At first I thought weight loss was about being strict: Less carbs, less fat, more protein, more veggies, more exercise, and sticking to your daily calorie goal religiously. But, obviously, that's a recipe for disaster.
This has taught me to shun things like potatoes, for example. Or olive oil. What I didn't know is that things like these are actually my best ally.
At first, I started counting the calories in food by measuring the food as calories per gram, instead of just estimating. Which made me realize that my mashed potato recipe is a lot less caloric than I thought:
1000g Potatoes ~800kcal 400g heavy cream ~800kcal garlic, paprika and salt ~ negligible
1600/1400 = 1.2 calories per gram. Which means that 400g of these mashed potatoes is only ~500kcal. 400g of mashed potatoes is INSANELY filling, although it doesn't last long as it's mostly carbs. But it means I can incorporate it into my diet without ever worrying about it.
Hell, even deep fried stuff isn't as caloric as I thought as long as you control the amount of oil that it absorbs. So instead of deep frying it, you cook it in an air fryer with measured oil, so that it doesn't come out paper dry, and you get to control how many calories it'll be. And to add onto that, store bought food also doesn't have to be high calorie. I've found ramen that comes for ~300kcal a pack and a 400g pizza that comes out at ~900kcal.
Another thing I've tackled is the daily calorie goal. I've come to realize, individual days don't matter as much as I thought. They're important, but not game-changing. Say I eat 2800kcal in a day, 400kcal over my maintenance TDEE, and I should be eating 1800kcal. Instead of eating only 1400kcal the next day, I could just eat 1700kcal for the next 4 days. Or keep eating 1800kcal but also walking in place for like 10 minutes for those next 4 days.
And lastly, exercise. I just mentioned walking in place for 10 minutes, but it doesn't even have to be in place. You could just choose to walk to a place you usually drive to. Or you could play a game that needs physical movement. Or you could put some music on and dance. It does not have to be a chore, nor does it have to be arduous, or get you all sweaty and sore. It's just as simple as moving more, however that may be.
Sorry if this was obvious to you and you were expecting something more, but this seriously took me years of trying to lose weight to figure out. Hopefully this helps someone realize that too.
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/u/nastillion
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