# 2018 weight loss thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 25, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109 "2018-04-25T16:34:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 18
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/1 "2018-04-25T16:34:26Z")
The good news is that in the last five weeks or so, I’ve lost 20 pounds.
The bad news is I gained 1½ pounds since yesterday.
Yesterday I ate one serving of quick oats with sugar-free ‘maple’ syrup (165 kilocalories), one serving of raw, unsalted almonds (210 kilocalories), a Trader Joe’s Cobb Salad (400 kilocalories), a packet of salami and provolone (315 kilocalories), an egg-and cheese burrito on a low-carb (4 g net carbohydrates) tortilla (330 kilocalories), and two servings of raw, unsalted mixed nuts (340 kilocalories). Total: 1,760 kilocalories.
It sure adds up, doesn’t it!
---
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2018, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/2 "2018-04-25T16:39:29Z")
Don’t sweat the little ups and downs you might see on a daily basis. I had to do this a couple times when I “let myself go”. Set monthly goals and try to meet them is the best way I found to approach it.
But glad to see you’re having success! The first time I did it, I lost everything I wanted to in 1 month, even though I set a 3 month goal. The second time it was more like 5 months to hit the 3 month goal. But the key is to hit the goal! 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/3 "2018-04-25T16:47:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> DBut glad to see you’re having success! The first time I did it, I lost everything I wanted to in 1 month, even though I set a 3 month goal. The second time it was more like 5 months to hit the 3 month goal. But the key is to hit the goal! 🙂
My goal is 30 pounds by my birthday (June 12th), starting in mid-March. So I’m ahead of schedule. I walk 2.05 miles per day, every day except Tuesdays and Thursdays and days that I do a lot of physical work. I’m thinking I may increase that to 2.73 miles starting today.
---
### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/4 "2018-04-25T18:43:24Z")
The latest research indicates diet, and not exercise, is the main ingredient to losing weight. And by diet, I mean more of what you eat as opposed to how much. Exercise is great, healthy and good for lots of things. But you have to eat right to lose weight and keep it off. Check out [Scientific American](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-exercise-really-make/). I thought there was a more definitive article on this, but didn’t find it.
---
### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/5 "2018-04-26T19:25:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#):
>
> The latest research indicates diet, and not exercise, is the main ingredient to losing weight.
Agreed! I have lost about 12 pounds over the past several months with only 2 major changes to my routine:
1. A healthy salad for lunch; and
2. One exercise - pushaways. I “push away” from the table sooner than I used to. 🙂
My daily routine has become a protein bar for breakfast (180cal), a salad for lunch (~350 cal with greens, 1 boiled egg, cheese, a touch of dressing) 1-2 ninety cal snacks in the afternoon and a sensible supper.
I don’t deny myself anything, but moderate almost everything.
---
### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/6 "2018-04-26T23:40:27Z")
If I ate a packet of salami, I would gain a pound of water and eliminate it a day or so later. Don’t sweat minor day to day variations. I weigh myself every morning and keep a weighted running average which smooths out the day to day variation. Each day’s average is computed as 10% of that days weight plus 90% of yesterday’s average.
---
### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/7 "2018-04-28T02:07:13Z")
I was wanting to get rid of belly fat a couple months ago, so I went on a diet. I’m not sure how much I weighed when I started (I didn’t weigh myself), but am guessing around 156 pounds. I’m now at 146 pounds. I did it by simply eating less. And drinking a lot less beer.
---
### Author:  [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/8 "2018-08-14T16:50:14Z")
I am losing weight now. My BMI has gone into the obese zone, so I am looking to lose 40 pounds or so, and of course keep it off. I have lost that kind of weight before, but it came back because I ate what I wanted and I guess ignored the weight gain. Now I have some arthritis in the knee, and the best “cure” is to lose weight. So I think I am motivated. I have lost 5 pounds since starting a week ago, but realize the first loss is very easy.
One of my favorite tools with weight loss is this chart here - [The Hacker's Diet Online](https://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/online/hdo.html)
You have to sign in, but it is free, and you can enter your weight each day. It smooths out the noise of day to day weight fluctuations to give you a trend. That way you don’t get discouraged if you are up a pound for the day. Having a couple of glasses of water does not mean you have gained weight. This chart can also be very effective for maintaining weight once you have lost it. It will quickly show your weight is trending up.
There is a diet that goes with it, and although I like the diet, it is not for everyone. You can ask if you have any questions, it has worked for me before.
So I will check in and see how everyone is doing.
---
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2018, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/9 "2018-08-14T17:43:37Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#):
>
> Agreed! I have lost about 12 pounds over the past several months with only 2 major changes to my routine:
>
> 1. A healthy salad for lunch; and
> 2. One exercise - pushaways. I “push away” from the table sooner than I used to. 🙂
>
> My daily routine has become a protein bar for breakfast (180cal), a salad for lunch (~350 cal with greens, 1 boiled egg, cheese, a touch of dressing) 1-2 ninety cal snacks in the afternoon and a sensible supper.
>
> I don’t deny myself anything, but moderate almost everything.
This is way I “diet” as well.
I eat the same small breakfast and lunch every day, equaling about 350 calories.
Then _in theory_ I eat a sensible dinner. I’m working on getting better at that. First step, cut back to no more than 2 glasses of wine. Also, we eat a salad every night before dinner.
I’ve always been very strict about maintaining my weight, so once the number on the scale goes over my magic number, I begin knocking it back down. I also weigh myself a lot, usually several times a day.
---
### Author:  [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/10 "2018-08-14T17:52:21Z")
bleh im about 45 pounds over weight ……………my doc just tells me to quit drinking soda and exercise more …………
---
### Author:  [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/11 "2018-08-14T18:01:51Z")
My approach to dieting is this:
I don’t buy any sort of junkfood or snacks at all, and keep my meals to a farily small size (though unmeasured).\*
I ride on my exercise bike for 60-75 minutes a night.\*\*
- Any junkfood I don’t personally buy is fair game, not even considered cheating. This allows me to attend things like social functions and birthdays and such and participate without guilt. The counter to this is no cheating at all is allowed on the things I do consider covered by the diet.
\*\* I bike nightly - _in theory_. Lately I’ve been more concerned about sleep deprivation and such am now lucky if I bike three times a week due to not getting around to biking before it’s too late in the evening. It doesn’t seem to make much difference honestly.
I don’t recall when I started this diet - could easily be a year ago or more. So while I’ve lost around ninety five pounds or so to date, there’s no saying that in any fixed period of time I lost any more than anyone else here. Even so I’d consider the diet moderately effective, slow though it might be.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/12 "2018-08-14T18:56:15Z")
I’m down 55 pounds now.
---
### Author:  [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/13 "2018-08-22T22:23:22Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I’m down 55 pounds now.
That is an amazing lost.
I am down 10 pounds this morning, which gives me confidence and motivation to keep going.
---
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/14 "2018-08-23T13:01:01Z")
I’ve reduced my alcohol intake, now it’s time for further action. Unfortunately, a bunch of gelato somehow got in my house.
---
### Author:  [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/15 "2018-08-23T14:54:03Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> The good news is that in the last five weeks or so, I’ve lost 20 pounds.
>
> The bad news is I gained 1½ pounds since yesterday.
>
> Yesterday I ate one serving of quick oats with sugar-free ‘maple’ syrup (165 kilocalories), one serving of raw, unsalted almonds (210 kilocalories), a Trader Joe’s Cobb Salad (400 kilocalories), a packet of salami and provolone (315 kilocalories), an egg-and cheese burrito on a low-carb (4 g net carbohydrates) tortilla (330 kilocalories), and two servings of raw, unsalted mixed nuts (340 kilocalories). Total: 1,760 kilocalories.
>
> It sure adds up, doesn’t it!
Sounds like you need to take a good shit.
---
### Author:  [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2018, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/16 "2018-08-23T15:04:57Z")
Gotta drop 20-30 pounds, I’m 6’2" and 215#, so that would take me to ‘trim’ levels. Been playing a lot of Ultimate frisbee lately, and cutting is a lot more difficult when you’re carrying extra weight - I keep getting burned by the youngsters. But I’ll show them! Eventually. Once I say goodbye to beer. ☹
(I did lose 80# many moons ago, and have kept almost all of it off, so I know the dynamics of the situation - I just gotta start the ball rolling and ride the wave of achievement, instead of yoyo-ing. Yo-yoing. Yo-yo-ing. Yao Ming.)
---
### Author:  [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/17 "2018-08-23T18:58:45Z")
Yo Yo Ma.
I have about 10 pounds to get me to my goal weight, which would put me in the “normal” BMI range. It would also put me at about the same weight as when I got married 30 years ago. The last 10 is always the toughest.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [August 23, 2018, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2018-weight-loss-thread/813109/18 "2018-08-23T19:01:41Z")
1 year ago I weighed 280. Today I weighed in at 224. 😃