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Ask HN: Most sustainable diet long term?
I am on a weight loss journey and lately i see a lot of diet trends happening like intermittent fasting, keto, carnivore etc. I tried some of those but found that nothing restrictive like that would work for me long term. What i mean by that is that i cannot be healthy for me to avoid fruit if i am doing the keto diet or just eat meat and nothing else.
I am trying to be more healthy and changing what i eat is part of that so i am wondering what has worked for you guys? Exercise is also important but i've been told that i cannot do weightlifting since i have neck hernia.
- TheAlchemist 7y agoThis is really a pretty simple (not easy) thing that we tend to over-complicate. If you want just one rule, I will give this one - eat only food that you prepared by yourself - with only raw ingredients. It excludes a lot of things (ready sauces, biscuits, chips etc) so it's not that easy. But you will be surprised at how effective it is - you will end up eating a lot of good stuff (veggies, met, simple carbs) and weight will go down very fast. By very fast I mean something like 3kg / month at least. The biggest enemy in loosing weight is sugar - we just don't realize how much sugar we are eating / drinking every day by consuming transformed food. There is simply no way you put so much sugar in any meal you prepare by yourself.
- cabraca 7y agoa balanced diet with energy input/ouput balance should be the default. avoid sugar and preprocessed food, drink enough water, exercise and you should be good to go. lost 30kg that way.
- lichtenberger 7y agoI think maybe intermittent fastening is okay, eating more mediterrain stuff... but for instance just eat twice from 12 to 8pm and then don't eat anything till the next day :-)
- Insanity 7y agoI've done so in the past (intermittent fasting). Once with success and once without, so it's not really a silver bullet kind of thing.
- fulafel 7y agoThe null diet can be sustained indefinitely, which is longer than the competing metabolic diets.
- codingdave 7y ago"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
- aorth 7y agoCame to post this exact comment! It's the subtitle of Michael Pollan's 2008 book In Defense of Food. Simple and easy to follow. Doing physical exercise a few times a week also helps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Defense_of_Food https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Defense_of_Food
- sridca 7y agoI'm not sure I'd trust a food activist to arrive at nutritional truths. I'd rather listen to someone with scientific background: https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/foods/ https://www.diagnosisdiet.com/foods/
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoGrains are a plant, and people on average eat far too many processed grains, and too few fruits and vegetables. I like the simplicity in this statement, but it leaves too much open to interpretation. Let's not have people feeling good about themselves because everything in a PopTart comes from a plant, for example.
- aitchnyu 7y agoThe author defines food as lightly processed plants and animals. The first sentence is profound.
- imtringued 7y agoYou forgot the most important part: forever.
- coldtea 7y agoThe canonical advice, as someone already wrote is: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." I'd add: - Eat mostly what your grand-grandparents would identify as food (e.g. no preprocessed stuff, no chips, etc). - Don't eat constantly. Leave 14+ hours that you don't much (if you sleep 8 hours that's just 6-wake hours off of food). - Don't eat refined sugars, wheat, etc. Whole grain is OK. - Mediterranean diet has been proven good time and again. Go for more greens, fruit, olive oil, fish, legumes, scarce meat etc. - Don't overdo it in any direction (too much protein, too much fat, too many carbs, etc). - Don't tax your stomach with too much complicated meals to digest. Keep it simple but balanced. - Drink enough water (not too much - 2 lt per day is fine, can do less if you eat fruits and watery food - tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, soups, etc) Basically that. Easier said than done of course... >Exercise is also important but i've been told that i cannot do weightlifting since i have neck hernia. Maybe you can still lift small one-hand weights? Check with a doctor.
- dlivingston 7y agoVery great advice. A little nitpick - lifting small dumbbells is probably useless. The main benefits from weightlifting come through Progressive Overload, where those small weights must necessarily\* turn into big weights. If (s)he must stick to small weights, there is a very small window of benefit to weight lifting. \* - note that in Progressive Overload you can also increase total number of reps (the true metic is increased volume over time, where volume = reps \* sets \* weight), but again, there is a small window of benefit. 100 reps of 10 lb curls isn't much better than 80 reps of 10 lb curls.
- magic_beans 7y agoThis is not true at all. You CAN achieve hypertrophy and strength with small weights and resistance bands. Just ask a glute girl.
- itchyouch 7y agoThere's a guy who does that. But he does things like 1000 situps, pushups, etc. Massive volume. With weights, one can put forth a decent workout in an hour.
- kestreloats 7y agoI think what a healthy diet is fairly individual-specific. I think there are probably general guidelines that are pretty good for most people, but the details depend on how different people metabolize different things, their taste preferences etc. I think I feel the best eating vegetarian, whole grains, lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes, no restrictions on unsaturated fats but little or no saturated fats. I basically try to avoid processed foods, saturated fats, artificial colors, artificial flavorings, and preservatives, and meats (including fish). I try to avoid added sugars too but am not too strict about it, and don't have any restrictions on complex carbs. I've kind of done intermittent fasting before it was a "thing" and I do think that's been helpful/feel better with that at the right times, as has not eating after a certain time at night, and keeping breakfasts light or waiting a bit later. It's worked for me but I think everyone's optimal diet is probably a bit different. I think in general you can't go wrong with whole grains and nuts, whole vegetables, and whole fruits. The rest of it is kind of tweaking for an individual.
- ValentineC 7y agoIntermittent fasting is, for the most part, just skipping breakfast. I do that in combination with a mostly low carb/high fat thing, but I'm not too strict with anything. I also don't track my calorie intake. More importantly, I believe that cutting sugar is the key to weight loss and maintenance. I mostly drink water, black tea, and black coffee. You should make sustainable changes that fit your lifestyle, not follow a diet trend.
- pizza234 7y agoSkipping breakfast is wrong, in any context. The result of not eating anything for breakfast is that the body reduces consumption ("metabolism"); this is exactly what one wants to avoid in diets. This can be tested very simply. Compare the time of the morning when you start feeling hunger between when you have a breakfast (even a relatively light one, which is what one would do in a weight-loss diet), and when you don't have it. Most people will paradoxically feel hunger earlier when they have a breakfast compared to when they don't. This is the major paradox of weight loss: eating less by itself is not necessarily more productive (diet-wise) than eating more.
- jogjayr 7y ago> Skipping breakfast is wrong, in any context. Different things work for different people, so saying something is always wrong is itself wrong. > The result of not eating anything for breakfast is that the body reduces consumption ("metabolism"); Any evidence for this? > Most people will paradoxically feel hunger earlier when they have a breakfast compared to when they don't. So if they don't have breakfast they'd feel hungry later. Isn't that what you want? Overall, I think skipping breakfast is a trick that reduces the window of time available to eat and thereby restricts your caloric intake. It also trains you to only eat when you actually feel hungry instead of being a slave to set mealtimes.
- itchyouch 7y agoMetabolism does drop under a caloric deficit, but it has to be longer term deficit afaik. Skipping breakfast has the nice effect of making dinner available for social outings, while still having a fasting window.
- rebelrexx858 7y agoI suggest downloading MyFitnessPal and just learning what different amounts of food look like calorie wise, then you can eat whatever you want as long as it's within your caloric goals.
- guruz 7y agoAs soon as you've reached your weight goal, you can switch to time restricted eating (aka intermittent fasting while circadian clock says "day") and just avoid sugary drinks/food and you'll (probably) be good.
- ikeyany 7y agoThe best two things you can do long term are to learn how to cook and to make friends who like playing sports regularly. Note neither of those two things require being in shape to start making progress.
- helloindia 7y agoI wanted to say the same thing. Learning to cook your own food, gives you so much control. That is necessary, if one wants to control their weight.
- screye 7y agoI have been really trying to make #2 happen but it is tough. The ones who play a certain sport are so good at it that it makes no sense for them to play with me (basketball, tennis, squash) and no one plays the sport that I am good at (soccer) It is so much easier to stay fit when you have a group that regularly do a common activity for fun. Going to the gym isn't bad, but I won't call the activity fun.
- myrandomcomment 7y agoWhole30 or Paleo. No sugar. Read labels. If you are just getting started I recommend trying the Whole30 plan. If you can power through for 30 days it really can change how you eat.
- unstyledcontent 7y agoNo evidence to support Whole30. In fact, it excludes beans and legumes which are an excellent source of protein and fiber.
- myrandomcomment 7y agoWhat are you comparing it to as a foundation for you comment? It includes lots of meat which is also a great source or protein. My wife and I both dropped a ton of weight and changed our eating habits for life. Like all diets your milage might vary.
- unstyledcontent 7y agoI am not comparing it to anything, I just work with lots of people that have needlessly put themselves through months of this senseless diet. It excludes healthy food groups for no scientifically established reason. It's unhelpful to even mention. If the habits you gained from Whole30 are that you eat less processed foods and sugars, then that's all you need to suggest.
- ArrayList 7y ago> It includes lots of meat which is also a great source or protein. It's also a great source of causing cancer, per the World Health Organization. [0] 0. https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/world-health-organization-says-processed-meat-causes-cancer.html https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/world-health-organization...
- FearNotDaniel 7y agoSimple, old-fashioned calorie counting worked for me. Eat less energy than you need each day, and your body will draw on fat reserves to make up the shortfall. I used the NHS 6-week weight loss plan [0] as a general guide and inspiration, calculated my daily requirement in kcal based on a steady rate of weight loss, then used MyFitnessPal to track everything I ate and drank. The first few days are really hard work and frustrating, weighing out everything and checking nutritional values everywhere, though scanning barcodes in MFP does make that slightly easier and after a few days it becomes more natural and as a stats nerd it's very satisfying to achieve a day under the target calories and with the right balance of macros (protein/fat/carbs), and even more satisfying to watch the weight reducing as the weeks go by. Try not to lose more than 2kg/month, it's not too healthy or sustainable. [0] https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/start-the-nhs-weight-loss-plan/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/start-the-nhs-we...
- PopeDotNinja 7y agoI concur that managing one's caloriee input is the only way to ensure you don't eat too much. Let's define too much as being eating above a certain calorie target. For some reason, I've never been able to really stick with calorie counting. One thing I'm trying lately is intentionally eating a certain balance of nutrients (45% carbs, 30% protein, 25% fat). It seems to be a bit easier to do on a daily basis than purely counting calories, but it does require more upfront research on my part. Basically I am more mindful of the balance of foods, and it steers me away from blended foods with unknown proportions, and adjusting portion sizes to stay within my calorie targets is kind of an afterthought. I'm only a few weeks into it, so ask me in three or six months how it's really going :)
- zaroth 7y agoOne personal observation I can make about my own journey... there are foods that I never would have touched 10 years ago that today I find enjoyable and foods that have become more palatable and even decent over time. I was never a “salad person”. Now there are several salads that I enjoy. I would never touch beans, now I recently found I can sub them for rice in some dishes and still enjoy it. This is something that happened over years of trying to eat better. There are little things you may find hit more quickly but the macro stuff just takes time. For example, cutting out soda completely for a month. Not even diet soda. Just find something else to drink, ideally which isn’t fizzy. It’s a relatively small ask as far as “diets” go. After a month or two, you may go back to taste a soda and wonder how the heck you ever liked it. There are diets which focus on deprivation. And if you actively trying to cut fat then you will need to be in a deficit and you will feel hungry. But there is also the long term “diet” of just trying to eat better and the good news is that the more you eat healthier foods (e.g. lower sugar) the more your palate will adapt and you will eventually find the sweeter things too sweet and the less sweet things more pleasing. Which makes the whole thing much more sustainable.
- sooper 7y agoI'm curious, when you say "Just find something else to drink, ideally which isn’t fizzy", do you include fizzy water? I only ask as I bought a sodastream machine after realising what I liked most about soda was the fizz - I actively disliked the sweetness. Now I drink around 3 litres of fizzed water a day and haven't looked back.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoIt might be different for a person who was drinking a liter of soda daily. As someone who never drank a lot of soda, I switched to carbonated water when I wanted something more, but didn't want sugar. My significant other (who regularly drinks soda) says carbonated water just tastes "bitter".
- itchyouch 7y agoIt is definitely acquired. I got some Pellegrino but it was bitter, but I had a case to kill, so I drank it anyway. All of a u sudden, it stopped being bitter, and became refreshing.
- mmgutz 7y agoForget all the fad diets. Eat sensible. Eat low glycemic foods. Eat smaller amounts, more frequently. You will feel full all day. AND, give yourself a cheat meal once a week to reward yourself! The trick to weight loss is doing a variety of exercises that make you breathe heavy but not pushing your body too hard. You don't have to train like a pro athlete or do cross fit crap. Take your time. If you lose it slower there's more likelihood it becomes habit.
- ArrayList 7y ago> Eat smaller amounts, more frequently. Wrong. That spikes insulin unnecessarily. See The Obesity Code (Fung). > The trick to weight loss is doing a variety of exercises that make you breathe heavy but not pushing your body too hard What in the world? Got any scientific reference for that one?
- opportune 7y agoI think dieting follows an 80-20 rule where you can get 80% of the results with 20% of the effort required to get max results. Most people's issue is simply that they eat too many calorically dense foods, so they need to eat more calories to feel full. A lot of people fail at dieting because they recognize that they need to cut out calorically dense foods (e.g. potato chips, pastries) but then fail to replace them with less calorically dense foods, so they start feeling very hungry and go back to eating unhealthily. So, I recommend following the typical advice of cutting out junk food and drinkable beverages (alcohol, soda, juice) but also to EAT MORE VEGETABLES. Vegetables are simply amazing, usually high in fiber, packed with micronutrients, low calorie, and they keep you full. Don't be afraid to add some butter/oil (in moderation!) and salt to them either.
- badams2527 7y agoCalorie counting can work, though I have a hard time keeping up with that long term. I tend to fall days behind and then just give up. It's yet another thing that I then "have" to do. I started doing a diet similar to keto, but tried to keep things as simple as possible. ~25g of protein at every meal, < 100g of carbs per day. No carbs at dinner. Meal prepping can help big time with this. It also saved me a ton of money. The fitness coach who helped me start my weight loss journey insisted that I stop thinking and calling it a diet. A diet implies something temporary, and what you're after is a lifestyle change. The mental aspect of "lifestyle change" has helped me a lot for whatever reason. So far I'm 2 months in and down over 20 pounds, with very minute amounts of exercise. Weightlifting is great for building muscle, but isn't the end-all-be-all of exercise. Start as simple as possible. I go for a 30-45 min walk with my dog after I get home from work. And that's about it. Best of luck on your journey, I've done a lot of different things professionally but being successful with changing my eating habits and lifestyle (even if it's been relatively short) has been one of the greatest things I've ever felt. It turned me from obese and cranky into slightly overweight and waking up with a smile.
- fghtr 7y agoI suggest to follow research-based advises. For example, there is Harvard Schoold of Public Health: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/ https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you...
- framp 7y agoA few generic tips: - Don't think of it as a diet, do something that could theoretically sustainable for the rest of your life - Learn about food and how it affects your body (that's an important knowledge investment, given you'll be eating for the rest of your life; nutrition is a complex field and studies are not super reliable, but you start to notice patterns with time) - Try food replacement powders (or bars) to replace unhealthy meals with something more balanced (I use Huel but depending on geography) - Eat enough proteins (how much depends on your goals and your body) - with some exercise, this will help you build muscle - Sleep plenty - Split your meals (and your proteins) across the day to avoid hunger - Get a reliable scale and weight yourself at the same time every day - Start with an online calculator (like iifym.com), try to eat that amount of calories for 2 weeks and monitor your weight - Keep track of calories / proteins / fibres / sugar / saturated fat / salt in the food you're eating so as to reach your goals - Do strength training to build muscle instead of tons of cardio (this will help you to build muscle, which will increase your metabolism) - I would still do some HIIT cardio for your heart's health - When you reach a plateau and you're not losing weight anymore I'd recommend adding more cardio instead of cutting calories (mainly not to lower the amount of protein intake) - Once you're happy with your body fat percentage I'd go back to strength training + little cardio. On training: Body-weight training is perfectly fine even if you can't lift weight (even though if you have health concerns you may want to consult your doctor, as body weight exercise can still be problematic). This can be a good starting point: http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-routine.html http://www.startbodyweight.com/p/start-bodyweight-basic-rout... Once things get easy you can decide if you want to improve your endurance (by going for sets with high reps) or your strength (by going for sets with low reps and adding resistance - like weights). My story (hoping you'll find something useful): I recently lost 16kg from 84kg to 68kg over 4-5 months going from roughly 24% to 13% body fat. I may have lost some muscle but very little - my strength and my measurements seem to be increased. What I do exactly on top of following the above tips: - I'm on Huel 95% of the meals and "cheating" every once and then when I'm missing chewable food or for social eating (Huel helps because you know exactly how much you're eating) - When eating food which isn't Huel I'm roughly calculating how many calories would that be and how many proteins - and then I'm adjusting my Huel meals or replacing some with protein powder - I eat every 2 hours, 6 meals a day, from 10am to 8pm (fasting for 14 hours, which is something I've accidentally been doing all my life). - For the first 3 months of my journey I did only strength training (push-ups, pull-ups, squats, various core exercises) - In the last 2 months I added 1 hour of cardio per day as I wasn't losing weight anymore and I still wanted to burn more fat. Future plans: I plan to lose some more weight and then focus on building muscle + little cardio by going 200 calories over maintenance and cutting every once and then. I already tried in the past to build muscle with 600 calories over maintenance and I definitely put too much fat on. My workout regime is going to stay the same and I'll keep on eating mainly Huel (unless I create / find a tool which will help me create a diet as structured and precise as Huel and deliver the ingredients to my door). Best of luck on your journey! I'm not affiliated to any of the products / websites mentioned.
- ravenstine 7y agoFor me, the best I've been able to do over the last 6 years is this: - No(or very low) sugar. This means not eating many fruits, although I incorporate raspberries a lot because they are fairly low sugar and high fiber, resulting in low net-carbs. - Low carbs, and definitely no refined carbs. Having gone the no-carb route, I didn't feel great on it, but some people do. I think carbs are fine for replenishing glycogen stores. Otherwise, I just don't have enough energy to do weight lifting. - Intermittently fast, although I haven't been doing this nearly enough for the last 6 months. This is a good reminder for me. - Eat lots of good fats, but really don't overdo it to the point where your body gets pissed off. I love MCT oil and ghee. - Similar to Tim Ferriss' diet, I usually budget for cheat days. I agree with his assessment that a cheat day a week just isn't enough to negatively impact one's diet, and an imperfect healthy diet that's maintained is better than a perfect healthy diet that someone can't maintain. Plus I will get sick of the junk food and really desire to eat healthy again. This is also good because I don't want to be that guy who can't socially eat with friends, so just accepting the cheat day as an option means I can have pizza and beer and not feel bad about it when I see my friends occasionally. - Don't overdo the protein, but have some protein. You really don't need that much protein despite what marketers are trying to sell you on, even if you are building muscle(serious bodybuilding being an exception). Excess protein can be converted to glucose. However, you can go down the frequent protein shake route if you are doing tons of exercise a day. I lost tens of fat-pounds at one point drinking lots of whey protein while hiking 6+ miles a day. No, I didn't have a full-time job at the time. ;) When I'm maintaining it, my diet basically combines attributes of Keto, Paleo, and Mediterranean. This way I'm not too restricted or bored of what I eat. Unfortunately, it's been nigh impossible to maintain during periods where I've made little money. With the Mediterranean portion, I generally skip the rice. By the way, if anyone's looking for a healthy shake to have in the morning, this is the recipe for the one I make all the time: - 1 cup unsweetened pea milk (70 cal, 4.5g fat, 0g net carbs, 8g protein) (NOTE: water is just fine, and often times I'll adjust closer to 1/2 cup for a thicker consistency) - 1/2 cup frozen raspberries (45 cal, 0 fat, 6g net carbs, 1g protein) - 1/2 cup frozen avocado (92 cal, 8.58g fat, 2g net carbs, 1g protein) - 1 tbsp stevia or erythritol (You might have to do it to taste) - 1 tbsp MCT oil (130 cal, 14g fat) - 2 tbsp sunflower seed butter (210 cal, 19g fat, 1g net carbs, 5g protein) (Almond butter tastes better, but has a few more carbs and has less omega-6 if I remember correctly.) - 1/2 tbsp ceylon cinnamon - 2 large raw pasture-raised eggs (71.5 cal, 6g fat, 0.5g net carbs, 6.3g protein) (make sure they're pasture-raised since they're the most safe) Blend that in a bullet blender, and you've got yourself a sweet and fulfilling snack to start your day. Sometimes I replace the raspberries with a second 1/2 cup of avocado, use cold-brew coffee instead of water or pea milk, and add 1 tbsp high-fat cocoa powder. I'm kind of lazy with my measurements on that one, so I can't guarantee it will work out the same for you. Also, definitely don't have too many of them in one day; excess avocado causes certain phenomena in my bowels, but I feel great with just one or two shakes a day. Some months I go "eff it" because I'm focused on work and devolve into eating junk, but I usually soon go back to my healthy diet. I've effectively maintained my weight of ~160 lbs despite sometimes going weeks or a month failing the diet.
- cirgue 7y agoThe most sustainable thing for me is the 50% rule: Roughly 50% by weight of your daily food intake should be unprocessed fruits and vegetables. There is no science behind this heuristic, but it's a way to a) make sure that you're eating more non-calorie-dense foods, and b) to force you to get creative in how you plan meals. There are undoubtedly more efficient ways, but it works for me because it's easy to stick to long-term.
- charleshan 7y agoThe answer is a habit that works for you. Find healthy food that you enjoy, or at the very least you don't mind eating. Focus on building a good habit. Realize when you get cravings for unhealthy food and how to overcome them. I'm also on a journey: https://twitter.com/charlehan/status/1117535352275648512 https://twitter.com/charlehan/status/1117535352275648512
- wrycoder 7y agoFollow a low glycemic diet. This means don't eat sugar at all, and eat very few refined carbs like flour. Don't worry about fats. The fellow who invented this method is Michel Montignac, and it became popular enough in Europe to affect the national food purchasing statistics in the Netherlands. It is very similar to the Mediterranean diet. Counting calories is a pain, and most people won't stick with it. Instead, you have to change your diet forever and become accustomed to following it. To maintain weight, you may find that you have to follow a more strict diet once a year (no alcohol or starch) following the holidays.
- celim307 7y agoI plan my diet around whatever vegetable is on sale that week. Then pair a protein with it and maybe a staple starch like lentils or quinoa. You can roast the veggies and protein in simple seasonings and make the starch in a rice cooker with some low sodium broth. Easy weeknight dinner in 30 minutes
- kevas 7y ago--READ-- Reading all the comments on this thread is pretty funny. I was a trainer for many years and the strategy (note that it’s a strategy rather than a diet) that was most successful takes years to complete with the goal of never doing too much at once. Take the worst thing in your diet. Over the next few weeks, replace it with something slightly better. When your body starts accepting it, move on to the next worst food you consume on your list and repeat the process. A year or two years down the road, you’ll notice that your entire diet has changed without much effort. This process isn’t sexy and won’t solve any problems quickly. However, it is aimed at long term change. As for working out... To start off, just move around. it doesn't matter. After that starts becoming comfortable, use machines @ the gym that don't require any stabilization on your part--just push & pull. This is because you're not going to be strong. You should be focusing on major muscle groups and that's it when you start out--chest, back, legs. For a few months, just focus on getting your proper form down. Over these first three or so months of working out, even without putting on any further muscle mass, your strength will increase by 20%-30%. Exercises to do: - Machine Chest Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlXTzUUR9AE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlXTzUUR9AE - Machine Pull Down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwJeh3QyhVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwJeh3QyhVE - Machine Row: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUztYbC0G0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUztYbC0G0 - Machine Leg Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2KtIZn2vOc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2KtIZn2vOc How do you select the weight to use? - Pick something that you can't do more than 20 times the first set. How many sets: - 3 sets should be good starting off. How many reps should you do each set? - Up to 20, yet if your form breaks down, stop that set. - Your form is the primary goal at this point.
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- codesternews 7y agohow to replace sugar in coffee? I can not live without it.
- matt_s 7y agoMaybe don't drink coffee? Or replace coffee with some other caffeine source. Or find a less bitter coffee. There are a lot more varieties of coffee that aren't mainstream that don't have the bitterness of mass produced stuff. I detest coffee/food snobbery but have found some lighter roasts that aren't as bitter. Or try different brewing methods.
- markdbullock 7y agoAfter watching the documentary Forks Over Knives and reading The China Study, I switched to a whole food plant based diet two years ago. The experimental, clinical, and epidemiological evidence convinced me of the danger of eating animal products. I dropped 20 pounds without even trying and my weight is stable. I walk for 20 minutes at lunch on weekdays. My cholesterol is under 150. I feel more energetic and my mood is slightly better. I occasionally eat animal products, for example when I eat at my mother’s house.
- wetpaws 7y agoI found a best diet so far to just cut sugar and alcohol. The rest in my diet was unchanged - I am loosing weight very slowly but steadily, day by day.
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- helph67 7y agoThe Mediterranean diet could be the way to go... http://time.com/5171192/best-diet-heart-health/ http://time.com/5171192/best-diet-heart-health/
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- tbiteteitb 7y agoIf You want to do it like Silicon Valley just do LSD micro-dosing with your morning coffee combined with IF a la Jack /s Now for a real answer, It depends and No, I don't think You'll find the answer online. You have to do blood tests, You have to meet with a nutritionist or Dr with the results of the blood tests. Then it's a matter of adjusting your intake According to your daily activity. If you're sedentary you have to eat less. Every body reacts different to different diets/regimes. Take some time for yourself and set an appointment with a specialist in the subject
- misterspaceman 7y agoUS News publishes an annual review of diet plans, if you are interested: https://health.usnews.com/best-diet https://health.usnews.com/best-diet If you decide to seek professional help via a diet specialist, be advised that a nutritionist and dietitian are not the same. A dietitian is a licensed medical field; in most states, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist and open a practice. Good luck with your weight loss journey!
- adrianmonk 7y agoThere is no one simple rule or method that leads to a good diet. Even if there were a formula, you'd probably get bored with it over a lifetime of eating, so it needs to kind of a living work that's open to evolving and being reinvented. (And only you know exactly what you like.) There's a lot of good basic advice out there about eating healthy foods (more vegetables, more fiber, less sugar, don't binge eat, etc.), and it covers a lot. I think the only way you really get a healthy diet is to gradually learn about it all, understand your weak areas, and work through and apply all the principles. In other words, it's a process of getting good at eating. Nevertheless, I will share some "tricks" from my journey over the last few years: (1) Accept that if a bad diet has been a lifelong pattern for you, then fixing it is going to be a ground-up reboot of how you eat. Think about it in terms of opening your mind, questioning everything, and re-learning everything. (2) Pay attention to what you eat. Read nutrition labels, and maybe ingredients but that's less important. You don't have to do this forever because eventually you will internalize it. You will learn a lot. You will get a sense of what to favor and what to generally avoid. Having that sense will make a difference. (I used to think of "junk food" as a term that killjoys used to demonize enjoying food, but after reading labels, I finally understood for myself that some foods have a bunch of calories but little nutritive value. If these dominate your diet, you are going to have problems just like you'll have budget problems if you spend lots of money on frivolous crap.) (3) Learn to love healthy foods. You might be tempted to read that as "accept the unfortunate fact that you're never going to enjoy eating again", but that's not what I mean. What I'm talking about is more like Pavlovian conditioning. We all have moments where we didn't have a chance to eat, we end up really hungry, and when we finally do eat something, it feels wonderful. Eat healthy foods for long enough, and these moments will build up and reprogram what you crave. One day your dinner will be delayed, and you'll find yourself fantasizing about the big salad, a huge pile of vegetables, and lean meat that you have planned for tonight's dinner. Aside from condition, an important part of learning to love healthy foods is trying lots and lots of them. Maybe you only like 1 in 5, but if you try 100 or more of them, you'll find something. (4) Try to evaluate foods on two axes: like/dislike and healthy/unhealthy. This gives 4 quadrants. You should basically never eat anything from the dislike/unhealthy quadrant. And rarely does it make sense to eat a neutral/unhealthy food. Foods in the like/unhealthy quadrant are OK but not often. Foods in the dislike/healthy quadrant are fine but definitely seek out and prefer things in the like/healthy quadrant. (5) Society is against you. Not on purpose, but look at obesity statistics (or just look around you) and see that most people don't eat healthy. Get used to the idea that you will be setting your own rules, which means there is a social aspect to this. Many restaurant menus will be packed with unhealthy options. People will pressure you to eat dessert with them. Not because they want you to fail but because it's the only way of eating that they know. It's best if you can do your own thing without calling attention to yourself. Graciousness makes things easier. I find positivity helps when you turn someone down. For example, if a co-worker brings donuts, I might say something like, "Wow! That was really nice of you! Unfortunately, I already ate breakfast and I don't need anything else, but those do look good!" Try to make them feel their gesture was genuinely appreciated.
- 33a 7y agoChew your food more thoroughly. You eat slower and stop being hungry faster.
- tmaly 7y agoI like the Scott Adams approach to just pre-preparing carrots and celery in small containers in your fridge. Design the system so that when you go to snack, the healthy things are what is available. For coffee, I only add cinnamon to black coffee. No sugar. If you like ice cream, try making it yourself, once you see how much sugar goes in a pint, you kind of get sick to your stomach about eating it.
- swah 7y agoWhen I'm aware enough, a banana or apple replaces a Snickers bar just fine. (And it doesn't really matter if bananas aren't great food - because the alternative are cookies, ice cream.)
- mrfusion 7y agoI always wondered if there was a calorie free (or very low calorie) way to make coffee less bitter?
- ploika 7y agoLighter roasts, and maybe different origins, if you're making your own coffee. The Strength 3 Kenyan and Rwandan coffee in my local supermarket tastes a bit sweeter than the norm to me. I've always taken coffee with a little bit of milk and no sugar. Not a latte, just a black coffee with a drop of milk at the end to take the edge off. It's not calorie-free, but over the course of a day it adds up to about a small cup of milk, which I can live with.
- tmaly 7y agoSome cinnamon varieties add some mild non caloric sweetness
- foobarchu 7y agoHave you tried cold-brewed coffee? Water can be added as needed to reduce bitterness without affecting the flavor too hard. But you may want to ask yourself if the problem is bitterness, or that you just don't actually like the flavor of coffee.
- mwnorman2 7y agoI am avoiding diets because they only end up with me gaining more weight further down the road. Everyone remember the 'Biggest Loser' show? Turns out some researchers followed-up with a statistically- significant sample size of contestants, a little less than 200. About 93% re-gained their weight after the show (> 1yr) and of that 93%, half gained back MORE than they lost (around 10% more). The show gave contestants access to great food, exercise, trainers, diet counselling ... on a per-person basis this was thousands and thousands of dollars that most people can never afford to spend themselves - and STILL the outcome was ... gain more weight :-( Edging closer and closer to the idea that the only choice now is surgery (scares the HECK out of me!)
- tonyedgecombe 7y agoI’ve just been reading an interesting book that touches on this, it seems we have a set point that we naturally head back to. It can be reset but it isn’t easy. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29243729-the-hungry-brain https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29243729-the-hungry-brai...
- imtringued 7y agoThe reason they failed is because they stopped. For some reason people expect doing something healthy to their body for a few weeks is going to outweigh the years of eating bad food that they will repeat doing after losing weight. Just look here at this prime example: "Researchers followed 14 of the contestants from season 8 of The Biggest Loser, including the winner, Danny Cahill, for six years after the show ended. Thirteen of the 14 regained some of the weight back, and four of those gained back what they had lost – and more." Imagine what would have happened to that person if he didn't go to the biggest loser and just ate the same unhealthy food for 6 years? Do you think he wouldn't have gained 10% more weight? It wouldn't make headlines if he did. [0] https://people.com/bodies/the-biggest-loser-contestants-permanently-harm-their-metabolism-says-study/ https://people.com/bodies/the-biggest-loser-contestants-perm...
- lamchob 7y ago"The best diet is the one you follow". This is preached by many people in the Fitness industry, body builders and profrssionals. I was a chubby teen, although I did a lot of sports. But I ate even more. Now I lost a lot of weight in last few months and I'm the leanest and strongest I've ever been. How? The thing is, there is no diet required. A diet is nutrition for sick people. What most people need is a more healthy relationship to what they eat. Realizing the discrepancy between what your body needs vs. what you consume on a daily basis is a huge help. Initially I suggest to track their calories for a few weeks and then adjust your intake to serve your specific goals. After a few months you will have great intuition about the things you eat on a regular basis and don't need to track anything. Weight is a simple game, if you want to loose weight, consume less calories than you burn. Do this over a long time and you will see progress. You always want to play the long-term game, so if you go out for dinner once in a while, enjoy yourself and don't agonize over your "diet". The progress is made in the little things you eat every day, not during a nice evening with friends. Also, don't banish any macro nutrients, this will make your everyday nutrition harder. Eat lots of greens, some meat and fish, fruits, rice, pasta and potatoes, and an occasional donut or pizza.
- itchyouch 7y agoIt most definitely is possible to get a body builder physique on junk food. Called the iifym (if it fits your macros) method. One of the people I follow in the fitness industry though has started that they did wish they had focused a bit more on micronutrition.
- lamchob 7y agoIIFYM may very well work for some individuals, as my post said: "be aware of what you eat and what your body needs". And junk food can fulfil the needs of very active individuals. But be careful when adapting diets from individuals with high amount of physical activity to someone with a sedentary job. This gets even more relevant, if recreational lifting isn't possible, as in OP's case.
- jlengrand 7y agoI'll have a shorter answer than most. Don't focus on diets. Find a lifestyle that suits you. If anything, sports if what will help you most feel healthy. Find something that you can keep doing with your condition. Whether it is keto, fasting or anything else, you want to find something that fits you and does not frustrate you or you'll end up worse.
- redcodenl 7y agoThe most sustainable long term diet is: eat less.
- throwaway7827 7y agohttps://www.intentapp.com/blog/weight-loss-cost/ https://www.intentapp.com/blog/weight-loss-cost/ All DIY dieting is very unlikely to work, and low-fat dieting is slightly worse than other diets. If you can pay $200-300 a month, weight loss medication has a fairly high success rate (50%-70%)
- alexmingoia 7y agoTry eating only whole plant foods (vegan). It's better for you, for animals, and the planet. Whole foods means unprocessed. Avoid concentrated or processed grains, sugar, and oil. So no flour, bread, or sugar. Just avoid grains entirely except for steel-cut unprocessed oats. Whole vegetables means potatoes, Japanese sweet potato, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, broccoli, etc. Whole fruits means bananas, oranges, avocados, etc. Eat some nuts but not too many. Drink soymilk (unsweetened) for calcium and protein. Take a vegan multivitamin. Eat from all these groups everyday, and don't snack. Don't eat after dinner. Don't eat out. I've been doing this for years and have great digestion, feel amazing, and look great. It also feels good to know I'm not hurting and killing animals.
- runjake 7y agoTo tack onto this: eat legumes for energy, add spinach/kale/etc to parent's list, and take a legitimate B12 supplement[1]. Source: was an athletic vegan for a long time. 1. I use "Garden of Life B12 Vitamin - mykind Organic Whole Food B-12 for Metabolism and Energy, Raspberry, 2oz Liquid". I went from B12 deficient to B12 adequate on blood tests, so it works (for me). It's also worth pointing out that I eat a lot of nutritional yeast, and it was not covering my B12 needs at all. AT ALL.
- alexmingoia 7y agoYeah great points. B12 is produced by a bacteria that lives in animal (and human) small intestines. It's not clear why it lives in some humans and not others, so the only way to ensure you're getting it is to take a supplement (or eat animal products since animals are supplemented). Nutritional yeast does not contain B12 unless they're fortified with it. Contrary to Wikipedia and popular belief, B12 producing bacteria has been found in human small intestines (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7354869 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7354869). It's just not clear why it lives in some people and not in others. Prior to modern hygiene practices vegetarian humans and animals probably got it from ingesting feces (in contaminated water or food fertilized with feces). https://veganhealth.org/intestinal-bacteria-as-b12-source/#small https://veganhealth.org/intestinal-bacteria-as-b12-source/#s...
- DoreenMichele 7y agoI lost multiple dress sizes by simply eating more nutritiously. I never counted calories. I wasn't even trying to lose weight. I was just trying to get healthier. /Anecdata
- dyeje 7y agoIf you don't like restrictive diets, try just counting calories. You can eat anything you please as long as you run at a calorie deficit.
- fosco 7y agoPerfunctory - https://www.xkcd.com/1744/ https://www.xkcd.com/1744/
- soorajchandran 7y agoThis can never be generalized. You should try to stick with things you like in moderation. ( writing this because I lose 20kgs plus last year ) Since you mentioned you cannot work out - - Start measuring your calories - Eat in a calorie deficit - Try intermittent fasting - Try to eat vegetables with every meal ( fills you up + takes care of macronutrients ) - Cheat once in a while to keep you motivated This cheat sheet worked for me. Try to find 4-5 dishes you can prepare easily, which you like. Repeat them - if you get bored maybe change them up after a month or so. They key is not to feel like in a diet. Just eat normally, but eat less and eat smart.
- tugberkk 7y ago1. Without exercise, you are going to lose muscle mass. There are many more exercise routines then weightlifting. Please check "High Intensity Training" (not HIIT). Drew Baye is a good example. He also has a website: http://baye.com http://baye.com 2. Sustainable diet is the one which you can do, obviously :) I also will suggest a book, easy to read and will help you achieve your goals. The Lean Muscle Diet. Here is the Amazon link; https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Muscle-Diet-Customized-Nutrition-ebook/dp/B00K8DSURY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1HI3VR27GMHQT&keywords=lean+muscle+diet&qid=1555428449&s=gateway&sprefix=Lean+muscle+diet%2Caps%2C263&sr=8-1 https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Muscle-Diet-Customized-Nutrition...
- JSeymourATL 7y ago> I tried some of those but found that nothing restrictive like that would work for me long term. Any ideas on WHY that is? All of us are subject to social pressures and internal weakness when it comes to staying on a nutrition plan. OMAD has worked best for me long-term. Even after extended holiday with family, it's the easiest to get back on routine. Black Coffee for breakfast. Skip Lunch, then a normal Man-sized dinner. > https://blog.bulletproof.com/omad-one-meal-a-day-diet/ https://blog.bulletproof.com/omad-one-meal-a-day-diet/
- lukaszkups 7y agoI'm now writing a blog post about my journey - 13kg less in less than 12 months. The only 'diet hack' I used was replacing regular Coca Cola with Cola Zero (yeah, I know what it contains but 'this one little hack' made me stop gaining weight). The other hack was to start jogging - for first couple weeks 3km, then 5km, now my regular route is ~7km (I've also ran 10km one time and made it under 1hour! :D ). I tend to run at least 1 time per week, or as many as possible (due to family responsibilities 3 times is max). While switching cola stopped me gaining weight, running made me loose it. I've also started eating less fast-foods/sweets and more proteins (nothing fancy! e.g. homemade fried-egg burgers FTW! :) ) But the key I think to not be so strict about it - reminding yourself that you're "on diet" is the biggest pain I think.
- odessa143 7y agogood day to you. i understand deeply your emotion running within you considering some different hurdles, hustles and endeavors we've face daily. we have also same situation. i do really try hard searching for a most effective weight loss minus the lifting part. oftentimes laziness and binge eating always sabotage my fitness goals. recently i found an article, a revolutionary weight loss method perfect for fat and lazy people,, certainly this is good to all people wanting to lose weight. this article i wanna share(https://tombautista.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/how-to-seriously-lose-fat-without-diet-or-exercise https://tombautista.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/how-to-seriousl... is this the holy grail? what do you think of it? i wanna know your opinion. thanks
- groundCode 7y agogood grief...every single reply you link to your blog. How about engaging here rather.
- odessa143 7y agogood day to you. i understand deeply your emotion running within you considering some different hurdles, hustles and endeavors we've face daily. we have also same situation. i do really try hard searching for a most effective weight loss minus the lifting part. oftentimes laziness and binge eating always sabotage my fitness goals. recently i found an article, a revolutionary weight loss method perfect for fat and lazy people,, certainly this is good to all people wanting to lose weight. this article i wanna share(https://tombautista.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/how-to-seriously-lose-fat-without-diet-or-exercise https://tombautista.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/how-to-seriousl... is this the holy grail? what do you think of it? i wanna know your opinion. thanks