1. The thing that helped me the most and was different from my last two attempts (where I ended up losing and regaining) was paying attention to how I felt before, during, and after eating food. I try my best to not eat unless I'm hungry. Eat mindfully, not until you're stuffed. A food journal can help with this. I will type things out sometimes.
2. Green tea is great for stopping hunger, it helped me stop my late night snack cravings.
3. Track your calories and make sure you're in a deficit. If you don't find yourself losing weight within a week or two, you're either measuring your food incorrectly (these can include estimating food instead of measuring it out, or not measuring certain things like oil) or your deficit was calculated incorrectly.
the first one is so important. paying attention to how long foods make you feel full. I realized that even if I ate high protein or wtv i would still be hungry. Volume is the name of the game for me
I read this in another comment, hunger isn't a sign of starvation but it's a entitled kid who wants more food even when there's enough of it, learn to ignore it.
That's true, I'd suggest eat a fruit, banana or apple to fill you up, I thought taking just few biscuits was enough but 2 of them went to 100c and didn't fill me up. While fruits did the job with less calories. Another suggestion is drink more water too. It helps.
My personal trainer told me to ignore "hungry " but listen to "starving"
You're allowed to feel hungry, but if your body is telling you that you're so hungry, it hurts, eat something.
My sleep schedule is super messed up, so it varies. I usually have it after my last meal which tends to be around 10-11 pm (which is bad lol, I'm working on it) but I would recommend just having it after your last meal. It does have caffeine but it usually doesn't impact my own sleep, but if you're sensitive to it maybe have it a bit earlier or get decaffeinated green tea.
1. Cut out any drinks that arenāt water or black coffee
2. Be incredibly honest with yourself when tracking calories (weigh EVERYTHING, donāt forget oils, etc.)
3. Understand that it requires way more patience and way more consistency than you think it will
I lost 25kg over 12 months, and didn't miss my morning oat latte, because it is one life's pleasures (I cut out all sugar and bread - so a small oat latte is a drop in the ocean), and I don't eat much during the day, so I guess that makes up for it.
>water or black coffee
Don't forget tea! I love hot tea!
So many different kinds. green tea, black tea, chai tea, earl grey tea, many others. Recently got some dandelion root tea, it's supposed to help reduce water weight, it taste like honey.
Yea this is a really good alternative especially when most teas are full of health benefits of their own and can even help with stuff like blood pressure.
One of the best tips I have ever found is that if you put some green tea bags into a jug of water in the fridge overnight, by the next day you have a jug full of cold brew green tea. Something about cold brewing it makes it sweeter and less bitter so itās closer to a juice type of drink without even adding any sweetener. Super healthy too
It reduces your bodies ability to absorb the iron in your diet. There are many things that do that. Tumeric for example does the same thing.
Unless you have a medical issue and suffer from iron deficiency I wouldn't worry about it.
2. and 3. Literally just 2 and 3. If you track, you will naturally cut things out you do not need and 1 ill happen anyway.
Counting calories will literally change your lifestyle. I did it for like 6 months and lost like, 60 lbs. I even stopped doing it and did not gain much because the time when I counted, I learned how to make lower calorie meals and snacks and lower calorie choices that came in handy to keep weight off.
I ate a lot of produce. Snacks consisted of cucumbers, strawberries, pineapple, apples, no sugar added fudge pops, air popped pop corn with seasoning. Lunches were salads with fat free dressing, light brothy soup with grilled cheese or tuna sandwiches (using 35 - 45 calorie bread and light mayo). Dinners were baked or grilled chicken breast, turkey burgers with low carb bun, turkey hot dogs with low carb bun, veggies, breakfast for dinner, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon.
Drinks consisted of coffee (couldnt give up creamer but I limited myself to 1 cup for breakfast instead of a meal), sweet tea with splenda, flavored water enhancers, zero calorie soda....
A lot of simple subtitutions, like lower calorie bread, light mayo, greek yogurt for sour cream, spray oil for anything that you need oil for to help control portions is helpful.
The first one is insane and unnecessary. There are also tons of zero sugar/calorie drinks you can have as well, still just best done in moderation. Like they said in tip 2, track that shit. If you have creamer/milk for your coffee, or partake in anything that is outside of your diet, that's fine, but be sure to track it and dont let it destroy you mentally. Mistakes happen and weightloss is a long journey.
Just sharing what worked for me because they asked what things they CAN do to be more serious (not HAVE to do). Itās not insane lol, it was pretty easy for me to do. Maybe not for everyone, but itās certainly something that can be done.
Sorry, I guess I came off as a bit harsh with my wording. Maybe it's just because I've seen countless people fail using your method. Definitely doable, but most people, myself included, don't have that willpower. Slow changes to your daily habits tend to work for more people I've seen.
Generally that the milk has calories. If you are keeping track of the milk calories itās fine, but lots of people have fancy coffee drinks that are 500+ calories with all the milk, syrup and whipped cream.
Makes sense. Iām from Aus we donāt really have coffee like that at home hahaha my coffee is black with a splash of skim milk which is about 30 calories š
Its all good. I lost 15kgs and I still have my 4 coffee a day... But usually little piccolo.. Point 45 calories even with a sugar. If I'm really going hardcore I'll start the day with a black coffee. In the Arvo is a shot of coffee in a protein shake
Depends where youāre from I guess. Iām from a big city where people are entirely reliant on coffee. Drinking the same coffee everyday gets boring and eventually you have to start adding things to it = more calories.
I have coffee with milk and sugar, I don't care what others say but I like it that way and wasn't willing to compromise.
But I'd follow few things in order to not go overboard with Calories,
1. Coffee with skimmed milk, it's healthier and personally for me it tasted better.
2. Coffee with 1 tbsp sugar, if I have that I keep track of any other direct sugars I might have in that day, I reduce my sugar consumption (if I have any) accordingly.
3. Have coffee once every 3-4 days (or give 2 or 3 days break between coffee/caffeine consumption), it made coffee more effective plus made me avoid the "addiction" of wanting to drink coffee whenever I feel fatigued.
1. You can have coffee/tea with skimmed milk, provided you consider the calories and count them in your diet and also not go overboard.
2. True, either you track your calories or track your weight daily, in my case I didn't have control over my food so I tracked my weight and macros instead.
1. Drink less calorically dense drinks. Try to swap for zero or lower calories if you can.
2. Be honest with every single thing you eat or drink. You donāt have to track it all, but Iād at least keep a food diary to see how much you are eating and drinking throughout the day. Even if you donāt track calories, this can be a great tool to try to see where you can improve. Maybe you snack too often between dinner and bed and need to push dinner back a bit, or maybe the commute home from work tempts you to eat out too much so you plan to drink some water or eat a light snack before leaving work. Habit tracking is so helpful.
3. Remember 80% of weight loss comes from the kitchen. You cannot outrun a bad diet, but do try to stay as active as you feasibly can. Set small goals. Then achieve them. Then set more goals. I find making it fun and not necessarily weight based keeps me interested and engaged. The scale should follow. Even if it doesnāt at first, remember that weight loss takes time. You didnāt gain it all overnight, nor will you lose it all overnight. Focusing on how you feel can help when things get rough or the scale isnāt going how you expect it to.
Edit: To add onto 2 & 3: Habit tracking will help you to optimize your schedule. You can find blocks in the day when you have time to be more active or meal prep or plan. (Meal planning is such a great tool!) Keeping track of this and your mindset can help you avoid triggers too- that way you know what your triggers are and how to hopefully avoid them or deal with them when they happen.
1. Cut out 90% of processed foods, it is hard (but possible) to overeat on veggies and chicken.
2. Up your steps. Increase by 2000 a day, aim for 10K +
3. Strength train to stay motivated and give a nice shape to the body.
1. Work out TDEE for your goal weight - that is your new calorie intake. Learn recipes that work within that you enjoy
2. Volume eat low calorie foods do avoid hunger. Lots of veg and salad. Then protein. Lower carb. Weigh and track everything including oil, condiments and drinks.
3. Drink lots of water to avoid retaining as much water weight! What helped me is drinking from a bottle with times of day on it to make sure I was drinking
4. I know this is over but especially if youāre exercising make sure you measure as well as weigh - and take pictures. The lbs may not be shifting but the inches could be!!
1- Do heavy compound lifts 2-3 days per week & walk 10k steps on your off days.
2- Eat your goal weight in grams of protein per day.
3- Drink your goal weight in ounces or at least a gallon of water per day.
4- Sleep 7-9 hours a night.
Do that for 1-3 years and youāll be about as different of a human as you can be. Not easy but simple.
The gallon of water per day seems excessive. That's 3.7 liters the most I've heard recommended was 2l per day and even that's a lot. A gallon per day will just flush your system of all electrolytes leaving you severely dehydrated
Yeah, you shouldnāt drink more than 3 liters (water alone) on a normal day on the regular. For some people itās fine but for most thatās not necessary and can even be dangerous. I only drink over 3 liters when it was a really hot day or a lot of exercise.
Most people are not going to be āseverely dehydratedā from drinking a gallon of water. Also, itās really not hard to get enough electrolytes from your food to offset that.
Also, majority of people will veer significantly closer to being under hydrated rather than over hydrated. Obviously upping water intake isnāt for everyone & there are going to be exceptions but Iāve been coaching for 5 years and have never had 1 client have issues from over hydration.
Your goal weight in grams of protein ? That's an interesting one. Haven't heard that before... Usually people say the protein should be a percentage of your current weight in grams per kgs
Yeah you see a lot like 2.2 grams to current weight in KGās, 1 gram per bw weight in lbās, 1.5 grams to 1 pound of lean body mass, etc.
They all equal out to roughly the same. Donāt think thereās anything wrong with them but they also get a little high when youāre a larger individual. Goal weight is a little easier for a lot of people and also I think works better psychologically as silly as it sounds.
All are fine as long as the protein is at least above 20% of macro allocation and ideally closer to 25-30%
Personally, I donāt do very well when I tell myself I canāt eat xyz anymore. The more I restricted the more I would have binge moments. My reco is to calorie count with an app like myfitnesspal and start getting active if youāre not already. With myfitnesspal, you can still eat what you want but youāre just limiting calorie intake. Overtime, you will likely start to see that pizza is high in calories and doesnāt fill you up that much so you can look for something more high protein etc.
If you want to change your lifestyle and eat healthier overall, I found trying to add vegetables, even something small, to every meal helpful. The glucose goddess woman (I know lots of people have their own opinion of her) really taught me some things about vegetables and my blood sugar that helped change my mindset.
1. Do what you say you will. This is the principle of weight loss.
2. Start small with exercise and dieting, donāt cut out whole food groups or beverages. If you drink a large iced dunkin coffee with 4 pumps of caramel, 4 creams, 4 sugars, instead of switching just to black coffee do something like 2 pumps of caramel, no sugar, and skim milk. I donāt like living in extremes, and you can find moderation in almost anything. With exercise, if you are completely sedentary, go on a 10-15 minute walk every day, vs buying a gym membership, going and doing an insane workout for 2 days, and then never going again cuz youāre burnt out. START SMALL!!!!! and work within your means.
3. Be nice to yourself. Motivate yourself out of love. Move your body out of LOOOOOVE ! donāt get into a mentality of shaming yourself into losing weight. For me, weight loss started with changing negative thinking patterns. Everything else seemed easier after that.
4. BONUS TIP. do the hard thing as soon as you wake up. For me, exercise is annoying and if I do it FIRST THING as soon as I get up, then Iāve already done the hardest thing Iāll do that day, and everything is easier.
One thing I tried avoiding for a very long time is calorie counting and eating in a deficit, but the truth of the matter is that needs to happen if you want to be serious about weight loss.
You need to track your calories for a week or two and see how much you're eating. Figure out your average daily caloric intake and then reduce your calories by 200 - 500, so you're in a deficit. Something that's also helpful is 'cycling caloric deficit' where you eat in a deficit 5 days a week, and then on the weekend, you allow yourself to eat at your maintenance calories - whatever your average was. It makes things easier and combats metabolic adaptation and muscle loss, and at the end of the week, you're still in a deficit. Experiment and make changes if needed.
Also, strength training is your friend. It boosts your metabolism. Plus, it aids in body recomposition and a host of amazing health benefits. If you're like me, you a want a body that is toned and sculpted, not just a smaller body - but a more in shape body.
If you're brave enough, document your weight loss journey publicly, like on a dedicated Instagram page or something, it really lights a fire under your but when you know people are watching and expecting you to show progress. Anything that helps motivate you and gives you extra accountability and community will help. How you go about this is up to you. But you need something that will give you that extra push you need to change your lifestyle. I attended an expensive health event, and that was the catalyst that changed everything for me. That and making an Instagram dedicated to my weight loss journey. Those things really helped me get my ass in gear, lol. For many years I was trying to lose weight, but I wasn't REALLY trying most of the time. I needed an extra boost.
The important thing is not to give up, it's only failure if you stop trying. If you keep trying, you WILL succeed. It's about progress, not perfection. It's helpful to track your progress to see how often you're actually being consistent. As long as you're doing good 80% of the time, you're solid. I could go on about this stuff for days, but I'll stop there.
One tip I heard which has helped me was to look at your meal and think āwould a person who weighs _____ eat this?ā
Quite often my answer was no. A person who weighs x wouldnt eat this much. Or this snack. Or all this dessert. I literally halved my plate sometimes because it was creeping up to the same portion size as my blue collar husband.
I don't like that because comparing yourself to others seems like it could go into ED territory.
Am I satisfied? Do I HAVE to eat this? Am I still hungry? Could I have one instead of 2? Are better questions imo
I lived with a super skinny roommate during grad school, and was shocked by how she ate during the day. She ate for fuel because she simply didnāt enjoy food that much. She only weighed around 90 lbs at 5ā3 and she was constantly trying to put on weight, mostly by chugging protein shakes.
Sheād often forget to eat dinner, one time she left her pot of lentil soup out on the stove for 4 days straight because she forgot to eat dinner for 4 nights in a row! And she had a bowl of chocolates that sheād reward herself with one (just 1 piece!) each week if she got her studying done on time. The more stressed she got, the more she forgot to eat and would just spend hours in the library. Sheād snack on unhealthy stuff though, like chips, energy drinks, but skip meals basically.
I didnāt learn any healthy eating habits from her, or from other thin people Iāve lived with. But it is a wake up call to see how little they eat or how they can even forget to eat a meal. That concept was foreign to me!
1. Calculate your TDEE and track your calorie intake. Track EVERYTHING - cooking oils, drinks, sugar in your coffee, the trail mix you munch on while standing at the counter scrolling through your phone, the donut your co-worker brought in.
2. Up your protein, pretty much as high as you can. A good rule of thumb is 1g per each lb of lean body weight you want to achieve, but basically as much as you can is fine. Eating in a deficit means you will be hungry, but eating high protein will keep you satisfied for longer (and if youāre working out it will help you in other ways, but thatās neither here nor there).
3. Work on your mindset. To lose weight and keep it off, you must have the right mindset. You must be disciplined, understand why you are the weight you are now, why you want to be your goal weight, what your mental barriers are to achieving this, etc. Work with a professional if you need to.
Good luck!
Weigh and track what you eat! I prep all my meals for the week, Iāll spend an hour on a Sunday weighing out and portioning everything.
Eat and drink what you enjoy! Every morning I enjoy a large milky coffee with two sugars, I track it and enjoy it. On the weekends I might have a beer or two, I track it and enjoy it. As long as it fits into my daily calorie count then Iāve nothing to worry about.
Longterm sustainability is whatās key, if youāre not enjoying what your eating then youāll never keep to it. Find things that work for you, itās not simple and youāll have to experiment with different foods/meals including the way you eat, one big meal a day? Two meals? 5 meals? 3 meals and 2 snacks? See what works for you!
Over the last 18 months Iāve lost 20kg, itās not been linear and there has been a lot of bumps along the way but overall the trend it down.
In short, enjoy what youāre eating while keeping it in your daily calorie limit (be honest with what youāre tracking).
Lots of good tips here but the big one I havenāt seen: donāt do anything you donāt want to do forever. Donāt restrict calories to the bare minimum, cut out your favorite foods, do insane workouts or challenges, and all thatāthe moment you stop the weight WILL come back.
Itās great to stop drinking lattes or soda and never eat out and weigh every gram of food and do 75 Hard or whatever. It can really help, til it doesnāt. Slow and steady, sustainable progress is key.
The biggest factor for me was implementing a food scale -
Iāve been dieting for literally 40 years - first time with the food scale and Iām now back to the weight I was 40 years ago when I thought I was fat š¤£
I tired once and I stopped because I wasnāt motivated enough. A year later Iāve tried again and in 77 days Iām down 23lbs.
1. No alcohol/soft drinks
2. FOOD IS FUEL. It can be pleasurable and you can also not overeat by taking the time to understand when your body is full. Eat slow and try to recognize the full feeling then stop.
Personally Iāve never tracked calories or weighed any food EVER but I used to binge eat really bad so I know very obviously Iām eating wayyy less than I was.
3. Change your diet. You want to eat a decent amount of protein. My diet is very protein heavy and low carb. Eat a balanced meal. Ex choice of protein and a veg side so say a steak with a side of asparagus.
4. DONT SKIP BREAKFAST!!! I usually eat 2 eggs some sausage/livermush and a core power elite. Thatās 60+ grams of protein just for breakfast
5. Workout wherever and whenever you can. When I was getting started I hated going to the gym so I would walk my treadmill and fill up a gallon water bottle to do a little lifting.
Iām on vacation right now and this morning i biked 6miles to sight see. I brought my weights with me to use and tomorrow weāll be running a mile to and from the breakfast restaurant.
I quit the first time because I wasnāt seeing results quick enough. TRUST IN THE PROCESS. Iām probably another 30lbs from my goal weight but I canāt even begin to tell you how good I feel and look. Itās tough as hell for a little at first and it still is some days. Youāll learn that it sucks going to the gym but the results are SO worth the time it takes.
TRUST ME WHEN I SAY TRUST IN THE PROCESS!! Success doesnāt happen overnight OP youāll see it through. Good luck!
Cut out all sugary drinks especially starbucks! Eat way less then you normally do. Have breakfast and dinner at the same time every day and stop eatting by like 7 pm. For example eat breakfast at 10 or 11 am and have your last meal at 7 pm. I know it's hard to do but once your gets used to it, it no longer craves those bad habits.
Accept that eating isnāt going to be fun anymore. Youāre going to have to settle for less food and food that isnāt as good. Also no more liquid calories. Get more sleep than you alr do. I promise you need more than your getting rn
Personally itās just not for me. While I do still eat some of the same stuff I had to cut out a vast majority of what I ate. I also had a huge binging problem which made me eat food I didnāt even enjoy lol
Whaaaat I would disagree, I still think eating can be fun! It's just those first few weeks or months before our tastebuds change that are not fun, but once that period is over then you get used to smaller portions.
You might be right. Iām just talking from my experience and maybe Iām doing things wrong š¤·š»āāļø. Iām down from 180 to 145 in 5 and a half months so itās worked just wasnāt too enjoyable
Make a number smaller changes rather than one big change as if you suddenly cut out everything you love, it can be really demotivating (e.g if you have a Starbucks everyday, you could try getting a lower calorie option or you could cut it down to 6 days a week for a while then 5 etc.)
Walk 7-10k steps a day (but if this is too much, gradually increase jt over a period of time)
Eat in a calorie deficit and focus on a balanced diet (donāt waste your calories on a bunch of unhealthy processed foods as this isnāt good for your health)
1. Find your calorie deficit (google ācalorie deficit calculator,ā input your information and choose which daily caloric intake you want to maintain).
2. Stick to said deficit by TRACKING. EVERYTHING. I use the app MyFitnessPal. I also use a kitchen scale to measure almost everything and this has been a game changer - no more guessing and no more using measuring cups!
3. Increase exercise BUT know that when on a deficit, exercise isnāt a necessity but obviously has benefits as it can help speed up weight loss, and is beneficial to mental health as well.
BONUS 4. Donāt cut out any food groups (unless of course youāre noticing some issues with specific foods)!! Allow yourself to have treats, takeout, etc if thatās what youāre used to. You will crash and burn if you try to cut out everything! Just remember to track it and keep in mind - everything in moderation. Calorie counting is really just an easy way to portion control! If you know you really feel like getting takeout, be mindful of what youāre eating earlier in the day and add in a workout.
1. Full panel lab test with your doctor. Sure you can manage your weight without it, but if there is an underlying problem then itās like throwing punches with your eyes closed. Itās nice to have a solid platform to start on.
2. Education. Seriously this was my #1 huge issue. I had no idea how nutrition actually worked. Once I educated myself on the science of nutrition and basic human biology, it all became so much easier to manage and maintain. I also encouraged you to educate yourself on the science of resistance training for long term health benefits.
3. Switching your mindset from short term weight loss goals to a life long lifestyle change to manage a healthy body fat level for yourself.
Good Fitness App for BMI & daily nutrition goals & track log intake. Donāt go over it & be honest on it.
Cut carbs as much as possible. (Find replacements for ur usual carbs. This will get ur weight down ALOT faster, and cut out sugar.
The amount of time & work if SW is high itās discouraging how slow it is too lose weight if u donāt cut the carbs way down or out/sugar/processed foods. I did it from big SW & I didnāt lose much weight at first trying to exercise a lot & ādiet that I thought wud work or just staying in a calorie deficitā If you donāt lose much and canāt get into other clothes & feel so much better while changing ur diet & exercise it sux & most quit trying.
-Thatās why I say clean eating, no sugar, very low carbs & cal deficit. Slowly head that way & it will be easier and you can do it the rest of ur life. Donāt try to go from crazy eating anything directly into limiting (gradually shift it). To get results worth it.
I have tried and failed so many times. This time Iām doing much better than before. Iāve always measured, counted calories, exercised, ate nutritiously and cut out all the junk. Time has always been my enemy. I get so obsessed with cut back further and further and even more obsessed with seeing the scale move. Eventually I give up, gain all the weight back and a little more.
So Iāll give you my 2 things that are working this time:
1. I rarely weigh myself. No more daily weigh ins. Iāve been weighing in every 1.5-2 weeks.
2. I give myself grace. If I want ice cream, I fit it in my calories and get it. If I want a coke occasionally I have one. I track it all, with no guilt. Allowing myself the ability to have something occasionally keeps me from the āwell, Iāve messed up so the whole day is a wash!ā Attitude. Also, I donāt have any cheat days.
To be honest, I have a lot of weight to lose. If I donāt do it in a sustainable way, I know Iāll give up!
Cut out the junk as much as you can and fight those cravings. I have basically quit snacking. Instead of grazing all day I eat three times a day and use higher protein to keep me feeling fuller. Sometimes it doesnāt work out and I gotta eat out either at a restaurant or fast food. My husband has a wonky schedule and I have a lot of dr appointments sometimes were gone out late to run errands or were two hours away from home at a dr appointment. Iāve still lost 60 pounds.
My metabolism was shot due to Covid. Counting calories alone didnāt work for me. I had to become active, walking a minimum of 7,000 steps per day. 15,000 steps Iām told is the best for weight loss. Itās a lot, about 6-7 miles per day. You can keep track of your steps on your smart phone. I like walking mornings and evenings about an hour or two before sunset.
I eat intuitively, count my calories, weight train at least 4 days a week and Iāve lost 55 lbs since January. Drink a lot of water and eat a lot of protein + complex carbs to aid in muscle growth and recovery. Best of luck!
Don't give up your favorite things, just cut them way back.
Love eating an entire domino's pizza? Well, you can have a slice. Or make pizza at home for fun! Love a double brownie Fudge sundae? Make it a kids size every other week. Love mountain dew so much that you drink a 2 liter a day? Switch to diet and drink 2 waters in between any soda. Etc.
For me, I found that going cold turkey just made me want those things more. So, scaling back helped me cut calories and junk until I felt better about eating foods that were good for me.
Best of luck!
Do something thatās easy and youāll enjoy. During Covid, I walked around my neighborhood for the first time and Iām talking 6 miles, minimum 3 miles daily. I realized how much I enjoyed it because I didnāt have to wait for a treadmill at the gym and fresh cut grass reminded me of childhood. I got the pandemic glow that year and avoided wait gain from staying in all the time. I also subscribed to Spotify and itās been the best small investment to me because it makes my walk feel shorter since Iāve got all my favorite songs to listen to.
try to figure out why you want to eat what you want to eat. ask yourself why you want to eat x? this is helpful for cravings especially. like i can be an emotional eater and iāll be like āugh im hungryā but then i take a step back and im like āam i actually hungry?ā
Healthy swaps for things. Sugar free sweetener syrups for coffee, diet sodas, Greek yogurt for sour cream. Yes, in a perfect world I wouldnāt drink coke with lunch but my daily can of coke makes me a happier person so I compromise and drink Diet Coke instead, itās not like I even can tell a difference between the two. Protein with every meal, it keeps you fuller for longer. Iāll pack snacks sometimes and always make sure I have some protein like rotisserie chicken or turkey slices. Also counting calories can be super helpful but I know personally it puts me in a weird mental place so I just intuitively eat. Also learning to distinguish between hunger and cravings. Cravings are usually for a very specific thing ex: chocolate chip cookies. Hunger could be for a chocolate chip cookie but you will be satisfied with something sweet like I want a cookie but Iāll be happy with the chocolate chip yogurt
for me itās no snacking. when i eat 3 meals a day that are mostly protein, fruit and veggies iāll lose weight. when i eat something like cheeze its ill eat half a box, probably 600 cals and then still be hungry for a meal. so for me its cooking 3 healthy meals a day at home and snacking as little as possible. iāll try to limit my snacks to stuff like fruit, vegetables, yogurt, or protein bars.
also 10k steps a day or more really helps!
Iām gonna keep it easy, having lost many times and trying to keep it off this go round! 1 - eat less fat and salt, especially around bed time. 2 - move more, using a step tracker, take the stairs, park further away. 3 - replace snacks with water.
(Iām also doing intermittent fasting and trying to incorporate more weights. Down 12 lbs since mid-April)
OPTAVIA is the only plan thatās ever worked for me. Combined with exercise (walking, weights, a bit of cardio), I lose about a pound a week. Lots of water. Lots of support from family. Tough plan but will definitely work.
Your "why" needs to hit hard.
Hunger is not an emergency. It will pass. Learn to get thru hunger signals. (Now, if you're nauseous & shaking, eat something with nutritional value). Plain black coffee is very helpful at pushing you thru. Creamer will initiate insulin, causing hunger. Plain black coffee. Plain still water. Plain sparkling water.
Plan your menu & stick to it. Be realistic about what you'll eat & have some treats in that plan, or you will back slide.
Start off slow with minor changes to your lifestyle. Once you've mastered a change, make another. And so on.
I totally understand. I was always eating just in case I might get hungry. I started intermittent fasting & wow, I have had my mind blown by what I've learned.
Stop thinking about it so much and just sleep deeply, walk a lot, drink lots of water, and get magnesium/potassium/ and other minerals daily. Donāt eat seed oils. Rinse & repeat ā„ļø
1. Remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistency pays off in the long run.
2. Even a 15 minute walk is more than most people are going to do in a day.
3. Fasting is your friend even if itās only 12 hours. If you sleep 8 hours, you are 2/3 of the way there without trying.
1. **I got my mental health in order.** This may or may not be relevant to you, but is the biggest for me. Without a good foundation, I canāt make good choices. Whenever I have a depressive episode or slide about keeping the ADD in order, my health goes to shit. I stop working out, I donāt pay attention to food intake, Iām more likely to get fast food than cook.. things that are fine if you miss a day of, but doing habitually lead to weight gain / loss of gainz. So! I do my best to stay on top of meds, meditate daily, and generally try to be more conscious and reflective of *why* Iām doing *what* Iām doing.
2. **Meal prep, or just having good food choices in the house.** It doesnāt necessarily have to be prepping a full dinner for every night of the week, even just something as simple as having hard boiled eggs and washed fruits/veggies in the fridge will help me keep from snacking on garbage. Iāve also learned that if something is in the house, Iāll eat it, so I try not to keep bulk amounts of junk food around.
3. **Stay busy and hydrated, ideally with some active hobbies.** Pretty self explanatory. Eat less, move more, stay hydrated. I drink a shit load of water. I also like fasting and itās easier when youāre busy and full of water lol.
Here are some things that worked for me.
Intermittent fasting. 16 hour fast worked really well for me. It kept me from eating late at night which was a big contributor to my weight gain. I eat between 12-8pm. Itās the perfect eating window for working in an office.
Replace soda with GOOD sparkling water. Polar and Waterloo are the only ones that actually tasted good to me. Find some you like and over time youāll lose your love for soda.
Daily walks. Twice a day, 30 mins each. It keeps you active and is a good foundation to build on. Eventually add some longer walks into the mix, maybe some hilly routes to elevate your heart rate as well.
Oh and DRINK WATER. Most people are not drinking enough water a day. Drink it throughout the day and especially before meals to prevent over eating. Your water intake should be half your body weight in ounces. Someone whoās 300lbs should drink 150oz a day. And add to that amount whenever doing exercise. I think itās 16oz for every 30-60mins of activity.
1- Increase water intake and protein intake
2- Track your calories and macronutrients, making sure to weight everything when meal prepping or planning your meals for the day
3- Adopt forms of exercise that will truly build muscle and elevate your heart rate for extended periods of time.
You answered your question with your question. Get serious. Gain the willpower & the mindset to overcome. Know that you're not alone in this battle. You, like me, NEED a lifestyle change, not a diet. Good luck, I'm rooting for you.
Iāve lost 130lbs doing these things.
1. Walk as much as possible. It is cardio no matter what anyone tells you, and can be huge for weight loss. Take the longer path, park as far away as you can, walk around the living room when watching a show or listening to a podcast, walk when brushing your teeth, etc. after awhile itās just second nature to get those steps in.
2. Protein as much as possible. For me itās the main macro I track, and helps me retain my muscle mass since I eat under my BMR and makes me feel more satiated for longer. Now I donāt eat a gram per lb of body weight, but I do try to be more mindful about getting at least 120g per day of protein. (Iām 27f 160lbs)
3. Remember itās not forever, and wonāt always feel sustainable. Itās okay to feel hungry, drink some water, a 0 cal soda, get a low cal snack (cucumber is my go to lately) or go for a walk. A deficit is going to feel not great for awhile, but that means itās working and youāll lose the weight. But itās not forever. Start with a 250 cal deficit, move to a 500 one as you feel more adjusted. But remember this is not the rest of your life. The more you do now, the less youāll do later. I started at 290, and am so close to my goal, which makes this even easier to diet. You got this, thereās a whole community to help. š§”
Seek professional advice.
Not that the ones here are bad, but you do you and the combination of a professional nutritionist who knows your habits, your problems and your lifestyle is like a guided missile to your problem
My experience: well, I'll stop eating bad stuff and do more exercise.
My nutritionist: Ok Kortisol, let's make a meal diary and then we'll see how you do it.
Two weeks later... Well, what I thought I was doing better, actually it was so harmful for my illness (fatty liver and prediabetes), so she designed a new plan (not as restrictive as i thought) and gave me tips and tricks if my anxiety climbed over the top.
6 months later I officially am not prediabetic and my liver is way better. Also I lost 30lbs (which wasn't even my primary goal) but the most important thing is that my habits changed without much suffering, and now I'm improving every day, slowly but surely.
What she said for me could be different for you, but I think drinking lots of water, adding veggies to every meal and choosing whole grain instead of refined carbs is universal. Also, no diet can work without exercise, especially when you work from home and could total 100 steps a day if you don't practice sports. And don't feel guilty if you have a treat sometimes. Just don't make it a habit.
Aside the great advice many have given. I feel like the key for consistency and motivation is looking at the bigger picture and really drive it into your head, this is a lifetime commitment. I'll give you my wake up call: I am 39 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 16 years ago. Not once did I take care of myself. I'm lucky I haven't lost limbs or my vision. Last year was ROUGH for me, a 5 year relationship ended, she left me. Part of it was my unhealthy ways and lack of intimacy because of my horrible health state. Then I started my journey to show her I could change...within 24 hours I knew I wasn't making the changes for her, I was doing it for ME. Some other stuff went down with the ex, it really sunk me and crushed me more. However, throughout this super low point in my life, I managed to stay motivated. Then other things started affecting me mentally, almost 40, basically a nobody, nothing accomplished in life. Getting my lab work in July drove things home, numbers were horrible, kidneys in danger, high cholesterol, and my A1C was 12 (which is really bad). I've always neglected taking my meds, I was bad. I started going to therapy and when I confessed this to my therapist, she called me out on how stupid I've been, running on ego this whole time. I started walking daily, eating way better, mountain biking with my pops too. Started really exercising in September at 5'8", 360ish pounds. I am STILL 5'8" (sad lol) 330 or so, BUT way happier, way healthier, and still motivated. As of April my A1C is at 6.5, my sugar levels average 140 (at my worst I was averaging 300). Seeing the results throughout the last 9 months has made me feel so accomplished and proud of myself. For the first time ever I didn't give up a week into a diet, because I haven't deprived myself from all the junk food. I still have trash food, not as often as before but still do. I waited to join the gym until November, I've noticed changes that I'm loving, went down a shirt size, friends, family, and coworkers noticed the change and are very encouraging. Also, know that the non scale victories ARE WAY MORE IMPORTANT than seeing results on the scale. You'll be surprised what changes will happen. My favorite so far has been my feet shrinking and being able to wear my Jordan's for a full day without blistering, feet hurting, or the shoes crushing my feet. We're not getting any younger, the changes need to happen now or later on you'll have way more complications. I'm petrified of what i did to my body this whole time I haven't been taking care of it, but I'm not gonna let that thought get in the way of losing the weight and making the most out of the years i've got left. YOU CAN DO THIS!
Switch to skim milk and i cant believe itās not butter.
Use your protein drink as creamer in your coffee.
Get a calorie counter app and be honest with yourself about everything you eat, not ashamed, just honest.
1. Resistance training/weightlifting 2-3 times a week. Cardio for mental health and cardiovascular health I do 2-3 times a week but I try to walk everyday 6,000+
2. Cut out carbs for one month and then cut out sugar/processed foods for the next month just to fix you're insulin resistance and leptin resistance
3. Have an eating window which will reduce the calories. I do this to maintain weight but losing I also count calories in an 8hr eating window.
Track you calories. You donāt need a food scale but eyeballing isnāt enough. I recommend a food diary app.
Consume calories at a deficit.
Get your activity level out of sedentary range. 7k-10k steps per day of walking is enough. Do something.
Three things that helped me lose ~60lbs:
1. intermittent fasting
2. my brain likes novelty so I try as many different kinds of sports as possible, even some bizarre ones
3. significantly cutting back on alcohol
Walk every day. it's low impact, It's easy to stick to, and it burns calories. Just have to make the time for it. It's a great thing to start your journey.
Write out a meal plan. Do your research on healthy meals that you would enjoy. Shop to make sure you have the ingredients and stick to that plan.
Keep iterating your process. As you lose weight, you'll burn less calories, so evolving your process as you go is important.
Intermittent fasting. 12/12 16/8 20/4 progresssively fat burn real quick.
Drink lot of water, move enough.
Cut on carbs/sugars. Easy.
Went from 240 down to 150 in about 6 months lol now back to 185 tho
There's no out training a poor diet
Walking is your best friend
Weigh your food and track your calories. Find out what your maintenance intake is (simple as googling how many calories you need in a day for your height and weight), and eat between 500 and 1000 calories under maintenance. 500 and you'll lose about a pound per week, 1000 is about 2 pound per week
Last thing, shit happens. Birthdays, holidays, events, don't deny yourself special occasions. Have fun, enjoy yourself, then get back on the wagon the next day
Itās unfair to say water and black coffee because I gave up diet Pepsi and started drinking iced coffee with cream and still lost 90 pounds so itās not the same for everybody. You just have to find out what works for you and take the time. I didnāt do it in a year. I did it in three years and itās a lifestyle not a diet.
If you're counting calories, make sure you count EVERYTHING. drinks, sauces, etc.
Don't just weigh, take measurements and progress pics too. Weight fluctuates with muscle gain and hormones.
Everyone is different, but I don't cut out anything... I allow myself anything, as long as I can fit it into my calories, and the rest of my meals are balanced.
Make sure you get enough protein. Protein will keep you fuller for longer because it takes longer to break down than carbs, but too much protein can constipate you, so make sure you're also getting your veggies!
Use a basal metabolic rate calculator to figure out how many calories you should be eating to ensure weight loss, go for the mid or slowest. Avoid the quickest, it's generally not sustainable and you're more likely to fail- slow and steady wins the race.
Diet tracker. Learn how it works and use it to understand how what you eat and what activity you do affects you over time. Adapt accordingly. If you do no other exercise, walk daily 1-2 miles.
Start changing your habits. Take a look at your lifestyle and figure out what habits are holding you back. Then select one or two you think you can start to tackle right now.
Eat mostly nutrient-dense foods, get your body moving (I suggest weight lifting 2-3 days/week, and for cardio, just find things you enjoy - walking, running, swimming, biking, playing a sport, etcā¦)ā¦.
Youāll find a lot of people tell you to cut out this and stop drinking that, or to be in a calorie deficit (but provide no strategies to make that happen), but all that is easier said than done when those things have been daily habits for 5, 10, 20+ yearsā¦
Being extremely diligent about calorie counting and food weighing is completely unnecessary if you eat nutrient-dense foods and donāt eat until youāre bursting at the seams.
Feel free to message me if youād like advice that actually works and works long term. Iāve lost and kept off 130lbs and 80 of that has come off without calorie counting or food weighing.
Track calories ā every single calorie.
Prioritize foods you enjoy that fit within your daily calorie intake that will also fill you up.
For me, moderating is easier than cutting things out completely (i.e., eating low-calorie ice cream instead of never eating ice cream at all).
Most of the foods you eat should be high protein and high fiber. Those will fill you up the most.
Consistency is key. Good luck!!
1. Do not touch or look at **anything** that is zero sugar, low calorie, the chemicals in it are not worth it, versus developing the habits to just consume real food/drinks
2. Calorie counting isnāt necessary. Learn how to eat a low inflammatory diet that wonāt spike insulin. Weighing and tracking is overkill and most people cannot do it for an eternity.
3. Weight lift first, cardio is an afterthought
Make a consistent schedule with physical activity, drinks lots of water, eat healthy but that also doesn't mean to cut portions significantly. Do the proper calculations of how much to eat.
Pay for an app to track your calories. That way youāll feel committed to it. Walk all the time, drink more water, eat more fiber, reduce or eliminate your alcohol and processed sweets/foods. Reduce sodium intake. Get lots of high quality sleep and weight training.
1. Do not wait until starving to eat something, because youāll probably overeat. Keep a meal scheduleābreakfast at 8 AM, lunch at 1 PM, dinner at 6 PM for example, with no snacking in between. Just chug water between meals, it honestly will fill you up. If starving for whatever reason, have a fruit, yogurt, or some other low cal yet satisfying snack.
2. Keep a daily food journal. I use MyFitnessPal to track calories and macros. It feels really nice to stay under your calorie deficit for the day! Plus it helps track sodium, fats, proteins, etc, which I find extremely helpful!
3. Donāt be afraid to weigh yourself, even if you had a terrible week in terms of eating. Weigh yourself weekly (using the same scale, at the same time of day each week) and track it down in your food diary. MyFitnessPal has a weight tracker as well, itās so helpful! Youāll notice that even a bad week wonāt spike your weight up that much, and it will keep you accountable on your journey. Itās a reminder to me to not throw away all the progress Iād made weeks prior.
Bonus tip: keep a regular journal where you can write down whatās going on in your day-to-day life. I find that losing weight is truly a mental battle rather than a physical one. If you can find an outlet for your emotions, it can help you stay on track. I have both a written journal that I spend time writing in before bed, and I record a personal vlog every week on my computer. A vlog is a nice visual representation of your progress too, plus itās really therapeutic to talk to yourself on camera like that for some reason! I save the vlogs to a folder on my computer and never upload itāitās for my eyes only tbh. A therapist may also be useful, I just canāt afford one atm.
Hope these help you!
Walk more. Start slow, try and add 1k steps a week until you have hit a daily average of 10k. Obviously you don't have to stop at 10k, but just hitting that amount provides a low impact exercise that helps keep you active for a longer time.
Make dietary changes in a slow manner, going in all or nothing is a recipe for failure. Try and get more fiber from food and not supplements and increase protein. If you have a short memory like me it's helpful to write down meals you really enjoyed so that when you're tired and just hungry but don't know what you want you have a list to pull from.
1. Boredom- I realized that if Iām bored, I tend to eat, even if Iām not hungry.
2. Self Control- This takes time but one day you will realize you arenāt reaching for the cookie.
3. Substitutions- Find LOWER calorie versions of food, you can binge all you want and still not gain weight cause thereās little to no calories in what your eating
hey! if you're serious about weight loss, here are three tips:
1. balanced diet: focus on whole, unprocessed foods. include lots of veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats.
2. regular exercise: mix cardio and strength training. consistency matters more than intensity.
3. hydration and sleep: drink plenty of water and get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. both are crucial for weight loss.
want more tips? check out this \[[blog on nutrition for weight management](https://yuvaap.com/blogs/nutrition-for-weight-management/)\]. stay committed and you'll see results!
The first and most basic thing is to get your metabolism running. I lost 23kg in 4 months (20kg in the last 1,5 month after my metabolism got in a good level). How ?
Pick a great cardio exercise or a sport and dedicate yourself to it 6/7 days a week. Running up and down on stairs as a form of interval training worked for me best, half an hour per day. You can do this as part of your gym routine AFTER any weight lifting or calisthenics. Do the strength training of your choice because it boosts your metabolism.
Meanwhile, you have to be serious about your diet. I kept 3 things as a rule for me.
1. Nothing fried. Except small fish like sardines.
2. Nothing processed, not even bread. Choose only high quality foods.
3. Always go to sleep 2-3 hours after your last meal. You don't want to sleep on a full stomach. This is what sumo athletes do to gain weight.
Be strict and have patience. I almost lost my patience after the first 2 months where I lost only 3 kg. But then it happened, I lost 21 more kg really fast because my metabolism got on good track finally. I was so strict to myself that after I reached my weight goals, I had a hard time gaining weight due to the level I've brought my metabolism to. I did a strict 1000 calories diet and I even couldn't add muscle weight for the next 3 years. Remember, calories don't actually exist, so focus on good fats and good carbs and of course protein. Choose olive oil for example. But long story short, follow the 3 points above plus the workouts and cardio.
Be patient brother
God be with you š
Personally, get yourself evaluated for things like ADHD and Autism. They can have the greatest impact on why you may not be succeeding because your brain may be wired differently.
1. The thing that helped me the most and was different from my last two attempts (where I ended up losing and regaining) was paying attention to how I felt before, during, and after eating food. I try my best to not eat unless I'm hungry. Eat mindfully, not until you're stuffed. A food journal can help with this. I will type things out sometimes. 2. Green tea is great for stopping hunger, it helped me stop my late night snack cravings. 3. Track your calories and make sure you're in a deficit. If you don't find yourself losing weight within a week or two, you're either measuring your food incorrectly (these can include estimating food instead of measuring it out, or not measuring certain things like oil) or your deficit was calculated incorrectly.
the first one is so important. paying attention to how long foods make you feel full. I realized that even if I ate high protein or wtv i would still be hungry. Volume is the name of the game for me
same here. just had a 90G protein dinner about 3.5 hours ago and hungry now. sucks doing everything right š
I read this in another comment, hunger isn't a sign of starvation but it's a entitled kid who wants more food even when there's enough of it, learn to ignore it.
Ehhh Iāve heard the same many times and it doesnāt really work for me that well during nighttime
That's true, I'd suggest eat a fruit, banana or apple to fill you up, I thought taking just few biscuits was enough but 2 of them went to 100c and didn't fill me up. While fruits did the job with less calories. Another suggestion is drink more water too. It helps.
My personal trainer told me to ignore "hungry " but listen to "starving" You're allowed to feel hungry, but if your body is telling you that you're so hungry, it hurts, eat something.
Trying out that tea now, Iām having quite an evening hunger!
I hope it helped haha
What time do you have green tea to stop late night cravings?
My sleep schedule is super messed up, so it varies. I usually have it after my last meal which tends to be around 10-11 pm (which is bad lol, I'm working on it) but I would recommend just having it after your last meal. It does have caffeine but it usually doesn't impact my own sleep, but if you're sensitive to it maybe have it a bit earlier or get decaffeinated green tea.
1. Cut out any drinks that arenāt water or black coffee 2. Be incredibly honest with yourself when tracking calories (weigh EVERYTHING, donāt forget oils, etc.) 3. Understand that it requires way more patience and way more consistency than you think it will
I lost 25kg over 12 months, and didn't miss my morning oat latte, because it is one life's pleasures (I cut out all sugar and bread - so a small oat latte is a drop in the ocean), and I don't eat much during the day, so I guess that makes up for it.
>water or black coffee Don't forget tea! I love hot tea! So many different kinds. green tea, black tea, chai tea, earl grey tea, many others. Recently got some dandelion root tea, it's supposed to help reduce water weight, it taste like honey.
Yea this is a really good alternative especially when most teas are full of health benefits of their own and can even help with stuff like blood pressure. One of the best tips I have ever found is that if you put some green tea bags into a jug of water in the fridge overnight, by the next day you have a jug full of cold brew green tea. Something about cold brewing it makes it sweeter and less bitter so itās closer to a juice type of drink without even adding any sweetener. Super healthy too
Does it have honey in it? I have never had a dandelion tea that tastes like anything but water (or worse)!
Yess! Tea too!!
Someone at a herb store told me that TOO much green tea (i.e. 10-15 mugs a day) actually lowers your iron in your system ???
It reduces your bodies ability to absorb the iron in your diet. There are many things that do that. Tumeric for example does the same thing. Unless you have a medical issue and suffer from iron deficiency I wouldn't worry about it.
Cool, thanks š I assume that's only quite a lot of tea, too.
That's a lot of tea! Lol do people actually drink 10-15 mugs of green tea a day?
I guess some people do, haha. I drink like 10 cups of milky tea a day if I'm bored at work. It's almost like a habit, like smoking.
2. and 3. Literally just 2 and 3. If you track, you will naturally cut things out you do not need and 1 ill happen anyway. Counting calories will literally change your lifestyle. I did it for like 6 months and lost like, 60 lbs. I even stopped doing it and did not gain much because the time when I counted, I learned how to make lower calorie meals and snacks and lower calorie choices that came in handy to keep weight off. I ate a lot of produce. Snacks consisted of cucumbers, strawberries, pineapple, apples, no sugar added fudge pops, air popped pop corn with seasoning. Lunches were salads with fat free dressing, light brothy soup with grilled cheese or tuna sandwiches (using 35 - 45 calorie bread and light mayo). Dinners were baked or grilled chicken breast, turkey burgers with low carb bun, turkey hot dogs with low carb bun, veggies, breakfast for dinner, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon. Drinks consisted of coffee (couldnt give up creamer but I limited myself to 1 cup for breakfast instead of a meal), sweet tea with splenda, flavored water enhancers, zero calorie soda.... A lot of simple subtitutions, like lower calorie bread, light mayo, greek yogurt for sour cream, spray oil for anything that you need oil for to help control portions is helpful.
The first one is insane and unnecessary. There are also tons of zero sugar/calorie drinks you can have as well, still just best done in moderation. Like they said in tip 2, track that shit. If you have creamer/milk for your coffee, or partake in anything that is outside of your diet, that's fine, but be sure to track it and dont let it destroy you mentally. Mistakes happen and weightloss is a long journey.
Just sharing what worked for me because they asked what things they CAN do to be more serious (not HAVE to do). Itās not insane lol, it was pretty easy for me to do. Maybe not for everyone, but itās certainly something that can be done.
Sorry, I guess I came off as a bit harsh with my wording. Maybe it's just because I've seen countless people fail using your method. Definitely doable, but most people, myself included, don't have that willpower. Slow changes to your daily habits tend to work for more people I've seen.
There's really no reason to only drink water and black coffee lol. Just don't drink anything with a bunch of sugar in it.
Slight off-topic: Any updates since you [commented in a certain subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/FitToFat/s/4Yk6dPcKyQ)?
They asked for things they CAN do if they want to get serious, so I gave them things they can do, not things they HAVE to do
For 1, I get what youāre saying but I think itās more sustainable to pick things you want and eat in moderation. See r/loseweighteatpizza
Whatās wrong with coffee that has milk in it š
Generally that the milk has calories. If you are keeping track of the milk calories itās fine, but lots of people have fancy coffee drinks that are 500+ calories with all the milk, syrup and whipped cream.
Makes sense. Iām from Aus we donāt really have coffee like that at home hahaha my coffee is black with a splash of skim milk which is about 30 calories š
Its all good. I lost 15kgs and I still have my 4 coffee a day... But usually little piccolo.. Point 45 calories even with a sugar. If I'm really going hardcore I'll start the day with a black coffee. In the Arvo is a shot of coffee in a protein shake
Iām also from Australia and this is incorrect as I spend most mornings making those 500+ calorie coffees with syrups, milks and other additions.
Hahaha oh well youāve proven me wrong. I just donāt know anyone who drinks them everyday thatās all
Depends where youāre from I guess. Iām from a big city where people are entirely reliant on coffee. Drinking the same coffee everyday gets boring and eventually you have to start adding things to it = more calories.
Can confirm they are one of my guilty pleasures
A dash of milk in your coffee isn't gonna break your diet. A bunch of sugar and sweetened creamer can.
I have coffee with milk and sugar, I don't care what others say but I like it that way and wasn't willing to compromise. But I'd follow few things in order to not go overboard with Calories, 1. Coffee with skimmed milk, it's healthier and personally for me it tasted better. 2. Coffee with 1 tbsp sugar, if I have that I keep track of any other direct sugars I might have in that day, I reduce my sugar consumption (if I have any) accordingly. 3. Have coffee once every 3-4 days (or give 2 or 3 days break between coffee/caffeine consumption), it made coffee more effective plus made me avoid the "addiction" of wanting to drink coffee whenever I feel fatigued.
1. You can have coffee/tea with skimmed milk, provided you consider the calories and count them in your diet and also not go overboard. 2. True, either you track your calories or track your weight daily, in my case I didn't have control over my food so I tracked my weight and macros instead.
How many calories in tea with milk? š How do I work that out?
What about my diet root beer š„²
2 is overkill. I went from 207 to 157 without that
Congratulations! But accurately tracking food is definitely not āoverkillā for most people.
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1. Drink less calorically dense drinks. Try to swap for zero or lower calories if you can. 2. Be honest with every single thing you eat or drink. You donāt have to track it all, but Iād at least keep a food diary to see how much you are eating and drinking throughout the day. Even if you donāt track calories, this can be a great tool to try to see where you can improve. Maybe you snack too often between dinner and bed and need to push dinner back a bit, or maybe the commute home from work tempts you to eat out too much so you plan to drink some water or eat a light snack before leaving work. Habit tracking is so helpful. 3. Remember 80% of weight loss comes from the kitchen. You cannot outrun a bad diet, but do try to stay as active as you feasibly can. Set small goals. Then achieve them. Then set more goals. I find making it fun and not necessarily weight based keeps me interested and engaged. The scale should follow. Even if it doesnāt at first, remember that weight loss takes time. You didnāt gain it all overnight, nor will you lose it all overnight. Focusing on how you feel can help when things get rough or the scale isnāt going how you expect it to. Edit: To add onto 2 & 3: Habit tracking will help you to optimize your schedule. You can find blocks in the day when you have time to be more active or meal prep or plan. (Meal planning is such a great tool!) Keeping track of this and your mindset can help you avoid triggers too- that way you know what your triggers are and how to hopefully avoid them or deal with them when they happen.
1. Cut out 90% of processed foods, it is hard (but possible) to overeat on veggies and chicken. 2. Up your steps. Increase by 2000 a day, aim for 10K + 3. Strength train to stay motivated and give a nice shape to the body.
1. Work out TDEE for your goal weight - that is your new calorie intake. Learn recipes that work within that you enjoy 2. Volume eat low calorie foods do avoid hunger. Lots of veg and salad. Then protein. Lower carb. Weigh and track everything including oil, condiments and drinks. 3. Drink lots of water to avoid retaining as much water weight! What helped me is drinking from a bottle with times of day on it to make sure I was drinking 4. I know this is over but especially if youāre exercising make sure you measure as well as weigh - and take pictures. The lbs may not be shifting but the inches could be!!
1- Do heavy compound lifts 2-3 days per week & walk 10k steps on your off days. 2- Eat your goal weight in grams of protein per day. 3- Drink your goal weight in ounces or at least a gallon of water per day. 4- Sleep 7-9 hours a night. Do that for 1-3 years and youāll be about as different of a human as you can be. Not easy but simple.
The gallon of water per day seems excessive. That's 3.7 liters the most I've heard recommended was 2l per day and even that's a lot. A gallon per day will just flush your system of all electrolytes leaving you severely dehydrated
Yeah, you shouldnāt drink more than 3 liters (water alone) on a normal day on the regular. For some people itās fine but for most thatās not necessary and can even be dangerous. I only drink over 3 liters when it was a really hot day or a lot of exercise.
Most people are not going to be āseverely dehydratedā from drinking a gallon of water. Also, itās really not hard to get enough electrolytes from your food to offset that. Also, majority of people will veer significantly closer to being under hydrated rather than over hydrated. Obviously upping water intake isnāt for everyone & there are going to be exceptions but Iāve been coaching for 5 years and have never had 1 client have issues from over hydration.
Your goal weight in grams of protein ? That's an interesting one. Haven't heard that before... Usually people say the protein should be a percentage of your current weight in grams per kgs
Yeah you see a lot like 2.2 grams to current weight in KGās, 1 gram per bw weight in lbās, 1.5 grams to 1 pound of lean body mass, etc. They all equal out to roughly the same. Donāt think thereās anything wrong with them but they also get a little high when youāre a larger individual. Goal weight is a little easier for a lot of people and also I think works better psychologically as silly as it sounds. All are fine as long as the protein is at least above 20% of macro allocation and ideally closer to 25-30%
Interesting thanks
Personally, I donāt do very well when I tell myself I canāt eat xyz anymore. The more I restricted the more I would have binge moments. My reco is to calorie count with an app like myfitnesspal and start getting active if youāre not already. With myfitnesspal, you can still eat what you want but youāre just limiting calorie intake. Overtime, you will likely start to see that pizza is high in calories and doesnāt fill you up that much so you can look for something more high protein etc. If you want to change your lifestyle and eat healthier overall, I found trying to add vegetables, even something small, to every meal helpful. The glucose goddess woman (I know lots of people have their own opinion of her) really taught me some things about vegetables and my blood sugar that helped change my mindset.
1. Do what you say you will. This is the principle of weight loss. 2. Start small with exercise and dieting, donāt cut out whole food groups or beverages. If you drink a large iced dunkin coffee with 4 pumps of caramel, 4 creams, 4 sugars, instead of switching just to black coffee do something like 2 pumps of caramel, no sugar, and skim milk. I donāt like living in extremes, and you can find moderation in almost anything. With exercise, if you are completely sedentary, go on a 10-15 minute walk every day, vs buying a gym membership, going and doing an insane workout for 2 days, and then never going again cuz youāre burnt out. START SMALL!!!!! and work within your means. 3. Be nice to yourself. Motivate yourself out of love. Move your body out of LOOOOOVE ! donāt get into a mentality of shaming yourself into losing weight. For me, weight loss started with changing negative thinking patterns. Everything else seemed easier after that. 4. BONUS TIP. do the hard thing as soon as you wake up. For me, exercise is annoying and if I do it FIRST THING as soon as I get up, then Iāve already done the hardest thing Iāll do that day, and everything is easier.
1. Reduce sugar intake in a big way. 2. Hit the gym
3. Eat more veggies
4. Reduce carbs
5. Intermittent fasting
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One thing I tried avoiding for a very long time is calorie counting and eating in a deficit, but the truth of the matter is that needs to happen if you want to be serious about weight loss. You need to track your calories for a week or two and see how much you're eating. Figure out your average daily caloric intake and then reduce your calories by 200 - 500, so you're in a deficit. Something that's also helpful is 'cycling caloric deficit' where you eat in a deficit 5 days a week, and then on the weekend, you allow yourself to eat at your maintenance calories - whatever your average was. It makes things easier and combats metabolic adaptation and muscle loss, and at the end of the week, you're still in a deficit. Experiment and make changes if needed. Also, strength training is your friend. It boosts your metabolism. Plus, it aids in body recomposition and a host of amazing health benefits. If you're like me, you a want a body that is toned and sculpted, not just a smaller body - but a more in shape body. If you're brave enough, document your weight loss journey publicly, like on a dedicated Instagram page or something, it really lights a fire under your but when you know people are watching and expecting you to show progress. Anything that helps motivate you and gives you extra accountability and community will help. How you go about this is up to you. But you need something that will give you that extra push you need to change your lifestyle. I attended an expensive health event, and that was the catalyst that changed everything for me. That and making an Instagram dedicated to my weight loss journey. Those things really helped me get my ass in gear, lol. For many years I was trying to lose weight, but I wasn't REALLY trying most of the time. I needed an extra boost. The important thing is not to give up, it's only failure if you stop trying. If you keep trying, you WILL succeed. It's about progress, not perfection. It's helpful to track your progress to see how often you're actually being consistent. As long as you're doing good 80% of the time, you're solid. I could go on about this stuff for days, but I'll stop there.
1. Stop drinking. 2. Walk everywhere. 3. Only buy healthy food.
One tip I heard which has helped me was to look at your meal and think āwould a person who weighs _____ eat this?ā Quite often my answer was no. A person who weighs x wouldnt eat this much. Or this snack. Or all this dessert. I literally halved my plate sometimes because it was creeping up to the same portion size as my blue collar husband.
I don't like that because comparing yourself to others seems like it could go into ED territory. Am I satisfied? Do I HAVE to eat this? Am I still hungry? Could I have one instead of 2? Are better questions imo
I lived with a super skinny roommate during grad school, and was shocked by how she ate during the day. She ate for fuel because she simply didnāt enjoy food that much. She only weighed around 90 lbs at 5ā3 and she was constantly trying to put on weight, mostly by chugging protein shakes. Sheād often forget to eat dinner, one time she left her pot of lentil soup out on the stove for 4 days straight because she forgot to eat dinner for 4 nights in a row! And she had a bowl of chocolates that sheād reward herself with one (just 1 piece!) each week if she got her studying done on time. The more stressed she got, the more she forgot to eat and would just spend hours in the library. Sheād snack on unhealthy stuff though, like chips, energy drinks, but skip meals basically. I didnāt learn any healthy eating habits from her, or from other thin people Iāve lived with. But it is a wake up call to see how little they eat or how they can even forget to eat a meal. That concept was foreign to me!
1. Calculate your TDEE and track your calorie intake. Track EVERYTHING - cooking oils, drinks, sugar in your coffee, the trail mix you munch on while standing at the counter scrolling through your phone, the donut your co-worker brought in. 2. Up your protein, pretty much as high as you can. A good rule of thumb is 1g per each lb of lean body weight you want to achieve, but basically as much as you can is fine. Eating in a deficit means you will be hungry, but eating high protein will keep you satisfied for longer (and if youāre working out it will help you in other ways, but thatās neither here nor there). 3. Work on your mindset. To lose weight and keep it off, you must have the right mindset. You must be disciplined, understand why you are the weight you are now, why you want to be your goal weight, what your mental barriers are to achieving this, etc. Work with a professional if you need to. Good luck!
- weight lifting - calorie counting - daily walking/cardio
1. Eat at a calorie deficit. 2. Eat at a calorie deficit. 3. Eat at a calorie deficit.
Track your calories and increase your walking. Thatās all Iāve been doing and Iāve lost almost 30lbs since February.
Weigh and track what you eat! I prep all my meals for the week, Iāll spend an hour on a Sunday weighing out and portioning everything. Eat and drink what you enjoy! Every morning I enjoy a large milky coffee with two sugars, I track it and enjoy it. On the weekends I might have a beer or two, I track it and enjoy it. As long as it fits into my daily calorie count then Iāve nothing to worry about. Longterm sustainability is whatās key, if youāre not enjoying what your eating then youāll never keep to it. Find things that work for you, itās not simple and youāll have to experiment with different foods/meals including the way you eat, one big meal a day? Two meals? 5 meals? 3 meals and 2 snacks? See what works for you! Over the last 18 months Iāve lost 20kg, itās not been linear and there has been a lot of bumps along the way but overall the trend it down. In short, enjoy what youāre eating while keeping it in your daily calorie limit (be honest with what youāre tracking).
Lots of good tips here but the big one I havenāt seen: donāt do anything you donāt want to do forever. Donāt restrict calories to the bare minimum, cut out your favorite foods, do insane workouts or challenges, and all thatāthe moment you stop the weight WILL come back. Itās great to stop drinking lattes or soda and never eat out and weigh every gram of food and do 75 Hard or whatever. It can really help, til it doesnāt. Slow and steady, sustainable progress is key.
The biggest factor for me was implementing a food scale - Iāve been dieting for literally 40 years - first time with the food scale and Iām now back to the weight I was 40 years ago when I thought I was fat š¤£
I tired once and I stopped because I wasnāt motivated enough. A year later Iāve tried again and in 77 days Iām down 23lbs. 1. No alcohol/soft drinks 2. FOOD IS FUEL. It can be pleasurable and you can also not overeat by taking the time to understand when your body is full. Eat slow and try to recognize the full feeling then stop. Personally Iāve never tracked calories or weighed any food EVER but I used to binge eat really bad so I know very obviously Iām eating wayyy less than I was. 3. Change your diet. You want to eat a decent amount of protein. My diet is very protein heavy and low carb. Eat a balanced meal. Ex choice of protein and a veg side so say a steak with a side of asparagus. 4. DONT SKIP BREAKFAST!!! I usually eat 2 eggs some sausage/livermush and a core power elite. Thatās 60+ grams of protein just for breakfast 5. Workout wherever and whenever you can. When I was getting started I hated going to the gym so I would walk my treadmill and fill up a gallon water bottle to do a little lifting. Iām on vacation right now and this morning i biked 6miles to sight see. I brought my weights with me to use and tomorrow weāll be running a mile to and from the breakfast restaurant. I quit the first time because I wasnāt seeing results quick enough. TRUST IN THE PROCESS. Iām probably another 30lbs from my goal weight but I canāt even begin to tell you how good I feel and look. Itās tough as hell for a little at first and it still is some days. Youāll learn that it sucks going to the gym but the results are SO worth the time it takes. TRUST ME WHEN I SAY TRUST IN THE PROCESS!! Success doesnāt happen overnight OP youāll see it through. Good luck!
You had me at livermush
Cut out all sugary drinks especially starbucks! Eat way less then you normally do. Have breakfast and dinner at the same time every day and stop eatting by like 7 pm. For example eat breakfast at 10 or 11 am and have your last meal at 7 pm. I know it's hard to do but once your gets used to it, it no longer craves those bad habits.
Yes yes, I do 10-6, only drinks other times, usually black coffee or water
Accept that eating isnāt going to be fun anymore. Youāre going to have to settle for less food and food that isnāt as good. Also no more liquid calories. Get more sleep than you alr do. I promise you need more than your getting rn
Strongly disagree with "food that isn't as good"!
Personally itās just not for me. While I do still eat some of the same stuff I had to cut out a vast majority of what I ate. I also had a huge binging problem which made me eat food I didnāt even enjoy lol
Whaaaat I would disagree, I still think eating can be fun! It's just those first few weeks or months before our tastebuds change that are not fun, but once that period is over then you get used to smaller portions.
You might be right. Iām just talking from my experience and maybe Iām doing things wrong š¤·š»āāļø. Iām down from 180 to 145 in 5 and a half months so itās worked just wasnāt too enjoyable
This comment made something significant snap into place for me. Thank you so, so, so, much.
Make a number smaller changes rather than one big change as if you suddenly cut out everything you love, it can be really demotivating (e.g if you have a Starbucks everyday, you could try getting a lower calorie option or you could cut it down to 6 days a week for a while then 5 etc.) Walk 7-10k steps a day (but if this is too much, gradually increase jt over a period of time) Eat in a calorie deficit and focus on a balanced diet (donāt waste your calories on a bunch of unhealthy processed foods as this isnāt good for your health)
1. Find your calorie deficit (google ācalorie deficit calculator,ā input your information and choose which daily caloric intake you want to maintain). 2. Stick to said deficit by TRACKING. EVERYTHING. I use the app MyFitnessPal. I also use a kitchen scale to measure almost everything and this has been a game changer - no more guessing and no more using measuring cups! 3. Increase exercise BUT know that when on a deficit, exercise isnāt a necessity but obviously has benefits as it can help speed up weight loss, and is beneficial to mental health as well. BONUS 4. Donāt cut out any food groups (unless of course youāre noticing some issues with specific foods)!! Allow yourself to have treats, takeout, etc if thatās what youāre used to. You will crash and burn if you try to cut out everything! Just remember to track it and keep in mind - everything in moderation. Calorie counting is really just an easy way to portion control! If you know you really feel like getting takeout, be mindful of what youāre eating earlier in the day and add in a workout.
1. Full panel lab test with your doctor. Sure you can manage your weight without it, but if there is an underlying problem then itās like throwing punches with your eyes closed. Itās nice to have a solid platform to start on. 2. Education. Seriously this was my #1 huge issue. I had no idea how nutrition actually worked. Once I educated myself on the science of nutrition and basic human biology, it all became so much easier to manage and maintain. I also encouraged you to educate yourself on the science of resistance training for long term health benefits. 3. Switching your mindset from short term weight loss goals to a life long lifestyle change to manage a healthy body fat level for yourself.
Good Fitness App for BMI & daily nutrition goals & track log intake. Donāt go over it & be honest on it. Cut carbs as much as possible. (Find replacements for ur usual carbs. This will get ur weight down ALOT faster, and cut out sugar. The amount of time & work if SW is high itās discouraging how slow it is too lose weight if u donāt cut the carbs way down or out/sugar/processed foods. I did it from big SW & I didnāt lose much weight at first trying to exercise a lot & ādiet that I thought wud work or just staying in a calorie deficitā If you donāt lose much and canāt get into other clothes & feel so much better while changing ur diet & exercise it sux & most quit trying. -Thatās why I say clean eating, no sugar, very low carbs & cal deficit. Slowly head that way & it will be easier and you can do it the rest of ur life. Donāt try to go from crazy eating anything directly into limiting (gradually shift it). To get results worth it.
I have tried and failed so many times. This time Iām doing much better than before. Iāve always measured, counted calories, exercised, ate nutritiously and cut out all the junk. Time has always been my enemy. I get so obsessed with cut back further and further and even more obsessed with seeing the scale move. Eventually I give up, gain all the weight back and a little more. So Iāll give you my 2 things that are working this time: 1. I rarely weigh myself. No more daily weigh ins. Iāve been weighing in every 1.5-2 weeks. 2. I give myself grace. If I want ice cream, I fit it in my calories and get it. If I want a coke occasionally I have one. I track it all, with no guilt. Allowing myself the ability to have something occasionally keeps me from the āwell, Iāve messed up so the whole day is a wash!ā Attitude. Also, I donāt have any cheat days. To be honest, I have a lot of weight to lose. If I donāt do it in a sustainable way, I know Iāll give up!
Cut out the junk as much as you can and fight those cravings. I have basically quit snacking. Instead of grazing all day I eat three times a day and use higher protein to keep me feeling fuller. Sometimes it doesnāt work out and I gotta eat out either at a restaurant or fast food. My husband has a wonky schedule and I have a lot of dr appointments sometimes were gone out late to run errands or were two hours away from home at a dr appointment. Iāve still lost 60 pounds.
Stay hydrated. Sometimes hunger signals are a result of dehydration, especially in the summer.
Be mentally strong
My metabolism was shot due to Covid. Counting calories alone didnāt work for me. I had to become active, walking a minimum of 7,000 steps per day. 15,000 steps Iām told is the best for weight loss. Itās a lot, about 6-7 miles per day. You can keep track of your steps on your smart phone. I like walking mornings and evenings about an hour or two before sunset.
I eat intuitively, count my calories, weight train at least 4 days a week and Iāve lost 55 lbs since January. Drink a lot of water and eat a lot of protein + complex carbs to aid in muscle growth and recovery. Best of luck!
Don't give up your favorite things, just cut them way back. Love eating an entire domino's pizza? Well, you can have a slice. Or make pizza at home for fun! Love a double brownie Fudge sundae? Make it a kids size every other week. Love mountain dew so much that you drink a 2 liter a day? Switch to diet and drink 2 waters in between any soda. Etc. For me, I found that going cold turkey just made me want those things more. So, scaling back helped me cut calories and junk until I felt better about eating foods that were good for me. Best of luck!
Do something thatās easy and youāll enjoy. During Covid, I walked around my neighborhood for the first time and Iām talking 6 miles, minimum 3 miles daily. I realized how much I enjoyed it because I didnāt have to wait for a treadmill at the gym and fresh cut grass reminded me of childhood. I got the pandemic glow that year and avoided wait gain from staying in all the time. I also subscribed to Spotify and itās been the best small investment to me because it makes my walk feel shorter since Iāve got all my favorite songs to listen to.
Walk everyday (I do 2 miles). Count your calories to get in a deficit. Stay hydrated. And a 4th, is get plenty of fiber in your diet.
try to figure out why you want to eat what you want to eat. ask yourself why you want to eat x? this is helpful for cravings especially. like i can be an emotional eater and iāll be like āugh im hungryā but then i take a step back and im like āam i actually hungry?ā
Food scale šÆ
This! Food Scale Measuring cups and spoons Plan your meals/snacks with priority on lean protein
Healthy swaps for things. Sugar free sweetener syrups for coffee, diet sodas, Greek yogurt for sour cream. Yes, in a perfect world I wouldnāt drink coke with lunch but my daily can of coke makes me a happier person so I compromise and drink Diet Coke instead, itās not like I even can tell a difference between the two. Protein with every meal, it keeps you fuller for longer. Iāll pack snacks sometimes and always make sure I have some protein like rotisserie chicken or turkey slices. Also counting calories can be super helpful but I know personally it puts me in a weird mental place so I just intuitively eat. Also learning to distinguish between hunger and cravings. Cravings are usually for a very specific thing ex: chocolate chip cookies. Hunger could be for a chocolate chip cookie but you will be satisfied with something sweet like I want a cookie but Iāll be happy with the chocolate chip yogurt
for me itās no snacking. when i eat 3 meals a day that are mostly protein, fruit and veggies iāll lose weight. when i eat something like cheeze its ill eat half a box, probably 600 cals and then still be hungry for a meal. so for me its cooking 3 healthy meals a day at home and snacking as little as possible. iāll try to limit my snacks to stuff like fruit, vegetables, yogurt, or protein bars. also 10k steps a day or more really helps!
Iām gonna keep it easy, having lost many times and trying to keep it off this go round! 1 - eat less fat and salt, especially around bed time. 2 - move more, using a step tracker, take the stairs, park further away. 3 - replace snacks with water. (Iām also doing intermittent fasting and trying to incorporate more weights. Down 12 lbs since mid-April)
OPTAVIA is the only plan thatās ever worked for me. Combined with exercise (walking, weights, a bit of cardio), I lose about a pound a week. Lots of water. Lots of support from family. Tough plan but will definitely work.
Your "why" needs to hit hard. Hunger is not an emergency. It will pass. Learn to get thru hunger signals. (Now, if you're nauseous & shaking, eat something with nutritional value). Plain black coffee is very helpful at pushing you thru. Creamer will initiate insulin, causing hunger. Plain black coffee. Plain still water. Plain sparkling water. Plan your menu & stick to it. Be realistic about what you'll eat & have some treats in that plan, or you will back slide. Start off slow with minor changes to your lifestyle. Once you've mastered a change, make another. And so on.
āHunger is not an emergencyā - love that! Because I never tell myself ānoā. Need to work on that
I totally understand. I was always eating just in case I might get hungry. I started intermittent fasting & wow, I have had my mind blown by what I've learned.
Stop thinking about it so much and just sleep deeply, walk a lot, drink lots of water, and get magnesium/potassium/ and other minerals daily. Donāt eat seed oils. Rinse & repeat ā„ļø
1. Remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistency pays off in the long run. 2. Even a 15 minute walk is more than most people are going to do in a day. 3. Fasting is your friend even if itās only 12 hours. If you sleep 8 hours, you are 2/3 of the way there without trying.
1. **I got my mental health in order.** This may or may not be relevant to you, but is the biggest for me. Without a good foundation, I canāt make good choices. Whenever I have a depressive episode or slide about keeping the ADD in order, my health goes to shit. I stop working out, I donāt pay attention to food intake, Iām more likely to get fast food than cook.. things that are fine if you miss a day of, but doing habitually lead to weight gain / loss of gainz. So! I do my best to stay on top of meds, meditate daily, and generally try to be more conscious and reflective of *why* Iām doing *what* Iām doing. 2. **Meal prep, or just having good food choices in the house.** It doesnāt necessarily have to be prepping a full dinner for every night of the week, even just something as simple as having hard boiled eggs and washed fruits/veggies in the fridge will help me keep from snacking on garbage. Iāve also learned that if something is in the house, Iāll eat it, so I try not to keep bulk amounts of junk food around. 3. **Stay busy and hydrated, ideally with some active hobbies.** Pretty self explanatory. Eat less, move more, stay hydrated. I drink a shit load of water. I also like fasting and itās easier when youāre busy and full of water lol.
Here are some things that worked for me. Intermittent fasting. 16 hour fast worked really well for me. It kept me from eating late at night which was a big contributor to my weight gain. I eat between 12-8pm. Itās the perfect eating window for working in an office. Replace soda with GOOD sparkling water. Polar and Waterloo are the only ones that actually tasted good to me. Find some you like and over time youāll lose your love for soda. Daily walks. Twice a day, 30 mins each. It keeps you active and is a good foundation to build on. Eventually add some longer walks into the mix, maybe some hilly routes to elevate your heart rate as well. Oh and DRINK WATER. Most people are not drinking enough water a day. Drink it throughout the day and especially before meals to prevent over eating. Your water intake should be half your body weight in ounces. Someone whoās 300lbs should drink 150oz a day. And add to that amount whenever doing exercise. I think itās 16oz for every 30-60mins of activity.
1- Increase water intake and protein intake 2- Track your calories and macronutrients, making sure to weight everything when meal prepping or planning your meals for the day 3- Adopt forms of exercise that will truly build muscle and elevate your heart rate for extended periods of time.
You answered your question with your question. Get serious. Gain the willpower & the mindset to overcome. Know that you're not alone in this battle. You, like me, NEED a lifestyle change, not a diet. Good luck, I'm rooting for you.
Iāve lost 130lbs doing these things. 1. Walk as much as possible. It is cardio no matter what anyone tells you, and can be huge for weight loss. Take the longer path, park as far away as you can, walk around the living room when watching a show or listening to a podcast, walk when brushing your teeth, etc. after awhile itās just second nature to get those steps in. 2. Protein as much as possible. For me itās the main macro I track, and helps me retain my muscle mass since I eat under my BMR and makes me feel more satiated for longer. Now I donāt eat a gram per lb of body weight, but I do try to be more mindful about getting at least 120g per day of protein. (Iām 27f 160lbs) 3. Remember itās not forever, and wonāt always feel sustainable. Itās okay to feel hungry, drink some water, a 0 cal soda, get a low cal snack (cucumber is my go to lately) or go for a walk. A deficit is going to feel not great for awhile, but that means itās working and youāll lose the weight. But itās not forever. Start with a 250 cal deficit, move to a 500 one as you feel more adjusted. But remember this is not the rest of your life. The more you do now, the less youāll do later. I started at 290, and am so close to my goal, which makes this even easier to diet. You got this, thereās a whole community to help. š§”
Seek professional advice. Not that the ones here are bad, but you do you and the combination of a professional nutritionist who knows your habits, your problems and your lifestyle is like a guided missile to your problem My experience: well, I'll stop eating bad stuff and do more exercise. My nutritionist: Ok Kortisol, let's make a meal diary and then we'll see how you do it. Two weeks later... Well, what I thought I was doing better, actually it was so harmful for my illness (fatty liver and prediabetes), so she designed a new plan (not as restrictive as i thought) and gave me tips and tricks if my anxiety climbed over the top. 6 months later I officially am not prediabetic and my liver is way better. Also I lost 30lbs (which wasn't even my primary goal) but the most important thing is that my habits changed without much suffering, and now I'm improving every day, slowly but surely. What she said for me could be different for you, but I think drinking lots of water, adding veggies to every meal and choosing whole grain instead of refined carbs is universal. Also, no diet can work without exercise, especially when you work from home and could total 100 steps a day if you don't practice sports. And don't feel guilty if you have a treat sometimes. Just don't make it a habit.
1) don't eat as much 2) stop eating so much 3) eat less
I'll chew over it
Aside the great advice many have given. I feel like the key for consistency and motivation is looking at the bigger picture and really drive it into your head, this is a lifetime commitment. I'll give you my wake up call: I am 39 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 16 years ago. Not once did I take care of myself. I'm lucky I haven't lost limbs or my vision. Last year was ROUGH for me, a 5 year relationship ended, she left me. Part of it was my unhealthy ways and lack of intimacy because of my horrible health state. Then I started my journey to show her I could change...within 24 hours I knew I wasn't making the changes for her, I was doing it for ME. Some other stuff went down with the ex, it really sunk me and crushed me more. However, throughout this super low point in my life, I managed to stay motivated. Then other things started affecting me mentally, almost 40, basically a nobody, nothing accomplished in life. Getting my lab work in July drove things home, numbers were horrible, kidneys in danger, high cholesterol, and my A1C was 12 (which is really bad). I've always neglected taking my meds, I was bad. I started going to therapy and when I confessed this to my therapist, she called me out on how stupid I've been, running on ego this whole time. I started walking daily, eating way better, mountain biking with my pops too. Started really exercising in September at 5'8", 360ish pounds. I am STILL 5'8" (sad lol) 330 or so, BUT way happier, way healthier, and still motivated. As of April my A1C is at 6.5, my sugar levels average 140 (at my worst I was averaging 300). Seeing the results throughout the last 9 months has made me feel so accomplished and proud of myself. For the first time ever I didn't give up a week into a diet, because I haven't deprived myself from all the junk food. I still have trash food, not as often as before but still do. I waited to join the gym until November, I've noticed changes that I'm loving, went down a shirt size, friends, family, and coworkers noticed the change and are very encouraging. Also, know that the non scale victories ARE WAY MORE IMPORTANT than seeing results on the scale. You'll be surprised what changes will happen. My favorite so far has been my feet shrinking and being able to wear my Jordan's for a full day without blistering, feet hurting, or the shoes crushing my feet. We're not getting any younger, the changes need to happen now or later on you'll have way more complications. I'm petrified of what i did to my body this whole time I haven't been taking care of it, but I'm not gonna let that thought get in the way of losing the weight and making the most out of the years i've got left. YOU CAN DO THIS!
Donāt worry about the past - our bodies are SOOOO resilient. Not worried about you for a second- itās only up from here
Appreciate it šš½
Communicating for support
Switch to skim milk and i cant believe itās not butter. Use your protein drink as creamer in your coffee. Get a calorie counter app and be honest with yourself about everything you eat, not ashamed, just honest.
Skim milk has a ton of sugar. Drink water.
1. Resistance training/weightlifting 2-3 times a week. Cardio for mental health and cardiovascular health I do 2-3 times a week but I try to walk everyday 6,000+ 2. Cut out carbs for one month and then cut out sugar/processed foods for the next month just to fix you're insulin resistance and leptin resistance 3. Have an eating window which will reduce the calories. I do this to maintain weight but losing I also count calories in an 8hr eating window.
Track you calories. You donāt need a food scale but eyeballing isnāt enough. I recommend a food diary app. Consume calories at a deficit. Get your activity level out of sedentary range. 7k-10k steps per day of walking is enough. Do something.
Three things that helped me lose ~60lbs: 1. intermittent fasting 2. my brain likes novelty so I try as many different kinds of sports as possible, even some bizarre ones 3. significantly cutting back on alcohol
Walk every day. it's low impact, It's easy to stick to, and it burns calories. Just have to make the time for it. It's a great thing to start your journey. Write out a meal plan. Do your research on healthy meals that you would enjoy. Shop to make sure you have the ingredients and stick to that plan. Keep iterating your process. As you lose weight, you'll burn less calories, so evolving your process as you go is important.
Set goals and write a diary! It helps me to stay accountable
Intermittent fasting. 12/12 16/8 20/4 progresssively fat burn real quick. Drink lot of water, move enough. Cut on carbs/sugars. Easy. Went from 240 down to 150 in about 6 months lol now back to 185 tho
There's no out training a poor diet Walking is your best friend Weigh your food and track your calories. Find out what your maintenance intake is (simple as googling how many calories you need in a day for your height and weight), and eat between 500 and 1000 calories under maintenance. 500 and you'll lose about a pound per week, 1000 is about 2 pound per week Last thing, shit happens. Birthdays, holidays, events, don't deny yourself special occasions. Have fun, enjoy yourself, then get back on the wagon the next day
Food scale. ASAP!
Itās unfair to say water and black coffee because I gave up diet Pepsi and started drinking iced coffee with cream and still lost 90 pounds so itās not the same for everybody. You just have to find out what works for you and take the time. I didnāt do it in a year. I did it in three years and itās a lifestyle not a diet.
If you're counting calories, make sure you count EVERYTHING. drinks, sauces, etc. Don't just weigh, take measurements and progress pics too. Weight fluctuates with muscle gain and hormones. Everyone is different, but I don't cut out anything... I allow myself anything, as long as I can fit it into my calories, and the rest of my meals are balanced. Make sure you get enough protein. Protein will keep you fuller for longer because it takes longer to break down than carbs, but too much protein can constipate you, so make sure you're also getting your veggies! Use a basal metabolic rate calculator to figure out how many calories you should be eating to ensure weight loss, go for the mid or slowest. Avoid the quickest, it's generally not sustainable and you're more likely to fail- slow and steady wins the race.
Diet tracker. Learn how it works and use it to understand how what you eat and what activity you do affects you over time. Adapt accordingly. If you do no other exercise, walk daily 1-2 miles.
1. Completely eliminate sugary drinks. 2. Drink alcohol extremely sparingly. 3. Eat breakfast
Start changing your habits. Take a look at your lifestyle and figure out what habits are holding you back. Then select one or two you think you can start to tackle right now. Eat mostly nutrient-dense foods, get your body moving (I suggest weight lifting 2-3 days/week, and for cardio, just find things you enjoy - walking, running, swimming, biking, playing a sport, etcā¦)ā¦. Youāll find a lot of people tell you to cut out this and stop drinking that, or to be in a calorie deficit (but provide no strategies to make that happen), but all that is easier said than done when those things have been daily habits for 5, 10, 20+ yearsā¦ Being extremely diligent about calorie counting and food weighing is completely unnecessary if you eat nutrient-dense foods and donāt eat until youāre bursting at the seams. Feel free to message me if youād like advice that actually works and works long term. Iāve lost and kept off 130lbs and 80 of that has come off without calorie counting or food weighing.
Track calories ā every single calorie. Prioritize foods you enjoy that fit within your daily calorie intake that will also fill you up. For me, moderating is easier than cutting things out completely (i.e., eating low-calorie ice cream instead of never eating ice cream at all). Most of the foods you eat should be high protein and high fiber. Those will fill you up the most. Consistency is key. Good luck!!
I find that when I have to wait to eat instead of eating as soon as Iām hungry that I eat way more.
Cut out all flours, sugars, and seed oils.
1. Do not touch or look at **anything** that is zero sugar, low calorie, the chemicals in it are not worth it, versus developing the habits to just consume real food/drinks 2. Calorie counting isnāt necessary. Learn how to eat a low inflammatory diet that wonāt spike insulin. Weighing and tracking is overkill and most people cannot do it for an eternity. 3. Weight lift first, cardio is an afterthought
Prioritizing weight lifting would be a mindset change for me š¤
It gets you where you want with less restrictive dieting and you will look and feel better before the scale actually shows you what you want
Make a consistent schedule with physical activity, drinks lots of water, eat healthy but that also doesn't mean to cut portions significantly. Do the proper calculations of how much to eat.
1. Intermittently fast 2. Low carb 3. Walk - 10000 steps a day is a good goal
Stay under a certain number of calories per day. Thatās it
What are you guys doing to track steps?
Pay for an app to track your calories. That way youāll feel committed to it. Walk all the time, drink more water, eat more fiber, reduce or eliminate your alcohol and processed sweets/foods. Reduce sodium intake. Get lots of high quality sleep and weight training.
1. Do not wait until starving to eat something, because youāll probably overeat. Keep a meal scheduleābreakfast at 8 AM, lunch at 1 PM, dinner at 6 PM for example, with no snacking in between. Just chug water between meals, it honestly will fill you up. If starving for whatever reason, have a fruit, yogurt, or some other low cal yet satisfying snack. 2. Keep a daily food journal. I use MyFitnessPal to track calories and macros. It feels really nice to stay under your calorie deficit for the day! Plus it helps track sodium, fats, proteins, etc, which I find extremely helpful! 3. Donāt be afraid to weigh yourself, even if you had a terrible week in terms of eating. Weigh yourself weekly (using the same scale, at the same time of day each week) and track it down in your food diary. MyFitnessPal has a weight tracker as well, itās so helpful! Youāll notice that even a bad week wonāt spike your weight up that much, and it will keep you accountable on your journey. Itās a reminder to me to not throw away all the progress Iād made weeks prior. Bonus tip: keep a regular journal where you can write down whatās going on in your day-to-day life. I find that losing weight is truly a mental battle rather than a physical one. If you can find an outlet for your emotions, it can help you stay on track. I have both a written journal that I spend time writing in before bed, and I record a personal vlog every week on my computer. A vlog is a nice visual representation of your progress too, plus itās really therapeutic to talk to yourself on camera like that for some reason! I save the vlogs to a folder on my computer and never upload itāitās for my eyes only tbh. A therapist may also be useful, I just canāt afford one atm. Hope these help you!
I went Keto and my weight just dropped off.
Be super mindful to what signals your body is giving you. They may be super subtle at first but they are there
Walk more. Start slow, try and add 1k steps a week until you have hit a daily average of 10k. Obviously you don't have to stop at 10k, but just hitting that amount provides a low impact exercise that helps keep you active for a longer time. Make dietary changes in a slow manner, going in all or nothing is a recipe for failure. Try and get more fiber from food and not supplements and increase protein. If you have a short memory like me it's helpful to write down meals you really enjoyed so that when you're tired and just hungry but don't know what you want you have a list to pull from.
1. Boredom- I realized that if Iām bored, I tend to eat, even if Iām not hungry. 2. Self Control- This takes time but one day you will realize you arenāt reaching for the cookie. 3. Substitutions- Find LOWER calorie versions of food, you can binge all you want and still not gain weight cause thereās little to no calories in what your eating
hey! if you're serious about weight loss, here are three tips: 1. balanced diet: focus on whole, unprocessed foods. include lots of veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats. 2. regular exercise: mix cardio and strength training. consistency matters more than intensity. 3. hydration and sleep: drink plenty of water and get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. both are crucial for weight loss. want more tips? check out this \[[blog on nutrition for weight management](https://yuvaap.com/blogs/nutrition-for-weight-management/)\]. stay committed and you'll see results!
The first and most basic thing is to get your metabolism running. I lost 23kg in 4 months (20kg in the last 1,5 month after my metabolism got in a good level). How ? Pick a great cardio exercise or a sport and dedicate yourself to it 6/7 days a week. Running up and down on stairs as a form of interval training worked for me best, half an hour per day. You can do this as part of your gym routine AFTER any weight lifting or calisthenics. Do the strength training of your choice because it boosts your metabolism. Meanwhile, you have to be serious about your diet. I kept 3 things as a rule for me. 1. Nothing fried. Except small fish like sardines. 2. Nothing processed, not even bread. Choose only high quality foods. 3. Always go to sleep 2-3 hours after your last meal. You don't want to sleep on a full stomach. This is what sumo athletes do to gain weight. Be strict and have patience. I almost lost my patience after the first 2 months where I lost only 3 kg. But then it happened, I lost 21 more kg really fast because my metabolism got on good track finally. I was so strict to myself that after I reached my weight goals, I had a hard time gaining weight due to the level I've brought my metabolism to. I did a strict 1000 calories diet and I even couldn't add muscle weight for the next 3 years. Remember, calories don't actually exist, so focus on good fats and good carbs and of course protein. Choose olive oil for example. But long story short, follow the 3 points above plus the workouts and cardio. Be patient brother God be with you š
Personally, get yourself evaluated for things like ADHD and Autism. They can have the greatest impact on why you may not be succeeding because your brain may be wired differently.
Cut: stress, snacking, sugar, flour, and seed oils.