re: People who've lost a lot of weight, how did you do it?

Lost 65 pounds through meal prepping and portion control. Helps eliminate impulse/fast food buying.

OMAD. Pretty darn hard to not lose weight eating one meal a day. I found it easy after the first week. Also nice to be on a “diet” and still be able to partake in any food served at parties and whatnot.

Losing weight doesn’t start in the gym. It starts in the grocery store. I took more of a natural approach. Dropped a lot of the processed/packaged foods and snacks. Focused more on eating fruits, veggies, whole grains, and beans for protein. Started running. Dropped over 35 pounds. Later added more strength training, nothing crazy. Mostly body weight exercises then added some dumbbells.

I am closing in on having lost 90 lbs in the last 18 months or so. I did it by finally taking two pieces of advice 1) Eat less and move more and 2) Don't try to lose it all quickly.

My job is very sedentary and inside. I just decided I wasn't getting any younger and that from here on out, it's only going to get harder to lose. So in early 2022 I decided to start walking.

At first it was just to move at all and to get some sun on my face. I didn't concern myself with how far I walked or how many days I walked. I just went out for 20 minutes or so a few times a week.

For me I knew I had to build the HABIT of walking. I didn't even keep track of how far I walked. I just made sure I went out 3 or 4 times a week. Baby steps.

After a while I started increasing the number of days a week I walked. I still only went out for 25 minutes or so, but after a few weeks I was doing it 6 days a week.

At some point I decided to get a pedometer on my phone (I use the free version of StepsApp) to keep track of my steps. It allowed me to set a minimum of steps and I started trying to hit that when I walked. Eventually, after several months I was doing 3000 steps a day, 7 days a week. This isn't a lot, but for someone who works at home behind a computer, this started to change things.

Then, I started looking at what I was eating. Honestly, I haven't changed my diet too much with a few exceptions: I rarely eat fast food anymore, I replaced ice cream with Greek yogurt and I started counting my calories. I now try to eat 1500 calories or fewer a day. I do very well sticking to that except on holidays and vacation, but even then I am more conscious about what I eat and try not to go crazy.

Because I took it slowly and built the habit of walking, I now walk about 11k steps a day, 7 days a week. An amount of steps that I could not fathom when I started. But it took me over a year to get to that point. If I had tried to do that when I started, I would have quit within days.

tl;dr Eat less and move more. Take it slow and build a habit of exercise that you can stick to. Be more conscious of what you eat.

quote:

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It works for everyone. It’s a legit miracle drug

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I know a guy who got on it and never lost a pound. I know another guy who got on it and had to get off because of anxiety (according to him). And a couple of other guys who had to get off it because it tore up their stomachs.

So it's not for everyone, but seems to be well tolerated in general.

Cut alcohol by about 90%
Low carb fasting
Slightly more exercise
Lots of water
More sleep

I quit booze for about 2 months when I first started, then relaxed and had the occasional drink or two on Fridays and Saturdays.

Normal fasting was eating between 12-8pm. Most Mondays I'd go about 24 hours (no eating from Sunday dinner to Monday dinner.) I didn't do full blow keto, but I cut a lot of bread, pasta, and other cheap carbs, as well as eating mostly fresh homemade meals rather than prepped or processed foods.

Exercise wasn't that big a part of it honestly. Mostly just pushups and situps and walked more rounds of golf. Just made sure I was moving around some every day.

As trendy as the 10k steps thing is, it works.

Gets you active, and while you’re focused on being active, other healthy things will bleed into your life.

And don’t drink calories.

Mix Keto and Intermittent fasting for 3 months. Keep some of the same habits into your daily eating habits afterward.

Fasting. 44hr fasts followed by heavy lifting and a 4 hour eating window 3 times a week. Saturday free to eat whatever. Dropped 70lbs in 4 months. Have been mostly stable for 4 years at new weight. If I’m up a bit I bring back the fasts for a month or two.

My brother takes some new diabetes medication that he tells me is helping him lose a lot of weight. It's called Ozympic.