HEY /r/loseit !
Brace yourselves because this is going to be a really, really long post.
Skip to the bottom for the tl;dr to see the summary and pictures.
Introduction
Hey. I created this Reddit account over a year ago and joined this subreddit amongst a few others to help motivate myself to lose weight. What I found was a welcoming community of like minded individuals that motivated me everyday to achieve my goals. There was a period of time where I would spend hours a day reading success stories and NSV/SV posts which would motivate me further. For the record I believe I would have reached my goals without this subreddit but when I had literally no one else to share my achievements and progress with this subreddit was always there for me. I got so much out of all the motivational posts throughout those first months of my journey. I hope that I can at the very least inspire or motivate just 1 other person with this post. If I can do that that I will be happy. Thank you all :D
I've been waiting so very long to make this post so lets get into it!
Day 1
Q: So why was I so overweight to begin with?
A: Ate too much food
That is it for the most part. I also did not exercise at all but at the end of the day I was obese because I ate too much food. During the last 6 years or so I had become naturally less active as I studied at university and started working office jobs. I stopped playing sport and became less active in general. I was really uneducated about food. More on this later. I was full of /r/fatlogic.
My day 1 started in an odd way. I was watching the /r/anime Hunter × Hunter and the protagonist (a young strong energetic boy) did some sort of fighting move. I can't remember what exactly but I think it was a jump kick. I stood at and decided to imitate for fun. Not only did I fail miserably but I was so incredibly out of breath and sweating by doing such a simple task. At that moment I glanced towards my conveniently placed wardrobe mirrors and was filled with utter disappointment. That was a very low point in my life. I vowed then and there to stop ignoring my issue and make a change. The very next day was my Day 1.
You can see my /r/loseit post: Starting My Journey
To date my journey has been ongoing for 470 days or 15 months.
Starting the Journey (Day 1 - Month 1)
I dived right into learning about food and exercise. That is just how I am. I don't recommend this for everyone but when I get motivated to do something I usually give 110% and then some. Anyway, within a few days I had learnt about CICO. I learnt that I ate around 2800-3200 calories a day at the time. I learnt that my eating habits weren't terribly bad. I did eat chocolates and other junk foods but not a crazy amount. Maybe 600 calories of junk food a day. Still a fair bit but where was all this weight coming from?
RICE!
F@#$ing rice. As a middle easterner, we eat a lot of rice. I discovered I was eating around 6+ portions of rice every single lunch. Something like 1200 calories of rice per lunch. That's excluding the side dish. I also ate something like 800 calories of rice again for dinner. So 2000 calories of just rice. Every Single Day. Wow. I also noted some other things. I had way too much milk with my breakfast cereal. I would drink all the remaining milk also after the cereal was done. Something like 3 cups of full cream milk (750ml) with my cereal.
So, I ended up coming up with a 1500 calorie diet plan. Yes this jump is big, 2800kcal+ diet to 1500kcal+ diet. Please consult a dietitian/nutritionist for your needs. The first day was terrible. All I could think of was food. I was hungry around the clock and very weak. The next day was no better but I still stuck to it. Week 1 wen't by, okay a little better, not too hungry anymore, drinking a lot of water helps. Week 2 still weak some days but not too bad. Week 3, pretty good. Week 4, 1500 kcals is normal now, sometimes I feel like its too much food. I've adapted to cope with 1500 kcals.
Exercise wise, I'm walking/jogging on the treadmill on one of the lowest settings. But hey it makes me sweat.
Mid-Way (Month 1 - Month 5)
Same thing on-going. CICO and exercise. Exercise mainly to feel better and I feel real benefits. I feel more energetic throughout the day. I'm not as tired anymore. I can lose colds much more easily now. I use to have a cold for like half the year but now I lose colds in 0.5-2 days? What is this magic? Trivial tasks like walking up stairs or jogging to catch a bus no longer make we sweat. Resting heart rate is lowered. Doc says I'm no longer at risk of getting diabetics and cholesterol is lower. 1500 kcals still feels normal and great. I go off track sometimes but nothing major. I'm extremely strict with my calorie counting. Never underestimate, always over estimate. Always scale everything, don't blindly trust packaging. Avoid eating out as much as possible. If eating out, something healthy if possible, Subway was my goto.
Road Bump (Month 5 - Month 11)
At this point I was at a very decent weight. I had lost most of what I wanted to lose. Slowly but surely stopped tracking food on tracking apps. Thought I could eyeball it. Slowly begin eating more and more thinking "its not much". Stop weighing myself weekly like I used to. Start eating out more. Gain like 5kg/11lbs initially then maintain at 83kg/182lbs for months on end. Stop exercising. Go from running every day to 4 times a week to once a week to nothing. Then have a really terrible month (where I start snacking too much but regular meal portions still under control) and gain a lot of weight. Jump on scale and it reads 90kg/198lbs. Okay heading back in the opposite direction now in major way, need to get things back into gear.
Back on Track (Month 11 - Month 15)
Counting calories is back. Goal is still 1500 kcals. Bring back good habits like weekly weigh in, strict scaling. Start losing again. Then the weight just kept going down. Experiment with food a little. Eat out once or twice a week max. Routine is pretty solid. Exercise is very solid. Make sure I run 4 times a week no matter what. I'm happy with getting back on track. I didn't gain it all back, only a tiny bit before I started losing again. Need to maintain what I'm doing 24/7 as a life style to ensure I don't even have hiccups like that.
Difference of Weight Loss
Here I'm going to outline the actual before/after differences of losing that weight for me.
| Topic | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Energy Levels | Constantly tired. Even after 12+ hours of sleep. Sleep a lot. Feel sluggish after 10am. | Energetic all the time. Feel fantastic after early morning runs. Can break into running a 5km/3miles at any time of day just like that. |
| Amount of Food Consumed | Eat a lot of food. Eat a lot of rice. Spend a lot of money on junk food/eating out. | Eat less food. Save more money. Eat out less, cook more. |
| Food Education | Didn't know much about food nutritional/calories in food | Now I know what I need to know to eat healthy portions. |
| Snack Consumption | Ate snacks and felt guilty. | Eat snacks/cakes etc on special occasions without feeling guilt. Calculated and planned and worked into my controlled diet. |
| /r/fatlogic | I'm fat because bad genes, X person eats more junk food than me and is skinny, so lucky | No they just don't eat 2000 kcals of rice daily. Work hard, focus on yourself. |
| Bus Seats | No one ever sat next to me on bus even with seats open. Took up 1.5 seats, can't blame them. | People sit on bus next to me. Yay they fit. |
| Girls | Not many female friends. 0 confidence to talk to girls | More female friends. More confidence when talking to girls ;) |
| Immune System | Got sick a lot. Every cold stayed with me 2 weeks min | Can now lose colds in 0.5-2 days. Not sure if related but its insane. |
| Heart Rate | High resting heart rate. Any movement = sweat and high BPM | Lower resting heart rate. Can jog modest pace endlessly with lowish heart rate. |
| Blood Tests | Had a few issues. Was at risk of getting diabetics. Cholesterol levels not so good. | No longer at risk. Blood tests show normal levels for everything. |
| Anime Stunt Double | Couldn't do stupid jump kick | Can do that jump kick no sweat now :) |
Advice to others
- Motivate yourself as much as possible. You can do this!
- Don't let others get you down. Don't be fooled by others fatlogic.
- Doctors/Dietitians/Nutritionists give solid, scientific based suggestions but you don't have to blindly follow them. I understand this is a controversial topic here but my nutritionist absolutely didn't want me on 1500 calories for the longest time (even by 3 month mark) and wanted me at 2000. I listened to her but after own personal research and feedback from my own body/wellbeing/history decided to continue with 1500kcals a day.
- Water is great, most of us don't get enough. Keep a bottle on you 24/7 and stay hydrated.
- Junk Food/Cake/Chocolate/Chips are fine. Yes ideally you'd have 0 junk food for the rest of your life but we're only human. I eat 25grams of chips every day (roughly 130kcals and my only snack). I also have cake on birthdays etc but plan around it by eating a smaller lunch etc.
- Exercise is great. Not only does it help you lose but it offers cardiovascular health benefits.
- Experiment with food/diets. I used to eat big breakfasts, small lunches and big dinners. This sucked for me. I now eat tiny breakfasts, huge lunches and tiny dinners. Fits my activity levels well and leaves me full around the clock. Also experiment with different types of foods. Used to eat some untasty salad for a fair amount of calories but have replaced it with frozen vegies since. I can eat more now for less calories which is great.
- Weigh yourself regularly. Always under same circumstances. Imo naked after using restroom at the same time each morning before eating anything is best. Daily or weekly is up to you. I do weekly do avoid day to day fluctuations. Also I'd recommend logging your weight somewhere (I used apps as well as an excel spreadsheet).
- Weigh everything on a scale. Try to overestimate calories by a little if you are unsure rather than underestimating.
- Find filler foods that are low calories. For me Tic Tacs and gum are amazing. Only 1-5 calories a pop and stops me from eating other junk that is way more calorie dense.
- Add vitamins to your diet. I take Fish Oil and Vitamin D. Keep in mind fish oil has a few calories, don't forget to count em!
- Never. Give. Up.
tl;dr (Too Long Didn't Read)
Used to weigh 112.4kg/248lbs | Now weigh 74.1kg/163lbs
BMI used to be: 37 | BMI is now: 24.4
Day 1 started when I couldn't replicate a jump kick move in real life that I saw in an anime. Learnt about CICO, food analysis, calories and exercise. 1500kcals a day and exercise for months. Had small rough patch in middle where I regained some of lost weight but didn't let it get too far out of hand. Have been going strong ever since.
Pictures
You can find some before and after pictures here on /r/progresspics:
https://www.reddit.com/r/progresspics/comments/9ptmve/m2458_248lbs_163lbs_85lbs_15_months_just_lose_it/?ref=share&ref_source=link
Weight log graph:
https://i.imgur.com/Kq0SzLX.png
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