The Money Mustache Community
Other => Off Topic => Topic started by: Roadrunner53 on April 29, 2018, 09:42:18 AM
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So do any of you have real weight loss techniques to help weight loss?
There are so many claims that:
Apple Cider Vinegar helps burn fat
Coconut oil helps weight loss
Green Tea helps weight loss
Olive oil helps weight loss
Metamucil helps weight loss
Over the counter weight loss pills help weight loss
The Keto diet
High fat diet
Low fat diet
Low carb diet
Nutrisystem
Jenny Craig
Weight Watchers
There are a thousand books on weight loss! Does anything really work besides starvation?
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I asked my doctor this question a few years back. The peer reviewed science shows that what is most effective is making small but tolerable permanent lifestyle changes. You want to lose no more than .75 pounds per week in most cases. Slow and steady wins the race. I peaked at 250 and weighed in at 200.4 this morning. I average about .3 pounds per week.
I find it helps tremendously to:
- always get a good night's sleep (can't over-emphasize this)
- eat multiple small meals
- drink plenty of water (no liquid calories - ever!)
- eat slower, it takes fifteen minutes or so for your satiation hormones to start working
- increase your movement
Latest trick is I've found a midmeal hunger pang can usually be silenced with a snack of 4 baby carrots and big glass of water. You have to wait 15-30 minutes though for the appropriate hormones to kick in. I cheat a little by dipping mine in hummus for added flavor.
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There is another trick, not sure if it really helps or not but it is a plastic thing you put over your plate, then spoon your food into the slots to portion out food 'correctly'. There are other products that are similar:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_8_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=food+portion+plates+for+weight+loss&sprefix=food+portion%2Caps%2C159&crid=301MS3R5AEY85
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I lost 40 kg over 7 years and I have kept the weight off for the last 13 years (with a diet loosely inspired by the WW method in the 80s).
I would imagine that I am onto something on the subject if I have been so successful. Please bear in mind I am a lambda omnivore.
So my medley of suggestions:
- stop listening to anyone who does not know what they're talking about. No, your diet to lose 5 kg will not work on me if I have 50 kg to lose!
- weight pasta and rice. a portion is 75g for pasta, 65g for rice. I still do that to this day.
- it is a marathon not a race.
- eat less but please, eat what you like. Pick up any vegetable you like, pair it with any reasonably lean meat you like, that's already a perfect lunch! Cut sugar and eat less but better fats (nuts for example - and weight them!). WW had 6 categories in the 80s: fat, carbs, proteins, fruit, vegetables and dairy, but I don't remember exactly how they worked out the portions in each category.
- no crap stored at home!
- life is all about choices; you can choose not to eat this or that, but then if you indulge, choose something for which the calories are "worthwhile" (your favorite dessert for example).
- weight yourself everyday (I know, I know, peeps say don't do it, I don't care, it worked for me and I still weight myself everyday!). The scale is not the enemy!
I hope something in the above will be of some help to you.
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Cutting carbs. Simply phasing out bread, pasta and reducing other carbs helps me shed some pounds if I need to. Nothing magical to it really.
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You don't want to hear this, but ...
Exercise. Combination of (1) weight/resistance training - even body-weight exercises such as squats, push-ups, lunges, crunches, triceps dips; and (2) cardio. 2 sessions a week each. Start with 15-20 minutes per session and space them out over the week. Cardio on Mon-Thurs and weight/resistance training on Tues-Fri. Or whatever. Build up to 3-4 hours per week total. It's really not much to ask of yourself out of your available 112 waking hours per week, and it's the kindest thing you can ever do for yourself, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.
And, eat clean. Avoid processed foods of all kinds.
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1. Go for a brisk (as fast as you can manage: you will get faster) 10 minute walk before each meal.
2. Control your portions by eating one only large plate of food and two small plates or bowls of food a day.
3. Eat at least 5 portions of veg a day. Potatoes and sweetcorn don't count, nor does anything cooked with oil. Start each meal by eating veg.
4. No snacks that aren't fresh veg.
5. No drinks with sugar in them, including fruit juice.
Any weight loss method that requires you to spend more time and effort thinking about food will be self-defeating, so don't add any fancy ingredients, don't take away any ingredients, don't start on special new recipes. Same with exercise: get the basics right (30 minutes brisk walking a day puts you in the top half of the population for exercise), don't bother with fancy regimens and fancy equipment at the gym. Settle into a regular eating pattern, move your body more and get on with your life.
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I firmly believe everyone's body responds slightly differently to different weight loss strategies, so what works for most people might not work for all.
Also, my understanding is that current evidence shows some changes in metabolism caused by both gaining weight and by calorie restriction, which causes it to be harder to lose weight once you have gained it.
Still, here is what has always worked for me (losing only about 25 lbs per attempt, which is a lot on my tiny frame, but admittedly might not be what you are looking for here).
First of all, weight maintenance has for me been a matter of eating habits, not exercise (which has fluctuated wildly over the years).
1. I never forbid myself any foods, but I put limits on how often or how much I can eat of unhealthy items.
2. I think in terms of 'nutrition bang/calorie buck'. So if I am in my normal routine, I usually first make sure I've eaten a sufficient amount of healthy food every day before I eat any unhealthy food (e.g., multiple servings of fresh fruit and veggies, a serving or two of healthy fats...mainly olive oil, nuts, and avocado, and 1 serving of lean protein (fish/white meat poultry). Grains, non-fruit sugars, fatty deserts, red meat, dairy, etc., are all 'add ons' that make it into my diet in small amounts 'around the edges' of my daily eating, much like condiments.
3. Similarly, I don't 'waste' empty calories on stuff that I don't love. I don't eat candy just b/c 'it's there'. For the most part, I like candy but don't love it. So I'll go years without eating any candy, no matter how much I encounter it, but I will regularly buy Ben and Jerry's full-fat ice cream (which I LOVE) and eat only 2-3 spoonfuls per day. Or a couple of squares of expensive dark chocolate. If I'm going to waste those calories, I better REALLY enjoy the experience. Or, e.g., I don't love cheese. It's fine, and I will eat it occasionally at parties. But I would never buy it for myself. ETA: Ok, I lied. I love goat cheese in certain circumstances and will buy it occasionally LOL.
4. I routinize my eating a lot, so that I don't spend a lot of time thinking about food. However, I am fortunate in that I love healthy foods just as much as unhealthy, and am totally happy eating e.g. big complex salads every day of the week for at least one meal. Likewise, I'm not terribly prone to 'food boredom'. Your mileage might vary.
5. When changing eating habits, make one small change at a time until it sticks (usually at least 3 weeks), and then make the next change until you have accumulated new eating habits. I know for sure this can be done, b/c I radically revamped my shitty youthful eating habits when I was about 30, and it has stuck for 17 years.
That's about it for food and maintaining my weight.
As to actually losing weight, there is no question what works for my body: Cutting carbs/sugar, and combining that with light strength training and short bursts of high intensity aerobic exercise. Essentially, low-carb w/interval training. I can eat incredible amounts of additional fat or protein calories in this situation, and my body tears through them like a wildfire. It is almost scary.
I found this out by accident when I used to do field work on a topographically challenging Caribbean island. Every day I'd be hiking steep trails in short bursts (hike steep incline as fast as possible for 5 minutes, stop to do surveys for 3 minutes) for hours every day. We had access to TONS of food at this field site, where we were supplied with 3 squares involving multiple courses, and desserts with both lunch and dinner. Plus alcohol in the evening. To sum up: I regularly ate ~3x as much food, and higher calorie food, at this field site as I normally would at home. Unless I made an active effort to eat carbs/dessert every single day, I would drop close to 5 lbs per week at that job. One year I decided maybe I'd skip all the sugary desserts and most of the simple carbs, for health reasons. Result was I went home 3 weeks later brutally thin, with no boobs, and my pants tied around my waist with a bungee cord to keep them from falling off.
Again, this has consistently worked for me throughout my life, including the several occasions I gained 20+ lbs. Your body might function differently in the particulars, though.
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I've never had weight problems, I also don't eat super healthy or exercise as much as I should. I am however fidgety and I like to go on walks. I probably walk outside for 1.5-2 hours a day, I pace at work during phone meetings, and after sitting too long I have a very strong impulse to get up and move around.
Coconut oil helps weight loss
Olive oil helps weight loss
Most oils are heavy in calories so I don't see how either would help with weight loss. However, what I've read about olive oil is that it helps your ratio of good VS bad cholesterol.
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I’ve followed Weight Watchers for nearly 20 years; the program is always being tweaked, and I think the current version is fantastic. What I like about it:
- teaches you how and how much to eat (encourages good, healthy choices)
- it’s not a diet, but a lifestyle (okay, you quite likely will be eating less than what you’re used to, but it is rare for me to feel hungry if I’m following the program properly
- group support (for me, the accountability is key)
- it’s real food
- there is room for splurges (giving up all favourite treats can be a recipe for binging/disaster)
I don’t think there’s any special secret or trick or magic to weight loss (assuming no medical condition, of course). Consume fewer and healthier calories, eat real food (with a focus on lean protein, veggies, fruit and cutting back some [to a lot] on carbs/sugar), stay on track far more than you don’t... exercise is great for the health benefits, but you simply cannot outexercise a poor diet. In my experience, the most important thing is mindset. Once you are determined to do it, it gets a lot easier; once you’ve seen some results, you want to keep it going. Quite a lot like getting control of one’s finances.
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you simply cannot outexercise a poor diet.
Oh, you can, but running 60-70 miles a week is hell. Bleh.
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I can share what's worked for my family. It's no cure all, and it's not a diet for everyone.
We started the Paleo diet last August. Don't read too much into the name. It's essentially a diet where we eat similar to what our grandparents ate.
Short simple version. Cut out everything listed below. Beyond that, eat as much as you want. In order for this diet to work, you need to be 70-80% compliant with it. Otherwise, you won't get much benefit at all.
Have close to zero:
-Sugars
-Grains
-Dairy
-Legumes (I don't know why this one is in there).
-Soy
-Processed additives like partially hydrogenated anything or oils.
Pick up a book if you're truly interested. There are some nuances. We both lost about 20 pounds in the first two months while eating as much as we want. My wife has continued to lose weight since then, although I've mostly leveled off 25-30lbs below my peak. We also feel much healthier. My wife's high blood pressure entirely disappeared since starting the diet.
Down sides to the diet:
-I hate being one of those people on a fad diet. I have to roll my eyes at myself when I talk about it.
-A lot of "convenient" foods are not allowed. You have to think more about meals and do more meal planning. No more breakfast cereals or yogurts.
-It will cost more money. While any mustachian can optimize and avoid crazy expenses, you are eliminating some of the cheapest foods from your diet (simple grains) and adding more expensive stuff (proteins).
-It is not a kid friendly diet, at least for us. Our eldest has no interest in the compliant foods, so we typically make her a separate dish. Yes, we are suckers.
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The meal planning and being educated about what you're putting in your body is an essential first step. Ignoring this is like a Case Study that doesn't start off with "well what the hell is your income and budget?" Losing weight is at its heart a math problem. Your calories out have to exceed your calories in. The rate at which you do this is in some part dependent on the source of those calories. Your energy to get through your day, commitment to the plan, and overall health are also impacted by the type of food you eat. There's a big difference between 1000 calories of beans and apples and 1000 calories of candy. Also, use smaller plates for your meals. Portions are easier to control and you don't feel obligated to fill your plate to capacity.
Steady and regular exercise. This is the other half of the math problem. Don't go nuts trying to sprint off that cheat meal. You'll just hurt yourself. Your eating and exercise habits are a mix of biological and psychological which take weeks to form. It sounds like a fad, but people who walk around with Fitbits are taking important steps (literal and metaphorical). It's a system that reminds you to get up and move around. The number of steps you take throughout the day can be translated into a mathematical calorie burn. I'm not saying get a Fitbit, but rather form these habits of getting up and moving around. As exercise stops becoming new and becomes a habit, slowly increase your activity.
Avoid fad diets like you should be avoiding high fructose corn syrup. Crash diets and fad diets (if they work at all) are temporary and often detrimental to your health. Slow and steady wins this race (see habits comment above).
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The two methods that I’ve seen to be effective are.
1. Healthy eating and regular exercise.
2. Two hours heavy exercise five days a week and eat whatever the fuck you want.
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I've never had weight problems, I also don't eat super healthy or exercise as much as I should. I am however fidgety and I like to go on walks. I probably walk outside for 1.5-2 hours a day, I pace at work during phone meetings, and after sitting too long I have a very strong impulse to get up and move around.
Coconut oil helps weight loss
Olive oil helps weight loss
Most oils are heavy in calories so I don't see how either would help with weight loss. However, what I've read about olive oil is that it helps your ratio of good VS bad cholesterol.
Coconut diet: http://coconutdiet.com/
Olive oil diet: http://slism.com/diet/olive-oil-diet.html#ConsumptionForTheOliveOilDiet
No idea if these diets work.
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My take on weight loss is that long term success needs two elements.
1. Brute force. Drop your caloric intake below your total daily energy expenditure. Common advice is to reduce by 500 calories, which will make your body catabolize 1 lbs of tissue each week.
2. Finesse. Explore different ways of eating, to figure out the best way to cause the deficit. Keto, low carb, vegan, plant based, nutritional density, weight watchers. There are lots of different paths.
There seems to be growing evidence that the actual act of exercise doesn't help weigh loss. Burning extra calories just makes you hungrier, and taxes your willpower. Stop with the pitchforks, m'kay. Exercise is certainly better for overall health, and higher muscle mass means you get to eat more (score!) but is neutral towards successful weight loss.
Short answer - you DO have to experience hunger, but there are lots of ways to strategically to minimize suffering.
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This story is amazing! This couple lost all this weight in 18 months!
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/couple-loses-400-pounds-inspirational-weight-loss-journey/story?id=51653532
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Eat a large raw beet before each meal. Beets are good for you (bonus), they taste terrible (appetite suppression), they take a while to crunch through and eat (forces slower eating - appetite suppression), there's a lot of fiber in them (makes you feel full for a long time - appetite suppression), and the calories in them are less bio-available when eaten raw (calorie sparse). It's part of what I used to do when cutting weight for wrestling tournaments.
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Eat a large raw beet before each meal. Beets are good for you (bonus), they taste terrible (appetite suppression), they take a while to crunch through and eat (forces slower eating - appetite suppression), there's a lot of fiber in them (makes you feel full for a long time - appetite suppression), and the calories in them are less bio-available when eaten raw (calorie sparse). It's part of what I used to do when cutting weight for wrestling tournaments.
Is there no way you could make them taste better? My mom used to make pickled beets and used vinegar, cloves and sugar. I know sugar is no good but maybe some alternative sweetener. They tasted marvelous!
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Several other people have pointed this out already, but I want to re-emphasize it.
Most diets don't work long term b/c by their very nature they are temporary. I.e., "I'm on a diet to lose 20 lbs by swimsuit season". But if you are constantly adopting a 'diet' mindset in that way, it means that you view dieting as a deprivation and a constant assertion of willpower. And of course, almost everyone trying to maintain that into perpetuity will eventually fail. The whole time you are dieting, in the back of your mind is the assumption that someday you can 'go off' the diet. But of course, if you go off the diet and resume something close to your old relationship with food, then you gain the weight back.
Personally, I think the whole traditional American 'dieting' approach is designed to not only fail, but to warp peoples' psychological relationship with food (which in many people isn't very healthy to begin with) and make them constantly resentful and depressed. Which, needless to say, helps with marketing more diet gimmicks.
IMO the key is to change to new, permanent, healthy eating habits where you never have to 'diet' again.
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Eat a large raw beet before each meal. Beets are good for you (bonus), they taste terrible (appetite suppression), they take a while to crunch through and eat (forces slower eating - appetite suppression), there's a lot of fiber in them (makes you feel full for a long time - appetite suppression), and the calories in them are less bio-available when eaten raw (calorie sparse). It's part of what I used to do when cutting weight for wrestling tournaments.
Is there no way you could make them taste better? My mom used to make pickled beets and used vinegar, cloves and sugar. I know sugar is no good but maybe some alternative sweetener. They tasted marvelous!
You don't want them to taste better. Crappy taste is one of the benefits from a weight loss perspective.
Several other people have pointed this out already, but I want to re-emphasize it.
Most diets don't work long term b/c by their very nature they are temporary. I.e., "I'm on a diet to lose 20 lbs by swimsuit season". But if you are constantly adopting a 'diet' mindset in that way, it means that you view dieting as a deprivation and a constant assertion of willpower. And of course, almost everyone trying to maintain that into perpetuity will eventually fail. The whole time you are dieting, in the back of your mind is the assumption that someday you can 'go off' the diet. But of course, if you go off the diet and resume something close to your old relationship with food, then you gain the weight back.
Personally, I think the whole traditional American 'dieting' approach is designed to not only fail, but to warp peoples' psychological relationship with food (which in many people isn't very healthy to begin with) and make them constantly resentful and depressed. Which, needless to say, helps with marketing more diet gimmicks.
IMO the key is to change to new, permanent, healthy eating habits where you never have to 'diet' again.
Dieting is always short term. By it's nature it can't work long term. When you're dieting, you're consuming fewer calories than required for weight maintenance. That's never, ever going to something you can do for an extended period without starving. If someone doesn't realize this, yeah, they're definitely going to fail.
Once you're at your target weight though, then you stop dieting and go into regular healthy body weight maintenance. You figure out how many calories a day you need to eat to maintain your weight, and come up with ways to be happy eating that amount. You will need to increase your caloric intake from the dieting phase as you're no longer aiming for a calorie deficit.
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Dieting is always short term. By it's nature it can't work long term. When you're dieting, you're consuming fewer calories than required for weight maintenance. That's never, ever going to something you can do for an extended period without starving. If someone doesn't realize this, yeah, they're definitely going to fail.
Once you're at your target weight though, then you stop dieting and go into regular healthy body weight maintenance. You figure out how many calories a day you need to eat to maintain your weight, and come up with ways to be happy eating that amount. You will need to increase your caloric intake from the dieting phase as you're no longer aiming for a calorie deficit.
I'm probably going to get flamed for this, since there are more than a few people on this board that equate fat=lazy slob, but there are a fair amount of studies out there that show that 'maintenance' of a certain body weight is not as easy as all that either. Your body seems to have a certain set point that it wants to settle at for weight (and its different for everyone), and trying to maintain either a smaller or larger size long-term (+five years) just results in your body's metabolic processes doing all sorts of weird things to circumvent you and get back to that weight.
Honestly, your best best is to focus on habits proven to improve health outcomes (smoking, drinking, exercise, sleep and amount of fiber in diet) and accept your weight wherever it settles at. Dieting itself, with all the weight cycling that comes with it, is another health risk. Check out HAES (Health At Every Size)--they list a fair amount of research studies that support this, and more has come out since the book came out. This article is one example of a study about the health risks of obesity, and how they don't really stand up to scrutiny: http://www.neverdietagain.co.uk/enjoy-your-haes-while-it-lasts-or-is-metabolically-healthy-obesity-a-myth/ (http://www.neverdietagain.co.uk/enjoy-your-haes-while-it-lasts-or-is-metabolically-healthy-obesity-a-myth/)
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So do any of you have real weight loss techniques to help weight loss?
Does anything really work besides starvation?
There are several diet and metabolism hacks used by fitness competitors during show prep. Green tea extract pills, fasted walks in the morning, sitting in cold baths and drinking lots of ice water, etc. Those things do help, but they are the 1% on top of the 99% that is a good diet and exercise regimen. Get the diet in place first, the fitness second and worry about the little boosters last.
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Weigh yourself every day.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380831/
According that neat little study (small n)
"Daily weighers lost significantly more weight compared to those weighing less than daily (mean difference, −6.1kg)"
I've been doing this for 13 months now and have lost 14 pounds, making no other real changes. I've always exercised somewhere around a moderate amount, but knowing that the scale is waiting every morning and seeing hundreds of data points on a weight tracking app has a way of forcing you to be accountable. It's like tracking your net worth - there will be up and downs and tiny fluctuations (day to day and week to week), but that trend line had damn well better be going the right way. If you don't measure it, you can't fix it. You won't even know it needs fixing.
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I'm in the healthy BMI range, but I read a lot of health and fitness stuff online over the years (from various camps), and here's my 2 cents:
1) CICO, including a) not eating giant portion sizes or eating large quantities of snacks, and b) moving/fidgeting/exercising regularly. You can track this by the week instead of by the day, which allows more room for the occasional party or fancy dinner out or whatever, because you can eat less on a different day of the week to make up for it.
2) Avoid junk food for the most part, because it's scientifically made by the companies so that it will have just the right combination of seasoning that you crave more of it, and it's generally a very high amount of calories for the amount of fullness it gives you. You don't have to stick to this rule rigidly, but a good rule of thumb is whether your (or somebody else's, if it's a different culture's food) great-grandmother would have immediately recognised it as food.
3) Pick foods that are more naturally filling and nutrient-dense. It's much harder to gorge on, say, roast chicken than it is to gorge on fries. If you want to build muscle (or retain more muscle as you lose weight), you want plenty of protein, and don't forget your fruit and veggies for your vitamins and minerals. There are advocates on both the low-fat/high-carb and low-carb/high-fat sides of the debate, so regarding that just pick whichever works for you, or just don't worry about carb vs fat and stick with the "no junk food" thing.
4) Set up your environment so that it's harder for you to access the food you're trying to avoid. If you have any junk food left in your house because of relatives stopping you from throwing it away or whatever, hide it at the back of a cupboard so you at least can't see it. And keep your exercise kit either by your bed (so you can put it on first thing in the morning) or by your front door (so you can pick it up super-easily to go to the gym). If you don't do anything to make it easier for yourself, and you try to rely entirely on willpower, you will fall off the bandwagon. Though it's worth pointing out that if you do fall off, it's not the end of the world - just start your plan again in time for the next meal.
The most important thing to remember, in order to avoid yo-yo dieting and other unsustainable changes, is that you are NOT ON A DIET, you are CHANGING YOUR ATTITUDES TOWARDS FOOD. You can't just do a quick diet for a couple of months, go back to your old habits as soon as you reach your goal weight, and expect to keep it off. You need to have an overall mindset of eating healthily and appropriately, first in a range of a few hundred calories deficit a day for weight loss, and then with roughly no deficit or gain once you reach your goal weight. This means that you need to be eating the same types (i.e., still avoiding junk food) and the same smaller portion sizes of food indefinitely. So make sure whatever eating style you picked is sustainable for you in the long term, and not overly restrictive for you.
There are some hacks that might help get a faster metabolism or whatever, but to be honest I think most of them are just fiddling round the edges and therefore are probably only applicable to serious athletes or something. It's better to sort out the big picture of your relationship with food first, rather than worry about things like what time of day to eat at or whatever.
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Oh and an addendum to my previous post. 14 pounds in a year doesn't sound like much and isn't encouraging for most people to hear. But I've been the same weight for about a decade and started out just a little overweight when I began weighing in. I'm now not in the overweight BMI for the first time in my adult life. And I can still eat stuff I like and drink beer - just a tiny bit less. Shave 300 calories a day somewhere (one less beer and 5 more minutes on a bike, skip a second helping, run a few miles, take the bread off a hamburger), and you'll lose over 2 pounds a month. Again I think it's like a saving a few bucks here and there. It adds up without impacting happiness and before you know it, you've got new habits ingrained and have managed to lose weight.
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I used many of the same discipline techniques for staying fit as I do for saving money!
1. Set goals! Any realistic fitness program has to be enduring and sustainable. Diets are about as effective as temporary saving.
2. Quantify progress so you can see what new processes have the best effect. Different diets and exercise programs work differently for each person.
3. Enjoy the new life change. Don't buy a treadmill if it does not look like something fun. Create new hobbies that you want to add to your life style. Hiking, biking, think of some things you enjoy and modify them to burn calories if possible.
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There's something called the satiety index. It tells you how full you will feel if you eat a certain number of calories. Generally speaking, foods higher in water, fiber, and protein will make you feel fuller for a given number of calories. I find that eating these foods really does help me feel full, and avoid snacking. Its not a magic cure but it is helpful as part of an overall strategy of counting calories and regular exercise.
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GF lost about 60lbs between last September and this March (~2.3lb/week).
Constant calorie deficit with some intermittent fasting. Not always calorie counting, but reasonable portion control with an intuition for how calorically-dense common meals of ours are.
Nutrient-dense food. No/very limited (maybe once a month) junk food. Minimal sugar/starch. 95% of food prepared at home (she travels a lot for work so this isn't always easy).
No snacking. Only meals. Only water or coffee to drink.
10,000 steps per day minimum (Fitbit tracked), mostly outdoors supplemented with treadmill walking in the winter. I think she missed two total days (when she was sick) since September.
Barbell weight training 3x/week.
HIIT sprinting 2x/week.
She did a few other little things but those six are (presumably) where the bulk of her results came from. Some were things she was already doing. I'm not saying it's easy, but it doesn't have to be super complicated.
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This story is amazing! This couple lost all this weight in 18 months!
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/couple-loses-400-pounds-inspirational-weight-loss-journey/story?id=51653532
I just started following her on IG a couple of weeks ago.
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I firmly believe everyone's body responds slightly differently to different weight loss strategies, so what works for most people might not work for all.
*snip*
Again, this has consistently worked for me throughout my life, including the several occasions I gained 20+ lbs. Your body might function differently in the particulars, though.
I swear we were separated at birth.
I've lost weight several times over the years. First in my early 30's because I was fat. Later in my latter 30's and early 40's because that's when I had babies.
First couple of times it was Weight Watchers, but I found that calorie restriction was a bit too much because when I hit goal and ate more I dropped weight faster.
Eventually, around age 40, WW stopped working.
I had to do a lot of experimenting because - what works for person A might not work for person B. And what works for person A when they are 20 might not work when they are 30 or 40 or 50.
"You can't out exercise a bad diet" is good advice - thing is you can to some point. Some people can do it until their 60s before the body breaks down - for me it was my 20s.
Right now I'm training for a half marathon, and contrary to the idea that you can eat a lot - my calorie intake doesn't really change with the increased training.
In any event, what works for me *NOW* as a late 40's woman is:
- Fewer carbs. Ideally 2 servings a day, but as I'm not a huge fan of meat, usually I get more like 4. Our bodies read beans as a carb, for example - and I tend to use them as my "protein".
- Repeat foods. I have 2-3 different breakfasts that I rotate through. I eat salad for lunch every.single.day. I have two snacks, and they are reliably fruit and nuts, sometimes veggies and hummus. I make two dinners on the weekends and we eat them all week, and I keep my portion sizes the same.
- I aim for 4-6 cups of fruit and vegetables a day, mostly veg.
- I don't drink much, maybe a glass of wine a week, because it interferes with my sleep.
- Really really try to get a lot of sleep. But I'm an insomniac.
- Exercise wise, right now I'm on the run 3x a week, swim once, walk twice, do some body weight training 1-2x a week.
- No wheat. I started having digestive issues a year ago, and in July identified wheat as a possible culprit. That or cheese. Didn't want it to be cheese. So I gave up wheat (not gluten), just subbed different carbs, and I lost 8 pounds. I was already at a healthy weight.
- I tend to eat a higher fat diet - olive oil, olives, cheese, nuts, butter - my salads and my veggies are delicious and they are filling.
- I don't eat much meat. The 2 meals I eat a week, that cover 6 dinners - one is vegetarian or vegan and the other has meat.
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Weigh yourself every day.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380831/
According that neat little study (small n)
"Daily weighers lost significantly more weight compared to those weighing less than daily (mean difference, −6.1kg)"
I've been doing this for 13 months now and have lost 14 pounds, making no other real changes. I've always exercised somewhere around a moderate amount, but knowing that the scale is waiting every morning and seeing hundreds of data points on a weight tracking app has a way of forcing you to be accountable. It's like tracking your net worth - there will be up and downs and tiny fluctuations (day to day and week to week), but that trend line had damn well better be going the right way. If you don't measure it, you can't fix it. You won't even know it needs fixing.
Ah, glad to see there is some indication that "weight yourself every day" is a worthwhile advice. I think that's the biggest thing that's keeping me from gaining back the weight. I totally agree with you!
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I follow mostly what Norcal does above and echo his/her comments.
Primal/Paleo kept me around 170-175.
Then when I learned sbout keto (from a Joe Rogan podcast), I really cut back on starches and fruit. No more potatos. No bread. Limited fruit. No starchy vegetables.
I have to go zero tolerance on nuts, chips and chocolate. If I eat one, I eat the entire bag.
I was shocked. I dropped to 160. I almost have a 2 pack for the first time in my life at 50 years old.
If I get to 152-155 ish I'll match my weight when I was a 19year old lifeguard !
My energy is better than ever. I'm rarely hungry as opposed to all my other diets where I was usually hungry.
I’ve done high carb/low fat, 6 meals a day bodybuilder plan, high protein, standard american diet, and vegan/vegetarian. All with lots of exercise. In most cases, I never got under 180.
The only other one that produced similar weight loss was vegetarian. But after 5 years, I was always tired and felt suicidal every morning. As soon as I added meat back into my diet, I improved.
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Salmonella diet hands down. Works overnight!
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Salmonella diet hands down. Works overnight!
The divorce diet is a good one, too. Doesn't work overnight, but the results are lasting!
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Salmonella diet hands down. Works overnight!
The divorce diet is a good one, too. Doesn't work overnight, but the results are lasting!
A good bout of noroviris this Christmas took care of the holiday weight gain. I don't recommend it.
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Salmonella diet hands down. Works overnight!
I lost 20 lbs in two weeks when I had blood poisoning. :P
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Salmonella diet hands down. Works overnight!
The divorce diet is a good one, too. Doesn't work overnight, but the results are lasting!
A good bout of noroviris this Christmas took care of the holiday weight gain. I don't recommend it.
That was our Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. crackers and applesauce for Thanksgiving dinner. I lost so much weight that my husband said I looked like a skeleton with melting drooping skin.
Then the kids got it again at Christmas.
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Read the book 'French Women don't get fat.' I am sure some do, but the book recommends that you eat what you like, but in small portions. Enjoy what you eat.
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_13?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=french+women+don%27t+get+fat&sprefix=french+women+%2Cdigital-text%2C393&crid=Y77QJ2O77OFV
I use Hermestas as an artificial sweetener.
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https://vinnietortorich.com/intro-to-nsng/
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Cutting carbs, specifically grains, starchy veg, and concentrated sugar (both real and fake) is as close to a universal weight loss tool as I’m aware of.
Some folks also need to cut dairy, high glycemic fruits, nuts, even low glycemic fruits.
Alcohol, even low/no carb forms (wine is lowish carbs, many hard liquors are zero carb), can be a factor for many. I miss it, but my body feels better without regular alcohol. I may quit it entirely, or may let myself have a drink 1/month or 1/week but probably no more.
Some folks do better on high fat to protein (e.g. keto). I started out that way but my body seems to like higher amounts of protein and not as much fat. This is great as it also lines up with our urban homestead, which can produce eggs and rabbit meat (even leaner than chicken) but not any other animals. I’m still grain, sugar, and starchy veg free and liking it. I personally can tolerate nuts, low carb dairy like cheese and plain Greek yoghurt fine.
What I like about cutting high glycemic carbs out is that, typically, you won’t need to count calories or track portions to achieve success. Protein and fat satiate much more than other foods, so it’s difficult to overeat. The changes to insulin and other related hormones also changes metabolic processes.
But nothing is truly universal. You have to see what works for you.
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I won't argue against exercise, it has health benefits in its own right. But, in terms of pure weight loss, I have found it to be less helpful than portion control. My experience would seem to be backed up by a quick google looking at what calories are burned during periods of exercise (including walking) that are reasonable for most people's schedules.
For me the key has always been portion control. Simply eating less of the same things results in weight loss. How large a reduction depends on how much over-eating is going on. Of course there are certain components that have bigger returns than others.
I've seen too many people try and loose weight by going on a diet that radically changes what they eat with the goal of losing XX pounds; I even tried one once. And the problem is the diet plan often cuts out food you like/love and people just don't find it sustainable. Even when people succeed at losing XX pounds on a more radical diet they discontinue the diet and either slowly or quickly regain the weight. I just don't find these diets plans maintainable.
Of course there are small changes/substitutions that can be permanently made to a one's diet that can help lose weight and keep it off (think leaner meats, lower fat milk, and so on). But, radical diet plans that have you avoiding foods you love, cutting out entire food groups, eating more foods you don't care for seem destine to fail.
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Like others have said, you have to find what works for you.
As I am both a volume eater and a snacking machine, I focus on caloric density, meaning that I lean toward foods that have fewer calories per gram. I eat as much fruit and vegetables as I like, then whole grains, starches, and legumes to fill me up. I avoid oil and other processed foods, and limit added sugars. I only eat plants, so no meat, dairy, eggs, etc.
When I'm trying to lose weight (as I am right now), I cut back on nuts, seeds, avocados, bread/pasta, liquid calories (plant milks, smoothies), etc. Doing this, I'm able to eat large amounts of satisfying food while dropping weight pretty easily.
On a typical day while losing weight, I try to keep my meals really simple and do the same thing pretty much every day. The consistency and repetitiveness helps a lot:
- oats with blueberries + a banana or a mango
- big-ass salad with cucumber and tomato, dressing of vinegar, mustard, and a little maple syrup
- ~2-3 lbs of potatoes or sweet potatoes w/ various condiments (mix of ketchup, BBQ sauce, and hot sauce; mustard & sauerkraut; soy sauce, sriracha, garlic)
- a pile of steamed/roasted vegetables
- more fruit for snacking if necessary
When I'm more content with my weight, I add back in a wide variety of plant foods.
Eating this way, plus weighing myself everyday, works for me.
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Here's what's working for us:
1. Weigh self every morning.
2. Eat whole food plant based (WFPB) foods - e.g. as outlined in Dr. Greger's How Not to Die book and on his non-profit website nutrionfacts.org (http://www.nutritionfacts.org) and/or the Forks Over Knives plan.
edit: ^ just like what mjb posted while I was typing this up :) .
Within a week of going 100% WFPB, I lost about 5 lbs and have been maintaining my weight at 113-116 lb ever since. This is a weight I feel good at.
My husband lost about 10lbs after going WFPB, but what he likes most is that his recovery time after high exertion running or biking has shrunk from 10 min to less than a minute. He's working out hours every day and loving it. I'm lazier than that though.
Examples of what we eat: potatoes, beans, veggies, fruits, small amounts of high fiber whole grain breads (>20% of the carbs from fiber), tofu, greens, nuts, etc. Ethiopian, Indian, pizza, etc. It's pretty much paleo minus the meat. My understanding is that meat and dairy consumption are linked to modern day chronic diseases like hardening of the arteries and T2 diabetes, among other negative effects.
At first I was worried about micronutrients, but we tracked on the cronometer app for a few weeks and get everything we need. For example with calcium, here's what I wrote up in my journal:
The U.K.’s NHS says I need 700mg Ca per day. Dr. Greger says I need 600mg.
So, shootin’ for 700mg a Day
BREAKFAST:
3/4 c oats 63 mg Ca
1 orange 74 mg
100g tofu 30 (can be up to 680mg*, but counting only 30 here)
1 tsp turmeric 4 mg
onion slice 2 mg
5 almonds 15 mg
3 walnuts 12 mg
1/2 oz goji berries 14 mg
1/2 oz raisins 7 mg
80g soy yogurt 100 mg
coffee 2 mg
TOTAL BREAKFAST: 323 mg Ca
*(tofu Ca content depends on coagulant agent used. Nigari=30mg,calcium sulfate= ~680 )
LUNCH:
1 c Lentils 37 mg
potato 26 mg
tomatoes 10 mg
80g soy yogurt 100mg
2 large strawberries 6mg
1 oz avocado 4 mg
2 tsp chia 50mg
orange 74mg
TOTAL LUNCH: 307 mg Ca
DINNER:
1 c Lentils 37 mg
potato large 40 mg
tomatoes 10 mg
kale (30g) 42 mg
80g soy yogurt 100mg
1 tbsp chia seed 75mg
TOTAL LUNCH: 304 mg Ca
Grand Total Please …
323+307+304: 934 mg Calcium – all from eating various plants. No supplements, no nuthin’.
We take a b12 supplement 1x per week.
IMO, this is a diet that's worth trying, and once you get used to it, it's pretty easy to follow habitually. My cheats are occasional dark chocolate (dairy free), and once in a while I have a cheese-less veggie pizza that's made from refined flour crust. But refined flour foods don't really even seem like real food to me anymore, so even with pizza I now prefer to go with the whole grain flour crust.
That's my experience at least. YMMV
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Like others have said, you have to find what works for you.
As I am both a volume eater and a snacking machine, I focus on caloric density, meaning that I lean toward foods that have fewer calories per gram. I eat as much fruit and vegetables as I like, then whole grains, starches, and legumes to fill me up. I avoid oil and other processed foods, and limit added sugars. I only eat plants, so no meat, dairy, eggs, etc.
When I'm trying to lose weight (as I am right now), I cut back on nuts, seeds, avocados, bread/pasta, liquid calories (plant milks, smoothies), etc. Doing this, I'm able to eat large amounts of satisfying food while dropping weight pretty easily.
On a typical day while losing weight, I try to keep my meals really simple and do the same thing pretty much every day. The consistency and repetitiveness helps a lot:
- oats with blueberries + a banana or a mango
- big-ass salad with cucumber and tomato, dressing of vinegar, mustard, and a little maple syrup
- ~2-3 lbs of potatoes or sweet potatoes w/ various condiments (mix of ketchup, BBQ sauce, and hot sauce; mustard & sauerkraut; soy sauce, sriracha, garlic)
- a pile of steamed/roasted vegetables
- more fruit for snacking if necessary
When I'm more content with my weight, I add back in a wide variety of plant foods.
Eating this way, plus weighing myself everyday, works for me.
I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, but I wanted to comment on this meal plan.
It's pretty similar to what I eat in a day, in the oatmeal, big ass salad, fruit, a pile of roasted and steamed veggies.
The difference for me is that I'm able to maintain my weight easily (I'm at a healthy weight) by eating more fat and fewer carbs. If I'm trying to lose weight (let's just say March had a little too much chocolate), then I'll have a carb for breakfast (like oats), and a carb for dinner, but that's it for the day.
Maintenance I might have an extra carb or two (a muffin, piece of toast, beans or lentils). For the most part though, as long as I don't hit the chocolate too heavily, weight maintenance is easy - get rid of those 2-3 lbs of potatoes, and sub about an ounce of cheese, an ounce of nuts, an avocado, and some lovely olive-oil based salad dressing. Basically, I don't skimp on the fat and it keeps me satisfied for hours.
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You don't want to hear this, but ...
Exercise. Combination of (1) weight/resistance training - even body-weight exercises such as squats, push-ups, lunges, crunches, triceps dips; and (2) cardio. 2 sessions a week each. Start with 15-20 minutes per session and space them out over the week. Cardio on Mon-Thurs and weight/resistance training on Tues-Fri. Or whatever. Build up to 3-4 hours per week total. It's really not much to ask of yourself out of your available 112 waking hours per week, and it's the kindest thing you can ever do for yourself, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time.
This is false.
https://www.vox.com/2018/1/3/16845438/exercise-weight-loss-myth-burn-calories
https://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories
Diet has a much greater impact on weight loss than exercise according to scientists.
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Some folks do better on high fat to protein (e.g. keto).
This is, as OP mentions at the top, voodoo.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/2/21/16965122/keto-diet-reset
But if you’re going keto to lose weight, buyer beware: In the long run, it looks a lot like other fad diets.
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Potato diet: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/news/a39697/penn-jillette-weight-loss-potato-diet/
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Potato diet: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/news/a39697/penn-jillette-weight-loss-potato-diet/
This sounds incredibly fun!
Unfortunately, Despite the crazy restrictions, Jillette stuck to it, losing 75 pounds in just 83 days without exercising
As others have noted, rapid weight loss like this is actually not a good thing. Nearly everyone who does a "crash diet" gains all the weight they lost back.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/438395-the-percentage-of-people-who-regain-weight-after-rapid-weight-loss-risks/
Only 5 percent of people who lose weight on a crash diet will keep the weight off
https://nypost.com/2018/04/10/crash-dieting-might-actually-make-you-gain-weight/
“Often, people try to prevent and manage excess weight and obesity by dieting and skipping meals. In the long term, such approaches seem to actually accelerate getting fatter, rather than prevent it,” said Kärkkäinen.
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Go on a thru hike, eat as much as you want.
Obviously not everyone can do this. But there were some weight loss takeaways. First off, hunger is ok. You can go to sleep hungry and be just fine the next day. I used to think hunger meant it was imperative that I eat. But it mostly means I'm in a calorie deficit, which is what you want. Hunger means you're doing it right. Just don't overdo it. You want to be a little hungry, not a lot hungry. Second, limiting the available food is a good way to lose weight. You hit the trailhead with X food and you have no options to get more for the next four days. But anything in your pack will be eaten. So just don't keep extra food in your house. It's ok to have extra staples because no one ever got fat because they were too tempted to cook up a pot of rice at midnight. But don't keep extra prepared foods in your house. Whatever is your kryptonite, get rid of it already. Third, a small snack can cut hunger pangs before bed time. I might feel like eating a pan of brownies in the evening, but half an orange makes me feel sufficiently satisfied before I go to bed.
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@Roadrunner53 - what is your starting point?
I am losing a little weight just by eliminating 80-90% of the desserts, junk food, and alcohol from my diet. If you have that kind of low-hanging fruit within reach, try that and see what it does for you.
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I have a very structured meal routine. I always eat more or less at the same time, have breakfast in the same bowl, pack my lunch in the same food container, etc. That way if I want to lose/gain weight It's easy to control how much food I'm consuming. But that also means that I usually don't snack between meals, nor have cheat days and don't take part in the eating part of office parties.
Just as an observation, people more often than not don't realise how easy it is to waste a week of calorific deficit with just a few bad joices.
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Potato diet: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/news/a39697/penn-jillette-weight-loss-potato-diet/
This sounds incredibly fun!
Unfortunately, Despite the crazy restrictions, Jillette stuck to it, losing 75 pounds in just 83 days without exercising
As others have noted, rapid weight loss like this is actually not a good thing. Nearly everyone who does a "crash diet" gains all the weight they lost back.
To clarify this a bit: the point of a temporarily restricted diet (from a whole foods/plant-based doctor's point-of-view) is to fix bad habits and change your relationship with food -- the weight loss is a side effect. Once you've reset your behavior and taste buds, the plan is to bring back in a wider variety of health-promoting plant foods.
Dr. John McDougall talks about this here: https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2006nl/june/marys.htm
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Go on a thru hike, eat as much as you want.
Obviously not everyone can do this. But there were some weight loss takeaways. First off, hunger is ok. You can go to sleep hungry and be just fine the next day. I used to think hunger meant it was imperative that I eat. But it mostly means I'm in a calorie deficit, which is what you want. Hunger means you're doing it right. Just don't overdo it. You want to be a little hungry, not a lot hungry. Second, limiting the available food is a good way to lose weight. You hit the trailhead with X food and you have no options to get more for the next four days. But anything in your pack will be eaten. So just don't keep extra food in your house. It's ok to have extra staples because no one ever got fat because they were too tempted to cook up a pot of rice at midnight. But don't keep extra prepared foods in your house. Whatever is your kryptonite, get rid of it already. Third, a small snack can cut hunger pangs before bed time. I might feel like eating a pan of brownies in the evening, but half an orange makes me feel sufficiently satisfied before I go to bed.
+1
Any kind of distance exercise is good for losing weight. I did an 85 km bike ride two Saturdays ago, and a 110 km ride last Saturday. I had a big pancake breakfast before the first and brought four large bananas to eat on the way . . . and then ate a large pizza later that evening. I had a big breakfast of oatmeal, peanut butter, and chocolate chips before the second, and brought 12 large dates, a bottle of Gatorade, and three bananas . . . and then ate two huge plates of fish and chips when I got back. I'm down 5 lbs over the past two weeks, with no other change to my regular exercise habits/diet.
Vive le carbs and exercise. :P
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I have a very structured meal routine. I always eat more or less at the same time, have breakfast in the same bowl, pack my lunch in the same food container, etc. That way if I want to lose/gain weight It's easy to control how much food I'm consuming. But that also means that I usually don't snack between meals, nor have cheat days and don't take part in the eating part of office parties.
Just as an observation, people more often than not don't realise how easy it is to waste a week of calorific deficit with just a few bad joices.
I've long maintained that if I worked 7 days a week, I'd be in absolutely amazing shape. I can typically eat perfectly for five working days and then blow it on the weekend because I don't have that structure, and left to my own devices I'll make some bad moves. So come Monday morning, it's time to play catch up again.
I suppose I'll need an entirely different mindset as I scale back work days in the future and eventually don't have any work days at all.
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So do any of you have real weight loss techniques to help weight loss?
There are so many claims that:
Apple Cider Vinegar helps burn fat
Coconut oil helps weight loss
Green Tea helps weight loss
Olive oil helps weight loss
Metamucil helps weight loss
Over the counter weight loss pills help weight loss
The Keto diet
High fat diet
Low fat diet
Low carb diet
Nutrisystem
Jenny Craig
Weight Watchers
There are a thousand books on weight loss! Does anything really work besides starvation?
I lost maybe 40 lbs doing Tim Ferriss's slow carb diet (from 4 hour body). But, then I stopped eating that way and gained most of it back over 5 years or so.
I currently have been using the sauna 5 days a week. I don't think it's changing my weight much, but it seems to be lowering my blood pressure.
Started doing this after learning about benefits of longevity re: sauna from Dr. Rhonda Patrick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWKBsh7YTXQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWKBsh7YTXQ)
Not sure how much it will end up helping, but the reported reduction in all cause mortality was pretty significant in the study she references (published in JAMA I think?)
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Is green tea voodoo or does it help weight loss?
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Is green tea voodoo or does it help weight loss?
Caffeine is a stimulant, and as such helps to increase your metabolism.
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First off, hunger is ok. You can go to sleep hungry and be just fine the next day. I used to think hunger meant it was imperative that I eat. But it mostly means I'm in a calorie deficit, which is what you want. Hunger means you're doing it right. Just don't overdo it. You want to be a little hungry, not a lot hungry.
Yep, learning that being hungry isn't a crisis has been huge for me. This was a fairly recent discovery, found via playing around with intermittent fasting.
Resetting expectations around when I need and how much food constitutes a reasonable portion has been all I've needed to do to drop about 10 pounds and keep it off (not looking to lose any more).
I don't think I could survive on any diet that cuts out too many specific foods, I love variety too much. Portion control and avoiding unconscious or obligatory eating is the key for me.
I exercise a good amount for mental health and because I feel better overall when I do, but weight control happens on the plate.
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Is green tea voodoo or does it help weight loss?
Caffeine is a stimulant, and as such helps to increase your metabolism.
I've read suggestions that caffeine aids in weight loss due to increased metabolism and also that it causes weight gain due to increased stress hormones but from the evidence I've seen it doesn't have any major effects on it's own. Maybe a slight and inconsistent increase to metabolism is more plausible.
The real effect may come from how it influences your behavior which of course will vary greatly person to person, by how much you use, and by how you use it. If some morning caffeine gets you to the gym or helps regulate sleep pattern then it will probably help with weight loss. If it increases your hunger or disrupts your ability to fall asleep it could do quite the opposite.
In regards to green tea specifically:
"Green tea preparations appear to induce a small, statistically non-significant weight loss in overweight or obese adults. Because the amount of weight loss is small, it is not likely to be clinically important. Green tea had no significant effect on the maintenance of weight loss."
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233909068_Green_tea_for_weight_loss_and_weight_maintenance_in_overweight_or_obese_adults
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Is green tea voodoo or does it help weight loss?
If it displaces high calorie beverages, sure.
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I dropped 150 pounds in a year on keto, so don't tell me it doesn't work. I consumed, on average, 3500 calories a day. During that time, I eliminated my need for blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds, diabetes meds, GERD meds, anxiety meds and allergy meds. Keto is a godsend for those who are insulin resistant. If you aren't insulin resistant, then even I don't see much need for it.
It comes down to what is easiest to follow long term. If one method lets you self regulate without constant calorie counting and gives good results, thats the way to go. No plan will help if you force too many calories down yourself, but some make it easier than others to feel full and satisfied. Nothing is true.
Saturated fat is not the enemy
Carbohydrates aren't either
Too much protein isn't going to hurt you unless you have a very rare genetic disorder
Exercise drastically increases your ability to lose fat if you use it correctly, but more importantly, it improves your cardiovascular system so you can live long enough to enjoy it
Lifting weights won't make women bulky
It's damn hard to get bulky (and stay lean) as a man without drugs
If you think people who binge and overeat are just weak, you aren't one of those with a food addiction. Give them some slack without supporting the behavior
Skinny people aren't necessarily healthier than (moderately) overweight people. But don't kid yourself, morbid obesity is a death sentence.
Get strong. It's useful.
The first 5-10 pounds coming off is water and poop. Don't be disappointed when it slows down
Your weight gain on vacation is the reverse. 80% isn't fat, so get back on plan and get rid of it
Your body loves homeostasis. Give it a year at your goal weight before you consider drastically changing anything
Get more protein that the FDA recommends. That number is the minimum, not the optimum.
So there's my soap box. I've been competing in strongman and powerlifting for years now. Using Keto, I'm able to keep my cholesterol and blood sugar right where they need to be while fueling my performance.
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I dropped 150 pounds in a year on keto, so don't tell me it doesn't work.
One case does not equate to universal success.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/ketogenic-diet-is-the-ultimate-low-carb-diet-good-for-you-2017072712089
Of the available science and data we have, the keto diet does help reduce the number of seizures, if you experience those. And yes, there is a short-term weight loss component that many experience as well as the lowering of blood sugar level as you mention.
But in the long-term, the data available shows that it's not very effective with keep weight off.
I'm not sure if people here are doing the "carnivore" diet - essentially keto on steroids, it looks to me. But these people eat basically no carbs, no vegetables, no fruit. The most prominent is Dr. Shawn Baker (his license has been revoked).
https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/comments/8be58q/did_joe_ever_acknowledge_shawn_bakers_shitish/
He has has diabetes, less testosterone than a woman, dangerous levels of cholesterol, and multiple vitamin deficiencies. He has been practicing his "carnivore" diet for a long time.
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So there's my soap box. I've been competing in strongman and powerlifting for years now. Using Keto, I'm able to keep my cholesterol and blood sugar right where they need to be while fueling my performance.
Just to go off what someone said above about no one diet being the magic fix for the entire population - https://www.mensjournal.com/food-drink/vegan-diet-american-olympic-weightlifter-kendrick-farris/
The strongest weightlifter in America in 2016 was a plant-based athlete.
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I dropped 150 pounds in a year on keto, so don't tell me it doesn't work.
One case does not equate to universal success.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/ketogenic-diet-is-the-ultimate-low-carb-diet-good-for-you-2017072712089
Of the available science and data we have, the keto diet does help reduce the number of seizures, if you experience those. And yes, there is a short-term weight loss component that many experience as well as the lowering of blood sugar level as you mention.
But in the long-term, the data available shows that it's not very effective with keep weight off.
I'm not sure if people here are doing the "carnivore" diet - essentially keto on steroids, it looks to me. But these people eat basically no carbs, no vegetables, no fruit. The most prominent is Dr. Shawn Baker (his license has been revoked).
https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/comments/8be58q/did_joe_ever_acknowledge_shawn_bakers_shitish/
He has has diabetes, less testosterone than a woman, dangerous levels of cholesterol, and multiple vitamin deficiencies. He has been practicing his "carnivore" diet for a long time.
You seem like you must be a researcher in the arena. Carnivore diet is obviously foolish. No argument on that from me. We're talking two different diets, no reason to conflate them.
Our friend who is following a different diet than I mentioned certainly seems to have some health issues. What has been done to show that the diet caused this and not some other condition or that his abuse of anabolic androgenic steriods isn't to blame for his low T, given that he likely damaged his HPTA with idiotic cycles?
Again, Keto,not carnivore. Humans are omnivores. Even what we consider true carnivores eat leaves/grass at times. We're being intelligent with our food consumption, not dogmatic.
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Go on a thru hike, eat as much as you want.
Obviously not everyone can do this. But there were some weight loss takeaways. First off, hunger is ok. You can go to sleep hungry and be just fine the next day. I used to think hunger meant it was imperative that I eat. But it mostly means I'm in a calorie deficit, which is what you want. Hunger means you're doing it right. Just don't overdo it. You want to be a little hungry, not a lot hungry. Second, limiting the available food is a good way to lose weight. You hit the trailhead with X food and you have no options to get more for the next four days. But anything in your pack will be eaten. So just don't keep extra food in your house. It's ok to have extra staples because no one ever got fat because they were too tempted to cook up a pot of rice at midnight. But don't keep extra prepared foods in your house. Whatever is your kryptonite, get rid of it already. Third, a small snack can cut hunger pangs before bed time. I might feel like eating a pan of brownies in the evening, but half an orange makes me feel sufficiently satisfied before I go to bed.
+1
Any kind of distance exercise is good for losing weight. I did an 85 km bike ride two Saturdays ago, and a 110 km ride last Saturday. I had a big pancake breakfast before the first and brought four large bananas to eat on the way . . . and then ate a large pizza later that evening. I had a big breakfast of oatmeal, peanut butter, and chocolate chips before the second, and brought 12 large dates, a bottle of Gatorade, and three bananas . . . and then ate two huge plates of fish and chips when I got back. I'm down 5 lbs over the past two weeks, with no other change to my regular exercise habits/diet.
Vive le carbs and exercise. :P
Sometimes I effing hate men. :P
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I'll put in another high-five for intensity bursts. HIIT is the actual term. But it's simply a matter of getting your heart rate up high for a spell (10 seconds, 10 minutes, whatever) and then back down. Then up, then down...etc. I use a Tabata app on my phone outside on the grass and it's great.
Because for me, what that intensity seems to do is turn up the "I'm full!" signal in my brain to a high volume. When I am not really exercising much that signal is really faint and can be easily ignored. But exercise, and in particular the intense bursts, really helps with stopping eating when my body's had enough (because the signal is persistent and loud).
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You seem like you must be a researcher in the arena. Carnivore diet is obviously foolish. No argument on that from me. We're talking two different diets, no reason to conflate them.
No, but I do enjoy reading the research, though it's scarcely available.
Everyone who has a success is convinced theirs is "right" or the "best" - keto, WFPB, paleo, etc. So it's very interesting to read that there is basically not a lot of difference over the long-term. Which I think goes to OP's point about "voo doo" out there.
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The diabetes diet. My girlfriend had gestational diabetes, could only eat between 15-30 g carbs a meal, had to have decent protein and fat in every meal and zero added sugar, and a bunch of healthy snacks. I quit energy drinks doing this, lost 15 pounds right away, this was about 3 months ago. I have strayed from the diet in massive ways recently, I've only gained 2-3 lbs and can get back on track within a week. I've plateaued a bit, but cutting excess sugar and caffeine has helped in other ways beside weightloss, mainly in getting better sleep, but also feeling better throughout the day. Getting physical work in definitely helps. Most "blue zones" around the world have built in physical work in their lifestyles, not some regiment of 30 minutes HIIT every day after sitting in a cubicle, but actually walking places, going up and down stairs and generally avoiding convenience. Ok, all over the place here, but good weight and health is about simplification. Pills, diet, exercise aren't gonna be cure-alls, its about the lifestyle.
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I have stayed at the same weight for most of my life, a normal weight, and my body really, really likes this setpoint. The few times I have lost significant weight have been either due to situational depression (zero appetite), severe morning sickness, or a 500 calorie a day deficit. Basically when I am on a deficit, I am getting quite hungry between meals. There are calorie deficits that are easy to sustain and deficits that are hard. I find that keeping fiber and protein in my diet is very helpful for feeling full, and reserving enough calories for a small treat at the end of the day is psychologically helpful.
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I've been trying something for the past week and I think it's making a difference. Mind you, there's nothing new here. Nothing you and I haven't heard from lots of others, I'm just actually incorporating it.
In thinking about weight and eating I think there are two major issues:
Food quality - what you eat (and I'm not having issues with this part)
Food quantity - how much you eat (yup, this one seems to be the problem for me)
And then there are other things surrounding that - and that's habits. My thinking (and you can add to this please) is that there are a couple of biggies:
Frequency - how often you eat
Velocity - the speed at which you eat
Emotional/psychological - hooboy, this is a huge can of worms
So for me, looking at these issues, I identified velocity as the one I was going to tackle and see if that could manage a few of the others for me. If I just slowed down...would that make a difference?
And again, every weight loss/diet plan in the whole world tells you to eat slowly and chew thoroughly. But somehow I'm "hearing" the message this time around and taking it seriously. I'm slow that way.
What I'm finding is that if I look at my watch and decide that I'm going to spend no fewer than 30 minutes eating a breakfast portion (let's say that's a cup of yogurt and a half a banana) I would eat about a bite per minute. Take a bite, put the spoon down, enjoy the bite...wait and wait...then repeat.
At the end of the first week of what I'm calling the "slow food plan" I'm seeing some ease in my clothing and a little less on the scale. And somehow taking a long time to eat a reasonable portion (I don't seem to want seconds) I find that I'm full longer and am not tempted to snack, or randomly eat things on the counter or whatever. I also don't feel a pull to reward or comfort myself with food. I guess the act of taking time to nourish myself fills that somehow?? Who knew?
So, changing my habits around velocity had the effect of decreasing both the frequency and the quantity of food...which (wait for it) means I'm consuming fewer calories.
And the best part about this is that I'm still socializing, cooking for others, enjoying eating out, etc. I'm just doing it more smartly. I've changed nothing but velocity. I hope to slowly drop the 8-10 pounds I've "picked up" over the past handful of years. So far so good.
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I used to work with a guy and several of us ate together at lunch time. No matter what he ate, he ate like a starved animal! He was a late in life vegetarian and whether or not he had to warm up something in the microwave or not, he would scarf up his meal in just minutes. Then the rest of the time he would stare at us carnivores eating meat based lunches. He was totally annoying! He would tell us tales of years previously eating steak every day. But now eats vegetarian. He looked as if he wanted to lunge on our food. He may have been a vegetarian, but he was in need of meat if you ask me! LOL!
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I used to work with a guy and several of us ate together at lunch time. No matter what he ate, he ate like a starved animal! He was a late in life vegetarian and whether or not he had to warm up something in the microwave or not, he would scarf up his meal in just minutes. Then the rest of the time he would stare at us carnivores eating meat based lunches. He was totally annoying! He would tell us tales of years previously eating steak every day. But now eats vegetarian. He looked as if he wanted to lunge on our food. He may have been a vegetarian, but he was in need of meat if you ask me! LOL!
This contributes nothing to this thread. Any studies? Any evidence?
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In referance to the original post, placing “Weight Watchers” at the same level as some of the other voodo diets and diet-supplements is silly.
Weight Watchers teaches a system of healthy eating. It is about portion control, choosing nealthy foods, exercise.
As such, it doesnt appeal to the “give me something to drink that makes me thin” crowd.
OP, your mindset shows you are not ready to lose weight if you equate a reducing diet as “starvation.”Dont go forth on that journey yet, you will not be successful.
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There exists a drink that will cause you to lose weight (typically quite quickly). It's called prune juice.
. . . but you pay a price.
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What do people here think of this article?
http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/fat-officially-incurable-according-to-science/
I think the real takeaway is that once you are obese (or at any weight) for a certain length of time, it becomes harder and harder to lose and maintain without an extreme amount of discipline. You basically have to face being hungry most of the time. Some people can do it, but the data shows that most people cannot maintain weight loss.
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Interesting article.
You'd think with all the scientific discoveries someone would have invented a wafer that when ingested with water it would fill the person up for 8 hours so the insane urges to eat could be curbed. It seems like a simple solution but where is this magic wafer? I know they tell you to eat fiber, protein, salads. Even when you do that no weight loss occurs unless you are down right starving.
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Go on a thru hike, eat as much as you want.
Obviously not everyone can do this. But there were some weight loss takeaways. First off, hunger is ok. You can go to sleep hungry and be just fine the next day. I used to think hunger meant it was imperative that I eat. But it mostly means I'm in a calorie deficit, which is what you want. Hunger means you're doing it right. Just don't overdo it. You want to be a little hungry, not a lot hungry. Second, limiting the available food is a good way to lose weight. You hit the trailhead with X food and you have no options to get more for the next four days. But anything in your pack will be eaten. So just don't keep extra food in your house. It's ok to have extra staples because no one ever got fat because they were too tempted to cook up a pot of rice at midnight. But don't keep extra prepared foods in your house. Whatever is your kryptonite, get rid of it already. Third, a small snack can cut hunger pangs before bed time. I might feel like eating a pan of brownies in the evening, but half an orange makes me feel sufficiently satisfied before I go to bed.
heh, I gained 5 lbs on my last thru\
lost a bunch on the first one though, and it definitely gives you a different perspective on food
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What do people here think of this article?
http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/fat-officially-incurable-according-to-science/
I think the real takeaway is that once you are obese (or at any weight) for a certain length of time, it becomes harder and harder to lose and maintain without an extreme amount of discipline. You basically have to face being hungry most of the time. Some people can do it, but the data shows that most people cannot maintain weight loss.
That was very interesting, though I guess I'm one of the 2 in 1000? I used to be part of the National Weight Control Registry. They kicked me out (I think) because I didn't lose the 2nd baby weight fast enough - took me 2.5 years, and one of their annual followup questions was "have you given birth in the last year?"
Of course it doesn't say how long you have to keep it off. I first lost the weight in 2002, then went on to have two babies.
The finding does not surprise me. I read a lot of books about health and weight and such. Dr. Barbara Berkeley is an obesity doctor. I read one of her books - basically, anyone who is "formerly overweight" has a body that performs differently than someone who was "never overweight", even if they are the same size. When you gained the weight matters too - adolescents and teenagers create a lot of body fat, and if you are obese as a teen you create a lot of new fat cells.
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Interesting article.
You'd think with all the scientific discoveries someone would have invented a wafer that when ingested with water it would fill the person up for 8 hours so the insane urges to eat could be curbed. It seems like a simple solution but where is this magic wafer? I know they tell you to eat fiber, protein, salads. Even when you do that no weight loss occurs unless you are down right starving.
I'm too lazy to look up links, but I think there is a fair amount of research into the hormones that control hunger with a goal toward maybe manipulating those eventually.
Whatever mechanisms control appetite have a huge effect on me. My weight hasn't fluctuated all that much during my lifetime, and my diet has been basically the same since I was in my mid-20s, but my appetite has fluctuated to an insane degree. It was what I would consider 'normal' up to about age 20, but then increased radically to where I was actively hungry (like, gurgling stomach and hunger pangs) within an hour or so after eating a full meal. All. Day. Long. And waking me up at night so that I couldn't sleep without a middle of night snack. But then it started to diminish in my late 30s and almost entirely vanished when I turned 40. For many years now, I have to remember to eat (and rarely get hunger pangs) and often I won't have any appetite until I've forced myself to eat for 5 minutes, at which point my desire to eat will finally kick in.
However, I would also point out that my wildly varying interest in eating/frequency of eating over the years didn't seem to affect my weight as much as you might expect, i.e., just b/c I was constantly hungry and eating frequently didn't necessarily correlate with weight gain and vice versa.
Bodies are so weird.
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Interesting article.
You'd think with all the scientific discoveries someone would have invented a wafer that when ingested with water it would fill the person up for 8 hours so the insane urges to eat could be curbed. It seems like a simple solution but where is this magic wafer? I know they tell you to eat fiber, protein, salads. Even when you do that no weight loss occurs unless you are down right starving.
I tried some of these (https://www.dietspotlight.com/fullbar-review/)several years ago, no impact on my weight but at least they tasted bad, so I didn't want to eat more than one.
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Not exactly taking about over eating but let's say you have eaten lunch and now it is 4 pm and you are hungry and an apple isn't going to cut it and dinner is another hour away. This is where something would be nice to take the edge off.
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Keto.
Calories in vs. calories out.
Exercise.
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Losing weight in theory is simple. Just eat under your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE).
1. Calculate your TDEE (this is approximate, so you might need to adjust through trial and error). (here's a website that I used: https://www.iifym.com/tdee-calculator/)
2. When cutting / losing weight, eat less than your TDEE. I do 75-80% of my TDEE when trying to lose weight. Approximately 2500 net calories (500 under yesterday, then 500 above today means 0 net calories) beneath TDEE will be one pound lost.
In order to accomplish this, I've personally done the following:
- Track your food on an app/website like myfitnesspal.com religiously. Even if you dont want to do this, do it for a week or so to give you a better understanding of the nutritional breakdown of the food you eat and how much they each cost in calories. People severely underestimate calories they put in their mouth, so this is a great learning experience.
- Eat X grams of protein, where X is your lean body mass. Estimate your body fat percentage (5-10% ripped male, 15% fit male, 20% bigger male; 15% ripped female, 20% fit female, 25%+ bigger female), then multiply the inverse with your body weight. E.g. If I'm 15% body fat, then my lean body mass = 85% x 150 (my weight). Eat this amount in protein daily.
- I like to enjoy food, so nothing is off limits. There are just tradeoffs. If I eat something I enjoy, like pizza which is much less satiating than chicken breast, it just means I'll be hungrier throughout the day and I need to mentally be prepared for this. Eating satiating foods and lots of fiber will help you endure the cut, so focus on these.
- Expect fluctuations on your scale. It'll take time as this is a long term game, anything short-term will not stick.
- Go to the gym and lift some weights to maintain your lean body mass while you're cutting. And do some cardio - it's good for your heart!
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Exercise will not help you to lose weight, for the most part. The number of calories burned in even a serious HIIT workout will not ordinarily equal the number of calories in a bagel.
But, most people trying to "lose weight" are actually trying to decrease body fat percentage. If you aren't an athlete, and you aren't very tall, you probably wouldn't care if you weighted exactly the same, but 1/10th your weight in fat became muscle. The only reason I have (6'6") to decrease my actual, on the scale, weight, is that I go over the weight restrictions on some things.
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Exercise will not help you to lose weight, for the most part. The number of calories burned in even a serious HIIT workout will not ordinarily equal the number of calories in a bagel.
But, most people trying to "lose weight" are actually trying to decrease body fat percentage. If you aren't an athlete, and you aren't very tall, you probably wouldn't care if you weighted exactly the same, but 1/10th your weight in fat became muscle. The only reason I have (6'6") to decrease my actual, on the scale, weight, is that I go over the weight restrictions on some things.
I agree that exercise is less of a component than people often assume, however I would add to your explanation that building muscle mass increases calories burned even when you are sedentary. Somewhat like investing money, it keeps working for you after you earned it. Cardio is more like working for minimum wage and keeping it in cash :)
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Go read "The Obesity Code" by Dr. Jason Fung. The spoiler alert version is you need to lower your insulin. The way to do this is 1) keto / low carb and 2) intermittent fasting.
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Exercise will not help you to lose weight, for the most part. The number of calories burned in even a serious HIIT workout will not ordinarily equal the number of calories in a bagel.
But, most people trying to "lose weight" are actually trying to decrease body fat percentage. If you aren't an athlete, and you aren't very tall, you probably wouldn't care if you weighted exactly the same, but 1/10th your weight in fat became muscle. The only reason I have (6'6") to decrease my actual, on the scale, weight, is that I go over the weight restrictions on some things.
I'm a little confused on how people are burning this few calories. One of my training sessions burns in the range of 1100-1600 calories. Hell, even a decent weekend hike takes care of at least 1000. There's also the piece where exercise keeps the metabolism elevated for hours afterwards.
So, obviously, you can't out train a lousy diet, but if people actually train, there's a ton of calories to be burned. It's why guys like me have to eat 5000-8000 calories a day during heavy training seasons to maintain weight.
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There's a wide range of what's considered a 'workout'. For many sedentary people, 20 minutes of moderate intensity exercise, or an hour of extremely low intensity exercise will feel tough . . . but neither will let them eat large quantities. If you're in poor shape, you may not be able to sustain the duration or reach the intensity necessary to significantly benefit from exercise calorie burning. If you're in good shape, the argument about not burning enough calories during exercise seems patently crazy though. People looking for a 'lose weight quick' scheme are more likely to be in the former than the latter camp.
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I don't know, but for example: Running a 5k only burned about as many calories when I did it as are in a cinnabon cinnamon roll. (Conversely, a cinnabon cinnamon roll has enough calories in it to fuel a 5k run.)
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I don't know, but for example: Running a 5k only burned about as many calories when I did it as are in a cinnabon cinnamon roll. (Conversely, a cinnabon cinnamon roll has enough calories in it to fuel a 5k run.)
The first link that I came to says that a Cinnabon cinnamon roll is 880 calories. That's a shit ton of garbage.
1. What kind of miracles are you expecting from 20-30 minutes of exercise? You should be getting this level of exercise every day as a bare minimum, and significantly increasing it if you want to use exercise to lose weight or eat anything you want.
2. If you are running the 5k at a faster pace, you're going to continue to burn calories for several hours after you stop running because of the way your metabolism stays sped up - calories burned during the run don't tell the whole story.
3. If you're carrying a lot of muscle mass around, you're going to burn more calories during the run and after the run. That's why a mix of strength training and cardio is generally a good idea to lose weight.
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Go read "The Obesity Code" by Dr. Jason Fung. The spoiler alert version is you need to lower your insulin. The way to do this is 1) keto / low carb and 2) intermittent fasting.
Yeah, this worked for me. I basically just don't eat for a couple of days in the week - sometimes up to 3 days (72+ hours) in a row but usually just one or two ~36 hour periods of fasting. On days I do heavy lifts/working out I eat. I lost 40 lbs. I'm kinda not doing it right now but will get back into it.
I find on any day whenever I start eating I just keep eating. If I don't start eating it's easy not to eat! It's weird.
Not eating makes you lose weight. Who woulda thunk it?
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I've lost 25 lbs in the last two months, two years ago I lost 40 lbs without exercising but got a little skinny fat, this time I have been working out too.
What worked both times for nutrition/diet
Delay breakfast, really high protein, low carb does not matter really so long as;
1. No breads or refined sugars(a tiny bit of honey or a sip of juice is ok)
2. You can eat about as many carbs as protein IF you are running and working out.
So long as I portion out my protein and some fiber throughout the day I am not hungry in the evenings. Stay consistent. STAY CONSISTENT.
When I am working out a good bit; 5am wake up, run and workout out for 1hr in garage, sweat a ton, etc. then I; take a protein shake shortly afterward then keep with my usual diet of later breakfast and the rest of my calories.
I also think cycling water through intense exercise then re-hydrating in the day helps pull weight away. Really high fiber (35-40g/day for me(male currently 190lb+) pretty sure helps too. By the time I get that much fiber it is difficult to not get 150g+ of carbs, so I am not worried about it. Just avoid eating a bunch of apple or oranges for fiber, too much sugar, I usually have one big fruit per day.
Ok for the second important part, price.
I'll precook and eat ~5lb of chicken breast per week <$10.
A bag of lentils <$2.
One large piece of fruit a day(or the leftover pricey berries the wife or kids have not eaten) ~$5
4 cans of chunk lite tuna <$2.5
Various nuts on occasion <$1.5
Some oatmeal ~$1
Some greek yogurt~$2
Pea Protein powder~$5
So that is roughly $27 per week. Not a perfect meal plan for MMPete but not bad for a good weight loss diet. To lower cost I could cut out most of the greek yogurt and protein powder and up the chicken breast(it by far the best bang for your buck for lean protein) but then it could mess up my intermittent fasting in the mornings that seems to help so much with cutting.
If I were just maintaining I would do what I mentioned above with the pea protein and yogurt but then supplement with home smoked BBQ. A little more fat to the diet and some variety. Not to mention it is fun to smoke meat.
EDITSo, if you are just starting out or trying to restart, I would do these things in this order(pick up where you are in the list if you have been trying).
1.Track calories, watch what you eat(not even necessarily change just pay attention)
2.Start walking/ running, playing soccer, what ever you have done in the past that you enjoyed
3.Watch some videos, listen to others, read articles, get ideas
3. Cut breads, alcohol, sugar etc down.
4. Begin to choose higher protein options
5. Pick something to meal prep for the next week. It doesn't have to be for everyone, or even for the whole week, just lunch for a few days is good. If you don't enjoy it and don't do it again, that is fine, pick something else. Ideas; chicken breast, beans/peas/lentils, oatmeal-steel cut, traditional rolled, quick cooking(good to acceptable), baked fish, even hamburger precooked aren't that bad.
6. Try to start each day with exercise, even if it just a short run before work. The more you will do it the more you will enjoy it. Now I get up at 5 am everyday b/c I want to.
7.By now you are getting serious, what are your goals? Low BMI, low body fat %, being able to pick up 2 10yo and carry them to safety. What happens once you reach that goal, are you going to eat a bunch of fast food hamburgers; have a transition plan work out(work past your 'goal').
8a. Now that you are motivated it is time to get serious. Get up 1hr before you need to, sweat it out.
8b. You know what food works; meal prep virtually everything. You can add a little spontaneity, but keep it reasonable.
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Calorie density:
http://www.jeffnovick.com/RD/Photo2_files/CD%20Chart.jpg
The vertical axis is calories per pound of food.
UnProcCC = unprocessed carbs, like potatoes, brown rice, etc.
ProcCC = processed carbs like white rice, white pasta, etc.
Eating lower-calorie-density foods makes me feel full without consuming as many calories. I started eating with this chart in mind because the lower-calorie-density foods also happen to be higher in nutrition and less processed, generally (with nuts being an exception), and I lost 7 pounds I didn't know I had.
Also... cutting up my salad greens (and everything else in the salad) into tiny pieces. I thought I was eating large salads until I started cutting them so small that it's easier to eat them with a spoon. Now I can actually feel that I've eaten something rather substantial after I start my meal with a salad, and I tend to eat less of whatever comes after the salad.
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I like the idea of intermittent fasting, and it might be as close to a hack as anything.
I am working up to longer periods right now, and I find that the practice has a lot of benefits that most mustacians would be drawn to.
1) It simplifies your life - one less meal to worry about.
2) It helps you appreciate the food you do eat, because eating less often makes food taste better (for me).
3) It helps me make better choices, since I have less opportunities for eating healthy throughout the day. The first time I tried IF, I would eat a giant post fast meal, and pay for it later in reduced energy levels and sluggishness. Now I start eating with a small snack, with either a lot of fiber or protein, and then eat a slightly larger meal a few hours later.
4) You don’t constantly feel deprived, because you can eat more filling meals when you do eat.
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I like the idea of intermittent fasting, and it might be as close to a hack as anything.
I am working up to longer periods right now, and I find that the practice has a lot of benefits that most mustacians would be drawn to.
1) It simplifies your life - one less meal to worry about.
2) It helps you appreciate the food you do eat, because eating less often makes food taste better (for me).
3) It helps me make better choices, since I have less opportunities for eating healthy throughout the day. The first time I tried IF, I would eat a giant post fast meal, and pay for it later in reduced energy levels and sluggishness. Now I start eating with a small snack, with either a lot of fiber or protein, and then eat a slightly larger meal a few hours later.
4) You don’t constantly feel deprived, because you can eat more filling meals when you do eat.
I've been doing IF + Keto for a while, and find they work well together. Since my body is keto-adapted, it's easier to go long(er) periods without eating. Then, when I do eat I am not eating things that induce "food coma" so I feel satisfied and feel like my energy supply is more constant.
I tried to do 5+2 fasting but couldn't stick with it. I may try again as I feel like it would be good for me.
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The first link that I came to says that a Cinnabon cinnamon roll is 880 calories. That's a shit ton of garbage.
1. What kind of miracles are you expecting from 20-30 minutes of exercise? You should be getting this level of exercise every day as a bare minimum, and significantly increasing it if you want to use exercise to lose weight or eat anything you want.
I feel like I'm maybe failing to communicate my point, which is that if you want to lose weight, you have to start by not eating a shit ton of garbage. I was exercising a lot at the time, and it made me look good. But if I actually wanted to weigh less, I had to put the cinnamon rolls down.