I don't know if it's the healthiest or most ideal way of going about it, but it's what works best for me.
> organisms, from bacteria to humans, through either aerobic respiration,
> anaerobic respiration, or fermentation. Glucose is the human body's key source
> of energy, through aerobic respiration, providing about 3.75 kilocalories (16
> kilojoules) of food energy per gram. Breakdown of carbohydrates (e.g. starch)
> yields mono- and disaccharides, most of which is glucose. Through glycolysis and
> later in the reactions of the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation,
> glucose is oxidized to eventually form CO2 and water, yielding energy mostly in
> the form of ATP. The insulin reaction, and other mechanisms, regulate the
> concentration of glucose in the blood.
You then have to have an absence of glucose in your body before you may metabolize your body fat. This doesn't happen often for most people, hence, the obesity epidemic from overconsumption of sugar.
That's the short version. The long, detailed version is available from YouTube, search for Dr. Robert Lustig's videos.
Mine was, in short, reducing isn't so hard if you simply remove the unnecessary. That's it. Speaking for myself, as fit as I might be, I do know I consume unnecessaries.
> But if you think of sugar, etc. as necessary and natural then you're more or less doomed, as you deserve to be.
Which, apart from being wildly unnecessary color commentary, is the equivalent of saying the earth is flat. Sugar is literally one of the core building blocks of aerobic life, which is over 99.9999999% of multicellular organisms.
Turns out, simply cutting your calorie intake (while generally eating whatever type of food you like) works out fine and has minimal drawbacks. In fact, I felt less "bloated" (I know, that's a health food buzzword but it's kinda real), which more than counter-weighted the lack of comfort food. You also have to get used to the idea that "hunger" is a normal, everyday feeling and not an alarm signal (first world problems, right?). Usually, you can actually still _eat_ whenever you're hungry, anyway, and it even tastes better!
25-50% off is easy. You can eat a full meal, generally, and still be below your 50% daily calorie intake, there's still room for a snack. All supermarket foods have calorie labels now and the rest you can look up online and quickly get a hang for. We all know the worst offenders (chocolate, soft drinks, fried stuff,...) but once you look it up it forces you to face the reality of it. I never wrote down any lists, just a rough, rounded number in the back of my head.
Generally, it was way harder to start than to keep going. After a week or two, it's easy. Lost 10+ kilos that way over the course of a few months (like 4 or 5?), which put me within my personal weight goal.