3 ms·

count your calories. don't even try to restrict them (at first). just count them. get an app/spreadsheet. get a scale. and record the calories of everything

count your calories. don't even try to restrict them (at first). just count them. get an app/spreadsheet. get a scale. and record the calories of everything and anything before you eat it. post it up on a whiteboard or sheet of paper every day. you can keep eating whatever you want and as much as you want (at first). but you have to count _everything_. every diet out there is going to try to restrict your calories in one way (e.g. eating more protein and less carbs "should" make you feel fuller sooner, leading to fewer calories). Every exercise program is going to try to increase the number of calories you burn (which is a lot harder to measure accurately than how many calories you eat). Either option is folly if you aren't recording your baseline. Your body is very good at convincing you to eat a bit more. Counting your calories will tell you the actual value of the most important variable in weight loss. And what you measure you tend to improve; counting your calories alone will lead to new habits and eating less even without you trying to restrict it. p.s. weight lifting or strength training is good advice generally. but I've been a competitive powerlifter and weightlifter for >10 years. lifting makes me hungry and makes me eat more. YMMV.

k__ 5y ago
This. It's calories in, calories out. But there are easier and harder ways to lower in and increase out. Counting will probably lower intake by itself, because you get more conscious about it.
shlant 5y ago
A quote from a Slate Star Codex[1] post that I love: "If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against…thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation." [1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/12/the-physics-diet/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/12/the-physics-diet/

k__ 5y ago

This. It's calories in, calories out. But there are easier and harder ways to lower in and increase out. Counting will probably lower intake by itself, because you get more conscious about it.

shlant 5y ago

A quote from a Slate Star Codex[1] post that I love: "If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against…thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation." [1] https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/12/the-physics-diet/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/12/the-physics-diet/