Tuesday, June 2, 2020

[NSV] My 'oversized' shorts that became too small due to weight gain are now too big again! (+ long backstory)

F/20/5'7" currently sitting at around 135lbs Methods: IF and CICO, no exercise

Backstory/Weight gain: I used to weigh ~125 pounds while I was in school, but that changed after I graduated high school. Over the course of two years I gained almost 15 pounds the first year and another 20 pounds the year afterwards. That meant my BMI was bordering on overweight. I tried working out multiple times but always gave up after a few weeks since I couldn't see any results. Now I know that that was because I was lacking muscle mass in general so I had to gain that first, but seeing the scale go up while working out convinced me that it wouldn't work for me.

I was at my highest weight last November (160 pounds) with 33% body fat (9 pounds of that were muscle mass I gained in 2019 but I didn't care). It came as a shock to me since I hadn't been tracking my weight, and I knew I had to make sure I wouldn't gain any more at least. For that, my decision was to eat less which did not work out well. No visible results for me, so I went back to my normal eating habits shortly after new year's.

Starting weight loss: My wake-up call was this February, when two of my classmates were talking about IF and OMAD. I still remember one of them boasting that he lost 7lbs in under a week, which stopped my hand that was just about to reach for my lunch.

That day, I had already had a light breakfast in the morning, but I didn't eat my lunch until 5pm, and had almost no dinner since I was still feeling full. I continued like that for a week, secretly feeling glad that my days were short so that my friends weren't around when my stomach started shouting for food. My portions became smaller since I was essentially having two meals in the evening.

After that week, I had my first victory: my belt, which I always wore in the second hole (and open while driving because it was too tight) closed at the third hole, and I felt better than I had in months. My weight was 154lbs (6 pounds down since November).

Starting IF: About three weeks later, I found r/intermittentfasting where I learned that my morning tea was disturbing my fast. That tea was a lifesaver during my lessons, because it helped fill my stomach, but luckily we had started homeschool a week ago due to covid. Hearing my stomach growl while lying in bed and lazily listening to my teacher wasn't embarrassing at all since no one heard me, and I kept fasting. I also downloaded Zero to track how long I was fasting, starting with 16/8.

By this point our scale was broken, but I could see results since I had to tighten my bra straps every few days.

Starting CICO: When we finally got a new scale in April, I was down to 143lbs (11 pounds down since February). At this point, I knew my methods were working, but I wanted to keep at it. I downloaded MyFitnessPal and began tracking my calories. First loosely, now very accurately. I eat around 1200 calories a day(~500cal deficit) and do some exercise to make sure I don't lose muscle mass.

There have been some days where I ate too much, and days where I didn't eat enough to reach 1200 calories, but I don't beat myself up and stay on track the next day.

Now/the shorts: I'm proud to say that I've kept up fasting officially for 74 days and am officially at 135 pounds as of today. Down 25 pounds in total, I decided to clean out my closet and make space for my summer clothes, which is why I found an old pair of shorts. I bought these about 4 years ago without trying them on and they were much too big, 3 inches at the waist. Wore them last summer while feeling awful, but they were the only pair of old shorts that still (somewhat) fit. Today, I tried them on just for fun, and found that there is room around my waist again! It's barely an inch, but it feels so good to see these changes.

I've put some other old shorts to the front of my closet as well that I'll hopefully be able to wear in a month or two again, once I've lost the last bit of fat that keeps bothering me.

Wish me luck!

submitted by /u/LinaHime
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/3csOxSE

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