Hi, I'm trying to lose weight and I realised it would be easier said than done.
At first, I heard from Alex Solomin (a former obese man) that the best way to lose weight would be to just walk every day (close to 10,000 steps) and have protein. And that works sometimes. I usually have a chance to take a walk after work, and I end up skipping stuff like McDonald’s for Charcoal Chicken.
However, I realised it’s not so simple. I now regularly finish work later than expected, and therefore, I wouldn’t have much time to take a walk. When I am at the office, the food is expensive. For context, a single sushi roll costs $5-6 AUD, which is considered expensive, while a pizza slice is $6. Even the burrito I sometimes buy is $17, and it doesn’t help that part of it is not fully warm, so I feel that they just half-heartedly made it. It also doesn’t help that when you’re having dinner with extended family or friends, the food will mostly (if not always) be somewhat unhealthy, which ends up consuming more calories and wasting the effort needed to reduce/burn said calories.
I also can’t go to a gym because I don’t drive, and I've heard that the membership deals at the gyms nearby are sketchy and expensive.
Is there any recommended plan or steps I should take to resolve my weight loss issues?
Ultimately, weight loss comes down to calories in vs calories out. In other words, our bodies need a baseline amount of calories to function as normal. This depends on a bunch of things like your weight, sex, activity level, etc, and it's usually referred to as TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure. Theoretically, if you consumed that amount of calories every day, your weight would not change. They might not be perfect, but there are TDEE calculators online that give a rough idea of the calories you want to hit. If the amount of calories you consistently consume is less than your caloric maintenance (TDEE), you will lose weight over time. If you consistently go over, you will gain weight.
Walking every day does increase your activity level and therefore is a positive step toward weight loss. In the end, any form of cardio works, whether it is walking, running, swimming, basketball, or whatever else. Some are more intense than others and burn more calories, and vice versa. In the end, it just comes down to finding something you'll stick to. I used to play a lot of basketball but lost access to a gym. It took me a few tries to find something else, but I eventually settled on walking too. If you can stick to walking, it might not be as efficient as something like running, but it's a perfectly reasonable choice to increase your activity level.
When you lose weight, you're going to lose both bodyfat and muscle mass in some capacity. What eating large amounts of protein does is it minimizes the losses in muscle mass during this process. It is inevitable to lose some, but basically it makes weight loss more efficient for what people generally want, which is to lose fat. It is also true that protein-based foods are generally more calorically efficient than other foods. Foods with higher fat content are more calorically dense and less bang for your buck nutritionally. Carbs are similarly calorically dense to protein, but are generally considered less filling. All three of these macronutrients are important in their own way, but this is all to say putting an emphasis on protein would be beneficial during weight loss.
This middle part hits on some interesting topics that I don't see talked about much. There's a reason people eat fast food all the time, and it's not just because it's fried and tastes good. It is the most
convenient. The same goes for junk food or anything else. It is only natural that foods with worse nutritional content will be less expensive than better food. There are obviously exceptions considering how broad of a statement that is, but that's the gist. Most people are aware that going to McDonald's is Worse than cooking at home, but it tastes good, it's cheap, and it doesn't require any work. As such, there will always be a tradeoff, whether it is time, money, or whatever else. This is often why people will meal prep. They can make large amounts of food for the week at once, saving them time and money later as they can buy these foods in bulk and cook them all at once.
Last thing because im a yapper and this is already way longer than I was imagining. I 100% feel you on eating w friends or family going against your fitness goals. It doesn't get talked about much, but it's honestly one of the biggest hurdles I've had in the last however many years. Being a pretty big and active guy, I can eat some crazy amounts of food. It isn't uncommon or hard to overeat in these settings and offset however many productive days before that. There may not be a perfect solution around it, but there are ways to minimize this. If I know dinner later will be something super dense and heavy, I will generally try to save as many calories throughout the rest of the day leading up to that. Alternatively, keep portioning in mind. Maybe don't go back for the full second plate or a third helping of whatever is super calorically dense. They might not seem that important, but those little things add up and can go a long way.
tldr: Weight loss will always come down to your calorie intake compared to your daily maintenance level. Walking or whatever other cardio can positively contribute toward a calorie deficit. Lifting weights or other physical activity also positively contribute, but in the end it's all about the calories. It isn't always easy, cheap, or convenient to eat better, but it doesn't make it any less important if weight loss is the goal.
