A new start. Getting fit for my wedding day! Lost 180lbs and then hit a plateau. Asking for experiences/tips

Hi all,

Over the last 18 months, I’ve maintained my weight of 80-85kg (180lbs) after losing 70kg (154lbs). I’m 1.79m (5’10”) and not muscular at all, so I still have quite a bit of bodyfat that I want to get rid off before my wedding day on the 12th of July. I want to look the best I can for our big day and I feel more motivated than I’ve been in quite a while.

From 2015 to 2017 I lost nearly half my bodyweight by tracking my food and, mainly during the first 12 months of weight loss, a lot of cardio. I haven’t worked out in about 2 years now, however and I managed to maintain just by tracking my food (1700kcal per day) for several weeks, followed by some weeks of occasional binging and not keeping track. Rince and repeat for 1.5 years.

The reason I’m posting this is because I renewed my gym membership yesterday and I already worked out twice since then. I want to ‘finish’ what I started 4 years ago. I want to lose some more kilos and then focus on getting a bit more muscular, because right now I kind of look ‘skinny fat’ and I hate my belly. My upper body fits into a size M, but my belly is very visible when I’m not wearing size L, which makes me insecure when I’m not wearing slightly oversized clothes. It feels like I didn’t finish what I started and even though I’m very proud of what I have achieved so far, my self-esteem is not as high as I’d want it to be.

I also want to stop being inconsistent in my food-tracking and occasional binge eating. Whenever I’m stressed out at school I tend to give in and it goes off the hook for weeks.

Now on to the question I’d like to ask you: How do you guys stay consistent? How do you keep yourself motivated to steer away from unhealthy snacks during the weekends? How do you keep yourself motivated to keep going to the gym, even when you’re tired, busy or stressed out? I’m looking to indulge as many tips as I can to make this a success.

By posting this publicly I’m trying to take this new start as serious as possible. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you all have a great day!

TLDR: Wedding is in 6 months and after plateauing for a long time, I finally feel motivated to lose the last lbs and get into shape. Looking for tips on how to stay motivated and stay consistent.

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Thanks

I just want to say thanks. I'm not a success story (yet), but I'm also not someone battling a long journey either. But I read these posts, and they continue to motivate me. And I read the support to each other, and it really makes me feel so good for me and for all of you. The gym, the weight loss journey, the personal satisfaction, the dieting right- all of it- is highly intimidating. But you all step up for each other, help each other continue their steps, and push each other because you all know the value of what they're going through. So while I may not be in a battle against my weight, I continue to come here, continue to get motivated, and continue to go to the gym. And I have now been on my longest workout steak in my entire life. My BMI and body fat are still high, and I'm still considered over weight for my relative size, but I'm slowly replacing body fat with muscle. If I keep weighing the same, at least I'll know that it's with the right substance. I might not be in a battle with weight, but I am in a battle, and you all continue to motivate me. Sorry so long winded; I'm just really inspired by you all.

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Stuck in a destructive binge eating pattern now for the past 3 months

I am hoping I can get some help. For the past 3 months I have been stuck at my weight loss journey. I wouldn't say I am at a plateau though. I have been doing OMAD for a while now, but after I get home I start binge eating on junk food at 9 or 10pm and I can't control myself. One bite of food or a sip of a drink just sets me off on this out of control binge. It destroys my progress for the day and I have to start again the next day. This cycle has been repeating itself now for almost 3 months and I can't seem to find the will power to escape it. Any thoughts on how I can set my self up for success? I have to keep this junk food around for the rest of the family, so I can't throw out the cookies, chips and all the other junk food as others in the family will be quite mad. I am the only one though who is currently trying to lose weight. My current goal is to lose another 25lbs, it was 20lbs but I gained 5lbs during the last 3 months from bad habits.

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After a year of losing weight, and more than a year of maintenance, I've finally figured out how I can maintain my weight indefinitely.

There are so many things about weight loss and maintenance I still need to learn. But after losing 40 kgs (75 lbs) over the course of a year, and maintaining for another, I have finally fulfilled my mission statement: To reach a point, where maintaining good diet, weight, and health, is so easy that I don't have to think about it in my daily life.

I've developed this consistency and effort by trial and error. I've tried thousands of things, thrown out what didn't work - and kept what worked. The main criteria for keeping changes, are that maintaining healthy habits should be easy and require little conscious effort. In this post I'll try to share what works for me. The common denominator here, is that all of the rules I live by, require very little effort on my part. That's because they are habits I've developed over the years. If you develop these same habits, they will keep you slim for the rest of your life.

Fair warning: They are not easy to live by. That's why we grow fat. They have many subtleties, and gotcha's to them - too many for me to ever recount. They are not easy to necessarily understand and fully appreciate either, and can be hard to develop and live by consistently. But they are all common sense.

1. Eat slowly. Drink slowly. Meals should take at least 20 minutes.
2. Fill half your plate with vegetables, especially leafy greens at dinner time and lunch time.
3. Cut down on sugar, and simple processed carbohydrates.
4. Limit alcohol.
5. If you're not hungry, don't eat. It's OK to skip breakfast.
6. Monitor your weight consistently so you know if you're headed in the wrong direction.
7. Get enough sleep.
8. Get your heart rate up, at least 30 minutes a day.
9. Avoid drinking your calories. If you do, do it slowly.
10. Eat a great variety of whole non-processed foods. Whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, eggs, nuts, seeds, fish, etc.

The key is to structure your day, so all the rules above become easier to follow. Set aside at least 20 minutes for every meal, and dedicate yourself to eating it slowly (Which will also increase enjoyment). When you go to a buffet, always go to the salads first, and always have some vegetables in the fridge that are ready to plate. Don't buy candy, and swap simple carbs for more complex when you go to the supermarket. Commit to commuting to work by bike, or walk/run if possible. Swap out whatever foods you routinely consume with healthier alternatives a bit at a time, this will make it second nature. But above all: Experiment. I've done keto, CICO, IF, 5:2, meal replacements diets, all kinds of stuff. I've taken what worked for me, and thrown out what didn't work. Above all: Never bit off more than you can chew. One of the most common mistakes I see, is that people take on too many challenges at once.

Thanks for reading. Thoughts? Additions?

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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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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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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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