Asklemmy

Went vegan.

Lost 10kg, was pretty worried, got 8 back

100% calorie counting, NO 'extra' exercise. Lost 30 lb in 30 weeks just by being ~500 cal negative every day.

Don't drink calories, skip breakfast, and cutting out obvious 'junk' made it rather easy once I got past the first 4 weeks of willpower & adjustment.

that's it, nothing fancy. (40yr old male)

I used to struggle majorly with weight. Went on a pretty strict 20gm keto cut in about 2016 and dropped form 200lbs to 155lbs. Since then I've just settled around 160-170lbs. Whenever I notice I'm getting a bit heavy I just go back on Keto for 6 weeks or so and I'll be back down. Keto for me has a real appetite suppressing effect, so I'll usually only eat dinner and nothing else except a couple of coffees through the day. This all sounds very difficult to someone who hasn't done it, but I was shocked how easy it became after a week or two. You cut a lot of bloat and water weight in the first few weeks, so it's really rewarding looking at the scales day after day. Once you've done it and realise how easy it is, I find there's a lot less anxiety around weight.

Cutting snacking, calorie dense foods, and counting caloiries.

Calories in/calories out is the only thing that works long term. You dont go on a diet, you change how you eat permanently.

I keep bread in the freezer so i dont snack on it. I only have a small desert. Measure portions until you have a good eye for it, etc.

Working out to burn calories is unsustainable for the majority of people.

Stop drinking soda and alcohol at random. They are loaded with empty calories. You can easily drink 600-1000 calories a day with soda if you have a couple of glasses with meals and snacks.

In 2012 I went from 245 to 170 in about 6 months using keto. Straight up keeping net carbs below 20 was enough to get me to 200 where I plateaued for a few weeks. After that I started calorie restriction to 1800 (as a 30ish M) and that got me to 170. My 30ish wife had to restrict to 1400 calories to hit 140 on keto. We allowed ourselves up to 1 low carb drink a day and that seemed to help keeping water weight off and avoiding plateaus.

The nice thing about keto is hunger is much weaker without carbs driving the insulin cycle.

After losing all that, I stopped counting calories but kept my carbs at or below 30 net a day and maintained my weight no problem. I also started biking and got down to 158 which was too low for my frame so I upped protein and started lifting. That got me leveled off around 175 and looking good.

I held that for 8 years until 2020. I started night school, moved states, and got a new job and went back to standard diet due to stress and time constraints. I gained ten pounds a year even trying to limit calories and finally said enough is enough and got back on Keto this month. Losing weight again no problem, I plan to be back below 180 by my camping trip on Memorial Day.

From 2013 to 2017 I lost 60 pounds and I've kept it off since.

I tried everything to lose that fat.

I've tried at different times: keto, calorie counting, intermittent fasting, low fat, low carb, Soylent, cutting alcohol, high fiber, if it fits your macros, power lifting, CrossFit, running, vegan, vegetarian, carnivore, and Renaissance periodization.

What's actually worked consistently for losing and keeping it off? Simple. Intermittent fasting 20/4 with low carb during the week, free cheat weekends, and no alcohol ever. With that protocol I can control my weight to the pound, consistently, and I've held it there for over 5 years.

It's such a great feeling to be totally in control of it.

I follow a simple diet called "half". I eat a half portion of whatever I'd like. I don't eat any better or worse, just less of it. Did you know a frozen burrito has 300+ calories? Eat one, not two. Portion controls are essential, don't get a tub of ice cream, get a box of little ice creams, and then eat one instead of gobbling two or more. Giant bowl of pasta? Half now, half goes in the fridge for tomorrow, instead of packing my gut full.

I probably cheat enough that I'm getting 2/3 or 3/4 of my full calorie intake, but it's good enough that I've lost 30 lbs in a couple years, I'm not putting it back on, and it's required no real hardship.

I went from 217->173 and have stayed in that range for 4 years. I’m 5’10” / M / 43years

Short answer: high protein / adequate fat keto with skipping breakfast (aka 16:8 intermittent fasting)

I tried it for weightloss, and immediately had health benefits within 36 hours of switching over. I’m never going back. I feel 10 years younger. Brain fog lifted, joint pain gone, more energy to move and do things, more patience and clarity at work and home. Hunger is a signal now and I’m never hangry.

It’s also just not that hard. I eat a ton of awesome meals full of chicken and roasted veg, bbq meats I smoke, steaks, omelets, huge salads. Life is good and I feel good.

Measured everything I ate and put it into a calorie counter app. Ate whatever I wanted, but if I wanted to eat (or drink) it, I had to measure it and put it in the app.

I tried not to go over the recommended calorie amount, and if I did, I did some exercise that the app would put me under the calorie amount for the day.

I had it set to the slowest weight loss amount (something like 0.5lbs per week?), but lost weight faster than that.

It helped me improve my diet, get a better understanding of what I was eating, helped me get better in tune with my "fullness", and got me drinking more water.

Overweight and obesity are extremely complex disorders, that combines genetic predisposition, changes in hormonal levels and horrible obesogenic environment that we have nowadays. There is no simple answer on how to lose weight as it depends on multiple factors too - your home and work environment, availability of stores with fresh products, your medical history, your goals in general. What is working well for one person, may not be ideal for others or even sometimes dangerous (depends on other comorbidities).

Most important part is not just to lose weight, but do it safely and maintain the weight loss. For that you need a whole lifestyle change, that is why it is so hard for many people. The major rule is: permanent dietary changes needed for a weight loss and regular exercises needed for maintaining the result.

My advise (if you are in the US) - find an obesity clinic with obesity board-certified physician, discuss all your concerns and develop a plan what will work specifically for you. It is pretty well covered by insurances and you will always have a specialist who can answer your questions and help to overcome any barriers in the future.

And remember we all are just internet strangers, take all our advices with healthy skepticism.

I know people say you can't lose weight with exercise, that diet controls your weight and exercise your health, but personally I guess I eat about the same amount all the time on average, because increasing activity (except for weight lifting) either on purpose or accidentally, has always been the factor most related to my wright. I'll note that I haven't been overweight so YMMV, but I have been hugely pregnant several times.

Weight lifting makes me gain weight but stay about the same size, which is also a good result. But anything else - walking to work instead of driving, jogging couple times a week, aerobic dance, those will drop my weight the most, the quickest, and without dieting (which isn't good for me mentally).

Naltrexone and then became vegan. It's AMAZING.

Edit; should clarify I am not taking naltrexone for weight loss, it's for an anxiety disorder, and it's a side effect. It made me loathe the taste of animal products and I have almost no appetite, but bitch is SKINNAY.

I tried to do a bunch of small things. No single thing was the key.

• started drinking my coffee black
• drink more water, and drink water instead of other things
• I take the stairs instead of elevator/escalator whenever possible
• I try not to eat seconds at dinner
• "Real" exercise (like running, rowing, etc.) every other day, but if I can squeeze in extra ones, (e.g., 2 days in a row), I go for it
• If I'm not up for real exercise, I'll go for a walk
• intermittent fasting in the mornings, so often no breakfast, but not necessarily every day
• No snacking after 19:00
• At restaurants, if 2 options look good, go for the one with fewer calories

There are probably more, but those are the kinds of habits we're talking about.

Also important: if you don't stick to all habits, don't beat yourself up about it.

With the above, I was able to get from a high of 235 lbs down to around 180. I'm a bit more than that right now, but pretty close still.

Cico, exercise, good sleep, and a solid reason to lose

I've seen a few people recommending calorie counting here but haven't seen anyone mention Macrofactor, which seems weird considering how often I see people recommending Kagi. I draw the parallel because, while it's a paid product, I find it significantly better than the competition.

I started using it at the start of the year and have had steady progress. Foremost, it is extremely snappy and easy to log food. The database is fairly expansive without having poor quality user submissions. The real win of the app is the feedback loop. Rather than estimating calories expended using formulas meant to be accurate across a population (but not necessarily accurate to each person), it uses your calorie intake data and your weight data to derive your expenditure.

This, to me, helps reduce the stress of tracking significantly. Reason being, if you habitually do not track something like small bites during cooking or condiments, the calculation will take it into account and reduce your calorie target accordingly.

It also doesn't take into account data from activity trackers. Instead, your exercise is essentially smoothed over the following weeks. It helps psychologically to break from "I exercised so I get a treat" mentality, where you 1: immediately eat back whatever you've burned (or more) and 2: are telling yourself a reward for good behavior is calorie-dense food.

The website has a lot of data driven articles.

It also has a bunch of neat graphs. Anyway. Would recommend it. Obviously there's a LOT of different ways to lose weight, but for me it starts with understanding what I'm putting in my body. Can't outrun a bad diet.

When I started wfh, I started eating more snacks, smaller meals (or not finishing after I was full), walking a lot while listening to podcasts (I had given up driving for taking rides hares before that was suddenly a danger).

Today, I live in a place that doesn't have a lot of natural beauty (downtown of my city) so walking sucks. I have a car again. And I work in the office 2-3 days per week. I have regained the weight.

I stopped eating ice cream. Still not sure why that did it, I didn't think I was eating that much. 70lbs down.

Use a calorie counting app like lose it. Log everything you eat. It's very tedious at first but pretty soon you get really good at judging how many calories are in things. Don't stop logging! Track your weight. When you hit plateaus zoom out on the time scale and look at your trend line going down and feel good about yourself.

The trick is being honest with yourself. There are no free calories. Those 2-3 little cookies you had at work? They count. The extra scoop of rice? That counts. Most people have no concept of how many excess calories they're really taking in.

Over COVID lockdown my wife and I both gained 10-15 pounds and I was already a good 20 pounds over where I wanted to be. We both started this and never stopped. I lost 40 pounds in about 9 months (230 to 185) , she lost 20, 155 to 134, and we've both kept it off for the last three years. We log all our meals and we exercise. Exercise becomes rewarding because burning extra means you can cheat! Did you bike twenty miles today? HAVE YOU A FUCKIN DONUT THEN!

Keto!

For me to keep it off was the challenge. I Started by working out how much I needed to eat for maintenance, through calculators and counting my calories for a couple of weeks.

Then I just brought a small deficit of a couple hundred cals, and increased exercise; making sure to go for a walk each day, started lifting weights at the gym.

Now im halfway to my weight goal. But it was all about setting the habits and keeping them going, turning down extra cake in the office or having a smaller lunch to balance everything out, now I dont have the same cravings I used to. Its been a slow year but I am happy with it.

Not a method I'd ever recommend to anybody but depression did it. Just stopped eating, like, almost entirely, had no appetite whatsoever, would force myself to eat at least something around dinner time, around 50g of carbs (when dry) like pasta, rice or noodles. Drank tea during the day for some caffeine. Combined with some exercise - started walking then running about 5k every few days.

Things got a bit more normal after a while and just kind of went with watching calories. Mostly just kept an eye on carbs - no more than 100g per day, used less fat or oil in cooking, picked slightly (but not excessively) leaner cuts of meat, more veggie dishes, skimmed milk, no sugary drinks. Never was one for eating breakfast, my day would normally be some kind of lunch time thing like a couple of crumpets with some jam, an afternoon snack - usually rice cakes, japanese-style crackers, pickled stuff (gherkins, onions, sauerkraut) then dinner as I mentioned above. There was a few brands of ice cream that did low calorie versions I would buy for dessert, or I would have fat-free yoghurt and a couple of squares of chocolate.

I found this pretty easy to do during covid (started this all maybe mid 2020). It was easy to hide the fact you were eating strangely if people aren't aware. The bit that I found (and still find) hardest is the intention to start or cut portion sizes. I never intended to do it but I found that when I stopped eating because I had no appetite, it was like a kind of reset that allowed me to build up to a more appropriate diet. I can't say I think this is a good idea for a whole host of reasons but that is what happened to me.

I replaced sugar with date sirop
I'm eating less transformed food and fast food
Lot of sport between 5 and 30 km of running + walk a day
No change in portions

I see a lot of exercise reccomended ITT, but just remember that it takes an hour to "burn" 300 calories walking, but under a minute to eat a donut. Dieting is your battle. Also, doing a little exercise (5 min walk) everyday that you can keep yourself doing consistently is WAYY more important than the 2 hour gym sesh you hit twice then get demotivated and never do again

(This is coming from someone with no experience losing weight, so take it with a grain of salt)

Better eating habits. More physical activity. There are no magic tricks.

Intermittent fasting and A LOT of physical exercise - running and cycling mostly, with some longer walks and hiking. By "a lot" I mean every day at least one activity. One day something more vigorous, then the next something light (a walk in most cases)

Eating less sugar, fat and carbs. More protein. Exercising frequently, if you don’t like the gym find something else. Swimming for example is great fun and very gentle on an overweight body.

I stopped drinking alcohol and soda and drastically cut down my milkshake consumption. I've lost 50 pounds in the past year and still going down.

I found exercise that I actually wanted to do. For me, this started out as cycling. I enjoyed being able to go places and see things. I used to just cycle casually with my family but when the COVID lock downs happened, I would go on 30+ mile bike rides. It was nice to get out, see things and the roads were pretty empty around me so I could go just about anywhere.

The biggest problem with that around here is that it gets really cold during the winter so I started doing a combination of cardio, hand weights and basic exercises like pushups, etc to just get my heart rate going and sweat a bit. I do have an indoor bike trainer but I don't enjoy that quite as much because it's just sort of boring compared to being out and seeing scenery.

I was sort of stuck at this weight of around 190, which by the BMI charts is a few pounds overweight for my height. This last fall, I was challenged by my sister in law, along with her other siblings, to run a half marathon. I used to play soccer and I used to run for a good while in my 30s - it's how I stayed in shape back then and was able to lose a good bit of weight. So I started running and I found it to be really easy, probably because I didn't have to fight through the getting winded - it was mostly my leg muscles getting used to running. Now I run around 30 miles a week, even in the cold. The only thing I struggle with now is taking care of my knees and leg muscles as that's the biggest issue I run into that could prevent me from keeping it up. I've been running since November and am down to 180 and I feel great.

Now food wise, I mostly just try to be generally aware of going in excess for anything that is just sugar or a food that calorie dense but not providing nutrients. I try to keep fruit around the house. if I think I am hungry, I ask if I am hungry enough to eat and apple or a plum - something like that and will do so if I am. I still snack on stuff like pretzels, crackers, etc. I eat things that aren't healthy for me but I try hard to not go overboard on anything.

COVID. Lost 10kg.

Lots of physical activity, like lots. First I got into back country snowboarding. Then the snow at the resort was also really good, so I would skip lunch to ski more. Picked up running in the off season, did some pretty long trail runs. Back in snowboard season, lots of uphill in the mornings when I can. Running when it's warm. Cross country skiing when there's snow.

I also try to stay away from refined carbs, since they make me sleepy, and then hungry in a couple hours. Also eat lots of protein. Also quit drinking booze mostly.

ADHD meds 🫤

Keto and Intermittent Fasting during Covid while WFH and not going out to eat for 2 years.

I had always been thin, but from 2017-2020 I gained a lot of weight, and I was scheduled to start a new job the day that lockdowns went into place. So I WFH for a couple of years before I met any of my new coworkers face to face.

Once I realized I had some time, I ordered a 64 oz water bottle with times and volume on the side. I tried to drink 3 of those filled with water a day, only eating a small lunch at 12.

I never weighed myself - I only went by how my clothes fit. I still had jeans from when I was thin and that was my goal - to fit in them again. Once that was done, I would figure out how to proceed.

A year or so into it, I’d lost a couple of pants sizes. I was getting compliments - positive reinforcement. That’s when I became obsessed and doubled down and it got really unhealthy.

I just didn’t eat. Do not do this. It wasn’t intentional but it happened. My hair was falling out. I’ve since gained some of the weight back but I probably lost around 50 lbs and have kept 90% of it off. And I still try to drink a ton of water during the day and eat better.

TLDR I’m not proud of it and never intended to go that far, but I didn’t realize I was doing it so just be aware.