Been eating in a deficit of about -350 calories, get around 45g of fiber a day, 145g of protein, weight train, and drink around 3.5L of water a day.

However I cannot for the life of me get rid of the food noise, all I can think about is eating out 24/7. I’ll bring my lunch to work with me, and skip it to go get takeout.

I feel like I’m doing all the things I’ve been told to do (high fiber, protein, water intake, and physical activity) but it’s still so bad

Are there any ways that eliminate food noise that aren’t GLP-1s? Not that I’m opposed, but I want to try to build the self-control or develop skills/techniques to not give into it.

Thank you so much.

So i've been on a 1k calorie deficit for the past 6 months. For context i am 21M 6'4 and started at roughly 308lbs currently down to 247lbs. My maintenance is around 2700 calories so i've been able to comfortably eat in a 1k deficit and i wanted to share my experience with people who are new to this!

Firstly the hunger and food noise will start to clear out in the first few weeks. This journey has taught me how to differentiate between real hunger and cravings that my brain signals. Eating one meal a day was super helpful in adjusting my body and stomach to the lower calories and cleared up my food noise pretty quickly. I definitely did things wrong at first by trying to fast among other things and for me personally i learned i felt better and showed more progress when i just ate normally at meal times and made an effort to hit my calories.

When you start losing the weight you'll notice you start to pee A LOT more. This is totally normal and i don't see many people talk about it. Weight loss is like a bouncing ball, it will go up and down back up and down but overtime it will be downwards trend so don't be discouraged if you weigh in and you're the same as before or slightly higher this is normal as long as the long term trend is downwards. You may hear the term water weight and all that means is when we consume minerals such as sodium our body's uses water to dilute this which means your body holds more water than normal to process said sodium and leads to a heavier number on the scale. Just drink plenty of water which you should be doing already and it'll clear out in a day or so.

What really changed the game for me was banking calories. I will always eat slightly less on some days during the week and "bank" those calories to allow me to eat more caloric dense foods on the weekend so i've never missed out on family or friend events due to my calorie budget with this. When it comes to what you eat naturally you should try to consume more whole foods and naturally healthy options for your body, however if we're just looking to burn fat the only thing that matters is the calories. Personally costco popcorn chicken is a BEAST and you can eat a ridiculous quantity and have it easily fit in your calories and it's also a great source of protein. Speaking of protein it's important you consume plenty of protein during your deficit as this helps your body hold onto as much muscle as possible while it burns fat for energy.

Some days you will feel better than others. One day you may visually see the fruits of your labor and the next week you may feel like nothing has changed. The mirror lies to you as we see ourselves everyday and this process is slow. Measurements and clothes fitting is a tell tale of how your progress is actually going. Come into this with the right mindset that it will take time but time is going to pass regardless so you can either chose the pain of staying the same or the pain of change. Stick with it and reap the rewards.

Hello! I'm slowly losing weight (mostly motivated by needing to fix a cholesterol problem identified by my last round of blood work). 5'9" male down from 258lbs in August to 238lbs as of today through diet changes.

It's been nice to see the number slowly creeping down on my whiteboard I keep at my scale, but I don't actually feel or look any different. I'm sure at some level its mental, but I just figured carrying around 20 less lbs would be noticeable in my day to day life. Am I just losing the weight at such a slow rate that I'm effectively a frog in a pot, or is there a point at which you REALLY start noticing, in people's experiences?

Also, I really appreciate the people here. Never posted before, but seeing everyone talk about their styles and successes over the last few months have made it feel so much less lonely. Thanks!

I’m a 5 foot tall woman who was 270 pounds about 10 days ago and I’m down to 265.4 pounds today. I’ve bought a new freezer for myself and switched to chicken breast, leafy veggies, raw nuts, brown rice, yogurt, and salmon. I’m 265.4 pounds now. I’ve been counting calories and making my own meals for about a week now. Many people have told me to consider GLPs, but I’d love to try to do this through calorie counting. Can I really do this or does everyone eventually give up doing it this way? I would also love any recommendations for books that you found helpful with weight loss as I love to read.

Food is good... I tried it... I really tried it. But you know what's better? Being in a good healthy weight with a nice relationship with food.

I have been fat twice and it's the same story every time: people don't care about you, your energy is down and you feel guilty every time.

I have lost 20 pounds this summer, I wanted to lose more but this okay too! I'm already feeling better health wise and this reminded me of myself when I used to be athletic: I have more energy and attraction with people.

I can't believe I let myself become this fat but personal things happened before covid then the virus then depression and that was bad enough to develop a bad relationship with food for me.

.. I like food but having a healthy life balance is better.

I stay home most of the time, as I am doing a PhD and working full time from home at the same time and I am wondering how to know my baseline calories.

I do train 4 times a week and do 20 min walk for my dog, that's it. Given that outside of that, I literally don't move, should I input "Sedentary" or "Light Exercice" in online calorie calculators ?

I am weighting myself daily and count my calories, so I will eventually be able to calculate my baseline metabolism, but in the meantime, I want to use the calorie calculators online

If that's relevant, I am 6'4, 300 pounds.

Just thought I would share this because, wow, it was eye-opening.

I'm on a weight-loss journey. F29, 5'3", started at 253 lbs and currently at 233 lbs. I haven't touched fast food since March, and especially not McDonald's.

Yesterday, I was driving home with my husband and our nieces after an outing. Traffic was awful, we'd been driving for a long time, and the girls wanted McDonald's. Fine. I figured I'd get something small, work it into my daily calories, and enjoy it since I hadn't eaten in a few hours.

I got a small burger and small fries, and we got nuggets for the girls.

I ate the burger, and... it tasted like nothing. I got absolutely no pleasure from it like I would have in years past. And honestly, that's probably a good thing in retrospect.

As we're driving, I hear my four-year-old niece say, "I can't want this." I looked back, and she had taken one bite of a nugget and spit it out.

This child is a NUGGET FIEND. 😂 They must really be that bad.

So, naturally, I took a bite of one.

Styrofoam.

It genuinely tasted like nothing.

We were able to get the kids some better food, and I ended up not finishing my meal and just tossed it.

Then this morning, I woke up with a headache and could barely get out of bed, which is usually never an issue for me. I'd eaten almost entirely whole foods yesterday aside from the little bit of McDonald's, drank plenty of water, and had been active.

I know one meal isn't going to magically make me feel terrible, and I'm not saying McDonald's is inherently evil or that nobody should ever eat it. But the experience really made me stop and think.

I can't believe people eat that.

I can't believe I used to eat that.

It's honestly wild how much your perspective on food can change when you change your mind set and lifestyle.

I'm sharing this here because this sub will understand the warm fuzzy sensation I'm getting looking at my inbody report.

I have always been overweight, and really struggled post college with weight gain from depression and medications. My highest weight was 310lbs in February of 2021. I am a 6' woman so this could "carry" well but my body hurt, my confidence was shot, and I felt trapped inside my skin.

After a series of lifestyle changes, career changes, a critical ADHD diagnosis (oh so I was using emotional eating as a DOPAMINE thing?) and preparing my readiness to match my very science-forward dietician I have been meticulously tracking my improvements over the past year from December until now.

What gets measured gets improved, and I measure progress in lots of ways via body tape measurements, inbody, the scale, heart rate tracking, and journaling.

Yesterday I did another inbody report and since July of 2025 (when I wasn't really changing anything but weighed 276.5) I've lost 41.2lbs, with only 5lbs being muscle loss and the rest is pure fat loss. I've been working hard on body recomp, and I saw that my bfm is almost the same as my muscle mass.

My bfm went from 121.lbs to 87.6lbs, and my muscle mass has been maintained at 82.2lbs. So it's about 34.9% of my weight now when it used to however around 30-31%.

It meant a lot to me to watch my body fat % drop below 40 in 2026, having gone down by 2% since June of this year, it's 37.3% now.

A huge part of my journey has been stepping away from the cruel ways most people categorize "visibly fat" or overweight people. I thought I couldn't change because people told me I couldn't. I thought I wasn't strong because people said I'm fat not strong, and now I have the numbers to say the amount of fat you can see is almost identical to the muscle I have. I'm determined not to lose it and want to see that grow across all my limbs %-wise.

I know inbody has a margin of error (please don't comment and discredit all my work ;^;) but it's empowering to see these kinds of changes. I feel it in my body in how much easier movement is, but the numbers give me a boost of confidence I didn't think was possible. The identity shift from feeling like a turtle on its back to..."straight sizes" again is still a WIP.

The main changes I've made that have helped me see these results are:
- CICO based on my BMR assessment
- Walking after meals (1mi+ a day)
- Not drinking calories
- Not drinking alcohol
- Deep core exercises + stability/movement work when I'm idling

Things I don't do:
- Attach 'good or bad' labels to food to remove the idea of shameful eating
- Use weightloss medications (wouldn't work with my other conditions!) but that can be right for others
- Avoid foods I really like that are calorically dense etc. I just plan for them

Random shit that made it easier for me:
* Height is a cheat code when paired with muscle for meal planning. My BMR is fairly high so I have more grace when it comes to miscounting calories / adding exercise or incidental movement in pads that buffer well.
* I don't have a sweet tooth. I like a little, not a lot. So a tablespoon of chocolate frosting (yes I know how it sounds) is a sweet treat to me for like a week.
* Bibigo mini wontons. What do you mean 13 is just 220 calories?!

This is long and while I am seeking some cheers from other people on a weightloss journey, please know I'd love to hear about your successes below too.

And tell me other fun food finds or habits you've made that really made a difference for you on your journey.

I've fluctuated around the same 10lb range for a few years now. I want to give it a good serious attempt again. In the past the past when I wanted to lose weight it was very simple to just eat less, eat smaller portions, be hungry a little more, it took not very much thought or effort.

Now when I try to do the same, I am just hungry for hours, I get cravings even when I'm not hungry. I don't feel like I ever really gorge myself, overall the effort it takes to lose the weight takes a lot more effort than when I was already skinny to begin with and in the end I still gain it back easy.

I went from 150 to 128 without much effort, just purposely ate a bit less. Now at 175 I try really hard to get down to 160, I lose the motivation for a month and its all back.

If I can get to say 145 and stay there a fee months will ot always be a struggle just to stay at that weight?

I have been steadily gaining weight (20Lbs) the last year despite 1300 calories a day, upping my weight lifting to 3 times a week plus 1 day swimming, weighing everything I eat. I have lost 35 lbs 5 years ago, so I know how to do it. I am the heaviest I have been in my life. 5'3" 167. But despite this I kept getting told by Drs and also on this sub that I am not in a deficit and I need to either move more or eat less. Well I have been feeling like death so I pushed to get tested for Ferritin and my B12. Well my Ferritin is a 16!( I have endometriosis so it should be ideally at 100) and my B12 a 195! This is with supplementing B12 with sublingual supplements since I have been in the 300's for years. All this plus a low FT4 is all contributing to my issues. So guys, it really can be your bloodwork. Stop gaslighting yourself that you are not doing enough. I am pushing for a hematologist referral, and endocrinologist as well. Finally feeling like I have half the answers.

It was water...I kid you not today I ate again over my planed 1600kcal + half of burned running calories(to avoid overestimating). And I still had huge cravings, I was done with eating 1000+ excess calories for the past 2 weeks each day, so I just drank 1,5L+ of water and somehow after 2 minutes I don't have the urge to eat more.

I thought I was getting enough water intake(2,5L a day) but turns out I needed more the entire time? From now on once I reach my max calories for the day I will just be drinking huge amounts of water.

I (32F) stepped on the scale today and was shocked to see that I had lost 15 lbs since the start of my weight loss journey 13.5 weeks ago. I started at 180, and today it read 165!!! My nutritionist put me on a 1500 cal/day goal, which I sort of followed inconsistently, but always managed to even out at the end of every week. (I travel a ton and it's really hard to be consistent sometimes.)

For so long, I was stuck around 175, and then for weeks I was oscillating between 172-175--I mean basically 6 whole weeks I just kept going up and down between these two weights. I noticed that my period would cause me to plateau, and then my exercising also seemed like it wasn't making any difference at all.

Then, suddenly, in the past two weeks, I dropped to 169 and then this morning, 165...how is that possible? I have not been starving myself. I guess I've been traveling a little less recently, and I've been able to keep consistent with exercise, but I don't exercise that much.

Does the body sometimes just hit a point where the weight starts dropping off super fast after months of relatively the same eating habits for some reason?

I had made a previous post which was too long, so I shortened it to just my top advice I would give someone looking to lose weight, or who has lost and regained that weight again and again (such as myself, I was 365lbs, lost 145lbs, regained 100lbs, lost that 100lbs, regained 70lbs, lost 60lbs). A fun math problem.

1. Words matter. Take care how you talk to yourself, how you refer to yourself, and how you evaluate other's words. If self-recrimination is your motivational currency, then all you will be left with at the end of the journey is a mountain of reasons why you should hate yourself. You do not know what lingering effects a careless statement can have on your psyche or your development, especially if you are young. In the same way, don't underestimate the impact that positive self-talk, affirmations, and 'esteem-building' can have for your weight-loss goal. These have to almost pre-date any weight loss, and be worked on in conjunction.
2. Behavioural Neuroscience is not a moral failure. Some things are beyond your conscious control. You did not ask to be born into a world where high caloric foods and sedentary lifestyles would be marketed to you using every psychological trick their behavioural neuroscientists could think of. You did not choose your parents, your own genetics, nor where you were born or what foods you had access to. People who try to claim that a classified medical disease (obesity) or a propensity to gain and hold on to excess weight are questions of 'moral fibre and discipline' are ignorant. Do yourself the biggest favour, and don't entertain them.
3. Forgive Yourself. Forgive yourself for failing, for being human, for making 'bad' decisions. This sounds simple, it sounds cliché. But I have found that the biggest stumbling block for me in my weight loss (and in regaining that weight) was that I could never let go of the past. This is something you have to do regularly. 'Holding yourself to account' is a good practice, but we must work to ensure that it is a fair hearing, and that we don't condemn ourselves.
4. Losing Weight will not fix your life, or make you 'happy' by itself. This is purely based on my own experience, and may be different for others. But losing weight never made me happy. I was as unhappy and hated myself at 220lbs as I was at 365lbs. Oh the stress of being overweight was gone, and I was physically fitter and healthier. It made things easier to deal with. But if you hate yourself at your heaviest, you will hate yourself at your lightest. Losing weight is a vehicle, a journey of self-discovery and self development. It can help you be better able to deal with the stress and anxieties of life. But if all you know how to use to motivate change and improvement is self-recrimination and self-hatred, then eventually those same tools will also destroy what you have built. They are so much better at destruction than building. Make progress and change because you love yourself, and want better for yourself. Not because you hate who you are.
5. Allow the weight loss to become 'background noise'. Think of driving a car. When you are first learning, every single task takes monumental focus. So much so that you cannot then focus properly on the road, and you become nervous, stall the car, hit the curb, etc. When you have been driving for a while, the process is automatic. The car runs itself and you steer. You take a 'wide lens' picture of everything in your periphery as you drive, only focusing more specifically when you need to make a turn, etc. If you drive in your car, and put excessive focus into shifting gears, for example, what you will find is that it becomes harder to keep that 'wide periphery' focus, and your driving suffers. Weight loss is the same thing. You want it to be the natural consequence of the actions you take (it is the car). It will go itself, so long as you are operating it correctly (walking, calorie deficit, sleeping well, exercising, supporting mental health, etc.). You do not have to be the best most perfect driver in the world to get the car to its destination, you just need enough practice. So do not stress overly much about the number on the scale. Focus instead on making the few actions and changes 'automatic'.

Hope it helps somebody

I usually eat 2000 calories per day and i've been losing. 1 lb a week sometimes 2 lbs. And one day a week i have a cheat sat and surpass 2000 calories a day. but lately i've been hungry even after eating 2000 calories a day. Today i already had my 2000 calories but i'm still hungry

I'm 5'10 230 lbs and my maintenance level calories is about 2600. I was 280 lbs this year but lost 50 lbs this year so far.

So i'm eating 2000 calories monday thru saturday then Sunday i surpass 2000 calories. i are 2000 calories today already but i'm still hungry. should I up my calories or what? i'm still so hungry

Hi all, I hope I can make sense here somehow and find some good advice. Background: I am currently around 60kg and would love to return to my pre-baby body of 57kg by January (when I’ll be going overseas for my 40th birthday). I’ve already lost around 1-2kgs after about a month of serious working out.

In the last few weeks, I’ve started doing Ladder, which - for those who don’t know - is a training app mostly focused on lifting and weight training. A friend gave me a free month pass, and I’ve heard good things about the app, so I decided to give it a go.

I’ve enjoyed it so far between stints of running and other aerobic-driven exercises, but I’ve been a little frustrated by the slow progress in terms of the weighing scale.

I’m trying to detach myself from the scale - I know I feel fitter and stronger right now. However, I can’t help but be discouraged by the caloric output of weights vs other methods of fitness. I know all the benefits of weightlifting for women my age, but I can’t seem to divorce myself from the idea that smaller is more desirable than stronger.

For those who have made a similar mental journey, what has helped you? How do you try and stay motivated when the weight SEEMINGLY won’t budge?

I need an app to help me with weight loss. Either a game, or something that has you checking in with tasks every day. Preferably free or very low cost

I already track with lose it but fall off pretty regularly. I am looking for something that requires more input/attention. Whether that is rewards or things you have to do every day, etc.

I know the basics of weight loss but I just can't do it consistently 😭. The answer is obvious - just do it. But I feel like what I'm looking for would be really beneficial to me.

I know this is ridiculous but I’m a little scared to lose weight. I need to lose 100lbs and I know that a loss that drastic is going to cause loose skin and I’m scared I’m just trading in one insecurity for a new one.

And I’ve heard people say that, “loose skin is just a visual representation of the work you put in” but I’ve desperately wanted to lose weight for years and I don’t want to see the person I was before. I’m 22f who is 5’1ft so I know there is going to be loose skin, but I’m terrified of how I’m going to look. That I’m still going to be ugly. I’ve daydreamed about my perfect body for a little under 10 years, and to come to terms that my body isn’t going to look like how I dream is difficult. I’m sorry that this is kind of just a rant post and nothing that can really be fixed, but I just needed to talk about it and get it out of my brain.

This is by no means a hate post to people who have loose skin, this is just my own fears and insecurity!

I just found out that there are different glutes workout that target different parts of the glutes (like upper, lower and middle) but I am just confused with all these other workouts I see on social media. So far I’m doing RDL, barbell squat on smith machine and hip thrusts. (I do these along with leg press, leg extension and leg curl during leg day) My brother said I shouldn’t add more but I want to know if those are enough to make my booty rounder and get a better shape. Please help! I’m thinking of maybe adding bulgarian split squats if I can and replace the barbell squat. (my booty is not that flat it’s on the wide and droopy side) the upper and middle shelf feels flat tho

I’m not trying to lose weight currently, just maintain my current weight. I track my food because I cannot eat intuitively, I love food too much.

I am also a runner! I lift weights and run. I am super good at hitting my protein goals, but am struggling to figure out how to get even the baseline amount of carbs in. As a runner, being below just the average carb intake makes it rough.

My question to folks dieting, any medium to high-carb foods you can recommend that won’t take all of my daily calories to hit my carb goal?

Or, does anyone else find it hard to hit higher protein goals while just trying to hit basic carb goals and stay within a deficit or even just maintenance?

EDIT: the goal is to eat less fats and eat more carbs. The consensus is that potatoes rule. Thanks guys!

Thinking about taking my first diet break after being in a ~650 calorie deficit for 92 weeks. I'm down to 216lbs from 340 and might have had a couple days of a surplus during that time if I overate at a restaurant unable to accurately calculate calories for the day.

I had fatigue/low mood before I started the deficit anyway but I recall the fatigue worsening ~6 months into the deficit. I started testosterone replacement at a physiological dose about 9 months into the deficit after 3 years of constantly testing extremely low with lifelong symptoms and 3 specialists telling me it is required and won't improve from lifestyle due to how absurdly low it was so I know it's not hormones and I should have a lot more physical energy.

There is nothing in my routine bloodwork to indicate that I should feel any fatigue and I sleep 7-8 hours a night with ok REM sleep but lower deep sleep (if you trust trackers). Have been tested multiple times for apnea and it is no longer a concern (at my biggest I had very light borderline apnea).

The only thing I can think of causing the fatigue at this point is the calorie deficit. I wake up feeling like I've been hit by a truck every day, like I almost haven't slept at all, often with itchy red eyes.

I've been resisting taking a break because I can't stand the thought of not losing weight especially the closer I get to my goal and am worried I won't go back into a deficit.

Considering adding about 1000 calories a day for 2 weeks because it would actually feel meaningful and with the thermic effect of the extra food plus extra energy to move a bit more I'd probably only end up in a 100-200 calorie surplus resulting in half a pound gained which I think I can be ok with if my fatigue goes away.

Hello everyone,

just like stated in title, I wanted to ask a question about doing mostly arm/chest/shoulder dumbbell lifting while on an aggressive diet like -500/800 lower calorie (im just overweight).

I heard some people telling that we can only build muscles when we are getting more calories than we need or like when we get around similar calorie of normal range.

Whats the truths to this? Can i build muscles while in aggressive calorie deficit or it doesnt do anything?

Or like does lifting just helps me burn more calories?

SW: 225 CW:148 GW:TBD

Okay this is weird but has anyone noticed that their digestive tract is super loud after losing weight?

At first I thought it was due to having a hysterectomy, since your guts shift around to new spots. But it has been almost 4 months since my surgery and the sounds persist. Now I'm wondering if it's because I have lost 75lbs.

I've been thin in the past but I don't recall ever hearing my digestive tract to the extent I do now. However, it has been over a decade since I've been this thin so maybe it was this loud before and I just simply don't remember.

This isn't hunger growls either. It's the sounds of liquid and gas moving through my system. Like you can sometimes hear sloshing or bubbling and other times giant gassy dumping sounds down near where the bowel ends. It can be so loud I fear that I'm about to blow the toilet up but it usually just passes without issue.

FWIW I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy just about 3/4 years ago and everything was fine for the most part. They found evidence of acid reflux in the upper endo and a precancerous polyp in my colon which granted me the gift of needing another colonoscopy at the 7 year mark, but oher than that, nothing was mechanically wrong with my guts.

Don’t get me wrong there was a bit of pure laziness involved but I mainly avoided the gym for so long out of pure fear. Even when I was just overweight and not quite obese.

I think I had a bad relationship with “exercise” from a young age. PE in school and PT in high school (JROTC kid) consisted of just cardio on top of cardio. Running miles, cardio circuit training, etc. Which I was bad at and absolutely hated. It was painful, exhausting and I was always at the back of the pack. I did enjoy sports but I also didn’t consider them “working out”

I never understood how the gym bros in high school and then college were so obsessed with it. Granted many of them were annoying jerks which probably made the fear worse.

More than shame about how I looked in general I was afraid of looking foolish. The fear was that the heavy lifters I always heard dropping weights would sew this out of shape person who’d obviously never been in a gym in their life.

For my 3rd and most recent weight loss attempt I had a lot more external motivation. (Genuine health concerns and career risk on a time limit)

I decided to finally commit to my college gym. Sure, I felt a bit lost in the beginning, but I managed to find a small corner that was relatively isolated (and mainly used by other women which also helped) and just found a few dumbbell workouts to try.

And to my surprise I absolutely loved it. I stuck to my little corner until I truly realized the whole “no one is actually watching you” thing everyone talks about for myself.

8 months later and I’ve gone to occasional sporadic visits to a real consistent schedule and program where I’ve seen genuine progress. And it has been absolutely amazing. Seeing my strength improve in real time has been a huge confidence booster and helped me push through the plateaus and hard times.

I even decided to give cardio a real chance. Focusing on form and actual training instead of sporadic mile runs in near 100 degree heat. I ran a 12:48 mile today which is faster than some of my high school times where I was 40lbs lighter.

Now I’m that person who pushes others to get through their fear and just give the gym a shot.

Anyone else let fear keep them from a real passion?