Debunking the naysayers

Poking around online, I keep running into people 'debunking' CICO, saying that healthy weight loss isn't as simple as counting calories, and that the content of the diet is more important.

Maybe this is a weak analogy, but to me that's like saying "it wasn't a daily budget that helped her save money, it's just that she stopped buying flimsy, expensive things and now buys more durable, reasonably priced things." This is a habit that most of us pick up precisely because we have a limited budget.

I have been doing CICO for two months (lost 10 lb!) and here are some of the habits I've picked up:

• First of all, it was a no-brainer to reduce portion sizes for things like corn chips, cookies, and rice. I just never realized how many calories they were, and I'd rather spend my budget on something else.
• To make my budget stretch further, I focus on small meals that are filling and high in protein.
• I've reduced the calorie-dense parts of my favorite dishes and added more veggies instead.
• I eat more slowly, and drink more water.
• I have been more focused on building muscle, because this increases my resting metabolic rate... and just because it feels good!

After two months of making these adjustments, it's become second nature. It's really not as hard as I was expecting. At the end of the day, I still have the same variety in my diet (even junk food, just in better portion sizes), I enjoy all the same flavors and textures, the same amount of time spent eating, and in fact I actually feel MORE full and energized because I am getting better nutrition and drinking more water.

So yeah, CICO didn't lead to me eating half a pizza and calling it a day simply because that comes in under budget. It totally transformed the way I think about food and appetite. I am feeling way better now, and the only thing I set out to do was to follow the program on LoseIt. This isn't purely about numbers, it is about changing your mindset after you understand how calories work.

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5'10" Male Just Starting My Weight Loss Journey

I've never made a post like this, especially one this long. I'm sorry if the formatting is bad. Also I understand no one might care, but I don't have anyone to share this with, want to record it for myself, and wanted to seek some acknowledgement I guess haha.

I used to have problems with toxic living environments that made it really difficult to cook at home. I ate out every meal. I've never cared much about food and it slowly transitioned to me eating fast food every day. I also only eat once a day usually. It wasn't intermittent fasting, it was just that whenever I ate I felt shame and bloated and any kind of activity after made me feel sick so I only did it at night when I got home. This went on from 18 to 25 years old. I didn't weigh myself, but I did participate in a migraine study before I got to my worst point and I was ~214 kilos or around 472 pounds (I'm in the US but the study used Kilos) at one point. I believe I got higher than that.

I couldn't stand for more than about 15 minutes at my worst (and that was with some extreme pain).

I moved into my own place unexpectedly last April. Since then I cook everything myself. It saves me a ton of money, and I needed to because I could barely afford life. I lived off of Rice a Roni for a couple months. At first I had to sit down and rest my back while cooking. After a couple months I noticed that I used to struggle to pull my belt to the first hole, and now I was on the third and could force the 4th with a little discomfort. I also fit in my car better. Short walks didn't bother me at all. Until then I had designed my life and planned all my walks so that I knew I could handle them, so I didn't notice the changes much. My work is very sedentary and I didn't notice it there either.

I eventually got to the point where I realized I couldn't even consider wearing my pants without a belt (something I used to be able to do) and even at the first hole in my belt I could walk out of them in 3 or 4 steps. I could also easily wear the belt at the 4th hole. I still hadn't weighed myself at that point. I decided I wanted to take it a little more seriously and I changed my diet to healthier (but still inexpensive) food and I ordered a scale.

I got my scale on 9/3/2019 and weighed myself the first time at ~446 pounds. I honestly felt pretty disappointed because I had hoped it wasn't that bad.

I decided to commit to intermittent fasting intentionally, (16/8 but really only eating once so sort of OMAD). I only drink water with 0 cal/sugar/carb flavor added or plain. I used to drink a ton of soda. I have a meeting once a week where I get a coffee from a cafe that satisfies my sweet tooth. I eat low carb and high protein (made up a stir fry recipe with chicken breast and veggies I like a lot). I also bought a gym membership and have been going for about 2 hours of light cardio a couple times a week (trying to do every other day but my feet get blisters).

I also met a girl online who is incredible. She knows what I look like and it doesn't bother her.

My current weight as of 10/10/2019 is 418.8 pounds. I will need a new belt soon. I honestly don't feel that accomplished because I'm so far from where I want to be, but I know I'm making progress and it feels good. I feel so much more energy and healthy than I did before. I don't tire out from simply walking anymore. I am really looking forward to changing my life. I want to go hiking. I'm not up to posting a pic yet, or even taking one of myself and really looking at it but I hope so soon.

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People treating you worse after you lose weight

I'm sure there's always that one Debbie downer out there, but it seems like the more I lose the worse these people get.

I'm 5'2" and in May I weighed 167 pounds which I think may have been my heaviest? I didn't own a scale for a while. After doing CICO, IF and cardio I now weigh 140 pounds. I still have a ways to go but the difference is very noticeable. I went from wearing a size 12 jeans to a size 6. I dropped a bra size and had to get a whole new wardrobe.

The person who treats me the worst after my weight loss is actually a co-worker, but there are many others. Her and I are the only 2 in the office most days.

I don't even talk about my weight or eating habits. But it was like the minute she could tell a difference she became a monster.

Maybe it's a jealousy thing? She's significantly older than me so you'd think she'd be more mature, but I suppose for everyone cheering you on you're always going to have those people who want you to fail.

Some days its really irritating to be around these types of people...

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Two small annoyances since losing weight (and by annoyances I mean wow it feels good to say)

First of all, to anybody doubting themselves this morning, you can do it! Take a deep breath and remember to love yourself along the way.

At 16 I weighed 250 pounds and wore XL/XXL, usually in pants was between a 38-40inch waist. At 20 years old (now), I weigh 155 pounds and wear medium shirts/shorts and 31 inch waist pants. I'm still getting used to being this thin; however, I've noticed two small (funny) things. Originally, I am from Venice, CA but relocated to Seattle, WA after high school to pursue my RN/BSN degree. After being back in Venice for the summer, I am now back in Seattle where fall is in full swing (37F when I woke up today!!) and goddamn I cannot tolerate the cold like I used to. That's just one small annoyance, the other being that I love to shop clearance at any store. Who doesn't love getting perfectly good items for a great price?? Now when shopping clearance, I cannot find anything that fits; usually I am only able to find XL/XXLs or XS. It feels good to see that, knowing that for once I feel a "normal" size. It is annoying though lmao.

Sorry this post is so jumbled, I am currently frazzled from studying for an OB exam tomorrow, but then it's the weekend so woohoo! This post is to remind anyone on their weight loss journey to count the small victories; they add up and sometimes just giving a few minutes to recognize them will totally improve your day.

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UPDATE (again): Lost 58kg in 10 months (lost 82kgs now :) )

Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/ca5xxq/update_lost_58kg_in_10_months/

So today`s the day :) It's the day that I'll think about for a long time from now on. Today is the day in which I finally dropped under 100 kg's, more specifically I'm at 97 kg. I've talked about my past in previous posts, but to sum it up:

I started my weight loss journey when I was sitting at 180kg, changed my diet, reached my primary goal (to be at around 95kg) and from now on I can say I am a new man.

I'm not afraid of sitting on chairs thinking that they might break underneath me, I don't have to buy super oversized clothes in which 3 normal people could fit in and other things that I was going through when I was morbidly obese. I don't really know what else I can say other than keep going and keep on fighting for your goal because IT'S ALL GOING TO WORTH THE EFFORT!

I will link 2 pictures, one from 1 and a half year ago, right before I started my new lifestyle, and a picture I took today :D

HMU if you want to talk about something, anything really :)

https://imgur.com/a/qbgxAhi

https://imgur.com/a/Z82Gaah

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NSV: No more seatbelt extender for me!

Over the last few years, I have had to take several flights (including several rather long international flights) and I always had to book two seats and ask for a seatbelt extender to buckle up on the plane. This, coupled with the fact that I am 193cm tall (6'4" in imperial) means that I have limited extra legroom seating options, because you can't sit in the exit row if you need a seatbelt extender.

I have lost quite a bit of weight in the last few months and yesterday I took my first flight since seriously starting on my weight loss journey.

I also recently got a new office chair with adjustable arms, and by cranking them as far inwards as was comfortable and measuring the width I knew that I would be able to fit into a single plane seat. I was, however, still concerned about buckling the seatbelt. I followed my usual procedure of discreetly informing a passing flight attendant as I arrived at my seat that I would need an extender. She grabbed one and handed it to me and I hooked it up and sat down.

I noticed that I could tighten it up a lot more than I used to be able to, so I experimentally uncoupled it, extended the normal belt and tried clicking it together...

It fit! It wasn't even a struggle! This lead me to loading up the airline's site on my phone while waiting for takeoff and re-booking my return flight to an exit row, meaning I can stretch out and enjoy my journey home!

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5'6" male 1 year journey with progress pics

Hello /r/loseit. 1 year long lurker, first time posting. You have all helped me with my weight loss journey. Here it is.

Last May or so I went to the doctor and was 200 lbs. I didn't think much of it, but got into cooking at home more, and noticed that my weight dropped to around 190 lbs. My wife was trying to lose weight by restricting calories: eat only 1 oreo cookie, or "if I do enough jogging I'll eat this cookie", counting out various candies and so on.

So in September I decided to try and help her by cooking more since I noticed that I had lost that weight just by cooking. We started eating all of our meals at home. No dietary restrictions, just eating at home. I counted calories for a week but it took to long, and I thought that it wasn't a healthy habit to get into, as my wife would be very anal about getting exact calorie counts of things. It seemed a little obsessive. When I would cook at home, therefore, I would put extra sour cream or sugar or milk or whatever into the dishes I was making so it would be impossible to count calories. She got over it in a few weeks and off we were on our real weight loss journey.

For the last year we've been eating like this, and I've gone from 200 lbs down to a low of 132 a few weeks ago but am now 136. My wife went from something like 160 or 170 now to 115.

A major milestone for me was starting to exercise, which I began in early June of this year. After reading a lot about exercise and how to maximize gains and about cutting and bulking and all of that, I decided to ignore it all and just start moving more. I started doing the "one punch man" workout of 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, and 100 crunches per day. I've never seen any results from exercising in the past, so I figured I would just do this set, every day, no matter how long it took, and see if I saw any improvements. At first it took probably 2 to 2 and a half hours to get through, but within the month I was doing it in under an hour.

After a month or a month and a half I got a pull up bar and started using that. I also got a bike and bike to work and back almost every day (around 40 minutes total of biking). Then I built some parallel bars in our back yard. My exercise has started to be "swing around on shit", and it seems to be working. Whenever I go into the back yard I do some dips or pull ups or whatever strikes my fancy. I don't have any regiment at all. The only restriction I gave myself was "body weight exercises only", for two reasons: I figure body weight exercises won't ever bulk me up too big, and weight sets are expensive anyway.

My exercise milestone was hit a few weeks ago when I did 40 push ups in one set in under a minute. I had been working towards this because I read that a male being able to do 40 push ups in a set was a better indicator of good heart health than running or cardio. My next milestone is to walk around on my hands.

Now I've gotten my wife to start exercising with me. We're playing tennis together. I'm happy to get more aerobic exercise, and now I just need to get my wife into strength, and we'll be fairly well rounded out.

Pics are here https://imgur.com/a/FuV7Rhu

Couple of notes about those: You will notice I also haven't gotten a hair cut for this whole period as well. I've been meaning to. And you will notice that my boxers are the same in each photo. It's not intentional, and also I don't only own one pair of boxers. Every time the mood strikes me to take a progress picture I seem to be wearing them /shrug

Ask any questions you may have. I hope others can do well in their weight loss journeys, and I hope that my sort of lazy way of doing this will help others who feel overwhelmed by all the information out there. What I have done here amounts essentially to eating food cooked at home and doing push ups and swinging around on bars for a total of maybe 10 minutes per day, but usually much shorter than that even. I have no real strategy, just goals

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