If you don't want to gain weight - avoid starchy foods altogether

I'm Asian, and rice is a staple in my country. When COVID started, and lockdowns took over, a lot of us would generally feel depressed, and when you don't know what to do, you turn to cooking. And when you're feeling stressed, the first thing you'd cook is probably what you're used to, rice.<br><br>So, you start to cook rice with vegetables, and that's generally healthy, unless you're using a lot of sugar, salt, or a ton of oil. And when you turn to food when you're feeling sad, you want comfort food. You want to be healthier, but, you know what's healthy, you know what's not - but what you really want is comfort food. Slowly you start to feel too comfortable, and that's generally when you stop and check your weight.<br><br>Before quarantine, I was 140 pounds, and when quarantine started, I had a "I don't care about this pandemic" phase. It was generally fun, I started to gain weight, felt fat - but decided that I'll start to diet - and then I decided that, I'll make a change.<br><br>If I want to lose weight, I need to cut out carbs. Rice, bread, pasta - all of that. If you want to feel full, you need to eat fiber. If you want to generally be healthy, you need to eat protein. If you want to feel better, you need to drink more water.<br><br>I started by increasing my water intake - I started by keeping myself full for a really long time. I started to reduce the amount of starchy and carby foods, and then increased the amount of vegetables that I eat. <br><br>I also started running, I run 3 times a week, and I would generally run for 30 minutes - it's a lot, but when you realize that you generally feel better, you just do it.<br><br>At the start of quarantine, I was 170 pounds, and right now I'm back to 140 pounds. It's generally a huge deal for me. It's pretty hard to lose weight, but this is my advice - if you don't want to gain weight, just avoid starchy foods altogether. Cut back on the carbs, reduce your sugar intake - and increase your protein intake.<br><br>Oh, and drink more water - stop drinking soda, and juice. If you want to lose weight, you need to reduce the amount of calories that you eat, and increase the amount of calories that you burn. And if you want to feel better after a full meal, stop eating starchy foods altogether.