I've been a lurker on this subreddit. I absolutely love reading everyone's posts about their weightloss journeys. You all are so inspirational and your motivation has given me a lot of motivation. This is my first post and I guess I really wanted to make my first post now because of this dramatic change in my life.
I'm 24 and 5'11.5. I was 235 lbs at the end of May. I've been unhealthy my whole life. I come from a culture that supports unhealthy eating habits. I used to be a scrawny, skinny kid when I was a child. My older, much heavier cousin was always given more attention because he was bigger. For some odd reason, being overweight was associated with good health. If you were skinny all you heard was "you don't eat enough rice you're so weak."
When I came to America at a young age, the doctors told my parents I was underweight. So they did what they thought was best. They overfed me. They took me to Burger King everyday. I became so overweight that I was finally considered healthy in my culture. Obviously, the doctors now said I was overweight. A few years down the road, I was obese. I was never a healthy BMI in my life. From the ages of 7-23, I was the slow, overweight, sciencey friend you never invited to parties or hung out with unless you needed homework help. I was depressed from ages 18-21 developed a lot of self esteem issues, and just never was able to lose the weight.
At 22, I met my amazing, wonderful girlfriend who loved me despite everything and helped push me to lose weight. It was really a combination of her positive support and the subtle suggestion that her mother would end up comparing me to fitter guys she knew. She only suggested that I try some exercise regimen a few months ago. We worked together to find what was a healthy diet and exercise regimen.
Love from her and for her was all it really took to push me, and from the end of May to now, I worked tirelessly on my diet and exercise. Most of it was literally changing my diet from the unhealthy culture food my family would make to completely different food I'd ask my mom to make. I ate around 1500-1800 calories a day with daily intermittent fasting. For two months I worked out 4-6x a week doing both steady state cardio and weights. I built a good amount of muscle. By August I was 190 lbs. Then I took on a lot more work and my workouts went out the window. But I still burned plenty of calories from my commutes to work and still was on caloric restriction.
Now, after 3.5 months, I'm 175 lbs. For the first time in my life, I have a normal, healthy BMI. I am very proud of myself. But the odd thing is, it didn't really wow me until today when I went shopping for a new clothes.
I was about to check out a large sized shirt and the tailor stopped me and said "you need a slim medium." I've never heard those words before. It shocked me and I felt so happy. Who knew such simple words could change the way I saw myself??? When I was 235 lbs, I used to wear XL. Now I was wearing medium? And on top of that SLIM fit? I was mind blown.
Shirts have never fit me so well. I also ended up buying small for polos, when I'd never fit in a polo comfortably before. I never ever expected to buy any piece of clothes with a little "s" on it. I literally laughed at how dramatic a change that was. Then I was looking for pants and the tailor moved me from the relaxed bigger fits to the slim as well. I went to the dressing room and tried it all on.
For the first time in my life, I looked in the mirror and genuinely smiled at myself. I was so happy that I praised God for such a big difference. For the first time in my life, I felt positive about the way I looked. My self esteem boosted so much.
I still want to lose 15 more lbs before I start bulking up with muscle. But for now, I am going to savor this feeling of pride and happiness regarding my image for the first time. I'm finally healthy and my life starts again now.
Thank you to anyone who read up to this point. It means a lot to me that I got to share this with all of you. This community is amazing and I appreciate everyone and their stories. You all inspire me and are part of the reason I have made it to this point. I can't wait to come back and update all of you when the time comes.
Also, I know some people may say that a 60 lb weight loss in 3.5 months sound dangerous and unhealthy. I was always surprised at how fast I lost weight. However, I've never had any negative side effects. My medical exams also show no deficiencies in nutrients (they're better than before, actually). I think the weight loss was so drastic because my body has always been capable of losing weight as well as putting on muscle. I just was always so unhealthy with my eating habits that I never took advantage of that. Everyone's body is different and it's important to listen to your body and not practice unhealthy eating habits that could endanger your life.
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