I changed my LoseIt flair from 35 to 40 pounds lost today! When I started my journey, I read victory posts here every day to help me believe I could do it. My story is still a victory-in-progress (aren't we all), but I believe in celebrating big and small milestones — and maybe my story will help someone else feel like they can do it, too.
Full Body Progress: May vs. September 2019
Back Progress: May vs. October 2019
40 lbs of Face Gains: 2017 vs. 2019
Origin story
I grew up overweight, but after a traumatic incident gained 100 lbs during in college. I started trying to lose weight in 2017, and through CICO and exercise lost about 30 lbs, but gained a lot of it back when I started a new job in a new field in January. By May, I was 10 pounds shy of my highest weight and went through a severe injury; the doctor who saw me said that I absolutely had to lose weight because I was "way too young to have issues like this." While her words would have stung a few years ago, that day I really appreciated her honesty, because it was what I needed to hear. I recommitted to weight loss, and since then have lost 30 lbs, for a total of 40 since my highest weight.
What made the difference
I know the LoseIt community always asks people to share what works for them, so here's some of the things I think have made the biggest difference so far!
Know Your Triggers
I tend to overeat when I'm either really sad or really tired. And you know what makes me both really sad and really tired? Not sleeping enough! Even one night of bad (or not enough) sleep can start a chain reaction of bad decisions. By prioritizing sleeping enough, I've made it so much easier for me to make consistent progress.
Maybe sleep isn't your trigger. Find out what is and learn to work with, or around, it. Your body and patterns aren't the enemy. Knowing your body and patterns can be an ally.
Track Honestly and Consistently
In the past, I've spent months "trying to lose weight" and seeing next no results. That's because I'd track honestly for four days or a week, and then have a bad day or two and overeat without tracking. Over time I've learned to track what I eat honestly, and it's made a huge difference in three major ways:
- The most obvious: the more you track, the more it becomes habit, and the more likely you are to make smart choices about what to eat because of tracking.
- When I get frustrated about not making progress after a week of tracking, I can clearly see why. It's not because CICO doesn't work, it's because I ate more than I planned on 3 days last week. Knowing what's really up means I'm more likely to trust the process and stick to it.
- By tracking even when I overeat, I create a less emotional relationship with food. When I don't track a "cheat meal," it reinforces the shame around food and overeating. By tracking it anyway, I'm reinforcing that this isn't something to be ashamed of, and making my relationship with food more emotionally neutral. This makes it easier to resist binging for comfort next time I have a bad day, and it's also easier to come back to eating well than if I feel guilty about overeating.
Find the fun and celebrate every victory
Losing weight can be super hard. Between meal planning, cooking, going to the gym, and emotional energy, it sometimes feels like a part-time job. To keep my motivation and commitment up, I need to feel like these changes are worth it and I'm making progress. To do that, I try to find the things that are fun for me (dancing, going on a walk or jog with my partner, watching fitness videos). More importantly, I celebrate every victory or milestone. I love making before and afters just for me, so I can see that this is working. This Reddit post is a celebration of my 40 lb mark!
Bonus: Health Tracking Spreadsheet
Also, something that's fun and helps me celebrate my progress is my spreadsheet for tracking my health data. I'm a spreadsheet nerd, so I fill in my weight and calories consumed in one sheet, and let it update my graphs, stats, TDEE, and tell me when I'll reach my goals at this rate. Fellow data nerds can see examples here! (This one only goes back three weeks as I'm currently on version 3 of the spreadsheet, haha.)
That's all for me. Thank you so much to this whole community for all your support and resources. Keep up the great work and I believe in you!
Edit: formatting
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