Want to lose weight? Stop exercising

Everything else
41

I’ve had the same problem, and here’s what’s worked for me so far: I keep a food journal.

It’s just a google docs spreadsheet showing what I’ve eaten and how many calories it was. This has had two benefits:

  1. I pay attention to calories. Like you said - six chips is 150 calories. When you actually pause and look at that stuff, you realize that scarfing the whole bag won’t work.
  2. I know how many calories I’ve had in a day, and that makes the late night snacking (which is also a big problem I struggle with) easier to deal with.
  3. I know how many calories are in a typical beer (200 or thereabouts; it varies pretty widely).

I don’t know why, but just keeping tabs on all this helps. Combined with my lifting & occasional cardio I’ve been slowly but steadily dropping 1-2 lbs per week.

42

Switching out most of my sugary soda consumption for fizzy water helped me cut a big chunk of calories.

As for snacking, don’t take the whole bag to the couch. Go to the kitchen, put a reasonable amount of chips into a small bowl, and put the bag away. If you’re still hungry after finishing the bowl, go back and get another one. The key is not bringing the giant feedbag to the couch – having to go back to the kitchen for more makes it easier to consciously decide “nah, I’ve had enough”, rather than mindlessly keep shoveling chips into your face.

For stuff you really don’t want to give up, it’s all about portion control :)

43

jeffd, that kind of tracking sounds great. I think EVERY diet has a big Heisenberg effect. No matter the rules or gimmick for the diet, just the fact that you have to devote even a little attention to everything you eat will likely lead to eating less and eating better.

For me, exercise has an indirect motivation too. The earlier conversation about it not directly being very effective for weight loss makes sense to me, but it sounds like I have a different reaction from the people who ‘reward’ themselves with indulgent eating when they exercise. Now when I look at a snack, I can’t help but calculate “damn, that’s another 40 minutes on the elliptical”. So I indulge less - I’m already too busy, I feel like I don’t often have time to chow down a bag of chips.

44

I tried making gradual changes in my diet but it never stuck so I ended up going cold turkey: no fast food, no junk food, nothing but water to drink. I was a prime candidate for Type 2 diabetes so I had bonus incentive to make it work and it did.

My advice if cold turkey won’t work is to start by swapping out a single snack and/or meal and get used to that, then slowly expand on it. Not keeping fatty snacks around isn’t weak-willed, it’s sensible. Lose the chips and snack on some veggies or nuts. Have an apple if you have a sweet tooth, maybe with a slice of cheddar. Substitute water for one beer each day and then expand on that.

As Ben notes, think in terms of a lifestyle change, not a temporary diet, because that’s what it takes to lose the weight and then keep it off. jeffd’s suggestion to track calories could help, too.

I went from a size 34 waist to a size 30. It’s nice to know the tire was not a permanent part of me. :)

45

Ok, so a few things.

  1. I’m already on diet soda/water. Beer is my weakness. Obviously that needs addressing.

  2. Yes, veggies are good snacks. I have veggies in my fridge. They also suuuuuuuuuck as a snack. I mean, I can eat a carrot, or a piece of bok choi with salt. It just doesn’t hit the spot, you know? I guess that’s something mental to overcome.

  3. Talisker, that’s good advice. The bowl idea.

  4. I have a calorie counter, and haven’t used it much, but I will start.

Here are my ideas:

  1. Go to bed earlier. The later I stay up, the more say, free time I’m killing, and the more I will be hungry/tempted. If I go to bed a bit earlier, not only do I get more sleep, it cuts down the time I have to think about eating.

  2. Man up and stop snacking. Really, there is no way around this other than just doing it. Same with idle beer drinking.

  3. If/when I get a craving, work out/lift and/or walk the dog and/or go for a walk. Again, both distraction and exercise.

  4. Start smoking. Appetite suppression? :) Ok, that’s a bad one, but hell . . . smoking is kinda fun.

  5. Play more videogames or read instead of watching TV/movies. I know, sitting on the couch is a big no no, and I wonder why I am getting fat? But seriously, as an alternative, I know I eat less when doing these things.

  6. Big breakfast, smaller lunch, smaller dinner. The problem here is that dinner is the most social of meals, so often I’m having dinner out. It ends up being my biggest meal. I guess, socialize less? Hermit-time for weight loss!

  7. Take up more hobbies to fill time in the evening. I’ve started hiking more now that’s it warm out, but of course there are lots of other hobbies.

Oh, the price of living a sedentary, safe, comfortable lifestyle in a country where food is plentiful and cheap. The biological imperative to sit around and relax and be entertained is strong, strong, strong.

46

Excersizing most likely works better when paired with a good diet. As it is, with my Wii Fit routine, I’m not getting much success.

47

ElG,

Replace the beer when watching TV/movies with ice water. If your tap water sucks, get a nice filter. I’ve learned to love filtered ice water over the past few years and always drink it at night from dinnertime until bedtime. Also cut out any soda that’s not at lunch or dinner. Having a can at lunch and a glass at dinner (or replace with beer at dinner) isn’t going to make enough difference to kill you. Yes it’s empty calories, but it’s at most 300 of them (around 150 per can/glass) and there’s room in a normal diet for that.

On snacking. You’re right, vegetables are the suck when you crave salty crunchy goodness. You could try rice cakes, or there are some popcorn based snacks that are very low calorie per decent sized serving. Use the idea already posted about a bowl and avoid the “half-the-bag” debacle. You could also try eating a smaller dinner a bit later, and putting a “snack” based on fruits/vegetables or other healthy foods into your late afternoon or early evening. “Grazing” is an effective appetite control mechanism if done correctly.

Sounds like you eat dinner out a lot. Try scanning the menu for smaller portion entrees, skip appetizers (or just order an appetizer for dinner, but be careful, most are loaded with fat and calories!) and stick to the one beer followed by ice water rule. If you know you’re going to be drinking socially after dinner, then forget the beer at dinner and have two at the bar while socializing. Also consider the tried and true doggy bag. Many restaurant meals are large enough to split into two dinners, so why don’t you? I understand this only works if you’re heading home (or to her place) right after dinner, but the upside is you have a “free” delicious meal for the next night already made.

48

You can take a pill that will prevent some of your fat being absorbed by your intestines, thus lowering your daily caloric intake without any conscious effort on your part. You instead poop the excess fat out. It’s called Alli. We’ve poked fun of it here and other threads.

A buddy of mine who works for the largest patent squatting firm in the world let me know of another drug called ZAG that’s in trials now. It reduces the fat cells in your body… and then you poop them out too. It used to be a cancer drug, then physicians noticed the patients on this drug had weight loss in excess of what one would expect from chemo and radiation treatments. Looks to be a bona fide fat pill. It may be out in the market in a couple of years. http://www.halsapharma.net/productdevelopment.html

49

If you’re looking for a good tool for calorie and exercise tracking, Sparkpeople.com has a surprising comprehensive database of foods, allows you to create recipes which it then gives you the nutritional data for, and provides feedback on how you’re doing with the goals you’ve set up. It’s awesome.

50

Snacking is fine, so don’t cut it out altogether. Regular healthy snacks keep your body energized and feeling sated. Veggies aren’t exciting, yeah, that’s why I suggested nuts or some fruit, too. The point is to gradually shift your habits and become used to the new routine.

The idea of taking drugs to lose 15 pounds strikes me as wholly unnecessary and introduces possibilities of side effects that can be avoided by simply eating sensibly and developing the good habits to sustain that.

51

Right now this thread on weight loss is sitting close to a thread on pancakes and cheesecake…

52

And beer. Whimper.

If somehow I could just transfer the fat from my belly to, I don’t know, my biceps, everything would be ok.

err, that was a picture of a guy with weird biceps.

Or maybe not.

53

Something that I have found effective is to use things like vegetables as “filler,” and then end the snack with a small portion of what I really want. For example, you can start your snack by eating some cauliflower, which is so low in calories that it’s practically not even food, and then end the snack with a very small portion of chips or cookies or whatever. I’ve been using the 100 calorie snacks quite a lot for that, and some of them are actually quite good. They aren’t any better for you than their higher-calorie cousins–it’s mostly just that the portion sizes are smaller. But if you’ve already filled up on something like cauliflower or carrots, then you are good.

Fruit is also your friend, Despite being sweet and tasty, it’s usually pretty low in calories. I’ve been on a pineapple kick lately–get a fresh pineapple, cut it up, stow it in the fridge. A cup of pineapple chunks is only about 85 calories. That’s quite a lot of pineapple.

Salsa also has minimal calories. It’s a good thing to have with chips to help fill you up. I’ve been getting baked corn chips–they have a bit of a weird taste alone, but with salsa it’s hard to tell the difference.

Sounds like you eat dinner out a lot. Try scanning the menu for smaller portion entrees, skip appetizers (or just order an appetizer for dinner, but be careful, most are loaded with fat and calories!) and stick to the one beer followed by ice water rule.

Yep. Also, you can order larger things (and at some restaurants, all the portions are large, so it can be hard to avoid), but the trick is to evaluate the plate before you start eating, and decide up front how much of it you are going to eat. Physically portion it off–cut your entree in half, section off a portion of fries, whatever. It sounds silly, but this will seriously help you avoid overeating.

Also, go ahead and have the beer, but as Slainte Mhath says, stop after one. I think it’s a bad idea to completely deny yourself things that you really enjoy–it just makes it that much more likely that you are going to go off the diet. So let yourself eat things that you like from time to time, and focus on keeping yourself from eating too much of those things.

Livestrong.org has a great free calorie tracker, BTW, and also an iPhone app (not free, but its only $3 or so, and it works great–I highly recommend it).

54

Here. Just do the No S Diet. Pretty good common-sense stuff.

55

I’ve been at my adjusted goal weight for about three months now. I still watch what I eat, for the most part. But overall, I eat what I want, just not nearly as much as I used to. There’s a bit of a built-in incentive to not let myself eat like I used to. I like how I look right now, and I want to continue looking this way.

There are people on the Nutrisystem board who have been doing maintenance with the Nutrisystem food. As you said, just a couple of days here and there. Most of the food is actually pretty darn good considering you’re getting shelf-stable pre-packaged food. I’m doing it on my own, as I currently cannot afford the packaged food, but along the Nutrisystem guidelines.

Aside from some digestive issues (easily taken care of with some caraway seeds) from the artificial sugars, no, I don’t think that there was a noticeable difference in my energy level or any other negative effects. In fact, I have more energy now than I did 50lbs ago.

56

That kind of sounds like what I did. I cut out all the daily snacking habits I’d accumulated and instead set aside Friday as a ‘cheat day’ where I allow myself to indulge a bit. It’s hard to do enough damage in one day that can’t be counteracted by the rest of the week, keeping it on a fixed schedule prevents snacking from gradually creeping in more and more often, and I find it easier to maintain the willpower to avoid snacking when I know that I will get to snack, I just have to hold out a bit longer…

57

I had many of these same habits when I started working out. I hate veggies and was never in the habit of eating fruit. I drank a lot of beer.

Once I started working out, I thought about the calories and the effect on my energy level for the beer.

I never was much of a snacker anyway, but did get hungrier due to the increase in metabolism.

I just quit drinking much beer. Now, I had already reduced going out as I was doing some stupid shit that could have wound up bad, so I do not have the need to drink socially.

I started bringing my lunch and eating cold cuts without any fattening toppings. I substituted carrots for chips. I have cut out sodas and sweet tea, mostly. I have just one coffee in the morning (I put too much crap in my coffee). I drink water all day out of a water fountain or tap (our water is fine here).

I do, occasionally, eat one of those protein bars on days I work out. I will eat a sandwich or small meal before working out in the evening and then a sandwich after or a bowl of cereal or something.

I had put on weight and my pants were starting to get tight. I had gained 10 pounds and lost 12. I have always been thin and known as the skinny guy. The fact that I was getting a gut and my pants were getting tight was freaking me out.

I, basically, decided my health and well-being were more important than the other and I better stop the trend of weight gain and out-of-shapedness before I get farther into my 40’s and it may be too late.

58

Switch over to chips you don’t really like very much. You still get crunch and salt, but you’ll won’t eat as many because the taste will make you go WTF am I eating after only few.

59

I was skeptical about that “No S” diet, but it sounds interesting. I’m going to try it for a month and see what happens. Easy enough rules.

60

This rarely works, for the reason you mentioned. Additionally - dinner is just a big meal.

Don’t try to make dinner the smallest meal. Just make sure that it’s not a majority of your calories during the day. These days I’m eating ~2000-2200 calories per day (according to my log) and my typical dinner is somewhere around 800 calories.

And yeah, you just gotta not drink beer. I know how hard that is - I’ve got a huge beer collection, and I’ve got a kegerator with a pair of absolutely fantastic homebrews in it. You just gotta man up here. One thing I try to do is not have a beer on consecutive nights - I had a Westvleteren 12 last night (omg) so tonight I’m going to have to go without.

Oh, another thing - a lot of times I drink beer because I’m just thirsty. Pour yourself a glass of water. Or make a cup of hot tea - I’m having a cup of hot tea every night before bed these days, when it used to be I’d sip on some high ABV beer.

Grain of salt and all that, I’ve only been at this for maybe three or four weeks. But so far it’s working great.