[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

First off, good luck to all you guys. Weight management isn't easy.

For me, I think the biggest thing I have taken from all the diet plans I've poked around in over the years is that most people think calorie deficit = hungry. Not necessarily true. I will say that most diets kinda make meals scientific. Not interesting science, boring. No one likes going through agonizing boring meals. Deriving no pleasure from food is a quick way to derail a weight loss plan. But yes, all diets to lose weight essentially stem from the fact you've accumulated too many calories over time.

Most of the easy food we have is calorie dense and dense in a way that's hard to break down while in "stasis" (ie: Afterburn/Keto... whatever). I often suggest that rather than eating less to lose weight, eat more volume and less calorie dense. A beer for instance is very calorie dense. Substituting water obviously means you're burning more reserves than new calories. But if you were to eat an entire bag or potatoes, a whole head of cauliflower/broccoli, instead of pizza would you be full? Sure.

This is generally how I manage my weight after I inevitably balloon 20 extra pounds in weight during busy season. I eat anything, but I force myself to eat calorie low calorie density foods after having calorie dense foods. Usually one bad day equals to requiring two good days. The reward of being able to go back to high calorie dense foods after grinding it out on low calorie dense foods is kinda enjoyable and worth it and is how I've stuck with my plan so long. My weight range is usually between 180 to 205 pounds. I intermittent fast every day which helps, but calorie dense plus a loose ball park calorie count is the method/idea I ascribe to now for everything else.

Some of my friends derived this concept to "intermittent vegan". They'll have a few days a week where they eat vegan (or eat vegan at home and anything goes when they go out with others) and it seems to work for them. IMO the reason why it works so well is one word, "Fibre". I always do fruits and veggies are considered essentially unlimited. But don't kid yourself with avocados and mangoes which are calorie dense or add dips/dressing that are the same.

For me, calorie dense is less about the calories in, but the remaining calories by the times the food goes out. No food is inherently "bad". A food higher in fibre (ie: veggies) is using more calories to break down than something like a cheese. So if I've been eating higher calorie dense food, I'll snack on veggies and fruit vs chips and cheese. For meals I'll do more plain veggies, cut meat into smaller parts (ie: ground beef vs sliced meat vs steak) etc. I also find if you eat slower, you'll eat less by the time you feel full.

Calorie dense also isn't about the food we eat, but the state it is in. Often times, we have cravings. Get rid of them right away. As stupid as this sounds, my wife and I used to do successful charcuterie type snack boards while dieting that were within range of our allowed snacks for calorie counting. 2-3 pickles are essentially nothing in calories. We sliced those damn things into slices around the size and thickness of a nickle. We'd do something similar with a pepperoni sausage/smoked meats and cheese to ratio. Add in some crackers, you can split a 150 calorie snack that fills that craving, for little calorie intake. We also do a bunch of sliced fruits on the side too.

My understanding of this is that most people rush food consumption to the point where we swallow lots of un-chewed food. This means that food is compact and can take up less space in our stomach before we are full. Proper chewing helps to have the food take up more space and thus we are full sooner with the same type of food consumed. Add in the additional calories you used to break down the food... it'll add up after a while.

This is noom. To a tee.