Enough Now, What to Do to Lose Weight

I am tired of being FAT all my life!

With all these pizza/Krispy creme/7-eleven deals etc, I am becoming fatter day by day.

I can't give up food, I can't starve which is my weakness.

I just need a 1 line tip from Ozbargainers to reduce weight.

Thanks

UPDATE 1: Thanks so much Ozbargain - I am overwhelmed by the response.

You are such an awesome community. Helping a stranger out. I got several PM's as well. The world is an awesome place.

Today is my Day 3 without sugar and Day 2 of Food logging. Been a tiring day and I am sure worth it.

Comments

        • 1, highly unlikely, especially given OPs admission of too many junk food deals here
          2. also unlikely/inadvisable

    • Best advice

  • Change the way you see things

    In other news I have the opposite problem. The more I eat the more I seem to lose weight. I'm down to 94kg and it feels like I'm wasting away here!

    • what was ur weight before mate?

      • 75kg, but then I stopped eating proper food and rose to just under 100

        The problem is the better you eat, the more energy you have and the more you want to exercise, which leads to lower weight and being more hungry. It's a viscous cycle

        • Hmm

        • +1

          I knew a guy who tried to gain weight by eating only mcdonalds, he got sick after a week and ended up losing weight :P

        • +1

          @ozzyoi:
          Maybe I go with my original answer: Go crazy
          How many crazy people do you see overweight? Turns out nothing burns calories like mental distress!!

        • @outlander:
          Yeah but then the anti depressants and mood stabilizers make you gain weight so you're still stuffed.

        • I don't have that problem. I definitely find that the more I cook at home (i.e. proper healthy foods), the more weight I gain.

        • @mooboy:
          We might have different ideas on proper healthy food. For me that's lightly cooked meat (still bloody on the inside) and blended vegetable shakes

        • lightly cooked meat (still bloody on the inside)
          Does that include chicken?

          For me, I mean relatively healthy to eating outside/takeaway (i.e. tend to use less salt, more vegetable to meat ratio)… that will make me gain weight. But, I'm normally pretty thin anyway - and find it hard to gain weight.

        • +1

          @modtang:

          Mood stabilizers? No .. if you're feeling manic, just go on a rant on ozbargain. That's what the forums are here for!

  • +6

    Bikies.

    • how?

      • +4

        Tick them off, then you will have a reason to run.

        • haha

  • +4

    One line tip, it's just a math equation:

    Calories in < calories out

    • +1

      The problem with this statement is that "calories out" is very hard to define and highly variable between individuals, and different dieting states. Even varies within the month for women.

      • 100% agreed. Was just trying to stick to the one-line tip OP requested.

        Weight loss is a big and specialised area in healthcare, lots of useful advice and proven methods of getting there, but it boils down to that equation.

        • Of course, very true. Interestingly enough (and I learned this at uni), your body is so good at defending its 'weight set-point', that it can increase or decrease the efficiency of individual cell metabolic processes, such that the energy expenditure of the cell can change as needed to keep your weight stable.

          What that means is, if you're losing weight, your body will drastically increase its efficency to minimise energy expenditure in order to maintain your weight, at least until your body reaches and accepts a new weight set-point.

        • 100% agreed. Was just trying to stick to the one-line tip OP requested.

          Guess that Blackfyre'd then.

        • @Providence: Yeah unfortunately that one-line equation does need a lot of elaborating

        • If OP is eating from "these pizza/Krispy creme/7-eleven deals", it is probably safe to assume high calorie intake from poor decision making.

          Limiting a daily intake amount and allocating it to come from good food choices, that is a start before looking at increasing expenditure (there is no information of his current activity levels).

    • Not all calories are created equal.

      Needing to eat more empty-calories before feeling full can be the problem.

      Whereas eating more nutritionally dense calories makes you feel fuller sooner (naturally).

  • +1

    Buy best running shoes you can find. Start running 5 km everyday. And stop eating junk.

    • not good advice for someone who can't walk 15 minutes without getting out of breath and will probably injure him/herself by running.

  • +1

    Choose healthier options. Eg. Pick grocery items with higher star ratings in supermarket aisles, eat more fish and fruit.

  • +8

    I see a lot of answers which are basically eat less, exercise more, and while that is technically the answer I think OP is looking for a different answer?

    Truth is eat less and exercise more really means little to someone over weight. Its sort of like saying
    Just stop thinking about being depressed to get over it
    Or just don't smoke again and you'll have quite smoking
    Or just stop gambling and you won't be addicted to it anymore.

    I'd imagine you already understand what eating less and exercising more means, its not like you're sitting there saying :O WHAT?? FOOOD and not enough EXERCISE IS THE CULPRIT?? OMG OMG.

    I think the real answer is you need to figure out you, what it is thats making you eat more then you should and not exercise enough, and what plans or ideals can you put in place to make that happen and keep it that way. Will trying healthier foods work, will drinking water when your bored (as opposed to finding something to eat) help, will having friends to support you help. I feel this plan isn't the same for everybody but if you keep trying and keep at it, you'll do great.

    Good luck mate!

    • Thanks

    • -1

      I think the real answer is you need to figure out you, what it is thats making you eat more then you should and not exercise enough, and what plans or ideals can you put in place to make that happen and keep it that way.

      I don't think its that hard.

      Anyone can pick up a scale, and start logging their calorie intake and adapting their diet to what ever intake goals they require. All it takes is a small bit of will power.

      • +2

        I've done it, and can confirm it is that hard. I won't bore you with the details, but it's definitely more than a small bit of willpower.

        But it does work, and it is worth it. Good luck OP.

        • I won't bore you with the details, but it's definitely more than a small bit of willpower.

          Maybe a large bit of willpower? lol

        • For me it required a few tries. The problem came when I did what they wanted but stopped losing weight. I fell into the trap of comparing myself with others I.e: they sat like pigs, don't excercise but are skinny as a stick whilst over here I'm constanly hungry for eating well below the required amount but still gain weight at the sight of a burger.

          It put me off because I didn't see results like I would have wished I had. It also proved to be a excuse in regards to " well look at that, I'm 300 calories from my 1500, let me stuff myself with chocolate"

          Does it work? Yes. I believe it's good for people who lack self control and do not have a grasp of nutrition and portion sizes and are willing to stick to everything it says. You do what works for you

        • +2

          There's definitely a lot of will power involved. We live in a modern society where food is abundant, and unhealthy choices are shoved in our faces in the form of advertising, coupons and supermarket catalogues.

          Take a marker pen and look at a catalogue, and do a count of how many junk items appear in the weekly specials.

          Unhealthy food also happens to be super cheap and addictive, and it takes some degree of self control to avoid them and also cook your self (cooking for yourself also happens to be a good way to make sure you're eating healthy)

        • @scrimshaw: This every time I skim through the catalogues I grow ever more frustrated. Its 5 + pages dedicated to junk, starting from the cover!

        • Totally agree with this, that's the problem. Healthy foods are rarely on special.

          Yes you need a LOT of will power to become healthy.

  • +8

    Drink only water.

    Lost 6 kg (~10% of my body weight) giving up my daily 600ml bottle of coke

    • +5

      Oh good. I stopped fiz drinks since a month now, its just empty calories.

      Saw crazy youtube videos about them and decided one day- Enough is enough!

      • +4

        A very good start. But remember: fruit juice is almost as bad. Don't drink it.

  • It's all in the diet. Exercise doesn't mean anything for fat loss.

    Give up fructose. Completely. Now. No more cakes, lollies, chocolate, ice cream, etc. Even fruit. If it's sweet, spit it out. If you're addicted to sugar (likely, since you're fat), your life is going to suck for a couple of weeks. It's like giving up cigarettes. Be prepared.

    After that, give up bread, rice, pasta, all grains, etc. Anything with a ton of carbs.

    Make sure you're getting a lot of fat in your diet (your body needs to learn how to process fat for fuel).

    If you're still not losing weight, give up milk too.

    Do the above, and your body will take care of the rest. Don't worry about how much you eat. With the restrictions above, your appetite will self-regulate.

    Best of luck.

    • Yeah, u are right. But the problem is it will affect my work as its day 2 since I stopped chocolats/cakes etc and I feel like shit :/

      • +2

        You will feel more like shit if you continue. It should go away in a few weeks. I've done something similar where I haven't touched fried foods in about a year. Was pretty painful knowing I wouldn't be able to have fries at first, but now I don't really feel anything for them. It takes time and patience. Good luck :)

        • Cheers, will do

    • +7

      Fruit is not the enemy…. I really don't understand that mindset.

      • +1

        It is if you've got a pre-existing sugar addiction (as the OP has). Giving fruit to a recovering sugar addict is like giving chocolate rum balls to a recovering alcoholic. It's a very bad idea.

      • +3

        Fresh fruit is not the enemy.

        But some processed fruit is. Raisins and dried apricots for e.g are very dense in sugars per serve, and you could easily knock a bag full of them easily when you are hungry.

        100g raisins - 59g of sugar
        100g grapes - 16g of sugar

        So I would recommend not eating the dried stuff. It's basically like eating lollies…

        • +1

          Without going into whether it's healthy or not, for LCHF (low carb, high fat) diet, that is still a significant amount. Some people target under 20g and that'd take up most of their carb content for the day. There are fruits that are low in sugar as well though (raspberry (4.4g/100g) and blackberry (4.9g/100g) comes to mind).

          As with whether LCHF is good or bad is… I am inclined to believe it's as effective as how damaging it is. It messes with glucose-fatty acid cycle and can cause ketoacidosis even in non-diabetic population (there are a few reported cases on Google scholar). I do think some of the effects can be replicated by calorie control, as you usually end up going into calorie deficit with LCHF. I am not sure whether it's good in the long run. I personally wouldn't do it for long at the very least.

        • @Oversimplified: Oversimplified is correct

          Fruit is basically Glucose (sugar), water and some macro nutrients

          While fruit is low in Calories, it's high in carbs

          Avoid them and switch to lots of leafy greens for the macros you need

    • +4

      Sounds like terrible advice.

      The efficacy of the keto diet has yet to be established. I don't believe that it is the healthiest way to live, a balanced and VARIED diet is far, far more natural than keto.

    • +1

      Sugar, carbs, fats? These are not the enemy.
      Its all about moderation and understanding how nutrition works.
      One line tip?

      Learn more.

    • +2

      Don't forget to also give up red meat, leafy greens, potatoes, poultry, fish, non-leafy greens, salt, pepper, cheese, dairy substitutes, tofu, nuts, and anything carbons based or that a human being is able to process as food.

      …seriously, these diets are ridiculous. Next someone will be advocating juice cleanses.

    • "Mother! What is this prepostricity? I wanted a quinoa, low GI vegan cake from the Mountains of Tibet. You can so much as do that for your son on their birthday. You disgust me"

    • +1

      putting lollies/chocolates and fruit in the same category is just plain wrong. lollies and chocolate have refined sugar that will get digested easily and spike your blood sugar levels. fruit is packed with fibre, the sugar is processed much more slowly and the fibre will make you feel full so you less likely to keep eating more.

  • +2

    Eat more fibre.

    In this case, more is less!

  • +1

    Somebody mentioned seeing a doctor, I might second that. Not just because of losing weight bit, but because you might not be compatiable with what people are recommending. Better safe than sorry.

    • True, am little paranoid about going to a doc at this stage.

      • I know that feeling a little. I was obese all my life, went to military and lost all weight (conscription, lost like 20~30kg in 2 years) few years ago. Then they slowly came back, due to bad diet and lack of exercise. Now I am trying to lose them all again.

        Anyways, you are taking a step forward, which many people have hard time doing. That's the important bit. If you have issues with your health, at least you can do something about it after seeing the doctor. If you don't, then you can focus on losing weight.

        • Cheers mate

        • +1

          @ozzyoi: Eh good luck. Ironically, where I used to work at was known for being awful for health, since I had to work inside a bunker, doing shifts. To compensate for the night shifts, they used to supply us with boxes of instant noodle. So people used to just skip breakfast and have instant noodles instead. Hell, I believe I have learnt the taste of almost all instant noodles that are available in Korea from that. I've seen few people getting fatter there.

          Changing life style can be awful. You just have to take little steps every day. Cut down on food a little, be more active a little until it makes a difference. It's a long race, you can cheat a little by eating something you like sometimes, as long as you don't stray from the track too much. I didn't start running until I lost my weight to an extent where I felt comfortable running. Even then, I had to work on my legs, because my legs were hurting.

          I am currently on keto diet and I've changed my diet so that I am on calorie deficit (Fat makes you feel full so it's not hard). I am going to move onto more balanced diet later, and start doing legs and running again. Though that's my plan.

          Good luck with yours :)

  • +1

    Replace rice and other carbs with frozen vegetables. Did wonders.

  • +3

    The Ozbargain way: look for someone to sell your fat to.

  • +3

    get your heart broken

    • lol :) good one though

    • +2

      …why? I thought most people went straight to the icecream after a breakup

  • +2

    Literally weight loss for fat people is 80% diet 20% exercise.

    Find your daily calorie expenditure and eat 500 less, honestly that simple.

    • +1

      that's the most difficult part. But I need to. Just started wearing Fitbit and logging food.

      Hope to see myself few kilos lesser soon.

      • +6

        I was 165kg.. Bought a Fitbit and started logging everything in MyFitnessPal. Now I'm down 35kg, and walk around 15,000 steps a day. I go hiking with fit people and keep up, despite the fact that I still have 30 - 40kg left to lose.

        The worst thing you can do is to change nothing. Because a month from now you'll be a couple of kg further away from your goal, and it's much easier to put the weight on than lose it.

        Change a couple of habits at a time. Don't go all in on health food, just cut down the amounts you're having to a reasonable number. For me my goal is between 1200 - 1600 calories. Once you do this, you'll find that those old processed foods you were eating have a lot of calories and you go through your daily limit quickly… so you'll look for low calorie foods to replace things you like. This will inevitably lead you towards healthier foods.

        A big one is the soft drink. Personally I stopped drinking them by using a sodastream for sparkling water instead.

      • I highly recommned using the fitbit app for calorie tracking - it's great.

        I used it for a month, it gave me enormous insight to my diet, in particular it's and education about where the calories are hiding. The trick is to be super strict about entering every crumb you eat/drink. I left the digital scales on the bench, and weighed everything for extra accuracy. The commitment to weight everything actually discourages you from eating, it forces you to question 'do I really need to eat this' because of the extra effort required to log it.

        I was so surprised that it showed 10% of my calories come from cups of tea (lite milk, no sugar) simply due to the amount of milk I use (65-70ml) and the number of cups (about 10/day)

        • Thanks Praeto and effgee, will start logging in today. I feel lazy, but know the importance to do it.

  • -7

    What a joke of a thread.

    • +3

      why do u say so? some of the comments though say the same thing, is helping me and motivating me to lose weight. If you are not ready to share your tips, that's completely fine. Thanks

      • +2

        While you wonder why you're being negged (none of those negs are from me), it's hard to take these "common-sense" threads seriously considering how you literally have a wealth of knowledge available across the internet/print media.

        Everyone has an individual lifestyle, and individual reasons for what they do. With-out being proactive, the advice you receive here will only scratch the surface of what you really need. Exercise helped me through a lot of shit and i'd probably be dead if not for the endorphins - I don't do it solely for my physical health but for my mental wellbeing as well.

        All I can suggest is adjusting your mindset; there's no point changing your lifestyle if you aren't going to enjoy it.

        • +1

          Thanks, I agree with you 100%. It's just that I am tired of reading weight loss journals/success stories on the internet.

          Seen lots of Biggest loser episodes, but that is not helping me

          I wanted a personal touch to listen to my weight issues and someone to advise.

        • @ozzyoi: No worries, I do apologise for coming off as cold; being serious and fully committed is what separates those who change for a month from those who change for life, it's easy once you get into the rhythm. One day you'll look in the mirror realise all the hardwork was worth it.

        • +2

          @Baebs: No worries. Please do not apologise, everyone has a right to their opinion. All good.

          **I did not neg you by the way.

          I can tell you am so motivated now, this is better than reading 100's of weight loss articles.

        • @ozzyoi: worst thing you can do is base your process of something akin to a shill like the biggest loser - A reality TV game

          They've done questionable things over the years. One thing you might be surprised to know that their "week" isn't actually a week but 2+ weeks

        • @Hahuh: oh I never knew that.

  • +1

    Google and read Gary Taubes book "why We Get Fat, and What to do about it".

    TLDR
    Sugars and processed Carbs Bad.
    Fats and Protein Good.
    All Calories are NOT Equal!

    • Seconded

    • A calorie is a unit of measurement.

  • -2

    Don't worry about excercising. It's not worth it in the beginning. Running 30 mins (something that'll take you months to get up to) burns like 300 calories…less than a single meal. Not only that but excercising is going to make you hungrier so you're going to consume more food.

    To put it into perspective, all else being equal, a guy weighing 90kg running for an hour 4 days a week for a month would lose around 2kg max. That's nothing.

    Just count your calories and set a goal. Swapping soft drink for diet versions will lose you weight alone (assuming you drink soft drink).

    Vox has a good video on the topic

    https://youtu.be/eXTiiz99p9o

    • Exercise is way about may more than just weight loss.

      • But this thread is not.

        • On the other hand, "diets" rarely work by themselves, and implementing a exercise routine will likely greatly increase the probability of any weight loss sticking over the long term

        • +1

          @Pacify:

          Exercise is a great thing to do but it should not be viewed as a method of weight loss. It's simply nowhere near as effective as altering your diet and may in fact make things more difficult because it makes you hungrier.

  • find your activators, why do you eat?

  • Go join a gym and get a weight program. That's how I started out. My gym gave me one free personal trainer session a month. I'd touch base once a month to adjust the program. I saw more results doing weights than what I ever did doing cardio. You can run everyday and still not drop the kilos. 12 months ago I couldn't even do a squat. You have to start some where!

  • Balance diet =) i think the most sustainable way to lose weight is to eat a healthy 80-90% of the time and be a bit cheeky the rest of the time. Heck you have to some what keep sane and not be soo restrictive that you will end up on a binge.

    And heck i agree with excercising, go on walks and when your up for it jogs. Its amazing the effects of excercise, its make you feel stronger, happier and better! Good luck mate

  • -1

    it's been mentioned above but I can't recommend enough a low-carb diet such as Atkins or keto. You can lose weight while eating fats, proteins and vegetables. it worked for me.

  • Eat less. (Shortest possible)

  • +1

    Cut out anything that contains sugar.

    • Difficult, but I will try tomorrow for a day 4sure.

    • fruit contains sugar..

      • +1

        Yes I know but am referring to stuff with added sugar, eg soft drink, most processed food, confectionary and a lot of stuff that is marketed as low fat (but contains sugar). Get used to reading the label.
        And yes fruit does contain sugar, so I would not overdo the fruit and rather choose a vegetable option if possible. There are lots of vege things you can snack on.
        And avoid fruit juice as it is highly concentrated fruit with heaps of sugar.

  • +2

    Drink a bottle of whisky everyday without adding any sugary soft drink.

  • +2

    The 5:2 diet is great…you only need to calorie count for two days a week and even of those days you are only one day away from eating normally again :) Also, it doesn't rely on exercise to get the weight loss started.

  • +1

    Serve up EVERYTHING you want to eat for a single meal!

    …Then divide that into thirds and make that last the entire day as your entire food source.

    Perform light exercise for 30 minutes every day. No "off days" are allowed, no "I feel sad, lets eat an entire packet of Tim Tams days". EVERY FLIPPING DAY. Repeat, EVERY FLIPPING DAY. Stick to it. Don't deviate. Ever. DO IT.

    Progressively change your diet to include more and more natural and healthy foods that exclude preservatives and excessive amounts of sugar or bread. Do this and losing weight will become a little to no effort exercise. It's a mind matter, not a physical one. Don't be subservient to your impulses. You've made the first step OP, the rest of the journey is up to you. Fire up. Be sexy. Be genetically superior :)

    • Cheers

Login or Join to leave a comment