Ask HN: Any weird tips for weight loss?

It's not that weird, but I stopped eating meat during lent a few years ago. I'm not religious, but here in Austria, many non-religious people abstain from something during lent (sweets, alcohol, cigarettes...), so I tried it for myself.

I actually didn't expect much to happen, but it completely changed my diet. It was the first time I actually had to think about what to eat, and it turned out, that I ate a ton of meat, and not a lot of vegetables.

For the first few weeks it was pretty hard to find something to eat, but it got easier. Over time I discovered more vegetarian recipes I actually enjoy.

I'm not a vegetarian, but nowadays I hardly eat any meat, and still do the meatless lent every year. I lost about 15kg in the year after the first lent, and held this weight every since.

A McDonalds Deluxe Cheeseburger, Large Coke and Fries is 1400Kcal - switch to a milkshake or add a McFlurry and your meal is approaching 2000.

https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/about-our-food/nutrition-...

Intermittent fasting and writing down what you eat religiously worked for me. Use an app to keep track on your phone: Fastic, Noom, LoseIt, etc. Some people go with other diets like ketogenic diets, those work too.

Another option is to ask your doctor about semaglutide (e.g., Wegovy). Here is a study: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183 (Health insurance usually covers it. They have a coupon to bring down the copay to $25.)

The key is consistency and recognizing that you may be eating for reasons other than hunger.

Get ADHD meds. Appetite suppression is an effect. :P

Joking aside, the path to losing weight is not dieting, but changing what and how you eat permanently. Weight is an equilibrium, and to reach a new equilibrium, you need to change something about your habits permanently or you'll just bounce back once you stop "dieting". For me personally, reducing sugars and filler carbohydrates was the most effective change to make.

On top of changing how you eat, exercise and strength training can help by making you generally healthier or by making you look slimmer when your muscles strengthen, and of course muscles require more energy to maintain so muscle mass will affect things as well.

Eat the same food every single day. Same amount, Same everything. Basically you prepared a meal list that is your calories budget of your target weight. Say 1800 calories. You prep a meal that you actually like to eat, and are willing to eat it every single day. By not having the option to choose something else. You keep it simple, the same calories. If you dont mind eating steak every day, or burger every day. Then Burger it is. Avoid Deep fried food though, but if you do your calculation you will soon realise 1800 calories per day doesn't actually give you much option.

Walking at least 35 min per day. No need to do running. Just walk. Go out, walks some places, window shopping, walk you dog. Whatever, walk. 35 min minimum.

You get result within 30 days.