How to lose weight?

[Mayia]

In my experience its different for different people, a Exercise based way might work for some but not others, a diet alone could be enough for another group, combining the two covers a lot more people in a broad range too adjusting values, most of the time its a pretty simple formula.

Find out how much your body wants to exercise in order to burn off your eating habits adjust your eating around how much you want to be outside walking for, if you want to eat a cake a day have fun on 8 hour walks everyday.. but some people can do nothing and be thin, don't be jealous just understand god hates us all in different ways or satan loves us in different ways, or the space gods ignore us in different ways.

[lukkoth]

I don’t want to lift, because I don’t want muscle mass. And I think training endurance still builds muscle? Also, cardio is too much work for just losing half a meal’s worth of calories.

I used to weigh 95 lbs. Now I’m almost double that. I used to drink tea when I had cravings, but now there’s popcorn, chips, and ice cream around. Should I just not eat as much? Is that really all?

Cardio isn't just a means for losing weight but also a way to keep your heart healthy. I personally cannot stand running or swimming. Cycling was my go-to for burning calories for a while, but the ritual and time investment was too much. Find something that gets your blood pumping for 30 minutes a day, could even be a short walk. Personally, I've gotten back into DDR and over the last 3 months, I've lost 45lbs (from 255) simply by including 30 minutes to 1 hour of DDR a day.

When I was experimenting with different foods I found that switching to a more plant-based diet helped a lot. Obviously that isn't for everyone, but just being more conscious of what you're consuming help. A fitness/food tracker is nice for keeping yourself honest. If all of that is too much work, the simplest thing you can do is just skip breakfast. Have your caffeine in the morning to get you spiked up, have a big lunch, don't snack til dinner.

Idk, just some stuff that worked for me, good luck on the journey. Its a marathon not a sprint.

[xiloclipse]

So surprised not to have seen this, maybe I missed it.

You need a goal. Clearly you don't want to be where you're at, but that isn't a goal.

Do you have a desired body type? I heard alot about what you don't want (on both fit and unfit sides), but not much if anything about what you do want.

Not saying there's dismorphia, but it's important to seek what you want, not what you don't, especially to make sure YOU know what you want.

I started getting much better results when I made it about the goals and physique I wanted.

[Immitis]

In my experience its different for different people, a Exercise based way might work for some but not others, a diet alone could be enough for another group, combining the two covers a lot more people in a broad range too adjusting values, most of the time its a pretty simple formula.

Find out how much your body wants to exercise in order to burn off your eating habits adjust your eating around how much you want to be outside walking for, if you want to eat a cake a day have fun on 8 hour walks everyday.. but some people can do nothing and be thin, don't be jealous just understand god hates us all in different ways or satan loves us in different ways, or the space gods ignore us in different ways.

imo exercise is for recomp, its actual influence on weightloss is minimal and should be used supplementary.

you will never lose weight by excercise a lone unless you're already eating a certain way.

which is why most of the diets pushed never work, you cant out exercise a diet

- - - Updated - - -

I think a lot of the "you have to do it with diet, not exercise" people are wrong. It's absolutely true that you can lose more on a diet than if you just try to exercise a lot over the short term, but I think exercise is just the far more sustainable path over the long term. If you can increase your maintenance calories by like 300 a day by exercising, that's going to build up to something real over the long term..

no, no it wont, eventually your metabolism will lower to compensate for the increase in expenditure.

this is why people who work out do so exponentially, they bulk and cut and continuously do more or take periods of rest.

this is also why say someone who has always been 200 pounds and someone who was 400 pounds and is now 200 will have wildly different metabolisms (the one who used to weigh more will typically have a much lower tdee)

the human body doesnt LIKE losing weight, it will do everything in its power not to in order to compensate because its antithesis to survival. its only in our modern world with an overabundance of food that being fat is even really a possibility

- - - Updated - - -



your metabolism compensates whenever you're below your tdee.

the only way to prevent this is through fasting, when in a fasted ketosis state your body isnt deprived of calories its getting its fill as long as you have enough fat to fuel yourself.

otherwise any sort of diet will require you to stay on that diet forever or else you're gonna gain the weight back, and not only that but your metabolism will be fucked so you will gain it back faster then you did before

[Hypasonic]

As someone who has lost just over 4 stone (61 lbs) since late january this year, I can say that its basically a mindset. Do you want to lose enough weight to be visibly slimmer? Then eat healthy food! I was 17st and 12 lbs on january 20th, I would just eat whatever and never care for checking how much fat or calories were in the food I ate, I *knew* they weren't healthy but I ate them because they tasted good and I craved it after a hard days work....something to "look forward to", but this was happening every night. So after weighing myself and being basically disgusted with the number I saw I decided enough was enough and just ate lots of fruit instead of snacks, vegetables and potatoes instead of chips.

Obviously its hard to walk past the sweet isle and not just say "ah fuck it", I did that many times but as soon as I saw how much I lost in the first 2 weeks THAT was the motivation to not buy them and keep going. Now, I have literally no cravings and my appetite has reduced drastically. I feel amazing now, and the feeling of being slimmer far outweighs the cravings for sugary snacks! Oh, and this is all with literally zero exercise, I wanted to see if you could lose weight, and enough of it reasonably quickly, without going to the gym, or jogging every night. In the first 11 days I lost 15 lbs, just over a stone then the next 2 weeks nearly 11 lbs. Losing weight becomes almost addictive, and when you get it down you can start "adding" things back, like fridays was my sarnie shop day but I stopped going there until I was at a "happy" weight, now I continue to get my greasy bacon, egg and mushroom sarnie with a toasted teacake and I'm still losing weight. I still drink on weekends, although I swapped out the sugary cider for white rum so its not all boring!

So tl;dr: You have to think about how you will look when you are slimmer and focus on that, and weigh yourself every 2 weeks so that it gives you something to "look forward" to. It will be hard at first but just keep going, you will eventually feel great and not even think about chocolate or crisps!

[Liftinmammals]

Just keep moving. It’s all about putting in the work consistently. Chipping away a little bit at a time and never giving up. You don’t have to go hard and insane at first. Start small. “Wake up” the body and lightly move. Flow and energize from light movement. Eventually the body will want more intensity and you’ll be able to seamlessly transition into the next phase. Above all else take your time.

With nutrition learn to drink water and enjoy it’s wholesome nourishment. Fruits and vegetables are great for energy and wholesome to the gut. Consuming red meat in consistent amounts (not over filling) is also nourishing to the brain and the muscles. Eat well and eat to fuel. Just enough to keep the energy consistent and not over doing it.

Movement is key. Open the door and live.

[Immitis]

when i was really losing weight quickly i was eating about once a month or every other month but you dont have to be anywhere thaty hardcore

rolling 72's or 48's or even omad will get you results

- - - Updated - - -

feast and famine is how the natural world works, our ancestors never had access to 6 meals a day or any other bullshit diet peddlers will sell you, the tyruth is those companies dont want you to actually lose weight, they want you to consume their bullshit.

fasting would be a lot more mainstream if people could make money off it but telling people dont fucking eat drink water doesnt sell lil tv dinners and fad snacks or books

[Segus1992]

I don’t want to lift, because I don’t want muscle mass. And I think training endurance still builds muscle? Also, cardio is too much work for just losing half a meal’s worth of calories.

I used to weigh 95 lbs. Now I’m almost double that. I used to drink tea when I had cravings, but now there’s popcorn, chips and ice cream around. Should I just not eat as much? Is that really all?

Eat less. Calories in < calories out = weight loss. There's nothing else to it.

[Dazmalak]

OP if you don't want to work out and just do it by dieting, I would suggest trying keto if you can handle the diet. Had a friend lose 35 lbs. in a relatively short amount of time on it and I have lost 16 lbs in 3 weeks so far on it. Most I do for a "workout" is walk 30 minutes a day. You'll naturally eat less on it and more importantly, it makes you conscious of what you're eating because you have to research stuff before chowing down.

[Culex]

Stop Eating, you will lose tons of weight.

[Easyclassictopkeklel]

I don’t want to lift, because I don’t want muscle mass. And I think training endurance still builds muscle? Also, cardio is too much work for just losing half a meal’s worth of calories.

I used to weigh 95 lbs. Now I’m almost double that. I used to drink tea when I had cravings, but now there’s popcorn, chips and ice cream around. Should I just not eat as much? Is that really all?

if you are not willing to exercise and just think eating less gets you healthy...good luck with that. you will fail. and in the end you will get sick.

[Biomega]

OP if you don't want to work out and just do it by dieting, I would suggest trying keto if you can handle the diet. Had a friend lose 35 lbs. in a relatively short amount of time on it and I have lost 16 lbs in 3 weeks so far on it. Most I do for a "workout" is walk 30 minutes a day. You'll naturally eat less on it and more importantly, it makes you conscious of what you're eating because you have to research stuff before chowing down.

Keto is a fad diet. Unless you have a medical condition that requires it as part of your diet, don't follow restrictive diets like that just to lose weight. Studies have very conclusively shown that fad diets are far less effective at long-term weight control than simply keeping to a "normal" diet and reducing calorie intake. Paying attention to what you eat is a good idea in any case, but the more of a cornerstone of your diet that becomes, the higher the risk of you growing tired of the added effort and not maintaining good eating habits as a result.

Calories are everything when pure weight loss is your concern; but weight isn't everything. You also need to make sure your diet is nutritionally balanced if you want to maintain long-term health (living on a Twinkie a day for the rest of your life, for example, would definitely cause weight loss - but would also lead to other problems). Similarly, while exercise is a way to tilt your calorie balance and can thus help reduce your weight, it has health benefits besides the weight loss (e.g. cardiovascular health).

[Immitis]

Eat less. Calories in < calories out = weight loss. There's nothing else to it.

theres actually a lot to it besides cico but its definitely a good starting point and the easiest baseline to draw off of for a general person.

hormones, insulin resistance/spiking, and the nutrient density of your food will all play a part in your weightloss

for example animal protein is more thermic than say an apple. the same amount of calories of red meat will cost you more calories to process than an apple would.

this is one of the main reasons when i refeed i try to stick to a meat based diet carnivore/zero carb although i do enjoy some ketogenic veggies from time to time

[Utrrabbit]

I don’t want to lift, because I don’t want muscle mass. And I think training endurance still builds muscle? Also, cardio is too much work for just losing half a meal’s worth of calories.

I used to weigh 95 lbs. Now I’m almost double that. I used to drink tea when I had cravings, but now there’s popcorn, chips and ice cream around. Should I just not eat as much? Is that really all?

And you wonder why you gained weight.

[Seiklis]

nope. you can have white bread too. there is nothing special about calories in white bread that makes you fatter then calories in other kind of bread. if you stay in caloric deficit - you will still lose weight.

Bread without the sugar though is a good idea. Might as well avoid the extra hidden calories

[Immitis]

Keto is a fad diet. Unless you have a medical condition that requires it as part of your diet, don't follow restrictive diets like that just to lose weight. Studies have very conclusively shown that fad diets are far less effective at long-term weight control than simply keeping to a "normal" diet and reducing calorie intake. Paying attention to what you eat is a good idea in any case, but the more of a cornerstone of your diet that becomes, the higher the risk of you growing tired of the added effort and not maintaining good eating habits as a result.

Calories are everything when pure weight loss is your concern; but weight isn't everything. You also need to make sure your diet is nutritionally balanced if you want to maintain long-term health (living on a Twinkie a day for the rest of your life, for example, would definitely cause weight loss - but would also lead to other problems). Similarly, while exercise is a way to tilt your calorie balance and can thus help reduce your weight, it has health benefits besides the weight loss (e.g. cardiovascular health).

yeah a fad diet thats been around for centuries and for many cultures and most of our ancestry was the main way of eating.

keto is only a fad diet if you go chasing your sugar addiction with "fat bombs" and stupid recreations of regular sugary food items or buy the garbage "keto" products that are out there.

you know what keto is? the main thing is cutting out sugar and eating healthy fats and protein as your main caloric sources.

like i posted above i lost over 200 pounds and while i follow an animal focused diet the end result is pretty much the same as a "keto" diet as getting most of your calories from animal products will naturally put your body into ketosis unless you're chugging milk or eating whole blocks of cheese like an idiot

[Biomega]

yeah a fad diet thats been around for centuries and for many cultures and most of our ancestry was the main way of eating.

That's highly misleading. A lot of cultures were (and still are) consuming carbohydrates in very significant amounts. In fact, it was the shift to more carbohydrate-rich diets in the first place (through farming) that was a contributing factor to the emergence of civilization.

But all that aside, the very idea of "this is how it used to be in ancient times" is not in itself a good argument in the first place. "Nature" doesn't just automatically get everything perfect, it just fits itself neatly to the given circumstances. Ancient people also died significantly earlier than we do, for example. There is no evidence that adopting a paleo-style diet is healthier beyond the effects of being a diet that includes a lot of meticulous food decisions and careful nutrition monitoring. While it's of course a good idea to reduce the amount of sugar and processed foods in your diet for various reasons, that doesn't automatically mean a keto-style radical change is the best way to do it. "Less" doesn't mean "none", especially since the basis you start from (less than WHAT) is highly variable and subjective.

Results-based, anecdotal reports aren't super helpful. People have lost significant weight with an Oreo and Doritos diet, too (just to prove a point). What matters is large sample sizes, carefully controlled studies, conducted with a wide variety of people in a wide variety of circumstances and routines. Keto has not proven to be more effective than any other fad diet, in any measurable or provable way; and has been shown to be less effective in the long term than other diet options. It's mainly meant for people that have specific dietary needs based on medical conditions, not as a general diet.

"Avoid too much sugar and eat healthy" is good advice in general that is useful on its own, without being part of a keto or keto-like diet.

[sweatshopkids]

Don't do fad diets. Burn more calories than you take in. It's science.

[Immitis]

Always been curious about fasting

Do you set yourself times when you can eat or is it whole days?
How hard is it to manage cravings etc

its easier to control cravings if you go into it having eaten low carb for a day or two and it gets easier the more you do it.

imo, when it comes to long term fasts, hunger vanishes after the 3rd or 4th day typically but the thought of food can still enter your mind a lot.

when i first started i just kept going and going, only ate for special occasions or holidays but as ive gotten more and more lean i mostly do omad or omeod (one meal a day or one meal every other day)

personally i think unless you're already lean/an athlete or weight lifter theres no reason we should ever NEED to eat more than once a day.

it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT if you are fasting long term to supplement your electrolytes, things like being lightheaded, feeling weak, headaches from lack of eating are almost always not from a lack of eating but from a lack of electrolytes ESPECIALLY if you do not eat low carb typically as going into ketosis will flush a lot of water weight out which also flushes your electrolytes.

what i do is if im fasting i take a 2 litre jug of water and add in 1tsp of baking soda, half tsp of pink salt, 1 tsp of potassium salt, and half a tsp of magnesium and sip on it throughout the day

the longest ive ever fasted in one go was 60 days and i felt perfectly fine was still able to go to work, lift weights, and felt perfectly fine albeit slightly colder body temp

- - - Updated - - -

also when i say one meal, im not talking about your typical meal. im talking about eating my entire tdee of calories in one sitting. I dont restrict calories I restrict when I eat and unless I'm having a cheat day i mostly eat meat.

my typical refeed meal is around a pound or two of ribeye, i try to eat some liver once a week despite it being gross due to its nutrient density, occasionally some ketogenic veggies like asparagus or broccoli or green beans but mostly meat is all i eat.

- - - Updated - - -

only thing i supplement besides electrolytes is i take vitamin d supps

[Swnem]

Look, in theory it's as simple as you must burn more calories than you eat.

But, there is no easy way to do it. If you think you gonna get slim hardly trying, well... you gonna see.

Once you decide to get serious, you can do cardio programs. There are some cardio + strength programs that you can easily get on youtube that won't buff you up like pumping weights but will get you fit. Adjust your eating to cut on most of the crap. Eat more protein cause it will let you feel full for longer and work out. Otherwise, you aren't gonna get results. You have to be serious about it and you have to keep at it for several months. If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Well... you can try your diets, but you will likely bounce back pretty easily. All those do this in 20/30 days programs are all BS. 60 day ones are a bit better. But be prepared for 6 months and you will get results. One year if you want better results. All depends on your fat index.
Half measures won't work. You need to both adjust your diet and work out. I know it's not what you want to hear, but it is what it is.