How I lost 10kg in six months just by changing my habits.

I didn't start this with the intention of losing weight, but after changing my habits, I ended up losing about 10kg in six months last year, and I've continued to lose weight, returning to and maintaining the weight I was at in my student days, so I'd like to talk about that.

I saw some diet talk floating around on my timeline, so I decided to write about it. By the way, I don't think this method will work for everyone, but the way of thinking itself might be somewhat helpful.

If you live alone, I think you can put this into practice immediately, but it might be quite difficult if you live with someone else. I think those who prepare their own meals are the ones who can probably put this into practice right away.
Also, if you are someone who calculates calories properly, that method is probably more correct.

To begin with, what habits was I trying to change?

I wrote at the beginning that I changed my habits, but the habit I personally thought was bad was,

This was it (lol).

Actually, about three years ago, I gained a lot of weight after changing jobs. About 8kg. It was just an attempt to at least stop eating unnecessarily. It might have been easy because it was weight loss after gaining it in a short period of time.

I used to buy a lot of side dishes and snacks. Specifically, things like donuts (lol). Also, I would end up buying side dishes that seemed high in calories.

Snacks are fine because they have a long shelf life, but when you live alone, if you buy a lot of side dishes, you're the only one consuming them.

So, this was the rule I decided on.

This might be difficult for working mothers, but there was one more thing I did by taking it a step further,

When I plan menus while hungry, I end up preparing too much of things that are clearly high in calories. I stopped doing that too.

Once I started this, I went beyond the weight I gained from changing jobs, and the weight I had been gradually gaining before that also disappeared. I am now about 13kg down from my maximum weight, and I am currently at about my best weight from my student days.

So, what exactly did I do?

The method I started for that purpose was this.

It's super simple, right? To go into a little more detail,

I didn't think I'd lose weight with this. But eating about half a block of tofu makes me feel quite full, and since I prepare other things a little while after eating that, maybe my satiety center is already a bit satisfied, so I clearly only need to snack on whatever else I eat.

As for going to the supermarket after eating, if you go when you're hungry, you end up buying mysterious snacks, but if you go when you're not hungry, you can just buy what you need and go home because you clearly think, "I don't really want to eat any of this."

By the way, I use tofu salad, and I always keep about half a block of tofu and a bag of salad in the fridge, but there's no need to be particular about that; I think anything commonly used for XX diets would be fine.

The point is to have something that can be prepared quickly, is somewhat filling, but isn't too high in calories. Probably.

For example, I think even about half a bowl of rice would be fine.

Basically, since the rule is "you can eat whatever and however much you want" after suppressing your hunger, it hasn't been stressful at all, and I've been able to keep it up for a year and a half.

By the way, what else do I often eat besides tofu salad?
What I'm into right now is grilling a piece (50-80g) of Wagyu beef shank (for stewing). I grill it rare to medium and then cut it up to eat. Since it's for stewing, it does have some gristle, so I can't eat it without cutting it, but because it's Wagyu, it's softer than Australian beef (lol).

I buy it in bulk when it's half price and freeze it, and since it's small, it feels like a little luxury for less than 100 yen per serving. In addition to that, I eat about one other item. You can't buy a "steak bento" with a similar amount of cheaper beef for 500 yen, and when I grill this after eating a tofu salad, it feels just right.

Also, I like potato chips, but if I end up buying them because I want to eat them, I eat one bag over the course of about a week as a side dish. (If I open them, in a sense, I'm eating them every day.)

There are even days when I eat ice cream, which is said to make you gain weight. (Though I say that, personally, I can't eat a whole one at once, so I still serve about two bites' worth on a plate.)

As for snacks... I honestly do have them, but I stick to individually wrapped cookies or chocolates, eating them one by one. For large bags, it's basically just potato chips, and those became a side dish (lol).

I'm not doing this that stoically, so if I'm busy or if I want to eat, I might toast some bread when I wake up, or eat frozen spaghetti. If I'm eating out for lunch and it's impossible to eat a tofu salad first, I think it's fine to check how much is just right on days when you can, like weekends, and just eat that amount.
Also, although it has decreased significantly due to COVID, when dining with friends, depending on the person, I sometimes eat everything even if I think it's too much.

Personally, if the premise is to continue and make it a habit, I think it's fine not to be too stoic.

Even if you have a family and can't freely control what you eat, I think it's a good idea to consult with your family to see if you can "first eat something light to suppress your hunger. After that, portion out the amount yourself." Once you decide, I think it's good to continue that for a while, set a period, and then review it.

Also, since you portion out your food after eating a little bit of something, the basic rule is that what's left over hasn't been touched, so I feel that "carrying it over to tomorrow's breakfast" is important.
I often hear stories about mothers who gained weight because they ate the leftovers, but any leftover ingredients are mercilessly "refrigerated" or "frozen."

Whether this is scientifically sound is debatable, but I lost weight because I ended up not eating unnecessarily just by changing the order and way of thinking a little bit, so I hope you can incorporate the parts that are helpful.