Despite a stressful senior year in an engineering program, I have finally hit my goal weight! Background, progress pics, what worked for me, and some NSVs.

Me at 205 lbs in June 2020, at the start of my second attempt at weight loss. Pardon the 1st quarantine hair lol

Me now at 170 lbs April 2021

My LoseIt weight progress. Weight loss isn’t smooth or linear, y’all!

I'm so happy to finally join the club! It was probably the hardest single thing I've ever done, but the idea of being at a healthy weight kept me going and it was worth it.

This might be long, so just skip to the parts that are interesting for you!

Background

Like a lot of you, I was overweight since I was a kid, steadily gaining weight up till the last year of high school, where I reached my maximum weight of 224lbs at 6" (101.7kg at 183.5cm). At that weight I'd get random chest pain (HBP runs in my family) and because of my diet I'd get upset stomachs a lot. I also hated the way I looked at that weight, and since my high school was in a wealthier area and almost all students played a sport, I was one of only a handful of overweight or obese kids. I would find myself wishing I could just wake up with a normal, healthy body.

My weight loss started when I went to university, with two factors kickstarting my weight loss: being away from home, and walking everywhere. I was 100% sedentary in high school and ate fairly poorly, but at university I had to walk to all my classes and events, and was also more in control of my diet. It was around this time I started logging calories, staying consistent until I started my second year of school and falling off the wagon after having lost 20 pounds or so. Eventually, I started my co-op weighing around 210 pounds, and this was when I started attempt #2 at consistent weight loss.

My Process

The only way I lost weight was through two methods: CICO (calories in-calories out) and IF (intermittent fasting). I started logging at the beginning of 2020, but I wasn't terribly consistent, and had lost only about 5 pounds in 5 months (which was much lower than my goal). Starting mid June 2020, I switched from MFP to LoseIt!, and started logging every day. I set my weight loss to 1.5lbs lost/week, even though I targeted 1lb/week just to give me a bit of wiggle room in case I went over my calorie budget for the day. My daily budget was about 1800 starting in June, eventually decreasing to 1500 calories when I started this spring semester, though I bumped that back up to 1800 since it was shaping up to be a rough term. I lost 1lb a week consistently until I started this spring semester, and my weight loss slowed down almost to a halt just above 170lbs until I saw that I had hit my goal over the weekend. Finally, as far as changes to my diet, the only things I did was buy lower calorie versions of what I ate, particularly snacks, and just ate smaller portions.

NSVs

1. Being in a body that isn't always in pain, and can do basic things easily, is great! I used to get super embarrassed at how winded I'd get just walking places, and would be concerned at the random chest and stomach pain I'd feel a lot of the time. My weight loss solved both issues, and those random pains have all but gone away! I’m often surprised at how not exhausted I am after climbing stairs or walking up a hill, even if I’m not particularly in shape yet.

2. My confidence has skyrocketed. I used to look in the mirror and hate what I saw, and this feeling would invade other aspects of my life. I was pretty self-deprecating and didn't take risks, but now I feel much more comfortable talking to people and being more open about myself! People sometimes just start talking to me at the supermarket and stuff, which is an odd feeling.

3. Clothes fit so much better! I went from an XL shirt size to a L or sometimes even M, and I don't feel like I have to suck my stomach in at all times. My belt is almost at its last hole, and many of my pants barely hang on around my waist.

4. There's a great satisfaction in not being part of a "problem" or "epidemic", especially since most of the US is now overweight and obese, being healthy is actually the minority of people. I was an obese 17 year old and so I always felt I was part of what was wrong in terms of health in this country, and hated being part of the obese kid statistic. This might just be me here, but I'm pretty happy that I was able to become healthy in a country that doesn't seem to promote that kind of lifestyle.

Where to go now

Even though I'm at my goal weight, I'm not quite at my goal body. I never said that I hated exercise (though that's not far from the truth) or that I actively avoided it, so later this year when I'm done with my degree, move out of my apartment, and COVID quarantines are lifted, I will start picking up an exercise habit. My arms and legs have lost some of their muscle and so I want to look into gym going for weight lifting and cardio. I have also started to increase my calories to hit maintenance while continuing to log all my food.

I’m so proud of myself for being able to do this, and I hope that maintenance goes as well as weight loss! I couldn’t have done it without the support of this community and the motivation from posts just like this, and I hope this post has motivated a few of you guys too!

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