People need to stop talking like all veggies are equal, and 'free food', cos i just found out parsnips are one of the most high carb veggies so actually not that great for weight loss. Same as how people act like you can eat as much fruit as you like when actually it's still full of sugar, natural or not.
Plus i've been eating a lot of rice pudding/custard, which i know aren't healthy exactly, but if i want a treat it seemed more healthy than, say, chocolate cake as a dessert. They often label cans of rice pud and custard as "low fat" but when i actually checked the nutritional info, they actually have more fat and sugar than my fave choc bar!!!
So I’m not new to weight loss. About 2 years ago I was (M, 24, 5’11) 340 lbs. I counted my calories and had a kinda keto-light diet. I ended up losing over 40 lbs. this was a huge success for me as I had never even thought I was capable of weight loss like that before. I have tried losing weight and eating healthy my whole life but never lost much.
After I hit 300 I kinda hit a plateau and got discouraged. I figured I would give it a break for a bit and come back later, as counting my calories was such a chore. A year goes by and I gained it all back plus more. I was 365 lbs at the beginning of March of 2019, the heaviest I’ve ever been.
I then made a commitment and realized that in order to actually lose weight and be healthy and keep it off, I would have to count my calories for the rest of my life. I originally thought it was gonna be the case where I would do it for so long, lose the weight and then somehow magically stay at that weight, but that is not how it works for me. I have no self control, and I have no inner voice to tell me when I’ve had too much. I need to actively go out of my way to count how much I eat, stop myself, and do it every day.
I’ve been doing it for months now, it’s just become habit. I am not stopping any time soon. I’m 26 now and at 325 lbs and still doing well. I know I have a very long road ahead of me, but I’m on the right path now and I’m sticking to it.
This is just a little rant to get things off my chest and I hope it helps motivate people to count your calories and stick to it.
——
Also another little win, I treated Thanksgiving as a cheat day to freely go over my calories, but I probably didn’t even go that much over. I had a small breakfast, 1 full plate of food for lunch, and 1 piece of pumpkin pie. Then after that, I was stuffed and skipped dinner. That has never happened before, usually I end up eating multiple plates and multiple meals on thanksgiving. The holidays would always through my diet off, but they don’t have to.
Hello! I just started my weight loss journey earlier this month. I am watching my calorie intake and have started aerobics. I read that I should lift weights as well. The aerobics exercise is pretty strenuous in my opinion, fast paced with no breaks and a lot of arm movement and jumping for an hour. Should I still lift weights? If so what should I start off with? What kind of exercises do you recommend and how many sets/reps? Also, how many times a week?
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I really don't want to fail this time. Thank you in advance for all your responses!!!
You will have to forgive your fearless leader kids. I am maintaining the course but only just. It's important to remember you have to live life around your weight loss plans & sometimes that means yes you are counting, yes you are mindful & no there isn't a deficit. The whole world is struggling a bit & my mental health has taken precedent over a constant deficit. Know that I am still here fighting the fight with y'all & boy howdy am I cheering everyone on! 2020 can't beat me!
Exercise 5 days a week: I would like to do better kids. 22/30 days.
Self-care journaling (once a week, 60 minutes): Nailing it. 4/4 week.
Nanowrimo 1666 words a day: 22900/50000 words. I missed the word count but in spirit, this did exactly what I wanted it to do. Rekindled some joy & reaffirmed that I'm not always a terrible person. Can't ask for much more than that!
Try a new recipe once a week: Fried parsnips, baba ganoush (different recipe/prep method this time, didn't fuck it up!), a mixed meat chili, sweet potato casserole, turkey carcass soup & a oven toasted vegetable ratatouille so far. 5/4 weeks. Nailed it!
Express gratitude: Did it everyday. Kept me more positive about things in general. Nailed it.
And hey, maybe it’s not a bad idea to review them anyway to you returning conquerors. I do occasionally to remind myself of the basics.
Here’s what we do in the DAC my friends!
This is the sign up post to outline your goals, weight loss, self care, creative, whatever keeps your motor going.
There will be a daily update post for you to chime in about how day whatever is going!
At the end of the month, there is a wrap up post to reflect on the progress you made or didn’t make & what you learned. Learning is progress my friends!
We try to foster a supportive, caring place to discuss the actual day to day of deficits & counting & caring so much about how we fuel our bodies & lives. So be kind, interact if you like & hopefully you feel supported by the internet version of a push up bra!
Leading by example, here I go!
Weight: I'd like to maintain & report weight daily without judging myself!
Stay within calorie range (maintain at 2000 ish): Slow & steady here kids. It's been a hell of a year & December will wrap it up with success & learning.
Exercise 5 days a week: I'd like to be chasing higher intensity & more strength (I say it every month because I want Cara Dune arms). X/X days.
Self-care journaling (once a week, 60 minutes): Keeps me sane! 4/4 week.
Try a new recipe once a week: Always looking for fun new recipes! X/X weeks
Express gratitude, mindfulness or HOLIDAY CHEER: Keeps me sane & planted on this earth.
I think that'll do me for this month. It's a lot of enjoying the small stuff & steering the course.
I’ve browsed this community for a long time, just now joined and really feel like sharing to solidify what I’m doing - if I share it, I’ll have to keep doing it!
I’ve been overweight/obese for probably the last 6 years, steadily climbing higher. I struggled with some mildly disordered eating in the past, then got into a relationship that turned into marriage, and found HAES along the way. I thought it was the answer and I really clung to it for a long time. In the end, all that happened was that my spouse and I are both overweight and I’m now prediabetic. I thought HAES was healing me, but really I just began using food in a different disordered kind of way - primarily to quiet my anxiety.
I debated on and off if I should leave the HAES community and abandon the mindset. I tipped over the edge back to intentional weigh less once my spouse joined Noom secretly. I tried intermittently when using the Noom app and decided to abandon it and jump back onto MyFitnessPal and CICO. I’m now down about 13lbs from my highest weight around 285, and my next goal is to see 269 or below. I don’t know how much weight I’d like to lose, but I do know I’m not happy or healthy at this size, and I’m starting to experience significant limitations because of it. I’m so thankful to have my spouse joining me on this journey too.
Overall, I’m just relieved I took a step back from HAES but I’m sad it took me a 100+lb weight gain to get there. I don’t wish them ill, and I think there can be grains of truth in their philosophy, but I also believe it is deeply flawed.
So, please share your best tips, resources, and encouragement for me and my S.O.! I’m feeling a little down over a cheat meal tonight, but I am trying to remember it’s a marathon 😉. If you have any wisdom about breaking the habit of using food for comfort I’d love to hear it because that’s my biggest hurdle!
I don't need or want to partake in fad diets because food isn't "bad" or "good". It's just food. This one is a big one and directly contributes to my success. I found that if I limit myself to the things that I can or can't have, I not only am teaching myself poor eating habits but I am also far more likely to binge on the things I miss when I do put them back in my diet. I eat food now to gain, lose, or maintain the weight I want with zero restrictions outside of whatever my weekly caloric goal is. I work full time, go to school full time, and raise my children. Worrying about if I'll have access to the food I'm "allowed" for my diet, or making sure to meal prep with ingredients I never seem to have is not something I have time for. Also there's nothing more embarrassing for me then telling a host/friend/ family member that I can't eat something specifically against my diet. Now I just eat less if I know it's extremely calorie dense (looking at you pizza). The folks over at r/CICO have been instrumental in assisting me with this journey so thank you guys!
Cheat days taught me to treat food as a reward for not eating it and nothing more. I identified that using food as a means to reward myself made food far too important to me. Now I no longer have cheat days. I always eat what I want and adjust accordingly. If I know I'll be going to a birthday party and will be having beers or calorie dense foods like pizza, I make sure to not eat up all my calories that morning. It's much better to say "I'll skip the donut/bagel and just do coffee and a light lunch".
I HAD to change my mindset about food. Dieting isn't about shedding the weight and popping back to your old lifestyle. For some reason I subconsciously thought that all would be fine after I lost the weight. WRONG. Yo yo dieting galore. Couldn't get under 200lbs to save my life. The one time I did I maintained for under a week at 199. Now I understand the importance of "eating things in moderation". I now know that expecting to go back to my lifestyle of eating and drinking everything without thought is long gone if I want to be at my ideal weight. I knew this time I had to change my mindset about food and not jump into #1 on this list. I had to remind myself that just because someone was super successful with their weight loss by only eating my favorite things (bacon and butter) doesn't mean I had to do it as well to see the same success.
I realized It's okay to take a break from dieting. Nobody said you had to maintain a caloric deficit (which is really the foundation of all weight loss) all the way until your goal weight is achieved. I've taken multiple breaks where I've increased my caloric intake to maintenance level because I knew that week was a couple of fun events, or more recently big "eating" holidays. I remind myself that this is a lifestyle change and not just a diet. I'll be easily back over 200 again if I think I can't handle coming off it for a week or two, not to mention never being able to maintain my ideal body weight. I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed Thanksgiving and didn't say no to a single dish or drink that day:)
I didn't need to have a $50 gym membership I never had or wanted to make time for to reach the goal weight I wanted to be. Now I'm not saying there is no reason to workout...no no no. I'm saying that my particular weight loss journey is not about setting goals for flexibility or strength. It's about hitting that specific number on the scale (175btw!:)). For a long time I convinced myself that I could never be the weight I wanted to be because there's no way I'd find myself working out 3-4 days a week, all while meal prepping foods found only in cavemen days (sorry that was the fad diet flavor of the week when I thought about the gym and failed meeting my weight loss goal shortly after joining). I realized that there were plenty of lean people at the weight I wanted who hadn't worked out in years! I now realize how silly I was to think the only lean/thin people were ones who worked out. Pro Tip: On the flipside...You will lose weight more quickly and/or may increase the amount of food you get to eat if you do choose to workout alongside the added health benefits!
Similar to number 5 I learned to not do too much at once. Every pound I lost was me making a single better decision than the alternative. Someone in another sub I can't remember said it perfectly when they said you gotta take the "ands" out of your food choices. Enjoy a beast of a burger! Just not a burger, AND a fry, AND a shake. Have yourself some delicious pasta! Just not pasta AND some garlic bread AND that wonderful cheesecake. It's absolutely okay to take things a little slower.
The final and most important lesson I've learned (I have more but this is already too long sorry) is to do it for me and nobody else. This time I didn't start my diet with a friend for "moral support". This time I didn't make a loud announcement regarding my diet plan (you should see the people you work with everyday try to figure out what the heck is different about you and that moment it hits them haha) to all of my friends and family to "hold myself accountable". This time I didn't go in with the plan that all I have to endure is "drinking two meal replacement shakes, eating a low carb dinner, and making sure I took all of my weight loss supplements within a specific time frame each and everyday" to achieve my goal. And this time (the one good AND mind you;)) I didn't wait for some trivial date just because this month "has too much going on", or " it's the holiday season"....because guess what!? I know that every month has something going on. I'm a parent! I'm a student! I'm a staff member! I'm not here to meet my goal weight and return to my starting point. These things will be here year after year and I will continue to remind myself that life and the growing pangs associated with change will always, always, ALWAYS! be difficult, and that tomorrow is never guaranteed. But hey... when tomorrow does come...I'll be at least a little more comfortable in my skin;) Thanks for reading!
Tl;dr- It's not about saying yes or no to "good food" or "bad food". It's about changing your entire mindset. It's about remembering why you're doing what you're doing, and asking yourself what you will do differently than last time after your goal is reached.
• I’ve now been doing intermittent fasting for 32 weeks and I feel strong with my commitment and here’s what I’m doing:
• Now that I’m older and tired of the yo-yo I understand that long-term weight loss is not about following strict guidelines but legitimately building habits
• I got to 265lbs by years of building bad habits
• So what the 32 weeks have looked like for me is for the first three weeks I did nothing but fast 16:8
• I did not change my diet I did not track calories I did not do any crazy workouts
• Focused on building the one habit of fasting
• After three weeks I started Tracking my calories. With my fitness pal My username is IFwithRyan If you send me a request on there you can see what I eat every day
• At the three week mark I also started some light exercise mostly weightlifting. Three days a week
• Another reason I hadn’t changed my diet is it’s just too much takes too much will power
• And at about the six-week mark after I had been tracking calories consistently for three weeks, I started to try to hit a calorie target so I would know that I was in a deficit every day
• And I would say for probably about the last 23 weeks I’ve just been doing the same thing:
1) workouts 2 to 3 days a week
2) trying to hit about 2400 cal a day.
3) I’m not following any specific diet
• I still have fast food once a week sometimes twice a week
• But the biggest thing is…. I don’t feel mentally drained
• If I feel strong and want to add another healthy habit I can do that
• I would say in the last-few months I’ve easily had 20 days where I was eating more than 4000 cal a day
• But there are also days where after a cheat day in order to balance it out I’ll do like a 20 to 23 hour fast and only eat 12 to 1500 cal to balance it out for the week. And that keeps me mentally strong
• I don’t feel deprived
• So I would say if you’re just starting intermittent fasting do nothing else for the next three weeks but fast for 16 hours a day eat what you want when your time is up. Once you have a habit of fasting and it’s like second nature then start tracking your calories
• You will eventually have to track calories to lose weight but don’t try to do it all today
• And once you start tracking calories eat the same but track, so you know where you’re at
• Then start making adjustments. It’s going to take longer but if I were to tell you you can lose a half a pound to a pound a week for the next year and a half but then you’ll maintain that weight for the rest of your life, versus going crazy and losing 75 pounds in three months but then two years from now being right back where you are which would you do?
• Weight loss is much more about habit building than it is knowing the perfect way to do it
• Don’t get overwhelmed by taking on too much... will power is a limited resource
Hey everyone, I'm TastyCinnaRoll and I am addicted to food. I'm not at a healthy weight or body fat percentage and I've struggled to get it under control for years.
So here's the deal. I've prepared (most) of the food I'll need to eat for the next 31 days ahead of time and it's all neatly packed into my freezer and cupboards. Serving sizes measured out, ready to pop open or throw in the microwave.
I was inspired by several posts I came across where people were talking about treating the quarantine like a space mission, like they were Mark Watney living in a little outpost on Mars. It inspired me to think about my food consumption the same way.
So, with that being said. I am in charge of maintaning this outpost for the next 31 days. As the title says though, I've got everything I need to survive. Individually packaged and measured out food rations.
Here is the list:
4 x Minestrone & ciabbata buns 148 calories each, 592 total
4 x Vegetable soup & ciabbata buns 108 Calories each, 432 total
4 x Onion soup with cheese & ciabbata buns 178 Calories each, 712 total
4 x Almond chocolate trail mix 300 Calories each, 1200 total
5 x Dried fruit and nut mix 230 calories each, 1150 total
3 x Bean vindaloo with naan and quinoa 585 calories each, 1755 total
3 x Bean chicken masala with naan and quinoa 563 calories each, 1689 total
6 x Chicken korma with naan 631 calories each, 3786 total
9 x Beef with carrots and potatoes stew 354 calories each, 3186 total
4 x BBQ sauce chicken breasts with creamy chive pasta 652 calories each, 2608 total
8 x Mushroom onion pasta casserole 394 calories each, 4728 total
10 x Hearty vegetable stew 454 calories each, 4536 total
12 x chocolate covered peanuts 320 Calories each, 3840 total
11 x In shell roasted peanuts 300 Calories each, 3300 total
62 x morning coffee & evening tea (not pre assembled) 134 calories each, 8308 total
10 x Shakshuka (fresh egg added when cooking) 259 calories each, 2590 Cal's total
8 x Cinnamon rolls 335 calories each, 2680 total
For the mission, space command would also like me to run at a calorie defecit. So they've limited my intake to 1750 calories per day. Though it's up to me how I consume them and when. I've come up with a distribution where some days I have fewer and some I have more.
The eagle eyed among you will have noticed that this doesn't add up. I'm still 8182 calories short for the month. That's because I messed up and also because my freezer is full. Looks like I'm going to need to arrange a supply drop near the end of the mission.
1kg/week weight loss Calories Per Day: 1766 ( Rounding down to 1750 to makes calculations easier)
My goal:
Is to go through the month eating nothing but what I've pre-prepared. With the exception of the 8182 calories that will likely come from further meal prep when my freezer starts emptying out.
If the 1kg a week weight loss amount holds true, I should be down to roughly 85.9kg by the end of it. Though the weight loss is secondary, the most important thing I want to do over this month is reset my cravings and my relationship with food. To better get used to portioning things correctly for myself, and to resist the urge to binge. By the end of it, I want to be prepared to keep going until I'm at my desired weight and then maintain that weight through healthy lifestyle choices and a better relationship with food.
I'm going to include before pictures here. I'm hoping the comparison with the after will make me happy.
Also, I'm posting here because I feel like it's really going to help keep me focused and in line. This is the grand gesture, the extra little push to remind me to be good. Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for taking the time to check this out, expect updates!
Hi, Kodek here (not enough people introduce themselves on reddit) so my question is kinda weird heres my info OW: 255 lbs CW: 217 lbs GW: 170 lbs current BMI: 32.0
So im STILL on the obese section but in a month or so im likely to go down to simply overweight so when should I start to change things up for my slower weight loss, currently I lost 13, 16 and now my 3rd month 9 lbs i can already see my weight loss slowing down which is because of my weight getting lower = harder to lose it
So at WHAT weight should I go into the 2lbs a week rule? I'd assume it would be once I left the 200's and the overweight bmi category right?
I do know that BMI isn't as important as body fat percentage but currently I can ONLY really base myself of my bmi cause of quarantine, hopefully someone has asked this to their doctor cause I surely forgot to.
27F 5'4" SW 218 CW 172 GW: 170, then 160, then who knows.
I was at a 3-week plateau before Thanksgiving. I was so hungry and grumpy and frustrated-- at my height and weight, I was eating 1310 per day (I'm in grad school and it's finals season, so exercise isn't really happening). For Thanksgiving I thought aw, fuck it, I don't want to think too hard about it. I'll just eat what I want and worry about it next week.
The day after Thanksgiving I had an extra 4lbs. The day after that was my lowest weight to date, and I realized that I wasn't either hungry or grumpy, and that I hadn't been since the holiday. Looking back on it, I think my body needed the extra food to remember that it's not actually starving. Sustained deficits for a long period of time can really stress a body out and convince it that it needs to keep as much fat as possible.
This is the value of maintenance days. In my case, it's going to be a maintenance month-- I'm burned out on weight loss right now and stressed out with school. Dieting through finals, especially at such a low number, was making me unhappy and hurting other parts of my life. So, for right now, the plan is to maintain through the end of the year, and pick it back up in January.
I am so excited to be excited about weight loss again. To not be burnt out, but be energetic and driven. It is okay to take a break and maintain for a while. For me, right now, I think it's exactly what I need.
During April, March, may, June, July, and august I steadily lost about 8 pounds a month. September went to 6 and October and November have been like 2-4 pounds. It’s demoralizing.
But there are a few high points: trendweight produces the graph of my weight loss trend. On a day to day basis it goes up and down. But over the multi month long term the graph goes down. Moreover I’ve tracked every calorie since April and I eat better food, more vegetables, and fewer calories by a significant number. I’ve also maintained a significant exercise habit.
This group has assisted me in innumerable ways. I come here to reassure myself — just keep putting one foot after another. Focus more on food than exercise all else being equal. My next challenge is doing some tucking (walking with a weighted backpack basically).
I hoped to lose 100 pounds in 12 months. I’ve lost ~55 pounds in 8 months. I need to lose another 45 pounds in four months—which would be about 11.25 pounds per month. Alternatively I may just extend the timeline a few months.
(And once I get to 260 then I’ll set a different goal, but probably more focused on body fat than weight — I’d love to get to like 185-195 with like 10-15 % body fat but that seems like a wild dream in this moment though (which is why I thought I’d start at the 100 pound loss).
I’ve (24F) been on this weight loss journey since the first UK lockdown at the beginning of April, I started at 238lbs and I’m now at 177lbs with a goal of 154lbs. I’m 5’10”.
I’ve had ups and downs. Achievements and failures. Good days and bad days. I recovered from my alcohol addiction, stopped smoking, started working out, ran my first 5k, all the achievements to better my health. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that I’ve ended up here, nearly at my goal, and I see the difference in everywhere on my body except for the one place that matters to me.
My stomach and love handles.
I’m frustrated that my stomach is still 41in. I’m frustrated my love handles are still there. How much farther do I have to go? So many people my height look great at the weight I’m at now, and I don’t.
I just don’t know where to go from here.
I’m scared I’ll get to my goal weight and I’ll still have the stomach and love handles. I just want them to go. I hope they go. I’m doing everything I think is right.
For the last week (thanksgiving week in US) it’s been tough staying with all my newly formed habits. Gyms closed again in my area and it’s far too cold to do any workout outside, and it’s difficult to do workouts indoors for me as walking and resistance training are huge parts of what I do, and during a week where eating a lot os tradition, it’s been tough. But I’m back today, determined to find a way to make it work until gyms open again. They say diet is 90% of weight loss and I hope that’s true because I feel like that will be easier to continue doing than working out but I suppose we’ll see. Wish me luck!
Introduction: 28F 5'7 SW:181 GW:148 no real job, anxiety, depression, potential food addiction, chronic injuries. Heaviest weight 183, lowest fit weight 155.
I suffered 2 herniated disks in a car accident about 6 years ago (one low lumber and one low cervical). -I have been in 10 car accidents (only 1 my fault and only by law as it was rear end in NY, they slammed the brakes). I have had multiple cervical sprains, back soreness and the messed up disks. I am almost constantly hurt (current is an MCL sprain). -It seems no matter how I try to get back into being active I get hurt again. I enjoy yoga, sports, jogging, and sometimes HIIT. I always stretch. Previous injuries include multiple broken bones, sprained wrists and ankles, knees that just pop out, cervical sprains. I know I need to strengthen my hips. I LOVE eating. -I will eat and eat. I'm active but I still eat too much of the wrong things and I know it. I love sugar and sweets. I have a texture sensitivity so certain foods are ALWAYS out (ie fish, I just cannot stand the texture) I'd say I can eat right up to 5 days in a week but I will binge probably 2 times a month (think 1000 extra calories)
So I'm here because I need some help. I do things for my anxiety and depression and I know how exercise can help. I've tried a dietitian and nutritionist and they were no help to me. I'd rather be more active than change what I eat, but I'm constantly getting injured.
I want to "start from zero". I'm thinking stretching and yoga daily with some an work. (I am currently limited by my MCL sprain and only allowed to work in the sagittal plane. This mostly knocks out yoga. I am in PT.) My problem is that I don't know how to take it slow. I have a heavy bag calling my name and I know I need to wait.
What comes after stretching and yoga and light walking? How can I rehab my entire body and move up the ladder to strengthening and jogging?
With not working and being "at-risk" in a pandemic I cannot go to the gym or pay a personal trainer. I, unfortunately, also cannot continue down this road. My Heaviest ever was 183 and I swore I would never go there again. I've always wanted to be around 150 (GW 148.5) but never gotten there. I'm begging anyone out there who can help me to help me figure this out. My problem isn't with moving itself, but avoiding constant sideline injuries.
Some background: 5’8-5’9 male, around 3 years ago I started losing weight from 95kg at a pretty low point in my life, and managed to get all the way down to below 70kg. I thought I’d “take a break” the week leading up to my birthday.... and that break lasted forever.
Few months ago my life was the most miserable it’s ever been because of several factors, some due to COVID, some not, but most were my fault. I figured if I could do one thing right it was getting back to a healthy weight. Through CICO, exercise, and intermittent fasting, I’ve been losing a kilo a week, and so far I’ve gotten down from 100kg (my all time max) to 86 or so now. It’s going great honestly, consistent with minimal plateaus, but I don’t wanna yo-yo this time, and am still not completely sure why I did so last time. Why I wanted to take that break.
One possible reason is that even though intermittent fasting suits me, I may have gone too far and started OMAD when I wasn’t ready for it. Another might be that I was trying to gain muscle at the same time, and pushing myself at the gym beyond what I’d be comfortable doing regularly and sustainably. This time I won’t worry about muscle or looking toned until I lose the fat, and will stick to a relatively large and flexible eating window like 16:8. But I’m also worried that, the only two times in my life I’ve been motivated to start losing weight was because my life was down in the gutter, and the first time I just gave up when life got good again. I don’t want that to happen again. I want to stay healthy for the rest of my life, through highs and lows. The weight loss is going fine for now, but it’s just a matter of seeing whether or not I can maintain once I reach my goal.
I wanna hear about what some of you guys’ experiences are with yo-yoing and weight maintenance. When you finally stopped gaining the weight back, what was it that you did different? I’ll take all the wisdom I can get.
If you've reached your goal weight and you're looking for a space to discuss with fellow maintainers, this is the thread for you! Whether you're brand new to maintenance or you've been doing it for years, you're welcome to use this space to chat about anything and everything related to the experience of maintaining your weight loss.
Hey gang, here's your weekly discussion thread! Tell us how maintenance and life in general is going for you this week! And if you missed last week's (or simply want to reread), here's a link.
If there's a specific topic you'd like to see covered in a future thread, please drop a comment or message!
So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. r/Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.
Why you’re overweight
Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.
Before You Start
The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.
Tracking
Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends an app like MyFitnessPal, Loseit! (unaffiliated), or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.
Creating Your Deficit
How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. r/loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.
The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.
Exercise
Is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.
It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel awesome and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.
Crawl, Walk, Run
It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.
Acceptance
You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.
Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.
Additional resources
Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.
Hello all! I started my weight loss journey around mid-August of this year, and I weighed 287.0 LBS (20-year old male, 6 feet tall). Currently, I weigh 274.0 LBS, which is not at all where I wanted to be over 3 months after my start. I’ve now realized the core issue that I have with weight loss, and why over these past few months I have ultimately failed with each new attempt. I begin each attempt with a fresh mindset, weekly goal in mind, and the “I will do this” attitude. I do well for usually a week, and I will see some results—which excites me. Then, I may fight with my spouse, a new financial difficulty may arise, or maybe even I just become too bored...then I turn to restaurants. Pizza, chicken, soda...everything I shouldn’t eat. I don’t keep pleasure food at my house, but when I am upset by sometimes even minor things, I take comfort in eating. Most recently, as an example, my spouse was very upset about one of her courses, so my first response was to go get a pizza from one of our favorite restaurants. This was of course after I had already eaten for the day, and I even told myself in the moment that I didn’t need to eat it—I knew it was a bad idea. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, I always lose the internal conflict within me when it comes to eating for comfort vs weight loss. It has become a cycle for the past few months where I will diet successfully for a time, then I will relapse back into old habits, then I will find courage again, and so forth. My question is if anyone here has dealt with emotional eating like I have, what was/ is your success story? How did you overcome it? Or, if someone hasn’t necessarily had this same problem, what advice do you have?
I have been trying to burn as much fat as possible for the past 2.25 years. Their have been many ups and downs. The positives totally out way the negatives and I feel better about myself.
I wanted to make a post to give myself more motivation. I have lost 95 lbs, and would like to lose another 15 if possible.
The first pic is of me in a white button up shirt that barely fit when I started the weight loss journey. The second picture is me wearing a shirt from when I was a kid. I think I had the shirt when I was 17, 7 years ago, but can’t say that with certainty.
I'm a member of a facebook group related to weight loss (mostly cico but some people do other things). People often talk about "starting over"
After years of stressing about my weight (Gaining, losing, quick fix diets, lifestyle changes, and exercise programs) I have one thing to say:
Fuck. That.
You are not starting over. Starting over implies you failed in some kind of inexcusable way. Starting over is going back to start.
And you know what, even if you literally are losing and gaining the same (or more) weight time after time...it's still all the same journey. It's still not truly "starting over"
I was thinking today and I think that health and weight loss is like a highway. You're going down the highway...maybe you're in the fast lane or maybe the slow lane... either way is fine. Maybe you accidentally take the wrong exit. And maybe you stay on that side street longer than I tended. Maybe you literally backtrack or end up going north when you mean to go south.
It's all ok though. You don't have to start at the very beginning again. Just find the nearest on ramp and get back on. Maybe you'll be slower than you were before. Maybe you backtracked and now you're 2 exits back (or all the way back where you started or even further away). It's ok. Once you've driven the road, you learn more about it. Where the potholes are. The spreed traps. Etc.
Just keep driving. It's a journey. You'll get there when you get there. And sometimes there are good reasons to take detours. And sometimes what we think is a good reason for a detour ends up being a stupid roadside attraction and not worth it.
It's ok. Give yourself permission to stay on one journey. No need to start all over. No need to get a new car. Just fill up the tank and keep going.
I've stopped saying that I'm "starting over"...and it's been great for my mental health. Maybe you should try it too. Instead of starting over this week maybe just get back on the road and enjoy the journey.
It was back in 2016 when I realized my life had gotten out of control. My best friend had started hooking up with someone who had previously turned me down, which hurt but was also understandable. I wasn't a terribly good catch psychologically or physically.
I adopted the mantra "eat like an adult". Would a healthy and well-adjusted adult pound back a large slurpie and a full bag of chips every night? Of course not! It was a great weight loss tool, but also extended to every facet of my life. Would a healthy and well-adjusted adult play video games every evening? Never go out and exercise? Socialize primarily on reddit? No, no, no. It was a great way to remind myself of what a good life looks and feels like. I started by going for walks in the evenings, which slowly progressed to runs. I went over to my friends places instead of playing online games, at first by bus and then by bike. Eventually I got the confidence to use my university gym. After the first year I had dropped from 281 lbs to 215lbs and ran a half marathon. I found myself enjoying life, laughing, and becoming closer with all of my friends. Not just from more time spent together, but also from the better outlook on life and positivity we could now share together.
By the second year I had passed my ultimate goal of 180 lbs, and hit my lowest weight of 175 lbs. I ran my first full marathon, and it was an absolute blast! I made friends along the run, and discovered the incredible feeling of knowing what my body is capable of. I had graduated from biceps curl to running my first powerlifting routine, 5/3/1, and the whole atmosphere was incredible. Pushing myself, seeing objective results, feeling the rush every time I stepped out on to a trail or into a gym.
Eventually the novelty of it sort of... wore off. I slowly gained back up to 190 lbs, and have maintained there for the last year and a half. I've told myself that I still look good, that I gained weight to help with powerlifting, but the truth is I know I can do better for myself. I've gained weight because I've fallen back in to old habits, I've gone adrift from where I started and lost some of the good habits I built. I promise myself I'll get things straight on Monday, then on Tuesday I'll down a large pizza. I still powerlift, I still participate in endurance sports, I absolutely love the new hobbies I've picked up over the years... But I also love to eat, and to overeat. It's a vice that I still struggle with to this day.
I know I look fine. I've been told that, I can see it in myself, my problem is not body dysmorphia. It's that I know I can do so much better. I've seen the positive habits I used to have, I know how happy they made me, and I've seen for the last year and a half how I've let them slip away. So today I've made a commitment to myself to start eating like an adult again. I'm not going to buy that 4L tub of ice cream. I'm not going to make myself cookie dough for a snack. I'm going to live the life I know will make me happy instead. I hope this resonates with someone <3
I've been losing weight for 2.5 years now and I'm still going strong! My weight loss is much slower now, but I'm still a loser!
I just wanted to say that I think being obese lead me to love exercise. I probably would've never gone to a gym or spent more time outside if I never was obese. As I kept losing weight and getting more confident, I started trying new exercises. One of the things I loved doing was running.
This past weekend I finished my first half-marathon in 2:15! I never would've done this if I never started running. No one in my family or circle of friends runs (or does any intense exercises), so I feel like I'm setting an example.
I wonder what other people in this sub enjoy doing now because of their weight. Do people love cooking more? Do people love exercise more? Anything else?
Here's the situation. I'm female, 161cm tall last time I was at the doctor's. My starting weight was 176.6lbs and is currently 170.0. (It was 169.0 yesterday, like if you cry every time...)
I'm afraid I'm worse than sedentary. My current situation is that I'm not working (right now, hope that changes soon) and I'm not really in a position to be leaving my room to exercise because of a nasty home situation. I occasionally go out to get groceries. My room has about one metre wide and 2.5 metres long to do exercise in, and even then you have to be wary of hitting your shin or elbow on a desk or cupboard...it's not something I'm willing to do, and I'm afraid I can't consistently go out until I get a job or my home situation changes. I mostly spend time lying around or at my desk.
So for the 2 weeks or so I've been logging calories I haven't gone above 1100kcal, I've averaged at about 750 or 800. My plan was to up it to 1200-1400 once I got out of obesity, which I did fairly quickly. But I've also looked at my nutritional information and it looks like if I eat my staple foods every day, I seem to hit pretty much every nutritional requirement, except maybe amino acids, which I have no idea about. I was afraid of gallstones for some time but it looks like my weight loss has slowed down to a normal rate. And judging by my cron-o-meter stats, if I stick to this I'm not likely to have my hair fall out anytime soon.
So, I'm wondering if there's any compelling reason for me to increase my calorie intake until my life changes. I'll go to a dietitian before I make any actual serious plans, of course, but for now, casually, I'd like to throw it to the crowd and see what they think, just out of curiousity. My OP meal is mushrooms, broccoli, and a bit of kale sauteed in a teaspoon of avocado oil, 4 vegetarian sausages, 2 cups of 3.25% milk, a vitamin D supplement, and a dark chocolate piece, for a treat.
=========================================== Nutrition Summary for 29 November 2020 Report generated by CRON-o-Meter v0.9.9 =========================================== General (70%) =========================================== Energy | 886.5 kcal 74% Protein | 69.9 g 152% Carbs | 94.0 g 72% Fiber | 26.1 g 104% Starch | 0.0 g Sugars | 48.1 g Fat | 28.6 g 44% Alcohol | 0.0 g Caffeine | 0.0 mg Water | 846.3 g 31% Ash | 8.3 g Vitamins (95%) =========================================== Vitamin A | 20494.1 IU 878% Retinol | 0.0 µg Alpha-carotene | 0.0 µg Beta-carotene | 11697.7 µg Beta-cryptoxanthin | 0.0 µg Lycopene | 0.0 µg Lutein+Zeaxanthin | 22168.7 µg Folate | 569.1 µg 142% B1 (Thiamine) | 1.5 mg 133% B2 (Riboflavin) | 3.0 mg 273% B3 (Niacin) | 34.4 mg 246% B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 15.6 mg 313% B6 (Pyridoxine) | 2.2 mg 171% B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 12.6 µg 525% Vitamin C | 315.5 mg 421% Vitamin D | 1395.4 IU 698% Vitamin E | 6.6 mg 44% Beta Tocopherol | 0.0 mg Delta Tocopherol | 0.0 mg Gamma Tocopherol | 1.0 mg Vitamin K | 1360.8 µg 1512% Biotin | 0.0 µg 0% Choline | 249.8 mg 59% Minerals (97%) =========================================== Calcium | 945.9 mg 95% Chromium | 0.0 µg 0% Copper | 2.6 mg 291% Fluoride | 15.9 µg 1% Iron | 55.0 mg 305% Magnesium | 338.1 mg 109% Manganese | 1.7 mg 94% Phosphorus | 1078.0 mg 154% Potassium | 4340.2 mg 92% Selenium | 59.8 µg 109% Sodium | 1404.2 mg 94% Zinc | 17.9 mg 223% Lipids (37%) =========================================== Saturated | 11.2 g 56% Monounsaturated | 3.4 g Polyunsaturated | 2.3 g Omega-3 | 0.6 g 56% Omega-6 | 1.6 g 15% Trans-Fats | 0.4 g Cholesterol | 60.0 mg 20% Phytosterol | 0.0 mg
I don't mean I would literally eat this exactly every single day--not only is that unrealistic, I also know diversity of food is important and nutritionists don't know everything. Otherwise I'd have stuck with a full-soylent diet, which is what I just came off of two years of. But this is my staple diet I'd have several times a week. It's very close to exactly 40 carb:30 protein:30 lipids, too.
Interested to hear your thoughts. I'm pretty proud that I've gone from eating absolute garbage to sticking to this for a bit. This community is the friendliest and most supportive I've ever seen on reddit and has been so valuable for me. Please don't roast me too hard, haha...
Its been 111 days since i have started working out while going on a diet. My first big goal was to be under the 200lb/90kg figure, and to be honest i wanted it to happen much faster. I had some hiccups along the way, whether they be cravings, temptations of eating with the family, or just going through my period.
Yet i didnt give up like i usually expect myself to. I tried to restrict my calorie intake while eating lots of veggies and meat, and avoiding fried stuff and sweets/chocolate (two of my favorite things) as much as possible. I also completed 3 (almost) chloe ting challenges during the 111 day period, and im also proud that i didnt completely stop working out even though i had to have long breaks throughout some weeks.
Its been 4 months where each month my period has graced me with her presence on the date its supposed to do so. Prior to that it used to play hide and seek with me, sometimes hiding for a month or two. This alone has made things much better.
I started with 217.7lbs / 98.7kg of weight, and now i weigh 198.4lbs / 89.99kg. So my weight loss so far equals more than 19lbs/8.7kg.
Im writing this post while taking another break from sports and diet because of certain circumstances, but it doesnt mean that i have given myself the pass to eat ALOT. Im hoping that ill get back to working on a new goal in a few days.
The last photo was taken today. And while i feel like another angle couldve captured my current tummy state better, im gonna say it once again. I feel so so so proud, and i hope i dont stop what im doing. Yes, i didnt achieve this within the period i had in mind, but i did it anyways while eating chocolate and fried chicken and fries on some days.
In 2018, I lost 70 pounds. The bulk of the weight loss occurred from May to October: 55 pounds in 5 months. I lost weight by walking and finding ways to move more. I drank a lot of water and worked to eliminate unhealthy food habits. My biggest change was challenging myself to give up fast food for a year. I went from eating out several times a week to only eating higher quality food at restaurants every few months. I haven’t had soda since May 13th, 2018. Culvers and McDonald's are also still on the Can’t Eat Responsibly list.
In 2019, I struggled to lose weight by doing what had worked at a higher weight, so I maintained at 160. I had started a new job that was far more sedentary and more stressful. Learning a new job is always tough, but I also lost a lot of my support system in the transition.
And then 2020 happened. Depression, anxiety, pain, and boredom galore. I have stories, but we all have them. This year has piled crazy on top of our regular old problems. It’s twenty pounds of problems in a ten pound bag. So, I’ve been eating my feelings. I’ve been eating for sport and recreation. I’ve been eating just to feel something even if it’s a tummy ache. Eating has become my hobby and my security blanket. I’ve always been an emotional eater. I was successful with weight loss in 2018 because I took away the major calorie bomb (fast food) and added walking. But now, I’ve found new bad habits. Bread in all its forms has become a vice. I ate two bags of bagels last week, you guys. It’s a problem.
In 2020, I’ve gained 25 pounds.
Now:
I want to lose the weight. The emotional eating has left me feeling powerless, so I'm posting this to try to give myself from perspective and also to reach out to you guys. LoseIt was a powerful tool for me when I was losing weight.
I’ve managed to stop gaining for the last month or so, which I’m going to take as a victory. I’ve gained some perspective over the last nine months (pun not intended). I’ve learned that I was actually pretty comfortable in my body at 160. I’m also realizing that I don’t know what I enjoy doing anymore. This could be the depression talking, but I think I need to reconnect with myself. Boredom is a powerful thing.
Here’s the advice that I’ve found that I find helpful for me and I’m going to try:
Wait ten minutes. Or five minutes. Or even one minute. Take a beat and access what you are feeling. Don’t deny yourself the craving, because temptation is powerful.
Try to feed your feelings/boredom with something besides food. Go for a walk, watch a comedy, read. I’ve been making myself a cup of tea as a distraction lately (just tea, no sugar). It’s also worked for me as an after dinner treat instead of eating dessert. I usually go for a mint, caffeine free tea
Build a daily exercise habit. Winter is definitely coming in my neck of the woods, so I need to find ways to move while I’m in my apartment.
Get enough sleep. Holy cow, you guys, this is important. I feel like a bottomless pit on days I haven’t slept enough.
So, what have you done this year to combat emotional eating? Are you in the same boat as me? Please tell me your stories and/or solutions!
I’ve lost 43lb so far and I still have 52lbs at least to go until my final goal, I say at least because I may want to go lower.
I started working out yesterday, well I only managed 5 mins of the Chloe ting 2 week shred today and yesterday before I felt like I was going to pass out. I am so sore and very unfit.
I’ve read numerous threads about this and a lot say their weight stalled when they started exercising but they never said how long for or if they got stuck at that weight.
It’s really bothering me because, I have to lose another 17lbs to get fertility treatment.
So I’m worried that if I start working out and holding onto water weight I’m not going to get there. Obviously I want to get thinner, toned and stronger at the same time but I also need to lose the lbs.
So I (16F) started my weight loss journey about mid-February at 172 lbs and currently, I weigh about 134 lbs, with my goal weight being at approx 122-125 lbs. I've come along way and I am quite close to my goal, but the thing is I can't even visualise how the life of maintaining weight is.
Right now part of me loves the idea of being on a weight loss journey. Despite the agonising pain of denying chocolates and pizzas - there is such a lovely thrill about seeing the weight drop on the scale. I think life will be mundane once I reach my goal weight. I plan to focus on abs and toning, and maybe get back into HIIT workouts, but that’s about it.
Before weight loss, I was always an emotional eater. Due to my depression, I would just eat to mask my feelings and eventually that made me gain 20 lbs over an extremely short period of time. I literally have no way of listening to my body when it comes to eating. I can't differentiate signs of hunger, from signs of boredom and the need to fill an empty void.
I don't want to be scared out of my mind when I'm maintaining my weight - weighing myself weekly and obsessing over everything I put into my mouth - but I don't want to be blissfully unaware either, and only realise that something's wrong when I take a look in the mirror one day or realise that my jeans don't fit the same anymore.
I'm not medicated for my depression, so I still battle with it on a daily basis... Hence, my concern. Right now, I am begging - if anyone has any tips on how to maintain weight, and intuitively listen to your body and what it needs, and how to even keep the life of maintaining weight exciting and more purposeful than it felt when you were losing weight - please give me any tips or advice. I have no one else to talk to about this.
I’m just sick to my stomach today. I’m (22 M 5’6 220) Just so discouraged and crying while writing this. I’ve tried to hit the gym and lift 3-4 days a week with cardio 1-2 days for a few months now. I’ve tried eating healthier portions when I can but it’s hard cause I’m not financially good at the moment. I’ve tried doing the things that other people do that melt pounds yet when I look at myself on the scale it hasn’t budged. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong am I just at a point where I went too far before focusing on my weight loss and so now it’s not possible? I don’t wanna give up but what’s the point if I don’t see results. I’m tired of the weight jokes and everything else but I just gotta accept it I guess. Only thing left for me is supplements but they sketch me out. Any advice?
Y’all how are you calculating your TDEE. Mine seems way too high. I’ve done multiple websites versions but they just seem off. And they say I can eat 1800 to lose a pound a week. I’m a 5’6 24(F) and I weigh 237 rn. I am moderately active. (Walk everyday, too ADHD to sit still for long, two HIIT videos a week, mild weight training every other day, 15 min yoga practice every evening) But idk a TDEE of 2600 which is what they said just seems wildly too high. Especially when I see people post their TDEE’s here. Idk if you need more specialized equipment and metrics to figure out a TDEE? Obviously there is no way to be 100%, but I want to feel like I’m at least in the right range.
I mean, if I can eat 1800 for moderate weight loss that’s dope, but idk, it seems to good to be true. Thanks in advance!!
This is something that I have been noticing for the past few months. All my teenage years I have been 96kg+ with my highest weight being 9 months ago at 116kg. (F18).
And for as long as I can remember my periods have always been painful, moody and heavy.
My boobs used to hurt starting with a week before my period. My cramps were really bad. My mood was horrific. It was just as bad as a period can get really.
But ever since I started loosing, all of those symptoms are slowly dropping to 0.
I have lost 33kg so far putting my weight at 83kg.
And my period got so much better, my cramps are much less painful and only last a couple of days. My boobs no longer hurt. My mood swings are also not extreme at all. Which is very surprising. And overall it started effecting me less.
I looked it up and apparently it’s due to the fat stored estrogen. But I am not a doctor. All I know is that there has been a change. And I hope it’s for the better.
If you had a similar experience I would love to hear it.
I want to share something I've found interesting from my weight loss experience. About two years ago, I was 10lbs from my goal weight, but during my final semester of undergrad, I put on 15 lbs. Since then, I've started my master's, and I'm about to finish my first semester. I'm not good at cooking, so I resort to snacks or fast food. I'm also a huge stress eater, and I'm picky about the food I stress eat. I love salty and spicy, and many times the healthy snacks are too sweet for me even if they aren't technically sweet snacks. Since I'm picky and I like crunchy, I resort to chips. Today I weighed myself, and I realized I lost 6 lbs in the last two months. I honestly thought I had gained weight and expected it to be around 160, but I'm at 151 at the end of the day. I usually weigh less in the morning, so I'm looking forward to weighing myself tomorrow. I might weigh more or less, but the point is I lost weight while eating junk.
I didn't make the post to share the weight loss but more to tell people that you can eat junk and lose weight. Don't recommend it but don't kick yourself for eating that bag of chips or for having a frosting-covered slice of cake. I've had it happen twice that I've lost weight eating junk food. The first time was when I took over my mom's housekeeping business one summer while recovering from surgery. I would be exhausted and didn't want to cook, and sometimes I'd be eating in-n-out 11 times a week. That month I lost 10 lbs, but it was because I was moving all the time. I wasn't sitting on my ass at home eating nothing but double-doubles and fries. This time, I have been sitting on my ass all the time because I now work almost full-time as a receptionist. I haven't made exercise a priority either, with school taking so much of my time, but I am aware that I am not doing anything. About a month ago, I was at my most stressed level. My face was feeling numb, and I was probably on the verge of a breakdown, so I turned to my comfort food. I probably ate 8 bags of Hot Cheetos in two weeks, along with other stuff I can't remember, but I know it wasn't healthy, but the whole time I knew it was a lot of calories I was eating. I started to skip breakfast because 1) I don't like it, and 2) if I eat breakfast, I tend to eat more during the day. I've been eating fewer calories than I burn just because I am aware that I've been eating high-calorie foods, and it makes me wonder how much weight I would've lost if I'd been paying more attention to what I was eating. I'm slowly trying to ween myself off the junk and add more fruits and homecooked meals to my diet.
The point of this post is CICO works and in my case, so does intermittent fasting. Don't eat what I eat, though. Eat healthily. Don't hate yourself for the occasional junk you eat.
This year has sucked for everyone, but for me it's helped to focus on my health and weight loss goals.
I posted last year that 2019 would be different, and oh boy it was! I'm down over 200 pounds, and at a point where I'm content with myself and everything I've accomplished. I'm in a place now where I'm more comfortable with myself than at any other point in my life. Simple things like taking pictures and buying clothes were always a source of fear and anxiety. I'm happy to say that fear and anxiety is gone!
My outlook on life is very different. I have so much energy now. I spend my free time working outside in the yard and on projects inside that I've put off for a long time.
This marks fifteen months post-VSG (gastric sleeve). I'm still at 1,000 - 1,200 calories a day. I exercise 3-4 times a week working in the yard, and get out on Saturdays for a 5 mile walk/run. I've added a cheat meal on Saturday which is something nice to look forward to. I've been experimenting with twenty-hour fasts and OMAD, and I think that's been helpful for me. Getting enough protein is a challenge sometimes, but I track everything to make sure I reach my daily goals.
If you're struggling, or just getting started, try to take things one day at a time. Don't look at the mountain that's in front of you, but focus on the individuals steps that get you where you want to be. If I can do it, then you can too!
I properly started my weight loss journey when quarantine started in March. I never had too much weight to lose (counting my blessings), about 15 pounds. I'm 21F, 5'3, 144 HW, 137 SW, 120 GW. Don't know where I stand currently as I don't want to see the scale, but it was 130 a month ago.
I was aiming for about 124 lbs, but I hit 120 lbs over summer by eating 1500 for several months. I was pretty active, but as a short female, I didn't think my calories were too low, I thought I just have to endure the hunger, that it was part of it. I should have seen losing my period as a warning sign. My energy was depleted and I was plagued by thoughts of food 24/7.
The binges became more frequent and worse as time went on. In the month of October, I gave up on counting calories because it was stressing me out, and did the Whole 30 for a month to reset my relationship with food. Not having to count calories was liberating, but I still binged nonetheless - on W30 compliant foods (which is a feat in itself considering W30 bans all sugar, sweeteners, grains, dairy, alcohol, junk foods substitutions etc. Didn't think I could casually put down a pound of nuts but here we are).
At this point, I just don't know how to proceed. I have visibly gained weight. Yess, I work out and a portion of that is muscle, but I have gained a lot of fat as well. I can feel my life becoming more dysfunctional. I don't know how to dig myself out of this hole. I feel like it's become a habit. I binge out of habit. Even if I'm not hungry, I don't even feel the cravings for the sugar anymore. When I think I could stop a binge in its tracks because I don't actually even want the food, I just go for more food anyway.
I guess what I'm looking for with this post is your stories - if you did manage to deal with your binging, I'd love to hear how. If you're struggling, you can share that here as well. I always found it comforting to know I was not alone.
Thanks for reading and all the best on your journey.
I'm maintaining my big weight loss, I went from 270 to 135 at 5'10 male. I pushed myself really hard to lose weight quickly and I cut calories drastically, which I slightly regret now.
I eat one meal a day to maintain, currently 1700 calories. I also exercise a lot.
I spend my whole day thinking about and planning this one meal. I'll prepare things way in advance, I'll even spend ages laying it out to make it look nice. I think I do this because I'm scared to actually eat it 😂
Even after eating this massive meal I'm still hungry sometimes and I don't understand why. I'm eating enough. It's frustrating. Sometimes I think I'm just destined to be fat, I'm a massive glutton and my body is always going to want more food than it needs. But then I realise how ridiculous that is and cut calories for even thinking that lol.
Restricting is much easier than maintaining for me, I like the high of losing weight and pushing myself, but now I've reached my lowest possible goal weight and I have no where to go and it's difficult.
I'm trying to re train my body to not feel hunger so much and just be normal and nothing seems to work. Any suggestions?
I (33F) have trouble with compulsive / borderline binge eating. I’d like to make myself a daily reward chart to help me develop healthier habits, but I’m struggling to put my rewards into positive language, can you help?
I deliberately want the chart to include some easy habits so that so that I am almost guaranteed at least a handful of stars each day. Then I’d like the rewards to graduall my increase towards my goals.
I follow a weight loss program which I know works for me if I stick to it (I don’t know if its against the sub rules to discuss it). I have previously lost 2 stone this way. I have also been seeing a therapist for 2 years, but that’s it’s own story.
The program splits all food into 5 categories, using these terms:
trigger food = cake, chocolate and biscuits. My intermediate goal is to not eat any of these foods. My longer term goal is to be able to eat a small amount of these foods without triggering a binge. But for the purpose of the reward chart, the aim is zero.
synned food = food with low nutritional value. The program allows a small amount of these foods to be eaten in order to make it easier to stick to the plan and not feel deprived. These foods must be weighed and measured. My goal is to eat a maximum of 200 calories of these foods a day. Usually, if I can’t eat one of my trigger foods, I have zero interest in this category, except for maybe a tbsp of flour to thicken a sauce.
healthy extras = cheese and wholemeal cereals (including bread). My goal is to eat a maximum of one portion of each a day, such as sugar-free cereal for breakfast and one portion of cheese in either lunch or dinner.
free food = very low fat, low simple sugar foods like lean protein, rice, potatoes, fat free yoghurt, beans, pulses, all fruit and veggies that aren’t classified as speed food (see below). The program allows for the unlimited consumption of these foods (as long as you are hungry). My goal is to have all of my meals made up of these foods.
speed food = certain high satiety, low calorie food, like leafy salad vegetables and blueberries. My goal is to have a third of every meal made up of these foods.
So far I’d like my chart to include:
I haven’t eaten any trigger foods before breakfast today. I haven’t eaten anything in secret today. I haven’t been to the shop just to buy trigger food. I haven’t eaten any trigger foods today. I haven’t skipped a meal because I was full of trigger food today. I weighed and measured all my synned food food. I haven’t eaten more than 500 calories of synned food today. I haven’t eaten more than 200 calories of synned food today. I weighed or measured my cheese today. I have had one portion or less of cheese today. I weighed or measured my cereals today. I have had one portion or less of cereals today. One of my meals was entirely free food today. Two of my meals were entirely free food today. All of my meals were entirely free food today. One of my meals included a third speed foods today. Two of my meals included a third speed foods today.
Tl;dr - please can you help me rephrase the goals in the last paragraph into positive language, i.e. “I have” rather than “I haven’t”?
So this year has been rough for me, as i’m sure it has been for everyone else. November 2019 I wasn’t living at home (was away for school) and picked up a realllly bad drinking problem and that went on for about 9 months. I was moving back home from school in April and my parents had told me that they sold the house & were moving to a different city. We are currently living at my grandpas house which is horrible because everyone is stuck to their room bc he’s kind of grumpy and morbid to be around. Between the virus and the move, i completely spiralled. I’ve had depression for as long as i can remember but it’s never been this bad. In the past I would be in a depression for a few days to a week and then be okay for a bit but this has been going on for months.
Last year I was eating super clean and lost quite a bit of weight and i felt amazing. That quickly changed when what I mentioned above started happening. i’ve gained about 50-60 pounds after my alcohol and take out food binge and i feel like i’m at a dead end. Most days I can’t get out of bed... but when I do I just move over to my desk because like i said before, we’re all stuck in our rooms. I’m pretty sure most of my depression is coming from my weight gain as i’ve never been this heavy (250lbs) and it’s quite disheartening.
Hi, if you don’t want to read the original post, the basic premise is that I was nearly 600 lbs, and I lost over 350 of that and now my phone doesn’t recognize me as the same person.
First of all, I want to thank everyone for their kind words and love. I wasn’t really sure about posting on here, but it’s proven to be a great idea.
Some background (while retaining enough privacy), my name is Sam. I’m a 25 year old dude living in America. A few traumatic events and stressful times led me to self medicating with food at just 12 years old. I quickly climbed the obesity ranks, clocking in at a massive 300 lbs at just 15.
I was bullied, a lot. Left out of events with friends because my size would be a hinderance, I never did anything with anyone. I became very lonely and even worse with the binge eating.
Soon enough, at 22, I was 600 lbs. Depressed, alone, suicidal. I bought the iPhone X and setting up the face recognition on that phone was the wake up call I needed. All I could see was fat. Just a mound of fat. I have no idea how it even tracked my face if I’m honest.
Okay, now how I did it.
I started small. I started by cooking my own food. Was it healthy? Fuck no. It was all the cookies and pies and friend chicken you could imagine. But it got me off of fast food. No longer could I rely on someone else to make my food. If I wanted to make it, I had to get my ass off the couch and go make it. It led to me eating a lot less.
When I hit my first plateau it was around 500 lbs, which is when I started intermittent fasting. My window was from 12-8. It cut out nighttime snacks which was a big source of calories in my overall diet.
When I reached 425 I hit another plateau. I bought a punching bag, set it up, and beat the shit out of it for exercise. It was whatever I needed it to be. The shitty friends who bullied me and left me out. The food that caused me to get to that weight. Whatever I was pissed off at, I would imagine it in the place of the bag and destroy it. I highly recommend this, because it’s a workout but it also really improves your mental health.
Once I got down to 350 I started using a treadmill for cardio, and that’s when the pounds melted off. I went from 350 to 250 in just a matter of less than 8 months. And that’s how I got to where I am now!
Also, some advice and tips.
If you’re just starting, if you’ve fallen off the wagon, today is the day. The diet doesn’t start tomorrow. The diet doesn’t start on January first. It doesn’t start next week, or next month, or next hour. It starts now. There is no “last hurrah” because you’re already on the diet. If you delay the start once, it becomes easier to do a second time. And a third time. And suddenly a month has passed, you’re 5 pounds up from then, and you feel even worse.
One other thing I did to help me lose weight was watch some of these youtubers:
LukeNarwhal - Luke reads stories from this sub, from his own sub r/lose it narwhals and from his website. His voice is very relaxing and his content is very good for background noise while you do something else.
Will Tennyson - Will is full of great advice but packaging it into easily digestible entertaining content. He does food challenges, workout challenges, and many other things. I would steer clear if you’re not a fan of sex jokes though, because this dude is full of them.
Jordan Shrinks - She went from 303 lbs to about 170 so it’s safe to say that this girl knows what she’s doing. She has very good info on food, on diets, on workouts, on everything. She doesn’t upload very often, but when she does you can be sure it’ll be good.
Erik The Electric - He’s known for doing absolutely absurd food challenges in which he routinely eats 20K+ calories in one sitting. I like watching these because they remind me of how I used to be and why I don’t want to go back there.
FrumpyFit - She is a registered weight loss dietician (if that’s the right name?) and she basically breaks down all the bullshit in the diet industry. She shows all the fake things, all things that won’t work, that are scams, etc.
(Edited in) Dellen Garcia - not really someone I watch but his weight loss journey got me through some of the tough times. It’s very inspiring!
Alright, hope that was able to provide background/context and help to those who needed or wanted it :)
Yoga’s health benefits seem endless, making it a great low-impact exercise to keep you healthy and lean. Not only does practicing yoga help you drop pounds and build muscle, it can also reduce pain, boost mood, lower blood pressure and encourage sleep.
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For the ultimate hip stretch in a soothing and peaceful move, look no further than the Butterfly Pose. This is a great pose for deep stretching in the hips, thighs, groin and knees. Sink into this simple stretch with feet pressed together and knees pointing out to the sides, creating butterfly wings with your legs. Make it a go-to pose for hitting those areas of your hips that are often overlooked, nurturing fatigued muscles, relieving stress and even potentially reducing pain associated with PMS and menopause! Try it here >
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*Always consult a doctor before beginning any exercise routine.
