44 Underrated Fat Loss Tips From People Who Used To Be Overweight

Walk, I don’t care if it’s half a mile or 10k steps. Just go walk and it will become easier and you can go further and do more little by little. Do it every day.

Emlashed:

I finished dead last in a 10k race. It wasn't my first 10k but it was much harder than the prior one. Unfortunately, I knew I was last before I even finished because I started being tailed by a golf cart and volunteers opening the road back up behind me as I went. I was really struggling with it emotionally for that last half mile, I was pretty overweight and not a natural runner and the realization that I was actually last crushed me. I was almost in tears by the time I saw the finish line.
The crowd was gone, it was just volunteers waiting for my fat a*s to get over there so they could start breaking down the finish line area. Then I saw one lady standing in the middle of the road just over the line, holding a medal, and cheering for me.
When I crossed the line, she congratulated me, gave me that medal, and when she saw I was indeed now crying, told me to remember that no matter what, I still beat everyone at home on the couch.
I will always appreciate that nice woman and that sentiment still helps me power through sometimes.

Don't let one slip-up mess up the whole day. "Ugh, I already ate that donut, might as well get pizza! I'll start fresh tomorrow!".

aslfingerspell:

I once heard someone phrase this as "Don't let a slip turn into a slide."

Water. Lots of water. Any time you think you feel hungry and it's not mealtime, grab some water.

(Weighed almost 300 lbs this time last year, currently 177 lbs).

b2q:

Cucumbers also work. They are cheap, basically just water and you still get the feeling you are eating something.

Eating disorders can make you big, too. For me, weight loss didn’t start with the gym or counting calories or c*****g soda. It started with a really great therapist. I’m down 120lbs and haven’t dieted at all, just fixed my relationship with food. .

Stop thinking about it as a "diet" or temporary thing. Think about it as " this is how I eat now" and the temporary thing is eating junk or sweets once in a while.

lilsmudge:

Consequently, it’s really, really, really important to find food you genuinely enjoy that fits into that. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but a small indulgence will be better than a big one and help you sustain that diet.
I love salt. I love it. I love potatoes with butter and cheese; f*****g delicious, f*****g terrible for me. I discovered that a great swap for me is an unseasoned baked potato (truly an underrated health food, potatoes have fiber and super h**h satiety) with super, violently garlicky homemade hummus, black beans, and kale. The garlic makes everything taste really indulgent and despite having no cheese or butter it tastes like it does. With the beans and kale it’s got s**t loads of fiber and protein and keeps me full for most of the day for relatively few calories.

Don't drink your calories.

badexcelmonkey:

This is such a good tip. Soda, sauces, dressings, and other liquid foods have way more calories than it looks. I lost a lot of weight just by c*****g out soda with no changes to my physical activities.

be_american_get_shot:

Alcohol was double trouble for me. I would out aside a bunch of calories so I could drink. Drink to end the day. Then often I'd get k**ler munchies and not care so just eat something terrible after drinking late.
Worst. Diet. Ever.
Stopped drinking and everything else fell into place.

Swimming.

Easy on joints already struggling with extra weight, who would otherwise find cardio hard.

Also great for strengthening lungs, for overweight people (or any people, really!) struggling with breathing issues.

Helped me lose 20% of my body weight some years ago.

Don't go 0 to 100% immediately.

If you switch from a poor diet and no work-out to an insane diet and intense regimen in one day, you are never going to stick to it.

It's okay to progress slowly.

Stop looking for shortcuts. The time you waste looking for a magic diet fad, supplement or pill could have been used to actually do the work and get you half way there.

Take advice from people who have never been fat with a massive grain of salt. A lot of gym rats, bodybuilders and extremely in-shape people actually give atrocious advice to fat people ; recommanding exercises that are going to m****r your joints and failing to recognize that losing fat for them and losing fat for you are two very different things. They also completely ignore the psychological aspect of getting fat in the first place because they've never experienced it.

Motivation is good but discipline is what is going to get you there.

Don't give up after one bad day, or week-end or even month. Getting healthy is a journey.

It’s okay to go to bed a little hungry. Drink water and go to sleep.

binglybleep:

Just in general it’s okay to BE a little hungry. You won’t die if you’re hungry for a bit, and if you want to lose weight you’re probably going to have to be a little hungry at least sometimes, because the whole point is that you’re eating less than you were.
Eating every time you think you might be hungry (which for a lot of people isn’t a true signal of needing food, it can be boredom, just wanting to eat etc) is frankly how a lot of us get to the point where we need to lose weight.

Stop drinking sugary drinks. You'll lose a s**tload of weight if you stop drinking soda as a main liquid intake.

Being honest with yourself and tracking your calories. Get a calorie tracker, and run your meals for a week. Don’t change anything, eat and drink like normal for a week, but track it all. It’ll blow your mind how that handful of nuts/4 sodas/couple extra dinner rolls with butter/etc. all add up and you’re staring at a mind-bending daily caloric intake. It shows you where you’re REALLY starting from, and you can make real adjustments to get started.

My wife lost it through us just walking and eating healthy. It took time, but portion size was more important than what foods she ate. Think "how you eat, not what you eat." And every day after dinner we walked for a few blocks, working up on distance and pace. Now we walk more and hike on weekends. But in the beginning, it starts slow. But then 6 months later, she was a different human. One year later even more. Nothing is instant.

I upped my protein and fiber intake, 2 liters of water a day. All that kept me from feeling hungry so I didn’t eat as much. I’m still kind of fat, but I’m working it down. Just gotta get into a decent exercise routine.

A little surprised I haven’t seen this yet: BE NICE TO YOURSELF.

Think of yourself with nice words, don’t bad talk and insult yourself!! Accept that you who you are *right now* is valuable and worthy of the changes you’re working towards. *When* you slip up, do not berate and malign yourself—just say “oops” and then promise yourself to try again at the next opportunity.

Don't put so much pressure on yourself and take it a day at a time, the more you fixate on it, the more it takes over your mind and will cause all or nothing. Find distractions and keep busy. Slowly at first and then you'll see the weight drop and it will become natural.

My opinion is that advice people give that requires entirely c*****g things you love, or making you do things that make you feel bad, are bound to fail. But this is just my experience, and everyone is different.

For me it started with calorie counting, and trying to be honest with myself about those estimates, while recognizing that I was probably under counting things. From the calorie counting and watching my progress, I came to several realizations/tips:

1) Reduce your portions. Especially eating at restaurants in the US, portion sizes are huge. Start off by just leaving a little on your plate instead of cleaning it, and gradually reduce further. After a while you won’t be able to finish the plate at a lot of places even if you try. When making things at home, measure out a serving instead of guessing.

2) You don’t have to entirely quit sweets or snacks but be aware of what you’re eating. Some desserts might be 800 calories and not really much more satisfying than eating something with 200 calories. There are lots of things that you can have a little treat for 100-200 calories if you seek them out, you don’t have to go cold turkey!

3) Don’t beat yourself up over “cheat days” or whatever. It’s about building better, sustainable habits, not strictly following some rule book. If you treat yourself once in a while, or decide not to track things for a few days during holidays, it’s not going to matter in the long run. And feeling like you’re allowed to do things like that will help you keep the habits.

4) Don’t keep things in the house which you don’t want to eat. If you’re trying to reduce ice cream, or chips, or alcohol, or whatever, don’t buy it. It is so, so, so much easier to have willpower once a week at the store than 24/7 at home.

5) Give yourself milestones and rewards to work towards. For me at least, losing the weight was rewarding on its own, but having additional things to work toward (like, buying myself something I’d been wanting at certain milestones) was an extra motivation to keep going.

Lift weights as you lose weight. You will probably lose weight slower, but you will hang on to your muscle mass while you’re in a calorie deficit.

I took up biking and running and didn’t start lifting until I had lost about 45 pounds. I would do it differently if I had to start over. However I will say, it was fun to be able to see the muscle as I put it back on.

At my doughy-est, I was 265. My wife wouldn’t tell me hers. While I was doing our taxes, I calculated how much we were spending on cigarettes every year. It was close to $10,000. So we quit. It was a b***h quitting after 24 years. But after 2 weeks, our sense of smell and taste returned, and we realized what s****y food we were stuffing ourselves with. So we got gym memberships and started exercising. At first, I couldn’t even do 15 minutes on the exercise bike. But after awhile we both got into great shape. We ran marathons and climbed mountains. .

Get tested for sleep apnea. If you're not getting good sleep (there's more than just getting 8ish hours), your body may not be metabolizing your food properly. I'm down 25 pounds in 6 months after starting to use a CPAP, and I feel so much better now that I'm getting good sleep. 


Also eat a ton of veggies. I've started getting lots of potatoes, carrots, squash, and onions do chop up and roast as a side dish or the base of a meal. I'm new to roasting veggies and was astonished by how much seasoning I needed to add, but I can eat that mix for meals, snacks, and mindless grazing everyday. Bonus if you're able to get fresh produce from a farmers market!


Lastly, find fun ways to move. Good habits have to be enjoyable. I love square and contra dancing, and go at least once a week. Walk around your neighborhood while listening to music or taking pictures. My friends and I will go on leisurely walks when we're hanging out sometimes. .

When you first start to think you’ve had enough. Stop. Full stop. I don’t care if there’s more on your plate. Drink some more water and save the rest for later. Even if it’s only a few hours later.