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From someone who did it: Fixing your diet matters far, far more than your activity level. It takes much more work to burn a thousand calories than to simply no

From someone who did it: Fixing your diet matters far, far more than your activity level. It takes much more work to burn a thousand calories than to simply not eat it in the first place. I lost 40 pounds since the pandemic, by fixing my diet to eat 1500 calories of salad and vegetables instead of delivery and takeout fast food. This was with less activity, an hour or two per week of walking/biking as opposed to bike commuting every day. Weight loss isn't about the morality of punishing yourself with exercise. It's just about the math of calories in vs out, and it's a lot easier to make big changes to the intake side.

caddemon 5y ago
Purely from a weight loss perspective that's probably true, but in the long run there are other issues with being too sedentary. So I think this is still an important thing to be mindful of with the shift to WFH.
Sohcahtoa82 5y ago
I dunno... I'm almost constantly hungry. I like to joke that I need to file a bug report on the human body because my logs are constantly filling with warnings about food input being required despite plenty of calories available in storage. I've tried everything. I went keto, dumping the non-satisfying carbs and sugars in favor of fat, protein, and fiber which are supposed to satiate better and longer. I ensured I was drinking plenty of water. But I can put down a 20 oz ribeye with a large serving of broccoli on the side and wash it down with two ~12-oz glasses of water, and I'll still be back to the fridge in only an hour or two. I tried adding more caffeine (I've heard it can be a slight appetite suppressant). I tried getting off of it (The crashes supposedly stimulate hunger). I tried getting more sleep. At this point, I'm more and more considering asking my doctor for a prescription appetite suppressant, but those can have some pretty awful side effects. Pre-COVID, I was going to the gym at work and very slowly losing weight while gaining significant endurance. I once did 103 flights of stairs on the stair machine, despite my decidedly-obese 32.5 BMI. I haven't been to the gym since ~April 2019, and I've gone from 215 lbs to 240 lbs. :-\
- treeman79 5y ago
  I lost a ton of weight walking a hilly 5k 4 days a week. I was traveling for several months and would buy only as much food as needed. Worked great. Except once when I hit limit half way through my 5k. Stopped traveling. Now house is full of snacks for kids. So yea… Bad combo
- jolmg 5y ago
  I find after withstanding the hunger at a certain time of day, the hunger eventually subsides on its own then by the same time the next day I won't feel hungry again. It's weird. If I only eat one meal one day, I find I don't feel hungry at any time the next day. I end up eating anyways because I feel I should, but yeah, hunger is surprisingly manageable. It's like I only get hungry at a particular time if I ate at that same time the previous day. That also means that if I'm constantly eating, I'm constantly hungry. This is my experience, anyway. YMMV.
- DarknessFalls 5y ago
  I find that intermittent fasting for just 12 - 16 hours can be helpful. If you stop eating around 7pm and don't have anything but water or bone broth until 11 or so the next day, that's going to help you burn a lot of calories. Another thing I do in the evening is skip dinner and just eat a bowl of popcorn or a bowl of yogurt. Both seem to help me achieve satiety. Half an avocado with olive oil and salt is also good.
- climb_stealth 5y ago
  What you describe reminds me a bit of myself. Is it a psychological thing? I used to be hungry all day. I would have breakfast, morning tea, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner, and a night snack. Even stuffing myself didn't help. I would get irritated easily when I was hungry and not have a lot of patience. And being too hungry kept me from sleeping at night. Keto helped a lot with not feeling hungry and the weight but it was too much effort to sustain. With the weight just spiraling up and myself starting to feel a bit disgusted with myself I decided to try and stick to 3 meals a day and portion control my meals. I have been doing that for about 6 months now and it has helped tons with losing weight. Yes, I'm still hungry most of the day. I look forward to breakfast after having had dinner. I look forward to lunch from 10am. But, the irritation and restlessness coming with being hungry has faded into the background somewhat. Somehow telling myself "tough luck, you are not getting any more food until tomorrow" and sticking with it has really changed how I perceive it. It affects me a lot less and it doesn't stop me from being able to sleep anymore for example. Whereas before it defined me in some way, I couldn't function when I was too hungry. And I still eat shitty fatass meals, but it has become a once or twice a week on the weekend thing. Just some food for thought. Hah.

caddemon 5y ago

Purely from a weight loss perspective that's probably true, but in the long run there are other issues with being too sedentary. So I think this is still an important thing to be mindful of with the shift to WFH.

Sohcahtoa82 5y ago

I dunno... I'm almost constantly hungry. I like to joke that I need to file a bug report on the human body because my logs are constantly filling with warnings about food input being required despite plenty of calories available in storage. I've tried everything. I went keto, dumping the non-satisfying carbs and sugars in favor of fat, protein, and fiber which are supposed to satiate better and longer. I ensured I was drinking plenty of water. But I can put down a 20 oz ribeye with a large serving of broccoli on the side and wash it down with two ~12-oz glasses of water, and I'll still be back to the fridge in only an hour or two. I tried adding more caffeine (I've heard it can be a slight appetite suppressant). I tried getting off of it (The crashes supposedly stimulate hunger). I tried getting more sleep. At this point, I'm more and more considering asking my doctor for a prescription appetite suppressant, but those can have some pretty awful side effects. Pre-COVID, I was going to the gym at work and very slowly losing weight while gaining significant endurance. I once did 103 flights of stairs on the stair machine, despite my decidedly-obese 32.5 BMI. I haven't been to the gym since ~April 2019, and I've gone from 215 lbs to 240 lbs. :-\

treeman79 5y ago
I lost a ton of weight walking a hilly 5k 4 days a week. I was traveling for several months and would buy only as much food as needed. Worked great. Except once when I hit limit half way through my 5k. Stopped traveling. Now house is full of snacks for kids. So yea… Bad combo
jolmg 5y ago
I find after withstanding the hunger at a certain time of day, the hunger eventually subsides on its own then by the same time the next day I won't feel hungry again. It's weird. If I only eat one meal one day, I find I don't feel hungry at any time the next day. I end up eating anyways because I feel I should, but yeah, hunger is surprisingly manageable. It's like I only get hungry at a particular time if I ate at that same time the previous day. That also means that if I'm constantly eating, I'm constantly hungry. This is my experience, anyway. YMMV.
DarknessFalls 5y ago
I find that intermittent fasting for just 12 - 16 hours can be helpful. If you stop eating around 7pm and don't have anything but water or bone broth until 11 or so the next day, that's going to help you burn a lot of calories. Another thing I do in the evening is skip dinner and just eat a bowl of popcorn or a bowl of yogurt. Both seem to help me achieve satiety. Half an avocado with olive oil and salt is also good.
climb_stealth 5y ago
What you describe reminds me a bit of myself. Is it a psychological thing? I used to be hungry all day. I would have breakfast, morning tea, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner, and a night snack. Even stuffing myself didn't help. I would get irritated easily when I was hungry and not have a lot of patience. And being too hungry kept me from sleeping at night. Keto helped a lot with not feeling hungry and the weight but it was too much effort to sustain. With the weight just spiraling up and myself starting to feel a bit disgusted with myself I decided to try and stick to 3 meals a day and portion control my meals. I have been doing that for about 6 months now and it has helped tons with losing weight. Yes, I'm still hungry most of the day. I look forward to breakfast after having had dinner. I look forward to lunch from 10am. But, the irritation and restlessness coming with being hungry has faded into the background somewhat. Somehow telling myself "tough luck, you are not getting any more food until tomorrow" and sticking with it has really changed how I perceive it. It affects me a lot less and it doesn't stop me from being able to sleep anymore for example. Whereas before it defined me in some way, I couldn't function when I was too hungry. And I still eat shitty fatass meals, but it has become a once or twice a week on the weekend thing. Just some food for thought. Hah.