The weight loss thread

[God's lonely asperger]

I lost ~7 kilograms in 2 weeks a few months ago, while on my first time dieting. It was obviously very good to me. Looking in the mirror sometimes and I get surprised that I look really thin now. I wasn't really fat before by the way, just overweight.
People get really mad at "meme diets" on fitness places like /fit/, but I did a meme diet called the "Dukan diet" and that worked for me. I even got called all sorts of names on actual /fit/ for not doing (((CICO))). But yeah, most of what I ate was just meat or general protein alone. Meat, fish, chicken, and sometimes shrimps. I was very sick of the shrimps and fish at one point and almost sperged out once over having to eat them, but yeah, 7 kilos is nothing to scoff at. I put CICO as Jewish because I tried it twice and lost 0 kilos. Putting food in a balance is also very gay. You can tell when you are overeating without one. My former nutritionist also shilled it and rejected the meme diet or "extreme" diets.
What is more impressive is that I was completely sedentary doing the diet. I did not go to the gym or do much physical activity, just took out the stuff I eat on weekends and any sort of carbs. I used to go to the gym to lose weight, but that never helped much. Too slow and I not once lost a kilo or more. Though I was also on anti-psychotics at the time, ones that made a guy I knew obese. I don't go to the gym anymore because it has too many people and plays rap with sex in the lyrics.

After the diet, I'm thin, or just skinnyfat, like I said. I also maintain the weight even eating like 4 slices of pizzer every weekend. I don't eat goyslop on weekdays, but Friday and Saturday, I could eat probably anything if I wanted to, but I don't eat a lot.

Next year I'm planning on doing another one for longer, since I want a goal body of De Niro during Taxi Driver. I'm serious.

 

[Unending Powerhouse Match]

The cafeteria at my job has a very wide selection of delicious ice cream. I avoid all other goyslop like the plague, but I am very weak to ice cream. I tell myself it's a dairy product so it's not actually goyslop, which would be true if it were real ice cream, but like everything else, it's just corn syrup with fancy veneers.

I've been rather skinny all my life but lately I think I'm getting fat. I don't really care about how I look, but I do hate feeling all jiggly and weak, and I do care about my health. I think this might be what finally pushes me to start working out consistently. I will do calisthenics at home because I, too, can't stand the music that plays at the gym, or the scantily clad women that loiter around in there.

I completely agree with you on the CICO thing. I'm not well-read on this matter, so this is coming purely from a place of instinct, but counting calories has always struck me as fairly gay and Jewish. You can just eat normal amounts of nothing but whole foods, mainly meat, 3 times a day, with no snacks in-between. Listen to your body, as it will tell you when it thinks you're not eating enough, and if you're very overweight then just keep eating about that much until it stops complaining that it's too little.

It's really that simple to be healthy. You could go further in-depth about vitamins this and macros that, but you don't actually have to. Keep it simple. I am Colombian, so when in doubt, I just eat a bandeja paisa. It's a traditional Colombian meal and there is absolutely nothing missing in it when it comes to basic nutritional value, except some vitamin C, but we drink guava juice all the time anyway and I think everyone should consider doing so too as it's quite a nutrient-rich fruit.

^Bandeja paisa

 

[Douglas Quaid]

I highly recommend a diet eating mostly meat and fruit. You could add dairy too if you want. The amount of fruit should depend on how active you are, and you could also do things like pure honey and maple syrup for energy.

This diet is great even for people not looking to lose weight.

 

[God's lonely asperger]

The cafeteria at my job has a very wide selection of delicious ice cream. I avoid all other goyslop like the plague, but I am very weak to ice cream. I tell myself it's a dairy product so it's not actually goyslop, which would be true if it were real ice cream, but like everything else, it's just corn syrup with fancy veneers.

It depends on the ice cream. Some ice cream has literal 2600 calories in one serving, and crustaceans included.

But a bit of it every once in a while or once a week isn't bad. I have it around once a week mostly due to there being a store near me that has really good ones. Not really unhealthy but some of their stuff has a lot of powdered milk.
If you do only have the most fit flavors and that type of deal, it's definitely healthy. Some people make ice cream themselves by freezing grape juice or that stuff.

I completely agree with you on the CICO thing. I'm not well-read on this matter, so this is coming purely from a place of instinct, but counting calories has always struck me as fairly gay and Jewish. You can just eat normal amounts of nothing but whole foods, mainly meat, 3 times a day, with no snacks in-between. Listen to your body, as it will tell you when it thinks you're not eating enough, and if you're very overweight then just keep eating about that much until it stops complaining that it's too little.

The main thing is the type of calories. I don't eat that much, like I said, but when I started the protein only thing, I magically started weight loss even every week after the diet itself. I was eating about as much as my normal diet. I probably cut one food I'd eat a lot daily, and that helped quite a bit. If your 2600 or even 1400 calories of the day are from a Chocolate Oreo Shake Large, I don't think I have to say that it won't end well. CICO also pushes you to do too much work, I was entirely sedentary on my diet, and if I had exercised, I would probably be very skinny now.

 

[Unending Powerhouse Match]

It depends on the ice cream. Some ice cream has literal 2600 calories in one serving, and crustaceans included.

Absolutely. This type of thing is exactly what I was referring to, and what I'm trying to say is that I think neither the "ice cream" I can get at my workplace cafeteria, or this Oreo shake, are actually real ice cream at all. I don't think milk was involved at any point in the process of making them. It's just corn syrup and shady test tube ingredients, and it just looks like ice cream. Same thing as Oreos, they look like cookies, but they are not, as they contain none of the ingredients that your local baker would use when making real cookies.

Also, I think the "crustaceans" bit in the image you shared might mean that they used bugs to make it. Bugs and crustaceans are very similar creatures anatomically, and probably if you're allergic to one then you're allergic to the other also, so when disclosing allergy information, they'd probably have to check the "crustaceans" box if it contained bugs.

The main thing is the type of calories. I don't eat that much, like I said, but when I started the protein only thing, I magically started weight loss even every week after the diet itself. I was eating about as much as my normal diet. I probably cut one food I'd eat a lot daily, and that helped quite a bit. If your 2600 or even 1400 calories of the day are from a Chocolate Oreo Shake Large, I don't think I have to say that it won't end well. CICO also pushes you to do too much work, I was entirely sedentary on my diet, and if I had exercised, I would probably be very skinny now.

Sounds like your current diet has the right macronutrient ratios. That's great, man!

 

[homersheineken]

I highly recommend a diet eating mostly meat and fruit. You could add dairy too if you want. The amount of fruit should depend on how active you are, and you could also do things like pure honey and maple syrup for energy.

This diet is great even for people not looking to lose weight.

Don't forget your vegetables!

 

[Batman]

CICO and even macro tracking is an outdated, reductionistic, and overall flawed diet philosophy that needs to go away. If it worked, why is everyone getting fatter? Those ideas came from the same place as the USDA food pyramid and low fat diets.

Even though these matter to an extent, I don't think they need to be tracked or focused on too much. Just try to get about 120g of protein a day minimum, throw in a good amount of animal fats, and simply eat as many healthy carbs as your body demands. You don't need to count calories at all, and doing so is a waste anyway because food labels are often quite inaccurate.

I focus on quality of foods and meal timing/windows above all else. Focusing on macros/cals makes people think it's okay to eat things like ice cream when in reality that's not something you should be eating except on rare occassions.

The big 4 things to avoid are seed oils (especially canola and soybean), trans fats (which are still common), refined grains/wheats, and sugar in general (fruit in moderation is okay though, and maybe honey).

Avoiding hyper palatable processed foods in general is much more important than macros or calories.

Absolutely. This type of thing is exactly what I was referring to, and what I'm trying to say is that I think neither the "ice cream" I can get at my workplace cafeteria, or this Oreo shake, are actually real ice cream at all. I don't think milk was involved at any point in the process of making them. It's just corn syrup and shady test tube ingredients, and it just looks like ice cream. Same thing as Oreos, they look like cookies, but they are not, as they contain none of the ingredients that your local baker would use when making real cookies.

Also, I think the "crustaceans" bit in the image you shared might mean that they used bugs to make it. Bugs and crustaceans are very similar creatures anatomically, and probably if you're allergic to one then you're allergic to the other also, so when disclosing allergy information, they'd probably have to check the "crustaceans" box if it contained bugs.


Sounds like your current diet has the right macronutrient ratios. That's great, man!

40-60%? That seems insanely high even for a bodybuilder, but I'd be curious to hear what their typical diets actually look like nowadays.

I would think protein should be 50-60% minimum weather you're powerlifting, bodybuilding, or just maintaining. Excess protein gets converted to glucose anyway.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

I have always had consistent results with CICO. There are other variables, sure. But the reason CICO "doesn't work" for many is due to their lack of adherence to it.

 

[Batman]

I have always had consistent results with CICO. There are other variables, sure. But the reason CICO "doesn't work" for many is due to their lack of adherence to it.

Were you already eating relatively healthy foods before CICO, but simply larger portions? Or did your actual choice of foods change as well? I'm not saying it can't work, but it's probably not good advice for the normies since most people are so ignorant of what healthy foods are.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Were you already eating relatively healthy foods before CICO, but simply larger portions? Or did your actual choice of foods change as well? I'm not saying it can't work, but it's probably not good advice for the normies since most people are so ignorant of what healthy foods are.

I eat healthier now than I did when I was big on CICO. I ate much more carbs back then I do now. I even get more protein now than I did back then. I was still losing weight consistently by counting my calories. When eating clean, it is much easier to keep adherence to CICO.

 

[Douglas Quaid]

I don't want to sound like the carnivore diet fanatics, but another benefit is not worrying about calories. You can eat a lot of meat, and it leaves you feeling full (in a great way) and content until the next time you eat. You basically eat until you're full and let it vary with each meal/day.

I love how simple it makes cooking and shopping too.

 

[Unending Powerhouse Match]

CICO and even macro tracking is an outdated, reductionistic, and overall flawed diet philosophy that needs to go away. If it worked, why is everyone getting fatter? Those ideas came from the same place as the USDA food pyramid and low fat diets.

Even though these matter to an extent, I don't think they need to be tracked or focused on too much. Just try to get about 120g of protein a day minimum, throw in a good amount of animal fats, and simply eat as many healthy carbs as your body demands. You don't need to count calories at all, and doing so is a waste anyway because food labels are often quite inaccurate.

I focus on quality of foods and meal timing/windows above all else. Focusing on macros/cals makes people think it's okay to eat things like ice cream when in reality that's not something you should be eating except on rare occassions.

The big 4 things to avoid are seed oils (especially canola and soybean), trans fats (which are still common), refined grains/wheats, and sugar in general (fruit in moderation is okay though, and maybe honey).

Avoiding hyper palatable processed foods in general is much more important than macros or calories.


40-60%? That seems insanely high even for a bodybuilder, but I'd be curious to hear what their typical diets actually look like nowadays.

I would think protein should be 50-60% minimum weather you're powerlifting, bodybuilding, or just maintaining. Excess protein gets converted to glucose anyway.

That's a really good post, thank you for your contribution. If it is not too much trouble, could you elaborate on what you mean by meal timing/windows? I don't know much about this whole thing.

 

[Batman]

That's a really good post, thank you for your contribution. If it is not too much trouble, could you elaborate on what you mean by meal timing/windows? I don't know much about this whole thing.

"Feeding windows" are basically the time you allow yourself to eat. It should never exceed 12 hours in a day. So if you wake up and eat breakfast at 7am, your last meal shouldn't be later than 7pm. Intermittent fasting comes into play here, from what I know it's best to eat breakfast and lunch and skip dinner if you want to optimize weight loss or simply want to get some of the benefits of fasting. Personally I do the opposite, typically skipping breakfast. So my "feeding window" is around 2pm to 10pm or so. Then again I'm a night owl so it's much later for me than others might want.

Meal timing is mostly about eating the right foods before and after a workout. This is something I know less about, but you probably should consume both protein and carbs before AND after a workout. Recently I think it's been shown that eating protein before a workout is possibly even more beneficial than after (although I don't see why you shouldn't do both).

 

[Rainy]

CICO works perfectly fine. That is the basis for all weight loss or weight gain. Calories intake vs calorie expenditure.

The problem is the majority don't eat well and have never eaten well, so they try CICO while still eating much of the garbage they used to, unhealthy, non-satiating food and end up failing. Because they feel like crap.

So the reason people say CICO doesn't work is because they don't know how to apply it.

Of course, that's a different discussion than do you need to approach weight loss or healthy eating that way. Of course not. And aiming to eat healthy and higher protein will see you cutting out most processed foods, starch, grains, unhealthy carbs. And due to it the types of healthier and higher protein food you eat is more satiating/filling, provides better energy and you feel better.

That type of approach is usually full of more calorie dense foods as well. A simple example is eating 600 calories of grilled chicken thighs with veggies on the side will have you feeling much fuller and much better than eating 2X that, 1,200 calories worth of pizza. Also consider what the average individual snacks on. Say, a bag of chips and a soda. That's gonna be 500-600 calories right there. And they'll be hungry in an hour. Instead someone having two hard boiled eggs and a bottle of water will be full for 2-3 hours on 160 calories.

The types of calories can extend into a much longer conversation, as can eating windows which have been brought up. I've done at a minimum, 18/6 intermittent fasting for about 18 months now. Most days I get weight/cardio in at 12+ hours fasted and only begin my window around 6pm.

I don't function well eating earlier in the day but this is yet another mechanism of keeping CICO in check even if not the intention behind it.

A number of the extremely fit people I know do track CICO to an extent. Because they already know how to eat well. So it's tweaking muscle gain vs cutting and accounting for extra energy expenditure like a 6 mile hike on a Sat.

But if the average person tries it they will fail. They will try to do it while having Starbucks, sodas, chocolate croissants, pasta/bread, and what is really empty calories. So they feel starved, headaches, weak, yet consume ample calories.

I do think quality of food also matters. It is simply higher quality in other parts of the world outside the US. But that isn't the main reason the US is so fat.

As an aside what is crazy to me is how many calories people drink. I cut out booze so literally the only thing I drink is water and black coffee. But man, the fat people I know? Sodas, sugary juices, frappuccinos, milk, beer and liquor at night. We're talking 750-1K calories per day easily just in liquid form. That's insane. Just add one bad meal per day to that. Some donuts for breakfast or McDonald's or slice of pizza for lunch. You're pushing 1,500+ calories and you haven't even began eating what should be the bulk of your daily intake.

 

[cosine]

The cafeteria at my job has a very wide selection of delicious ice cream. I avoid all other goyslop like the plague, but I am very weak to ice cream. I tell myself it's a dairy product so it's not actually goyslop, which would be true if it were real ice cream, but like everything else, it's just corn syrup with fancy veneers.

I've been rather skinny all my life but lately I think I'm getting fat. I don't really care about how I look, but I do hate feeling all jiggly and weak, and I do care about my health. I think this might be what finally pushes me to start working out consistently. I will do calisthenics at home because I, too, can't stand the music that plays at the gym, or the scantily clad women that loiter around in there.

I completely agree with you on the CICO thing. I'm not well-read on this matter, so this is coming purely from a place of instinct, but counting calories has always struck me as fairly gay and Jewish. You can just eat normal amounts of nothing but whole foods, mainly meat, 3 times a day, with no snacks in-between. Listen to your body, as it will tell you when it thinks you're not eating enough, and if you're very overweight then just keep eating about that much until it stops complaining that it's too little.

It's really that simple to be healthy. You could go further in-depth about vitamins this and macros that, but you don't actually have to. Keep it simple. I am Colombian, so when in doubt, I just eat a bandeja paisa. It's a traditional Colombian meal and there is absolutely nothing missing in it when it comes to basic nutritional value, except some vitamin C, but we drink guava juice all the time anyway and I think everyone should consider doing so too as it's quite a nutrient-rich fruit.

^Bandeja paisa

Ice cream is my strongest food vice as well. I am very physically active and fit, but ice cream was a weakness. I didn't care for crappy ice cream, but good Italian gelato.

About 6 months ago I realized ice cream in the evenings was destroying my sleep. When I laid off the ice cream and my sleep improved, that was the last straw. I simply had to force myself to stop, for my health and longevity.

It's fine to eat once in a while, but I was routinely binging. I wasn't fat, but that habit had to go.

 

[Rodion]

I think weighing your food on a scale is a good practice for someone who has previously struggled with weight loss. They will likely discover that their perception of a reasonable, or even meagre portion is way off.

Same as if you can’t gain weight. Everyone I’ve met who has a “fast metabolism” eats like a monk, or they stuff themselves for dinner after having a piece of toast and four energy drinks prior to that.

 

[Unending Powerhouse Match]

I think weighing your food on a scale is a good practice for someone who has previously struggled with weight loss. They will likely discover that their perception of a reasonable, or even meagre portion is way off.

Same as if you can’t gain weight. Everyone I’ve met who has a “fast metabolism” eats like a monk, or they stuff themselves for dinner after having a piece of toast and four energy drinks prior to that.

I have always been one of those "fast metabolism" people and I don't think either apply to me. I eat 3 meals a day, nice meals with meat, rice, beans and whatnot, but even so, I only started gaining some weight after I started eating all this hyper-processed packaged ice cream at work. I think probably my portions are just too small and I don't notice because that's what I'm used to. I've tried eating larger portions of carb-rich foods like rice, but I can't do it consistently, I feel like I'm force-feeding myself. Do you perhaps have any tips for this?

 

[Teedub]

Drives me crazy when someone asks me how I stay in shape, and when I tell them about 48hr electrolyte fasts etc they look at me as if I'm crazy and suggesting something dangerous. Don't ask me for advice and then dismiss it out of hand when I give it! It's 9 times out of 10 women who react with hostility, I've noticed.

 

[cosine]

Drives me crazy when someone asks me how I stay in shape, and when I tell them about 48hr electrolyte fasts etc they look at me as if I'm crazy and suggesting something dangerous. Don't ask me for advice and then dismiss it out of hand when I give it! It's 9 times out of 10 women who react with hostility, I've noticed.

If you can't go without food for 16 hours without going nuts, then you probably need to try fasting... it's such a simple, basic state of life.

I have always been one of those "fast metabolism" people and I don't think either apply to me. I eat 3 meals a day, nice meals with meat, rice, beans and whatnot, but even so, I only started gaining some weight after I started eating all this hyper-processed packaged ice cream at work. I think probably my portions are just too small and I don't notice because that's what I'm used to. I've tried eating larger portions of carb-rich foods like rice, but I can't do it consistently, I feel like I'm force-feeding myself. Do you perhaps have any tips for this?

I have found that sweet potatoes provide me with a fantastic level of satiety. I can eat a pile of leafy vegetables or onions, peppers, squash, etc and be hungry soon afterwards. Sweet potatoes in particular keep me full and happy.

 

[MrRedsquare]