How are YOU losing your weight?

Calorie deficit is great but the kind of calories you eat is important.

It doesn't matter (in re weight loss) if you eat 1500 calories of peanut butter (16 tablespoons) or 1500 calories of carrots (4.3 kilos, or about 9.5 lb).
If you're at a calorie deficit you're going to lose weight.
You're going to be much happier if you're eating the carrots because you'll have more bulk & be eating more/longer, chewing more, so you'll feel more full.


One other somewhat surprising thing I found, and have been doing, is to have most of my calories for breakfast, and a much smaller dinner. That took some getting used to, because I'm generally not hungry when I wake up, don't want to be near food.
(Breakfast now is generally a glass of milk with carnation instant breakfast, a banana, and a piece of whole-wheat bread with peanut butter & sometimes jelly.)

This study compared eating a small breakfast, medium lunch, and large dinner, [200, 500, 700 cal]
with eating a large breakfast, medium lunch, and small dinner [700, 500, 200 cal].

"The [large breakfast] group showed greater weight loss and waist circumference reduction ... fasting glucose, insulin [&] triglycerides ... decreased significantly to a greater extent in the [large breakfast] group."

In addition, hunger was less and satiety was greater.

Here's the abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23512957
Here's a PDF of the whole article.
http://genetics.doctorsonly.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Jakubowicz-at-al-Obesity-2013-oby20460.pdf

"subjects assigned to high caloric intake during breakfast lost significantly more weight than those assigned to high caloric intake during the dinner"
Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24467926
Full text: http://www.tradewindsports.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Nutrient-Timing-and-Obesity-2014.pdf

"data suggest that a low-calorie Mediterranean diet with a higher amount of calories in the first part of the day could establish a greater reduction in fat mass and improved insulin sensitivity than a typical daily diet."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24809437

"Breakfast is associated with lower body weight ...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24898236

I mostly stay within my net calories but within those limits I eat whatever Ilike. I do most of my own cooking from scratch so there's a limit on processed stuff, and I was never a fan of soda & fast food anyway. On the other hand, I do like the occasional beer or glass of wine and I certainly like (good) chocolate. Not having anything off limits means I don't feel like I'm depriving myself and this feels like a very sustainable way of eating.

I don't do any cardio at the gym because treadmills bore me to tears, but I do cycle a lot (around 150m/week), both because I enjoy it and because it gives me more calories to eat. I know I couldn't get by on the MFP allowance.

I also strength-train three times a week, mostly with free weights and bodyweight exercises because I want to ensure I lose fat, not muscle, and also because it feels awesome.

So far, it's working for me. I have lost 10 kg since January. I know others lose much faster than that, but I'm in no hurry, I feel like I can continue this lifestyle pretty much indefinitely, and I have also taken a week off logging here and there because I was travelling and/or wanted to give myself a break.

Calorie deficit.

How am I creating that deficit without being miserably hungry? I stopped eating foods that make me more hungry after I eat them instead of making me less hungry.

Loving all the information in here! Bump!

I'm probably not qualified enough to give you advice since I don't need to lose that much but for me, I just eat mostly what I want but in smaller portions. I naturally gravitate to fruits and vegetables and whole foods now so that helps. I also took up more outside activities like simply walking, jogging and trying to teach my dogs to walk and run a leash properly without tripping me over.

I eat at a 20% deficit but don't sweat it if I eat at maintenance a couple days a week, try to stick to my macros, have sweets every day, and exercise 6 or 7 days a week... Always a mix of some kind of strength training and cardio.

Keto It's the only thing I've been able to do to have a calorie deficit while not being hungry the whole time. I haven't even worked out yet.
Well, not totally true, I've been on probably 6 walks in 9 months...but those probably don't count...

There are no secrets. I ate less than I burned. I didn't starve myself or set a date. I didn't whine when I hit a plateau. I just kept going.

I did everythink I needed to to get where I was going. If I triipped, I picked myself up and continued on.

Basically this, plus:

I lost 60 pounds in less than a year. From 224 to 161

I tracked my calories. I started with portion control and the 30 Day Shred, alternating with low impact cardio. Whenever I plateaued, I intensified my workout routine. You have to change things up sometimes. For me this happened about every 20 pounds lost. After losing 24 pounds, I started jogging. I went through a long plateau, then started lifting weights and paid more attention to macros. I fell off the wagon after maintaining for 2 years. Then I hired The Get In Shape Girl (www.thegetinshapeworkoutplan.com). Lost a ton of body fat through circuit training, hit, and clean eating. I highly recommend her if you are looking for a good online trainer. I worked with her for 3 months.

I'm now trying to get myself back into shape after having a baby. Right now I'm doing Fitness Blender workouts and walking, plus tracking my calories of course.