I realized today that I wore the same outfit to the gym as one I had taken pictures in on August 28th. I know the weight I've lost, of course, and I've had a fairly good idea of my face gains; but I usually don't take full body pictures, so I didn't really have a clear picture of changes to my body as a whole. I had already dropped around 10lb when I took the first set of pictures in August, but now I'm down 23lb... the difference from August to now is so incredible! This is pretty close to what I thought I might look like when I got close to my goal weight!
29 F | 5'9" | SW 185 | CW 162 | GW 145
Current activities: CICO (~1550 on workout days, ~1450 on weekends). 5x per week strength training/weight lifting, 1 hour per day (including ~6 minutes of abs regardless of other muscle group). 3x per week cardio, 30 minutes per day.
I actually started my weight loss all the way back in May. I was feeling tired all of the time, I had zero energy, and things that used to be fairly easy to do were starting to get harder and harder. My family has a history of weight issues and weight-related diseases, and I didn't want to live that way. My scale topped off at 185lb, the heaviest I'd ever been, and I finally decided to do something about it. So I signed up for personal training sessions at the gym right next door to my office, with someone I knew from high school (also the owner). I figured knowing him, and knowing that he knew exactly where I worked and how to find me if I skipped our lunch sessions, would keep me honest.
And it did! I started going to the gym 3x per week over lunch, then increased to 4x per week. I started with goals that were related to strength and endurance. I had previously dieted and exercised with just the goal of weight loss, and I knew that never worked for me in the past. I inevitably became obsessed with whatever the scale said, in a totally unhealthy way. I also would yo-yo back and forth because I would diet in an unsustainable way, and drop the diet when the weight was down. So instead, I focused on getting stronger to do the things that I liked to do without issue again - like kayaking! Pretty soon, I was loving the gym. I didn't have to force myself to go; it was my stress relief and my safe space, where I had friends. And I felt better, not just physically but mentally. But although I was stronger; I knew more about my body, weightlifting, and fitness; and my body shape was changing a bit, I had really only lost about 5lb by the beginning of August.
At the beginning of August, I decided to start actually watching what I eat by counting calories. I used a TDEE calculator to figure out what I was burning on an average day, and cut down by about 600 (a bit more on gym days, as you saw above). I set a general goal of what I wanted for my macros (35% carbs, 35% fat, 30% protein), but I focused more on trying to eat fresher foods and staying within that calorie goal each day. I don't necessarily restrict the type of foods that I eat - I had sushi yesterday, for example, and Indian food the day prior - but I try to make better choices when picking between foods, and I track the calories/nutrients religiously. I did make a conscious effort to start cooking more, and that dove-tailed with another goal I set for myself, to start buying more food locally during our farmer's market season. So naturally, I was eating more fresh produce than before!
That, of course, is when the weight really started coming off. The saying "Weight loss starts in the kitchen" truly is no lie. I lost 10lb very rapidly during August and early September, then another 5lb by mid-October. I had a bit of a plateau at the beginning of this month, where it seemed like things were really starting to stall. But then my bf decided to join the gym as well, and I decided to bump up the limited cardio I was doing, and that got me moving again. Now, I'm down 23lb!
What worked for me:
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Adjusting my focus from weight loss to physical health. Even though I am now calorie counting, and I'm obviously tracking my weight loss, my primary goals are still strength and endurance. I want to be able to do more, and to do those things more easily. That means strengthening my body and feeding it properly.
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Similar to the above, starting with strength as the first goal. I know people have differing opinions on whether you should try to gain muscle/strength before reaching your weight loss goals. However, for me, choosing strength first helped me keep a healthy perspective about weight loss. That kept me from doing things like sabotaging myself if I missed a calorie goal, rewarding myself with food if I reached a weight loss goal, or just falling off the wagon altogether. Even when the scale hasn't been moving, I've noticed my progress inside the gym itself.
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Focus on proper portions and overall CICO, rather than just cutting things out entirely. And cook more! If I had to cut out Reese's pumpkins during the Halloween season, certain types of take-out, pizza with my friends, etc... I never would have stuck to this diet for more than a month and I'd be right back at my original weight. However, I have adjusted the way I eat those things. I don't get take-out every day; I don't have chips every night; I don't have dessert with every meal; I cook more frequently. And when I do go out to eat - which I still do - I focus on eating an appropriate portion size, tracking my calories honestly, and eating within my calorie goals. If I have a craving that can't be satiated with something healthier, and I can fit the thing I want into my calorie goals, I have the thing I want.
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Don't punish yourself for small failures, and don't use small failures as an excuse for continued failure. If I go out with family or friends for dinner and go a little over my calorie goals, I don't beat myself up about it. I also don't use that as an excuse to keep eating poorly for the rest of the week, because that sets a pattern and a precedence. Although I obviously track my calories each day, I treat each day as its own day. I also try to review my success with calorie counting through a weekly focus - how close was I, on average, to where I should have been that week? Because I try to be as honest and consistent as possible from day to day, although one day may be a bit over, the weekly average is virtually always just where it should be.
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Focus on the way getting healthier makes you feel. When I first started out, I put myself in a position where I knew I'd feel forced to be accountable because of my friendship with the trainer and the proximity of the gym I chose. I didn't need those excuses for long, though, because I quickly started noticing how much better getting healthier made me feel. Yeah, the first week or so sucked. But after the first week or two, I felt more energized and less stressed after being at the gym. I started to recognize that if I did choose to skip a day, that had a mental and physical backlash - and I didn't like the way that backlash made me feel. I started missing the gym on the weekends, and finding other ways to be active on those weekend days so that I didn't feel so tired. Basically, I leaned hard into the energy that the gym provided.
Anyway, none of these things are probably really rocket science to anyone else; but when I dieted or exercised in the past, I didn't think about these things in these ways. It's really about a lifestyle change; so much of the process of getting physically healthier is a mental process. Changing my perspective has been truly key for me.
Anyway, on to the pictures! Album.
Images on the left are all from August 28th of this year. Images on the right are today.
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