No Stupid Questions

As someone who lost 60lb this year: just stop eating ultra processed garbage. Find real foods that you enjoy, and make meals out of those. Eat as much chicken, vegetables, fruits, unsweetened yogurt, fish, eggs, etc as you want and you will lose weight. Unhealthy stuff is fine to eat on occasion but only if you consider it well worth the calories and you are aware of how much you're eating. Dont mindlessly eat a family size bag of doritoes that you dont even like that much. Dont drown yourself in vegetable oil. I stopped buying loaves of bread, sweets, cereals (why are entire aisles of grocery stores dedicated to this garbage?) , carb-based snacks, etc.

Also no, working out does not mean you can eat a snicker's bar for free. The new Kurzgesagt video explains how that works. I dont believe you're gaining or even maintaining your weight at 800-1000 calories, but im just a random person.

The costco rotisserie chicken is only $5, just dont eat too much skin. Yogurt can be affordable and high in protein. Almond milk too. Nuts & beans are decent. Just look at protein to calorie ratios on cheap stuff so you maintain muscle, im sure you can find plenty of foods that work.

Here is a site that has some good lists: https://survival-mastery.com/diy/food_preserv/high-calorie-vegetables.html

Also, the number of calories you eat should be based on your current weight and the types of activities you plan on doing through the day. Calorie intake is variable!

Here is a chart for weight vs calorie intake vs activity:

A lot of low calorie veggie to fill your stomach and intermittent fasting to save calories for a bigger dinner.

I've read through your comments, and highly suggest a food diary for at least a couple weeks ago you really understand the calories in things you are eating.

Yes, your body does modulate its resting metabolic rate over the long term based on things like average daily exertion, food, etc, but that is largely inconsequential to weight loss.

As a rough guideline, you want about 50% of your calories to be carbs, preferably the fiber or complex variety, 30-35% protein, and the rest fat. If you run a lot, then a few more carbs. If you lift weights a lot, then a little more protein.

Protein will help you feel fuller, longer, so I like to go my ratio of protein a bit.

Meals that I enjoy: steal cut oats and peanut butter, pan seared tofu with salad and a light dressing, bean chilli, tacos or tostados using those low carb tortillas, bowl of rice, refried beans, salsa, and guac, etc

But you really, really need to have a good understanding of portions and actual calories. Most people are way off.

Edit: also, some fasting cardio, like a good brisk walk or jog in the morning before eating anything can help accelerate things. But don't fall into the trap of eating back the calories you burn.

There's no way you need to somehow eat more to lose weight. Are you sure you're counting your calories correctly? Using an app? Tracking everything, especially drinks like sodas and alcohol?

you're eating a thousand calories a day and not losing weight? what's your height, weight, and sex currently?

My go-tos are legumes: cheap, easy to cook, go well with a lot of stuff, filling and full of fibre. If I feel snackish I go for a can of peas, f.i..

Pair them with rice, more veggies and lean meat, when you can score a good deal.

Look up the YouTube series on that very topic from Renaissance Periodization. It helped me loss 30 pounds and keep them off for more than 6 months now.

Extreme low calorie diet are not sustainable for long, especially if you are starting out.

First thing first, count your calories for a week or two to get the baseline calorie consumption for your current weight. Try to not change your normal food consumption while taking your first baseline calories because it will make the first weight loss cycle more difficult than it needs to be.

Then, start by removing 250 calories from your diet and burn 250 calories every day for 6 to 9 weeks.

Then, go into maintenance where you slowly add a bit more food and stabilize your weight. If you see that you are gaining weight during the maintenance, just cut back a little bit and keep that calorie intake as your maintenance intake. That will become your calorie baseline for the next cycle.

Repeat until your goals are met. Don't hesitate to take a longer maintenance break if you feel like it.

That will give you a sustainable way to lose weight and you will also learn to count calories without weighing everything you eat.

If you can easily cut 250 calories without any problem, try to cut more calories the next cycle, and see how it goes. If it's too hard, then go back to 250/250 calories cut.

As for the food, I don't know where you live, but nutritional yeast is a cheap way to add protein to any meals and add a cheesy flavor to the meal.

As for fat, cheap nuts or neutral oil can help meet your needs.

And for carbs, seasonal fruits and vegetables are usually cheaper, so go with that.

The only thing you should take from this post is that slow and steady is the name of the game. You are fighting millions of years of evolution, so it won't be easy.

TLDR: slow and steady. Cut 250 cal from your diet and burn 250 calories from activity for 6-9 weeks. Maintain for the same amount of time. Repeat.

Hope my answer doesn't get buried and I hope you don't feel too overwhelmed by all the responses you're getting. But something I found really useful is frozen veg. If you're struggling to plan healthier meals that are higher calorie, frozen veg is a game changer. It doesn't go bad, it's cheaper than the fresh stuff, and the most important thing is you can add it to your existing diet. I have a soft spot for ramen and box mac and cheese for example, and it's so easy just to throw handfuls of whatever I've got in the freezer into a pot of pasta or ramen to make it just a bit healthier. Hell, you can even forget the ramen altogether and just use the soup base (it's just stock!) to make lazy soup. Add a chopped onion if you're feeling fancy and that's that.

You also list a lot of protein sources that you can't afford to add to your diet. Protein is a necessary nutrient, but it's not the end all to a healthy diet. I say that as a lifelong athlete. It's very easy to get an appropriate amount of protein from plant based sources, and they tend to be a lot cheaper. Plus, they tend to be higher in other macros and nutrients. Soy milk, for example, has the same protein content as dairy milk (but might be more expensive depending on your area). Beans and other legumes are fantastic and tasty. Chickpeas are my favourite. If you have a blender or food processor, you can make hummus very easily. Lentils are also amazing if you are able to cook. Cheap as hell if you buy them in bulk and insanely filling. Indian dhaal is a lentil stew that's fairly easy to make and very tasty. If you can afford it, snack on nuts and seeds. Add peanut butter (look at labels to find some that doesn't have sugar in it) to your diet. Both those things are higher in calorie while also being high in nutrients. If you eat rice, try getting brown rice instead of white rice. It's higher in protein and fiber and will likely keep you full for longer. Potatoes and other root vegetables are also awesome. Versatile, cheap, relatively high calorie, easy to cook, and keep for a long time if stored properly. I like to make a huge pot of potato stew with beans and frozen vegetables and keep it in the fridge for easy meals for like a week. If you're looking for animal protein, check your local grocery for frozen fish. Its usually half the price of the fresh stuff.

I'm not your doctor, but personally, 800-1000 cal/day was terrible for my health. Yeah, it'll make you lose weight, but for me it made me really lethargic and gave me brain fog. It just wasn't enough to keep my body going. Maybe try slowly lowering your calorie intake and see how your body feels. I've also found that in the past, calorie counting was actually counterproductive to my health because what ended up happening was it became a "game" to eat fewer and fewer calories a day. Luckily I saw that and stopped counting calories before it turned into an eating disorder. My point here is just that it'll take some work figuring out what works for you and don't get discouraged if a method doesn't fit your body or your lifestyle.

In terms of exercise, I know it's not a satisfying answer, but it's really going to depend on your body and what type of exercise you're doing. If you're exercising, you should definitely be eating more than 800-1000 cal/day unless you're like, a toddler. It's dangerous in my non-professional opinion to exercise when you're under eating by that amount particularly if you're lifting weights or doing high impact cardio.

I wish you luck on your journey and I hope it all works out for you :)

I loose weight by eating 2 big meals a day. My go to seems to be frozen pizza (1000 cal each) and and curries (500-600 for curry, another 200 for my naan in butter). I eat 1600-1800 calories a day and feel like a glutton while my scale keeps going in the right direction. 50lbs down so far.

Speak with a doctor, not the internet.

Ok, you have been fed some bullshit. Anyone who just gives you a "eat X calories" advice without knowing your age, height, gender, etc... is full of shit. Makes me no end of mad when you see "Contains 25% of your daily..." on food packaging. Because a 19yo male rugby playing bricklayer and a 46yo female accountant have vastly different requirements.

At the core of it, its CICO (Calories in, Calories out)

https://www.calculator.net/macro-calculator.html Tap your details into that, select a REASONABLE weight loss goal a week, underestimate your exercise, and select the high protein option since you are weight training and want to avoid muscle loss.

A few eggs on a couple of pieces of wholemeal or multigrain toast, pot of greek yoghurt and a coffee is a perfectly good breakfast and Protein shakes are a great way to get protein in and keep calories reasonable, my lunch at work is 2 scoops of Casein protein and a protein bar. I eat boring and super low cal during the day because I train in the afternoon and want to enjoy my dinner.

When it comes to adding back in workout calories... both sides are right. "Diet fatigue" is a real thing, and if you want to keep your calorie defecit around a certain number to avoid getting burnt out then yes, you add them back in. Personally I calculated my macros and calories to "mild" weight loss and estimated my exercise as "none" so my training was where I found the larger part of my deficit.

I could write a very short book on this stuff so if tou have any questions feel free to PM me.

Instead of trying a bunch of different conflicting methods for weight loss from these comments, I would recommend you instead first understand the science of it with:

• The Aetiology of Obesity
• Solving the Two-Compartment Problem

Try being a pescatarian, shrimp and tilapia are fairly cheap, and finding non-animal protein is actually fairly easy if you branch out a little.