What I learned from trying to lose weight for 10 months

I started my weight loss journey about 10 months ago and as I see a lot of starting posts here I wanted to share some of my learnings I had so far (I’m 5’8, SW250 CW177) progress pic 1 progress pic 2

• CICO is the most important thing. However you do it (IF, OMAD, keto etc). All of these are right if at the end of your day you took control over your daily total calories. Find what works best for your lifestyle and what least enables your binge eating (some might feel good with OMAD bc they don’t have to make decisions during work and some might get so hungry they eat way too much at once)

• to succeed in CICO it is important that you track ALL food. I used the NOOM app but many use loseit on here. I also bought a scale that links to my phone and weight myself every morning and bought a food scale. Even if you binge one day and your ashamed, track everything!

• while restricting your calories (I aimed for 1,200 first three months and then 1,500 when I added more exercise and now eat around 2,000) try to balance your meals. Especially on 1,200 it takes planning to get enough protein, vitamins, fibre and healthy fats.

• prepare yourself for success: bring healthy snacks into the office if you like snacking, only have healthy food at home, cook in small portion sizes etc. If a salad is more expensive than a pizza if you eat out with friends don’t let it bother you.

• even if you have a bad day (I promise you it will happen, it’s normal): forgive yourself and GET BACK ON. I fucked up basically every week in summer bc I was going out that much but at least I had 5/6 good days that overall made me still lose. Don’t forget that you still deserve to live a happy life, it doesn’t depend on how many calories you ate today.

• try to stay away from processed food even if it’s low calories as much as you can. 1200isplenty offers loads of inspiration on meals. I became a big fan of roasted veggies + chicken. No chewing gum or drinking soda.

• you might think about food all the time now but that too will change with time and once it does it will feel great

• allow yourself to spend more money on healthy options. Appreciate not everyone can do this but as a treat I allowed myself to spend whatever on healthy options. Overall I still saved tons of money bc 1. I eat way less than before 2. I hardly ever order food home anymore and only eat salads at work for lunch. But probably once a week I go to a (overpriced) healthy lunch place and pay about £10 for something really healthy and tasty.

• alcohol has so much bad calories, ideally don’t drink. Personally I still drank a lot but changed beer to vodka, lime & soda and the occasional glass of red wine. Since I started to enjoy the gym I naturally hardly drink anymore (compared to before I still drink once every two or three weeks)

• once you feel comfortable eating on a calorie deficit (for me it took 4 months) add exercise. Try not to make it a reason to suddenly eat much more but don’t let yourself starve. I added yoga and body pump work out classes. Try to make it not only cardio but also weight lifting, trust me on that!!

• one big problem for me was that most my socialising equaled loads of food (I basically only met my friends for drinks & dinner or massive brunches). Try to meet friends through non food related meetings too (I got a few friends to go to yoga with me or instead of dinner after work met for coffee before work or doing long walks together).

• sleep is super important. I needed about 9 hours of sleep on a 1,200 diet. And now if I sleep less than 8 I tend to have a stronger urge to snack during the day. Get enough sleep!

• take pic of you at the start, it will feel great to compare them a few months later and you will see the change even if you don’t see it day by day

Good luck to everyone & feel free to add more tips for me as well xx

submitted by /u/imnotagamergirl
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/32VX4KP