Losing weight is really all about calorie intake

bitbydeath

bitbydeath

Gold Member
This might seem obvious for some, but I've never tried to lose weight before.

Three weeks ago today I discovered I crossed 90KG's, 90.4KG's to be exact. That's 199.3 pounds. Then my daughter brought home the flu and I lost my appetite for two weeks and I lost around 3KG's.

I've since continued the less food diet (cause why not), and today I'm now at 85.3KG's (188.054 pounds) that's a 5.1KG loss (11.246 pounds) in three weeks without exercise.

I'm not advocating against exercise I will definitely get back into it, but I would have thought it was a bigger requirement to losing weight fast.

For those wondering, my diet today typically consists of:
Cereal breakfast (sometimes depending on how busy I am)
1 x protein yoghurt morning tea
1 x sandwich (2 bread, cheese, meat) for lunch
1 x protein yoghurt afternoon tea
Then whatever my wife cooks for dinner. (No restrictions)
 
Yes sir. In my experience, it's like 90% diet and 10% exercise. Self-control is the difficult part.
 
Healthy diet and exercise as much as possible - both are important. But speaking more on the diet side of things, yes calorie intake is important, but I will say a great influence (especially on the self control part) is certain foods do invoke more cravings than others. So sure you can eat a bag of chips instead of a steak, but man you're going to be dying after the bag of chips.
 
Not going in with a self-hate mentality is also important.

Speaking from experience, I was obese, and know people who were or are.

If you go into diets, if you go into Gyms and exercises, controlling what you eat, whatever, with a "I hate myself/my body" or with a hatred of fatness, the possibility of you dropping out of all of the aforementioned things, is arguably high.

I don't think I need to say why, but just for clarity sake, visibly loosing weight takes a while.
If you hate yourself for hoe you look, you will be hating yourself for a while. And that won't be fruitful to your progress.

And there's also the issue with eating to cope with your sadness, anger, whatever. You will sooner or later be back to eating a lot, because your mentality is very negative towards yourself.

I'm not saying you should force love yourself, by the way. Despite what many claim, self-love for those that don't have it, takes time and help (medical mental health help, or otherwise) to build.

There's a middle ground to love and hate, and it's dissatisfaction. You are unsatisfied with how you look, and you want to change that.

Don't go into this despising yourself or your body.
Some can still do it, but it won't help.
 
Yep. A lot of people don't have self control enough to do it. Or they don't accurately keep track of their calories eaten vs. their calorie burn. Losing weight is easy with some willpower and taking a little time to track what you eat. Exercise can help and has health benefits also so it is good to add some of that in too.
 
Happy Season 5 GIF by The Office

You sir have discovered the single biggest life hack for losing weight, it's called calorie deficit, doesn't need no fancy gym membership or high falutin weight loss programme, all ya gotta do is eat less shite, simples...
 
Eating slow carbs helps me from snacking needlessly during the day. In combination with high protein and plenty of vegetables. I've realized how important fibers are for my guts.

It's quite spectacular how these good eating habits accumulate in combination with exercise. You sleep better and feel better eventually and don't crave to go back to eating fastfood and candy.

And yes, calorie intake is very important in maintaining one's weight. Though new medication might change your metabolism somewhat so it's very personal and you should be patient with finding the right amount.
 
Last edited:
Yes, but you also have to be healthy, especially with some insulin resistance, you won't make it far with just dieting.

But in general yes, that's why also Ozempic and other similar drug works, because you eat significantly less.
 
Whatever works for you, I lost 15kg just by exercising with no change in the diet, plus added a lot of muscle among the other benefits
 
I'm working out a lot but eating unhealthy so weight loss is very slow.
I'm trying to eat less and drink more alcohol starting today.
 
M1chl said:
Yes, but you also have to be healthy, especially with some insulin resistance, you won't make it far with just dieting.

But in general yes, that's why also Ozempic and other similar drug works, because you eat significantly less.
Click to expand...
I remember taking a weight loss medicine. It made me eat less food and tone down my hunger for food, which allowed me to lose weight during gym exercise.

Once I stopped taking it, I saw myself eating alot of food, which made me gain weight again, despite doing heavy labor and gym.

Sometimes, hunger suppression is the most efficient method for losing weight.
 
Yup, having lost significant weight in the past, from experience what you eat has far more impact than exercise. Especially if you drink a lot as I do, just cutting out alcohol I lost 30 pounds in 3 months, not exercising at all.
 
A calorie restricted diet is a great short term solution but I can only do in short 2-3 week bursts. Anything more than that is torture. I prefer eating at maintenance or slightly above and getting 10-12 hours of cardio and weights a week. Better results without feeling like trash.
 
Last edited:
Trilobit said:
Eating slow carbs helps me from snacking needlessly during the day. In combination with high protein and plenty of vegetables. I've realized how important fibers are for my guts.

It's quite spectacular how these good eating habits accumulate in combination with exercise. You sleep better and feel better eventually and don't crave to go back to eating fastfood and candy.

And yes, calorie intake is very important in maintaining one's weight. Though new medication might change your metabolism somewhat so it's very personal and you should be patient with finding the right amount.
Click to expand...
This post gets it. I was a borderline Type 2 Diabetic and the idea of less calories doesn't work when your body is working against you. I moved on to the slow carbs and reduced carbs and have lost almost 20 lbs in the past two weeks.
I am eating less calories, but the reduced carbs keeps me stay satiated longer through the day.
 
Last edited:
I put on a lot of weight during covid bullshit.

Saw a photo of myself, god damn I was horrified at my love handles at 88kg (regular weight would usually be 80kg).

Calorie counting for deficit (first week or two is most difficult, then body got used to it) and walking whenever possible did it for me. I'd always overestimate calories and If I could walk somewhere within a reasonable time, I'd put in music/podcast and walk.

I went from 88kg to 75kg in like 6 months (Feb-August 2022).
 
Can vouch for that. The best way ive heard it described is having a $100 credit card, you wont be in debt if youre not going over that limit daily
INC said:
Your mouth is bigger than your arsehole

Less comes out, of what you put in

Simple science really
Click to expand...
Well yeah, I mean if youre shitting the same amount as you eat then you should probably see a doctor 'cause thats not right.
 
Ass of Can Whooping said:
I eat whatever the fuck I want for the most part. 1 hour walking on a treadmil at a high incline gives me an extra 1000 calories to work with. It's great.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't even feel that inclined to be that strict with it. Don't need to hit 0 junk food, or 0 soda a week.

Just maintaining what I wrote above most of the week seems like an easy way to drop weight without getting into issues of diet fatigue/boredom.

I'm just surprised it wasn't as difficult as I was expecting.

I will get back into exercise this week too.
 
This is absolutely true.

But you really want to exercise as well. Specifically, resistance training. Losing weight is great, but if you are throwing off good muscle along with some of that fat in large quantities, you are just trading one problem for another.
 
Keto is what worked for me. But then keeping it off is a bitch and I would not recommend staying on Keto forever. Simply lowering calories wasn't working for me with a high carb diet. I felt hungry all the time. Your body wants to burn carbs and when you run out it wants more carbs. With keto, you are running on fat and should not feel hungry all the time.
 
Calories is part of the story.
The other part is the sugar spikes and what insulin is doing in the body.
For example, it can also affect your resting metabolism. Highly recommend checking out work by Robert Lustig on the topic.
 
JayK47 said:
Keto is what worked for me. But then keeping it off is a bitch and I would not recommend staying on Keto forever. Simply lowering calories wasn't working for me with a high carb diet. I felt hungry all the time. Your body wants to burn carbs and when you run out it wants more carbs. With keto, you are running on fat and should not feel hungry all the time.
Click to expand...
This is the problem with all elimination/restrictive diets. I ask people "can you see yourself eating like this forever?" If the answer is no then I suggest changes because otherwise it's just a road to weight gain rebound and for some eventually a defect over to the haes movement because they feel like long term weight loss can't be done.

Losing 80kg was the best thing I ever did for myself and calorie counting was the basis for that, as it is now for my bodybuilding lifestyle.
 
Calorie restriction is not the full story, You need to restrict your eating window. Ideally you will eat supper when you get home then not eat again until breakfast.

If you keep insulin high by snacking up until bed you will be worse off. Even if you are still technically in a caloric deficit.
 
No, you don't. I eat my last small meal about 30 minutes before going to bed and the first thing I do after fasted cardio in the morning is eat again.

Calorie restriction is the process behind it all. Restricting a feeding window is just helpful for managing a deficit for some people, I use it too when in a steep deficit (it's easier to drop a meal then to keep shrinking them all at a point)
 
feynoob said:
Your weight loss depends on your metabolism. Good metabolism allows you to lose weight faster.
Click to expand...
I agree, but to an extent. To me, there's only so much natural bio that can adjust calories and fat and energy. If someone can truly defy physics and eat little but still be fat, they should donate their body for scientific tests and be an instant billionaire as companies will find the holy grail solution of excess energy and fat surplus from tiny inputs.

I think everyone knows at least one person like this who used to work at my company. Always fat, claims she's got slow metabolism so she cant lose weight despite eating soup and salad for lunch. Leaves the company and her team clears out her office. Desk full of junk food wrappers from the cafeteria vending machines. Full of shit the whole time. I even saw her one time buying not one, not two, but three things from a machine. Who the hell buys 3 chips or chocolate bars at once from a vending machine?
 
StreetsofBeige said:
I agree, but to an extent. To me, there's only so much natural bio that can adjust calories and fat and energy. If someone can truly defy physics and eat little but still be fat, they should donate their body for scientific tests and be an instant billionaire as companies will find the holy grail solution of excess energy and fat surplus from tiny inputs.

I think everyone knows at least one person like this who used to work at my company. Always fat, claims she's got slow metabolism so she cant lose weight despite eating soup and salad for lunch. Leaves the company and her team clears out her office. Desk full of junk food wrappers from the cafeteria vending machines. Full of shit the whole time. I even saw her one time buying not one, not two, but three things from a machine. Who the hell buys 3 chips or chocolate bars at once from a vending machine?
Click to expand...
Fat people are rarely energy machines. If you pumped someone full of insulin all day everyday their metabolism will slow down and they will gain weight. Snacking all day or always having a Pepsi in your hand is basically doing just that, keeping insulin high.

Can't burn fat while insulin is high. Can't gain fat while insulin is off.
 
Personally I've started snacking on carrots, cucumber and tomatoes when I start to feel peckish or want to eat something unhealthy.

I've heard that by simply adding vegetables to your diet you can lose weight. I haven't looked into it though.
 
While it is generally more about dieting than exercise, you can flip it the other way and eat more flexibly, if you can get in enough exercise.

I have a bi-weekly schedule, but essentially my routine is 6 days of exercise per week. Two of those days are swimming, two are running and two days are land exercises (situps, pushups, weights).

I used to try and maximize the effectiveness of my exercises by really pushing myself with each session but I'm finding more success in quantity over quality. That is, it's easier to lose weight by simply exercising more often, even if the exercise sessions aren't as strenuous.

As far as cardio goes, running is still the best bang for your buck.
 
Last edited:
Ass of Can running up a mountain for cardio geez! I think cutting out processed sugars is also important when it comes to our motivation to work the calories off.
 
No shit?

You have other factors but calories is what matters the most.

But tbh, i never diet if i can't also train with weights (stopped doing a lot of cardio many years ago), results just speeds up or you just see a better body recomp instead of just losing fat.
 
Last edited:
Ass of Can Whooping said:
I eat whatever the fuck I want for the most part. 1 hour walking on a treadmil at a high incline gives me an extra 1000 calories to work with. It's great.
Click to expand...
1000 calories are not hard to eat at all and you can erase all that effort in 10 min, you must not be that hungry in general because 1000 calories for me would not be enough of a safe net, like at all, you must not like trash, high caloric food that much.

Your "eat whatever the fuck i want" is basically way lower than other people "eating whatever the fuck they want".

Also like someone else said, i doubt you burn 1000 calories in a 1 hour incline walk and i doubt you can run for an hour with that level of incline so it must be fast walk at the very very best.

I don't think i can burn 1000 calories in an hour of kickboxe at the heavy bag that is a much more tiring and active type of cardio tbh.

I'm glad it work for you tho :messenger_blowing_kiss:
 
Last edited:
GymWolf said:
Also like someone else said, i doubt you burn 1000 calories in a 1 hour incline walk and i doubt you can run for an hour with that level of incline so it must be fast walk at the very very best.

I don't think i can burn 1000 calories in an hour of kickboxe at the heavy bag that is a much more tiring and active type of cardio tbh.
Click to expand...
I've been practicing long distance running lately. I've used Google Fit as my distance and time tracker. According to Fit it takes me about 1h 20min of jogging in nature (various environment) to lose 1000 calories.
 
John Bilbo said:
I've been practicing long distance running lately. I've used Google Fit as my distance and time tracker. According to Fit it takes me about 1h 20min of jogging in nature (various environment) to lose 1000 calories.
Click to expand...
I don't really trust calorie counters (i saw test where most of them are way off when it comes to pass counting and heartbeat reading) but Jogging in nature must be harder because of the different ground conditions and how yu have to balance your body, weight shift etc, also 20 more min of activity so it could be possible.

I think i can burn 600-800 calories in an hour of kickboxe at the heavy bag at a very frantic pace but i really do it mostly because it's fun, i prefer to lift weights when i'm healty.
 
Last edited:
Bruhs

It's a 20% incline. Its not difficult for me anymore but pick some random guy on the street to do it and they're probably dead within 15 minutes

Yes that's burning 1000 hour (obviously not factoring weight differences, but for mine it does)
 
Last edited:
GymWolf said:
I don't really trust calorie counters (i saw test where most of them are way off when it comes to pass counting and heartbeat reading) but Jogging in nature must be harder because of the different ground conditions and how yu have to balance your body, weight shift etc, also 20 more min of activity so it could be possible.

I think i can burn 600-800 calories in an hour of kickboxe at the heavy bag at a very frantic pace but i really do it mostly because it's fun, i prefer to lift weights when i'm healty.
Click to expand...
Yeah I don't think the Google Fit calorie tracker can be accurate with the information I give it. I take it more as a loose approximation.
 
John Bilbo said:
Yeah I don't think the Google Fit calorie tracker can be accurate with the information I give it. I take it more as a loose approximation.
Click to expand...
Yeah i think all those fit bits stuff is just to gave you an aproximation.

There is a channel that scientifically try all the best models to see how accurate they are and most of the times they are way wrong.
 
Last edited:
Completely eliminating soft drinks, sugar-filled snacks and alcohol from your life (except for the occasional social event) is a must and should the first step. You basically have to forget that soda exists. I can barely touch the stuff even at parties and family gatherings at this point.

As for the rest, cut down the carbs. Snack on fruit and nuts. Drink water, tea or coffee, and little else. Never reach for simple carbs or sugary shit for a snack. Losing the taste and the compulsion for simple sugars is essential.

I understand that it's hard for those who are already obese. The body can switch on some very nasty mechanisms once you've gone fat to make you hungry and ring alarm bells in your brain when you start losing a little weight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

There really needs to be something done about this.
6
299
Beretta replied
All things Zombies
17
278
jason10mm replied
Nearly half my body weight gone. 💪
2
66
4K
Solarstrike replied
games done quick really changed
31
885
GymWolf replied
Rosie O'Donnell after a year of Mounjaro (weight loss drug like Ozempic)
2 3
141
2K
Chittagong replied
Top Bottom