How to lose weight...

No need to stop eating bread and rice - I still consume both and have had success.

Basically it's really just a matter of calories in, calories out, and eating a little bit less than what your body burns all day long in a 24 hour period. Exercise helps, and allows you to consume more cals for fuel, but isn't necessary or the magic part of weight loss, it's calories, and eating the proper number of cals for your stats (M/F, age, height, current weight, activity level). You want to be nourished and well-fueled for daily life and exercise if you include it, but without going over that total daily burn number, or your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure).

No special diets, no taboo foods, no magic anything, it's just learning to eat the foods you enjoy in the right amounts. You want to learn habits that you can stick to for life, right - otherwise you "diet", lose some weight, then crash and burn because it's difficult to stick to, you have no energy from not eating enough, or are disappointed because you're not meeting some unreasonable goals you may have set.

Sustainable weight loss, or even better FAT loss, comes from being in a moderate calorie deficit, getting some exercise, preferably some form of strength or resistance training, drinking plenty of fluids, and getting good sleep.

What has worked for me ...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Machka9/view/what-has-worked-for-me-at-mfp-757858

I've dropped 17 kg since mid-Feb doing exactly what I talk about in my blog.

To be honest I have lost weight app 57 lbs, without drinking much water, just counting calories and barely exercising. I never cut out any food, infact I just ate a cupcake.

The only reason to cut out a type of food is if you find that you have trouble limiting how much you eat of it. If you eat one potato chip and that turns into eating a whole bag of chips, you might want to avoid them altogether. But all that is really required for weight loss is that you eat fewer calories than you burn.

I would suggest to weigh your food and make sure your are logging everything. Additionally, if you decide to eat exercise calories be extremely conservative, you probably feel like you burned more calories than you actually did.

In general people tend to underestimate the calories they are eating by overestimating the portion sizes. You may feel like you're not eating much, but if you're quantities are off by a little then your daily calculations could be off by quite a bit.

Unless you have something physiologically wrong, a calorie deficit will result in weight loss regardless of exercise, water consumption, etc. The rest is to increase your general health, and to help build strong habits around food and fitness.

mskemesha28 wrote: »

Sorry I thought I was replying to a guy that sent a reply to me

Please remember: Just because you disagree with someones info. or it is not useful to you, does not always mean it isn't solid advice.

On that note, all of the above is good info., Good Luck!

Kimegatron wrote: »

I was just wondering what kind of difference walking on a treadmill vs walking outdoors is? Treadmills kill my feet and my knees, and is way less gratifying than walking outdoors. I feel like treadmills propel me, and seems like I have to go farther on the machine than I do outside. Is that a thing, or am I just making this up in my head... lol

I too prefer walking outside. The varied terrain in walking outside works muscles in ways that a treadmill can only imitate. I only do the treadmill when the weather makes it uncomfortable to walk outside. I don't mind a gentle rain, but I draw the line at ice or hot/humid. In my climate that equates to about two month each in summer and winter.

This content has been removed.

shell1005 wrote: »

Kimegatron wrote: »

daniwilford wrote: »

Kimegatron wrote: »

I was just wondering what kind of difference walking on a treadmill vs walking outdoors is? Treadmills kill my feet and my knees, and is way less gratifying than walking outdoors. I feel like treadmills propel me, and seems like I have to go farther on the machine than I do outside. Is that a thing, or am I just making this up in my head... lol

I too prefer walking outside. The varied terrain in walking outside works muscles in ways that a treadmill can only imitate. I only do the treadmill when the weather makes it uncomfortable to walk outside. I don't mind a gentle rain, but I draw the line at ice or hot/humid. In my climate that equates to about two month each in summer and winter.

Do you feel a difference in your walking, when on a treadmill? Meaning, is it less effective than outside terrain? I'm asking because I'm in Michigan, and there's no way the dog and I can go out in the winter for the length that we're used to. We have a gym here at work that I don't utilize because I uh... I just don't like gyms, lol

I honestly think it is just personal preference. I hate treadmills. I nickname them deadmills. Every inch feels like a mile, etc. When I am running outside....I can get caught up in looking at things on the streets and it just seems more like an actual experience. I've tried covering the time lapse and watching tv, etc....but I just feel like I am being punished when I am on a treadmill. Me no likey.

I hate them because they're so boring, and really hard on my feet/knees for some reason. I get bad foot cramps for some reason, too.

mantium999 wrote: »

Kimegatron wrote: »

I was just wondering what kind of difference walking on a treadmill vs walking outdoors is? Treadmills kill my feet and my knees, and is way less gratifying than walking outdoors. I feel like treadmills propel me, and seems like I have to go farther on the machine than I do outside. Is that a thing, or am I just making this up in my head... lol

I don't do treadmill, but wonder about this myself. On a treadmill you are moving your legs to account for a moving platform, while when walking your legs are required to propel yourself forward. I would think that the 2 are distictly different as far as muscular interaction are concerned, and thus would think a mile on the treadmill is not the same as a mile of real walking. But I have no data to describe this.

Maybe I will let you know during the Winter, HA!

Eat in a caloric deficit and you'll lose. It's unnecessary to give up anything.

rwhyte12 wrote: »

I have found that it's not calories in, calories out. I have found it is the composition of what I'm eating. So after some experimentation, I ended up at 100 grams of carbs or less, 80 to 100 grams of protein or more, 50-60 grams of good fat (olive oil mostly) fat and then low sugar. Sugar is usually only from fruits and vegetables. So that's what I'd suggest. You sound like you do a lot of exercise so when you just don't get to your goals, it feels bad. 100 grams of carbs gets you at least two slices of bread a day. It could be worth trying.

I agree that calories in versus calories out is not always reliable.

I've used MFP for a few years. The first time I dropped from about 235 to 182. The calories in / calories out plan worked fine for me.

Over the last couple years (not using the app), my weight inched back up to 200 pounds. I decided to start tracking again. I do at least an hour of cardiovascular a day and over the past 2 months have added in TRX at least twice a week. I'm confident that I'm getting my portion sizes mostly right and my calorie burn.

MFP said I should be losing 2 pounds a week. However, I'd lost just 3 pounds in 4 months. So I started doing research and learned that sugars, regardless of their source, cause insulin spikes that affect what gets stored as fat.

I eat a healthy diet with very little processed food, but was surprised that I was averaging about 78 grams of sugar a day. A lot was coming from fresh berries and bananas and also my yogurt and granola. I made a conscious effort to reduce sugars and lost 2 pounds in the last week. My total calorie intake/burn have stayed pretty much the same. Maybe a coincidence, but I don't think so.

I hope my experience is helpful to others.

Kimegatron wrote: »

Do you feel a difference in your walking, when on a treadmill? Meaning, is it less effective than outside terrain? I'm asking because I'm in Michigan, and there's no way the dog and I can go out in the winter for the length that we're used to. We have a gym here at work that I don't utilize because I uh... I just don't like gyms, lol

In calories burned it made no difference. I muscles worked it did make a difference and not in a good way. It tends to overwork some, while under working others.