# Ask the Guy who Lost a Bunch of Weight **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 16, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565 "2014-05-16T03:05:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/21 "2014-05-16T14:22:42Z")
Given that your eating plan is quite similar to mine, got any favourite recipes/meals to share? ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/22 "2014-05-16T15:24:39Z")
Congrats, you look like a different person. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/23 "2014-05-16T16:14:50Z")
-40 two years ago. Still at my target weight (low 180’s) 2 years later. Simply watch my junk food intake and overall meal calories, and work out, hard, on the stationary bike 2-4 times a week (work schedule permitting). ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/24 "2014-05-16T16:36:40Z")
Cravings and hunger are two different animals. An effective diet allows one to recognize the differences between the two. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/25 "2014-05-16T18:53:54Z")
This published today in JAMA.[Consequence or Cause of Overeating?](http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1871695) If you want the NY Times take on the article, [go here.](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/opinion/sunday/always-hungry-heres-why.html?hpw&rref=opinion&_r=0) ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/26 "2014-05-16T19:07:09Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Cravings and hunger are two different animals. An effective diet allows one to recognize the differences between the two. I’m not sure anyone is confusing the two. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/27 "2014-05-18T10:59:43Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > o. I weighed 283 in February of last year and went down to 225 by walking a bunch,and pretty much just staying hungry and active enough to lose a half pound each day. Do you think the walking made a difference? I’ve heard that walking barely burns off 50 calories. ( I’m trying to lose weight for the first time in my life after 40 years of being skinny, and it ain’t easy.) ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/28 "2014-05-18T11:58:08Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > Great work; that’s something to be proud of! > > I’m in the club too. I weighed 283 in February of last year and went down to 225 by walking a bunch, plotting my weight in Excel and pretty much just staying hungry and active enough to lose a half pound each day. You don’t even have to stay hungry (or I didn’t). I managed to lose a lot of weight but ate enough to feel all right. I was just very strict about what I ate. > [@chappachula](#): > > Do you think the walking made a difference? I’ve heard that walking barely burns off 50 calories. Depends how far you walk. It’s a lot better than doing nothing, and even just 50 calories _could_ make the difference. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/29 "2014-05-18T14:24:03Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > You don’t even have to stay hungry (or I didn’t). I managed to lose a lot of weight but ate enough to feel all right. I was just very strict about what I ate. This. It’s hard to see a diet based on being hungry being successful in the long run. The two things are (a) make good choices in what you eat (more veggies and fruits; fewer goodies, snack foods, and processed foods), and (b) when you eat, don’t keep on eating after reaching the point of being comfortably full. (It helps to slow down as you’re approaching fullness so that your body has a chance to tell you you’re full before you’ve gone well past that point.) > [@](#): > > Depends how far you walk. It’s a lot better than doing nothing, and even just 50 calories _could_ make the difference. My attitude is, you diet to lose weight. You exercise for fitness. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565/30 "2014-05-19T18:38:07Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > [And here’s an after.](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ben1cs/10271069754/) > [And another.](https://www.flickr.com/photos/ben1cs/10271265313/) 😃 Hell… > [@OneCentStamp](#): > > my wife …oh. ☹ 😉 But seriously: congrats! > [@](#): > > So to realize I no longer needed the meds, and to have that borne out by a doctor who appeared legitimately happy to take me off them and discharge me from years of his care, was a great day. A couple of years ago I was able to get myself taken off hypertension meds: not as dramatic as your med changes, but what a day that was! To this day I get happy when I go to the doc and my BP is average. The nurses always think I’m nuts, but whatever. _grin_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-lost-a-bunch-of-weight/688565.md?page=1)