I wish my family was healthy

I know that my health all comes down to me and that I can’t blame anyone else for where I am. How I exercise and what I eat is up to me.

However, I can’t help but think that my problems with my weight and food appeared at least partly because of my family. My mom and dad are both obese. I grew up witnessing my mom constantly trying to lose weight, my dad binging on junk food, my sister’s unhealthy relationship with food, and my brother calling himself fat. I’ve seen my sister try to starve herself. Ive seen my mom go off and on of weight watchers repeatedly. I’ve heard my dad insult my mom about how she needs to lose weight.

I have never been overweight, but I have always been terrified of gaining weight. I’m scared to ever have people look at me and say “oh, she got big.” And I don’t think I’m small. I’m bigger than all of my friends, and they’ve hinted at that on several occasions (Apparently I’ve got the perfect body to be the koolaid man for Halloween. Also, if I need to borrow something, their clothes “probably won’t fit me”).

Everyone in my family is super food conscious. I hate that constant obsession. I feel like everyone is always hyper focused on what everyone else is eating. I hate when they call themselves fat or talk about weight loss or food and how many calories it has. Those subjects make me uncomfortable and anxious. Especially in quarantine, this is just super uncomfortable and I just wish I had grown up in a family that is healthy and intuitive with their eating.

What is your childhood experience in this regard? Do you think it played a part in your relationship with your weight and food?

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How You Lose Body Fat

I saw this image today - How You Lose Body Fat - and it really resonated with me. I admit that I have become increasingly more impatient and frustrated while I am tracking CICO, since there are no immediate changes that I can see even though I'm in a calorie deficit. Fat is stubborn just like me. Stubbornness is similar to perseverance, which is a trait needed for success.

From the article:

And just because the numbers on the scale aren't changing, doesn't mean you aren't losing weight. Your fat cells are pretty stubborn - they tend to try and hang around for survival purposes, and to provide you a valuable source of energy. As you lose fat, you might gain water weight. Fat cells will fill with water to maintain their shape and in the hopes of acquiring fat to fill it again. But if you continue to cut calories and lose fat, they eventually give up and shrink. Losing weight takes a lot of patience. The scale will go up and down, but a consistent calorie deficit over time will lead to weight loss.

We are all on our own journey. Even the cells that make up my body have their own journey. Perhaps, this is a time to practice compassion - to not only to myself, but also to these little fat cells. It’s hard to be patient when my attitude is merely thinking of myself, that I certainly don't need the extra fat cells. Though, these fat cells don't realize there are too many of them; they are simply doing their best to survive to give me the energy I need to survive, which I appreciate.

Weight loss has heavily consumed my thoughts recently. Dealing with stubborn fat is exhausting and frustrating, and I simply do not want to think about my it so much anymore. This image reminded me that there is only so much I can control. So, I dedicated the extra time needed to revise my CICO spreadsheet, reviewing and updating everything, after researching a bit more to further my understanding on how to achieve my weight loss goals. This plan and how I execute it is what I can control. If I don't succeed, it will be because I did not follow the plan or there is something out of my control intervening (example: unknown underlying health issue). If I am disciplined and diligent, I am confident that I will succeed since I'm prepared with a sound strategy and a more accepting, patient mindset.

Cheers to shrinking fat cells!

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going to start my weight loss journey

16/m here. I've been overweight for most of my life and I finally want to change. I currently weigh around 225 lbs and am at least 5'2. I'm making my starter weight 160 for now. I don't know how to start losing weight or when I should start. If I could get some advice that would be cool. Maybe stuff like diets that will make me lose weight fast. I had a kidney transplant around 7 years ago so some diets won't work for me because I only have one kidney. Also I would be fine with exercising but I would rather wait and only focus on losing the weight through dieting and then getting into better shape after I lose more weight. Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong place.

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50 lbs down over 1 and 1/4 year. Wondering if anyone’s else weight fluctuates by 6-8 lbs normally

I just got down to about 160 lbs but my weight spiked up to 166 again the next day. I normally fluctuate between 6-8 lbs and usually go back down to that lower weight. But it can be super disheartening when I’m trying to loose weight. I’ve been really strict about calories and exercise and I’m trying to get down to 145-150 lb range. I’m eating about 1000-1500 calories per day. I am 5’8. I’m going to give this a month or so of eating at this caloric deficit to see the results that I can achieve. My projected weight loss is within 5 weeks via my fitness pal but I don’t always trust that. Why does the weight always shift like that? I know I haven’t gained 6 lbs in a day.

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Slimming World Weight Loss!

(SV Post) Hope everyone is well. Just wanted to share my exciting news. Over the last 5 weeks in lockdown I’ve lost half a stone, bringing my total loss to 2 stone! I began Slimming World in November 2019 (so been doing it for ~6 months) and I’m so thrilled. 2 thirds of the way to my target weight! I’ve wanted to lose weight for years and have gone up and down with my weight, never being able to maintain. I’ve finally found a sustainable lifestyle and diet I can maintain and I am so excited! That’s not to say I don’t struggle sometimes and I do have the occasional cheeky takeaway. There are weeks I gain, weeks I stay the same. It’s about drawing a line and forgiving ourselves when we trip up and then getting back on it. Guilt over messing up is what always led me to messing up more.

Will add some things that has helped me:

For me it has mostly been planning. Generally I’ve been better in lockdown than usual - not being around my friends/boyfriend who snack a lot and like to eat out. But the trick for me really is to have meals/plans prepared. I don’t want to have to think about my food, rather just go to the fridge and eat the food I premade. Less stress and I find it a lot easier that way. I usually make bulks of healthy pasta and have that for the week, usually a mugshot or poached eggs on a slice of toast for lunch, then weetabix with milk for breakfast. Very much about routine, having options prepared in advance. In my house we also have very few snacks around. If there’s nothing around to snack on, I don’t snack. It’s always so much worse knowing there’s food around but not being able to have it. Then if I feel soooo snacky, I have fruit in the fridge so I can still nibble. Much better to keep cravings in check by swapping out for healthier options rather than restricting myself entirely.

Also: keeping busy. If I’m busy and doing things, I don’t notice time passing and my brain is too busy to think about food. Too much time on my hands leads to me obsessing about food and getting more hungry/bored and wanting to eat more. I don’t want my life to revolve around food, so I make sure my behaviour/daily activities don’t revolve around it

I also try and focus on positive reinforcement. I reward myself with treats (not food based) when I reach a weight achievement eg every half stone. I don’t beat myself up or punish myself for messing up, I get back to trying to get my goal. At the moment my treats have been a Nintendo Switch, and then a couple of games.

Trying to make it all as positive as possible, humans are more successful with positive reinforcement than negative reinforcement (I studied Psychology at uni).

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Why am I barely losing weight after 1 month in a calorie deficit? FAQ not helping,

Here are the results of the TDEE calculator showing 2,500 maintenance calories and 2,000 weight loss calories. For the last 3-4 weeks I've been in a heavy calorie surplus and have stayed in the 1,300-1,600 range every day save for 2-3 cheat days. I'm down to 187 from 190, but with this deficit I should be losing at least 1.5-2lbs a week, right? Am I being obtuse?

Exercise:

Monday Push

Tuesday 45 minutes bicycling @ 15mph

Wednesday Pull

Thursday 45 minutes bicycling @ 15mph

Friday Legs

Sat/Sun 45 minutes/day @ 15mph

Using MyFitnessPal to log calories. Daily goal for 1.5lbs down a week, according to the app, is 1770 calories. I typically keep my calories daily in the 1,300-1,600 range to have a margin of error. I understand the importance of weighing food so I weigh literally everything that goes into my mouth. Knowing the intake isn't the problem. I do not eat prepackaged food. I cook everything I eat so I know exactly what's going into my food.

Daily Nutrition:

6AM black Coffee.

9AM 1 Scoop Muscle Milk 150cal + black coffee.

11AM black coffee.

12PM 2 cups salad mix 15 cal, 3TBSP Dressing 120 cal, 2 hard boiled eggs 143 calories.

Dinner will change nightly but I weigh and measure every dish. Example tonight was 220g sweet potato and 200g of pork chops. Every day dinner has been in the 400-600cal range or less This put me around 1,300-1,600 calories for the day.

This is my first time trying to actually count calories and lose weight so I'm pretty perplexed here. Calories in Calories Out. I understand the logic. I weigh my food. I put in the work in the gym/bike.

What the hell am I missing? Am I expecting too much too soon?

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Getting to the root issues of my weight gain is helping me so much on my weight loss journey

So I’ve yo-yo dieted throughout my life, and one thing that all of those instances have in common was that I tried to lose weight too quickly while focusing solely on controlling food and exercise without getting to the root of my issues. When that backfired, I felt like a failure, but the problem is I was trying to sort of bandaid the issue was without going deeper.

Lately, I’ve been working with a therapist, dietician, endocrinologist, and journaling a lot about physical and emotional underlying issues around why I keep gaining weight. Here are some of my personal reasons, I suggest you do the same to really combat your specific issues! Weight is coming off slowly but surely

-I’ve got hormonal imbalances due to PCOS and thyroid issues. These cause my metabolism to slow down while increasing the hunger hormones and encouraging fat storage mode. They also cause insulin resistance. Getting on the right medications & supplements (metformin & spironolactone) intermittent fasting, low carb, and learning to eat to encourage hormonal and blood sugar balance has been a godsend

-my cortisol (stress hormone) tests came back high which is notorious for causing weight gain. I’ve decided to make sure to incorporate meditation, yoga, regular sleep, and Ashwaghanda. Journaling and cognitive behavioral therapy are also helping immensely.

-I got diagnosed with ADHD, and I read about the connection low dopamine levels have with weight gain. Food increases dopamine temporarily. I’m not medicated for it because stimulants give me anxiety, but I try to make sure to do fun stimulating things that raise my dopamine levels without turning to food, especially exercise and social activities. Boredom can be a real trigger

-My anxiety medications (Lexapro) cause carbohydrate cravings, so I’ve really been working on distinguishing between cravings and real hunger. I will honor real hunger but not cravings.

-I used to eat when I was sad/lonely. Therapy and finding other activities that help me feel better or journaling has helped a lot

-I used to eat really fast because of my guilt around eating. Making sure to eat very slowly and putting my fork down between each bite really helped. I also remind myself regularly “nothing is off limits, if you really want to eat this again when you’re hungry you can”

-Im letting go of the all or nothing thinking. This is a lifestyle change, and I need to make room for foods I enjoy as well. If I eat over my calorie limit, I just add it to myfitnesspal and move on instead of bingeing and saying that I will start again tomorrow

-I can be an impulsive person, so making sure I have structure, a schedule, and a plan is important. This helps a lot with restaurants and social eating

-I’m embracing slow change. This took a lot because I’m an impatient person. Slow change = my body is having more time to adapt to the changes and won’t fight back as hard as I lose weight. I continuously ask myself: would I be able to eat like this for the rest of my life? If not, I’m going too hard, too fast

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