Ask Lemmy

I'm going to answer this as a physiologist: First, eliminate processed foods as they do make you over eat Next, start exercising. Any amount is fine as long as you do something at least 6 days a week. Don't get obsessive; just do something To maintain the proper deficit, you need to measure and plan your meals. Keeping to a mostly consistent calorie total is important. It doesn't have to be exact every day, but you need to stick to a weekly total. This should be about 200-400 calories less than your total caloric needs by day. Too much and your body will fight back and your metabolism will drop to match this new level and you'll stop losing weight. To find the right amount, you're going to need to see a nutritionist and a weight loss expert with a real degree. They'll be able to fill in the details. Any specialty diet only works short term. An active lifestyle with healthy foods will make the biggest impact. And you need to be think long term: losing more than 1 pound per week will cause your body to fight back. You need to very slowly nudge it to where you want it to be, but also realize where your genetics put you. There are so many things to consider, so you need to connect with a specialist.

In the past, I have found crippling levels of poverty to be quite helpful.

There are a few different strategies I have used at different phases in life.

Where I am at right now.

Don’t eat processed foods. They make it easy to over way by design.

Eat the recommended amount of sodium or less a day. Sodium makes food more palatable. You will find yourself eating less calories simply because the food isn’t as good.

I’ve been eating the recommended amount if fiber on purpose. I eat oatmeal instead of rice/potatoes/bread. It’s filling and less ‘munchable’ if you think you are hungry put a bowl of oatmeal infront of yourself. I do season it with olive oil and spices.

I restrict sugar and high fuctrose corn syrup for the same reason I restrict salt. Sugar makes food taste to good making it easy to eat more then you need to without realizing.

These change help me eat the proper and filling portions of food without overeating. I eat till I’m full.

I also only eat like this most of the time. But even then I’m giving myself leeway on the holidays. I just try to make more good decisions then bad.

Obviously you cannot maintain a deficit over the long run. Eventually, you disappear.

But for any given caloric intake that can sustain you, you will eventually come to a steady state where your body doesn't grow or shrink any longer, because the bigger your body is, the more calories are required to maintain it.

But also be aware that this isn't a case of calories in/calories out. There are things that you can add to your diet, introducing new daily calories, and yet you will maintain a lower weight than if you had not added those calories. All calories are NOT equal (despite containing the same chemical energy).

Cut out soda entirely. Skip breakfast and lunch. Maybe eat a light snack at some point during the day if you need to (real food, not sugary crap). Train yourself to just deal with being hungry. When you do eat, focus on things that are nutritionally dense, filling, and slow to digest.

Use foods with a low calorie density as fillings. Things like cabbage and other veggies are very filling leaving you feeling more satisfied

Being overweight is a natural reaction to an unnatural food environment. Processed foods contain far too much energy and too little fiber (i.e., stuff that fills our stomachs but contains hardly any energy.

Exercise is important for keeping our bodies fit, but it is not the right choice to lose weight. It is much easier not to consume 300 calories in the first place than to burn them off through exercise. Simply eating less does not help either. If your stomach is not full, you are constantly hungry, and no one can keep that up for long. To lose weight in the long term, you need to change your energy intake, i.e., the type of food, not the amount of food. So you have to change your diet, there's no way around it. Move away from processed stuff and toward whole food, plant-based meals.

"Whole food" means:
Grown on soil, nothing good removed after harvesting and nothing bad added. Over time, your body and your gut flora will get used to it, your cravings for junk food will subside, and you'll be able to eat your fill of vegetables, fruit, legumes, and nuts every day—cheaply, healthily, and with a clear conscience. And you'll still lose weight.

So: Keep the junk out of the house! Don't let that crap into your home anymore; if it's there, you'll eat it.

OMAD or IF works really well for a lot of people. What you eat and when you eat are critical, not just how many calories are going in and out. CICO is far from the whole story when it comes to metabolism and your endocrine system.

In my late 20's, I managed to cut to probably the lowest body fat percentage of my life.

I learned which foods I found to be satisfying despite a lower calorie count, and vice versa. In my case, it's water, fiber, and protein that are important for feeling full even when I'm not eating a lot of calories. That means lots of soups, lots of green vegetables, lots of lean meats and cheeses, and some member of the legume family in almost every meal (beans and lentils, and also things like green beans, peas, peanuts). It also meant a dramatic reduction in sugars, especially in beverages, and a big reduction in alcohol consumption.

I started running a lot. Some people say you can't outrun a bad diet, but running 25 miles (40km) per week goes a really, really long way and buys you a big buffer that allows you a few high calorie meals here and there.

I stopped keeping snacks on hand. Almost everything in my house required some degree of prep or cooking to eat.

Many of those I've kept up in the 20 years since, but I've re-added whole grains and fruit into my previously low carb diet because they have a good satiety to calorie ratio (probably because of the fiber). And I've stopped running but also tolerate a higher body fat percentage and higher overall weight in support of a significantly more muscular build (and a lot more measurable strength). Finally, I do keep certain ready to eat foods in the house, but mainly because I have kids and need to feed them without spending all my time on that task.

Long-term, sustained weight loss is about lifestyle change. Don’t set a goal and implement dietary and/or exercise changes you have to force yourself to stick to; instead, you have to find a lower-calorie diet and exercise routine that you actually like. Some “dealing with hunger” may be necessary in the beginning if you’re used to frequent eating or large portions, but your body/brain should acclimate to your new diet in a few weeks. If you can, the best eating schedule is actually one with no meals, but around six healthy snacks throughout the day. This is because the frequent eating keeps your metabolism up throughout the day, which burns calories faster. You want to aim for no more than 2,000 calories a day if you’re counting them. I would also recommend taking a multivitamin (most people should be taking one anyway).

My experience has been that you need to pay attention to what I call the "satiety-to-calorie ratio." Some foods have really good ratios, meaning you feel full without a lot of calories. Some foods have really poor ratios, meaning you get a lot of calories but still feel hungry afterwards. Start keeping track of how full you feel after eating a meal or a snack, and also keep track of how many calories it has.

You will be surprised by some of the results. Some of what would be considered healthy foods can have pretty poor ratios and some of what would be considered unhealthy can have pretty good ratios. Obviously, the issue here is that we're only factoring in calories, not nutrients, so this isn't the end-all-be-all system that you need to follow. But if weight loss is your primary objective, this is a good starting metric.

You'll want to cut out or minimize foods that have a low ratio, and keep foods that have a good ratio. Keep a couple of good-ratio snacks for when you crave snacks. That way, you can satisfy cravings without getting too many extra calories.

I find that it helps me to set a daily calorie limit and aim to keep under it. Going over the limit is fine, but the extra calories get rolled over and need to be paid off over the next days. If you don't know the calories of foods that you ate, give your best estimate. You'll get better at estimating over time as you pay attention to the calories of the foods that you do know.

Also, when you cook, make sure to add in the calories from oil. And if you just need a way to drop your calories rapidly, I find that Soylent or Huel have remarkably good ratios and taste like milkshake, though they are somewhat expensive.

It's been said and I'll echo it, there's foods that fill you for longer though might be higher in calories than foods you think you should eat. I found that whole grain items, brown rice or whole grain bread will keep you fuller filling for longer though are fairly dense calorie wise. Just be sure to rinse the brown rice if you include it in your prepared meals. Which is another thing, if you can meal prep and make a few days of meals ahead of time to say take to work or for a quick "I'm too tired to cook" dinner it helps a lot. You can measure out the portions and able to record it better. To point three, record what you eat, how many calories.

Don't just stop: swap.

Cutting things out leads to cravings and causes the entire process to be a constant fight. Instead, make small swaps over time that build habits.

I have a burrito every day. I swapped the tortilla for a high fiber one (get more fiber). It saved 50 calories a day and is still delicious. I swapped my side of chips for protein chips (when I can get them on sale). Lower cal, high protein, still crunchy and taste like cool ranch.

Think about what you can ADD to your meal. Having stew? Add beans and extra peppers. A sandwich? Add spinach. You'll end up eating less of the calorie sense stuff. You'll also get more fiber.

I started on this path a year ago. I homebrew beer and it's pretty yummy. Years of drinking a couple of beers a night got me over 100kg. That was my trigger. 1x beer about same as a Mars bar in calories. Stopped drinking weekdays. Only vape weed as a wind down now. Switched to whisky ginger ale on weekends. Buy less snacks Drink more water and tea and stopped having sugar in tea.10x teas a day is a lot of unnecessary sugar. Stopped eating lunch, have miso soup sachets. Breakfast is toast and marmite Dinner is full normal meal My stomach stopped complaining it was hungry, though it helped to have awareness that the hungry feeling is a good feeling and to embrace it as a sign of success. I don't beat myself up for a stumble. Sometimes I snack, sometimes I go out for midweek beers though rarely.

Over a year I dropped 25kg A quarter of my body mass I'm 52 It helps I'm adhd lol and eating has always been an afterthought But the main weight loss came from significantly reducing alcohol Unfortunately I've not made any beer for two years.. so there is a downside lol Anyway.. just my 2c Good luck 👍

You can't. Your metabolism will just start being more conservative.

Everything in the body is balanced and the body does not want to lose its reserves.

Once you change the system, it will react to revert it back to how it was.

You can increase your metabolism with a lot of exercise. The less calories you eat, the more tired you will be. The harder it will be to force yourself to exercise.

Dieting will ultimately reduce your metabolism burn rate. And make you more tired.

You can offset it by forcing exercise. Which will be hard due to the fatigue.

It's why loosing weight is hard for people.

It's never as simple as "eat less". Unless you are literally starving yourself. Like with lap band surgery.

Be efficient with your calories. If you overeat and then you try to cut to 1800 but are still eating ice cream, chips, Starbucks. That 1800 is going to go so fast and you'll still be hungry.

Eat lean protein, simple carbs a ton of veggies and drink lots of water. You can also reduce exercise intensity if you're feeling super drained.

Another thing is to not try and cut to fast. Doing a 1000+cal deficit for weeks is going to wreck you. Better to go slow with 250 or 500 and take extra time.

I found cutting carbs to be a big help. I eat massive amounts of protein and little to no carb and I've been losing a lot of weight that way

Hey, so I dropped weight casually and all I did was:

• Limit snacks. Best to zero, but minimum to one a week.
• Your food portion? Cut it in half. Fat folk tend to eat big portions, I know I did, cut it in half.
• Don't eat constantly, predefine 3 times you are gonna eat, that's it. For me it's breakfast, second breakfast (at work) and dinner.
• Drink water when hunger is too big.

You will be hungry, a lot for some time but shortly it will stabilise and you'd mainly feel hunger around food time.

After time, my body stabilised around 15kg lower than I were when I began, and that's with me breaking it quite often xD

• Daily long walks.
• Eat less.
• Eat better. I quit stuffing myself with industrially processed food, best decision ever. Even better than quitting smoking (which I did some 20 years ago). BTW, eating better helps a lot in eating less.

Edit: some improvements made to my (severely) lacking English.

Estimate your total daily energy expenditure:

https://tdeecalculator.net/

Eat in a caloric deficit. You will need to weigh your food and track calories, at least for a while.

Weigh yourself and see if the weight is going in the right direction and not losing too fast either. Adjust calories as needed.

It's way harder than just these steps but this is the foundation. Personally I found the food weighing and calorie counting massively stressful but I got a good sense of how much to eat from doing it from a few weeks. Now I check the scale and log weight and make sure it's going the way I want it.

Also talk to a therapist. I needed one to get over certain mental barriers and to re-evaluate my relationship to food and my body image.

Track everything you eat. I use the Energize app becasue it's private but there are lots out there. Eat the correct balance of carbs, protein, veg, etx. Get your daily calorie limit from your doctor..

Exercise as regularly as you can but remember you can't outrun your fork.

Hydrate.

That's it. Everything else is pretty much smoke and mirrors. It is not easy.

Mainly, cook your own food. Stop eating out.I found the America's Test Kitchen Skillet Recipes and Best Soups to be amazing.

Make soup (from veggies and beans). Eat fruit for your snacks multiple times a day. Always go for whole grains (bread, pasta, rice, etc.). Eliminate cheese entirely (seriously, it is terrible for you). Replace milk with soy milk (doesn't have the saturated fat or sugar). Reduce or eliminate meat consumption. Avoid added sugars when possible.

A good rule of thumb that I find helpful is that the majority of ingredients in all meals should naturally contain non-negligible amounts of fiber. The things you eat should also mostly have plenty of water in them already for bulk and digestion. Dry foods (including oil-based foods) are far too easy to overeat.

These are relatively simple rules that leave tons of options for variety but force you to have a fairly healthy diet. They are easy to implement in a lifelong diet with no need for calorie-counting.

Track everything you eat, even when you're in a good place, keep tracking. I have ADHD so I've found it best to treat it like I do financial tracking, it becomes habit very quickly and apps like waistline make it super easy to enter, especially if you're in the habit of weighing everything.

I have to minimise the smacks kept in the house, and what we do keep tends to be "better" or at least less calorie dense. I don't deny myself cravings, but I'll follow servings and budget for it in calories. Waistline averages out calories over a configurable period so I don't sweat going over one day, all balances out over the long term.

Therapy helped a lot, if only to help me have a healthier relationship with food, my therapist has a lot of experience with addiction & substance abuse and food can absolutely be a drug (which is not acknowledged enough imo). Between that and getting treatment for ADHD I've managed to get back down to one of the lowest weights I've been as an adult. I've tried to make it a lifestyle change which I credit heavily to success as well. My partner having a health scare that forced them to review their diet also helped tbf, but we were already on that path, was just some extra push.

What you eat can help too, fibre being a big one. Make friends with legumes, add them into your cooking. I like chickpeas and lentils, will add them into a lot of dishes I cook. Use seeds too, ground flax tastes great and adds a lot of good fats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds go well in salads. I like to do meals that can serve leftovers, stuff like soups & stews are great because they don't have a lot of active cooking (you throw stuff into a pot and let it simmer for a while). Higher quality calories are helpful, tell you that personally I'll feel fuller longer eating some porridge with flax and fruit in the morning than the occasions I'll grab a McMuffin or something.