I'm officially 8 weeks into my weight loss "journey" (kinda hate that term for it, but it is what it is).
Me–
30/F, 5'2"/157cm, SW: 187lbs/84.8kg, CW: 169.9lbs/77kg, GW: 125lbs/56.7kg
Gained the weight slowly but steadily over 10 years or so (Weight gaining math that shows how slow and easy it was to gain 54lbs/24.5kg), didn't realize I was fat until I randomly started to decide to lose weight (6 weeks in and realizing how fat I am for the first time) as kind of a quarantine project.
Exercise –
I've always been pretty active, so I just kept doing that and pushed myself a little harder. Was walking most days before just as a COVID activity. Added 35 minutes of lap swimming 4x a week, a weekly hike with a friend, and continued some of the evening walks with my partner. Added some more weekend hikes, but no pressure.
Do you need to exercise to lose weight? –
This question gets asked on here all the time and you definitely don't. But I do find that it helps me mentally, helps me through quarantine/COVID feelings, helps me feel good and strong and happy. Plus, I'm generally burning, who knows maybe 200-700 calories in a day depending on activities. I don't modify my eating for my light exercise so it's just extra calories burned, which only helps. Seriously. It helps a lot. So, if you can and you're game, I recommend!
Diet–
When I started the diet, I had a few things I was just NOT willing to give up, namely half and half in my coffee, and sourdough toast covered in butter for breakfast (I got into that sourdough bread making thing and it's delicious). Also, ice cream in the evenings.
Obviously you can't have everything, but I kinda needed to ease into it, so here's what I did:
I made an excel doc that mapped out calories (and macros) of my foods and meals and make a plan. I started by eating 1300 calories a day. Now I am at 1250 a day (I am short, remember). I love vegetables and whole foods, so I filled the rest of my diet with those things: Lean ground turkey, lots of veggies and fresh fruit. Salad with fixin's for lunch, smoothie with spinach and a banana for breakfast, etc. I generally eat like this anyways, so that part I'll confess wasn't hard. It was the ice cream and butter and toast and half and half that we're killing me. (a la this post, remember? https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/hmn1vo/crazy_gaining_weight_math_and_a_formula_so_that/)
I put those things I wasn't willing to compromise on in and then worked around them. After the first day, where I was hungry, I said to myself, "Okay, fine, that won't work." I moved a few calories away from the half and half in my coffee and added it to dinner. I cut the toast down. I swapped out the ice cream for Halo Top.
In the 8 weeks from when I first started, I've continued to do this. I count calories in that I measure and weigh my food, but when I wake up in the morning I generally know exactly what I am eating for the day. I make sure to eat all of my calories, I move things around during the day if I want to eat something different. I basically eat the same smoothie and salad for breakfast and lunch every day (plus I still have half and half in my coffee, just in a muuuuch smaller amount, haha), so there's a lot of flexibility for dinner and snacks depending on what we're in the mood for. Breakfast is 225 calories, lunch is 181 calories, snacks throughout the day (generally between lunch and dinner and dinner and bed) are almost 450 calories give or take, and dinner usually sits in the 300-400 calorie range (if it's higher, I eat less snacks).
I drink a lot of water naturally (I love it) and not much soda, although I started getting some of those rootbeer Zevia drinks (zero cals) to crush my sweet tooth when I need to. I don't want to get hooked, but I also figure it's not a big deal. I generally have some ice cream every night.
I aim for 30% of my diet from protein and am okay with anywhere from 20-30% protein on a regular basis.
I work treat meals into my calorie plan. Since I started there has been only one day where I messed up and had too many calories when we did some social distance hangs with friends and got pizza and I couldn't help gobbling it down, hahaha.
Hunger–
I was soooooo hungry the first three or four days, kinda hungry the first two weeks, and now am only really hungry when it's almost dinner time. After dinner, I'm generally stuffed. We really go in for the volume eating, with lots of vegetables and lean ground turkey or chicken done up in various styles each night. (Thai, Italian, Indian, random flavor combos... mmmm. I love to cook and have had fun experimenting with different tasty dinner flavors to make similar calorie items work out).
When we started out, I literally felt like, "OMG, there is ZERO chance I can do this for 9 months. Zero! It's sooo hard!" But I committed to making changes that made it feel easier and easier and I acclimated and now it feels totally fine and very sustainable.
Results–
I've had pretty consistent results: 3-4 lbs the first week and then after that anywhere between 1.8-2.2lbs a week on average. I've had a few stalls where my weight didn't change for a week or two but then I caught up to my general trend.
I weigh daily in the morning, once a day not more, record it on Happy Scale and My Fitness Pal (I have Happy Scale because the trends and predictors are awesome, MFP because I've had an account for years and I like comparing past weights from random times that I logged it and want this log for the future in that site, so double). I don't let the weight on the scale get to me: It's just a number. I don't get particularly attached to it going up or down (exception was the two weeks where it didn't move up or down even a tenth of a lb...): It's just a means to an end. It's just a number. It's just a data point that lets me know I'm doing things right.
An interesting result of not caring too much about the scale has been that in the same way that I don't really care about daily fluctuations, I've found little excitement in scale results. I saw 169 today and I was like, "Well, I guess that's that. Eventually we'll get to GW." It's been an interesting change from first seeing 179 when I think my body went cold and tingly for a moment after realizing that this was really working... hah! It really is just a number though: A data point to help you assess your results! :)
I didn't feel much change until recently as I've started to approach 10% lost. I'm finally seeing changes in clothes, (pants & shorts fitting better, underwear falling off). That has been wonderful.
Motivation–
I didn't really have a moment, just kinda decided I had better give it a try. We'd been eating lots of baked goods during isolation and it felt like... maybe this was the time to "get skinny." haha. After I hit my stride, I put possible future weights on my calendar for me to look forward to. It's not strict and I may not hit them, but it helps me to visualize that as long as I keep walking the walk, so the speak, I'll get there. It's just a matter of time, really.
That's been the other thing: I plan out my meals, I have lots of snacks I love and look forward to (mostly healthy). I feel good about what I am eating and the movement I'm having fun with. It's a weird time to be alive these days, but I'll turn 31 next year no matter what and it feels like... might as well get there. When it's "this easy" there's no reason to not, ya know?
The other thing for me has been: Now that I have the weight loss thing going smoothly, what OTHER things do I want to have done by the time I hit my GW? I've tried to focus my energy into accomplishing other goals in the same way that I'm working on my weight: A little bit at a time every day. A little bit of practice, a little bit of effort. It hasn't always been perfect, but I've worked on some goals and it's been fun and interesting and powerful.
And so that's it, for now! As with anything, you have to do the bit you have to do that day and nothing else. Nothing more, nothing less.
With weight loss or with any goal, the brick you lay each day is not impressive except in the repetition of what you said you would do, but rather in the house you've built when you look back at the end of the year. The daily effort may feel small, but the accumulation of all that effort over time is amazing.
Sorry this got so long! And I don't even know if I deserve to post this since I'm only 25% of my way to my goal, buuut this community has been super supportive and a great read to help keep me on track and I wanted to share! Thank you thank you!!
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