A little background- I’m 28F SW was 215.9 on January 2nd, 2019 CW is 187. This weight loss has NOT been linear and I think that’s the hardest thing to wrap my mind around. I have had one major plateau in which I stayed the same for almost 4 weeks and it was driving me insane and then a whoosh happened and for the most part it’s been good since. I have steadied at around 190 since March though because ya know life happens but I haven’t gained any so that’s a win to me! Okay, so I can normally knock back 3 fried chicken sandwiches with a large fry and about 8 packets of sauce. Chick-fil-A is my plaaaace! It’s my favorite fast food pace in the world. Well, there is no chick-fil-a where I live. I was out of town today and had the discipline and restraint to limit myself to my first healthy chick-fil-a experience ever! I only ate a 12 count grilled chicken nuggets with 1 pack of chick-fil-a sauce and water to drink!! I I must say, I am pretty proud of myself! Anyone have any other moments of disciple they are proud of??
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.
Today I’m talking to a fairly new runner about her first marathon – which she describes as ‘magical’. That’s wild to me because I would probably describe my first as ‘painful’ or ‘traumatizing’…! She’s sharing how running helped her mental health – especially during a rough time her first year of teaching. And I’m sharing my thoughts on therapy too.
New to the Run Eat Repeat podcast? Hi!! Thanks for stopping by!
I’m Monica – I started RunEatRepeat.com to share my first full marathon training and diet journal. The site grew an awesome following and now it’s this podcast too! Thank you for listening! You can get show notes, training plans, recipes and more on RunEatRepeat.com or @RunEatRepeat on instagram.
Warm Up: My Therapy Journey…
First… we talk about mental health during the interview and I want to remind ya that nothing on Run Eat Repeat or this podcast is meant to serve as medical advice. Please see a doctor if you’re sick, unsure about something going on with your body or feel an injury coming on. And please see a therapist or counselor if you are struggling with anything that could be helped by a professional or outside resource.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and I want to share my experience with therapy.
I first went to therapy in college.
No one told me I should go.
I didn’t think I was battling a serious mental illness…but I knew that how I felt and what I was thinking was unhealthy. I was stuck. I felt really bad about myself and it was taking over my life. I didn’t want to go to parties or certain places, I avoided social situations and any party or dinner or plans that involved food.
My boyfriend and I got in a few fights because he wanted to go out or to a party and I was
I realized it was affecting all my relationships. So… I thought I should talk to someone about it.
Luckily, I was still on my mom’s health insurance and was able to look up a therapist that took our insurance and just had to do the co-pay.
It helped a lot. But it isn’t a magic pill that solves all your problems.
You have to do the work.
You don’t change or fix things – especially really hard things by just telling someone about it once a week. You have to show up for yourself every day and work how you think, how you react, your triggers, your habits and more. And sometimes you need medication – which is also not a magic pill but can help a lot.
I’ve been going to therapy most weeks for the last 2 years. I don’t think I’m that ‘messed up’ so part of me thinks I don’t deserve to go…and by that I mean I feel like someone who’s been going to therapy for 2 years needs to have experienced more trauma than I have…?
But the reality is that my experiences, emotions, relationships and needs add up and it’s hard for me to move forward, be kind to myself and grow healthy relationships. And that’s kind of the most important thing right? Or at least it is for me… to be able to have good, happy relationships with the people I love. I’m not talking about romantic relationships but all relationships.
So – I’m sharing all of this to say – there’s nothing wrong with me. But I want to be better. I want to be a better person, be a better example, have better relationships and help other people be better too.
If you have it all figured out and you’re happy – good. Pass it on! If not, I think therapy is an awesome way to explore things that might be tugging at you.
Running Buddy of the Day – New Podcast Series
A while back I put out a call for runners and coaches who wanted to be on the podcast and got great response! We’re starting out that series today…
Today our running buddy is Kaleena Soughter from Turnersville, New Jersey.
Let’s start by talking about your running journey…
KS: I started running to lose weight like everybody else… getting married… teacher first year and really hard job.
She started to realize that running to make her feel better not just physically but mentally too…
Kaleena ran the Philly Marathon last year and is sharing the training and race day experience…
RER: How did your first marathon go?
KS: It was magical. (<- Boom!)
It was like I was on a runner’s high the entire time.
RER: Then, we started to talk about running and mental health…
KS Do I sink into the sand or do I get up?
Running Favorites Questions:
What’s your favorite race distance and why?
Full marathon!
What’s your favorite race?
This one surprised me…
Do you have a running mantra or how do you motivate yourself when you’re not feeling it?
What have you been listening to lately?
Yes – I looked up the new Jonas Bros music and love it!
What’s your victory lap? (What do you eat after a race?)
Pizza with french fries?? Wait – what? (we discuss)
Thank you Kaleena!
You can follow her on instagram @Kaleenaamarie and I’ll put a link to that in the show notes!
Now it’s time for the awards:
1st place – Impractical Jokers.
2nd. Kristin for hooking up the snacks.
3rd. Costco calendar!
Thank you for listening! Please subscribe to the show and rate and review – it really helps new listeners find the show. I appreciate it.
Tag @RunEatRepeat on Instagram and let me know what you’re doing while you listen!
Hey all of you wonderful people in r/loseit! Long time lurker, first time poster here, I don't know why this is so nerve-wracking but it is for some reason... please forgive me for any formatting errors! For the past two months, I've been religiously logging into MFP, exercising (cardio + 3 day full body split), walking a lot, CICO, etc. and have lost 20+ pounds since March 19th.
I was around the same starting weight in April of 2018 and decided to make a lifestyle change by quitting smoking, drinking, and all social media all at once. While that sounds overwhelming (and it was for the first few weeks), I've always been an all or nothing type of personality. I kept it up through the end of last summer and got down to 175, but then started slipping on the weight loss because of routine changes and the cold weather. Fast forward to this spring, I ended up at the same starting weight and was pretty disappointed, so thought I'd give it another go, this time trying to learn from my mistakes that led me to slip up the first time!
Anyway, I went out to update my Spring/Summer wardrobe today and was trying on new clothes and realized that my body had changed more than I realized since the winter when I was wearing size Large shirts/hoodies to conceal my body... I ended up trying on clothes that were a size Small and they were actually the perfect fit for me! The timing was great as I've mini-plateau'd around 175 for the past week or so, and not seeing the scale move was starting to get me down after weeks of consistent losing.
I can't remember the last time I was able to comfortably rock a size small shirt, but here we are, and it's definitely in large part to seeing y'all post your incredibly motivational stories, pictures, and struggles that make me understand I'm not in this alone and there's a real pathway to get to where we're trying to go! So basically, thank you for your contributions and acceptance, and hopefully this gives me the courage to keep posting on this sub :)
This is just a fun but validating story that happened to me this week, and I wasn't sure where else to share it.
My supervisor is one of those constant dieters. She's not really overweight (maybe chronically 10lbs overweight, not that this really matters!) and she's done it all -- all the MLM shakes, fasts, bars, you name it. Right now she's doing keto, which whatever, I have no beef with it (no pun intended). In fact I was pretty successful on it myself for a while but realized it's just not a good long term strategy for me, and I wasn't sure why I'd ever try to trick myself out of basic, no-frills CICO in the first place (I lost 80lbs just counting calories on a notepad back in my teens and never gained it back... why reinvent the wheel FFS?). But I digress.
So you get the idea, my boss is somebody who doesn't let a day go by without mentioning what she's eating, how much weight she's lost, etc. And meanwhile I've quietly and sloooowwwly been losing weight without saying a word for the last 9 months or so. I personally don't think it's noticeable. I have lost 30 pounds, but because it's only at about 0.75lb/week, it's barely registered for me. I just nod and smile and tell her how great she looks.
The other day at a staff meeting, a coworker of mine very loudly said in front of everybody as we were dispersing, "Timory, your weight loss is so noticeable today! Look at you in those little pants!" (Normally I think it's super rude to comment on people's appearance without express permission, but my work team really does have the kind of relationship where this is kosher.) She then turned to our supervisor and said, "Supervisor, don't you think Timory has been doing a great job on her diet?" To which our boss said "Yup, I guess we're all slimming down!"
It was so hard not to laugh. I texted my coworker later to thank her out of earshot. I just thought it was so nice of her; not just that she noticed my weight loss, but that she noticed our boss being a bit of a diva about it.
I still have about 15-20lbs to go, so at least 6 months at the rate I'm going, but it's nice that people have started to notice! I had a few other coworkers make some flattering comments today, but they weren't nearly as amusing :)
I'm listening to this lecture series on stress. One of the lectures is dealing with how stress affects appetite. Apparently the reason we crave carbs when we are stressed is that carbs lower some of our stress related hormones. Science has started to shift into understanding how our environment affects the choices we make and how those choices affect us. Another fun fact is that if your grandmother was a second or third trimester fetus during a time where food was scarce that increases the likely hood that you will be overweight.
Time and time again I hear people lament that this just causes people to make excuses. Its the weirdest thing to me. No psychologically sound person wants to be fat. I'm sure their are some disturbed people out there who receive gratification from being fat. Heck there are actually people who seek to be infected with HIV so anything is possible.
Most of the time when someone blames their genetics or something like that what they are really saying is that they are afraid. They've tried and failed. They've been given too much conflicting information. They've experienced negative consequences while losing weight.
Weight loss and maintenance are hard. Another fun fact is that losing a large amount of weight, I forget the numbers, can lead to hormonal shifts that make it harder to keep the weight off. Specifically in a hormone called leptin, which tells your body you are full. Of you are morbidly obese and lose weight leptin levels can take years to recover. You could litterally spend years having a an endocrine system that doesn't tell you that you are full.
I can go on and on about the emotional, physical, financial, societal and psychological impediments to weight loss and maintenance. Science is really working hard to not only understanding them but understanding how they affect different people differently. My point is that these are important conversations to have. That obese and overweight people are not lazy or immoral. That people are not making excuses when they blame outside influences and that an insignificantly small group of people actually want to be overweight or obese. That we do ourselves, and society wrong by not addressing the many different barriers to weightloss and weight maintenance.