I’m currently a lump of chocolate and cheese, but once the new year hits, I’m determined to make 2026 the year I finally get back to a healthy weight (I’ve lost about 20 pounds, with about 80-100 to go). I’m pretty good about exercising regularly, but, as they say, abs are made in the kitchen. Those who have successfully lost weight, is there anything you particularly recommend for maintaining a calorie deficit to lose the weight, and then avoiding gaining it back later on?
Being overweight is a natural reaction to an unnatural food environment. Processed foods contain far too much energy and too little fiber (i.e., stuff that fills our stomachs but contains hardly any energy.
Exercise is important for keeping our bodies fit, but it is not the right choice to lose weight. It is much easier not to consume 300 calories in the first place than to burn them off through exercise. Simply eating less does not help either. If your stomach is not full, you are constantly hungry, and no one can keep that up for long. To lose weight in the long term, you need to change your energy intake, i.e., the type of food, not the amount of food. So you have to change your diet, there’s no way around it. Move away from processed stuff and toward whole food, plant-based meals.
“Whole food” means:
Grown on soil, nothing good removed after harvesting and nothing bad added. Over time, your body and your gut flora will get used to it, your cravings for junk food will subside, and you’ll be able to eat your fill of vegetables, fruit, legumes, and nuts every day—cheaply, healthily, and with a clear conscience. And you’ll still lose weight.
So: Keep the junk out of the house! Don’t let that crap into your home anymore; if it’s there, you’ll eat it.
You gain weight in the gym but you lose it in the kitchen! If you really hate the taste (/ texture is usually the real issue), you can also consume the fiber separately before the meal (the brand name of psyllium husk is metamucil and it comes as a drink or as a pill and you can buy it generic too). If you do take it as a pill make sure to chase it with plenty of water to help it gel up properly and not constipate you. Like this user said it’ll help you feel fuller longer and it’ll also detox your bowels by sticking to stuff on it’s way through like one of those cleaning slimes where you push it into all the cracks of something and when you pull it out all the dirt / dust is stuck to it. Great when you eat a meal with a lot of capsaicin and your bowels are having trouble / still mad about it a few days later.
Or you start adding eat half a can of legumes like beans, lentils, chickpeas to your meals. It’s cheap, yummy, healthy superfood for your gut. :)