Asklemmy

I was never good at staying on a diet. I have really bad self control and go through phases where I get hooked on soda or energy drinks or smoking, etc.

Two things helped me finally lose weight and maintain a pretty healthy build (these days 90kg 183cm originally 110-115k).

First, I found I could lose weight in short periods when I had a concrete goal. I lost 10k in maybe 6 weeks. Plenty of it was water weight and came back. But after doing that 3 or 4 times I was down to a place I felt more comfortable with myself. During those cycles I was basically always thinking about my calories. It would get tiring in normal life but it was ok if I was trying to hit my goal.

Second, by focusing on my macros and trying to limit salt every day I ended up filling my stomach way before I went into calorie surplus. By going low sodium it eliminated any kind of fast food and most frozen foods. Getting rid of salt wasn't really for health it was just to lose water weight and hit my goal. But getting rid of salt ended up making my diet way healthier.

I also had some success by cutting out bread. I don't think bread is terrible for you or anything, but by giving myself that limitation I made myself choose better options