I am no weight loss expert, and from my history with weight gain, absolutely no one should follow my advice. The only advice that I am an expert on is how to gain weight. Having said that, I have been following LoseIt off and on this year and deciding to start loosing weight since the middle of January. Now I am down 30 lbs. I started my weight loss journey weighing in at 295 lbs. Today, I am 265 lbs. I decided to write down the things that have helped me to lose this first 30 pounds.
- Desire—I have known that I needed to lose weight for a long time, but it took a spark to make me decide to take it seriously. And once that spark occurred I immediately took advantage of it. I don’t think that desire is the most import factor, but for me I needed to decide to finally lose weight. Don’t get hung up on desire. There are plenty of days that I am not motivated, but if I have planned ahead of time, I can stick to my system and stay on track with limited motivation.
- LoseIt—I have found this sub-reddit to be the best space I have seen on the Internet. This group of people is such a supportive group. I thank you for the solidarity that I have felt since finding you.
- CICO—Counting calories has given me a simple strategy to follow. As long as I eat less calories than I burn, I will lose weight. Trust the system. There are many days or weeks that I don’t lose weight (it feels like sometimes my body just doesn’t want to let go), but I am starting to gain confidence that if I keep following the CICO formula eventually that weight will come off. I have been using the LoseIt app on my phone to track my calories. It has done the trick for me. I still struggle to estimate the number of calories that I am eating when the calculation is not simple. This uncertainty is one of the biggest obstacles I face. It is so difficult to stay on track when you feel like you are guessing. But I am telling myself that making educated guesses is better than nothing and as long as I am losing weight I am doing enough right. Don’t let perfection stop you!
- Planning Ahead—Once I decided to lose weight, I immediately started to plan my meals. I don’t plan a weekly set of meals, but I do go to the grocery store to make sure that I have two to three things that I can eat for every breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks over the next few days. My variety has been very limited for breakfast and lunch, but I have expanded my variety at dinner time. For breakfast, I primarily eat eggs and whole wheat toast or peanut butter and whole wheat bread. For lunch, I primarily eat a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, banana peppers and mustard. I love going to lunch with my colleagues, but I have tried to limit these to twice a week, and I pick better options than I used to when I eat out. Grilled chicken chicken and more chicken.
- Grocery Store—I have to fill my house and office with healthy, low calorie foods that satiate me. Every week I go to the grocery store for dinner items, soup ingredients and snacks. I also buy specific items to take to work—bread, peanut butter, soup, yogurt, oranges, apples, bananas, riced cauliflower, fresh and frozen vegetables, etc. Having food around me is imperative for me keeping on track. When I haven’t prepared for a meal or a snack, I am much more likely to eat something or more than I should have. I am lucky that my office has a cafeteria. If you don’t have that convenience buy food at the grocery store in bulk to eat at the office. A jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread go a long way!
- Soup—I have found soups with lots of vegetables to be an amazing snack or meal when I need something fast. Every Sunday since I started my diet, I have made a large pot of soup. Soup fills my stomach up so much for the limited number of calories that it has. Volume eating has been a key change for me. I am constantly looking for foods that have lower calories so that I can eat more. Here are three awesome soup recipes that I have been making:
o http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/250625/veggistrone/
o https://www.skinnytaste.com/chunky-beef-cabbage-and-tomato-soup-instant-pot/
o https://www.skinnytaste.com/leftover-ham-bone-soup-with-potatoes-and-cabbage-instant-pot-stove/
- Chicken—I always ate chicken, but I ate more red meat. Now I primarily eat chicken or turkey for my meat. It has so many less calories than red meat. My safety meal is grilled chicken breasts marinated in Italian salad dressing. I can cook a bunch that last me for several days. I eat these as part of a meal or as a snack. I also like salmon.
- No sugar drinks—I have stopped drinking drinks containing sugar. I no longer put sugar in my coffee. I don’t drink Coke and sweetened iced tea. However, I do put a little bit of orange juice in my water. I know that the sugar in the orange juice is not ideal for weight loss (very high sugar content), but I find that I am much more likely to drink my water goal if I use this method.
- Whole grains—I have switched to eating whole grains (except for white rice and limited amounts of pasta; I hate whole wheat pasta and brown rice). Whole grains don’t have less calories, but I do feel like they fill me up more. And they are supposed to be healthier for me.
- Nutritionist—Once I decided to start losing weight, I immediately started going to a nutritionist to help me stay accountable. I visit my nutritionist about every three weeks. The biggest benefit is getting officially weighed in on a scheduled basis. This helps me to keep myself accountable. My nutritionist also provides me with food ideas to expand my eating options. This variety is important. My health insurance seems to be paying for this nutritionist, except for a $20 copay.
- Walking—I have been walking 2-3 miles a day every night since I started my diet. I have even done this when the temperature outside was in the teens (wear parka, hat, gloves scarf and get out there!). Now and then there are days that I can’t fit it in or I am just too tired, but those have been very rare. I don’t count the calories burned as part of my daily calories out, so any calories that I burn from walking are just weight loss accelerators. Instead of losing two pounds a week, I have a chance to lose three pounds. In addition to the extra calories burned, I feel that the walking has helped me to lose more inches than the weight loss alone. My body feels better, and the more I move the more I want to move. I feel like I have a lot more energy. And I am starting to crave my nightly walks. When I do my walk, I like to listen to podcasts and audible books. I also track my time, pace, distance and calories using the MapMyWalk app. I would like to make another point about exercise. Don’t do more than you can handle. I tend to be a perfectionist which causes me to get off track when I can’t be perfect. In October, I decided to start the Couch 2 5 K running program, and after three weeks I hurt myself. I developed foot pain which led to back and hip pain. This put me out of commission for a while. Don’t make this mistake. Losing weight is much more about eating right than exercise. Start losing weight first, then work in exercise. As I lose weight, my body can do more and more.
- Set Mini Goals—Getting to your goal weight can seem like a never-ending journey. This mountain can be very de-motivating. I have found setting short-term goals to help me stay motivated. The first goal I set was to lose 10 pounds. Then I set a goal to lose 25. Then I set a goal to reach 269 pounds. This was my low water mark many many years ago. Now that I have hit 265, my new goal is 259. Then I want to hit 250, my weight when I started my job 13 years ago. I don’t really know my goal weight yet. I think that it is 205, my weight in college. But, I would be extremely happy to weigh 235, my weight when I got married. Think about these mini goals and celebrate them. Too often we just think that we still are fat and have so much more to lose. But these mini goals create little celebration points to reflect on the hard work we have done to get where we are.
- Weight Loss Isn’t Linear—I weigh myself every day to keep myself motivated, but when I gain weight or get stuck at a certain weight I get down. I need to keep realizing that weight loss isn’t linear. I know this in my brain, but it is tough to stay motivated. Just keep following the process!
While I have written down what has worked for me so far, I don’t want you to think that I don’t have my insecurities or doubts. I am constantly scared that I am going to lose my desire or get knocked off track. Desire and motivation are such scary things. I gained weight in the first place because I wasn’t motivated to take care of myself. I prioritized other aspects of my life continually over healthy eating and exercising. I am so scared that I will lose my motivation for weight loss.
I am also very scared of injury. While I whole-heartily believe that weight loss is 80% what you eat, my walking has really helped me on this journey. I am scared that I will hurt myself, and I will not be able to continue to walk.
I am also constantly scared of plateaus. Every time I sit at the same weight for a few days to a week or gain back weight that I have lost, I get scared that my body is going to start making it much more difficult for me to lose weight. I believe that if I just stick to doing what I am doing that I will eventually break through the plateau (and this has been the case so far), however I have to fight really hard through the plateaus.
Again, I write these tips because they have worked for me so far. This community has been so helpful to me, and I hope that this post can help someone. I am not a weight loss expert. I read this subreddit everyday to learn from each of you as you learn things to help us on this journey. I thought you might like to know what I have been doing. Thank you.
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