If you have one weight loss tip, what is it?

[ShakeSpears]

I'm interested in what has worked for people and what one thing might be the most important.

5:2

Everything in moderation is bollocks. Losing weight means making actual big, difficult changes.

To be clearer, what is moderate for one food is too much for another. If you want to lose weight, sweet and fatty treats need to be strictly treats. Very rare. Once a week isn't 'moderate' for cake, for example. It's too much. I think the food industry has pushed the whole a calorie is a calorie thing and it's not true. Eat high protein, moderate fat, low carb (get carbs from veg and low sugar fruits, the odd portion of wholegrain/starchy veg) and pay attention to calories.

I've lost 5.5 stone.

echoing the weigh things, invest in a decent flat bed scale that does gm/oz/ml you can even weigh tubes, squeeze out what you need and reweigh to estimate how much you have used. enter calories onto something like mfp. it helps you get abetter grasp on what you should be eating
You would be suprised what an actual portion of cereal looks like.
Just dont buy food that you know is your downfall. No bread/biscuits/crisps/chocolate in the house , removes the snacking temptation. I have had to stop buying cheese, its my crack
low calorie snacks, so if you get the munchies at least you wont sabotage your diet (hartleys 10 calorie jellies are brill for this , eases sweet cravings but hardly any calories)

Noom

Plan, cook from scratch, be active in every day life. Not "exercise", but if you could walk or cycle then do. Don't drive unless it's the only option. Stairs, not the lift. You get the picture. If there's an active choice then do it, and try to sit as little as possible.

You don't need to snack. At all. Three meals a day is fine.

Eat less 🤷

Don’t drink your calories, ie just drink water or tea/coffee without sugar. Don’t snack. Decrease your portions. Have fruit for dessert. It is 90% calories, 10% exercise. If your diet is too strict, you’ll give up, but once you cut back in sugar and fat for a few weeks, your body craves it far less

Find recipes with large volumes of vegetables to fill you up

Fresh soup out of the supermarket. Any flavour you like. Have it for your evening meal most days.

Intermittent fasting

Oodles of really good points, two especially by @Bandol and @Moomoolandmoomooland.
You will succeed and stay successful if you have a good reason for yourself, I had a wedding I really wanted to look smart for.
Now I have to work on the other idea of improving my longer term health/fitness/activity to keep it going.
Good Luck

Eat only when you're hungry. Stop eating when you're not hungry any more.

My 1 tip: do not take advice from people who are on snd off diets. The merry go-round of the unsustainable crash diet, followed by weeks of binging

Taking advice from someone who enthusiastically says :”this always works for me!” Should be ignored, as it does not REALLY work. Saying it “always works” means you need to diet constantly....until you “fail” again abd gain weight, then diet again...

A long term stable healthy weight is what you want. Not a famine or feast jojo cycle where you gradually fuck up your metabolism

So only take the enthusiastic advice from successful weight losers on here if they kept their 3-5-10-whatever weight loss off for many many years

My lovely MIL gives everyone weight loss advice, she’s like a diet guru. She lost 10 stone over the last decade (and gained 12) , she could tell you how to lose weight (in a long term unsustainable manner though)

I’d try to get a PT (if you can afford it) or nutritionist. Or follow a long term sensible eating plan for life, which accommodates socialising, eating out, having a few drinks every now and then, etc

Eat less, move more.

Any other lazy weight loss myths you want to peddle?

Dont drink your calories.
Dont waste 300 or 400 hundred calories on that coffee from Starbucks.
Exercise.
Im new and i have only lost 11 lb so far.
But i weigh everything now and log it.
I have a portion plate.
I eat breakfast every morning.
I eat regular.
And i think the most important this is you have to want it.
It wont work otherwise.

Stop beating yourself up if you have a bad day. You're human. It doesn't mean you've failed.

And

What works for you, may not work for others and vice versa

I've done low carb, yes, it works.. it also steadily increases my resting heart rate. I've also had a number of blood tests on / off low carb and when I'm on, I always seem to get an abnormal kidney reading where my bilirubin is too high and the GP's always seem to speak to me about Gilberts syndrome.... I stop low carbing - have another test a month later and everything is back to normal. So for me, it's just calorie counting as opposed to low carbing as my body seems to be happier on it.

Portion control, weigh yourself once a week first thing in the morning, don't keep junk in the house (or buy stuff you don't like for the kids).

Patience, consistency, and forming long-term positive habits are much better for weight loss (and maintaining said weight loss) than fad/quick fix diets.

As others have said, finding what works for you. I could go low carb and I’d probably lose weight faster but I’d be completely miserable because I like carbs 🤷🏻‍♀️ so my focus is on portion control and variety rather than trying to force myself not to eat them. For some people, low carb/5:2/16:8/not snacking works, for others it won’t. You have to find YOUR best method for YOU that will be sustainable.

(I’ve also previously lost a ton of weight whilst still having a small amount of chocolate every day 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don't think one piece of cake a week is excessive if it’s within your desired calorie intake ).

Meal planning and prep

Eat more nutritionally dense food and lift weights. I put a client on 1500 more calories a day than she was previously eating and got her to eat 5 meals a day and train 3 times a week and she’s lost a stone in a month. You need to make your food work for you not you working for your food. I eat 300g a day in carbs and am 20% body fat. Low or no carb diets are great if you sit on your backside most of the time. Your brain uses about 130g of carbs alone daily.

Eat more protein and veg. Cut back on carbs, you don't really need them. Fast until lunchtime. Just eat lunch and dinner. Walk for at least an hour a day. If you fancy something sweet after your dinner then try a meringue/strawberries/popcorn/small bag haribos. Chocolate and cake are not your friend.

Calorie count everything that goes in your mouth.

Mine would be cut out chocolate/cake or whatever sugary stuff you might eat routinely. I find if I've managed to do a day with no chocolate I find it easier to stick to healthy food from there.

I also got some ice lollies to replace them as they are usually low calorie and make you feel like you're having a treat.

Finding an exercise I found fun. Made a huge difference to my willpower doing something I knew I enjoyed rather than making it a chore.