Eat less, move more did it work for you and if so did the weight stay off and what was your BMI to start with?

[Disfordiet]

Sorry for the long title!
My BMI was around 26 and is now 22. I think I started around September time but with a break over Christmas. Slow and steady weight loss by eating less, moving more. I try not to eat after 6pm but I don't always stick to that. I eat 3 meals a day, and eat snacks if I fancy them which is always.

I know many say that eat less move more doesn't work but it is doing for me. My BMI wasn't very high though and I wonder if the simple theory works ok for those who are overweight rather than obese. Perhaps the closer someone is to normal weight the easier it is. There is of course the theory of insulin resistance but that isn't the case for me. My bloods are normal and my cholesterol is low.

Weight loss fascinates me as does the whole cultural aspect of food which is why I got to wondering but in particular reading about ozempic has got me wondering why some approaches work for some but not for others.

Not getting to be overweight in the first place would be best of course but food is such as integral point of life and chocolate is so nice!

Surely lots of people have used this method of weight loss? With varying degrees of success I expect.

Everything comes down to calorie deficit. How you achieve the eating less is highly variable. Ozempic cuts appetite and cravings , calorie counting, macro restriction (low carb, low fat), fasting, watching what you eat, ....

Bottom line, it is the same for all, create a calorie deficit.

I agree except for when people talk about insulin resistance. There are people that are on starvation amounts of food and say they are not losing weight. It would be interesting to see the results of their food intake in a clinical setting though.

Bumping

Pretty sure just about everyone who claims to be starving themselves and not losing any weight are in denial, a la that secret eaters TV show. You don't see photos of concentration camp survivors where some of them are still naturally chubby.

Couldn't agree more.

Congrats on your weight loss, that's a great achievement. I'm not sure I agree with your theory though, most studies show purely in metabolic terms the more weight you have to lose the greater the impact of calorie reduction, it can actually be a lot harder and take longer if you only have a little bit to lose. I think more likely it's that people who are very seriously overweight have a more complex relationship with food and their bodies, may have more barriers to healthy eating and exercise etc than those who are essentially close to a healthy weight already.

Of course 'eat less move more' does work, absent any unusual medical condition affecting the metabolism (although probably the eating less part is more important than the moving more), it's just a lot of people actually find it quite hard to 'just' eat less consistently over time without further assistance or guidance which is why people say it's over simplistic as a formula/advice. Particularly if your rate of weight loss stalls or is slow (which is natural/normal) it's easy to lose motivation, or if for whatever reason your normal diet is a bit crap and by following the 'eat less move more' methodology all you do is reduce the quantity of your food intake without in any way improving the quality, you are inevitably going to find it hard and feel hungry, and that's hard to sustain over time. Take me for instance, I'm a short old woman, moderately active, who doesn't have a huge amount to lose but could usefully drop a few kgs for optimum health. Calorie counters/TDEE calculators say I should eat 1200 -1500 calories a day to lose weight depending on how fast I want to lose and how much extra exercise I can manage. That isn't a huge amount of food in any case, but I could theoretically have 1200 calories of cake and chocolate and still lose weight - i'd feel pretty unwell on that though and probably have terrible hunger pangs and mood swings, I doubt I'd last a week before giving up. Whereas if you follow some kind of diet advice that helps you have more filling and healthy foods in a way that suits you and your lifestyle it will probably stick better long term. E.g. loads of people think low-carb/keto is some kind of alchemical magic but a lot of the time I think it mainly works because a high protein and fat diet is relatively filling for fewer calories compared to bread/pasta etc, so you naturally eat less (esp if you do a form of low carb that encourages lots of vegetable consumption as well). Same with the intermittent fasting that's now fashionable, the simple truth may be it's harder to overeat if you only have 1 meal a day and plenty of people (including me!) find it psychologically easier to have fewer but still generous meals than the same number of meals but smaller portions. And of course none of these diets necessarily help address the underlying reasons of why people have gained weight in the first place, which can be very complex and individual and involve multiple factors including mental health, cultural differences, lifestyle issues etc etc, which is why sometimes people get annoyed if someone who doesn't experience the same issues they do trots out the line 'just eat less and move more, easy'...

This shows how insulin is completely misunderstood. If you have insulin resistance, it is bad news for diabetes, but it is actually positive for weight loss. Did you know Ozempic raises insulin levels? Which cuts off appetite.
When you are insulin resistant, less glucose enters the cells, which are then unable to use the glucose for energy and they have to rely on stored fat.

There is this narrative of insulin being a fat storage hormone, but it is way more complicated. The storage occurs for excess nutrients.

If you are interested in studies done in clinical settings, Kevin Hall has done plenty.

www.diabetes.co.uk/insulin-resistance.html

This from diabetes UK seems to contradict that.

I think a lot of overweight or obese people say they are insulin resistant but I'm not sure they have been clinically diagnosed as such. I'm pretty sure that weight loss would occur if they were ingesting less calories than they usually eat by whatever their tdee says to reduce by. The big question is what is their diet and lifestyle like after the weight loss?

Well done on your weight loss. Eat less, do more works for everyone. Those who insist it doesn't work for them are kidding themselves on. And eating way more than they're letting on.

Did you read the content of the link you put? @Disfordiet

I've lost ~9.5 stone over the last 18 months primarily by eating less. In the last 6 months I have really upped my exercise too, but that's mainly because I want to be fitter/stronger. I've gone from BMI 48 to 28 - still a couple of stone to loose for a healthy BMI. As PP mentioned, I've done this using a combination of a relatively low carb regimen, no snacking & 12 h per day where I don't eat. God knows if I will keep it off - I really hope so! I have lost lots of weight in the past and regained - as most people do. I now weigh myself every day and plan to continue with that. I really don't want to go back there ...

Impressive result @Bedbouncer !!!!!

I did read it but now can't find the bit I wanted to refer to 😩 It was saying that insulin causes glucose to build up in the blood because it can't penetrate the cells so it is then stored as fat. I'm so annoyed now that I can't find it.

Eat less, move more always works for me when I need to shift a bit of weight. My bmi is usually between 25-26 but when my weight starts to creep up I cut out sugary/fatty snacks, make healthier meal choices and up my exercise and I get back to my usual weight in a month or two.

In the past I have tried to lose enough weight to get my bmi under 24 but I just can't sustain it. In order to lose enough weight and keep it there I have to be very strict and calorie count and it just makes me miserable. So I've accepted that I am just someone who is a little podgy but at least I get to eat plenty of ice cream 🤣

You can't find it because it is not true.

Insulin resistance is devastating for diabetes, but you won't find a shred of medical evidence that it causes fat storage. The wonder drug Ozempic increases insulin, and it is the first ever drug that works.

Yes, insulin resistance means glucose cannot enter the cell and remains in the blood stream. In medical trial, people with insulin resistance lost MORE weight than normal insulin :
"insulin-resistant individuals, who have greater visceral fat mass, are more prone to greater weight loss than other individuals with the same adiposity without insulin resistance.In addition, among IR individuals, insulin is a determinant of reduced weight gain through the direct effect of insulin on the central nervous system, resulting in satiety and reduced food intake over the time [8,9]. Insulin resistance may also have peripheral effects that lead to decreased carbohydrate oxidation, which would, in turn, increase fat oxidation,"

You will however find plenty of YouTube and other social media stars saying the opposite especially if they promote low carb programs.

So, are you saying that insulin resistance is not a valid reason for obesity and inability to lose weight?

What I find interesting and a bit frustrating is my weight has been the same (two-three pound fluctuation) for years, I’d like to drop ten pounds as it’s crept on. So the past month I’ve not been eating crisps, drinking wine, very little bread, quite often skip breakfast and fast till lunch. But not calories counting yet. Just hoping it might do something. Nada. Might as well drink the wine and enjoy the crisps! I’m already very active walk 5-6 miles a day and exercise etc. So I know I need a calorie deficit and it’s not enough to just cut the obviously good stuff. Bugger.

Weight gain causes fatty liver and fatty pancreas that will lead to insulin resistance when it is combined with excessive nutrient intake that the body can't cope with.
Having insulin resistance is NOT an obstacle to weight loss.

Insulin is an hormone that is stimulated when food comes in. It is a marker of food.

So why do so many say it is? If what you are saying is true then the claims of insulin resistance being the cause of and continuation of obesity aren't true.

Because people will look for any excuse rather than realise that they aren’t in a deficit. It is the only way to lose weight and it does work

Let me ask you a question :
If you were to order ten KFC deliveries per day, your door bell would ring a lot . At the end of the month, you have put on a stone. Do you blame the door bell for the weight gain?
Of course, with all these deliveries, your fridge and pantry isn't much used and stays full. If deliveries were to stop, you would have to use your stored food.

Insulin is your door bell. It rings every time food comes in.
Insulin will go up in varying amount depending of food type. Interestingly, your pancreas will release more insulin for a steak than for brown rice.

On why people blame insulin. Because otherwise they have to blame their behaviour.
Reason why Jason Fung and others are so popular. It is not your fault, poor you. Bad insulin, so naughty. People don't want to hear hard truth. Then , these people tell them they have too do intermittent fasting (first restriction ) then low carb (second restriction) and then maybe something else. Of course you lose weight because with restrictions come calories restriction indirectly.

I've not read Jason Fung. I'm not a high fat, low carb person either. His book is lauded on many threads but eating less and moving more is working for me so I can't say I'm interested in another approach for me personally but I appreciate there's a lot of people who say he's brilliant and that calorie counting and exercise isn't the way to lose weight. There have always been fashions to weight and weight loss and I guess there always will be. Fung will be debunked in years to come I expect or things tweaked as we learn more about obesity. I remember the I'm fat because I've got a slow metabolism mindset and people being amazed that it takes more energy to support daily life the bigger you are. It's fascinating.

As others have already said, losing weight comes from taking in less calories. You can do this by a number of means. You can count the calories, or you can introduce 'rules' into your eating plan which put restrictions in place. That might be low fat, or low carb, or cutting down on the periods of time in which you can eat.

There are things which will make that easier, personally I find low carb, higher fat and high protein keeps me feeling full up and cuts cravings. I also found ozempic cut my cravings so I ate less. Ive just had WLS and of course that results in eating less (barely anything at the moment). Some people dont need as much help as others and can just cut down portion sizes or types of food which are calorie dense so they have few cals. Some people like me need a lot of help but once I have the tools to stop the cravings, Im fine.

But ultimately which ever route you take, you are still lowering the calories you take in, hopefully to below your actual need which would result in losing weight.