Thursday, July 30, 2026

i lost 68 lbs so i asked my life insurance for a better rate. they responded by investigating whether im dying

39m, 5'8, went from 282 to 214 in about 19 months doing cico. this post is not really about the weight loss, its about what happened when i tried to get paid for it.

when i got my life insurance at 282 they rated me up for the weight and i pay 84 a month. in february i realized im 68 lbs lighter and probably shouldnt be paying the same price anymore, so i asked them to redo my rate. i want to be honest that this was not about health or feeling good about myself, it was about 20 something dollars a month.

the online form asks the reason for the weight change and the only option that fit was "diet and exercise", which felt like lying because there was no exercise, i just weighed my food for a year and a half. i picked it anyway.

two weeks later a woman from the company called me for whats called a phone interview. i told her the numbers, kind of proud honestly, 282 down to 214. she went quiet for a second and then asked if the weight loss was intentional. i said yes, very. she said ok and then asked when my last physical was, whether i have night sweats, and if anyone in my family has had cancer. it turns out losing weight fast without a documented medical reason is a red flag for being sick, and my documented reason was an app on my phone.

then it escalated. they scheduled whats called a paramedical exam, which means a nurse came to my actual house on a tuesday morning, set up at my kitchen table, took two vials of blood, measured my waist (she apologized for her hands being cold, they were), and asked me the cancer questions again while my wife made coffee that the nurse never drank. they also requested 5 years of records from my doctor, and his office called me slightly annoyed about it because apparently the request came by fax.

the dumbest part is that it got in my head. i did all of it on purpose, i have 19 months of logs, and i still spent a night googling unintentional weight loss at 1am because an insurance company sounded suspicious of me. when i saw my doctor he said the letter they wanted takes him 5 minutes and that i was not the first person to get flagged for getting healthier.

last week, 4 months after i filled out the form, the letter came. new rate approved, 61 a month. so 23 dollars a month back, for two vials of blood, a nurse in my kitchen, an annoyed receptionist, and one night where i convinced myself i had lymphoma.

the woman on the phone had mentioned that in 2 years i can apply again for their best health tier if my weight is stable. she said most people never bother doing that. i will absolutely be doing that.

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eating at sedentary TDEE?

I’m 20f and started my weight loss journey earlier this year, I’m down 40 pounds so far and im starting to stagnate because I’m finding it very hard to stick with my deficit. I’ve been aiming for 1500 calories a day, because according to online calculators my maintenance is around 2000-2100. Despite this, I’ve been ending up eating 1900-2200 calories the past few days because I’m just burnt out from being in a deficit so long. If I were to be sedentary, my maintenance would be 1750. If I were to set my target there and stay at or under that, is it realistic to still expect decent results? For reference I walk anywhere from 10k-20k steps a day, and do minimal strength training 4 days a week. I don’t want to keep burning out, but I do want to see a big difference in 6 months.
also if anyone has general advice for sticking with a deficit for an extended period of time, that would be appreciated

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Advice on how to lose 2 or so pounds a month?

Hi, so, im 19 years old, 5'7. I was living in a dorm last year and the last semester I did not eat very well and it made me gain weight. Like. I went from 185 to 197 i think, but it may have also been 195, i cant really remember. Ive been working out now that im home and since i transferred to a college closer to my house ill have healthier options, right now im 192? So ive lose at least 3 pounds since ive been here due to exercise

Tbh my scale at home isnt very good, and I can't quite remember remember weight I was when my spring semester ended so that might not be accurate. I didnt think to write it down...

Anyways, i dont really want to take medication or anything to lose weight, it just feels weird to do so, if i was like 200+ then i might consider it but i really don't think my weight is that bad to where i need to. Regardless, I DO want to lsoe the weight i gained and go back to 185, maybe loose some more and get to 180. Id like to aim for 2 pounds of weight loss a month

I do exercises every night (though I did gave ti take a break for 2-3 weeks due to a surgery). I was just wondering if anyone had any exercise suggestions they do that help i could add onto the ones I already do

I'm also gonna try to start eating at a calorie deficit, 1200 or less each day, although tbh i dont think my eating habits are the problem its the sedentary lifestyle. Nonetheless if any of yall have advice on how stick to a calorie difict or track the calorie intake that'd also be helpful.

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Should I keep my membership?

Hey guys so gonna keep this quick. I’m 21 and I’ve been on a weight loss journey around a month and a half ago I started a job at a retail store unloading the truck and stocking. That job is 8 hour shifts Fr-Sun. Since then I’ve seen a lot of muscular growth in my arms, but I decided to leave my other job after summer ends which means I’ll be working Mondays too now and then I have school Tu-Th. So I the only day I could truly have time for the gym is Wed. Not to mention my membership is like $35 a month and I’m a college student. I’m thinking I’ll cancel it and then I’ll just try and be mindful of staying active cause if I’m carrying heavy boxes for 7+ hours 4 days a week (averaging 13k steps those days) and walking around campus and moving I just don’t see a point. I just wanted to kinda get a second opinion and see if others agree as I know it’s not the traditional sense of muscle gain.

I also want to mention my goal is for toned and losing body fat, I eat pretty healthy as a whole and I am actively losing weight still and still seeing muscle growth.

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Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Book and podcast recommendations

I was listening to a YouTuber for recommendations on books to read and podcasts to listen to on my weight loss journey for ways to help me learn about how to eat and what to do. Here are a few that she shared with me. Do you have any to add to the list?

Books:

The dbt solution for emotional eating

Transforming the living legacy of trauma

Don't believe everything you feel

Don't believe everything you think

The body liberation project

Just a thought

Mindless eating

Beyond the binge

Podcasts:

Half size me- on Youtube

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I like half size me because I can put it on at night, and it's like it helps me come up with a game plan on how to do 1 percent better in my weight loss journey, like brain storming the excuses I make, and how I can combat them. It's proving to be really helpful.

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Resistance training feels like a cheat code

I know people talk about this a lot, mostly in response to other threads but I want to share my personal experience and just how much a little bit of resistance training has changed my life in a very short amount of time.

I started this journey just about a month ago on June 23rd. (The day after my anniversary, the day before I stepped on a scale and my eyes nearly popped out of my skull, so I enjoyed anniversary dinner, and then said "time to fix this"). In that time I've lost depending on how much I trust the scale, between 15 and 30 pounds. Certainly I've lost some, and not a weak showing of "maybe losing a little" either, like lost a chunk. But I haven't been that aggressive with my calorie budget.

What I have done however was add exercise.

At first, it was just a 10 minute low intensity walk on the treadmill. That was all I could do before my back was like "are you sure?!" Then I quickly discovered using the massage chairs at the gym to recover and go for another 10 minute round.

But none of that was what caused the weight to really start to come off. I was losing a little, but nothing amazing. And then I started doing just a little bit of core strength exercises. Back Extension, Abdominal twist, and weighted crunches. And holy cow. My endurance on the treadmill exploded as my back is now much stronger, but also my weight has started to drop much faster. I'm seeing regular 2-4 pounds per week, and a total of at least 15 pounds in 4 weeks which is huge. I'm not on a massive cut (I am cutting, but not that massively), but by adding in the exercise the weight is just sliding off.

I think it's true that you can't activity yourself to weight loss, but I think you can use resistance training to lose weight. Of course a good high protein low calorie diet helps too, but honestly, my protein isn't that great, I'm still cutting calories, but it's mostly just been portion control. Yet I'm well on my way to losing the 150+ pounds I am hoping to lose.

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Doing everything “right”… yet I barely look different. What am I missing?

Hey everyone,

I’m honestly posting this because I’m trying to figure out what I’m missing.

I’m not new to weight loss. Before this year, I had already lost 22 kg (48 lbs) over about 1.5 years, so I understand calorie deficits, food tracking, and consistency.

The confusing part is this year.

Stats:
Male
34 years old
170 cm (5’7”)
Started this year around 81–82 kg (179–181 lbs)
Currently around 76.4 kg (168 lbs)

I’ve been extremely consistent for the past 7 months.

My routine:
- Lift 4x/week (progressive overload). My average heart rate during lifting is usually 122-140 bpm.
- Cardio before AND after every lifting session (elliptical or incline walking)
- Around 10,000+ steps per day, often much more
- Recently started playing padel on rest days or after workouts, so my activity level has actually increased even further. My average heart rate during padel is typically 155-165 bpm.
- Protein usually between 150–180 g/day
- Calories are consistently around 1,800–2,000 kcal every single day.

I weigh every single ingredient on a food scale.
Everything gets logged into my tracking app to the gram.

I meal prep and often plan my meals ahead of time, so I’m not making random food decisions throughout the day.

One thing I do differently than most people:

I don’t trust my Apple Watch calorie burn.

I know Apple Watches tend to overestimate calorie burn, so I intentionally take a conservative approach.

My watch averages roughly 800 active calories per day over the last six months, but I don’t even count all of my activity. I only factor in my lifting sessions and my daily steps. I don’t count the cardio I do before and after every lifting session, and I don’t count sports like padel either.

On days with lifting, cardio and padel, my watch may show 1,200-1,500 active calories burned, but I never eat those calories back. My calorie target stays the same regardless.

Over the past 6 months, my Apple Watch averages around 800 active calories/day, which I think is very realistic considering the active lifestyle I have.

So if anything, I feel like I’m being conservative rather than generous.

Recently I even did a 14-day weigh-in experiment.
My daily weights were:

76.5 → 76.4 → 75.8 → 75.8 → 75.7 → 75.7 → 75.8 → 75.9 → 76.0 → 75.8 → 75.3 → 75.9 → 76.2 → 76.4

So after two weeks of staying consistent… I ended exactly where I started.

The thing that bothers me even more is my progress pictures.

I compared photos from late January to today, and honestly, I barely see any visual difference.
Sure, I might have built a bit of muscle in my shoulders and arms, but my chest and stomach still look almost identical.

That’s what doesn’t make sense to me.

If I had been inconsistent, I’d completely understand.
But I’ve spent months doing exactly what everyone recommends:

- consistent calorie deficit
- lifting
- cardio
- high protein
- lots of daily movement
- tracking everything
- not eating calories back

I’m even getting comprehensive blood work done next week (thyroid, iron, hormones if necessary, etc.) just to rule out anything medical.

I’m not looking for sympathy or for someone to tell me my body “defies the laws of physics.”

I’m genuinely trying to understand what could explain progress that seems so small relative to the amount of work.

Has anyone here experienced something similar?

If so:

- What ended up being the issue?
- Was your maintenance lower than expected?
- Water retention?
- Muscle gain masking fat loss?
- Something medical?
- Or was there something else you only realized months later?

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have actually gone through something similar. I feel like my results simply don’t match the effort I’ve put in.

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