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[madp]

tl;dr: I need to lose weight and keep it off permanently and I’m overwhelmed by all of the weight loss strategies online and need something long-term sustainable so help me, GAF.

Long version:

Well, my bad habits and genes finally caught up with me. I’ve been on a shitty high-carb high-sugar diet most of my life and diabetes runs in the family, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when I had some elevated liver enzymes on a recent blood test that ended up being NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). Basically, my liver cells were getting so swollen with fat from my sugar intake that they were beginning to burst and my liver itself was encased in fat. When I got the diagnosis a couple of months ago the doc said “lose 10% of your body weight and it’ll go away on its own” but I ended up not following through right away because of a fucking stressful month immediately following the Dx that culminated in my mom’s death. I eventually gained enough presence of mind to start thinking about my health again, so I began reading into NAFLD and it’s way scarier than the doctor led me to believe. This shit can advance to cirrhosis if left untreated and it’s a sign that I’m headed toward diabetes so that lit a fire under my ass.

Thing is, I’ve never, ever, ever dieted in my life and I really don’t know what to make of all of the different weight loss plans I’ve been reading about online. It seems like the conventional wisdom of “eat less, exercise more” isn’t exactly true and that there are nutrients that are basically off limits because the liver converts them to fat most easily. Sugar and carbohydrates = the devil, from what I gather, which has sent me spiraling down a long and tangled path of reading up on stuff like Atkins, Paleo, ketogenic, etc. and lots of bloggers and nutritionists and such being fervent about their way being the way and conventional social wisdom on weight loss being totally backwards. It sounds like there are a lot of ironclad rules of human biology underpinning a lot of the guidelines in these diets, and all of the talk of depleting fat stores in the liver through cutting out certain foods is especially relevant to my interest, but I’m nervous about there not being no wiggle room on a lot of this stuff because I have a couple of factors preventing me from having total freedom to make my own dietary choices.

I guess the biggest issue is that I’ve been unemployed since I graduated college, and I’ve been forced to move back in with family while I’m looking for work. It’s an embarrassing thing to admit on GAF, but that’s my life right now. I don’t have much say in what’s cooked for the one daily family meal, and they’re the “if you don’t eat what I cook you don’t eat at all” type so I meet a lot of resistance when I ask to pursue my own dietary guidelines. If I mention that things like pasta, tacos, dinner rolls, pancakes, etc. are off limits now I’m met with “it’s just one meal a day, make your other two meals healthy and it’ll all even out” (and then get suggested other “healthy” things for those meals that I’m wary of eating now like oatmeal) or I’m ridiculed for listening to “junk science” when I try to explain how things are metabolized and how it’s bad for my liver. This isn’t a long-term problem granted I can find work and get out, but I need to lose weight now and we're just at a difference of opinion on this (hey, I might be wrong about all of this for all I know). I’m really concerned about consuming carbs and sugar in any capacity because my liver is clearly really sensitive to storing them as fat if I have a supposed middle-age disease at 25 and I have no clue if merely restricting myself to consuming them in moderation will cause me to retain fat in my liver even if I lose it elsewhere in my body. This is the kind of thing I’d have to be a nutritional expert to know.

Exercise is also kind of a problem for me. I live in a rural area and there are no gyms in driving distance, and I’m severely limited in what kinds of exercise I can do due to a severe knee problem that makes it impossible for me to bear too much weight or make certain motions without my kneecap popping out of its socket, which is excruciating and causes me to collapse where I stand. I have a recumbent stationary bike that’s easy on my legs, but that’s it, and while I’m burning about 500 calories a day on it if the monitor is right, I worry that a lack of variety is eventually going to stunt my ability to get an effective workout. I'm not looking to build muscle or anything, but I'd like to think I can burn a roughly consistent number of calories per day.

I tried hardline abstinence from carbs/sugar for the past three or four days using what was in the house, and by this evening I was dizzy, sluggish, confused, and had a rapid pulse until I finally broke down and had a small fry and part of a sandwich bun from a grilled chicken sandwich at a fast food place when someone I was with insisted on going, and I felt pretty dirty for it. I know that correlation =! causation, but I've heard about new dieters experiencing "carb flu" which essentially sounds like that. I’ve been subsisting on baked ham, eggs, green beans, salad, peanuts, and whatever else was in the house, but eating modest portions of this stuff for meals left me ravenously hungry all the time. It’s definitely not an easy transition from the super-unhealthy diet I’ve been leading, but I'm going to stick to it as much as I can unless the consensus here is that I'm doing it wrong.

I’m suggested to lose 1-2 pounds per week, which I think is doable, but I’m mostly concerned about being able to keep the weight off permanently. I had another consultation with my doctor today, and he reaffirmed my assumption that this is something that I have to be vigilant about for the rest of my life. That sounds okay for now, but what happens when I get older and my metabolism changes? What happens if my genes kick in 100% and I get diabetes anyway? What if some other health problem emerges and I need a medication that makes me gain weight? Is the weight just going to come back and there’s nothing I can do about it? I just watched my mom die of liver cancer and the thought of having any kind of advanced liver disease is fucking terrifying to me. I need some advice on dieting, but I also need to know that dieting can be a lifelong, sustainable thing. With so many stories of people falling off the horse and gaining it all back, I feel pretty overwhelmed right now. Help me find the path, GAF!

wow fuck this ended up being really long, sorry guys.

 

[Zaptruder]

The biggest trick to weight loss is... consistency.

Sounds simple, but is exceedingly difficult to execute for many people.

Pick a system that seems like it'll be acceptable for you.

I've found myself enjoying paleo more than most; you still get your sugars, but mainly through fruits.

Then keep judicious track of exercise and meals. Might seem troublesome, but it does help to keep you on track and help to reinforce and provide feedback for behaviour.

 

[PBY]

I'd suggest you weightlift. Can't imagine how boring biking would get. There's the problem of course of you lacking a gym, but I gueeeess if you really cant get gym equipment or to a gym something like p90 wouldn't be a bad start. You need to have goals to work towards besides just a number IMHO- short term stuff like reps, a pushup number, etc that you can build from.

I'll let another poster tackle the diet question, BUT I will say that your situation sucks- maybe get the doctor to speak with your parents. It's for their benefit too- but it's a two way street- you maybe help out w groceries and the cooking.

 

[gdt]

It was realllly easy for me to lose lots of weight personally.

Cut carbs and calories. As little carbs as possible.

Run.

Lift weights.

Eat high protein/healthy.

Cut a meal and use a protein shake.

Pretty simple and worked/works for me.

Edit: I'll add that I wasn't really overweight to a serious degree or anything. Nor do I/did I have any health problems.

 

[Charoncaori]

Eat healthier for the rest of your life. If you go on a crash diet or something, you'll eventually give up and be back where you started.

Eat smaller portions, cut way down on sugary drinks (including juice), and eat food that resembles food, instead of fast food.

Find an exercise plan that works for you, and do it every day. If you want to be really healthy, I think you have to do cardio every day for at least half an hour, but don't quote me on that.

As stated above, make a consistent lifestyle change, not a temporary diet plan.

Edit: if you're facing resistance from your family then either impress upon them the importance that you need to change your dietary habits or just stop eating meals with them if that's an option. Splitting the cooking would probably be a good idea.

Edit2: you know what, just listen to EviLore, his advice seems perfectly sound and is much less vague than what I said.

 

[EviLore]

Sorry to hear about your mom. Glad you're determined to take steps in the right direction. I dropped from 6'3 300 lbs to 175 lbs (bulking now at 185), so I've been there.

So let's get right down to business.

The most important thing, especially considering your liver condition, is to stay the fucking hell away from sugar. Do not drink soda, fruit juice, energy drinks, or alcohol. Whole fruit is okay in moderation, like berries.

You do not need to eliminate carbs from your diet, and it's very difficult anyway since you often have to prepare all of your own meals if you want to go keto. It is *not* necessary to do this, and it is not for everyone. I've done it in one month stints and I've lost significant weight in the process, but I've also had complications from it when I haven't been strict about my fiber intake. Even one day of missing my fiber quota when I forgot to buy some leafy greens to go with my dinner and I had really bad stuff happen to my bowels. If you can manage it, it can be a useful tool since it brings your appetite down to zero without catabolizing your muscles, but don't dwell on it if you can't.

That said, you want to aim for a diet that satisfies you without being high in calorie. That means high protein and fiber. Meat, leafy greens and other healthy veggies, and whole fruit (in moderation) are at the core of this. You do not need to cut carbs out; by all means, have a taco. But make the taco yourself and don't go to Taco Bell where the "meat" is 40% beef and 60% grain filler, cooked in rancid vegetable oil. An option for that taco, too, is to make it with a low carb tortilla that has a bunch of fiber in it. That was one of my go-tos.

Don't drink anything with calories in it. Do not eat any junk food (french fries are junk food). When you're hungry, eat real food, preferably prepared yourself so that you can track calories and know what's going into your mouth.

Set a caloric limit for yourself. Not something where you're starving. I did 2000 kcal/day, which is pretty reasonable. Then I exercised a bunch over the course of the day; anything I could do at first, which wasn't much (stationary bike and so on), but as the weight came down and my fitness level improved a little I was able to do more and incorporate more variety of exercise. That exercise will increase your caloric expenditure and speed along your weight loss progress without you having to drop down to more like 1500 calories/day which can be unpleasant.

In summary:

-stay high in protein and fiber, and low in sugar. Super low carb is an option but don't feel that you have to.

-Track exactly what's going into your mouth and set a caloric limit that is livable for you but low enough that you'll make good progress.

-Exercise daily in any way you're able. Low impact (elliptical, biking, swimming) cardio is best if you're morbidly obese, since your joints won't hold up to high impact. One hour per day at a minimum will speed you along, and low impact cardio can be done just about as much as you have willpower for. Keep your heart rate up.

-Also do weightlifting 2-3x per week to preserve your muscle mass as you drop in weight. See Fitness-GAF for more information on weightlifting.

 

[PBY]

The stuff you've been eating actually sounds pretty okay. Some other suggestions:
Almonds
Almond milk
Peanut butter
Protein powder- make a shake and this will fill u up
Eggs
Meats, fish
Snack on veggies
If you need some sugar, frozen blueberries are good

Edit- evilore w a great post

 

[EviLore]

The typical American meal is probably a fast food combo from McDonald's or equivalent.

-Burger
-Fries
-Soda

The fries and soda are absolutely atrocious for you nutritionally, do not fill you up, and have massive amounts of calories (1000+ total depending on sizing). The burger itself isn't great, since it's prepared in rancid vegetable oil and has low quality ingredients with fillers and crap instead of real stuff, but in a pinch it's filling and cheap and has a decent amount of protein and amounts to 600-700 calories on its own.

Cut out the fries and the soda, you're left with half the calories, none of the sugar that's destroying your liver and messing with your satiety hormones, and you're just as full. This is how you need to start things off when you're out and about and forced into situations where you're going to be eating at unhealthy places with other people.

 

[GrizzNKev]

I started with a drastic diet and exercise change recently as well. I've been sticking with fruit, veggies, meat, and then less frequently soup with meat and noodles. Sometimes a bagel is nice too when I'm really hungry. I only drink water.

I do intense cardio for about 30 minutes a day 6 days a week, and I walk or bike 15-30 miles a week. I've been at it for 15 days now and will be doing my first weigh in on Wednesday. I don't have access to a gym or real workout equipment so I do the best I can with what I have.

One way to keep motivated and consistent is to have a support group. On Facebook my friends have two private groups: one for funny stuff and one for general discussion and advice on life stuff. I started logging my activity with one post a day in that second group, and have actually motivated people to join me in what I'm doing.

It feels pretty great.

 

[Noirulus]

Hey Pierrot. As someone who has also had trouble maintaining weight as recent as a year ago, I can give you a couple points which have helped me:

- Staving off the carbs is important, but the first thing to do is come up with a reasonable diet that you will be able to maintain and find satiating. I'm a vegetarian so it was a bit trickier for me, but there are are some great low-carb diets online that should help you out. Try starting off eating 1500 - 1700 calories a day on top of exercising and slowly reduce the calories if you feel that you can handle it.

- Not having access to a gym is fine. Just go out and walk. Don't worry about running or jogging, I've seen many weight loss success stories where the person walks 3-4 km a day as their exercise routine. The stationary bike you have at home sounds good, but personally i'd rather walk because I find treadmills/stationary bikes/elliptical machines very monotonous and boring.

- If you're used to drinking soft drinks, instead of phasing them out, replace them with their diet versions. Diet soda doesn't increase insulin IIRC and has 0 calories.


It certainly isn't easy, but we're here for you. Feel free to ask more specific questions as i'm sure GAF would love to help you out.

Edit: I know where you're coming from with the family meal situation. The key is to make your food yourself and try your very best to not let the smell of their carb-loaded food break you. It can be very tough, but you can do it.

Also, don't worry about going too low-carb for now. Feel free to eat fruits such as apples and strawberries (no bananas, though!)

 

[vincent vega]

I started with a drastic diet and exercise change recently as well. I've been sticking with veggies, meat, and then less frequently soup. I only drink water.

I do intense cardio for about 30 minutes a day 6 days a week, and I walk or bike 15-30 miles a week. I've been at it for 15 days now and will be doing my first weigh in on Wednesday.

One way to keep motivated and consistent is to have a support group. On Facebook my friends have two private groups: one for funny stuff and one for general discussion and advice on life stuff. I started logging my activity with one post a day in that second group, and have actually motivated people to join me in what I'm doing.

It feels pretty great.

That's probably the most important thing for you to do, and you'll see progress in no time.

I suggest running. I was training for a 10k last summer, and didn't have any weight to lose (about 10% BF). Despite this, I dropped 10 lbs without even trying, or wanting for that matter.

Also, make sure you eat when you feel hungry (and stop when you're not anymore), not when you crave something. No need to over think it

EDIT: Sorry, missed that part about your knee problems. Keep riding your bike. Go sets of 2 minutes hard 30 seconds easy. that would be pretty hard after a few rounds

 

[mr2xxx]

Slow into it op. You don't have to completely change the way eat right away. Start of just focusing on eating a healthy breakfast for a couple weeks, then go breakfast and lunch for another two weeks, then finally you can do three healthy meals a day with a cheat day once a week. This lets your mind and body gradually adjust than shocking the system and feeling like shit when you cheat.

Also don't starve yourself, you can eat enough to feel full and still lose weight. There is plenty of help in the weight loss thread. I would stay away from any low carb diet right now due to your condition, you will probably be better off with a balanced diet of carbs, protein and fats. Just eat the good types of fats and low GI carbs. Good luck

 

[happypup]

First start a food journal. Catalog what you eat everyday for two weeks or so. Once you have a good idea of your actual calorie/food intake drop the amount by maybe 10% (cutting out sugary drinks can really help) Begin working out 3-5 times a day mostly aerobic for more than thirty minutes at a time. Anything more than you do now is fine. Walking, jogging, swimming, elliptical, whatever is fine. You should be out of breath by the end of the workout, if not you won't get any results. (using only the bike won't stunt your progress as long as you keep the intensity up). I also suggest walking on top of this to strengthen your knee. Do this for the rest of your life!

Stay away from weight loss diets, schemes, as they are never sustainable and will lead to a cycle of weight loss and weight gain.

If you still aren't losing weight check your food journal again. Your body is used to the way you have been eating you will occasionally feel sick/dizzy especially going off of a high sugar diet. Take these episodes seriously but use fruit, or worst case fruit juice instead of refined sugar to mellow these feelings.

Take the stairs whenever possible. Keep exercise clothes, shoes in your car or bag, or at work so you can't use that as an excuse not to work out.

Aerobic calisthenics might be a good option for you as well, something like this is a great way to use what you have available:

warm up on the bike for 5 minutes;

repeat 5 times
sittups/crunches for 1 minute; as many as you can do
10 sec break;
pushups for 1 minute (on your knees is fine, or even against the wall) as many as you can do
15 sec break
leg lifts for 1 minute;
20 sec break;
plank for 1 minute (or as long as you can hold);
15 sec break;
bicycle kicks for 1 minute; as many as you can do;
10 sec break

after doing that stretch and cool down for 5 minutes on the bike.

feel free to substitute any of your favorite calisthenics

 

[Frolow]

-snip-

Took the words right out of my mouth. I would like to stress that setting a calorie limit is very important. It's fine to go under or over your calorie limit in a certain day, but try to stick with it as much as possible. And as EviLore already said, 2000 calories/day is a great amount to stay at.

 

[Troll]

How tall are you?
Male/Female?
How overweight are you currently? (How much do you weigh?)

 

[RumblingRosco]

I'm sorry about your mom, you have my condolences.

That sounds okay for now, but what happens when I get older and my metabolism changes?

Your metabolism doesn't just magically slow down; most of the time, it's a combination of factors, most commonly the simple fact that as people age they tend to be less physically active. In particular, they lose muscle mass, which plays a big factor in utilizing calories. Just because you age doesn't mean your metabolism is guaranteed to slow significantly.

What happens if my genes kick in 100% and I get diabetes anyway?

I'm not convinced that genes are 100% the cause for diabetes. In fact, I'm sure there are more factors. But, look at it this way, if you are some how genetically destined to get diabetes one way or the other, would you rather face that challenge with other complications (being overweight, a fatty liver, etc) or would you like to face it being the healthiest you can possibly be? I think that is an easy choice!

What if some other health problem emerges and I need a medication that makes me gain weight? Is the weight just going to come back and there’s nothing I can do about it?

As you improve your diet and overall health, the odds of you needing medications will decrease. No guarantees, but it's just generally true that the healthier you are, the less likely you are to succumb to some random illness or disease as your risk factors decline. But, as with my last example, let's say your future is guaranteed to require you to go on some potentially weight-gaining medication. Would you rather face that situation being a healthier weight, or go into that already being overweight and then having to add more weight on top due to the medication? Don't psyche yourself out worrying about what the future may or may not bring; ultimately, you can only work with what facts you have, and the facts that stand now are A) your liver is in trouble, as diagnosed by your doctor B) your mother died of liver cancer C) you seem to have a genetic disposition towards diabetes and/or other diseases. It is clear to me that your life can literally not afford for you to be paralyzed with "what if" scenarios; you have to do the best you can with what you have and just keep your fingers crossed.

I just watched my mom die of liver cancer and the thought of having any kind of advanced liver disease is fucking terrifying to me. I need some advice on dieting, but I also need to know that dieting can be a lifelong, sustainable thing. With so many stories of people falling off the horse and gaining it all back, I feel pretty overwhelmed right now. Help me find the path, GAF!

Take things slow. You're in a tough spot right now being with your family who doesn't seem to be able to support your new lifestyle goals. So, do what you can within those conditions and as soon as you get into a better situation make further improvements. A quick tip:

Your only beverages should be water, unsweetened tea, or black coffee (don't go overboard on caffeine though). Milk is fine too, but at this point, you're probably needing to cut calories more than anything.

Sorry that most of my advice is more broad and not specified, but really, it seems like you have a good sense of both fear and motivation to make some changes, so I think you'll be just fine in the long run.

 

[Horseticuffs]

I've lost 135 lbs in the past 11 months and all while keeping my diet between 55-65% carbs, the rest divided of course between protein and fats. Now, I'm a vegetarian so my case is sort of unusual. You probably don't necessarily need so many carbs.

Once again Evilore is on the ball. Carbs aren't the devil, especially since you want to find a sustainable lifestyle change and not some crazy crash diet you are gonna find unbearable in a month.

People stop me a lot and ask me what I'm doing. What my secret is. The secret is that 85% of people who lose weight gain it all back •. I'm determined to be in the minority. I've got to be constantly paranoid about falling back into old habits and log and analyze every calorie. But, hey, that's what works for me.

Dieting is a trap. You can't view it that way and expect to keep any loss. You need to change, and stay changed till the day you die. Now, you may alter those changes based on your experiences and knowledge you gain, but you can never eat like you have up to this point again.

Think of it as a new way of life. Good luck!

•http://www.nbcnews.com/id/36716808/...tion/t/when-you-lose-weight-gain-it-all-back/

There's this chick on youtube who chronicled her weight loss progress. Someone asked for her 'master plan' and it was "Eat less. Do more."

Yep. I knocked off 65 lbs on that.

Beautifully simple.
Lots of great advice in this thread. Counting calories and walking everywhere has been key for me.

 

[Bodacious]

There's this chick on youtube who chronicled her weight loss progress. Someone asked for her 'master plan' and it was "Eat less. Do more."

Yep. I knocked off 65 lbs on that.

 

[triplestation]

eat normal traditional food, none of this mad world shit

and dont eat so much of it

these days people put so much effort into something so simple, calorie counting, monitoring, carb restricting, paleo, all this bullshit when it all really comes down to is smaller portions and more of your attention directed at things that aren't food

 

[Branduil]

The key to a lot of healthier eating seems to add up to: DON'T EAT PROCESSED FOODS. A bit of a simplification, but avoiding refined sugars and sticking to whole grains, lots of fresh veggies, moderate amounts of fruit, healthy proteins like chicken and fish, and small amounts of good dairy products such as yogurt, seems like a way to go. With stuff like yogurt you're better off getting it unflavored and then adding granola or fresh fruit yourself. But the biggest thing seems to be making your own food from good, healthy ingredients. Avoid fast food.

 

[Irnbru]

Dedication, honestly for me I don't know what changed in my body but I love the gym now and exercising and dieting , just finding that happy medium and your set

 

[SniperHunter]

Well, my bad habits and genes finally caught up with me. I’ve been on a shitty high-carb high-sugar diet most of my life and diabetes runs in the family, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when I had some elevated liver enzymes on a recent blood test that ended up being NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). Basically, my liver cells were getting so swollen with fat from my sugar intake that they were beginning to burst and my liver itself was encased in fat. When I got the diagnosis a couple of months ago the doc said “lose 10% of your body weight and it’ll go away on its own” but I ended up not following through right away because of a fucking stressful month immediately following the Dx that culminated in my mom’s death. I eventually gained enough presence of mind to start thinking about my health again, so I began reading into NAFLD and it’s way scarier than the doctor led me to believe. This shit can advance to cirrhosis if left untreated and it’s a sign that I’m headed toward diabetes so that lit a fire under my ass.

wow I had the exact same problem, my liver healed itself though, but I need to go for a blood test again soon!

 

[Subtle]

Well the tl;dr version of losing weight is eat 1600 (varies a little bit for everyone) calories a day to lose one pound a week. 1200 to lose two pounds a week. 2000 to maintain your weight. Websites like myfitnesspal.com are a great tool!

Edit: I also advise against counting your micros. Just focus on cutting calories on the beginning. It's infinitely easier imo. You can start counting carbs and fat once you lost a good amount of weight. Again I stress the importance of calorie counting websites!

 

[Laughing Banana]

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you OP?

I am 29, and I want to form a much healthier lifestyle too... I am overweight, something that is shameful for me to be honest and often times makes me uncomfortable and--worse--self conscious.

I hope 29 is not "too late" to start doing this kind of stuff.....

 

[Subtle]

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you OP?

I am 29, and I want to form a much healthier lifestyle too... I am overweight, something that is shameful for me to be honest and often times makes me uncomfortable and--worse--self conscious.

I hope 29 is not "too late" to start doing this kind of stuff.....

It's never too late to lose weight!

 

[Darryl]

eat normal traditional food, none of this mad world shit

and dont eat so much of it

these days people put so much effort into something so simple, calorie counting, monitoring, carb restricting, paleo, all this bullshit when it all really comes down to is smaller portions and more of your attention directed at things that aren't food

the addictiveness of sugar and wheat will do this to you, just like all other addictive things

 

[Pickles the Firecat]

There's this chick on youtube who chronicled her weight loss progress. Someone asked for her 'master plan' and it was "Eat less. Do more."

Yep. I knocked off 65 lbs on that.

A lot of people have contributed good advice so far, Mad Perriot, but keep in mind that this is fundamentally true. When you see arguments between diet practitioners--Atkins and Paleo, for example--you're looking at people argue which is optimal. They will both work for the vast majority of people, but some believe one will work more effectively than the other.

At the center of any decent diet is caloric intake. You can start losing weight today, as EvilLore said, by dropping to roughly 2,000 calories a day. Keep a log of what you eat. Use a tool like MyFitnessPal or Livestrong to track what you take in each day and stay around your goal. Take the advice of people in this thread and avoid processed foods, maybe dabble in a specialized diet like Paleo if you can get away from others' cooking, but remember that even if you are unable to do that cutting back on calories is where it begins.

As far as working out goes, don't worry about your body adapting to what you're doing when it comes to cardio. I would normally suggest a bodyweight program like Convict Conditioning if you can't make it to a gym, but none of us can tell you what will be okay with your knee. I'd check with your doctor first. Keep doing what your doing and work hard at it. Aside from that, try to do small things. Obvious ones like walking places and taking the stairs, and not-so-obvious ones like spinning in your chair a bit and twirling a pen. If you ever look at "naturally thin" people, a lot of them are constantly active in one small way or another. It might not be natural to you, but try to copy that.

Eat less. Do more. Restrict your calories, apply your body. Be consistent and in a year or so you'll bump this thread with pictures of your amazing progress. Or maybe we'll see them in Fitness-GAF. Best of luck!

 

[Subtle]

A lot of people have contributed good advice so far, Mad Perriot, but keep in mind that this is fundamentally true. When you see arguments between diet practitioners--Atkins and Paleo, for example--you're looking at people argue which is optimal. They will both work for the vast majority of people, but some believe one will work more effectively than the other.

At the center of any decent diet is caloric intake. You can start losing weight today, as EvilLore said, by dropping to roughly 2,000 calories a day. Keep a log of what you eat. Use a tool like MyFitnessPal or Livestrong to track what you take in each day and stay around your goal. Take the advice of people in this thread and avoid processed foods, maybe dabble in a specialized diet like Paleo if you can get away from others' cooking, but remember that even if you are unable to do that cutting back on calories is where it begins.

As far as working out goes, don't worry about your body adapting to what you're doing when it comes to cardio. I would normally suggest a bodyweight program like Convict Conditioning if you can't make it to a gym, but none of us can tell you what will be okay with your knee. I'd check with your doctor first. Keep doing what your doing and work hard at it. Aside from that, try to do small things. Obvious ones like walking places and taking the stairs, and not-so-obvious ones like spinning in your chair a bit and twirling a pen. If you ever look at "naturally thin" people, a lot of them are constantly active in one small way or another. It might not be natural to you, but try to copy that.

Eat less. Do more. Restrict your calories, apply your body. Be consistent and in a year or so you'll bump this thread with pictures of your amazing progress. Or maybe we'll see them in Fitness-GAF. Best of luck!

Wait 2000 is to lose weight? You sure? I could've sworn it was 1600?

 

[EviLore]

Wait 2000 is to lose weight? You sure? I could've sworn it was 1600?

Exercise.

 

[Pickles the Firecat]

Wait 2000 is to lose weight? You sure? I could've sworn it was 1600?

Realistically speaking it will depend on the individual. Generally though, 2,000 calories a day combined with exercise is going to help someone used to a much larger intake lose weight, as EvilLore mentioned.

 

[BrightEyedPanic]

Cut out dairy. Completely. You'll drop a bunch of weight, pretty much right away.

Eat lots of protein. You must be active for this to work.

Carbs are not completely evil. Switch to veggie pasta vs. white or wheat. It tastes the same and is is pretty much the same price.

No soda. No juice. HFCS is a major culprit.

More water. Supposedly, temperature makes a difference, but i'm not sure.

Vitamin supplements are a good idea for boosting the immune system and metabolism.

Something I did for awhile...I made eating inconvenient. Chips or snacky things are really easy to go to, but I replaced that with carrots, cucumber, zucchini, etc... and i have to cut it up and prepare it to munch. But if I'm being lazy, I'll wait until I am truly hungry.

 

[Gustav]

First step: Avoid all sugar and HFCS. Fruit (no juice, only when freshly made) should be enough sugar intake.
See if this helps. Make another blood test in 3 months.

If it didn't help, proceed to second step: talk to your doctor. Tell him you need help finding the right diet for you. Ask him to refer you to a nutritionist. Make a diet plan with said nutritionist.

Don't cut your carbs completely, don't go on any fad diet and stop googling.

 

[Fezzan]

I would try to lose weight but I really need to live on my own so I dont see a cake on the counter and eat all of it

 

[Darren870]

I think it also helps writing down all the things you eat for a few days. It will help you cut out the crap you don't need and help us find out where your over eating.

 

[Goldrusher]

A diet is "what you eat". It's not something you "do" for a few weeks, then revert back to your old habits. That won't get you anywhere.

Just eat healthier and eat less. It's that simple.

Having said that, reduce your portions slowly. Don't go from eating 5 overflowing plates to eating a single cracker. That will way be too hard, no matter how determined you are, your body is used to processing buckets of food. It takes time to change it.

 

[Zoe]

Wait 2000 is to lose weight? You sure? I could've sworn it was 1600?

If he's overweight, his maintenance is most likely above 2000.

 

[Dash27]

My advice: Do not over think this.

Focus on two things, and get that going. You can tweak from there. Number one is:

The most important thing, especially considering your liver condition, is to stay the fucking hell away from sugar. Do not drink soda, fruit juice, energy drinks, or alcohol. Whole fruit is okay in moderation, like berries.

Kill the sugar. Soda and juices yeah, but also these "lite" yogurts, low fat whatever, most bread, bagels, cereal etc.

Number two would be avoid processed food. Eat stuff that you know what it is, not some mushy processed package you just microwave and eat.

Some of the stuff I eat:

 

[entremet]

Wait 2000 is to lose weight? You sure? I could've sworn it was 1600?

Depends on height and activity levels as well.

 

[Septimius]

Remember that you don't need to stay away from fat. Fat doesn't make you fat, sugar does.

Also, diet soda might be OK every now and then, but be advised that aspartame is likely to cause an increase in hunger.

Wait 2000 is to lose weight? You sure? I could've sworn it was 1600?

If you weight 500 lbs, I'm sure 3000 is losing weight. There's no set "you need to aim for this" with calories. More activity means more calories burnt. More weight means more calories burnt.

 

[dave is ok]

No more soda. No more fast food. Cut down on bread. Take your coffee black.

These are the easy ones

 

[ffdgh]

Water is your friend. Drink plenty of it.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Lots of good advice in the thread and Evilore's post is great. I started my lifestyle change around 260lbs and have pretty much followed the same steps he has. I went from slowly but consistently gaining weight my entire life, to losing around 10lbs for the first time in my life this month. We have an uphill battle OP but it will be worth it in the end to feel healthier and rid ourselves of high disease risk.

Do the easy stuff now like cutting out junk, but changing your diet entirely is a big undertaking that you should take seriously. Pace yourself, be realistic with your goals, and be sure to supplement your new diet with some regular exercise until you feel in shape for more intense work outs.

 

[andycapps]

I suggest heading to the Fitness thread that Evilore linked and reading the OP and starting there. Honestly, this thread is probably going to be a shitshow filled with people that don't work out or diet, but trot out the same shit that's parroted whenever someone says they want to lose weight. My point being, most everyone in the Fitness thread knows what they're talking about. This thread will be hit or miss.

 

[nicoga3000]

Honestly, without reading the wall-o-text, I can say that low-carb eating is the best way to lose weight. You can eat until you're full, there are a TON of awesome dishes, and it's easy. I wanted to lose 5-10 lbs before my honeymoon in December (I only weigh 170, so it's not like I was trying to cut huge loads of fat, just a little extra). I cut back to ~20g carbs a day and was losing weight without even trying.

It's always hard at first, but once you find a diet that incorporates foods you enjoy while following the guidelines you set out, it's not nearly as hard as it gets made out to be. Low carb yogurt, low carb tortillas, almonds, chicken, and spinach salads. I lived on that shit.

 

[TimeEffect]

All I did was run (30 min a day kn a treadmill) and watched my diet (common sense and basic research to enhance meals) and i lost 35 lbs

It isnt hard, dont expect immediate results, just do it and find ways to enjoy it. Running made me feel exhilirated, free, and with my music, I got lost in thought. It's like showering, those minutes and miles fly by

 

[Mitsuho]

Try to avoid those crazy diets. Just avoid the foods that the Doctor or your research says will aggravate your condition.

Increase your unstructured exercise. Sit-ups while watching TV, etc. What helped me the most was gamification of my goals. Get a good app for your phone's accelerometer or a dedicated device like a fitbit. You can do distance challenges against other people and stuff. I also like listening to ebooks while jogging - try to make it a daily habit.

 

[Prologue]

I stand by Evilore.



At the end of the day, just keep it simple. Whats going to make you lose weight is consistency. Its not going to happen over night, Make sure you always remember your goals and decide on a plan thats simple and easy to maintain. When I lost weight for 3 months, I pretty much ate the same thing every single day. Boring? Sure, but I knew what was going in my mouth and it was easy to make. Find what works for you and stick to it. Consistency !

 

[Shalashaska161]

I lost 40 pounds last year, and all my strategy was was taking my normal meal, and cutting a chunk of it out. Instead of 2 sandwiches I'd have 1, instead of a coke I'd have a powdered ice tea (half the calories), etc. It can be hard at first but over time it really does start to add up and I was losing a healthy 1-2 pounds a week over a few month period til i sort of settled at my current weight.

Especially in your situation where you don't control what you're eating, portion control is the way to go.

 

[Zoe]

I suggest heading to the Fitness thread that Evilore linked and reading the OP and starting there. Honestly, this thread is probably going to be a shitshow filled with people that don't work out or diet, but trot out the same shit that's parroted whenever someone says they want to lose weight. My point being, most everyone in the Fitness thread knows what they're talking about. This thread will be hit or miss.

His OP pretty much rules out the Fitness thread's OP.

Honestly, without reading the wall-o-text, I can say that low-carb eating is the best way to lose weight. You can eat until you're full, there are a TON of awesome dishes, and it's easy. I wanted to lose 5-10 lbs before my honeymoon in December (I only weigh 170, so it's not like I was trying to cut huge loads of fat, just a little extra). I cut back to ~20g carbs a day and was losing weight without even trying.

It's always hard at first, but once you find a diet that incorporates foods you enjoy while following the guidelines you set out, it's not nearly as hard as it gets made out to be. Low carb yogurt, low carb tortillas, almonds, chicken, and spinach salads. I lived on that shit.

Well, one of the key points of the OP is that he doesn't really have control over the food he's given. At this time he would be more successful with portion control until he can really provide and cook for himself.

 

[Sharp]

It seems like the conventional wisdom of “eat less, exercise more” isn’t exactly true and that there are nutrients that are basically off limits because the liver converts them to fat most easily.

Stopped right there because I'm not sure where you get the idea that that's not true, and I think that is why everything seems overwhelming to you. I followed this very simple approach, with absolutely no restrictions on what I could eat except that my overall net calories per day during the diet would be at a certain number. I have lost 65 pounds in seven months so far with no plateaus and no drama. I do not have a magical metabolism. Neither do the many other GAFers who have lost weight, some much more than I have.

1. Use this model: Hall's Lean Body Mass Simulator. This is not a simple calculator. It takes all of the latest scientific evidence into account and accurately models what you'll need to do from a caloric and exercise perspective in order to go from your current weight to your desired weight.

2. Start calorie counting. The whole hog--getting a kitchen scale and weighing your food, writing down everything you eat (even the "unimportant" things you wouldn't normally count), using conservative values instead of the ones that look the lowest. This is the point where a lot of people will disagree with me, because for lots of people this is way too ridiculously strict to keep up for a long period of time. But even if you don't want to do it for the long term (though I did and it's very effective), do it for the first few weeks just to get some sense of what you'll have to do to stick to your diet. If you don't think you can do it, consider upping your exercise or going for a less aggressive weight loss goal. Even just a 5% reduction in overall body weight is associated with significant reductions in mortality and obesity-related medical problems.

3. Remember that diet is much more important than exercise for losing weight. In order to lose weight through exercise alone, you need to kill yourself in the gym. Don't feel pressured to do more than you reasonably feel you are able from an exercise perspective, but also remember that exercise (particularly cardio) can make it much easier to maintain a diet.

4. Don't give up. If you mess up a day here or there, or can't get to the gym for a week, or see the weight start to creep up or stay still for a couple of weeks at a time, relax. As long as you stick to your exercise and diet regimen over the long term, you will lose weight. Guaranteed.

5. Look around for a strategy that works well for you. Like I said, I find that calorie counting isn't onerous and that works really effectively for me. Other people find that low-carb diets, or paleo diets, or low-glycemic index diets, are what it takes for them to start eating less and losing weight. They're all valid approaches for some people, just remember that at the end of the day what's important is that your expenditure exceed your intake and that it be maintainable for you. Don't immediately assume that your way of losing weight is "wrong" as long as it adheres to those two rules. Weight loss is as simple or as complex as you want it to be.