What diet worked for you?

[purbeast0]

When I went from 200-185, I didn't do anything special, just reduced my calories using a calorie counter. Lost about 1lb a week so it took a while.

So you're saying that losing weight that took years to put on won't come off in a week of dieting?

No way??!!?!?

 

[BoomerD]

So you're saying that losing weight that took years to put on won't come off in a week of dieting?

No way??!!?!?

Inorite? That really pisses me off...

 

[BoomerD]

True but 1K mg? Lee Harvey....

But they're zero calories...so I can have as much as I want...right?

 

[highland145]

Interesting article about the 3500 calories=1 lb. Also a calc for weight loss/maintenance/activity.
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111114p36.shtml

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html

 

[BoomerD]

Interesting article about the 3500 calories=1 lb. Also a calc for weight loss/maintenance/activity.
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111114p36.shtml

https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/index.html

yeah...and walking, often touted as one of the best and easiest forms of exercise...only burns a few calories per mile...

https://www.verywell.com/walking-calories-burned-by-miles-3887154

Do you want to know how many calories you burn walking one mile, two miles, or more? How much does your walking speed matter?

Your weight and the distance you walk are the biggest factors in how many calories you burn while walking. A rule of thumb is that about 100 calories per mile are burned for an 180-pound person and 65 calories per mile are burned for a 120-pound person. Your walking speed matters less.

Sure, it's still more than you'll burn sitting in the recliner watching TV...and it DOES have some other health benefits...but dammit...I'd have to walk a million miles per day for the rest of my life to offset what I eat.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The burn off more calories than you eat diet. It's that simple. If you're taking in more calories than you expend you gain weight and shed more than you eat you lose weight. I put on some weight in 2008-09 when I broke my foot playing basketball and spent an entire winter binge eating without being able to do anything active. So when I wanted the weight to go away I just cut out snacks and exercised. Didn't have to do anything special with meals or watch what I ate. Just the reduced snacking and extra biking tipped the calorie balance far enough into the red that the weight melted off. Either go to a more rigorous fapping schedule or toss in some biking, tennis, swimming or whatever other high energy activity you enjoy.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Interesting article about the 3500 calories=1 lb. Also a calc for weight loss/maintenance/activity.
http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111114p36.shtml

After applying the formulas to individuals, a main conclusion Thomas and other researchers have drawn isn't a popular one—that people generally plateau early in the weight-loss process, not because of a metabolic slowdown, although that does occur, but because they don't adhere to calorie-reduced diet plans consistently long term.4,6

"If a plateau is reached within six months, then in all likelihood, the person is no longer strictly adhering to the diet,"

Well, duh. No shit.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Well, duh. No shit.

There's another factor. If a person is using the eat less, exercise more thing the exercise gets less effective over time. An hour on a bike early in the diet might burn off 700 calories. A couple of months later that same person will be stronger, fitter and grooved into that exercise where the same time and effort might only burn 400 calories. You have to make sure you're getting max benefit from your exercise time and that usually means working out harder or at least changing up the routine to target new muscles and new motions.

 

[vi edit]

Don't skip breakfast. You'll just end up hungrier and snack more often later in the day or have a heavier dinner.

I'm of the opinion that you are best stacking most of your calories early into the day and then getting progressively lighter in meals as the day goes on. I rarely ever eat anything after 7:00PM. I then go into my morning cardio (running/spinning) in a fasting state which is a way of cheating a bit of fat burning. Grab a protein shake and a decent breakfast while my metabolism is still stoked from working out. Then I space out my calories with mini-meals spread throughout the day. Yogurt, cottage cheese, fruit,hummus and crackers, every hour or two and a modest lunch (250-300 calories). I just try and keep myself mostly satiated throughout the day with mini meals and don't binge on heavy/high calorie stuff later in the day.

The other thing is that I don't deny myself cheats. If I want a beer, I get a beer. If I want something sweet I keep a bag of the snack size candy bars in my desk. I'll have one or two of those after my lunch. It's enough that you don't hate yourself and end up binging and not too much that your blowing past your gains. I'm 6' and will be 40 in a few months...I've been within 5 pounds of 170 for close to 5 years following that.

 

[Kaido]

I thought I would lose a bunch of weight when I quit drinking. Something like 5-10lbs of loss.

I'm a recovering alcoholic so I drank a lot. I consistently weighed 185lbs and I was drinking 2 handles a week of vodka on average, and more than two handles a week towards the end, and all that sugar it entails - mixed with snapple orangeade, so more sugar added to that. I quit all drinking of alcohol and sugary drinks in one fell swoop and my weight barely changed. Weird.

I'm not a drinker, but this is worth a read:

https://www.iifym.com/drinking-alcohol-and-tracking-macros/

Alcohol is actually considered the fourth macro: protein, carbs, fats, alcohol (7 calories per gram).

 

[KMFJD]

nvm

 

[child of wonder]

Did South Beach diet back in 2005 and went from 282 to 217 in less than a year. Since then I've slowly gained weight back and got up to 240.

Now I'm doing Keto and am down to 228. Plan to stick with it and get to 200.

 

[Herr Kutz]

Depends on how serious you want to get about it. If you want to lose weight without changing your diet, I'd recommend IIFYM. Use the calculator to figure out your macros:

https://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

Then eat whatever you want, as long as it fits your macros for the day. The logic behind it is:

1. You can only eat for three kinds of results: weight loss, weight maintenance (stay where you are now), weight gain. Pick a goal.

2. Your body is unique and has a specific daily power requirement (i.e. how many calories you need to eat/drink per day in order to lose, gain, or maintain your weight, depending on which of the 3 is your goal). Total calories for the day controls whether you lose weight, gain weight, or stay the same. If you eat fewer calories than your body needs over time, you will lose weight. If you eat more calories than your body needs over time, then you will gain weight. Technically, the source of the calories doesn't matter in terms of results (i.e. losing weight).

3. Your body digests 3 macros: protein, fat, carbs. Again, source doesn't matter for results. Those 3 macros add together to create your calories for the day. 1 gram of protein = 4 calories, 1g carbs = 4 calories, 1g fat = 9 calories. The IIFYM calculator will tell you what your numbers are based on your gender, height, age, goals, etc.

4. Use the IIFYM calculator to get your numbers for weight loss. Once you've achieved your target weight, re-run the IIFYM calculator to get your new numbers for weight maintenance. And...that's it.

Counting is annoying when you started out. The more accurate you are, the better your results will be. Get a food scale ($15 on Amazon), get a macros app for your phone, start reading labels. It's not rocket science, but it does take some effort for the first few months. Again, it depends on how serious you are about it. Eating for your body's macros requirements takes some getting used to - not because your diet has to change, but because you have to be conscious about hitting your targets for the day. It's not nearly as easy as just blindly eating whatever you want all day long, but then again, you don't have to change your diet & you don't have to stop eating your favorite foods. You just have to give your body the fuel it needs to meet your goals. It works better than anything else I've ever used or seen anyone else use before, partly because there are no cheat meals or cheat days or negative connotations with food. Also, even when you're eating at a deficit, it's not like you're going to be starving yourself...you'll be surprised at how much you actually need to eat during the day to feed your body properly. Also, meal timing doesn't matter...eat 3 square meals a day, eat one big meal a day, eat within a window if you like intermittent fasting, eat 6 smaller meals a day, doesn't matter, as long as the numbers add up at the end of the day. Here's some stuff to read & watch:

https://nicolecapurso.wordpress.com/2014/08/31/how-donuts-gave-me-abs-an-80kg-snatch/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji95UYpVsjo & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebx7nfa7K1U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evcNPfZlrZs

I wish I had learned about IIFYM ~10 years ago when I started my first thread in H&F. I don't regret trying all of the different stuff I went through, but this is so much easier & I can still get a Whopper & eat a Snickers bar and be just fine. And I do recommend eating more natural stuff, obviously - meat, fruits, veggies, grains, seeds, nuts, greens, they're all good for you. IIFYM isn't a free pass to eat junk food all day, although you can do that & still get results just fine, but IIFYM is nice because you don't have to change what you normally eat, so it's not a complete diet change or anything, which is a very hard thing to do for most people.

Anyway, join the Facebook group & look at the progress pictures & before/after pictures that people post. Endless success stories. Again, it depends on how serious you want to get...getting conscious about the macros you're putting into your body is annoying to do when you first start out. Counting is lame, but it gets results & you can still eat the stuff you love. There's no single magic food out there, it's just about getting into the habit of tracking what you eat & making sure you're feeding your body the correct amount of protein, carbs, and fats to reach your goal of weight loss, weight gain, or maintenance. That's it. Easy but annoying at first.

Just got my macros.

123g protein
51g fat
157g carbs
19-25g fiber

Should be pretty easy to hit these targets. In fact, I probably exceed these numbers most days.

 

[rommelrommel]

I did keto, I did find that more fat and less sugar satiated my hunger with significantly less calories.

I don’t believe in the keto magic bullshit that some people espouse, but it is easier to eat high fat over low fat.

 

[BoomerD]

I did keto, I did find that more fat and less sugar satiated my hunger with significantly less calories.

I don’t believe in the keto magic bullshit that some people espouse, but it is easier to eat high fat over low fat.

As long as it's the "right" fat...some fats are just bad for you.

 

[child of wonder]

As long as it's the "right" fat...some fats are just bad for you.

Yes, I try to eat mostly fats from grass fed cows, avocado, olives, or other stuff high in Omega3.

Plus bacon. Lots and lots of glorious bacon.

 

[WT]

I finished up a short seasonal stint at FedEx last year - worked from Nov til mid-Jan. I went in at 185 lbs and came out at 170. Now keep in mind that I was eating MORE every day .. I mean we ate everything !! Bagels, muffins, cookies, it was insane what my caloric intake ballooned to. After an 8 hr day of IT work, I then went and humped a shit-ton of boxes for a 5 hr twilight shift from 5-10. Everything from tiny boxes that weighed a pound up to 140 lb trampolines. Some load areas were ALL truck tires and carpet rolls, neither one of which is stacked easily in a 53' trailer.

I'm 49 and didn't think my back would handle the stress, but I made it through with no injuries other than having a flap drop on my ankle bone at a glancing blow - my foot was purple for a week and my ankle was swelled for a month - but moving 1500 packages a night, something is bound to get you if you lift enough. It was on one hand the hardest I have EVER worked for a check, and my body took about 3 weeks to fully recover afterwards, but damn did I ever like looking in the mirror and seeing a body I haven't seen in 30 years.

PS - I put 10 of the 15 lbs back on. I'd be back to working at FedEx to drop my weight if it wasn't for a bad case of tennis elbow that started in May. We had almost all of the secretaries at my day job mad at us, as they were all trying to diet over the holidays, and here we were cleaning out the breakroom with not a care in the world as to what we ate that day. 15 lbs in 2 months - and I ate a LOT more every day than I ever had. It's a helluva interesting diet, and most people claim they cannot do it, but I had a 51 yo grandma that was hired when I was, and she was still working there when I left.

 

[renz20003]

The quit eating so much diet worked wonders for me.

 

[DigDog]

zero fat, all carb, calorie counting. lost 56 pounds, kept them off indefinitely, only got fat again when i got a sedentary position, and even then it took a year to start gaining weight.
basically a cup of steamed rice and half a tin of baked beans every day, around 1k calories a day, plus 8 hours of active work including about 7+ mile walk, every day, 7/7.

 

[RichUK]

Calorie deficit. /thread

 

[shortylickens]

I lost weight using Atkins. It works. And it doesnt endanger your health.

BUT it IS tough. If you have one Coke you've just fucked yourself. Now you gotta start over from scratch.

 

[zerocool84]

I've been sick for weeks, chest mucus and coming out of nose with cough. Have been eating almost nothing but soup in that time and have dropped around 10lbs.

 

[skyking]

I lost 55 or so in 4 months on a doctor-supervised ketogenic diet, then went my own way and lost another 30 in the following 4 months.
The keto diet was structured powdered stuff and bars, 1200 calories a day. 400 minutes on the treadmill, gym.
When I lost weight on my own, I was strictly around 1500 calories. My exercise routine was compromised by a heart issue, but I had been following it up to that point.https://forums.anandtech.com/forums/off-topic.14/
In the last 4 months I yoyoed up and down, about 7 pounds worth. more like 1800~2000 calories. No treadmill to speak of.
My observations:
When you are in ketosis, hunger is greatly reduced. If you can get by the psychological aspects it is a huge advantage.
Eating good healthy foods at 1500~1600 calories was much more difficult.
Dropping out the cardio because I had less time? Disastrous for me. I am now back on a cardio routine and counting calories again.

 

[Chaotic42]

I've been sick for weeks, chest mucus and coming out of nose with cough. Have been eating almost nothing but soup in that time and have dropped around 10lbs.

That hit here last month. I got two versions of it and also lost about ten pounds. It's some nasty funk.

I've decided to drop soda in 2018. It's an arbitrary date, but it needs to happen. I need to maximize my mental and physical energy this year, I've got a lot on my plate. I need to figure out some way to fill that pleasure void though. Surely there's something out there that I like more than soda that's not terrible for me.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I went on a 'diet' last year as I realized I weighed the most I'd ever weighed. I didn't change a lot - I just started eating smaller portions. I already don't drink pop often, mostly drink water. I did cut out quite a bit of 'bread' items, but I also started exercising as my lifestyle has gotten pretty sedentary since I got a desk job and no longer in a band. Not huge amounts of exercise, just 30 minutes of pushups/situps/jogging 5 days a week, and I slowly lost weight over the course of the year without too much effort.