I understand calorie balance. I've been on a diet since I was 12 years old, and am now approaching 50. I've lost and regained the same 60lbs about 4 times now. I have logged every bite that goes into my mouth, and lived with a constant hunger for as long as I could take it. Then I ate until I felt satisfied and gained it all back. I know how many calories are in anything, and I can eyeball any serving size. I've been doing it for decades. When I take GLP-1s, I can just stop. My appetite and body maintains itself at a healthy weight, and I don't cry myself to sleep from either hunger or shame.

I think I'm not the ignorant one.

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faangguyindia 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I have no personal animosity toward you, but I've heard all this many times, so I'll respond accordingly.

>I've been on a diet since I was 12 years old, and am now approaching 50. I've lost and regained the same 60lbs about 4 times now

You can lose weight by crash dieting, which does not prove much. The first thing that comes to mind for people is simply: "I'll just eat very little and lose weight." It even works, but people quickly get results; it makes them miserable, and they gain it back.

People get stuck between "eating too little" and "binge eating".

>I have logged every bite that goes into my mouth, and lived with a constant hunger for as long as I could take it

This proves you are sincere in calorie tracking, but it doesn't tell us much about what kind of deficit you were in. What were your maintenance calories, and how did you calculate them?

What kind of deficit did you run over what time period?

In my experience, while people know all these things, execution still requires knowing all the "gotchas".

Going from 2700kcal calories to 1000kcal a day diet will make anyone hungry and miserable.

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phil21 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> In my experience, while people know all these things, execution still requires knowing all the "gotchas".

In my experience, people that think they know all the "gotchas" don't really know as much as they think they do.

Knowing fat is calorie dense is great. Without context one would attempt to try to cut it out of your diet almost entirely. Sort of like what literally happened with the food industry in the 80's/90's and 00's.

But then they would wonder why they are so hungry and likely consuming more sugars. Which is even worse for most folks due to glycemic index and how that interacts with hunger.

A little bit of knowledge can be actively harmful. Common sense on this topic actually does far better than most who think they know better. Almost everyone knows what "healthy food" looks like without needing to know anything about much else. Education is not the issue.

	▲	jampekka an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Almost everyone knows what "healthy food" looks like without needing to know anything about much else. I highly doubt this. A lot of people think stuff like juice smoothies, granolas or dates are healthy. Or more generally organic or grassfed or "no added sugar" or "high-protein" high-sugar or "unprocessed" stuff. People are actively misinformed about what's healthy by a constant bombardment of ads, fads and "common sense".
	▲	faangguyindia 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		If you are taking shots at me, just know i wrote this guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/tirzepatidecompound/comments/1omfgx... which is often shared on fitness subreddits, nowhere it asks people to completely stop eating fats. furthermore i run dieting app with thousands of users so i am not the one who is going to promote zero sugar or fat diet. My app: https://macrocodex.app/ it's an ad free, subscription free app, i don't make money from this.

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genericresponse 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Obesity is widely regarded as a chronic disease that includes the interaction of genetic and other factors with behavioral factors.

The unbelievably low success rate of diet and exercise programs for long-term weight reduction is widely documented and quite consistent with the earlier poster's experience.

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faangguyindia 8 hours ago | parent [-]

>The unbelievably low success rate of diet and exercise programs for long-term weight reduction is widely documented and quite consistent with the earlier poster's experience.

where is your data from? what protocol did they follow?

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tsimionescu 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Please suggest some studies that show high success rates in curing obesity long term (say, at least 5 years). If you seem to be so incredulous that this is a real problem, I assume you are basing this on some studies that did find it's doable, and we're just being ignorant.

	▲	faangguyindia 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
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weregiraffe 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The problem is the difficulty in following any protocol.

	▲	faangguyindia 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
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klipklop 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This comes off as extremely condescending. I am pretty sure the person you are trying to give basic dieting advice already knows this. Why are you trying so hard to convince people to not take medication that helps them?

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faangguyindia 8 hours ago | parent [-]

when someone says something doesn't work, is it condescending to ask them what exactly they did?

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PotatoPrime 5 hours ago | parent [-]

If you're asking genuinely, yes it can be condescending to persist in asking for 'exactly' what they've done, especially when the discussion isn't focused on their diet or their success and failure.

People tend to not want advice when they're not seeking it, and when someone wants to dissect every detail of what they've done that hasn't worked, when they mentioned it merely as an anecdote, it tends to be perceived as condescending.

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faangguyindia 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I'll keep on asking exact things you've done as long as you keep claiming something doesn't work, when I know it does and have worked for many.

About advise part, I am not looking to offer him any advise I am simply defending the method and ideas, so that other people can find success with it similar to what I've done for me and for many others.

	▲	amanaplanacanal 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Your advice is exactly the same advice that people have been giving for decades. Look around. Giving that advice doesn't work for most people. How much weight did you lose, and how long have you kept it off?

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QuiEgo 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That sucks. If GLP-1s work for you, more power to you.

Curious: how big of a calorie deficit did you run, and what was your macro (protein/fat/carbs) balance.

My personal experience is going low on carbs (especially added sugars) and high on fiber and protein made running a deficit suck much less in terms of feeling satisfied.

Also, a 10% deficit was okay (I was hungry but could mostly ignore it). A 25% deficit was very annoying and about as much as I'd care to do.

	▲	faangguyindia 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
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dotcoma 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Wow. I wish you could find a way to do this without meds, but I certainly can’t blame you for taking them.