How do you lose weight?

Like most people I haven't started my new years resolution yet and could use some help. I'm 6'5" 265 lbs and get the nickname of "Big Ben" a lot because of my height and pudgyness. Any tips on how I can get to somewhere below 230 in a healthy way.

 

The number one thing you need to start doing is track what you eat. Getting a good workout routine is certainly important for more than just beyond weight loss, but the kitchen is where you make the real difference in weight loss. I use MyFitnessPal but there are others that work as well. Once you start to see how many calories you are actually consuming and bring them down accordingly, you'll see all the difference in the world.

 

Stop eating sandwiches stat. Start eating a salad with protein on it every day for lunch, use as much dressing as you want, you don't need to fear fat that much. Eat oatmeal for breakfast with a piece of fruit. Eat a smaller dinner than you're used to. That's my strategy that works whenever I start creeping up.

Weight loss is at least 80% diet and maybe 20% exercise. That said, you should still exercise because it will prevent you from getting "skinny fat" or some other form of flabiness. Walk a lot, but don't count it as your 3-4x a week exercise goals. Don't count anything other than cardio and weight lifting you can measure. Not that it doesn't help, but it leads down a bad road of fake exercise or overestimating your activity levels.

 
Best Response

this is a finance forum populated by pencil necked early 20-somethings, the advice you get will be shitty most likely. I know ArcherVice is about your age and I believe from an earlier post he shared how he got in shape. I also know SSits is in his 30s. I'm older, but not late 30s old so my metabolism hasn't slowed down, so my thoughts may not be spot on but here's what's helped me lose weight when I've put on some unwanted poundage. adapt or die has competed in fitness/bodybuilding comps so I know he knows a lot about this kinda stuff.

eat clean: whole foods, lots of veggies, control portion size (if calories in > calories burned, you're not moving in the right direction). blue apron has helped me a lot, because unless you have a family of 4, it's hard to buy produce you end up throwing so much out. BA solves this problem, and the meals are mostly healthy, but they're always fresh, and reasonably portioned. there's different theories about intermittent fasting, healthy snacking, gluten free, paleo, low carb, high carb, 3/2/1, I'm not an expert in dieting, but I know the best body I've had personally was when I was very veggie heavy, ate whole foods, cooked more at home, and controlled portion size. if I were you, I'd ask your physician. if you don't want to do that, I'd just try different stuff, see what works, as long as you're burning more calories than you're consuming.

exercise at least 3x/week, preferably more: weightlifting, HIIT, circuit training, kickboxing, p90x, something. you need to do more than just run/elliptical, you need some level of resistance training (so you build muscle) and elevated heart rate (I would never let mine get below 120bpm when I was in "weight loss" mode). you don't have to become a meathead and only lift weights, you can do all bodyweight exercises or calisthenics, but I don't think just doing cardio is the best way to get you to your goal. just pick something you enjoy and stick with it. if you enjoy hitting stuff, maybe join a boxing gym. if you enjoy pumping iron, maybe join a traditional gym or a crossfit box. if you hate all that stuff, maybe look at something like orange theory that's group based, has a bit of cardio, a bit of weights, and has a trainer forcing you to exercise. find what you like, and don't let someone tell you "oh you gotta go to XYZ fitness, it's the best place" because they could be a narp that just likes doing step classes, or maybe they're a meathead that can't touch their toes but thinks anyone who doesn't lift is a prole. fuck that, do you bro.

other stuff: drink tons of water, start taking coffee black (no sugar/cream), get plenty of sleep, drink less alcohol, manage your stress, etc.

further learning: subscribe to mens health, mens fitness, something. even if you never go with one of the workout programs, it will give you an idea or two about an exercise you haven't tried, a recipe you might enjoy, or something else.

supplements: I'm not a fan personally (I'm too cheap), all I take is a daily multivitamin, but just know they won't do anything for you if your diet isn't on point.

if inertia is the culprit, I find that having things quantified helps. a few ideas:

myfitnesspal: great for tracking calories and nutrition. I used it for a few months until my diet became habit, so it's tedious, but not forever

dietbet: never used it, but I know you can enter weight loss challenges that have a financial component to them (you lose money if you fail, you win money if you succeed). money's a great motivator

fitbit: I personally hated mine, the heart rate monitors that are wrist based are terribly inaccurate unless you're not exercising, and it's not built for any activity except cycling or running/walking. since I'm either lifting weights or in water, it didn't work for me, but I know lots of people who love theirs. I will say my limited experience was positive from a technology standpoint, it just didn't fit what I liked to do.

I'd also take pictures of yourself once a month. it's hard to see progress because you're in a mirror every day and aside from the occasional friend you haven't seen in a while or pants starting to fit looser, it'll be tough to notice. something like this will be good motivation.

never used this: https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/ua-healthbox/pid1292219-001

but it's a good combo of fitness tracker (with chest strap heart rate, the only reliable one out there), myfitnesspal premium, and a scale. reviews are hit or miss, but if you have a device that helps you track things, it makes it easier, plus I'm sure the app will give you reminders if you haven't done something.

tldr: eat real food, exercise, and take care of the little stuff. it takes time but it will work.

 

I definitely second using Blue Apron. As a consultant that travels every week, it's very difficult to go out and buy groceries that you know you have to eat or they'll go bad when you're out of town next week. It's also a time suck to go out and buy all that stuff.

I have all my BA meals delivered on Friday and normally I can make two meals out of each portion, which is still more food than I can actually eat. Each meal is made for two people and they are good portions and normally pretty healthy meals.

 
thebrofessor:

this is a finance forum populated by pencil necked early 20-somethings, the advice you get will be shitty most likely. I know @ArcherVice is about your age and I believe from an earlier post he shared how he got in shape. I also know @SSits is in his 30s. I'm older, but not late 30s old so my metabolism hasn't slowed down, so my thoughts may not be spot on but here's what's helped me lose weight when I've put on some unwanted poundage. @adapt or die has competed in fitness/bodybuilding comps so I know he knows a lot about this kinda stuff.

eat clean: whole foods, lots of veggies, control portion size (if calories in > calories burned, you're not moving in the right direction). blue apron has helped me a lot, because unless you have a family of 4, it's hard to buy produce you end up throwing so much out. BA solves this problem, and the meals are mostly healthy, but they're always fresh, and reasonably portioned. there's different theories about intermittent fasting, healthy snacking, gluten free, paleo, low carb, high carb, 3/2/1, I'm not an expert in dieting, but I know the best body I've had personally was when I was very veggie heavy, ate whole foods, cooked more at home, and controlled portion size. if I were you, I'd ask your physician. if you don't want to do that, I'd just try different stuff, see what works, as long as you're burning more calories than you're consuming.

exercise at least 3x/week, preferably more: weightlifting, HIIT, circuit training, kickboxing, p90x, something. you need to do more than just run/elliptical, you need some level of resistance training (so you build muscle) and elevated heart rate (I would never let mine get below 120bpm when I was in "weight loss" mode). you don't have to become a meathead and only lift weights, you can do all bodyweight exercises or calisthenics, but I don't think just doing cardio is the best way to get you to your goal. just pick something you enjoy and stick with it. if you enjoy hitting stuff, maybe join a boxing gym. if you enjoy pumping iron, maybe join a traditional gym or a crossfit box. if you hate all that stuff, maybe look at something like orange theory that's group based, has a bit of cardio, a bit of weights, and has a trainer forcing you to exercise. find what you like, and don't let someone tell you "oh you gotta go to XYZ fitness, it's the best place" because they could be a narp that just likes doing step classes, or maybe they're a meathead that can't touch their toes but thinks anyone who doesn't lift is a prole. fuck that, do you bro.

other stuff: drink tons of water, start taking coffee black (no sugar/cream), get plenty of sleep, drink less alcohol, manage your stress, etc.

further learning: subscribe to mens health, mens fitness, something. even if you never go with one of the workout programs, it will give you an idea or two about an exercise you haven't tried, a recipe you might enjoy, or something else.

supplements: I'm not a fan personally (I'm too cheap), all I take is a daily multivitamin, but just know they won't do anything for you if your diet isn't on point.

if inertia is the culprit, I find that having things quantified helps. a few ideas:

myfitnesspal: great for tracking calories and nutrition. I used it for a few months until my diet became habit, so it's tedious, but not forever

dietbet: never used it, but I know you can enter weight loss challenges that have a financial component to them (you lose money if you fail, you win money if you succeed). money's a great motivator

fitbit: I personally hated mine, the heart rate monitors that are wrist based are terribly inaccurate unless you're not exercising, and it's not built for any activity except cycling or running/walking. since I'm either lifting weights or in water, it didn't work for me, but I know lots of people who love theirs. I will say my limited experience was positive from a technology standpoint, it just didn't fit what I liked to do.

I'd also take pictures of yourself once a month. it's hard to see progress because you're in a mirror every day and aside from the occasional friend you haven't seen in a while or pants starting to fit looser, it'll be tough to notice. something like this will be good motivation.

never used this: https://www.underarmour.com/en-us/ua-healthbox/pid...

but it's a good combo of fitness tracker (with chest strap heart rate, the only reliable one out there), myfitnesspal premium, and a scale. reviews are hit or miss, but if you have a device that helps you track things, it makes it easier, plus I'm sure the app will give you reminders if you haven't done something.

tldr: eat real food, exercise, and take care of the little stuff. it takes time but it will work.

Great post. I'm in my 30's and lost about 30 pounds last year. I've realized 3 things:

  1. You really do need diet and exercise. I still eat plenty, but I set smaller portions, I don't go for seconds except on special occasions, I don't add fat or sugar to my foods if I don't have to (no butter on toast, no sugar in oatmeal, etc). And I make sure I'm eating a balanced meal, not ordering a pizza or making chicken and vegetables but only eating the chicken. I cut back on carbs but I still eat them.

  2. For exercise, there are a lot of good programs out there, but the most important thing to hit regularly are 2-3 big muscle group lifting exercises (deadlifts, bench, squats, rows, etc) 2-3 days a week. I squat almost every day and go under the bar 2-3 days a week. There are a lot of programs out there for this type of lifting, I'll let you decide how it fits into your lifestyle. But these exercises build muscle while burning fat and are, in my opinion, more important than 20-30 minutes on the treadmill. You don't have to do a full lifting program if you're not looking to become a power lifter or athlete, 6 exercises a week will be plenty to keep your body always burning and always getting stronger. I prefer doing 5 sets with 5 reps of each at pretty heavy weight.

  3. Workout to workout, not to lose weight. The pressure of watching the scale can make it feel overbearing. This is a lifestyle change, not an activity.

There are great books and programs out there, but getting started in a new lifestyle is the hardest part. Start by not buying any more junk at the supermarket, drinking water instead of whatever you are now, and getting your ass to the gym 3 days a week regardless of how sore you are. After 4-5 weeks it will start to feel like habit.

Have fun!

 

I personally lost 30 lbs and I'm around there same height. For me the key was watching what and how much I ate and working out more. Also, though I didn't do this, programs like weight watchers do work for many people, and have the upside (for guys) of being mostly female.

"There's nothing you can do if you're too scared to try." - Nickel Creek
 

Same problem almost to the inch and pound.

For exercise a Kettle bell routine that takes about twenty minutes before work and more time walking to the office/cube and less on the phone and IM. I was not working out at all and do not have time for going to the gym. Also, more time outside, love the winter and am not getting enough of it. Also, Hämmern the frau some more.

Diet - going to switch from sandwiches to healthier options. Switching from eggs and toast to just eggs for breakfast. I have two deer in a freezer so probably going to just start eating from that more frequently. The meat is very lean. So for lunch do a meal in the slow cooker for the week. At lunch meetings doing salads/steaks instead of burgers.

Best of luck!

Only two sources I trust, Glenn Beck and singing woodland creatures.
 

MyFitnessPal is great.

If you have a helpful doctor and nearby facilities, try and get calorimetry testing. This will tell you what your true BMR (base metabolic rate) is. I have some health issues that force me onto medical steroids every time I get sick, and I would gain 10-20 pounds even while maintaining limited portion sizes, so that is why my test was ordered.

Turns out my BMR is extremely low for someone in their early 20s, so when I am actively trying to cut some pounds, I now have the exact number that optimizes my body's fat burning process. (it's low and it sucks, but it definitely works).

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Hahha I wish. Wasn't exactly that kind of roid.

I think what thebrofessor said would ring true for you - find something that you enjoy doing. If that is lifting or boxing or swimming, whatever - but I would go one step above that and sign up for a personal trainer in that. Sometimes we just don't push ourselves to the limit every time we engage in some sort of activity.

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I've lost about 20 pounds since September and am hoping to lose another 10-15. My recommendation is learn how to effectively manage your stress. It can be tough when you're juggling multiple deadlines, but once you're stress levels are at a normal level your body will naturally start to shed pounds. After that keep yourself accountable for the decisions you make, that way if you do have a "cheat" meal, you feel motivated to make up for it by hitting the gym/treadmill/whatever as hard as you can

 

Losing weight is based on thermodynamics - you need to burn more energy than you're consuming. Track everything you eat for the in, and go look up your BMR/get a HR watch/etc to peg how much is going out.

Once you can quantify what your in/out is, it's down to controlling those two numbers, and for that, everything thebrofessor said is much more useful.

 

To lose weight you need to first determine your total daily energy expended (TDEE) (https://tdeecalculator.net/) . In order to cut weight you want to running a caloric deficit (which is typically no less than 500 calories under your TDEE). As someone mentioned above myfitnessplan is what I use and is great for doing this as it will include a TDEE measurement when you set your current weight and future goal weight and will provide you with your daily caloric limit.

In addition to that make sure workouts are tailored to High intensity training however at this point any exercise will likely do. Tips I use when cutting weight include drinking lots of coffee (as caffeine is proven to curb hunger) in addition to leaving a salad at my desk and only eating when I feel hungry enough to eat a salad.

 
cheesy

To lose weight you need to first determine your total daily energy expended (TDEE) (https://tdeecalculator.net/) . In order to cut weight you want to running a caloric deficit (which is typically no less than 500 calories under your TDEE). As someone mentioned above myfitnessplan is what I use and is great for doing this as it will include a TDEE measurement when you set your current weight and future goal weight and will provide you with your daily caloric limit.

In addition to that make sure workouts are tailored to High intensity training however at this point any exercise will likely do. Tips I use when cutting weight include drinking lots of coffee (as caffeine is proven to curb hunger) in addition to leaving a salad at my desk and only eating when I feel hungry enough to eat a salad.

Most smartwatches display calories burned.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

You eat less than your maintenance calories. Decide on what you want to weigh, let's say 225 and just multiply it by 11, which gives you your daily calorie count. 225 x 11 = 2475 cal / day. Now you can further complicate it and divide it into macros etc and try to hit those, but what really counts is that you stay on point with those 2475 calories. Get MyFitnessPal to track everything you eat and see where you come out. If you want to make it easy on yourself, implement an intermittent fasting protocol, i.e. fast for 16 hours a day and have an 8-hour eating window (sleep counts). If you absolutely need to go to lunch with your colleagues at 12 every day, just stop eating anything at 8 pm the day prior and you can eat until 8 pm again. You can drink black coffee during the fasting period (or water obviously) but nothing else.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

I practice IF as well. I eat my first meal at 12pm, usually, a shake 500 calories and 6-7 hours later, I eat 1500 calories for dinner. Rinse and repeat.

 

So essentially what you are saying is calories in vs calories out. Low carb + no sugar is where people eat most of their calories because people do not portion these things out properly, resulting in excess calories. If people actually measured out one serving of rice or pasta, you would see horror on their face when they realize how much extra they have been eating and thinking it was healthy.

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All I got from this was how many ginormous people there are. 6'5''... damn. I'm only 6' tall. My height is actually my biggest insecurity. I'm simply not the height I want to be.

I would... but the truth is I can't sell my soul to myself... http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blackknight.asp
 

This sounds terrible an I know I'll get shit on for it... but its true. Eat less, move more. I don't say that in a sarcastic shitty way like most do, I just mean it. I'm down over 70lbs and its been shitty but I've managed through it. I cut my calories down to 1500/day but do whatever works for you. I was eating almost double before. I also just put in 45min a day on the elliptical... every day. I ate half as much, and I moved more. 70lbs, gone.

 

Yeah that is not the best option, I clearly said whatever is going to be best for him. My number was just an example. I was eating well over 3,000/day but I forced myself down, its extremely difficult and I failed many times. But in the end the only way outside of surgery to lose weight is to eat less and move more. It's science. Whatever mental tricks or habits you need to do, go ahead. There are millions of "tactics" and "tricks" to get yourself to do these things, but ultimately the goal is simple. You want to eat fewer calories than you burn.

 

Dental student here and I'll highlight a couple opinions that have been stated here. The first is the calories in and out its (almost) always true. I say almost because over time we've been finding that this may not be the whole story (go figure). We recently just had our cell metabolism course and our professor went into detail about the changing opinions on how our metabolism works long story short you want to eat what you want to burn. I don't know if you've heard of the ketogenic diet but in my class alone about 20 guys started it up and they've all lost on average 20 pounds in just 3-4 weeks. Now something you need to realize is that this is absolutely not a quick fix. Like everyone else says you're going to need to have a lifestyle change. This will help you lose fat but you'll have to stick to a very strict diet, mainly no carbs. That means no pizza, no bread, no pasta etc. Is it hard? Hell yeah but from what I've seen its well worth it. Once you've lost the weight you need to keep working to keep it off whether that be with being more active, continuing the same diet or just changing how often and how much you eat. If you just turn back to the same diet you'll be back to the same weight or even higher in just a week.

Good luck!

 

if you're in Ops and have good work life balance join a crossfit gym. CF gets a bad rap - they focus on impeccable form and stamina more than trying to kill people with reps like the old days. Be prepared to have to buy new pants because your legs will get bigger but if you want to lose weight without changing your diet, 4-5 days a week of CF will definitely knock some pounds off and get you in ridiculous shape. If you're a former athlete you'll be into it.

or do what everyone else said.

 

35 lbs sounds like a reasonable goal. The advice I can give you is to count your macro nutrients. I follow "if it fits your macros (IIFYM)" and it works perfectly once you get the system down. It's similar to counting calories, but it is more structured in the way that you have "x" grams of fats, carbs and proteins. (1 gram of fat = 9 calories, and 1 gram of carbs or protein = 4 calories). For example, if you were to consume 95 grams of fat, 260 carbs, and 150 protein you'd be consuming 2495 calories. Obviously you'd need a couple weeks to try different macro ranges to figure out your maintenance calories and slowly decrease your intake. Also, don't fixate on the weight scale. Most of the time people weigh themselves at different times in the day. I would suggest to weigh your self in the morning after waking up and using the restroom. If you would like a more detailed explanation let me know.

 

Fuck, everyone is over complicating this. The simple answer is to burn more calories than you consume. Cut down on M-T alcohol consumption. Drink wine instead of beer, and one drink instead of 3. Diet soda instead of regular. Eat your fruits, don't drink them. Look for good glycemic index foods - the type of foods that fill you up but are low calorie: apples, oranges, kale, whole grains, etc... Eat more chicken and fish. Have a 12oz steak instead of an 18oz one. Skip the cake and get a sorbet or scoop of ice cream instead. Don't snack too late at night. Try and get some exercise, but even just walking a half hour a day will help if you follow the above. Finally, be patient. Unless you have time to do all this and hit the gym, it will take months to see a change.

 

Over time, but weight in itself is based on hormones.

I lucked out and have not changed my weight in over 8 years, despite eating a lot of food too. Weight lifting is considered the fastest way to burn calories.

I wouldn't worry too much, just stay healthy and be happy. If people call you Big Ben, get some muscles and scare the f*ck out of them.

 

In my own experience, its generally two main things:

  1. Cutting calories while taking quality calories (more nutritional food per calorie rather than fat or sugar)
  2. Keeping up with your workout even if you don't see any real changes

I'm not exactly fat, but I always manage to have a big belly despite my weight (skinnyfat). Running at least 45 minutes per day for 3 days per week constantly seemed to keep it down.

 

Obviously, diet and training will be the easiest way to achieve this, but simply diet alone can get you there if the goal is to just lose weight. I'd recommend strength training as well, so you actually build muscle rather than ending up as a smaller version of your current self.

Training: Any 3-day/week full-body strength training routine will get you all the results you need. I've been training for 10 years, and I still only do 3 days. Yes you can add more, but 3 days is extremely manageable with a job like IB, and hitting full body each time means you won't leave any body part out. It's also much more efficient. I'm not breaking any world records, but I feel sufficiently strong, and have maintained sub 10% bodyfat for 3+ years now. I recommend starting with a program like Starting Strength.

Diet: No need to overcomplicate. I'd recommend using YouTube tutorials combined with MyFitnessPal to learn to track macros. Do it for a few months until you learn how to eyeball nutrition, then freeball it. Tracking food for the rest of your life is lame, and useless unless you're trying to compete in bodybuilding. Learn what your body needs, what kind of nutrition is in what kind of food, with the ultimate goal of just guesstimating. 

My job before IB was as a personal trainer, PM me if you have questions about any of this stuff.

 

As others have alluded to, it's primarily calories in vs calories out. The two inputs to this are "what/how much you eat" and "how much you move".

The how much you move part, IMO, is a lot less important than the former. Generally, I've found the cardio-only approach to be very overrated, and I've tried both low intensity steady state ("LISS") and high-intensity interval training ("HIIT"). I personally think resistance training (not just traditional weights, mind you) is the best bang for your buck in terms of improving your overall body composition. When I just did cardio, my body fat % and weight were down, but I didn't look better because I was skinny and didn't have any muscle mass. Building muscle improves your composition and makes it easier to keep weight off since it increases your resting metabolic rate. I'm heavier than I was during my cardio bunny phase, but I look better because I've got actual muscle mass now and only moderately more body fat in terms of pounds.

The diet part is harder to sort out, but for the sake of not overcomplicating things and keeping this brief, I'd say do the following:

1. Calculate your TDEE and adjust for your activity level. Lots of calculators online to do this

2. Subtract 500-1000 calories from that, depending on how fast you want to lose weight/what you can tolerate

3. Buy a food scale or find a way to calculate your portion size. A lot of people make the mistake of eating too many "healthy" foods (like eggs or avocados) that are calorically dense, inevitably overeat, and then wonder why they're gaining weight when they're eating "healthy". Get a feel for how much you're eating each meal and track your calories so that it doesn't exceed your caloric intake goal. Moderate your hunger while cutting by drinking a shitload of water, some caffeine, but also eating high fiber foods or healthy fats.

4. Those 3 steps will get you almost all the way there, but to really optimize your results, try to get at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight to maximize your body's potential to build muscle. The fats/carbs piece, although people will argue all day, isn't super important IMO, and I've tried both high carb and low carb. Just get your protein intake and hit your caloric goal and you'll be in good shape (pun intended).

5. After you've got that sorted out, make being healthy a lifestyle. Make small changes to your diet, such as opting for eggs or oatmeal for breakfast when traveling instead of pancakes or sugar cereal, without depriving yourself and making your lifestyle unsustainable. Focus overall on eating less processed food and making the smarter picks when faced with a choice and you'll be golden.

While I'm not a bodybuilder or an IG model, I'm in good enough shape that people comment on it and I've gotten this way by just consistently making healthy choices (and appropriately portioning the unhealthy ones I make) over a very long period of time. It's one of those "consistency over intensity" type of deals. You'll get better results faster by being more intense about your diet than my recommendations above, but it'll eventually catch up to you if you're not able to sustain it. Most people won't sustain it, even if they're health nuts, btw. We're all human and most of us on this forum are also in super stressful jobs and want to enjoy something in life.

Good luck with everything!

 

this is excellent advice. All the fancy stuff like keto / intermittent fasting, etc. are really just different ways to hit the calories in part. Some people will find them useful but they are not necessary. I personally do IF not because I think it's a magic bullet but because 1) I am not hungry most mornings 2) It is one less decision to have to make around food and 3) I like big meals and it lets me eat more at dinner time while still keeping calories in check.

I do think generally speaking reducing decision variability can be really helpful to sustain changes - meaning it's okay to literally eat the exact same things every day if you know if works or it's okay to just eat 1 meal and nail it, instead of trying to optimize 3 meals + 2-3 snacks, etc. I personally eat basically the same things every day at every meal (just make sure those things include meats and veggies/fruits). 

 

I see a lot of mixed things about keto. From what I'm getting from a variety of sources, it seems to be good to do it for a short-ish while (like 2-4 months max), and then come back to something else. Would you agree? I'm interested in trying it after hearing success some friends have had with it.

Quant (ˈkwänt) n: An expert, someone who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing.
 

Lost 25 pounds within 2 months when I was 23 (I lost track of my initial goal of losing 15-17 pounds and ended up dropping more than I wanted to). I bulked like crazy (ate way too many healthy carbs and high protein) and realized I wanted to cut to show more muscle. I was lifting personal records almost every 10 days at one point. Was easily the best I ever looked. Got very busy with work and decided to eat strictly vegetarian meals only twice a day. Big mistake on my part as I couldn't hit the gym as often (maybe once a week for about 4 months). Ended up loosing all my mass.

Much harder now to loose weight in my 30s though. 

 
Brio

Incline treadmill/airbike til your soul leaves your body.

You're not wrong.  Clinical studies have shown that running/cycling reduces and maintains low level of visceral fat versus weightlifting exercises.  

What I usually do is light warmup - 3-5 mins on treadmill/exercise bike/hand biking, then lift weights (full body), then run for 15-30 mins on the treadmill or cycle.  

 

Yep. My diet is normal but I do 30 min incline treadmill (12+ incline, 3.5mph) and a basic compound lift program (upper / lower) focusing on maintaining or adding weight to the bar. I also walk a shit ton whenever the opportunity arises and go for very long walks every weekend. 

Was once 220lbs, have been 170 and have stayed there for 8 years now doing this. I have no aspirations of being a bodybuilder, just want to look lean.

 

I'm 32 so I might be a bit older with respect to the demographic here but I'll chime in as I'm actually leaner now than I was in my early 20s. I'm at roughly 8% body fat and have lost nearly 30lbs over the past several years and I wasn't even overweight or fat to begin with. The biggest change was a drastic pivot to cardio over strength training. The more obsessed I got with cardio, the more I fine tuned my diet (it wasn't bad to start) as I felt more of a performance hit during cardio than during strength training. 

Most of my cardio is swimming, although I do rowing and air/wind biking here and there throughout the week. I have a pool that is unheated during the winter so I'm either swimming in below 60 degree water or taking dips throughout those months. I sleep in a very cold room throughout winter and try to keep it cool during the warmer months (doesn't really work that well in the middle of the summer unless I run the AC full blast all night long which I don't).

I ride horses 4+ days a week which is also a fairly hard physical activity since I'm training with them. As I stated before, I've become increasingly meticulous about my diet over these past several years. No white bread, rice, flour, no dairy, nothing fried, no synthetic/added sugars, low sodium. Interestingly, the nutrient that I consume the most of is fat but it's predominantly Omega fatty acids from nuts, olive oil, fish, cod liver, seeds, and a lot of cocoa beans.

This is what has worked for me with respect to shedding fat, although I never intended to, just followed what interested me and made sense. Be warned, if you skew heavily towards cardio, you will lose size and strength which is something I'm dealing with, you have to find the balance that you're after.

 

Do Ryan Fischer's 30 day challenge and learn how to eat macros on that, basically high protein/low carb. I am a hardgainer, so building muscle is harder than losing fat for me, but I tried his program for kicks during lockdowns because building muscle without weights is a waste of time, so I just tried to get super lean and it definitely worked. I usually have a six pack, put even my obliques were shredded after the month.

If you don't want to do just watch Marcus Filly diet videos on youtube. Both dudes make things clean, simple, healthy.

 

All that matters:

Calories In < Calories Out.   You need to burn more calories than you consume. Estimate your current baseline calorie intake to keep maintenance weight with the formula;

Body Weight x 14-16 (depending on how fast you want to lose weight) and then subtract from that 300-500 calories and set that as your calorie intake for losing weight. 

Example: I weigh 200 x 14 = 2,800 calories to maintain my TDEE weight.    Subsequently, I'd eat at 2,400 calories and track my calorie intake so I know I am being consistent over time and tracking my weight daily to keep up with my goal. 

 

The first thing you should start doing is keeping track of your meals. Developing a decent fitness program is undoubtedly crucial for more reasons than just weight loss, but the main difference in weight loss happens in the kitchen. Although there are others that function like  tyler the creator hoodies as well, I prefer MyFitnessPal. You'll notice a huge difference once you start to realize how many calories you are actually taking in and reduce them accordingly.

 

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