IamA 536 pound 40 year old man who lives a very public life. AMA!

2,000 calories.

Wow. I don't mean to be one of those guys who tells you what to eat (I struggle with the eating as well), but 2,000 seems incredibly low for a man of your size. My guess is, without a deficit, you probably need closer to 4,500 just to maintain, 3500 would be net-loss. Eating such fewer calories are definitely going to cause you to go into starvation mode (packing on storage fat the days that you eat more calories) -- it will also cause your stomach to be in a constant state of craving until you give in and over-eat (this is the gorge caused by starvation -- it's the reason severely malnourished people have to slowly be given food instead of a buffet or they will eat themselves to death).

If you might be willing to try something, consider eating smaller portions much more often in the morning and less in the evening. Every person is different, but this has helped me maintain (and lose). Try something like this (which i scaled for your calories) -- have 500-750 cals for breakfast, 200 cal snack after an hour, 200 cal snack after another hour, 500-750 lunch after two hours, another snack after 2 hours, dinner, then a carbless (or low carb) snack in the evening only if you need it (chicken wings without sauce or only a hot sauce, something like that). You'll feel like you are constantly eating and be full, but yet, you will be in deficit. If you have a high-calorie day, shrug it off, shit happens. Try to avoid the simple carbs when you can (breads) -- go for the meat and complex carbs; you stay full longer and don't get the huge insulin spike that makes you tired (and even hungry).

I feel your struggle and I hate the people who say "just diet and excercise" -- yeah jackass... if it were that easy, I wouldn't be this weight now would I? Slow loss is better than no loss. Oh, and count those calories -- not to meet a goal every day, but just to be honest with yourself as to how much you are eating when you do it. "I'm going to eat this 1000 calories of cake because I want it even though I shouldn't." instead of "That cake was tasty, I'll have another piece..." It's amazing how you start to transform your "bad days" into days that really aren't that bad compared to how you used to eat. Suddenly it's, "I shouldn't but I'm going to have this 500 calorie slice of cake, and I'm going to be happy with myself for not eating a 1000 calorie slice."

But hey, just 2 cents from a big guy that has slowly been losing. You gotta do you cause I know how it is.

/r/IAmA Thread Parent