Enough Now, What to Do to Lose Weight

I am tired of being FAT all my life!

With all these pizza/Krispy creme/7-eleven deals etc, I am becoming fatter day by day.

I can't give up food, I can't starve which is my weakness.

I just need a 1 line tip from Ozbargainers to reduce weight.

Thanks

UPDATE 1: Thanks so much Ozbargain - I am overwhelmed by the response.

You are such an awesome community. Helping a stranger out. I got several PM's as well. The world is an awesome place.

Today is my Day 3 without sugar and Day 2 of Food logging. Been a tiring day and I am sure worth it.

Comments

        • @cameldownunder: that's great.

        • @altomic: If you want something scientific:

          The Acute Effects of Swimming on Appetite, Food Intake, and Plasma Acylated Ghrelin

          Just quoting from the discussion.

          "The suppression of appetite (decreased hunger and prospective food consumption/elevated satisfaction and fullness) observed during swimming"

          "In the hours after consumption of the morning buffet meal, ratings of hunger and prospective food consumption were higher in the swimming trial than the control trial whilst ratings of fullness were reduced. These findings indicate that swimming stimulated a delayed increase in appetite."

          They think it might be due to "the cooling and then subsequent reheating of the body".

          All that said, "[d]espite the changes in appetite observed, the present investigation did not find any significant differences in energy or macronutrient intake between the swimming and control trials, either during the morning or afternoon meals."

          Though the research was with healthy individuals, as they say "In this study… factors influencing appetite were insufficient to overcome other competing forces governing food intake". So I think the effects of this on obese/overweight or just people who want to lose weight would be an interesting one to study. I'd assume that those people would be more prone to appetite, though that's more of a guessing.

        • -1

          @Burnertoasty: I don't think you understand the difference between then and than. It has been pointed out to you and you have repeated the mistake 3 times. It's just embarrassing now. This is not your only error in spelling or grammatical error, but it's the most obvious. No one will pay any attention to your posts if you try and come across like an expert but can barely put a sentence together. This is compounded by the fact that despite this, you imply that other people are of 'simple minds'. If that's the case, what does that make you?

        • @Burnertoasty: Ummm, I think you've accidentally replied to yourself, as in the comment is directly under your other comment.

        • @Oversimplified: Yeah I did, to expand on what I was saying.

    • Eat less. walk more. That's it.
      Next Question, how? Well that's the beast to beat.

      • Stop eating in between breakfast, lunch, dinner.
      • Do not eat after 7PM
      • Do not eat a lot for breakfast, less for lunch, and close to nothing for dinner.
      • be HUNGRY ! all the time. If you're hungry, you are loosing wait. It's a feeling you NEED TO GET ACCUSTOMED to. You need to enjoy it.
      • Drink Coffee and tee when you're hungry.
      • +3

        You can't drink tee, you drive off them.

        • -1

          Where do you drive off? Do I Drive off my Driveway?

        • be HUNGRY ! all the time. If you're hungry, you are loosing wait. It's a feeling you NEED TO GET ACCUSTOMED to. You need to enjoy it.

        Be careful, for this path leads to great danger.

        • Great Danger? Great White Shark ?

        • @abb: Anorexia is "fear of gaining weight, a strong desire to be thin". Nothing to do with Hunger.

          Some people believe it is possible to lose weight, without being hungry: They think doing sport and exercise is enough to get rid of the excessive weight. I think it's 80% diet ( = hunger ), and 20% exercise. Considering that in general we have the whole day to control the diet, and only 20% of the day to do exercise, the best reward for the effort are in the diet.

          The change in exercise anyone can do, is walk a bit more. Use the car less: walk to the pub, walk home from the station instead of using the car and parking at the station, use one station earlier and walk to and from work.

          Too many people go and get an healthy fruit, on the first sign of appetite ( not even hunger ).

          Too often when someone feels hungry, it's not food he needs, but something to drink.

          When doing explicit exercise, people feel it's OK to treat themselves to something extra, undoing the calories burned.

        • @cameldownunder: You say hunger has nothing to do with anorexia, but then you say hunger is necessary for losing weight… Seems a bit contradictory.

          I largely agree with you, you just need to be careful with the whole "feeling hungry = success" angle because it can be a step towards disordered eating / eating disorders.

        • @abb: You are right, it can lead to Anorexia.
          Losing weight and being hungry is by far not equal to anorexia, but true, you can't have anorexia without hunger and losing weight.
          Let's say that, considering "feeling hungry" a success and anorexia, being the EFFECT of the same CAUSE.
          By the way, I said you need to embrace "being hungry", but one must also know when to stop.
          It is the same difference between an occasional drinker and an alcoholic.

        • be HUNGRY ! all the time. If you're hungry, you are loosing wait. It's a feeling you NEED TO GET ACCUSTOMED to. You need to enjoy it.

        Sorry, but this seems wrong to me. In fact, being too hungry all the time is a perfect way of getting any diet to fail for me.
        This drives me insane. If I am hungry too much, I get angry and develop terrible cravings, making any kind of food irresistible.

        I found for a diet to work, it has to make me eat less and still not feeling hungry.
        Lots of veggies, lots of fibre, less sugar and fat worked well for me.

        I eat little to no breakfast, average lunches and huge dinners, usually around 8 or 9pm.
        Still lost 20 kgs with this.

  • +4

    Low carb and intermittent fasting. Forget exercise.

    • Need exercise with it or you'll be a stick…

      • Or just 'skinny-fat'..

    • +4

      This. My wife and I have been keto since 1 Jan (yes, new year's "change"!).

      She's lost about 13 kg, I've lost 14. No exercise, although I'm starting to feel more like exercise and we've just joined a gym.

      If you're interested, have a listen to this podcast. http://2ketodudes.com/

      As for "eat 3-6 meals a day, move more, eat low fat", think about it, if this advice actually worked, would there be so many fat people?

      • +1

        "The bottom line for us is that following the low fat model for the past 40 years has made us fatter and sicker."
        Look at the French, Greek, Italian with their Cheese and olive oil. I love cheese am firm believer it's not what makes fat.
        It's the 99% fat free, FULL SUGAR products that are the cause of the Obese Person of today.

      • Thanks, nice site. Wow 14 kilos in 4 months, any side effects? So are you guys doing any exercises at all or is it just the diet?>

        • Side effects are more energy, clearer thinking and better sleep :)

          When you first go keto you can feel a bit weird as your body transitions to fat burning, they call it "keto flu" but I didn't experience it much.

          We haven't been doing exercise up until now, but as I've got more energy I want to do exercise. We've just joined a gym, more to burn off energy and tone up a bit than to lose weight.

        • +1

          @Big Trev: Great going mate. I haven't started Keto yet, trialing this week with no sugar and food logging. Will see on Monday how I fare.

        • @ozzyoi:

          No sugar will see you a lot of the way there. Depends if you want to go full keto, or just Low Carb.

          The simplest way I've heard is described is to replace the carbs you're eating with fat. Yes, really.

  • +1

    Eat 3 meals per day, breakfast at 11am, lunch at 2-2:30pm and dinner at 6-7pm, no snacking! except fruits

    • +2

      Why does timing matter?

      • +5

        Doesn't really but routine is good, it's intermittent fasting by eating only in 8 hour window, somehow makes you feel more awake/energised/productive in morning

    • Breakfast at 11?? Im eating lunch by then!

      • +2

        Not wrong, Im up at 2am for work. 11am seems like dinner for me.

    • +4

      I disagree with rules like these.

      You can train your body to run on less food, like with intermittent fasting, and send out fewer hunger signals/pains.

      If you're used to eating frequently and regularly, you WILL without a doubt feel hunger if you miss a meal or snack.

      Similarly if you're used to only eating one meal per day and one snack, for example, you will not feel hunger pains unless you somehow skip your one meal of the day. Ensuring that your one meal is wholesome, nutritious, balanced and contains protein and good fats - you should feel pretty damn good. Over time one should be able to 'listen' to their body's needs better, and have the self control to be able to snack when actually needed rather than merely wanting.

      A grossly overweight person should start by cutting down portions, and then reducing the frequency of eating. Intermittent fasting is also a nice way to practise self control. Crippling hunger pains will subside if they push through it.

      • Can confirm, I don't eat breakfast and haven't every since i was in control of my diet. I have maybe a slightly earlier lunch at around 11:30am to compensate which is still quite small and dinner between 6-8pm.
        4 days a week i'll bike ride about 6km before work. I'm 6ft and about 74kg. I never feel sharp hunger unless i have a lot of sugar for some reason, i also notice i am more hungry if i have a large meal the night before.
        If you generally keep potions under control, moderate amount of exercise while your stomach is empty it's very simple to keep weight down. Energy in/energy out. Your body uses a lot of energy just keeping you alive, moderate exercise will only add slight more energy output so it really is all about diet from my experience. eat right and you can probably neglect the exercise all together but it will be a longer process.

    • +5

      Drink lots of water will help. Sometimes we feel hungry when the body actually is just thirsty

      • Yes, I have a bottle near me at all times and realised that after I drink water, my hunger subsides.

  • +9

    Whole foods! Especially leafy greens and other vegetables that are not calorically dense. They may not be as satisfying as pizzas to eat, but the sheer volume you can eat while still maintaining a caloric deficit will keep you more than full. Also, avocado, fish and nuts are great fats that'll keep ya fuller for longer. HIIT is best for weight loss and more time efficient and enjoyable than heaps of running in my opinion. If want to change, keep persistent and disciplined - it won't happen without hard work.

    • +1

      Thanks, what is HIIT?

      • +1

        And for the next level, there is Special High Intensity Interval Training. :)

        • And for the next level, there's a heart attack - especially when you get to my age!

        • +1

          @edwardcr: That would be an Off-putting Hazard, Special High Intensity Interval Training situation! ;)

      • +3

        HIIT can be very effective but if you're very overweight you need to be aware of your own limitations and not overload your cardiovascular system. You also may need to stick to low-impact exercise if you're very heavy to not put too much strain on your joints. You might need to start small, just walking for example. Please be careful!

        edit: just read this "I went for a brisk walk last evening for 15 mins and i was out of breath :(("

        Definitely steer clear of high-impact/high intensity. Stick to walking for now!! keep it brisk, and increase the time/intensity little bit by little bit as your fitness improves.

        • The likelihood of an unfit person suffering a heart attack or some serious condition from doing intense exercise is highly overstated. When have you ever heard of this type of thing happening in real life?

          Joints are a genuine concern but high intensity for you may be just a power walk. Whatever gets your heart beating fast.

        • +1

          @Xastros: There's no harm in starting small and working your way up. You get the added bonus of a feeling of achievement and progress, instead of just going 100% into something that's really difficult and then dreading having to do it again. You don't run a 5k just like that when you've never run in your life.

        • @Zenyatta: Was talking specifically about HIIT. Needs to be high intensity for it to work because you're going in short bursts. It only feels like death for the first couple of weeks and then you see improvements really fast. There are of course other ways to go besides HIIT.

  • +3

    Track the calories you are eating every day, make sure to eat at your caloric maintenance, and exercise. Once you get comfortable eating at maintenance, deduct 10% off the calories and continue for a few months. Don't go below your calories too drastically, as it's unproductive and you'll be depriving yourself.

    It's not about how much you can do in a month. It's about how consistent you can be with a sustainable method.

    • Yeah just the thought of exercise/running creeps me out

      I went for a brisk walk last evening for 15 mins and i was out of breath :((

        • +4

          Thanks man for the motivation. Going out now.

        • +1

          @ozzyoi: are you out?

        • -1

          @altomic:

          of excuse ? yes

        • +13

          @juventino: did go for a short walk.

        • It's raining where I'm at

      • Good luck losing weight without putting in mad efforts in exercising and dieting. It's just not gonna happen.

      • Well sounds like that's too hard, then! Better give up now.

        (this is your problem, you want everything to be easy which is why you go for convenience foods and zero exercise.)

        Serious question; how's your performance in your job?

        • Why do you ask about my job performance? do u think it might be affecting?

        • @ozzyoi: No, kind of the opposite. You seem to have a bit of a 'that's too hard' attitude that you might not recognise. If you're finding that you're being the target of unreasonable requests or are getting poor reviews or feedback at work, this might also be evident of this trend; I've often encountered people at work who are 'always the victim' when really, they're just lazy :)

  • Moderation

    • +1

      Ugh I hate this advice. It's good advice, but, the absolute meaning of a nebulous term like "moderation" can become very widely interpreted in my moments of weakness, such as when a delicous homemade slice is unveiled in the office. I can personally attest. :)

    • +1

      Moderate diet, moderate exercise = moderate lifestyle and moderate health..

      • Moderate moderation

  • +1

    If you have weak willpower then maybe stomach reduction.

    • that's too expensive :(

      • And also a last resort. Other options should be considered first!

  • -4

    In one line,

    Protein shakes will help you control your hunger and switch to artificial sweeteners.

    But be careful, it will literally melt off.

    • +5

      You can't live on protein shakes forever, and they are also more expensive and less nutritious than whole foods.

      It's much better to just do portion control and also watch what you eat.

      So instead of eating lots of rice, noodles and bread for your meals all the time, instead switch to some low carb alternatives like cauliflower, zucchini, brocolli, mushroom and cucumber.

      You can still have some carb, but minimise any how you can. Also stop drinking sugary drinks, stop drinking factory processed fruit juice and snacking between meals.

      • Correct, but now try saying all of that in a '1 line tip' as per the OP's brief.

        • Carb up with healthy wholegrain carbs and wholefoods on the whole. Walk every day, even if it's starting with a lap around your block.

          Don't get sucked into baseless fads like; carbs are bad, some fats are good for you and calorie counting..

          If I was to add anything to that, I would say giving up dairy (especially milk & cheese) will super-charge the positive changes you want.

        • -1

          @chudson: Carbs are bad

          Milk is bad, it has 5grams of milk sugar per 100ml (google milk nutrition) and that's before you add any sugar (i.e. coffee)
          If you drink a large latte (~400ml of milk) and add 1tsp of sugar (4grams of carbs), you are at 24grams of carbs before you even start the day

          Cheese on the other hand, 0 carbs, perfectly fine

    • +2

      Artificial sweeteners are dangerous.

      • So is being obese.

      • +2

        No they aren't.

        Most researched food on the planet and no links to anything have been found. Your system just can't process it so it goes through you.

        • These are the type of zero usefulness chemicals that you want to eliminate from your intake if you want positive changes.

        • +1

          @chudson:

          They are a very useful chemical. They give your food/drinks a sweet taste without the usual caloric price. Also, they have been researched to death and demonstrated safe unless you consume a literally unrealistic amount (you'd have to make your life about eating too much artificial sweetener because you can't accidentally do it) every day for about 50 years.

  • -7

    Replace carbohydrates with protein and non-saturated fats because carbohyrates do not satiate you.

    Protein and fats cause satiety (feeling full) immediately, carbohydrates do not which means you do not feel like stopping when you eat.

    eg.

    breakfast cereal -> eggs + bacon
    fruit juice -> protein shake
    biscuits -> full fat icecream

    Anything written by the government, advertising or food labels is designed to make you eat more while pretending your being "healthy": stop exposing yourself to it because it's everywhere. Do not watch commercials, read advice in supermarkets or read advice from government agencies. Half of the comments in this thread are repeating this idiocy about counting carbs, eat what you like because exercise, self control etc. which has been designed to make people eat as much as possible because profits.

    • +6

      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.

      • +1

        It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.

        • are you paranoid enough?

    • +2

      Oh no, aliens have taken over Diji1, he actually spelt it as government. 😮

    • I almost agree, except: saturated fats are good, and ice cream is terrible.

  • +5

    Sugar is your enemy…mine too!

    • +1

      Yes it is. I love my chocolates

      • If you must satisfy your choc cravings, you can try sugar free chocolate. They are called "Well Naturally" sugar free chocolate bars, sold in Woolworths for a pretty obscene price, but they hit the spot without adding to your sugar levels.

        • sure will try them

        • Or in Chemist Warehouse you can get sugar free chocolate, also try protein bars, especially if you can find smart living nutrition in pink wrapper, "love me low carb"… Choc caramel, wouldn't know you weren't eating actual chocolate but still just as a treat once or twice a day.. but great substitute for normal sweets or dessert. Also Choc coconut water, relatively healthy way to satisfy a craving

        • @minksta: Yes I did try those, they are so expensive though

        • @ozzyoi:

          True, long time since they were in every woollies and periodically on special….

        • I just ate 3 boxes of sugar free chocolates and now feel skinnier.

        • +1

          @altomic:
          I think it's the laxative effect of the artificial sweetener.

        • +1 for well naturally, the other sugar free chocolates contain a pretty nasty sweetener that messes with gut bacteria.

        • @voolish:

          I have an explanation for why sugar-free chocolates and confectionary (especially the dreaded Haribo Sugarfree Gummybears) give you gut-wrenching diarrhea

        • Yeah these are good. I buy them on special. Can recommend! especially if you can stick to one "line" a day or something.

        • +1

          Why try sugar free chocolate when you can have sugar-free haribo gummy bears :)

      • +1

        Big chocoholic here.

        For me it's "if I can see it I need to finish it that second". I can eat 3 whole large pizzas in one sitting. Finish 2 fun sized bags or two big blocks of chocolate. Drink litres of soft drink. I don't add sugar to my coffee nor my tea and drink plenty of water yet my little vices keep my successes to a minimum.

        What do I do? Simply put, I don't buy those things. I do have chocolate cravings after a few days so do tend to binge once in a while. If you are living with family, tell them to hide treats for you and to limit it to only certain quantities a day. It's weaning yourself of a harmful product and investing that energy to a more healthy alternative.

        Don't beat yourself up too much. You will fail. It's important to push through. You don't need to stop doing things altogether either like fast food. It's important you're ecognise what these foods are and to keep them to say once a week. No this doesn't mean you can eat out every day.

        As stated prior, look into a food journal or get a app like MFP or Lifesum to track your calories. As your a big guy, I suggest our start off with 2000 calories (or what ever they think the stupid kilojoule equivalent is). What apps like these help you out with is that they highlight how badly common foods are from a calorific perspective. It might just stop you from eating that chocolate bar and keeping under your deficit for the day.

        To me it sounds like you need motivation. If you can afford a personal trainer, don't have access to a friend or some myriad of different problems, then consider looking into excercise you can do at home. Maybe get a wii with the biggest loser game. The coaching is good and the excercises aren't too rough

        • I don't buy those things.

          This is exactly what I'm doing to avoid eating chocolates.

          I realised that the only time I ate those chocolates because it is sitting on top of the table asking me to be eaten.

          I just simply never buy chocolates anymore and for 8 weeks, my weight down 4 kg by changing my habit from eating chocolate every night to none.

        • @fomal:

          Thats great. Im pleased it has worked out for you

          Doesnt matter what it is. And I dont care about the taste. Its like a junkie on heroin. I wouldnt be able to limit myself to one block either.

          I eat one to two choclate bars every 10+ days. Because I dont add sugar or salt to most things. And I am unable to ween myself further - I need some minerals - I have slowly incorporated Himalayan salt into my diet. Only thing I add sugar to is my turkish coffee

        • @Hahuh: Yeah I did try not buying chocolates, was good for 3 weeks and then I saw my favourite chocolates on less than half price special. So.. ! I started again.. My will power is bad. I am working on it. Also, I need to have something sweet every night after dinner.

          But hey, good news. After I have posted this thread, feeling really motivated. Did not have chocolates/sugar since last 2 days. Feel like shit, but I know this feeling will go away.

          Cheers to the Ozbargain community.

      • +2

        maybe try Lindt's 90% coca chocolates from the supermarkets?

        instead of like up to 50g of sugar per 100g of chocolate, that one is "only" 6.3/100 (85% coca is about 30/100)

        it will definitely does not taste as nice as the regular stuff, but better then nothing

  • +2

    Eat quality, not quantity.

  • +4

    Go see a Dr

    • -2

      why?

      • +2
        1. You might have a medical condition that's making it hard for you to lose weight e.g. hypothyroidism, cushing's, PCOS etc
        2. There might be medication that you can take to help you lose weight
        • +5

          There might be medication that you can take to help you lose weight

          meth

        • @altomic:
          DNP, Clen, Duromine, Nicotine

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