I just wanted to post something that may resonate with some of you out there.
A little background: I (25F, 5’5) started losing around January 2017 at 264 lbs, not too long after discovering this sub. I am not at my goal yet, but I have lost over 100 lbs. Before I started, I was hopeless. I truly believed I was “too far gone,” and had no idea how to eat to lose weight. My late teens and early 20’s were chock-full of attempts at getting my weight in-check. I would go through bouts of eating nothing but salads and chicken breasts, which of course I failed at, and conversely it led to me gaining more weight.
Eventually I stumbled across this sub, and it taught me what a TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is and that weight loss is simple math, which was a whole lot easier for me to get than eating a random amount of salad for an extended time and hoping to lose x amount of pounds. Reading about everyday people’s success and seeing their progress finally allowed something to click in my head—they finally convinced me that if they could do it, I could too.
The amount of weight I wanted to lose was still daunting, but time was going to pass either way, and it was better spent working towards my goals than continuing to be unhappy with myself and doing nothing about it.
Early progress was f a s t. Water weight whooshed off. I couldn’t really see changes in my appearance, but the scale was showing me huge losses, and it felt real and wonderful. There were many scale and non-scale victories as well as slip-ups, but as my body transformed, my goals did too.
I am worlds apart from where I was two years ago—I love working out, I enjoy cooking now (something I never used to do), I don’t just eat out of boredom, and my self-assurance has improved tenfold. People call me “fit” now, which feels like a joke since I’m still technically overweight, but it’s true. I love being active, and built a lot of endurance over the last two years.
However, despite all of these great habits I formed, the love of bread is still there, and it probably always will be. I recently went on a ski trip with my best friends, that led us by our favorite bakery, which we seldom get to visit. We went HAM. We left the store with heavy bags of all kinds of breads and baked goods and indulged on the way up the mountain, at the cabin, and all the way home. This is no basic bread. This is family-recipe bread passed down generation after generation, being sold at a quaint brick & mortar that is always busy no matter what time you show up. We ate so much bread we felt bloated for days.
This is the sort of occasion that used to derail my progress to the point of no return. If I had a bad weekend, it turned into a bad week, which turned into a bad month, which turned into another bad year.
I typed all this up because I wanted any of you struggling with that sort of mindset to know that it does not have to be that way. If you overeat and regret it, there is nothing you should do but forgive yourself and move on. Weight loss does not mean always being perfect. Life doesn’t stop because you’re watching what you eat. There is room for celebration, for error, for indulgence. Weight loss is not linear, and it is not a race. If you slip-up, shake it off. You’ll probably see water weight gains on the scale, but don’t let it discourage you, this too shall pass.
I still want to lose about 40 lbs, which sounds like an awful lot, but something I didn’t realize at my highest weight was how good I would begin to feel and look along the way. The number on the scale means less to me now because I can feel my progress, and that motivates me everyday to strive to be better. I have full confidence that I will eventually arrive at my goal weight, but that number now comes second to health, fitness, and my general well-being.
Trust me, if I can do it, so can you. You. Got. This.
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/u/thiswillbeouryear
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