Quitting alcohol and going to OMAD (one meal a day) helped me lose 20 kilos in < 2 months. And I wasn’t even obese, that was straight from overweight to goal weight. Alcohol is an enormous contributor to weight for several different reasons. Plus, the weight you get as a drinker (the “hard” fat) is the worst kind of fat your body can have.

Wow, 20 kilos in less than 2 months seems like a heck of a lot. Any issues with gallstones?

I lost a nice bit of weight at the start of the pandemic when I stopped drinking (primarily a beer drinker). It is really surprising how much of an effect it can have.

The rule I have seen, and have followed is to target 1-2 lbs (about 0.5-1kg) per week. Any more than this and you start having issues where your skin doesn’t shrink at that same rate, or your body having issues baselining to the new weight[0]

Personally, while tough to keep that as an average weight, I was successful doing this, primarily by going to one meal a day, and limiting calories (especially carbohydrates). Only issue is your body does end up burning fat, which makes your feel a bit more “oily”.

[0] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/losing-weight-too-fast

As with all guidelines, this always depends on the starting point and personal data.

If you are on the heavier side and a heavy drinker and carb eater, going low carb/no alcohol you will lose easily 10 kilos in a month (mostly being water weight).

If you are a healthy weight and eating normally with a glass of wine here and there, 0.5-1kg is probably a good range (and probably around 70% of it being fat loss)

If you are lean, 0.25-0.5kg a week is a good goal (and probably 50% will be fat).

No issues with gallstones. It was 230 lb to 185 lbs also at the start of the pandemic (May-July 2020). I have managed to mostly keep it off (currently 190, but have yo-yo’d back up to 200 once), despite resuming drinking and being a semi heavy drinker. Mostly due to diligence around keeping an OMAD style diet.

Cutting out the booze is huge. A lot of people underestimate just how much weight you can put on from drinking.

Protein & carbohydrates: 4C/g. Alcohol: 7C/g. Fat: 9C/g.

Satiety is much more important than energy density.

Alcohol makes you crave calories in general and specifically carbs, which is in my experience a double whammy. I might never even want a pizza for weeks, but put three beers in me and I want to eat half or more of a large pizza.

I have also done one meal a day previously, works wonders. For those interested, it's difficult for the first week but it gets much easier after that. Was able to lose 20 pounds last year without changing exercise.

A lot of success in fixing your diet comes from experimenting and seeing what works for you. Low carb can help some people, while particular carb-heavy but satiating foods like oats or potatoes can help others. I don't think it's always clear-cut.

I agree. Everyone needs to be their own doctor, because they have an intuition for their own body. (Dieting is being your own doctor by the way!)

Additionnally, regardless of the diet a key is to relearn to eat slowly. By eating too fast we tend to feel satiated too late.