Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Tuesday, 03 December 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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Tantrum Tuesday - The Day to Rant!

I Rant, Therefore I Am

Well bla-de-da-da! What's making your blood boil? What's under your skin? What's making you see red? What's up in your craw? Let's hear your weight loss related rants!
The rant post is a /u/bladedada production.

Please consider saving your next rant for this weekly thread every Tuesday.

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Good habits make good maintenance

Progress Chart

I started my weight loss journey last year. My weight had increased slowly after college thanks to way too much beer and a diet heavy on pasta and tortilla chips. I decided I wanted to enter my 30s in a healthy place. My deeper motivation was somewhat less wholesome: I wanted to look good for a guy I liked. And I started the journey because he went on a date with a pretty girl. But hey, burning jealousy is a hell of a motivator. I can’t complain too much - it got me here.

That motivation kept me very consistent for the first two months of dedicated CICO and 3x/wk lifting. I rarely cheated on my diet. I quit alcohol. This was the time when I learned new recipes, read every nutrition label in the grocery store, changed my typical grocery run, and formed new habits.

I lost 15 pounds in 5 weeks, which achieved my main goal. I lost another 3-5 gradually over the course of six months and have been maintaining around that weight since. You’re never really off the wagon in maintenance, but happily I’ve let pizza, pasta, and beer back into my life (occasionally).

The best changes I made in that initial phase were the changes to my typical grocery run, because those became habits. I eat more chicken, fish, and frozen veggies than I ever did before. I drink less alcohol than I did in my 20s (a real money saver!) and I snack on fruit, popcorn, a packet of tuna fish, or a protein bar if I’m really hungry. I generally know how many calories are in things I eat, and I keep myself generally in check, but I don’t stress too much about it.

Find the low calorie foods that work for you, and make them a habit! It will serve you well in maintenance. Good luck with your journeys. And may you turn your jealousy into productivity :)

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Vegan doesn’t equal healthy

I’ve been vegan for the past 4 and a half years, and I’m now on a journey to lose 22lbs. I never thought this was possible.

Being young and vegan, I mistakenly assumed I could eat whatever I wanted, in whatever portions. Though my weight has never been at a point where a doctor explicitly told me that weight loss is necessary, I’ve found myself unhappy with my body.

I’d compare my diet to my peers - at least I wasn’t like the girl in my class that goes off campus every day for Taco Bell, or the boy that visits Starbucks for sugary lattes multiple times a day. I suppose I did eat healthier than the average teenager, but I had no idea about the importance of calorie counting and wholesome foods over processed ones.

When I am in the United States, it’s not too uncommon to be vegan these days. There’s plenty of options for me! Banana flavored nondairy milk, peanut butter, cookie butter (bless Trader Joe’s), microwave meals, soy chicken nuggets, sweetened cereals, breads, cookies, you name it, it’s veganized. It hasn’t been until I started incorporating more real, plant-based foods and controlled portions that my weight is coming off.

Tl;dr - it’s not the diet that makes the weight loss, it’s the caloric deficit

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Bar food strategies

Hi everyone! I wanted to share these bar food strategies I’ve learned in the last few months of losing. The assumption is that your default order would have been a burger/sandwich/equivalent (I’m vegetarian, so I order bean patties or Beyond burgers) + fries/chips/fried equivalent.

Using one of these strategies vs. the default order doesn’t make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things CICO-wise, but it can have great psychological benefits. It makes you feel like you’re still in control and on-the-wagon, it helps you navigate a potentially tricky situation, and it makes you feel and actually BE lighter the next morning.

Deciding on the strategy beforehand is helpful because you don’t have to think about it in the moment. When the server comes, you’ll know what to do, and there’ll be less room for things to go sideways:

1. Order a salad. This may seem radical, but hey - you’re allowed! I was initially afraid of peer/SO pressure or scrutiny, but I’ve found people don’t really care about it, and they hardly ever comment (I realize this may not be the case for everyone). Also, you may think you’ll be missing out flavor-wise, but once you’re actually eating the salad, you’ll realize/remember salads are delicious and satisfying. Order the dressing on the side so you control the amount. If you think you’ll have some FOMO on fried foods, you can plan to steal from someone or share a side.

2. Order a burger or equivalent main dish, but substitute the chips/fries/side for a salad. Again, decide this beforehand and execute it without thinking about it. It will make you feel proud of your choice, and your meal will still be super satisfying – I always find I don’t actually miss the fries.

3. (I haven’t tried this one yet, but I’ve read it repeatedly on this sub and I’m eager to try it) Order the default main dish + fried side, but pack half of everything from the get-go. You will still have eaten everything you craved and you will still be satisfied. Plus, you will have two delicious meals for the price of one. You will have outsmarted bar food, both financially and diet-wise.

Bonus: I used to mindlessly order a second beer when offered. I really don’t need a second beer, especially since my tolerance has gone down with weight loss. I’ve found that if I keep the glass a quarter-full, I don’t get offered a second beer, nor do I need it. I gulp down the last of it as I get up to leave, IF I even feel like finishing it by then. Helps avoid hangovers, bloating, and over-spending!

How do you deal with bar food while losing/maintaining?

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Does anybody else feel deflated by the lack of physical/visual progress?

TL;DR at the bottom. This morning I weighed in at 217.6lbs which puts me 77.4lbs down from my starting weight of 295lbs and just 42.6lbs away from my goal weight of 175lbs.

The thing is, I don't look like I've lost nearly 80 lbs this year. To me it's like I've lost maybe 5lbs. I still have gigantic thighs, big arms, plump butt, wide hips, a bulging belly, hanging fupa and big man boobs.

Everything seems to point to the contrary though. I definitely look less plump in my most recent progress picture, my clothing sizes have all reduced, I've had to get new belts, my measurements have decreased but physically... I feel the same when I look in the mirror or down at my body.

Don't get me wrong, I've read a lot about how weight loss isn't linear and that it's more noticeable towards the end, also that genetics plays a big role. I'm also aware that at my current weight I'm still in the obese range. I guess when I started in January I envisioned being a day and night difference by now but that has not happened. At 40lbs down I was telling myself "the next 40lbs will be better" but that isn't the case and I'm really paranoid the next 40lbs won't be either... And that's my goal weight!

To be clear, even though I do feel a bit deflated by this... I'm not quitting. If anything this just fuels me to keep going and try harder. But I'm so scared that there's something wrong with me, or maybe just eating less isn't enough. The scale is going down but it doesn't feel like I am...

TL;DR: I've lost nearly 80lbs this year and in another 40lbs I'll hit my goal weight of 175lbs. Despite being 2/3 of the way to my goal, physically I feel as though I look nearly identical to my starting weight. Despite my clothing sizes and measurements decreasing, I still feel and look massive. However I won't let this feeling stop me achieving my goals.

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Scales are my enemy #1 right now!

For the past few months of my weight loss journey have been extremely focused on counting calories and stressing about food way too much. I also realized that the scale wasn't helping, as I weighed myself multiple times in the morning and the scale would dictate whether my day would be good or bad straight from the morning.

So I decided to give away my scale to my parents, only having access to a measuring tape (which I honestly should also give away) and I focused on eating healthy rather than counting calories. It was rough at first, but slowly I adapted to eating when I feel hungry, and not counting every single calorie in my food. I was doing great, and I was still noticing progress with my measuring tape.

But then I made the mistake on weighing myself when visiting my parents, and that threw me completely on a loop. I fell right back to counting calories and overly restricting to the point where I would anyways eat most of my calories in the evening before bed because I was so hungry from not eating through out the day. Finally had the smack-in-the-face talk with my boyfriend and realized, that I can't use the scale if I want to lose weight-- nay, be healthy and happy. I need to completely give it up and focus on healthy food and hunger cues. And the occasional treat, of course. I have a good grasp on my hunger when I'm not restricting way too hard. I also make all of my food (I love cooking), and eat plant based most of the time, so I should have this under control.

I simply need to give up the idea that I'm doing this purely for weight loss, and start seeing this as a lifestyle change. I need to be happy with what I put in my body rather than focusing on a number. Rant over.

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