Weight loss - how are you approaching it? How’s your progress?

I've struggled with it in recent years. I've always successfully dieted in the past (from the time I was old enough to diet until 25). People like to blame the difficulty of dieting increasing with age on metabolism, but I think that's only one factor. The much larger reason for me is marriage. And not for stereotypical reasons.

It's just simply harder to diet with a live in partner. Eating together is a form of human bonding. People have done it since the dawn of man and before. But it's hard to do that when I can only have 400 calories for dinner and he needs 1000 because he's a man who doesn't need to lose weight. Low calorie meals (as in, diet food) aren't really an option because he'd need to eat an absurd amount and we wouldn't have leftovers, which gets expensive and time consuming. So I just say "eat smaller portions". Do you know how small a 400 calorie portion of Alfredo is? It's depressing.

We tried a "culinary divorce" for a time. I missed cooking for him very much and seeing his enjoyment, but I powered through. What was super depressing about it though was watching him get to enjoy all the foods I couldn't. Smelling the aromas from the kitchen. Watching him eat a steak while I enjoy my 4 shrimp with steamed veggies. So it's depressing to eat with him, and depressing to eat without it.

I feel like it's impossible to make lifestyle changes the way I so easily could when I was younger. The trouble with dieting used to just be "I'm hungry right now, but I'm going to power through." There's so many more factors now.

Long story short, I'm starting semaglutide injections next week. If I can be happy with that tiny little 400 calorie plate of Alfredo because I'm not hungry, it seems like the best option.

I'm in the slog. When I was in college I was a svelte 150 lbs or so. Then I took a martial arts class and added another 20-30 pounds while working out strenuously and eating like shit. And then I graduated, stopped working out, and kept eating like shit.

So here I am, 43, and about 100 lbs heavier than I was in college (and about 80 lbs heavier than my ideal weight). I've tried a bunch of things: rigorous calorie counting, regular exercise, etc but -- for me -- the thing that keeps undermining it is that I really, really love to cook.

"Never trust a skinny cook" as the saying goes. So I've been trying to square that circle for a while. These days I'm going for an "all things in moderation" approach and trying to train myself to be introspective about when I'm hungry vs when I'm just looking for something to do. It's a slow process.

I also do IF. Have done for a couple years. I find it much easier to be mindful of what I'm eating when I have a narrow window in which to consume my nutrients. It also has afforded me the opportunity to get better at cooking! I've lost around 15kg to date and am starting to re-evaluate what I need to do to start maintaining.

Happy to be a support buddy if you need it!

I started the Keto diet March 2022, and have lost 30lbs since then, 20lbs in the first 6 months. I wasn't especially overweight (and am now in healthy weight territory), but I had a bit of unwanted chub around my stomach. After 6 months, my strict Keto diet turned into just a low carb diet (~30g carbs/day) as a loose daily target.

Pros

• Compared to calorie counting, much easier to stick to
• Never really feel hungry, compared to basically any other diet I've been on
• Weight loss feels magical, considering I'm putting in far less effort than other diets and getting far better results.
• You forget you're on the diet, considering you develop a routine with the foods you are now allowed to eat

Cons

• Higher risk of bone density issues
• Higher risk of high cholesterol and heart disease
• Easy to overdo it on saturated fats
• First two weeks are a nightmare to get through (so-called "Keto Flu")
• Effort must be made up front to find foods you like and add variety to your diet given your new restriction

I'm also in the process of losing weight. I had always been a bit overweight since university, so attempts have been off and on, but the pandemic hit me very hard in particular and I gained a truly shocking amount of weight almost without noticing over two and half years.

I can't stick to calorie counting for the life of me, so rather than continue to bang my head against that particular brick wall I've decided to ignore the internet's dedication to CICO and try a more holistic approach. I'm focusing more on things that make me feel good and don't make eating or moving feel like a slog, like how walking makes the circulation in my legs improve immediately or how nice it will be to finally learn to swim as an adult (signed up for classes the other day). I've been going out of my way to buy good quality food - my favourites like whole grains, tomatoes, beans, yogurt, apples. Something I've learned about myself is that I have to find something to like about the process, a desire for the result is not enough for me over the long term.

It's been slow but I've stuck with it for the better part of a year, losing just over a half pound per week average. I'm down about 30lbs from my top weight, with another 20lbs or so to go until I get back down to "comfortably chubby" zone. From there I think I'd like to shift my goal to more be more about my physical capabilities than my weight, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.

I started my weight loss journey in August of 2021. I did the Keto diet until Thanksgiving that year. Went from 290 to 220. I was also lifting weights. Fell off the wagon in 2022 and tried to get back on it to various failed attempts. Until finally in October I got back on it and lost weight again. I’ve been steadily losing weight since then and am currently 195. I have a lot more muscle mass now though so my body fat is around 25%.

Since October I’ve done various things. From just trying to eat less, to doing keto briefly again, to counting calories and macros and trying to keep my protein intake at 150g a day. Alongside exercising a lot more. Lately I’ve just been doing the protein thing and lifting heavy weights. The cardio I do is about 20-30 minutes on the Stairmaster at the gym.

I feel pretty good but there’s definitely still improvements to be made.

I'm currently about 6' / 295 or 183cm / 132kg and my goal weight is 110kg.

Weight loss is "simple" in that it is just expending more calories than one consumes. It can be the hardest simple thing, though. I am not a big advocate for anything other than consistency and repeatability; I try to eat at the same time, and I try to eat the same amounts every day. I try to avoid snacks, but I have a few "cheat" options - Wednesday nights are often game nights, and Saturday nights are sometimes get-togethers, so during either, I will partake in snacks. All effective plans - keto, intermittent fasting, paleo, etc - are just ways to get you to consume less calories than you spend, and it's an indication of how hard it is to do a relatively simple task.

I have the same thing for lunch 95% of the time - scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach in a wrap - and I cook almost all of our dinners, so I have a good idea of what goes into them and what the nutritional value is. Things are trending in the right direction; Covid hit me pretty hard, and I gained what felt like a literal ton of weight as I was over 150kg at one point. I mostly avoid breakfast, so I have an almost intermittent fasting happening, though I believe that IF is mostly just a method of limiting calories. I try to get as much vegetable into every meal as I can, but I am generally limited by children who complain about almost every vegetable. Thankfully, summer salad season is upon us, so chicken on the grill with a side salad will become a 2 - 3 time a week meal here.

In terms of activity, when Covid started, Ultimate Frisbee stopped, and when it started up again, I was in no shape to play - my doctor explicitly ordered me not to, to save my knees - so I have had to figure out other things to do. I do a brief workout every day - 30 minutes of resistance-based exercises, generally pushups and pullups - and try to go for walks. I was going to restart Couch to 5K again starting this week, as I met the max running weight the doctor told me to hit but with air quality warnings in effect, I am limiting outdoor activities, so I might go back to swimming laps a couple of times a week.

My wife is also trying to lose weight - she is not what anyone would consider overweight (she's almost a foot shorter, and in the 52 - 55kg range), but is finding it hard to play a full 90 minutes of soccer. My sister is getting married in October and I think we both want to look as good as possible for the photos that we'll be in.

I've bounced up and down in weight for many years at this point and have learned what does and does not work specifically for me, and what I struggle with.

Key personal takeaways (I do not claim to know what is best for anyone else reading this):

• Keto / low carb works extremely well, except it was not sustainable (cutting out so many foods meant cutting too much of what I like and enjoying food ended up becoming more important than staying with it).
• Calorie restriction works well and was much more sustainable as a lifestyle/permanent choice - I can still enjoy what I want, just in moderation.
• Regardless of method, I love junk food / fast food / anything that excites my tastes buds regardless of how healthy it is, and my enjoyment of what tastes good to me often psychologically wins the battles, thus why even the most sustainable methods for me sometimes still fail
• I also have trouble keeping portions reasonable, and that's an issue that can spiral the more I gain weight. I need to learn to keep this in check- this would go a long way on its own to solve my issues
• I.F. seems to help in addition to any method
• Getting good sleep is extremely important. I've had effective weight loss get absolutely trainwrecked by bad sleep habits. I can do everything else "right", but if my sleep is bad, it hard-pauses progress
• Exercise is important, but secondary. It is much easier to avoid extra calories than it is to burn them
• Because I can lose weight, I know my issue is 90% psychological. I know I have options that I can enact that show clear results, but I end up overriding those because by brain just goes YUM and MORE YUM to the point where sometimes it's like I'd rather die sooner as long as I get to taste good things and lots of them. It's a tough mental battle.

I have lost 30-50 pounds and put it back on a couple of times and I'm in a bad swing of it again, ready to start losing again but wondering how long before I mentally override and erase my progress again. To be an optimal weight I need to lose like 150 lbs at this point, but I'd be happy with half that and keeping it off forever.

I have lost 50lbs since January of last year, so about a year and a half. I don't eat all that healthy, really, I just eat 2 meals a day, brunch and dinner. Around 11am-12pm and 5-6pm, ish. Each meal is 700-800 calories. So, I can eat a whole fast food meal with unsweetened tea or a diet coke if I wanted.

1400-1600 calories per day. No "cheat days." Stopped drinking mostly and factor calories from booze into daily allowance. I work in an office mostly but I try to be active on weekends.

Would like to preface that what I'm doing is on the more extreme end of a workout/nutrition plan and if this is something anyone would like to try, to slowly ease into it. I've spent alot of time testing and seeing what works for me.

Nutrition: Intermittent fasting, One Meal A Day typically, but may do two depending on how I feel and weekly recovery progress. Aiming for 700cal below maintenance, and at least 40g protein every meal, cal/protein intake would increase based mood and recovery progress as well. I have surprisingly been able to make gains (although slow, because cut) like this. I've found I have to supplement magnesium or with a electrolyte mix on heavy work outs where I'm sweating alot for extended duration. Also recently started taking CBD/CBN pills as it seems like my cortisol levels constantly stay elevated, but have no basis for this other than I've been feeling better after taking them.

Exercise: 3x a week cardio/strength training. Working through a Couchto5k program,12/3/30 (actually 12/3/10 to fill out my cardio portion to 30 min with the couch to 5k as it would take to long to do a full 30), and something along the lines of the big 5 lifts: Squats, OHP, Bench, Pendlay Rows. Had to take a pause recently so just getting back into it but will add Deadlifts, assorted core workouts, and stretches as well. Currently at 3x8 sets for lifts but bringing it up to 5x8.

Trying to stay consistent with BJJ 3x a week as well but health issues have prevented me from going lately.

I’ve talked about this before but since there are more people here I will go over it again.

I am on an intensive weight loss program through my healthcare provider. Because they are a giant HMO - meaning they are the health insurance and the hospital combined - they are able to provide the program to me for essentially no charge. It’s a holistic program that gets me access to dietitians, social workers, a support group, and even some extras if I were to need them.

There are a few parts to it but the main thing was changing to a whole foods plant based diet. It essentially means becoming vegan except you also minimize the amount of salt, oil, and sugar that you consume.

It sounds extreme but it’s really not as hard as it seems. You just have to think of it as a lifestyle change. As someone who has been on a litany of other diets, this is the easiest and most effective program I have ever been on. There is no calorie counting and because the food I am eating has low caloric density, I just eat until I am not hungry anymore. Once you get rid of the salt oil and sugar your palate really opens up and you get way more flavor out of your food.

It hasn’t all been smooth; there are two times where I ended up gaining instead of losing (it doesn’t help that my husband isn’t doing this with me and is constantly eating out instead), but everyone has been pretty supportive and getting back on track isn’t that hard. I’m still on track to lose 100 pounds though I might not make it by the time I originally wanted to.

I used to be very svelte but the last few years especially I've gained a lot of weight. Finally decided to do something about it this year. My target is to lose 40kg eventually. So far this year I'm 8kg down which isn't crazy progress but it's progress.

I find intermittent fasting to be very helpful as when I do eat I like a substantial portion, so only eating a small dinner and a normal portioned tea whilst calorie counting works well for me. I'm in it for the long haul so I'm not maintaining a crazy calorific deficit. 500 - 800 calories per day with the occasional blip days when I go out for beers or something.

I also invested in a rowing machine so I've been putting in a lot of hours on that which has helped. Spent 6 weeks in Thailand where I didn't lose as much as I could have this year, hoping to catch up and get to 20kg loss by year end.

I don't need to lose a lot of weight so I'm taking a fairly passive approach. For reference my bmi is about 26 and I want to try and bring it down to about 23ish by December.

I've massively reduced my pop intake. Only really drinking it as a treat occasionally.
Im snacking considerably less than I used to.
I got a new job somewhat recently and I take the bus. This means about 40 minutes of walking each day with a decent chunk of it being uphill. It's not a lot but I make a point of walking fast and I can feel myself getting worn out on the hills.

Also smaller portions and less takeout food. The whole reason I have this weight is because I'm lazy and often can't be bothered to make my own food, so I'd order out.
I've made a point now of having some easy / fun to make dishes that I can make for myself and control the portion sizes.

All in all its working. Since the beginning of the year I've lost about 5 kilos. Which isn't a massive amount but it's honestly better than the rate I was expecting.

I am not in the process of losing anymore, just maintaining. I have used interment fasting to lose about 50 to 60lb. I would have only one meal a day. Now that I have reached where I want, I still do the fasting, but more leniently. I mostly like the habits and discipline that comes from the fasting part of it.

I lost about 45lbs just by walking 6-7 miles outdoors every day, and reducing alcohol intake. It was nothing extraordinary. Just walked a brisk pace while listening to podcasts, and the time went by pretty quickly.

Nowadays I do 25 min on weights and 25 min of walking every day for maintenance.

I had a Gastric sleeve op about 10 months ago, have lost 80kg (176lbs~) in that time. The sleeve has obviously helped by limiting ghrelin production but the biggest things have been eating more protein, exercising daily and portion control. I can't recommend the surgery enough for anyone who has struggled for a long time, I tried and failed for 10 years to get my health under control.

Two pieces of advice if anyone wants it - try to commit fully to exercising and try to find something you enjoy. I lift weights and originally hated it but did it because the surgeon said so. Now I am in there 5-6 times a week and feel off if I don't go for two days in a row.

The other is embracing cooking - I liked it beforehand but now I cook practically everything I consume. Home cooked food, even "unhealthy food", is better for you when made at home. Sure, you can't eat fried chicken daily if you want to maintain a calorie deficit but there's almost always small changes you can make that add up over time. GL!

I'm in the process of losing the weight I'd gained in the month before and during the initial healing of my hysterectomy. I'm petite already, so while 10lbs (goal) isn't a lot overall, it's a lot on me. Mostly I'm avoiding snacking as much as I can, but trying to meal plan as much as possible and use meals from skinnytaste. My husband and I have been really enjoying the recipes from there, and some are becoming staples in our house. I've mostly returned to my previous preferred workout schedule (pole classes, flexibility class, and training flexibility on my own multiple times per week).

The only hiccup for me has been I've been getting a bunch of questionable moles removed, and in the initial healing of each of those, it hurts a lot and makes me not want to do anything.

I've mostly been recomping so far, but focusing on food again has helped me lose 2lbs so far. I noticed some clothes fitting better too.

My fitness level took a nosedive ever since I threw out my back in 2018 and it’s been a struggle to get back to the man I was since. I went from someone who could complete a Tough Mudder with basically no special training outside of what I did anyway to someone who wheezes through a 5k and struggles to keep it under 35 min. I gained probably 40 excess pounds since my peak that have been difficult to shed.

Weirdly lately I find I’m more able to fit into old clothes but my weight remains constant. I suspect I’m getting denser (more muscle) from having a toddler and needing to hoist him around all the time. But I’d like to accelerate the trend and get my cardio and strength closer to what it was. When I was serious about keeping in fighting weight I found that calorie tracking was a huge help. More than the tracking itself, the need to track everything cut my tendency to eat absentmindedly. Most of the time I couldn’t be bothered to keep track of quantities to log them, which led to me not bothering to snack and opting for drinking herbal tea or something with negligible calories instead.

And if not, if I’ve committed some heinous social faux pas by posting, I can only apologise - this feels like such a nicely curated place that I’m nervous of spoiling it like some great oaf burping during dinner with the queen

This prophecy is neither nice nor accurate ;-)

Intermittent fasting didn't really work for me - I think I ate too much during the non-fasting periods.

So now I'm calorie-counting at 1800 calories per day, and I'm down 11kg so far this year.

M60 5'11 SW 298 ... maintaining for 8 years CW 171 using CICO and walking (mostly)

I lost it with calorie counting and walking, and I'm keeping it off the same way. I go to an IRL support group and participate daily in /r/loseit on Reddit which not only helps others but keeps my attention on my own effort as well.