At my highest ever weight, two years ago, I was 336lbs. Now I'm 235lbs, and I've lost over 40lbs in the last four months - ever since I joined r/loseit and got really serious about taking care of myself. My GW is 135lbs (I'm 5'5). I didn't really notice (LOL HOW) the other 50ish-lbs disappearing (they weren't intentional, it was a consequence of getting a job on my feet and moving somewhere where I HAD to walk/didn't have a supermarket next door), so I don't think about them a lot, but the last few months have been super life changing for me and I figured I'd share some things to give back to this great sub!
- Weigh your food, log your calories. When I decided enough was enough last October my first mistake was eyeballing my food. Bowlful of rice? That's like 50g, right? Tablespoon of peanut butter? That's like 60cals max. No it's not. It's super not. I got a 12 quid digital scale and I log everything - everything - into MFP, and I check/scan the packaging rather than just trusting the user generated entries on the app. This sounds a bit militant I guess but it became a habit really quickly, and you learn to make good swaps: 35g of sugary cereal isn't filling/is calorie dense, where was 50g of porridge keeps you full until lunchtime for half the cals.
- Don't make food a punishment, be mindful when it's a reward. I failed at dieting so many times before in my life because I would punish myself for being fat by eating very little, then binge because I was hungry and sad. Another mistake I'd make was 'rewarding' myself for going to the gym or similar by getting a foot-long Subway or a whole bag of sweets. Changing my attitude towards food as the cause of all my pain/the source of all my pleasure and deciding that what I deserved was to be happy and healthy and in control of my diet is the reason I'm so successful this time around and failed so many others.
- You don't need to go to the gym (but you'll feel better if you do). As the famous saying goes, 'You can't outrun a bad diet'. If you're under your TDEE you'll lose weight. That's a fact. For me, though, being active has had more of a tangible impact than just dieting. A physical therapist friend of mine said to think of weight loss like, 'diet alone is 20%, exercise alone is 20%, but together they make 80%'. It took me 30 minutes to walk less than a mile to work when I started at the gym. I couldn't last 5 minutes on the elliptical. I couldn't lift a 1kg weight. Now I do the walk in 15, last 25 minutes (at a much higher resistance/incline), and lift 6kg. Since October! If I only dieted I wouldn't have these victories to point to and say 'I am getting stronger, faster, better.' Which leads me on to...
- Not all your victories are numerical. I take a picture and measurements every four weeks. The pictures are on MFP, the measurements are in a notebook. Sometimes the picture shows a bigger difference than the measurements/scale (and vice versa), so I'm glad I have both. But you know what? I can cross my legs now. Shaving is not a massive chore. I'm satisfied with smaller (normal??) portions. I eat slower. I have more energy, I don't take unofficial breaks at work because my feet and legs hurt so badly, my plantar fasciitis has gone. My posture is much better, so I walk with my head up and my shoulders back. I have walked staring at the ground my whole life, and now I'm looking up - and forward - in so many unexpected ways.
- People do treat you differently. Cars stop to let me by when I'm walking through town. Strangers smile at me. Customers are much more polite now. My female friends include me in photos. Probably other things I've forgotten. And sure, some of this is because I'm not over (or more recently, close to) 300lbs anymore, but the biggest reason is because I am a happier person. My very worst days now are better than my best days before I started taking care of myself. My whole attitude has changed. Strangers smile at me because I'm smiling at them. Customers are happier with me because I'm more patient, happier to do or fetch things for them, quick to smile when I see them. I get invited into photos because I'm not hiding in my body anymore, and if I had to guess why cars are happier to stop for me it's because I'm standing waiting with my head up instead of slumped over looking like I already hate the day at 9am.
I've still got a long way to go, and there's been plenty of ups and downs (emotionally and on the scale - I'm looking at you, Christmas), but I'm getting there, inch by inch, day by day. I'm sure plenty of this stuff is common knowledge on this sub, but it never hurts to hear it again. Thanks for everything, r/loseit. Here's to next 100lbs :)
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