So I’m going to preface this by saying that I’ve been very fortunate on my weight loss journey including how much free time I have to dedicate to cooking, and what I’ve done won’t work for everyone. Also I recommend not being hyper focused on weight and instead focus on being healthy.

I used to be very overweight, and was always overweight growing up. I’m 6’3" and at my highest in my mid 20’s was 330 lbs. I basically didn’t pay attention to what I ate at all, so I ate both too much and not healthy. 8 years later and now I’m around 215, and I have much more thought and time going into how I eat.

I decided that I wanted to change that, and after research I learned a few general things:

1. If you want to have sustained weight loss you can’t go on a diet - you need to change your habits and relationship to food. If you ever plan to go back to eating how you are now, you will return to the same weight and health. If you’re not prepared to have a permanent change to how you eat, you’re probably better off just staying the course because going back and forth can be very unhealthy, both mentally and physically.
2. Losing weight and changing habits are slow processes. It will take months or years to see significant progress, and it won’t be a straight line. Because it’s a permanent change there will be ups and downs along the way and over time, and that’s normal and fine. For me it’s been about 8 years and I’m still making slow progress, but there have been slips where I’ve gained 20-30 lbs back (pandemic was a bitch!)
3. My results are probably not typical. Everyone is on their own journey and dealing with their own hurdles, so don’t compare your results to someone else’s. Progress is progress, no matter how small. And improving your health is absolutely progress, even if the number on the scale doesn’t change.
4. EXERCISE. But not for the reasons you think. You will never be able to outrun a bad diet, you just don’t burn calories that fast while exercising. But it boosts your energy, mood, and for me also helped a ton with leveling out my hunger levels. It’s also probably the single biggest thing you can do to improve your health.

Sorry about the novel before I go into the question, but I’ve seen a lot of unhealthy mindsets and advice and I think it’s important to share that even with success stories there is struggle and it’s a constant battle and lifestyle change. It’s not easy, and anyone telling you differently is selling something.

So, on to what I do!

Best advice I’ve heard boils down to “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Don’t try to follow fad diets. I haven’t seen any good reliable science that supports any super strict diet. The day to day doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as the week to week and month to month. Don’t beat yourself up because you went to a party and indulged, or spent a holiday week with your family and went a little overboard. But if you’re doing that every week, it’s going to have an impact.

For me what worked was a combination of counting calories and substituting foods. I started by logging everything I ate without trying to change anything, just to get a baseline (this was VERY illuminating, it’s shocking how easy it is to eat 3000-4000 calories when you’re mostly eating junk food). Try not to judge yourself here and make sure to log everything you eat, but don’t try to go insane accuracy. Again, aim for broad trends not the small details.

Once you have a good baseline, figure out where you can substitute out higher calorie dense foods with lower calorie dense foods. This usually means more veggies, less junk food. The goal here is to be able to still eat until you feel full, but to decrease the total calories. You want to be able to feel full, because if you’re constantly hungry you likely won’t be able to maintain it long term. A good strategy is to identify some foods that you like that are low calorie density that don’t require any prep. If you’re hungry and it’s not meal time, eat those. My foods were carrots, apples, and celery. I can eat as much of those as I want until I’m not hungry and it won’t have a huge impact on my daily calorie intake.

And honestly, that’s kind of it - rinse and repeat. Experiment with new foods and recipes that are healthier and keep looking for substitutions you can do. Like stew or pasta sauce? Increase the amount and variety of veggies you throw in. Start to learn which foods are high calorie density and which ones are lower. Look to eat a variety of foods to improve overall nutrition.

If you are lucky enough to have the time, learn to cook more. A lot of processed foods have a bunch of sugar in them, and that increases calories a ton without making you feel more full. Cook in big batches so most of the time it’s still quick and easy to eat healthy. Get a few recipe staples that you can cook without thinking or looking up the recipe to lower the effort for home cooked food. An instant pot is great for making large batches of healthy food - a beef and bean chili with tons of veggies over rice is super healthy, fairly low touch time, and you can make like 10-15 meals at a time. Air fryers are great for cooking 1-2 portions at a time of food you prepare in advance, so actual touch time is pretty low.

It’s really hard at first. It gets easier over time (months and years). I’m 8 years in and these things are much more natural to me, but if I’m not actively putting thought and effort into what I eat I still skip into bad habits.

Hope this helps, and best wishes to everyone on a journey for their own health and relationship with food!

I maximize fiber and protein and don’t really count calories. Most americans do not get enough fiber so metamucil can be very powerful. I will go out of my way to eat filling, low calorie foods. Apples, celery, and the not so occasional pickle.

Whole food plant based diet. I also try to limit the amount of carb intake to maintain a healthy mix. Some people go WFPB and end up eating mostly bread and pasta which isn’t great. I also try to go zero SOS (salt, oil, sugar).

I’ve got ADHD, I either binge eat for the dopamine, or I forget that I’m human and need food to survive, and then eat whatever’s fast and easy when my body is finally signalling hunger at a level that I can’t ignore. I try to keep some healthier options around for both scenarios, and it also helps to be around other people who have more regular schedules and I can follow their lead on meal times and join them socially. But when I’m alone, my personal diet is only “balanced” because it’s so chaotic.

I’ve found this about myself after extensive trial and even more extensive error:

• My body seems to use up potassium fast when I’m stressed. No idea why. But taking potassium seems to help me recover when I’m feeling burnt out (I have an HPA axis problem so my stress response isn’t normal)
• Low carb diet (under ~125 grams per day) makes me functional in a way antidepressants, adderall, modafinil, tony robbins, ayahuasca, zen training, therapy, etc never could. I’ve never done keto but low carb is incredible for me
• I have no sense of thirst so keeping a nalgene bottle nearby helps me a lot (the 1-liter capacity is important for tracking my water intake, and this is why the new 828-ml standard for sports drinks pisses me off)
• Wheat gives me systematic inflammation, resulting in miserable outlook on life for about three days. It’s dose-dependent. I can have a piece of toast and be fine but if I eat half a loaf of bread, then I hate everyone and everything the next couple days

Intermittent Fasting is what worked for me. I’ve been on 16:8 for 3 months now and lost almost 10 lbs so far. I like it because it’s so easy. Just don’t eat for 16 hours. No need to avoid any particular food/ingredients and no need to count calories (relatively compared to other diets). I didn’t have to change what or how I eat other than the time I stop and start eating.

Had a UC flare, after that I adjusted my diet. About 50% of the time I do 18h of fasting. Tried an 3 day water fast, gonna do this maybe every 2 months. Mostly meat free meals, cooked from scratch. Trying to keep sugar and bread to the weekends. Eating fermented vegetables and kombucha with most meals. Additional vitamins when I remember.

I don’t eat animal products. Even though many animal products are associated with negative health outcomes, I do it for ethical reasons, not those health reasons.

I usually eat twice a day, a very large meal and a small to medium meal. Has nothing to do with health that just follows when I get hungry and eating is more pleasurable when I am hungry.

Been cutting back on hyperpalatable foods, more potatoes, less potato chips.

To save money I rely a lot on high calorie staples like grains and pulses.

For drinks it’s almost all water and tea. When I’m out I will indulge in some liquor, but I’ve cut back on that a lot.

I don’t eat for pleasure, and I try to follow some bioethics, but that’s basically it.

Eat a variety of foods and eat what makes your body feel good. Eat an amount that maintains your healthy weight. But the most important part is finding the motivation to control your intake.

I just cut my intake in half at lunch and dinner. I find my body needs a decent breakfast with protein. Lunch can be whatever just cut in half and dinner needs to be a decent balance of protein, carbs/starch, and veggie. Oh and lots of water. I cut out the sugary drinks, took a month to wean me off but now I prefer no or low sugar drinks and feel a lot better.

5 meals a day, mix it up, eat raw fruit and veggies, don’t forget proteins. End of story.

I found out what generally makes me feel good day to day, then I decided to pretty much eat those same foods everyday. Downside is that it’s probably not as varied as the ideal diet, upside is that it’s standardized which makes planning what you’re going to eat easy. I’ve also found that I’m able to make more progress in the gym from a standardized diet.

I basically just eat whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it. Lots of meat and fat and salt. Seems to work great, I’m reasonably skinny and healthy. To the extent I’m not just getting randomly lucky I think I’ve stumbled into something in the Atkins diet genre, with unlimited calorie and nutrient dense foods not being an issue because they fill me up when I’ve had enough.

I try to eat 80% to 90% minimally processed foods, and the rest is “fun” food. This is what makes me feel good and keeps me from putting on weight. If I consume too much processed stuff I feel like garbage - I’ll feel tired, get headaches, and feel achey (shit just hits you harder when you’re older).

Minimally processed is stuff like oatmeal, fruit, veggies, lean meats, beans, and rice. I try to eat some fermented stuff every day if I can, usually in the form of fermented dill pickles or kimchi. I try to vary my foods as much as I can, since variety is good for your gut microbiome.