Plateau Advice

First post here, but I’ve been lurking for a few months. Thanks for being a great sub to keep me motivated and inspired!

I recently restarted my weight loss journey after many failed attempts, but through a combo of CICO (using MyFitnessPal) and going to the gym (at first 3 times a week, now 6), I’ve been able to lose 25lbs! At first it came out relatively quickly, of course, but it seems I’ve hit a plateau.

While I know that lean muscle weighs more than fat and that I’m surely gaining it more quickly due to my increased time at the gym, it kills me to get on the scale after a few weeks of being at a 1750 calorie deficit every day and still see that I’m around the same weight.

Aside from measuring myself, does anyone have any tips? Thanks in advance!

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Need advice!

I’m posting on here in hopes that it’s the right place for this type of post. Just want to start off by saying you are all awesome and that I started following this page for inspiration. I’m a 24 year old male and I’m 5’ 10” and 231 pounds. I started my weight loss journey around 252 pounds. To lose that weight all I had to do was stop drinking alcohol. I’ve since hit a point (231) and have not been able to lose any more weight without changing my diet or exercise. If it helps with the advice, I’m a construction worker who is pretty active. We walk upwards of 10 miles a day but outside of work I exercise very little. So my question is where do I start as far as diet and exercise goes? I snack a lot and generally don’t watch what I eat on a daily basis so any help you all can offer is good help. Thanks in advance!

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CICO, metabolism, and cheat meals

So I’ve been doing some reading, and I have some interesting findings.

The point of CICO diet is essentially to lean into the second law of thermodynamics and not worry about too many details. However, it’s true that after a while your metabolism will work to normalize to the caloric intake your feeding it. This causes the differential between your TDEE and intake to decrease, slowing weight loss. I’ve read studies/meta studies: (academic source 1, Survey of Metabolic/Diet interplay , press release article) that seem to suggest that throwing in a “cheat meal” or even a couple of weeks at maintenance is best for long term weight loss, the reason being that it’s much easier to loose weight when you can eat the same number of calories, but your body is burning much more than you are putting in. It seems to me that a cheat meal (or two) a week may be optimal for both long term weight loss, as well as metabolic maintenance.

What are the communities’ thoughts on this? Has anyone incorporated this sort of approach into their diet? I know the cico community here is pretty die hard about the thermodynamics, but I don’t think this is in opposition to that argument. In fact, it seems that if you wish to maximize the difference between your TDEE and caloric intake (thus enhancing our goal of sustainable, steady weight loss), this approach might be both more sustainable and more effective than vanilla brand cico.

I also think this may have psychological benefits as eating at a deficit everyday can be a drag after about two weeks. I’ve personally tried to eat really well during the week, and then have one cheat meal a day on the weekends (but never enough to exceed my TDEE)

P.S. It probably should be noted that those who struggle with food addiction, or other binge eating habits may experience a net negative result if they feel that this might lead to a slippery slope of longer term bingeing.

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[RANT] - Losing weight in an obese family.

Long time lurker, first time poster here!

I come from a family of big eaters who are all, at least, overweight. This includes me! I was overweight my whole childhood, food was a huge part of my life and was a reward for any achievement or success.

Over the last two years I lost four stone. I’m working on shifting the last of my weight, but because I don’t really want to imply to my bigger family members that I don’t want to look like them anymore, I’ve been doing it very quietly without mentioning my goals. As I get smaller, the feedback has mostly been that I’m ‘too skinny’ or I look sick. I am absolutely not too skinny. I weigh 180lbs and I’m 5”6, I’m still classed as overweight and I’d like to get down to 150 or lower.

I have one family member in particular, who I’ll call Joe for the purpose of this rant. Joe is obese, has the worst eating habits and has just been diagnosed pre-diabetic. Joe also has a large family of young children to look after and it scares me to think they’re putting themselves at such a risk without considering their little ones. Whilst I am concerned, I don’t actively care about the fact that Joe is big, but I was really happy when they came to me to ask for advice on how to get into a healthier lifestyle.

I started to explain about CICO and the apps that are helpful. I suggested going for walks with the kids. Swapping out the sugar heavy drinks and coffees with water for low sugar fruit squash. I listen to Joe tell me about how they can’t do exercise because their heart rate goes above average, how they can’t eat less because of an iron deficiency, they don’t like healthy food and don’t have the time to prepare it. Joe will often bring fast food to my house, usually two burgers and a large fries. I suggest switching to one burger and a small fries. At the time of this conversation, Joe eats 6 rice crispy marshmallow treats.

There are a couple of other family members here at the time of this conversation. My (reasonable and healthy suggestions??) are all met with excuses as to why Joe can’t do these things. I’m even told that Joe is going back to the doctors because they believe they have a thyroid issue responsible for the weight. That Joe can’t even go for walks because they are so tired from the iron deficiency they’re basically disabled. I’m even told that it was different for my weight loss because I walk to college.

Now I get that Joe and my family are trying to make each other feel better. I get that it’s such a hard thing to do and make changes around, especially when you’re so deep in the food trap. But it hurts that when I’m asked for advice, not only am I told they just can’t do it but they even have the cheek to belittle my own efforts. Family members actually raised their voices and got annoyed at me for giving the advice I was asked for. I tried so hard to tread lightly and make gentle suggestions without personally hurting Joe’s feelings. It really hurt to hear my hard work discredited. You don’t lose four stone by walking half hour each day. You do get to be obese and pre-diabetic from going to coffee shops daily and eating caramel muffins and frappes as a snack.

I’m sorry for the long rant. I hope I don’t come across as being snobby with my family, I truly don’t care what they eat or what size they are and wouldn’t have offered advice unless they asked for it. I will, of course, still support Joe if they need me too but any advice on how to help get them out of this mindset would be very appreciated.

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How to Choose Your Sunscreen

By now you know: Sunscreen is a must—even if it’s cloudy, even if you’re going to be in the shade, and even if you have a dark complexion. There’s no good reason not to slather it on—skin cancer is the most common cancer in the US; in fact, an estimated one in five Americans will develop it in their lifetime. Plus, your skin will age sooner. Need some guidance on the proper pick? Here’s how to choose your sunscreen:

Make sure the label says “broad spectrum”
That means the sunscreen protects your skin from both UVA rays (which can cause wrinkles and age spots) and UVB, the burning rays. Overexposure to either can lead to skin cancer.

Sunscreen: The ABCs of SPF, UVA and UVB

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Get SPF 30 or higher
SPF stands for ‘sun protection factor,’ and a minimum of 30 is what the American Academy of Dermatology recommends, which blocks 97 percent of the sun’s rays. (SPF 50, if you’re curious, blocks 98 percent.) No sunscreen can filter out 100 percent of the sun’s rays; and a higher SPF doesn’t mean you can stay in the sun longer—you still need to reapply about every two hours, and after swimming, sweating and toweling off.

Choose ‘water-resistant’ for the beach
Or for the pool, or if you’re going for a walk or jog outside. This way you know the sunscreen is formulated to last on wet or sweaty skin, and for how long: water resistant is effective for up to 40 minutes in the water; very water resistant works for 80 minutes. You may see “sports” on the label, which usually means the sunscreen protects wet skin, but still check for the words ‘water resistant.’ What you won’t see on labels anymore are water-proof or sweat-proof, since that’s inaccurate.

How to Eat Your Way to Better Skin

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Skip sunscreen-bug spray combos
Sunscreen needs to be reapplied liberally at least every two hours, but insect repellant is used less frequently, and more sparingly. You can—and should—use both, but separately and in the right order: Rub on sunscreen first and give it about 15 minutes to absorb fully; then lightly mist your skin with bug spray.

Don’t skimp on the sunscreen
Use enough to generously coat any exposed skin—for most adults, that’s about one ounce, or enough to fill a shot glass. Most people only use about a quarter or half the recommended amount. And slather it on dry skin about 15 minutes before you head outdoors, so it’s absorbed.

The post How to Choose Your Sunscreen appeared first on The Leaf.

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Thursday, 06 June 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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Unexpected but welcome side effect to weight loss: Helping with IBS

Not sure if anyone else here has suffered with IBS or has been open to talking about it (it can be slightly embarrassing) I have been suffering with IBS my entire life and now I’m at a point where I’ve managed to get it under control. Although I haven’t been following the low fodmap diet, it’s amazing how much having a more balanced diet/ healthier diet has reversed most of my symptoms. i guess i shouldn’t have been too surprised haha.

I think the best part now is it makes it a lot easier to tell which foods trigger IBS. for me, pretty much any fried food is a no go which makes it easier to resist temptation for those types of foods.

I am currently down 45 pounds (218 to 173, 21yr old F) and besides feeling better about how my body physically looks I also in general feel so much better. No longer sluggish, no more stomach cramps, no more anxiety whenever I go to the bathroom.

Anyone else have similar benefits happen to them since starting your journey?

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