<story><title>Being fatter than Homer Simpson</title><url>https://nicky.bearblog.dev/fatter-than-homer/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vgatherps</author><text>I had been somewhat overweight in the past, but not so heavy. Definitely emphasise with people here noting how it snuck up on them.&lt;p&gt;Something that really was game changing for me was logging everything I ate with relatively legitimate counts of the calories and macros. Before even getting towards goals I realised that those random handfuls of cashews I might grab from the kitchen on the way to the restroom weren&amp;#x27;t say 60-100 calories, but more like 400!!! Fruit and especially fruit juices are another secret killer. There was just instant change in my calorie intake because so many things I was eating were much denser than I expected.&lt;p&gt;Now, many of these counters aren&amp;#x27;t perfect, all people are different, and you don&amp;#x27;t absorb at consistent rates across food. Don&amp;#x27;t try and optimise down to 10s or even say order of magnitude 100 calories. But you might find some massive surprises in your food intake this way.&lt;p&gt;I also did the whole diet &amp;#x2F; macro planning. Alongside going out of my way to log all food intake, having the plan added enough mental barriers to get snacking under control. Not everybody has success with these plans, but I&amp;#x27;d still recommend the tracking and logging just to see if there&amp;#x27;s any surprises.&lt;p&gt;edit:
You don&amp;#x27;t even have to keep the tracking up. Just do it for a a few weeks so you at least know. I don&amp;#x27;t really track calories anymore but it&amp;#x27;s largely since i have a much better idea of what I&amp;#x27;m eating after tracking in the past.&lt;p&gt;edit 2:
If you take care to track your macros, you can observe pretty significant differences in strength training results.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sasaf5</author><text>Tracking macros for a few months is huge lesson about your body&amp;#x27;s needs and the food supply around you. It clears away all the uncertainty and lets you know what you really like to eat and what is just dead weight.&lt;p&gt;It also protects you from the food industry marketing departments.&lt;p&gt;In 6 months I learned:&lt;p&gt;- Everything sold in packages blows the fat or carb budget;&lt;p&gt;- I don&amp;#x27;t really like sodas or icecream;&lt;p&gt;- I cannot live without bread. I would always make sure there was some carb budget available for bread;&lt;p&gt;- Tofu, eggs and milk pack a lot of energy compared with their protein content. Careful there!&lt;p&gt;- Fruits can cause quite a dent in the carb budget;&lt;p&gt;- Many thing sold as healthy pack an obcene amount of calories;&lt;p&gt;- (Sugarless) Milk tea is a powerful tool to fend off hunger.&lt;p&gt;I lost 14kgs in 6 months, and kept that result for 2 years now. Most importantly, I am more satisfied with what I eat.</text></comment>
<story><title>Being fatter than Homer Simpson</title><url>https://nicky.bearblog.dev/fatter-than-homer/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vgatherps</author><text>I had been somewhat overweight in the past, but not so heavy. Definitely emphasise with people here noting how it snuck up on them.&lt;p&gt;Something that really was game changing for me was logging everything I ate with relatively legitimate counts of the calories and macros. Before even getting towards goals I realised that those random handfuls of cashews I might grab from the kitchen on the way to the restroom weren&amp;#x27;t say 60-100 calories, but more like 400!!! Fruit and especially fruit juices are another secret killer. There was just instant change in my calorie intake because so many things I was eating were much denser than I expected.&lt;p&gt;Now, many of these counters aren&amp;#x27;t perfect, all people are different, and you don&amp;#x27;t absorb at consistent rates across food. Don&amp;#x27;t try and optimise down to 10s or even say order of magnitude 100 calories. But you might find some massive surprises in your food intake this way.&lt;p&gt;I also did the whole diet &amp;#x2F; macro planning. Alongside going out of my way to log all food intake, having the plan added enough mental barriers to get snacking under control. Not everybody has success with these plans, but I&amp;#x27;d still recommend the tracking and logging just to see if there&amp;#x27;s any surprises.&lt;p&gt;edit:
You don&amp;#x27;t even have to keep the tracking up. Just do it for a a few weeks so you at least know. I don&amp;#x27;t really track calories anymore but it&amp;#x27;s largely since i have a much better idea of what I&amp;#x27;m eating after tracking in the past.&lt;p&gt;edit 2:
If you take care to track your macros, you can observe pretty significant differences in strength training results.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>civilized</author><text>A big benefit of tracking and logging is that it makes eating annoying enough that you don&amp;#x27;t want to do it lightly.&lt;p&gt;I guess this is also why I&amp;#x27;m not great at keeping up with tracking for more than a couple weeks at a time.</text></comment>