Losing weight really isn't hard (I'm not being arrogant, it really isn't). You just have to remember that:
- Weight-loss is 99% diet. You CANNOT exercise yourself thin (believe me I tried)
- Calories don't make you fat - it's where they come from which does. This is why calorie-restricted diets fail.
- Eating fat doesn't make you fat - it can't. Why...? Because it has no effect on blood sugar.
- The only macronutrient which causes weight gain is carbohydrates. Your body fat is carbohydrate which has been converted to glucose and then glycogen by insulin.
- The worst things to eat if you're trying to lose weight are grains, root veg and fruit (I've seen many posts on this thread from people who believe a sugar tax is a good idea. I don't, for the simple reason that people know sugar is bad. They know not to drink lots and lots of sugary drinks, but they believe that means pop. The problem is that many drinks which are pure sugar are touted as healthy, like juices and smoothies. They're junk; they don't contain any bioavailable nutrients, they're just sugar. They're really as bad for you as full-sugar pop. It's the same with fruit. I want to scream when I see dried fruit stamped as 'eat well' when much dried fruit contains as much sugar as fruit sweets. Sugar is sugar is sugar. I don't eat a lot of fruit. I buy berries (raspberries and blackberries are low sugar, strawberries and blueberries, which I also love) are higher, but they still don't contain as much per 100g as apples, oranges and bananas). What I would put a tax on are grains - breakfast cereals are obesity in a box. Bread is obesity in a bag. I've not eaten pasta in about 20 years. This BS about "complex carbs need to form ⅔ of your diet" needs to get gone. The 'eat well' plate is obesogenic. The NHS keeps trimming the fats and oils segment - and people are still becoming fat). There really isn't anything healthy about grains. We can't derive any nutrition from them because we didn't evolve to eat them. We have the physiology of a carnivore (we're NOT omnivores; an omnivore is an organism which eats - and can derive nutrition from - meat and plants. Homo sapiens can't. There are very few true omnivores. Brown bears are the only species which springs to mind).
- The job of insulin is to convert carbs to glucose, and then to glycogen. Overeat carbs and you'll become fat.
- Dietary fat isn't something to be scared of - it's your friend when it comes to losing weight. Fat is energy-dense (and the more energy-dense a food is, the more bioavailable-nutrient-dense it is, too). If you eat a high-fat diet, you'll naturally cut back on calories because you don't need to eat as much to feel full. Once I realised this, I lost weight fast - and I mean fast. I was severely morbidly obese (at one point I struggled to find clothes to fit I was that fat). I started by cutting out grains (that was easy). I then cut out potatoes (that was hard - don't miss them now, though). I gradually increased the amount of fat I ate. I used MCT oil in black coffee for extra energy (BE CAREFUL if you decide to try it; buy a set of small measuring spoons and use ⅛ of a teaspoon to start with and gradually work your way up. That way you avoid gastric distress).
- Low fat/high carb diets fail because they're energy-poor. You always feel hungry. Cardio won't help you lose weight because it causes hypoglycaemia which makes you hungry. I did HIIT twice a week (1 hour a week). That was all the exercise I did. I've never had a gym membership (can't afford one). Because I was so overweight, I lost weight very quickly - that's the fantastic thing about LCHF you see results which motivates you to keep going. I've been a 4/6 now for 20 years. My weight has remained stable because I eat LCHF most of the time.
- If high carb/low fat calorie-restricted diets worked, there'd be far fewer fat people but, the fact is, people are becoming fatter, and that really is down to what we're told is 'healthy'. These days, 'healthy' is a euphemism for 'low calorie', not 'bioavailable-nutrient-dense'. Why do you think cereals are fortified...? Because if they weren't, they'd have no nutrients at all! Low calorie foods are not, for the most part, healthy at all! Low cal generally means high carb.
- You CANNOT lose weight by eating more of what caused you to gain it in the first place. Trying to lose weight by increasing carbs is like a smoker with lung cancer attempting to cure it by increasing the amount they smoke!
I absolutely agree that people need to make healthier choices - but, the problem is, that the mainstream narrative guides people into doing the exact opposite.
Low carb diets are seen as 'dangerous' because people are scared to increase their intake of fat. You will have problems if all you eat is low fat protein (ie meat and fish). A low carb diet is a high fat diet.
Oh and one final thing: forget about cholesterol. Cholesterol is VITAL to keep you alive. Every single process in your body relies upon it, either directly or indirectly. Your liver produces up to 1,500mg a day (your brain a smaller amount). It is particularly vital for neurological health. Your braincells and neurones need cholesterol and fat to be healthy. Braincells, unlike every other type of cell in your body, don't renew. Once a braincell dies, it's not replace. A high fat diet feeds your brain.
If you're wondering why cholesterol is so vilified, it's because when the cholesterol hypothesis of heart disease was being researched, the research was carried out on herbivores (because most lab mammals are herbivorous). Herbivores don't need cholesterol, it's only a requirement for carnivores and omnivores. In fact, it's toxic to them. No research was done on carnivores. So all the herbivores (primarily rabbits) developed heart disease and many died. A hypothesis is a scientific hunch - and all these years humans who, unlike rabbits, have cholesterol-producing livers have been told that cholesterol will kill them. Because, bad science.