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First post, thought I'd share my story...
My observation has been that more than anything, fat/weight loss is a mental game. This is far more important than what diet you choose. Obviously there are other factors but if you aren't focused mentally on the task at hand you will have a more difficult time getting the results you want. It doesn't mean you have to be perfect, because it's the rare individual that can do that, but I absolutely have had the best results at the times I've been the most disciplined. Cheating is not bad, I mean you are just cheating yourself, but for sure it slows down your progress which for me is what always made me ultimately lose the mental battle, bit by bit, until my confidence waned enough to then give up in frustration. I felt bad about myself for giving up and it became a negative feedback loop that always kept me from achieving my goal.
I always tell people "the best diet for you is the one that you will stick to", so I took that to heart.
I've lost 70 pounds and have kept it off for over 5 years (Atkins/low carb, never tracked calories). Since then there's the final 20 which I'm within 5 pounds of now. I've been trying to conquer this for 3-4 years. In the past l have gotten to within 5 lbs but always stall out and seem to stabilize at about +10. After a trip this Feb, I came back and was nearing the upper limit I have vowed never to cross so I started this latest run.
I gave myself 90 days. I figured I can do anything for 90 days. No cheat days, weigh and track every bite of everything I eat no matter what, drink a minimum of a 1/2 gallon of water every day, log my weight every day and never lie to myself about any decision I make, 100% total self honesty. Stick to the plan without exception. Those were my rules.
I chose keto/intermittent fasting as keto suits my psyche and taste buds and intermittent fasting made sense after studying up on it. It has helped in unexpected ways, it helps me to make good decisions due to the timings involved, this alone has probably saved 2-400 calories per day on average.
Currently I'm on the 63rd straight day and the results have been better than I expected. The last bit has been so hard to achieve but now it's right there for the taking. This is the lowest I've weighed in 20 years, maybe more. With this many days in the books the psyche has been conquered. There is no way in hell I'm gonna end that streak so close to the goal. The funny thing though is that now it has just become easy, like a switch flipped about 6 weeks in. The way I see and think about food has totally changed, hopefully forever.
One interesting thing is that I didnt set out to count calories, only fat/protein/carb macros, but since I enter everything in Fat Secret I got the calorie numbers too. It turned out that if I just ate how I wanted it ended up at averaging 1800 calories a day. In the year prior I did a calorie based approach targeting 1500-1800 - same or less calories than now but different types of food with that being mainly low fat and normal carbs, a pure calorie budgeting approach. At first it was ok but ultimately I ended up hating it.
I was always hungry and always thinking about the next meal. Unlike now, the days were completely food focused, almost like it was a drug. I was not perfect but was still disciplined, not a single binge and I tracked everything. It was mentally taxing and the results were marginal, 3 months, 5 pounds net loss. It was very difficult to budget the calories. Oddly enough that is no issue now, I'm guessing because the high fat, low carb food is killing my hunger and is way more satisfying, even though in the end the calories are the same. I'm averaging 17 straight hours per day of not eating. My 'breakfast' is typically 1400 calories, usually early afternoon. I'll eat another 400 or so at night then a minimum of 16 hours until the next calorie. Sometimes I only eat the one meal, but what I realized is that I have a fantastically enjoyable meal every single day. I don't know that I can say that I even had one of those with the previous diet. Then I felt like I was dieting and being deprived, now I feel like I'm doing what I want and achieving my goals. This is a completely different paradigm mentally and in my opinion is the key to the good results. Like I said, it's mainly a mental game, figure out how to solve that problem and you've done the hard part.
This experience has also shown me that not all calories are created equal, there's more to it than that. What you eat matters. I believe you have to find what works best for your body chemistry
Calories are important of course, and I doubt you are going to lose weight while in a calorie surplus. However just because you are in a calorie deficit doesn't mean you are going to burn fat and lose weight either, there are other factors in play. Insulin seems to play a large role here, especially when it comes to burning fat. I'm not entirely sure how much of a role intermittent fasting has played, but my hunch is that it has been an integral part of the process. Also, my head is clearer, less fatigued overall and more mentally sharp as well.
So my advice is to try and find what you can stick to and just do it full force for some amount of time that you decide. Be realistic, but don't waver. Do that, finish that, get that sense of accomplishment and I bet at some point things will click, it becomes like compounding interest and will start to snowball, that's how it has worked for me but it took 2 decades to figure it out.
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2276 kkal
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Lemak: 165,31g | Prot: 140,61g | Karb: 52,42g.
Makan Pagi: Yancey's Fancy Smoked Gouda with Bacon, Kroger Sharp Cheddar Shredded Cheese, La Banderita Carb Counter Whole Wheat Wraps, Cabo Fresh Guacamole, Herdez Salsa Verde, Green Giant Hass Avocado, Land O'Lakes Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt, Monster Beverage Absolutely Zero, Jimmy Dean Premium Pork Hot Sausage, Butter (Salted), Oscar Mayer Traditional Bacon, Egg, Kroger Low Moisture Part Skim Shredded Mozzarella Cheese. Makan Malam: Ledbetter Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin Filet, Cabo Fresh Guacamole, President Salted Butter, Birds Eye Steamfresh Broccoli, Skinless Chicken Breast. lagi...
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