I know that these posts can be dime a dozen, but I thought I’d offer up some tips to my method of cutting weight relatively quickly. Just to give you some background on my situation -- I weighed in on January 1st at 224 pounds. I am a late 20s, 6’ 4” male. I had a starting calorie budget of around 1,990 calories to lose ~2lbs per week.
I’ve cut weight a couple times before and I’ve always wanted my weight loss to be done with as quickly as was safely possible. My strategies here may not be the right fit for everyone. I had to have a great deal of self control and form some habits for various things like calorie tracking. But, as you can see, I averaged around .5lbs per day of loss since I started. Adjust my strategy to fit your needs! With my goal in mind (reach 200lbs), I set off on my weight loss adventure.
Calorie Tracking First thing I did was form a habit of calorie tracking after each meal using Lose It! Play Store Link. I really like Lose It for the ease of use, dark theme, food library, ability to sync with Fitbit and Nokia Smart Scales (among others), and plan out meals ahead. I meticulously tracked what I ate and always erred on the high side when logging calories. I also spent time every Sunday planning out my lunches and dinners, when possible, and going ahead and logging those meals in advance. It shows up in the app greyed out until you “activate” the meal on the day it’s logged. I found logging in advance super helpful in keeping me on track and honest about what I was consuming.
Intermittent Fasting Next, I decided to try intermittent fasting. I have been using an app called Zero Link to track my fasts and remind me when to start/stop. It has a nice timer built in along with other features that let you track how you’re feeling during your fast. While I don’t really buy into what some say about IF being some sort of miracle diet where you can eat anything you want and then fast for x number of hours, I did find it extremely helpful in helping me cut out late night snacking. For 42 straight days now, I have started fasting after finishing dinner. I have not had a late night snack since 2019. I used to chow down, sometimes subconsciously, late at night while watching shows or gaming. I effectively cut out hundreds of excess calories a day by sticking to my fasting schedule. I personally follow a 16:8 schedule, where I fast for 16 hours and then have an 8 hour window in which to eat. It took me about a week to get used to fasting for that long, but now it’s not an issue. You are obviously still allowed to take supplements and drink calorie-free beverages during your fast. If you find yourself not making it 16 hours, try starting with 12 overnight and work your way up. After ~8 hours, your food should be fully digested. Time after that, your body (in theory) is using fat stores to power itself.
Body Stats! I also invested in a smart scale. I bought the Nokia Withings Body+ Link I was able to get it for under $80. It not only tracks your weight, but also your body fat %, muscle weight, water weight, and bone density, all through your feet. How you may ask? By sending a very small electrical pulse into your feet. Fat and muscle react differently to that electrical impulse and the scale detects that. It’s an approximation of course, but I’ve found it to be consistent on all fronts. On top of that, it beams your stats to your phone and the Health Mate app, which can also be paired with Lose It! and Fitbit.
Exercise Additionally, I do go to the gym. I average 5 days a week for roughly 45 minutes per visit. 4 days a week I lift, alternating between upper body and lower body. I use primarily machines and try to hit every major muscle group in that area during my lift. 3 sets of 8-10 reps per set. After I lift, I do 30 minutes of cardio. On leg days I elliptical (I am prone to patellar tendonitis so running is risky for me) and on upper body days I ride a stationary bike. I burn roughly 350-450 calories in a visit depending on how vigorous my cardio is that day. Remember, you will never out train your diet. I wear a Fitbit Versa 2 to track my steps and heart rate. My resting heart rate has dropped 8 beats per minute since January 1st.
Food! Last but not least, I changed my diet...but not drastically. This is where many people fail. They make huge changes to what they eat, hate their lives after eating salad for the 8th day in a row, and slip back into eating junk. DON’T DO THAT TO YOURSELF! Since I fast, I don’t eat breakfast currently. Not a huge deal for me since I typically didn’t eat a full fledged breakfast before. For lunches right now I try and stay under 500 calories. A staple of nearly every lunch over the past month has been a ONE Protein Bar + a banana (or some other fruit). Sometimes I will add more, like a few slices of lunch meat or cheese. But again, once I adjusted to eating less, I was never starving when I reached dinner around 6 or 7pm. Recently I’ve been making Hellofresh meals for dinner because I’m a lazy bastard when it comes to grocery shopping and meal planning. I only choose meals that are under 800 calories to have delivered. I typically eat out once or twice a week, but make sure to look at menus in advance to get an idea of what will fit my calorie budget for the day. Some items will absolutely shock you with their sodium content. (Looking at you Cheddar’s meatloaf with over 5,000mg of sodium) I’ve also discovered Halo Top ice cream as a nice alternative to getting blizzards from DQ multiple times a week. It’s obviously not as creamy as normal ice cream, but it hits my ice cream craving just fine. Most pints are under 380 calories.
Also, drink more goddamn water.
I’m obviously aware that not everyone here is a 6 foot 4 male and that I have a huge advantage calorie budget wise. But, I do believe that my strategies can be adapted to anyone who’s trying to lose some weight. If you can stick to a tight CICO budget and supplement that with some decent exercise, you’ll do great. The first week or two is definitely the hardest. My next goal is to reach 15% body fat! Only 2.4% to go!
Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions about this write up, feel free to comment below or PM me! I’m so appreciative of what this community offers up to those trying to lose weight and be healthier.
Disclaimer: I have no stake in any of the products/apps that I linked. All reference links were stripped prior to posting. Only trying to share what I use!
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