Recently switched to a vegan lifestyle. Feeling better than I ever have. I’ve had a lot of ups and down, but right now I’m getting better than ever and feeling great. Here’s my story:

My story:

https://imgur.com/gallery/ivP8V8d

I’ve talked about my weight loss story, but most people just see the before and the after. I would never want anyone to be discouraged. It is very rare that someone loses a lot if weight then keeps every bit of it all forever. That kind of consistency is tough, but it is possible. Some of us let life get in the way and fall off. The important thing is you can bounce back from anything.

16 years old. I was fat. I weighed 315 pounds. I hated myself. I was out of shape. I just wanted to level up in CoD and halo, eat Doritos, and drink a case of Dr. Peppers. I really wanted to to get better and healthier, but I had asthma so my parents never let me participate in anything that involved exercise. Partially their fault, but also partially mine. So one day my brother says hey lets just go get a gym membership I had $33 in my wallet from my birthday. It was 6 days after I turned 16. The membership would be exactly $33 to start up and then my brother said it could come out of his account monthly. Little did I know that decision would be the biggest one I ever made. My brother was a little familiar with weightlifting and nutrition, but not much. I went to every machine in that gym and did a set. When I tell you I hurt for 3 days....I literally couldn’t move. I said what the hell did I get myself into. So once the soreness went away we continued. I quit sodas cold turkey. Not as hard as I thought, but the taste of water was different. Yes, I never really drank water before. Sad, I know. So along with that I started tracking my food intake. I didn’t eat any chips, or candy, or anything calorie dense with no nutritional value. A lot of lean meats, veggies, the occasionally rice serving, maybe some potatoes. I had no idea what I was doing, but something was better than nothing. So, I kept strong.

I had some muscle but mostly just lost the fat. Got tiny. So a year goes by and I start gaining strength. Started to notice that I was getting pretty strong. Well it’s a lot easier to build muscle and gain strength if you’re eating more calories, so I did. I’m about 230 pounds at the time. I got into powerlifting. Started eating a lot more. Wanted to gain more muscle. Wanted to get bigger.

So I wasn’t impressive but I just wanted to workout and get strong. Over time I gained a little by little. Well I got really into powerlifting. I got really good at it. I wasn’t to be the strongest guy I knew. I wanted to be the best in the world. I wanted to compete and I needed to be stronger than I already was. So I said I would eat everything until I got to the next weight class and I would compete in 6 months. Extremely stupid I know but ego gets in the way sometimes.

Well some more years go by and I’m ready to compete. 276 pounds on the day of my competition. Bloated. Can’t run a mile. At least I’m strong right? No. Wasn’t worth it. I competed and did pretty well. Deadlifted 600 pounds. Benched 400. Squat was around 500. Not what I wanted but it was enough. So at this point I asked myself what are you doing? You got into this for health and now this? So I decided to follow a ketogenic diet and cut it off as quickly as possible.

3-4 months. I cut almost 60 pounds. I was roughly 213 at this point. Not healthy to do so but I felt better. I was very strict. No carbs. No alcohol. Nothing but what was strict on the diet plan. So, then I’m still lifting one day and decide to do a heavy deadlift then drop down.

Well, I herniate two discs in my back.

Yep

This was definitely the worst part. Juggling working 50 hours a week and school and trying to lift all the time and this happens. This took away the best thing I had. I was depressed. I worked out some but I couldn’t do what I wanted. I got off of my diet. We went out drinking too much. I worked out maybe twice a week. I gained a lot back.

So a while back and forth and here we were. December 1st 2019. My back was better. I had been working out and lifting on and off and running here and there. Drinking too much. Diet was trash. Decided to get back on track. I needed something sustainable once and for all.

Here we are January 10th. Recently adapted a vegan lifestyle. It’s not for everyone but I feel amazing. It’s not like keto where I’m extremely strict then binge for a week and fall off. It’s not a diet where I restrict a bunch of different foods. It’s just me enjoying my life, feeling better and working out every day like I enjoy.

I’m short, don’t ever give up. I tried to give up and few times, but I bounced back. No matter how far gone you are you can always get better. No matter what happens you can always improve. Most importantly, be the healthiest and happiest that you can be.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. If I can motivate one person that will be enough.

https://imgur.com/gallery/ivP8V8d

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A seven year journey...

This is what seven years on My Fitness Pal looks like...

I’ve never posted on here before but I wanted to share this with a like-minded community. I started my fitness journey on My Fitness Pal over seven years ago and this is what that journey looked like. I have been overweight my entire life and never learned healthy eating habits as a child. At my highest recorded weight, I was 252 lbs at 5’7”.

When I first started tracking here, I was in my senior year at college. My only responsibilities were my classes and my internship—and some of those classes were senior fitness electives like Zumba, Weight-Training, and Yoga. I was eating 1100 calories a day and had mostly replaced eating with napping. I still ate whatever I wanted (mostly), and I still went out with my friends, but I rarely ever went above 1100 calories. In hindsight, this was probably not very healthy, but it was effective. I lost over 90 lbs in a year. My lowest weight was 157.6 lbs. I maintained that weight loss for about a year and I’ve spent the last five years or so gaining and losing the same 30 lbs.

Today I’m at the highest weight I’ve been in seven years. What you see here is the weight I’ve gained and lost, but what you don’t see here are the career changes, the apartment moves, the heartbreaks, the joys, the stresses, the traveling, the parties, the holidays, and all that goes into a life fully lived. I want to recommit to focusing on my health because I know that I’m worth the effort, and to be honest, I’m tired of my pants not fitting. But mostly, I wanted to remind you (and myself) that this is a journey. It’s easy to be kind to ourselves at the high points, but not so easy when we’re feeling low. My journey with my body has been one of self-acceptance and ultimately, self-love. I've struggled with low self-esteem, binge-eating, and depression--all of those feelings and behaviors were rooted in shame about food and my body. I've had to learn how to have a positive relationship with my body. I know the value of eating well and exercising because I know it’s good for my physical and mental wellbeing. But so is loving myself, because my worth and my life are not defined by a number on a scale. My life has been defined by the lows and the highs, and all the wonderful people I’ve met and the memories I’ve made along the way.

Be kind to yourself as you work (or don’t work) on your fitness goals today. This is your journey and I hope you show yourself love at every stage along the way.

My username is knowyouronion6 if you want a new MFP friend!

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HELP! - Body Lift/Skin Removal Surgery - Post OP having anxiety

Hi everyone,

First time posting on reddit,

I am a 26 year old male, 5 foot 8, 145 pounds. I was obese most of my teenage years and my highest weight was 225lbs at age 17. Lost 50 pounds by diet and exercise at age 18, another 30-35 pounds over the next year or two through going to the gym and eating even less. So about 80 to 85 pounds total weight loss.

I have kept the weight off for EIGHT years, I've been 145-155 lbs since about age 18 and I'm now almost 27. I don't even want to use the word "maintained" because my lifestyle is vastly different than my teenage years. I eat probably 1/3 the calories I used to, actually exercise at the gym and have a very active and strenuous job (server/supervisor at an large, busy restaurant) instead of just sitting on the couch and sleeping all day unemployed in high school, stuffing my face like in my dark, depressed, and unhealthy teenage years.

I've wanted surgery for skin removal since about age 19 but I knew it was horribly expensive, and I was a broke college student from a working class family with no more than a $3,000-$4,000 in my account until about age 23. Now that I'm four years out of college working 50+ hours a week in my restaurant my savings reached over $40,000 at age 26 so I decided to look into it.

I found the best plastic surgeon in the metro area based on reviews and recommendation by my primary care doctor. Unfortunately for a 360 abdominal lift (basically a muffin-top removal lol) and the liposuction on my chest/breasts it came out to over $14,000. Quite a lot but it's literally my dream surgery because my loose skin has given me severe self esteem and depression issues all through my 20s. I figured it would be an investment in my physical and mental health. My family is judging a lot but I'm trying to remind myself this is for me, not them.

I got the surgery 10 days ago and I'm really suffering mentally post recovery. The results look amazing in terms of the skin loss - I cried of happiness when I first saw my body post OP, it's truly incredible. However, I feel like I wasn't prepared for how long this process would take and how long I might have to be off work and I don't have paid time off. I can only just now walk again or drive a car again and I'm hunched over forward quite a bit from the 360 degree incision around my waist. The pain is down immensely and I'm off narcotics, but what bothers me is that I can't stand up totally straight or walk very well. I can drive and go the store but I feel like everyone is staring because I'm this healthy looking young guy shuffling around all hunched over. The doctor told me it would be weeks and months before I felt normal again but I'm just impatient and I keep having catastrophic thoughts like "will I ever wait tables again?", "will I ever go back to work?", "will I deplete all my savings and go bankrupt after spending all this money?", "did the doctor lie to me about the recovery time so he would get my money?", "will I lose my job?". I know I need to be more positive and let myself heal but I can't get these thoughts out of my brain as I've suffered from severe anxiety and depression pretty much my whole life and I've never gotten surgery on anything. My family (who has never been obese btw) is telling me I made a mistake and that plastic surgery is for shallow rich people and I should have just "loved myself" instead of getting this surgery. Not helping and I feel so alone.

Has anyone gone through this experience with a body lift surgery? When did you feel like your posture was ok again and you could walk normally and just felt right again? I just want to go back to work SO BADLY waiting tables and being active but I can't go in there like he Hunchback of Notre Dame. It's only been 10 days so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, because I was in immense pain on narcotics and could barely walk to the bathroom 4 days ago. Whenever I ask the surgeon a question I get that vibe of "just chill out you're being a little wussy give it time". I really just need support through this hard time and any response would be appreciated from someone who has been through this.

Please not this was NOT a "tummy tuck" it was a full 360 body lift which is a much more intense and invasive procedure which I assume has a longer recovery time.

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Feelings/Changes During Weightloss

So before I go jabbering away, let me post deets.

F/27yr old/5'9

SW: 262

CW: 255

GW: 155

So in about a week I've lost 5 pounds. The scale said 254.6 but then turned into 255.0 in a matter of seconds despite already calibrating it. lol I'll stick to 255 to be sure. So I lost 7 pounds in about a week. I do what's called Early Time Restricted Feeding where I start from 9am and eat until 2pm. So I eat breakfast around 10-11 usually and dinner at 1:45 and finish around 2:15pm. I track my hours using LIFE Fasting on android. I like the interface and groups you can join on there. ;D

So Feelings/Changes during weightloss. So I haven't lost a lot YET, but the small amount that I had has made a difffference. I see it in my tummy and legs <3 I have some knock knees and feel the weight on my knees have massively improved with ONLY 7 pounds gone. It feels like I lost 20lbs from my knee pressure XD!I feel more confident and... i am more flexible? I can bend down easier in a deep wide squat. It feeels sooooo good.

Brain fog has lifted a LOT. <3 And I see that I'm taking care of myself better. Like face regimens have gotten more intricate. Hair regimen is more on fleek. Yaz, this girl is feelin' herself! I'm also into some workouts with my kettlebells. I have 16kg ones (two of them). I do squats, Deadlifts and Bent over Rows.

I've tried so many things to jumpstart my weight loss but ETRF is the only thing that has made a massssive difference. ETRF kinda tricks u into an OMAD lifestyle allllmost.

Do any of you guys do this? And what was it like for you guys when you first started losing/lost some weight?!

ETA: I do like 3x3 kettlebell rep schemes. Nothing too strenuous really. But enough to keep the body workin' <3

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Social media is holding us back

I am a 5'4 girl, on a "weight loss journey". I started from 180 pounds (81.5 kgs) and I am planning to go down to about 140 pounds. I managed to lose 3 pounds already, in a week and a half, by staying below 1500 calories and weightlifting. I've had weight problems all my life, ever since childhood, and looking back, I have always felt like I needed to lose weight, even when I was at a healthy BMI. But this is not the object of my rant. This time, I feel more prepared than ever to lose the weight for good. And even more than that, to be healthy. For myself and for all the people around me that love me. It took me days of strenuous self reflection to understand what made me so decisive this time. Nothing major happened in my life before I made this decision, be it good or bad. And today it hit me. I quit social media about a month ago. I shut down my Instagram, and only use my Facebook for school related stuff. It dawned on me! No more facetuned-picture-perfect-life people, no more pressure to be or look in a certain way, no more people telling you about the latest fad diet, or the best 4 minute workout that is supposed to burn off 293473829 calories, no more any of that. It is the most relieving thing ever. To just be able to focus on yourself, the loved ones, and the things that matter to you mostly. I just hope that all of you peeps will find your path in weight loss and whatever else in this life. I guess this is my rant for today.

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1 year of weight loss - 90lbs lost!

TL;DR: Progress pictures of my 90lb weight loss in the past 365 days going from 295lbs to 204.8lbs. 95% of it is due to portion control (CICO) along with some healthy decisions. I've gone from being "obese" to just "overweight" and by July of this year I plan to be a "healthy weight".

On January 15th 2019 I weighed in at 295lbs, officially making me an "obese" 18 year old. Today, January 15th 2020 I'm happy to announce I weigh 204.8lbs, officially making me just an "overweight" 19 year old having lost 90lbs. I turn 20 in July of this year and I plan on smashing my goal weight of 175lbs and being in the healthy weight range. I plan on focusing on getting fit this year so that I have new things to focus on after I lose all the weight.

I've been weighing myself every week since I started in January 2019, and even started weighing myself daily in November 2019 and I've also been taking progress pictures every month and a whole bunch of other pictures including selfies so I have plenty of proof of my journey. I'd like to share some of them today:

• Progress picture album
• Fully body before and after (front view)
• Fully body before and after (right view)
• Fully body before and after (back view)
• Fully body before and after (left view)
• Selfies comparison
• Close-up face picture comparison

How I lost the weight

For me losing weight has been 95% CICO. I haven't committed to any specific diet or eating behaviour, simply focusing on eating less. Last year I bought a food scale to weight all my food and logged it using MyFitnessPal. Over 2019 I made more and more health conscious decisions like cutting out sugary drinks, dramatically cutting back on fast food and quitting the unhealthy snacks. My mother, this community and the MyFitnessPal community have been a huge help to me, constantly providing me with advice and guidance whilst also being incredibly supportive - thank you all.

I'm not a beliver in fad diets, sure you can lose weight but I don't think you're likely to keep it off forever. The way I see it your weight, your fat, your body is just a physical reflection of your lifestyle, which currently is promoting weight gain. You want to focus on changing your habits and your lifestyle to one that promotes weight loss or weight maintenance at your desired weight. Weight loss is essentially 100% diet but realistically having an overall healthy lifestyle with healthy eating and exercise is only going to help advance your goals and make it sustainable.

The truth is, there's nothing special or unique about me that allowed me to do this. I've been slowly gaining weight since I was probably 8 years old, that's the majority of my life. I tried to seriously lose weight once when I was about 15 but it was doing SlimFast which wasn't sustainable and I ended up gaining about ~90lbs in the following 3 years - but now I'm in it for the long haul. I know it's cliche but if I can do it, so can you. There are genuine reasons why people struggle to lose weight but I think for the majority of us it's really just about our habits and discipline, it'll take time, it won't always be easy and you'll definietly make mistakes but you just need to forgive yourself and keep going.

How my life has changed in the past year

Put simply I am a much better version of myself. Not because I'm skinner, but because every day I am making decisions and commitments to improve my life. I take care of my body now, instead of damaging it. I feel good looking in the mirror and at pictures, instead of avoiding the camera. I've always loved myself but only now am I truly proud of myself. I'm much happier now, I'm more optimistic and more positive. Physically I feel much better. I no longer have any sort of aches and pains from just existing, I'm a lot lighter, I'm more flexible and I don't get out of breath nearly as quickly. I'm more fit than I was and improving every day.

Here's a list of more specific changes I've logged:

• Shirt/jacket sizes gone from 2XL to L
• Trouser sizes gone from 42" to 34"
• Neck measurement gone from 17.5" to 15"
• Waist measurement gone from 47.5" to 38"
• Hips measurement gone from 53.5" to 46.5"
• Chest measurement gone from 43.5" to 40"
• Upper arm, forearm, thigh and calf measurements have also decreased by 1" to 2" plus

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Why and How I lost 100 lbs in 11 months

It was gradual at first. I started gaining weight, like most people do, when I started college. By the time I graduated, idk if high school me would have been able to recognize me. (High school graduation vs college graduation). Over the next 3-4 years, I taught high school English, got married, got pregnant, lost my mom to lung cancer, and had my son. Between grief and becoming a stay at home mom, I stopped taking care of myself. I would go shopping for special events and the only things that fit were in certain stores made only for plus sized people.

On February 16, 2019, 2 weeks after my son’s first birthday, I went for a stroller walk with him and my husband. We were walking HALF A MILE from our house to our neighborhood playground. The entire time I complained about how tired I was and how I wished we would have taken the car. On a half mile walk. This was the point where it all sunk in. I stepped on the scale for the first time in months to find that I was 272lbs, even though I had gotten back down to my prepregnancy weight of 230 only 6 weeks postpartum. That night, I made a post on reddit and downloaded myfitnesspal. The next morning, I re-upped my membership at planet fitness.

I knew I wanted to be around to run around with my kid and any future child we might have. I want to enjoy as many years as I can with them and my husband. I wanted to fit into clothes that every store carried. I wanted to see people in shock of what I could do. I wanted a better grip on my slowly declining mental health. I wanted to wear my wedding ring. I wanted to be a hot mom one day. So, I went all in.

Let me say this is far from the first time I have tried to lose weight, but it is the first time I've had any kind of success, and I think it will be the last time (until my next pregnancy). This is the first time I started by taking very, VERY small steps. In the past, I've gone for an all or nothing approach, and would slip up and immediately tail spin and start another attempt 2 months later. In very slow steps, this is what I've done.

1. I downloaded myfitnesspal and started counting calories. I decided to be honest with myself and track EVERYTHING. Like if I had 5 potato chips, I counted them. This was so big. I did NOT restrict myself or even give myself a goal for a week. I wanted to see what my eating habits were REALLY like. In that week, I ate something like 2500-3000 calories a day. It was a wake up call I needed.

2. I restricted my calories. I put my goal weight into mfp and said I wanted to lose 2lbs a week, and followed the calorie guide they gave me. It started off at something like 1800/day (and has slowly dropped to 1200/day over 7ish months). I continue to track everything. I have to be diligent with this, because I have to physically see this to understand. My husband did this in the beginning, and corrected his eating habits, learned how to track things in his brain and has hit his goal weight (he's 6'6", gets a billion calories, and had a lot less to lose). If I do not do it every single day I get off track too easily. I attribute 90% of my success to calorie counting.

2.5. I do not deprive myself. If am craving a soda, I have one. I just track it. If I want a cookie, I eat it. I just track it. If I am craving something "bad" like fast food, I plan a day to indulge. I put it on my calendar with a big red heart and eat maintenance calories that day (calculated by TDEEcalculator.net). I call it a treat day instead of a cheat day cause I'm extra. I try to schedule at least one of these a month, but do it twice if I'm feeling good about a milestone. (December had about 8). But I do not eat more than my maintenance calories. and often I don't even want to.

1. A few weeks later, I started going to the gym. 3 times a week, after my son is in bed, I go to use the elliptical for an hour. I HATE working out in public, but now I look forward to this, because I get to listen to my audio books. Cardio is hard, but my heart rate when I started in March was always around 160 going 3 mph, and is now usually around 120 going 5mph. I can feel the difference. I know this is one of the main things that makes it so much easier and way more enjoyable to play with my son. I track these calories so I know what they are (for brain math), BUT I NEVER EAT BACK ANY WORKOUT CALORIES. r/loseit says it's okay to eat half back, but I find counting workout calories insanely difficult to do with any accuracy.

That was it for a long time. My son was still breastfeeding until 15 months (so the first 2.5 months of my journey). I didn't notice a significant hit to my supply that wasn't already happening from introducing cow's milk and him just getting older and self weaning a bit.

In June, I got diagnosed with bronchitis. This meant I couldn't workout for a few weeks, but I continued to lose weight because I kept up counting my calories.

1. My husband and I started meal prepping every lunch and meal planning every dinner. We choose a recipe and prep 10 portions for our lunches. Yes that means I have the same lunch every day of the week, but this made a huge difference. I have always been a terrible snacker, and now I don't have to think about what I'll eat ever. We make it. I eat it. I don't snack. Also, this has saved us the most money EVER. I could also be active about my health even though I couldn’t work out in June.

2. As I got better, I decided I wanted to be more active and got a bug to start a couch to 5k, despite never having been a runner. I played soccer until I was 12, and I was always the goalie, because I COULD NOT RUN. but one of my friends from middle school who has been trying to lose weight since I met her got weight loss surgery last year and has become a runner. I was really inspired by her to try and pick it up. I decided to do each jog 2x, so the entire program is 9 weeks, but I did it in 18. I can jog for 45 minutes straight, when I could barely do a minute in June. I do this 3 nights a week, also after my son is in bed. In December, I ran my first official 5k in 42 minutes. Slow, but steady.

3. Intermittent fasting. I eat with a window of 10-6 every day. I will say I don't know if I think it does much. I was never big into breakfast, and this helps me stop nighttime snacking. I use the app Zero to track when I fast. I also tend to be lenient with this.

4. BEACH BODY! A friend of mine signed me up for beachbody and it has been a game changer! I wanna say I started about midway through July? I have been doing lots of cardio stuff, but wanted to start building my strength too, and I knew it would help tone. I would do this during naps, since I am a stay at home mom. The workout programs I have been doing never last more than 30 minutes. and I swear to god (or the universe) I actually enjoy them. It feels like I'm in a class instead of watching a video. I do one workout a day (so, yes. I have been working out 2x most days, but it all feels so short and compact, it just feels like another part of my day now, not just something to dread.) Working out feels so non-negotiable to me these days, because I always feel better when I have done it. I cannot believe it took me so long to realize that. (I hate the name of this company, and also don't participate in the shakeology part of it).

I must emphasize that each thing was incorporated VERY SLOWLY. I waited until one step felt like a totally normal part of my life that I have always done before I moved on to the next step. That is what made ALL the difference.

I have talked to my doctor about all of these things. Especially in the beginning when I was losing so much water weight. She said most research says not to lose weight more quickly than 2lbs/week because you are likely to put it back on. I have evened out to losing 1-2 lbs a week these days.

This morning, I stepped on my scale to see that I am officially 100lbs down from when I started.

I am currently trying to conceive my second child. I still work out 2x a day, I am still doing 1200cals/day (have an appt to talk to my OB about this), but hopefully I will become pregnant soon, which obviously will mean a break from losing weight. But the difference is I know how to take care of myself now. I know what makes me feel good and I know that even though I’ll be purposefully gaining weight, I will be doing it healthfully and will be able to lose it easily, because I have the habits and skills I need in place to do so.

Stats if you're interested.

F | 5'7" | 26yo

SW: 272 lbs

CW: 172 lbs

GW: 135 lbs

And PROGRESS PICS!

A huge thanks to r/loseit, I don’t think I could have done it without you! Let me know if you have any questions! I am more than happy to answer!

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