I had the opportunity to take a photo in the same spot 3 years apart in my weight loss journey

https://imgur.com/a/Upxkr0G

I was recently out dirt biking and realized that I was in the same spot as I was 3 years ago for the photo I had been showing people as a "before" photo of my heaviest. The top photo is at my heaviest around the start of my weight loss journey in the beginning of 2018 and the second is my current progress about 88 lbs down in early 2021. I achieved this with mostly CICO and a bit of exercise. I'm wearing an under-jersey chest protector in the bottom photo that makes me look a bit heavier.

I'm a long time lurker on here without posting, and this subreddit has been very inspirational for working toward my weight loss goals.

Some NSVs: shirt size 2XL to L, pants waist 40 to 32, dress clothes labeled slim fit actually fitting better than regular fit.

Things that have helped the most:

• Understanding that food calories are much more important than exercise calories (thanks to this subreddit)
• Counting calories and tracking with myfitnesspal
• Cooking most of my own food and aiming for cooking 3-6 portions of 500 calories to be used as lunches and dinners. I cook whatever I want to eat and track all the ingredients in MFP while cooking, then figure out how many portions it needs to become. This also helps me make good cooking decisions - when I go to enter 3 Tbsp of oil, it makes me consider whether 1 Tbsp would be adequate.
  
• When I cook, I portion my food before I start eating. I previously had a bad habit of taking more helpings from the pot and eating too much. That temptation is removed if the food is already in containers in the fridge.
  
• Light breakfasts that approximately match the calories I burn on my morning walk.
• Trying to get a bit more exercise. Adopting a dog and walking him 2-3x per day has helped recently. When I was going into work every day, bicycling 13 mi round trip a few times a week was helpful as well.
  

My goal from the start has been to still enjoy the foods and beverages I like, but to be more conscious of amounts and calories. There have definitely been ups/downs and plateaus, and it has gotten a bit harder as I have approached my goal weight, which I still haven't achieved. Overall, I have made great progress and am much more healthy than I was 3 years ago.

submitted by /u/chrismtb
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