7 ms·

First of all, congrats - that is amazing and really shows true commitment. As somebody that lost 30+ pounds (I am 5ft 65 and went from 205lbs to 172lbs), I defi

First of all, congrats - that is amazing and really shows true commitment. As somebody that lost 30+ pounds (I am 5ft 65 and went from 205lbs to 172lbs), I definitely understand can sympathize with the work it takes. For anyone else embarking on the journey, I would add a few things: - When you are in caloric deficit and thus loosing weight, you can choose not to go to the gym, but you will lose muscle mass faster. If you want to maintain muscle mass as much as possible you are better off doing some weight lifting instead of running. You won't gain muscle mass, but you'll reduce the loss. - Ghrelin is the hormone that you will need to control. It is what makes you hungry and ultimately ruins your diet. Funny enough, you control it by constantly eating low caloric foods. You want to eat a lot of veggies, fats (avocado will be your friend) and protein throughout the day in low amounts. Just stay under your target caloric intake. - The most difficult part is not eating out. Meal preparation is key, and this takes time. When you eat out, you just don't know how people prepared the meal you are eating. Sadly, meals that you eat outside have a huge amount of oil and counting calories will be next to impossible most of the time. Even in the cases where a restaurant lists caloric numbers with their plates, you can be certain that the cook is less interested in your caloric intake and more in getting your order out the door. Six tablespoons of olive oil instead of the one you are counting and you are off for the day already. The best you can hope when eating out is maintaining weight. - Your body is designed for homeostasis and will fight you back to get you to regain it (through Ghrelin, mood swings, etc). After loosing the target weight, increase your caloric intake to stabilize it. If you can keep your weight for a year, it will be easy to remain at that weight later on. Good luck!

bad_good_guy 8y ago
I would also add to your points: - If you are lifting weights at a decent intensity, as in squatting 80% of your bodyweight for an example, you WILL gain muscle mass if you are new to it despite a calorie deficit. Noob gains are a powerful thing. Most people just curl 5 lb dumbbells or do some other motion with a weight that is barely noticable. - This guy was eating at a very unhealthy calorie deficit (1000). You should never go over 500 kcal deficit if you don't want to lose loads of muscle in the process. A calorie deficit as high as his is comparable to a crash diet, and is prone to result in a quick upswing in weight once the diet ends, as you will have been starving yourself.
- drtse4 8y ago
  100% agree with your two, much needed, comments. Losing muscle mass is something you should always try to avoid (tolerable calories deficit+right amount of proteins+exercise). Muscle mass is hard to gain and serves a purpose in everyday life. The next step on the author's journey to a healthy lifestyle should be to focus on macros and on the kinds of food he eats too, since both have implications on his body composition and general health.
- coryfklein 8y ago
  > Most people just curl 5 lb dumbbells or do some other motion with a weight that is barely noticable. Are you recommending this as an approach to avoid noob gains? EDIT: Why the downvotes? I'm asking this as a legitimate question. The OP's tone sounds neutral and I can't tell if he is recommending low weight for muscle maintenance, or disparaging folks who do so for thinking they will gain muscle mass.
  - bad_good_guy 8y ago
    OP here, apologies for the lack of clarity. I mean to say that a lot of people will go to the gym to do "weight training" but will only use dumbells or machines, etc, at such low weights that the effort is mostly futile in terms of developing your muscles. A good rule of thumb to go by is to use the maximum weight which you can successfully complete 8 - 12 repetitions of the motion without sacrificing good form (bad form will lead to injuries). edit: in response to a query of yours below, don't worry about accidently gaining strength if it is not your goal, it takes focused training to go up in strength. If you just want to maintain current muscle you just need to keep doing lifts with the weight you can manage 12 reps with. if you don't push to increase the weight from that point you will plateau at that point
  - mywittyname 8y ago
    "Noob gains" is a reference to the spike in strength gains when a person first starts working out.
    - coryfklein 8y ago
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
kamaal 8y ago
>>You want to eat a lot of veggies, fats (avocado will be your friend) and protein throughout the day in low amounts. Low carbohydrate/sugar diet seems to be at the core of all health advice today. Not sure why this was not advised even in latest history.
- rtkwe 8y ago
  Not sure what you mean by latest history. It's been a thing on and off for years. [0] Like all things in the diet world it goes in and out of style in the constant churn of the diet industry. As for why it's not in the article their focus was that whatever you do calories burned > calories eaten is the king and most diets are just ways to get people to restrict calorie intake without having to count. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Modern_low-carbohydrate_diets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Modern_l...
madaxe_again 8y ago
It’s interesting that you mention homeostasis, as this was actually something I used when I went on a big weight loss kick (70 lbs in five months) eight years ago. For what it’s worth I’m the same weight now as when I finished. How I used homeostasis: I set myself a very rigid fixed diet and regimen - 1200kcal/day, almost all protein and green leaf vegetables, tiny portion of complex carbs (rice or potato), 45 minute run, 15 minutes of core training. Same routine, every day, same heart rate target (130) for the run. The upshot was that my graph followed a really beautiful curve - to start with, weight fell off at a crazy rate - and as time went on it slowed, and slowed, and stopped. I then increased my calorific intake slowly over the same period I’d dieted for, while maintaining the regime. I found the weight my body wants to be, which is pretty much smack in the middle of the healthy BMI range, 14% fat, and now maintain that without any real effort beyond noting when my weight starts to rise because I’ve been junking out on sugary crap, and cutting out the crap until I’m back to normal. Agreed re: eating out - and the thing that had the biggest effect for me I think was cutting out booze. So many calories in a pint it’s not funny.
en4bz 8y ago
Leptin, and Insulin are also important as well. Insulin is "relatively" easy to lower by reducing carb intake, especially simple sugars.
cocoa19 8y ago
When I started dieting, I used to spend hours cooking every week. Now, I buy a rotisserie chicken from the store, buy a bag of veggies, pull the chicken and microwave the veggies. That's my emergency meal for lunch and dinner. I'm on a low carb diet, usually only have carbs in the morning (oatmeal), and fruit throughout the day.
- orev 8y ago
  You should look into the ingredients for those rotisserie chickens. Not something I would consider as part of a healthy diet.
  - epistasis 8y ago
    I've done a search, and don't find anything objectionable in rotisserie chicken. Can you be more specific?
    - madaxe_again 8y ago
      They quite often pump them up with saline to make them plumper, at the very least - so they can be pretty high in salt. Apart from that, I’m not sure what’s terribly bad about them.
      - bpicolo 8y ago
        Most people would have to have a whole crap ton of salt before it becomes a dietary issue
        orev 8y ago
        Which pretty much every single processed food contains, therefor raising most people's daily intake to a "whole crap ton".
  - crispyambulance 8y ago
    I looked into it. Those rotisserie chickens you get at the supermarket... they're made from chicken!
lostapathy 8y ago
> The most difficult part is not eating out. And when you do, make the best choices you can. Whenever I get that feeling of "I can't eat my healthy lunch one more day" I order Chipotle tacos, no sour cream, no cheese, no soda, and no chips. By ordering ahead I'm never tempted to say "yes" to chips and salsa, and I never get distracted and go to Sonic for a burger and tots instead.
- agrinman 8y ago
  It also helps that most "lunch" places put calories up (at least near where I work). You can at least figure what the "best choices" are. Ordering ahead is neat trick!
  - SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
    That's the real kicker - be aware of what you're eatings calories. A Big Mac from McDonald's can be less calories than a 6" from Subway, depending on the choices you make as far as toppings. Just because it looks healthy doesn't mean it's a better choice for weight loss.
learc83 8y ago
Eating out isn't nearly as difficult as you're making it out to be. There are plenty of foods you can order where you can fairly accurately assess the calories, once you you get good at it. Once you weigh enough food you can start judging portion size, e.g., that looks like 200g of rice and 100g of pork. And you can taste how oily or how sweet something is. You can definitely taste if a chef is adding 5 extra Tbsp of olive oil to 1 portion. As long as you're weighing yourself and tracking calories, you'll know how accurate your estimates have been and you can adjust accordingly. For restaurants that are listing calories, they might not always be accurate, but over time they should average out. Also with fast food and fast casual restaurants, food assembly is so regulated, you be even more confident in the calorie count.
- intrasight 8y ago
  From my experience, eating it is even more difficult than was made out to be. Not if you are eating out alone - then you can to to whatever keto or vegan restaurant you choose. The issue is if you are eating out with others - which is usually the case. Then you are first faced with filtering out 90% of all restaurants, and getting everyone who had planned to go to accept that filtering.
  - learc83 8y ago
    If you're only worried about calorie counting (the method discussed in the article) most restaurants are going to have dishes for which you can fairly accurately estimate the calories (with some experience). Tricks like ordering dressing/sauce on the side can make it easier. Fat has the highest calorie density of any ingredient with 9 calories per gram (sugar has 4). If you're really unsure, you can use that as an upper limit.

bad_good_guy 8y ago

I would also add to your points: - If you are lifting weights at a decent intensity, as in squatting 80% of your bodyweight for an example, you WILL gain muscle mass if you are new to it despite a calorie deficit. Noob gains are a powerful thing. Most people just curl 5 lb dumbbells or do some other motion with a weight that is barely noticable. - This guy was eating at a very unhealthy calorie deficit (1000). You should never go over 500 kcal deficit if you don't want to lose loads of muscle in the process. A calorie deficit as high as his is comparable to a crash diet, and is prone to result in a quick upswing in weight once the diet ends, as you will have been starving yourself.

drtse4 8y ago
100% agree with your two, much needed, comments. Losing muscle mass is something you should always try to avoid (tolerable calories deficit+right amount of proteins+exercise). Muscle mass is hard to gain and serves a purpose in everyday life. The next step on the author's journey to a healthy lifestyle should be to focus on macros and on the kinds of food he eats too, since both have implications on his body composition and general health.
coryfklein 8y ago
> Most people just curl 5 lb dumbbells or do some other motion with a weight that is barely noticable. Are you recommending this as an approach to avoid noob gains? EDIT: Why the downvotes? I'm asking this as a legitimate question. The OP's tone sounds neutral and I can't tell if he is recommending low weight for muscle maintenance, or disparaging folks who do so for thinking they will gain muscle mass.
- bad_good_guy 8y ago
  OP here, apologies for the lack of clarity. I mean to say that a lot of people will go to the gym to do "weight training" but will only use dumbells or machines, etc, at such low weights that the effort is mostly futile in terms of developing your muscles. A good rule of thumb to go by is to use the maximum weight which you can successfully complete 8 - 12 repetitions of the motion without sacrificing good form (bad form will lead to injuries). edit: in response to a query of yours below, don't worry about accidently gaining strength if it is not your goal, it takes focused training to go up in strength. If you just want to maintain current muscle you just need to keep doing lifts with the weight you can manage 12 reps with. if you don't push to increase the weight from that point you will plateau at that point
- mywittyname 8y ago
  "Noob gains" is a reference to the spike in strength gains when a person first starts working out.
  - coryfklein 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

kamaal 8y ago

>>You want to eat a lot of veggies, fats (avocado will be your friend) and protein throughout the day in low amounts. Low carbohydrate/sugar diet seems to be at the core of all health advice today. Not sure why this was not advised even in latest history.

rtkwe 8y ago
Not sure what you mean by latest history. It's been a thing on and off for years. [0] Like all things in the diet world it goes in and out of style in the constant churn of the diet industry. As for why it's not in the article their focus was that whatever you do calories burned > calories eaten is the king and most diets are just ways to get people to restrict calorie intake without having to count. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Modern_low-carbohydrate_diets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-carbohydrate_diet#Modern_l...

madaxe_again 8y ago

It’s interesting that you mention homeostasis, as this was actually something I used when I went on a big weight loss kick (70 lbs in five months) eight years ago. For what it’s worth I’m the same weight now as when I finished. How I used homeostasis: I set myself a very rigid fixed diet and regimen - 1200kcal/day, almost all protein and green leaf vegetables, tiny portion of complex carbs (rice or potato), 45 minute run, 15 minutes of core training. Same routine, every day, same heart rate target (130) for the run. The upshot was that my graph followed a really beautiful curve - to start with, weight fell off at a crazy rate - and as time went on it slowed, and slowed, and stopped. I then increased my calorific intake slowly over the same period I’d dieted for, while maintaining the regime. I found the weight my body wants to be, which is pretty much smack in the middle of the healthy BMI range, 14% fat, and now maintain that without any real effort beyond noting when my weight starts to rise because I’ve been junking out on sugary crap, and cutting out the crap until I’m back to normal. Agreed re: eating out - and the thing that had the biggest effect for me I think was cutting out booze. So many calories in a pint it’s not funny.

en4bz 8y ago

Leptin, and Insulin are also important as well. Insulin is "relatively" easy to lower by reducing carb intake, especially simple sugars.

cocoa19 8y ago

When I started dieting, I used to spend hours cooking every week. Now, I buy a rotisserie chicken from the store, buy a bag of veggies, pull the chicken and microwave the veggies. That's my emergency meal for lunch and dinner. I'm on a low carb diet, usually only have carbs in the morning (oatmeal), and fruit throughout the day.

orev 8y ago
You should look into the ingredients for those rotisserie chickens. Not something I would consider as part of a healthy diet.
- epistasis 8y ago
  I've done a search, and don't find anything objectionable in rotisserie chicken. Can you be more specific?
  - madaxe_again 8y ago
    They quite often pump them up with saline to make them plumper, at the very least - so they can be pretty high in salt. Apart from that, I’m not sure what’s terribly bad about them.
    - bpicolo 8y ago
      Most people would have to have a whole crap ton of salt before it becomes a dietary issue
      - orev 8y ago
        Which pretty much every single processed food contains, therefor raising most people's daily intake to a "whole crap ton".
- crispyambulance 8y ago
  I looked into it. Those rotisserie chickens you get at the supermarket... they're made from chicken!

lostapathy 8y ago

> The most difficult part is not eating out. And when you do, make the best choices you can. Whenever I get that feeling of "I can't eat my healthy lunch one more day" I order Chipotle tacos, no sour cream, no cheese, no soda, and no chips. By ordering ahead I'm never tempted to say "yes" to chips and salsa, and I never get distracted and go to Sonic for a burger and tots instead.

agrinman 8y ago
It also helps that most "lunch" places put calories up (at least near where I work). You can at least figure what the "best choices" are. Ordering ahead is neat trick!
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  That's the real kicker - be aware of what you're eatings calories. A Big Mac from McDonald's can be less calories than a 6" from Subway, depending on the choices you make as far as toppings. Just because it looks healthy doesn't mean it's a better choice for weight loss.

learc83 8y ago

Eating out isn't nearly as difficult as you're making it out to be. There are plenty of foods you can order where you can fairly accurately assess the calories, once you you get good at it. Once you weigh enough food you can start judging portion size, e.g., that looks like 200g of rice and 100g of pork. And you can taste how oily or how sweet something is. You can definitely taste if a chef is adding 5 extra Tbsp of olive oil to 1 portion. As long as you're weighing yourself and tracking calories, you'll know how accurate your estimates have been and you can adjust accordingly. For restaurants that are listing calories, they might not always be accurate, but over time they should average out. Also with fast food and fast casual restaurants, food assembly is so regulated, you be even more confident in the calorie count.

intrasight 8y ago
From my experience, eating it is even more difficult than was made out to be. Not if you are eating out alone - then you can to to whatever keto or vegan restaurant you choose. The issue is if you are eating out with others - which is usually the case. Then you are first faced with filtering out 90% of all restaurants, and getting everyone who had planned to go to accept that filtering.
- learc83 8y ago
  If you're only worried about calorie counting (the method discussed in the article) most restaurants are going to have dishes for which you can fairly accurately estimate the calories (with some experience). Tricks like ordering dressing/sauce on the side can make it easier. Fat has the highest calorie density of any ingredient with 9 calories per gram (sugar has 4). If you're really unsure, you can use that as an upper limit.