I finally get it. Finally seeing first-hand why strength training is so important.

Short back story: I've been chubby my whole life - averaging about 40lbs overweight, give or take a few pounds.

Have tried every diet known to man (well, close), like WW, keto, Slimming World, etc. Would always lose a bit, and when I went back to 'normal', would gain it all back.

Last September, a personal trainer friend of mine said he'd help get me on track with a doable strength training schedule, and was grilling into me the importance of strength training when it comes to metabolism and keeping weight off. He wasn't too worried about cardio (although very good for me, he suggested I concentrate more on strength training - i.e. if I had half hour, use it for weights rather than treadmill). He had me count calories and stick to a calorie deficit, but was eating a lot more than I ever did on any diet. And lemme tell you, I was massively skeptical.

All I've ever been told is cardio and calorie cuts, and more cardio and more calorie cuts, so changing this mindset was HARD.

The first 6 weeks I lost pretty much nothing (2lbs), but definitely felt better. I was so discouraged though - so little weight loss when I felt like I was trying so hard! He kept telling me to be patient, the weight loss will happen.

The second 6 weeks I feel like I got in the groove and lost 10 pounds and felt amazing. I could tell I was so much stronger. Trainer friend kept telling me my metabolism was slowly sorting itself out and that I'd end up burning more calories while at rest, which was the entire point.

Then Christmas happened. I totally fell off the wagon. Went from exercising 3-4x a week and calorie counting to doing absolutely nothing, for a whole month. I didn't binge constantly, but I sure as hell didn't count any calories.

I was scared to death to get on the scale, because every other time I'd done this in the past (got off the 'diet' and lived normally), I'd have gained the weight back.

Well not this time! I got on the scale this morning and I'm exactly the same lowest weight as when I jumped off the wagon before Christmas!

Whether it's my metabolism or habits, I can tell you for sure that making strength training a focal point in my weight loss journey has been the difference between feeling like a failure and feeling really damn good about the work I've put in.

Just wanted to write a quick bit of encouragement to anyone feeling lost and not knowing where to start with weight loss. If you've tried everything but haven't made strength training a priority, give it a go! If nothing else it'll help keep you from becoming a frail old fogey. Although this road to weight loss might be longer than others, it may be the one that will finally work for you!

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Friday, 17 January 2020? 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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I see all food as time

Started 250 lbs., currently 196 lbs., my goal is to be 170 lbs.

Before I started my weight loss journey I never thought about food until it was time to eat. “What sounds good” then I would go get it, usually from a restaurant and usually terrible for you. Since I didn’t actually cook almost everything I made was the worst kind of microwaved awfulness.

Now think about food constantly. My food is simple but healthy and I make it myself. I love looking at low calorie recipes but since I still really don’t know cooking I try to find the easy ones.

Here is something I’ve discovered…I see food as time. All of it is time. I don’t want a Big Mac because that will cost me time between now and my goal. I don’t eat that donut at work because it has processed sugar and crap that will cost me time. There is an overflowing candy bowl at work, I don’t even want to touch it because it will extend my time. I COULD eat it but then I feel I “wasted” the day…and I am 6 pounds from updating my flair!

Thanks to this subreddit I am making a lot of effort into getting all my essential nutrients daily. But I am unsure what’s going to happen when I get to my 170 goal. I feel like I should be moving on to a “this is a healthy sustainable living” phase but I really don’t see food that way, I see it has helping me get to where I want to be or it’s time eating crap. It doesn’t seem like this is a sustainable approach but I am just being honest. Is this a normal phase? Any suggestions on how to get my mind right? I am still a long ways from my goal so maybe I am worrying for nothing but, as I said, I think about food a lot.

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Do I have an unhealthy relationship with food...? A comment I can't quite shake.

I've had really great progress with my weight loss over the last year (335lbs --> 206lbs) mostly from CICO, eating fresh produce, tracking my food (via MyFitnessPal) and exercising. Nothing revolutionary. Still, I feel pretty good about how far I've come and how my life has changed for the better.

Yesterday, though, I was reading comments on a weight loss forum and a poster said something that bothered me. They claimed that to lose weight we basically trade "one version of disordered eating for another." Their entire argument was that once you're eating very poorly to the point of obesity, the only "cure" is actually just swapping to another form of disordered eating: caloric reduction, constant conscious dieting, restriction forever, etc. They were basically saying that once you've got an unhealthy relationship with food, it's forever. You're either overeating or restricting. No middle ground.

And although I wish I could say that I can laugh this comment off as patently ridiculous, there is something about it that is bothering me and I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's that I am quite aware that I've had a very unhealthy relationship with food and in order to combat that I am now very aware of what I put into my body, when, and how much.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that I'm very cognizant of my caloric intake and nutrition these days. To lose nearly 130lbs, you have to be. I try to eat very healthily (and my doctor agrees). I'm a 5'11" male and I eat approximately 1800-2100 calories a day and I exercise. But this all takes conscious effort.

I personally don't think I'll ever feel truly "free" with food. Certainly not like I used to.

I'm not sure if I'll ever eat again without at least tracking my food. There won't be any thoughtless meals, unconscious chews, or complete lack of care. I'll always have to think before I eat and consider what I've already eaten that day.

Does that mean that I have traded up for a new form of disordered eating?

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need help w/ weight loss.

gonna start this off with the fact that im young, 14f. i know its normal to be a bit chunkier at this time but i cant stand being like this. last year, i lost 40ish pounds over 6 months. i was really good about keeping it off, exercising, consistently being healthy, but then idk what hit me honestly. i gained like 20 back, im like 180ish at 5'8. i have diagnosed depression and anxiety, and i am constantly unhappy with how i look. i know all the steps to get to where i want to be, i just have zero motivation. i exercise often, but its my eating. breakfast is oatmeal/cereal, i had a cupcake too. (family birthday yesterday) lunch was a yummy salad, chips, and fruit snacks. after school is where it gets hard. two cupkakes, some bread. later, chips and another cupcake. thing is though, i eat like this, like shit every day. i work out, at school weightlifting. i enjoy it. i do some at home too. exercise, check. eating habits and emotional eating, nope. how do i eat less?

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My (24F) success story

I have achieved something that I never thought I could. About 2 years ago, my weight was somewhere in the 225-230 range, clinically in the obese category for my height of 5’8.

I was overeating—frequently eating multiple large meals a day, boredom snacking, and an addiction to sugar. Then, I began my weight loss journey after being told that I was prediabetic. Since I have a family history of diabetes and high blood pressure, I would be that much more likely to develop these issues.

I began cutting my calorie intake as well as a little bit of moderate exercise, but 95% of it came from cutting my food portions. There were times that I exercised when I was obese, but I was still consuming too many calories which caused me to continue gaining.

Since cutting my food intake, I had lost about 40-45 pounds and have successfully maintained it since then. My normal weight these days usually hovers somewhere between 180 and 185. While it is nothing drastic like losing 100+ pounds, it is still a goal that I have achieved and maintained for a little bit over a year.

The secret is not necessarily changing what you eat, but how much you eat.

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Losing weight and the small victories + self image

https://imgur.com/a/cJzKCnq

I've put on quite a bit of weight since this picture was taken of me in october 2018. But at this time I did not feel skinny at all, I still felt fat at a healthy weight. Currently at 19 years of age. I am just about 6'3 tall. I went from 116 kg(255 lb) to 86 kg(189 pounds) in a little over a year of eating properly, with portion control. I even indulged in sweets if I felt like it on the weekends because I did not eat a lot, and it only made a small dent. But it became an obsession for me, to be at my so called ideal weight of around 10 kg less.

This meant that I sometimes went a day eating a single piece of toasted bread for breakfast, and apple or 2 for lunch and a home-cooked meal from my parents which usually was eaten in one small portion.

I was still locked inside the mindset of being fat, or otherwise overweight even though I was at my best weight I can remember, I put on 2 kilos abroad on a trip to Japan, in the picture and felt terrible about myself but it was not at all warranted. I look perfectly skinny in that picture, and I can only realize that now that I am on the other side of progress again.

I put on weight again due to indulging back into snacks after being unable to work out for a month because of an operation at the hospital which made it so. Before that I was working out 3 times a week without having any problems with food whatsoever. When shopping I made it an exercise to just walk into the candy or cake isle, and just look at all the snacks. Then I would say to myself that I do in fact not need them but instead I enjoyed just the thought of eating them, or the thought of being healthy. Sounds quite strange typing it out but it helped me a lot when I was dieting to just accept that I would not be eating any of it.

As I'm sitting on the other side of the diet and going back in, I'm honestly excited to go back through my awesome progress in an even healthier way with a more balanced diet and a bit more food. But I hope to appreciate it more this time around, small victories are amazing for weight loss, and you should stay proud of yourself as you lose weight. Even if it's just 1 pound or maybe even less. Changing up your diet makes a huge difference too, I took out butter for my bread and weight started dropping like crazy, changed the sodas for water and controlled my portions. It's a battle and war but one you can win when you set your mind to it.

So please, when you are at your goal weight, or at the goal of the month, week, day, or hour, maybe even minute. Try to see what great progress you've already made. Take some pictures when you start and compare them to see what great progress you made, otherwise you will end up like me and just be looking towards losing more when you really are within healthy weight limits and look amazing compared to your starting point. Looking at your weight between 4-6 weeks can also make a large impact because you see a lot of progress at once. Getting to your goal also means, you now have to set a new one, otherwise you will likely fall into old habits.

Willpower is probably the biggest contributor to weight loss.(sorry for any grammatical errors or otherwise).

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