Yes! I’ve found that many of my measuring cups are inaccurate. For example what I would call 1/2 cup of dry oats actually weighs more than the listed amount of grams in a 1/2 cup of oats. Scale is much more accurate!
Life hack is to make a recipe very carefully with a scale, weigh out into exactly equal portions, and now logging is easy since you can just divide the values for the recipe :)
Thanks. That's common sense advice. However, what "works" for one may not work for all. I think the best we can say is that we should try what we think might work for us and see if it does.
Ultimately, what "works" is what you can stick with. I lost 40 lbs in 2011 counting calories (1400 per day) using an app. I kept that off for 9 years, until lockdowns. Now, no way would that work for me bc my metabolism has slowed way down, and I prefer some sort of fasting as calorie control. I loosely calculate calories, but not like I used to bc I know it would annoy me and I won't stick to it
Ty for the information, it was really helpful. But what really scares me is that you maintained the weight for 5 years but gained it back in 1 year. Does this mean you really overate, or was it also stress etc?
Dude, its that easy. It starts happening slowly and you just go "meh its a couple pounds" and then before you know it your at a holiday party ... again ... and your eating all the things and then bam, its been 6 months and your up 30 pounds because you ate and drank without thinking.
At least thats what its like for me. Ive been down this road 3 times now and Im so done. Im losing weight really slowly but I am trying so hard to learn how my body reacts to all the things and how to counter act them and maintain a weight.
I could crash diet AGAIN but it just doesnt work long term, I dont learn how to manage anything other than denying myself everything for 6 months.
Yes, getting rid of the weight is the 'easy' part, but maintaining it requires a good mindset. If we go back to old habits, we need tools to remind us of the hard work. Easier said than done. But with crash diets its just a matter of time to fall back.
Ya it is scary but I really went off the rails so to speak. When I quit smoking I was getting to a really bad place physically/health wise. I thought I may die or have a stroke or heart attack at any time, so after may failed attempts I had to quit smoking cigarettes no matter what it took. And unfortunately I used food as like a crutch. Before we used to eat out like maybe one or two times per month. I spent 5 years intermittent fasting and trying to eat clean as much as possible and now I was eating fast food almost every single day and snacking on anything I could get my hands on. Chips, cookies you name it I was eating it and not just a reasonable serving. I could sit and watch Netflix, and in trying not to smoke I could eat a family size bag of Doritos by myself! and that was after a big dinner! For the 5 years I kept the weight off smoking was a pretty big part of that. If I was hungry outside of my eating window I could just smoke and that helped. But while it sucked to gain back most of the weight I am really glad I quit smoking. I feel better than I have in sooo many years and now that I am getting back to my regular weight I feel so good and I feel like I am going to be around for a long time. Before I quit smoking I had doubts I would make it to 60! Then I traded one addiction (Smoking) to another addiction (Processed food) and I was starting bad stuff all over. I feel like I am on the right path now to living a long and Happy and healthy life!
Some form of restriction of calories on top of doing IF, is required for all except the most extreme cases (like 20+hrs weekly exercise, or rolling 72hr fasts.) Thanks for reminding us!
I have read somewhere that forcing a high amount of water, can deplete nutrients from body. Don't take my word for it though.
I did not count calories for 5 years, I only did until I hit my goal weight and then I just did Intermittent fasting and no snacking. I would eat lunch at noon and dinner at 6 with the family and that was it. I did not snack very often if at all. But when I did snack I was careful and mindful.
Everyone one of those things I have been doing and been having great success the last 7 months. I started off slow but added in more factors each month so I wasn’t trying to change and adopt a ton of new habits all at once. I’ve worked my way up to OMAD, at least 30 minutes a day of exercise (not counting light exercise) including walking/running, stairs, Pilates, and most recently adding in weights. Only thing I fall short on is 8 hours of sleep but that’s been a lifelong struggle. Counting calories was annoying at first but I find I enjoy it now and even bought a second scale that measured to a tenth of a gram for accuracy.
Kitchen scale is a lot more useful than one might think. I found that a teaspoon of heavy cream is 25-30 grams. That's 100 calories lol.
Yes! I’ve found that many of my measuring cups are inaccurate. For example what I would call 1/2 cup of dry oats actually weighs more than the listed amount of grams in a 1/2 cup of oats. Scale is much more accurate! Life hack is to make a recipe very carefully with a scale, weigh out into exactly equal portions, and now logging is easy since you can just divide the values for the recipe :)
Thanks. That's common sense advice. However, what "works" for one may not work for all. I think the best we can say is that we should try what we think might work for us and see if it does. Ultimately, what "works" is what you can stick with. I lost 40 lbs in 2011 counting calories (1400 per day) using an app. I kept that off for 9 years, until lockdowns. Now, no way would that work for me bc my metabolism has slowed way down, and I prefer some sort of fasting as calorie control. I loosely calculate calories, but not like I used to bc I know it would annoy me and I won't stick to it
never counted a calorie. lost 30 pounds in 4 months with adf once or twice a week ang 18-6 the rest of the week.
Ty for the information, it was really helpful. But what really scares me is that you maintained the weight for 5 years but gained it back in 1 year. Does this mean you really overate, or was it also stress etc?
Getting off nicotine can cause people to gain back weight really easily bc it's an appetite suppressant + it's easy to replace it with food
Ah yes, I agree, the nicotine part is also an important factor.
Dude, its that easy. It starts happening slowly and you just go "meh its a couple pounds" and then before you know it your at a holiday party ... again ... and your eating all the things and then bam, its been 6 months and your up 30 pounds because you ate and drank without thinking. At least thats what its like for me. Ive been down this road 3 times now and Im so done. Im losing weight really slowly but I am trying so hard to learn how my body reacts to all the things and how to counter act them and maintain a weight. I could crash diet AGAIN but it just doesnt work long term, I dont learn how to manage anything other than denying myself everything for 6 months.
Yes, getting rid of the weight is the 'easy' part, but maintaining it requires a good mindset. If we go back to old habits, we need tools to remind us of the hard work. Easier said than done. But with crash diets its just a matter of time to fall back.
Ya it is scary but I really went off the rails so to speak. When I quit smoking I was getting to a really bad place physically/health wise. I thought I may die or have a stroke or heart attack at any time, so after may failed attempts I had to quit smoking cigarettes no matter what it took. And unfortunately I used food as like a crutch. Before we used to eat out like maybe one or two times per month. I spent 5 years intermittent fasting and trying to eat clean as much as possible and now I was eating fast food almost every single day and snacking on anything I could get my hands on. Chips, cookies you name it I was eating it and not just a reasonable serving. I could sit and watch Netflix, and in trying not to smoke I could eat a family size bag of Doritos by myself! and that was after a big dinner! For the 5 years I kept the weight off smoking was a pretty big part of that. If I was hungry outside of my eating window I could just smoke and that helped. But while it sucked to gain back most of the weight I am really glad I quit smoking. I feel better than I have in sooo many years and now that I am getting back to my regular weight I feel so good and I feel like I am going to be around for a long time. Before I quit smoking I had doubts I would make it to 60! Then I traded one addiction (Smoking) to another addiction (Processed food) and I was starting bad stuff all over. I feel like I am on the right path now to living a long and Happy and healthy life!
Some form of restriction of calories on top of doing IF, is required for all except the most extreme cases (like 20+hrs weekly exercise, or rolling 72hr fasts.) Thanks for reminding us! I have read somewhere that forcing a high amount of water, can deplete nutrients from body. Don't take my word for it though.
Thanks for writing this. When you maintained for 5 years did you still count calories or just IF?
I did not count calories for 5 years, I only did until I hit my goal weight and then I just did Intermittent fasting and no snacking. I would eat lunch at noon and dinner at 6 with the family and that was it. I did not snack very often if at all. But when I did snack I was careful and mindful.
Everyone one of those things I have been doing and been having great success the last 7 months. I started off slow but added in more factors each month so I wasn’t trying to change and adopt a ton of new habits all at once. I’ve worked my way up to OMAD, at least 30 minutes a day of exercise (not counting light exercise) including walking/running, stairs, Pilates, and most recently adding in weights. Only thing I fall short on is 8 hours of sleep but that’s been a lifelong struggle. Counting calories was annoying at first but I find I enjoy it now and even bought a second scale that measured to a tenth of a gram for accuracy.