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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   2336 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for November 15, 2023

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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I'm about 20-25% body fat and really need to lose some weight. I love all kinds of unhealthy food and crave them often. I just started intermittent fasting again.

Does The Motte have any tips to share for successfully making permanent diet changes? Psychological/mental advice is especially welcome.

Things that have helped me:

  • get people close to you on board: tell them you're losing fat and get them to support you
  • remove liquid calories: soda, juices, sweet coffee or tea
  • replace desserts with protein bars (the ones that are tasty, obv)
  • avoid oil-based sauces
  • eat more vegetables and lean meat
  • no snacking between meals unless it's a protein shake
  • walk more and do resistance training, cardio that makes you tired makes you hungry

It's not a coincidence that @screye's advice is similar to mine. That's because that's what works.

Again, you need support from the people that live with you, they should adjust their diet to match yours:

  • if they consume liquid calories, find stuff they like and you don't
  • if they keep eating desserts, find stuff they like and you don't
  • if they keep using oil-based sauces, have them add it to their plates and, you guessed it, find stuff they like and you don't
  • if they don't like vegetables, find stuff they like and you don't find stuff they and you both like
  • if they keep snacks around, find stuff they like and you don't

If you do all this and it doesn't work, you'll have to do calorie counting. If you've fixed your diet according to the list above, your diet should be sufficiently simple that counting will be easy. Count your calories for a few days and then try to come up with a meal plan that is 500 calories smaller. Some advice:

  • it's easier to calculate the calories and macros for the whole pot and divide by the number of portions
  • the best way to avoid extra carbs is to cut down on rice/pasta/bread
  • protein:fat ratio should be at least 2:1, processed meat and most ground meant have a lot of fat

As you lose weight, your calorie target should reflect it: CalNewDiet = (CalOldMaint * WeightNew) / WeightOld - 500. When you are happy with your weight, gradually move to CalNewMaint = (CalOldMaint * WeightNew) / WeightOld.

I've heard that some people react better to refeeds than to constant caloric deficit, but I don't have experience with that. Beware of cheat meals, though. They are not an indulgence to indulge. They are a way to incorporate occasional social eating into your diet. You should still track them and don't go overboard. You have 500 calories of deficit, they are your safety buffer:

  • a Cinnabon roll is 880 calories, so if you have one, you have to find 380 calories to cut elsewhere, which is hard and will make you hungry
  • a Caramel Pecanbon MiniBon® Roll is just 460 calories, so you can have one with a black coffee once every few weeks and just know that your goal has been delayed by one day

UPD: one more weird trick I can recommend is complex food. Simple finger food that goes bag to mouth is the worst, eating food that you need to pay attention to satiates you better. Heterogenous food is better than homogenous food, since every bite feels different.

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