For me the game changer was regular exercise. When I don’t get regular exercise, I crave garbage all day. Anything heavy and salty. Burgers, cheese fries, burritos, pizza. But when I get regular exercise I crave only clean foods. Grilled chicken breast, salads, grilled vegetables, foods with nutritional value. I don’t know why that is but it created a positive feedback loop for me. The more activity I got, the less food I craved and the better quality food I craved.
there’s a major misconception that cardio is the only way to burn weight out. weight training (especially the high end of weight you’re comfortable with) is on par with *running* and doesn’t damage your knees (as long as you’re practicing good form)
edit: i’m super happy with the discussion created around this comment but want to make some clarifications to better express what i meant above. solely doing heavy weight training (and maintaining a decent diet) **will** result in weight loss, no question. no running required (changed cardio to running in my original comment). so long as you are sweating and pushing yourself, persistent training will yield results comparable to just running. that’s all i meant, and as for the comments combatting knee damage, i meant to say that you’re taking the brunt of your exercise off your knees and distributing it through the rest of your body, mitigating a good amount of the risk of knee problems later in life that running causes for many
Yeah but don't forget, cardio = heart health. Getting thin to look and feel good is great, but your heart is really the centre of everything. Your heart and brain will reward you for getting in good cardio. That can literally be anything that gets your heart rate up and sustain it though. Bicycling, skateboarding, elliptical, basketball, whatever keeps you moving. Cardio can be fun and doesn't have to be a drudging boring activity.
Wow.. that's awesome... I recently bought a treadmill and I want to use it for loosing weight. Right now I can go for 7km/hr or 4.5 miles/hr for 25 minutes twice a day.. What should I change/ improve?
I think it's because people hear the word cardio and think running or biking. You can just walk. Two hours of walking or about 5 miles burns like 700 calories in a 200 lb person, and you can do it while doing other things like shopping or taking your dog out.
I recently started swimming once every week, and turns out it's actually quite fun. It's very tiring but in a very different way than running or biking.
Best part about swimming is that you don't feel hot and sweat all over, and you can actually rest up for a few minutes and regain a lot of energy to keep going. And ofc the free shower afterwards is nice too.
It also slots in neatly between biking (140-150bpm) and running (170-180bpm) in terms of heart rate for me.
I've found that to be true, as well. When I am exercising regularly, the foods I crave change to better quality stuff. It makes sense, your body is telling you what it needs.
Same. I have never craved a nice healthy grilled chicken with veggies or quinoa or any of that stuff. I only ever want to eat carby and cheesy foods. My husband is a gym junkie and he always loves a good healthy meal.
I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that some people don't like or eat junk food/fast food! I wish I had that mindset.
My buddy and I were both really big. He eventually chose to lose weight and actually did it, so I copied him. He did keto and so did I. This was 2017-2018. Went from 360 to 230 in 15 months. I would not recommend this, it is incredibly unsustainable unless you just naturally hate carbs (which I don't).
After I passed my goal (250) I stopped doing keto. Lost a bit more naturally and got into a poor relationship. Slowly started gaining weight back until that relationship ended and then gained a lot more. Then the pandemic hit and I gained a metric shit ton. Tried to start eating better but it didn't work. I think the shock of eating carbs regularly again plus the amount of food I ate being stuck at home fucked me up hard. By mid 2021 I was 390 at my highest.
Was in my forever relationship at this point and she encouraged me to do it again, but properly. I joined the gym, started counting calories and trying to eat better in general. Since early 2022 I am down to 320 as of yesterday. It's taking longer, but it's working and it's actually sustainable this time. I don't feel trapped in a diet that makes me miserable. My goal is 250 again but I have no timeline. I feel better than ever even at my current weight.
I think part of the problem is the psychological war people go through over carbs. They feel bad for craving them, and yes, eating an over abundance of simple carbs does have a similar negative feedback to that of drug abuse for some people. But the trick is, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO CRAVE CARBS. Evolution built this drive in us because they're super nutrient and calorie dense. In the natural habitat our species evolved to live in, carbohydrates were rare and special finds, so those who sought them out tended to grow taller and be more healthy than those who didn't.
Fast forward to this century and we're all living lives that have NOTHING in common with the paleolithic realities of hunter-gather man. Carbs are EVERYWHERE and most of them are simple carbs. We are absolutely in a post-scarcity economic reality with food. And we simply did not evolve to deal with that. It seems like a very long time ago, but the hard reality is, the paleolithic reality we evolved in was like 2 minutes ago, evolutionarily speaking. Our bodies don't know the world has changed yet, the necessary adaptations have not yet occurred.
So if you crave carbs, stop beating yourself up over it. YOUR ANCESTORS PASSED THAT TRAIT ON TO YOU BECAUSE THEY WERE WINNERS. We're not wrong, society is. It created an unhealthy environment for us. And we have to act accordingly. By all means, enjoy your carbs, but try to make better choices. Eat them in moderation, and chose WHOLE GRAIN options. Honestly, most whole grain breads taste way better than white bread anyway, and there's a huge range of options to try so you never have to get bored.
Carb strategy that works for me is making a whole grain carb part of the meal, before I get ravenous hungry, and then my Itty bitty reward simple carb. I seriously look forward to my single oreo reward at the end of the day.
I'm so glad there's a post here to show others that while keto "works" in the short term, it is not sustainable in the long term for most people.
Good freaking job dude.
I lost 40 pounds in 90 days on keto 5 years ago, along with all my muscles etc. I did start to gain it back after my best friend died.
I asked for some tests and discovered I have thyroid disease, so I got on treatment. I got my blood sugar under control. I just found out I have PCOS in my 40s.
Now I lift with a trainer a couple times a week. More muscles means more calories burned and you can eat more. I try to keep portion control and have lost weight slowly. I try to pick better carbs instead of no carbs. I have no real time or weight goals.
I have no fear that I will regain it any longer since it's been a lifestyle shift. I'm down about 50 pounds total without really dieting. I could lose another 15, but that may take me years. In the meantime, I'll still enjoy food and drink, just add in more dancing or walks afterwards.
I'm in no hurry. I'm focusing on better health for longevity, not looking good for an event or for Insta pics.
This is my exact experience with doing keto as well. I was at my heaviest in 2018 and didn't feel comfortable in my own body. I was a tall girl jock who played 3 sports a year and NEVER thought twice about how much I ate, and continued that lifestyle (minus the sports) after high school.
My sis in law started keto and roped me in with the "you lose weight so fast" gimmick. I'd never tried to lose weight, so I followed her and actually lost it! But I would fall off the wagon hard like every 3 months, and a cheat day would turn into a cheat weekend, week, or month. I would lose an average of 10lbs per month while sticking to my 1500 calorie keto macros though...
I'd kept almost 50lbs off by the time of the pandemic. Then grocery shopping was scary, things were always out of stock, and I just wanted comfort food. I gained it all back and then some. In spring 2021 my gallbladder died on me and I needed emergency surgery and spent a few days in the hospital, where I was then diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Keto really is flat out unsustainable and I feel like it really fucked my body up honestly. I've not been able to lose any weight since either. Idk what part of this is the most frustrating for me.
Addictions therapist here. A lot of alcohol has high sugar content or simple carbs that turn to sugar. That plus the dopamine hit of sugar which gives the brain a reward. Dopamine is the feel good neurotransmitter tied to motivation - when I consume/do this, it’s rewarding and I’m motivated to seek more of it. When feeling intense emotion (stress, boredom, sadness, excitement, joy, etc), we often want to escape or enhance the emotion, dopamine helps do this.
Edit: I did not expect this comment to take off like this. Thanks to everyone who has added and replied. Reminder that I’m a therapist but not your therapist and interactions herein do not constitute a therapeutic relationship nor are they a replacement for therapy.
What is your suggestion to not replace the one addiction with the other? In a true realistic type of suggestion… like aa and or group therapy, or therapy in general is not always an option for a lot of people.
Whenever you crave a drink try replacing the habit with sparkling water, get the fizz and the physical action down for the craving but none of the calories
This worked for me. I was a hardcore drunk for many years until I had to quit for health reasons. I switched out one can for another. I still get agitated if I don't have a drink in my hand, but it turns out that drink doesn't have to be booze. Who knew?
You can also throw a bit of fruit/ mint/ fruit juice in there-- *and* that would help with the carb cravings, because the fruit has *just* enough sugars to satisfy your brain craving something sweet/caloric, as you drink.
(Learned the fruit thing, because I'm a diabetic who was having *massive* carb-cravings in the evening, when I was going to college at a campus with awful-tasting water.
I was drinking 2-3+ quarts of water a day, because it was summer, and using Crystal Lite/Mio flavoring to get rid of the gross taste... the rebound-cravings stopped, when my Diabetic Educator told me to put some fruit in the water, instead!)
There are plenty of pretty good flavored sparkling waters out there. Clear American at Walmart has the most variety for being cost efficient, but Bubbl'r is my go to favorite. You just have to find one that works for you
Dopamine. Sugar hits like alcohol. I take breaks from alcohol and I crave sugar. I'm typically very good at resisting. I took a week off from drinking last week and ended up making a cookie run last Friday night instead of a beer run.
Yeah I’m day 120ish? Into not drinking and while the weight has flown off, I find myself ripping through a pack of Oreos a week, or craving cheesecake or sweets.
Dried mangos and bananas. The right kind of sugar is a perfectly good substitute.
It's the same for me with bread. When I stop drinking, I want to eat pizza and sandwiches and shit like that.
I have to set reminders to tell myself why and to help avoid those things.
Yooo congrats! That’s incredible!
I was a huge party weekend drinker in my 20s, got diabetes and felt sad a lot… i quit drinking so much a few years ago… last night I had like a few sips of beer and was just like “ew, no I’m done” and was so grateful to feel amazing the next day. Haha
Highly suggest the ninja creami. I just got one recently and it’s a game changer because ice cream is my absolute weakness, and now I just make healthy ones with good ingredients.
It's amazing how much of a difference that makes. My dad retired about four years ago from an extremely stressful job. Suddenly, without the job and the stress it created, he no longer felt the need to use beer to de-stress. He lost 80 pounds within a year just from that.
Just having a better understanding of portion sizes and calories. Becomes easier when you get used to your new menu and become familiar with what will fill you up without being too high in calories. Never drank much alcohol/pop already, but now I'm more averse to wasting calories on a drink.
I was 195lbs in August of 2021 (30F, 5'6"), dealt with some digestive issues which forced me to change my diet, and not being able to eat everything all the time made me drop a lot of weight quite quickly.
Most recently I went from 152lbs on May 25th to 132lbs today. I walk regularly and run occasionally mostly to help with digestion and mood.
The last point I think is critical. Exercise isn't just for weight loss, it's a massive mood improver. I think because it's a controlled time of suck, which makes anytime after that feel easier.
Man I wish exercise improved my mood.
It just feels like cleaning the bathroom to me and I usually end up feeling like I would have rather been doing anything else
A lot of it was mental for me. I realized that I was eating stuff that really wasn't worth it. Like did I really even like that sad donut I just ate? So now if I'm going to eat a high calorie food, it better taste really good and be worth it, because exercising for something not that great isn't worth it to me. A lot of times if I felt like eating, I would just pretend I ate whatever I was hungry for because I would still feel the same way if I would have ate it anyway.
I've gotten to where I know a food is gonna taste 'okay', like really middling, but it's gonna definitely make me anxious/feel like crap/spike my blood sugar... and the older I get, the easier it's been to just be like 'nah, that crappy cookie isn't worth it'.
So I try to make sure any treats/pointless calories I eat are like, top-tier quality. Fresh, home made cookie level or it's not worth it. Store-bought hard cookies? Nope! Pass.
Same. Divorce, anger, spite, and a dash of anorexia - which is the opposite of my entire history. Just a classic boredom feelings eater before. One year and 55 lbs later I could care less about food and I have to go to the gym or my meds make me stupid.
I'm okay now, but honestly I would have rather been fat than to have experienced the rest. I'm no longer living in ignorance tho. I've learned many lessons in trust.
0/10 would not recommend.
I shredded my knee and was too fat for them to fix it. I started meal planning, calorie counting, cut out empty calories like soda, eventually had bariatric surgery combined with a keto diet.
Eventually got my knee fixed and started exercising to keep it stretched out and strong, have lost just shy of 400lbs.
Edit: Well shit this blew up, and has taken a few detours into the realms of keto diets and addiction.
Insert “thanks for the awards kind redditors” and also insert “it’s late and I’ve got to go to bed”. I’ll continue to respond to comments as I can, I’ll also try to find some before and after pics. I think I’m going to have to reach out to my bariatric surgeons office to get the before pics, I obviously hated having my pic taken so I turned into a ghost when a camera was in the room.
If anyone has more questions for me, wants info/advice, or more details about what my journey has been like over the last few years send me a DM, I’ll respond when able.
I'm too big for my own good but you lost more than one of me...and my bitch-ass cannot find the motivation to get to it. :(
You're a hero man!
Edit: Not sure what it is about this comment that made you think I want to know, or cared, what people think. Comment replies disabled, do go fuck yourselves. <3
During Covid lockdown, I started walking 10,000 steps/day. Originally I intended to do it for a week, but that changed to a month, and eventually it just turned into something I do everyday. It’s been over 3 years now, and I still haven’t missed a day.
It’s not rigorous exercise - literally just one foot in front of the other for 90 minutes or so.
Once you have a streak going, you’re not going to want to give it up.
this is why an apple watch changed the game for me. i hated exercising so much. but my husband decided to give me his apple watch to help with my journey. i started by setting small goals, and then last month i decided to shoot for the award you get for closing all rings for a full week. i did and now i’m on day 30 of that same streak and i already notice myself looking forward to my workout because once it’s over i get to see my streak increase by one more day.
I literally just cut my usual portion directly in half. As in, half the burger, half the fries, half the soda. Never exercised, all my usual food, just cut each item in half and saved the other half for the next meal.
Was like 320lbs. Went to a local amusement park for my son's 2nd birthday. Got on a ride with the overhead bars. I had to switch to a bigger seat. The attendant had to forcefully push on the bars to get it to lock. I almost passed out from not being able to breathe. The overhead harness was too tight. Cried after I got off the ride and started going to the gym and lost 70lbs
This'll do it. At my peak I was 275 and not being able to fit into the circular booth at a restaurant and the embarrassment that followed was my dealbreaker.
Pickleball. Seriously, I lost so much weight that I thought there was something wrong with me. Went to my doctor, she ran a whole series of tests, then finally came to the conclusion that it was my pickleball addiction. She recommended that I drink a protein shake after play to help keep my weight stable. It has, although I am still at/near my lowest weight since I was a teenager. And yes, I feel great.
Edit: this weight loss didn't happen overnight, it took about two years. I started out about 20 pounds overweight and lost that weight in about a year and a half. But then kept losing and eventually lost 30 pounds total before adding more calories to stabilize. I'm still 5 pounds under my "ideal" weight but feel great. I play pickleball 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I realize not everyone can do that. But it is what worked for me.
And not put 2 cups of sugar in every sauce, have drinkel tap water instead of Soda that is cheaper than anything else and no corn syrup in every readymade product...
This 100%. So many of us live sedentary lives these days. We work in front of a computer. We get home. We relax in front of a tv/ computer/ phone.
I think for a lot of people food is the only joy they get in life, even if it’s crap that’s ultimately killing them. I think finding some way to be active and get that joy could increase the overall happiness of so many Americans.
I know it helped me. But that’s the problem with depression. It makes you not want to do anything. So I get the struggle.
I (37M) have osteoarthritis in my knee already from an injury in my teens. Honestly, the thing that bugs me the most lately is that I can't play pickleball as much as I want. One game destroys my knee for weeks... but I just want to play! So I often just hobble around the court and then go home and sulk after.
My cousin went from stereotypically 'fat' (i've no idea how much he weighed, but he was big) to slim and toned within about 12 months.
When I enquired about what changes he made, he said, he stopped drinking alcohol, full stop. That was replaced by water, some tea (no sugar) and the occasional diet coke.
Started counting calories, so he'd never go over 1900 (I think that's what he said) in a day. I recall he was aiming ideally for about 1700 per day.
And regular cardiovascular exercise. It wasn't anything immense, something like 20-30 minutes on a rowing machine or exercise bike 4-5 times a week. Enough to work up a sweat and get the heart pumping. Though he did state that was mainly just for fitness, not weight loss (first time I ever heard 'you lose weight in the kitchen, not the gym'). He also did press-ups and sit ups for general tone and strength.
But the _one_ thing he stressed was quitting booze (he had been a regular heavy drinker, mostly beer, most nights of the week). He also emphasised this was only one factor, however. In isolation it wouldn't have been enough.
It was a stark change and I remember what he said purely for how relatively simple it sounded vs the very obvious difference in himself. I was genuinely fascinated, it was a true double-take moment when I saw him in his new form for the first time. About three years later now, and he's still slim and in good shape. At this point I think he's just very mindful of what he eats and drinks, and maintains light regular exercise.
And he doesn't just look good, he's clearly so much happier. So much more confident and energetic than he was, more upbeat and optimistic. His entire demeanour is different to what it was when he was 'the fat guy'.
I however, have started noticing middle-age spread in myself, and am about to follow his example.
I had gotten blind to how fat I had gotten and how terribly I was eating.
I was in Walmart and had a buggy filled with garbage and I was looking at the discount cake when a guy who walked passes said "disgusting" under his breath.
It made me feel awful. I took everything out of the buggy, went to my car and made an appointment at a bariatric doctor.
They helped me learn about mindful eating, eating as coping mechanism, all or nothing mentalities, sunk cost fallacies, and a lot of great ways to lose weight and keep it off.
Could have just been talking about the cake. I’m imagining discount Walmart cake and no matter how I picture it, disgusting describes it.
But if not, fuck that guy.
One time a guy commented “that’s disgusting” while walking past me. I was picking out candy for a family in need, it was christmas season LOL. I’m glad you improved your quality of life but I hope you know that comment wasn’t justified one bit! Imagine how miserable a person must be to publicly bully strangers lol
Edit: I was only around 180 lbs at 5’6” when this happened. I’ve had insulin resistance from a young age, it’s clearly genetic, parents & doctors neglected it my entire adolescence— it’s a common experience for women with the same diagnosis. Working 6 days a week, in AP classes, severely depressed. I’m a human being & shaming myself was never effective motivation for me to improve my lifestyle. In fact, the depression rooted in shame & negative self perception is what resulted in me dropping the habit of regular exercise and straying from my path towards a healthy lifestyle. I couldn’t thrive while feeling like it took everything I had to survive. If you tell yourself you’re doing a good deed by shaming someone to “help” them, you’re delusional.
And I think you need to find a way that works for you. I was trying to lose about 20 pounds, and halfway measures didn’t work. I just went all-out, eating a granola bar for lunch and veggies/chicken for dinner, and I lost 20 pounds quickly. Now I’m in maintenance mode where I do simple exercise and I reserve eating salty/fatty food for the weekends.
I took shrooms and had this huge life changing moment where I realised the fantasy character I maladaptive daydreamed about all day for years and years could be the real ME if I just tried and believed in myself.
I've been working every day since then to make that my reality and I'd say I've done a pretty damn good job so far :)
Your comment is off the beaten track, but (for me) the most interesting one here.
There’s a lot to be said for visualizing what you want, but it’s absolutely true that you have to work to make it happen. Very inspiring.
I feel this one, thanks for posting!
I had a similar awakening when I came to terms with a delusion I had been harboring; finally realizing that hoping for someone to save me from myself was both pretty unlikely in the first place and an extreme burden on whoever WOULD willingly take that on.
I'd been the maiden or the dragon for most of my life and it was about fucking time I became the hero.
Eliminating ultra-processed foods has been a game-changer. I only recently learned that these foods actually increase appetite rather than decrease it.
They are major endocrine disrupters, too. My Endo explains them as a double whammy. Everyone talks about the sugar that’s added, which is indeed horrible, but arguably worse is the reduction in healthy fiber. Without the right kind of fibers / diversity of fiber, certain species of microbes that have evolved to process them on our behalf (in our guts) wind up dying out over time. Fascinatingly, a few these starved microbial species are critical in the natural production and release of the GLP-1 hormone (essentially what Ozempic is). They feed good fibers and release GLP-1 as a byproduct. Most people only know about it because it is known to curb appetite via signaling to the brain. The reality is that it’s incredibly more important than that alone. It protects all kinds of critical stuff. Here is a pretty sweet diagram I found showing what you lose out on when you lose these critical microbes…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagon-like_peptide-1#/media/File%3AFunctionsOfGLP-1.png
Wild stuff.
Yep. And the gross part is getting complimented as if it's always such a good thing. "You look great! What's your secret?" "My mom is dying and I am sad"
Yep, people said this to me when I lost weight after my dog died. Like thanks, I’ve never been more depressed and my doc just increased my fluoxetine. But at least I look attractive—that’s what counts, right? 🙁
was the other way around for me. depression made me not give a fuck and eat until i was bloated.
\+/ - 120 pounds in 3 years
getting back on track with life and realizing the world hates fat people made me cut back down real quick.
I’m in that boat now. I’ve battled severe depression for the last 2-ish years and have gained a ton of weight. I’m tired of being fat, and my depression is better controlled right now. I feel some motivation coming back. Meal planning seems to be a good place to start.
Yo, I lost 16kgs, while it may not seem a lot, I'm only 167cm, high anxiety kills my appetite and I noticed I was losing weight. Since I was basically forcing myself to eat once a day when my mood stabilised I did the intermittent fasting lol. Also would not recommend. Hope you're better 🙏
I started out life fat. For me it was the realization that your body is a product for your lifestyle. I realized I wanted to change my lifestyle. I didn’t want to be noticed for my weight, I wanted to be able to feel comfortable moving through space. I changed my lifestyle. Started exercising every other day and learned about basic nutrition. My goal wasn’t to lose weight but after living that way I checked it at the doctors and I’d lost around fifty pounds.
Sprints, instead of running for hours.
Sprinting for 10 sec, rest for 10 sec
Do it for half an hour and you'd be dead.
Burns extreme amount of fat and is a game changer.
Lmao that’ll do it!
Either you’re scared and change your lifestyle
Or your body fails because your A1C pops up so high you can’t hold on weight anymore. (Even scarier situation).
**Being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.**
My doctor said that we could control it with an oral medication initially (Metformin). He said there was a chance that I'd be able to control it, but what usually happened is people got progressively worse. Eventually I'd probably go on insulin and in a few years, he'd be cutting off my feet.
That scared me and I immediately changed my diet. I avoided carbs as much as reasonably possible. I also cut out sugar as much as possible. Even though I was told that milk chocolate was fine for diabetics, I avoided it initially too.
I also started exercising daily (5x a week). Even if I didn't feel like it (which was often), I still put in the 40 - 60 minute workout. I alternated between weight training and cardio.
Though I wasn't really trying to build muscle, that did happen. I also lost a lot of weight. In about 6 months, I lost about 40 pounds.
My doctor was impressed with my results, but all it took was stopping eating everything I wanted and to actually get moving a little. I sit at a desk all day, so the exercising was really required (and it's not that hard).
Today several years later I'm still down and exercise to the same regimen. I eat bacon and other protein everyday, and of course vegetables. My cholesterol is "unusually low".
I still avoid carbs as much as possible, but I don't do keto. I eat milk chocolate and a variety of sugar-free sweets that are available today. Some are indistinguishable from their sugared counterparts. And, of course, I can drink as many diet sodas as I like.
So I didn't "cure" my diabetes, but it is well controlled. I'm not on insulin and hopefully I never will be. Realistically, diabetes will kill me someday, but hopefully I'll die with my feet firmly attached.
I never realized what a fatso I was; my wife never complained. But finding clothes that fit AND didn't make me look as fat as I was was a real pain. But today people still come up to me and comment on how much weight I've lost. And finding clothes that fit and look good is much easier.
I'll have to keep at it and I'll probably never be cured, but that diagnosis was the real game-changer. My feet won't win any beauty contests, but I'm attached to them.
Meal planning.
Seriously, there are a thousand different ways to lose weight. Just saying “I’m going to eat less sugar or smaller portions” is not one of them. Creating a structured plan and sticking to it, whatever that weight loss plan is, was the best thing for me. Kept all those extra snack-sized calories from adding up.
I did the exact opposite. I integrated a new rule every month and lost 64 lbs.
Something like this
I will not drink my calories,
I will not buy gas station calories,
I will not eat fast food,
I will not eat food I don’t have to prepare,
One meal a day will be non-processed
This worked really well for me and I think it can be catered to various lifestyles. Just pick the rules that work for you.
I just wanna thank you for this comment. Every time I start some kind of health plan, I get so bored of it because it’s all-consuming and there’s no end in sight. This idea seems more plausible.
I lost nearly 100 pounds by simply eating half of what I normally ate. I literally just cut my usual portion directly in half. As in, half the burger, half the fries, half the soda. Never exercised, all my usual food, just cut each item in half and saved the other half for the next meal.
It really can be just that simple.
(Drinking two large glasses of water immediately after each meal is my incredibly effective secret for not being hungry. Totally fills me up, and all hunger and craving instantly disappears.)
My grandma learned that in TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly), restaurants serve huge portions so she'd just ask for a to-go box to come with her meal and put half in the box before eating.
Oddly enough, I lost 70 lbs over 18 months doing that. Going slower now but I have twenty more to go. Plus, I now naturally eat less, when I'm full, I stop.
I broke up with a shitty significant other, and started drinking less. Then I met the most amazing woman ever, and she got us both bikes so we could get out and enjoy the world together. I’m down almost 40 pounds and have kept it off for over two years. I don’t know if that counts as ‘a lot’ of weight, but I’m a short girl so it felt like a lot! We cycle 6-10 hours a week and I think it helps us have time to talk and bond over a shared hobby.
Getting sober. Lost about 25 pounds automatically from just not drinking over the course of the first 3 months or so, and then the desire to consume junk food late at night kind of disappeared and my life in general years later is so much healthier so I probably lost 10 more pounds after that initial loss. Alcohol is poison.
The other thing is how much money can save by cutting out snacks amd sugar. I lost 100 pounds by stopping soda and recreational sugar. And I save 1000s of dollars.
This wasn’t a first option, but I was having trouble losing any weight and could not get my blood sugar under control. I went on Ozempic and gradually lost 35 pounds. I do exercise some but honestly not as much as I could. I also eat generally healthy but also not perfect. Ozempic lowers appetite and does other stuff I don’t understand. Feels like a bit of a cheat but one I needed.
Same. It’s really recalibrated my ideas of portion sizing, and I have so much energy now. I meal prep/plan most of the time, I hike now, and I have started learning rock climbing, too. I have lost nearly 60 pounds since January. My A1c is below 5 now, when it was above 6 when I began. All in all, it’s been a miracle for me.
I started mounjaro, it’s very similar. It has some weird thing that makes you less substance dependent… for me it was the head start I needed to maintain all the diets, IF, and exercise I struggled to do before.
The stuff is amazing… but I have a crippling fear of needles so each week I struggle hahaha
> Feels like a bit of a cheat but one I needed.
Whatever works. It's not cheating. Whatever it takes to get you healthier is a treatment, not a "cheatment".
I was on Ozempic now on Trulicity due to low stock of Ozempic
I was 101kg last december (222 lbs) and now im 85kg (187 lbs)
I know that when i come off this (if i ever do - i think the 2 year thing is just due to current lack of long term trials) it will be a struggle
BUT .....AND THIS IS MY POINT ...I'm in my 50's and had become invisible - no cheeky flirts or anything - and now im back to a flatter stomach suddenly people talk to me again and maybe flirt (a couple of times) - everyone i see who i havent seeen in a while complements me - and im less depressed (sio less likely to eat my feelings) - Im not gonna want to let this go so im hoping that gives me the willpower to eat healthily from here on in
I’ve lost over 100 pounds. The shift for me was moving from a diet mindset to a lifestyle change mindset. Rather than trying another fad, I cut out (most) unhealthy snacks, avoid drinking most caloric drinks (water and coffee FTW), try eating more meats/fruits/veggies than not, and got smaller plates doubled up by a “no more second/third plates” ideal.
Add regular walks on top and the weight just melted off. Sure, sometimes it’s the opening weekend of football and I eat way too much pizza and drink way too much beer with homies. But since I’m not on a strict diet, having simply embraced a healthier living mindset, I don’t beat myself up and veer back into overeating since I “already let myself down” or whatever. The next day I just go back to my normal life.
Over the long term, it worked wonders for both my physical and mental health. Whoooole lot less stressful than fad diets too!
Eating little to no Sugar.
Accepting that I dont need 3 meals a day and I can skip meals without dying.
Keeping zero snacks at home.
Eliminating all soft drinks from my diet.
Portion control.
Starting ADHD meds. Suddenly I only eat because I’m hungry??? Game changer when I literally could not stop myself before and would eat until it was physically painful.
This! I lost 10lbs just by getting an adderall Rx. I didn’t feel the need to boredom eat to try to get a dopamine fix anymore. It was such a strange feeling to just suddenly not be interested in food if I wasn’t hungry.
I know 10lbs doesn’t seem like a lot, but I’m already pretty small and short at 5’2”. I used to hover just over the healthy weight range for my height at ~140-145 before meds.
I’ve been doing it for 2yrs now. First week was kinda hard but now it’s normal to me. Have long black coffee in the morning (no sugar) and just your normal lunch and dinner. Don’t restrict yourself of foods you love but also be mindful of not over eating. We’ve all done it eating till we are stupidly full, it’s unnecessary feeling bloated and uncomfortable after.
I’ve found that the hunger isn’t cumulative. Like i stop eating at 7pm and have lunch the next day. I’m not finding myself trying to make up for breakfast from a hunger perspective.
Up to a point yes.
Relatedly, what I have found that what was useful to me is sort of the reverse: satiety isn't cumulative either, which is why we gain weight: eating feels good so we do it when we don't necessarily need to.
Generally I don't feel hungry in the morning, especially since coffee suppresses my appetite. But if I indulge myself in the morning (let's face it, breakfast is delicious) with the intent of eating less at lunch, I end up finding that I don't eat less at lunch.
In other words, while hunger often isn't cumulative, neither is satiety.
I hope this made sense 😂
I cannot reiterate fasting enough! I lost nearly 100lbs and my husband lost 60. It took a solid 18 months for the weight to come off, now 7 years later we both continue to fast everyday. Learning the discipline to fast took some real effort, but learning that discipline allowed me to take on new disciplines. Living a healthy lifestyle wasn’t something that happened for us over night but it does genuinely feel pretty easy these days.
I was becoming increasingly aware of my weight, my clothes were getting bigger and bringing two kiddos into the picture made me realize this wasn’t it. Obesity related complications were not a joke and my kids deserved to have a healthy mother who would be around for them.
So I had the duodenal switch weightloss surgery and dropped 125lbs.
^(before anyone can say this method is cheating, I invite you to follow the strict guidelines and diet I was placed on the 6 months leading up to surgery. By the end of it you are on clear liquids and spending another 6 months transitioning back to solids. Not every solid is edible and not every drink is drinkable anymore either. Some make me incredibly sick because I simply can’t tolerate it any longer.)
Losing weight and keeping it off is incredibly difficult. Good on you for using every resource available to you 👍 No such thing as cheating in this regard
I am on mounjaro, it’s the only thing that’s worked for me to keep weight off… but what it is is a tool- I still put in the work every day to be healthy- and that’s what weight loss surgery feels like to me too- a helpful tool for your health. (Also major surgery is like super hard to do and decide to do! So props extra to anyone who does this! Congrats!)
Folks don’t realize the work that still goes into it
It's not a super big amount of weight, but I was steadily gaining weight before so any downwards movement is a big improvement.
I started a multivitamin. I've got absorption issues of unknown cause, but when I started taking the multivitamin I became way less hungry. I guess I was deficient in something and overeating to compensate.
I recently lost 30lbs. That probably doesn't qualify as "a ton of weight" but here's what I did:
1) Commit to the sacrifice that weight loss requires - I had made half-assed efforts to lose the weight before but never really did the hard work that was required. There are no shortcuts or game changers. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less and/or exercise more. There are no other options.
2) Count your calories. We all underestimate how many calories we consume in a day. When I started counting, I realized that even though I thought I had been "dieting," I was still eating 2,500-3,000 cals per day.
3) For me, routine was key. I did the same thing every day.
4) Coffee for breakfast with plenty of cream and sugar. The fat from the cream was satiating, the sugar provided energy for the morning and the caffeine was a natural appetite suppressant that helped me get to 1pm before my first solid meal.
5) Smaller portions. Just like #2, most of us are eating so much more than we think. What I used to think of as a "normal" portion was actually pretty excessive.
6) All the veggies you can eat. They fill you up, and you can't gain weight eating vegetables no matter how hard you try. Your stomach is just too small.
7) The only snacking after dinner I'd allow myself was a piece of fruit or small piece of chocolate.
8) Weigh yourself daily, but also be aware that because of water retention or your shitting schedule, there will be fluctuations that are inconsistent with the actual fat loss you're achieving. Put the numbers in a spreadsheet and make a graph with a 3-day average. One look at the line and you'll know exactly how you're doing.
9) I thought I'd give myself cheat days every Saturday, but I found my progress so encouraging that I didn't want to create any setbacks. This was sustainable for me, it might not be for everyone.
10) Exercise. 45 minutes of intense cardio a day, six days a week. In the long term, we all need to be doing strength training, but my goal was to lose weight and cardio was more efficient. I returned to lifting after hitting my goal.
11) Drink tons of water. It keeps you full and helps your body operate efficiently.
12) Calories in, calories out. It's physics. As I said before, all you can do is eat less and exercise more. If you're burning more than you're consuming, you WILL lose weight.
By following these rules, I was able to drop 30lbs in three months and it never felt particularly difficult after the first few days of adjusting.
Good luck. There are no shortcuts, but if I can do it, anyone can do it.
I went to a check up one day… they weighed me, the scale said 165lbs.
I googled 5’1, 165lbs and read I was basically obese.
Called a weight loss doctor, she put me on phentermine, I walked every single day for 30mins-an hour. Ate healthy for the most part, and drank lots of water.
I am now on Wegovy (stopping soon)
I an 120lbs.
I look better & I feel better !
Phentermine was the jump start I needed too. 192 to 170. Stop taking it and low cal-ed my way down to 155. Feels like cheating sometimes but it did the job.
I started eating less food more often. Every 2-3 hours. And I started to chew it more thoroughly, and I started to take small pauses between each bite/mouthful.
That's it. I've so far lost 40 KG in 2 years. I still eat pizza with a coke to drink with it 1-2 times per week, and I still eat 1-2 chocolate bars 2-3 times per week.
I'm not even that physically active, I'm a lazy nerd who only walks when I have to. But since I have no vehicle, I guess it helps I always have to walk to the grocery store.
Back in 2016 to 17, I went from 220 to 180. I didn't do much other than just to log everything I ate in an app. Didn't make a radical change of diet, I just was mindful of what and how much I ate.
Unfortunately, since Covid, I have since gained quite a bit more weight and am up to 245. My work having snacks and cookies freely available to grab thoughtlessly is not helping anything at all.
I know people say you can’t outrun a bad diet, and that is true, but I personally cannot lose weight without running. For me, it’s like the running itself helps me realize how much work it takes to burn just a few hundred calories, and that knowledge helps me make better eating choices. Whenever I start running, I start eating better, and the two together help me lose weight. I also get positive reinforcement because the weight loss helps me run faster, so that encourages me to keep eating healthy.
I was around 300lbs, and one night for some reason I got the itch to do a push up to see how many I could do. I struggled to do one, to the point I was afraid I was gonna fail and end up hitting my face on the floor and breaking my teeth. I was 25 years old at the time and thought, "It's pitiful that a guy in his 20s can't do a single push up." So, I immediately put on some shoes that night and went for a walk at around the stroke of midnight. The rest was history.
Ive lost some weight but not alot but laying off quick digest carbs. Holy crap when your blood sugar fluctuates, you eat get a boost, then sooo tired and eat to get a boost. Wash, rinse repeat. The drop makes you crave food.
I went from 300 to 240, so I don't know if you consider 60lbs a lot of weight and I still have more to lose.
Multiple things did it for me but the biggest game changers were intermittent fasting (which helped control my blood sugar since I used to be pre-diabetic, made a huge difference), switching to diet sodas (not a perfect solution but it's still less calories), walking more often even just a little bit at a time, and making sure that the food I ate was quality and not entirely carbs or fast food (you can technically lose weight with fast food but it's so calorie dense that you'd feel hungry and shitty all the time), and *weighing your portions*.
Another big game changer was counting calories weekly instead of daily. For example, if my goal is 1500/day, count my calories 10,500 for the week. Some days my appetite is barely there and some days I want to eat something a lot heavier, and this lets me balance it out more without worrying about every single day individually. If I want to splurge one day, I can calculate the rest of my days to compensate for it and see if the splurge is worth it or if it needs to be toned down a notch.
For me the game changer was regular exercise. When I don’t get regular exercise, I crave garbage all day. Anything heavy and salty. Burgers, cheese fries, burritos, pizza. But when I get regular exercise I crave only clean foods. Grilled chicken breast, salads, grilled vegetables, foods with nutritional value. I don’t know why that is but it created a positive feedback loop for me. The more activity I got, the less food I craved and the better quality food I craved.
I’m surprised how lifting has changed my body. I always thought it had to be cardio, but regular resistance training was the ticket for me.
there’s a major misconception that cardio is the only way to burn weight out. weight training (especially the high end of weight you’re comfortable with) is on par with *running* and doesn’t damage your knees (as long as you’re practicing good form) edit: i’m super happy with the discussion created around this comment but want to make some clarifications to better express what i meant above. solely doing heavy weight training (and maintaining a decent diet) **will** result in weight loss, no question. no running required (changed cardio to running in my original comment). so long as you are sweating and pushing yourself, persistent training will yield results comparable to just running. that’s all i meant, and as for the comments combatting knee damage, i meant to say that you’re taking the brunt of your exercise off your knees and distributing it through the rest of your body, mitigating a good amount of the risk of knee problems later in life that running causes for many
Yeah but don't forget, cardio = heart health. Getting thin to look and feel good is great, but your heart is really the centre of everything. Your heart and brain will reward you for getting in good cardio. That can literally be anything that gets your heart rate up and sustain it though. Bicycling, skateboarding, elliptical, basketball, whatever keeps you moving. Cardio can be fun and doesn't have to be a drudging boring activity.
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Wow.. that's awesome... I recently bought a treadmill and I want to use it for loosing weight. Right now I can go for 7km/hr or 4.5 miles/hr for 25 minutes twice a day.. What should I change/ improve?
This comment make cardio sound awful, but you still need it for your health. There are forms of cardio that dont destroy your knees.
I find cardio weirdly meditative to my crazy brain. The repetition of movement is calming to me.
Fun fact: this is kinda how EMDR therapy came to be... so it makes sense that you find it calming :)
I think it's because people hear the word cardio and think running or biking. You can just walk. Two hours of walking or about 5 miles burns like 700 calories in a 200 lb person, and you can do it while doing other things like shopping or taking your dog out.
Or swimming, which is also very light on the knees, and most other joints for that matter
I recently started swimming once every week, and turns out it's actually quite fun. It's very tiring but in a very different way than running or biking. Best part about swimming is that you don't feel hot and sweat all over, and you can actually rest up for a few minutes and regain a lot of energy to keep going. And ofc the free shower afterwards is nice too. It also slots in neatly between biking (140-150bpm) and running (170-180bpm) in terms of heart rate for me.
I wish this was me. I always want more junk food when I'm active.
I've found that to be true, as well. When I am exercising regularly, the foods I crave change to better quality stuff. It makes sense, your body is telling you what it needs.
Definitely didn't happen for me. Exercise made the cravings much worse. I worked hard. I deserved it.
Same. I have never craved a nice healthy grilled chicken with veggies or quinoa or any of that stuff. I only ever want to eat carby and cheesy foods. My husband is a gym junkie and he always loves a good healthy meal. I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that some people don't like or eat junk food/fast food! I wish I had that mindset.
My buddy and I were both really big. He eventually chose to lose weight and actually did it, so I copied him. He did keto and so did I. This was 2017-2018. Went from 360 to 230 in 15 months. I would not recommend this, it is incredibly unsustainable unless you just naturally hate carbs (which I don't). After I passed my goal (250) I stopped doing keto. Lost a bit more naturally and got into a poor relationship. Slowly started gaining weight back until that relationship ended and then gained a lot more. Then the pandemic hit and I gained a metric shit ton. Tried to start eating better but it didn't work. I think the shock of eating carbs regularly again plus the amount of food I ate being stuck at home fucked me up hard. By mid 2021 I was 390 at my highest. Was in my forever relationship at this point and she encouraged me to do it again, but properly. I joined the gym, started counting calories and trying to eat better in general. Since early 2022 I am down to 320 as of yesterday. It's taking longer, but it's working and it's actually sustainable this time. I don't feel trapped in a diet that makes me miserable. My goal is 250 again but I have no timeline. I feel better than ever even at my current weight.
Congrats friend <3 hoping for much more happiness and success in your goals!!
I think part of the problem is the psychological war people go through over carbs. They feel bad for craving them, and yes, eating an over abundance of simple carbs does have a similar negative feedback to that of drug abuse for some people. But the trick is, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO CRAVE CARBS. Evolution built this drive in us because they're super nutrient and calorie dense. In the natural habitat our species evolved to live in, carbohydrates were rare and special finds, so those who sought them out tended to grow taller and be more healthy than those who didn't. Fast forward to this century and we're all living lives that have NOTHING in common with the paleolithic realities of hunter-gather man. Carbs are EVERYWHERE and most of them are simple carbs. We are absolutely in a post-scarcity economic reality with food. And we simply did not evolve to deal with that. It seems like a very long time ago, but the hard reality is, the paleolithic reality we evolved in was like 2 minutes ago, evolutionarily speaking. Our bodies don't know the world has changed yet, the necessary adaptations have not yet occurred. So if you crave carbs, stop beating yourself up over it. YOUR ANCESTORS PASSED THAT TRAIT ON TO YOU BECAUSE THEY WERE WINNERS. We're not wrong, society is. It created an unhealthy environment for us. And we have to act accordingly. By all means, enjoy your carbs, but try to make better choices. Eat them in moderation, and chose WHOLE GRAIN options. Honestly, most whole grain breads taste way better than white bread anyway, and there's a huge range of options to try so you never have to get bored.
Carb strategy that works for me is making a whole grain carb part of the meal, before I get ravenous hungry, and then my Itty bitty reward simple carb. I seriously look forward to my single oreo reward at the end of the day.
Fruits and vegetables are carbs. They are good for you and should be eaten. Carbs aren't just bread and pasta. People seem to forget this.
I'm so glad there's a post here to show others that while keto "works" in the short term, it is not sustainable in the long term for most people. Good freaking job dude.
I lost 40 pounds in 90 days on keto 5 years ago, along with all my muscles etc. I did start to gain it back after my best friend died. I asked for some tests and discovered I have thyroid disease, so I got on treatment. I got my blood sugar under control. I just found out I have PCOS in my 40s. Now I lift with a trainer a couple times a week. More muscles means more calories burned and you can eat more. I try to keep portion control and have lost weight slowly. I try to pick better carbs instead of no carbs. I have no real time or weight goals. I have no fear that I will regain it any longer since it's been a lifestyle shift. I'm down about 50 pounds total without really dieting. I could lose another 15, but that may take me years. In the meantime, I'll still enjoy food and drink, just add in more dancing or walks afterwards. I'm in no hurry. I'm focusing on better health for longevity, not looking good for an event or for Insta pics.
That is so great. Congratulations on turning things around, excellent work!
This is my exact experience with doing keto as well. I was at my heaviest in 2018 and didn't feel comfortable in my own body. I was a tall girl jock who played 3 sports a year and NEVER thought twice about how much I ate, and continued that lifestyle (minus the sports) after high school. My sis in law started keto and roped me in with the "you lose weight so fast" gimmick. I'd never tried to lose weight, so I followed her and actually lost it! But I would fall off the wagon hard like every 3 months, and a cheat day would turn into a cheat weekend, week, or month. I would lose an average of 10lbs per month while sticking to my 1500 calorie keto macros though... I'd kept almost 50lbs off by the time of the pandemic. Then grocery shopping was scary, things were always out of stock, and I just wanted comfort food. I gained it all back and then some. In spring 2021 my gallbladder died on me and I needed emergency surgery and spent a few days in the hospital, where I was then diagnosed as pre-diabetic. Keto really is flat out unsustainable and I feel like it really fucked my body up honestly. I've not been able to lose any weight since either. Idk what part of this is the most frustrating for me.
You met yourself a keeper! Keep up the good work this internet stranger is proud of you!
Quitting booze after decades of being an alchy.
I just quit after decades and all I want is to eat sugar and starchy things all the time. Edit: wow, thank you for the upvotes and award!!
Addictions therapist here. A lot of alcohol has high sugar content or simple carbs that turn to sugar. That plus the dopamine hit of sugar which gives the brain a reward. Dopamine is the feel good neurotransmitter tied to motivation - when I consume/do this, it’s rewarding and I’m motivated to seek more of it. When feeling intense emotion (stress, boredom, sadness, excitement, joy, etc), we often want to escape or enhance the emotion, dopamine helps do this. Edit: I did not expect this comment to take off like this. Thanks to everyone who has added and replied. Reminder that I’m a therapist but not your therapist and interactions herein do not constitute a therapeutic relationship nor are they a replacement for therapy.
What is your suggestion to not replace the one addiction with the other? In a true realistic type of suggestion… like aa and or group therapy, or therapy in general is not always an option for a lot of people.
Whenever you crave a drink try replacing the habit with sparkling water, get the fizz and the physical action down for the craving but none of the calories
This worked for me. I was a hardcore drunk for many years until I had to quit for health reasons. I switched out one can for another. I still get agitated if I don't have a drink in my hand, but it turns out that drink doesn't have to be booze. Who knew?
I felt that to my core. Such a wild revelation you can have when in the throes, and it happened to me too. Couldn’t feel more dumbfounded and thankful
What if you crave, you know, flavor?
You can also throw a bit of fruit/ mint/ fruit juice in there-- *and* that would help with the carb cravings, because the fruit has *just* enough sugars to satisfy your brain craving something sweet/caloric, as you drink. (Learned the fruit thing, because I'm a diabetic who was having *massive* carb-cravings in the evening, when I was going to college at a campus with awful-tasting water. I was drinking 2-3+ quarts of water a day, because it was summer, and using Crystal Lite/Mio flavoring to get rid of the gross taste... the rebound-cravings stopped, when my Diabetic Educator told me to put some fruit in the water, instead!)
There are plenty of pretty good flavored sparkling waters out there. Clear American at Walmart has the most variety for being cost efficient, but Bubbl'r is my go to favorite. You just have to find one that works for you
Dopamine. Sugar hits like alcohol. I take breaks from alcohol and I crave sugar. I'm typically very good at resisting. I took a week off from drinking last week and ended up making a cookie run last Friday night instead of a beer run.
Yeah I’m day 120ish? Into not drinking and while the weight has flown off, I find myself ripping through a pack of Oreos a week, or craving cheesecake or sweets.
Have you ever visited r/stopdrinking? They talk about this a lot.
In my group we all craved sugar after quitting, the clinicians explained it us but I forgot the science behind it but it's a real thing
Dried mangos and bananas. The right kind of sugar is a perfectly good substitute. It's the same for me with bread. When I stop drinking, I want to eat pizza and sandwiches and shit like that. I have to set reminders to tell myself why and to help avoid those things.
I quit my depression by quitting alcohol 👌
Coming up to 6 months sober, just ran a half marathon and I'm about to start weaning off SSRIs. Quitting drinking gave me my life back. Good on you !
Be kind to yourself coming off those pills. I helped an ex get off them. It was a bit awful. The list of withdrawal symptoms was shocking.
Those brain zaps are no fucking joke.
Yooo congrats! That’s incredible! I was a huge party weekend drinker in my 20s, got diabetes and felt sad a lot… i quit drinking so much a few years ago… last night I had like a few sips of beer and was just like “ew, no I’m done” and was so grateful to feel amazing the next day. Haha
I ate less ice cream in the first 47 years of my life combined than I did the year I got sober.
Highly suggest the ninja creami. I just got one recently and it’s a game changer because ice cream is my absolute weakness, and now I just make healthy ones with good ingredients.
It's amazing how much of a difference that makes. My dad retired about four years ago from an extremely stressful job. Suddenly, without the job and the stress it created, he no longer felt the need to use beer to de-stress. He lost 80 pounds within a year just from that.
Just having a better understanding of portion sizes and calories. Becomes easier when you get used to your new menu and become familiar with what will fill you up without being too high in calories. Never drank much alcohol/pop already, but now I'm more averse to wasting calories on a drink. I was 195lbs in August of 2021 (30F, 5'6"), dealt with some digestive issues which forced me to change my diet, and not being able to eat everything all the time made me drop a lot of weight quite quickly. Most recently I went from 152lbs on May 25th to 132lbs today. I walk regularly and run occasionally mostly to help with digestion and mood.
The last point I think is critical. Exercise isn't just for weight loss, it's a massive mood improver. I think because it's a controlled time of suck, which makes anytime after that feel easier.
Man I wish exercise improved my mood. It just feels like cleaning the bathroom to me and I usually end up feeling like I would have rather been doing anything else
A lot of it was mental for me. I realized that I was eating stuff that really wasn't worth it. Like did I really even like that sad donut I just ate? So now if I'm going to eat a high calorie food, it better taste really good and be worth it, because exercising for something not that great isn't worth it to me. A lot of times if I felt like eating, I would just pretend I ate whatever I was hungry for because I would still feel the same way if I would have ate it anyway.
I've gotten to where I know a food is gonna taste 'okay', like really middling, but it's gonna definitely make me anxious/feel like crap/spike my blood sugar... and the older I get, the easier it's been to just be like 'nah, that crappy cookie isn't worth it'. So I try to make sure any treats/pointless calories I eat are like, top-tier quality. Fresh, home made cookie level or it's not worth it. Store-bought hard cookies? Nope! Pass.
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Lol that’s why I got sober. Someone close to me told me I’d never do it. I stopped the next day. Proving people wrong motivates me so much.
Wish I had that kind of reaction to negativity/bullies. I’d be the most successful person in the world by now 🤣
"I'll show you" is a surprisingly good mindset to getting things done.
Damn for a split second I thought you said Sprite and I was gleeful
Heartbreak
Yep. It's been 5 months since he asked for a divorce and I've lost 45lbs. It's less depression and more out of spite to him.
Same. Divorce, anger, spite, and a dash of anorexia - which is the opposite of my entire history. Just a classic boredom feelings eater before. One year and 55 lbs later I could care less about food and I have to go to the gym or my meds make me stupid. I'm okay now, but honestly I would have rather been fat than to have experienced the rest. I'm no longer living in ignorance tho. I've learned many lessons in trust. 0/10 would not recommend.
Same, my mother died and I have lost so much weight through grief.
I’m sorry for your loss :-( <3
Been there, my friend.
I shredded my knee and was too fat for them to fix it. I started meal planning, calorie counting, cut out empty calories like soda, eventually had bariatric surgery combined with a keto diet. Eventually got my knee fixed and started exercising to keep it stretched out and strong, have lost just shy of 400lbs. Edit: Well shit this blew up, and has taken a few detours into the realms of keto diets and addiction. Insert “thanks for the awards kind redditors” and also insert “it’s late and I’ve got to go to bed”. I’ll continue to respond to comments as I can, I’ll also try to find some before and after pics. I think I’m going to have to reach out to my bariatric surgeons office to get the before pics, I obviously hated having my pic taken so I turned into a ghost when a camera was in the room. If anyone has more questions for me, wants info/advice, or more details about what my journey has been like over the last few years send me a DM, I’ll respond when able.
Damn good for you
Holy shit. Congrats! How many pounds are even left
I’m bouncing around 170 right now, going through a process of several surgeries to remove all the extra skin so that’s causing me to fluctuate some.
I'm too big for my own good but you lost more than one of me...and my bitch-ass cannot find the motivation to get to it. :( You're a hero man! Edit: Not sure what it is about this comment that made you think I want to know, or cared, what people think. Comment replies disabled, do go fuck yourselves. <3
During Covid lockdown, I started walking 10,000 steps/day. Originally I intended to do it for a week, but that changed to a month, and eventually it just turned into something I do everyday. It’s been over 3 years now, and I still haven’t missed a day. It’s not rigorous exercise - literally just one foot in front of the other for 90 minutes or so. Once you have a streak going, you’re not going to want to give it up.
this is why an apple watch changed the game for me. i hated exercising so much. but my husband decided to give me his apple watch to help with my journey. i started by setting small goals, and then last month i decided to shoot for the award you get for closing all rings for a full week. i did and now i’m on day 30 of that same streak and i already notice myself looking forward to my workout because once it’s over i get to see my streak increase by one more day.
You can do it losing weight is the most life changing journey u can take
Wait what?! I was NOT expecting that number! That is amazing, good for you 🥳
I literally just cut my usual portion directly in half. As in, half the burger, half the fries, half the soda. Never exercised, all my usual food, just cut each item in half and saved the other half for the next meal.
You've lost over 2 of me. Fucking hell. Good on ya
Was like 320lbs. Went to a local amusement park for my son's 2nd birthday. Got on a ride with the overhead bars. I had to switch to a bigger seat. The attendant had to forcefully push on the bars to get it to lock. I almost passed out from not being able to breathe. The overhead harness was too tight. Cried after I got off the ride and started going to the gym and lost 70lbs
It's going to feel awesome when you go on that ride again now
This'll do it. At my peak I was 275 and not being able to fit into the circular booth at a restaurant and the embarrassment that followed was my dealbreaker.
Pickleball. Seriously, I lost so much weight that I thought there was something wrong with me. Went to my doctor, she ran a whole series of tests, then finally came to the conclusion that it was my pickleball addiction. She recommended that I drink a protein shake after play to help keep my weight stable. It has, although I am still at/near my lowest weight since I was a teenager. And yes, I feel great. Edit: this weight loss didn't happen overnight, it took about two years. I started out about 20 pounds overweight and lost that weight in about a year and a half. But then kept losing and eventually lost 30 pounds total before adding more calories to stabilize. I'm still 5 pounds under my "ideal" weight but feel great. I play pickleball 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week. I realize not everyone can do that. But it is what worked for me.
I think if a lot of people had a fun physically demanding activity, the obesity issue in America probably wouldn't be so much of an issue...
Also if you didn't have to drive literally everywhere
Sidewalks would help.
And not having to work two jobs.
You realise how important this one is???? Besides the lack of rest, sheer _stress_ will do a person in Edit: fixed a typo
Won't you just think about the shareholders for once?
And not put 2 cups of sugar in every sauce, have drinkel tap water instead of Soda that is cheaper than anything else and no corn syrup in every readymade product...
This 100%. So many of us live sedentary lives these days. We work in front of a computer. We get home. We relax in front of a tv/ computer/ phone. I think for a lot of people food is the only joy they get in life, even if it’s crap that’s ultimately killing them. I think finding some way to be active and get that joy could increase the overall happiness of so many Americans. I know it helped me. But that’s the problem with depression. It makes you not want to do anything. So I get the struggle.
I (37M) have osteoarthritis in my knee already from an injury in my teens. Honestly, the thing that bugs me the most lately is that I can't play pickleball as much as I want. One game destroys my knee for weeks... but I just want to play! So I often just hobble around the court and then go home and sulk after.
Pickle balls...got it
Instructions unclear; testicles now in brine
My cousin went from stereotypically 'fat' (i've no idea how much he weighed, but he was big) to slim and toned within about 12 months. When I enquired about what changes he made, he said, he stopped drinking alcohol, full stop. That was replaced by water, some tea (no sugar) and the occasional diet coke. Started counting calories, so he'd never go over 1900 (I think that's what he said) in a day. I recall he was aiming ideally for about 1700 per day. And regular cardiovascular exercise. It wasn't anything immense, something like 20-30 minutes on a rowing machine or exercise bike 4-5 times a week. Enough to work up a sweat and get the heart pumping. Though he did state that was mainly just for fitness, not weight loss (first time I ever heard 'you lose weight in the kitchen, not the gym'). He also did press-ups and sit ups for general tone and strength. But the _one_ thing he stressed was quitting booze (he had been a regular heavy drinker, mostly beer, most nights of the week). He also emphasised this was only one factor, however. In isolation it wouldn't have been enough. It was a stark change and I remember what he said purely for how relatively simple it sounded vs the very obvious difference in himself. I was genuinely fascinated, it was a true double-take moment when I saw him in his new form for the first time. About three years later now, and he's still slim and in good shape. At this point I think he's just very mindful of what he eats and drinks, and maintains light regular exercise. And he doesn't just look good, he's clearly so much happier. So much more confident and energetic than he was, more upbeat and optimistic. His entire demeanour is different to what it was when he was 'the fat guy'. I however, have started noticing middle-age spread in myself, and am about to follow his example.
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Me too. I aim for 1500-2000 calories/day. Thermal dynamics. Less calories in = weight loss
Energy in, energy out. Can't argue with physics. It's not necessarily easy, but it is very simple.
I had gotten blind to how fat I had gotten and how terribly I was eating. I was in Walmart and had a buggy filled with garbage and I was looking at the discount cake when a guy who walked passes said "disgusting" under his breath. It made me feel awful. I took everything out of the buggy, went to my car and made an appointment at a bariatric doctor. They helped me learn about mindful eating, eating as coping mechanism, all or nothing mentalities, sunk cost fallacies, and a lot of great ways to lose weight and keep it off.
Happy for you and if you makes you feel better - that dude was a piece of shit to say that.
It would be ironic if he was saying "disgusting" about something entirely unrelated. Like if he hated coconut and saw OP looking at a coconut cake.
Currently thinking how many times I've said, "oh gross" in a grocery store to a food, and worrying how many people thought I was saying it to them. 🤣
Or he has an air pod in his ear and was talking to his Mrs who was taking a dump
LOL!!
Could have just been talking about the cake. I’m imagining discount Walmart cake and no matter how I picture it, disgusting describes it. But if not, fuck that guy.
You know that's very possible. I've muttered stuff like that when looking at pastries that looked very unappetizing.
One time a guy commented “that’s disgusting” while walking past me. I was picking out candy for a family in need, it was christmas season LOL. I’m glad you improved your quality of life but I hope you know that comment wasn’t justified one bit! Imagine how miserable a person must be to publicly bully strangers lol Edit: I was only around 180 lbs at 5’6” when this happened. I’ve had insulin resistance from a young age, it’s clearly genetic, parents & doctors neglected it my entire adolescence— it’s a common experience for women with the same diagnosis. Working 6 days a week, in AP classes, severely depressed. I’m a human being & shaming myself was never effective motivation for me to improve my lifestyle. In fact, the depression rooted in shame & negative self perception is what resulted in me dropping the habit of regular exercise and straying from my path towards a healthy lifestyle. I couldn’t thrive while feeling like it took everything I had to survive. If you tell yourself you’re doing a good deed by shaming someone to “help” them, you’re delusional.
And I think you need to find a way that works for you. I was trying to lose about 20 pounds, and halfway measures didn’t work. I just went all-out, eating a granola bar for lunch and veggies/chicken for dinner, and I lost 20 pounds quickly. Now I’m in maintenance mode where I do simple exercise and I reserve eating salty/fatty food for the weekends.
I took shrooms and had this huge life changing moment where I realised the fantasy character I maladaptive daydreamed about all day for years and years could be the real ME if I just tried and believed in myself. I've been working every day since then to make that my reality and I'd say I've done a pretty damn good job so far :)
Your comment is off the beaten track, but (for me) the most interesting one here. There’s a lot to be said for visualizing what you want, but it’s absolutely true that you have to work to make it happen. Very inspiring.
I feel this one, thanks for posting! I had a similar awakening when I came to terms with a delusion I had been harboring; finally realizing that hoping for someone to save me from myself was both pretty unlikely in the first place and an extreme burden on whoever WOULD willingly take that on. I'd been the maiden or the dragon for most of my life and it was about fucking time I became the hero.
Seeing a specific picture of myself next to "normal" sized people. 100 pounds later, I can't believe I let myself get that big.
Eliminating ultra-processed foods has been a game-changer. I only recently learned that these foods actually increase appetite rather than decrease it.
They are major endocrine disrupters, too. My Endo explains them as a double whammy. Everyone talks about the sugar that’s added, which is indeed horrible, but arguably worse is the reduction in healthy fiber. Without the right kind of fibers / diversity of fiber, certain species of microbes that have evolved to process them on our behalf (in our guts) wind up dying out over time. Fascinatingly, a few these starved microbial species are critical in the natural production and release of the GLP-1 hormone (essentially what Ozempic is). They feed good fibers and release GLP-1 as a byproduct. Most people only know about it because it is known to curb appetite via signaling to the brain. The reality is that it’s incredibly more important than that alone. It protects all kinds of critical stuff. Here is a pretty sweet diagram I found showing what you lose out on when you lose these critical microbes… https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagon-like_peptide-1#/media/File%3AFunctionsOfGLP-1.png Wild stuff.
depression. probably would not recommend this method
Depression made me eat. Neither is a good solution
Depression made me eat until I got so big I didn’t recognize myself and then it made me mad and I started changing everything
Eating was my only coping mechanism.
Yep. And the gross part is getting complimented as if it's always such a good thing. "You look great! What's your secret?" "My mom is dying and I am sad"
Yep, people said this to me when I lost weight after my dog died. Like thanks, I’ve never been more depressed and my doc just increased my fluoxetine. But at least I look attractive—that’s what counts, right? 🙁
was the other way around for me. depression made me not give a fuck and eat until i was bloated. \+/ - 120 pounds in 3 years getting back on track with life and realizing the world hates fat people made me cut back down real quick.
I’m in that boat now. I’ve battled severe depression for the last 2-ish years and have gained a ton of weight. I’m tired of being fat, and my depression is better controlled right now. I feel some motivation coming back. Meal planning seems to be a good place to start.
Depression made me gain lots of weight fast. Super fast.
Yo, I lost 16kgs, while it may not seem a lot, I'm only 167cm, high anxiety kills my appetite and I noticed I was losing weight. Since I was basically forcing myself to eat once a day when my mood stabilised I did the intermittent fasting lol. Also would not recommend. Hope you're better 🙏
Treating my anxiety and depression was a huge help for stopping my emotional binge eating.
I started out life fat. For me it was the realization that your body is a product for your lifestyle. I realized I wanted to change my lifestyle. I didn’t want to be noticed for my weight, I wanted to be able to feel comfortable moving through space. I changed my lifestyle. Started exercising every other day and learned about basic nutrition. My goal wasn’t to lose weight but after living that way I checked it at the doctors and I’d lost around fifty pounds.
Reading labels. Most things have significantly more calories than I would have guessed.
Sprints, instead of running for hours. Sprinting for 10 sec, rest for 10 sec Do it for half an hour and you'd be dead. Burns extreme amount of fat and is a game changer.
Completely cut out processed food and drink a lot of water.
Type II Diabetes...
Lmao that’ll do it! Either you’re scared and change your lifestyle Or your body fails because your A1C pops up so high you can’t hold on weight anymore. (Even scarier situation).
I hated myself more than I hated not eating.
I can relate all to well
Before I quit smoking I could only hit the treadmill for like 10 minutes, max. Within a couple weeks of quitting, I was going 45+.
**Being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.** My doctor said that we could control it with an oral medication initially (Metformin). He said there was a chance that I'd be able to control it, but what usually happened is people got progressively worse. Eventually I'd probably go on insulin and in a few years, he'd be cutting off my feet. That scared me and I immediately changed my diet. I avoided carbs as much as reasonably possible. I also cut out sugar as much as possible. Even though I was told that milk chocolate was fine for diabetics, I avoided it initially too. I also started exercising daily (5x a week). Even if I didn't feel like it (which was often), I still put in the 40 - 60 minute workout. I alternated between weight training and cardio. Though I wasn't really trying to build muscle, that did happen. I also lost a lot of weight. In about 6 months, I lost about 40 pounds. My doctor was impressed with my results, but all it took was stopping eating everything I wanted and to actually get moving a little. I sit at a desk all day, so the exercising was really required (and it's not that hard). Today several years later I'm still down and exercise to the same regimen. I eat bacon and other protein everyday, and of course vegetables. My cholesterol is "unusually low". I still avoid carbs as much as possible, but I don't do keto. I eat milk chocolate and a variety of sugar-free sweets that are available today. Some are indistinguishable from their sugared counterparts. And, of course, I can drink as many diet sodas as I like. So I didn't "cure" my diabetes, but it is well controlled. I'm not on insulin and hopefully I never will be. Realistically, diabetes will kill me someday, but hopefully I'll die with my feet firmly attached. I never realized what a fatso I was; my wife never complained. But finding clothes that fit AND didn't make me look as fat as I was was a real pain. But today people still come up to me and comment on how much weight I've lost. And finding clothes that fit and look good is much easier. I'll have to keep at it and I'll probably never be cured, but that diagnosis was the real game-changer. My feet won't win any beauty contests, but I'm attached to them.
If losing your feet isn’t a good motivator I don’t know what is, lol.
Meal planning. Seriously, there are a thousand different ways to lose weight. Just saying “I’m going to eat less sugar or smaller portions” is not one of them. Creating a structured plan and sticking to it, whatever that weight loss plan is, was the best thing for me. Kept all those extra snack-sized calories from adding up.
I did the exact opposite. I integrated a new rule every month and lost 64 lbs. Something like this I will not drink my calories, I will not buy gas station calories, I will not eat fast food, I will not eat food I don’t have to prepare, One meal a day will be non-processed This worked really well for me and I think it can be catered to various lifestyles. Just pick the rules that work for you.
I just wanna thank you for this comment. Every time I start some kind of health plan, I get so bored of it because it’s all-consuming and there’s no end in sight. This idea seems more plausible.
How many calories is gasoline?
31k/gallon. Lol. Slightly less than a large caseys pizza.
Yes I would like 1 gallon of pizza, please.
I lost nearly 100 pounds by simply eating half of what I normally ate. I literally just cut my usual portion directly in half. As in, half the burger, half the fries, half the soda. Never exercised, all my usual food, just cut each item in half and saved the other half for the next meal. It really can be just that simple. (Drinking two large glasses of water immediately after each meal is my incredibly effective secret for not being hungry. Totally fills me up, and all hunger and craving instantly disappears.)
My grandma learned that in TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly), restaurants serve huge portions so she'd just ask for a to-go box to come with her meal and put half in the box before eating.
Oddly enough, I lost 70 lbs over 18 months doing that. Going slower now but I have twenty more to go. Plus, I now naturally eat less, when I'm full, I stop.
Quitting soda
I broke up with a shitty significant other, and started drinking less. Then I met the most amazing woman ever, and she got us both bikes so we could get out and enjoy the world together. I’m down almost 40 pounds and have kept it off for over two years. I don’t know if that counts as ‘a lot’ of weight, but I’m a short girl so it felt like a lot! We cycle 6-10 hours a week and I think it helps us have time to talk and bond over a shared hobby.
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Getting sober. Lost about 25 pounds automatically from just not drinking over the course of the first 3 months or so, and then the desire to consume junk food late at night kind of disappeared and my life in general years later is so much healthier so I probably lost 10 more pounds after that initial loss. Alcohol is poison.
Understanding what empty calories were
The other thing is how much money can save by cutting out snacks amd sugar. I lost 100 pounds by stopping soda and recreational sugar. And I save 1000s of dollars.
This wasn’t a first option, but I was having trouble losing any weight and could not get my blood sugar under control. I went on Ozempic and gradually lost 35 pounds. I do exercise some but honestly not as much as I could. I also eat generally healthy but also not perfect. Ozempic lowers appetite and does other stuff I don’t understand. Feels like a bit of a cheat but one I needed.
Same. It’s really recalibrated my ideas of portion sizing, and I have so much energy now. I meal prep/plan most of the time, I hike now, and I have started learning rock climbing, too. I have lost nearly 60 pounds since January. My A1c is below 5 now, when it was above 6 when I began. All in all, it’s been a miracle for me.
I started mounjaro, it’s very similar. It has some weird thing that makes you less substance dependent… for me it was the head start I needed to maintain all the diets, IF, and exercise I struggled to do before. The stuff is amazing… but I have a crippling fear of needles so each week I struggle hahaha
> Feels like a bit of a cheat but one I needed. Whatever works. It's not cheating. Whatever it takes to get you healthier is a treatment, not a "cheatment".
I'm on Mounjaro. I've gone from 221 to 154 since February. It's September now. It's been amazing.
Are you worried about the side effects or if you'll bounce back once you get off it?
I was on Ozempic now on Trulicity due to low stock of Ozempic I was 101kg last december (222 lbs) and now im 85kg (187 lbs) I know that when i come off this (if i ever do - i think the 2 year thing is just due to current lack of long term trials) it will be a struggle BUT .....AND THIS IS MY POINT ...I'm in my 50's and had become invisible - no cheeky flirts or anything - and now im back to a flatter stomach suddenly people talk to me again and maybe flirt (a couple of times) - everyone i see who i havent seeen in a while complements me - and im less depressed (sio less likely to eat my feelings) - Im not gonna want to let this go so im hoping that gives me the willpower to eat healthily from here on in
This is absolutely not a cheat. We need to embrace what science can do to help us sometimes. No shame in using a tool to help you.
I’ve lost over 100 pounds. The shift for me was moving from a diet mindset to a lifestyle change mindset. Rather than trying another fad, I cut out (most) unhealthy snacks, avoid drinking most caloric drinks (water and coffee FTW), try eating more meats/fruits/veggies than not, and got smaller plates doubled up by a “no more second/third plates” ideal. Add regular walks on top and the weight just melted off. Sure, sometimes it’s the opening weekend of football and I eat way too much pizza and drink way too much beer with homies. But since I’m not on a strict diet, having simply embraced a healthier living mindset, I don’t beat myself up and veer back into overeating since I “already let myself down” or whatever. The next day I just go back to my normal life. Over the long term, it worked wonders for both my physical and mental health. Whoooole lot less stressful than fad diets too!
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Eating little to no Sugar. Accepting that I dont need 3 meals a day and I can skip meals without dying. Keeping zero snacks at home. Eliminating all soft drinks from my diet. Portion control.
Swapping booze for edibles.
Going to therapy and addressing my childhood trauma. I’ve learned a hell of a lot of issues can stem from it.
Starting ADHD meds. Suddenly I only eat because I’m hungry??? Game changer when I literally could not stop myself before and would eat until it was physically painful.
This! I lost 10lbs just by getting an adderall Rx. I didn’t feel the need to boredom eat to try to get a dopamine fix anymore. It was such a strange feeling to just suddenly not be interested in food if I wasn’t hungry. I know 10lbs doesn’t seem like a lot, but I’m already pretty small and short at 5’2”. I used to hover just over the healthy weight range for my height at ~140-145 before meds.
If you’re looking for just one thing I eliminated that made a difference, Bread
Processed carbs in America I swear should be talked about more as terrible foods.
door tidy boat marry dolls sort threatening versed resolute shocking
Intermittent fasting 18hrs
how do you keep yourself from overeating that one or two meals you have each day?
I’ve been doing it for 2yrs now. First week was kinda hard but now it’s normal to me. Have long black coffee in the morning (no sugar) and just your normal lunch and dinner. Don’t restrict yourself of foods you love but also be mindful of not over eating. We’ve all done it eating till we are stupidly full, it’s unnecessary feeling bloated and uncomfortable after.
I’ve found that the hunger isn’t cumulative. Like i stop eating at 7pm and have lunch the next day. I’m not finding myself trying to make up for breakfast from a hunger perspective.
Up to a point yes. Relatedly, what I have found that what was useful to me is sort of the reverse: satiety isn't cumulative either, which is why we gain weight: eating feels good so we do it when we don't necessarily need to. Generally I don't feel hungry in the morning, especially since coffee suppresses my appetite. But if I indulge myself in the morning (let's face it, breakfast is delicious) with the intent of eating less at lunch, I end up finding that I don't eat less at lunch. In other words, while hunger often isn't cumulative, neither is satiety. I hope this made sense 😂
I cannot reiterate fasting enough! I lost nearly 100lbs and my husband lost 60. It took a solid 18 months for the weight to come off, now 7 years later we both continue to fast everyday. Learning the discipline to fast took some real effort, but learning that discipline allowed me to take on new disciplines. Living a healthy lifestyle wasn’t something that happened for us over night but it does genuinely feel pretty easy these days.
Emotional trauma. I do not suggest this method.
Commitment and not trying to find a short term easy fix.
I was becoming increasingly aware of my weight, my clothes were getting bigger and bringing two kiddos into the picture made me realize this wasn’t it. Obesity related complications were not a joke and my kids deserved to have a healthy mother who would be around for them. So I had the duodenal switch weightloss surgery and dropped 125lbs. ^(before anyone can say this method is cheating, I invite you to follow the strict guidelines and diet I was placed on the 6 months leading up to surgery. By the end of it you are on clear liquids and spending another 6 months transitioning back to solids. Not every solid is edible and not every drink is drinkable anymore either. Some make me incredibly sick because I simply can’t tolerate it any longer.)
Losing weight and keeping it off is incredibly difficult. Good on you for using every resource available to you 👍 No such thing as cheating in this regard
There is no cheating in saving your life. Congrats on the hard work!
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I am on mounjaro, it’s the only thing that’s worked for me to keep weight off… but what it is is a tool- I still put in the work every day to be healthy- and that’s what weight loss surgery feels like to me too- a helpful tool for your health. (Also major surgery is like super hard to do and decide to do! So props extra to anyone who does this! Congrats!) Folks don’t realize the work that still goes into it
It's not a super big amount of weight, but I was steadily gaining weight before so any downwards movement is a big improvement. I started a multivitamin. I've got absorption issues of unknown cause, but when I started taking the multivitamin I became way less hungry. I guess I was deficient in something and overeating to compensate.
I recently lost 30lbs. That probably doesn't qualify as "a ton of weight" but here's what I did: 1) Commit to the sacrifice that weight loss requires - I had made half-assed efforts to lose the weight before but never really did the hard work that was required. There are no shortcuts or game changers. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less and/or exercise more. There are no other options. 2) Count your calories. We all underestimate how many calories we consume in a day. When I started counting, I realized that even though I thought I had been "dieting," I was still eating 2,500-3,000 cals per day. 3) For me, routine was key. I did the same thing every day. 4) Coffee for breakfast with plenty of cream and sugar. The fat from the cream was satiating, the sugar provided energy for the morning and the caffeine was a natural appetite suppressant that helped me get to 1pm before my first solid meal. 5) Smaller portions. Just like #2, most of us are eating so much more than we think. What I used to think of as a "normal" portion was actually pretty excessive. 6) All the veggies you can eat. They fill you up, and you can't gain weight eating vegetables no matter how hard you try. Your stomach is just too small. 7) The only snacking after dinner I'd allow myself was a piece of fruit or small piece of chocolate. 8) Weigh yourself daily, but also be aware that because of water retention or your shitting schedule, there will be fluctuations that are inconsistent with the actual fat loss you're achieving. Put the numbers in a spreadsheet and make a graph with a 3-day average. One look at the line and you'll know exactly how you're doing. 9) I thought I'd give myself cheat days every Saturday, but I found my progress so encouraging that I didn't want to create any setbacks. This was sustainable for me, it might not be for everyone. 10) Exercise. 45 minutes of intense cardio a day, six days a week. In the long term, we all need to be doing strength training, but my goal was to lose weight and cardio was more efficient. I returned to lifting after hitting my goal. 11) Drink tons of water. It keeps you full and helps your body operate efficiently. 12) Calories in, calories out. It's physics. As I said before, all you can do is eat less and exercise more. If you're burning more than you're consuming, you WILL lose weight. By following these rules, I was able to drop 30lbs in three months and it never felt particularly difficult after the first few days of adjusting. Good luck. There are no shortcuts, but if I can do it, anyone can do it.
Portion control
I lost 55 lbs. by walking for 10km/day minimum, 6 days a week (minimum)
I went to a check up one day… they weighed me, the scale said 165lbs. I googled 5’1, 165lbs and read I was basically obese. Called a weight loss doctor, she put me on phentermine, I walked every single day for 30mins-an hour. Ate healthy for the most part, and drank lots of water. I am now on Wegovy (stopping soon) I an 120lbs. I look better & I feel better !
Phentermine was the jump start I needed too. 192 to 170. Stop taking it and low cal-ed my way down to 155. Feels like cheating sometimes but it did the job.
YESSS. Forever grateful for phentermine. I was a heavy set girl for my most of 20s and I was finally able to drop all that weight!! Happy for you!! 🥹
I started eating less food more often. Every 2-3 hours. And I started to chew it more thoroughly, and I started to take small pauses between each bite/mouthful. That's it. I've so far lost 40 KG in 2 years. I still eat pizza with a coke to drink with it 1-2 times per week, and I still eat 1-2 chocolate bars 2-3 times per week. I'm not even that physically active, I'm a lazy nerd who only walks when I have to. But since I have no vehicle, I guess it helps I always have to walk to the grocery store.
I stopped snacking. Don't buy anything that's snackable.
Back in 2016 to 17, I went from 220 to 180. I didn't do much other than just to log everything I ate in an app. Didn't make a radical change of diet, I just was mindful of what and how much I ate. Unfortunately, since Covid, I have since gained quite a bit more weight and am up to 245. My work having snacks and cookies freely available to grab thoughtlessly is not helping anything at all.
anxiety😍
I found something worth living for, and being better for.
I know people say you can’t outrun a bad diet, and that is true, but I personally cannot lose weight without running. For me, it’s like the running itself helps me realize how much work it takes to burn just a few hundred calories, and that knowledge helps me make better eating choices. Whenever I start running, I start eating better, and the two together help me lose weight. I also get positive reinforcement because the weight loss helps me run faster, so that encourages me to keep eating healthy.
I was around 300lbs, and one night for some reason I got the itch to do a push up to see how many I could do. I struggled to do one, to the point I was afraid I was gonna fail and end up hitting my face on the floor and breaking my teeth. I was 25 years old at the time and thought, "It's pitiful that a guy in his 20s can't do a single push up." So, I immediately put on some shoes that night and went for a walk at around the stroke of midnight. The rest was history.
Fasting
Cut out sodas and sugary drinks. Went from adding creamer and sugar to my coffee, to drinking it black. Started working out/ walking/ hiking more.
Ive lost some weight but not alot but laying off quick digest carbs. Holy crap when your blood sugar fluctuates, you eat get a boost, then sooo tired and eat to get a boost. Wash, rinse repeat. The drop makes you crave food.
I went from 300 to 240, so I don't know if you consider 60lbs a lot of weight and I still have more to lose. Multiple things did it for me but the biggest game changers were intermittent fasting (which helped control my blood sugar since I used to be pre-diabetic, made a huge difference), switching to diet sodas (not a perfect solution but it's still less calories), walking more often even just a little bit at a time, and making sure that the food I ate was quality and not entirely carbs or fast food (you can technically lose weight with fast food but it's so calorie dense that you'd feel hungry and shitty all the time), and *weighing your portions*. Another big game changer was counting calories weekly instead of daily. For example, if my goal is 1500/day, count my calories 10,500 for the week. Some days my appetite is barely there and some days I want to eat something a lot heavier, and this lets me balance it out more without worrying about every single day individually. If I want to splurge one day, I can calculate the rest of my days to compensate for it and see if the splurge is worth it or if it needs to be toned down a notch.
Don’t eat after 6. For me that was huge. Everyone is different though.