I started a diet!

[brokenbutterfly]

I'm a puny 165cm and 52 kgs  . Great advice from all the others, let me share what I know too if it can help 

There are many methods for losing weight. It ranges from brushing your teeth (you usually don't feel like eating again afterwards) to drinking water (fights the feeling of hunger, makes your stomach full).

Many would say that diets don't work. I agree, if the diets are about skipping a meal. It's not about eating less, it's about eating healthy.

-When you feel hungry, grab an apple, and not that bag of potato chips.

-Midnight snacking is a big no-no. Quote from a video game: "Eating after 11 p.m is a sure one-way ticket to Porkdom!" I think it sums up the idea rather well!

-Cut down on the alcohol as much as you can. Alcohol is sneaky, it makes you feel hungry, but it contains many calories.

-Pay attention to what you eat. Take your time, enjoy the food. Absolutely do not eat while watching TV. Food tend to disappear, while you won't feel full.

-Big brother's advice about giving you one day a week to cheat, is very good. Go out with friends or family, and have a hearty meal without feeling guilty. To remind yourself that dieting is not torture.

-Tea makes you slim, or so I've heard.

-Lots of exercise, and not the kind where you do it for 2 days and then quit. Regular exercise.

Also, try to cut down on anything that is not "necessary". Soda isn't necessary, whether diet or not. I come from a family where we eat healthy, no useless things. No sodas, no snacks or sweets (only from time to time) . I didn't feel deprived, and usually those are available at a friend's house, if there's an emergency 

Emerald is right about the amount. Small sizes. When you go to a fast food over here in France and ask for a large order, it equals to your small order in the U.S. I wouldn't go as far as saying there are no obese people here, but there are not many, that's for sure. But as riseryn pointed out, there's starting to be more because of fast foods.

Oliwerko and ryanlandry: your bodies burn calories much faster than the average person. Many others are like that, and I think there's no solution to that one  I had a friend like that, soooo skinny and yet she ate tons of food. She was annoyed by that, because she was much too thin. Or, it can be a case of tapeworm?

One of the key thing to remember is "balance". Balance in everything: do not start fasting, or lifting weights during 5 hours. Everything in moderation (yes even junk food) and it should be fine!

Well Nikolas, hope this helps, and good luck with your diet! 

[voh]

Paris seemed to corroborate the lack of obesity in France, the only fat person I saw turned out to be an American tourist. Go figure.

But of course there's gonna be fat people - there always are! If only due to medical imbalances and whatnot.

[zabnat]

In theory losing weight is really simple. Just eat less calories than you burn and that's it. In practise it's not that easy.

First, it's not too easy to determine how many calories you really burn a day. You can only calculate an estimate based on some tables where you can check what an average person with your age, height and weight burns and how much do you burn during exercise. But if your body is not in normal average state, like for not eating enough for prolonged periods, you don't burn as much calories as a normal person would.

Second, it's not always easy to count the calories you eat during the day, especially if you eat out. The plate in a restaurant doesn't have nutrition information printed on it.

I'm sure you will lose weight easily using tips on this thread and not going overly scientific about it. But if you do want to go scientific, then calculate calories and eat about 500 less than you burn. If you eat less, you will feel tired and hungry. Oh, and you probably know this already, but with your height, don't trust the BMI, trust the mirror and the overall feeling

I wish I had enough motivation to start a diet, but I feel that I already eat healthy, but am still overweight, so I would have to start counting the damn calories  . On the other hand, I don't feel that fat, but I would like to get to a lower weightclass to get advantage

[Timosity]

I need to gain weight I'm about 175cm & 60kg, I've just lost about 8kg over about 6 months, which I really didn't need to lose, but just my lifestyle I've been leading has made me lose weight.

I eat plenty of junk food, and loads of beer, but I exercise too much for the amount of calories I consume.

working 8hrs a day, partying for 12hrs and sleeping for 4 hrs is probably part of the reason.



But just the simple facts, if you want to lose weight, there's no rush or quick fix (unless you do it biggest loser style [and even then it takes time]) it is as basic as burning more calories than you consume.

If you think you have a slow metabolism, after some regular exercise it will speed up.

Also remember if you build muscle exercising, you may put on weight, as muscle is about 4 times heavier than fat.

Also if someone says something about turning Fat into Muscle, it is bullshit and they don't know what they are talking about. it is physically, biologically and chemically impossible. you can shrink down the size of your fat cells and increase your muscle mass, but as for fat becoming muscle, if it has happened to you, you are obviously not from this planet.

[Oliwerko]

Oh, tapeworms, nah, that is definitely not my case, I am just like my father, he is also eating much and not gaining weight anyhow all his life.
However, I am not annoyed by it. Look - I eat what I want when I want how much I want and I am not gaining any extra kilo. But I must admit it would be better for me to weigh a few more...

[Nikolas]

Actually I have very very fast metabolism... Extremely fast.

Last time I los weight it was in the army.

I only ate what they gave me (no junk food whatsoever).
No beer at all
We were not allowed to walk (only run)
We were not allowed to sit (only stand).
slept for 3-4 hours per day
For two months all this.

I was in the military police.

I lost 23 kgrs in those two months!

[auriond]

Oohh. Sounds effective. I might want to start imposing such a regime on myself... though running in high heels and standing at my desk all day might have detrimental effects on my physical and social health respectively.  :o

[tube]

Last time I los weight it was in the army.

The last time I gained weight was in the army. Like Timosity said, muscle weighs more than fat... : Granted, I was there for a year, and even though it was tough for a nerd like me, it wasn't exactly the kind of torture Nikolas described.

I'm 183cm and weigh about 70-75kg. I was a good 10 kilograms heavier back when I was physically in much better shape.

[Andail]

I'm quite underweight; 179cm and slightly below 60kg.
I eat very much (I have a huge protein and carb intake), even take food suplements on a daily basis and I work out a lot too, resistance training with weights and stuff, almost every day. I don't gain a gram. But I'm rather fit, if I may say so myself, and beat most of my friends in armwrestling

[brokenbutterfly]

I realize that some points in what I said are the same as Layabout's and also Stupot's  sorry to have read badly, and repeating what you guys said! But it shows which ideas should work, since many people agree.

I think the army's ways is good, it sort of sounds like my own lifestyle:

I too only ate what I was given (no junk food in my family) and when I cook for myself, it's always healthy.
I don't drink at all, except occasionally at friends' or parties.
I walk very fast, in large strides. People have trouble keeping up with me, they say "don't run!" but I'm not running 
I walk a lot, and when taking the bus or subway, I never sit down. Except if I have to travel 30 stations. I only sit down when I have to = work.
I sleep for 7 hours at the most.

I'm pretty fit  and in good health I can run or walk up stairs to a 6th floor without feeling breathless, I do push-ups, crunches, some kickboxing, in addition to eating healthy. But my arms remain slender, especially the wrists, so I don't think I'd beat anyone at armwrestling 

[Oliwerko]

Same with me with the standing things - I never sit in a tram or bus, except when it is reeealy hot in the summer and I travel a long route, that is one exception. I do not use elevators as well.

[miguel]

Well, in my case I don't have a choice:
  if I don't workout, I gain weight quickly, so I always do something every day.
  If I can't make it to the gym  I make sure I go for a bicycle ride before dinner.
  Me and my stepson can spend 3-4 hours playing football non-stop, I'm telling you, the day-after sometimes I can't even put my feet on the ground because it hurts so much!
  I have one good meal a day, like lunch, and then eat much less during the rest of the day. Adults don't need two full meals a day, except you have a demanding job/profession.
  I stopped smoking last December 1st and I got some weight afterwards, it's normal, but I've managed to lose it!

[Emerald]

Wow, I sound like a lazy asshole compared to all of you...
I'm terribly unfit, never exercise and have a sub-average metabolism. Yet I'm very nearly underweight. It's odd.

Luckily I have my winning personality to compensate. Heh.

[Nyu001]

I am all the contrary here, My diet is to gain weight! Which I find it hard!

[radiowaves]

Damn, I wish I were one of those people who needed a bit of diet... I have tried to gain weights for many times but always fail. I am just not used to eat too much.

[Nyu001]

My problems are not enough good food that can help me generally I get crap food. I have a fast metabolism. And I walks a lot from Monday to Thursday. I do big travels from my house to college where I need to walk a lot, to take a bus, a train, a mini bus, etc , for go to college.

[radiowaves]

Yes, its pretty much the same for me. However, when I am not walking to school or back, I barely do any exercise. I am also a bit of underweight. Only at summers, i do lot of bike travelling or hiking, but I don't gain anything. Crap food i think.

[Nyu001]

I tend to do exercise when I get time and mostly is in summer time that I have near of 4 months free that I spend doing the things I want.

[InCreator]

Of course, it's an anti-advice here, but I have never been overweight, not even close.

I eat junk food like a trash compactor. In those 8+ cups of coffee I drink daily, 4 spoons of sugar goes into each cup.
Large chocolate, extra large potato chips, liter of ice cream or deskload of candy finds no mercy between my teeth.
Spending 90% of my time at computer, there's no exercise to talk of. When I do walk though, I move at triple speed and cover long distance quite quickly. I'm never out of shape enough to have any physical trouble doing what I always do.

I don't gain a pound!

My "trick" (or rather a curse) is...
...smoking.

For a long-time chain-smoker it's almost impossible to make difference in hunger and smoke-hunger. So, in most of times, when a spoonful of food is needed, I lit up instead, not realizing which one I wanted.

Don't try this at even worst desperation though: if you're already overweight, your heart and blood vessels are endangered even without extra poisoning. But if we're honest about diets, it does work.

I'm also one of those who wants to gain some weight, to have a bit more respectable body mass: people rate me 4-5 years younger at first sight and no 24-year old likes to be taken as a teenager. Doesn't help in fights neither...

[Tuomas]

A couple of things recently.

My girlfriend bought a new dress which is awesome, for her graduation party. She wan't to slim down for it even though it fits perfectly and I was unable to see the part of her she wanted to get rid of. Made me want to get my sixpack back for the summer/beachtime.

I lost to my little brother in armwrestling. A thing, that has never happened before. I'm a bit afraid, he might start revenging all the hard time I put him through while I had the 2 year advantage, all the bruises and all... I need to start lifting those silly dumbells again.

My foot cracked. Or I'm not sure what happened, but it's been aching for 2 weeks now. My body is in desparate need of rollerskating now the roads are dry, I need a jog every now and then, or at least a walk, but it hurts, it hurts like hell, even riding a bike hurts like hell.

These three things go together. I did it for 3 weeks, a workout on the floor, I applied a backbag full of books, 15kg it measured. Wore it while doing abs, pushups, may back, biceps... I ate porridge in the morning, half a meal every day and some in the evening, but I didn't see results except for tireness for waking up before noon so I kinda stopped doing it little by little. It's hard when you really don't see anything happening even though sweating and muscles all tensed up. That's my problem. Also, no jogging for me, the doctors appointment on that and other things is after 3 weeks