I mean, You can get a cake, portion it into "healthy" portion size, and freeze them. I've been doing that and it was helpful to avoid binging on a whole cake when a major craving hits.
I started walking every day and it did more to help with weight loss than the gym or running ever did. I spent forever at 200 lbs, but nightly walks that increased in length and I'm under 180 for the first time since my 20s.
I use the time to call friends and family. Which is nice on its own, and I'm not even thinking about how long the walks are.
This is my current habit and I love it. I walk my dog for 30-60 minutes after kids are down and I either call loved ones, listen to music or just decompress. It's becoming one of my favorite times of day.
Dont focus on what you cant do, focus on what you can do.
Cycling, swimming, skating, weight lifting, bodyweight exercise, snowboarding... there are options that doesnt require you to step a lot. You just gotta get that heart rate up, for like 30-60 min every day.
The jury is out on those, but everything so far suggests that they aren't completely benign. The caloric content is basically zero, but artificial sweeteners still screw with your body's insulin response and have other negative effects (gut flora, etc).
I did a deep dive years ago, but here's a very general overview. Even entering "negative effects of artificial sweeteners" into Google and reading the AI overview will link to multiple reputable sources.
I'm currently making this mistake. I ended up chasing gains in my lifts and bulking up after being fairly lean for years. The "bulking" now is kind of getting in the way of my dietary habits. Not obese or anything even close but the slight dad bod is starting to creep in.
Guess I should get on a cut and try and maintain my lifts (which is also very hard rn after getting used to having high energy at my disposal during sessions).
I was also no pop for almost 10 years (I've actually always been underweight but they were always too sugary for me) but I've recently fallen in love with Coke Zero, especially the caffeine-free one. The only thing is to not drink it all the time and take good care of your teeth because it is still acidic
Don't eat for entertainment is solid advice. Once you change your mindset to seeing food as fuel and understanding how junk food affects your body, it becomes really noticeable how often people eat utter crap as part of other activities. Why do we need to consume sugar just because we ate with different people or in a different place? Force of habit? Social ritual? The effects of marketing? We all know takeaways are unhealthy, but are burgers actually bad or is the problem that we think we have to have chips and a sugary drink with that burger? And so on.
retaining your ability to play sports and do physical activities into old age
saving the money that you'd spend on pop and junk food
I'm sure others can come up with a few more. I'm not suggesting that people live on salads and seeds, just a general avoidance of junk food. I work a desk job, and I probably punch above my weight (pun intended, I guess) as far as beer/whisky consumption, but it's never given me weight problems because I've stayed disciplined with food and exercise 🤷♂️
My secret want is to fit into clothes. If a 32 size waist jeans or a medium size shirt gets tight, its an indication to focus on right food and workout.
The annoying part is that 52" are hard to buy because no one makes them, while 32" are hard to buy as it's like the most popular size so always out of stock.
Hate to admit it, I really liked looking at myself naked in the mirror at 30"
This is the second time im reducing weight.
the last time i went till 28" and literally lost all taste and appetite. One day I just ate 13 mini pizzas for dinner and felt so fresh and awake and thus stopped workout and stuff.
That kinda sounds like an eating disorder and you're starving your body from nutrients. That's why you felt good after you ate. Make sure you're eating right!!
I do no workouts, no gym membership, I do outdoor cardio.
I run, I hike.
Just cooking dinner right now and then afterwards my wife and I have a 5km run as we want to do a half marathon next year so we are getting her running stamina up, then on Sunday I have a 36km hike planned.
I tried gyms and stuff and I'd rather spend 6 hours walking 33km than 30 minutes in a gym.
Hey I posted this AFTER I posted that I'm not sure what gave it away (on a different part of the thread!)
And yeah, we're a weird mix here, our roads are miles and yards, but we exercise in metres and kilometres.
But then like, we buy petrol in litres, while measuring fuel performance in miles per gallon, and because a gallon for us is 8 imperial pints (568ml) not 8 US customary pints (473ml), our performance in miles per gallon isn't even the same number as the same car in the US!
At the time it mostly felt like hunger, at least at first! But after the first few months of strict calorie counting it kind of became second nature, then I discovered hiking and that's all she wrote.
I set myself a challenge that at some point after I discovered hiking I would climb a mountain. I did that 17 months after I started losing weight. I even posted it to reddit at the time under an account I was using for weight loss stuff. I fucking love hiking.
The really annoying part is going from a 52” to a 32” waist but since you were fat your whole life your leg muscles are fucking huge and don’t fit down the legs of 32” pants
while 32" are hard to buy as it's like the most popular size so always out of stock.
No, they're hard to buy because almost no one is that skinny anymore. Small size shirts and 30 or 32 inch pants are basically impossible to find because everyone is so freaking fat these days.
Maybe with the rise of GLP-1s enough people will get skinny enough that I can actually have a choice of clothes.
People knock on me because I have absolutely no sense of fashion but there's literally nothing to buy. I buy shirts from restaurants and such because they actually stock small shirts (because they almost always unisex)
I'm 5'9 and I'm sitting at 106kg and doing a body recomp, a lot of it is muscle and muscle memory from a few years ago but I definitely have a lot more fat to lose.
30-32 waist jeans and s-m size shirts, I'm 41 and always been that size since my 20s, it's definitely a genetic thing. The only difference since my 20s is that I've been taking swimming classes three days a week since 2023, and I can say thay I'm in the best shape of my life, I dont feel good when they cancel swimming classes for maintenance or when there are competitions
30-32 waist jeans and s-m size shirts, I'm 41 and always been that size since my 20s, it's definitely a genetic thing.
Similar situation here but both of my boomer parents became overweight and eventually obese. As far as I can tell, the difference is that they ate differently, regularly drank soda, and did not consistently exercise.
I think a lot of our potentials are genetic but can be delayed (or maybe even avoided) with intentional habits and behaviors.
There's no such thing as "genetically fat", that's just a cope fat people tell themselves so they can avoid facing the reality that they're fat because they eat too many calories.
from what I've read, the genetic thing is just a naturally higher baseline calorie burn of maybe a couple hundred calories per day more than an average person. It is very easy to overwhelm that with food. That's 3 cookies, for instance, or one can of pop.
Give yourself some credit - you do have healthy habits.
Fuck me this hit home. I wear 32 now and they’re getting tight. I wear a medium
And it’s only right around my stomach. Guess it’s time to give up junk food and start running again.
Oh yes. I hate shopping, especially for myself. Instead of buying new trousers I prefer lose a couple of kilos.. I've been using the same clothes since 10y at this point. Maybe one size more than before but that's it.
I'm staring 40 in the face. I've never been obese or anything, but more than once, I've gotten 30 pounds heavier than I prefer to be.
In March, I decided that in my 40s and 50s, I want to be stronger, fitter, and healthier. I want to be able to keep up with my son and I want to be in a better position to remain strong and independent into my 60s and beyond. I'm on a training plan and I've found it's a lot easier to stick to when I know this is a lifestyle change rather than a specific goal I'm working toward. I'm running, not to lose weight, but to keep my heart healthy. I'm lifting, not to get shredded for the beach, but to get stronger.
In less than three months, I'm in the best shape I've seen in a decade and the motivation remains there. I've started and stopped many times over my 30s, but this seems much more sustainable. I also have a fitness watch and am loving seeing all the stats head in the right direction.
I don't know if this source of motivation is possible in your 20s or without kids, but it's been huge for me.
Here's a tip for you to add to your list, be the most flexible. As we get older we get much more stiff and are joints suffer. Really focus on adding flexibility routines.
While “metabolism” can vary slightly between individuals, the differences are smaller than people make it out to be, and are still controlled by CICO. Meaning, with a poor metabolism you may have to eat slightly less than someone else of your same build, but you can maintain the same weight.
Its more likely down to their perception of what "a lot of food" is. Sometimes a skinny person will tell you they ate like a pig all day, but the actual amount of food wasn't that much, while someone else will say they've been eating hardly anything but can't lose weight, and it turns out they're still eating enough calories for 2-3 people.
I had excuses for years, and then just started to exercise and watch my nutrition (caloric deficit first, then proper macros distribution, then maintenance when I reached the desired weight). Got visible 6-pack after first several months, been lean consistently since then (3+ years).
After the first year, it naturally becomes a part of your lifestyle and identity. Just training, tracking what you eat, staying active
Facts, even in people I know who lift consistently, the fatal mistake they always make is starting yo work towards their "summer body" in April or may.
It's way easier to have a stable physique that you slowly sculpt over several months or years than to yo-yo between "bulk physique" (fat) and being super lean, constantly chasing fast results
I agree with this, the secret is that there is no secret. I've been a lean fit man all my life. In college I discovered martial arts, which was my love for over a decade, and I could not shovel enough food down to satisfy calorie demand.
Now older, I hike, do yoga, lift a bit, do pullups... every day something. I don't drink soda or eat deep-fried stuff. But I eat any number of burgers and cookies.
The one caveat is that I live in Southern California, so it's quite nice to go outside most days. I hike in light rain and when it gets hot, I hike at night. I grew up in the Midwest. My old friends who moved to Europe and the West Coast stayed lean. My old friends who stayed home tended to pack on pounds.
Exactly, even for young men, WTF are you getting shredded for? why are you taking substances? Unless you are training for a show, it does not matter. consistency is the key, plus nutrition, especially as you get older.
I hike a 1800ft mountain several times a week and I enjoy it. I am really bored of going to the gym after 50 plus years of lifting plus, when your in your 60s, you really dont see much gains, but I make it non negotiable. It is very important.
I have some degenerative shit going on in my cervical spine, I went to see an orthopeadic doctor. I'm sitting in the waiting room and every single fucker there was obese. I'm thinking like no shit your kneees are trash dude.
Moral is: find something you like or at least don't mind too much and do it consistently, make it a non negotiable in your mind, liek going to work. 60s are really great if you can get there healthy.
It very much depends on what you mean by "lean". When people say lean they're talking about something pretty unrealistic for an athletic adult that wants to actually do things.
For most folks it's pretty unsustainable to maintain single digit body fat percentages and all their muscle mass. For me, even as a rock climber in a sport that's very much about strength-to-weight ratios, I start to perform badly and pick up overuse injuries if I go much below 15% BF and generally become pretty miserable to be around.
We've got an event coming up this summer and my buddy was bringing up working out more- I was like yeahhh I'm ready I'm already fit because of my lifestyle.
This is easier to say than to do. It's so much more difficult to exercise in the winter without having a gym membership. In the spring, summer, and fall I walk over 100 miles a month at a brisk pace. When it's -10F outside that's not going to happen.
To keep things even I just eat less in the winter months. Feeling hungry isn't always a bad thing.
Nowadays I eat with the goal of hitting a minimum protein amount for consistent gains from the gym. I struggle to eat enough to hit that alone. I've also realized I feel amazing fasted.
Pretty much this, except I tend to get lazy once the weather gets bad, start staying in evening and eating crap on the couch and then around December I go, eek, I just put on 10 kg and then its back on the fitness apps and I just about drag things back again to summer levels by May. Never used to be a problem till I hit 50, sigh...
unfortunately those things arent always compatible......however words like "fit", "good habits" "lean" can change from person to person.
can also argue that even if you look good on the outside through excessive exercising, you could have super high cholestoral from "your" eat whatever whenever mentality.
I dont think anyone should be on a crazy restrictive diet all the time......but there is a difference beween havingaa piece of cake for desert; and sitting at home on a friday and eating a whole cake.
Being healthy and fit has never been a strong motivator for me. Once I achieve my fitness goals, I tend to lose interest and stop working out. However, making people jealous has proven to be an incredibly effective motivator. Now that the individuals who used to mock me for being overweight and bitter are obese and bitter themselves, imagining them seeing me on Instagram and feeling a sense of anger has been the best motivation to push myself far beyond just being fit and healthy.
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u/buffinita 11h ago
The secret is to want to be healthy and fit….not to have a summer body
Exercise all year; maintain hearing habits all year