[shoei]

Originally Posted by daanz21

^^ This.

But for those who aren't comfortable tracking calories, an alternative could be to eliminate or reduce the amount of ultra-processed foods you eat (ie junk food like crisps and chocolate) and swap these out for healthy fats and fibres (e.g. nuts and fruits).

It doesn't work for everybody. There's so many frickin' variables it's not even funny.

I seemed to be more aligned with 3PedalJake from the brief reading I did. I JUST discovered this sub so bare with me, lol.

I don't count calories or macros either - but understand that this might work for myself and 3pedalJake, but it may not work for everybody. Forget the metabolic differences within our bodies, what about the mental differences? I don't have to "think" or "push" myself to work out / eat right. It just natural occurs. Truthfully I guess I shouldn't say I don't count cals or macros because at some point in time I did so I have a general idea of what I'm consuming on a daily basis, even if I'm not calculating lol. And please, don't get me wrong, there are days (like today) where it's cold and overcast and I probably lagged on working out knowing my ass didn't want to go outside today to do cardio.

In terms of intermittent fasting - I do utilize this to some degree. I say to some degree because it's almost like I'm not doing it on purpose. I don't eat late at night and then the next day I do my cardio and weights while my body is theoretically in a state of fast. I have my breakfast afterwards.

Oh and as for the brain fog / lethargy / whatnot from not eating? Nobodies saying starve yourself but if you think that everyone HAS to eat 3 square meals a day? None of would be here. You think our ancestors had 3 square meals a day with snacks in between of Doritos and beef jerky? Foods become too processed and too much of a comfort. Laziness also plays a role - let's be honest, a handful of cheeze it's taste better than a celery stalk, but ones processed and the other isn't. One will actually do something positive for your body. Point is though, our ancestors didn't get 3 square meals a day. Crash diets, hip diet trends, yoga classes in the pit of an active volcano to help you sweat more from heat and fear of death - it's all gimmicks. You have to find what works for you so you won't get tired of it. My recommendation when people ask (besides some YouTube channels to soak up knowledge from) is start small. Get used to certain things.

1. Cut out soda
2. Reduce sugar intake
3. Reduce processed foods intake
4. More lean meats, less red meats and more fruits / vegetables.

This is beginner level stuff here coming up. This of it as the 80/20 method. Try this 5 days a week for 2 weeks. On the other days you aren't adhering to the above, you can have what you want - in moderations. Some of you would be absolutely stunned what will happy to your cravings and addiction to sweets but cutting it out for just a week or two.

Slightly higher than beginner level would be - just try intermittent fasting for two weeks. 16 hours of not eating. That's crazy you say. Well, you should be sleeping minimum of 8 hours. You gonna tell me you can't survive a few hours without food? Lemme explain. Let's say you stop eating at 7pm. 16 hours would bring you to 11am. You can go to sleep around 10pm, wake up at 8, get ready go to work / school what have you and eat breakfast a few hours later? It's not hard. Your body will be like WTF!! For a couple days and then, it's like second nature truthfully. This is why I find it a bit comical when people freak out at intermittent fasting. It's really just a few hours. The bulk of time is sucked up while sleeping lol.

I can go on and on and on. The important thing to remember is, there isn't one solution for everybody type deal. Everyone's metabolism is different, everyone increases / decreases weight at a different pace, gain / lose muscle at a different pace.

Just please. Don't do the food pyramid, lol. And stay away from processed foods. Sandwich meats. Spam. Hot dogs. (I say this after I had some wagyu beef hotdogs lol)
Foods with LESS ingredients.