From 418 lbs to 171 lbs! Reached my goal weight this week! No surgery, just CICO and exercise.

Before and after: https://imgur.com/xQ4LiF9

On 6th November 2017 I weighed in at 418 lbs., after much hard work and dedication on July 24th of 2019 I dropped below my goal weight of 173 lbs. hitting 171.4 lbs. I am 5'10''.

I didn’t have any weight loss surgery, I have not had any loose skin removed yet (yes there is a lot of loose skin), I didn't follow some crazy fad diet. I utilized CICO (calories in, calories out), and exercise.

Some other statistics for those who LOVE math; Year 1: Daily average calories1408.46, weekly average calories consumed 9847.53, calories burned via exercise per week 7639.64, average lost per week 4.9 lbs. Year 2: Daily average calories1509.13, weekly average calories consumed 10,567, calories burned via exercise per week 5628.08, average lost per week 2.19 lbs.

It wasn't always easy, I tried to stay positive for a majority of the weight loss journey, I stumbled a few times, but now I have crossed the finish line and begin a new chapter in my life by maintaining what I have achieved.

I hope that others in this sub who are about to give up, or who just need a little push to help them across their own finish line can take some motivation from this post. If I can do it at age 44, just about anyone can do it!

The last time I posted on this sub I got a lot of questions so just to recap from that previous post:

TL; DR: Calories in, calories out, exercise, tracking.

First, I use quite a few apps:

1. MyFitnessPal for calorie, nutrition, and exercise tracking.
2. C25K, to learn to run over an eight-week period.
3. Map My Run, to track my running calories burned and distance.
4. Map My Ride, to track my biking distance and calorie burn.

​

I made a spreadsheet in Excel. Once a week, on weigh-in day (which is typically Monday or Tuesday) I enter data from my apps to track trends including: Starting weight, current weight, amount of weight lost or gained for the week, daily calorie average for the week, weekly calorie total, weekly total of calories burned via exercise, starting BMI, current BMI, current weight BMR, and weekly calorie deficit.

With formulas in place it is a snap to enter data and see trends so that I can make adjustments to CICO (calorie in and calories out), to ensure I am on the right path.

Since I do a lot of VR based cardio on the Oculus Rift, I use data from the VR Institute of Health to calculate calorie burn when playing certain exercise-based games such as Beat Saber, Thrill of the Fight, Holopoint, Audio Shield, Gorn, Fruit Ninja VR, Space Pirate Trainer, etc.

My current favorite Oculus game for cardio is Sound Boxing, I typically do 60-90-minute straight sessions on Sound Boxing a few days a week.

Last, I use a website called WebMD which has calculators to determine calorie burn for other activities, such as doing squats, swimming, playing an instrument while standing etc.

With all of this data available to me, I was able to start making smarter choices every week and it shows in my overall trends.

Final bits of advice are learning what an actual serving size is by utilizing a digital scale to record the food you eat down to the gram so that you have accurate data on CICO, you will be shocked at how small a serving size really is once you start weighing food out.

Another thing you can do is learn to read labels. Look for things like serving size, calories per serving, servings per container. If you have certain nutrition goals in mind read the labels for that info, I personally like to limit salt intake as it makes my weight spike due to water retention and I previously had high blood pressure (which is now cured via weight loss).

I do all of my own meal prep and will typically go to a restaurant supply store and buy disposable microwave food trays that have three sections (protein, veggie, and veggie is what I put into them), and will normally make two meals for myself and my girl at a time so that we can just come home and reheat the trays while I prepare our evening salads.

A typical dinner for me is: 150 grams of spring mix salad (30 calories), with Greek yogurt blue cheese dressing (60 calories), a diced plum tomato (11 calories), and 3 oz. of radish coins (12 calories), seasoned with Nu-Salt, and crushed red pepper flakes.

8 oz of Shady brook farms boneless turkey breast cutlets baked in a 375-degree oven for 12-15 minutes (220 calories and 50 grams of protein)

2 cups of steamed broccoli florets (40 calories). 1 3/4 serving of steamed ShopRite brand baby carrots 61 calories.

After dinner, I peel and dice up a Fuji Apple (63 calories), and combine it with 15 red seedless grapes (34 calories) a light and fit Greek yogurt (80 calories 12 grams of protein) and a serving of pumpkin spice Cheerios dry cereal for crunch (110 calories).

For dessert, I will have a pint of Bryers Delight chocolate ice cream (270 calories 21 grams of protein)

Later after dinner, I will have a toasted Best Pita 80 calories with 16 grams of Smucker’s natural peanut butter (95 calories 4 grams of protein).

That’s a total of 1116 calories for a pretty substantial meal and leaves me with around 400 calories to play around with for the rest of the day (I still typically only eat dinner and my evening snack).

I might use those calories to have oatmeal or eggs before work 100-143 calories or broil up an entire sliced and peeled eggplant for lunch (454 grams 115 calories) drizzled with wasabi sauce (15-30 calories).

I hope this information can help others in their weight loss journey.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2Z9OFAM

I think I'm finally ready (again). A period of white-knuckling coming up ... throw a little love my way?

I've always been fat. Or at least, I've always thought I was fat.

​

I grew up in a severely abusive and terrifying household. Food was how I coped. I've been obsessed with food and my body my entire life. I used to sneak food to bed after my family was asleep. My dad caught me once and laughed at me.

​

I've been dieting since I was 5. I was bullied for my body as a child, by everyone - family, parents, kids on the playground. My mom once made me weigh myself in front of one of my aunts, and then screamed at me for being so fat because my dad used to blame her for my fatness. I thought I was the ugliest little girl ever. Actually, when I look back - yes, I was round. I was chubby. But I was lovable. I deserved hugs and love. Not to be abused.

​

I was terrified in gym class of being looked at, so I would try not to be noticed. Boys in particular would bully me. I was told my entire life by boys and men that I was ugly as fuck.

​

I lost a lot of weight when I was 13/14. I was working out ridiculous amounts - 2-3 hours at the gym, 5-6 times per week sometimes - and eating a low-fat diet (which I now know was a disaster for my body). I calorie counted obsessively and was always hungry. But I lost a lot of weight. I was still pretty big, according to the numbers on the scale - 185 or so, at just under 5'8" - but I was curvy, muscular, wore a size 12-14 (which, at that time, was smaller than what we call a 12-14 today), and frankly, looking back, I think I was beautiful. But I thought I was hideous, and that no one would ever want me.

​

Then I gained a lot of weight in university. Up to 267 pounds. Then I lost a bunch of weight once I found out I had metabolic syndrome (that's what they used to call the combination of insulin resistance, high blood pressure, high cholesterol) and PCOS. Over time, I realized that limiting sugar and carbs was key for me. I eventually got down to somewhere between 190-200 pounds by my early 20s. When I figured this out, I cursed everyone that ever told me to eat low-fat and whole grains. Fucking hell.

Ever since my last round of "big" weight loss in my early/mid-20s, it has been a battle. I go up by 20 pounds; down by 10; up by 30 pounds; down by 25. This cycle has happened 2-3 times since I was 24. But since my early 30s, it has just been a steady weight gain.

​

I know that if I limit sugar and carbs in particular, that is the most helpful thing. But the fallout of my upbringing and the severe mental health issues have made it so hard not to look for a reward and comfort from food, that I have often not been able to find anywhere else. Not, it's not a question of not trying to go for a walk or call a friend or save for a reward of some kind. It's a question of white knuckling it through moments of intense stress, fear, loneliness, dissociation and anxiety. Much like it was for my father with his severe battle with alcohol, and for my family members that have battled with hard drugs, some of whom have died as a result.

​

After almost 20 years of trying to get help, I finally had a doctor ask me, incredulously, in my mid-30s if I had ever had trauma therapy before. This was after I finally read The Body Keeps the Score, and was going through a period where I didn't care if I lived or died. My mom had cancer. My dad was clearly falling apart, to the point where I couldn't understand how he was still alive. My sisters were going through severe issues of their own. I was being abused and bullied by a boss everyday in a toxic workplace. I was alone. Had no friends I could turn to. I was ready to walk off my job and leave my life and ... I don't know what. But I couldn't keep going.

Before I get slammed by anyone for "making excuses" - I share the above to say that I'm terrified that I'll never beat the food addiction, and the addiction to sugar and carbs in particular. But I know I have to try, and I need support and a community to help make it happen, that frankly, isn't the people in my "real" life, because I feel so ashamed and I do not want to talk to the people in my "real" life about attempts to lose weight that I'm terrified will become a very public failure, yet again.

​

Yesterday, I weighed myself for the first time in months. 272.2 pounds. I'm "lucky", in that I don't look THAT big. I mean, I'm clearly fat - but I have always looked anywhere from 30-50 pounds thinner than my actual weight.

​

But my skin is breaking out again. The length of my menstrual cycle has gone from 30 days to 40 days. My acanthosis nigricans is back. And my blood pressure has been consistently high for the last 2-3 years. I don't even want to know my blood sugar and cholesterol readings. For the first time in my life, I have a constant double chin, even when I'm not smiling.

​

I finally have a partner and boyfriend that I truly think loves me. I finally have found a career path that suits me. I finally have found a calling in life, working on a project that I think will make a huge difference in the world, if it takes off. And I'm finally creating a space of my own - a home - that feels like a haven at the end of the day.

​

It is finally time to take care of me. "Self-care" isn't just some instagram bullshit that gets hashtagged to death. It's an actual life skill, one that I never learned. I am still not quite sure how to do this without also hating myself, or shaming myself. I'm not sure how to turn acts of eating right for my metabolism, or going to yoga, or signing up for yet another gym membership, into acts of self-love, instead of self-hate. But I think that is what I have to figure out, if I'm going to white-knuckle through the fear and stress and anxiety and all the emotions that keep me turning to food and going on autopilot through life, taking care of everyone else's needs before my own.

​

In June 2020, I will turn 40. I want the next 40 years of my life to be really fucking great. I do not want diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimers, dementia ... all of the things that run in my family, and that are certain to come for me very, very soon, if I don't change now.

​

What I am going to do:

- check out a new yoga studio this weekend with a friend

- also check out a potential new gym this weekend, that is a bit more "luxe" than the shitty ones around my house, and has a pool and sauna/steamroom (nice reward to look forward to)

- get groceries this weekend, to set me up to have moderate/low-carb breakfasts and lunches in particular over the next week

- hard boil a bunch of eggs for breakfasts/snacks

- make low-carb salmon cakes for easy lunches, to eat over salad

- make some chili for dinners

​

So ... wish me well?

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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2OioPJO

Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Thursday, 25 July 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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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2ybTKg4

How this sub helped me achieve my goals

So, a little bit of backstory, when I was younger I was the kind of person who never got any weight I ate and ate and ate and still remained slim as fuck. That's mainly because I was hitting the gym once a day, swimming 5 days a week, doing Padel and Judo twice a week and surfing once a week but I didn't knew this in that moment.

Then the economic situation got worse and I couldn't afford doing any of that stuff, and by the same time bad things were happening in my life and I was developing an addiction so I started to care less about my self, my hygiene, my looks or my weight.

Flash forward to 4 years later I was double the weight than when things started to get worse and my life was a complete mess. By the same time I started having and impeding sense of doom and stopped doing all things altogether I was sure it was about to end for me so it didn't matter a single bit what I did.

But luckily I've always been an stubborn motherfucker and a individualistic thinking person so I knew who was to blame: me. There was something I was doing that made me how I was. So I started remodeling my life. Getting everything negative out of it and filling it with positive stuff and that's were this sub comes in which is what this story is about.

I was unsubing from every subreddit that was vicious for me and subing to those which I found virtuous and one of the things I was doing to improve was to start walking and eating less so I was already in a weight loss journey.

And when I found this sub I loved what they were saying. They had those challenges and they were talking about caloric balance and CICO stuff, sometimes someone would post something science backed, most of the time people were celebrating their victories and attributing them to the hard work they were putting. So ultimately they were saying that ilthey were in control, they were the ones who made the change. And so I did, I bought a food scale, a normal scale, a body fat calculator, I installed MFP and from then on I lost minimum 1Kg per week, I reached my goal in less than three months because of hard work and because of discipline, I didn't have a single cheat day not even in my birthday or holidays, I didn't have a day where I didn't exercise, everything I ate was noted on MFP and voila I was again in the weight I wanted to be.

So yeah, there's no secret, there's not higher force to blame, you put the work in you get the results.

The thing that makes me write this is that when this sub talks about victories or facts is always that: "I'm in control", "I'm the one who did it", etc... but when someone is struggling or failing is always the opposite: "It's not your fault", "I didn't choose this", "my husband is eating junk food in front of me so it's his fault", etc... and that's dishonest to say the least. You are the one in charge in both directions either when you get fat and when you get thin and avoiding telling yourself this, being indulgent with yourself and putting the blame in others or other stuff is bad for you because you're condemning yourself to repeat your mistakes.

So please guys and girls, if you really want to lose it take complete control, don't think your husband opening junk food is to blame you are to blame because you are the one who decides to pick his food. Learn to enjoy the pleasures of low caloric food, learn to enjoy the freshness of a salad, the bitterness of a tea without sugar or milk, the strength of a dark roast espresso without sweetening, the endorphin rush of a hard workout and stop regretting not picking that extra donut or that whole pizza.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2Y4s7F9

Calorie Density: How to Eat More, Weigh Less and Live Longer

This is a great video about Calorie Density of foods and how it impacts fullness and weight loss, something to pay attention to in addition to CICO especially if you feel like CICO isn't working for you then maybe adjust your diet. This guy does emphasis that CICO is the ultimate way to lose weight, and the only way to do that. However in this video he takes a look at the calorie density of the different food groups, and explains how that impacts peoples weight loss. If you feel hungry all the time despite eating your allotted calories, here are ways to eat different foods with more bulk to keep you full longer. If it's hard to motivate yourself to eat vegetables, fruits, and unrefined carbs maybe this plain explanation and science will help.

​

Calorie Density: How to Eat More, Weigh Less, and Live Longer

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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2LGS32W

Plateau and body measurements

Hi all, I’m about 6lbs off of my final goal weight and starting to really struggle. I’ve never been hugely overweight, but I have wanted to drop about 10kg for aesthetic reasons and now I’m starting to wonder if it’s even worth it..

I’m in a bit of a plateau at the moment and have been for about 2-3 weeks (I know not that long in the scheme of things) with my weight going up by a KG some days and it’s starting to de-motivate me.

I know that it’s likely water weight due to hormones, but my period is late and I’m worried it’s the weight loss that’s caused it (definitely not pregnant). If it’s water weight it will whoosh off eventually and probably more than before but I’ve also been tracking body measurements and I’ve seen very little change.

Do body weight measurements change when you get the whoosh as well? Any advice? Thanks in advance!

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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2K5JfAJ

62lbs down in 297 days! New user, old journey.

62lbs in 297 days https://imgur.com/gallery/mLyqv0f

SW: 230lbs TW: 168lbs GW: 150lbs Method: CICO A1c: 5.1% Favorite NSV: COLLAR BONES! 😍😍😍

My journey started at the end of September of 2018. I have type 2 diabetes and was forced to find a new PCP since my current one was leaving the state. I located a new doctor and had our "new patient" visit including the reading of current blood work.

He tells me that while my A1c is still considered "ok" (at 7.1%) but that it, and my weight, had been trending upward from my lowest of 5.9% back in 2012. He proceeded with the standard lecture about weight and diabetes I'd heard my whole life (I was diagnised T2D 2011). I fully planed to ignore him and get some Arbys after this because I'm starving. Then he goes off script and tells me the ONLY way I'll EVER get back on track is to go vegan. And proceeds to lecture about dairy products and red meats for a solid 15 minutes. He wants me to watch a documentary about forks and knives. I'm barely paying attention, thinking about curly fries. We make a follow up appointment for early December.

Fast forward a week, and I have a new patient exam with a gynecologist in the same office and I tell her what he said (since she asked how I'd liked my new PCP). She said that he tells ALL of his new patients that because he's a vegan too, but that while THAT method isn't necessarily good for everyone, that the necessity of the reason is true (thanks for telling me I have a fat vagina lady 🙄). But, then I got MAD. How DARE he push his lifestyle on me like it's a miracle cure? I already shouldn't eat carbs or sugar, and now he wants me to cut out meat and dairy? And I rage about the pretentious nature of vegans. And I decide that by the time I see him again, I'm going to be 200lbs or less.

I'd never really ever TRIED to lose weight. When I was first diagnosed T2D in 2011, the meds and life changes made me drop about 40lbs. But I definitely gained it (and then some) back. So I did some research and discover the concept of base metabolic rate. I'd never thought to apply SCIENCE to weight loss. Novel concept, I know 🤷. I surmised that with a BMR of about 1,850 that I could consume that many calories and maintain. Anything less would let a loss. I settled on 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day as a goal. That settled the CI part of CICO idea. I found a calorie tracker app called LifeSum and I love it. I like it's user interface better than MFP and the fitbit app. The other game changer for CI is using a recipe nutrition calculator so I could meal prep and track calories instead of only eating Lean Cuisens and Smart Ones for every meal.

Calories out was harder. I work at a Home Depot store full time and am on my feet nearly the whole time and my job is to be all over. My phone, which I nearly always had on me tracked steps and told me an average of 8,000 or so steps. I don't know if that's a lot but I feel like it was a fair amount. Deliberate exercise is more complicated. In October of 2017, I had pretty significant hip surgery and I need another. The first brought my daily pain from around an 8 to about a 3 on the standard pain scale. But it is always worst with use. Bad days, even after the first surgery could still be a 5 or 6. So I needed something low impact. I hated the idea of a gym so I needed something at home. Treadmill was out because it was too high impact. I loved the idea of an elliptical, but like I said I work at Home Depot, I'm not exactly rich over here. I settled on this thing called a Gazelle (google it, haha) - it's basically a simplified elliptical machine that I found on the Facebook marketplace for $80. I aimed to do 1 hour or 600 calories burned, which ever came first, 3 days a week. I also bought a FitBit Versa to better track steps and calories. My work step average has been 10,000 to 12,000 a day depending on how busy we are.

Come December when I saw the new PCP again, I was exactly 199lbs! He was blown away. He said he'd never seen a patient lose that much weight on their own, after one lecture from him. He asked if I'd gone vegan or watched his dumb movie. I proudly tell him absolutely not and that I just used science. My new A1c was 6.3% and he was very pleased and told me I should be proud of myself.

I have continued to follow this method for 297 days thus far and don't plan to stop. I have dropped off the workout wagon a bit due to increased hip pain. It's the busy season at work and I'm regularly burning more than 1,000 calories over my BMR anyway. Plus it was taking me longer and longer to reach the same calories burned. I need new equipment or maybe finally join a gym when the busy season dies down at work and my hip pain subsides a bit. I do still need the second surgery though. Which will mean 6 weeks no weight bearing on the hip. That's got me terrified but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Thanks for reading this far! I look forward to the help and support this group can provide!

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