Hello I'm your typical overweight American, and I've started a keto diet to lose weight. I gained weight in the first place because I love food, and I used to eat for pleasure as well as to satisfy my hunger. I recently decided I wasn't going to improve unless I dedicate myself to an effective diet, and completely cut out simple carbs.

According to the BMI thread, most Warlighters are within the healthy range (aside from knyte who takes obesity to a whole new world), so I'm wondering if that's due to diet or exercise, or if most of you just simply don't eat excessive amounts of calories. If you've experimented with dieting, what kind of diets do you support?

I support ketogenic dieting but only for short term, because it leads to quicker and easier weight loss (less cravings, easier to feel full, and extra visceral fat loss). For long term, I think whole foods diets in general are optimal so you can start eating fresh fruit, whole grains, and legumes among other healthy foods plentiful in carbohydrates.

Edited 9/6/2018 10:41:22

Response bias tbh. People who are uncomfortable about their weight aren't gonna publicly share it. Plus people might adjust by a few inches for some measurements, if you get what I mean.

Honestly though it's straight CICO (with most of the challenge really being on the impulse control side of things). Find your TDEE, eat 200-300 kcal less than that. Every 10 days or so you should be losing a pound- on average (some fad diets tend to inflate weight loss early on).

There's a lot of magic people try to put into it... But like, in straight thermodynamics terms, if you're burning more calories than you're eating and gaining weight or some "starvation mode" ignoramus bullshit like that is going on, please go to a medical facility and make sure you keep some of the rights to your special genetic code because you must be a living miracle.

At the basic level, managing your weight is as easy as budgeting or any of the other baseline adult tasks. If you're turning it into something more complex, you're just feeding into the patterns of failure that got you where you are in the first place.

Edited 9/6/2018 04:37:11

My low BMI is because muscle is heavy.

My BMI is 22.9.

I only eat 2 meals a day. If I eat breakfast then I don't eat lunch. If I eat lunch then I didn't eat breakfast. I always eat Dinner unless I ate a breakfast and a lunch. It is all very flexible. Overall, I just eat when I am hungry and I eat until I am fully satisfied. Because of this strict 2 meals a day policy, I can basically eat whatever I want for 1 meal (usually dinner) so long as I eat something balanced for the other meal (usually breakfast or lunch).

Overall, hunger is NOT a measure of how many calories you need to eat but of how much chewing you need to do. Let me rephrase that. The thing that makes your hunger go away is the chewing of the food, not the calories. So something like cereal, gum, and vegetables are great in this regard so long as it isn't high in sugar. However, chocolate and Ice Cream go down without much chewing at all but are high in calories. REMEMBER THIS! If you can't sink your teeth into it then its not worth eating.

Also, don't be afraid to not finish your plate. If you don't want to eat it, then don't be ashamed to put the plate in the fridge. Sure, it is weird but if you are full then there is no need to eat any more. I am convinced that "finish your plate" has to be the worst health advice that is passed down the generations.

Currently, my problem is that the weight isn't in the right place. I have a bit of a belly while my arms could use more muscle. Also, I miss my six pack. :( Please come back.

Also, take into account your other needs. If you aren't a morning person and you need to splurge just to get out the door then try to cut calories at lunch or dinner instead of breakfast.

Of course, avoid fast food and BBQ sauce like the plague. Just pretend that McDonald's doesn't exist or pretend that it is a brothel. No, I am not joking.

Also, don't eat or drink for 3 hours before going to bed. This is 100% guaranteed to go directly into fat. Just don't do it.

Another thing to keep in mind is that we are headed into a bad time of year. Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, New Years, Valentines Day are all food intensive holidays and Americans have more of them than other countries. All I can say is you picked a poor time to start dieting. :)

Edited 9/6/2018 05:08:01

I try to do a high-fat low-carbs diet and I make sure to eat a lot of cholesterol through eggs. Cholesterol is very important for men because testosterone is actually produced from cholesterol and testosterone burns fat. Further, burning fat raises testosterone. Avoid soy.

My BMI is 19

Edited 9/6/2018 05:07:27

Best idea for weight loss is never do the 'dieting' thing.
Just eat multiple meals (at least 5) a day, don't overeat at once.

And ah protein don't forget them, they enhance your shape and weight.

Edited 9/6/2018 05:58:39

I'm on the Keto way of eating.

In the past 20 months, I've lost over 180 pounds, and I no longer need insulin and metformin for my T2 diabetes.

I personally never worry about how much I eat. I eat what I need, and it works. I am probably lucky there.

But for people who are not so lucky, they cant simply change without effort. I personally tried to force myself to eat more for several weeks, because I am just too lightweight. I figured that you need to take it slow. I tried to simply eat more overnight. It worked, but I felt miserably. The full stomach hurted, and I sometimes felt like throwing it out again. I found that you need to take it slow. Slowly increase/decrease the amount you eat.
Lets say you consume 8 000 kJ a day on average, but you wanna throttle it to 6 000. So instead of jumping directly to 6 000, you should gradually reduce it day per day. For example if you want to do your change in a course of 100 days, you need to reduce your daily intake by 20 kJ every day. 8 000, 7 980, 7 960, 7 940, and so on. You will barely notice it, and your body will adapt to it. Stomach is shrinking, the metabolism converts less sugar into fat.
Math is different if you change your energy output, though. Like working out more, or switching to a physically demanding job. One would have to actually eat more in such cases.

I'd be surprised if all my dietry needs are being meet. I'm a healthy weight but I don't eat much or a good variety. I've never eaten a bannana in my life for just one example , it would be wise to fix it but Idk easier said than done.

Weight gain and loss is strictly a function of calories. Your body is a calorie computer. It takes X calories to operate, Y calories you give it.

If X > Y you lose weight

If Y > X you gain weight

If X = Y you stay the same.

Every form of losing or gaining weight boils down to calories. Keto is just depriving your body of calories. So is Atkins and weight watchers and every other diet.

Figure out how many calories you burn per day just existing (2,000+). Consume less than this and you will lose weight, even if you eat nothing but junk food and sit on your ass all day. (I wouldn’t advise an all junk food diet but while dieting you can certainly eat it regularly and still lose weight just as fast as someone in the latest trendy diet).

You can exercise to burn more calories. But it’s not a requirement.

Actually Wally studies have proven that carb restricting does have some impact on fat loss. Not a lot, but it is almost certain that low carb diets contribute to a reduction of extra visceral fat.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/23-studies-on-low-carb-and-low-fat-diets#section2
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15533250/

Furthermore, low carb diets have other benefits as well. You will feel satiated longer, since your body is consuming mostly fat and protein so you can consume fewer calories without suffering from hunger pains, and the diet can help you control your cravings.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that calories have a far more significant effect on weight loss than carb intake as a whole, but reduced carb intake definitely speeds up weight loss to an extent. You will lose weight both more easily and more efficiently.

Edited 9/7/2018 05:23:30

Right, I wasn't suggesting what you eat or how you diet or whether you exercise was irrelevant. If you eat only vegetables and chicken breasts and run 5 miles a day you're going to feel a helluva lot better and be a lot healthier than someone who subsists on fast food and never leaves their house. But it is possible to lose weight either way.

One more thing I should add: you need to consume a bare minimum number of calories, or you're putting your health in serious jeopardy. This depends mostly on how much you weigh. Rough rule of thumb is 1200 for women and 1500 for men.

Anybody who endeavors to do this should read a lot more on it than what I've written here. Google CICO.

I regularly get blood work done. If I'm consuming fewer calories, what will show up in those blood tests to indicate "serious jeopardy"?

Right, I wasn't suggesting what you eat or how you diet or whether you exercise was irrelevant. If you eat only vegetables and chicken breasts and run 5 miles a day you're going to feel a helluva lot better and be a lot healthier than someone who subsists on fast food and never leaves their house. But it is possible to lose weight either way.

Yes of course. :p

One more thing I should add: you need to consume a bare minimum number of calories, or you're putting your health in serious jeopardy. This depends mostly on how much you weigh. Rough rule of thumb is 1200 for women and 1500 for men.
Anybody who endeavors to do this should read a lot more on it than what I've written here. Google CICO.

That is true for many reasons, even for weight loss, because underconsuming calories puts your body in starvation mode and your body will start to hold on to fat instead of burning it. Consuming healthy amounts of calories keeps the metabolism fast, but you also want to trick your body by consuming high amounts of calories on some days and lower amounts on some other days. You also have to include the right exercises to assure you're burning additional calories and retaining/improving muscle tone which also helps aid in fat loss.

@Ogre

I don’t know the answer to that but it’s probably covered in here somewhere:

https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/index

@Teddi

High calorie days trick your body into releasing water, which will make the scale move. But you had already lost that weight. Your body would have released it eventually anyway.

That’s a great motivational tool for when the scale doesn’t budge for a week or more but it’s psychological.

It was at that moment I thought to myself holy cow. I just changed somebody's lifestyle by the means of posting the BMI thread on an off-topic forum. I couldn't feel myself more proud than the day meeting my first online friend knowing nothing how obscure that was...

But for real if you improve your lifestyle for the better, there's no way these indian these I-know-better-than-your-mathemicians should have a say

Okay enough with knyte the holy fatcow. If you avoid fastfood and just eat vegetables and fruits you're okay. I happen to eat 4 pieces of fruit everyday at 16:00. side fact I don't die of it

the trick for me was finding foods that i love which happen to be low calorie. the first month i turned going to the grocery store into a fun hobby. i'd go up and down every isle reading labels.

low cal yogurt, diet coke, hot sauce, coffee, snack bars, some random frozen foods, low cal tortillas, low cal cheese, halo top and yasso ice cream -- i fucking love all of these now. not diet love them, i just love them. if you can do the same, find foods that you genuinely like, it's much less work.

there are some fast food items that are pretty safe as well. subway white bread + turkey or ham, no cheese. believe it or not, a big mac isn't that bad. some taco bell items. there are others.

1 week on keto and I feel amazing and lost so much weight. This diet should be perfectly sustainable as long as I'm eating tons of spinach and shit. cx

Edited 9/10/2018 13:46:14

The beginning is fun because your body dumps a whole bunch of water. So you lose a bunch of weight really fast. Don't get discouraged later when that slows down. It's normal.

1 pound = 3,500 calories.

a 1,000 calorie deficit per day = 2 pounds a week.

that's about the most you can lose in a healthy way. if you're losing more or less, it's likely just your body doing weird shit with water retention.

Edited 9/11/2018 15:24:31

Don’t eat carbs after 6

Exercise

Edited 9/11/2018 18:11:42