What Do You Eat for Weight Loss?

[Lemur]

So it is. With a background in physics, I try to explain that the law of conversation of energy is not a useful way to look at organisms eating organic food, but to little avail. Well, I believed the calorie in - calorie out = fat gain story for many years, and don't think I would be able to convince my younger self

Been stable for 2 years now, after 20 years of bouncing back after various diets.

That's an interesting way to view it. I think what you call "recovery" I think of as "cleaning up". This cleaning up is only done when I give my body 16 hours without eating, and that's what intermittent fasting is. It looks like we mean the same thing with eat/recover and eat/clean.

@delay

I gave myself some time to write a response on this one as I get the feeling we were stuck in a loop and I was getting frustrated.

So I do agree with this statement. Not so much the "story" part because I can be too literal at times (and in my mind CICO is a solid model and a hard-science) but the overall suggestion that the law of conservation of energy is not terribly useful to most people when it comes to adhering to a diet.

To be clear, as I may have been misunderstood in earlier posts, and admittedly have come across as callous and strong-languaged (to which I apologize) all I suggest is that creating a caloric deficit is a solid science to losing weight and the research is there to support it. Energy deficits are required for bodily tissue loss. And the registry mentioned previously gives us general ideas and themes on what works for most people in the general population.

Now how one gets there to create that caloric deficit, or what tools and systems they use, such as intermittent fasting, OMAD, carnivore, vegan, low-carb, low-fat, timing and tracking, pareto optimization, etc. is totally determined by individual variation...aka what gives that person dietary adherence in the long-run. What can they stick to. They all work by creating a energy deficit and forcing the body to utilize stored adipose tissue for energy. Some systems work for others really well and some don't. I understand that the method of tracking food intake by the number and formulas and what/not happens to work really well for me but doesn't apply to all. If no systems work at all, we have to consider a wider range of possibilities or adjustments. Perhaps there might be emotional reasons to take into consideration, underlying medical conditions, etc. And lastly, sometimes a system that works for you one year may not work for you in the future. Strategy has to change as life changes.

And FWIW, I'm glad you found a system that works well for you. I've a lot of people in my family that are morbidly obese (+300 lbs) and getting them to stick to diets has been a challenge for various reasons. My Mother has gotten success using GLP-1 agonists prescribed by a Doctor. My Sister has finally starting losing weight, for the first time ever, through a combination of low-carb and tracking.

[SimplyLiving]

Happy to share this Food as Medicine handout https://lifestylemedicine.org/wp-conten ... 8.5x11.pdf for anyone curious about more whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) options, which others have brought up. I aim for this 50% veg/fruit, 25% protein, and 25% whole-grain starch. Realistically I do eat more bread, though have upped my bean intake doing multiple batches a week in the pressure cooker. Pages 20 and 29 have great charts for building smoothies and bowls. For smoothies, slowly up the veg content until you don't mind throwing whatever produce from the fridge. I practice in adult primary care and have seen some jaw-dropping weight loss and health improvement with this, noting culturally they keep some lean meats in their diet.

Great to read the diversity of stories here, indeed different strokes for different folks to drop lbs! I think many here also protect their body (and planet) as an invaluable asset. I'm no expert or hard-liner (who tend to be good contortionists making any data fit their point), though from my research WFPB or Mediterranean have stronger evidence for reducing common diseases like cardiovascular disease and cancer. This aligns with longevity patterns observed in Blue Zones and China Study.

Throughout my 20s I struggled with calorie counting and restriction, which were emotionally stressful and counterproductive for me. Now I make healthy alternatives more availabe and 'crowd out' the rest. I wish I understood earlier that 'all calories are not created equal', as they influence hormone signaling (like the now famous GLP-1), brain pathways, taste buds, microbiome, etc. Choose wisely, and still enjoy : )