I used to be in a good health and i didn’t used to count my calories. But things have changed since moving to the US. A little background about me, I’m 6 feet tall and I used to weigh 175 but I’m currently 272. When I first moved here I was stressed with grad school and I used to just eat fast food and in any restaurants because I didn’t have the energy to cook. I then decided I want to stop that and I lost almost 30 pounds again. But unfortunately it didn’t last for long and I started to repeat the same bad habits again . I have tried to lose weight 3 times in this 6 years and it will only last for few months and I will lose weight during these months but then I end up gaining it back and even worse than before. I’m sick and tired of this and I need a solution. In the past when I go to the gym I mainly used to do cardio. But now I’m thinking of having a personal trainer to teach me how to work out and build muscles. Do you recommend that? Also I snore at night a lot and this might be due to a nose polyp or maybe sleep apnea is this something that might affect me gaining weight ? Generally are there any check ups or health issues that I should check that might be affecting my weight gain beside my eating habits? What are your recommendations to me in general? Please help a desperate brother out. 😢 ( btw I’m 30 years old now )
Sounds like you’re more focused on your career than your health. I’d recommend taking a step back and maybe even reevaluating your career first. Stress is likely your issue here. It causes weight gain on its own and also causes you to over East and to have less time to fix bad habits. Fix the stress and everything else will come more naturally.
I agree but part of maintaining a good mental health is to look good and workout. My only concern is I’m afraid I will gain whatever I lose again. It’s like an endless circle. I easily gain weight and it’s so annoying
Yeah yeah so does everyone else. I don’t know if it’s true that you are genetically predisposed to gaining weight faster than others. What I do know is that it’s a mindset either way. If you believe you have an uphill battle ahead of you, then you need to prepare accordingly. Prepare to go even harder than ever before and to become more committed than ever. You have to change your stress and then use the extra resources to focus on diet and exercise. If you care enough, you’ll do it. Otherwise, you’re just looking for shortcuts and you’ll end up right back here again.
Yeah, get a trainer and start counting calories eventually when you feel like you have the bandwidth to tack that on. Try to reduce stress throughout because it’s hard to find energy to do all these new things otherwise. I’m at a similar place as you and beginning to do better. Muscles burn fat, so it’s a nice autopilot fat burning system to develop for the long term. No need to drop cardio if you enjoy it. Ya snoring is likely to be due to the weight. This is an anecdotal observation. My friends and I all put on weight through covid and we all snore now :/ Do an insidetracker test to see if there’s anything you need to supplement for. Annual blood tests don’t usually check for things like vit d and testosterone unless you tell them specifically that you want to test it. That route might be worth exploring. You’ll have to start cooking at home too to be good at losing weight through diet, in my experience. I had to reduce my rice intake by 75% too to lose weight. Learn to use air fryer to make chicken and salmon if you don’t already. And stir fry veggies you like and eat those too. Feel free to ask more questions.
Where do you think I can find a good personal trainer? Should I just go to planet fitness and ask or are there any gyms that you recommend and why ?
Which city are you in?
Weights w light cardio also can help you lose weight while putting on muscle. Then you can slowly add in more cardio but for me weights was easier to stick with then a treadmill or bike. If your going to eat out. Get smaller portions. Skip the soda and the fries. Go for meals you can eat half of. And reheat rest in an air fryer. Like chinese/Mexican food.
Speaking of soda. I drink a lot of soda but it’s only diet soda with zero sugar. Should I stop that too ?
Yes. Try to switch to water. Hear me out. At first it'll likely taste gross as your body is addicted to he syrup [even if it's 'sugar free' your body still reacts as it's a sweetener. But...give it a few weeks and you'll reprogram your body to crave water instead. It's healthier, helps you with energy, helps hydrate your muscles to alleviate soreness, helps your mind. Etc. If you really need to drink something sweet, I'd go for like tea or natural lemonade or something. Try to get rid of liquid sugars for now to help yourself out. And this is speaking from experience. Now I'm pounding water all the time. And while I occasionally eat a sugary treat or drink. Now it's almost gross as it's way to sweet for me. Same thing happened w salt. I eliminated higher salt foods. Now when I eat fast food or a bag of chips, it's almost gross to me how salty it is, and I tolerate it but don't crave it. The break turned me off to overly sweet or overly salty foods and I feel better for it. Just took a little time.
Plan at least some meals in advance, bring healthy snacks and make sure you are not hungry when on the road or in the supermarket. That should help with some poor decisions
Can you recommend some healthy snacks for me ?
Lifting helps me tremendously. It’s like compound interest on calorie needs. Plus, it keeps me motivated to stay lean (“oh no, you can’t see my abs/lats/delts - I should cut!”) def recommend. Focus on getting your mind right too. If you learn to lift, know how to cut (which you seem to), and can maintain a healthy mindset, you’ll be in a good spot forever.
What kind of lifting do you do? Dumbells, bench press?
Basically just squat, deadlift, chest press, shoulder press, cable rows, and lat pull-downs. Basically a “bodybuilder” training plan (I know bodybuilder sounds absurd - they’re just the guys that figured out how to build muscle & lose fat. I’m by no means a real body builder, just a normal Zuck-looking bozo)
Have you tried intermittent fasting? Eat only between 11am and 7pm. Nothing before or after. Then remove white carbs from your diet including sugar, white bread, and yes white rice. That should get you down to 220 without counting calories. After that, you’ll need to count calories, exercise a lot, or take a more restrictive diet. Unfortunately, in the food environment that we live in, you just can’t be chill about it and stay at low weight. I’m struggling with the same issues whenever I get off what I said above.
It’s hard for me because I want to focus at work and I need energy to do that.
Intermittent fast 4-5 days or the week
The simplest solution is to cut out any processed foods: that includes refined carbs or anything with added salt, oil, or sugar. That is because these hyper palatable foods are super calorie dense, and you brain has gotten addicted to them. You need to stop this cycle completely. If you try to limit yourself it’ll take a lot of willpower, so do it all or nothing I say. This is because your taste buds will crave junk food and you’ll force yourself to not eat it. Instead go fully natural for 1 week and your taste buds will adapt. I suggest whole food plant based with omega 3, b12 supplementation, as well as vitD if you don’t get sun.
I don’t take any supplements. Can fig please explain to me what is the benefits of them ? Also I have omega 3 that I have bought from Walmart. How many bills should I take per day and what is the benefit of it ?
Get your blood tested to see what deficiencies you have. Most people are deficient in the US for B12 and D3. These are both relatively safe to supplement so it’s kind of hard to overdo it. Omega 3 if you’re not eating fatty fish a few times a week. The dosage depends on how deficient you are, certain supplements are stronger than others in terms of Daily Value. Your doctor can interpret your blood results and give you proper guidance, or you can google for more info and supplementation guidance.
Make small sustainable changes in your lifestyle. Follow it for 1-3 months till you are comfortable. Repeat this again until you are satisfied with yourself. Don’t do anything extreme at the very start. You can start with something as small as give up coke, or biscuits, something deep fried you eat everyday, or eat 1 bowl salad and 1 fruit everyday. Anything that suits you and is easy, make it a part of your lifestyle. And also, slowly add some physical exercise, like give up cars for a day in a week and only use cycle on that day or walk everyday after dinner. Again, anything that you can do sustainably. Once you do all this, join a gym, get help from a trainer, get a nutritionist, count calories, etc. to reach next level. I have done the above to get from 106 kgs to 94 kgs. And now I am stagnated on 95 since a while. Joining a gym on 19th August. And will start with a dietitian too. I gave up coke, biscuits completely. Reduced alcohol intake. Eating 1-2 fruits without fail. And cycle at least 1-2 times a week and frequent walks. Squats, pushups a few times a week. If you want DM me, and we can keep working together on this.
Great I will message you. Can you please share with me some healthy snacks that you eat also what do you eat in you main courses ?
I am an Indian, so my main course may not help. Snacks are puffed rice, peanuts, fruits, boiled sweet potato, coconut water, beetroot, basically salad whatever you like, corn 🌽, etc. Above with tea/coffee.
Eat healthy food and enough.