Best Friends and Worst Enemies of Weight Loss

I've been working hard to identify what helps me lose weight and maintain focus on healthy lifestyle changes. In doing so, I've identified some things that have progressed my weight loss and others that have hindered it and wanted to share my "best friend" and "worst enemy" and would love to hear yours!

• My Worst Enemy: DELUSION

"I'm not that big." "I deserve a treat." "At least I don't look as fat as her."

When I came home for winter break my first year in college, I had gained 25 pounds. The number on the scale shocked me so much that I honestly didn't believe it. For the next 4 years I lived in hateful defiance of mirrors, scales, and candid photos. I'd step on the scale once in a blue moon and hate myself but think "I certainly don't look like I'm 50 pounds overweight." I started incorporating some elliptical in my daily routine then be livid when my weight wasn't plunging immediately saying things like "even if I don't change what I'm eating, adding the exercise should do something!" I had a basic understanding of cico but had no idea how little exercise actually does for weight loss without a diet change. Everything around me was pointing to the fact that I was obese, but I just couldn't let myself believe it. "BMI is bullshit obviously... I mean do I look obese?" (spoiler alert, yeah... I really fucking did). My ex and I would do dumb things like the GM diet and stick with it for a couple days then binge on fast food to completely undo our small deficits. I remember making progress for a few days then getting livid that one cheat meal at Mcdonald's undid a week's worth of weight loss (didn't understand water weight), which prompted me to give up entirely. Eventually I made the commitment to actively change my lifestyle in October of 2017, but the scary thing is, delusion is still an active enemy of mine. As I watch my breasts turn into pancakes and my arms grow flappy, saggy wings, I realized that I still haven't come to terms with how big I was. I never thought I would have loose skin because "I wasn't that big." In recognizing this enemy and admitting its ability to remain active, I plan to stay vigilant in my fight against delusion.

• My Best Friend: MINDFULNESS

During my worst binges, my brain feels like its being controlled by a poorly calibrated auto-pilot system set on course to self sabotage. On my best days, I feel in control of my actions and let the unhelpful thoughts pass me by with ease. Every time I successfully lose weight, it always correlates with a clear headspace, and while I can't force myself into that headspace all the time, I can be mindful of the thoughts passing through my brain telling me to binge on pizza and wine and choose not to let them control me. I never used to be able to survive a weekend without ruining most of the week's progress, but all of a sudden it became doable by simply living in the moment. Don't get me wrong, mindfulness can be really difficult (see today's tantrum post) and I have to remind myself constantly to maintain it, but it's been the most effective weight loss tool by a landslide, and funny enough is the best thing to battle delusion. By being more conscious of my thoughts, I can actually identify my delusions to ensure they don't start becoming my subconscious truths.

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Do you lose weight faster if you’ve lost it before?

Ok so hear me out In 2017-2018, I went from 175 to my goal weight of around 125 by counting calories, religiously keeping track of my Fitbit TDEE and running (a lot).

After I met my goal, I was super sick of counting calories and felt a bit obsessed so backed off and read about intuitive eating. I realized though that through tracking my TDEE for so long, I already had a pretty good idea of what my hunger cues are, and how much food I need to stay satisfied. I stabilized around 130-135 and it really didn’t change much for over a year. I wasn’t counting calories at all but I was weighing myself, wearing a fitbit to mostly just keep an eye on how active I am because I tend to be really low activity if I’m not keeping track. Still I wasn’t working out a ton. I had a lot of indulgent days which I’d usually follow up with a few days of healthier eating. I had just a decent grip on food and wasn’t thinking about dieting or food, really, at all. My weight was extremely stable at an average of about 133 lbs.

Okay so fast forward to about six months ago, I fell into a cycle of major depression and mental health issues. I started to eat (and drink) quite a lot. It was comforting and I was angry- so any thoughts of counting calories or trying to be responsible about it also felt uncomfortable. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get into that mindset again. I stopped wearing my Fitbit, or really going to the gym. I gained 10-15 lbs. Honestly I was in an extremely dark place and I’m just glad I’m here today. In October, things started to turn around for me. I’d already been trying to put in the work and one day things just started making sense again. My life has improved quite a lot in the last month - I have a future plan, I’m motivated, and I understand what I’m working for!

So the beginning of Nov (the 5th), I realized I was ready to get healthy again. I weighed in at 145 lbs. Since then, I’ve been going to the gym, trying to hit at least a -500 deficit on my Fitbit and eating around 1500 cals a day.

Aaaaaand my weight today is 133.8. Already. I really don’t get it. It’s not like my weight jumped to 145 after one week of bad eating, I watched the scale steadily climb for 6 months. Don’t get me wrong, NOT complaining but I really don’t understand the science of this at all and I’m wondering if anyone has an explanation? Is my body just incredibly used to being at this weight?

I definitely was expecting some water weight loss btw! but not 12 lbs worth, I’m already fairly low body fat % so that seems quite extreme.

I’m just going to keep going and get back down to my low goal now but I’m so curious about the science behind this. Has anyone else gained back weight only to lose it again much quicker than before?

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Discouraged

I am feeling pretty disappointed. I have been logging my food for 15 days and for the most part keeping at 1200. Even the days when I had pizza and alcohol. I mentioned before that I was bloated and went from 157 to 163 in 3 days and was told that it probably was water weight.

Fast forward to today - I did have alcohol again over the weekend. I am now at 161, which is great. I'd like to be able to drink on the weekend (even if it's just Friday), indulge in my pizza once a week and still lose weight. Is that even possible?

I know weight loss isn't linear and it's not fast or overnight. I've also been exercising 5 days a week. I don't know what to do. Last time I tried to lose weight I lost 5 pounds in 2 weeks and now in 2 weeks, I've only lost 2pounds.

Any tips, encouragement or anything would be appreciated.

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Numbers on the scale haven't moved in 2 weeks. I'm getting a little concerned.

So I lost 23lbs from the beginning of September until now. I've hovered around 274lbs for the past two weeks, and I'm still eating at a deficit. Most of the time I'm eating below the calories set by MFP for a 2lb weight loss at a light activity level (I lift 3x a week, do cardio 3x a week on days I don't lift).

I dunno, I'm probably just freaking out since I saw such rapid weight loss and particularly the number on the scale go down so much in the past two and a half months, that I'm worried I'm not making progress anymore. I have gotten stronger, my bench is up 45lbs, my squat is up 85lbs, and my deadlift is up 100lbs. I also just started taking creatine to help get my lifts up, since I'm kinda stalling on them as well.

I guess I just need some reassurance that I'm not screwing up. I hit anywhere between 1800 and 2000 calories a day, and when I do cardio, I don't eat the extra calories allotted to me by MFP. I hope I'll get past this soon! I wanna get rid of all this fat!

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Don't loose what you've gained. Or well actually don't gain back what you lost. lol

Two years ago I was 250 lbs. I was miserable. On Christmas Eve my weight somehow messed up my knee without me realizing it. I was in eminence Pain. Lots of swelling, and could not bend it without it hurting. Well, that was my final straw that led me to start my weight loss journey. I was surprised by how much self control I was able to show. I started loosing weight. I wound up getting as low as 190 lbs. I was so ecstatic. I was hoping to loose about 25 more lbs, but I figured I was moving in the right direction.

That was about a year ago. Now fast forward back up to today. I'm right back were I started at 250lbs. I started being more relaxed for a bit as a bit of a reward for my hard work. That probably would not have been the worst, but then my Sister-In-Law and her family moved in with us when they lost their house. No big deal, I love em and all, but their eating habits are way worse than anything mine was. They had large dessert each night on top of the big meals. Well one thing lead to another and I slowly started gaining the weight back.

It feels like I blinked and lost all my progress. Well, on Halloween this year my knee got injured again because of my weight, but this time I was aware of how it happened.

So I'm starting over again. I know I can do it this time, because I was so close to doing it last time. One of the biggest things that got me was the mindset that if I had a bad meal, then I doomed myself for that day, and I should just re-start tomorrow. Well, each day I had bad days, so instead I should have said that's OK. Ill finish my day as strong as I can, and watch what I eat the rest of the day. Because sometimes tomorrow never comes.

If you have fallen off of the horse, get back up on it! That's what I am gonna do. But this time around I plan on finishing the race, so I can start the next one: Maintenance!

I don't know if this helps anyone, but I think its going to help me, because I am trying to make myself accountable, by posting this for all to see. I'm also going to start posting more often as well to help keep me on track.

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Down 50lbs! Halfway to my goal!! Now a nutrition question... Protein - how much is too much?

24m 6'2" | sw: 340lbs | cw: 290lbs | gw: 240lbs |

I'm having a problem which is sort of confusing me honestly. I've started to switch my focus away from calories and over towards macros, but I'm noticing that before, while I almost always stayed below my calories goals, my fat and protein was always high. Lowering fats and adding carbs was easy enough, but I'm finding it incredibly difficult to stay below my protein goals, especially with my recommended protein suppliment.

Now, the way I am recording is as follows:

I have mfp set up to lose 2lbs a week (which has not been happening sadly) and I have it set to not active at all. This gives me 1970 calories day, 99g protein, 246g carbs, 66g fats.

I work out every day, but do not record my work outs in MFP because when I did that I would go running to squeeze in an extra taco and my results were slower. I eat like I do not work out at all, and usually do 30-60mins of lifting and 30-60 mins of cardio 5x weekly, averaging 1.5 hours at the gym between the two. I was told by my buddy who lost a bunch of weight and got ripped, my trainer, (who I only had one freebie visit with but plan to go back to) and the folks at GNC that I should take a protein suppliment 2x daily to help my workout. I take 1 scoop in the morning and one scoop immediately after my workout. However, every single day, I exceed my protein without fail. My suppliment alone is 50% if my protein allocation, and if I eat any amount of meat or cheese I go WAY over. Like, around 150% of my daily amount. Without my suppliment, I would be hitting my macros almost perfectly. If my carbs and fats are at or below my allocation, and my calories are fine, is it a big deal to go 9ver on protein, especially when I am more active than I tell my app that I am?

My MFP stats and settings, as well as today's nutrients are here I already recorded what I will eat for the rest of the day.

Is too much protein a bad thing if I am more active than I tell my app? Will going over my protein but not calories slow my weight loss? I've recently pushed thru a plateau to hit my halfway point, but things have been slow for me lately.

Thanks in advance!!

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Blaming myself.

To start, I am taking full blame for everything I’m saying. I know it’s solely on me, I just need to vent and maybe reading it back will make me realize how stupid I’m being. I’ve lost weight. A lot. About 50 pounds, and it was the best experience of my life. I loved myself and how I looked, and I loved the process. I got into a new relationship and continued losing weight. Mostly because it was so new and I wanted to keep him interested so I wasn’t eating much at all, and I was spending all my time with him. I lost another 15 pounds at this time. Still, I adored my body and how my clothes were fitting me. I was 140 pounds and in a size 5. Something I never thought possible. I wore a bikini for the first time comfortably! Huge milestone! Fast forward to the end of summer, and I’m getting more comfortable with my boyfriend and we go out to eat and for drinks a lot. I slow down on the calorie counting, skip the gym most days. I can feel my clothes tightening. No big deal it’s just a few pounds I thought...

Skip to today, I’m miserable. Utterly disgusted with myself and how I look. I avoid mirrors at all times. It’s bad. My boyfriend (same one) and I bought a house, and I’m in a totally new town. No gyms around. Nothing. I eat whatever I want and I know what I’m doing. I then beat myself up about it for days. I wake up every day with the intention of counting everything I put in my body and I start off well, but half way through the day I give up. I thought the hating myself would be enough to give me motivation back but it’s not. I’m just eating my feelings now. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve tried intermittent fasting, but fail on that. I’ve tried just not eating. That doesn’t last. I’ve tried diet pills, they don’t do anything. I know the correct way to do it, and I know for a fact it works for me, I just can’t. I honestly don’t know what my issue is. I’m depressed and I don’t even let my boyfriend touch me anymore. He assures me I look perfect, but I know he’s lying. He has to have noticed how much weight I’ve gained. I’m back up to 165 and just typing that makes me sick. I need to get myself together and do something about this or I know it will get out of control.

For reference, I started my weight loss journey at 189 pounds, got to my lowest of 140, and now I’m back up to 165.

I don’t know why I typed this out. I just needed to get it out to people that may know what I’m going through. Sorry for formatting and how all over the place I am. Thanks for reading and any input would be appreciated.

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