SV: No longer "overweight!" (25M 240->188)

25M 6'1" 240ish->188.

Long time lurker here in loseit, and I can't really share with anyone else, so I wanted to post that I've finally hit my GW of "normal" BMI after trying to lose weight for over 4 years!!

My first MFP entry was Nov. 2015 at 229lb and I know I actually weighed close to 240 before that. I'd been overweight since probably 15 years old, then I gained freshman 15 and more in college, entered law school unhappy with my appearance and the weight continued to fluctuate.

I finally started afresh, and it worked: MFP Log. I usually aimed for 1300cal/day.

Sorry I don't have progress pics to share but went from 38 in jeans to 33, XL t-shirts to M (usually). I still definitely have progress to make, probably 20-30lb to lose of fat but muscle to gain as replacement. Ideally hoping to end up around 175 after starting weight lifting?

In case anyone is curious or in a similar situation, here's a few uninspired non-unique tips that I picked up here and in /r/1200IsPlenty. Nothing new here, but the tried and true work!

• Log your food. Always. All my weight loss was during periods where I forced logging and i gained it back when I told myself I had enough self control. I didn't. Don't get upset with yourself when you gain weight back. It will happen; look at my chart above, I undid a lot of progress at times. But steady work will succeed!
• Eating less > exercising more. Both are great, and a cardio routine helped my feel energized and active, but eating less is what actually cut most of the weight.
• You don't need a specific diet; aim for X calories and stick to it. /r/1200IsPlenty and /r/1500isplenty are great for this! I did find it easier to stop buying bread and pasta, but I definitely did not go keto... Diets may work better for others too; this is just what worked for me.
• Budget alcohol like meals. I went to law school and most socializing is at bars and house parties. And I like drinking. But if you treat drinking like a meal, budget calories, and ideally exercise that day to give yourself an extra 250-300cal, you can easily drink and stay in or near your calorie budget. Just make sure your other food that day is nutritional.
• Everyone may not like it, but I personally highly recommend /r/Soylent. I use Soylent (400cal) for one meal a day, almost every day (usually lunch at work). It's extremely nutritional, the ready to drink bottles taste great, and sell for ~$2 each on Amazon sales. I don't have it more than once per day because I enjoy food too much, but I think it's a great convenience food replacement. Also the powder is great for travel since it's compact and can be carried on.
• Breakfast routines: I think this differs for everyone, but I love breakfast, and if you stick to ~3 eggs and bacon/sausage or avocado* you can easily eat well for ~350cal. Cereal is deceptively high in calories... Making this a routine helped me avoid snacking during the work day.
• Log your weight consistently (every day or every other?) and at the same time. For me, it's immediately after waking up and using the restroom (your lightest time of day too). And don't sorry about daily pounds gained and loss; it's normal fluctuations and after a month or two of tracking the overall trends are easy to see.

Thanks to you all for helping me get here!!! Now to the next goal...

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