M/32/5'8" [290lbs > ~165lbs = -125 lbs] (2.7 years and going) The road hasn't always been easy, but it has always been worth it. 125lbs down, got into recovery (alcoholism), and am consistently pushing myself to be better today than I was yesterday :) (x post r/progresspics)

Before / After Photos: https://imgur.com/6nqwRzq (slightly NSFW, my shirt is up in the 'after' photo)

​

TLDR: Calories in, calories out is the key to my successful weight loss journey. I log and weigh everything that goes into my body, even my cheat meals. MyFitnessPal is irreplaceable to my success

After 8+ years of being over 250 lbs, I decided it was time to get back into the shape that I was in my early 20's. While I have never been happier to be in the shape that I am in today, it was not an easy journey; though my success is based on a simple concept: Intake less than you output :)

I also think it is important to mention that I have a life in addition to the below! I have a SO, 3 kids, a full time career (that often requires me to travel), take vacations, moved across the country, and am a recovering addict (alcohol and marijuana). If I can do it, so can you! Often times my regimented diet/exercise has made my life easier by allowing an outlet for stress and creating consistency for me.

​

Diet:

• I started off intaking 1750 calories (at 5'8" ~290lbs) for almost 6 months
  • The 1750 calories consisted off almost whatever food I wanted, though my focus has always been on eating at least 100g of protein daily
• Everything I eat gets logged to allow me to maintain the caloric deficit that I needed to lose the weight
  • Continuing my crappy eating has actually allowed me to be more successful long term than I ever was in the past
  • Instead of saying "no" to my favorite foods (pizza, wings, ice cream, tacos, etc.) I said "yes" to them in moderation
• I slowly increased my caloric intake over the next few months to allow my body time to get used to eating more, while minimizing the weight gain that inevitably happens when calories go up
  • 1750 calories: ~6 months
  • 1900 calories: ~3 months
  • 2000 calories: ~12 months
  • 2150 calories: ~9 months
  • 2400 calories: just changed this week, this is maintenance for me, so should be the next lifetime or so
• I always always kept the long game in mind
  • My diet wasn't perfect, no one's is!
  • The end game was always more about getting back on track after a binge, than it was about beating myself up over a bad day
• Specific diets are cool and have their purpose, but the most important thing to remember is calories in must be less than calories out! That's the key to success for any weight loss
• Speaking of specific diets, I am starting to now transition to a more paleo / keto based diet to help hone in my nutritional needs
  • I hate restriction on my food, so I am using them as a rough guideline vs. adhering 100% of the time

Exercise:

• I want to make one thing clear: For weight loss, diet is more important than exercise 100% of the time! I have had countless gaps of no exercise in which I kept my diet on point. Do not beat yourself up for not working out!
• I have found that I am unique in that I love to run! So I embraced that and used that as my primary source of physical activity during my weight loss
  • 2018 I ran my first ever half marathon (13.1 miles) and am continuing to race as a source of motivation for me
• I started by walking as far as my body could handle, which was usually less than a mile
• Again, as with anything in life, consistency is the key to success!
• I always celebrated my successes!
  • I remember the first time I was able to run a mile without stopping, my SO and I celebrated with cake! (I am still a fat guy at heart haha!)
• It seems too easy, but I really did just keep putting one foot in front of the other to push my distances further and further

Current Workout Plan:

• Running 3 days a week:
  • 2 days I run at least 5+ miles, totaling at least 10 miles per week
  • 1 day I run the hills around my house with the intent of pushing my pace uphill as fast as possible
• Yoga:
  • 5 days per week
  • I follow online videos (there's a really popular one I like that starts like "Yoga with A....", not trying to endorse any channel in particular though)
  • If you do one exercise only, I highly recommend it is yoga!
• Weight training:
  • 2 days per week
  • Primarily kettle bell and mobility based training to improve my running

I am happy to answer more questions or add detail if anyone would like more. My journey is never ending, I am joining jiu jitsu at some point in 2019 and want to run a triathlon before I am 35!

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2GccOB8

Good effects of weight loss seem to speed up the more you loose ...

Hi

I (M, 37, 6'1") have recently noticed that the effects of my weight loss seem to be speeding up now that I am not THAT overweight anymore. I started with around 120kg (265lbs) 2.5 years ago, lost around 15kg (44lbs) in around 2 years, mostly in spurts of a few months and then plateauing/fluctuating because I started eating crappy again. In the last seven months I have quite consistently lost around 0.5kg (1lbs) per week.

After loosing the initial 15kg some people said: "Hey you lost weight", but for the most part people did not seem to notice (especially if I saw them once a month or something like this). In that time I also only had to buy new pants etc. once, I did not notice my weight loss myself besides what the scale said and I also did not feel lighter or anything.

In the last 2 months as I am approaching non-overweight-territory all that has changed. People that I have not seen for a few weeks suddenly ask me whether I have lost weight (and I tell them: "Yes, like for the last 2.5 years" :)), I have gone down in pants sizes three times in the last 6 months and the pants that were slightly too small around a month ago seem somewhat loose already.

At first I was a bit surprised about that. In my really strict times I probably have lost around 1kg per week, but the effects now seem to be a lot bigger. In some way I guess all of that makes sense. Loosing 10kg when you weigh 120kg is probably less noticeable than losing 10kg when you weigh 90kg. You are just loosing a higher percentage of your body mass. I just never thought about it that way.

Is that something that you have also noticed?

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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2DeW6Nd

What feels different about your current weight loss journey compared to your previous ones? Why do you think the previous attempts failed?

I think that most of us have tried to lose weight at least once before. I know I have. But most times, I would fail after a 3-4 months max. I think there are a few reasons this time is more successful (this month will mark my second anniversary on this whole weight loss journey) and I want to share some of them:

​

1. I know a lot more about nutrition and how weight loss works in general. Back in the day, I knew nothing about TDEE, water weight etc. I'd just think that I should eat one salad (no sauce, just lettuce, onion, tomato and one tablespoon of olive oil), one fruit and one small piece of grilled chicken per day, in order to lose weight. And that would work for a while, but the restriction would be too intense after a few weeks and I would start binging. Now, I can eat whatever, just in moderate amounts and I can stay relatively satiated most of the time, without missing any of my favorite stuff.
2. I am no longer in a hurry. In these two years, I've lost almost 50 pounds. That's a relatively small amount of weight in such a long time, but I've realised that if I keep even a moderate deficit for too long, I will start feeling very deprived and have the urge to binge. So I lose about 1 pound per week for 3-4 months and then maintain for an equal amount of time, until I start losing again. I think this is a good practice at maintenance for when I eventually reach my goal weight.
3. I realised that the problem was not my weight; my weight was the symptom of the deeper problem, which is my relationship with food, eating, self image and self esteem. So I had to stop searching for a quick fix and had to start doing some hard, scary work. Sometimes it still feels like I don't know what I'm doing, but I feel way more sure about myself, overall.
4. I let go of my ideal image. My goals were unrealistic and that made me disappointed and overwhelmed. Now I am more confident because I know that my goals are healthy and achievable for my body type and the work I am willing to put.
5. I let go of the all or nothing mentality. Period.

There are many more little things that I could add, but I feel like these five were the most important. How about you?

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

My weight loss journey - cross posted from r/fasting on a suggestion.

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

Today, I'm calling a therapist.

You might be saying, "hold up, this isn't about weight loss", but it is.

I am one of the many people in this sub and across the whole who uses food to fill the holes in my heart. It's like having an overly stuffed stomach makes that dull, sad ache a little less achy. Then you get in a cycle of not even being hungry, but you're no longer stuffed so you must eat some more. Carrots or cauliflower won't do either. It must be filled with simple carbs to give that quick pick-me-up. Hello truffles and pizza - ideally not together.

Recently, I had my second child. I think I may have mild postpartum depression. Just over a month out from delivery I find myself overcome by sadness and crying. And now there's something else. She's healthy and wonderful and sweet, and I'm racked with guilt. She has had an easy start to life, but her older brother did not. He was born early, he developed necrotizing enterocolitis at 7 days in the NICU, and he had constant ear/nose/throat infections until one developed into bacterial meningitis at 16mos. He wasn't given a newborn hearing screen as the hospital fell through on their duty, but with the constant infections we had to keep cancelling planned ones or they were marked inconclusive. Last week, his cold was still mild that while the results are not conclusive we did find out he is deaf in one ear. I wrote about it on other subreddits, but the vitriol I received had me deleting two posts. The parent guilt is already enough and people can't seem to wrap their head around the idea it was hard to notice or that a child can be that constantly sick. We have brought up my son's constant illnesses and wanting to see an ENT with his pediatricians (it's a practice), but were told by multiple drs that constant illnesses in daycare 0-3yr olds is normal and an ENT won't be able to help unless he has 5 confirmed strep cases in a year or 7 in two. After the SSD or UHL diagnosis we were sent to an ENT. It is worse than we imagined, probably because we kept being told all this was normal. He is going to have a bunch of tests. My husband and I are great supports for our son and each other, but right now we need more. Our friends and family don't seem to understand they're saying the wrong words and it isn't fair of us to put that responsibility on them. So today I'm going to call a wonderful lady, who has helped us before. Everytime I reach for a truffle, start ordering take-out, or heating up the oven to eat an entire pizza I going to remind myself that it's easier to care for my children without carrying around this excess weight. And it's true. It is easier. At a healthy weight, it is easier to have more energy (mental & physical), you're more comfortable in your surroundings (which is truly underappreciated), and will help with one part of current hopeless feeling. I cannot control my son's health, but I can control all the extra food I'm adding to my day. That bit of control helps me feel a bit less lost. Sorry for any grammatical mistakes. I'm trying to nurse and type. (I don't produce even half of what my daughter needs so I'm not worried about my production dropping more. I'm about to be irrelevant as a source of food for her as my production is only a small percentage already.)

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

Today I start - AGAIN

Today I restart my weight loss journey. One year ago I lost 20kgs (44 pounds), but since then I gained about 10 of them back. I am at a weight of 88 kgs (194 pounds) right now and my goal weight is 65 kgs (143 pounds).

Lately I have been really beating myself down about the weight gain and my lack of discipline. This is putting me into a really bad place mentally which I then try to alleviate with food. We all know that is a very, very bad idea... So today I start tracking/WW again. On top of that I will also stop drinking alcohol for at least a month. The problem is that a big part of my family/friends don't understand both my weight loss goals, nor my wanting to stop drinking alcohol. My mother and some of my friends are really supportive and help me a lot, but my father doesn't take this into account at all. I don't blame him for this, but it really makes my journey more difficult.

Do any of you have tips for:

• a good, easy/quick to make breakfast
• non-food related rewards for personal goals

I really hope I can do it this time!

submitted by /u/kejemie_
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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2G9Ce25

Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Tuesday, 05 February 2019? 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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from loseit - Lose the Fat http://bit.ly/2S7y7dc