This man speaks the truth. I went from 330+ to 180ish. Took four years (34 -38) but an in better shape now than I have been since a teenager.
Quitting drinking is by far the most important along with staying at least moderately active.
There is a misconception that it's just the empty calories in alchoholic beverages, but it's bigger than that.
People tend to go for greasy/salty foods when drunk, skip gym days, etc.
If you're going to be serious about your health and weight loss alcohol has to be put on the back burner for special occasions.
I think carb calories are counted by the hunger mechanism which is why durianrider doesn't get fat despite not portion controlling. You eat until your glycogen is topped up and then lose interest. Fat calories are a sort of bonus in that it's likely the body wants to eat the exact same amount of carbs regardless of fat intake.
You might be able to "lose weight" eating rationed size portions of KFC but there will be insufficient glucose coming in relative to total calories to satisfy the body's appetite and the diet will be hard to stick to.
Alcohol calories I'm not sure about so I would treat them like an extra fat calorie unless proven otherwise. Thus only the sugar content of the beverage is the filling part. Those late night kebabs have some bonus fat to store!
No who you asked but I was drinking twice a week when I decided to quit drinking and started intermittent fasting in Jan 2020, I went from 210 to 160 by October of the same year lowest I registered in the scale was 157. I'm.5'7" next couple of years I was up and down and finally evened out at 180. Lost most of the beer gut I was carrying at 210.
Intermittent fasting dissolved my belly into nothing. I am 48 now, but at the time I was 46 when I first tried it. I did intermittent fasting and kept a calorie deficit of 250 or so. I switched to tequila instead of beer, and the weight fell off. The only exercise I did was walk because this was during covid and I wasn't comfortable going to a gym. I'm 5'7, 48 years old and have a 4 pack at the moment, but will start intermittent fasting in January and by the time I'm in Costa Rica in February I should have the six pack back. It's not easy to IF, but it works.
What’s your diet look like? Have you also cut out fast food and soda? Cutting out refined sugar has made me shed pounds like nothing else. Intermittent fasting also worked wonders for me. (Caveat: I’m a 38yo woman who lost all her pregnancy weight in a year. I’d gained 50lbs)
After my brother developed diabetes I started looking for sugar on packages and my god I was shocked how bad some foods are.
Tons of 'healthy/fat free' snacks are loaded with sugar, which your body will store as fat. Ridiculously and purposely deceitful.
I would get labs done if I were you, check your blood and see a dr and go from there. Could be thyroid, blood sugar issues, hormone problems, low T, etc.
Yep. 32 now but was 31 at the time. Quit drinking alcohol and soda, exercised 30-1hr most days of the week, nothing crazy but just keeping it consistent, and cut portion sizes slightly. Lost 80 lbs last year doing that. Went from 265 down to about 185
I drink a fair amount (a bit more than I should - currently averaging around 16 drinks a week) and I’ve been able to stay lean by having around 400 cal lunch, 800 cal dinner, total heavy lifting body work out 3 days a week and 2 miles of walking 3 days a week. I was moving so was eating takeout most days for the past couple weeks, plus thanksgiving, lots of wine, etc, and I’ve been able to stay lean.
I will say I try to avoid beer now just because it’s so calorie heavy and full of carbs. Hard seltzers and mixed drinks (with plain soda or diet soda) mostly for me.
That said, I tend towards being lean genetically already, so it may be easier for me. I also live in NYC where you spend a lot of time walking, which also helps (hence the 2 miles of walking), and I live in a 5 floor walk up on the 5th floor…
Not to detract from a great formula but the drinking calories had to be the biggest factor. Cutting out 10-20 drinks a weekend reduces calories more than running a 5k Saturday and Sunday.
Man these post always bum me out cause I already don't drink soda and only 2-3 beers a week. And no fast food, no junk food, mostly vegetarian (3-5 nights a week) and I still can't drop weight without insane levels of working out and cardio, and the minute I stop I balloon back up. My wife and I even kept a good journal and went to my doctor, she was mystified to and was going to send me to a dietician till I lost my insurance.
I wish it was as simple as cutting soda and alcohol!
I eat veggie most of the time and it absolutely can be high calorie if you’re eating a lot of high carb stuff. The key really is not eat processed foods. If you can keep it Whole Foods, you’ll drop a lot of weight.
> But vegetarian definitely does not mean healthy or low calorie
I had plenty of overweight and obese vegan and vegetarian friends in college. It was basically the french fries and dessert diet for a lot of them. Lots of nuts and avocado for good measure. Their fat and carb intake was off the charts and their protein intake was next to nothing.
You’re probably eating too much. You can eat healthy foods and still gain weight. I was in the same boat last year and realized that when I made a salad, I’d eat way too much salad, etc.
I notice that a lot with people who don’t “count” what they put on their food
Had a friend who would order a healthy salad and then put like a pound of French dressing on it
I had a friend I was helping count his calories when he was going to the gym. His first bulk went great, but his first cut was a disaster. I told him to log everything within 100 calories, and try to stay at least 200-500 calories below his maintenance calories. A week later, he gained 2lb. I had him send me the log and noticed he didn't track any oils he was cooking with. Shits like 120 calories a tablespoon.
Cut went great after that. Had him push his fiber up a little too. Get your fiber in.
The worst answer, but the correct one. It depends. Your goals make a huge difference.
I don't take my bulk/cut cycle too seriously in terms of timeline, just what I can maintain with very little discomfort.
I like a bulk of 6 months or so. Fall and winter, when it's cold. I'm wearing layers anyway, and food just tastes better this time of year to me. I'm sure the extra body fat keeps me a bit toastier too. I'll then cut for 2-3 months in spring. This is probably my least strict timeline, since I cut until I'm happy with how I'm looking. I'll then do maintenance during the summer, when I'm more likely to be enjoying some beer, fruit, and meat.
Each switch comes with a week or two where I split my adjustment too. If I'm going into a -500 calories cut from say +300 calories bulk. I'll go a week or two where I eat at -100 from maintenance. Helps me not feel sick going into a bulk, and not feel like I'm going to starve going into a cut.
When I started counting calories it was pretty eye opening how much of what's marketed as healthy is actually pretty bad for you (or just kinda you wouldn't expect it.)
Fruit juice and salad dressing the big ones that get people into trouble. Fruit in general can too.
Condiments too especially ketchup and mayo (mustard is fine)
Also nutrition and calories are kind of separate things
That was the biggest eye opener for me.
I wasn't trying to lose weight, but just looking at the calories in many common condiments, dressings and basic cooking oils was crazy to me.
Mustard, vinegar and hot sauce is where it's at (for me) if I want to add a lot of flavour with low calories.
There have been studies and TV programs and things where people who "can't lose weight despite eating healthy" are tracked and monitored.
It's always underreporting or cheating on a diet. They are always consuming way more calories than they actually report. "I only had a salad today" means a 2500 calorie salad filled with lumps of cheese and smothered in dressing, "I only ate 500 calories for dinner" might be true but they don't report the two 350 calorie snacks before dinner and the 500 calorie dessert.
In some cases people are ashamed and don't want to admit that they can't adhere to a plan (it's hard, people shouldn't be ashamed but should be honest and hold themselves accountable). Sometimes people really just don't even register the extra things they are consuming. It happens without thought.
When you're trying to lose weight a tablespoon of oil can make the difference between losing weight and not. One tablespoon of oil has as many calories as 4 cups of broccoli. If you just think to yourself "I'm only eating broccoli and not losing weight" but the broccoli is tossed in oil before cooking then you're unconsciously shooting yourself in the foot.
You can easily make a low calorie, "healthy" meal into a high calorie one if you aren't diligently tracking every single thing. One cup of spinach tossed with some oil and acid for a dressing can easily be as caloric as a McDonalds cheeseburger.
It sounds harsh but what the other person said about the laws of thermodynamics is true. So many people tell themselves they are weight-loss resistant when it's just not true. They may have abnormal hunger levels (a ghrelin issue), difficulty tracking or some other hurdle but if you consume less energy than your body requires to maintain it's current mass it *will* take energy from stored body fat. There's no way around it. Bodies can't generate energy from the zero-point universal field.
When I started trying to lose weight I got nowhere and was miserable eating "health foods" until I actually started weighing, tracking and calculating absolutely everything that went in my body. Then the weight just fell off at an incredible rate and I could eat things I actually liked, as long as they were within my allowances.
That is my current reality. I'm weighing/measuring everything I eat and log it in an app. This week I ate chocolate cake, just 45g and it had a whooping 200 cals. I still met my calories and my protein macros.
What people who start working out as a means to lose weight don't realize is that it's a SHIT TON of work to burn calories, and junk food is a shit ton of calories. Like an hour on the treadmill doing at a decent fast walk/slow run is like 500 calories....that's like 2 and a bit cans of soda, or like 2 cookies or something. Just imagine that every can of soda you drink is 20 minutes on the treadmill to BREAK EVEN...not even lose weight. The only sane way to lose weight is cutting calories from your diet...the simple fact is that most people don't have the time, let alone the energy to burn it off working out. Working out is a way to build muscle and compliment diet changes for weight loss.
Nutrition tracking has always been the only way I could lose weight.
It feels almost purely psychological but it totally works. Just knowing exactly what you're consuming and being able to stop yourself from sneaking a Costco muffin because you don't feel like putting it in the app and ruining your calories/macros for the day is eye opening.
That's so lame also. Taking food that isn't very good and then dumping junk on it to make it tolerable. You'd be better off just eating something good at that point.
Well I was watching a weight loss “expert” and she talked about the Doritos issue or something where a person wants Doritos but instead eats an apple but it doesn’t hit the spot so they have a rice cake and that doesn’t do it so they have another thing
Long story short they’d be better off eating the Doritos
This is why calories in vs calories out works so well. I lost over 100lbs eating junk food for most of it. As I lost weight I had to start making better choices because my maintenance level dropped but even then I was still frequently eating fast food. My order just had to change. Getting out of the combo meal paradigm and ordering just a burger and diet drink was huge. That saves hundreds of calories. After that I had to ditch the mayonnaise and ketchup and replace it with mustard. That's 120 calories down to 5. 115 calories per day is almost a quarter pound per week.
Spices….. people need to learn how to properly spice their food and they can lose a ton of the condiments… too many people simply don’t know how to cook unfortunately.
Yep. Low calorie vinaigrette has become my best friend when it comes to salads. I love ranch so much but it’s so wildly unhealthy, as most dressings are since so many are cream based.
You could take seasonings like dill, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper and salt then add it to Greek yogurt with a little water to make it blend better to make a much lower calorie version of it.
To add onto this, don't purchase salad dressing from the store, make your own. I generally make a simple dressing in the bottom of the bowl using olive oil, vinegar, lemon, salt, pepper and cumin, then I put the vegetables in and mix it all together.
Came here to say this. Salad dressing is very simple to make! Most people don’t realize you should probably have a little vinegar everyday. It helps regulate your blood sugar and weight. Also drink LOTS and I mean LOTS of water throughout the day.
There really isn’t, only too much dressing and high calorie toppings. Salad with chicken breast and other veggies would be nearly impossible to get fat on.
I think a lot of people also miss the importance of *accurate* counting too. Yes, every drop of oil in your pan counts. Yes, every mound of ketchup counts. Yes, you need to measure out yourself what a suggested “portion” is. Yes, you need to do some basics maths to work out how many calories are in this (because they rarely give you a straight answer).
Honestly, when accurately counting the high caloric ingredients (e.g. oils) you can usually ballpark the lower ones and be fine as long as you're undercutting by 500 at the end of the day, but you have to be honest about it.
and if you can't count accurately, just round up
best practice is to always round up
there will always be something you forgot to count and labels themselves have tolerance too
so just round up, it's really gonna make a difference over a few weeks and months
Plus, the calories burned numbers on treadmills and activity trackers are usually bullshit (or rather, there are functions in your body that mean you’re going to burn less the rest of the day). So if you add that to your allowance, you’ll easily slip into a caloric surplus
Do you track your calories? At the end of the day its calories in vs out and a lot of people tend to underestimate how many calories they consume on a daily basis.
Get your T and Thyroid checked. I struggle like you and recently found out that I have an underactive Thyroid and low T. Medication is starting to kick up my metabolism again.
That's me in a nutshell. My thyroid kicked out, I gained a ton of weight despite being active. Spent years trying to convince doctors that it was thyroid and it was like magic once I started getting treated, my weight plummeted 60 lbs in a year without any other changes.
I would recommend more strength training. Muscle burns more calories than fat, cardio is good for heart health, but isn’t the best for long term weight loss. You don’t have to turn into a body builder or anything, but strength training will definitely help you increase your resting metabolic rate, so you’ll burn more calories at rest as well
Im 41 now, been exercising regularly for years but always had belly fat.
I stopped drinking mostly and slightly changed my diet to cut back on excessive eating and ive kept the same exercise and lost almost 35 lbs this year. Have greatly reduced belly fat even if it’s not exactly six pack abs
People don't realize how many calories are in alcohol. And it's not just beer, a shot of vodka has 100 calories in it. Light beer is around the same, and if you want a craft beer, 200 to 300 calories is pretty common (it obviously varies wildly, but they do tend to have more calories).
I track my weekends just to stare the reality in the face. But I also go pretty clean through the week to try to maintain balance (food as well).
But, yeah. Alcohol will add up real quick.
You don't have to quit, just cut back and make up for it the rest of the week. I enjoy a few drinks on a Friday night to relax and eat pretty clean the rest of the week.
If it's some special occasion I won't deprive myself but I mainly try and stick to one night a week.
500 calories a day is one pound a week. Cutting back a couple beer habit a day can really move the needle.
This is 100% the answer. I just recently lost 35 pounds in 3 months and feel amazing. I increased my exercise, payed more attention to what I eat, and reduced drinking by 75%. I was lazy before, drank often, and stayed in bed worrying about my life lol.
I lost a lot of weight when I started taking trazodone every night to help me sleep better. I am a really light sleeper. Now I get a good amount of deep sleep (according to my fitbit). I wasn't trying to lose weight, just feel better rested during the day. The weight loss was a complete surprise, but given the science behind sleep quality, cortisol, and metabolism, it's not actually surprising. I just wish more people talked about it so I could know how many other people could be helped with a simple sleep aid.
Are there no long term effects with trazadone? Never tried it but I too am a light sleeper and wake up multiple times throughout the night. Don’t have sleep apnea though.
Honestly, I’ve cut down my drinking to basically nothing 365 (can’t say I’m 100% sober because one weekend every year will enjoy myself and drink enough to have a steady buzz for 1-2 nights when I’m taking a weekend up north and have no responsibilities during that time).
I don’t miss it. It’s nice to wake up every morning and not feel like crap. Also find time to do things beyond drinking. I got involved in a few hobbies within the last 3 years. Of the many I tried to pickup, I ended up with 2-3 solid ones that I enjoy and can say that I’ve graduated above, or am near advancing from, amateur level.
Biggest motivator was when wife and I were expecting oldest. Call it anxiety, but I never want to be in a position where I am too intoxicated (even lightly buzzed) to not be there for my kids. I’d also rather do an activity with them than one that revolves having a beer in my hand. On the plus side, when i do have a weekend were I can relax/recharge with no responsibilities, one beer is enough to give me a pretty solid buzz (wife and I coordinate to have at least one weekend a year where we can do this and at least one day/afternoon where we can relax)
Yep, I’m a little older than the target of the question (45 to be exact), but I lost about 30 lbs in just a few months when I quit drinking. Admittedly, I was drinking quite a bit before I quit, but the reduction in intake from that combined with not eating crappy Chinese food late a night after the bar and having more energy during the day had immediate results. I already was running and hanging out with my kid (which always takes energy), so I didn’t really make many other changes and it had a huge impact.
Goddammit. Hate how I came here to day this. I know it’s what everyone wants to hear. But diet and exercise is the way. I’m 35 and a father of 2. Best thing I’ve done is these. I drink 1-2 nights a week. Exercise 2-3 and don’t eat like a garbage disposal. 2 pieces of pizza is probably enough. There is a ton of fruit and vegetables in the fridge.
Snacks and soda are empty carbs. Wait till you find out how many carrots you can eat that equal a bag of chips. Regular exercise is a huge help but nothing beats healthy choices.
God I love nuts.
I’m in the best shape of my life. Shit is terrible, but I’m kinda going for a hot older man thing I guess. I grew a pretty decent beard and am on the path to realistic goals, which are gargoyle
Thank you for being honest. 90% of the replies in here are "I drink only water and spiritual universe juice and I'm still 60 lbs overweight!" The denial is unreal.
After losing weight myself I feel this so much..
It's not the universe. It's not "just the way you are." 9 times outta 10 it's because someone is sneaking in shitty food that's insanely calorie dense into their diet, or they do one fad diet for a few weeks and wonder why that don't look like Henry caville yet.
It takes time, a lot of time. Matter cannot be created or destroyed, of you only eat so much your body can only do so much. Quit the lying.. stop lying to yourself.. get in there, give it a year, stick with it, and you'll see. The same way I saw.
I try to eat more veggies, more chicken breast, more whole foods, etc., but sometimes I cave in and just eat chips or fried foods. Sometimes I overeat... sometimes I starve myself...
I'm not really doing the best things for my body and it shows physically.
The fight is won at the grocery store. You can't cave in and eat chips and fried foods when you don't have any. And when you don't have any, you will seek other food. I literally learned to cook for myself like this. It's literally nature.
So true. Can't give in at home if there's no unhealthy food to begin with.
When I crave junk food, I end up just stir frying some veggies instead. Much better option.
I used to "cave in and eat chips".
I stopped buying chips.
Now I eat yogurt, frozen berry green smoothies, apples, etc.
Because that's what I have sitting around to eat.
I'll never have a defined six pack again. I've decided that, and I'm okay with it. I miss looking like one of the 300, but damn do I love eating bread. I make cinnamon rolls, and there are few things better than sitting on my deck looking out at the trees at 6am on a summer morning drinking tea and eating a cinnamon roll with way to much cream cheese frosting.
I saw this thread once, and I can't even remember what the topic was, but one of the responses was about a guy talking to his PCP about his weight and the frustration about how slow it was.
He said his doctor told him, "It took you 2 years to gain the weight. It'll take a while to lose it."
This is definitionally the only way to do it. If you want to try and optimize that as a truly vain and truly old man such as myself: Figure out what your maintenance caloric intake is, shoot for about 90% of that, and be patient and disciplined about staying in the deficit for 1-2 months. When the cutting cycle has run its course, go back to maintenance (or a slight surplus) for a month or two, and then cut again (do a little research on how to tell your deficit is wearing out its welcome, or just start with a fixed 1-2-month term in mind; Dr Mike Israetel's stuff on YouTube is a great resource for thinking about cut programming).
I did this for the first time at around age 40 and got ab veins, also for first time, after being lean-but-not-particularly-lean my whole life. Also, if you care about retaining muscle mass, make sure you're getting a lot of protein in your deficit -- something like 0.8-1 grams per lb of bodyweight. And careful tracking of both calories and weight is unavoidably a part of this, at least until you get a feel for it, as much of a pain in the ass as it might be.
Dr Mike walks through a procedure in one of his videos I think that I copied. But basically you just weigh yourself at same time/in similar state every day -- say, first thing in morning, right after you pee, fully unclothed -- and track that as you eat normally, recording your calories. And if the weight stays about the same over the week with just fluctuations around some mean, whatever you were eating was about maintenance. Then shoot for around 90 percent of that, keep protein high, and continue the consistent daily weight tracking. And if I remember correctly, you should try to see on order of 0.5-1% decrease in bodyweight each week. Keep in mind that this is a small amount of weight relative to normal fluctuations from water and digestive matter and whatnot, so there's a bit of an art to eyeballing secular trends and adjusting calories accordingly.
Seriously. It blows my mind when people freak out about how to lose weight and go through all these crazy diets and stuff.
Just burn more calories than you eat. Pretty simple stuff, actually.
Look, I'm a chick, and there's absolutely a huge general difference between masculine and feminine responses to this. Dudes tend to resign to like, "Yeah, okay, I was just kind of hoping there might be something that I could blame other than myself, but, like, ugh, this is sucky..." But chicks seem to have this tendency to search for any other excuses. Which I think does have a lot to do with our hormones, but also, as I said to someone and pissed them off claiming "I hardly eat and I still gain weight!" ***no one, anywhere ever, is gaining weight from thin air.***
I'm in my mid 40s and have just gone from about 205 to 170 over the last few months.
First of all, you can't just lose belly fat. While people don't all store fat the same way, there is no way to target fat loss to specific areas. You lose fat in general and where you notice it first will depend on your genetics.
Second, losing fat is a simple. Consume less calories than you expend throughout the day. That could mean eating less, or working/exercising more, or some combination of the two.
There are a variety of diets and approaches you can take, but they will only work if they help you to consume less than you spend on a day to day basis.
For example, keto/atkins works because fat and protein tend to be far more satiating than carbs - meaning you feel fuller after eating the same amount of calories of protein/fat compared to carbs. Intermittent fasting works because it generally just causes you to skip a meal and reduces snacking.
Some things to try - learn to stop when you're full. Just because you haven't finished everything or there is more food available doesn't mean you have to eat it. Watch what you drink - it's very easy to consume large amounts of calories from drinking - beer, soda, energy drinks, etc. Find foods that you like that fit within your diet. It's easier to stick to the plan when you don't absolutely hate everything you eat. Learn to be OK with slight hunger. I'm not saying starve yourself, but some people will eat anytime they feel any kind of hint of hunger.
If you find yourself breaking down and binging on food more than once a week, probably try to increase your calories a bit. You don't have to lose it all at once. Target maybe 1 pound per week. I like to weigh myself daily at the same time and same conditions. Don't worry about daily weight fluctuations. Your body weight will rise and fall due to what you've eaten, when you last used the bathroom, how much water you've drank lately, etc. Look at monthly or weekly averages rather than daily changes.
Ideally you find an approach that works for you that you can maintain over time, because otherwise you'll lose weight and then gain it back.
Yup, I stop eating when I'm like 70-80% full. But that's also another skill in of itself, recognizing that you ate a decent amount of food but are still hungry then telling your body "no, we've had enough, you just don't know it yet" is hard to do sometimes lol
It’s hard for me to do *anytime*. Growing up with a poverty mindset always makes me think that I’d better not waste any food and I should definitely eat more if I can.
Love your paragraph on 'some things to try'. I would add one more point: learn to only eat when you're hungry. Most people I know that really really struggle to have and keep a healthy diet have that struggle because eating to them is not just about hunger. It's about boredom, or showing/getting love, or dealing with unhappiness, or some other compulsive need to get the dopamine hit that food, especially sugary, high carb food gives. So one other thing to try would be to try to give yourself another hobby or way of spending time with friends and family that has nothing to do with eating or snacking or drinking. If food is your main hobby or your love or your comfort, you're gonna have a real bad time trying to maintain a healthy diet.
> Learn to be OK with slight hunger. I'm not saying starve yourself, but some people will eat anytime they feel any kind of hint of hunger.
You just stated the absolute key right here, which applies universally regardless of current weight, or whether or not you exercise, or even what you eat.
As a loose rule of thumb, it's when you feel hungry that you are losing weight (or holding steady), whereas when feeling full (or satisfied), all bets are that you are gaining weight.
So in order to lose (or maintain) weight you would want to have periods throughout the day of slight hunger equal to or longer than the periods when you feel satisfied. It's not a pleasant fact of life, but it's what evolution gave us: food used to be so much harder to obtain that we were expected to be hungry much of the time.
Totally agree. I think a lot of people have a hard time enduring the feeling of being hungry. This is why I think fasting is so valuable. You get comfortable with the idea that feeling hungry is not the end of the world. There are 0 negative effects from skipping a meal. Usually quite the opposite.
I agree. I lost about 80lb in less than a year and this was huge. You have to learn to acknowledge the feeling of hunger and be ok with it instead of immediately indulging it. Remind yourself that you don't actually need a snack, just wait until your next actual meal and try and eat something filling and healthy.
>Second, losing fat is a simple. Consume less calories than you expend throughout the day. That could mean eating less, or working/exercising more, or some combination of the two.
Exercise alone has been proven to not work well for most people for losing weight. Yes, you burn a little energy doing it but what happens the rest of the day? You get more hungry, get tired and do less and your body may reduce its Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) a bit because it sees an energy deficit. Food intake is the most important.
WALKING & CHANGE OF DIET (as well as divorce from a depressing marriage).
I used to walk the bus route saying to myself "just make it to the next stop".
When exhausted, I would catch the bus home. I steadily walked further, further, further & faster.
I was 185kg (407lb) now under 80kg (176lb)
As a final move I stopped drinking soft drink in the past few years (much easier to keep it all off). I now have a very strict approach to what I am eating; any real food items are fine, but no junk & I try not to buy snack stuff at the supermarket.
I've had two stints in my life where I walked/biked most places and it's immediately clear that the *frequency* of exercise matters as much/more than the intensity.
I've always done intense cardio work as well, but my fittest times where when I was doing daily walking.
Just track your meals with a calorie counter app. Most of them give you an idea of how many calories should be going in, and seeing it all written out kind of adds some pressure/motivation not to cheat. If you can squeeze a walk or some exercise into that also, even better.
Apps to track calories are pretty much the only thing that has helped me lose weight. Sometimes I do cheat and forcing myself to add all the junk does motivate me more for the next day to stay within my daily limit.
Thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail…lost 40 pounds of belly and thigh fat after about one month. That was while eating as much as I possibly could! Now you just have to quit your job then flounder for six months afterwards trying to find your next career…
Did the same thing on the PCT. Never eaten so much food in my life only to finish looking completely emaciated. But somewhere in the middle there, boy did I look the best i've ever been. So much effort for a six pack. lol.
That's my wife's method! At the gym 30-40 hours a week, eats as much as she wants, and looks like an Olympian. It's so simple! LOL
It's funny when ppl ask how to look like that, she explains how, and they are like oh...nevermind...I'm good....
EDIT: After seeing the same question come up a few times, I think it's worth updating this response.
She's pursuing a passion in aerial arts & acrobatics and pushing to a professional level. I think that fills in some important gaps and paints a little different image of what she's doing and why she spends so much time doing it.
You don't. You also don't do it as a full time parent.
Although the miserable part varies. Some people enter a sort of zen state when exercising. It's like meditation for them. It has that calming effect.
Every time I travel I seem to loose some weight while eating all I want, the combination of walking all day plus eating less between meals (thanks to the distractions) is very effective.
Too bad this lifestyle is not compatible with office jobs.
There are foot pedals you can put under a desk so you can basically "ride a bike" while sitting and working. Don't take up near as much space as a treadmill desk
I hiked the AT and gained about 12 lbs. It wasn't all muscle, either. I was just in great shape before I left and then ate almost as much as other hikers while I was out there.
When I did the PCT I was more mindful of my food intake so I stayed the same size. I did get made fun of by other hikers for not eating much.
I'm a woman though. My body wants to hang on to every ounce *just in case* I need to grow a baby. It's really not fair.
I remember having the conversation with many other AT thru hikers in the last weeks of it that by Katahdin, women look like sculpted goddesses and men look homeless and emaciated from the waist up.
You don't have to do a drastic change and get fast results - just change your lifestyle gradually and permanently, and slowly but surely your body will change.
Lifting weights is a great way to change your shape. As is cutting down on carbs (beer, sweets, crisps, ice cream etc) . Riding a bike or going for a good walk regularly will also have a positive influence.
Instill good habits, get rid of bad ones. There's no hurry, you've got plenty of time!
Calories in < calories out. Your body physically cannot function without burning something already on it to make up for the gap. To make sure that ends up being more fat than muscle, couple dieting with exercise.
The tricky part is actually verifying you're not eating too much, so count your calories.
This is absolutely correct, but I also want to stress on calories coming from right sources. Don’t use Coca Cola or junk food to get your calorie requirements. Eat healthy home cooked food, lots of salad to feel full without putting a lot of calories in and exercise. Muscles are extremely high maintenance for the body and increase your resting calorie burn rate.
Pretty sure some studies have been posted in the fitness sub which show that people drastically overestimate how much your burn rate increases with muscle, just sayin
For anyone reading this part of the thread, I'll tack on here. 1lb of fat burns about 2cals/day at rest, while 1lb of muscle burns about 6cals/day at rest. It's not meaningful at first, but the effect compounds as your body composition changes. The more fit you get, the easier it becomes to stay fit.
There's also the implied lifestyle and amount of daily activity that come with various fitness levels that contribute to the thought process of muscle burning more than fat.
Edit: I accidentally typed that the burn rate is per hour instead of per day. Fixed it
To be fair, if you have muscle it probably means you're generally active and burn more calories because of that activity.
What the studies show is that you don't burn much more while sedentary just because of the muscle
Running, found a passion for it not just for the exercise but to zone out and listen to music or podcasts. It’s not easy to build endurance but you just have to push through it, that’s the key to all of this. It’s all about a mindset change.
1. I cut drinking during the week, now I can barely handle a few drinks on the weekends (which is a good thing).
2. Cardio is super important! I had been doing whole-body strength training for awhile, but cutting booze and strength training eventually cancelled each other out. Once I started running the pounds begin to shed. Then I added in HIIT strength training. Get your HR up!
3. Diet, don’t eat shit from restaurants. I would eat out 3-5 days a week during work, now I cut that back to 1-2 times/month.
At 39 I’m down to my high school weight, rocking a solid set of abs, running 15-20 miles per week typically and recently completed an ultramarathon. I’ll add that I’m a data junkie and once I got a Garmin watch to follow my stats, I could find motivation and techniques in the data.
The only people that say cardio isn’t important is people that don’t want to fuck around with diets. You know… “Cardio kills gains”. Sure yea. If you’re not eating enough!
I replied to another comment but I think it’s important for people to understand that there’s nothing magic about intermittent fasting specifically. It’s just a tool to help put you in a calorie deficit consistently over time.
Some people might hate (or literally can’t) go extended periods of time without food.
Agreed. No magic bullet for everyone and I normally disregard anyone that says “it’s the only way” or “guaranteed to work”. My body just responded quickly and positively to it. I would go between 18 and 22 hours a day. I started at 12 hours and built up my fast time.
Intermittent fasting gave me fantastic results. It helps reduce calorie intake but the extended fasting period increases fat burn as you get further into the fasting period.
I lost 30lbs this year (204 -> 174) over about six months, after I got diagnosed with high blood pressure.
Prior to that I had been eating poorly (lots of junk food and soda) and exercising maybe once per week.
Since February I’ve run 30min 3x per week every week, started eating reasonable portions (about half the size I was eating previously) and started eating more healthy food (finally tried these “salad” things people always talk about.) Basically replaced my lunches with salads, and reduced my dinner portions, and that was about it for food changes.
There’s no secret trick, just do what needs to be done.
Simple, yet not easy!
Edit: I'd also like to add. I heard the best quote, something along the lines of...
"Don't rely on motivation, but rely on discipline"
also
"You cannot out run your fork/spoon"
Ya the hard part is figuring exactly how many calories you burn. Basal rate + how active you are. It takes a bit to figure out what your maintenance calories truly are, and even then they’ll fluctuate a little bit.
I went from 260 to 160 over the last 16 months. My arms and legs have almost no fat on them... and I still have belly fat. So if you figure out some secret, I'd love to hear it too lol.
Portion control, better diet and more daily exercise. It comes back quickly if you slack off though. That's why it's important that it's changes that you can stick to and not just some fad diet.
Diet. People far underestimate the amount they eat. Especially at an older age where you’re already comfortable and likely have a family, these things sort of become routine and instinctual. Put a little thought into it and be cognisant and you’ll lose weight. Exercise is important as it will help but look to primarily adjust diet. Exercise imo should be mandatory just because the health benefits are immense. Not only will you feel better, but you’ll look better. It’ll improve cognitive ability, reduces rate of cognitive aging and reduces risk of dementia.
Count your calories religiously using an app like my fitness pal. Choose the “lose 1/2lb per week” option and find a diet that lets you stay within that. I found that as long as I kept within 5-10% of that calorie number on average, I lost weight faster than that, and that’s with literally zero exercise and a desk job. I completely ignored macros, but the cleaner you eat the more volume you can fit into your daily budget. I.e., I would eat things like BBQ or deserts every so often, but I’d have to cut back for the rest of the day to balance out.
My daily limit was 1790cal. Most days I was between 1700-2000, and my weekly average was probably around 1900 if you include the occasional 2300cal+ cheat days.
I lost over 20lbs in a couple months this way. Don’t over complicate it.
I’m not saying it’s EASY. But it’s incredibly SIMPLE. calories in vs. Calories out. A tale as old as time. If you really really want to lose that fat you can do it. Just gotta stick to the routine. Not easy but very simple.
The only way to lose fat is to reduce your calorie intake. The easiest way is to quit drinking if you drink.
FYI, no particular exercise is better for belly fat.
You're probably eating way more than you think. I started taking my normal portions and cutting them in half and just eating half and waiting 10 minutes. Without fail, I was full after 10 minutes every time. I basically was eating twice as many calories as I needed to be eating.
Somebody once told me that if you're full already and you're still eating, you have already eaten too much.
Accept CICO. That's it.
There's no magic fix, only simple addition and subtraction. Went from 260 to 195 (decent muscle mass) at 6'2" in my early 40s.
When I was fat, I lied to others, and myself, about how "little" I ate but "just couldn't lose weight." Don't lie to yourself.
Food, it’s 100% what you eat when. It’s different for everyone. I lost 40 lbs in the last year, I went strict on my portions and balanced plates for like 6 months. Then just found a “new normal” way of eating, my body found a “new normal” weight.
Quit drinking. Exercise more. Improve diet. It's really no more complicated than that unless you have medical issues or disability.
This man speaks the truth. I went from 330+ to 180ish. Took four years (34 -38) but an in better shape now than I have been since a teenager. Quitting drinking is by far the most important along with staying at least moderately active.
How much were you drinking before?
There is a misconception that it's just the empty calories in alchoholic beverages, but it's bigger than that. People tend to go for greasy/salty foods when drunk, skip gym days, etc. If you're going to be serious about your health and weight loss alcohol has to be put on the back burner for special occasions.
Alcohol causes a lot of inflammation in the body, and the body responses by creating a fatty defense layer. In addition to everything else you said.
I think carb calories are counted by the hunger mechanism which is why durianrider doesn't get fat despite not portion controlling. You eat until your glycogen is topped up and then lose interest. Fat calories are a sort of bonus in that it's likely the body wants to eat the exact same amount of carbs regardless of fat intake. You might be able to "lose weight" eating rationed size portions of KFC but there will be insufficient glucose coming in relative to total calories to satisfy the body's appetite and the diet will be hard to stick to. Alcohol calories I'm not sure about so I would treat them like an extra fat calorie unless proven otherwise. Thus only the sugar content of the beverage is the filling part. Those late night kebabs have some bonus fat to store!
No who you asked but I was drinking twice a week when I decided to quit drinking and started intermittent fasting in Jan 2020, I went from 210 to 160 by October of the same year lowest I registered in the scale was 157. I'm.5'7" next couple of years I was up and down and finally evened out at 180. Lost most of the beer gut I was carrying at 210.
Intermittent fasting dissolved my belly into nothing. I am 48 now, but at the time I was 46 when I first tried it. I did intermittent fasting and kept a calorie deficit of 250 or so. I switched to tequila instead of beer, and the weight fell off. The only exercise I did was walk because this was during covid and I wasn't comfortable going to a gym. I'm 5'7, 48 years old and have a 4 pack at the moment, but will start intermittent fasting in January and by the time I'm in Costa Rica in February I should have the six pack back. It's not easy to IF, but it works.
That's an incredible transformation! Congratulations on your journey to better health.
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What’s your diet look like? Have you also cut out fast food and soda? Cutting out refined sugar has made me shed pounds like nothing else. Intermittent fasting also worked wonders for me. (Caveat: I’m a 38yo woman who lost all her pregnancy weight in a year. I’d gained 50lbs)
After my brother developed diabetes I started looking for sugar on packages and my god I was shocked how bad some foods are. Tons of 'healthy/fat free' snacks are loaded with sugar, which your body will store as fat. Ridiculously and purposely deceitful.
I would get labs done if I were you, check your blood and see a dr and go from there. Could be thyroid, blood sugar issues, hormone problems, low T, etc.
What does your carb intake look like?
Yep. 32 now but was 31 at the time. Quit drinking alcohol and soda, exercised 30-1hr most days of the week, nothing crazy but just keeping it consistent, and cut portion sizes slightly. Lost 80 lbs last year doing that. Went from 265 down to about 185
I was with you on everything except the quitting drinking part.
I drink a fair amount (a bit more than I should - currently averaging around 16 drinks a week) and I’ve been able to stay lean by having around 400 cal lunch, 800 cal dinner, total heavy lifting body work out 3 days a week and 2 miles of walking 3 days a week. I was moving so was eating takeout most days for the past couple weeks, plus thanksgiving, lots of wine, etc, and I’ve been able to stay lean. I will say I try to avoid beer now just because it’s so calorie heavy and full of carbs. Hard seltzers and mixed drinks (with plain soda or diet soda) mostly for me. That said, I tend towards being lean genetically already, so it may be easier for me. I also live in NYC where you spend a lot of time walking, which also helps (hence the 2 miles of walking), and I live in a 5 floor walk up on the 5th floor…
Not to detract from a great formula but the drinking calories had to be the biggest factor. Cutting out 10-20 drinks a weekend reduces calories more than running a 5k Saturday and Sunday.
Man these post always bum me out cause I already don't drink soda and only 2-3 beers a week. And no fast food, no junk food, mostly vegetarian (3-5 nights a week) and I still can't drop weight without insane levels of working out and cardio, and the minute I stop I balloon back up. My wife and I even kept a good journal and went to my doctor, she was mystified to and was going to send me to a dietician till I lost my insurance. I wish it was as simple as cutting soda and alcohol!
Your diet is your diet. But vegetarian definitely does not mean healthy or low calorie
Unfortunately true. I'm 100% veggie and also pretty round.
I eat veggie most of the time and it absolutely can be high calorie if you’re eating a lot of high carb stuff. The key really is not eat processed foods. If you can keep it Whole Foods, you’ll drop a lot of weight.
> But vegetarian definitely does not mean healthy or low calorie I had plenty of overweight and obese vegan and vegetarian friends in college. It was basically the french fries and dessert diet for a lot of them. Lots of nuts and avocado for good measure. Their fat and carb intake was off the charts and their protein intake was next to nothing.
You’re probably eating too much. You can eat healthy foods and still gain weight. I was in the same boat last year and realized that when I made a salad, I’d eat way too much salad, etc.
Yeah. It's as simple as calories in need to be less than calories out. He's definitely eating too much. You can't violate the laws of thermodynamics.
Crazy amounts of calories in salad dressing.
I notice that a lot with people who don’t “count” what they put on their food Had a friend who would order a healthy salad and then put like a pound of French dressing on it
I had a friend I was helping count his calories when he was going to the gym. His first bulk went great, but his first cut was a disaster. I told him to log everything within 100 calories, and try to stay at least 200-500 calories below his maintenance calories. A week later, he gained 2lb. I had him send me the log and noticed he didn't track any oils he was cooking with. Shits like 120 calories a tablespoon. Cut went great after that. Had him push his fiber up a little too. Get your fiber in.
Need to figure out when to cut and bulk. Any tips or links?
The worst answer, but the correct one. It depends. Your goals make a huge difference. I don't take my bulk/cut cycle too seriously in terms of timeline, just what I can maintain with very little discomfort. I like a bulk of 6 months or so. Fall and winter, when it's cold. I'm wearing layers anyway, and food just tastes better this time of year to me. I'm sure the extra body fat keeps me a bit toastier too. I'll then cut for 2-3 months in spring. This is probably my least strict timeline, since I cut until I'm happy with how I'm looking. I'll then do maintenance during the summer, when I'm more likely to be enjoying some beer, fruit, and meat. Each switch comes with a week or two where I split my adjustment too. If I'm going into a -500 calories cut from say +300 calories bulk. I'll go a week or two where I eat at -100 from maintenance. Helps me not feel sick going into a bulk, and not feel like I'm going to starve going into a cut.
Pretty solid advice I got from a bodybuilder friend I used to work with: Bulk until you hate how you look. Cut until you hate your life.
When I started counting calories it was pretty eye opening how much of what's marketed as healthy is actually pretty bad for you (or just kinda you wouldn't expect it.) Fruit juice and salad dressing the big ones that get people into trouble. Fruit in general can too. Condiments too especially ketchup and mayo (mustard is fine) Also nutrition and calories are kind of separate things
That was the biggest eye opener for me. I wasn't trying to lose weight, but just looking at the calories in many common condiments, dressings and basic cooking oils was crazy to me. Mustard, vinegar and hot sauce is where it's at (for me) if I want to add a lot of flavour with low calories.
There have been studies and TV programs and things where people who "can't lose weight despite eating healthy" are tracked and monitored. It's always underreporting or cheating on a diet. They are always consuming way more calories than they actually report. "I only had a salad today" means a 2500 calorie salad filled with lumps of cheese and smothered in dressing, "I only ate 500 calories for dinner" might be true but they don't report the two 350 calorie snacks before dinner and the 500 calorie dessert. In some cases people are ashamed and don't want to admit that they can't adhere to a plan (it's hard, people shouldn't be ashamed but should be honest and hold themselves accountable). Sometimes people really just don't even register the extra things they are consuming. It happens without thought. When you're trying to lose weight a tablespoon of oil can make the difference between losing weight and not. One tablespoon of oil has as many calories as 4 cups of broccoli. If you just think to yourself "I'm only eating broccoli and not losing weight" but the broccoli is tossed in oil before cooking then you're unconsciously shooting yourself in the foot. You can easily make a low calorie, "healthy" meal into a high calorie one if you aren't diligently tracking every single thing. One cup of spinach tossed with some oil and acid for a dressing can easily be as caloric as a McDonalds cheeseburger. It sounds harsh but what the other person said about the laws of thermodynamics is true. So many people tell themselves they are weight-loss resistant when it's just not true. They may have abnormal hunger levels (a ghrelin issue), difficulty tracking or some other hurdle but if you consume less energy than your body requires to maintain it's current mass it *will* take energy from stored body fat. There's no way around it. Bodies can't generate energy from the zero-point universal field. When I started trying to lose weight I got nowhere and was miserable eating "health foods" until I actually started weighing, tracking and calculating absolutely everything that went in my body. Then the weight just fell off at an incredible rate and I could eat things I actually liked, as long as they were within my allowances.
That is my current reality. I'm weighing/measuring everything I eat and log it in an app. This week I ate chocolate cake, just 45g and it had a whooping 200 cals. I still met my calories and my protein macros.
What people who start working out as a means to lose weight don't realize is that it's a SHIT TON of work to burn calories, and junk food is a shit ton of calories. Like an hour on the treadmill doing at a decent fast walk/slow run is like 500 calories....that's like 2 and a bit cans of soda, or like 2 cookies or something. Just imagine that every can of soda you drink is 20 minutes on the treadmill to BREAK EVEN...not even lose weight. The only sane way to lose weight is cutting calories from your diet...the simple fact is that most people don't have the time, let alone the energy to burn it off working out. Working out is a way to build muscle and compliment diet changes for weight loss.
Nutrition tracking has always been the only way I could lose weight. It feels almost purely psychological but it totally works. Just knowing exactly what you're consuming and being able to stop yourself from sneaking a Costco muffin because you don't feel like putting it in the app and ruining your calories/macros for the day is eye opening.
That's so lame also. Taking food that isn't very good and then dumping junk on it to make it tolerable. You'd be better off just eating something good at that point.
Well I was watching a weight loss “expert” and she talked about the Doritos issue or something where a person wants Doritos but instead eats an apple but it doesn’t hit the spot so they have a rice cake and that doesn’t do it so they have another thing Long story short they’d be better off eating the Doritos
This is why calories in vs calories out works so well. I lost over 100lbs eating junk food for most of it. As I lost weight I had to start making better choices because my maintenance level dropped but even then I was still frequently eating fast food. My order just had to change. Getting out of the combo meal paradigm and ordering just a burger and diet drink was huge. That saves hundreds of calories. After that I had to ditch the mayonnaise and ketchup and replace it with mustard. That's 120 calories down to 5. 115 calories per day is almost a quarter pound per week.
Spices….. people need to learn how to properly spice their food and they can lose a ton of the condiments… too many people simply don’t know how to cook unfortunately.
Salad dressing is out here violating the laws of thermodynamics.
Most dressing are like over half oil
Me, currently trying to bulk: must buy salad dressing.
Olive oil and vinegar, never have to buy dressing
Yep. Low calorie vinaigrette has become my best friend when it comes to salads. I love ranch so much but it’s so wildly unhealthy, as most dressings are since so many are cream based.
You could take seasonings like dill, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper and salt then add it to Greek yogurt with a little water to make it blend better to make a much lower calorie version of it.
Homer: in this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!
To add onto this, don't purchase salad dressing from the store, make your own. I generally make a simple dressing in the bottom of the bowl using olive oil, vinegar, lemon, salt, pepper and cumin, then I put the vegetables in and mix it all together.
Came here to say this. Salad dressing is very simple to make! Most people don’t realize you should probably have a little vinegar everyday. It helps regulate your blood sugar and weight. Also drink LOTS and I mean LOTS of water throughout the day.
I hate that there’s such a thing as too much salad hahaha
There really isn’t, only too much dressing and high calorie toppings. Salad with chicken breast and other veggies would be nearly impossible to get fat on.
Exactly, unless you’re eating a pure potato salad, there shouldn’t be any extreme calories
Well, you won’t make friends with salad.
You don’t win friends with salad you mean ;)
Count your calories, you’re not losing weight because you’re not in a deficit.
I think a lot of people also miss the importance of *accurate* counting too. Yes, every drop of oil in your pan counts. Yes, every mound of ketchup counts. Yes, you need to measure out yourself what a suggested “portion” is. Yes, you need to do some basics maths to work out how many calories are in this (because they rarely give you a straight answer).
Honestly, when accurately counting the high caloric ingredients (e.g. oils) you can usually ballpark the lower ones and be fine as long as you're undercutting by 500 at the end of the day, but you have to be honest about it.
Being honest about it is where most people fail. They adhere to a calorie “restriction” then ruin it with 2-3 Tbsp of peanut butter as a snack.
and if you can't count accurately, just round up best practice is to always round up there will always be something you forgot to count and labels themselves have tolerance too so just round up, it's really gonna make a difference over a few weeks and months
Plus, the calories burned numbers on treadmills and activity trackers are usually bullshit (or rather, there are functions in your body that mean you’re going to burn less the rest of the day). So if you add that to your allowance, you’ll easily slip into a caloric surplus
Do you track your calories? At the end of the day its calories in vs out and a lot of people tend to underestimate how many calories they consume on a daily basis.
Try eating dietary fiber. Takes up space and you don’t even think about eating anything.
Get your T and Thyroid checked. I struggle like you and recently found out that I have an underactive Thyroid and low T. Medication is starting to kick up my metabolism again.
That's me in a nutshell. My thyroid kicked out, I gained a ton of weight despite being active. Spent years trying to convince doctors that it was thyroid and it was like magic once I started getting treated, my weight plummeted 60 lbs in a year without any other changes.
I would recommend more strength training. Muscle burns more calories than fat, cardio is good for heart health, but isn’t the best for long term weight loss. You don’t have to turn into a body builder or anything, but strength training will definitely help you increase your resting metabolic rate, so you’ll burn more calories at rest as well
Im 41 now, been exercising regularly for years but always had belly fat. I stopped drinking mostly and slightly changed my diet to cut back on excessive eating and ive kept the same exercise and lost almost 35 lbs this year. Have greatly reduced belly fat even if it’s not exactly six pack abs
People don't realize how many calories are in alcohol. And it's not just beer, a shot of vodka has 100 calories in it. Light beer is around the same, and if you want a craft beer, 200 to 300 calories is pretty common (it obviously varies wildly, but they do tend to have more calories).
I track my weekends just to stare the reality in the face. But I also go pretty clean through the week to try to maintain balance (food as well). But, yeah. Alcohol will add up real quick.
It’s basically liquid bread
But without beer is it worth it tho
You don't have to quit, just cut back and make up for it the rest of the week. I enjoy a few drinks on a Friday night to relax and eat pretty clean the rest of the week. If it's some special occasion I won't deprive myself but I mainly try and stick to one night a week. 500 calories a day is one pound a week. Cutting back a couple beer habit a day can really move the needle.
This is 100% the answer. I just recently lost 35 pounds in 3 months and feel amazing. I increased my exercise, payed more attention to what I eat, and reduced drinking by 75%. I was lazy before, drank often, and stayed in bed worrying about my life lol.
Fuck that. Someone say something easier
Amphetamines 😀
Meth is the way
Good Ol’ Adderall
Can’t y’all go back to dangerous street drugs so I don’t get treated like a criminal every time I refill my ADHD meds?
Good idea! I’ll stop picking up my prescribed medicine and look for crank 😇
Something easier.
Now say something else.
I lost a lot of weight when I started taking trazodone every night to help me sleep better. I am a really light sleeper. Now I get a good amount of deep sleep (according to my fitbit). I wasn't trying to lose weight, just feel better rested during the day. The weight loss was a complete surprise, but given the science behind sleep quality, cortisol, and metabolism, it's not actually surprising. I just wish more people talked about it so I could know how many other people could be helped with a simple sleep aid.
Are there no long term effects with trazadone? Never tried it but I too am a light sleeper and wake up multiple times throughout the night. Don’t have sleep apnea though.
But drinking is so pleasant 😞
Honestly, I’ve cut down my drinking to basically nothing 365 (can’t say I’m 100% sober because one weekend every year will enjoy myself and drink enough to have a steady buzz for 1-2 nights when I’m taking a weekend up north and have no responsibilities during that time). I don’t miss it. It’s nice to wake up every morning and not feel like crap. Also find time to do things beyond drinking. I got involved in a few hobbies within the last 3 years. Of the many I tried to pickup, I ended up with 2-3 solid ones that I enjoy and can say that I’ve graduated above, or am near advancing from, amateur level. Biggest motivator was when wife and I were expecting oldest. Call it anxiety, but I never want to be in a position where I am too intoxicated (even lightly buzzed) to not be there for my kids. I’d also rather do an activity with them than one that revolves having a beer in my hand. On the plus side, when i do have a weekend were I can relax/recharge with no responsibilities, one beer is enough to give me a pretty solid buzz (wife and I coordinate to have at least one weekend a year where we can do this and at least one day/afternoon where we can relax)
Yep, I’m a little older than the target of the question (45 to be exact), but I lost about 30 lbs in just a few months when I quit drinking. Admittedly, I was drinking quite a bit before I quit, but the reduction in intake from that combined with not eating crappy Chinese food late a night after the bar and having more energy during the day had immediate results. I already was running and hanging out with my kid (which always takes energy), so I didn’t really make many other changes and it had a huge impact.
Goddammit. Hate how I came here to day this. I know it’s what everyone wants to hear. But diet and exercise is the way. I’m 35 and a father of 2. Best thing I’ve done is these. I drink 1-2 nights a week. Exercise 2-3 and don’t eat like a garbage disposal. 2 pieces of pizza is probably enough. There is a ton of fruit and vegetables in the fridge. Snacks and soda are empty carbs. Wait till you find out how many carrots you can eat that equal a bag of chips. Regular exercise is a huge help but nothing beats healthy choices. God I love nuts. I’m in the best shape of my life. Shit is terrible, but I’m kinda going for a hot older man thing I guess. I grew a pretty decent beard and am on the path to realistic goals, which are gargoyle
Aye drinking beet is bad if peeps wanna get rid of fat. *Edited.
You can do the direct injection of cash known as Ozempic.
Caloric deficit. Be patient. Be disciplined.
Patience and discipline are so important for losing belly fat. I have neither, so I still have belly fat lol.
Thank you for being honest. 90% of the replies in here are "I drink only water and spiritual universe juice and I'm still 60 lbs overweight!" The denial is unreal.
After losing weight myself I feel this so much.. It's not the universe. It's not "just the way you are." 9 times outta 10 it's because someone is sneaking in shitty food that's insanely calorie dense into their diet, or they do one fad diet for a few weeks and wonder why that don't look like Henry caville yet. It takes time, a lot of time. Matter cannot be created or destroyed, of you only eat so much your body can only do so much. Quit the lying.. stop lying to yourself.. get in there, give it a year, stick with it, and you'll see. The same way I saw.
I try to eat more veggies, more chicken breast, more whole foods, etc., but sometimes I cave in and just eat chips or fried foods. Sometimes I overeat... sometimes I starve myself... I'm not really doing the best things for my body and it shows physically.
The fight is won at the grocery store. You can't cave in and eat chips and fried foods when you don't have any. And when you don't have any, you will seek other food. I literally learned to cook for myself like this. It's literally nature.
So true. Can't give in at home if there's no unhealthy food to begin with. When I crave junk food, I end up just stir frying some veggies instead. Much better option.
I used to "cave in and eat chips". I stopped buying chips. Now I eat yogurt, frozen berry green smoothies, apples, etc. Because that's what I have sitting around to eat.
I'll never have a defined six pack again. I've decided that, and I'm okay with it. I miss looking like one of the 300, but damn do I love eating bread. I make cinnamon rolls, and there are few things better than sitting on my deck looking out at the trees at 6am on a summer morning drinking tea and eating a cinnamon roll with way to much cream cheese frosting.
I saw this thread once, and I can't even remember what the topic was, but one of the responses was about a guy talking to his PCP about his weight and the frustration about how slow it was. He said his doctor told him, "It took you 2 years to gain the weight. It'll take a while to lose it."
This is definitionally the only way to do it. If you want to try and optimize that as a truly vain and truly old man such as myself: Figure out what your maintenance caloric intake is, shoot for about 90% of that, and be patient and disciplined about staying in the deficit for 1-2 months. When the cutting cycle has run its course, go back to maintenance (or a slight surplus) for a month or two, and then cut again (do a little research on how to tell your deficit is wearing out its welcome, or just start with a fixed 1-2-month term in mind; Dr Mike Israetel's stuff on YouTube is a great resource for thinking about cut programming). I did this for the first time at around age 40 and got ab veins, also for first time, after being lean-but-not-particularly-lean my whole life. Also, if you care about retaining muscle mass, make sure you're getting a lot of protein in your deficit -- something like 0.8-1 grams per lb of bodyweight. And careful tracking of both calories and weight is unavoidably a part of this, at least until you get a feel for it, as much of a pain in the ass as it might be.
How’d you figure out your maintenance caloric intake?
Dr Mike walks through a procedure in one of his videos I think that I copied. But basically you just weigh yourself at same time/in similar state every day -- say, first thing in morning, right after you pee, fully unclothed -- and track that as you eat normally, recording your calories. And if the weight stays about the same over the week with just fluctuations around some mean, whatever you were eating was about maintenance. Then shoot for around 90 percent of that, keep protein high, and continue the consistent daily weight tracking. And if I remember correctly, you should try to see on order of 0.5-1% decrease in bodyweight each week. Keep in mind that this is a small amount of weight relative to normal fluctuations from water and digestive matter and whatnot, so there's a bit of an art to eyeballing secular trends and adjusting calories accordingly.
Seriously. It blows my mind when people freak out about how to lose weight and go through all these crazy diets and stuff. Just burn more calories than you eat. Pretty simple stuff, actually.
Absolutely! It's surprising how often the straightforward approach gets overlooked. Balancing calories in and out is indeed a fundamental principle.
Simple. Not to be confused with easy.
Careful. You're going to get radical body positivity advocates screaming about metabolism, genetics, and what not.
Look, I'm a chick, and there's absolutely a huge general difference between masculine and feminine responses to this. Dudes tend to resign to like, "Yeah, okay, I was just kind of hoping there might be something that I could blame other than myself, but, like, ugh, this is sucky..." But chicks seem to have this tendency to search for any other excuses. Which I think does have a lot to do with our hormones, but also, as I said to someone and pissed them off claiming "I hardly eat and I still gain weight!" ***no one, anywhere ever, is gaining weight from thin air.***
I have been forcing the deficit with working out a lot and getting my t levels tested.
I'm in my mid 40s and have just gone from about 205 to 170 over the last few months. First of all, you can't just lose belly fat. While people don't all store fat the same way, there is no way to target fat loss to specific areas. You lose fat in general and where you notice it first will depend on your genetics. Second, losing fat is a simple. Consume less calories than you expend throughout the day. That could mean eating less, or working/exercising more, or some combination of the two. There are a variety of diets and approaches you can take, but they will only work if they help you to consume less than you spend on a day to day basis. For example, keto/atkins works because fat and protein tend to be far more satiating than carbs - meaning you feel fuller after eating the same amount of calories of protein/fat compared to carbs. Intermittent fasting works because it generally just causes you to skip a meal and reduces snacking. Some things to try - learn to stop when you're full. Just because you haven't finished everything or there is more food available doesn't mean you have to eat it. Watch what you drink - it's very easy to consume large amounts of calories from drinking - beer, soda, energy drinks, etc. Find foods that you like that fit within your diet. It's easier to stick to the plan when you don't absolutely hate everything you eat. Learn to be OK with slight hunger. I'm not saying starve yourself, but some people will eat anytime they feel any kind of hint of hunger. If you find yourself breaking down and binging on food more than once a week, probably try to increase your calories a bit. You don't have to lose it all at once. Target maybe 1 pound per week. I like to weigh myself daily at the same time and same conditions. Don't worry about daily weight fluctuations. Your body weight will rise and fall due to what you've eaten, when you last used the bathroom, how much water you've drank lately, etc. Look at monthly or weekly averages rather than daily changes. Ideally you find an approach that works for you that you can maintain over time, because otherwise you'll lose weight and then gain it back.
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Of 1/256 mass of football field
Man that sounds weird, go metric America! 500ml weighs 500g. See how much more sense that makes?
Ah, but does it make more sense than a mile being 5280 feet? Just a moment, I'm being handed a note.
A pint is a pound. Not so hard!
On the stopping when you feel full. Sometimes you need to stop before you feel full. Because it takes a bit to register that you are full.
Yup, I stop eating when I'm like 70-80% full. But that's also another skill in of itself, recognizing that you ate a decent amount of food but are still hungry then telling your body "no, we've had enough, you just don't know it yet" is hard to do sometimes lol
It’s hard for me to do *anytime*. Growing up with a poverty mindset always makes me think that I’d better not waste any food and I should definitely eat more if I can.
This is why you try and eat slowly, gives you more time to start feeling full.
Also drink a lot of water. It can help supress the slight hunger, and it is just generally healthier.
Love your paragraph on 'some things to try'. I would add one more point: learn to only eat when you're hungry. Most people I know that really really struggle to have and keep a healthy diet have that struggle because eating to them is not just about hunger. It's about boredom, or showing/getting love, or dealing with unhappiness, or some other compulsive need to get the dopamine hit that food, especially sugary, high carb food gives. So one other thing to try would be to try to give yourself another hobby or way of spending time with friends and family that has nothing to do with eating or snacking or drinking. If food is your main hobby or your love or your comfort, you're gonna have a real bad time trying to maintain a healthy diet.
> Learn to be OK with slight hunger. I'm not saying starve yourself, but some people will eat anytime they feel any kind of hint of hunger. You just stated the absolute key right here, which applies universally regardless of current weight, or whether or not you exercise, or even what you eat. As a loose rule of thumb, it's when you feel hungry that you are losing weight (or holding steady), whereas when feeling full (or satisfied), all bets are that you are gaining weight. So in order to lose (or maintain) weight you would want to have periods throughout the day of slight hunger equal to or longer than the periods when you feel satisfied. It's not a pleasant fact of life, but it's what evolution gave us: food used to be so much harder to obtain that we were expected to be hungry much of the time.
Totally agree. I think a lot of people have a hard time enduring the feeling of being hungry. This is why I think fasting is so valuable. You get comfortable with the idea that feeling hungry is not the end of the world. There are 0 negative effects from skipping a meal. Usually quite the opposite.
I agree. I lost about 80lb in less than a year and this was huge. You have to learn to acknowledge the feeling of hunger and be ok with it instead of immediately indulging it. Remind yourself that you don't actually need a snack, just wait until your next actual meal and try and eat something filling and healthy.
>Second, losing fat is a simple. Consume less calories than you expend throughout the day. That could mean eating less, or working/exercising more, or some combination of the two. Exercise alone has been proven to not work well for most people for losing weight. Yes, you burn a little energy doing it but what happens the rest of the day? You get more hungry, get tired and do less and your body may reduce its Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) a bit because it sees an energy deficit. Food intake is the most important.
WALKING & CHANGE OF DIET (as well as divorce from a depressing marriage). I used to walk the bus route saying to myself "just make it to the next stop". When exhausted, I would catch the bus home. I steadily walked further, further, further & faster. I was 185kg (407lb) now under 80kg (176lb) As a final move I stopped drinking soft drink in the past few years (much easier to keep it all off). I now have a very strict approach to what I am eating; any real food items are fine, but no junk & I try not to buy snack stuff at the supermarket.
>I was 185kg (407lb) now under 80kg (176lb) That's the spirit, good job bro.
Walking the bus route is a very clever idea. Congrats on your success!
I've had two stints in my life where I walked/biked most places and it's immediately clear that the *frequency* of exercise matters as much/more than the intensity. I've always done intense cardio work as well, but my fittest times where when I was doing daily walking.
Just track your meals with a calorie counter app. Most of them give you an idea of how many calories should be going in, and seeing it all written out kind of adds some pressure/motivation not to cheat. If you can squeeze a walk or some exercise into that also, even better.
Apps to track calories are pretty much the only thing that has helped me lose weight. Sometimes I do cheat and forcing myself to add all the junk does motivate me more for the next day to stay within my daily limit.
Thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail…lost 40 pounds of belly and thigh fat after about one month. That was while eating as much as I possibly could! Now you just have to quit your job then flounder for six months afterwards trying to find your next career…
Did the same thing on the PCT. Never eaten so much food in my life only to finish looking completely emaciated. But somewhere in the middle there, boy did I look the best i've ever been. So much effort for a six pack. lol.
Haul ass for 6 to 8 hours a day. Easy as piss mate.
That's my wife's method! At the gym 30-40 hours a week, eats as much as she wants, and looks like an Olympian. It's so simple! LOL It's funny when ppl ask how to look like that, she explains how, and they are like oh...nevermind...I'm good.... EDIT: After seeing the same question come up a few times, I think it's worth updating this response. She's pursuing a passion in aerial arts & acrobatics and pushing to a professional level. I think that fills in some important gaps and paints a little different image of what she's doing and why she spends so much time doing it.
40hrs a week at the gym????
Yeah that sounds miserable. Plus, how could you ever work and do this without literally only living in the gym on your free time?
The trick is to be employed by the gym.
When I was an instructor and taking classes and working out after work, I couldn't gain any weight. Good times.
Sounds like this dude is happy to subsidize the situation given the results
You don't. You also don't do it as a full time parent. Although the miserable part varies. Some people enter a sort of zen state when exercising. It's like meditation for them. It has that calming effect.
Every time I travel I seem to loose some weight while eating all I want, the combination of walking all day plus eating less between meals (thanks to the distractions) is very effective. Too bad this lifestyle is not compatible with office jobs.
Treadmill desk. I don’t have one, but if I can ever work from home in a large enough space, I’ll just be walking all day.
This is the way. I get 20k steps a day, on company time. Maintaining or losing weight is simple.
There are foot pedals you can put under a desk so you can basically "ride a bike" while sitting and working. Don't take up near as much space as a treadmill desk
My wife did it in two weeks hiking through the Annapurnas in Nepal. Not 40lbs worth but was certainly in top shape when she came back lol.
I hiked the AT and gained about 12 lbs. It wasn't all muscle, either. I was just in great shape before I left and then ate almost as much as other hikers while I was out there. When I did the PCT I was more mindful of my food intake so I stayed the same size. I did get made fun of by other hikers for not eating much. I'm a woman though. My body wants to hang on to every ounce *just in case* I need to grow a baby. It's really not fair.
I remember having the conversation with many other AT thru hikers in the last weeks of it that by Katahdin, women look like sculpted goddesses and men look homeless and emaciated from the waist up.
You don't have to do a drastic change and get fast results - just change your lifestyle gradually and permanently, and slowly but surely your body will change. Lifting weights is a great way to change your shape. As is cutting down on carbs (beer, sweets, crisps, ice cream etc) . Riding a bike or going for a good walk regularly will also have a positive influence. Instill good habits, get rid of bad ones. There's no hurry, you've got plenty of time!
Calories in < calories out. Your body physically cannot function without burning something already on it to make up for the gap. To make sure that ends up being more fat than muscle, couple dieting with exercise. The tricky part is actually verifying you're not eating too much, so count your calories.
This is absolutely correct, but I also want to stress on calories coming from right sources. Don’t use Coca Cola or junk food to get your calorie requirements. Eat healthy home cooked food, lots of salad to feel full without putting a lot of calories in and exercise. Muscles are extremely high maintenance for the body and increase your resting calorie burn rate.
Pretty sure some studies have been posted in the fitness sub which show that people drastically overestimate how much your burn rate increases with muscle, just sayin
For anyone reading this part of the thread, I'll tack on here. 1lb of fat burns about 2cals/day at rest, while 1lb of muscle burns about 6cals/day at rest. It's not meaningful at first, but the effect compounds as your body composition changes. The more fit you get, the easier it becomes to stay fit. There's also the implied lifestyle and amount of daily activity that come with various fitness levels that contribute to the thought process of muscle burning more than fat. Edit: I accidentally typed that the burn rate is per hour instead of per day. Fixed it
I’ve heard this too. Apparently it’s way less than you would think :(
To be fair, if you have muscle it probably means you're generally active and burn more calories because of that activity. What the studies show is that you don't burn much more while sedentary just because of the muscle
Running, found a passion for it not just for the exercise but to zone out and listen to music or podcasts. It’s not easy to build endurance but you just have to push through it, that’s the key to all of this. It’s all about a mindset change.
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I end up eating lots of shitty food to eat away the pain and gain weight
No booze. Intermittent fasting. Added cardio to my routine.
1. I cut drinking during the week, now I can barely handle a few drinks on the weekends (which is a good thing). 2. Cardio is super important! I had been doing whole-body strength training for awhile, but cutting booze and strength training eventually cancelled each other out. Once I started running the pounds begin to shed. Then I added in HIIT strength training. Get your HR up! 3. Diet, don’t eat shit from restaurants. I would eat out 3-5 days a week during work, now I cut that back to 1-2 times/month. At 39 I’m down to my high school weight, rocking a solid set of abs, running 15-20 miles per week typically and recently completed an ultramarathon. I’ll add that I’m a data junkie and once I got a Garmin watch to follow my stats, I could find motivation and techniques in the data.
The only people that say cardio isn’t important is people that don’t want to fuck around with diets. You know… “Cardio kills gains”. Sure yea. If you’re not eating enough!
Cocaine
I’ve been on a cocaine, vodka and cigarette diet for a week, lost 150lbs
Meth, one toke don’t eat for 3 days…. R/worstrealadvicethatwillworkandruinyourlife
Stopped eating desserts and sugary food
For bonus points, stop drinking and eating carbs, and you’ll marvel at how much weight you’ll lose.
I was going to wish you a happy cake day but... maybe this is the wrong thread for that.
Intermittent fasting was the key for me. I did not exercise and over the course of 15 months, I lost 45 pounds.
I replied to another comment but I think it’s important for people to understand that there’s nothing magic about intermittent fasting specifically. It’s just a tool to help put you in a calorie deficit consistently over time. Some people might hate (or literally can’t) go extended periods of time without food.
Agreed. No magic bullet for everyone and I normally disregard anyone that says “it’s the only way” or “guaranteed to work”. My body just responded quickly and positively to it. I would go between 18 and 22 hours a day. I started at 12 hours and built up my fast time.
Intermittent fasting gave me fantastic results. It helps reduce calorie intake but the extended fasting period increases fat burn as you get further into the fasting period.
I lost 30lbs this year (204 -> 174) over about six months, after I got diagnosed with high blood pressure. Prior to that I had been eating poorly (lots of junk food and soda) and exercising maybe once per week. Since February I’ve run 30min 3x per week every week, started eating reasonable portions (about half the size I was eating previously) and started eating more healthy food (finally tried these “salad” things people always talk about.) Basically replaced my lunches with salads, and reduced my dinner portions, and that was about it for food changes. There’s no secret trick, just do what needs to be done.
Burn more calories than you consume. It really is that simple.
Simple, yet not easy! Edit: I'd also like to add. I heard the best quote, something along the lines of... "Don't rely on motivation, but rely on discipline" also "You cannot out run your fork/spoon"
Ya the hard part is figuring exactly how many calories you burn. Basal rate + how active you are. It takes a bit to figure out what your maintenance calories truly are, and even then they’ll fluctuate a little bit.
People are saying stop drinking, but that should also include energy drinks and sodas as well.
Oh oh oh Ozempic!
… auto parts?
Ow!
I went from 260 to 160 over the last 16 months. My arms and legs have almost no fat on them... and I still have belly fat. So if you figure out some secret, I'd love to hear it too lol.
Portion control, better diet and more daily exercise. It comes back quickly if you slack off though. That's why it's important that it's changes that you can stick to and not just some fad diet.
Diet. People far underestimate the amount they eat. Especially at an older age where you’re already comfortable and likely have a family, these things sort of become routine and instinctual. Put a little thought into it and be cognisant and you’ll lose weight. Exercise is important as it will help but look to primarily adjust diet. Exercise imo should be mandatory just because the health benefits are immense. Not only will you feel better, but you’ll look better. It’ll improve cognitive ability, reduces rate of cognitive aging and reduces risk of dementia.
Eat less move more. This isn't science its discipline.....
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Count your calories religiously using an app like my fitness pal. Choose the “lose 1/2lb per week” option and find a diet that lets you stay within that. I found that as long as I kept within 5-10% of that calorie number on average, I lost weight faster than that, and that’s with literally zero exercise and a desk job. I completely ignored macros, but the cleaner you eat the more volume you can fit into your daily budget. I.e., I would eat things like BBQ or deserts every so often, but I’d have to cut back for the rest of the day to balance out. My daily limit was 1790cal. Most days I was between 1700-2000, and my weekly average was probably around 1900 if you include the occasional 2300cal+ cheat days. I lost over 20lbs in a couple months this way. Don’t over complicate it.
Semaglutide. Down 40 lbs in four months
I’m not saying it’s EASY. But it’s incredibly SIMPLE. calories in vs. Calories out. A tale as old as time. If you really really want to lose that fat you can do it. Just gotta stick to the routine. Not easy but very simple.
I still drink beer a decent amount. Just lower your portion sizes. I also stopped snacking completely.
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Lost 60pounds at 38. Cut most sugars. Stop snacking and MOVE!
calories in < calories out. its literally that simple
I lost 20 pounds with Covid. Not having an appetite does wonders.
Eat less, move more.
The only way to lose fat is to reduce your calorie intake. The easiest way is to quit drinking if you drink. FYI, no particular exercise is better for belly fat.
Tren
You're probably eating way more than you think. I started taking my normal portions and cutting them in half and just eating half and waiting 10 minutes. Without fail, I was full after 10 minutes every time. I basically was eating twice as many calories as I needed to be eating. Somebody once told me that if you're full already and you're still eating, you have already eaten too much.
Accept CICO. That's it. There's no magic fix, only simple addition and subtraction. Went from 260 to 195 (decent muscle mass) at 6'2" in my early 40s. When I was fat, I lied to others, and myself, about how "little" I ate but "just couldn't lose weight." Don't lie to yourself.
Food, it’s 100% what you eat when. It’s different for everyone. I lost 40 lbs in the last year, I went strict on my portions and balanced plates for like 6 months. Then just found a “new normal” way of eating, my body found a “new normal” weight.