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The four hour body by Tim Ferris
By quitting drinking alcohol
Literally the only thing I changed about my life at that time and I went from 185 lbs to 165 lbs in 3 months
I was drinking a fifth per night of alcohol that was at least 100 proof, so I was a bit of an alcoholic at the time
I quit cold turkey and within just a few weeks I started feeling a lot better overall and by about 4 months after I quit the cravings stopped every time I smelt alcohol
I’ve been sober now for about 5 and a half years and the weight has stayed off the whole time. I’ve basically been 160±5 lbs since
That’s amazing! Congrats on sobriety.
Thank you
It wasn’t my first attempt but my 4th to get sober. Getting sober wasn’t easy, and I think is a topic more people should talk about. You never seem to here people talking about how many attempts it took to achieve something like that, you only ever here that they did it.
And honestly this is the longest I’ve been sober since I was 12 years old
I wouldn’t give it up for the world, the quality of life improvements have been amazing and not just my physical health but my mental health as well. It’s amazing how much easier PTSD is to deal with while sober vs not.
You hear about it more in recovery groups. It’s pretty eye-opening.
Congratulations that’s awesome, I’m sober myself (just over 18 months) and it took me a lot of tries and many years to stop drinking so I can relate to that.
The one thing I would really caution people about is quitting cold turkey - alcohol withdrawal can be fatal. It’s also miserable even when done with medical help, I’ve done medical detox in the hospital and at rehab more times than I care to remember and each time serves as a huge reminder of what awaits me if I start drinking again. So please if anyone is considering stopping drinking and is drinking a lot, talk to a doctor about it and be honest. Seizures and strokes and DTs are not fun and can kill you.
That all said I also struggle with weight, and a few times after I stopped drinking I ate more and gained weight and it contributed to going back to drinking. This time I’ve been very conscious about calories in vs calories out because that has been something that works for me. Food scale and honesty tracking everything I eat and all my exercise.
And again, awesome job on 5 years, I love coming across sobriety out in the wild.
Shit, you stole my exact answer
Except I’ve finally started to gain the weight back
Ulcerative colitis
Crippling Depression
Funny, that just makes me eat even more. How can I learn your power?
Get more depressed and add intense anxiety to the mix.
If my depression is bad, but not suicidal bad, then I overeat. If it’s suicidal bad, I stop eating.
Moved to a walkable city in a country with better food quality, and sold my car. It’s a cheat code.
Also slowly regaining it, and need to cut down on snacking and drinking.
I ate less by keeping snacks out of my home.
There are many methods that are ultimately a combination of psychological tricks, and finding food and meal times that you work well with.
The one thing they all have in common is calories in being less than calories out.
One of the easiest and most effective ways to get started is simply establishing a baseline. Don’t try to change anything, just count everything. And yes that means everything. After that, look for things you know don’t make you feel good. Maybe limit or drop soda, cut a snack in half, limit dessert, reduce alcohol, etc.
Radical diet changes aren’t required, just consistent.
When you start to run into problems with something that feels like self control (snacking, meal size, alcohol, sugar, etc), then look into ways to work through that. Often it’s just learning new habits (never eat from the bag, seconds are ok but start small and wait, etc). Those habits really depend on the individual and where you’re currently at though.
Some people do great with keto, some with fasting 20 hours a day, some with only snacks instead of meals, or only meals and zero snacks. Just trying those at random without understanding where you’re currently at first can lead to feeling failure and giving up unless you happen to get lucky with what you try first.
And, always be kind to yourself.
The first thing you said here is pretty spot on for me. Losing weight is largely a psychological battle, so giving people a simple task list doesn’t always work.
What we need to understand is that “losing weight” goes against our biological programming. We have evolved over millenia to crave carbohydrates (sugars) and fats because they are ready sources of energy, and to only undertake strenuous physical activity if absolutely necessary. In developed nations today neither of these leads to very healthy living, so we need to actively fight against our reptile brains to stay healthy.
As you said, consistency is key. You don’t get healthy by working out 9 hours one day only and eating salad for a week, you get healthy by making small, manageable healthy choices every day.
Try doing a little more exercise this week than you did last week. You can increase time, intensity, or frequency of whatever your chosen activity is. Try deprogramming your need for ultra-sweet foods by limiting your sugar intake and always try to consume fiber with your sugars (raw fruits are great for this.)
Little by little you will see beneficial changes
My weight loss started in a thread exactly like this. I read about someone using My Fitness Pal to track their food intake and consuming less than they were burning. I tried the same thing and within days I was losing weight and feeling better.
I lost 80 pounds over the following year, took up running using the Couch 2 5K program and have been maintaining that since 2018.
Finished my first triathlon last summer.
No magic tricks or diet fads.
Eat less, move more.
Eat more vegetables and salad, cut down bread and meat.
Stop drinking sodas and juices with extra sugar in them and learn to quench your thirst with water.
Limit eating candy or cookies to one day per a week, if you can’t let them go entirely.
I read labels and…
- Eat only trace amounts of saturated fat.
- No sugary drinks.
- Eat a lot of fiber.
- No breakfast, it isn’t necessary.
- Walk or bike 1 hour every morning.
- Lift & run every work day during my lunch hour.
I’ve never been more fit.
Counting calories. I used MyFitnessPal, but I’m sure there are other apps.
Figure out how many calories you need daily to maintain your current weight, depending on age/gender/height, and then subtract about 500 calories from that. This also depends on your stats; you don’t want to go below your minimum daily calories. You’ll be hungry and dizzy all the time, and your body will try to store extra fat because it thinks you’re starving.
You can eat whatever you want, as long as you stay under your daily calorie number. You might not be healthy (depending on your food choices), but you will lose weight.
Good luck!
I ate less
I started eating less and being more active. I went down to two meals a day and little to no snacking. One smaller meal in the late morning and one bigger in the late afternoon. Also started to commute by bike at least twice a week and go out hiking more often.
Weight goes down not too fast but at a steady pace.
By figuring out how I would eat to keep a healthy weight. Then I just started eating like this. Its slow, but you don’t run into the problem of being “done” with losing weight and picking up weight again. You just have a better eating habit and can stick with it basically forever - and as a bonus you can even have things like Pizza while losing weight.
