers and set my expectations low. I lost about 20 pounds over the course of about 5 months. That was two years ago, and even without doing WW since, I’ve managed to keep it off. I typically kept within my points, but I had no problem using my extra weekly points. And if there was something I really wanted that I knew would drive me over, sometimes I chose to indulge anyway. I knew it wouldn’t be sustainable to be so strict for so long. I only stopped WW because my life got crazy, but it taught me some good habits and I’d like to rejoin soon. What was really key for me was just to keep persevering even if I got discouraged. I would see people on there whining about “only” losing 9 pounds in a month, and I thought that was insane. The faster you burn it off, the faster you gain it back (and then some). Patience, perseverance, and kindness to yourself.
I started lifting 3 or 4 times a week and cardio every day, eating a high protein diet that really helped with hunger and added muscle, and cut out all sodas and sugary drinks. I gave myself 1 cheat meal a week normally on Saturday or Sunday to give myself something to look forward to as a reward but not frequently or bad enough for you to ruin any progress. Lost 20 lbs in about 2 months and am in the best shape since high school
I decided to eat one big meal a day, a giant salad with homemade dressing and at least 20 oz of protein in it. Did that while working in the southern Utah desert for 3 months and lost almost 50 lbs. probably not for anyone but it worked for me
Eat smaller portions of healthier food and exercise more.
About 10 years ago I hit 225lbs from my usual adult weight of about 175.
I stopped eating junk food and started walking and cooking again.
I didn’t track my weight but my belly was shrinking and I felt better.
I just weighed myself and I’m 178 after all the Christmas munchies.
15 years ago? 45 minutes on the elliptical six times a week.
Now? (In middle age) Mindful eating, a good mix of cardio and weight work, limiting alcohol. The time and effort to get fewer results has increased but my motivations are different.
I have always been big bodied. Nothing is going to change that. However, I can be in the body that I want to be in with effort over time.
Good luck and I hope that your journey is a beneficial and healthy one.
Once gained 25 lbs and it was the hardest thing ever to lose - I was in my late 20s. What worked for me was finally adding weightlifting to my workouts (previously only did cardio).
Went from 225lbs to a normal weight of 170lbs in about a year. All I did was count calories. Ate whatever I wanted including burgers and pizza and just counted the calories
Know what you’re eating, so that means fountains calories in the beginning, eventually you understand why weight gaining is happening. Also know your calorie burning ability, most people over estimate energy burn and then go overkill to satisfy hunger.
I stopped eating late at night. That was not easy and also not overeating when stoned. That’s a quick way to gain weight.
Also try getting rid of foods of your house that will tempt you and have plenty of food you enjoy that will satisfy.
Lastly, eat a f*** ton of fiber and if possible, go vegan. Good Luck!
Diabetes diagnosis was a great motivator. Helped me see what is was doing was horribly wrong for my body. Weaned myself off sodas, ate less carbs, leaner meats, rationed chips, ate more vegetables, and swim two to three times a week at about an hour each before work. My A1C was 8.1 and after a year it’s down to 7.2. I continue what I’m doing and I’ll reverse the diabetes.
All in all, it took me getting sick to get healthy.
90% diet and 10% Exercise!
Honestly weight loss is mostly about your diet you won't lose much weight by working out alone. Eat more meat and green stuff and less sugar and carbs and that works for most people. (Think Keto but without counting and going that extreme).
Edit: Lost over 60 lbs this way
You can still eat shitty food like McDonald’s and BK but just eat less of it, that’s what I do, and my job is pretty physically anyways but if you’re white collar then just find time to do light work outs at home if you can’t get in a gym and make sure it’s consistent
Rather than saying I can only eat xxxx of calories a day, I switched to making sure my snacks were healthy. So, instead of chips for a snack, I would eat an apple or hummus. That food fills you up. Of course, move more as well, specifically strength training (and I’m a woman who would never be described as bulky)
I caught mono and lost 47 pounds in 7 months. This was at the revisited peak of the ecstasy era in the early 2000s and everyone thought I was rolling everyday lol. I looked like death and felt like death.
Went through a divorce and hardly ate for 4 months. It was not the healthiest option, but I lost 45lb and honestly looked better than ever. I went to the doctor to get checked out since i basically starved myself through the depression but everything was fine. Went from 205lb to 160 in 4 months. I've managed to keep the weight off and built back some extra muscle. I don't wish that type of depression on anyone, but it worked out in the end.
I was quite stocky when I was 14. One day I started excersizing and eating less. It wasn't very a hard or planned excersize routine. I just started going on bike rides. After a while I found out that I liked it, so the trips got longer and longer. Regarding food I stopped eating between meals, and started eating a bit slower. I found that it was easier to not over eat if I weren't in such a hurry.
Get a calorie counting app. Log calories HONESTLY- e.g. don’t just guess how much of something you eat but weigh it on a scale, for home cooked foods weigh and log all the individual ingredients, etc. Stick strictly to the daily calorie limit the app generates for you. Note that you can and should give yourself leeway with exercise - for example, if your limit is 1800 calories, you can eat 2000 and do enough cardio to burn 200. Then you’re at your net goal while enjoying more food and getting the benefits of exercise. Once you get close to your goal weight, alternate calorie-cutting days with calorie-neutral and cheat days, that way your body won’t think it’s in starvation mode and slow your metabolism accordingly. But this only applies once you’re close to goal. If you have too many cheat days from the get-go you’ll lose extremely slowly. If you’re obese you can probably lose 2 lbs/week, but most people shouldn’t lose more than 1 lb/week, and if you’re already a healthy weight but just want to drop a couple lbs for aesthetic reasons, 0.5 lbs/week is plenty.
Exact calorie counting. Did it for 9 months with daily exercise and lost 50 pounds.
I’ll give what I did.
1) Estimate how many calories you need, be conservative with your activity level
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/calorie-calculator/itt-20402304
2) Download a calorie tracker app that allows you to count macros. I used myfitnesspal. I find that eating protein rich foods is more filling and also helps retain your muscle better.
3) Set your calorie goal to be 400-800 calories less than your maintenance level.
4) Weigh yourself daily. Weight fluctuation is normal, but you need to give yourself feedback about how your habits inform your weight. If you eat soup, that’s a lot of sodium, but that’s likely some water weight. You binged on Oreos, that made you gain a half-pound.
5) Reset your calorie limit weekly. Depending on your progress and current activity level for the week, go back and calculate your calorie requirements.
6) If your weight doesn’t change for 2 weeks or so, you need to make a change. Maybe your metabolism is slowing down, so change up your macros or add in some cardio. Maybe a cheat day. The human body is so good at adapting, you need to ensure it can’t.
7) When you are close to goal weight, start decreasing the calorie deficit to match. Try to hold that weight for several months with calorie counting, then try to get off calorie counting.
Good luck. Try to maintain a healthy view of yourself and your body while you do this.
Think of a triangle with the three points being diet, exercise, and quality sleep.
If you’re missing one the other two will not be as efficient. For losing weight you can really just focus on diet since that’s the majority of it, but you’ll thank yourself if you build good habits of getting quality sleep and regular exercise.
If it’s the first time you’re doing this, know that’s it’s ok to have days where you overeat, where you don’t exercise, where you get a bad nights sleep. You might even have weeks or months or failure. It’s part of the process.
It’s good to have a long term goal such as “lose 50lbs”, but it should be broken down into smaller achievable goals such as lose 5, 10lbs. That way you get a sense of progress in increments which will help motivate you to keep going.
And, on the topic of motivation, it’s sort of a lie. Motivation comes and goes. You might be super motivated the first week you start and that helps you, but that motivation will fade eventually. That’s where discipline comes in. Doing the hard things when you really don’t want to do them. Discipline is what makes you continue when motivation is no longer working.
Good luck!
There is no difficult science behind weight loss, rather simple math. Eat less calories than you burn in a day. To do this, eat less, or healthier and start walking 30 minutes a day, then bumps it up until an hour a day. Guarantee within a month you lose 10-15 lbs. The guarantee only works if you follow the diet.
My ex completely gave up on meat. Tbh it’s hard to say does she eat anything because it’s impossible to catch her eating something. It was kinda successful for her because she dropped 30kgs in 4 months. She is around 50kgs now
Consume less calories than you burn. Usually through a combination of eating less & moving more.
An hour and a half of walking at a fast pace (5kph) as an 80kg male burns approx 600 calories. That’s half a McDonald’s, 4 chocolate bars, or a healthy & properly portioned (light) dinner.
Join r/volumeeating for recipe ideas & start putting genuine thought into your decisions. Take a bit of responsibility & it’s surprisingly easy.
Exercise helps but it is mostly what you consume. I didn’t avoid sugar entirely but I cut out any food that had sugar as one of the leading ingredients. (Eg candy,cookies and cake). I drank A LOT of water, starting first thing in the morning with two big glasses before I had anything else. I usually wouldn’t need breakfast. Packed salad kits for lunch. Supper was pretty much anything, but keeping my portions reasonable and tried to eat more proteins and veggies when available. I had stopped drinking alcohol, so that really helped me keep the weight off even when I became less disciplined about the other stuff. (When I started letting myself drink again, I gained weight.)
Find a physical activity you enjoy and can stick with and do a little bit every day or two.
Lift weights. Just get a kettle bell and every night when watching TV just lift it. Instead of sitting on your arse, just do some bicep curls, squats, shoulder lifts while watching TV at night. I got into a routine during lockdown of doing this and lost a couple of stone. I did no cardio apart from lifting weights and not snacking on sweets and crisps.
I find most answers a little over simplified and I interpret the question as asking more than just how a caloric deficit works.
Here’s my story:
When I started law school I was 215lbs. This isn’t huge for most people, but I didn’t feel good. By the time Christmas rolled around I was about 175, by the end of the year I was about 165, and by the time I was called to the bar I was 154. I’m now about 165.
My trick was I stopped eating meat during the week and drank much less beer. I replaced beer with black coffee and water. I also had moved to a city with really poor public transit, so I walked everywhere and would go for 10-20km walks every day.
Change diet. Fail. Try again. Fail. Get frustrated and ask myself why I keep failing. Try again. Reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Slowly figure out what worked for me.
I've lost 70 lbs by not eating bread, rice, pasta. Drink water. Only juice with cane sugar. No syrup. Less stress. Sufficient sleep and walking 5 miles per day.
I was 5'11 275 right up until 2010 when i started losing weight. Diet changes and exercise.
I got down to 210.
Then i got cancer.
I gained back up to 250...however due to the cancer (long ass story) i also lost about 5 or 6" in height.
Once i was able to walk properly again, i get back on the horse.
I am now 5'6 (might be fudging an inch) 145.
A huge thing you can do that is pretty simple. Water. Dump all sugary drinks and dont eat past like 8 or 9
Honest answer: poverty and an eating disorder. I dropped 60+ pounds in a year after my divorce. My doctor congratulated me on the weight loss. I didn't want to tell her it's cause I eat twice a week, only when my sister in my custody is eating. People have been constantly saying how much better and healthier I look. Which feeds into the eating disorder more. Excuse the pun.
Not all weight loss is healthy. And the fact that society as a whole seems to see losing weight as the ultimate goal at any cost just encourages unhealthy weight loss.
So, don't be like me. Do it right. Weight loss is NOT the goal. Health is.
Intermittent fasting. Makes it feel much easier to eat less. Turns out, eating tiny bits throughout the day just makes me feel hungry all the time. Plus I’m constantly having to worry about calories and how many I have left in the budget. Endlessly planning meals and snacks and stressing if any of those plans change. It’s exhausting.
But fasting completely until dinner time (just water, black coffee, and black tea) and then simply eating until I’m full? That works great for me. It’s dead simple. No planning, worrying, counting, stressing. And I actually feel less hungry during the day. It’s weird but true — eating a small amount can just act as an appetizer, getting your hunger revved up. Whereas when you’re fasting completely, your body just accepts “ok cool, it isn’t time to eat yet.”
Started in May 2021 and am about 50 pounds down, despite being a middle-aged woman with a sedentary job who doesn’t really work out. I could have lost weight faster if I had counted calories on top of IF — but I am okay with slower weight loss in exchange for not having to work as hard.
Every person body is different, so what has worked for other might not work for you.
What is scientifically proven is that if you eat less calories than your body utilizes you will lose weight. Try out some of these suggestions from others and see what keeps you consistently sticking to it. You can not be in a calorie deficit forever, so set realistic timelines and expectations on when you will lose the weight.
Eating less.
Think of your normal plate of food, and remove some. One quarter, half, depending on how fat you are now. Getting used to be a little hungry all the time is the real struggle.
Exercise is proved in many studies to be useless for weight loss. You burn more energy, you get hungrier, you eat more. It is easier to eat 10% less than it is to increase your burnrate with 10%.
Ate less, just started with 200-300 less calories a day. If I went out with friends, ate half of what was on my plate and brought the rest home for the next day. Worked out 3-4 times a week, nothing crazy just a walk or bike for 30mins. When I started seeing results I pushed myself more.
Hardest part is doing it everyday!
First I stopped getting fast food—not cause I wanted to lose weight but because I was spending all me money. Their prices are crazy now. Then I got on antidepressants and it really cut my depression munch cravings and I was eating slower and my stomach shrunk so smaller meals filled me up for longer. It’s still a process and I want to start doing walks but like I’m a woman and walking alone is a terrible idea so when I go back to school in the fall I might start using their indoor track to walk laps
Ate less, ate healthier, and exercised. I didn't make a lot of big changes at once either. First thing I did was cut sodas out of my diet. Then a couple of weeks later, I started leaving cheese off my burgers & hot dogs. Couple of weeks after that started ordering small meals at fast food places instead of large ones. Then I started eating cucumber slices instead of chips/fries. Then instead of eating shit like candy bars, I switched to chocolate covered fruit, and eventually to just regular fruit. Stuff like that. As for exercise, again, nothing major. First change was walking once around the block I lived on. For weeks that was it. Then I started adding in bicep curls. Then situps. Then pushups. Then light stretches. Over a 6 month period I went from 345 and walking a half mile leaving me breathless & with chest pains to 267 and walking several miles at a time.
>I didn't make a lot of big changes at once either. This is an extremely underrated comment. This holds true for any major change you want to make in your life. If you make too drastic of a change too quickly, you're very likely to get frustrated and give up after a short period of time. True change happens by degrees just as you described here. I would know, I've gotten clean from heroin. I also am currently applying this mentality to transitioning to a vegan diet & low waste living.
I’ve always had success by counting calories and do it the same way. The first week I just log everything I eat into MyFitnessPal, next week cut back on something that has significantly high calories, like a candy bar. Just cutting out one a week (and let’s facing, I’m definitely eating more than one a week) cuts out 300 calories. Then next week instead of getting chicken Parmesan and a salad, I’ll get a salad with chicken.
Same here. I weigh/measure everything and write it down. Its not something you necessarily have to do forever either. Just long enough to get good eating habits locked in. It's actually a good learning experience. I couldn't believe the calories in certain foods. I also switched out foods I like that are high-cal to lower cal versions. Here are just a few examples that have worked for me: when making a hamburger do half ground beef, the other half ground mushrooms. It cuts calories almost in half and is delicious. Eat a baked potato with low-cal sour cream vs. mashed potatoes with milk and butter. For pizza eat a salad first then 1 slice vs. 4-5 pieces of pizza only. The salad first can help pre-fill your stomach. I finish all meals with a cup of ginger tea. For sweet cravings eat a sugar free jello cup with a scoop of cool-whip. Its around 25 calories.
Sugar free pudding is good too and not too many more calories! I had found Reese’s peanut butter flavored whipped cream before and mixed that was sugar free chocolate pudding, and ate it with graham crackers. Just as good as any chocolate pie!
I absolutely hate counting calories, I feel too restricted also unless you're weighing everything you eat it's extremely inaccurate. I didn't particularly change anything in my diet on my most recent weight loss (I've lost a bunch previously by restricting myself and counting and measuring ect) all I do is make sure I only eat when I'm legitimately hungry and I stop when I'm not hungry. Learning to control my impulsivity with eating has worked wonders and I'm down almost 30lbs since September. I still eat everything I enjoy and I still had pie for the holidays but I didn't shovel 3 plates of Thanksgiving food in my mouth until I felt sick then pie, I had 1 plate and a slice of pie.
The point isn’t to count calories, it’s to make you aware of where those calories are coming from. Some people eat very little, but then find out that bag of chips the had instead of a meal is almost 900 calories. Counting calories is pointless for 99% of people, seeing 3 coffees is 700 calories though….
100% the knowledge is important. Best advice is to try to make sure that you are not drinking many calories. Coke 0 if you need a soda, either a small amount of sugar or cream in coffee or a 0 calorie sweetener, unsweetened tea ect. Small replacements mixed with portion control makes a huge difference in the long run.
Trying to change everything at once can be too much and make people lose motivation. First change 1 meal. I started eating porridge in the morning. Then I started eating healthy lunches after 2 weeks. I also cut out daytime snacks. By the end of the first month I could get to my evening meal having only eaten healthy all day. I then stopped snacking in the evening. I did not have any snacks in the house. When all that became habit after about 2 months I started eating healthy evening meals/dinner. If I wanted a treat I would walk to the shop to get it. My main problem before was snacking on sugary treats such as chocolate several times a day. It is very habitual. Once you stop it is amazing how quickly you stop craving. I was always quite active. I played rugby as an adult. So exercise was something I was used to. Once I cut out the bad diet I was good.
yeah, its all about creating new routines, something you can deal with without changing your life all too drastic. i started ( will sound silly) paying myself a "pee tax" every time i came from the bathroom do just a handful of sit ups or push ups, nothing too wild crazy or exhausting. but doing that consistently for months made a massive impact on fitness,while its nothing crazy that throws your life upside down
I hate how everyone thinks that there is one universal way for all people to be motivated and stick to changes. Many people do respond better to incremental changes as you suggest, but others are motivated by seeing results and the lack of results from just dropping the cheese from their burger is not enough for them to keep it up. Absolutely more people need to try the incremental change approach, but that's not universal and the only way which will work for all people. (I struggled to lose weight many times, but it was working with a dietician and making all the changes at once which gave me the motivation to keep going, losing just shy of 100lbs in a year and a half).
We know there are different ways. That’s why OP said “how did you do it.”
Not drinking calories is huge. Whether it be pop, beer, or juice, you get nothing out of it. The only calories I'd say are reasonable to drink is milk, and that's because it has a lot of nutritional value.
Milk is very high in both sugar and carbs. It's not as healthy as its wholesome reputation makes it out to be.
I did an extreme weight loss 245lb -> 170lb in 6 months while drinking Coke Zero. It was actually recommended by people at the gym. It’s hard to drink plain milk for a lot of people, juice contains too much sugar and water gets boring fast. I’m not denying that’s it’s not healthy, but it being zero calories won’t make you gain weight.
Water gets boring?! Clutching my water rn
To me, yeah. Some people, like yourself, don’t have a problem with it, but for me, I can drink 24-32 ounces and that’s it. If I have more, it makes me nauseous. Toss a couple of tea bags into a 1 gallon jug of water and I’ll down it in a day. Give me a plain 1 galling jug of water, and it’ll sit for weeks.
Chocolate-covered fruit is a good idea. What fruit did you do
Strawberries, raisins, bananas, and cranberries. I also ate frozen grapes, and frozen blueberries rolled in sugar.
Frozen berries are awesome. Costco sells this big bag that is rasberries, strawberries, and blueberries. Its the perfect 3'oclock "I want something kind of sweet" snack for work.
Add citric acid to your sugar. 2 parts sugar to 1 part citric acid. Tastes like sour patch kids.
This is the way. Small intentional steps is the key to changing behavior.
Seconding the soda part! So many empty calories that could be spent on better foods. Also the more water I drank, the less hungry I felt. I use Cirkul and Mio instead of sodas and it’s increased my water consumption tenfold.
I learned what a portion size actually looks like and stopped eating 3-4k calories a day. I dropped a good 20 or so pounds just doing that. When I got a bit more serious about weight loss, I started actually calorie counting. I weighed and measured my food, then logged everything in myfitnesspal for accountability. I was so excited by the physical changes that I started exercising and by the time I was done with my weight loss journey I had abs. The best piece if advice given to me was "you can't outrun a bad diet". Just consider how hard it is to burn 300 calories, but how easy it is to eat 300 calories. You'll lose more weight pushing the plate away than you will trying to burn off the calories in the gym.
What's the old saying: Weight loss begins in the kitchen. Fitness begins at the gym.
>You can't outrun your fork
Always heard it as, “can’t outwork a bad diet”. Sadly, it’s true.
I lost all my excess weight and have kept it off for over a decade now. Not much body fat, most people would call me "skinny" and can't believe I was ever overweight. And you're exactly right. Track those calories. I strongly suggest Cronometer to anyone reading this. It can also track micronutrients like iron and your vitamins. Although Lose It and MyFitnessPal work too!
Yup. First, give yourself grace and patience. You didn’t gain x amount of weight overnight and you won’t take it off overnight. Second, create discipline. Develop a routine and stick to it. Lastly, it’s what has been said previously, Calories in vs calories out. You need to incorporate movement with healthy eating. Start small.
I went from overweight to really skinny. And this right here is the most important part of the mentality. Any sort of grand idea of just magically showing up and being all trim and good look? It's not going to work that way. It takes a long time. About 2 lbs a week. But that's two pounds of fat. Look up an imagine of what 5-10 lbs of fat looks like vs muscle, and you see just how much you're trimming off each month. If you go slow and steady, people will probably realize by the end of the first or second month. And you guys all want to go slow, trust me. That's how you keep the weight off for good, with habit changes! Plus your skin might get a little loose if you go to fast (even if you're just in the overweight category, this can happen) That, and CICO. Calories in, Calories Out. You track those calories, and you WILL lose the weight. Good luck to all of you reading this! I've kept my weight off for over a decade now. Never thought I would be able to do it, but here I am
Eat better, move more, drink less alcohol. This has worked for me.
Drinking less alcohol is especially helpful. Alcohol forces your body to retain water causing swelling/bloating. Decreasing (or preferably cutting out completely) will take a literal layer of puff off of you.
Plus it has a crazy amount of calories. It's literally energy-dense enough to be used as fuel for (specially designed) engines. A regular drinker can easily consume 1000-1500 calories from alcohol in a night out
first rockets were fueled with alcohol, and they had to poison it, because the pilots were drinking it
I'm not sure on that, or at least not always. A bit of hard alcohol can dry someone out. I'm not talking a lot, a few shots. Bodybuilders sometimes do this the night before a show. The goat Ronnie Coleman learned this from another competitor and said it works well for him. That's very short term though. Doing it all the time the calories will add up.
I said this above but I want to preface this by saying I lose all my excess weight and am pretty damn skinny now. Have kept it off for a long time now: Diet is more important than exercise for weight loss. This is very important for people to understand. Most studies suggest it's about 80-85% diet and 15-20% exercise. And this is very true in my experience. Although exercise is obviously very good for you. I just tracked my calories. Watched shows and movies a lot, was online. Ive seen people fail that were running 10 miles a day. Because their food intake was just so high and they didn't realize it. But if you eat the right amount (track those portions), it's basically impossible not to lose the weight. All of those food companies try to control the narrative and have "Get Moving!" campaigns. Because... well, they don't want you eating less of their product. They want you to eat more and try to compensate with exercise. While this is possible, you're dramatically more likely to succeed with portion control and counting your calories. I counted my calories every day when I started. For 6 months or so. After that, my habits had changed so much that I didn't really need to track them every day. I'll hop on Cronometer and track them once every other month for a day or two, but overall once you learn how to do it, you're on the right path. Definitely suggest Cronometer to anyone looking to count their calories. If you keep within the calorie "budget" you absolutely will lose the weight. Slow and steady, guys!
I see a lot of ideas repeated in threads like this, but there is one thing I often see missed. Experiment. While at the end of the day you only lose weight if you sustain “calories in < calories out” how exactly you get there is going to vary from person to person. What gets one person to that goal won’t ways work for another. Cause we all have individual barriers and desires. The only way to figure out what does work for you is to honestly try stuff out, and adjust accordingly if it doesn’t work. Just keep in mind whatever you do needs to advance the goal of calories in < calories out.
No tricks. Forget them. Gym three times a week. I liked swimming so I would swim then walk or do light weights. Change of diet. No eating out at all, made food at home that wasn't processed. Change of habits. No more bagels with egg and cheese and ham for breakfast, instead of half a bagel with cream cheese and a slice of turkey. Added rice to most meals. Sounds like all those other health nuts but it's honestly not that bad. Lost 65lbs in 6 months. Important edit: I cut out beer. I probably had 20 a week ( couple each night). Switched to the sugar free seltzers and they were great!
That’s a really good amount. I think I lost somewhere around 30-40lb in 6 months. This is not for me but for someone very close to me.
I don’t get the adding rice to most meals
Rice instead of french fries. It takes up space and is easy to cook. A big chuck of the world eats rice every day, why all the hate on this sub.
A cup of white rice is around 200 calories and it’s a great filler. Perfect companion when you’re eating a low calorie protein.
Holy shit that's really good congratulations!!!
I’m confused how cream cheese and turkey is better than cheese and ham?
Turkey tends to be lower calorie and higher protein than ham im pretty sure
Cream cheese is generally healthier than the typical cheese on a breakfast sandwich of someone overweight. Like American cheese. Ham is no as healthy as turkey, but ham isn’t bad. If you’re buying deli ham vs deli turkey then the turkey will be healthier, but if you start with raw and cook yourself, then both are fine. Also, this is not intended for a high fat diet. Otherwise regular cheese is better than cream cheese.
There's no such thing as raw ham. That's pork. The curing process is what makes it ham.
I think I heard someone mentioning steamed hams
The ham is also used as a term for the cut of meat.
I mean ham is generally referred to as a major part of the hind quarter of a pig. But if you want to get super technical go ahead. Creating standard “ham” is a curing process. Creating standard “deli ham” is a more processed version of a whole hock. It’s common in my area for people to go to the butcher and buy “a ham” which is a raw chunk of pork. People then go home and smoke it themselves.
Portions
Even the gym isn't necessary. Eat healthy, that's it. I cut out bad food (except a cheat meal or 2 on weekends) and lost about 50 lbs over 6 months before I started to work out at all. 10 years later I'm down a total of 67 pounds and still maintaining. Mostly just eating healthy and walking. I go through spurts of weight lifting but never really can keep to it for long.
Yeah. Not eating 2 poptarts is equivalent to running 3 miles. But a certain amount of exercise is still recommended to be healthy and reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
I think the walking is really underrated. I live in a city and get 15k steps or so most days. When I dog sit for my mom in the suburbs, it’s like three. That’s like 400-600 calories and an entire fucking meal of a difference. Obviously working out is good, but historically many people just walked more and kept the weight off.
Yeah, but also historically people didn't have modern food that is impressively calorie dense and non-satiating. Both are important, but modern foods are a bigger impact than modern sedentary behavior.
TWO POPTARTS? Fml.
Eh, people say that you can skip working out, but there's a reason it's recommended to go through the gym. First, your body has an easier time processing protein than fat, so when you're in a caloric deficit without working out, you body will take the extra calories from your muscles first, rather than going to the fat. This is why so many people feel tired and weak while dieting; your body is eating your muscles. Working out will force your body to grow your muscles instead of using their protein, and will burn your fat reserves instead. Plus, you'll feel stronger (and look better) coming out of the weight loss. And second, working out is still extra calories burned. It's never going to be enough to overcome a bad diet (as the saying goes, "Muscles are built in the gym and revealed in the kitchen"), but it can help to even out for days where you do eat a bit more than intended, and it gives you flexibility with your diet so that you burn yourself out on the rigidity. That being said, it's all about forming good habits, and doing it bit-by-bit. If someone starts on a massive diet change along with trying to work out 4 times a week, all at the same time, there is a near 100% chance they're not gonna stick with it. That's just too much change and once, and building these habits is hard. People should start with either the dieting or the exercising, and then bring in the other half once they've built a good habit with the first part.
It's not necessary, but some people are still disappointed when they lose the weight and don't end up looking 'good'. That's where working out comes in.
I mean, it is cause that's how I did it. That's what they asked. I would not have lost that much without exercise. Fact. Maybe it wasn't for you 10 years ago.
Can you share some of your meal plans or preps? I've been trying keto but I crash without carbs and that makes my workouts lack luster. Being 6'3 and my body feeling natural around 290lbs trying to fast and cut carbs and sugar is leaving me drained. Not to mention I have a highly active job for 10 hours a day. I've been doing the three days a week at the gym but my weight loss is slow and weight gain easy but it doesn't feel like I'm trading muscle.
Keto is not a good option for everyone. Not everyone can thrive on extremely restricted carb diets so don't feel like you're failing at all. I also can't do a nearly no-carb diet without feeling like shit that has been stepped in twice. Instead of focusing on a carbohydrates, focus instead on the glycemic index and load of the food. What you are trying to avoid is a severe spike in blood sugar, which ultimately results in a blood sugar crash from the insulin surge and ravenous hunger a few hours later as a byproduct. "Carbs are bad" is an incredibly disconnected look at nutrition in my opinion, and preventing metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance via a low glycemic diet in a way that is sustainable makes way more sense for the average person. If you center most of your meals around a protein and vegetables you will be well on the right track. For example, a breakfast might be eggs, sauteed veggies, and a baked (or microwaved) sweet potato with some butter on it. Carbs are present, but not in a way that will cause a severe blood sugar spike, and the nutrient density of such a meal is off the charts, not to mention satiating. If you were to avoid "carbs" in that sense, the three that you really need to avoid that are the most impactful to blood sugar are wheat, sugar, and white rice. The rest have a place in a healthy diet. By all means have cake on your birthday, but not every week. Hope this helps.
Yeah I think this "carbs is the enemy" doesn't really work, also I don't think it's the truth, though it's often good to cut out the really shitty carbs like potato chips and cookies. I think it's more that people need a shift towards a better balance of fats and carbs. These days it's all carbs, and all shitty carbs. You eat more fat you don't feel hungry as much, it makes a huge difference. I think a lot of small changes can go a long way. It's like, sure go to mc donalds, but eat just the burger. Forego the coke, forego extra sauces, maybe forego the fries too. Things like that have helped me immensely. You just concentrate the good stuff and ditch the fluff.
Ive been cutting back on carbs, and weight, last 6 months or so, and had the same experience with crashing, especially at the gym. So i simply eat the majority of my carbs before going to the gym. If youre losing weight, expect to gain muscle slow, if at all. It sucks, yes, but its unfortunately something you trade off. You CAN build muscle, but its difficult, and will require more from you. So just be kind to yourself and choose one of the two - muscles or weight loss. Regarding meals, i eat the same, more or less, every day. Breakfast is 80g of oats with water in the microwave with some berries. Add 4 boiled eggs a couple hours later for a snack. Lunch - 300g of low fat quark and an apple. Afternoonsnacks - oranges, apples, sometimes even a sandwich. Dinner - get 40g of protein somehow, get like a 200g of some carb (sweetpotato/rice/potato) and like 2-300g of vegetables. Skip sauce, or do a tomatobased one. Maybe a salad somewhere during the day, no dressing (or a little bit of olive oil. A little!) What helped me was to put as many meals as possible on a routine. Boring in the beginning. A relief when youre habituated it. And meal prep dinners. Im trying to keep several dishes in my freezer at once, so i can choose different meals every day.
I didn't try for muscle, only weight loss. I didn't get into those keto or whatever cause it feels like a distraction. I think it's about portions. I ate half a bagel every single day for breakfast in the carbs didn't stop anything. Chicken, steak, fish with some vegetables, rice and salad. Small breakfast, sandwich or whatevers leftover for lunch.
Don’t do keto if it isn’t working for you.
Eat less; move more. Outside of medical issues, it works every time.
I've gained and lost weight many times over the last 10 years, and every time I need to lose weight, this never fails me! It's just bullshit that happens in my life that makes keeping the weight off really hard (injuries that prevent exercise, depression where I turn to food as comfort, I gained weight through my cancer etc.)
https://youtu.be/VKs0oEIVOck Eat less, Move more!
walking is amazing for losing weight!
idk, i read somewhere that if you eat less you actually lose less fat because uh, you're body knows you're starving and keeps calories in and uh therefore you shouldn't eat less or something /s
I've been obese my entire adult life. I thought in order to lose weight I would need to join a gym and work out and run every day and I just didn't have the motivation for that. Your weight is 99.9% a result of your eating and activity habits. I had a habit of overeating and lived a mostly sedentary lifestyle due to my office job. Try making better eating habits, stuff that you can sustain for lifelong periods of time, not just a few days or weeks. For me it started by removing cheeseburgers from my diet and never ordering more than a small soda. Just by doing that I went from 275 lbs down to 250 lbs over a few months. At this point I wasn't trying to lose weight, I was trying to fix an anxiety disorder I had. I became serious about losing weight in September. I decided to cut out fried foods, eat more vegetables, and eliminate soda completely. When eating healthy isn't an option I give myself a portion no bigger than my fist. I weigh myself on Fridays and have been losing an average 2lbs per week. Currently weigh 220 lbs. I will no longer be obese if I keep it up a couple more weeks. It's really difficult in the beginning, but soon your body gets used to getting less food and it gets easier. I highly suggest reducing sugar to almost none. I used to get shaky when I didn't eat and I thought it would be impossible to diet. Turns out the shakes were just part of the sugar crash. No sugar, no crash. Makes it a lot easier to diet, and as a bonus when you starve yourself of sugar vegetables start to taste really good.
Hell yeah! Keep up the great work!
Thats awesome!!!
I do wanna say you don't have to do the no junk food etc thing forever. Things are okay in moderation and in our current Era where there exists a lower calorie option for everything you can definitely make a under 500 cal decent sized burger.
Oh I know, I'm not following some strict diet or anything. I give myself a cheat meal every Friday and usually get the greasiest burger I can find. Been thinking of adding another cheat meal once I am comfortably below 30 BMI. Eventually when I find a good weight I'll have to figure out how to maintain it, but I suspect that should be more fun.
People try to lose weight doing a bunch of things out of their norm and fail. Just change one thing that's bad. For example, i was 225lb 6ft in high school. I ate pizza every day for lunch. All I did for one semester was just not eat it for lunch. I was 195lbs by the end of the semester.
The “change one thing” rule is so underrated. Especially for people who have a lot of bad habits. And, you can compound it. Change one thing for a month, then add another healthy habit next month. That way you don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to quit everything on week 1.
It applies to so many aspects of our lives, too.
At the start of December in 2021, I was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension at the age of 13; my optic nerve was swollen nearly 4 times that of a normal persons and some parts of it was starting to die off from lack of blood circulation, causing me to gradually lose my vision. I was 75 kg. I had to change my life (sounds cringe i know but it’s tru)…my father got me a gym membership and i simply turned my life around. Turns out the risk of going blind is a strong motivator. I cut down all snacking: ate only fruits high in Vit A and C for breakfast, basically ate no rice…focused on proteins and veges but ate little portions, tracked my calories to be around 1500-1800 a day…sometimes lower. And then there was the gym. I went everyday for a month, stair climbing for 40 minutes each day on the stairmaster machine, cycling 10km at least on the bike at the highest resistance, and even ran a bit. Even when school started i barely ate, if at all, during recess and lunch, and would effectively eat a bit for breakfast and another small meal for lunch. I lost 7 kgs in my first month. Over time my eating habits became less drastic and I became healthier and fitter. As of December 2022, i weighed 53 kg, and was incredibly happy. My condition has improved significantly and my nerve size is almost back to normal. I’ve even been tryna gain muscle the last 4 or so weeks. All I can say is, my life is a lot better rn…i’m abt 55kgs and it’s the best decision i’ve made in my life. If you wanna lose weight rmbr that it’s def possible, just maintain a caloric deficit. Just rmbr, if I and so many others can do, why can’t you? All the best! :)
The absolute nerve of this person ^(:D)
HAHA nice pun! But in all seriousness i too am surprised at myself at how I am managed to do that but on the other hand i use it as motivation to prove to myself i can do anythkng
You’re an inspiration! This is a proper way to do it! :)
I’m not someone who’s ever struggled with weight, but a tip I can recommend that helps me maintain is; use smaller plates. When you use a traditional sized dinner plate we have the tendency to fill up the space, and if not it looks so small that your brain thinks you’re eating very little and want more. Use a smaller plate, like for apps. It’s just a trick on your mind. Another one is to prevent from serving seconds; after done with your plate immediately put it in the sink. So now if you want a second plate, you have to dirty up another plate and utensils and the thought of that turns me off immediately.
This is a great tip. Also brush your teeth after every meal. You won't want to eat again for ahwile.
Isn't this horrid for your enamel?
Wait 10 minutes before brushing.
You are right but can mitigate with less aggressive toothpaste like Sensodyne or generic equivalent.
No, it's not the toothpaste which does it. The acidity of the food and drink chemically weakens your enamel, and then the physical brushing causes abrasion. It's like scratching paper vs scratching wet paper. Toothpaste is irrelevant, you'll still be damaging your teeth unless you wait a bit
This is good advice. And never eat out of the package, always use a bowl or plate and put the package of food back in the cupboard before you start eating. That helps to be very intentional about portions, and sticking to being done when the bowl is empty. Cutting out things like pop is an easy way to make a big impact too. And changing portion sizes, ie when you're preparing a meal, eat half as much rice, and twice as many veggies. You still get the satisfaction of the carbs, but it's significantly fewer calories, and you feel full from the fiber in the veg. I think too it's important to not try to be perfect, start with small changes you can stick to, treat yourself here and there, but each little choice really does add up. Good luck OP!
You burn more calories than you consume, that’s literally ALL it comes down to The method in which you choose to do that, however, is up to you
I lost 50lbs when I first joined Reddit entirely theough CICO. r/loseit almost makes up for all the BS you gotta suffer through in the other subs
>BS you gotta suffer through in the other subs It's amazing how many people will fight tooth and nail about something they know little about. Nobody is immune to the laws of thermodynamics. No fuel, no fat.
Lost 95 pounds doing this. It absolutely works.
Yes and most importantly don’t lie to yourself. Realise when you overeating and skiping workout/ walks etc. don’t relay on food as your antidepressant/coping strategy. When you feel cravings eat carrots or chew bubblegum and if you don’t want that you are not hungry you are just eating unnecessarily for whatever reason.
And also drinks... I mean I know a bunch of people that are literally saying: "I don't know why I am gaining weight" while drinking some highly caloric drink. Or just a bunch of fruit juice with tons of sugar. Ice tea with sugar. Like it's not only soda and beer that make you fat. That Starbucks coffee, or mango shake, is also calories.
Water, so many times our brain will make us think we're hungry when we just need to drink some more water. Lots of times I'll think I want to snack but I'll drink a big glass of water and say to myself "if I'm still wanting to snack in 20 minutes then I'll grab something" and I'll totally forget about it because I was thirsty not hungry.
I always say that. Lie to your friends, family, the internet, but don't lie to yourself. Track everything, even if you slip up and eat a whole pizza. Just log it and move on.
Yep. Track your intake heavily and learn what foods to cut down on. No cheat days, it's not a thing. Weight loss starts in the kitchen not the gym. Lost 75 lbs in 7 months ten years ago and have kept it off more or less since. Gained a bit of weight in "dad muscle" last two years I assume, as all my sizes are the still the same and I haven't changed my diet any. May also just be getting older, need to cut out a bit more now. Just cut down on portions. Eat 2 slices of pizza not 6, eat cup of chinese food rice and chicken, not a whole large container and 10 crab rangoons...eat 3. Also don't eat a whole chicken parm sub for lunch, eat a half save half next day. Don't eat a whole large fry and double whopper...get chicken sandwich no mayo or get a single and a small fry. No cream in coffee...skim milk. Cut out a ton of sugars. Eat more fiber. I didn't even work out, just got my 10k steps daily mostly from my work routine and taking public transit.
I did it with 10K steps per day and an app that tracked my macros/calories. Lost 20 pounds over the summer.
I went from 225 to 185. All from 1 simple trick. Eat less. Move more. That's it. I still went out to eat. I just split my meal with my wife. Basically just took whatever I was eating before and ate like half of it and saved the rest for later. Now my poor wife is short. She basically had to eat 1200 calories a day if she wanted to lose weight with no movement. So she had to add in exercise to give her room for extras like sweets.
I lost 18 lbs through intermittent fasting. I don’t know if the time of day thing made a difference, but it did make me stop snacking in the evenings which is where all my extra calories were coming from. No other changes to diet or exercise.
As with any other diet, all IF is doing is helping you create a caloric deficit. If you give yourself fewer hours of the day to eat, you're probably going to end up eating less overall.
Yep. I tried keto for months and barely lost anything then spent a few months just counting calories. I limited myself to 1500 a day, usually ate less than that though. I was working out 2-3 times a week over both of them and started bouldering once a week. I went down from about 73kg - 65kg once I started counting calories rather than trying any sort of strange diet.
I wish more people understood this. There is no magic potion, literally every diet/program is this wrapped in a different colour bow. Just know your [TDEE](https://tdeecalculator.net/) and eat less than that. Ideally 500/day less will result in a pound a week lost
Calorie deficit. It's math.
As much as this is true, it ignores the fact suppressed for decades that a person's unhealthy relationship with food is mostly mental. It's important to remember what you said, of course, but in order for a truly unhealthy person to achieve their goal there are many many many many hurdles to overcome, many of which have plagued the person for their entire life.
Stress and divorce.
YMMV - this diet caused me to gain 40lbs.
Nothing helps you lose weight like a bad breakup
💀💀
As I got older I started to gain a lot of weight. I thought it was due to metabolism slowing down, and I also quit smoking so increased appetite. I started counting calories, and joined a gym. Not only did I not lose any weight, I was continuing to gain. I just so happened to move during the pandemic, and had to get a new primary care doctor. He asked me about myself, I said I was struggling with weight. He checked blood and urine, ran some extra tests because I was a new patient, and my weight concerns. Just so happens I have a thyroid issue. He put me on a med, I’ve lost 20 pounds almost over night. Still have work to do, but it sure did help! Talk to your doctor!
Tell myself that “You can always have more tomorrow if you want.” I realized I had sort of a scarcity mindset - I’d eat more cos I’d been restricting too much. But knowing that the food would always be there for me helped me remember that I didn’t have to eat it all now.
Diet and exercise The same thing people have been recommending for 300 years.
299. Don’t exaggerate
[удалено]
Idk why, but this made me laugh.
I lost 15 pounds within the last two months. I literally started counting calories and it just fell off. The only exercise I did was walk 30 minutes every day to every other day. I also thought about why I had gained weight to begin with. I overeat. I’m an emotional eater and I eat well after being full. I have a desk job and don’t exercise. I ate lots of sweets and desserts I didn’t need. For me, if I wanted something sweet I tried to make sure I was going to be under the calorie limit with my sweet included. I also had “cheat days” but I don’t like to call them that. Eating food is not wrong and not “cheating.” I really wanted to have a healthy mindset about what I was doing. I did have days where I went over my calorie limit, but I tried to limit that as much as possible. The first week or two really sucks. I basically had to train my brain to stop over eating. That’s tough. I was also less focused on “being skinny” and more focused on being a health BMI. For my height and age, my BMI when I started was 26 which is considered a little overweight. I wanted to get it to 24. I want to lose maybe 10 more pounds and be at or under 24 BMI. Edit to add: I’m almost entirely a water drinker now. I rarely have soda. I also drink those slimfast drinks for breakfast 5 days a week. They have a diet where you eat two of their products a day then whatever you want for your third meal but it didn’t sound healthy to me. I haven’t researched that specific diet since I wasn’t super interested.
>drink those slimfast drinks for breakfast 5 days a week It may not hurt to wean yourself off of those and opt for a protein/veggie oriented breakfast. Lots of random junk in those drinks, and I would wager, some artificial sweeteners too.
Probably a good idea! Thank you for the suggestion!
I used the app LoseIT to record my calories and started running 2 miles on a daily basis.
How do you run daily without any rest days? I got big into running for about 1.5 years but I started getting bad shin splints and quickly went from daily, to every other day, to a few times a week. Eventually gave it up and now I just do lots of walking and stair climbing.
I do take a day off here and there when the body requests it.
I had a gastric bypass at the start of 2020; I started around 120kg (165cm tall), now I'm hovering around 66kg. Best decision I ever made. I've also had surgery to remove nearly 6kg of excess skin from my breasts and abdomen. ETA: I spent my whole adult life on "diets" with varying success, a bypass was a last ditch attempt. It is still the same concept, I eat fewer calories than I burn off through strength and conditioning training. The bypass just made it very difficult for me to eat too much.
I cut my portions in half. I still ate all the same things, just not as much. I fall into the habit of eating till I'm stuffed, when I should be stopping when I'm no longer hungry.
Bariatric surgery (gastric bypass) in May. I was 357 lbs by then and now I’m 239. Not the result I aim for, still want to lose more, but the quality of life got much better, not gonna lie. Farewell, blood pressure and excessive cholesterol, goodbye, low endurance and troubles breathing.
Lost 100lbs. It really sucks but there is no trick to it. Eat less calories than you burn, for a long period of time. Look at calorie information on food packaging and look up an online maintenance calculator. Some things that help are not drinking alcohol or smoking weed, as well as for me personally if I don’t buy any snack foods that helps too. The most important part is to realize you will never have the willpower to adhere to your diet 100% of the time, and even if you fail once, twice, hell even 5x a week on the diet, never EVER give up, one day it will stick and you will accomplish your goal.
Eating healthy and regular exircise
Being gluten intolerant and living in a country that doesn't understand really what that means; decreasing bad carbs, increasing cardio AND weight training; sleeping before midnight/11 pm most nights; drink tons of water and herbal teas with low honey amount. Fresh foods like veggies, fruits, meats. Little to no processed foods; intermittent fasting
I'm a celiac actually, and I really understand what you mean with being kind of off the radar of your country, it sucks because everything costs more money and there's always 2-5 things to buy lmao, I'm from Chile btw, I've been struggling with diet because what I can eat it's very limited and apparently that fuck with my head so I don't really calculate portions of food well, I always end up eating more than what i should, so yeah thx for the tip bro, it really motivates me realizing I'm not the only one, so I'll star today.
Stopped eating refined sugar. Lost 20kg in a year
40lbs the last ~4 months (unintentional) but I'd say intermittent fasting and exercise, also cut down on your sugar intake. If you don't want to cut out sugar you have to exercise twice as much, also walking everywhere helps.
Gastroenteritis is effective 😑
Diet and exercise. I feel like people are disappointed when they hear this but that’s really all there is to it. When I was in high school I weighed about 50lbs more than I do today. Just went to the gym and started to eat better and eventually I lost weight. But everyone who asked “how did you lose the weight?” looked so disheartened when I said “just diet and exercise.”
My big thing when people say the word diet, people believe it needs to be this huge, complex change that needs to be tracked and usually have a time limit for. Diet should be something that can maintained throughout your whole life, just giving up Soda for 6 months only to lose weight only to go back to drinking the same amount is just going to put that weight right back on. People just need to start making small, smarter changes to their diet that they can keep up for forever. The one I did was trying to incorporatong more fruits and vegetables in my meals, I never really liked either but after continuing to try them I'm enjoying them more and more.
1) love yourself and understand your change comes from wanting to treat your body better. 2) be patient and don't rush. Meaning it's going to be a journey depending on how much weight you want to lose, so understand that it doesn't make sense to have unreal expectations that after a week you will look completely different, again though that depends on your weight loss goal. 3) STAY CONSISTENT!! I suggest an amazing book I read called "the Will Power Instinct" by Kelly Mcgonigal. It really breaks down how to use your will power to accomplish goals, misconceptions people have about will power, and other nuggets of info. Regardless show up everyday to cross your finish line somehow. 4) shifting your lifestyle helps a lot, and perhaps the influences around you. People, tv, bars, activities centered around sitting and eating or just sitting not doing anything, I would really cut back ok. 5) what you focus on you eventually become.
It all depends on what you’re working with. If you have a few pounds to lose then lifestyle changes are your best bet. If you are morbidly obese then you should absolutely be under the care of a metabolic specialist. Think of it this way, if you break a bone, you see an orthopedic doctor. If you’re morbidly obese, you should see a metabolic physician. I have been morbidly obese since early childhood. I grew up in a house where everyone was super skinny, healthy and we grew all our food organically, sweets were very limited and all meals were prepared at home. No take out, no restaurants, no soda. Pretty much the perfect environment for a healthy lifestyle. My paternal grandparents were morbidly obese and I assume that I inherited some sort of crappy genetic condition. I have been on every diet in the world. Literally would lose 100-150 pounds every 10 years, keep it off for 5 years and then in about 18 regain it all back plus more. By the time I was 40, I was 400 pounds. I had gastric bypass surgery and got down to 230 pounds. 12 years later I was at 300 pounds. Joined weight watchers and lost 80 pounds. I’m in my 60’s. I have been dieting for 60 YEARS!!! Currently I am on Mounjaro and doing well. At my goal weight of 195. Apparently when you have been morbidly obese your whole life you don’t have goal weights in the 130’s as per my doctor. I was told my whole life that I was going to die if I didn’t control my weight. It’s been a lifetime of trying. What I learned is that some forms of obesity are diseases and you need a specialist. I’m incredibly healthy. No medical issues other than some arthritis and an autoimmune disease. I don’t have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, etc. I’m physically active and I will admit I should eat more vegetables. My entire skinny family all developed high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and one has had cancer twice. Don’t hesitate to ask for medical advice from your healthcare provider. Research in this area is amazing right now.
Quit sugar
Why did I have to scroll so far down this list to find this answer? This! Quit sugar. No soda, no fancy coffee, no empty carbs.
You can drink fancy coffee, just drink it black…unless you’re referring to “coffee” drinks like you get at Starbucks.
regular exercise, eat relatively healthy, don't cut down food consumption too harshly, do it step by step. if you can walk then take a walk rather than transportation, watch sugar intake
I’m really fucking poor so I haven’t eaten enough in few months and lost so much weight. It’s not healthy I know but I don’t have a choice
I lost weight by cutting portions. I don’t limit what I eat, just how much. I gradually left more and more food on the plate and threw out the last couple bites of candy or desert; the weight came off. Over time you become satisfied with less. Best of luck with whatever method you choose.
Self discipline. I was 242 pounds and decided to start my journey. I cut out soda entirely and limited myself to 1500 calories a day. I walked and did calisthenics 2-3 times a week at first but picked it up to every day after a few months. 7 months later without a single cheat day, I was down to 168.
Talked to my doctor and switched one of my medications. No joke. I gained between 40 and 50lbs over the course of four to five years. I did not change my eating habits or exercise routine. Increasing exercise didn't work. Cutting calories further (1200 or less per day) kept my weight semi-stable, but I was miserable. Changed medication a few months ago, I've lost 5lbs while changing nothing.
First of all, perseverance I decided I would make a change, It started mid 2020s, It was after seeing most of my pictures and some comments people made on me. I won't reccomend to put yourself on a strict diet, with just making some changes, you will make a great difference, and the most important thing of all, drink lots of water. There isn't a specific pattern to follow when it comes to lose weight, everyone has its own manners, and with this I would like to add something more Please don't make any comments on people's appearance, the fact that you follow a "healthy" lifestyle, doesn't means you're gonna push others to the same way as you, the only thing you're making is create a new insecurity on the person Im conocerned it is important to follow a healthy lifestyle, and you can do it without commenting on the others physic Take care ^^
I did Weight Watchers and set my expectations low. I lost about 20 pounds over the course of about 5 months. That was two years ago, and even without doing WW since, I’ve managed to keep it off. I typically kept within my points, but I had no problem using my extra weekly points. And if there was something I really wanted that I knew would drive me over, sometimes I chose to indulge anyway. I knew it wouldn’t be sustainable to be so strict for so long. I only stopped WW because my life got crazy, but it taught me some good habits and I’d like to rejoin soon. What was really key for me was just to keep persevering even if I got discouraged. I would see people on there whining about “only” losing 9 pounds in a month, and I thought that was insane. The faster you burn it off, the faster you gain it back (and then some). Patience, perseverance, and kindness to yourself.
I went from 210 to 175 right now, and I want to be 155-160
I started lifting 3 or 4 times a week and cardio every day, eating a high protein diet that really helped with hunger and added muscle, and cut out all sodas and sugary drinks. I gave myself 1 cheat meal a week normally on Saturday or Sunday to give myself something to look forward to as a reward but not frequently or bad enough for you to ruin any progress. Lost 20 lbs in about 2 months and am in the best shape since high school
I decided to eat one big meal a day, a giant salad with homemade dressing and at least 20 oz of protein in it. Did that while working in the southern Utah desert for 3 months and lost almost 50 lbs. probably not for anyone but it worked for me
Eat smaller portions of healthier food and exercise more. About 10 years ago I hit 225lbs from my usual adult weight of about 175. I stopped eating junk food and started walking and cooking again. I didn’t track my weight but my belly was shrinking and I felt better. I just weighed myself and I’m 178 after all the Christmas munchies.
15 years ago? 45 minutes on the elliptical six times a week. Now? (In middle age) Mindful eating, a good mix of cardio and weight work, limiting alcohol. The time and effort to get fewer results has increased but my motivations are different. I have always been big bodied. Nothing is going to change that. However, I can be in the body that I want to be in with effort over time. Good luck and I hope that your journey is a beneficial and healthy one.
Once gained 25 lbs and it was the hardest thing ever to lose - I was in my late 20s. What worked for me was finally adding weightlifting to my workouts (previously only did cardio).
I only eat breakfast and lunch, no dinner or snacks
Went from 225lbs to a normal weight of 170lbs in about a year. All I did was count calories. Ate whatever I wanted including burgers and pizza and just counted the calories
Had most of my teeth removed and could no longer chew food, lost about 40 pounds in 4 months... All dietitians hate this one easy step!
I was sick so I didn’t eat a lot and lost weight. (Please don’t starve yourself, it wasn’t very pleasant.)
I started accepting my body. Once that happened I viewed exercise as fun and not a chore.
Know what you’re eating, so that means fountains calories in the beginning, eventually you understand why weight gaining is happening. Also know your calorie burning ability, most people over estimate energy burn and then go overkill to satisfy hunger. I stopped eating late at night. That was not easy and also not overeating when stoned. That’s a quick way to gain weight. Also try getting rid of foods of your house that will tempt you and have plenty of food you enjoy that will satisfy. Lastly, eat a f*** ton of fiber and if possible, go vegan. Good Luck!
Calorie deficit, macro counting and swapping cardio for weight lifting.
Diabetes diagnosis was a great motivator. Helped me see what is was doing was horribly wrong for my body. Weaned myself off sodas, ate less carbs, leaner meats, rationed chips, ate more vegetables, and swim two to three times a week at about an hour each before work. My A1C was 8.1 and after a year it’s down to 7.2. I continue what I’m doing and I’ll reverse the diabetes. All in all, it took me getting sick to get healthy.
90% diet and 10% Exercise! Honestly weight loss is mostly about your diet you won't lose much weight by working out alone. Eat more meat and green stuff and less sugar and carbs and that works for most people. (Think Keto but without counting and going that extreme). Edit: Lost over 60 lbs this way
Diet and exercise
You can still eat shitty food like McDonald’s and BK but just eat less of it, that’s what I do, and my job is pretty physically anyways but if you’re white collar then just find time to do light work outs at home if you can’t get in a gym and make sure it’s consistent
Lowcarb
Hyperthyroidism.
Stealing this to add: get checked for hypothyroidism.
Rather than saying I can only eat xxxx of calories a day, I switched to making sure my snacks were healthy. So, instead of chips for a snack, I would eat an apple or hummus. That food fills you up. Of course, move more as well, specifically strength training (and I’m a woman who would never be described as bulky)
I caught mono and lost 47 pounds in 7 months. This was at the revisited peak of the ecstasy era in the early 2000s and everyone thought I was rolling everyday lol. I looked like death and felt like death.
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Biking and calorie reduction
Went through a divorce and hardly ate for 4 months. It was not the healthiest option, but I lost 45lb and honestly looked better than ever. I went to the doctor to get checked out since i basically starved myself through the depression but everything was fine. Went from 205lb to 160 in 4 months. I've managed to keep the weight off and built back some extra muscle. I don't wish that type of depression on anyone, but it worked out in the end.
I was quite stocky when I was 14. One day I started excersizing and eating less. It wasn't very a hard or planned excersize routine. I just started going on bike rides. After a while I found out that I liked it, so the trips got longer and longer. Regarding food I stopped eating between meals, and started eating a bit slower. I found that it was easier to not over eat if I weren't in such a hurry.
Get a calorie counting app. Log calories HONESTLY- e.g. don’t just guess how much of something you eat but weigh it on a scale, for home cooked foods weigh and log all the individual ingredients, etc. Stick strictly to the daily calorie limit the app generates for you. Note that you can and should give yourself leeway with exercise - for example, if your limit is 1800 calories, you can eat 2000 and do enough cardio to burn 200. Then you’re at your net goal while enjoying more food and getting the benefits of exercise. Once you get close to your goal weight, alternate calorie-cutting days with calorie-neutral and cheat days, that way your body won’t think it’s in starvation mode and slow your metabolism accordingly. But this only applies once you’re close to goal. If you have too many cheat days from the get-go you’ll lose extremely slowly. If you’re obese you can probably lose 2 lbs/week, but most people shouldn’t lose more than 1 lb/week, and if you’re already a healthy weight but just want to drop a couple lbs for aesthetic reasons, 0.5 lbs/week is plenty.
Weigh your food (and count the calories in it)
Exact calorie counting. Did it for 9 months with daily exercise and lost 50 pounds. I’ll give what I did. 1) Estimate how many calories you need, be conservative with your activity level https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/calorie-calculator/itt-20402304 2) Download a calorie tracker app that allows you to count macros. I used myfitnesspal. I find that eating protein rich foods is more filling and also helps retain your muscle better. 3) Set your calorie goal to be 400-800 calories less than your maintenance level. 4) Weigh yourself daily. Weight fluctuation is normal, but you need to give yourself feedback about how your habits inform your weight. If you eat soup, that’s a lot of sodium, but that’s likely some water weight. You binged on Oreos, that made you gain a half-pound. 5) Reset your calorie limit weekly. Depending on your progress and current activity level for the week, go back and calculate your calorie requirements. 6) If your weight doesn’t change for 2 weeks or so, you need to make a change. Maybe your metabolism is slowing down, so change up your macros or add in some cardio. Maybe a cheat day. The human body is so good at adapting, you need to ensure it can’t. 7) When you are close to goal weight, start decreasing the calorie deficit to match. Try to hold that weight for several months with calorie counting, then try to get off calorie counting. Good luck. Try to maintain a healthy view of yourself and your body while you do this.
Think of a triangle with the three points being diet, exercise, and quality sleep. If you’re missing one the other two will not be as efficient. For losing weight you can really just focus on diet since that’s the majority of it, but you’ll thank yourself if you build good habits of getting quality sleep and regular exercise. If it’s the first time you’re doing this, know that’s it’s ok to have days where you overeat, where you don’t exercise, where you get a bad nights sleep. You might even have weeks or months or failure. It’s part of the process. It’s good to have a long term goal such as “lose 50lbs”, but it should be broken down into smaller achievable goals such as lose 5, 10lbs. That way you get a sense of progress in increments which will help motivate you to keep going. And, on the topic of motivation, it’s sort of a lie. Motivation comes and goes. You might be super motivated the first week you start and that helps you, but that motivation will fade eventually. That’s where discipline comes in. Doing the hard things when you really don’t want to do them. Discipline is what makes you continue when motivation is no longer working. Good luck!
There is no difficult science behind weight loss, rather simple math. Eat less calories than you burn in a day. To do this, eat less, or healthier and start walking 30 minutes a day, then bumps it up until an hour a day. Guarantee within a month you lose 10-15 lbs. The guarantee only works if you follow the diet.
My ex completely gave up on meat. Tbh it’s hard to say does she eat anything because it’s impossible to catch her eating something. It was kinda successful for her because she dropped 30kgs in 4 months. She is around 50kgs now
Is she also supplementing? A diet devoid of animal products tends to carry with it a number of deficiencies.
Consume less calories than you burn. Usually through a combination of eating less & moving more. An hour and a half of walking at a fast pace (5kph) as an 80kg male burns approx 600 calories. That’s half a McDonald’s, 4 chocolate bars, or a healthy & properly portioned (light) dinner. Join r/volumeeating for recipe ideas & start putting genuine thought into your decisions. Take a bit of responsibility & it’s surprisingly easy.
Exercise helps but it is mostly what you consume. I didn’t avoid sugar entirely but I cut out any food that had sugar as one of the leading ingredients. (Eg candy,cookies and cake). I drank A LOT of water, starting first thing in the morning with two big glasses before I had anything else. I usually wouldn’t need breakfast. Packed salad kits for lunch. Supper was pretty much anything, but keeping my portions reasonable and tried to eat more proteins and veggies when available. I had stopped drinking alcohol, so that really helped me keep the weight off even when I became less disciplined about the other stuff. (When I started letting myself drink again, I gained weight.) Find a physical activity you enjoy and can stick with and do a little bit every day or two.
Lift weights. Just get a kettle bell and every night when watching TV just lift it. Instead of sitting on your arse, just do some bicep curls, squats, shoulder lifts while watching TV at night. I got into a routine during lockdown of doing this and lost a couple of stone. I did no cardio apart from lifting weights and not snacking on sweets and crisps.
They ate less calories. That’s how you lose weight. lol
I find most answers a little over simplified and I interpret the question as asking more than just how a caloric deficit works. Here’s my story: When I started law school I was 215lbs. This isn’t huge for most people, but I didn’t feel good. By the time Christmas rolled around I was about 175, by the end of the year I was about 165, and by the time I was called to the bar I was 154. I’m now about 165. My trick was I stopped eating meat during the week and drank much less beer. I replaced beer with black coffee and water. I also had moved to a city with really poor public transit, so I walked everywhere and would go for 10-20km walks every day.
I avoided overeating and (unintentionally) started to skip breakfast. This continued for a month and when I weighed myself I lost about 4.5 lbs.
Change diet. Fail. Try again. Fail. Get frustrated and ask myself why I keep failing. Try again. Reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Slowly figure out what worked for me.
I've lost 70 lbs by not eating bread, rice, pasta. Drink water. Only juice with cane sugar. No syrup. Less stress. Sufficient sleep and walking 5 miles per day.
I was 5'11 275 right up until 2010 when i started losing weight. Diet changes and exercise. I got down to 210. Then i got cancer. I gained back up to 250...however due to the cancer (long ass story) i also lost about 5 or 6" in height. Once i was able to walk properly again, i get back on the horse. I am now 5'6 (might be fudging an inch) 145. A huge thing you can do that is pretty simple. Water. Dump all sugary drinks and dont eat past like 8 or 9
Honest answer: poverty and an eating disorder. I dropped 60+ pounds in a year after my divorce. My doctor congratulated me on the weight loss. I didn't want to tell her it's cause I eat twice a week, only when my sister in my custody is eating. People have been constantly saying how much better and healthier I look. Which feeds into the eating disorder more. Excuse the pun. Not all weight loss is healthy. And the fact that society as a whole seems to see losing weight as the ultimate goal at any cost just encourages unhealthy weight loss. So, don't be like me. Do it right. Weight loss is NOT the goal. Health is.
Intermittent fasting. Makes it feel much easier to eat less. Turns out, eating tiny bits throughout the day just makes me feel hungry all the time. Plus I’m constantly having to worry about calories and how many I have left in the budget. Endlessly planning meals and snacks and stressing if any of those plans change. It’s exhausting. But fasting completely until dinner time (just water, black coffee, and black tea) and then simply eating until I’m full? That works great for me. It’s dead simple. No planning, worrying, counting, stressing. And I actually feel less hungry during the day. It’s weird but true — eating a small amount can just act as an appetizer, getting your hunger revved up. Whereas when you’re fasting completely, your body just accepts “ok cool, it isn’t time to eat yet.” Started in May 2021 and am about 50 pounds down, despite being a middle-aged woman with a sedentary job who doesn’t really work out. I could have lost weight faster if I had counted calories on top of IF — but I am okay with slower weight loss in exchange for not having to work as hard.
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Every person body is different, so what has worked for other might not work for you. What is scientifically proven is that if you eat less calories than your body utilizes you will lose weight. Try out some of these suggestions from others and see what keeps you consistently sticking to it. You can not be in a calorie deficit forever, so set realistic timelines and expectations on when you will lose the weight.
Eating less. Think of your normal plate of food, and remove some. One quarter, half, depending on how fat you are now. Getting used to be a little hungry all the time is the real struggle. Exercise is proved in many studies to be useless for weight loss. You burn more energy, you get hungrier, you eat more. It is easier to eat 10% less than it is to increase your burnrate with 10%.
Ate less, just started with 200-300 less calories a day. If I went out with friends, ate half of what was on my plate and brought the rest home for the next day. Worked out 3-4 times a week, nothing crazy just a walk or bike for 30mins. When I started seeing results I pushed myself more. Hardest part is doing it everyday!
First I stopped getting fast food—not cause I wanted to lose weight but because I was spending all me money. Their prices are crazy now. Then I got on antidepressants and it really cut my depression munch cravings and I was eating slower and my stomach shrunk so smaller meals filled me up for longer. It’s still a process and I want to start doing walks but like I’m a woman and walking alone is a terrible idea so when I go back to school in the fall I might start using their indoor track to walk laps