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Not to mention that 1500 calories a day, especially with that amount of exercise, would leave most people feeling extremely hungry, all the time?
Yes it does. Although I used to do 2000kcal a day and do loads of exercise meaning I was at a minimum of 750kcal/day deficit.
It takes about 3 or 4 weeks to bed in. Once you start to get used to it it's generally ok but still a bit grim.
The hard bit is a) not giving in, as that sets you back weeks and (b) knowing the tricks to staving off hunger. Sometimes it's as simple as just having a glass of water to stop yourself feeling hungry. Exercise suppresses my appetite too in the short term, so I'd often time my runs for when I started to feel really hungry and even a 30 minute run would put off the hunger pangs for another 4-5 hours. Feel hungry at the end of the work day, perfect time for a 30 minute commute. Then it's a case of portion control, as deciding how much to eat when ravenous is always dangerous.
Fasting also helped me. Actively planing to go ~36h without food (well, mostly) helped my brain understand it simply wasn't getting more than 500kcal. I used to do:
Tuesday: eat normally, play 5-a-side at 8pm, couple of pints in the pub afterwards
Wed: WFH. A glass of OJ in the morning and maybe some steamed veg (broccoli/carrots usually) at lunch, nothing in the evening
Thu: No breakfast, run 11km into the office, resuming eating "normally" at lunchtime with something I'd taken into work on Tuesday and left in the fridge - something like lasagne, steamed broccoli/carrots/new-pots. 5-a-side after work and then pub for too many pints.During this I was still cooking for Mrs and Mini GB, but I'd had years of working in catering where I'd be preparing lots of food I'd never get to eat, so I was quite well mentally conditioned for cooking for people but not eating it.
Now that my knee is pretty much repaired (~4 months recovery from a "high grade MCL tear") I'm back running outside (yay! a whole 2k today!) and will be back on the 5-a-side pitch in a few weeks. I've got a metric fuckload of weight to lose (~30kg to go from 104kg to 76kg) so it's going to be a long old slog. I'll restart the Wednesday 36h fasting after a month or so (want to give my body a chance to get used to the increase in exercise first) - it'll need a lot of protein to replace lost muscle/gristle.
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Greenbank
Bloody hell, congratulations
Without wanting to sound too negative, I'm not sure the process you have described to lose weight would count as easy for many. How much does the personal trainer and gym subs cost? How can eg. a parent to a young child, working full time, find the time for 5 gym sessions and 300km of cycling a week?
Not to mention that 1500 calories a day, especially with that amount of exercise, would leave most people feeling extremely hungry, all the time?
I would suggest a better description might be that losing weight is simple - your picture of a very strict diet and lots of exercise is after all not revolutionary - but still, very difficult