Current Events > General diet tips for losing weight and getting fit?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm fat.
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CICO
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lift heavy things and eat not-garbage

Gotta reduce those portions if you eat too much. That's pretty much it.

Start counting calories, and look for lower or no calorie options for foods and beverages that you like. Try to stay below a certain amount per day. Try not to eat past a certain time at night. Don't eat until you're full. Go on regular long walks
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Read your labels, even if the food is marketed as healthy or diet. Avoid sugars and heavily processed foods. Try cooking at home more often and limit outside foods. Drink water.
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Water, and nothing else for drinking.
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eat less and eat better. lift and use creatine unless you're just trying to be skinny. don't worry about eating extra protein cause most people get enough and too much if anything
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MyFitnessPal app on your phone. All you need.
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Having dropped and kept off 120 pounds now, here are a few steps.

1 - Drink water. A lot of water. I mean, make it your primary. If you gotta have some coffee and tea, that's fine, but primarily drink water. Your body needs it and if you ever overindulge, you just get rid of it.

2 - Find healthier alternatives to stuff that normally isn't good for you. Try to cut out some of your carbs, or make them complex carbs at the very least. So, stop basic white pasta for example.

3 - Eat leaner meats. I typically stick to fish, turkey, and chicken. While it's not the biggest deal in the world, if you typically have lets say a hamburger on a daily basis, over the span of a month, the switch makes a difference.

4 - Gotta find healthy stuff you like. Even if it's just a couple fruits and a couple vegetables you like, substitute those in for the unhealthy stuff you eat. I'm not the biggest fan of fruit, so I go to like... mango and raspberries almost exclusively. I have a lot of salads, even if they do have some lean meat and salad dressing, it's still better than the alternatives.

5 - For snacking purposes, go to seeds and nuts and stuff like that. Almonds, for example, are incredibly healthy for you, and filling. If you like nuts, have a small tin of them on your person where you go. A handful goes a long way between meals.

Most important thing to remember is that this is a lifestyle change. Don't think of this as a diet. Diets have a finite start and end point, and then you go back to bad habits. This has to be changes you can do every day. So, that doesn't mean you can never have a cookie, or ice cream, or a chocolate bar. Those things are fine in a healthy diet. You can have a healthy diet with that stuff.

Beyond that, just find ways to get more active. It doesn't have to be super involved. I do 30 minutes of Yoga in my home. It's nothing major but it's more than I was doing.
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Cut out as much sugar as possible.
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Eat less. Lift heavy to maintain muscle mass. Try to a skew your macros more towards a protein rich diet.
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Put the fork down
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I've reduced my portions. Typically I'll take one serving of the smallest size. But should definitely count calories. I do have the mfp app, but just slacking.

I've been eating relatively well. Most nights it is skinless bonless chicken breast with mixed veggies and rice (which I need to cut). Maybe steak once a month. Sometimes pork sinigang.

My exercise is real inconsistent tho. Maybe I'll hit twice a week. I utilize the apartment gym and do laps in the pool.
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No soda
No red meat
Intermittent fasting
Always walk if your destination is within two miles and walk faster than other people
Always take the stairs, etc
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It's really simple unless you have a condition. Eat less, exercise more, cut out soda and alcohol.
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I wonder how much muscle I could gain if I didn't drink like a fish.
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Put less calories in than what your body uses up. Theoretically, you can lose weight if all you eat is chocolate and drink soda.

Being healthy, you'll need to actually consider your proportion of fat/carbs/protein. Also, carbs aren't evil, just don't overdo it.

If you aren't trying to be Hercules, don't make yourself suffer to stay strict to a specific meal plan.
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- Cut sugar to minimum
- When you eat a meal imagine what you would normally serve yourself and cut it in half.
- Be active whenever possible.
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Cut carbs

Eat meat n veggies
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Weight training three days a week, cardio three to four.

Use an online TDEE calculator to figure out how many calories you should eat a day, making sure you're at a calorie deficit. Try -500 a day.

Good macro ratio is 45% carbs, 35% protein, 20% fat. Don't forget about micros either, eat vegetables.

Don't drink your calories, the easiest way to cut.

Measure your progress by body fat percentage, not weight.

Stay away from gimmick diets like fasting, keto, etc.

Make sustainable permanent lifestyle changes, don't pursue things with a fixed one-off end goal in mind.

I can't say I agree with the guys saying to cut out all your vices and start working out/cardio 6 times a week. That's how you burn out and become discouraged.
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What does macro mean
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3khc posted...

What does macro mean

macros are protein, carbs, fat (calories)
micros are vitamins and minerals
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3khc posted...

What does macro mean

Macronutrients. Proteins, fats and carbs.

3khc posted...

What does macro mean

Macronutrient, i.e. protein, carbs, fat. You need a balance of each but typically it's easier to lose weight for various reasons if you amp up the protein component and dial down the carbs and fat, but you still need all three.
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Give up:
- Soda
- Sugary snacks
- Fast food

Start eating/drinking:
- Lean proteins
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Nuts
- More water

Keep track of:
- Calories. Eat less than 3000 a day.

Learn to:
- Cook
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Keto is the easiest way to lose weight and not deal with the hunger pangs that CICO gives you.
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pogo_rabid posted...

Keto is the easiest way to lose weight and not deal with the hunger pangs that CICO gives you.

please don't listen to this guy

Stop eating.

Works like a charm.
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I already drink a ton of water and actually dislike soda.

What is CICO. I've heard of keto.
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Since you're probably starting out, these are my pointers.

-Change your eating habits(cut fast food and all empty calories out including soda, candy, beer/alcohol and literally junk food(anything high in sugar with no nutritional value). Do it slowly until you phase them all out.) Replace junk food with good wholesome nutritional food that can be bought from the store(all of these foods will have no stupid gimmicks such as low in fat/high in fiber/no sugar added/etc/etc printed on the outside.)

-Learn to cook and read labels (this matters the most so you can diversify your menu instead of eating oatmeal, bananas, and almonds for every meal. Also watch meal preps on youtube if you're super lazy for ideas.)

-Start working out(I recommend body weight exercises until you build up enough strength to do weights. I also recommend cardio to help pull the weight off faster such as running/fast walking/jogging/biking/swimming. I started out with the exercises from the martial arts board here.)

-Don't stay up late (This is where you hard work goes down the the toilet because you will binge eat when you're extra tired and pour excessive calories down your throat that are probably bad for you since you will crave salty and sweet foods.)

Hope this helps get you on your way to losing weight
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The longer you stick with it, the easier it becomes, until one day it's actually disgusting to think of how you used to eat and sit around - your gut bacteria will have changed, and with it your appetite and taste. And that day is not far away, less than a year.
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3khc posted...

I already drink a ton of water and actually dislike soda.

What is CICO. I've heard of keto.

Calorie in, calorie out.

And while it's technically correct, strict calorie counting isn't long term viable for everyone due to how the body treats the caloric deficit. aka- why so many people on diets fail/quit.

It's basically an oversimplification on what needs to be done.
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Glad to know I'm halfway there. I love cooking and already do many things posted. Main thing I shoupd focus in is counting calories and sticking to my exercise.

Any tips on staying motivated? Like maybe a eating work out schedule
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3khc posted...

Any tips on staying motivated?

That outlook right there is why most people fail.

Fit people don't rely on motivation. They have a routine. If you go into your workout/diet every day imagining you're going to be stoked and looking forward to the day you're ripped, you'll fail. It's not gonna be fun every day.

It's just something that gets done. Like sleeping and showering. It's about routine, not motivation. No one is motivated every day.
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3khc posted...

Glad to know I'm halfway there. I love cooking and already do many things posted. Main thing I shoupd focus in is counting calories and sticking to my exercise.

Any tips on staying motivated? Like maybe a eating work out schedule

Counting calories is a useful exercise for a few months until you really get a handle on what you eat (it's likely a lot more than you realise). I don't know if I would recommend it to someone for the rest of their life because IMO it's a pretty miserable way to live, treating all food like nutrition and regimenting it all the goddamn time.

First tip is don't rely on motivation. You'll have bad days, shit will come up, weather will be bad, your legs will hurt, whatever. When that happens you're mentally focused on other things and the motivation to work out goes out the window. You'll go 3 weeks without doing so much as a light jog and not even notice.

What you need to do is build habits - discipline, essentially. To give an example, I bet you've never had to "motivate" yourself to go fill your car up with gas, even though it's a pain in the ass expensive thing to do. You do it because you simply have to, because your life wouldn't be right in so many ways if you didn't fill the car up with gas.

Exercise should be like that. As much a part of your routine as brushing your teeth and showering. Not something you can just skip out on because you're feeling unmotivated.

For that, you need clear achievable goals and a good plan with quantifiable progress (i.e. run X amount in X time, or lift X amount - NOT "get a six pack" or "look good at the beach" or "feel better". That fuzzy stuff will be fine for 2 months until you lose motivation. You need a plan.

What kind of exercise appeals to you, and what are your long term goals? I know some good progressive plans for different kinds of things.
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A lot of people like to meal prep though. Then you can't deviate, the food's already made and in your fridge
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Colorahdo posted...

It's just something that gets done. Like sleeping and showering. It's about routine, not motivation. No one is motivated every day.

This.
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halomonkey1_3_5 posted...

CICO

This, it works. If you don't go over your calorie amount you will lose weight.
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pogo_rabid posted...

3khc posted...

I already drink a ton of water and actually dislike soda.

What is CICO. I've heard of keto.

Calorie in, calorie out.

And while it's technically correct, strict calorie counting isn't long term viable for everyone due to how the body treats the caloric deficit. aka- why so many people on diets fail/quit.

It's basically an oversimplification on what needs to be done.

Agreed with this. It's become a bit of a meme to reduce what is an enormously complex bit of thermogenesis into "just plug your food into a calorie calculator and hey presto".
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So far today I've taken in 500 calories.

For breakfast I ate one 8" tortilla filled with one fried egg and one bacon strip. Ate the same thing for lunch.

My goal is to only have 2330 cal by the end of the day.
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3khc posted...

So far today I've taken in 500 calories.

For breakfast I ate one 8" tortilla filled with one fried egg and one bacon strip. Ate the same thing for lunch.

My goal is to only have 2330 cal by the end of the day.

There's a difference between eating less food and eating fewer calories. You can just eat different food. A chicken breast, half cup whole wheat pasta, and a brocolli crown is like stuffing yourself, but only ~500cal

A tortilla has a lot of calories for what it is, and isn't at all filling. Foods high in satiety are filling.
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Stay In a caloric deficit and go to the gym 6 days a week for an hour and a half
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Personally I try to stay under 35g of carbs a day, but that's for my body to stay in ketosis
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eat less food, move around more

this is pretty much every diet in a nutshell
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Put down the fork
Start working out
Drink nothing but water
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You can drink protein shakes if you lift heavy
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I also second meal prep. Take one day a week and cook your weekly meals into storage boxes. Then take a box and microwave it for your daily lunch.

Also cut down on beer if that is your thing.
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Blue_Target posted...

I also second meal prep. Take one day a week and cook your weekly meals into storage boxes. Then take a box and microwave it for your daily lunch.

Also cut down on beer if that is your thing.

Beer is the killer for me. I'm not going to get rid of it but it's a big fucking nasty blot on my otherwise fairly clean lifestyle.
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