Ex-coworker asked for advice after noticing my results. I thought I’d share my response in case it helps/motivates someone else...

Hi (coworker),

Great to hear from you. Things are moving along nicely with (new company), thank you.

So I’m down 101 lbs from when I started February last year. It’s awesome you want to start a weight loss journey. I’d be happy to give you some tips and what worked for me.

The first and quite frankly only important rule is CICO (calorie in, calorie out).

You’re going to need to start tracking your calorie intake. I used the loseit app, but I heard my fitness pal works well also. Everything you eat needs to be logged, everything. This will help you understand where your calories are coming from throughout your day. It is really eye-opening to truly understand how many calories some of the foods your regularly consume contain. This will force you to start making conscious decisions about what you order when eating out.

Once you understand where your current caloric intake is it’s time to set a calorie budget for yourself you can live with. I tried to run a deficit of about 500-800 calories of what the app recommended. i.e. it said I should be consuming around 1800 so I tried to consume somewhere between 1000-1300 calories per day. Some days I did great and some days I didn’t, but mostly I was around 1200 a day. I was pretty hardcore about the deficit and it’s not completely necessary but it does speed up results.

Initially it will be really hard as you run a deficit. It gets easier, a lot easier. You will start learning the difference between hunger pangs, and actual hunger. Then you will realize the urge to eat a lot of times comes not from actual hunger but other subconscious desires to eat.

Weigh yourself every day. Get a scale if you don’t have one and weigh yourself at the same time every day. I recommend the morning. You’re at your lightest and it’s a motivational way to start the day. Don’t get discouraged if your weight goes up. Sometimes it’s a full pound or two from the previous day, but it’s the long term trend that matters. There’s no mathematical way running a calorie deficit can not work. Your body just plateaus sometimes as it gets adjusted to a new normal.

For homemade meals get a food scale. That’s the best way to track what you eat at home when you cook for yourself. Find what healthy/low-calorie meals you can imagine yourself eating for the long run. For me I cook oatmeal every morning with 20g of raisins for breakfast (217 calories) and switched to drinking my coffee black (0 calories). If you need some creaminess in your coffee you can do soy or almond milk. Just try and avoid sweeteners. Drink more water! Don’t drink your calories. Try and avoid alcohol and sodas.

That’s it! If you want to exercise great, but if not it won’t really matter too much. What you eat is for fatness and exercise is for fitness. As you approach your goal you may want to exercise a bit, but that’s up to you. It’s really freeing to know you can easily lose weight with little to no exercise. Just follow these steps you’ll be fine.

Best of luck on this journey and with everything. If you ever need anything definitely, reach out!

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2Cic4WC

Started my weight loss journey today! 22F, CW: 215 GW: 150 5'7"

Hello! I discovered this subreddit and just the first few posts inspired me to finally start trying to lose weight. Today, I exercised for about 20 minutes and did some light walking with my dog.

I'm currently at my heaviest again, 215. I was down to 180 when I started dating my husband, as I have a fear of eating around people at first. I wasn't starving myself by any means, more along the lines of intermittent fasting. I'd eat when he was sleeping or working, and it'd usually be something healthy. I even felt great, but despite knowing this, it's hard to stay motivated.

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How do you guys keep the motivation up? I've got depression, and often find myself just binging video games all day instead of being productive.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2ssrWB7

More than just losing weight... Adopting healthy lifestyle changes is showing me that I don't need drugs/alcohol to be "happy."

I've lost 10 lbs in 5ish months, about ~2 pounds per month give or take. It's taught me the importance of resisting instant gratification. I remind myself of the times I'd binge on pills for a week and lose 5 pounds in a few days... then gain 7 back almost immediately. That's how I gained all this weight to begin with, the cycle of rapid weight loss and then rapid gain. Yeah, it'd be great to see the number go down super fast on that scale... 0.5 lbs/week (if that) is tough to swallow when you're used to getting that RUSH of seemingly instant weight loss. Gradual and slow weight loss has caused me to relearn how to be patient and diligent. I fucking miss popping uppers and not having to eat for days and days... even though I was miserable, my hair was falling out, my skin was terrible, and I was bloated from alcohol on top of it. Screw that. No, I don't miss it. I've lost 10 pounds, and it was HEALTHY! And it's staying off!

MyFitnessPal has shown me that I am capable of holding myself accountable, and almost more importantly it's taught me that I am able to enjoy things I crave in moderation. When I was still actively using and struggling with substance abuse, I'd tell myself "just one or two pills to take the edge off..." whether that'd be benzoes or amphetamine or vicodin, and of course, it would never work. I could never stop myself. I figured I couldn't do it with food either, or alcohol for that matter. So, I'm gonna be overweight forever, right? Wrong. I quit using drugs, I can reverse this. Logging my calories has forced me to learn what moderation actually is, and the importance of being honest with myself.

In addition to MFP, intermittent fasting has been crucial in helping me learn to stick to a routine, to plan things ahead of time and to just deal with occasionally being uncomfortable. Feeling kinda hungry at 8:00 PM? Sorry, you don't eat after 6:00. Damn, oh well. Have a glass of water instead.

Couch to 5k (C25K) has shown me that I am capable of setting goals and working hard to achieve them. It's also taught me that it's okay to be out of shape, and that I shouldn't expect to be in shape right away just because I happened to be super fit TEN YEARS AGO. Snap out of it, girl... you're about to be 30. I held on to who I used to be for so long, and I've had to face the ugly truth that I'm just not that same athletic fit little 20 year old anymore. BUT, I can get back to it. Because in 86 days I went from barely finishing jogging for 60 second intervals, to jogging for thirty minutes straight without stopping. I had to be patient after an ankle injury, but for the first time I didn't let a set back STAY a set back.

C25K has helped me the most in giving me a bit of my old life back. I remember now what it's like to feel like I've accomplished something. Nobody did this for me, and I didn't cut any corners... I didn't lie, or steal, or cheat. I ran. I got up at 5:30 AM every other morning for 12 weeks, and I fucking did something that was HARD and I did it WITHOUT USING DRUGS, and I sweat and I fought the urge to quit. When I couldn't complete a run, I logged it as "extra practice," and then tried again until I could do it. There was a time, not so long ago, for many years I believed I was useless without drugs. Fuck drugs. Oh, and also, I can't also drink alcohol AND get up early the next morning and run. Sometimes I can have a couple glasses of wine the night before a rest day, but only if I can fit the calories in. :) You see... accountability! Moderation! I'm doing it!

Anyway, I am still in recovery. I have a long way to go, and I struggle with cravings pretty much every day... but, I think about drugs less and less, as I focus more and more on things like yummy sounding new recipes. We can all do this. We can beat our demons.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2FsLE7A

Finally broke down & bought a scale

In 2017 I lost about 20 pounds, I was so proud of myself! I've never been 'thin', but those 20 pounds (thanks CICO) helped me realize that I could lose weight if I stuck to my deficit. Of course life got in the way (new sedentary job where I car commute instead of bike commute). To put in context, I'm 5'7" and about 180 (size 12 pants/medium top). Not obese, but as pictures showed me over the holidays, definitely have a few pounds to lose.

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If I've learned anything it's that the scale doesn't lie (though it does fluctuate) and for me, if I don't maintain accountability by keeping a scale around, my weight will creep up little by little. So even though I've been down on myself for letting myself gain 12 pounds back without even realizing it, I'm trying to be positive by realizing that I didn't gain all the weight back, I know how to eat at a deficit and that I am nowhere near my largest size or weight right now (size 20 pants at 195 pounds, which, even though it looks great on some women, just doesn't look good on me - I don't carry weight well at higher weights). Logging into MFP it's hard to see that it only says '8 pounds lost' when I knew the original number was higher.

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Anyway, just posting because even though I thought I could maintain my weight loss without a scale I was wrong, and I felt really stupid for not realizing this before my pants got tight again. Trying to be gentle with myself and get myself back on habits that I know work without feeling like I'm micro-managing my diet. It helps me to write out my thoughts, otherwise I end up beating myself up and using my weight as a measure for how 'good' or 'bad' I am as a person. Trying to get better at finding the balance between self-acceptance and self-love in the form of a diet that nurtures me and keeps me at a healthy weight. The struggle is real!!! :)

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2AMsV3P

10 miles out from my first milestone but not feeling like I look much different?

Hi everyone! This is my first post here so bear with me :)

I began my weight loss in mid August 2018. I had enough with feeling terrible about myself and started watching what I ate and running. I began around ~255 lbs (I am 5’8” 23yo female). I am down to ~210 lbs right now and I’m only 10 pounds out from my first major milestone but I can’t help but feel like I don’t look very different??? People mention that I look “good”, I can see my clothes are starting to get big, and I can see my face is slimming down (https://imgur.com/gallery/sLkXUtQ) but I look in the mirror without clothes and I just feel discouraged.

Am I in a bit of denial? Is my self esteem just that bad? Has anyone else had issues with actual self image on their journey?

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2AFSL9C

[RANT] I think I'm going to keep my mouth shut during this weight loss process.

Greetings,

Two weeks ago I made the decision to begin a workout program and clean up my diet. I started LIIFT 4 and slowly phased out all the processed and refined crap I was eating. I have well over 100 lbs to lose and managed to lose about 8.4 lbs since beginning the program. Before I started this journey I took a picture from the neck down. This morning I did the same thing and there is a notable difference. I was so excited that I texted the pictures to my best friend.

Big mistake.

I got this like 3 paragraph text about how 1) there is no difference between the two pictures (okay I'm not BLIND there totally is a freaking difference); 2) But as long as I think I'm doing well then that's all that matters (true, but I found this comment to be undermining and bitchy); 3) I shouldn't stress myself over losing weight and should allow myself to binge when I lose motivation; 4) Implies the only thing I've lost is water weight (which might be true, but why poo poo on my little victory here?)

I don't feel deflated or anything; I know I'm kicking ass. It's just the entire response was bitchy and weird and unnecessary. It's totally fine if you don't see a difference, but why say all that? Moving forward I'm not saying a goddamn word and instead will let my hard work speak for itself.

This just makes me wonder about how my friend is going to behave in the future. People get weird when others lose weight.

Have a good day!

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2M8dPKn

It might not actually be true that you gain fat quicker than you lose fat.

So I will start this off just talking about some of the benefits of intermittent fasting, and why it is healthy and not unhealthy.

Intermittent fasting is actually very healthy and good for the body. Your body was not designed to eat that frequently. You're supposed to have long periods of not eating. The body can also survive on much less food than you think. It would take a lot longer than you think to die from actually going in to starvation. Feeling hungry and literally being starving are two completely different things. Most people in the modern world have never actually been starving ever in their entire life. They might of been very hungry, but never starving.

Intermittent fasting cures many medical conditions. The most prescribed drugs world wide are anti inflammatory drugs. Intermittent fasting is the best thing you can do to cure inflammation. Intermittent fasting cures type two diabetics, insulin resistance and many more medical conditions. Your body simply was not meant to eat that frequently. It is terrible for your body eating that frequently. But we live in a time where eating frequently is promoted, and that is for one reason only, money. The reason intermittent fasting isn't promoted is because it's free, and food companies and the pharmaceutical industry would take a hard hit if more people done intermittent fasting, because people wouldn't be eating as much food and also wouldn't need as much medication. Also businesses promoting exercise would maybe get slightly hit as well. Because the reason a lot of people go to things like the gym is to lose weight, and if they were doing intermittent fasting they wouldn't need to go to the gym to lose weight, as they would already be slim. As intermittent fasting is much more effective for weight loss than exercise.

Another thing you need to realise is you might not feel good intermittent fasting at first, and think I can't do this. But your body actually quickly adapts until the point you don't actually feel hungry all that often. Then you easily don't eat anything for upwards of 16 hours no problem.

It's somewhat frustrating to me when some people are really overweight and they really complain saying they have tried everything to lose weight. Well they certainly have not done strict intermittent fasting. Because if they done strict intermittent fasting it would be inevitable they would lose weight. But the problem is people would literally rather stuff their face and then complain about being overweight. You get some people that stuff their face and then exercise and wonder why they're not losing any weight, it's crazy. But then again I do understand that people are lead to believe that fasting is unhealthy. So this could also be another reason why more people don't do it. Because those big companies certainly do not want to lose millions of pounds/dollars every year and for you to be healthier.

But the original point I was trying to make is your body might actually lose fat quicker than it would gain fat. Lets say you had someone who stuffed their face constantly with fast food for 3 days. Then lets say that same person didn't eat a single thing for 3 days. It is actually more likely that the not eating anything for 3 days would make this person lose more fat than the fat they would of gained stuffing their face for 3 days. So really the body does actually lose fat quicker than it gains fat. But yes it probably is still more difficult for a person to lose fat quicker than gain fat. Because eating is very pleasurable for most people, and it is much easier for them to stuff their face than not eat anywhere near as frequently.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2RNrxHV