This one TRICK helped me lose 50.7 pounds in 6 months

6 min readMay 30, 2021

Up until March 2020, I was a lazy, unmotivated, and morbidly obese twenty-something girl, trying to juggle twelve hours of daily labwork with a writing side hustle in a bid to earn some extra money. My weight was the result of poor diet choices driven by a need to fill in the emotional void from losing my beloved father at age 20.

When the COVID-19 lockdown struck, our labs shut down and we spent months at a stretch holed up in our hostel rooms. With zero access to restaurant food, my late-night urges to order home delivery went for a toss and I embraced home cooking.

In the months that followed, I found myself losing weight without actively trying hard. As somebody with poor willpower and a history of failed attempts at dieting and daily exercise, I felt elated at this little win!

From then onwards, there was no looking back.

I went crazy scouring the internet, researching published scientific literature for the best ways to lose weight, and even read ‘’The Obesity Code’’ by Dr. Jason Fung. This book ended up being the game-changer for me in terms of snowballing my weight loss efforts.

In the following article, I take inspiration from this book and my own weight loss journey to discuss the one little tweak in my dieting approach that helped me reduce cravings for junk food- which was practically the major reason behind my weight gain-and derive more satiety from my everyday meals!

But first, below is a quick glance at the ‘old me’.

**Image of the author at 165 lbs (75 kgs) in the year 2018**

What induces satiety from food?

Leptin is the satiety hormone. Just like ghrelin is released when you’re hungry and your stomach is empty, leptin is released when you’re full and satiated. Interestingly, as opposed to ghrelin, leptin is positively correlated with body weight, meaning those with more body fat/body weight produce more leptin. Obese individuals have screwed up signals of satiety and hunger.

How does leptin affect normal individuals?

At the end of every meal, your stomach distends with freshly eaten food that signifies fullness. With more food you intake, your body fat rises, causing your leptin levels to rise along with your weight. Understandably so, your tendency to eat declines as your satiety levels are higher and you burn more.

Is more leptin good then?

Well, you could think that if you have more leptin, you will stop having the urge to eat and weight loss would then become easy but it’s not that simple. On one hand, as you get obese, you get leptin resistant, meaning although your leptin levels are high, your body is insensitive to its presence, so your brain doesn’t sense these fullness signals and you just don’t know when to stop eating (1). On the other hand, as you lose weight by calorie restriction and dieting, your leptin levels decline and ghrelin levels go up, causing you to feel less satiated and hungrier over time (2). So while more leptin is certainly good, that doesn’t mean you have to maintain a higher body weight in order to elicit more leptin in your body (3). By doing so, you’ll only run the risk of hitting leptin resistance.

How to know if you’re leptin resistant?

Having beyond the normal level of body fat may produce leptin but as a twisted side-effect, induces insensitivity to leptin, making you hungrier and causing your appetite to go out of whack. Obese individuals have screwed up signals of satiety and hunger. To put it simply, obese people are leptin-resistant (4).

What’s the solution?

The solution is then to eat just enough and the right amount of foods that are not only nutrient-dense but also rich in fiber and protein to ensure that satiety signals are released after each meal and leptin levels are reasonably stable. In addition, losing body weight in a controlled manner through a calorie deficit of no more than 400 kcal daily, and incorporating a balanced diet with all the essential macro- and micronutrients are some ways to fine-tune the delicate balance between ghrelin and leptin.

Diet choices I made to reduce/reverse leptin resistance

1. Loaded up on green, leafy vegetables in their raw or steamed form. This lowers the level of bad cholesterol and reverses the programming of your fat cells to produce leptin.

2. Made sure every meal I had consisted of 40 percent protein and 30 percent fat. Protein-dense grains such as quinoa and oats are a good choice. Healthy fats like avocadoes, eggs, and olive oil should be taken in some form.

3. Added a teaspoon of cold-pressed coconut oil to my morning coffee as an easy way to sneak healthy fats into my diet.

4. Replaced sugary treats with berries; fruit juices with detox drinks and calming herbal teas. If possible, you can consider having green tea or black coffee in-between meals instead of reaching out for snacks.

5. Tried meal-pairing. Post-workout I used to have fruits like bananas and apples with nut butter for a generous dose of healthy fats and proteins that induced satiety, keeping me full for a long time.

6. Had a protein-rich dinner. If you’re a vegan, cottage cheese and tofu can do the trick for you, and if you consume animal meals, you can choose turkey, salmon, fish, or chicken.

7. Had healthy carbs like whole-wheat cereals, legumes, and lentils. Black bean soup, quinoa porridge, and humus are good options. Also, include prebiotic and probiotic/fiber-rich foods in your breakfast to boost gut health.

**A sample leptin-resistance diet plan created on Canva**

Recommended daily practices

1. Never resort to crash dieting. Your brain will be confused into thinking you’re in starvation mode and spike up ghrelin levels as a countermeasure to the reduced leptin secretion, leading you to crave more and eat more.

2. Always choose good carbs over bad. The leptin diet recommends 30% carbs with every meal, and this portion should come from healthy food sources in their whole, unpolished form.

3. Avoid fruit juices and items containing fructose corn syrup. They contain high amounts of fructose that are bad for your liver and manipulate the leptin signaling networks of your system.

4. Avoid artificial sweeteners, soy products, diet soda, and other energy drinks. Consider having homemade detox drinks instead.

5. Exercise portion control with each meal, i.e. no more than 500 kcal with each meal and make sure not to create too much of a daily calorie deficit (~500 kcal per day) to ensure weight loss in a controlled manner (1.5–2.5 kgs/month).

6. Include moderate exercise (75 minutes cardio per week), along with strength training in the form of squats, planks, and push-ups to help with insulin and leptin resistance.

7. Take fiber supplements and drink lots of water. Most importantly, sleep well. Sleep maintains ghrelin and leptin homeostasis, allowing your brain to better understand when you’re hungry/full.

Final words

Implementing these strategies allowed me to go from 75 to 52 kilos in a span of 6 months. With sugar cravings and binge-eating at bay, I was finally able to reap results from my weight loss workouts, which further acted as motivation fuel to keep me on the path of everlasting health and fitness. Below is a picture of me taken at my lowest recorded weight of 52 kgs.

**Image of the author at 114 lbs (52 kgs) in the year 2022**

Resources:

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Originally published at https://thehealthshreks.com on May 30, 2021.