I don't really know where to post this but just wanted somewhere to write out my thoughts really.
For the last 10 years I've slowly put on weight. I'm not obese but I'm a little chubbier with every passing year.
I've always thought I should do something about it. But I like eating, and I don't like exercise, and everyone says it's such a chore to lose weight so I never really bothered and just shrugged off the weight gain as, "oh well, it's not that bad and I cba fixing it".
I have always kept track of my weight though. I use an app to record the trend over time, just for my own nerdery. And six months ago I hit 95kg and decided that I didn't want to creep any closer to 100kg, which felt like some tipping point where it's no longer something I can ignore.
I don't like the idea of doing some huge "diet" or regime or life overhaul. Those are not sustainable. I don't want some one weird trick to lose 50kg in 3 days. I don't want to significantly change my diet. I'm not going to stick to some intense exercise or gym plan. So I figured, I'll informally just make some subtle, easy, sustainable changes and see how that goes. So for the last 6 months, when I make myself food, for example pasta or cereal or rice or chips (fries for muricans), I measure out how much I would normally eat, then I put a little bit back into the bag before I cook the portion. Just slightly reducing my portion size. I've also been consciously pushing myself to go out on walks around the local streets, and on cycles which I actually quite enjoy. There's no structure to when, how, or where I go out; I just make an effort to get myself out a few times a week for at least around an hour. I used to eat a LOT of chocolate, biscuits, etc, so I've made a conscious effort to cut that back a little. How much? I don't know. I didn't go cold turkey; I didn't give myself a ration; I've just been a little more conscious of trying to eat less crap, and when I do eat crap I try to eat a smaller amount. I haven't changed my diet at all (which is still terrible) - all I did was reduce my portion sizes, eat a little less crap outside of meals, and push myself to get out of the house a little more by walking and cycling.
My results have been quite pleasing. I'm down from 95kg to 89kg in six months. I'm really, really happy with that. If the trend continues I'll be below 85kg by the end of the year, which will be great for me. Mainly I'm pleased that I'm making sustainable progress with an easy mindset that doesn't take a huge effort or structure.
Was it always that easy?
Turns out it really is just all about calories in and calories out. All I really did was decide to be a bit more aware/conscious about my eating and exercise instead of just doing whatever and never thinking about it. I spent no money; I followed no plan; I did not have to exert willpower or make myself miserable. By not expecting any extreme change overnight I was able to put in next to zero effort and get some quite positive and sustainable results.
I've always read/heard about how hard it is and how you have to make a plan and stick to it, and override your natural urges with extreme willpower, and overhaul your diet and get a personal trainer and commit X hours a week to the gym, and on and on. It sounded exhausting and impossible. So maybe someone needs to hear this: it's not impossible, it's easy, as long as you don't expect your entire body to magically change in a short time and make small, achievable, sustainable changes.
You are kind of disregarding and minimising the struggle that a lot of people go through to try and lose weight.
Everyone has different experiences and everyone's body will react differently to diets and exercise, for a lot of people it is a massive struggle and despite following strict diets and exercising religiously they will still struggle to lose weight effectively.
You obviously react well to differences in diet but if you were also only around 95kg despite eating inordinate amounts of shit for 10 years then it is obvious that you don't put weight on as quickly as other people can through having a shitty diet.
I, like you, am very lucky that I can eat shit for a while and won't put on a lot of weight. I can fluctuate 5kg within the space of the same week so for me I prefer to measure progress through actual fitness and gains in things like stamina and strength as weight is just not a reliable indicator for me at all.
Don't get me wrong it is fucking great that you are making healthier choices and actually getting some exercise, hopefully you stick to it for the long term and make positive habit changes for yourself going forward. Hopefully you can find some exercise that you actually enjoy and start chasing something more meaningful such as stamina, endurance or strength rather than just a number on scales. Going forward from now hopefully you will notice the improvement in your everyday life that even a minor improvement in base fitness can provide.
I just think you should also be mindful of going around thinking "this shit is easy" and getting some kind of superiority complex over people who have been struggling with health and fitness for long periods of time, it isnt a good look.
Good luck with your continued progress, I hope you get more into fitness in general and start to reap the benefits outside of numbers on a scale :)
I don't think it's "disregarding and minimising" to report they lost 13 lbs (6 kg) over the course of half a year by eating less, eating better, and moving more. (OP, if you happen to see this, I'm also not minimizing your accomplishments.) Again, they didn't track food macros or follow a workout regimen, just small improvements.
Respectfully, that is easy and we could all do it. You talk about the "massive struggle" of rigorous exercise and strict diets... That's the entire point. Again, they improved by eating less, eating better, and moving more instead of large changes. That's it! There's not an overweight person on the planet that won't benefit from these small steps. The point is it adds up. And unlike shaking up your entire lifestyle, it's effective, consistent, and doable...
With respect, I think you are confusing technical simplicity with ease. Technically, it is very simple to lose weight. Just eat fewer calories than you consume. But there is a huge psychological, financial and often biological component to it as well. When some people lose weight, it doesn’t cause them to feel like shit, or cause them cravings they can’t ignore, or cause them to have diabetic issues. People with thyroid conditions may be extremely lethargic and have trouble exercising. People who are lower income may have a difficult time buying healthy food for their family (actually one of the biggest predictors of being overweight).
As an example, when I was a teenager, I smoked with my friends casually. I didn’t find that tobacco did much for me though, so when I no longer hung around those friends, it was easy for me to not smoke. However, I have seen how difficult it is for others around me to quit smoking. It is technically simple to stop smoking. Just don’t smoke anymore. But it isn’t easy for a lot of people.
So it may be “easy” for some healthy, active, middle class to upper class person with no health conditions or psychological issues that would prevent them from dieting to lose weight, but that doesn’t make it easy for everyone. It’s technically simple to do, but saying that makes it easy is very dismissive of the struggles people go through when dieting.
I think you missed the point I was trying to make. Some people can start losing weight quickly by making those small changes but that isn't the case for everyone at all, so when I say it is a massive struggle for some people implementing stringent diets and exercise regimes, those are the people that making just small changes like OP is talking about hasn't been effective and consequently their weight loss / fitness journey can be a lot more of a struggle.
I was not trying to put OP down because it is beneficial for not only themselves but society as a whole for them to live in a healthier manner, I was trying to get across the point that when talking about these subjects to be mindful of everyone's own journey within health and fitness.
The people that do find it hard for reasons such as pointed out by your other response to this post can already be very demoralised by the journey as a whole and to just be claiming it is all so easy by making such small changes can be even more demoralising for those people by making them think what is wrong with them or what are they doing wrong which in turn does minimise and diminish the effort they are putting in.
I have no desire to put OP down in terms of making a positive change in their life and tried to write a response that put that across as we should all be encouraging each other to live healthier lives, in turn I hope OP encourages other people too to make positive changes in their lives, I just think it is important as well to not approach it by framing it as "easy" because that can be seen as dismissive to people that already struggle with health and fitness.
I'm not going to disagree with what you say because everyone can benefit from small things and should be encouraged to start small so that they don't quit early on trying to change their entire lifestyle in one go but claiming it is easy does not help achieve that and will sometimes have the opposite effect for people that aren't finding it easy.
Everyone has their own journey with its own issues, I just wanted OP to be able to encourage other people with his story but in a manner that won't be seen as negative by some others :)
It’s not easy, but it’s simple.