Day 1 with CICO!

Just started CICO, and for someone with no prior understanding of calories, it has been eye-opening!

For example, I only just calculated now that a slice of white toast with half a smashed avocado, a slice of smoked salmon and a smear of pesto aioli is 375 cal.

A cake doughnut from the supermarket (okay, okay, I had a pack of these in the house from last week’s grocery shop, before I came across CICO!) is 208 cal.

A homemade mug of matcha green tea latte is 85 cal. (I actually thought this one would be more!)

My stats: Age: 28f SW: 152 lbs (for a height of 5’2”, BMI 27.8 = overweight) GW: 128 lbs (BMI 23.4 = (high) normal)

My TDEE is 1517 cal, and day 1 intake was 1166 cal. This rate of weight loss will be quite slow, I’m aware, so I do want to ramp it up a bit.

My relationship with food is that I come from a culture that sees eating as a social activity rather than a physical need - friends and family always come together over food - big banquets, feasts, etc.

Cooking for, and giving food to, someone is seen as a show of love and hospitality. The good thing about this is that I feel less motivated to eat when I’m alone.

I have a question though about restaurant dining (not chain or fast food places that have standard menus and calorie counts).

How do you guys estimate calories in a restaurant meal? Especially if you’re going family-style and a bunch of you are each taking a bit from a bunch of shared dishes?

I love eating out at restaurants with friends, and it’s my main way to socialise on weeknights (as I work a 9-5 job). I eat out with friends maybe on average 3 nights a week. I don’t drink alcohol so that saves both empty calories and money. I am not going to give up my social life for CICO.

My thinking is that on days where I know I will be eating out with friends that night, I will make that my only calorie intake for the day. One restaurant meal (no beverages) can’t be over 1500 cal, right? I am pretty good at only eating until sated, not “full-full”.

I have never been a breakfast person because I don’t feel hungry in the mornings. About 50% of the time I don’t get to have lunch because of how busy I get at work. And I’m not a snacker either, so it’s often quite common for me to get to dinner without eating anything, without trying.

I know eating nothing but dinner on some nights sounds unhealthy. But for the purposes of CICO, it doesn’t matter, right? Like, 1200 cal is 1200 cal, whether you have that over two meals or one, or no matter what time of day. Is my understanding correct?

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My current journey- 60lbs lost in ~1yr

I thought I'd share my journey with you guys. I find reading all yours to be motivating so I felt like I would add mine. I'm basing this off general memory so the dates / weight might be a bit off. Sadly I lost access to MyFitnessPal app which tracked all this.

• August 2017 ( 230lbs )

I weighed in on a scale before leaving in a small airplane on a fishing trip at 230lbs.

Aside from the doctors office, I never weighed myself or really thought much about it other than being obviously overweight (but not massive).

Seeing that number be so high (for me) made me consider losing some weight. Previously I had done light jogging on and off and felt better, but didn't look into my diet much if at all.

This was a turning point in my life that I had to do something about it. I didn't want to get any heavier.

At this point I started weighing myself every so often and on/off counting calories with MyFitnessPal.

• Jan 1st 2018 ( ~225lbs )

I made my new years resolution to quit sugar almost entirely.

I stuck to this and strangely It wasn't as difficult as i would've expected.

Previously I was a huge pop/redbull/candy eater, and ate it far too often. I would regularly have a redbull and large cup reese cups as a treat.

• March 2018 ( ~215 - 220lbs )

My diet stayed about the same as before I quit sugar. Still eating terribly. Still ordering macdonalds and other fast food as a treat, often at least once or twice a week.

I hadn't really noticed losing weight at this time, but I was very glad to be distancing myself from the 230 mark.

I started to consider my dietary choices at this time, but still stubborn and largely unchanged aside from sugary goods.

• June 2018 ( ~205 lbs )

Weirdly enough, I didn't really noticing losing the weight even though overall 25lbs lost is a huge difference. I think my body frame hid the weight pretty well?

Standing on the scale at 205 was motivating. I knew with some changes I could be under 200 lbs. It was at this point that I started to take weight loss seriously, and objectively reconsider my dietary choices.

At this point I started researching weight loss and signed up for the gym. From this point on I go to the gym between 3-5 times a week for 1hr of cardio.

• July 2018 ( ~199 lbs )

I've completely swore off almost all "junk" foods that I would eat. I've learned to understand that healthy people don't find themselves eating extremely high calorie foods ( pizza, poutine, fast foods like macdonalds ) outside of very rare occasions.

Every 2 weeks or so I would Lan party with my friends, this almost always resulted in eating extremely above my calorie count, and in my opinion borders or rests squarely on what can be called binge eating.

What I've begin to do from this point on is plan my meals and order meals separately from my friends. I primarily order a pita or salad instead of pizza.

I purchased a digital scale from amazon. From this point on I weigh myself almost everyday.

• August 2018 ( ~185 lbs )

Anniversary of the fishing trip that inspired me to change my choices. Hitting 180lbs felt amazing when I returned from the 1 week trip. The entire time I tried my best not too eat too much food (very difficult when everyone around you is overweight and eats for enjoyment). I did extremely well and to my surprise I came home to my scale at a nice 185 lbs.

• September 2018 ( 180 - 175 lbs )

I started realizing that when drinking at lan parties with my friends, I still consumed too much food in terms of calories. Healthier food yes, but still too much. I focused on not eating more than I need to, which honestly is still very difficult when drinking alcohol.

It's a lot easier to be more lax when drunk, partying and having a great time.

This is a huge roadblock for me currently, and in terms of weight loss sets me back about 3-4 days simply by overeating.

This has to stop, and has become a roadblock for me, but I'm doing great I think.

• October 10th 2018 ( 170lbs )

This is essentially where I'm at now. Still losing weight, but at a somewhat slower pace. I'm much happier with my body now, and I can even tell just moving around tight spaces or laying down in bed. I can literally feel my body where what used to be fat was. Very good feeling.

• Overall thoughts

Weight loss rapidly started when I cut out junk type foods (pizza etc) paired with diet, exercise and calorie counting. I've resigned to the fact that I no longer need to eat unhealthy foods.

Chicken with hotsauce is my go to meal, but I make a point to myself not to starve and have a fulfilling, but not stuffed lunch and dinner (I never really eat breakfast, I'm never hungry in the morning).

If you starve yourself you will not be able stay on track, it's basically torture. Getting used to a more reasonable calorie intake is very important.

If you are overweight it is this: you eat too much food. period. Once I swallowed that pill, everything made much more sense to me.

I'm really happy with myself and my confidence is through the roof, and every pound lost feels better than the last. Hope to check in with you guys again when I've hit my goal.

This is honestly probably one of the best experiences of my life. It changes everything and I couldn't be happier. Also I seemingly no longer have a butt. Or at least a big one.

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I feel like I’m losing my mind

Hello r/loseit!

Last year I lost 55 pounds with CICO and finished a marathon with motivation from this community. Unfortunately I fell off and started binging again. I’m back on track and have been losing weight again, but I feel like I’m losing my mind even though I’m still consuming around 1800 net cals a day.

I feel way too energized all the time, I’m getting severely angry, anxious, and paranoid. My friends have pointed out that I’ve been talking to myself in public. I’m having severe depressive and manic episodes for no external reasons. Basically my emotions are completely out of whack.

This isn’t anything knew to me, but ever since my year of eating whatever I want I’ve realized that I only have these symptoms when I’m dieting. I feel like I’m losing my mind and it makes it so hard for me to continue eating healthy. I know I did it once before so I can do it again but does anyone have any tips on retaining sanity during weight loss?

Does this warrant seeing a therapist or some other professional maybe?

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Gained 55 pounds but am going strong again.

A few years ago I went from around 260, don't know the exact number because at the time I was scared to step on a scale, to 180 and thought that I was done and could maintain that weight without paying attention. This worked for about a month and then the weight started to creep back without me even paying attention. I think that I subconsciously thought that since I was not as bad as I was before then a few pounds was fine and I was doing fine. This was until around a year when I saw a picture of myself and didn't even recognize myself, I forced myself to step back onto the scale to see the damage and I was back up to 235 pounds. This was a wake up call for me and I started to get back onto the wagon.

I was having a much harder time maintaining any sort of weight loss and kept losing a bit then gaining it back and realized I needed a different method to lose the weight. I finally realized that I needed to exchange my unhealthy snacking habits with healthy ones. I turns out that when you eat when bored you just need to fill up free times with some sort of activity and for me it has been lifting weights. Every time I get a craving to go and snack on something I lift weights for a few minutes and that usually makes the cravings go away. I have not really built up much muscle because I am on a calorie deficit but I have gotten a lot more toned than I was before. I am currently at 185 and at the rate that I am going I will reach my goal weight in around 2 months.

Here are some pictures of the progress, I don't have any from my heaviest but here is one from my sophomore year of high school an a current pic https://imgur.com/a/A7V5WlU

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I’m getting frustrated with lack of progress everywhere but the scale.

I’m going through a bit of a rough patch with my diet and I really don’t know what I can do about it. In the last 7 months I’ve lost a little over 80 pounds from about 325 to my current just over 240. I’ve managed the weight loss pretty well,straight CICO with a focus on protein. I’ve hit a couple of plateaus and I think I’m due to lower my calories again but overall it’s gone pretty well. . It should be a great thing, but it really isn’t.

I look basically the same. Still the same basic proportions, I’ve gone down a couple of pants sizes but there’s been no real visual difference and just pants sizes, I’m wearing the same shirts and they fit fine, now there’s just some deflated loose skin at the arm holes. My face has changed a little but forbthe worse. I don’t feel better. In fact I probably feel a little worse. I feel weaker and I’ve had a couple of injuries that I suspect I wouldn’t have gotten if I was still bigger. My knees still hurt despite that being the second most driving reason for the decision to lose.

It’s getting really hard to stay motivated at this point because I am going through all this trouble and denying myself for at this point what is just a number on a scale without any real difference. You assume someone loses 80 pounds that there’d be a difference. The progress pics you see are always crazy and it’s someone who has lost 40 or 50. Or people say they feel so much better and I just don’t. It’s really hard to stay positive at this point when I just feel like I’m wasting my time and working for basically no reason.

I could use some advice or words of encouragement. I guess this is mostly just venting and a reminder not everyone who loses a lot of weight ends up a great success story.

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I have been in denial about gaining weight. Now I am 190 lbs and scared about how hard it will be to lose weight in my late 30ies. It is so daunting. How do I start?

The last 2 years have been a very challenging time for me (leaving high pressure job close to burnout, starting a new job in a different country). I gained a lot of weight, without having the energy to do anything about it. I just let it happen and did not question my unhealthy habits because other things were more important. I have been in the upper region of healthy BMI all my life, but now I can no longer ignore my overweight. I need to do something.

​

I have done this before, 5 years ago when I decided I had to lose weight. I lost 20 lbs over 4 months through intermittent fasting. However during the period of weight loss, it completely consumed my daily life and I was hardly thinking about anything else, I had to structure my days around it and at times I was fairly miserable. I am at a stage in my life where I have a lot of things that I need to achieve and take care of. I am scared that when I start trying to lose weight again, I will have to devote all my energy and free time to this goal at the detriment of everything else in my life. How do I prevent this from happening? How do I start losing weight without completely obsessing about it? Also, I know the changes I will have to make are pretty drastic, and this is scaring me too. I am in my late thirties and from a family where all women in have become heavy in their middle age. So I am afraid I will make a lot of sacrifices but in the end I won't see any success.

Please I need some encouragement and pointers on where to start. Also, advice from women who lost weight in middle age, because I know it is not as easy as in your twenties.

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Sunday, 14 October 2018? Start here!

Today is your Day 1?

Welcome to r/Loseit!

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.

• Quick Start Guide - Build your foundation!
• Loseit Compendium - Frame it out!
• FAQ - Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions!

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