Long time lurker first time poster. Long winded and only moderately sorry about it.
Getting fat: I was always pretty active growing up (competitive ski racing, figure skating, baseball, rugby) but quit everything basically as soon as I had the opportunity to. Was always "bigger" but not really fat until high school. Gained weight pretty steadily through high school thanks to making bad food decisions at every opportunity, a relatively sedentary lifestyle, and a part-time job at McDonalds (50% off food all the time! A literal killer. Honestly attribute a lot of weight gain to this - worked there for almost 5 years and ate at least one thing every. single. shift.). Despite this I had a really active social life (great group of friends, extracurriculars, parties almost every weekend, elected to student council, etc.) and great family so I was happy with the status quo. I knew I was fatter than almost everyone else (my friends would have been considered the "popular" crew - literally all of my girlfriends are gorgeous and I love them dearly) but idk it just didn't really bother me? I liked myself. I knew I was smart, funny, and kind - a good sister, friend and daughter and honestly thought that I was just supposed to be someone who was fat. Went to university and had even more freedom to make my own food choices and I took it upon myself to make the worst ones possible as frequently as I was able. Smoked a ton of weed in 2nd and 3rd year and would just watch Netflix and eat a tooooon of food (like a regular occurrence was to make an entire nacho dip - that you would bring to a party to serve many people - and eat it in one or two sittings. Or order a whole pizza and polish it almost completely off in one sitting - maybe a slice or 2 left). 4th year I got SUPER depressed was really just going through it, for no discernible reason (hello? It's depression it by nature doesn't require a discernible reason.) I would BARELY leave my house like literally maybe twice a week and it was probably food related. Grades really suffered and I just ate more and gained even more weight.
310 lbs - Change is a coming: Sept 2017 moved in with a friend's mom for the 5th year of my degree (see: suffering grades above - it was a 4 year program). Est weight: 310lbs. She ate healthy-ish (lots of salads) and would cook for me so by nature things shifted slightly. January-ish of 2018 I started to just wanting to do better. No real catalyst it was just a shift of lets just try to be slightly better. First thing I did was start cooking everything myself. No more eating out (which I was doing 1-2x per day, EVERY DAY). I would still eat pizza or whatever I wanted I just had to make it at home. Then I started walking her dog. Just 5km around the neighbourhood. Easy peasy. I like dogs, I like walking, and I liked the music I listened to as I bopped around. I started walking more day to day too. Getting off the subway a few blocks early. Walking my entire commute if it was a gorgeous day (1 1/2 hours +). Lost probably 30-ish lbs this way.
280 lbs - Whole life change: May 2018 I moved to the middle of nowhere for work post uni. Lived with friends who ate insanely healthy and worked out all the time. Closest fast food was 40 minutes away. They would never have shamed me or make fun of me if I chose to eat unhealthy but its embarrassing to say I'm going to crush a pizza while they're enjoying a kale salad so I started eating healthy too. Didn't really track calories or anything just ate whole, nutrient dense food in moderate portions. Started going to work out classes with them and hiking a trail I loved (~8.5 km) 3-4 times a week. Weight started falling and I mean falling off. Compliments on my appearance started coming in left and right. Continued just trying to be "better" where I can - walking lots, trying to get into running (ew), workout classes and then eventually solo HITT sessions based on what I learned, TONS of hiking).
210 lbs - Hit 100 lbs lost: May 2019. Literally one of the best days of my life. Still had tons of compliments rolling in which is super validating but somehow to hit that number of 100 lbs lost (my first goal) was the best feeling of all. Really happy with how everything went and decided to take the summer "off" of weight loss. Easy to get burnt out when it takes up such a large portion of your mental capacity. Decided to just do as best as I can food wise, cancelled my gym membership, and spent as much time outside hiking, walking, swimming, etc as I could.
200 lbs - late Aug 2019: weighed in after my summer "off" and a really busy work month. Happy to see that through a pretty lax approach I still lost 10lbs in ~3 months.
195lbs - late Nov 2019 (now). Post Whole30 (3rd round completed). Second MAJOR goal I had. Be under 200 lbs. I now weigh less than I did in EIGHTH GRADE - a decade ago.
WHAT I DID: walked/hiked a lot (still my favourite form of exercise - can't recommend it enough. Free, can do it at any size, being outside is amazing for my mental health), worked out in the traditional sense a moderate amount, ate mostly whole nutrient dense food, completed 3 rounds of Whole30 at varying times (Sept 2018, Feb 2019, Nov 2019 - would and do recommend trying a round to legit every person on earth) which really informed the way I approach eating on the day to day. Rule of thumb: I make the best possible decisions when I'm cooking and eating myself (mostly only fruits, veg, lean proteins, healthy fats - truly what I prefer at this point) so if I go insane on a Friday with a friend and eat mozza sticks, a huge burger, poutine, and 10 beers I don't feel guilty - every or almost every other decision I made that week was a good one so who cares (80/20 rule). Only really drink on weekends (never had a problem with alcohol consumption but when it takes an hour to burn ~300 cals and 2 beers is ~300 cals.. the "casual" beers seem less and less worth it).
PHYSICAL CHANGES: went from 310lbs - 195 lbs. Size 20/22 - size 10/12. Progress pics to come if I can figure out IMGUR. Loose skin? Hell yeah f*ckin right. It's a pain in the ass and I'm looking into having it removed (stomach for sure).
NONSCALE VICTORIES: god almost too many to name, when I say every single aspect of my life is different I truly mean it
- I'm legit "in shape". I can keep up with my active friends and not try to disguise how heavily I'm breathing
- I'm actually kind of good looking? I also subsequently take way more pride in my appearance. Maybe too much - now I'll stare at myself in windows walking past, genuinely shocked that's me (hi body dysmorphia how are you)
- I can shop in ANY STORE.
- I can ski again. Before I had no leg strength to support me and it was genuinely dangerous to be barrelling down a hill.
- People just treat you better across the board. Shitty reality but true. The more attractive you are the nicer people are. The opposite sex? Completely different experience, 100% for the better, though this still f*cks me up sometimes.
- Turns out I have collarbones and I touch them constantly. Same with bony wrists! Who knew.
- Crossing my legs is so easy.
WHAT I LEARNED: Losing weight is fundamentally not complicated. Consume less calories than you exert. Is celery or an Oreo better for you - easy answer. That being said losing weight is the hardest thing I've done in my life thus far. Losing weight won't fix ALL your problems but it will solve some of them and the changes that can be attributed to it can make other ones easier to tackle (increased social capital, energy, etc.). Truly terrified of gaining weight back but also this is just kind of my life now so I think I'll be ok? It's legit not fathomable to me to go back to eating the way I did before.
TLDR: lost 115lbs in just shy of 2 years by eating mostly fruit, veg, lean protein and spending lots of time outside. Whole life is one million times better in one million different ways.
If you made it through all that god bless ya. Any questions send 'em my way!
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