80/20 Weight Loss
In some sense, the 80/20 of weight loss is to take ozempic, though maybe that's less of an 80/20 and more of a 95/5.
Still, suppose that you want to lose some weight but sans zempy – where does that leave you?
I'm not at all an expert on weight loss; my credentials are basically just "I think about stuff and I lost 20lb."
Still, as with other entries in this series, the people who care deeply about stuff are often unwilling to write up an 80/20 version of it, so you get me instead.
Weigh yourself every day
In some way I can't explain or describe, just weighing yourself every day causes you to eat less and lose (or not-gain) weight, even if you do nothing else.
Get some sense of how much calories are in various things
I think counting calories constantly is emotionally/psychologically expensive, but if you've never previously spent time finding out how many calories are in stuff then it's super enlightening to do it for a week and see.
First, I made a spreadsheet with some of the main foods I eat every day (or hope to eat every day) and used this website to calculate the stats for each food.
Then I calculated some daily calorie intakes for reasonable-sounding combinations of foods. Spoiler: "reasonable quantities" is just much less than I ever imagined; my first inexpert forays were greeted by a friend with this response:
Until now, when I saw the calorie calculations on the sides of food-packets claiming that one little bag of whatever contained 3 portions, I thought this was a psychological trick to make you believe that the food was healthier, because people would notice the bold-faced calorie number but not-notice it was based on a tiny serving.
However, I now believe that the correct portion size of crackers truly is 3 crackers (14g).
Focus On Satiety
Combined with the above, in order to eat fewer calories without 1) spending all day miserable, and/or 2) breaking down and stuffing your face again, you really need to focus on increasing your satiety for the calories you do eat.
This basically means more protein, more fibre and less (simple) carbohydrates. Basically you do this so that you aren't tempted to eat more food throughout the day, because you already feel full.
(Also, try to eliminate sugary drinks, they give you many calories for zero satiety).
Find Better Food Defaults
Bringing this all together: in the spirit of 80/20, a lot of the work can be done by just changing the Default Things you eat to make them high satiety-per-calorie.
Basically, I used to eat bread and cheese by default, and this was Bad; I have largely swapped that out with
1) dried beancurd
2) greek yoghurt
3) microwaved frozen veggies
I try to avoid having bread in the house, now, so I don't have temptation I need to resist. As usual, Thomas Schelling was right: it's easier to throw out your ice-cream than to avoid eating it.
I then don't-think-about calories when I'm eating out or seeing friends or whatever (within reason), because 95% of my eating is done in a few standard times and places.
A Satisfying Conclusion
I don't have a satisfying conclusion to this blogpost, but hopefully you are sated already. Remember: weigh yourself; eat protein and fibre; eat less (fewer?) carbs; make your default-foods high protein / high fibre / low carb.
thanks to K. and A. for much of the inspiration for this piece