When people feel the need to lose a few pounds, they will often look up various popular techniques or practices to do so.
Up to and including extreme changes in their diets or rigorously changing their exercise routine.
However, everyone's body is different, and not all techniques will be as effective for each person.
Leaving many to discover for themselves what the best way to shed excess weight is for them, often stumbling across surprising results.
Redditor paigesnowwret was eager to hear the one true weight loss method people found that actually proved effective, leading them to ask:
"What was that "one thing" that made weight loss finally work for you?"
It's All In The Presentation:
"Pouring snacks into little ramekins to eat them."
"Suddenly I ate a normal amount of snacks, not an insane amount."- goldblumspowerbook
Love At First Bite
"Found a salad I actually really like."
"Sounds dumb, but I'd never craved a salad before, and having one I actually really liked meant I strung together a solid few weeks of eating a lot of lettuce - it snowballed from there, because I actually felt good and then started craving feeling good."- Sea-Promotion-8309
An Active Mind Is A Happy Mind
"Finding a hobby."
"I was binge eating because I was bored."
"Coming home from work to sit on the couch would make it way easier to eat like sh*t."
"Now I just go and do something I like so I won’t find distraction in eating."- rdpg
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Divide And Conquer!
"I meal prepped my typical amount of food and instead of putting it in 2 containers, I spread it evenly in 4 containers."
"I forced myself to only eat 1 container per meal and tricked my brain into thinking it was my normal amount."
"Effectively cut calories by half doing this."
"Lost about 40lbs in 9 months."- CuuRtos
One Step At A Time
"I started taking the bike instead of the bus."
"That wasn’t what made me lose weight though."
"I was arriving at work sweating as if it was raining outside."
"That motivated me to work on my cardio, and for that I started losing weight."- freegzuz18740
Really Make It Count!
"I got one of those calorie-counting apps."
"Eating wasn’t the hardest part, it was getting used to that app that was hard."
"Taking your phone out every time bla bla bla."
"But eventually it worked and now I don’t even need the app anymore."
"Counting calories will get fun eventually since you’ll get to know your body and digestion system better."- di-volkenand
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It's Never Weak To Seek Help
"Saw a doctor about my type 2 diabetes."
"I weighed over 300 lbs and also had coronary artery disease."
"I qualified for diabetes medication that also helps control appetite."
"Started tracking calories and exercising."
"I have lost over 100 lbs and work out 6 days a week."
"I no longer need diabetes medication because my blood sugar has been stable for over a year."
"Stress test showed perfect heart function."
"Live strong!"- dma1965
It Really Is Possible To Have Too Much Of A Good Thing
"Using an app to track everything I ate."
"I realized a lot of 'healthy' things I was eating, in the quantities I was eating them, were a lot more calories than I thought."
"Just cutting down on certain foods did the trick."- iWriteYourMusic
"I Think I'll Go For A Walk Outside Now..."
"Walking."
"Validation that I’d lost 45 lb in 7 months by just walking every night around my neighborhood."
"It was free and low impact; I walked rain or shine, even through snow storms."
"Now I have a treadmill and walk indoors, but the feeling is still as great as it was in the beginning."- -Walktheworld-
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No Pain, No Gain
"Embrace the suffering."
"Expect that you’ll be breathing hard and uncomfortable when you’re doing cardio, expect that you’ll be sore after you lift, and expect that you’ll be hungry when you’re restricting your intake."
"Once you stop focusing on not wanting to be uncomfortable you open yourself up to all the positive feelings associated with fitness that lead to adherence and ultimately real and lasting results."- TrillyElliot
It's Everywhere!
"A movie."
"One night, out of boredom, I watched 'That Sugar Film'.” I
"t’s not a groundbreaking documentary or anything, and I wasn’t even looking for motivation to be healthy."
"But it explains what sugar does to your body, and how food companies have hidden added sugars to foods for decades."
"That lit a fire."
"I was mad, because I’d been living with a misunderstanding that things like fruit juice or 'low fat' foods were healthy, when in fact they are loaded with sugars."
"That night, I threw out anything in my kitchen that had added sugars."
"Over the next week or two, my mood leveled out, and my mental health improved."
"And over the next two years I steadily lost 60 pounds."
"I’ll never go back."
"Added sugar is the devil."- whiskyfuktober
That Hunger Inside You..
"Realizing that it's okay to feel hungry."
"Fasting helped with that."- Muufffins
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Necessity
"Moving out of my parents and not having money."
"It still took a lot of discipline, but when you can’t afford a quarter pounder ever day with a large bag of Doritos it helps."-Solid_Internal_9079
When In Doubt, Call A Doctor!
"Going to the doctor!"
"I had been trying everything."
"I had a healthy diet and consistent exercise for months but was seeing virtually no movement in my weight."
"Turns out I have an autoimmune disease!"
"I found out I have Hashimoto's and a nearly dead thyroid, so my metabolism was completely cooked."
"My body literally didn't burn calories the way it was supposed to."
"Once I got the diagnosis I was able to get thyroid medication and my body's metabolism got back to where it's supposed to be."
"Weight began to fall off."
"So I encourage everyone out there to go see a doctor if you think you're eating right and exercising but not seeing much improvement."
"You might have a condition."- TehMasterofSkittlz
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There are many effective ways to lose weight.
There are also many ways to lose weight that might seem effective but are actually quite bad for your health.
It is always wise to consult a doctor before losing weight to ensure that you are, in fact, putting your health first.
@coyleray/Instagram