Let’s face it—fitness books are often filled with cringe-worthy fad diets or overloaded with scientific terms that only a PhD holder could decipher. If you’re like me, you’ve probably tried every trending diet, only to end up feeling overwhelmed and blaming yourself when they don’t work.
When I finally consulted a nutritionist, I accepted that weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. I wanted straightforward, practical steps to reduce body fat—without the fluff.
A few points or a novel?
Glad to hear your making a change! I look forward to
being dunked oncorrected from those with better knowledge!If you can, get professional advice - I was able to access heavily subsidised resources in my country due to a (surprise) diabetes diagnosis. Sadly I believe its a crapshoot in US, but here there are regulations and recognized professionals to go to, and ‘care plans’ avalaible for chronic illness to get access to these services subsidised.
It’s hevaly individualised, so as per usual on the totally trustworthy internet, try and find a range of sources, take the common themes, and cross out what just doesn’t work for you.
Two main sources ive liked that had advice that largely resonated with me: https://cleanslate.sh/curriculum https://physiqonomics.com/fat-loss/ (except the supplement crap)
Weight loss is 90% eating habits, 10% exercise. You cannot outrun a poor diet, but ideally you will do both for the health benefits, they do go hand in hand.
Kitchen 90%
Its tracking calories in, calories out. Forget the fad diets, your body is a machine, and if you put more energy into it than it needs, it will store it as fat - run at a deficit it will burn fat (warning: it will also burn lean muscle which is bad if you dont exercise, so theres a balance to acheive on speed of loss)
Work out your maintenance calories, and then how much you want to lose per week. I was aggressive to try and kick diabetes to the curb, mine was 2200cal/day maintenance and i meal planneed 1200cal. (Averaged 900-950grams a week). I woudln’t recommend being that aggressive honestly, I just got real spooked by the idea of having T2 diabetes at a young age, i think 500 to 750 is usually more ‘acceptable’.
Next and (final?) level is understanding calories come as protein/carbs/fat, and balancing them in the meal plan. TLDR, keep protein high (~30% of calories, I see 0.8g / kg of lean mass thrown around a bit) as it helps signal your body to feel ‘fulll’ (satiety) and its key for muscle growth/retention. Split carbs and fat however. This is where you bring back in the ‘fad diet’ and decide which style you prefer eating - vegan, carnivore, atkins, mediteranean, whatever you prefer, just as long as its tracked vs CICO.
Nobody wants to track what they eat, what I found lifesaving was doing ONE meal plan in a tool (my fitness/mynetdiary) for one day, and eating that day in day out over the week without much thought or deviation. Eating one plan for a week enabled bulk cooking on weekends, cut down on shopping complexity, food waste, bills.
For protein, add protein powder, lean chicken, lentils/beans, tuna, salmon, (https://cleanslate.sh/groceries)
For filling (blog point on ‘dilution’), low starch veggies like cucumber, brocoli, cauli, etc. They have very high mass to calories ratio, adding a bunch to a place fills you up for cheap. Oh yeah and fibre too.
Uh… then track? Ideally with measuring tape and logging semi-regulary. Scales are fine but flucuate as much as ±1.5kg so you probably dont want to either keepa eye on it weekly or track it daily and average out.
You can then gauge if you need to increase/decrease calories if the weight loss is off
If you are feeling hungry/cant stick to the plan, look to add more protein (and reduce carbs/fat), and more serves of low starch veg.
Exercise: 10%
Lack of exercise (i.e. desk job) means muscles become harder to accepting insulin (insulin resistance) as they aren’t needing the energy intake, which is a factor in diabetes (sugar builds up avaliable in blood but isnt being uptaken into the muscles) Also, if you arent using your muscles your body will start to turn to breaking down muscle tissue for calories over fat, especially if you aren’t exercising (i.e. giving it stimulus to indicate you need it). This can have poor effects on metabolism/weight loss progress, lean mass is really important for health.
Strength training
Strength training and high protein diet helps signal the body to keep muscle/actively develop it, helping ensure weight loss comes from fat cells not muscle. 3 times a week, 45 min-ish? I hit up reddit /r/bodyweightfitness, then also got PT at free work gym (by a ex-commonwealth games boxer!) and also later diabetes fitness training. Doing something that hits pull, push and legs 3 times a week is a great minimum, either free weights, cable machines, or low-to-no equipment bodyweight at home. Ive been doing everything i need with a pullup bar, gymnastic rings, adjustable kettleball and some resistance bands, < $200 setup. Also: https://cleanslate.sh/lifting
Cardio
Cardio helps you not die early and can lower resting heart rate. I think it had some impact on blood sugar/insulin resistance too. To be ‘time efficient’ Ive been doing a mock-HIIT with kettleball swings twice a week, 5-10 mins cycling max HR and lower ‘rest’ HR and skipping rope ($5) on off days as workout warmum. Couch to 5k (interval training) is another good approach. I can’t verify how effective this is, but i can definietly jog further without wanting to die than I used to. Other options would be HIIT with rowing machine, bike, skipping rope, burpees (nope thx), etc. You can also just go for a run and have HR in zone 2. Also: https://cleanslate.sh/cardio
Walking Reduces risk of early death, daily walks were sold to me as the final 1% on top for health, and the doggos love it.
Personal outcomes: I had second thoughts adding this. I find the success stories feel like bragging/unibtainabke, not encouraging. I let myself go for years, and had multiple half hearted attempts and fixing, but never had the right drive ir knowledge until very recently. Forget Bad days, be kind to yourself, and back yourself fornghe long-term, it’s OK if life throws a spanner in your plans.
I think im sorry for the wall of text, but if it helps one person…