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I decided that I need to lose about 50 pounds over the course of a year (I can't imagine it coming off quicker than 12 months). I don't want to "diet," because I think diets are unhealthy and just a quick fix.
What is the quickest way to lose weight? Cutting calories, or exercising? Would be great to hear from people who've lost the weight, and how you did it. I need some inspiration from other people's weight loss experiences to motivate me.
diet hands down. it takes 10 miles of running to burn 1000 calories. it takes 10 minutes at mcdonalds to slam dunk 3000 calories. kaiser 24 hr fast (with 1 modest meal and 3 cans of slimfast) will take it off and kaiser portion diet will keep it off. i lost 30.
Diet is what I thought. I don't like that word, so I'll just refer to it as "cutting calories."
6 years ago I was at my best weight for my petite body frame and I just let myself go, gaining of about an average (accord.to my dr) of an extra 12 pounds a year for the past 5 years, which is actually 60 pounds. I'm at 170 and want to get back down to 110, since I'm petite.
Right now, I eat about 2500 calories a day; about 1600 of that is junk food, and 900 calories of actually healthy food. Sad but true. But weight loss starts with being honest with oneself, I think.
The 1600 calories of junk food is pretty startling: one mocha is 570 calories (!) that I've bought from a coffee shop every day ($20 a week - in hindsight, what a waste!), which leaves 1130 calories that covers the standard junk food of popcorn, pretzels, donuts, brownies, potato chips, doritos, ice cream, waffles, zone power bars, and a few other junk food items I can't think of right now.
Ideally, I'd like to only consume 1200-1500 calories of GOOD nutrition a day, but I'm unsure how to do that. A lot of vegetables don't have more than 3 or 4 calories (if that). I like chicken and beef (baked chicken usually or in tacos or meatballs), pasta, white rice (yes, I know brown is best), and potatoes. I tend to eat salted nuts too (I know salt is bad for you) like salted pecans, walnuts, and sunflower seeds.
Decreasing calories seems like a huge challenge to me, esp. since I know that 1600 of the calories I eat is complete crap/junk food. Anyone else have any suggestions, advice, to share?
Anyone else have any suggestions, advice, to share?
Not trying to be facetious or smart alecky, but I got a feeling you know exactly what you need to do (as to 99% of people who are overweight). It's just a matter of doing it. Lack of information is not the reason people are overweight. Everybody knows what is fattening and everybody knows that the reason they are overweight is because they ate too much over time.
In fact, overweight people are so tuned in to calories, they can tell you within 5% how many calories are in that piece of pie sitting on the table.
People don't need tips.
People don't need others to motivate them.
People don't need advice or people to cheer them on.
People don't need exercise partners or personal trainers.
People don't need expensive meal plans or diet programs.
Not trying to be facetious or smart alecky, but I got a feeling you know exactly what you need to do (as to 99% of people who are overweight). It's just a matter of doing it. Lack of information is not the reason people are overweight. Everybody knows what is fattening and everybody knows that the reason they are overweight is because they ate too much over time.
In fact, overweight people are so tuned in to calories, they can tell you within 5% how many calories are in that piece of pie sitting on the table.
People don't need tips.
People don't need others to motivate them.
People don't need advice or people to cheer them on.
People don't need exercise partners or personal trainers.
People don't need expensive meal plans or diet programs.
Um, yes they do and there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Communities support individuals so that those individuals can thrive.
So yeah, I completely disagree with you about what people need when they are trying to lose weight. Be careful that you don't speak for 'everyone,' either, as you are just one person. I get that you don't think it's necessary. But you also make a huge (and somewhat offensive) assumption that overweight people can predict how many calories are in a piece of food. So what..thin people can't do that either? Why would you say such a thing?
I certainly do need motivation and cheerleaders to help me on my path to lose weight. I don't think it's wrong to seek that help from others, esp. those who've had success losing weight. Besides, having people with you from the start to the finish (whether it's comments from an online message board to people joining me on walks or whatever) really boosts morale and has a positive effect.
You certainly aren't required to be one of those helpful people, since you don't believe it's necessary to seek help from others. Since you don't believe people need help, why did you even respond to my post? So that you could be facetious and criticize me for asking others to share their weight-loss stories? Seems like a waste of your time to me. We can agree to disagree.
Last edited by Midwest Maven; 06-29-2013 at 09:45 PM..
Um, yes they do and there is nothing wrong with asking for help. Communities support individuals so that those individuals can thrive.
So yeah, I completely disagree with what you about what people need when they are trying to lose weight. Be careful that you don't speak for 'everyone,' either, as you are just one person.
I certainly do need motivation and cheerleaders to help me on my path to lose weight. I don't think it's wrong to seek that help from others, esp. those who've had success losing weight. Besides, having people with you from the start to the finish (whether it's comments from an online message board to people joining me on walks or whatever) really boosts morale and has a positive effect.
You certainly aren't required to be one of those helpful people, since you don't believe it's necessary to seek help from others. Since you don't believe people need help, why did you even respond to my post? So that you could be facetious and criticize me for asking others to share their weight-loss stories? Seems like a waste of your time to me. We can agree to disagree.
Completely agree with you, Midwest Maven. Support is soooo important for most of us.....that's why we seek out these forums....and that's why we need friends to help motivate us and cheer us on in so many areas. Doesn't Weight Watchers, for example, build its success based on supporting one another, and cheering one another on?
As for the OP's original question: For me it has always been dieting/healthful eating that produced the most weight loss. Exercising is a wonderful thing, but does not help as much with weight loss as you might think.....unless you kill yourself exercising constantly. In my experience, weight training can help with decreased muscle loss when you're losing the pounds from dieting (as you want the pounds you lose to come from fat deposits rather than muscle). Bottom line, however, for losing weight is your diet.
If it were me, I'd make sure to get plenty of protein, plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, and go easy on the carbs.....especially bread and pasta. But, of course, that's an individual choice. Different people respond different to various dieting strategies.
Sorry, Midwest Maven, just realized that you in fact are the original poster.....in any event, I think you deserve all the support you can get here or anywhere else. Keep us updated as to your weight loss success.
As it's been said a million times, you cannot out train a bad diet. A solid diet in addition to a solid workout plan is best. But in the end, diet is the most important factor in achieving weight loss.
I started a thread on this topic several months ago.
I had been going to the gym religiously for over a year 3 - 5 times week and did not lose any weight.
Honestly, at the very most it is 80% diet and only 20% exercise ... possibly 90% diet!
Exercise helps a little (only a little) but it's mostly diet, alas!
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