I suppose he stopped eating crackers too

Good for him. But...

You don't have to avoid all the simple starches for weight loss. Beans are reasonably high in protein to calorie ratio. Take a whole grain wheat tortilla (120cal) slather on a huge, because they are low cal, helping of seasoned refried kidney beans (100cal), add some chopped fresh onion and peppers (10 cal). And you have a very filling, almost gut busting lunch, for about 240 calories total. It's also almost zero fat, zero cholesterol, zero sodium, etc.

Oh, and one extra little perk - the whole thing, made at home, costs about 40 cents (yep, really) for something that fills you up all day long in a healthy way.

Sounds like he did the Sugar Busters diet.

digitalrain: Gah. I *so* need to lose weight. A lot of it. A huge part of my problem is willpower. As in I have none.
Add that to the fact that my husband and kids DON'T need to lose weight and don't stop buying all
the stuff that I crave.

Sigh...

Get a scrip for adderall. Works wonders.

digitalrain: Gah. I *so* need to lose weight. A lot of it. A huge part of my problem is willpower. As in I have none. Add that to the fact that my husband and kids DON'T need to lose weight and don't stop buying all the stuff that I crave.

Yeah, that's like trying to quit smoking when you have roommates who smoke in the house and leave their cigs laying around. Very difficult on the will power.

Instead of trying to wrestle against sheer will power, keep trying different low cal snacks until you find one that works for you. Then you can eat all you want of it when the temptation for munchies strikes. Sweet baby carrots work well for some habitual snackers. They actually are sweet.

Hope you find a system that works for you.

I cut starches out of my diet in the mid 00's. Now everytime I have a sandwich or something, I feel bloated for like the next two days. But it really is healthier.

I lost 20 pounds in 6 months by giving up french fries. But then I started eating them again.

ShawnDoc: Summary: He stopped eating shiat and started exercising. I didn't see it in the story, but I assume portion control is in there too.

Many doctors will tell you that exercise will do precious little to help with weight loss. It will help with endurance and muscle tone, but is only minimally effective in helping one to lose weight. If a person maintains their current diet and just starts exercising, they're going to have a hard time taking off much weight.

On a personal note, I did something similar to what this guy did. I cut out almost all carbs and pretty much ate all the protien and fat I could take. I lost 128 lbs in just over eight months. I never exercised even once.
Interestingly, even though I expected a sharp rise in my cholesterol level, it actually went down from 192 to 189.

This guy encourages me. Ive gained back some over the years. I'm gonna do this again. Reasor's grocey in Sapulpa, OK is having their semi annual "Big Meat Sale" this weekend. I'm gonna go stock up as soon as I get off work.

Wish me luck!

acad1228: Many doctors will tell you that exercise will do precious little to help with weight loss. It will help with endurance and muscle tone, but is only minimally effective in helping one to lose weight. If a person maintains their current diet and just starts exercising, they're going to have a hard time taking off much weight.

You need to see a new doctor, one that understands metabolism and caloric requirements.

acad1228: Many doctors will tell you that exercise will do precious little to help with weight loss. It will help with endurance and muscle tone, but is only minimally effective in helping one to lose weight. If a person maintains their current diet and just starts exercising, they're going to have a hard time taking off much weight.

Many doctors got barely average grades in med school, and were lucky to get residency at a sweatshop local hospital for the next decade.

Plus see above what starsrift wrote. You should go ahead and disagree with your doctor to his face if he tells you exercise doesn't help you lose weight. Because he is wrong.

dopekitty74: Demise: While I disagree with switching to non-white grains, kudos to this guy and finding what worked for him. Hopefully he can keep it off.

I've lost almost as much in 10 months using this philosophy.

That's fascinating, and I can see why it would work. I'm guessing that once in a while a carby treat is ok though. If i had to deprive myself completely of chocolate, it would NOT be a good thing for anyone...

Yes, an occasional reasonable carb treat is just fine. I've made the switch to 72% or higher chocolate as the once a week treat (a few squares) and still managed to lose 10 lbs a month on average.

Magorn: D2T: starsrift: acad1228: Many doctors will tell you that exercise will do precious little to help with weight loss. It will help with endurance and muscle tone, but is only minimally effective in helping one to lose weight. If a person maintains their current diet and just starts exercising, they're going to have a hard time taking off much weight.

You need to see a new doctor, one that understands metabolism and caloric requirements.

Agree with both of you, kinda. Exercise will help you get into better shape, obviously, and raise your metabolism. But purely from a weight standpoint, you may go up or stay the same. Muscle weighs more than fat. People shouldn't be so caught up in losing weight and more concerned with being fit. When you first start working out, especially if you do weight training, expect to gain weight. It'll happen. But keep with it, and go by how you look. Daily or weekly photos are a much better metric of progress than BMI or total weight.

Personal experience: as a fat man in my 20's I was desperate to lose weight so I got myself a gym membership and a set of weights and an exercise bike, and started working out, religiously. As in, not a single day went by for 3 years (not Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, nothing) where I didn't spend between 15-30 minutes doing aerobic exercise and another 30 min working the weights-and that was the minimum, I often did a lot more. When I started, I was 324 lbs. When I stopped I was 322 LBs. I had great wind for a fat guy and I could do a dozen pull-ups, but as far as losing the fat? Nada. Now when I cut my work-outs back to 3/time a week and stoped the strict low fat diet I was on, I did GAIN weight pretty quickly and 4 years later i was 370-which is when i went Lo-carb and lost about 2/bs a day for 3 months and lost over 100 lbs in 6 mo.

I live 10km (that's around 4.5 miles, I think?) from my workplace. My job is very sedentary. If I'm feeling lazy, or the weather's bad, or whatever, I drive to work. Other times, I walk or bike the distance; it's also notably hilly, the city I live in is coastal with a mountain in back. If I maintain my sedentary-style diet and hike or cycle every day in a work week (100km of travel via exercise), I will lose 25 pounds. Though, I don't have much to lose.

Different foods are going to work differently on different people. 95 per cent of distance runners (I am one) eat primarily carbs, in the form of whole grains, legumes, and veggies. I lost 50 lbs and my BMI went from 28.5 to 20.7.Yes, I'm a skinny little fark.

My wife, OTOH, lost 150 lbs on a low carb, Atkins style diet. And by diet, I mean "lifestyle change". A diet is, by definition, something you will only do for a while. And yes, she DOES have a smokin' little body now, TYVM.

Yes, we both cut "white foods", as in white flour, white rice, white sugar, and white po-TAY-toes Cutting processed foods forces you to pay much more attention to exactly what you are forcing down your pie hole, and THAT, my friends, is the real "secret" to weight loss.

Ask yourself questions. Am I hungry, or just bored? If I'm not hungry, don't shove it in my pie hole.
If I AM hungry, is this food, or processed garbage? If garbage, don't shove it in my pie hole.
If food, eat a little bit, and then ask again: Am I still hungry?

And, of course, aerobic exercise. Run at least 30 miles a week, and it gets real hard to gain weight.

Magorn: Personal experience: as a fat man in my 20's I was desperate to lose weight so I got myself a gym membership and a set of weights and an exercise bike, and started working out, religiously. As in, not a single day went by for 3 years (not Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years, nothing) where I didn't spend between 15-30 minutes doing aerobic exercise and another 30 min working the weights-and that was the minimum, I often did a lot more. When I started, I was 324 lbs. When I stopped I was 322 LBs. I had great wind for a fat guy and I could do a dozen pull-ups, but as far as losing the fat? Nada. Now when I cut my work-outs back to 3/time a week and stoped the strict low fat diet I was on, I did GAIN weight pretty quickly and 4 years later i was 370-which is when i went Lo-carb and lost about 2/bs a day for 3 months and lost over 100 lbs in 6 mo.

I'm glad to hear dietary changes alone worked for you. However, for many, perhaps most others, it may not. The current thinking, in a highly simplified paraphrased nutshell, is that people's bodies/brains are preset to maintain a particular fat store. Dietary change alone can change weight, true, but it doesn't reprogram the brain/hormonal system from what it wants your body to be at. The result can be a miserable person who constantly craves foods he doesn't allow himself to have. This is the reason for a oft seen rebound effect after losing weight.

Exercise on the other hand has been shown to reprogram the body/brain about what it's needs are, so that you can lose weight without have to constantly have to struggle with willpower.

Aside from weight, even moderate occasional cardio exercise (walking) also helps your general cardio fitness level, mental mood, improves memory, improves cognitive function, lowers BP, lower cholesterol level, better sexual function, regulate insulin and reduce diabetic side effects, etc. This isn't theory or opinion. It's all established science. So I really just don't see why you would encourage anyone not to exercise.

I've just started a similar diet (low carb - high protein) as well as hitting the gym (45 mins endurance training, 4 or 5 times a week).

My diet was explained to me as being the Paleo or Caveman diet..

No potatoes, grains, bread, legumes, sugar, dairy, rice or pasta etc.

Just meat, fish, quorn, fruit in moderation, nuts, seeds and veg that can be eaten raw (these can still be cooked if desired).

A week in so far and feel great, not craving anything or snacking (esp at night), bags more energy, not feeling bloated.

warwick_hunt: My diet was explained to me as being the Paleo or Caveman diet..

The paleo diet is easy for the first 2.5 million years. But after that you start craving the easy snacks.

blacksho89:
Ask yourself questions. Am I hungry, or just bored? If I'm not hungry, don't shove it in my pie hole.
If I AM hungry, is this food, or processed garbage? If garbage, don't shove it in my pie hole.
If food, eat a little bit, and then ask again: Am I still hungry?

.

thisthisthisthisthisthis.

Probably 90% of the weight loss equation solved right there.

At work, I refuse to touch any of the constant flow of junk snacks that sit in our break room. Not a bite. Pretty much everyone else grazes on them all day until they are gone, compelled by the draw of it. In the beginning, they mocked me as "uptight" and would relentlessly taunt me with donuts and candy (which I found amusing, as in only reinforced my will). 63 pounds later and in better shape than any other person in my office - now they all come to me for advice and speak with utmost respect regarding my "amazing willpower".

My boss constantly complains to me about how he can't lose weight. Yet the other day I found him in the kitchen eating a two-month-old tub of leftover caramel dip he found in the fridge with his fingers like a crack addict. He looked up at me with a sheepish grin and then continued feeding. It was pitiful actually. He was one of those who most mocked my diligence in the beginning.

Nothing tastes as good as how thin and healthy feels.

I'm on the no beige food diet. It works but good bye fried stuff.

AngryDragon: ExperianScaresCthulhu: 100 pounds in four months means something else was happening -- and it wasn't exercise.
that is too fast of a weight loss, unless he had surgery and/or a liquid diet under a physician's care.
half the time, now a days, there's surgery involved, but you don't find that out until the bottom
of the story, or the follow up.

No. I lost 40 pounds in 2 months doing something very similar. No surgery, No starving myself. I've since decided that starches and carbohydrates (especially sugar) are simply not meant to be a large part of the human diet. I've cut out rice, potatoes, starchy vegetables, sugar, and breads. I take in 2500 calories a day of fat, protein, and "good carbs" (leafy veggies, avocado, etc.). My blood work is normal across the board and I've never felt healthier.

I think we're on to something.

Agreed. I've lost 30 lbs within 3 months because I reduced my portions and I workout six days a week. So, it's simple: Eat better and get off your ass!

Laws of Thermodynamics.

Calories In - Calories Out = Calories Stored.

Magorn: Simply limiting your caories does not, no matter how "common sense" that may be. You body has built in defenses againt famine that make the basic "starve yourself" diet nearly impossible to lose weight on.

Are you trying to claim that your body violates the laws of thermodynamics?

And look at the 'starvation mode' study. It was when the guy already bottomed out.

They fed an obese man nothing but vitamins and water and he lost weight.

I`m generally about 15st. I can choose whether it`s 15st of fat or 15st of muscles. It`s not easy for me to lose weight so I stay fit.

Try going to the gym 3 times a week.

15 minutes cardio on the cycle, try to use over 200 calories

15 minutes on the weights , 4 reps each bit of kit, as heavy as you can go, you shouldn`t be able to do 5 reps, go round twice

15 minutes cardio again, try to use over 150 calories

15 minutes on the weights again with lighter weights, do 10-20 reps go round each bit of kit 3 times.

try to go swimming twice a week for an hour

works for me, YMMV

/for real fat loss try 5 days normal eating then 2 days low calorie, then 4 days normal with 2 days low 3 days normal, two days low then two days normal, two days low then go back to 5 days normal.

Eat less, more exercise.

 

How not to lose weight

Hastor: Dieting is an equation. If your intake is larger than what you burn daily you won't lose weight. It's really not that complicated. That might not make it easier but it's really not hard to grasp.

Except those two are not unrelated factors - if they were, it would be almost impossible for people to maintain stable weights over time. The two are strongly interrelated - increasing the amount you burn increases hunger; decreasing the amount of food you eat reduces metabolism.

There are strong roles of hormones, too - just because your body has fat doesn't mean it's actually able to utilize that stored energy. There are animal models of obesity where rats on restricted diets actually starved to death - and were still overweight at the time of their death from starvation. Think of it a bit like liquidity of financial assets - you could be unable to pay a bill in spite of owning assets that far exceed the bill amount, if those assets are very illiquid. How easily fat can be 'spent' plays a big role in the success or failure of a diet.

I've heard of this diet before. I sat and thought about it and realized I would be taking in zero calories a day. fark that.

Albinoman: Bullshiat flag!

100 pounds in 122 days is about 2,900 calorie deficit every day, which isnt much below your daily nutritional needs anyway. So is this guy claiming he only consumed a couple hundred calories per day and didn't die or have some severe health problems as a result?

Surgery, a lot longer time period, or two different people.

I ran a 2200 calorie deficit and dropped about 75 pounds with no death or health problems. The only concern was once ramped down to about 600 calories/day I had to plan my meals very carefully to make sure I wasn't shorting myself things like fat for necessary brain activity. You don't die of hunger, you die when your body can't wring enough calories it off itself to keep your heart beating and your lungs moving. At 155 is say he was at least 60 pounds away from that point.

Sum Dum Gai: illiquid

I`m going to start using this word.

Sum Dum Gai: Hastor: Dieting is an equation. If your intake is larger than what you burn daily you won't lose weight. It's really not that complicated. That might not make it easier but it's really not hard to grasp.

Except those two are not unrelated factors - if they were, it would be almost impossible for people to maintain stable weights over time. The two are strongly interrelated - increasing the amount you burn increases hunger; decreasing the amount of food you eat reduces metabolism.

There are strong roles of hormones, too - just because your body has fat doesn't mean it's actually able to utilize that stored energy. There are animal models of obesity where rats on restricted diets actually starved to death - and were still overweight at the time of their death from starvation. Think of it a bit like liquidity of financial assets - you could be unable to pay a bill in spite of owning assets that far exceed the bill amount, if those assets are very illiquid. How easily fat can be 'spent' plays a big role in the success or failure of a diet.

you sound fat.

Sum Dum Gai: Hastor: Dieting is an equation. If your intake is larger than what you burn daily you won't lose weight. It's really not that complicated. That might not make it easier but it's really not hard to grasp.

Except those two are not unrelated factors - if they were, it would be almost impossible for people to maintain stable weights over time. The two are strongly interrelated - increasing the amount you burn increases hunger; decreasing the amount of food you eat reduces metabolism.

There are strong roles of hormones, too - just because your body has fat doesn't mean it's actually able to utilize that stored energy. There are animal models of obesity where rats on restricted diets actually starved to death - and were still overweight at the time of their death from starvation. Think of it a bit like liquidity of financial assets - you could be unable to pay a bill in spite of owning assets that far exceed the bill amount, if those assets are very illiquid. How easily fat can be 'spent' plays a big role in the success or failure of a diet.

No! You're wrong. I'm a fark Engineer and I took a few Physics classed in college, so I know everything about how the world works. I don't need to know about biochemistry, or metabolic pathways, I only need to know The Laws of Thermodynamics! Biochemistry isn't a hard science anyway, it's closer to sociology.

I think that one of the problems that exists with the 'exercise doesn't equal weight loss' with normal people is due to not only underestimating their caloric intake, but also over-estimating the amount of energy spent working out. Put your fat ass on a tread mill for an hour on speed 1 or 2 and you just burned a soda, great job tubby. So yes, there is argument for the whole in/out weight loss.

It looks like one of the main points of disagreement in diet threads are people equating being fit with weight loss. You can feed a fat bag of snacks rabbit food and they will lose weight, sure. But, losing weight does not necessarily mean weight loss has nearly the health benefits of becoming fit. "Look at me, I'm in great shape and I never exercise!" No, your skinny and still soft.

Magorn: Thermodynamics has ZERO to do with nutrition and weight loss.

Keep telling yourself that.

Calories In - Calories Out = Calories Stored.