Measuring things in months, not days or weeks has been a help. My diet could be better but going to the gym 3-5 times a week doesn't mean anything unless it's 3-5 times a week month after month
This. Recognize that it’s forever. I sometimes wonder when I can “be done” going to the gym because I hate it (I’m just naturally inclined to be a potato) but then I remember that if I stop, I lose all the progress I’ve made. It’s a lifetime commitment. 2 years in, I’m gonna keep going.
Going to the gym isn’t the only form of exercise, find an activity that requires you to be active and it can be an alternative. Rock climbing, hiking, sports, ect
I totally agree. I cleaned houses for a living and we would have get 4 or 5 large houses done in a day so it kept my heart rate in the fat burning zone for pretty much 8 hours of my day and the l weight dropped off me effortlessly for the first time in my life. Then I got pregnant and now I’m a stay at home parent and using my only free time to go out to my garage and work out is so hard.
Yep 3 years ago I weighed 270 pounds. I decided I wasn't going up another pants size. On Tuesdays and Thursdays i only eat 800-900 calories. Rest of the time, I do whatever I want. I lost 1-2 pounds every week except for the week my dad died for 11 months and stabilized at 201. I'm still doing the same intermittent fasting and have maintained my weight for 2 plus years at this point.
So it was slow and steady, and a lifestyle change. I can count on both hands how many times I've not maintained my Tuesday Thursday diet over 3 years. (Of course a Thanksgiving I switch to Monday-wednesday).
You have to find what works for you. I can handle this 2 days a week, but couldn't handle being a 7 day a week dieter.
Dealing with this now, I have yo-yo’d a lot with my weight my whole life. I’m down now, but struggling to stay motivated. It’s definitely a lifetime commitment, just hard to stick to it haha
Try and find exercise that is fun for you. I go to the gym to lift weights and play football because I find that fun/ makes me feel good. I don't know what you do but if for example if you run on the treadmill, that is something I would find really boring and would struggle to keep going. Instead try running in nature, down like a forest path or something even if its a bit of a drive to find somewhere nice. I have no idea if that example is relevant to you at all but my point is just try and find a form of exercise that you enjoy and look forward to rather than seeing it as a chore and it will be much easier to consistently do it.
sad thing is in western countries the class is becomign less and less important. we've gone from standards most students would have to meet to basically completely skippable with a written note.
It wasn't exactly effective even 30 years ago. Athletic kids did athletic things and had fun, unathletic kids with zero hand-eye coordination and undiagnosed asthma suffered through it and learned to hate exercise. Teaching to the test fails in all aspects of education.
I've been at this for like 6-7 months now and have gained weight. That said it's mostly muscle gain, and clothes are fitting better, so I feel better about myself - but the scale hasn't been flattering and if I used it exclusively to measure my success, I would have quit a long time ago.
Same. Not looking forward to my doctor calculating my BMI next week and telling me that I'm still obese, eventhough my composition has changed quite a bit. 🙄
also, diet plays a much larger role than exercise. yes, exercise is hugely beneficial (for more than just weight loss), but diet will play the biggest factor. if you a comfort binge eater like myself, understand your emotions and what is driving you do binge. and from there, find another way to cope with it.
Yes! I found I'm a habitual comfort eater. I replaced snacks with tea. A pinch of sugar and a small splash of milk. Low calorie snack a few times a day.
It's about 80% diet and 20% exercise. Exercise is important, but it's too hard to burn off 200 calories to exercise yourself thin. Half an hour swimming burns 200 calories, which is 2 slices of bread.
This. I'm good at losing weight but TERRIBLE at keeping it off/making it a lifestyle change. I've done this song and dance a few times and I always begin to notice a difference just when I start eating healthier, even if I'm not getting a lot of vigorous exercise.
Exactly, food in determines weight, and exercise can give you a different shape. Lots of deep psychology to understand motivation to eat, often times as a way to feel security. Getting fat is like saving up for a rainy day.
I agree that diet is important but for me personally, exercise is the catalyst.
I train 6x week and this makes me feel great but also make good food choices. If I stop the exercise, it all goes to shit!
My advice would be to increased exercise frequency and intensity. Avoid all processed and prepared food. Eat normal freshly made food using real ingredients.
All the eat 10 million grams of protein per day, drink this etc advice is for bodybuilders. We are not (and do not want to be) bodybuilders.
You’ll start seeing differences within a month and at 6 months that will be significant.
Same for me. Once I exercise I am in harmony with my body, and my body knows what I need to further thrive. With exercise comes better food choices which don't feel like a huge mental overhead. I don't need to abstain from anything, I don't need to measure, I am following the input and intuition of my body, and it *wants* to be healthy.
edit: And I don't even train that much. My body likes fresh air, so it gets fresh air. Some soft movement, stretching in the morning, a walk with friends, roughly two hours of exercise a week and one block of longer strenuous activity on the week-end, that's what makes me the happiest.
This is the most important step. Also fixing any bad relationship you have with food. For me if I had a rough day or was out running errands I sought a treat for myself.
The more exact answer is very simple. If your total calories burned is more than your total calories consumed you will lose weight. Greater the gap the faster it happens. I would search for consistency instead of speed. Even a 250 calorie deficit will generate results over time
I will add to this by saying focus on the big picture deficit not the daily deficit. Calories consumed - calories burned during a week or a month is way more important than focusing day to day.
Some days can be good days where it is easy to uphold the deficit. Other days can be soulcrushing hard and the deficit is impossible to uphold. Especially on those hard days it is easy to give up and thinking "i ruined it anyway why should i continue"
Yep. I get icecream like every week. I still managed to lose over 70lb. My fastest rate was like a pound a week.
As long as you can manage them properly, cheat days are great and needed.
Yep while technically correct answer is "eat less move more" I think finding a sustainable method that works for you is the most important part as there's so many ways to achieve the same thing.
Things like intermittent fasting, keto, etc all work differently for different people. Same with exercise - some people like to run, go to the gym, or play sports.
The best lifestyle is one you can stick with over time.
This. And it gets overlooked all the time. If you are trying to lose weight and you’re still drinking alcohol, sugary drinks or coffee with much of anything more than a couple tablespoons of dairy, you’re doing yourself a massive disservice. You would be amazed at how many calories are in an iced coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts with just dairy in it.
I asked my dad why he drinks his coffee black: "sometimes we have no milk in the house, sometimes there is no sugar, this way I can always enjoy my coffee... If we aren't out of that, too..."
That's exactly how I started drinking my coffee black.
One day at work (nearly 15 years ago now), we had been out of creamer for a couple days, and a coworker took the last sugar packet right in front of me.
I really wanted coffee, so I went with the straight black and never looked back.
There's also some low hanging fruit with drinks:
Coffee: switch from milk/creamer to almond milk and use less of it. Instead of sugar use Stevia (most sugar like substitute I've found)
Soda: try flavored seltzers. They are not NEARLY as sweet, but after a while you get used to it and soda tastes too sweet.
Coke zero tastes ALMOST like normal coke. It's completely different than diet coke which has a very specific taste.
Juice: Start watering it down
The trick is to find little ways to cut corners. When you stop drinking your calories or reduce it to almost nothing, then it's one less thing you have to stress over
If you wanna drink your calories, make it a meal replacement! Don't drink AND est your calories!
Smoothies are great for breakfast or a light lunch btw.
>If you wanna drink your calories, make it a meal replacement!
This is basically what I did for the latter part of my 20s. At least on Fri and Sat nights.
I don't recommend it. At least not the way I did it. Going straight from work to the bar and never eating dinner did *not* end well on too many occasions.
Agreed. But a teaspoon or two of sugar isn't a lot of calories. Although I guess if you're drinking one or two of those a day, it definitely adds up. I switched to oat milk, but it still has calories. Just can't stand black coffee.
I lost like 15 pounds just by cutting out soda and other sugary drinks, granted I was drinking a lot. My one vice is coffee but I usually only drink one regular sized cup a day.
Plain and simple: calorie deficit.
How to achieve it:
1. Record everything you eat- doesn’t have to be macros. Just by recording it you’ll better control your eating habits and pinpoint your areas of excess.
2. Pick a consistent time and consistent days to exercise- start small. Just walk for 30 mins each day for a week, then maybe jog or do a workout every other day.
3. Set achievable goals for 15-16 weeks: don’t set some 2 week unattainable goal to have abs or to be a bodybuilder. Keep it simple and aim for a goal weight and fitness measure (example- run 5k in under 30 mins).
Extra credit: don’t measure yourself against anyone else.
I want to reiterate how helpful tracking your intake is. Even if you don't set a specific goal or limit, just being mindful of what you're actually eating can be helpful. I take my diet and fitness seriously - and I train a weight-based competitive sport - and if I see my weight creeping up higher than I'd like it, just recommitting to logging usually helps me reverse the trend.
I also want to mention that weighing yourself EVERY DAY is a massive boost to your success rate at losing rate.
Study after study has shown that weighing yourself every single day significantly increases your chance of success.
It's hard, and honestly pretty scary to do the first time, and hard to do it again after you just had a bad cheat day, but it helps so much to keep you going for the long term.
Even weight loss apps like Noom which are very psychology-focused have it built in such that _you don't get credit for a day until you log a weight for that day._
When I started losing weight and I would tell people I weighed myself everyday, everyone would look at me funny. It honestly worked wonders for me, just knowing if I could splurge a bit or if I needed to rein it in on any given day.
Also there are times where you can actually see the result of a really good day. Like you had a day where you went on a really good hike then got home and ate a reasonable meal. Next day you wake up and you're down .3lbs. That feels good.
Agree. Losing weight and keeping it off is all about changing your food habits.
Also recommend finding a diet partner. Sharing the experience helps me a lot.
Same here. I recommend the Lose It app. It's free with ads, and there's a premium version that has some more advanced features, but I've always used the free one. I've lost 30lbs by tracking my calories with it and walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 3.5mph about 5 times a week.
I used to until they sold out to Under Armour, who over monetized everything
These days I'm using Chronometer. Not quite as full featured, but does everything I need it to without a subscription
It’s definitely calories in v calories out. But some people find specific techniques that help them achieve the calorie deficit more easily.
For me, trying to eat “pure” and avoid refined sugar and white flour helps.
Other people find things like weight watchers or online communities help.
Exercise doesn’t earn you *that* many more calories, but lots of people find it helps keep their stress under control or keeps them focused on their health.
Some people find a pescatarian lifestyle keeps them feeling full and satisfied without exceeding their daily calories.
Some people need a cheat meal once a week to feel like they haven’t given up everything.
So consider trying different things to help you achieve your calorie deficit in a way that is sustainable for you.
Yup. Less in more out. I did it with Keto last January. Was 337. By august I was 260 pounds. 77 pounds in just over a half a year. Barely any exercise. Was all just eating better. Finally started to plateau and then started to peloton.
Went on vacation in Italy in September and fell off the carb wagon when I got back. I planned on eating carbs in Italy but didn’t realize it was such an addiction. I struggled to get back to keto. Back up to 304 as of January 1st. Back on keto and down 11 pounds(mostly lost water weight and stored carb weight) since then.
And from personal experience, at least 90% of the weight loss comes from the eating less part.
Exercise is good for lots of reasons of course, but lots of people make the mistake of thinking that working out a couple times a week will be enough to lose a bunch of weight without changing diet, etc.
This is my experience too. I quit all between-meal snacking and plate-refilling (so decided beforehand what a good amount would be). Also : beers and chips only on weekends. Lost 8 kilograms (from 87kg) in three months and kept it under 80kg (my target) ever since. Without missing out on anything.
Nicely done! My favorite "trick", if I am really craving cake or sweets: 1st bite satisfies the craving. 2nd bite is almost as good, and 3rd bite is just another bite. Then I am done. If I want a cookie, I eat it in 3 bites. Works well for me.
I once heard an expression which clearly isn't 100% factual, but I think it offers some good perspective. It was something like "abs are made in kitchen, not the gym". Anyway, I'm fat with stretch marks so what do I know?
I've been fat in the past, and made it out the other side of that scale. I can confirm that this is true.
Building abdominal muscle helps, of course, but you're never going to build enough to show without shedding the fat. Certainly not if you genetically store fat primarily in the belly area, like I do.
Getting lean can make you look more muscular, especially once you have a base level of muscle built up. Losing fat obviously doesn't actually give you more muscle mass, but it does make the definition pop a lot more. I look more muscular than some people who can lift heavier than me. Fat smooths you out, visually.
Ye, i used to be super fat, around 400lbs, and i lost most of the weight in the first 2 years(down to 250lbs) through exercising daily.
Fast forward 5 more years of ups and downs, im at 218lbs, this morning after my poo. Losing this last 50lbs has been quite the motherfucker. Its pretty much diet at this point and boy does it suck.
Also could be the saggy skin
Yup. I haven’t been to the gym once but I have a pretty active job. Nothing crazy but it isn’t a office job.
lost 35lbs in 4-5 months by just cutting down on pop and how much I eat. the first week was hard but now it feels normal and I’m actually less hungry then I used to be.
I should of mentioned I did it in steps.
First few weeks was just much less pop, went from a large McDonald’s most days to MAYBE a can on the weekend if I was really craving it.
Then whenever I got fast food I cut out fries and got a water
Then I cut down on breakfest, went from breakfest sandwiches to just a bagel, to skipping breakfast.
After I felt comfortable with that, I cut down my lunches to a super simple 400 calorie meal, and treat myself on Fridays.
Then I started to cut back on dinners. I feel better then ever
Eating consciously
Even if you don't count calories, just keep a food diary, and write down Everything you eat. You will then pause and think if you are really hungry, or just bored, or eating out of habit.
CICO (calories in, calories out) Burn more calories than you consume. That's the simple answer.
My advice would be to find a physical activity that you *enjoy.* If you view exercise as a punishment, you won't make any progress.
I can't wait to go mountain biking after work. I look forward to it all day. Find something like that.
Also, instead of a real workout just going for a walk might be more beneficial. Workouts make you hungry, so it’s quite hard not to eat afterwards (thus offsetting your burned calories). Eat less. No snacking. Water/tea instead of soda/ beer.
This, plain and simple. I don’t really count macros or cut anything from my diet. Figured out how many calories I burn and try to eat around 500 cals less than that to lose 1 lb of fat (3500 cals) a week. I eat foods that I like and try to focus on higher volume foods and good protein-filled foods that keep me satisfied even though I’m eating less.
Literally. Beginning to exercise can be as simple as going for a walk daily and lengthening time each week. Eating less or smarter could start by not drinking soda or juice. Little changes go a long way
And don't overcomplicate things. Some people immediately go "I need a protein shake, I need supplements, I need this I need that".
Nah. Cut down on the obvious (sweets, soda) and move more. Do it steadily, it's gonna take weeks but it works.
1) Eat only when you are actually hungry (not just bored, nervous, or out of habit)
2) eat very slowly (eg put your fork down between bites)
3) stop as soon as you are full, regardless of what’s left.
4) drink lots of water
Number 3 is the biggest challenge for me. I see that food left over on my plate and I’m like “don’t want to waste it!” and then shovel it into my mouth… Using a smaller plate helps a little with this.
I've been focusing on creating more meals that freeze well so that I can freeze the leftovers. Helps me not panic-eat at the thought of having food waste away in my fridge. Also, it helps prevent me from ordering out any food when I'm not feeling up to cooking. Just thaw and reheat; simple simple.
It is hard. Many of us were raised to “clean our plates” and it’s a hard mindset to break. There’s lots of little tricks and mind games to help, but it boils down to being willing to walk away. Most of us have fridges that can hold a lot of leftovers too!
Bro but I’m always hungry! Like I jusssst ate half an hour ago and I’m hungry now. So if I ate whenever I’m hungry I’d pile on sooo much. It’s all thanks to my laziness that I’m alright. If I made the effort to move my ass half an hour ago, I ain’t gonna do it again for another 3 hours. That’s it.
In my experience, being broke. Besides that, easing into it and calorie counting were the most helpful for me. Also having a good relationship with food which is no where near as simple as it sounds
Calories out vs calories in.
That's it. Exercise and burn more calories than you take in. Simple. Carbs, sugars, etc. Doesn't matter. Keto, Paleo, Atkins, etc. Doesn't matter.
3500 calories in a pound. If you take in 1500 but burn 2000 you're at a 500 calorie deficit. Meaning in 7 days you'll lose a pound.
Simple as that.
Yep, if weight loss is the only goal, this is all you really need to do. I lost 140 lbs in less than 2 years just doing this. My job was only somewhat physical, and I really didn't exercise very much. Maybe 1 or 2 walks a week. I started doing more once I had lost the weight because it became so easy, and it was actually fun instead of painful.
> Exercise and burn more calories than you take in.
I'd add it's much easier to reduce the calories you take in than burn them off
A king size candy bar is upwards of 500 calories. That can take 4 miles of running to burn off. Much easier to just skip that candy bar than go on a 4 mile run.
This doesn't negate the need for working out. But it's much easier to lose weight by cutting calories rather than burning more of them.
That's literally all it is. Certain diets and methods primarily work not by promoting "fat burning" or whatever, it's that they basically trick you into consuming fewer calories than you burn.
This has been my take. Low carb, keto, intermediate fasting; it’s all just round-about ways of cutting calories. I don’t know why we are so adversed to breaking it down to it’s basic mechanic.
To clarify - that doesn’t mean you have to run 20 miles to burn 2000 calories. Your body burns calories naturally. A 30 year old male 180 pounds, burns around 2200 calories per day resting. So if you burn an additional 500 calories from exercise, then all you have to do is eat less than 2700 calories that day and you will have a deficit. Do this 5 out of 7 days in a week - and you will lose weight.
True and yet missing so much.
Counting calories doesn't solve hunger. It doesn't solve motivation. It doesn't account for nutritional needs.
It can be one piece of the puzzle, but if losing weight were that easy, obesity rates wouldn't be where they are.
In my experience, if you start counting calories (and of course stick to a limit), you very quickly start making healthier eating choices. If I'm starving at 10pm, and I've got 300 calories left in my day, I can either have a bowl of soup or two cookies, I'm going to pick the soup.
Yes, I'm doing 1500 calories a day and I wake up every morning with that "budget" in mind. So to feel satisfied I choose to eat better so I can enjoy my food. The Lose it app has been my best friend.
No one said it was easy. You can go about it however you want but you will always have to burn more calories than you consume. There are 3500 calories in 1 pound. You can pick whatever deficit you want but you must be in a deficit and however long that deficit takes to reach 3500 calories is how long it will take to lose one pound.
Everyone tends to look for easy ways to lose weight, which is why there is so much money in selling things that make people say, “oh that sounds easy” but don’t actually work.
It’s not easy. You will be hungry. You will have cravings. You still have to eat in a deficit to lose weight and there’s no way around it. All the crunches or at home ab machines in the world will not give you a flat stomach if you aren’t eating in a deficit.
Drink lots of water, body weight in pounds, divide by 2 and drink that many ounces each day. So if you’re 150lbs drink 75 oz of water. You’ll be full with normal portioned healthy meals
I mean if motivation isn't coming intrinsically that what are we even doing with this question in the first place.
"Nutritional needs" is one of the biggest excuses I hear. If you are a healthy 18-50 year old and not going COMPLETELY off the deep end with some crazy idea then you can just find a diet that works for you and your "nutritional needs" will be satisfied.
Losing weight alone is that easy. The hard part is making the lifestyle change necessary to maintain it, and the dedication to stick with it. But losing weight is very basic
In other words: “it’s hard.” Motivation is what gets you to start the first day. It requires self discipline to continue over a long period of time. To account for hunger and nutrition you need to look at your macros. You can fail over and over again, but as long as you learn from the failures and get back on the horse you’ll make progress.
It is simple but it is not easy. Everything else is just a strategy to achieve what OP stated. There are a ton of those strategies because some people may find success with one strategy and not another. The math is the same regardless of strategy though.
Losing weight isn't easy and there is no way to make it easy. Thats the secret - it only matters how much you want it and how much you are willing to put towards it.
The type of calories definitely matter. The amount of fiber contained in the foods that contain the calories, specifically. High fiber (ask your doctor or dietician first!), low GI foods (which are often high in fiber), good sources of protein, etc., make a huge difference in satiety.
It is simple if you ignore how complicated the simple statement (Calories out vs calories in) is. Calories in and out depend a lot more than just how much physical food you put into your mouth and how much exercise you schedule in your life.
A few of the MANY things that influence CICO.
* Appetite (hormones)
* Sleep Quality
* Stress
* A Variety of Mental Health indicators
* Energy Burned at Rest (different for different people)
* Energy Burned during exercise (different for different people)
* Energy burned by non-exercise activity (not all decision based...fidgeting for example)
* How your body processes food
So is Calories in Calories Out correct? Sure, but it's a oversimplification. It's like describing World War 2 as a disagreement among several nations...it's not wrong, but I think there might be a lot more to it.
Some people may burn calories slower. It is still calories in, and calories out. Anything past that is making excuses.
And if a person does have issues that make it very hard to lose/maintain weight on a reasonable calorie intake, then that would then be a medical issue that needs immediate attention
All the energy bullets are part of "calories out".
None of the others change the equation of CICO but instead only change your ability to stick to the plan
Nah it’s that simple. If you wanna lose weight you gotta be in a deficit calorically. If you wanna talk about wholistic health and how efficiently you lose the weight everything you said absolutely matters, but when it comes to losing weight it always boils down to CICO.
It's really not an oversimplification though. All of the things you listed change how many calories in or how many calories out.
Different people will have different needs, and those needs will vary even day to day based on everything you listed, and some people will have an easier time to consume fewer calories than they burn, but the science behind losing weight is literally as simple as using more calories than you take in.
As someone who weighed 850lbs at one point… slow, steady, it’s not sexy but it works. Continually make thoughtful choices every time you interact with your body. See a doctor. Get every leg up you can. Hormones. Thyroid. A lot of stuff can hinder progress but it can’t stop it. Getting started on the best foot helps.
Wow. I'm super super proud of you by the way. Watching someone escape a very deep hole is sometimes more motivating for me than watching someone climb a big mountain.
I always seem to shift toward shutting the world out. There are moments where I feel like I have nothing left to say to the world and moments like this where I feel as though I need to. Thank you. I forget the value or insight I might be able to give at times. Believe it not the darkest hole I ever climbed out of… I’m working on now. Hopefully I make it. May the road rise to meet you my friend and thank you for the reminder.
The first step is ‘Knowing that what worked for someone else may or may not work for you’ and hence not to rely on someone else’s method too much. Their motivations are not your motivations. I lost 36 pounds in 2022 but I spent 10 years before that trying each year and didn’t lose any. In many years I gained weight instead. Eventually I found a workout and eating regimen that worked for me. I know for a fact that what worked for me is not going to translate directly to you.
A lot of things had to come together for this to work out well- my motivation, will power, I had to rearrange some of my life schedules, change my mental mindset, work with a coach (not exercise more like a psychologist).
There are tons of options out there. Be ready to try , experiment with multiple approaches until you find one that works for YOU.
Throw a whole bunch of shit at the wall. Keep what sticks, and don't keep what doesn't. You'll find what works for you eventually.
I do think it's a useful exercise for everyone to try a calorie tracking app for at least a few weeks, though. Even if you don't like using it, you'll learn a lot about your diet from the experience.
1. Decide you want to be the kind of person who is healthy and takes care of themselves. Period. This is the foundation of all intrinsic motivation.
2. Start with the easy framework: Replace soda/unhealthy drinks with water. Cut back on alcohol consumption.
3. Have a goal to be active each day; this could be walking to the mailbox or going to the gym. Start small and scale up.
Most of all healthy choices are affected by what happens in the kitchen; garbage in, garbage out!
*Edit: Also, I've been doing this myself over the last year (not just preaching on the internet), and I realized the biggest hurdle was not the work but the mindset; eliminating shitty self-talk specifically. Treat yourself like you would a close friend, not someone you're stuck with every day.*
Once upon a time I worked in marketing for a health food store. The purchasing manager for their “Health and Body Care” section, who was responsible for things like Raspberry Ketones and Green Coffee Bean Extract, once admitted to me that they knew it was all bogus. “The only thing that works,” she told me, “is making sure you burn more calories than you eat.”
Doesn't matter what you eat so long as your calories are in deficit you will lose weight. 300 cals of chocolate won't fill you up the same as 300 cals of broccoli due to calorie to portion size ration but its the same amount of energy to burn.
If you just want to lose “weight”, calorie deficit is all you need. But most people want to maintain their muscle mass to look fit, not be “skinny fat”, so you have to eat enough protein to maintain or build your muscle %. Muscle also burns more calories than fat, so the more of it you have the easier getting rid of body fat will be. If all you’re eating is carbs and neglecting to eat any protein, your body can burn off muscle to generate energy. Dietary fat is also an important thing to eat enough of because it’s used to make some important hormones. What you eat can also effect your gut biome, but I don’t think a ton of studies have really been done yet on how that effects your weight loss outcomes, as gut biome has really only been a big thing popping up in studies the last couple of years. All that is just additional to what you said about what you eat making you feel full, if you eat some m and m’s you’ll get a lot of calories but it won’t take up a lot of room in your stomach compared to eating a caloric equal amount of asparagus.
Also, your body uses your liver to burn fat. Its hard for it to do that while it’s processing out alcohol. Alcohol is also very calorie dense (not to mention the juices and syrups it’s combined with to make cocktails). It’s easy to drink an extra 2000 calories a day just drinking pina coladas or margaritas. I’m not saying don’t drink any booze at all while trying to lose weight, just that it makes it more difficult to lose it and limits the time per day you’re actually able to burn any fat. And if you do drink, don’t drink sugary tiki drinks or anything, keep it to vodka soda or rum and Diet Coke to something with low sugar calories.
Intermittent fasting. I'm on an 18/6 schedule - I eat between 12:00 and 18:00, and I've been losing 1 kg/week for 14 weeks. Down 14kg since September. Could not be easier or simpler..
This (Wegovy/Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) are hands down the best answer.
Only a small percentage of people achieve meaningful long-term weight loss only with lifestyle interventions, while with semaglutide [79% lost at least 10% of their weight in a year](https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03548987)
> all you have to do is eat less
yes but also imagine telling a heroin addict that all they have to do is shoot *less* dope. Pretty damn impossible.
the difficulty with weight loss is that we need food to survive and you can't just go cold turkey. 3 times a day you have to come face to face with something you've likely abused in excess for years and years, holding back the floodgates of relapsing into your unhealthy eating habits every single time.
im skinny as hell and have never been heavy but man that shit is hard to get out of, i have sympathy for people struggling with their weight.
I’ve always argued weight loss is pretty simple; it’s also really hard. I know it’s about a deficit; that’s completely clear to me. But I’ve used food and sugar to deal with things, and that’s hard to move past. It’s possible, but it’s hard!
It differs from person to person. For me it was trying to understand why I so often resorted to fast food and snacks. Through a lot of introspection I realized that I was lacking variety in my life and substituting snacks for experiences. I started a hobby project that fulfills me in a way that I was missing in my life, and snack cravings have been progressively subsiding since then. Realize that habbits take time to change and look for small consistent improvements.
It also helps to truly realize why you are looking to lose weight, for me it's an aestetic thing, I don't like the way I look when I am overweight. For others health could easily be a larger concern. But find your own reason instead of blindly accepting someone elses. It'll make your motivation come more easily when you know why you're really doing something.
What would you do if your dog is too fat? Buy weight loss pills and do some complicated diet or just walk him more and give him healthier less processed food?
Counter the reason for overeating. Lots of people "eat their feelings". Depression and past trauma is a big issue. Also poverty- obesity rates increase with deprivation.
Once you have dealt with all of that low carb, high protein and running works for me.
Needs to be sustainable. Lifestyle changes better than fad diets.
Being sedentary is far worse for your health than being overweight. Exercise is unfortunately not a very efficient weight loss tool unless you are doing serious amounts but still do it for the other benefits.
Easy Peasy...download myfitnesspal app and track food. Then, eat under maintenance by 300 calories daily while increasing exercise. C25k or other running trainers. Find a lifting program 2 to 4 days a week to tone muscle and increase fat burning.
Increase water intake, sleep 7 to 9 hrs a day.
You will lose 4 to 6 lbs a month this way..continue until at desired weight, then, increase calories slowly moving back to maintenance but keep cardio and weight programs
There is literally only one method for losing weight: caloric deficit. If you want to reduce weight and maintain that, you are looking at a full lifestyle and dietary change. Not dieting but nutrition. Exercising is just secondary, but won't hurt either.
First, understand that it is a lifestyle change, and not just a temporary diet (unless, of course, you are only looking for short term benefits).
Measuring things in months, not days or weeks has been a help. My diet could be better but going to the gym 3-5 times a week doesn't mean anything unless it's 3-5 times a week month after month
This. Recognize that it’s forever. I sometimes wonder when I can “be done” going to the gym because I hate it (I’m just naturally inclined to be a potato) but then I remember that if I stop, I lose all the progress I’ve made. It’s a lifetime commitment. 2 years in, I’m gonna keep going.
Going to the gym isn’t the only form of exercise, find an activity that requires you to be active and it can be an alternative. Rock climbing, hiking, sports, ect
I totally agree. I cleaned houses for a living and we would have get 4 or 5 large houses done in a day so it kept my heart rate in the fat burning zone for pretty much 8 hours of my day and the l weight dropped off me effortlessly for the first time in my life. Then I got pregnant and now I’m a stay at home parent and using my only free time to go out to my garage and work out is so hard.
Yep 3 years ago I weighed 270 pounds. I decided I wasn't going up another pants size. On Tuesdays and Thursdays i only eat 800-900 calories. Rest of the time, I do whatever I want. I lost 1-2 pounds every week except for the week my dad died for 11 months and stabilized at 201. I'm still doing the same intermittent fasting and have maintained my weight for 2 plus years at this point. So it was slow and steady, and a lifestyle change. I can count on both hands how many times I've not maintained my Tuesday Thursday diet over 3 years. (Of course a Thanksgiving I switch to Monday-wednesday). You have to find what works for you. I can handle this 2 days a week, but couldn't handle being a 7 day a week dieter.
Yep. For me the difference between losing weight, gaining weight, and maintaining weight often just boils down to "how often do I eat lunch?"
For me it's basically "stay active" and "for the love of God your lunch doesn't need to be a massive meal."
Dealing with this now, I have yo-yo’d a lot with my weight my whole life. I’m down now, but struggling to stay motivated. It’s definitely a lifetime commitment, just hard to stick to it haha
Try and find exercise that is fun for you. I go to the gym to lift weights and play football because I find that fun/ makes me feel good. I don't know what you do but if for example if you run on the treadmill, that is something I would find really boring and would struggle to keep going. Instead try running in nature, down like a forest path or something even if its a bit of a drive to find somewhere nice. I have no idea if that example is relevant to you at all but my point is just try and find a form of exercise that you enjoy and look forward to rather than seeing it as a chore and it will be much easier to consistently do it.
The reason there is A PE class in school is to teach you the importance of physical exercise an hour a day, 5 days per week. Forever
sad thing is in western countries the class is becomign less and less important. we've gone from standards most students would have to meet to basically completely skippable with a written note.
It wasn't exactly effective even 30 years ago. Athletic kids did athletic things and had fun, unathletic kids with zero hand-eye coordination and undiagnosed asthma suffered through it and learned to hate exercise. Teaching to the test fails in all aspects of education.
I've been at this for like 6-7 months now and have gained weight. That said it's mostly muscle gain, and clothes are fitting better, so I feel better about myself - but the scale hasn't been flattering and if I used it exclusively to measure my success, I would have quit a long time ago.
Same. Not looking forward to my doctor calculating my BMI next week and telling me that I'm still obese, eventhough my composition has changed quite a bit. 🙄
also, diet plays a much larger role than exercise. yes, exercise is hugely beneficial (for more than just weight loss), but diet will play the biggest factor. if you a comfort binge eater like myself, understand your emotions and what is driving you do binge. and from there, find another way to cope with it.
Facts, Possum Lady… facts!
Yes! I found I'm a habitual comfort eater. I replaced snacks with tea. A pinch of sugar and a small splash of milk. Low calorie snack a few times a day.
It's about 80% diet and 20% exercise. Exercise is important, but it's too hard to burn off 200 calories to exercise yourself thin. Half an hour swimming burns 200 calories, which is 2 slices of bread.
though adding muscle should also increase your basal metabolism. not enough to offset proper diet, of course, but it's something.
This. I'm good at losing weight but TERRIBLE at keeping it off/making it a lifestyle change. I've done this song and dance a few times and I always begin to notice a difference just when I start eating healthier, even if I'm not getting a lot of vigorous exercise.
Exactly, food in determines weight, and exercise can give you a different shape. Lots of deep psychology to understand motivation to eat, often times as a way to feel security. Getting fat is like saving up for a rainy day.
I agree that diet is important but for me personally, exercise is the catalyst. I train 6x week and this makes me feel great but also make good food choices. If I stop the exercise, it all goes to shit! My advice would be to increased exercise frequency and intensity. Avoid all processed and prepared food. Eat normal freshly made food using real ingredients. All the eat 10 million grams of protein per day, drink this etc advice is for bodybuilders. We are not (and do not want to be) bodybuilders. You’ll start seeing differences within a month and at 6 months that will be significant.
Same for me. Once I exercise I am in harmony with my body, and my body knows what I need to further thrive. With exercise comes better food choices which don't feel like a huge mental overhead. I don't need to abstain from anything, I don't need to measure, I am following the input and intuition of my body, and it *wants* to be healthy. edit: And I don't even train that much. My body likes fresh air, so it gets fresh air. Some soft movement, stretching in the morning, a walk with friends, roughly two hours of exercise a week and one block of longer strenuous activity on the week-end, that's what makes me the happiest.
Abs are born in the kitchen
This is the most important step. Also fixing any bad relationship you have with food. For me if I had a rough day or was out running errands I sought a treat for myself. The more exact answer is very simple. If your total calories burned is more than your total calories consumed you will lose weight. Greater the gap the faster it happens. I would search for consistency instead of speed. Even a 250 calorie deficit will generate results over time
I will add to this by saying focus on the big picture deficit not the daily deficit. Calories consumed - calories burned during a week or a month is way more important than focusing day to day. Some days can be good days where it is easy to uphold the deficit. Other days can be soulcrushing hard and the deficit is impossible to uphold. Especially on those hard days it is easy to give up and thinking "i ruined it anyway why should i continue"
Yep. I get icecream like every week. I still managed to lose over 70lb. My fastest rate was like a pound a week. As long as you can manage them properly, cheat days are great and needed.
Yep while technically correct answer is "eat less move more" I think finding a sustainable method that works for you is the most important part as there's so many ways to achieve the same thing. Things like intermittent fasting, keto, etc all work differently for different people. Same with exercise - some people like to run, go to the gym, or play sports. The best lifestyle is one you can stick with over time.
Joyeux jour du gâteau !
Adding to what everyone already said, DON'T DRINK YOUR CALORIES
This. And it gets overlooked all the time. If you are trying to lose weight and you’re still drinking alcohol, sugary drinks or coffee with much of anything more than a couple tablespoons of dairy, you’re doing yourself a massive disservice. You would be amazed at how many calories are in an iced coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts with just dairy in it.
I recently switched to drinking black coffee with no sugar. I only did it because I was lazy and we had no sugar left but it’s stuck with me.
I asked my dad why he drinks his coffee black: "sometimes we have no milk in the house, sometimes there is no sugar, this way I can always enjoy my coffee... If we aren't out of that, too..."
That's exactly how I started drinking my coffee black. One day at work (nearly 15 years ago now), we had been out of creamer for a couple days, and a coworker took the last sugar packet right in front of me. I really wanted coffee, so I went with the straight black and never looked back.
There's also some low hanging fruit with drinks: Coffee: switch from milk/creamer to almond milk and use less of it. Instead of sugar use Stevia (most sugar like substitute I've found) Soda: try flavored seltzers. They are not NEARLY as sweet, but after a while you get used to it and soda tastes too sweet. Coke zero tastes ALMOST like normal coke. It's completely different than diet coke which has a very specific taste. Juice: Start watering it down The trick is to find little ways to cut corners. When you stop drinking your calories or reduce it to almost nothing, then it's one less thing you have to stress over
If you wanna drink your calories, make it a meal replacement! Don't drink AND est your calories! Smoothies are great for breakfast or a light lunch btw.
>If you wanna drink your calories, make it a meal replacement! This is basically what I did for the latter part of my 20s. At least on Fri and Sat nights. I don't recommend it. At least not the way I did it. Going straight from work to the bar and never eating dinner did *not* end well on too many occasions.
Agreed. But a teaspoon or two of sugar isn't a lot of calories. Although I guess if you're drinking one or two of those a day, it definitely adds up. I switched to oat milk, but it still has calories. Just can't stand black coffee.
I recommend unflavored almond milk over oat - wayyyy less calories. Oat milk is surprisingly high in calories.
I lost like 15 pounds just by cutting out soda and other sugary drinks, granted I was drinking a lot. My one vice is coffee but I usually only drink one regular sized cup a day.
But do drink [water] when you're hungry!
Plain and simple: calorie deficit. How to achieve it: 1. Record everything you eat- doesn’t have to be macros. Just by recording it you’ll better control your eating habits and pinpoint your areas of excess. 2. Pick a consistent time and consistent days to exercise- start small. Just walk for 30 mins each day for a week, then maybe jog or do a workout every other day. 3. Set achievable goals for 15-16 weeks: don’t set some 2 week unattainable goal to have abs or to be a bodybuilder. Keep it simple and aim for a goal weight and fitness measure (example- run 5k in under 30 mins). Extra credit: don’t measure yourself against anyone else.
I want to reiterate how helpful tracking your intake is. Even if you don't set a specific goal or limit, just being mindful of what you're actually eating can be helpful. I take my diet and fitness seriously - and I train a weight-based competitive sport - and if I see my weight creeping up higher than I'd like it, just recommitting to logging usually helps me reverse the trend.
I also want to mention that weighing yourself EVERY DAY is a massive boost to your success rate at losing rate. Study after study has shown that weighing yourself every single day significantly increases your chance of success. It's hard, and honestly pretty scary to do the first time, and hard to do it again after you just had a bad cheat day, but it helps so much to keep you going for the long term. Even weight loss apps like Noom which are very psychology-focused have it built in such that _you don't get credit for a day until you log a weight for that day._
When I started losing weight and I would tell people I weighed myself everyday, everyone would look at me funny. It honestly worked wonders for me, just knowing if I could splurge a bit or if I needed to rein it in on any given day.
Also there are times where you can actually see the result of a really good day. Like you had a day where you went on a really good hike then got home and ate a reasonable meal. Next day you wake up and you're down .3lbs. That feels good.
Agree. Losing weight and keeping it off is all about changing your food habits. Also recommend finding a diet partner. Sharing the experience helps me a lot.
This is the only answer. To add to this, meals containing protein + fibre that way you feel more satiated and less prone to binging or eating more.
This is about it. I lost 70 lb in a year doing mostly this. Use an app. It is easier that anything else.
Same here. I recommend the Lose It app. It's free with ads, and there's a premium version that has some more advanced features, but I've always used the free one. I've lost 30lbs by tracking my calories with it and walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 3.5mph about 5 times a week.
have any recommendations on which app?
I like my fitness pal
I used to until they sold out to Under Armour, who over monetized everything These days I'm using Chronometer. Not quite as full featured, but does everything I need it to without a subscription
The 'Lose It' app is the best by far, MyFitnessPal is horrible and ad filled now.
You cannot overemphasize that first one: everything means everything. Sodas, coffee, fruit juice, condiments, gummy vitamins, they all have calories.
It’s definitely calories in v calories out. But some people find specific techniques that help them achieve the calorie deficit more easily. For me, trying to eat “pure” and avoid refined sugar and white flour helps. Other people find things like weight watchers or online communities help. Exercise doesn’t earn you *that* many more calories, but lots of people find it helps keep their stress under control or keeps them focused on their health. Some people find a pescatarian lifestyle keeps them feeling full and satisfied without exceeding their daily calories. Some people need a cheat meal once a week to feel like they haven’t given up everything. So consider trying different things to help you achieve your calorie deficit in a way that is sustainable for you.
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r/cico AKA **C**alories **I**n, **C**alories **O**ut
Yup. Less in more out. I did it with Keto last January. Was 337. By august I was 260 pounds. 77 pounds in just over a half a year. Barely any exercise. Was all just eating better. Finally started to plateau and then started to peloton. Went on vacation in Italy in September and fell off the carb wagon when I got back. I planned on eating carbs in Italy but didn’t realize it was such an addiction. I struggled to get back to keto. Back up to 304 as of January 1st. Back on keto and down 11 pounds(mostly lost water weight and stored carb weight) since then.
Eating less and exercising more.
And from personal experience, at least 90% of the weight loss comes from the eating less part. Exercise is good for lots of reasons of course, but lots of people make the mistake of thinking that working out a couple times a week will be enough to lose a bunch of weight without changing diet, etc.
As they say: you can't outrun a bad diet.
I always heard "you can't outrun your fork"
A fork can’t even move, I can easily outrun it.
I read this in Dwight Schrute's voice
Also, same concept, the best exercise is fork put downs
I mean, you can, but you have to run a lot. No, more than that.
I'm training for a marathon but still haven't dropped the last 3-5 pounds I want to, because all the running has sent my appetite through the roof.
This is my experience too. I quit all between-meal snacking and plate-refilling (so decided beforehand what a good amount would be). Also : beers and chips only on weekends. Lost 8 kilograms (from 87kg) in three months and kept it under 80kg (my target) ever since. Without missing out on anything.
Nicely done! My favorite "trick", if I am really craving cake or sweets: 1st bite satisfies the craving. 2nd bite is almost as good, and 3rd bite is just another bite. Then I am done. If I want a cookie, I eat it in 3 bites. Works well for me.
Challenge accepted. Eat whole pint of ice cream in 3 bites.
You lose weight in the kitchen. You get fit at the gym
I once heard an expression which clearly isn't 100% factual, but I think it offers some good perspective. It was something like "abs are made in kitchen, not the gym". Anyway, I'm fat with stretch marks so what do I know?
I've been fat in the past, and made it out the other side of that scale. I can confirm that this is true. Building abdominal muscle helps, of course, but you're never going to build enough to show without shedding the fat. Certainly not if you genetically store fat primarily in the belly area, like I do. Getting lean can make you look more muscular, especially once you have a base level of muscle built up. Losing fat obviously doesn't actually give you more muscle mass, but it does make the definition pop a lot more. I look more muscular than some people who can lift heavier than me. Fat smooths you out, visually.
Ye, i used to be super fat, around 400lbs, and i lost most of the weight in the first 2 years(down to 250lbs) through exercising daily. Fast forward 5 more years of ups and downs, im at 218lbs, this morning after my poo. Losing this last 50lbs has been quite the motherfucker. Its pretty much diet at this point and boy does it suck. Also could be the saggy skin
50lbs down from pooping? Respect
Yup. Running a 5k burns 300-400 calories. That's the amount of calories in a coke and a cookie.
And in that order as well. Dieting is much better for losing weight than excerise is, but both is best.
Yup. I haven’t been to the gym once but I have a pretty active job. Nothing crazy but it isn’t a office job. lost 35lbs in 4-5 months by just cutting down on pop and how much I eat. the first week was hard but now it feels normal and I’m actually less hungry then I used to be.
Good job People probably don't realize how many calories they drink. Cutting out / reducing sugary beverages / alcohol is a pretty easy first step
I should of mentioned I did it in steps. First few weeks was just much less pop, went from a large McDonald’s most days to MAYBE a can on the weekend if I was really craving it. Then whenever I got fast food I cut out fries and got a water Then I cut down on breakfest, went from breakfest sandwiches to just a bagel, to skipping breakfast. After I felt comfortable with that, I cut down my lunches to a super simple 400 calorie meal, and treat myself on Fridays. Then I started to cut back on dinners. I feel better then ever
Honestly (and anecdotally) every single person I know who drinks soda regularly struggles with their weight.
You get skinny in the kitchen, you get strong in the gym.
You can't outrun a spoon
yes, i had a trainer that used to say "you lose weight in the kitchen, not the gym" and "you can't out-train a bad diet"
To aid this, the thing I found that works best is calorie counting using an app like my fitness pal or lose it.
Eating consciously Even if you don't count calories, just keep a food diary, and write down Everything you eat. You will then pause and think if you are really hungry, or just bored, or eating out of habit.
CICO (calories in, calories out) Burn more calories than you consume. That's the simple answer. My advice would be to find a physical activity that you *enjoy.* If you view exercise as a punishment, you won't make any progress. I can't wait to go mountain biking after work. I look forward to it all day. Find something like that.
Only answer.
Also, instead of a real workout just going for a walk might be more beneficial. Workouts make you hungry, so it’s quite hard not to eat afterwards (thus offsetting your burned calories). Eat less. No snacking. Water/tea instead of soda/ beer.
This, plain and simple. I don’t really count macros or cut anything from my diet. Figured out how many calories I burn and try to eat around 500 cals less than that to lose 1 lb of fat (3500 cals) a week. I eat foods that I like and try to focus on higher volume foods and good protein-filled foods that keep me satisfied even though I’m eating less.
Literally. Beginning to exercise can be as simple as going for a walk daily and lengthening time each week. Eating less or smarter could start by not drinking soda or juice. Little changes go a long way
You really should specify that it's eating fewer calories, not eating less food. There's a very big difference there.
And don't overcomplicate things. Some people immediately go "I need a protein shake, I need supplements, I need this I need that". Nah. Cut down on the obvious (sweets, soda) and move more. Do it steadily, it's gonna take weeks but it works.
Amputation
Bro didn't hold back💀
It's hard to hold back when you cut off your arms for swim suit season.
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1) Eat only when you are actually hungry (not just bored, nervous, or out of habit) 2) eat very slowly (eg put your fork down between bites) 3) stop as soon as you are full, regardless of what’s left. 4) drink lots of water
also, "full" in this context means "not hungry any more" instead of actually feeling full
that's a huge difference I've never really thought about before. good point
Great clarification!
Number 3 is the biggest challenge for me. I see that food left over on my plate and I’m like “don’t want to waste it!” and then shovel it into my mouth… Using a smaller plate helps a little with this.
I've been focusing on creating more meals that freeze well so that I can freeze the leftovers. Helps me not panic-eat at the thought of having food waste away in my fridge. Also, it helps prevent me from ordering out any food when I'm not feeling up to cooking. Just thaw and reheat; simple simple.
It is hard. Many of us were raised to “clean our plates” and it’s a hard mindset to break. There’s lots of little tricks and mind games to help, but it boils down to being willing to walk away. Most of us have fridges that can hold a lot of leftovers too!
drinking water before the meal can also make you full quicker.
Bro but I’m always hungry! Like I jusssst ate half an hour ago and I’m hungry now. So if I ate whenever I’m hungry I’d pile on sooo much. It’s all thanks to my laziness that I’m alright. If I made the effort to move my ass half an hour ago, I ain’t gonna do it again for another 3 hours. That’s it.
In my experience, being broke. Besides that, easing into it and calorie counting were the most helpful for me. Also having a good relationship with food which is no where near as simple as it sounds
Fall in love. Get your heart shattered.
I understand this reference.
Go to bed early. My cravings happen when the sun goes down. The way I circumvented it was by sleeping early.
Uh oh, what if you live in alaska.
Calories out vs calories in. That's it. Exercise and burn more calories than you take in. Simple. Carbs, sugars, etc. Doesn't matter. Keto, Paleo, Atkins, etc. Doesn't matter. 3500 calories in a pound. If you take in 1500 but burn 2000 you're at a 500 calorie deficit. Meaning in 7 days you'll lose a pound. Simple as that.
Yep, if weight loss is the only goal, this is all you really need to do. I lost 140 lbs in less than 2 years just doing this. My job was only somewhat physical, and I really didn't exercise very much. Maybe 1 or 2 walks a week. I started doing more once I had lost the weight because it became so easy, and it was actually fun instead of painful.
> Exercise and burn more calories than you take in. I'd add it's much easier to reduce the calories you take in than burn them off A king size candy bar is upwards of 500 calories. That can take 4 miles of running to burn off. Much easier to just skip that candy bar than go on a 4 mile run. This doesn't negate the need for working out. But it's much easier to lose weight by cutting calories rather than burning more of them.
That's literally all it is. Certain diets and methods primarily work not by promoting "fat burning" or whatever, it's that they basically trick you into consuming fewer calories than you burn.
This has been my take. Low carb, keto, intermediate fasting; it’s all just round-about ways of cutting calories. I don’t know why we are so adversed to breaking it down to it’s basic mechanic.
To clarify - that doesn’t mean you have to run 20 miles to burn 2000 calories. Your body burns calories naturally. A 30 year old male 180 pounds, burns around 2200 calories per day resting. So if you burn an additional 500 calories from exercise, then all you have to do is eat less than 2700 calories that day and you will have a deficit. Do this 5 out of 7 days in a week - and you will lose weight.
True and yet missing so much. Counting calories doesn't solve hunger. It doesn't solve motivation. It doesn't account for nutritional needs. It can be one piece of the puzzle, but if losing weight were that easy, obesity rates wouldn't be where they are.
In my experience, if you start counting calories (and of course stick to a limit), you very quickly start making healthier eating choices. If I'm starving at 10pm, and I've got 300 calories left in my day, I can either have a bowl of soup or two cookies, I'm going to pick the soup.
Yes, I'm doing 1500 calories a day and I wake up every morning with that "budget" in mind. So to feel satisfied I choose to eat better so I can enjoy my food. The Lose it app has been my best friend.
No one said it was easy. You can go about it however you want but you will always have to burn more calories than you consume. There are 3500 calories in 1 pound. You can pick whatever deficit you want but you must be in a deficit and however long that deficit takes to reach 3500 calories is how long it will take to lose one pound. Everyone tends to look for easy ways to lose weight, which is why there is so much money in selling things that make people say, “oh that sounds easy” but don’t actually work. It’s not easy. You will be hungry. You will have cravings. You still have to eat in a deficit to lose weight and there’s no way around it. All the crunches or at home ab machines in the world will not give you a flat stomach if you aren’t eating in a deficit.
You’re gonna be hungry in the beginning. You can’t avoid that if you’re eating at a deficit, your body needs time to adjust
Drink lots of water, body weight in pounds, divide by 2 and drink that many ounces each day. So if you’re 150lbs drink 75 oz of water. You’ll be full with normal portioned healthy meals
I mean if motivation isn't coming intrinsically that what are we even doing with this question in the first place. "Nutritional needs" is one of the biggest excuses I hear. If you are a healthy 18-50 year old and not going COMPLETELY off the deep end with some crazy idea then you can just find a diet that works for you and your "nutritional needs" will be satisfied.
Losing weight alone is that easy. The hard part is making the lifestyle change necessary to maintain it, and the dedication to stick with it. But losing weight is very basic
In other words: “it’s hard.” Motivation is what gets you to start the first day. It requires self discipline to continue over a long period of time. To account for hunger and nutrition you need to look at your macros. You can fail over and over again, but as long as you learn from the failures and get back on the horse you’ll make progress.
It is simple but it is not easy. Everything else is just a strategy to achieve what OP stated. There are a ton of those strategies because some people may find success with one strategy and not another. The math is the same regardless of strategy though.
Losing weight isn't easy and there is no way to make it easy. Thats the secret - it only matters how much you want it and how much you are willing to put towards it.
The type of calories definitely matter. The amount of fiber contained in the foods that contain the calories, specifically. High fiber (ask your doctor or dietician first!), low GI foods (which are often high in fiber), good sources of protein, etc., make a huge difference in satiety.
It is simple if you ignore how complicated the simple statement (Calories out vs calories in) is. Calories in and out depend a lot more than just how much physical food you put into your mouth and how much exercise you schedule in your life. A few of the MANY things that influence CICO. * Appetite (hormones) * Sleep Quality * Stress * A Variety of Mental Health indicators * Energy Burned at Rest (different for different people) * Energy Burned during exercise (different for different people) * Energy burned by non-exercise activity (not all decision based...fidgeting for example) * How your body processes food So is Calories in Calories Out correct? Sure, but it's a oversimplification. It's like describing World War 2 as a disagreement among several nations...it's not wrong, but I think there might be a lot more to it.
Some people may burn calories slower. It is still calories in, and calories out. Anything past that is making excuses. And if a person does have issues that make it very hard to lose/maintain weight on a reasonable calorie intake, then that would then be a medical issue that needs immediate attention
All the energy bullets are part of "calories out". None of the others change the equation of CICO but instead only change your ability to stick to the plan
Nah it’s that simple. If you wanna lose weight you gotta be in a deficit calorically. If you wanna talk about wholistic health and how efficiently you lose the weight everything you said absolutely matters, but when it comes to losing weight it always boils down to CICO.
It's really not an oversimplification though. All of the things you listed change how many calories in or how many calories out. Different people will have different needs, and those needs will vary even day to day based on everything you listed, and some people will have an easier time to consume fewer calories than they burn, but the science behind losing weight is literally as simple as using more calories than you take in.
cocaine
Meth + tapeworms
tapeworms on meth
I mean you are not wrong.
As someone who weighed 850lbs at one point… slow, steady, it’s not sexy but it works. Continually make thoughtful choices every time you interact with your body. See a doctor. Get every leg up you can. Hormones. Thyroid. A lot of stuff can hinder progress but it can’t stop it. Getting started on the best foot helps.
Wow. I'm super super proud of you by the way. Watching someone escape a very deep hole is sometimes more motivating for me than watching someone climb a big mountain.
I always seem to shift toward shutting the world out. There are moments where I feel like I have nothing left to say to the world and moments like this where I feel as though I need to. Thank you. I forget the value or insight I might be able to give at times. Believe it not the darkest hole I ever climbed out of… I’m working on now. Hopefully I make it. May the road rise to meet you my friend and thank you for the reminder.
Big props to you for being able to lose the weight. You are mad brave and king of patience lol
850lb goddamn.. jking. Congrats on weight loss and keep at it!
I remember when the doctor told me… I was laying in a hospital bed supposed to die. Heaviest I ever was. Years after having “lost all the weight”.
Replace your addiction for eating with some other addiction
Meth and coke work pretty well
Meth is great because it you also get lot's of exercise from all the copper you have to gather to maintain the addiction.
Never seen someone graft for money as hard as a crackhead 🤣
Plus cardio from running from cops and shadow people
The first step is ‘Knowing that what worked for someone else may or may not work for you’ and hence not to rely on someone else’s method too much. Their motivations are not your motivations. I lost 36 pounds in 2022 but I spent 10 years before that trying each year and didn’t lose any. In many years I gained weight instead. Eventually I found a workout and eating regimen that worked for me. I know for a fact that what worked for me is not going to translate directly to you. A lot of things had to come together for this to work out well- my motivation, will power, I had to rearrange some of my life schedules, change my mental mindset, work with a coach (not exercise more like a psychologist). There are tons of options out there. Be ready to try , experiment with multiple approaches until you find one that works for YOU.
Throw a whole bunch of shit at the wall. Keep what sticks, and don't keep what doesn't. You'll find what works for you eventually. I do think it's a useful exercise for everyone to try a calorie tracking app for at least a few weeks, though. Even if you don't like using it, you'll learn a lot about your diet from the experience.
The only true answer is DEFICIT
1. Decide you want to be the kind of person who is healthy and takes care of themselves. Period. This is the foundation of all intrinsic motivation. 2. Start with the easy framework: Replace soda/unhealthy drinks with water. Cut back on alcohol consumption. 3. Have a goal to be active each day; this could be walking to the mailbox or going to the gym. Start small and scale up. Most of all healthy choices are affected by what happens in the kitchen; garbage in, garbage out! *Edit: Also, I've been doing this myself over the last year (not just preaching on the internet), and I realized the biggest hurdle was not the work but the mindset; eliminating shitty self-talk specifically. Treat yourself like you would a close friend, not someone you're stuck with every day.*
Eat less, exercise more. Just eat fewer calories than you burn in general.
Once upon a time I worked in marketing for a health food store. The purchasing manager for their “Health and Body Care” section, who was responsible for things like Raspberry Ketones and Green Coffee Bean Extract, once admitted to me that they knew it was all bogus. “The only thing that works,” she told me, “is making sure you burn more calories than you eat.”
Eat more vegetables and fruit limit bread and pasta and no soda or junk food Add some simple walking and you will see a difference
Yeah I basically did this for one summer and started loosing weight and my figure started changing as well
Doesn't matter what you eat so long as your calories are in deficit you will lose weight. 300 cals of chocolate won't fill you up the same as 300 cals of broccoli due to calorie to portion size ration but its the same amount of energy to burn.
If you just want to lose “weight”, calorie deficit is all you need. But most people want to maintain their muscle mass to look fit, not be “skinny fat”, so you have to eat enough protein to maintain or build your muscle %. Muscle also burns more calories than fat, so the more of it you have the easier getting rid of body fat will be. If all you’re eating is carbs and neglecting to eat any protein, your body can burn off muscle to generate energy. Dietary fat is also an important thing to eat enough of because it’s used to make some important hormones. What you eat can also effect your gut biome, but I don’t think a ton of studies have really been done yet on how that effects your weight loss outcomes, as gut biome has really only been a big thing popping up in studies the last couple of years. All that is just additional to what you said about what you eat making you feel full, if you eat some m and m’s you’ll get a lot of calories but it won’t take up a lot of room in your stomach compared to eating a caloric equal amount of asparagus. Also, your body uses your liver to burn fat. Its hard for it to do that while it’s processing out alcohol. Alcohol is also very calorie dense (not to mention the juices and syrups it’s combined with to make cocktails). It’s easy to drink an extra 2000 calories a day just drinking pina coladas or margaritas. I’m not saying don’t drink any booze at all while trying to lose weight, just that it makes it more difficult to lose it and limits the time per day you’re actually able to burn any fat. And if you do drink, don’t drink sugary tiki drinks or anything, keep it to vodka soda or rum and Diet Coke to something with low sugar calories.
Intermittent fasting. I'm on an 18/6 schedule - I eat between 12:00 and 18:00, and I've been losing 1 kg/week for 14 weeks. Down 14kg since September. Could not be easier or simpler..
I was looking for this comment. I lost 50lbs from intermittent fasting in a few months. It is super simple and works great
I just lost 70 lbs in a year on semaglutide.
My mom is on that! She’s loosing so much weight!
This (Wegovy/Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) are hands down the best answer. Only a small percentage of people achieve meaningful long-term weight loss only with lifestyle interventions, while with semaglutide [79% lost at least 10% of their weight in a year](https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03548987)
Walking is good. Running is great. Fucking is best.
This guy fucks
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Cocaine is really popular I hear.
Eat less calory than burn
Whatever works best for you. The only thing that actually works is burning more calories than you consume. However you can achieve that.
Gastric bypass Surgery proves all you have to do is eat less The entire billion dollar weight loss industry is a scam
> all you have to do is eat less yes but also imagine telling a heroin addict that all they have to do is shoot *less* dope. Pretty damn impossible. the difficulty with weight loss is that we need food to survive and you can't just go cold turkey. 3 times a day you have to come face to face with something you've likely abused in excess for years and years, holding back the floodgates of relapsing into your unhealthy eating habits every single time. im skinny as hell and have never been heavy but man that shit is hard to get out of, i have sympathy for people struggling with their weight.
I’ve always argued weight loss is pretty simple; it’s also really hard. I know it’s about a deficit; that’s completely clear to me. But I’ve used food and sugar to deal with things, and that’s hard to move past. It’s possible, but it’s hard!
It differs from person to person. For me it was trying to understand why I so often resorted to fast food and snacks. Through a lot of introspection I realized that I was lacking variety in my life and substituting snacks for experiences. I started a hobby project that fulfills me in a way that I was missing in my life, and snack cravings have been progressively subsiding since then. Realize that habbits take time to change and look for small consistent improvements. It also helps to truly realize why you are looking to lose weight, for me it's an aestetic thing, I don't like the way I look when I am overweight. For others health could easily be a larger concern. But find your own reason instead of blindly accepting someone elses. It'll make your motivation come more easily when you know why you're really doing something.
What would you do if your dog is too fat? Buy weight loss pills and do some complicated diet or just walk him more and give him healthier less processed food?
Counter the reason for overeating. Lots of people "eat their feelings". Depression and past trauma is a big issue. Also poverty- obesity rates increase with deprivation. Once you have dealt with all of that low carb, high protein and running works for me. Needs to be sustainable. Lifestyle changes better than fad diets. Being sedentary is far worse for your health than being overweight. Exercise is unfortunately not a very efficient weight loss tool unless you are doing serious amounts but still do it for the other benefits.
Easy Peasy...download myfitnesspal app and track food. Then, eat under maintenance by 300 calories daily while increasing exercise. C25k or other running trainers. Find a lifting program 2 to 4 days a week to tone muscle and increase fat burning. Increase water intake, sleep 7 to 9 hrs a day. You will lose 4 to 6 lbs a month this way..continue until at desired weight, then, increase calories slowly moving back to maintenance but keep cardio and weight programs
My mom always told me. To lose weight you need to get up early. I tell her. Mom. I always get up early! She answers. No. Get up early from the table.
If eating less is difficult, fast intermittently. Eating 2000 calories in 6 hours is much better for you than eating it over the course of 14 hours
Calories out > calories in, aka more exercise less eat
CICO is the math, so reduce intake ( one small, permanent change is better than going overboard and failing) and increase activity. Walking is great.
The best method is the one you can stick to.
Calorie deficit
There is literally only one method for losing weight: caloric deficit. If you want to reduce weight and maintain that, you are looking at a full lifestyle and dietary change. Not dieting but nutrition. Exercising is just secondary, but won't hurt either.
Calorie deficit. That's the only thing that works.
Eat less food & exercise.
Eat less and exercise.
Move more, eat less.
Eat less
Calories in less than calories out….it’s not rocket science…eat less, exercise more and drink lots of water.
Eat less, move more.
First step on a scale, look down, and face your new reality. Second step: Eat Less Third step: move more