
This is for the fat ones: what changed it? - xcubic
So, I&#x27;ve been over-weight most of my life. By that I mean that my IMC is usually &quot;Obesity I&quot; but I have &quot;phases&quot; were it goes a bit down to &quot;Pre-obesity&quot;. This is usually associated with me having more or less self-control.<p>I&#x27;m currently at a low point where I don&#x27;t have much self-control, I don&#x27;t go to the gym anymore, can&#x27;t control myself around food and don&#x27;t really follow my diet anymore (created by a dietician).<p>For those who managed to lower their weight permanently, what did it for you? What made you change the way you think&#x2F;feel in a profound way that it permanently helped you keep your weight off?<p>I need to change my life but don&#x27;t know how for all I&#x27;ve tried, never seemed to last very long.
======
keiferski
The way most people go wrong in weight loss is that they think of it in terms
of _problem-solution._ I’ll do X thing, then problem Y will be solved and I
can go back to regular life. This will never work.

You need to instead completely change your mindset and identity. Start by
getting rid of the notion that you’re “someone who’s been overweight your
whole life.” It keeps you thinking that any changes are temporary and that the
“real you” is overweight and there’s nothing you can do about it.

~~~
protonimitate
Yup it's mostly a mental game.

I was overweight for probably 75% of my life. My weight still fluctuates but I
am well within "normal" range, and have been steadily lifting weights for
about 2 years.

The first thing I would focus on is changing your mindset/relationship to
food. This was the hardest thing for me to overcome personally. I used to use
food as a way to compensate for feelings of loneliness, boredom, and general
self-hate.

Figure out what is driving you eat with compulsion, and work on finding a way
to replace eating with something else (take a walk, meditate, drink a glass of
water, whatever it is).

Losing weight is just a numbers game. I honestly wouldn't even worry about
being "fit" or hitting the gym regularly at this point. Work towards a healthy
weight range and maintain it for a month or two, then slowly add in the
exercise you want to. If you change everything at once you will become
overwhelmed and throw everything away when it gets hard.

Good luck OP.

~~~
xcubic
"I used to use food as a way to compensate for feelings of loneliness,
boredom, and general self-hate." This! This applies to me too.

I never thought about the mindset behind all of this. Was always searching for
a solution elsewhere but it does make sense. We'll see how it goes.

------
phakding
I never exercised before I turned 31. I also got fat after I turned 30. Not
obese, but 20 lbs north of normal bmi range.

I quickly turned around after a friend of mine shamed me for looking like a
over inflated balloon. Here's my advice:

1\. You can't run in front of bad diet. Unless you are exercising as much as
Michael Phelps does and losing 10,000 calories, don't look at exercise at
weight reducing instrument.

2\. Learn to eat slow. Really slow. Wait for few seconds between bites and
chew longer. Give your body a chance to send a full signal.

3\. Aim to eat only a small portion at a time. If you are eating out, divide
food into smaller partitions and only eat one partition at at time.

4\. Don't be afraid of throwing food away. It's unfortunate that there are
kids in africa starving, but that doesn't mean you have a get a diabetes for
them.

5\. If you feel like it, start exercising. But just because you walked for 30
mins, doesn't mean you are entitled to can of coke, a cookie, or a piece of
pie. No. Walking 30 mins doesn't even burn 1/2 can of coke.

6\. Remember it's not what you eat, it's how much you eat. Don't start a
fucking buzz word diet to lose weight, just eat little bit less and let you
body adjust and tighten your stomach so you will be less and less hungry as
time passes.

7\. One last thing, eat only when you are hungry. Learn to say no to food.
Just because there's a cookie or a candy or a piece of pizza lying around,
doesn't mean you have to shove it down your throat. Just because it's noon,
doesn't mean you have eat lunch. Just because it's 6PM doesn't mean you have
to eat dinner. If you have to wake up at 1AM and eat a sandwich, but don't eat
dinner if you are not hungry.

------
AnIdiotOnTheNet
For me, it seems like the reason I was content to stay fat was that I didn't
have any real motivation to lose weight other than people being assholes to
me. What eventually changed that was finding an athletic hobby where the
easiest way to improve was to lose weight.

I engage in my hobby 3 days a week for 2-3 hours, and knowing that my present
self will have to answer to my future self for why they're so heavy on those
days, as well as weighing myself every day and counting calories, helps keeps
me honest.

As others have said, this is a lifestyle change. You will never be able to
stop doing whatever it is you end up doing to lose weight without getting fat
again. Anyone telling you different is a liar. There is no such thing as
"permanent" weight loss, the weight is always waiting, always watching,
waiting to pounce on you if you let your guard down.

I can't even honestly tell you that it is worth it in the end. People like to
sell you this idea that being not-fat will somehow make your life vastly
better and you'll be happy, but that just isn't how it works. It actually
kinda sucks because you end up associating the enjoyment of food with hating
yourself later. All you'll be is in better shape, anything else is a different
problem.

------
sharmi
There is already a treasure trove of info in the comments. So let me try not
to repeat and give only what I have learned recently.

I had lost weight sometime back (around 40 pounds, give to take). Life got in
the way and got a bit lazy. A few years flash by and I am climbing back to
where I was previously.

My lifestyle had been slowly slipping back to old unhealthy ways. So I had to
relearn all the habits again. I am 2 months into the change. I am logging my
learnings here as much for me as for the OP.

* One can't outrun a bad diet. So exercise by itself cannot help you lose weight.

* But, just calorific restriction makes me terribly miserable, obsessive and depressed.

* Exercise can boost your endorphins, make you feel good. It has a start and stop time. So everyday, you can feel satisfied that you have done atleast one thing that is healthy. It also helps preserve your muscles as you lose fat.

* So I hit upon a plan. Exercise is just for me to not feel depressed. While diet and calorie restriction can take care of the weight loss.

* With that in mind, I could choose the exercise that I like the most, walking. (Previously, I was more focused on the ones that will aid weight loss the most.)

* Walking (or any exercise) also helped regulate the sleep patterns. Then slowly I started weeding out foods that might not be helpful for me.

* A few weeks in, I added some strength exercises and HIIT.

* The scale is not moving as fast as I would have liked but I do see some changes in the mirror and everyday I could run a bit longer, feel a bit stronger and hopefully, the habits are getting ingrained enough to not fall off the wagon again.

------
DrScump
Experiment.

Try keto dieting. (Even if you aren't insulin resistant, the inherent menu
rules can prevent mindless cheating).

Try intermittent fasting. Alternate day feeding, 5:2 alternating fast, fasting
mimicking diet (FMD).

Try time-restricted feeding: limit feeding to a 10-hour window or less. 4-hour
is optimal, but difficult.

In any case, carbohydrate in non-natural forms should be avoided first.

~~~
krzat
Intermittent fasting is amazing:

\- there is this psychological effect that keeps you from snacking - I'm not
going to break my fast just to eat a candy

\- my teeth are healthier, because they are dirty only 4h per day

\- I spend less time cooking / eating

\- I save money by cooking food after work (easy to do since it's basically
one meal plus healthy snacks)

\- First meal of the day tastes great

\- I laugh at folks who repeat broscience dogmas (breakfast is most important
meal of the day, etc.)

\- there are supposedly health benefits like autophagy but it's hard

Note: IF is only for managing hunger, CICO still applies

------
throwaway88941
I've struggled with my weight my entire adult life. Ups and downs, diets and
exercise. In the last six months I think I finally found a method that works
for me and can be maintained indefinitely. (I'm down about 60 pounds now.)

To start with, I ceased trying to control my eating. I could do it for quite
awhile, but eventually I'd get sick or something would happen and I'd fall off
the wagon. Studies on the subject say that caloric restriction doesn't work in
the long-term. Instead I just altered my diet. I can eat whatever I want, as
long as 80% of what I eat is vegetables (corn and potatoes are excluded from
"vegetables" as they are extremely starchy.) My breakfast is frequently two
scrambled eggs and a gallon zip-loc baggy fully of peppers, onions and
mushrooms. Try to avoid carbs, but don't kill yourself doing so. Sometimes
I'll have oatmeal for breakfast instead (with a bunch of veg.) For some
godawful reason, "Dietary Fiber" is put under the umbrella of carbs. They
don't count because your body can't digest them. Subtract the amount of fiber
from the carb count. That's the number you should care about. When in doubt,
consult a diabetic website, those folks are magicians at avoiding carbs. Not
all carbs are equal, refined sugar and fructose are the worst, so avoid them
like the plague.

I exercise every day. I enjoy playing video games, so I got a recumbent
exercise bike and I only play video games while exercising. It took me awhile
to build up stamina, but now I'll do an hour in the morning before work, and
an hour after work. If I'm sick or not feeling well, I get on the bike anyway,
and when I feel like I'm suffering, I stop. Make it a habit. As long as I only
play video games while exercising, I stopped budgeting for video games. I
simply buy whatever I want because now it's a health expense.

I prioritize sleep above all else. Above work, above relationships. Sleep
first. If you have insurance, get a sleep study done and see if you can
improve your sleep further. Studies suggest that sleep is a more important
factor than what you eat, even.

I try to lift weights two or three times a week. I spent a long time
overthinking weight lifting. Programs and styles and such. Find something
heavy and move it around until you're tired. You don't need to be Mr.
Universe, just strain your muscles a bit.

Finally, forgive yourself for fucking up, because you will fuck up. Don't beat
yourself up for it. Guilt held me back for a long time.

------
luckylion
I personally don't believe in "it's up to you", "just exercise self-control".
I have phases where I'm fat and after years of being fat, something clicks and
I will lose weight extremely fast (intermittent fasting mainly, diet + sports
later), and I tend to fall out of those phases & habits at some point. Then I
get fat again, and at some point, it clicks again and I start losing again.
It's loosely coupled to mental health for me, but that might be different for
everybody.

What helps me: identify circumstances and substances that make me eat too much
(no alcohol, no thc), avoiding overly stressful days on the job (no, I won't
finish this tonight and sustain myself on snickers bars), and medication. I
know a few people who slowly sank into depression and never realized that the
way they are feeling isn't "the normal state". Medication (legal or otherwise)
can help in those instances - it does for me.

It might for you, too. Speak to your doctor about it, and don't be afraid of
drugs. Side-effects are shit, but it sure beats sitting in the corner for
three years contemplating suicide until you one day magically wake up and get
better. Another thing: alcohol, sugar & other drugs are often used to self-
medicate.

God, I sound like a big pharma shill, but I really mean it.

~~~
wnkrshm
I agree, food for me is a crutch to self-medicate for anxiety - I haven't
gotten to the point where I've got a professional to actually prescribe me
something, since I am functioning, I can live my life, I can work, I'm mostly
a productive member of society. But I'm slowly killing myself for it.

I've found the medical professionals I've talked to hesitant to give me
psychopharmaca. I've excercised in the past and had my weight drop for months
but just like OP, I couldn't turn it around permanently. Once stress starts
mounting I'm back to not watching what I eat and discontinue things like going
out for a run.

~~~
luckylion
Regarding "I am functioning", I know exactly what you mean. So am I in
general, regardless of what's actually going on. But maybe that's just that
you're great at keeping up appearances, not that your circumstances aren't
that bad. Maybe it's time to get some professional help.

With psychopharmaca, I think it's about finding the right doctor. I'm not a
fan of everybody getting some pills, but a lot of doctors seem to be so
hesitant and want to try lots of others things first. Sure, antidepressants
aren't the perfect solution, but at least they give you time to figure
something else out while the patient doesn't suffer through months and months
of "maybe if you just ate more red meat".

I suppose what you, OP and me are doing is mostly treating symptoms: losing
the weight. Maybe the weight isn't the issue, it's merely an indicator.

------
kerkeslager
1\. It's not a race. Make small changes that you believe you can do _for the
rest of your life_. Try each change for at least a week before introducing new
changes, and keep monitoring old changes to make sure you're doing them. If
you make a big change like a whole diet plan, you likely won't stick with it.
And time-bound plans are useless: people who do 30-day diets are usually
fatter six months later. The best plan is the one that you actually do, and
keep doing.

2\. Diet to lose weight. Exercise to feel/look good, and become more capable.
When you look into how many calories various exercises burn versus how many
calories are in even small portions of foods, it becomes clear that it take
vast amounts of exercise to burn the same amount of calories as a small
reduction in caloric intake.

3\. Look into mindful eating. Slow your eating. Don't do other things while
you eat, like watching TV or reading: just eat, and pay attention to your
food. Enjoy your food (which increases satiation)!

4\. This is more my own personal experience than anything I have evidence for,
but changes that are clear and don't require a lot of research to enforce work
well. Gathering caloric information on everything you consume is prohibitively
difficult, but things like "no caloric drinks" and "no red meat" are clear
rules that eliminate some large sources of empty calories. Those might not be
the right rules for you, they're just examples of things you might try.

5\. Consider adding portions of low-calorie foods whenever you reduce portions
of high-calorie foods, as this makes it easier to feel full. Carrots, bok
choi, and arugula have worked pretty well for me, and you can eat virtually
unlimited quantities of these without consuming significant calories.

------
FranciscusG
Things improved permanently when I became scientifically convinced that
carbohydrates are not food for humans.

I went from obese to slim and have remained that way for years now.

The actual loss of weight was a tough slog of exercise, severe caloric
restriction and muscle-building.

~~~
Someone1234
I'd just like to add carbohydrate withdrawal is no joke. It will make you feel
"hungry" in a very specific way, even if you've just eaten and are physically
full.

Seems to be the hardest for the first 14 days and you'll be mostly beyond it
after about a month (YMMV).

Feels almost like the flu at times (lack of energy, headaches, general
lethargic, etc). But once you're through it you'll have more energy than you
did before you started, and less up/down swings.

If you want more information read people that either went full Keto, or did
things like the "potato diet."

edit: Just to be clear, I'm not trying to discourage anyone. I was just trying
to let you know what to expect so you don't worry there's something wrong or
are surprised at how challenging it can be.

------
forgotmypw2
Learn to experience hunger on a daily basis. Wait until you have that churning
empty stomach feeling before you eat. Then, eat enough of decent food to
satisfy it and stop.

------
siedes
I've never been anywhere near obese, having been skinny and malnourished all
my life, but I do have much experience indulging in self-destructive behavior
such as eating and drinking junk to sate my depression-fueled cravings. My
normal weight for my height before was around 120-125 pounds, but I found that
I had become 145lbs at some point two or so years into my depressive state. I
wasn't working and I didn't have enough money to eat a well rounded diet.
Ultimately, instead of spending my money wisely, I bought junk that could sate
my cravings and give me short-lived kicks of joy. Long term health doesn't
really matter for someone who was planning to die. I believe this is very much
a mental fight. I was not someone who cared to weigh myself regularly because
I had a consistent idea of who I was and how I look. I didn't know or even
could tell I was gaining weight, because I avoided even looking at my
reflection. I avoided even turning on the light in the bathroom to avoid
seeing myself clearly. Then the day I finally decided to weigh myself, seeing
that I had become 145 pounds was a punch in the throat. This isn't me. That
was what made me start living healthier again. I started by doing stretches
everyday. Then I added a few pushups and squats here and there. It's good to
have a routine and schedule so that you can discipline yourself. A
undisciplined person will choose to sate his cravings every time, with any
excuse necessary. He will make himself depressed if he has to even if he
wasn't feeling that bad that day, to create the conditions necessary for him
to justify his shitty decisions. Even if you can't go to the gym, stretch for
10 minutes every night or in the morning. You don't have to change your diet
right away, I didn't do that. Start by changing the portion size, start by
adding healthier stuff and maybe trying to eat that before you eat whatever
you normally eat, so you'll be too full to have eaten too much of the bad
stuff. Forget the diet, just use common sense. If you're stretching every day,
controlling your portions, and gradually eating less every week, then you're
on a good path. Gaining discipline will give you more confidence, and you'll
start to want to add more to your routine. Just stretching gets boring right?
To summarize, it's a mental battle. There's no diet plan, workout regime, or
any other trick that can save you. Because the way you are, you will find a
way to justify doing bad things instead of good things. Good luck.

------
SamReidHughes
I kept trying different ways to psyche myself into losing weight and being
fit. Some worked for a while, and then I had to switch. The most effective was
starting body weight workouts, the first time I had ever tried weight
training. I didn't try to improve my diet, but the observation of its impact
on performance lead me to go meat-heavy, instead of fluffy pizza/burrito food.
I can pig out to the max as long as it's on Five Guys, not Chipotle (two side
by side options in my neighborhood). That probably improved my mentality over
food overall, and I've taken to often choosing "the second option" over what I
want: Diet Coke over Coke, peanuts over fries, no queso over queso, one slice
of pizza over two. But this wasn't a top-down decision. Edit: Also, workouts
changed the mentality from "don't be a fatlard" to "be 99th percentile in
fitness" which is perfectly attainable, and positively motivating.

------
knbknb
If you like to shop for food, buy higher-quality versions of everything. Buy
the expensive fair-trade chocolate instead of the plastic bag of chocolate
muffins, or the chocolate bar from the vending machine. Or go to a vegetarian
restaurant instead of the burger chain.

These measures will reduce your budget for food, especially when your amount
of money you can spend in a month is constrained. But you will eat higher
quality ingredients and this alone will have a small beneficial impact on your
body. Even if you do this to only a certain degree (you still buy junk food
once a week, say) it will be beneficial, but more in a subtle way. You might
even lose some weight this way, but don't expect too much.

Take a close look at "light" products or "fat reduced" products they are often
more expensive and still contain _lower-quality_ ingredients. This also holds
for many "vegan" products als well (margarine re-labeled as "vegan butter" for
instance)

------
arandr0x
I've never had a BMI above 19 since puberty, so I can't speak as to being
overweight. However I did gain (a welcome...) 10 pounds when I moved to the
US. I attribute this to:

* my workplace had free candy bars lying around (think Reese's and that kind of stuff)

* bigger portions in restaurants

* temptations for things like cookies and muffins; there were bakeries everywhere on my way to/from work

So I would suggest the opposite thing. Move somewhere with no bakeries or
restaurants (rural is good), pick a health conscious workplace or lobby your
boss to remove snacks from the building (dangle the health insurance prices
carrot if needed). Also you can do a thing I did which is go to work by train,
the station was 2 miles from the office. Easy daily workout. I ran instead of
walking because the train was usually late.

In summary, you should re-arrange your life to fit your desired weight goal
rather than rearrange yourself struggling every day against a life that is
clearly pushing back against you.

------
kohanz
I don't know how helpful this will be, but I was overweight (not quite obese)
from about age 8 to 24. At 24 I had a major personal event (end of a long-term
relationship and end of my life as I had it "planned"). I can't say this was
completely a conscious choice, but I turned to exercise as a way to cope. I
had always been somewhat active (into sports), but now I got into jogging,then
running, then weight lifting. It was therapeutic. I lost a lot of weight. Too
much, at one point (hence the weightlifting). Point being, I'm in my late
thirties now and have kept it off despite that initial emotional motivation
being long gone (I'm happily married with kids, love my life). I don't know
that I could have done it without the initial emotional shock, but I do know
that before that I thought being fat was part of who I was, and I now know
that clearly wasn't true.

------
mft_
(Late in, but just wanted to add a viewpoint/suggestion I've not seen already,
in case it's helpful to you.)

Simply: I don't think there's a 'one size fits all' approach you can rely on.

I've been mildly overweight for years - not obese, but heavier than I wanted
to be, and heavier than is healthy. I've tried various weight loss approaches,
on and off: healthy eating, calorie counting, WeightWatchers-style points
counting, keto, slow-carb (Tim Ferriss' approach), and the 5:2 diet, all
combined with exercise. Aside from keto, none of these worked for me past a
couple of weeks - I'd lose the motivation, and drift back to old ways. Living
a social lifestyle involving alcohol and eating out fairly regularly helped
with this. (Keto was interesting, but my blood lipid values looked quite bad
after a few weeks, so I gave it up; YMMV).

What I then discovered is that my individual psychology seems to work much
better with strict but easy-to-follow rules in place, rather than a constant
battle of trying to not eat the tasty food. So what worked for me was daily
intermittent fasting. I don't eat a single calorie until lunchtime (~12 or
1pm) - one or two black coffees work amazingly for removing the hunger pangs.
Then have a nice big lunch (making it reasonably big is actually important, as
you'll have been fasting for 16-18 hrs; if I eat too small, I'll get hunger
pangs mid-afternoon). Then follow it up with a decent early dinner - if I'm
being strict, I'll finish eating within a 6 hour window, or relax that to 8 or
9 hour window if life dictates.

This works great for me - I lose weight quite easily if I'm strict for the
6-hour window, and maintain weight if I'm a bit less strict. Also, an
unexpected bonus of the window effect is that you'll automatically limit
calories, by only eating two meals a day - more is virtually impossible. And
it's self-limiting - if you have a particularly large lunch, you'll still be
quite full 5-6 hours later, so will have a smaller dinner.

------
TiffanySol
When i was looking in a mirror i didn't like myself, i wasn't beautiful for
me. Though my family tried to assure me that i'm beautiful the way i was but i
hated myself. So i though i need to change myself! I looked thousand pictures
on google of beautiful girls, and i took a picture of a girl who's body was
just perfect for me. Then i started to go to the gym. At first it was
difficult, but day by day i liked it. Also i noticed that my headaches are
gone since i'm going to the gym. When i wanted to give up i always had a
picture of a perfect girl from internet. And it encouraged me. So it's already
a year that i'm going to the gym, i like myself, i feel more confident and i
enjoy my every day! So make a challenge and do it

------
nicholas73
Forget all the tips, and find an activity and healthy food that you enjoy. You
wouldn't advise someone to power through a career they hate. Being healthy
shouldn't be hard either. You should want to do the activity, push yourself as
part of the game, and it becomes a lifestyle.

I love martial arts, I love steak, I'm king of the buffet. You can see my abs
and my weight stays within the same 10 lbs band since I reached adult size. If
I don't work out for a week I can see the fat layer up, but it goes away with
just one work out. I can only imagine how I'd look if I were someone who
doesn't exercise and eats poorly.

Also lucky me I don't really crave bread or sugars.

------
speedplane
Rotisserie chicken. Buy one every other day without any sides. Eat half a
chicken, dark meat for lunch, white meat for dinner (or vice versa), with a
bunch of greens along the way (spinach, broccoli, etc).

------
foxyv
This book changed everything for me. Dr. Fung pretty much takes a hammer and
smashes the eat less move more philosophy into bits. Reduced calorie doesn't
work and everyone knows it at some level. Exercise is good for you but isn't a
good way to lose weight.

[https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01C6D0LCK&preview=new...](https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B01C6D0LCK&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_tyyyCbMEBAQ4N)

------
JSeymourATL
> What made you change the way you think/feel in a profound way...

You may be suffering from a hormonal issue. Peter Attia breaksdown the
difference between an how an obese person processes food, and how a normal
person does. >
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiQevGDPgRY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiQevGDPgRY)

~~~
xcubic
This is very very interesting!

~~~
JSeymourATL
Right on! Unfortunate that some bozo down voted this post.

------
pizza
Massively increasing protein intake as a percentage of calories and eating one
meal a day. Keto is good but just loading up on fat is basically
counterproductive to expending any. Protein is just so much more satiating,
plus I've gained a noticeable amount of muscle (picked up StrongLifts 5x5 last
fall), which helps raise BMR / TDEE a little bit.

I basically realized if a meal doesn't have enough protein in it, it won't
satisfy me, and I'll quickly be hungry again. I don't mind carbs in
moderation, and sometimes I'll crave e.g. a meaty sandwich after a good
workout, which is imo basically fine. I used to be much more strict about
avoiding carbs like the plague. But what I usually go for after a workout is a
75g protein vanilla whey + water shake.

The crazy part is that the FDA recommends 50g _per day_ for a man like me
eating 2000 kcal/day (I'd probably have a bit more than 2000 but I've been
loose with measuring it recently); my rule of thumb is get 1g of protein per
lb of lean body mass - I realize this is over the amount some studies
recommend as the maximum utilizable protein/lb LBM, but it just works for me,
so I'm gonna keep it up.

------
LyndsySimon
Keto worked for me. I lost 80 pounds - 320 down to 240 - in about a year. I’ve
kept it off for a year and a half since I went back to a typical diet.

I still have more to lose, but I’m not nearly so motivated to do it. It’s also
much less stressful to think about now that I know how to do it.

------
dawidw
Listen the podcast, it seems it's perfect for your problem:

[https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-lose-
weight-k...](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-lose-weight-keep-
it-off/)

------
faical
I just read this [0] this morning and thought it was thoughtful. Hope it
helps.

[0] [https://medium.com/not-another-diet/not-another-
diet-6a86abe...](https://medium.com/not-another-diet/not-another-
diet-6a86abe25803)

------
Foober223
You lose weight by consuming less.

Cut all calories from your drinks. Water, black coffee, unsweetened tea only.
Eat a reasonable sized plate of food for your meals. Favor protein and
vegetables over starchy-carby-french-fryish things. Don't eat deserts. No pie,
no donuts, no candy. No snacks between meals. You will look like a different
person in 1 year.

Exercise improves the strength of your heart and other muscles. It even
improves your nervous system. And you will look better. It's very important to
exercise your body. but it's not the main driver of weight loss. You simply
don't burn very many calories through exercise.

------
TiffanySol
Or find a friend who'll share it with you. Go to the gym together and
encourage each other. Or take a blog like a diary, let your followers
encourage you with their experiences. Show the world your experience and maybe
you'll help someone like you.

