3 Healthy(ish) Cookies to Bake This Holiday Season

It’s December – which means the holidays are officially kicking into high gear (although I’ve secretly had my tree up since before Thanksgiving). And with the holidays comes tons of fun activities – cheerful reunions and extra time with loved ones, feelings of nostalgia, twinkling lights, and my favorite – lighting those winter-scented candles on a cold night.

But for many of us, the holidays also signal an uptick in stress – from time constraints, to tight wallets and the stress of finding the perfect gift (and wrapping it!), to trying to navigate the increase in unhealthy foods in every direction. I think we can all agree we’ve got a few more things on our to-do lists this time of the year than normal.

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Down 162.5 Pounds the last 4 month and feeling great!

Hello r/loseit , yesterday I shared my story with r/progresspics and was absolutely blown away by all the support that I received from everyone. A bunch of people asked me to share my story on here as well so I will. Thanks!

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Hey gang, my first post on here so I figured I would give a little backstory. I turned 30 in July and went to (was dragged to) a Bariatric seminar with my loving/caring sister. She hounded me all the time to lose weight and be more active but that’s a lot easier said than done, especially when your 764 pounds. I could hardly walk to my neighbor’s house without having serious back pain and being out of breath. Having a desk job and not moving around, on top of eating like crap and drinking 2-3 Liters of Pepsi a day clearly isn’t a recipe for success. So, I sat thru the seminar and scheduled a consultation to meet with the doctor. They measured everything (arms, neck, waist etc.) and then it was time to hop on the scale. I haven’t weighed myself in years (not like a normal bathroom scale can go that high) so I step on this giant platform and there it was on the screen staring me in the face 764 pounds…I couldn’t believe it. Obviously, I knew I was heavy, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined I was that heavy. So, after the weigh in the Dr told me straight up that they wouldn’t operate on me until I was under 500lbs (so that I could safely be put on anesthesia for the operation). Talk about a daunting task, having to lose 264 pounds BEFORE you have weight loss surgery! I was desperate for the surgery and devastated that I would have to climb such a tall mountain to have it. The Dr recommended that I start a simple diet basically eating 2000 calories and making sure that I got 100 grams of protein so that’s what I started with. I went into my backyard pool (which I haven’t been swam in for probably 8 years) and swam around for 30 minutes, took a day off then tried 40 minutes. Eventually this built up to and hour every single day. Its cold in Michigan but I swam until I had to close my pool (mid-October qualifies me for the polar bear club, right? Lol) So I moved over to the local Rec Center and started swimming in their lap pool. I currently swim 6 days a week and swim a minimum of 50 laps, but I set my record of 70 laps yesterday swimming almost 2 miles! Its been an interesting 4 months, quite life changing and I feel so much better Its unbelievable. As for that Bariatric surgery I have put that on the back burner for now, the surgery has a bad rap for being “the easy way out” but I don’t see it that way. It can be a great tool for people that need it, but what I have proven to myself these past 4 months is that I can lose weight on my own. Losing weight is not easy but it is simple. Eat right, exercise, repeat. Thanks for letting me ramble for a bit, stay tuned the best is yet to come!

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A link to my pic if interested https://www.reddit.com/r/progresspics/comments/a3g04i/m3068_764lbs_6015lbs_1645lbs_off_to_a_good_start/

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Sometimes, it takes a good cry

Especially if you are a stress/depression eater. I found that I have gained back some pounds after some stressful and sad times.

I feel like I had "reset" my emotional energy after having a great cry with my boyfriend, and felt safe enough to explore my options again. After my cry my cravings were gone and I had a clearer head and I am ready again to continue my journey. My last post highlighted that we should take care of our mental health, because weight loss is a mental game.

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So if you find yourself stressed/uneasy/sad and the pounds are gaining back, this is not a failure. You did not "hop off the wagon." Just give yourself a mental health day, find something to do with your hands so you are not constantly snacking, and win.

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How to Beat Sugar This Holiday Season

In its recent report, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee cited sugar consumption as one of America’s gravest health concerns. Further, it recommended that sugar make up no more than 10 percent of daily calorie intake. Other health groups concur: The American Heart Association recommends that no more than half of daily discretionary calories comes from added sugars—that’s about six teaspoons or 100 calories for women, nine teaspoons or 150 calories for men. But Americans eat way more of the sweet stuff than that: The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the average American eats between 13 and 20 teaspoons of added sugar a day (230 calories for women, 335 for men). That’s way too much. And with the holiday season upon us, sugar is everywhere: cookies, candy, desserts and cocktails. Here are four simple ways to avoid extra sugars this holiday season:

Shop on the Perimeter of the Grocery Store. The aisles on the edges of your grocery store are the ones with the least-processed food. That’s where you’ll find vegetables, fruit, dairy, meat and seafood, most of which is free of added sugar.

Read Food Labels. Ingredient listings on packaged food list the ingredients in order of volume. The higher up you see sugar listed, the more sugar that’s included in that food. Look for food that contains little to no sugar. You’ll have to look hard: sugar is ubiquitous in our food supply.

Learn Sugar’s Other Names. Pretty much anything ending in “-ose” is a sugar. And whether it’s fructose, glucose or sucrose, it will end up as a sugar in your body. Avoid them.

Buy Unsweetened Foods. Look for food labels that say the food is unsweetened. Not “naturally sweetened.” Unsweetened. That means there won’t be anything lurking in there that could throw you off.

The post How to Beat Sugar This Holiday Season appeared first on The Leaf.

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Thursday, 06 December 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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Continue weight loss journey after wedding?

I met the love of my life 3 years ago and promptly gained 15 lbs. I ended up losing the weight in time for our wedding this year, but now I'm feeling a little unsatisfied in the sense that I feel I would look even better if I continued my weight loss. Don't get me wrong - I love being able to fit into my clothes again, but am I being "greedy" for wanting to drop another 10-15 lbs of vanity weight if I can continue to do it safely and at a steady pace of .5 - 1 lbs each week? For reference I'm 5'6" with a small frame and went from 158 at my HW to 143 at my CW. New to loseit and appreciate all help and support:)

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I’m going to freak out soon.

I’ve been counting calories and working out for 3 months now, I’ve suppsobly lost 30lbs and for the past 2-3 weeks, I haven’t lost anything. The scale has been going from 377 to 372. In the morning is at about 372 and by night it’s at 375-377. I’m drinking lots of water, bathroom habits are fine, I’m working out 3-4 times a week, my recommend calories to lose weight is 2200 and I’m only eating at about 1800 to 1900 a day. I so badly want to see the scale below 370 so I can get to my first goal. I was almost there then it jumped back up again. I do eat some junk but I get my veggies in too. I’ll eat candy if its under my budget or fast food. I’m starting to think this whole calorie counting is bullshit. Is keto more effective? Clearly its more healthy, I understand that. But does it have better results as far as weight loss? Seems like everyone else is just melting away the pounds. I’ve heard people my size say the first 50 was the easiest and here I am barely making it to 30lbs going on month 4 this month 😩 I feel so discouraged and defeated already

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