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I can only lose weight keeping a certain diet (other diets, even suggested by doctors failed, also exercises don't work, doing or not exercises don't change the speed of me losing weight).

That diet is mostly avoiding carbohydrates, my lunch was mostly green stuff (eg: cabbage and similar things) and some protein (like egg, cheese, etc...) and for dinner a can of tuna.

When I do that, I can lose 1kg per week.

When I don't do that, I get back 1kg per week...

In two years I went from 126kg to 99kg to 110kg to 98kg to 119kg, if I eat tuna every dinner, I lose 1kg per week more or less, if I don't (for example if I eat tuna inside a bread, or eat a pork sandwich) then I get fat again.

How I stay below 100kg without eating tuna every single day forever?

EDIT: From those wondering why tuna? Well, I like tuna since I was a little kid, this is why when I designed my weight loss diet I used tuna as protein source...

EDIT2: I already eat less than the average person, weird questions relating my diet ("why you eat so little? Are you sick?" or "why you don't eat rice like that builder dude over there? You are young, rice is good!" ) are not uncommon.

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    There are close votes on this question I don't agree with. Achieving a desired physique is on topic here in Fitness.SE. – Baarn Dec 15 '13 at 16:54
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    Diet is not a temporary thing, diet is a lifestyle change. – VPeric Dec 16 '13 at 11:42
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You probably aren't going to like this answer, but this is the answer.

You gain weight when you eat more calories than you expend. You lose weight when you eat fewer calories than you expend. You maintain weight when you eat the same number of calories as you expend.

That's it.

You'll need to find ways of keeping your calorie count down. For me this means no snacking, and always eating small amounts of beer, bread, jam, soda, potato chips, and the like. You'll need to stop thinking of tuna and cabbage as a temporary arrangement if you want to manage your weight successfully long-term. They are real food and they are the kinds of things you have to eat if you don't want to be fat. I suggest learning how to cook more kinds of healthy food if you aren't happy with tuna every night.

EDIT: A few years have passed and I have seen a lot of stuff in the meantime. I am no longer sure that calories in / calories out is the whole picture of weight gain and loss. It's by far the most important factor but probably not the only one.

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  • I would also take a close look at portion control. Learn what is a "serving size". – rrirower Dec 14 '13 at 17:46
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    Portion control doesn't really have anything to do with it. Simply he needs to count his calories and exercise regularly to burn off any excess calories consumed during the day/week. – Chad Dec 16 '13 at 3:22
  • There's significant reason to question "calories in, calories out"—Gary Taubes book Why We Get Fat explains in detail why what you eat (generally, carbohydrate/protein/fat, but also the quality of food) affects body composition & health. – Drew Stephens Dec 16 '13 at 15:43
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    I don't agree, @DrewStephens. I think calories in, calories out is one of the most well-established and reliable principles in all of the health sciences. Someone will always be ready to sell a book telling people the things they want to hear about dieting. That isn't a significant reason to believe them. – masonk Dec 16 '13 at 17:02
  • Agree with @masonk, The fact is a calorie is a unit of energy, consume more than your BMR + exercise and the body will convert that energy into fat. Consume less than your BMR + exercise then you'r body will use stored fat for a source of energy. – Chad Dec 16 '13 at 23:07
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I think a relatively simple solution would be using an app/website like myfitnesspal to keep up with your intake. Shoot for around 160-200 grams of protein since it is the most satiating and probably the reason tuna is helping you lose weight. As for fat and carbs, it really depends on how active you are. If you're active, I would do more carbs. If you're more sedentary, I would do higher fat. You can then start playing with the macros every two weeks with the goal to take in as many calories as you can while you're still able to reach your goal loss every week.

All this is assuming that you don't have any autoimmune or allergy issues. If you do, I would look into elimination/paleo/anti-inflammatory diet and still play with the intake/macros as indicated above. There are many different approaches, it really depends on the person and also their goals. Good luck.

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  • There is diet that help auto-immune diseases? I have hashimoto (immune system attacking thyroid) and maybe psoriasis. – speeder Dec 16 '13 at 14:24
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While Masonk is mostly correct, one detail missed is that as you cut calories and lose weight your metabolism will slow down. For example, if you can maintain 190lbs on a 2000 calorie diet and you cut calories by 500 (to 1500) you will lose weight until you reach whatever weight is sustainable at 1500 calories. However, your metabolism is now slower so if you return to 2000 calories you will end up at a weight greater than the 190lbs you started at. This is the big issue in weight loss. How often have you seen people lose weight? Pretty often, but most of the time they gain it all back and then some. The solution is to slowly add back calories and give your body time to adjust. Using the above example, don't jump back to 2000 calories, add in 50 a day for a couple weeks, then 50 more and so on. Layne Norton, PHd calls this reverse dieting and he has put out tons of information on it. I would look into some of his research. Here is a video to get your started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI

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You asked:

"How to keep your weight from rising (after lowering it) without a strict diet forever?"

The answer, that you probably don't want to hear?

You can't.

Of course, this all depends on your definition of "strict" but what I am picking up from your post is that you want to diet, lose a certain amount of weight, then go back to the food you ate before the diet. Again, this isn't going to happen.

What you need to do is construct a diet you enjoy. A diet is only successful if stick to it, forever. A diet doesn't need to be draconian no desserts ever, however it does need to be strict in that you limit them and you stick to it!

As a footnote:

"also exercises don't work, doing or not exercises don't change the speed of me losing weight"

If that is true, then you must go see a scientist so we can study your body to create a perpetual motion machine. What is probably happening is the age ole "Man I worked out good today, I deserve a nice soda + ice cream to reward myself" resulting in eating more calories than you actually burned. Or less drastically, you get hungry from working out and just eat more than normal.

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  • the "strict" died I was talking about back then, was: black tea (no sugar) + a fruit at breakfast. meat + greens (no carbohidrates) at lunch, a can of tuna (no bread, no cheese, nothing at all, just tuna) at dinner. not only is somethign that is hard to fully enjoy, but is also godamn expensive now. – speeder Dec 8 '16 at 23:04
  • You sound like you just want to keep making excuses. Yes a diet is "hard to fully enjoy" but who says you should enjoy every meal? If you treat food as a source of enjoyment, where every meal should be "fun" and "exciting", then of course you won't be able to stay at a weight you want. Also, none of that sounds expensive at all. Lastly, that particular diet doesn't seem very healthy nor sustainable, a single can of tuna for dinner? – user24235 Dec 20 '16 at 15:40
  • more than a single can of tuna for dinner I would quickly gain more weight. – speeder Dec 20 '16 at 17:13
  • You should be posting your results in a science journal then not here. We have finally shown that the laws of thermodynamics don't exist! – user24235 Jan 4 '17 at 21:52
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To eat the things you like and still maintain a healthy weight, you should look to count calories, rather than eat specific things.

Firstly, you should find out how many calories you should be eating. There are plenty of estimators online such as this one. That will give you an idea of how many calories you may need to eat per day.

Start by eating about 200 calories less than that number and observing your weight. You should use a tool to measure your bodyfat such as skinfold calipers. Try to get about one gram of protein per pound of weight (or about .5g/kg) in your diet. This will help you maintain lean body mass and lose bodyfat.

If you find you aren't losing weight at 200 calories below maintenance, reduce your intake by another 200 calories.

Counting your calories is the tried and true method to control your weight. After doing this for a while, it becomes pretty natural. Personally I don't strictly count anymore, but I still have a pretty good idea of how many calories I eat each day, and whether or not I've hit my daily limit.

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