This is a journey that never ends and that's okay

So I've been struggling with my weight, losing and gaining, for about 10 years now. It's amazing how I used to think I know everything about losing weight (I've done it countless times!) but then I learn more. This is really a journey and I really don't know if there's actually a destination. You just keep going.

About me:

29/F 5'1 CW: 142.2

Goal weight? Somewhere between 106 - 122 will be good.

My weight has ranged from 112lbs when I was being really good to 156lbs (though the 156 was a few months after pregnancy)

Losing weight is simple CICO. Yes we all know that. My problem is I just get burned out after a few years of being good and then start binge eating. (I'm actually working with a counselor now to figure out why exactly I do this.) Here are some issues that I've notice that lead me to failure and I'm hoping maybe I can help others realize some things by sharing.

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1. Jumping on the bandwagon instead of doing what works for me - Right now all the rage seems to be intermittent fasting. It seems to work for so many people on helping them stay within their calorie goals. But it doesn't work for me. I can't go too long between meals or I get lightheaded and sick. So I tried to modify it. I would eat just enough to keep me going throughout the day and save as many calories as possible for the end of the day. Well that left me so ravenous that I just couldn't stop. I would either binge or fight the urge to binge every night. It was miserable! What works for me - eating small "meals" throughout the day so I never feel hungry. So yes, this great new technique everyone is doing works so well for so many people, but it's just not for me and that's okay.
2. Focusing only on eliminating calories in and not adding more calories out - I'm a short female. My BMR is infuriatingly low. I see a lot of other short girls post on here about how unfair it is. I get it! Also the fact that I work an office job and am naturally sedentary doesn't help. For years I've been trying to accept that I would only be allowed 1400 calories a day once I hit maintenance. And I'm just not okay with that. But I can change that. I can exercise. Having a treadmill in the house helps a lot. I'm slowly trying to make myself more active so hopefully I can eat around 1800 calories a day when I'm at mainenance. The saying is weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. For some reason my brain translated that as exercise doesn't really matter...but that's still 20%! It still is 1/5th of the journey that I was completely discrediting.
3. Not eating enough vegetables! - Even if you add a small amount of olive oil, a lot of vegetables are insanely low on calories. Until recently, I've been using that as a way to eat more calorific main courses. But, what if I ate half a pork chop and loaded my plate with 2-3 more servings of vegetables? Now I have a large overflowing plate of food for under 500 calories. And I'm stuffed! Most vegetables you just need to roast with a dab of olive oil and salt and they are delicious! The irritating thing is I've always known this but didn't actually do it. Until the other day when I planned a 200 calorie main course for dinner and then filled a large plate with roasted broccoli and cauliflower for only 175 more calories. I was so full on less than 400 calories! Normally I would only eat 50 calories worth of veggies so I had room for a cookie or something. But that just left me unsatisfied overall.

Anyway, I just wanted to share. I'm actually on a new boost of inspiration after over a year of being unable to stay on track. I've been really doing some soul searching lately and feel like I've made a break through to get back to where I was two years ago physically but with a healthy mind this time around.

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I am stuck at a weight loss plateau and it is driving me insane at this point

I literally am unable to lose weight(have plateaued at my current weight for over a year). I am a 24 year old male, 5'8 and 223 pounds and can not go down past this number. I don't do intense exercise, but usually walk 5-6 miles around my neighborhood every day, burning about 450-600 calories for each session. To put things into perspective, I'll list what I ate yesterday. At this point, I am trying to specifically pinpoint the problem because I really do not know what the issue is.

-3 eggo homestyle waffles(one plain, one with Nutella, one with honey)

-Chipotle. Chicken, white rice with an extra portion(this is where I may have messed up), pico de Gallo, corn, queso, cheese. Had a chips on the side but did not eat all of it, just some to mix in with the bowl

-One drumstick ice cream(290 cal)

This was all I put in my mouth yesterday, estimating this adds up to about 1700-1800 calories. What I ate the day before was almost identical to this, except I had Panda Express instead of Chipotle. I am just really unsure about the drumstick ice cream. I do eat dessert after dinner every day(that is the only time I eat dessert), but since it is 290 calories, I have always just guessed it is very insignificant in the grand scheme of a 2000 calorie daily intake, but I know lots are suggesting to avoid desserts like the plague which is why I was confused.

I am absolutely losing hope and really need some help. Thank you very much for reading.

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beating the binge

Hi all. I won’t go into details, but I have been struggling with binging the past week. I had been ROCKING my weight loss goals, but I got some terrible news and for some reason all week I can’t seem to get my shit together. However, today is different. A whole week of extra cakes n cookies is definitely not helping my weight loss goals. I ate a donut, two cinnamon rolls, and a bowl of cereal this morning. However, I am going to continue the rest of the day per diet plans. I made myself a good, normal breakfast, even though I was full from desserts this morning. In my head it feels like a do-over. I still deserve, love, food, and respect even if I binged. I logged my breakfast into MFP, and I will continue the rest of the day per normal. Just wanted to share because I do not want binging back in my life (I’ve been clean for YEARS before this week). I am wiping the slate clean!

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Friday, 01 May 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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Weight loss for children?

Hi! So I (24 f) have moved back home during quarantine and like many, am taking this time to drop a few lbs. But my concern is actually about my 12, soon to be 13 year old sister. She is pretty overweight, although she has slimmed down a bit since I've last seen her. I am concerned about her health because she has constan back pain. I got her and my other sister to do a (HIIT) workout with me yesterday and although I know its super hard, I was really sad when she started complaing about her back problems.

Both my other sister and I were overweight at that age. While I grew taller and slimed out as I played competitive sport, my sister had a bad eating disorder, although she is now at a normal weight. (Come to think of it, I actually had an eating disorder too that helped me lose weight.)

My 12 year old sister often remarks about wanting to lose weight, and I would love to help her, but I know how senstitive an issue this can be. Also, getting a 12 year old to count calories seems unrealistic to me, even though I know this is probably the easiest and most fool proof way to lose weight. Another big problem I'm facing is that I rarely if ever see her eat. Both her and my sister sleep most of the day and are up until 3-6 AM. I think she does all her eating late at night.

TLDR: how do you help a 13 year old lose weight without calorie counting or damaging their self esteem?

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The more you lose weight, the harder it is to lose weight

I was lurking on this sub, trying to figure out what led me into this plateau. It's been a month I haven't lost weight. I started IF ( 20:4 ) in December and made progress really quickly. It felt extremely rewarding. I started at 165 lbs and hit 141lbs at the beginning of April. I still do IF and I try to cook healthy meals every day.

My boyfriend is losing weight thanks to my healthy cooking while I don't. Usually, my meal is around 700 cal, and I like having a snack like a small sandwich and some yoghurt around 5 pm, I eat on average 1500 cal a day.

Because of someone's comments, I checked my TDEE and I found out that just to maintain my weight I can't eat more than 1600 calories a day, for I mild wight loss I should eat no more than 1,400 calories, and for a faster weight loss I should eat around 1,100 cal a day. It's really not much.

I guess the next step would be to start exercising but I really don't like that too much, and it's difficult on quarantine. I'm doing yoga often but I don't think it helps much.

Sorry, I just needed to vent. It's just getting so hard. Sometimes I feel I would be happy just maintaining was I have but a small part of me is curious to see what my body would look like. But is it enough to have to motivation to eat even less?

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Starting on May 1st

Hai everyone! I posted here quite some time back saying that I was going to start my diet and then I failed to do just that. I am at the heaviest weight I have ever been at around 270 lbs. I just had my 23rd birthday yesterday and I made myself a promise to change this path I've started myself on.

I've been chubby most of my life in fact I dont remember ever wearing anything smaller than a large. My mom just started her diet a week or so ago and she has been making progress and it is encouraging me to make some progress too.

So I've given myself a start date. May 1st. My long term goal is to lose about half of my body weight which should put me in a healthy BMI range. And I know it's going to be a long and hard struggle. My short term attainable motivational goal is to exercise twice a week. Even if it's just going for a short walk. Right now I work a desk job at an essential business but I am only working 4 hours a day.

However I have been finding it hard to be motivated to go for a walk. In my neck of woods more and more people are outside on walks. And so even though the weather is starting to heat up I plan on going for a couple.

Before all this coronavirus business I had been planning on joining a low cost gym that was being built in my city so I'm also trying to figure out how to navigate the loss of that as a weight loss option.

I guess I'm just here to say that I am going to do it this time because I cant continue to be like this. I want to travel some more someday and it was hard enough 35lbs ago, I cant imagine what itd be like now.

Hopefully I'll be back here in a month or so to update y'all on my progress. Wish me luck! And feel free to drop any tips or suggestions in the comments below. I could use all the help I can get.

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