As a Licensed Professional Counselor I see some similarities in posts here. I hope I can help.

I’m new on my own weight loss journey and I’ve felt nothing but acceptance from the people on here. I’d like to offer a smidge of my expertise in behavior modification and if it helps you then I’m happy. If not, no worries, no one thing works for everyone.

There is a considerable emotional aspect to (over?)eating. I want to help people to know that you can have an effect on your own thought processes. Our thinking controls our actions and when we control our thinking we begin to take control of our lives. How do we control our thinking, especially when we have thought the same way for so long? Talk to your negative thoughts and tell them to get the hell out.

Scenario; you feel bad about whatever (job, friends, weight) and the negative thoughts are coming fast and furious about how worthless and fat you are. The old you goes to food for the quick mood boost (before the negative spiral that you’ve eaten garbage again). Here’s what I want you to do. Go stand in front of the mirror and say OUT LOUD to yourself. “Yes, I feel bad and that’s normal. The old me would go drown my sorrows in food, but that’s not me today. Today I choose to make better choices. Today I choose to not give in. Today I choose to be a better me. Not for anyone else, but for me because I deserve it.” (And if you’re comfortable with swearing then get brutal with your negative thoughts.) “Fuck you, negativity. You don’t get me today. I have a goal and I’m GOING to reach it.”

Talking out loud helps change your thought processes. Bring positive talk into the equation and it helps with eliminating the negative thoughts.

Scenario; you had a bad cheat day, looked up and ate 5 slices of pizza, ate all the Oreos, ate all the ice cream and you feel that shitty feeling coming back of “here I go again.” And the spiral begins anew. Go to your mirror. Look yourself in the eyes and say OUT LOUD, “I have screwed up, but that does NOT mean I am a screw-up. Everyone makes mistakes. I’m getting back on track because I choose to not remain in negativity. I choose to do better, and I will.” (Again, if you’re comfortable swearing, get aggressive with your negativity.) “Fuck off, negativity! You won this battle but I’m winning the war because I can and I choose to.”

It was a revelation to me when I actually found out that I didn’t HAVE to wallow in misery. I could have a say in my own mental health and how I addressed my own thoughts. NEGATIVITY IS YOUR ENEMY. Surround yourself with positivity. Be honest with yourself and negative emotions and when bad things happen, but don’t dwell in the muck and mire. Get back up. Dust yourself off. You can do it.

You can do this. You got this.

(Wrote this on my mobile while my kids were swimming, sorry if format is poor. Plenty more detail to go into, but I hope someone out there finds this helpful.)

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[NSV] I ate healthy on a road trip!

I had to share this victory, because I went camping to a festival last weekend and I half expected by steady weight loss to stall. Camping and festival life is a trigger for me for all sorts of unhealthy behaviors - drinking, eating poorly on the road, stopping exercise. But I came out of this weekend feeling victorious!

I promised a friend I would accompany them to a festival ages ago, and when the time came I honestly wasn't thrilled to have to follow through. I had tons of stuff to finish at home and there was a heat advisory for the weekend. But my planning skills kept this weekend in a positive light for me!

Eve though we were driving all day, I didnt eat fast food. I planned the food I took so that I always had nuts, celery and beef jerky to eat. I kept myself from snacking in between meals, and even though the camp was serving communal breakfast and dinner and I didnt have control over what they fixed, I stayed on my low carb diet and focused on veggies only.

Not only that, but I packed my running shoes and actually followed through on running while I was there! I got up at 7 and ran a mile while my friend was still asleep.

Now that I'm back home, I weighed myself to see that my weightloss has continued and I'm 1 pound lighter than the day I left.

Planning ahead was huge for this. I planned on sticking with my diet and I planned on taking my running gear. I'm realizing that lack of planning is an excuse that I use, and now that I know I can always be prepared I feel so much more in control.

My friend has habits similar to my old ones and I see my old self in her. She got candy to eat on the road, she would get seconds of dinner to save "for later", she drank a lot of really sweet alcohol and suffered through hangovers. She is overweight but we don't discuss it. I am just happy I no longer have the same habits.

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Exciting New Mindset!

I've been successfully losing weight since last November. I am down 62.5 lbs so far and have noticed that not only do I look like a different person, I feel like a different person as well. My entire mindset around food has changed. I've also been actively working to education myself on nutrition and finding out what foods my body runs best on. I'd bounced between overweight and obese since high school. I'd never intentionally lost weight before, it always just kind of happened when I got extremely busy in high school or college and didn't have time to eat and snack constantly. For some reason I never connected the two until years later, though, so I fell victim to the common fatlogic trope of "I've always been big, so I'll always be big."

I realize now that so much of that had to do with my relationship with food. I am a comfort eater, and a boredom eater, and a foodie. When I lived in Boston I gained 20lbs in a year from a combination of the availability of any food (delivery at 2am during a panic-fueled essay writing session? Yes, please!) and the number of amazing new restaurants and foods to try (new restaurant every week because I want to try every cuisine ever invented? Yes, please!). I had no sense of portion control and would feel the need to eat everything so I wasn't wasting money. Even if I didn't love it, I didn't want to be wasteful.

Since starting my weight loss journey though, I've learned to completely reevaluate how I feel about food. These are just the things I've found that worked for me and have come about organically as I count calories and learn more about nutrition!

1.) Eating is not an all-day event anymore: I no longer eat from the time I wake up until I run out of chips just before bed, but have structured meal/snack times that keep me energized and ready for work/exercise.

2.) Quality over quantity: You can pry pizza out of my cold dead hands. But now, I opt for the small size goat cheese and shrimp pizza every couple of months and make it my one meal of the day (I split it with my husband, so I'm still not eating an entire pizza) with small snacks surrounding it (mostly fresh fruit/veggies) instead of the 2 medium pizzas for 5.99 each deal from dominos once a week.

3.) Leftovers are not necessary: I don't always have to take home my leftovers and eat them "the next day." Mainly because I never would eat them the next day. I would wait an hour or two after getting home, then polish them off the same night. If it was a truly fantastic meal that I know can fit into my calorie allowance the next day, then yeah I'll take what I didn't eat home. If I don't feel like I need them, though, I don't take them.

4.) Portions are crazy now: We took my mother-in-law to our favorite Hibachi place last night. My husband and I haven't been in months. We got our usual (combo special for two, which includes Hibachi lobster, scallops, filet mignon, and chicken over rice and veg). I used to be able to polish off my entire portion in one night, without a problem. Last night I could barely eat the rice, and while I finished most of the protein, it left me so full that I still have like 4 servings of rice left. I did deem these leftovers good enough to take home, but didn't realize how much rice they give you! I measured out 1/2 cup for my lunch today, and it was the smallest dent in the rice mountain. I have a feeling I will not be able to finish it all, and that's okay!

5.) Alcohol: I love wine. I drank too much wine on a weekly basis before really looking into how many calories were in my favorite bottle of Malbec. I know many people choose to cut out alcohol completely while losing weight, and that's great! I have decided to just limit my intake. I only really drink when I go out to eat as I love pairing a good wine with a good meal. I only really go out to eat once every couple of weeks. I also found that since I'm eating less to lose weight, I have to be careful about how much I drink! I have gotten tipsy off of one glass of wine recently. It's definitely nice to realize that I love relaxing with a good glass of tea as much as a good glass of wine at the end of the night!

Overall, it's been an exciting journey so far and I'm learning to love and enjoy food, without overdoing it!

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Found out what people thought of my appearance after I lost weight

Finally decided to post in this community because you all helped me a lot as a lurker and reading your posts. I thought maybe you guys will find this funny. After finally reaching my goal weight weeks ago (~130lbs (59kg) from ~170lbs(77kg) at 5'3) , I will tell you guys my journey:

I ballooned in university. My family, especially my mother was not happy. Both of my parents were obese too, but they didn't want me to turn out like them. Besides my mother no one ever said anything about my weight directly except me and when I did, my friends reassured me I was fine and average. Maybe few older generations here and there, but socially there was no direct negative impact so I could ignore my weight insecurities. After graduating and working I noticed I was the biggest around my other south-asian friends and my cousins. Another few insecurities and my mom started getting louder as she herself got a trainer and started losing weight....she was approaching my weight and I said enough was enough.

I had moved out for a contract position and the town was dead in winter, so I could focus on developing healthy habits. I also didn't visit a lot of people during this time due to winter road conditions. My co-workers were all health-conscious people too. Summer comes, start visiting old family and friends more, and my god the reactions were insane. Everyone, I mean everyone was commenting positively. Proud moments:

1. My mom said I don't look fat anymore. Dad got motivated to lose weight too since everyone in the family started getting on the health-band wagon. Veggies finally got introduced weekly in our household. Mom asks me every week what is my weight, what have I done to stay active, etc etc., cause she wants me to maintain it. She herself lost weight and is now at my original weight. So less vocal, but you know...moms.
2. I went to events my moms friends held and almost after every event my mom would tell me her friends were proud of my weight loss and really happy for me.
3. My moms friend who is blunt and straightforward came forward that said my face had changed for the better and I used to be so fat before so thank god I lost it. She was so happy for me. Other less-forward friends said along the lines "you used to be pretty before too, but now you shine and look prettier".
4. At the beginning of my journey: Friends grandma screamed across the living room across all the ladies that were sitting after I had passed the living room that "(sketchmetoo mom) your daughter has lost weight?!!!!"). My mom told this to be after the party and also added on that her other friend replied "not that much though". Recently, friends grandma saw me and with such purity and grace she was so happy I lose weight like I was her daughter who had provided her a grandchild or something.
5. My friends pointed out I lost weight without me mentioning anything, especially the ones were trying to lose weight too. One asked what method I used and if it worked which her sister immediately snapped a reply "Of course it worked, look at her!"
6. No longer the fat cousin and mom tells me when my relatives see my pictures they call/message her and let her know how happy they are.
7. One friend said I used to look voluminous, but now I look fine. She and I never talked about weight before, but when she met me after so many months she was flabbergasted.
8. Co-workers who came back from vacation noticed a difference too and pointed it out :D (I realized now that I was the biggest in my department too)
9. Finally mom is pissed: She brought a bunch of size 12 clothes as she had lost faith in me few months before my weight loss, now she is like "WE HAVE TO TAILOR EVERYTHING? Nothing I brought fits you anymore". But then catches herself and says its a good problem to have.

In the end, no one said anything negative about my weight-loss, but I was surprised how many people were "aware" I was overweight and just were nice and never said anything.

submitted by /u/sketchmetoo
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"Big and Tall" shop worker asked me if I was shopping for myself today (Big Win)

Over the past year and a half I've (M 24) lost over 100ibs (340 > 225). Despite what the scale says and what people around me tell me, I can't seem to stop perceiving myself as my 340 ibs self. Today I walked into the Big and Tall store I always buy my shirts from and when I walked in a worker asked if I was shopping for myself. I said yes and she said they probably wouldn't have anything that fit me (meaning everything would be too big).

​

Obviously your friends and family are going to tell you you look great when you're on your weight loss journey so you, or at least I, just accept it as basic courtesy because that's what friends do. I think what that lady said to me really hit because someone I've never met before didn't see me as a "big" dude. Definitely was an awesome feeling!

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Weight Loss Update

Since I’ve been home from college I’ve been working out twice a day regularly while eating great -fruits, veggies and chicken- hoping to lose about 20-25 pounds by the time I have to return back to school. I’ve been a bystander on this subreddit since May and I’ve posted questions here and there but I’m here to give an update on my progress!

When I returned home from school in May I weighed in at 251 pounds. Today I stepped on the scale and saw the numbers 229.6. I couldn’t believe it! I’ve lost 22 pounds since the middle part of May! I’m so proud of myself for seeing those numbers. I’m the lightest I’ve been since high school. I’m in the best shape physically since high school. I’ve updated my goal to get to 220 before I go back, which is about 4 weeks.

I’ll update again here in a few weeks!

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40lbs in 90s days. Choo choo!

I just wanted to make a celebratory post about being down 40 lbs in 90 days. Im 6 foot, male.

Gone from 465 to 425. My goal is around 200.

What am I doing? Just counting calories using myfitnesspal.

Planning to start doing more physical activity once I get down closer to 350, but that's more for plain cardiovascular health than weight loss.

Question to the reader: Is anyone else losing weight so they can live long enough to "live forever". Personally Im hoping we develop mind uploading tech this century and it would be a damn shame to die from something as preventable as obesity just a few decades before we can upload our minds.

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