Originally Posted by Libertine (Post 16284252)

I mostly quit drinking alcohol, quit putting sugar in my coffee and tea, quit eating sweets and such, removed all white bread from my diet, mostly quit eating meat, and with every meal I stop eating before I'm completely full. A few times a month I still satisfy my cravings for junkfood like pizza, tortilla chips, etc., but in moderation.

Aside from that, I do a short strength workout almost every day, and at least half an hour of cardio each day.

Basically, common sense. Eating three medium-sized meals and two (healthy) snacks a day, avoiding all junk food, and getting enough exercise.

The hard part was finding out how to change my eating habits, rather than just reducing caloric intake. Once I incorporated a better eating pattern into my entire lifestyle, it became extremely simple.

Originally Posted by Libertine (Post 16283838)

it was ridiculously easy.

Originally Posted by StuartD (Post 16285744)

That doesn't even sound easy, much less ridiculously easy.
And I don't drink, don't drink coffee or tea, no white bread and I don't eat until I'm completely full. And yet not a single part of what you said sounds "easy".

Originally Posted by pr0 (Post 16285950)

Congrats man I was at 285 about 45 days ago....Now I'm down quite a bit. I am just walking everyday, a few miles....nothing huge & watching the fastfood & crap food.

I think i will soon start a weight loss contest.....a real one, not like all the other bullshit ones that never amounted to anything in gfy history :)

Originally Posted by pr0 (Post 16285950)

Congrats man I was at 285 about 45 days ago....Now I'm down quite a bit. I am just walking everyday, a few miles....nothing huge & watching the fastfood & crap food.

I think i will soon start a weight loss contest.....a real one, not like all the other bullshit ones that never amounted to anything in gfy history :)

Originally Posted by Libertine (Post 16284670)

Increased metabolism is indeed a big benefit, but a downside is that you'll also be much hungrier. Moreover, strenuous exercise with a 1000/day caloric deficit (the amount you need to lose 2 lbs a week) is virtually impossible.

Plus, a 500/day calorie deficit (1 lb a week) is just much, much simpler to achieve through a changed diet than it is through exercise.

So personally, I think that for major weight loss dietary changes are probably the best primary strategy, whereas for maintenance, minor weight loss and improvement of overall health improvement, exercise should take up the first spot.

Originally Posted by Libertine (Post 16284252)

I mostly quit drinking alcohol, quit putting sugar in my coffee and tea, quit eating sweets and such, removed all white bread from my diet, mostly quit eating meat, and with every meal I stop eating before I'm completely full. A few times a month I still satisfy my cravings for junkfood like pizza, tortilla chips, etc., but in moderation.

Aside from that, I do a short strength workout almost every day, and at least half an hour of cardio each day.

Basically, common sense. Eating three medium-sized meals and two (healthy) snacks a day, avoiding all junk food, and getting enough exercise.

The hard part was finding out how to change my eating habits, rather than just reducing caloric intake. Once I incorporated a better eating pattern into my entire lifestyle, it became extremely simple.

Originally Posted by Sly (Post 16285358)

Sure, it really is as simple as it sounds. So far I've done it with spaghetti with meat sauce and also pesto penne with sausage.

All you do is make up a huge pot of whatever you want. I do spaghetti. And then get out a large skillet to make your sauce. I do mine with ground venison, garlic, peppers, onions, mushrooms, assortment of spices, a fairly basic tomato sauce and then sometimes add in an extra can of diced tomatoes.

After it's all done I'll usually stick it in the fridge for a few days and eat it. And then when I'm tired of eating spaghetti for the week I'll load the rest up in sandwich sized freezer bags. Pop em in the freezer, all set. Then whenever you want an easy dinner or you want spaghetti, grab a package out of the freezer, rip it open and throw it on a plate, you may want to add just a touch of water to make it a little more moist and then you throw it in the microwave for a minute or two. Take it out, break it up a little more, throw it back in for another minute or two.

It sure beats the prepackaged ones. And you have total control over what goes into it.

Originally Posted by AmeliaG (Post 16288060)

Thank you so much, Sly! I'm definitely going to try this. Actually kind of excited to try this. I guess I always assumed that the frozen dinners in the store were frozen through some secret magic formula, as opposed to, ya know, tossed in plastic after being cooked and made very cold.

Do you find that the food tastes particularly different when reheated from frozen from how it does when you first cook it or when you are only reheating from refrigerated?

Originally Posted by StuartD (Post 16285744)

That doesn't even sound easy, much less ridiculously easy.
And I don't drink, don't drink coffee or tea, no white bread and I don't eat until I'm completely full. And yet not a single part of what you said sounds "easy".

Originally Posted by StuartD (Post 16285744)

That doesn't even sound easy, much less ridiculously easy.
And I don't drink, don't drink coffee or tea, no white bread and I don't eat until I'm completely full. And yet not a single part of what you said sounds "easy".

Originally Posted by ztik (Post 16288759)

You don't even have to work out and you could have lost that or more easily

Just create a calorie deficiency and you will lose weight

Cut sat fat, sugar and complex carbs(normally sugar).

Originally Posted by Sly (Post 16288713)

Creating a food log really helps, by the way.