It's that time of year, and before you make a resolution to lose weight, I have a request...

Please don’t
First, diets don’t work in the long term: http://janetto.bol.ucla.edu/index_files/Mannetal2007AP.pdf
It’s not in this study, but I’ve heard that as little as 5% of people who lose weight on a diet keep it off in the long term. If you have managed to do this,* you are the exception*, not the rule

Anecdotal point: As I was growing up I watched my mother go on every single diet that came down the pike. WW, Atkins, Ayds candies, and lots whose names are lost in the mists of time. She gained the weight back every single time… and a bit more, if not every time, then many times. She never exercised, and I blame her lack of mobility on this factor.

Second, losing weight is an indirect goal, not a direct one. This is a concept that I learned at one of the software companies I worked at, and it works like this - an indirect goal is not something that you can address specifically - like customer satisfaction. You can’t go hit a customer and say “Be satisfied, dammit”. But you can identify what will contribute to customer satisfaction, like improved software performance, and make that your direct goal.

So, instead of making your goal “Lose weight”, make your goal “Eat more healthily, and exercise more”. With those goals, you can make even more specific goals “Eat an apple instead of a candy bar when I want a sweet” and “Work out 3 times a week”

Then you can celebrate meeting those goals, even if you don’t lose weight.

And, let’s make that the third point. Losing weight is highly unpredictable, and subject to a lot of different variables. What works for one person will fail for another and what work this month will fail next month. Every person whose been on more than one diet knows about the plateau, and knows that men lose weight more easily than women. There are medicines that will cause you to gain weight, and medicines that will cause you to lose weight.

Fourth point - there are actions that can cause you to lose weight that are unhealthy, and there are actions that you can take that will make you healthier, and will not help you lose weight.

If all you want to do is lose weight, you could pick up a cocaine habit. Your health will be terrible, but you will lose weight. Or you could try anorexia or bulimia.

Conversely, at least a couple of studies have shown that working out 3 times a week will not help you lose weight. But you will be healthier than the person who isn’t working out that much, no matter that the other person is skinnier than you.

I’ve lost 15 pounds this past year… because I was taking a medicine that left me on just this side of sick to my stomach. I didn’t feel like eating, so I didn’t eat much, but what I did eat was crap, because when I don’t feel like eating, that’s all I eat. I was also quite depressed, because food is one of the few pleasures I still have, and that had been taken away from me. (It took me several months to figure out that the medicine was causing this, because everything makes me queasy)

Fifth - yo-yo diets have been shown to be worse for your health than just never dieting at all. So if you do something to lose weight, once you hit that goal, you’re going to stop, gain the weight back, and be in a worse position than you were before.
So, instead of resolving to lose weight, resolve to make healthy choices that you are working to make a lifetime habit. You’ll be better off for it, for years to come.

In the past few months, I’ve tried to re-frame the way I deal with food. Instead of “dieting,” there are just healthier choices. Every time you get a side salad instead of fries, that’s a win. Every time you refrain from a second helping, that’s a win. After a while, it starts to snowball and you kind of enjoy (if I can use that word!?) making smarter choices, knowing that you’re having a positive impact on your health and well-being.

I totally allow room for junk food if that’s what I want, but make your choices consciously. Mindless eating is probably a big problem for a lot of us.

Now here I must admit the holidays derailed this somewhat, but what I proved to myself in the back half of 2019 was I CAN DO IT so I will get right back on track now that I’m no longer on the road.

Ingesting fewer calories than you expend works every time.

wtf! this is big news! why is no one talking about this?!

Thank you for your unsolicited opinion.

If you want to try something different, there’s low carb and keto. link to Diet Doctor dot com It worked well for me.

Yeah, that eat less move more is bullshit. All that does is slow your metabolism to match your calorie intake. Then you have to eat less and move more, rinse and repeat. Intermittent fasting and a low-carbohydrate diet is the way to go. It’s only worked for me for twelve years or so, so I may be just about to balloon up to my old weight. I’ll let you know.

No, it doesn’t. Not for everyone. I’ve known people who did exactly what you are suggesting, and they did not lose weight.

Now you’re going to say “If it doesn’t work for someone, they’re lying”

So, heads you win, tails I get accused of having a rigged coin.

I read “blah blah blah … pick up a cocaine habit … blah blah” and shall endeavor to follow the OP’s advice forthwith!

Congratulations, you’re one of the 5% or so that it works for.

And frankly, a lot of diets that don’t work is because they are unlivable for the dieter, and so the dieter stops when they can’t handle the diet anymore.

It is far more likely that the diet you chose works because it’s something that you can live with for the rest of your life, not because it’s a magic combination of food that makes the weight melt off. All diets are con jobs, because they promise that it will be “easy” to lose the weight. Diets are only easy if it’s something you can live with for the rest of your life.

You found the diet that you can live with the rest of your life. It’s not because it’s low-carb, or keto, or whatever the hip new diet method is. It’s because you can live with it.

Also, I’m guessing from your name that you are male. That’s another advantage you have. Men are far more likely to succeed at weight loss than women are, because testosterone helps.

Hey, if all you want to do is lose weight, and you don’t give a flying fuck about your health, or whether you are breaking the law, go for it!*

Meth might also work. Nasty skin problems with meth though, you won’t be pretty when you’re down to your weight goal.
*Note, this is sarcasm and shouldn’t be interpreted a real recommendation to break the law.

I have to disagree. Losing goal is a direct result of consuming fewer calories than you burn. How would I know I’m eating healthily enough? Only by monitoring my weight.

What I have learned in my engineering training is that a requirement must be verifiable. “Eat more healthily” is not a verifiable requirement or goal. “Lose 10 pounds in 3 months and keep it there for the rest of the year” is verifiable.

I take your point that “ends justify the means” approach to losing weight is a bad idea. But weight is one useful indicator of if you are eating too much & eating unhealthily.

Motion to change forum name to In My Properly Solicited Humble Opinion so this never happens again!

I often hear people talk about exercising in order to “burn off calories.” I’m convinced that the value of exercise with regard to weight is not that. Rather, regular exercise relieves stress–and stress causes a greater appetite to eat fat-rich food. I find that as long as I exercise, I rarely want to eat unhealthy food, don’t have the urge to eat more than necessary.

Exercise is important and you should do it every day, but it’s like brushing your teeth, you shouldn’t expect to lose any weight doing it.

Your points may or may not be sound, but your OP is condescending as hell.

“Eat more healthily” may not be a “verifiable” goal, because it is too vague.

But it can be broken down into easily verifiable concrete goals that a person has direct influence over:

Eat x servings of fruits and vegetables a day
Switch low-fiber carbs for high fiber carbs
Switch high-fat proteins for lower fat proteins
Reduce consumption of high-fat foods
Etc.

I disagree that eating healthily will necessarily be reflected in your weight - fiber is absolutely crucial for your long term health - but it won’t necessarily cause you to lose weight, except in replacing less healthy options - and that’s not a give

Same with fruits & veggies.
And, there are other things that can happen to you that cause you to gain weight, which throws off your “I’m losing (or gaining) weight so I must be eating right (or wrong)” formula.

Actually - extend that concept out.

If losing weight means you’re eating correctly, then wouldn’t you eventually “eat right” yourself into non-existence? This whole concept of “eating right means you lose weight” is flawed.

If you’re an engineer, you should be familiar with systems - what happens when you change one part of a system? Do the systems you work with remain changed or do other parts of the system change to get the system as a whole back to status quo?
Because that’s part of the problem with setting losing weight as a goal. Your body is a system, and your current weight is the status quo. You can change the system and hope that your weight changes - but changing the system won’t necessarily change the weight because your body want to keep the status quo.

But by taking healthy actions, it doesn’t matter whether your weight changes. You are still getting healthier.

And this is exactly why I want people to get away from thinking about their weight, and move toward thinking about doing healthy things.

Because if you’re looking at the numbers on the scale, and they aren’t moving, you will get discouraged. But if you have a chart that you can put checkmarks or gold stars on every time you do the right thing, you will keep your energy up.

Can you tell me how it is condescending? I’m sincerely sorry you feel that way, but I’ve watched way too many people try to lose weight and get discouraged because it doesn’t work.

If somebody really wants to lose weight, I recommend giardia.

Oh, it was totally my fault. I went to stay at a friend’s mountain cabin. In the guest bathroom there was a glass, which I used. Only afterward did I see the carafe of water sitting there. I thought, “Oh, shit! Maybe the water isn’t potable!”

“Oh shit” was correct. Lost 12 pounds in four weeks. The really hard way.

(Just kidding. I actually do NOT recommend this tactic, at all.)

Yeah, I thought it was a very helpful post. I’ve struggled with my weight my entire adult life, losing a bunch of weight and putting it back, losing it, putting it back. Fad diets simply do not work. It takes a lifestyle change in which weight loss is secondary.