[rdm_blackhole]

A couple of years ago I found myself weighing 250lbs. Basically morbidly obese.

I decided to change that. I went through all the food I bought during the week and decided to do some culling.

I removed anything with sugar and replaced it with Stevia. Removed the soft drinks, alcohol, and carbs.

I follow this diet 6 days a week. One day a week, I indulge myself: a pizza or burrito or have a few beers.

I also go to the gym 5 times a week. Run 5k in 25 minutes plus one hour of weight lifting. Nothing to intense mind you.

I have lost nearly 80lbs with the last 24 months. The trick is to do it slow and steady.

I always cringe when I read about the latest fad diet: Lose 5 lbs in one week or some crap like that!

In the end, it takes time and will to achieve results but once you get into a routine, if very easy to keep going.

During my holidays, I usually drink, smoke and eat whatever I want but as soon as I get back home, I go back to my routine.

Some people think that this is boring but honestly, unless you are an athlete competing at a high level, you don't need to eat carbs every day.

This is just my experience. Results may vary.

[tokyodude]

I lost 30lbs just removing sugary drinks and side dishes. In other words instead of burger + fries + coke it changed to burger + diet coke. Went from 210 to 180. No other changes, no exercise. Just my results. I don't remember how long it took but I don't remember it being more than a year.

[flyingpenguin]

I gained maybe 100lb over a 4 year period while in college. I went from 200lb to 300lb. I drank nothing but water that whole time.

After I graduated I cut how much I was eating and stopped snacking between meals. Lost 80lb in 6months... it was crazy and scary.

[kwanbix]

> I also go to the gym 5 times a week. Run 5k in 25 minutes plus one hour of weight lifting. Nothing to intense mind you.

You consider running 5 kilometers a day, and doing one hour of weight lifting to be non intense? wow.

[EForEndeavour]

Yeah, 5k in 25 minutes is by no means an easy jog for most people, and places OP in the average race pace, according to https://www.verywellfit.com/what-is-a-good-time-for-a-5k-291... (grain of salt, but they have more data than I do). Mind you, I interpret OP to mean that this is their current workout routine, after their dramatic weight loss and increase in fitness.

[rdm_blackhole]

This is my current fitness level. When I first started going to the Gym I was averaging 2.5 km in 30 minutes. I should also add that I was a heavy smoker. Nowadays, my routine consists of 5 different exercises and 25 minutes of running but I am not looking to break a record or become completely ripped. Just toned. So when I say that it is not too intense, I mean it as of now. When I first started, the workouts were a pain but I finally got used to them after a while.

[sridca]

Fasting is the ultimate weight loss tool. It also facilitates (muscle) growth and healing.

[Jaruzel]

It also can put a strain on your organs if you are not too healthy. Consult a Doctor before trying it.

[sridca]

Any references for that claim (assuming 5 days water fast or less)?

[bildung]

"[I]ntermittent fasting diets may actually damage the pancreas and affect insulin function in normal healthy individuals, which could lead to diabetes and serious health issues." (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/20/fasting-diet...)

The National Council Against Health Fraud "strongly advises against the use of prolonged fasting for health purposes, and believes that requiring children to fast is a form of child abuse." https://www.ncahf.org/articles/e-i/fasting.html

[beagle3]

Your first link talks specifically of fasting every other day, and is about rats. That is completely irrelevant to 5 day fasting in humans, whereas [0] is.

Your second link is from 1995; A lot has happened since. Yes, children should probably not fast. Other than that, more recent data (as well as old, but ignored, data) show that water fasting is good for you. And Valter Lango's research (see [0], and google for more) shows that it's actually extremely beneficial in many cases, especially during chemotherapy.

[0] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/five-day-fasting-die...

[Madmallard]

My labs started deviating from normal in the wrong diection during 36 hr fasting in the hospital. Granted, I am very sick.

[goldenkey]

I hope you get better mate. If there's anything that might help and is doable by a stranger on HN, lmk.

[cm2187]

I agree. One normal meal a day for a long period. It quickly becomes a habit and you no longer feel hunger. No requirement on the meal as long as it is reasonable (life is too short to eat things that taste bad!). And some exercise (45min cardio daily, doesn’t need to be high intensity), though I suspect losing weight is 80% food intake, 20% exercise. Worth taking some vitamin complements though.

[JennyYuen]

I agree. Fasting is good and simple for weight loss. My first step was removing snacks. Now I am skipping breakfast. I see results. Take a look at this blog: https://simplelifeweightloss.blogspot.com/ Author has been on intermittent fasting for 12 years. It's quite inspiring.

[n4r9]

I've read that fasting can increase GH levels. Do you know of any studies that directly link fasting to muscle growth? Intuitively I would guess that increased GH in the absence of a calorie surplus might lead to good muscle maintenance but poor muscle growth, particularly in people who already have a decent amount of muscle.

[sridca]

I do not know of studies, other than anecdotes such as this one:

> So, during the FMD I lost approximately 4.2 lbs of body fat, while GAINING nearly a pound of muscle! There was also a nice muscle building “rebound” effect once my fast ended and I began to exercise again.

https://www.quantifiedbob.com/fasting-mimicking-diet/

[n4r9]

That seems extremely dubious, given:

> during my fast I refrained from any physical activity – no workouts or sports

and:

> for this experiment my Omron scale had to do since I didn’t have access to more accurate body composition tools

[jki275]

As someone who regularly fasts for a variety of reasons, I would agree -- it's nearly impossible to gain muscle while fasting anyway, and without working out in any way I can't imagine how that could happen at all.

But most likely the tool is measuring inaccurately.

[sridca]

> it's nearly impossible to gain muscle while fasting anyway

Fasting may not affect muscle gain during the fast, but it may during the following refeed.

[nemasu]

I did a water fast for 2 weeks. It was...kind of amazing actually, recommend to try it at least once if you can. One tip: when you are done and are ready to break it, introduce food very slowly, I didn't and it was unpleasant to say the least.

[sridca]

> One tip: when you are done and are ready to break it, introduce food very slowly

Is that relevant even when doing a 3-5 days fast?

[0-_-0]

After 3 days I was OK with just eating normally (or even excessively TBH)

[Onewildgamer]

Removing soft drinks and alcohol came easy, but removing carbs in a daily diet became extremely difficult for me and hence I plateaued. I am curious to know what you replaced it with?

[rdm_blackhole]

Sweet potatoes and broccoli. Lately, I have been eating a lot of cauliflower rice. It looks like rice but its cauliflower.

Oh and if you find that your food is a bit boring for some reason, you can add some spicy sauce(without sugar) on your meal.

[CogitoCogito]

> In the end, it takes time and will to achieve results but once you get into a routine, if very easy to keep going.

I think for perspective it's good to consider how long it took you to gain the weight in the first place. Say if you slowly went up 80 pounds over the course of 5 years, then remember that time frame. Expecting it to be gone in a month is crazy. Even losing it in a year is 5 times faster than you gained it.