Hello everyone, obviously there are a lot of these guides online but in a sea of information and tips I found that a lot of people oversimplified weight loss to a point where it wasn't helpful. Obviously exercise and diet are the key to losing weight, but I found that a lot of the time this tip is very vague and doesn't consider all the aspects of both your physical and mental health. Earlier in my life I went hardcore with CICO and even if I did lose weight, it didn't really solve many problems, in fact it created many of them too. This isn't a guide that might help everyone, but after 2 years of struggling where I couldn't truly figure out why I wasn't shedding kilos I found a way where I felt I got into a relaxed system of losing weight. For note, I went from 72 kg to 62 in 6 months. I was always at a healthy BMI so this might not be the best advice for more ambitious weight loss journeys, but if you find this helps you then I'm glad!
- Health and medication
For most of my life I was fairly thin, then suddenly I started gaining weight super fast. I learned that I had PCOS and got on birth control which FUCKED ME UP - it made me gain weight like crazy. The moment I dropped birth control I slimmed out super fast. This could be just my experience but I feel like a lot of doctors try to make out a million excuses about how this is all unproven and how there are different reasons to it but really reconsider what effects hormonal birth control could be having on you. It fucked up my health in a million ways that I won't go into now.
In addition to that, check your insulin resistance. Due to my shitty genes, I was insulin resistant even when I was borderline anorexic, no one even assumed I could be having this issue because I was so thin but it drove me crazy how it seemed that I gained weight for eating just as much as a normal, healthy person. Once I started taking metformin things got much much better. There are studies which claim that women with PCOS have a lower basal metabolic rate so you do genuinely need less calories than the average person if your underlying health issues aren't addressed.
Another thing to keep in mind are anti-depressants. It was basically impossible to lose weight (minus starvation) while I was taking Zolof. Everyone I know, with the exception of one person, gained weight on it, regardless of lifestyle.
Obviously, removing some medication from your lifestyle may not be the "solve all" for your weight, but I found it almost impossible to lose anything permanently until I addressed some of these issues. People, especially men and women who never experienced any of it, really don't get how much a hormonal imbalance can fuck up your health on every level.
2. It's not smart to lose weight in any way possible
When I was 19 I went and basically starved myself until I was very skinny. I got a shit ton of praise because skinny is always good, right? And it didn't matter how I lost it, it was just important that I did. Well, let me tell you that was wrong for me. I lost weight so drastically that I lost so much muscle along with the fat, at some point I started losing muscle INSTEAD of fat but all that mattered to me was that the number on the scale kept going down. This actually made it very hard to keep this weight going because it was ultimately unhealthy. Less muscle = Lower metabolic rate. If you feel like you need to keep an unhealthy lifestyle to sustain your weight, this isn't a longterm solution.
For me, I figured that I need to keep a certain level of protein in my diet always. In addition to that, doing strength exercises helped a lot because they kept my muscles in check.
3. A lot of your weight could be excess water weight
At some point I figured out I looked bloated as hell everyday except a few days after I got my period when I basically deflated. In a day I looked like I lost 3 kg and then I'd just gain it all back. I looked better at 69 kg when I wasn't bloated than at 55 kg when I was full of water weight. It fucks up the contours of your face, my cheekbones were basically gone, not to mention that I looked so much "softer" than I actually was. Again, getting off of birth control helped me a lot with losing water weight. Eating a low-carb diet and less sodium can make a BIG change. For me eating more fiber and potassium made me notice big improvements.
4. Don't drink your calories
One of the things that worked for me 100% was cutting basically all drinks except water from my diet. Unless you overcompensate notably with the amount of food you eat, you are guaranteed to lose some weight. It is MUCH easier to drink your calories than eat them because solid foods make you fuller much faster than liquids. This also helped in the sense that I didn't need to count calories like crazy, eating felt natural and so did the weight loss which was gradual. Most drinks are full with carbs and you likely have more of that than you need in the rest of your diet anyways.
5. Consider a low-carb diet
I'm not trying to push keto or any extreme variant, if you want to commit to that, feel free. For those who are more skeptical or unwilling to commit that hard to such a lifestyle, decreasing your carbs in any amount, if nothing AT LEAST replacing them with a healthier variant can already bring some results. Don't eat bread or at least don't eat white bread, go with whole wheat or multigrain. You're going to have less blood sugar spikes so you will be less likely to overeat and snack when you're not supposed to. Avoid pasta and try some veggies instead. Look into fruits which cause your blood sugar to spike less. I found that I didn't worry so much about calories and ate intuitively.
6. Stop eating when you're full
This one seemed obvious to me but I found that I didn't realize how hard it actually hits. I knew that snacking when I was full was not smart but I didn't realize how often I'd force myself to finish a plate out of politeness. 90% of the time I'd force myself to finish the plate because it felt like it would be a waste to throw the food away. Then I told myself, no, just stop, no matter how much food is left. It might sound bad to you, but I sat down and legitimately looked at all the very skinny people in my life and their habits. ALL OF THEM stopped eating the moment they were full and refused to take a bite more no matter how much food was left. Personally, I can vouch that this works.
7. Walking is underrated
People constantly talk about how going to the gym is god and that's the key to losing weight but not everyone has A) the money or B) the time. Again, I looked at the habits of the skinny people around me, 80% of them didn't go to the gym but 99% walked A TON. If it's at all possible, walk wherever you can. Take the longer route, ignore the bus and the car if you can, explore your city. The reason why walking was so effective for me was that it was actually enjoyable. I HATE working out, there is no way you can sell it for me, but walking didn't feel invasive, I could walk around with someone I liked or alone, listen to music, sight-see, it felt like a part of my everyday life and not something that I was doing specifically to lose weight. It lessened the mental burden of constantly thinking of my weight.
8. Intermittent fasting
To tell you the truth, I was doing this before I even knew what it was. People always told me that it was unhealthy and how it shouldn't work but whenever my metabolism wasn't utterly fucked it ALWAYS helped me lose weight. Be very careful that you choose a healthy variant of this so it doesn't slip into a deeply unhealthy eating pattern.
9. Make lifestyle changes that don't force you to think of your weight the whole day through
I never accomplished longterm results when I spent my entire day worrying about what I was doing to lose weight. It gave me so much anxiety that it just wasn't worth it. Weight loss should be a part of your day but it shouldn't dominate your day.
10. Have a healthy attitude towards weight loss
I was at a healthy, slim weight for most of my life but I thought I would love my looks much more if I were as skinny as some of the girls I admired. It just didn't happen. Work on improving your looks towards a desired result but don't think weight loss will solve all of your problems. You'll end up slipping into unhealthy habits and once you get there you might give up and gain the weight back because you're not getting the self esteem high you expected. Be reasonable and realistic.
This guide might not be perfect, but if it can help someone then that's good. Good luck and be patient! <3
Hello everyone, obviously there are a lot of these guides online but in a sea of information and tips I found that a lot of people oversimplified weight loss to a point where it wasn't helpful. Obviously exercise and diet are the key to losing weight, but I found that a lot of the time this tip is very vague and doesn't consider all the aspects of both your physical and mental health. Earlier in my life I went hardcore with CICO and even if I did lose weight, it didn't really solve many problems, in fact it created many of them too. This isn't a guide that might help everyone, but after 2 years of struggling where I couldn't truly figure out why I wasn't shedding kilos I found a way where I felt I got into a relaxed system of losing weight. For note, I went from 72 kg to 62 in 6 months. I was always at a healthy BMI so this might not be the best advice for more ambitious weight loss journeys, but if you find this helps you then I'm glad!Health and medicationFor most of my life I was fairly thin, then suddenly I started gaining weight super fast. I learned that I had PCOS and got on birth control which FUCKED ME UP - it made me gain weight like crazy. The moment I dropped birth control I slimmed out super fast. This could be just my experience but I feel like a lot of doctors try to make out a million excuses about how this is all unproven and how there are different reasons to it but really reconsider what effects hormonal birth control could be having on you. It fucked up my health in a million ways that I won't go into now.In addition to that, check your insulin resistance. Due to my shitty genes, I was insulin resistant even when I was borderline anorexic, no one even assumed I could be having this issue because I was so thin but it drove me crazy how it seemed that I gained weight for eating just as much as a normal, healthy person. Once I started taking metformin things got much much better. There are studies which claim that women with PCOS have a lower basal metabolic rate so you do genuinely need less calories than the average person if your underlying health issues aren't addressed.Another thing to keep in mind are anti-depressants. It was basically impossible to lose weight (minus starvation) while I was taking Zolof. Everyone I know, with the exception of one person, gained weight on it, regardless of lifestyle.Obviously, removing some medication from your lifestyle may not be the "solve all" for your weight, but I found it almost impossible to lose anything permanently until I addressed some of these issues. People, especially men and women who never experienced any of it, really don't get how much a hormonal imbalance can fuck up your health on every level.2. It's not smart to lose weight in any way possibleWhen I was 19 I went and basically starved myself until I was very skinny. I got a shit ton of praise because skinny is always good, right? And it didn't matter how I lost it, it was just important that I did. Well, let me tell you that was wrong for me. I lost weight so drastically that I lost so much muscle along with the fat, at some point I started losing muscle INSTEAD of fat but all that mattered to me was that the number on the scale kept going down. This actually made it very hard to keep this weight going because it was ultimately unhealthy. Less muscle = Lower metabolic rate. If you feel like you need to keep an unhealthy lifestyle to sustain your weight, this isn't a longterm solution.For me, I figured that I need to keep a certain level of protein in my diet always. In addition to that, doing strength exercises helped a lot because they kept my muscles in check.3. A lot of your weight could be excess water weightAt some point I figured out I looked bloated as hell everyday except a few days after I got my period when I basically deflated. In a day I looked like I lost 3 kg and then I'd just gain it all back. I looked better at 69 kg when I wasn't bloated than at 55 kg when I was full of water weight. It fucks up the contours of your face, my cheekbones were basically gone, not to mention that I looked so much "softer" than I actually was. Again, getting off of birth control helped me a lot with losing water weight. Eating a low-carb diet and less sodium can make a BIG change. For me eating more fiber and potassium made me notice big improvements.4. Don't drink your caloriesOne of the things that worked for me 100% was cutting basically all drinks except water from my diet. Unless you overcompensate notably with the amount of food you eat, you are guaranteed to lose some weight. It is MUCH easier to drink your calories than eat them because solid foods make you fuller much faster than liquids. This also helped in the sense that I didn't need to count calories like crazy, eating felt natural and so did the weight loss which was gradual. Most drinks are full with carbs and you likely have more of that than you need in the rest of your diet anyways.5. Consider a low-carb dietI'm not trying to push keto or any extreme variant, if you want to commit to that, feel free. For those who are more skeptical or unwilling to commit that hard to such a lifestyle, decreasing your carbs in any amount, if nothing AT LEAST replacing them with a healthier variant can already bring some results. Don't eat bread or at least don't eat white bread, go with whole wheat or multigrain. You're going to have less blood sugar spikes so you will be less likely to overeat and snack when you're not supposed to. Avoid pasta and try some veggies instead. Look into fruits which cause your blood sugar to spike less. I found that I didn't worry so much about calories and ate intuitively.6. Stop eating when you're fullThis one seemed obvious to me but I found that I didn't realize how hard it actually hits. I knew that snacking when I was full was not smart but I didn't realize how often I'd force myself to finish a plate out of politeness. 90% of the time I'd force myself to finish the plate because it felt like it would be a waste to throw the food away. Then I told myself, no, just stop, no matter how much food is left. It might sound bad to you, but I sat down and legitimately looked at all the very skinny people in my life and their habits. ALL OF THEM stopped eating the moment they were full and refused to take a bite more no matter how much food was left. Personally, I can vouch that this works.7. Walking is underratedPeople constantly talk about how going to the gym is god and that's the key to losing weight but not everyone has A) the money or B) the time. Again, I looked at the habits of the skinny people around me, 80% of them didn't go to the gym but 99% walked A TON. If it's at all possible, walk wherever you can. Take the longer route, ignore the bus and the car if you can, explore your city. The reason why walking was so effective for me was that it was actually enjoyable. I HATE working out, there is no way you can sell it for me, but walking didn't feel invasive, I could walk around with someone I liked or alone, listen to music, sight-see, it felt like a part of my everyday life and not something that I was doing specifically to lose weight. It lessened the mental burden of constantly thinking of my weight.8. Intermittent fastingTo tell you the truth, I was doing this before I even knew what it was. People always told me that it was unhealthy and how it shouldn't work but whenever my metabolism wasn't utterly fucked it ALWAYS helped me lose weight. Be very careful that you choose a healthy variant of this so it doesn't slip into a deeply unhealthy eating pattern.9. Make lifestyle changes that don't force you to think of your weight the whole day throughI never accomplished longterm results when I spent my entire day worrying about what I was doing to lose weight. It gave me so much anxiety that it just wasn't worth it. Weight loss should be a part of your day but it shouldn't dominate your day.10. Have a healthy attitude towards weight lossI was at a healthy, slim weight for most of my life but I thought I would love my looks much more if I were as skinny as some of the girls I admired. It just didn't happen. Work on improving your looks towards a desired result but don't think weight loss will solve all of your problems. You'll end up slipping into unhealthy habits and once you get there you might give up and gain the weight back because you're not getting the self esteem high you expected. Be reasonable and realistic.This guide might not be perfect, but if it can help someone then that's good. Good luck and be patient! <3 http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png https://www.reddit.com/r/Vindicta/comments/fsnp9n/a_guide_to_how_i_lost_weight/?utm_source=ifttt
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