By quitting drinking alcohol
Literally the only thing I changed about my life at that time and I went from 185 lbs to 165 lbs in 3 months
I was drinking a fifth per night of alcohol that was at least 100 proof, so I was a bit of an alcoholic at the time
I quit cold turkey and within just a few weeks I started feeling a lot better overall and by about 4 months after I quit the cravings stopped every time I smelt alcohol
I’ve been sober now for about 5 and a half years and the weight has stayed off the whole time. I’ve basically been 160±5 lbs since
Shit, you stole my exact answer
Except I’ve finally started to gain the weight back
That’s amazing! Congrats on sobriety.
Thank you
It wasn’t my first attempt but my 4th to get sober. Getting sober wasn’t easy, and I think is a topic more people should talk about. You never seem to here people talking about how many attempts it took to achieve something like that, you only ever here that they did it.
And honestly this is the longest I’ve been sober since I was 12 years old
I wouldn’t give it up for the world, the quality of life improvements have been amazing and not just my physical health but my mental health as well. It’s amazing how much easier PTSD is to deal with while sober vs not.
You hear about it more in recovery groups. It’s pretty eye-opening.
Congratulations that’s awesome, I’m sober myself (just over 18 months) and it took me a lot of tries and many years to stop drinking so I can relate to that.
The one thing I would really caution people about is quitting cold turkey - alcohol withdrawal can be fatal. It’s also miserable even when done with medical help, I’ve done medical detox in the hospital and at rehab more times than I care to remember and each time serves as a huge reminder of what awaits me if I start drinking again. So please if anyone is considering stopping drinking and is drinking a lot, talk to a doctor about it and be honest. Seizures and strokes and DTs are not fun and can kill you.
That all said I also struggle with weight, and a few times after I stopped drinking I ate more and gained weight and it contributed to going back to drinking. This time I’ve been very conscious about calories in vs calories out because that has been something that works for me. Food scale and honesty tracking everything I eat and all my exercise.
And again, awesome job on 5 years, I love coming across sobriety out in the wild.
- Water. No drinks other than water or black coffee/ tea.
- Understanding nutritional value better and counting calories (for a while). Intuitive eating has been sven better for me after that.
- OMAD. One meal a day. Suited my hunger pattern for a long time and allowed me to feel full after a meal which I like while feeling light most of the day which I also like.
- Home cooked meals 99% of the time. Literally. Maybe eat out once a month most months.
- Enjoying feeling healthy, so liking eating the things I ate and working out etc.
Things I didnt need but do recommend:
- Improved fiber intake.
- Cutting all caloric drinks.
- Know how much fat youre adding to your food, that tsp you just added are actually 2 tbsps.
- Choose better carbs. Thats mostly about fiber content again. So whole wheat instead of white.
- Dont mean to sound like that guy but good for gut foods. Yogurt, pickles and other fermented products.
- The mental side. Know that a bad meal, day, week doesnt ruin anything. You don’t need to be perfect, just improve in the long term.
I could go on forever but I’ll stop here.
Understanding nutritional value better and counting calories (for a while).
Amazing comment, but I just want to throw some support behind this concept in particular.
The goal of calorie counting doesn’t necessarily need to be to commit yourself to it for life. It’s okay if you do! But many people will “catch” issues they had within a few months, and generally be able to navigate things successfully from there just by eyeballing it in.
Another way I like to think of it is meal-by-meal. Instead of logging the full day, it’s easier to just quickly check the labels and make sure that meal is within your normal range
I see a lot of exercise reccomended ITT, but just remember that it takes an hour to “burn” 300 calories walking, but under a minute to eat a donut. Dieting is your battle. Also, doing a little exercise (5 min walk) everyday that you can keep yourself doing consistently is WAYY more important than the 2 hour gym sesh you hit twice then get demotivated and never do again
(This is coming from someone with no experience losing weight, so take it with a grain of salt)
I agree with you overall. One benefit of exercise, is it increases your muscle mass. Which generally increases your overall metabolic rate. Which means throughout the day to maintain that muscle mass you are burning more calories at rest then if you hadn’t developed that muscle mass. So there is benefit to generating muscles for the sake of generating muscles
All people who mentionned sport also mentionned the importance of diet. It’s sport that is always downplayed when it comes to losing weight.
Eliminating certain kinds of food entirely
Some foods tended to be things I quite simply ate too much of, and eliminating them entirely was the simpler option. Snacks are obvious in this category, but less obvious for me was bread and sandwiches.
Walking, a whole lot of it
Running can often be the exercise that comes to mind when wanting to lose weight, which is natural on account of its cultural prevalence and high energy requirement. The problem is that you can’t really do a whole lot of it without getting tired, and if you’re overweight it probably hurts like hell to do it.
Walking, on the other hand, can be done essentially in unlimited quantities. I took every opportunity to go for long walks at a brisk pace, listening primarily to podcasts but also audiobooks to keep me entertained. It was also a good opportunity to catch up with family by giving them a call.
Caloric restriction
At the end of the day, no matter what kinds of food I ate, my appetite still pushed me to put more energy into my body than I was able to spend. As such, I had to implement some form of caloric restriction to keep the number going down.
These things worked for me but may not be appropriate for you. Losing weight is very hard, some trial and error is probably a good idea. Good luck!
amphetamines
Counting calories. I used MyFitnessPal, but I’m sure there are other apps.
Figure out how many calories you need daily to maintain your current weight, depending on age/gender/height, and then subtract about 500 calories from that. This also depends on your stats; you don’t want to go below your minimum daily calories. You’ll be hungry and dizzy all the time, and your body will try to store extra fat because it thinks you’re starving.
You can eat whatever you want, as long as you stay under your daily calorie number. You might not be healthy (depending on your food choices), but you will lose weight.
Good luck!
I fucking love the local burger joint. Every full pound I lost, I allowed myself a burger and onion rings. 40 pounds to lose, 40 burgers to eat.
Me too but my celebrations are chilli cheese dogs and rough anal.
I need at least 48 hours between the first and the second.
Stress and Insomnia 😇
Wherever I vacation to a walkable city, I lose weight.
Europe, please let me move in 😭
ADHD meds 🫤
Ha - going on to ADHD meds led to me gaining weight.
stopped snacking and stopped the everyday pops. easiest start of weight loss. from there its proper dieting and walking as much as possible
Everyday pops?
Also known as soda in Freedomland
Restricted my calories. It works, you just have to eat fewer calories than your previous weight to maintain your new weight, so a lot of people put that weight back on. That said, if you put yourself in a mild caloric deficit, it’s extremely easy. Then it’s mostly a matter of not keeping binge-worthy foods in your living space (you can eat them as much as you want when you’re out), and it’s pretty easy.
I’m struggling with this right now. I started going to the gym 6 times a week almost a year ago knowing it wouldn’t be enough by itself but trying to only make one big lifestyle change at a time. Now my gym habit is well and truly locked in I really need to improve my diet as my next big change. My weight has been basically exactly the same since I started. Lots more muscle mass now but still…
Good luck to everyone trying to make improvements to their health!
Oh I actually did lose like 20kg a few years ago by doing keto but it wasn’t sustainable to me so I put it all back on. I guess the lesson for me there is to keep trying until you find a sustainable change you can stick to as a lifestyle, not just temporarily.
Well muscles are very dense. If you go for body shape and fitness, don’t go for raw weight at the same time basically.
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Being poor. Lost 20 kilos.
I found exercise that I actually wanted to do. For me, this started out as cycling. I enjoyed being able to go places and see things. I used to just cycle casually with my family but when the COVID lock downs happened, I would go on 30+ mile bike rides. It was nice to get out, see things and the roads were pretty empty around me so I could go just about anywhere.
The biggest problem with that around here is that it gets really cold during the winter so I started doing a combination of cardio, hand weights and basic exercises like pushups, etc to just get my heart rate going and sweat a bit. I do have an indoor bike trainer but I don’t enjoy that quite as much because it’s just sort of boring compared to being out and seeing scenery.
I was sort of stuck at this weight of around 190, which by the BMI charts is a few pounds overweight for my height. This last fall, I was challenged by my sister in law, along with her other siblings, to run a half marathon. I used to play soccer and I used to run for a good while in my 30s - it’s how I stayed in shape back then and was able to lose a good bit of weight. So I started running and I found it to be really easy, probably because I didn’t have to fight through the getting winded - it was mostly my leg muscles getting used to running. Now I run around 30 miles a week, even in the cold. The only thing I struggle with now is taking care of my knees and leg muscles as that’s the biggest issue I run into that could prevent me from keeping it up. I’ve been running since November and am down to 180 and I feel great.
Now food wise, I mostly just try to be generally aware of going in excess for anything that is just sugar or a food that calorie dense but not providing nutrients. I try to keep fruit around the house. if I think I am hungry, I ask if I am hungry enough to eat and apple or a plum - something like that and will do so if I am. I still snack on stuff like pretzels, crackers, etc. I eat things that aren’t healthy for me but I try hard to not go overboard on anything.
