150 years of dieting fads and still no quick fix

Live in Japan. Problem solved.

Just eat less, people that say losing weight is hard just don't want to stop eating and use it as an excuse.

850 ml not 850 grams. Volume not weight.

what gogogo said. simple, eat less and move more. or just be happy being fat and stop wasting money on diet crap. stay under 2000 calories a day and you'll lose weight.

Cut down 1/4 every 3 months until you are consuming only 1/4. That is what I did. The only bad thing about it is that you cannot go to a tabehodai as it is a waste of money.

Simple formula: calories in less calories out. Want to lose weight? Less calories in or more calories out!! Simple!!

sf2k, i would even say to live in the city in Japan and don't own a car. it was that simple for me. But then i moved to the suburbs/country, got my self a car, and started to gain, so i joined the gym which helps me stabilize my weight (working out 3-4 times for 40min-1 hour). If you wanna lose weight for one with my body type who loves food, one would need to be at the gym for 90 min (4 times a week). oh and all this keeping my diet constant (drinking on weekends, eating sweets twice a week..)

Count calories, eat whatever you want, just don't go over x a day / week and you'll lose weight and not even have to goto the gym.

Eat less, get your duff off the couch. How in the world can that be so hard to figure out? There are morbidly obese people in the 3rd world, that should give us a clue.

Sorry, should be "there are NO morbidly obese people in the 3rd world".

I had quit a serious illness a few years ago and because of that decided to stop my 2 deacade smoking habit. I ballooned in weight, just couldnt stop stuffing my face with sweets and biscuits. In the end i had to do somthing about it and i changed my lifestyle in a few simple ways. Doubled the length of time of my daily dog walk. No snacks between meals,one main meal a day and no fast food. Tokk a good 6 months to get back to normal weight, but if you are patint and dont cheat it is easy enough, for me easier than stopping smoking.

live in Japan, and backpack around a few cities. Worked for me. Food outside of Japan is not filling, so just reducing isn't enough. You have to start eating real food and reduce the GMO stuff since it's technically no longer even food

stevecpfc, so how much weight did your dog loose? poor dog

Do the Banana diet it worked so well for all the bored lazy housewives!

Darn, I was hoping they would say that Asahi Super Dry is the only known weight loss fix.

hats off to sf2k and his pooch!

Agree with everyone, simply half your portions and do a good walk every day is all you need.

And skip the snacks and soda, etc.

Jkanda; Dog is half greyhound and stayed the same weight. Those dogs love exercise. Wouldn`t recommend long walks with a Yorkie or type of dogs many have in Japan, you may have to carry it most of the way.

Lucky for some. I have been seriously dieting for 2 years and only lost a couple of kilos. Under doctors supervision too.

Unfortunately exercising regularly and cutting calories does not help everyone. I am much more miserable now than I was 7 kilos ago( and 2 years before) , because It seems every few months I gain weight and have to eat less and exercise more to lose it, and Im STILL in a "obese" by BMI range.

My social life has suffered too. No one wants to be friends with a fatty who doesnt drink because Im always on a diet. Very depressing stuff indeed. I wish there was something that would work for me. The stuff that you are all suggesting just ... isnt :(

Sounds like you are doing the wrong exercises. Read up on fat-burning exercises.

Also weight/BMI alone is not a good indicator get your BFI checked, many exercises will replace fat with heavier muscle tissue so not weight reduction.

Some of you should never be allowed to post comments on such topics as this!!

My goodness - if people followed some of the advice here, they'd either be obese or dead in a month!!

I've been on a diet and exercise regime since 2009. As William Banting did, I cut out beer, potatoes, starchy foods like rice, and all dairy products except eggs and chicken. Calorie Mate is a good source of calorie intake, but only if you're on a good diet and not eating a lot of calories in your daily food intake. Calories are necessary for energy. I do agree with some posters here that too many calories are the reason people get fat. But that is just one reason. Your stomach and intestines do not work at the same time (see Fit for Life, H.Diamond, for info on body cycles). Hence, a lot of food is not processed and sits in your gut, eventually turning bad, and putting weight on you.

Exercise, especially aerobic exercise, is VITAL if you want to shape up and get a toner skin, physique and mental attitude that is more positive.

It's a shame that just as my belt was feeling a bit tight for the first time in my life, I discovered the great taste of Yona-Yona Ale and the booming microbrew scene in Tokyo. I may have to cut out genuine foodstuffs to accommodate this and keep the balance.

Try preparing your meals with generous amounts of (mono)unsaturated fats, like olive oil. The first thing people do when trying to loose weight is skipping on fats, but there are fats and fats and the good fats are actually very powerful (and natural) metabolism boosters. I have to splurge on food now and then in order to gain weight. And apart from taking a walk every day, I don't exercise much and I eat what I like, but prepare it myself.

Ketosis; swear by it for serious weight loss. Some trash it and say it's dangerous because you eat a lot of saturated fat with it. There are plenty of studies showing that it's a safe and perfectly natural state and does not affect your cholesterol levels in a bad way at all.

Don't do it for too long. A few weeks of a keto diet will shed a significant amount of fat in most people. Just get the excess flab off, then switch to a diet rich in whole unprocessed foods. Limit things like rice (white or brown) and starchy foods like bread and certain fruits and vegetables to very low levels, or preferably none at all. Exercise vigorously for short periods each day to build some muscle mass and you'll be as fit as a fiddle.

himehentai: You know why your fat dude, don't tell me you dont eat mcdonalds or order a big size pizza now and then, you use the diet as a way of personal attention. I used to be twice the weight I am now, I was sumo weight! I lost it all, you only have yourself to blame for being fat, man up if you really want to loose weight... you need the tough love not the excuses!

Moderator: Please learn the difference between "lose" and "loose."

If you want to lose weight so your belt will be loose then a brisk walk in the morning does wonders. I borrow the neighbors' dog each day letting him loose from his yard, he's an English Sheep dog and thinks walkies is play time. However, he does stick close so I don't worry that I might lose him even though once in a while I do release his lead and let him run loose. Worked off 10 kgs of loose fat that way a simple way to lose weight, and am happy at the loss.

The best, effective, 100% guaranteed way to lose weight is getting into stressful situations. After that, change your life and keep up a healthy lifestyle. I eat 4 portions of veggies and 1 portion of fish or meat and exercice at least 3 times a week in winter and every day in summer.

himehentai:

" Unfortunately exercising regularly and cutting calories does not help everyone. I am much more miserable now than I was 7 kilos ago( and 2 years before) , because It seems every few months I gain weight and have to eat less and exercise more to lose it, and Im STILL in a "obese" by BMI range. "

Sorry, but that is physically impossible. Your bulk does not materialize out of thin air. Every gram of it was added -- through your mouth. Keep an honest record of what you stuff yourself with (including all the off-the-record snacks) and reconsider.

gogogo what an absolutely horrible thing to say.

As a former "fattie" (one who could not eat mcdonalds or pizzas due to a pretty severe white flour allergy FYI) I take offence at your comments to that himehantai person.

In the end I went to my doctor about this complete inability to lose weight, 3 times actually. I was told many things by him - that "It takes time" (the most frustrating thing in the world to hear when you are working very hard and losing NOTHING) and "try eating less and moving more" (duh) " have you tried swimming?" and after 6 months of me going back and saying "its not working" he began to take me seriously and ran some tests, and it came back as an underactive thyroid.

A lifetime supply of meds and 1 year later, I have dropped massive amounts of weights, by doing nothing more than I was doing before. In fact, less than I was doing before. Im eating more now and exercizing less.

I dont believe you are in the "used to be fat" camp, because I don't see how anyone who had been sumo sized would be so cruel to someone struggling with their weight. And you will know that this tough love thing doesn't work for someone feeling a bit down in the dumps about how they look.

The problem is, that in Japan most doctors don't take weight issues seriously. The vast majority of the population is very slim, and as a result they expect those who are not are literally sitting watching K-dramas and scoffing boxes of krispy kremes at a time. This is often not the case.

Good luck losing weight himehantai. Go and see your doctor first here (if you can find a sympathetic one) before beating yourself up over nasty comments like gogogos.

Just find a good gym about three or four miles from where you live and walk there. Then walk home again. Repeat five times a week. Works every time, and it's free!

kyushujoe - Wouldn't a good ramen shop work just as well, as long as you don't go inside and eat anything?

Sarge - Of course! But I like to do things the classy way :)

Reminds me of an old "Bloom County" comic where Opus the Penguin is dashing about trying to decide which diet to use. The advice Milo give is "eat less, and exercise." That's the truth and it's all you need. The diet industry is a rip off.

move to Japan in the summer..that could be another one to try

I'm glad there are no quick fixes, I dislike lazy people without discipline. Just don't eat soo much!

888naff, i agree.. hahaha.

But the guy's right when he says that weight loss isn't just about balancing healthy eating and exercise. If you take in too many toxins into your body from any source.. whetehr it be shampoo, hair dye, lotions, air freshners, car fumes, chemicals on food, etc, all of that has to be processed by your kidneys and liver.. when you get too much toxins at once and your body can't handle it all, to protect itself your body will encapsulate the toxin in fat cells and hold onto it. When you start seeing pudge around your middle or whatever but know you're exercising and eating right or say you're just not losing those last few pounds.. that's probably why is becasue you have too many toxins in your body that its not processing so it by nature will hang on to that fat to protect itself.. when you hit that point and know that 'diet and exercise aren't cutting it' you need to do a liver and kidney cleanse, maybe take some seaweed suppliments to help digestion, too.. so that your body will release those toxins, let go of the fat, and get all of that out of your system.

when in japan i learned that you don't need a lot of food to live healthy.. i think a lot of people have the feeling they haev to eat and eat and eat and that's just not the case. You don't need a lot of food and you need more exercise.. even if its just walking a little bit.

Also.. the 'bread' diets don't work... bread is a heated carb, which is just sugar.. sugar is one of the most addictive substances on the planet next to Caffeine and Cocaine.. When you go on a no-carb diet, you're basically an addict trying to quit cold turkey. You'll go through withdrawals and stuff.. lol. Kind of sad, but.. it's true, we're all just addicts.

I am a firm believer that a low-carb diet can help someone lose weight. Why?

I took a medicine once that is notorious for causing rapid weight gain. And sure enough, in a month I had gained fifteen pounds. Some while later I had to take the same medicine again. Only, this time around I was on a really strict, gluten free diet. I gained 0 pounds, and I was on the medicine LONGER than I was on it the last time.

Before I had to switch to the gluten free diet, eating stuff like bread or cake was mucking with my blood sugar. It would spike and then take a dive, leaving me shaky and nauseated just a couple of hours later. I haven't had that in forever.

But the thing about this kind of lifestyle is that if you're not actually gluten intolerant, it's probably really difficult to cut it out entirely. There's no real incentive if you aren't sick as a dog every time you eat a cookie. It takes a lot of will power. But I think if people did switch to a low carb or almost-gluten-free lifestyle, they could see weight changes. Refined white flour and white rice are about as close to the devil as you can get without actually going to hell.

shufu: I'm not being mean, I know the situation, fatties make excuses for not being able to lose weight but off the record eat over 2000 calories a day. I know this, I was there, I was kidding myself, I did this, as another reader said, be honest, don't blame other things and medical situations, take a log of what you eat and your calories, you only get fat by eating too much! If you needed medicine to lose weight then power to you, I'm glad you lost your weight but I'm sure you are in 1% of the fatties in the world with your condition.

Being fat is like smoking, it is a choice! If other readers are reading this and are fat and want to lose weight you need to toughen up and not cry in a corner for being fat, accept you are fat, how much you weight and do something about it!

Its easy. Just dont eat. Humans dont need three meals a day. If you are fat, ten feel the pressure befote you complain about anything else.

some people exercise a little and burn lots more than some people who exercise more.. it depends on the person's metabolism... so, sometimes those over-weight people are exercising like slim people but they just don't burn enough.

sure, going to the gym is good, but sometimes it is depressing for those who are not happy with what they look to go to the gym.. I'd suggest jump ropes.. cheap, doesn't need much space, and burns more calories than walking. start slow and then increase.. don't have to do it for a long time, but just for 15 minutes a day would make a big difference.

himehentai--

Really? nobody wants to be friends with you because you're big and don't drink?? Well, I DO know some big people who don't drink, but they love going to Izakaya bars and they can be even more fun with a glass of woolong tea than people who drink beer! And I like going out with them because they are simply fun and never get drunk!!

If you open up a bit, you'd be surprised that people actually like people like you :))

good luck, and I hope you still have a smile on your face :D

Good exercise to start the day is: 8 Section Brocade Qi-Gong. Takes no equipment, space, etc time-length can be adjusted.

There are also instructions for seated versions available online,

Losing weight is very, very easy. It's all a numbers game and it simply requires a little discipline.

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1) Create a food log and make sure you write down everything you eat and drink as well as the amount of calories. (Japanese products frequently don't have nutritional data so you may have to look online.)

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2) Carry a pedometer with you and try to walk 15,000+ steps per day. (The often cited 10,000 steps isn't enough.) Aerobic exercise really helps burn calories.

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3) Calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This measures how much energy in calories your body burns at rest every day. There are many BMR calculators online and there's even the actual equation in Wikipedia. Let's use a BMR of 1900 kcal as an example.

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4) Add up your total energy expenditure. Let's say your pedometer shows you walked enough to burn 350 kcal. This means that walking + BMR = 2250 kcal. (In reality, you burn a little more since all activities you perform throughout the day add to this. Hence, exercise is really important.)

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5) Set the amount of calorie intake required to attain your weight goal. Burning a pound of fat requires about 3500 kcal so if you burn 500 kcal a day less than your total energy expenditure, then you'll lose about a pound a week. In our example, make sure your calorie intake is 1750 kcal a day to lose a pound a week (2250 - 1750 kcal = 500 kcal).

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6) When you get better at watching what you eat, set a good ratio of macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats) that you intake since all macronutrients are essential. They say a good start is 30% of your calories coming from proteins, 50% from carbs and 20% from fats.

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As a purely anectodal testimonial, I lost something like 17 kg in 9 months, which was a pretty satisfying goal for me. My biggest problem now is having to re-buy most of my pants since they're too big for me. ;)

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Good luck and hang in there!!

Oh yeah. As an additional note, don't buy in to fad diets. They're all pretty retarded and don't help you do anything that the steps above can't do!