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Cut out alcohol and sweets
Cut out juice, soft drinks, etc |
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Based on what you said in your initial post here are things that I would suggest. I work with adults all day and I get this question often and this is what works.
The type of diet does not matter. Keto, intermittent fasting etc. be in a calorie deficit Increase your protein intake to your weight in grams per a day. You have to try to be as consistent as you can daily to hit that number. So if you weight 150 lb eat 150 grams of protein. No high protein diet does not harm kidneys or anything else. there is plenty of research showing that it does not harm kidneys Drink more water take walks or find a hobby/book to reach in order to distract you after dinner for eating more. Resistance training, I would suggest at least 2-3 days. If you need help with a program and you are in the Rockville area, I would suggest Prepare for performance. They do a great job from start to finish. Be patient. it take twice as long to lose weight as it takes to gain weight. Hope this helps. |
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OP I am the same age and in the exact same boat. My weight always fluctuates by a few pounds and it seems that my new set point is 6-8 lbs. higher than it was even a year ago. I have done IF on and off and prefer it to any type of diet. It's easier for me to restrict when I eat than what I eat. Though I am trying to increase protein and reduce carbs (for example, scrambled egg muffins when I break the morning fast -- more like an early lunch -- instead of cereal).
In terms of exercise I think what my body is missing is the truly high intensity cardio. It sounds like that is missing from your routine as well. I am working out 4-5 times per week but it does not compare to the couple of times per week I was doing Orangetheory. I really think there's something to their method where you spend at least 12 min at 84% or more of your max heart rate. Supposedly that makes you burn calories long after you stop working out. Do you have a heart rate monitor? Maybe try to do workouts that put your heart rate at 84% of max for a total of 12 min or more. It doesn't have to be all at once -- at OTF it's 12 min or more total within the hour. Do this on top of the weight training... maybe a workout with both HIIT and weights like OTF does. I can't wait to go back there as I have a hard time pushing myself that hard at home. I work harder when I am in a class with other people. |
Funny, I would totally imagine a Karen sipping juice for three days. |
Eating abuses my organs?! |
| Lift weights. Get the COVID vax. Fever burned my last 5 off. |
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Unpopular suggestion that’s going to get flames on here but screw it I’ll say it: try steroids. Responsible use of steroids changed my life and I will never look back.
Check out r/steroids on Reddit to learn all you need to know. |
Are you male or female? And what did you take? |
Omg this is the worst suggestion I’ve seen on dcum. A tall order, so congrats to you steroid proponent! |
I’m going to try this. NP here, and I know in the past that when I have eaten a lot of protein, I have no desire to snack on junk. I just need to get back on the protein train. I reloaded the MyFitnessPal app so I can track my macros. Over 100g of protein seems like a ton right now, but I’ll make the effort. |
| I cut out sugar (cookies, candy etc) and stopped snacking. Lost 10lbs at 40 and have kept them off ever since. I am now 48. I still eat fruit and drink alcohol on weekends. |
That is so much protein- a cup of chicken has 43g, an egg 6g, lentils 12g,... Do you use protein powder to reach this protein goal?? |
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I could also have written this post and I am 38 also. I have always gained a few pounds in the winter, and then lost them with no effort in the summer. Well then the pandemic happened and instead of losing the few pounds, I gained a few more, then another couple over this winter, so now I am about 8 lbs over my typical summer weight.
I started IF last week and am down a pound so far. I am never that hungry in the morning anyway, so not eating until 1 pm has not been that hard. I am also drinking a lot more water and I have added 10 minute HIIT workouts a few times a week. I am hopeful that by May or June, I will have dropped the full 8 lbs. My biggest issue is not eating cookies at 8 pm at night. I got some dark chocolate and have been having a piece of that after dinner with a cup of tea. It satisifies the sweet craving, and sipping on tea helps me not snack on something else. |
Intermittent fasting isn’t magic. You have to adjust it so it supports you in fixing whatever bad habits caused you to gain weight in the first place. Fasting from 10pm to 2pm is no good if your typical morning diet is a cup of coffee and a granola bar, but your typical evening diet is a pound of lasagna and a pint of Haagen Daaz. You need to identify where most of your mindless, empty-calorie consuming happens, and pick your fasting window accordingly. |
| Stop the damn snacking after dinner. But you knew that already. |