Kytseo said:
I've wanted to lose weight for a while now, and I have tried nearly everything (except diet pills and starving, I have my standards). The weird thing is that quite a few people I know tend to stay thin despite regularly eating burger king and such. I know some of them do work out, but some (like my girlfriend) somehow can stay thin without working out and despite apparently eating a lot (hell, I'm in much worse shape than my girlfriend, yet I have an easier time walking, thank you Mini-Boot Camp). I gotta ask, when it comes to those people, what's their secret?
The folks telling you to count calories are exactly right. Don't trust fads or tricks, just trust basic science -- namely, the "law of conservation of matter." If you don't eat it, it can't add mass to your body.
Of course, as mentioned, eating
too little sends your body into "emergency mode," which means when you
do eat, more of it gets stored as fat -- your body thinks you're in the middle of a famine!
My personal experience on this? I knew I'd have to fight this battle on diet, since I just don't have the time for regular, rigorous exercise. I cut down to diet/zero-calorie sodas, and mostly decided not to change
what I ate, but
how much of it. That meant a cheeseburger instead of a double, a small candy bar instead of a king size... One change I did make, though? High-fiber snacks -- low calories, highly filling.
It made a big difference. See, you're usually "full" before your stomach can get the message to your brain. By eating less (and a bit slower) you avoid cramming more food in past your "full line."
Change your eating habits to match your lifestyle, rather than changing your lifestyle to match your eating habits (which rarely lasts, and weight loss is an endurance game)