I'm Thrice. Nice to officially meet everyone. One of my goals in my journey was to post here after losing 20 lbs (9.07kg). As of today, I can officially say that I've hit that goal! At a loss of 20 lbs, I figured I would be pretty secure in keeping up with my journey and wouldn't fail. I'm ready to be a more active member. I still have ~35ish lbs to go, so you can expect me to be around for the future.
This became wildly more long winded than I had hoped, so here's your Tl;DR: I lost 20lbs! Holy friggin shit, I did it! Filler and things you may not care about to follow.
So Thrice, like, what's the deal? Why were you overweight anyway?
Great question, narrator, thanks for asking. A few things play into it. First, I was born into poverty and we generally ate very sparingly. The few times I went to my grandmothers several hours away, etc., I would eat all I could because sometimes it generally felt like I would never see food again. Interestingly enough, the one thing my bio-mom could always find money for was Pepsi. So that's what I drank. Pepsi in sippy cups at 2 or 3 years old, even. It ended up being a life long addition. I ended up being adopted to a family that was able to have regular meals, and I kept up with the general pattern of eating everything in sight. We were a very active family, as a pre-teen and teenager I spent most of my time swimming, snowboarding, hiking, climbing trees, etc. At that point, I may have been a little overweight but nothing wild. In my very early twenties, I was struggling to afford to live, work and go to college and with that, I had very little time to eat much of anything at all except slamming a few energy drinks and drinking Pepsi like it was water.
I'd say I generally maintained around 170ish (77.11kgs) for a few years until I met my ex, moved 12 hours away from home with him and began the most traumatic and toxic relationship I'd ever been duped into. I spent three years being cheated on, manipulated, you name it. I drank a lot of alcohol to avoid my feelings and ate my emotions. When I left that relationship, I was 230lbs (104.32kg) with a height of 5'10". Just by generally allowing myself to stop drinking, eating home cooked meals and actually going out with my friends, I ended up weighing about 185-190lbs (83.91 - 86.18kg).
Then, you guessed it, met a great guy two years ago and shared a pint of Ben and Jerry's with him every night we were together. Ordered pizza. Buffalo chicken fries. Cake. Brunches and dinners and dates and if it was available, we ate it. Good for him, he gained the weight he desperately needed to gain. Not so good on my end, went back up to 214 lbs (97.06kg).
Okay, so you've told us WHY you were overweight. Let's get to the tastier bit of this. What clicked for you to get started? What happened that made you take this time seriously?
My weight has always been a constant thought in my mind. Between media and being teased as kid and teenager, I was always very aware that I wasn't "pretty" or "thin". I've spent all of my life from probably 8 or 9 being aware of it. I've done the usual crash diets, the "I'm trying I swear", the "I'm only eating chicken and broccoli for, like, EVER".
This time, though, is different. Boyfriend's mom visited and she's wonderful. What actually happened was two fold with her. First, this nearly 70 year old beast of a woman danced circles around me on "nature walks". She jogged up a steep hill from the beach while I held my knees willing myself to go further, trying to release the fire out of my lungs. Second, she took a very cute picture of the dude and I. We are facing each other and my arms are around his neck, smiling up at him. It's on the beach. It's adorable. I wanted to share it on Facebook. But I didn't because the only not-cute part of the picture was how obviously overweight I was. It took me until July to actually step on the scale and get started, and I weighed in at 214lbs to start, technically obese.
I think the difference this time is that finally, everything else is good. Every other time I tried to lose weight, there was always something else more important such as getting a good job, surviving the abusive relationship, debts, etc. All things I couldn't possibly do alongside losing weight (/s). Honestly, though, everything is finally good and I'm ready to truly dedicate myself to the process. I fixed a lot of other parts of my life and I'm tired of not fixing this one.
Great, for the actual main portion (One serving = ~1,500 calories) of this post, how did you lose the 20lbs? What would you recommend? What will you continue to do? What would you change or add?
- I stopped drinking coffee due to extreme heartburn around April 2018. Which lead me to realize if I can stop drinking coffee in the mornings, then surely I can stop drinking Pepsi and actually think about my dental health (I'd recently paid a shitload of money toward dental repair). I can't tell you how many times I stopped drinking soda in the past that didn't work but this time, I actually wanted it. I haven't drank Pepsi since early June. I was drinking at least 4-5 cans of Pepsi a day and sometimes no water at all. That was at least 600-750 calories a day my body didn't need that I've cut out.
- I utilized several apps. I am still using LoseIt! for calorie counting and Libra for weight smoothing. I highly highly recommend Libra (or it's iPhone equivalent HappyScale) I've dabbled with some measurement apps, etc., but none of them made me want to use them. I also started an Instagram and I'm terrible at posting there. I weigh myself daily and count it as data, not a number to be concerned with.
- I calculated my TDEE with an online calculator and have been eating between 1,300-1,500 calories every day. I'm also using the TDEE spreadsheet that's been linked on this sub several times. I LOVE data. Making this logical vs. emotional has been extremely helpful for me.
- I educated myself (mostly through this sub) and realized that math is math and nothing is going to change that. I realized that results aren't immediate and to trust the process. I realized that all my past attempts were truly lead in ignorance.
- I take progress pictures and my measurements weekly. This might be a bit much for some, but I find having a stable routine keeps me in the game. I compare current progress pictures and measurements to the original of each.
- I found a pair of red jeans I used to love wearing and a cute crop top Vans t-shirt that was gifted to me as goal clothes. I take progress pictures in this outfit once a month.
- I made sure to drastically up my water intake. I pee so much my coworkers think I have a drug problem.
- I talked the ears off a co-worker who lost 60lbs a couple of years ago to get her ideas. I took them with a grain of salt. Some of the things don't work for me, some of them were very insightful.
- I typically am someone who does OMAD. I've always been this way and I think it ties into my early childhood being in poverty. Eating more than that typically feels wrong to me. Sometimes on the weekends I might have a small meal for late breakfast or lunch. Even before my attempts to lose weight, I typically was OMAD. This was a very easy thing for me to continue doing. It works for me, but it may not work for everyone.
- I try to stay as positive as possible and have kept a list on my phone of vanity goals or goals unrelated to health, such as no longer having chub rub, feeling good naked, not hiding my stomach with a blanket if I lay on my side next to the dude, etc. I also have health goals listed, such as hopefully not having kidney stones again because holy shit, that pain is excruciating and hopefully lowering the amount of heartburn I get (waking up in the middle of the night with an intense burning in my sinuses from acid reflux is not a great time).
- I've made an agreement to start going to the gym around 180lbs with the dude. Funnily enough, the dude and I are betting on hitting 180 around the same time (he's gaining) and want to do the gym thing together. The 180lb goal is really for finances, my monetary projection is that we will be able to afford gym memberships around that time (haha). In the mean time, we live in a major coastal city, so we walk trails and play disc golf, etc. So I'm not entirely a couch-potato.
- I haven't wildly changed what I eat. To be honest, we ate a lot of home cooked meals once we moved in together that were generally pretty well rounded. I've cut out chips (Taki's, you bastards) and drinking my calories. I portion control (weigh everything on a scale, including figuring calories for recipes) to ensure that I am eating the right amounts.
- I communicated with the dude my goals and hopes, and he has been more supportive than I could have ever imagined. I also spam my best friend with scientific facts about weight loss and my progress pictures so much that I'm sure she'll start to hate me soon.
- Relating the amount of weight I've lost to something tangible such as my cat.
- I try to avoid breakdowns, even narrowly (especially including pasta, didn't realize I was under calculating pasta calories and could have been eating so much more of it. Cut to a non-existent video of me holding a box of pasta to my chest on the kitchen floor and crying here).
Holy F - this girl is long winded. Uh, so, Thrice, anything else?
Uh.. Nope. How do I close this thing out?
I guess what I want to say is... You're worth it. It took me a long time to realize that I'm worth it on my own and I hope each of you who are starting your Day One's or even thinking about starting realize that you're worth it. I've struggled most of my life feeling bad about my weight and wanting an instant fix. I've dealt with depression and anxiety basically my entire life. I've always, always struggled to see that I was worth anything and it's only now at 28 years old that I feel the slightest inkling that I have value to myself. It's only now that I want to do things for myself, not to prove someone wrong or make someone proud. I always thought self-love was only emotions and only on this journey have I realized that it also includes taking care of yourself physically.
I'll leave you with this good ol' cliche: "If I can do it, you can do it. Trust me. I stopped so many times. Time is going to pass anyway, you might as well strive for your goals. Wait, where are you going? I thought you were listening? Hello?"
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