Weight loss support thread

[FraudFrog]

I wanted to check in with everyone here and give some positive encouragement. The holidays are here, there’s gonna be a lot of great food, and you can enjoy, but have it in moderation.

Rather than a cup of mash potatoes, just have a tablespoon. A whole turkey leg? This isn’t medieval times, just have a slice of turkey breast or thigh. No one needs a gallon of gravy, a dash of it will go a long way. And if you over eat, just get back on your diet the next day, and don’t touch that scale for a week.

Best of luck to all of you.

Also, I’ve managed to maintain at 125 lbs, even getting down to 124.5 lbs as of today. I haven’t fasted in 3 weeks either. Just small plates and light cardio. So for anyone who tells you that diets are unsustainable and you’ll just put the weight back on, fuck em.

 

[omori]

I wanted to check in with everyone here and give some positive encouragement. The holidays are here, there’s gonna be a lot of great food, and you can enjoy, but have it in moderation.

Rather than a cup of mash potatoes, just have a tablespoon. A whole turkey leg? This isn’t medieval times, just have a slice of turkey breast or thigh. No one needs a gallon of gravy, a dash of it will go a long way. And if you over eat, just get back on your diet the next day, and don’t touch that scale for a week.

Best of luck to all of you.

Also, I’ve managed to maintain at 125 lbs, even getting down to 124.5 lbs as of today. I haven’t fasted in 3 weeks either. Just small plates and light cardio. So for anyone who tells you that diets are unsustainable and you’ll just put the weight back on, fuck em.

Damn! Congrats dude. I really gotta ask, how many calories do you limit yourself to? Would love to lose that much by the new year.

 

[Mr. 0]

diets are unsustainable and you’ll just put the weight back on

 

[FraudFrog]

Damn! Congrats dude. I really gotta ask, how many calories do you limit yourself to? Would love to lose that much by the new year.

I just try to keep it at or below 1200. Some days I try for 1000. I know that sounds ridiculous, but our bodies are all different, and I have a thyroid issue, so my metabolism is going to be slower than yours. Also I’m 5’6, in my 40s, and I work in an office. So this works for me.

If I feel I’m still hungry, instead of a bag of chips or a second helping, I’ll go with a fruit or some raw veggies like carrots or pickles.

The trick is to figure out what’s your maintenance calories for your weight. There are calculators you can find, but don’t take it as gospel. If your maintenance is 1600 calories, and you want to lose weight, then eat 1300 calories and make sure to burn 200 calories by just walking or whatever. That’s your deficit, 500 calories, by the end of the week that’s 3500 calories, that’s 1 lb of fat gone.

Also, no more soda. It’s a treat. I found that just cutting that daily diet coke helped me. I know that’s anecdotal, but no thin person I know drinks the stuff daily, but all the fat asses do.

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

I'm in the process of cutting back on carbs for blood sugar control and weight loss.

I made a mostly keto Shepard's pie this afternoon with mashed cauliflower. The cauliflower really does taste like mashed potatoes. I was skeptical, because it seemed too good to be true, but I was super impressed. The whole dish was absolutely amazing too.

Even if you don't go low carb, borrowing things like substituting cauliflower for potatoes from keto will lower the calorie density of a given dish.

 

[kickingstones]

I`ve cut out cheese and most bread. Eating a lot more eggs and beets. Life has gotten a lot more dull, but hopefully in a couple months it will be worth it.

 

[Monkey Pink]

I'm in the process of cutting back on carbs for blood sugar control and weight loss.

I made a mostly keto Shepard's pie this afternoon with mashed cauliflower. The cauliflower really does taste like mashed potatoes. I was skeptical, because it seemed too good to be true, but I was super impressed. The whole dish was absolutely amazing too.

Even if you don't go low carb, borrowing things like substituting cauliflower for potatoes from keto will lower the calorie density of a given dish.

Try cauliflower rice too, it's legit. I also am a fan of spaghetti squash instead of pasta but YMMV, lol. There are SO many options online and in store these days.

I'm really trying to stick to CICO and low carb on the days I can't do hard keto. I have PCOS and insulin resistance so I do have a slight challenge to face, but I'm not going to use it as any sort of excuse. From my recent posts on this board you can piece together that I was curious about trying Ozempic to lose weight, but for now the risks seem to outweigh (lol - pun not intended) the benefits.

 

[SouthernBitchBob]

I enjoyed some friendly banter from one of my friends. It's true too. "The holidays? Don't you 'the holidays' me. The holidays are two days out of the next two months. You're going to have a big family dinner on TWO, MAYBE three of the next 61 days if you're celebrating New Year's. If you net gain weight over the next two months, fatass, it's because you're using the time of year as an excuse to shovel cake in your face."

 

[McSchlomo]

For some reason I just won't lose weight anymore. I'm plateauing at ~100kg (200 pounds) for a few months now. I eat even less, I fast, I do a LOT more cardio, and I work out as usual. I can tell my physique is improving and I'm putting on some muscle (slowly, I don't eat enough to properly built), but the fat above it just won't FUCK OFF. I'm a fairly bulky and big guy, so if I end up at 180 pounds I'm probably fine, but those last 20 pounds shouldn't take 20 years if possible, god damn. This gunt has apparently decided its gonna stay forever, whatever I try to do. I've already accepted I'm probably gonna have to get it surgically removed, but I want to weigh as little as possible beforehand.

Is there any reason to do Keto besides the hunger feeling? Do I burn fat faster? My research a few years back said "no" so its worthless to me and i want my veggies and fruits, but at this point...

 

[Monkey Pink]

Is there any reason to do Keto besides the hunger feeling? Do I burn fat faster? My research a few years back said "no" so its worthless to me and i want my veggies and fruits, but at this point...

You do burn fat faster in ketosis. And keto isn't the carnivore diet, you can have some fruits and vegetables, just low carb ones. Green leafy vegetables are a green light, for fruits my favorites were raspberries and blackberries. Avocado is king.

Paleo is another good diet which allows for more leeway.

 

[Harambe]

For some reason I just won't lose weight anymore. I'm plateauing at ~100kg (200 pounds) for a few months now. I eat even less, I fast, I do a LOT more cardio, and I work out as usual. I can tell my physique is improving and I'm putting on some muscle (slowly, I don't eat enough to properly built), but the fat above it just won't FUCK OFF. I'm a fairly bulky and big guy, so if I end up at 180 pounds I'm probably fine, but those last 20 pounds shouldn't take 20 years if possible, god damn. This gunt has apparently decided its gonna stay forever, whatever I try to do. I've already accepted I'm probably gonna have to get it surgically removed, but I want to weigh as little as possible beforehand.

Is there any reason to do Keto besides the hunger feeling? Do I burn fat faster? My research a few years back said "no" so its worthless to me and i want my veggies and fruits, but at this point...

I was plateauing at 105 for about a month and a half, my physique improved and clearly I put some muscle on, and in the last month I've finally hit 100. You might just be losing some visceral fat or gaining muscle about as fast as you lose weight. It's not easy to put on muscle, but when you start off I understand it's easier and more rapid.

Just keep making the right decisions with food and exercise!

 

[Accept Only Substitutes]

For some reason I just won't lose weight anymore. I'm plateauing at ~100kg (200 pounds) for a few months now. I eat even less, I fast, I do a LOT more cardio, and I work out as usual. I can tell my physique is improving and I'm putting on some muscle (slowly, I don't eat enough to properly built), but the fat above it just won't FUCK OFF. I'm a fairly bulky and big guy, so if I end up at 180 pounds I'm probably fine, but those last 20 pounds shouldn't take 20 years if possible, god damn. This gunt has apparently decided its gonna stay forever, whatever I try to do. I've already accepted I'm probably gonna have to get it surgically removed, but I want to weigh as little as possible beforehand.

Is there any reason to do Keto besides the hunger feeling? Do I burn fat faster? My research a few years back said "no" so its worthless to me and i want my veggies and fruits, but at this point...

A plateau is always because you're eating too many calories. The closer you get to your ideal weight the more precise you have to be in counting calories. If you're measuring food with cups, switch to weighing solids in grams. Measuring liquids is fine.

If you're eating back all the calories you burn in cardio, cut back to eating only half. Especially if you're not using a heart rate monitor to measure those calories.

Keto is great because the high fat/moderate protein keeps you full for longer on less food. There are a lot of keto friendly veggies. Tons of substitutes for any number of dishes. I make a very simple celery and cheese dish that hits the "Mac and cheese" craving while not being too high in calories.

You do have to watch your portions in keto, because calories still do matter. Just because something is zero carbs doesn't mean you can eat a ton of it.


ETA: I actually hate celery. But I love this dish. I've made it twice this month and loved it each time.

Celery and cheese recipe:

Spoiler

1 bunch celery
1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 C broth - any type
3/4 C cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using bouillon cubes this might be too much)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)

Chop celery into bite size pieces. Cook celery in boiling water for eight minutes. Drain.

In a small sauce pan mix remaining ingredients together. Stir over medium heat until cheese is melted and sauce is thick.

Mix sauce and celery. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 325F for twenty minutes.

199 calories per serving. 4 servings per recipe.

I don't have carbs handy, but I think it's like two per serving.

 

[SouthernBitchBob]

Cardio is also reportedly *horrible* for weight loss. I mean it works, obviously, thermodynamics being what it is, but I've seen some scientific studies that show its efficiency is awful compared to expectations. Working theory is that your body responds to the increased activity by reducing your subconscious movement (leg jiggling, fidgeting, etc). It's so bad that I've seen numbers around ~30%. Meaning if you burn 400 calories on the treadmill, its effect on fat loss is closer to 120 calories. Fat is much easier to lose with moderate lifting and being a starving angry nazi about your diet.

The good news is, so long as you maintain your gym routine, you don't need to go nuts with your food forever. You only need to calorie count like a weirdo if you don't plan on building muscle to counterbalance eating like a normal person.

 

[Harambe]

Cardio is also reportedly *horrible* for weight loss. I mean it works, obviously, thermodynamics being what it is, but I've seen some scientific studies that show its efficiency is awful compared to expectations. Working theory is that your body responds to the increased activity by reducing your subconscious movement (leg jiggling, fidgeting, etc). It's so bad that I've seen numbers around ~30%. Meaning if you burn 400 calories on the treadmill, its effect on fat loss is closer to 120 calories. Fat is much easier to lose with moderate lifting and being a starving angry nazi about your diet.

The good news is, so long as you maintain your gym routine, you don't need to go nuts with your food forever. You only need to calorie count like a weirdo if you don't plan on building muscle to counterbalance eating like a normal person.

Does that effect scale depending on the activity level? Burning 400 calories on the treadmill would be a punishing experience for most fats, since that'd equate to probably a half-hour of consistent moderate-to-high intensity cardio. So would taking a 10-20 minute jog/walk have the same loss in efficiency? Presumably you'd be less tired if you expended less energy, meaning there'd be some sort of sweet spot of intensity, time, and efficiency.

 

[Day of the Cope]

Down 5lbs since the start of the month.
Brings me to a total of 87 lost since June 2021.
Still a ways to go, but god damn if it doesn't feel surreal.

 

[Piss Chemist]

Anyone here know any apps to track calories that arent straight cancer? Sick of all the subscription and ad bullshit might be easier to just use pen and paper at this point.

 

[Local Fed]

Anyone here know any apps to track calories that arent straight cancer? Sick of all the subscription and ad bullshit might be easier to just use pen and paper at this point.

MyFitnessPal is great if you're doing it manually (no idea what their database for food is like so I won't comment on that.) You'll get the odd pop up when opening the app (maybe like 10% of the time if even that much) to subscribe to some shit, but it's not very annoying and is as easy to be rid of as can be.

 

[Day of the Cope]

Anyone here know any apps to track calories that arent straight cancer? Sick of all the subscription and ad bullshit might be easier to just use pen and paper at this point.

If you want to be a freeloader on any tracking app with a database, you either have to deal with ads or pony up. That's just the nature of the beast. Only other option is manually entering everything in yourself. That said, I personally use Cronometer which isn't too bad with ads.

diets are unsustainable and you’ll just put the weight back on

I mean, yeah, if you end up going back to doing what you stopped doing, obviously that's going to undo what you just did. That's why it's important to push for lifestyle changes. Thankfully, I have no intention of going back to eating shit like regular breads and pastas because I always end up feeling like shit after consuming even a normal portion of them. It also helps that I have reasons to keep to my lifestyle changes beyond weight loss; I've regrown body hair, my overall mood is better with fewer swings, and I've taken more of an interest in cooking instead of eating take out. What's more, focusing on lifestyle changes means I can spend Christmas dinner indulging with my family because I know that I'll go back to doing what I did before. Changing your frame of mind to play the averages means you're less likely to reneg when you inevitably mess up.

 

[Piss Chemist]

Awesome thanks, the barcode scanner on myfitnesspal is surprisingly good, doesn't seem that intrusive either.

 

[Rickenbacker]

For some reason I just won't lose weight anymore. I'm plateauing at ~100kg (200 pounds) for a few months now. I eat even less, I fast, I do a LOT more cardio, and I work out as usual. I can tell my physique is improving and I'm putting on some muscle (slowly, I don't eat enough to properly built), but the fat above it just won't FUCK OFF. I'm a fairly bulky and big guy, so if I end up at 180 pounds I'm probably fine, but those last 20 pounds shouldn't take 20 years if possible, god damn. This gunt has apparently decided its gonna stay forever, whatever I try to do. I've already accepted I'm probably gonna have to get it surgically removed, but I want to weigh as little as possible beforehand.

Is there any reason to do Keto besides the hunger feeling? Do I burn fat faster? My research a few years back said "no" so its worthless to me and i want my veggies and fruits, but at this point...

How many calories do you consume daily? There’s a good chance you’re body isn’t getting enough calories and your body is going into a starvation like state where it’s burning calories slower as a result.