Where to start after a recent weight gain.

I have two months off work and my kids will be in school, where/how do I start taking the first steps to weight loss?

Backstory: I was always physically active, ate sensibly, was a muscular five foot six, 125lbs. After I had my first baby l lost all the baby weight. My eating habits slipped a bit, but not terribly so.

Then I had my second and all hell broke loose. We lost several family members to sudden onset terminal illnesses. We moved three times in three years. I went back to work in a fast paced job. My oldest became a threenager.

I remained at the weight I was when I was about five months pregnant with my second for three years. Then this winter I put on an additional 10-15lbs amid an incredibly busy time at work. I am now likely pushing 160, and very little of that is muscle!

I don’t feel like myself. I don’t look like myself. My entire body feels foreign.

I’m taking two months off work for my mental health starting on Monday and I want to get physically healthy as well. But I don’t have a plan, it feels like the muscle memory is gone. How did I do this eight years ago? How do I do it now with kids? What the hell did I used to eat?

Can anyone recommend broad strokes for putting one step in front of the other as I start out? Tips or things that helped you get back on track?

Huge thanks in advance!

submitted by /u/bojangleswagles
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/30HNitY

Weight stagnating. Help?

SW: 150Ib CW: 143.6Ib GW: 130Ib

A little background: I am a 5'5", 20yo female. Last year, my weight was generally hanging around 140Ib, and it wasn't something I paid attention to. I was fit, had a flat stomach, and damn good thighs. That changed this past Christmas. I had been going gluten free due to health issues since I was 15. However, I was still having a lot of bad IBS, so I kind of figured "fuck it. I'll have a donut. I don't care if it kills me". The donut didn't make me sick, and I then came to the realization that wheat was not going to murder me. I went on a dessert-binge, and quickly gained weight. It was a three week long vacation, and it ended with my loosest jeans fitting uncomfortably tight. I quickly lost some weight upon arriving home, but the extra ten pounds kind of stuck around. I vowed to lose weight last semester, but under the stress of 19 credit hours of STEM, frequent all-nighters, and my immune system crashing. I made attempts to work out, but I would end up sick with something a few days later. Then, in April, I tore my ACL. This effectively ended gym-time for me. Once summer hit, I had ACL surgery.

This semester started only a few weeks ago. I have been working out at least 4 days a week, and put myself on a 1200-1300 kCal diet with an 1800 limit on Fridays and Saturdays. Initially, I lost 5 pounds. Then, the weight loss started to stagnate. On Sunday, I was 143Ib exactly. I just weighed myself, and seem to have gained back another half-pound.

Here are the differences between when I first started, and the last ten days. 1) I usually work out in the afternoons. Today, I weighed myself in the evening. 2) I've been eating less carbs. Instead of my diet being 50% carb, it is now an even ratio of protein, fat, and carbs. Most of my diet consists of fruits, meats, and cheeses (protein bars and eggs also make frequent appearances) 3) I've actually been working out. Muscle definition in my injured leg started returning this week and the difference between now and a few days ago is oddly large. Furthermore, I started arm-weights last week again.

Is this muscle gain or is there something I need to do to alter my diet?

submitted by /u/EatsAtomsRegularly
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/34hdwFY

How Exercising for Weight Loss Ruined My Sleep (And How I Got It Back)

I started doing CICO about a year ago, first just dieting, then when I lost about 25 pounds, adding in some low-level exercising for general fitness. I walked around my town, almost exclusively after dark, because here in Texas it gets so hot in the summer that no one goes out during the day if they can avoid it. And I've always been something of a night owl, so I'd often take my walks (and later bike rides) after 11 at night.

About six months ago I started having serious trouble sleeping. After initially coming home exhausted post-exercise and more or less collapsing into bed, now I would stay up for hours and hours, often not falling asleep until 4 or 5 in the morning. It started to affect my timekeeping---I couldn't make it through the work day without a nap (working from home enabled this somewhat), which of course meant that I took even longer to get to sleep at night. I'd try desperately to get back on a proper sleep schedule, but to no avail---after a day or two I'd slip back into the same habits.

All throughout this time I kept up walking and biking. Though my weight loss had slowed and stopped, I didn't see a reason to let myself compound my troubles. After my boss said he'd noticed a dip in my work quality and timekeeping, I decided that I had to try something radical and previously unthinkable: exercising in the morning instead.

This Monday I woke up at 6 AM and took a ten mile bike ride, then came home, took a shower, and logged into work. After an hour I started to notice that, much to my surprise, I wasn't worn out or tired at all. In fact, I felt like I could slap Superman. I worked like a demon, faster and more efficiently than I had in months. Despite a mid-to-intense workout by my standards, I had the energy for a full day of work, and I followed it up with a date with my S.O. that included three hours of driving. Even going to bed at midnight, I only felt mildly tired.

I spoke to my boss, a fitness fanatic for years, about my paradoxical energy. He said it was obvious: exercising around midnight every night raised my endorphin levels, giving me a natural high and keeping me awake. When I had first started working out after years of sloth (starting weight of around 315), I wore myself out enough that I'd fall asleep instantly. But as my weight dropped and my fitness improved, those workout endorphins were more effective, keeping me up longer and longer. My habit of working out an hour or two after most people would have already gone to bed was actively sabotaging my sleep, and creating bigger and bigger problems in my personal and professional life. My boss said that for this exact reason, elevated endorphin levels affecting sleep, he never works out later than 7 PM.

My experience on Monday has turned me into an insufferable "Morning Person" literally overnight, and I've kept it up all this week with phenomenal results. In retrospect it should have been obvious---I knew on a basic level that exercising released endorphins, but it just didn't occur to me that this "high" was keeping me up, because I was experiencing normal amounts of weariness at the end of the day at the same time. Until I got that fantastic boost of energy in the morning, something I haven't had since I was a teenager, I never made the connection.

I know a lot of people on this sub started in the same place I did, having to learn good habits after years and years of letting things slide. If you've been exercising late in your day and have also had trouble sleeping, consider switching your schedule around. It's done wonders for me. I only hope that my experiences can keep someone else from going so long with such a frustrating sleep problem.

TL;DR I worked out almost exclusively after 11 PM. At first it put me to sleep, then it kept me awake. Switching to a morning workout kept me from staying up after flooding my system with post-exercise endorphins.

submitted by /u/GaveUpMyGold
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/30KZPNe

Mandatory college meal plan; how do I keep losing weight?

I've worked very hard on weight loss this summer and I'm down from 195 to 165 (6' m 20). However, the semester starts at my college in about two weeks, and I'm required to buy the unlimited meal plan since I live in a dorm (I know this is unusual but yes, it is a hard and fast rule). I only managed to lose weight this summer by restricting my access to it--I went to the grocery store once a week and bought a very small amount of food. I wouldn't get any food other than that since I didn't have a car (had to have a friend take me to the grocery store) and don't live near any place to get food. But at school, I eat every meal at a dining hall where there's unlimited food, very little of which is healthy and none of which is labeled for calories. I'm also vegetarian and there aren't many options, so I have to rely on eating a lot of rice, which is terrible for weight loss (way too easy to eat too much).

How do I manage to keep losing weight in this environment? I can't just avoid the dining hall; I've had to pay so much for the crazy-expensive meal plan that I can't afford to go out and buy my own food elsewhere. But I just don't have very much self-control, especially in a very social eating environment, and I'm petrified of losing all my progress. It's making me super anxious and not wanting to go back for this next year.

submitted by /u/DistinctCapital9
[link] [comments]

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

After maintaining a 150lb loss since 2012 I’m almost back to where I started.

I’ve joined the ranks of the fallen. I didn’t think it would ever happen to me but alas it has. I went from 350lbs in 2010 to 180lb in 2012. I was able to (mostly) maintain that loss up until last summer. The story of how I gained it back seems pretty typical from what I’ve read here, I got into my first serious relationship and found that it wasn’t easy for me to focus on CICO while balancing a relationship.

Right now I’m sitting at 260lbs. None of my clothes fit and my social anxiety has flared up a lot, I avoid going out in public as much as possible. It’s difficult to rationalize why I allowed myself to be put back in the same situation I worked so hard to overcome nearly a decade ago. I didn’t have quite the amazing transformation that I originally envisioned at the beginning of my weight loss journey. As it turned out, my weight wasn’t hiding a beautiful person underneath it, but despite that I was still much more comfortable in my daily life not being morbidly obese.

I’m hoping this post along with rededicating myself to logging every day in MFP will be the start of my second, and hopefully final, weight loss journey.

submitted by /u/west_coaster_guy
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2L2HwOj

Want a pet for companionship and exercise

I am reading a book named "Walking with Peety", and this book is about men starting walking with a pet dog for weight loss. The writer was 150 pounds overweight. He decided to adopt a dog as his doctor prescribed adopting a dog for changing his sedentary lifestyle. I have read less than half pages of the book, and I think he is talented enough to make me keep reading a book for a hour. I am 5'1ft, and now I weigh 138 pounds. I gained 5 pounds 3 weeks ago, and I have reversed the small weight gain. I walk more than 10000 steps a day, and I do exercise 3-4 times a week. Yet my progress is slow despite my quite active lifestyle because I don't cut back my sugar intake. I am sure that I can solve sugar addiction by meeting with my family doctor and having self-discipline. The book makes me want to have a pet for achieving active lifestyle and mutual friendship. I don't mean that I am going to adopt a pet right now because it is too selfish decision, considering my situation. I would like to have a pet. Not only do I need a friend for exercise, but also I need a friend that can trust me without saying a word. I could not make a lot of friends because of the way I deal with controversial issue. Having a bold, unconventional opinion makes many people left from me. I am not good at making a lot of friends. One to one,talking face to face is fine for me,but getting a long with a group of friends is not something I enjoy. Talking to new friend feels like s burden considering ramification of having conversation. I have a need to have non-human friend, who does not speak language. That is my post today, and I hope someone would understands me.

submitted by /u/softperson45
[link] [comments]

from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/2ZFY8Uc

Made it to onederland!

Hey /r/loseit I achieved a big personal milestone today and wanted to share it with you! End of last year I started a new job and decided it's finally time to start a whole new chapter in my life. I've been struggling with my weight for the longest time and reached a point where I just couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't walk 5 minutes without sweating and being out of breath, everything physical was way too hard and I had little to no energy all the time. So I decided to educate myself and start my weightloss journey, here's the progress I tracked:

17.10.2018: 123,7 KG / 272,7 lbs

29.10.2018: 120 KG / 264,5 lbs

08.11.2018: 121 KG / 266,7 lbs

21.11.2018: 116,8 KG / 257,4 lbs

5.12.2018: 115,3 KG / 254,1 lbs

19.12.2018: 114,9 KG / 253,3 lbs

02.01.2019: 112,5 KG / 248 lbs

16.01.2019: 110 KG / 242,5 lbs

30.01.2019: 109 KG / 240,3 lbs

13.02.2019: 107,1 KG / 236,1 lbs

27.02.2019: 105,6 KG / 232,8 lbs

13.03.2019: 105,2 KG / 231,9 lbs

27.03.2019: 103,2 KG / 227,5 lbs

10.04.2019: 101,9 KG / 224,6 lbs

24.04.2019: 100,6 KG / 221,7 lbs - BodyFat%: 30,9%

08.05.2019: 99,3 KG / 218,9 lbs - BF: 30,5%

19.06.2019: 95,85 KG / 211,3 lbs - BF: 29,4%

03.07.2019: 94,15 KG / 207,5 lbs - BF: 28,8 %

17.07.2019: 92,3 KG / 203,4 lbs - BF: 28,2 %

31.07.2019: 92,2 KG / 203,2 lbs - BF: 28,2%

14.08.2019: 91,2 KG / 201,2 lbs - BF: 27,4%

28.08.2019: 89,4 KG / 197 lbs - BF: 27,1%

faceprogress at the start vs. now

How did I do it?:

CICO + doing IF (OMAD monday-friday and 16:8 saturday-sunday). To start, I just kinda continued eating the things I ate before, just way less of them, so the change wasn't even that big. In the beginning I didn't even include any exercise and just tracked calories, trying to stay at a good deficit. This alone worked great in the beginning and after losing some weight and already feeling a bit fitter I got in the habit of doing daily walks. I walk for 25 minutes in my lunch break at work (don't need time to eat when I'm doing OMAD, so might aswell use the time) and then a longer walk after coming home from work. So one thing that helped tremendously were walks, walks and even more walks. That's my record for the last ~5 months starting in early april.

I know I'm not at the end of my journey yet, but this is definitely a big milestone. In the beginning I didn't dream of achieving a weight that 'low'.

The biggest tip I can give you is that 99% of the work is done in your head. You need to 100% WANT to change, the rest comes at ease after that. Just get your mind on board and take small steps in the beginning. If I can do it you guys can definitely do it aswell. And believe me, even though I'm still fairly chubby, I feel way better now than I did 1 year ago. I can finally buy nice clothes that make me feel even better in my own body. Plus occasionally you might even get people to recognize your weight loss and then proceed to complimenting you. After a life without any compliments at all, those compliments had me on cloud 9 - and I'm still rocking the high of them haha!!

submitted by /u/iSucceS
[link] [comments]

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