Mental Health and Weight Loss

Round two of weight substantial weight loss for me here. Life isn't easy, y'all. I've faced a fair amount of adversity and I've realized, personally, there is a high correlation between my mental health and my ability to drop the weight and sustain good habits.

A little bit of background: Mom was an alcoholic, stepdad was abusive, moved in with Dad when I was 15 due to the bad situation with Mom, hit peak weight of 225 at 17. Got comfortable, things were stable with Dad, ended up losing 60 lbs and was the happiest and most carefree I had ever been. Mom's life fell apart when I was 19, I took over her mortgage while she moved across the country to get out of her abusive marriage. Dad dies 1 year later from extremely rare autoimmune disorder while I'm still in college and trying to keep my mom's shit together. I get in a relationship with an alcoholic and proceed to gain 100 pounds due to our bad habits. Would have left had I not been financially stuck. Finally sold her house last year so it was off my shoulders, graduated college, and SO sobered up (and stayed that way... we're doing great now and I couldn't be happier). I've quickly dropped 20 pounds, just by eating whole foods, no refined sugar in the house (use honey and maple syrup as sweeteners), and limiting alcohol and eating out. But I couldn't make those choices until I was in the right mindset. I've been able to undo two years of the damage in just 3 months.

So, please, don't beat yourself up. You are great. You are capable. You are more than enough. Your worth does not decrease/increase per pound you weigh (although, some individuals may act this way, I promise its not true). It's okay to not be okay. It's okay to not be ready. You will do it when you are ready. You will do it when the time is right.

r/loseit, thanks for inspiring me to lose this weight for the second time in my life. Thanks for letting me love myself and be proud regardless of my current weight. You all are the best.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2UB4yOc

Getting back on the metaphorical wagon

Howdy everyone!

I started my weight loss journey in November of last year (SW: 196 lbs) and really got into a nice routine of watching my portions, cooking more and eating out less, drinking more water, and even finding time to go to the gym a couple times a week. I was really proud of myself! I lost 20 lbs and was feeling really good about my body and the choices that were slowly starting to become my “new normal” so to speak.

And then, January came around. I know the new year is a motivational time for a lot of people, but it was the opposite for me. A lot of unforeseen frustrations came up in my life, and my mental health took a hardcore dive. The icing on the cake was a pregnancy scare about two weeks ago. I started feeling powerless, I could feel my newfound confidence slowly draining away, and I turned to old unhealthy habits for cheap comfort. I stopped going to the gym, stopped logging food and tracking calories, stopped weighing myself, just stopped doing anything I had been to lose weight.

But I’m sick of it!!! Last year gave me a taste of what it feels like to be confident, what it feels like to take charge of my life and start becoming the person I want to be physically and mentally. And you know what, it taught me that I am so much fucking stronger than what my negative, depression-fueled inner demons would like me to believe.

I am not powerless to food, I am not powerless to a twang of hunger, I am not powerless in my life and I am not going to let a bad month convince me otherwise.

Weight loss and improving my health is a lifestyle change - there will always be roadbumps and stress and unexpected bullshit, and I need to learn how to get up, brush myself off, and keep going. So fuck you, January!

I cooked a healthy dinner tonight, logged it in My Fitness Pal, and I’m ready to keep it going tomorrow. I’m sending positivity and encouragement to anyone else who’s stuck in a funk right now - we got this!

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2Ss2gTQ

What apps do you use to motivate yourself by seeing your progress?

Hey everybody ,

I am in my first 16 hour fasting period right now. Tomorrow will show how hard it will be : ) I‘m gonna start of easy and maybe start eating a few hours earlier tomorrow. I’m sure that I will avoid a lot of calories by skipping breakfast.

My question is about apps for weight loss in general and apps progress-tracking and motivation in particular:

I feel like having some kind of gamification and or statistics and photos to visualize my progress will help me overcome my biggest hurdle, my brain. I have started several times, logging my intake but always let it fade out because I couldn’t motivate myself keeping it up until I see any progress.

Do you have any suggestions for apps to track my weight loss (the weight) and apps to make good “before and after” photos? I’m pretty sure there are some great apps out there!

Maybe there are some app experts among you who like to share their favorites.

The app I use to keep track of my fasting times is called “zero” [Appstore Link](Zero - Fasting Tracker von Big Sky Health https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/zero-fasting-tracker/id1168348542?mt=8)

Thank you all and wish me luck.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2MLa4uM

NSV: My blood donation record shows that losing only 15 lbs resolved my pre-hypertension!

https://imgur.com/a/25760K8

I'm only 26, but my blood pressure has always been on the higher side. There is cardiovascular disease in my family.

The blood donation service in my country logs blood pressure every time you donate plasma/platelets/whole blood. You can plot an almost perfect drop in both systolic and diastolic BP over the year that I lost 15 lbs, or about 7 kg. Of course, the weight loss is just a surrogate measure of improved diet and exercise. A similar decline happened the year before, as well. My reading a few days ago is the lowest it has ever been. From 131/85 to 105/73! I took the BP myself a few times afterward, since BP can vary for lots of reasons. It's consistently around 105/70.

RE: moderator guidelines

What was the biggest change you made that helped you meet this goal?

I used to be 135 kg, or about 300 lbs, almost ten years ago. Weight loss and maintenance at this lower end of around 150 lbs is difficult, and highly individual. I'm mainly motivated because I know my previous high weight has the ability to still impact my health today, even if it's just limited arterial damage. I was morbidly obese throughout primary and high school, so my lifestyle choices in my 20s and 30s will make a significant impact on my health in my 40s and 50s. I want to reverse as much as I can. I personally use CICO and food substitutes with only minimal exercise, but everyone is different.

What is the biggest take away or lesson you learned?

15 lbs hasn't made much of a difference to my appearance, but my health is definitely better for it.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2UBqjx3

I need some inspiration!

Hi, so, this may seem like the wrong sub for this question but as I am trying to turn my life around with weight loss I also want to aim for better things in work too. Problem is, I have NO IDEA what I want to do. At the moment I just work a dead end job in customer service.

I figure I have more time on my hands now that I am not eating so much and concentrating so much on food that I could learn some new skills. I want to distract myself sometimes from just eating and have some other positive goals in my life to work towards too.

Does anyone have any recommendations for skills I could start to learn for minimum cost that could lead to a new career path later on? I am posting this for the benefit of others too as I know diet and food can be all consuming and I hope this helps inspire others to thinks outside of the fridge and see a bigger, brighter future. :)

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

I know it's a cliche but my weight loss has changed my life.

So today I stepped on the scale after a month and realised that I have reached past my goal weight, weighting 114 pounds! My original weight was 144 and highest was 155. Goal weight was 115. I have lost that since June of 2018. Honestly losing weight had been the best decision I have ever made. Oh I'm 5'0 btw

1. Weight loss has made me love my body and myself Before I decide to lose weight I was heavily insecure. I hated people looking at me and I couldn't even stand looking in the mirror. I hated myself and thought I was horrid. Come to today I love everything about my body and accepted all my flaws, loving myself for what I am. I know it's weird but I am more way more confident naked and have become a bit narcissistic. I feel waay more confident and love to wear more flattering clothes.

2. My love life has gotten better Improving my body has increased my confidence and with that dating has not been as horrid as it once was. Before I did not want to approach guys and my weight brought a horrible moodly personality which put guys off. Now I am more confident I approach guys and not afraid to flirt. I am more confident with being with someone and express myself.

3. I feel like I can endure anything Loosing weight and managing to get through the difficult times has encouraged me to take on and try new things. I am not longer afraid to try new things and I feel like once I start anything I can carry on and endure it.

4. Losing weight introduced me to my new love- lifting weights Since loosing weight I decided to lift weights to try and gain muscle. I found here my new love. Weightlifting is extremely therapeutic and I love every minute that I'm in the gym. Never thought I would ever say that.

So much has changed in my life since I have decided to lose weight. Although I still have much to improve on I feel like in the last 7 months I have made the most change and have become a better person. I have made so many other improvements and I just wanted to share it with everyone.

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21 Quick and Easy Appetizers for Parties That Score Big