NSV: I can finally see some changes in my body! (SFW progress pics included.)

Link to progress pictures included towards the end of the post.

I’m 23F, 5’7”. I started on January 25th at my HW of 336.0 lbs. As of my weigh-in this Monday, I’m now 291.2 lbs, so 44.8 lbs down in about 13.5 weeks.

I've been morbidly obese for my entire life, and I've spent years yo-yo dieting. The decision to start losing weight this time around felt different, though. For the first time in my life, I wanted to do it to take care of myself and my health, not to punish my body because I was disgusted with it like I always have in the past. I've been doing CICO and IF, paying attention to portion sizes, and making overall healthier choices. My diet isn't too restrictive in terms of what I eat. I still enjoy some of my favorite junky snacks, but I just eat them much less frequently and in much smaller portions. I've also really liked IF, and I tend to save a large chunk of my calories for later in the afternoon/early evening. I've always had a tendency to binge at night, so I've found that filling up (within my calorie limits) later in the day really helps reduce the likelihood of me binging before bed. Also, so far most of my weight loss has been done without any exercise whatsoever. Only last week have I started to introduce some exercise into my life with a stationary bike. I have pretty severe chronic back pain, but I'm hoping that my back pain will reduce as I continue to lose weight so I can include a wider variety of physical activity in my life.

I've always been really inspired by looking at other people’s progress pics and I knew I should take some of my own, but I couldn’t bear the thought of taking any photos of my body when I first started at my HW. However, I decided to start taking progress pictures in mid-March after I had lost 26.4 lbs and was 309.6 lbs.

Since then, I’ve felt kind of sad about not being able to see many changes in my body. The main change I noticed was that my bra cups were less full than they had been, but I couldn’t notice any changes in my stomach or anything. In fact, sometimes I even feel larger than I felt when I first started my weight loss journey even though I logically know I’ve lost nearly 45 lbs at this point.

But last night I took another set of progress pics at 291.2 lbs, so 18.4 lbs down from the mid-March photos and 44.8 lbs down overall... and I was shocked when I realized I could actually see a difference!! I even washed that shirt recently and haven’t worn it until I put it on last night to take the photos, so it’s not like it’s loose or stretched out from wearing it recently. But my stomach is a little smaller!

I still have a long way to go until I’m at any semblance of a healthy body weight, but seeing evidence of my body shrinking a little bit when I haven’t been able to see it in the mirror has given me a huge burst of motivation.

Now I wish I would have taken pictures at the very start of my weight loss journey so I could see the full impact of the ~45 lb difference, but I’m just glad I at least started when I did so I can at least keep comparing down the line as I make more progress.

I also just wanted to thank everyone on r/loseit. Reading all of your posts really helps keep me on track and makes the whole weight loss process feel less lonely.

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NSV: Saw a candid photo of myself and didn’t feel ashamed

This morning I woke up to an instagram notification. My dog trainer had tagged me and my pupper in a photo from our class the previous night. I was dressed like crap, sitting down, and leaning over to treat my dog. All of that to say that there really wasn’t anything flattering about the shot. However, I wasn’t horrified. I thought I just looked like a normal person. At my highest weight, I would have looked like the Michelin Man in leggings if someone would have snapped a picture of me slumped over in a chair. I would have untagged myself immediately in the past.

Now I feel pretty confident that I just look like an average not fit/not really fat person going about my daily life. This feeling is so very good.

As for how I got here: I’m (31F 5’7” and I’ve gone from 283lbs to 170lbs in around 14 months. My weight loss has come primarily from calorie counting. I’m a huge proponent of CICO. I log everything, but I try not to let perfect be the enemy of good when it comes to logging. For exercise I attended a few barre classes each week and take my dog on walks. The progress hasn’t been linear. I’ve had stalls and wooshes. I’ve had days where I ate at maintenance instead of a deficit. It’s not been easy, but it has been very simple. The hardest part is just not giving up.

Candid comparison. Doggo for reference

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How to Make Your Own (Delicious!) Salsa

Olé! Today we’re celebrating salsa—because there’s no better way to incorporate some of summer’s best flavors, and enjoy a guilt-free, flavor-packed snack—a cup of the homemade versions (like the one below) will count as one Vegetable on your Nutrisystem plan.

So let’s get this salsa party started!

NUTRITION SPOTLIGHT: TOMATOES
One of our favorite stars of summer produce is the humble tomato. In addition to being downright delicious, these ruby red beauties pack a nutritional punch, dishing out heart-healthy potassium and antioxidant-rich vitamin C.

How to Slice A Handful of Cherry Tomatoes in Seconds

Read More

RECIPE: FRESH TOMATO SALSA
Here’s our go-to recipe for basic fresh tomato salsa. Prep takes less than 10 minutes and you can enjoy it right away or let it chill in the fridge for an hour to allow the flavors to combine. Count one cup (about a quarter of the recipe) as one Vegetable.

Ingredients:
4 vine-ripened tomatoes, rough chopped
1/4 red onion, rough chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, rough chopped
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped
1 jalapeno pepper (omit for a milder salsa), rough chopped
Juice of one fresh lime
Salt and pepper, to taste

How to:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse three to four times, or until finely diced (not pureed). Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy right away, or wait an hour to let flavors combine before serving.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can adjust it to your suit your individual taste—more onion, less cilantro, more garlic—it’s easy to make it your own!

READY TO MIX THINGS UP?
Use the recipe above as a base and add in any of these flavor boosters for a whole new spin on salsa!

• Black Bean: Add one cup of black beans, rinsed, and one cup red bell pepper, roughly chopped (SmartCarb alert: A quarter of the recipe counts as one Vegetable and half a SmartCarb serving)
• Chipotle: Add a quarter cup chipotle peppers in adobo (Extra alert: A quarter of the recipe counts as one Vegetable and one Extra)
• Mango: Add one cup fresh mango and one cup red bell pepper, roughly chopped (SmartCarb alert: A quarter of the recipe counts as one Vegetable and a quarter of a SmartCarb serving)
• Pineapple: Add one cup fresh pineapple and one cup yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped (SmartCarb alert: A quarter of the recipe counts as one Vegetable and a quarter of a SmartCarb serving)
• Roasted Garlic: Add two to three cloves of roasted garlic in place of the fresh garlic
• Salsa Verde: Use three-quarters of a pound of fresh tomatillos in place of the vine-ripened tomatoes.

TOP 5 WAYS TO USE SALSA:
Now that you’ve mastered homemade salsa, get creative with spicing up some of your favorite meals and snacks. Here are our five favorite ways to use salsa:

1. As a dip for carrot and celery sticks
2. On top of scrambled egg whites for a flavor-packed PowerFuel
3. In place of dressing on green salads
4. As a topping for Nutrisystem Southwest Fiesta Melt or Tortilla Soup
5. Stirred in to hummus for a zesty SmartCarb dip

With summer just around the corner, we know you’ll love this healthy, delicious snack. Summer BBQs on the calendar? Pack a salsa and veggie tray—it’s perfect bring-along dish for summer parties—and you’ll benefit from having a healthy snack on hand!

The post How to Make Your Own (Delicious!) Salsa appeared first on The Leaf.

from The Leaf http://bit.ly/2GS505n

Who cares what the number is - aren't our goals actually the Body, Health, and Ability?

You know those posts that say "my weight loss has totally stalled for 3 weeks after starting X fitness routine. I have more energy, I'm doing X better, and my clothes are fitting looser, but how do I fix this and get the nunber to move?!?"

Why are we (myself included) so focused on a number? Aren't our actual goals to be healthier, feel good, do our activities better, and maybe most closely related to weight, look 'better'? If we are doing all of those other things, why does a number get us down so much?

I don't know about you, but I'd rather have the body I want and be able to perform like I want and have the number be really high than have the number be super low but look worse and perform worse. What does that number even tell us? Not much...

Here's to a mental switch and measuring more by the changes that actually matter.

(This probably means I should weight train more, yeah?)

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24 M Fit, fat and fit again.

Hey guys! I’ve been a lurker here for quite a while, I’ve just never posted for whatever reason.

I have recently hit 100% of my weight loss goal (265lb -> 178lb) and now I just don’t know what to do. I’ve seen posts similar to this and I guess I just haven’t seen something I’m sold on just yet. I’m finally pretty damn happy with myself when I look in the mirror. I’ve got vascularity, abs, etc. But what I’m not totally happy with is the feeling of not having a specific goal any longer. Should I bulk back up and try to add muscle? Should I continue cutting til I’m super lean? Should I try to maintain this weight for a while before I change anything? I know this is a personal thing but I’d love to hear everyone’s input! I feel an immeasurable amount of pride in seeing “100% to goal” but at the same time, I feel totally lost now. I feel like that was my biggest driving force in my decision making and now it’s done. What do, /loseit, what do.

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Kickstart Weight Loss

Hey all. I wanted to see if anyone has some great advice to kick start some weight loss.

I am a M, 29 yo, 6’4”, and weigh ~295 lbs. I would love to get down to 250-260 for starters. That was my weight right after college. I fit comfortably in XL shirts (currently XXL) during that time. About 2 years ago I worked out of town during the week for about a year and completely went off the rails. Diet was beyond horrible eating out for every meal and almost no exercise. (A footling chicken bacon ranch at subway was probably the most healthy thing I ate all week). I never weighed myself during that time but based on pictures from that time, I would have to guess I got up in the 320-330 range and even some XXL shirts started feeling tight. I am not trying to lose weight quickly. I just really want to trend in the right direction and haven’t had much luck. Consistently losing 1-2 lbs/wk would be great. I know this only gets harder as you get older so I really want to reign this in. Plus I’m getting married in about 7 mo!

I’ve been going at it for about 2 mo. I go to the gym about 4 times a week. 1 hr of weight lifting and 20-30 min of cardio each time. I use the Fitbod app (amazing in my opinion) for weight lifting regiments. I do take a low carb protein supplement (Isopure) - 1 scoop after each workout to help maximize muscle building. I also take a pre workout because I typically go to the gym in the AM before work and need that jolt of energy. I definitely feel myself getting more fit. I even see better muscle tone and maybe a little too much bulk building, but it hasn’t really translated to the scale.

I weigh myself around Thursday AM after I wake up and these are my last recordings 5/2 - 296.8 4/25 - 295.2 4/12 - 296.4 4/4 - 296.2 3/28 - 296.8 3/21 - 297.4 3/14 - 294.4 2/2- - 297.2

Diet wise I feel like I do okay to pretty well. I grill out a lot. My diet is mostly meat, veggies, and cheese. I did try the Keto diet for about 2 weeks and lost about 10 lbs. After I stopped the weight came right back. I think the keto diet would work but I don’t see myself eating that way forever. So my take away was just to try and stay away from carbs except for the occasional rice cake with peanut butter. I do go out usually once a week with friends and enjoy some beer but stick mostly to miller lites. And probably have 1 cheat meal on the weekend. Overall I am working on dialing in my diet even more but feel it’s at the point already where I should be losing at least a little weight...

I guess my question, to the experts or people who have been down this path before, is there any kind of aha moment when you saw the weight loss process kick into gear? Is there any common mistakes or bad assumptions people start out with that maybe doesn’t get them going in the right direction? Is there any area I should focus in on (tweak diet more, more cardio etc.)? I do get about 6-7 hrs of solid sleep at night and live a relatively stress free life. I have been thinking about getting outside help (other than reddit) from a consultant or personal trainer. But I really don’t have the extra cash to spend. Although if that is what is required to get this working, I can definitely make the investment.

Thanks for any feedback! I know there is probably no silver bullet answer but want to keep dialing stuff in and try something different to get this going. I would have thought maintaining a steady weight loss of 1-2 lbs/wk is not extremely difficult with a decent diet and exercise. Hope to be posting some great progress pics on here some day! Good luck to everyone else out there.

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Weight loss update. Almost there!

So I started losing weight in January, I started at 120kg (M 30) without an exact goal. I then ordered a new car scheduled to arrive at the end of May, I decided I wanted to lose 20kg by the time the car arrived. It's got sports seats and comfort was a concern on long drives... I'm doing CICO and going to the gym every 2nd day. The day before yesterday the dealership called, the car is on it's way. Because I'll be on vacation the next 2 weeks the delivery date is set for the 20th. I'm exactly 3kg away from my goal. On vacation I'll be going to the gym in the hotel every day concentrating on cardio. I'm afraid I might just miss my goal by a few 100grams but with a bit of luck I might just manage to do it. 18 days to go guys! After that I plan on learning to maintain my weight over the summer and start losing again over the winter. Wish me luck!

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