Tracking weight loss

So Ive been keto/intermittent fasting for a while. I lose weight, but then they next two days I step on the scale Im back up a lb or two. Three days go by and maybe Im back and the weight I was. Is this normal to bounce around? It makes me sad to enter my weight and then put it back up! Which numbers should I use to accurately track my loss? Only the ones that show drops or all the bouncing around?

As a side note, my loss has slowed down substantially. I lost 15 lbs right off the bat, and now its like a half a lb a week, little more if I manage to exercise. Anyone else notice that slowing down?

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How Hunger Can Be Good

One of my biggest hurdles when I first started cutting back on what I ate was the experience of hunger. I basically had a phobia of it; I had to fight the urge to eat purely out of fear that if I didn't I would soon encounter it. It took me a while to accept that hunger wasn't something I needed to be afraid of and that, even if I felt it, it didn't mean I had to eat something immediately!

I found an article which addresses the notion that hunger is not always a bad thing and can sometimes even be a good one:

Have you made a New Year’s resolution? One of the most common resolutions, of course, is weight loss. If you’re thinking about cutting back on unhealthy foods, adding more fresh fruits, veggies, and whole plant-based dishes, kicking up your fitness routine, we’re in support of all those positive actions! If, however, you’re feeling intimidated by that edginess of hunger that inevitably accompanies weight loss (or maybe feeling just a little edgy even now, reading this), I completely hear you.

The truth is, no matter how sustainable and healthy your weight loss plans are, in the process of trimming down, you will absolutely feel hunger more than usual. Although I haven’t actively tried to lose weight in years, any time my weight goes down due to being more active and not having the time or the mental space to eat a lot, I do feel hunger more sharply; conversely, when I don’t feel hungry throughout the day, for a week or more, my weight goes up. And years ago, when I was actually trying to lose substantial amounts of weight, I used to go to bed feeling really hungry and almost weak. This resulted in slimming down, but even to this day I have an aversion against going to bed famished. (This is what juice fasts feel like, you guys!)

But the prospect of hunger doesn’t have to be so daunting and discouraging. While I still don’t recommend going to bed hungry, there are studies that show feeling hunger throughout the day has unexpected benefits. Here is what you should know about the upside of hunger for health and wellness.

1. Being hungry before eating keeps you healthier: According to a recent Cornell study, being actually hungry before a meal keeps your blood sugar levels lower even after the meal, than otherwise. When the researchers measured the subjects’ blood glucose levels after eating, the subjects who were “moderately hungry” before the meal had lower glucose levels than those who were “not particularly hungry.” (If you ever get super hungry and eat a rich meal, and feel satisfied yet relatively light rather than bloated and uncomfortable, this is why). Raised glucose levels is detrimental to your cellular health and has long-term health risks.

2. Hunger helps you make better decisions: It’s often assumed that being hungry (or in another physically triggered “hot state”) is detrimental to making smart choices. But it turns out that the opposite is true: in a recent study by the University of Utretcht researchers, moderately hungry people performed better at complex tasks designed to test their ability to choose long-term benefits over short-term gratification, including tests of how they choose among decks of cards with rewards. The theory is that, instead of making you impulsive, hunger actually sharpens your gut instincts to the point where it helps you make good choices even when the outcomes are not immediately clear. Personally, I find that having an empty stomach helps me think and behave a little more sharply, which is why I like to do important work before meals or without mindless snacking.

So what does this mean in reality? I don’t mean to glorify hunger or suggest that it’s the right condition for everyone–or for anyone to experience for prolonged periods of time. If you are young and still growing, pregnant or nursing, or otherwise have high nutritional needs, you should by all means avoid hunger. And if you have a history of struggling with body image issues and eating disorders, you shouldn’t take this to mean starving yourself is actually beneficial. But there are ways that accepting hunger as a part of your life can actually promote healthy and balanced eating style.

Use hunger as a signal to know when to eat: This means that you not only hold off on eating until you actually feel hungry, but that when you do feel hungry, you eat properly. So much of our disordered eating styles and food anxieties come from reversing this natural rhythm: eating for reasons that have nothing to do with hunger, and then trying to make up for it by skipping meals to the point of being famished. These other, incorrect cues include eating because it’s a certain time of day; boredom; stress and anxieties; social reasons; and even simply because it’s fun. Instead, try to make hunger your first cue for food.

Lose the fear of hunger and know that you can control/respond to it: there is a certain phobia of hunger in our culture, leading us to think that if you’re on a healthy weight loss/maintenance regimen, you shouldn’t ever feel hungry, or that if you’re hungry all the time, you’re about to gain a lot of weight. But neither of those things are true–hunger is just another message that your body is sending you, and giving it what it needs lets you be in control of your health.

Know what kind of eating pattern works for you: I’m a staunch believer in not going to bed with an empty stomach because it causes me to wake up in the middle of the night–and studies indeed confirm that hunger hormone ghrelin can disrupt your sleep. On the other hand, I like to start off my morning very light, usually with just a coffee–for the same reason hunger wakes me up at night, it makes me feel more awake in the morning! But what feels good for my body and mind might not work for you. Listen to your body to find a routine that makes you feel light and satiated throughout the day.

Don’t take it too far: The studies that have shown hunger to be beneficial for health or mental clarity have had subjects report “moderate,” rather than “severe,” hunger. Feeling a manageable amount of hunger before meals is good for tuning into an intuitive eating pattern; but don’t take it to the point of having hunger pangs, dizziness, irritation, weakness, etc.

https://www.peacefuldumpling.com/why-being-hungry-can-be-good-for-health-and-wellness

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Sunday, 04 November 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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Getting back at it!

I've been up and down all over the place with my weight loss journey. Before my daughter was born almost 7 years ago I was at my heaviest at 225 lbs. I managed to eat better, workout more and be more mindful of my actions that lead me to my heaviest. I managed to hit the 160s!

I've gained a lot of the weight back... 195 on the scale this morning. I know I can be even better than I was before. I've gained and lost the same 30 pounds so many times. This time around I have to make it stick. I feel like being a part of this community and reporting in every so often will help keep me on track, so that's part of the plan!

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115lbs lost in 11 months - you asked for it, here is how I did it!

Hello everyone!

I posted my progress pictures about 2 weeks ago and some fellow Redditors were asking how I did it.

Here is my original post. Was not really planning on posting how I did it because I have a feeling that I'll mess up and just jumble words here but I think I owe it to this sub to at least try, so here goes :)

Basic stats first: 33yo Male | H-5'9 | SW-310lbs | CW-195LBS | Lost- 115lbs 11 month progress

Bit of Medical background: Diagnosed Hypertension | Previous cases of Gout | Heart murmur | Ruled out Lupus (this will be important, later in my story)

Bit of story time: What triggered my frantic push to get healthy and lose weight was when I got Gout on my right foot damn that bitch hurt like hell, while I was at my GP's office getting diagnosed she noticed a red T pattern redness in my face which she said was a classic symptom of Lupus, what?!? Lupus! I've only heard of that in House episodes, she requested a couple of tests just to make sure but the results would take time, 2 weeks it would take. During the waiting period I went to a hell of an emotional roller coaster, I was really down at one point (note: I have suicidal tendencies but I'm good I can handle them) then on another point I was really hoping that everything would turn up okay and I would muster enough motivation in my head and convince myself that once I get good results I will finally push to lose weight. So results came and I was negative for Lupus yay! so that was my turning point.

Non-negotiables

While all of this is happening I am also taking my MBA so one thing that kinda made everything hard was I needed to get healthy and lose as much weight I can on a limited budget. I did try to go the Keto route but that triggered my Gout again so Keto is a no go.

• Weight loss should be on a budget
• No gym membership since it would cost too much
• Diet pills are out of the question since I'm already taking various maintenance meds

Only really big item I bought were my Payless shoes ($10.00) and this digital scale ($36.00) you can say this is a budget friendly weight loss program lol

My only advantage: I can function with minimal sleep, 4-6 hours and I'm already good

How I did it: (note I never really wrote my process so my timeline is far from perfect below but it's pretty close)

Step 0: I have drawn most of my motivation from this, 3 years ago I stopped smoking - cold turkey. I always tell myself if I was able to do that with cigarettes that actually has an addicting substance in it, for sure I can control my eating habits, I also realized that stopping gave me extra energy that enabled me to move around more, so folks if you are smoking STOP!

Step 1: CICO initial target was 2000 Cal daily limit, I downloaded one of those free apps for Android to track everything, during my first couple of days it was rocky but I just kept on it

Step 2: Being Asian, Rice is a big chunk of my diet and I'm also a big fan of Sodas, when I noticed that I'm really struggling to keep below the 2000 Cal limit I quit Rice,Noodles and bread then as a bonus I stopped drinking anything except water. Boy when I did this 2000 Cal was sooo easy to achieve, I kept on it for about month, at this point I was losing 2-3 pounds a week.

Step 3: CICO target changed to 1500 Cal daily limit, harder that I thought, cravings were really constant I battled the cravings with that YouTube video of a morbidly obese lady being autopsied, couple minutes of the video and poof! cravings are gone. at this point still losing 2-3 pounds a week. I did this for about another month or so

Step 4: CICO target changed to 1300 Cal daily limit. Man the struggle was real here! It went down to me eating 2x a day only and eliminating anything salty or sugary. I would often skip social gatherings just so I can control my food intake, good thing I got used to it fast!

You might ask what I was eating at this point, I like eggs! and it is really cheap here a tray of it about 30 pcs. is only $2.72 for real! So I would often eat 2 boiled eggs in the morning then 2 boiled eggs in the evening with a piece of steamed chicken breast or fried pork chop. I mainly stuck to eggs because I really like em sunny side up, boiled poached, scrambled or omelet style I never get bored of eggs plus eating eggs does not trigger my gout!

At this point my weight loss was going around 2-5 pounds a week and I kept at it for a couple of months or so

Please note that I am only human so there are moments that I would over eat and there were weeks that I would not lose any weight (damn).

Step 5: The first time I plateaued, I panicked I realized I was on it when I was not losing anything for 2 weeks, this is when I went back to this sub and understood that I was only doing 1 part of CICO (hehe). So I kept the target of 1300 Cal daily but I added this clincher, I would walk/run 6KM (3.7MI) 4x a week.

It was great that we had a sports center that had an oval nearby (Entrance fee $0.18, seriously it's that cheap) and a lot of jogging paths (Free), time was not an issue, I can just walk the entire 6KM (would take 2 to 3 hours) since I don't sleep that much anyway, so I had time to do work do my MBA school work and still do the run/walk.

Note that when I was starting I would run 1 KM then walk the 5 KM, as I progressed I would "step it up" and run 2KM then walk the 4KM this happened till I was able to run the entire 6KM!

At this point the weight loss was insane 6-10 pounds a week! and I started to notice my hair thinned significantly!

Towards my CW: Currently my Cal limit is still 1300 daily and my physical targets are 10KM (6.2 MI) full run 4x a week and I have started to do weight lifting (I have a 30lbs set gifted to me at home, Free!) 1 day a week. Weight loss is now down to 2-3 pounds a week, I think this is because I'm also building muscles now and based on my understanding (from our sub, correct me if I'm wrong) the closer you are to your ideal weight the harder it is to lose weight.

My target weight: My realistic target is 180 pounds but my dream is 170 pounds. Hopefully I would be able to achieve this by May 2019. It would be really hard to control eating now due to the holidays but I'm riding on my achievement-high so we will see. After hitting that target the real work begins which is keeping the weight off for life (I read this is really hard)!

Finally: I really hope my ramblings above made sense, I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors English is not my first language and definitely I'm no expert in weight loss, what I wrote above is what worked for me and I still have a long way to go and a ton to learn, this sub is really great, there are a lot of things out there, try them and I'm sure you will find what will work for you.

I want to thank r/loseit for everything and for everyone who messaged me and told me that they were interested in what I did, I sure hope I was able to at least inspire someone to do something positive :)

Apologies for the very long post

​

^Bonus:

^{Spotify playlist I use when I run: Run 'n' Bass 170-175 BPM}

^{Peanut and Butters my cute Dachshund supporters}

^{Me Enjoying high tea ( yup I drink tea now, no sugar tho})

​

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Great start but unpleasant surprise

Three weeks ago I started on my weight loss journey (not for the first time). I am doing CICO, aiming for low carb, so no sugar, potatoes, pasta, bread, rice.... well you know the drill. The first two weeks I lost 5kg, so I was over the moon. This morning I step on the scale, only to notice that I have not lost a single gram. I am very dilligently using MFP and weigh every meal I eat. Although I imagine this happens to all of us at some point, this is the point where I previously lost faith and just gave up.

Rationally it shouldn't worry me but basically just looking for support and experiences from others at the start of their journey.

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[Daily Directory] Find your quests for the day here! - Sunday, 04 November 2018

Welcome adventurer! Whether you're new on this quest or are towards the end of your journey there should be something below for you.

Daily journal.

• [Q&A] "I have a question."
• [Day 1] "I am starting my weight loss journey."
• [SV/NSV] "I have an accomplishment to share."
• [24hr Pledge] "Today I am going to..."

Interested in some side quests?

• [Motivation Monday] Share some motivation, get some motivation.
• [Tantrum Tuesday] Need to vent? People getting on your nerves?
• [Weigh-In Wednesday]
• [Track with Me Thursday] Did we just become best friends?!
• [Free Talk Friday] What's on your mind?

Community bulletin board!

• [Running with Loseit] Run with losers. Avoid arrows.
• [Wecipe Wednesday] Swap and discuss recipies!

If you are new to the sub, click here for our posting guidelines

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