Uplifting thought: Weight loss is not the point of weight loss.

I think sometimes we forget that losing weight is not a goal in itself. The goal is to be the best version of ourselves, mentally and physically. Sometimes I used to get wrapped up in the idea that first I'd lose weight, which would require a lot of suffering, and then some day, that would enable me to be happy and healthy. Thinking like that made losing weight seem like an interminable struggle - who can put off happiness that long? But the truth is, I think weight loss is easier when you *are* happy. You don't have to be thin to have a joyous spirit, and your health gets better every day that you eat well. So, you can have both of those things right now, as you are - and every day you continue on your journey will just bring you more of both. Big hugs.

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Done with “later”. The time is now.

I recently have decided to start my weight loss journey. I am a 5’6 male, 24 years old, and weigh almost 220 pounds. I have been overweight since I was a kid and I’ve always been self conscious about my body. I once lost a lot of weight after riding my bike every day, but gained it all back when I gave in to my habits of eating junk food and being lazy. I am currently at the worst point of my life. I have health issues, I’ve been unemployed for an entire year, I don’t have a place of my own, and I have little direction with what I wanna do with future goals (maybe the Army). I feel like losing weight would be what kickstarts my life back up again, and I’m all for it. Not just talk and cheap words this time. So my questions are: where should I start? How should I start? I don’t take the time to exercise at all and I don’t want to over exert myself or do it wrong and not get any results. And regarding nutrition: what diet should I follow? What are some tips and tricks to keep myself disciplined with not eating garbage/binge eating? I want to change my life for the better and be healthy for once and feel confident in my own skin. Im looking to lose about 50 pounds within this year and gain muscle. Any advice or encouraging words would help. Thank you :)

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Oh no, the dreaded plateau

I (28F) have struggled with my weight since I was about 10 years old. Always the largest person in my friendship groups, classes etc.

By the time I was 24 years old I weighed 132kg (~291 lbs). I made the decision to start making positive changes as weight loss wasn’t going to happen miraculously, I don’t have the metabolism for it. In the space of 6 months, purely through calorie counting and exercising at home, I managed to get down to 95kg (~209 lbs). Which was incredible and I was so proud of myself.

But due to changes in circumstances, moving house, moving city etc. the weight, once again, slowly crept back on as I stopped calorie counting, exercising and caring.

Which brings us to 2020. At the beginning of the year I had enough. I was fed up of feeling unfit, getting out of breath when walking up stairs or hills, hearing my office chair groan when I sat down, my clothes feeling too tight etc. I was once again 131kg (~288 lbs) and miserable.

I started regularly exercising again, between 5-6 times a week, mostly kickboxing and dancing videos on YouTube. I started counting my calories again. I started off at 1,100 calories to get into the habit and slowly increased it to 1,300-1,500 calories per day. The weight started to come off. Weekly I was losing 1.5kg (3 lbs). By week 20 I had lost almost 30kg (~66 lbs) and my old clothes were starting to fit and my confidence was growing.

But everything has now stopped. I’ve hit a wall. I’m exercising as much as before, I’m calorie counting, tracking my macros, drinking at least 4 litres of water per day, sleeping a minimum of 7 hours a night, tracking weight and food intake on MFP. I just can’t get below 100kg.

I thought it may be hormonal but I’ve never had a stalling like this.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

TL;DR - lost almost 30kg (~66 lbs) in 20 weeks now have hit a wall and the scales aren’t changing. Any suggestions are welcome.

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What I Can and Can’t Do

This is a long and potentially boring post. While I felt compelled to write it, I certainly recognize that it may not be interesting to a good number of you. I just wanted to share something important to me in the hope that it would be of value to some. TLDR at the end. 5’10 Male, SW 275, CW 205, GW 180.

Recently I’ve had a number of friends and acquaintances ask me about my weight loss. Today I’d like to explore two variants of a question that I’ve received;

Often I get asked how I’ve been doing it, which is a question I love to answer. Other times I get asked how they should be doing it, which is a question I don’t like. I don’t believe I’m capable of giving meaningful advice on weight loss beyond sharing what works for me. Simply put I don’t see weight loss as a “one size fits all” concept.

“There is no one-size-fits-all narrative; everyone’s path winds in different ways” - McBride

My current process, which evolved and continues to evolve, is relatively simplistic by design. I’ve estimated how many calories my body burns at rest, subtracted a reasonable level attributed to my weight loss goal, and ignore the impact of exercise burn. From this calculation, I have my daily caloric target; which I recalculate on a regular basis to address fluctuations in the input variables. I plan out my consumption in advance and monitor nutrition levels and macro objectives. I weigh myself daily and watch the intermediate trajectory; not day to day fluctuations. Twice a day (wake up and before bed) I do a written happiness self assessment in a journal, areas of concern are considered throughout the day and mitigation concepts are developed and implemented.

Easy to describe; but I can’t imagine suggesting that someone else try this approach. It’s highly personal and customized to how my mind works. It’s disciplined and harsh at times, and I imagine many would consider it a form of torture.

In response to requests for weight loss guidance I suggest that they let two basic principles guide their journey;

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy” - Dalai Lama

As I work through the many challenges in life, a positive mental outlook fostered by happiness is a key success factor.

"It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away" - de Saint-Exupéry

This is a variant or perhaps harbinger of the KISS (keep it simple stupid) philosophy that resonates with me. The more complicated a process, the harder it is for me to be successful performing it.

TLDR: my advice to others seeking weight loss advice is to focus on simplicity and happiness.

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Update: 9 years after losing 100+ pounds

Hey all,

It's been many years since I posted, but I've decided to come back in hopes that I can start to make a positive difference on the world.

Starting weight 325, current weight 200.

https://i.imgur.com/xllIJIw.jpg < Pics

My journey started in February 2011. I had raised my daughter from birth to 6 years old, and she had gone on to live with her mom due to my local school system being terrible. I was alone, overweight, a smoker, and now I was depressed. The year before my mom had lost 100+ pounds through a program called food addicts. Its basically AA for fat people. Eating is an addiction that you can't quit, etc. You get a sponsor, I picked my mom obvs. She was amazing and set me on the right path. In 6 months I dropped to my lowest weight of 175 pounds. I lost a pound a day during that time. Probably not the absolute healthiest way to go, but here we are.

So How did I lose the weight?

Structure meal plans - I weighed and measured everything I ate. I reported it to my sponsor / accountability partner / mom.

Breakfast was 2 eggs, grits, butter. Lunch and dinner was 6 oz chicken, 12 oz veggies. After dinner I would have a piece of fruit. - Thats it. No cheat days, nothing fancy. No counting carbs or protein. Just clean eating. I didn't have any rice, potato, wheat, or corn while losing.

For exercise I did stronglifts for a few years, and just kinda piddled around at the gym. I have a little home gym now. I also rode my bike everywhere, and a lot. I'm sure that helped.

Since then I've been up and I've been down of course. I tried bulking and got up to 230. I'm currently right at 200 and trying to get down to 190. One of my goals is to get down again so I can get all the extra skin off. Fun subject there.... moving on. In the 9 years since I've lost the weight I've consistently not eaten terrible food terribly often. For the first 5 years I had no carby food at all. Now I allow myself cake and cookies as a treat, and the occasional Mexican night. I still bike to work, but I don't bike 20 miles a day after work. I still weigh my food and still talk to my mom about food fairly often. I'm approaching 40 now, and I've hurt my back and healed a few times. I had a bad bike crash and torn a few muscles here and there. I'm definitely using my body for all its worth!

Benefits of the weight loss - I can play with my kids, I can move and run and go! I can still pick up heavy stuff. I feel a bit better. I was pretty happy before the weight loss, I am just happier now. Best perk of all, As soon as I lost all that weight I met my wife. Funny how that works when you start caring about yourself other people care about you too.

Well I hope my story has helped you. I'll be around to answer questions and I'd love your kind feedback. I can't say to everyone to do what I've done, but hey, it worked for me. I wish you all the success in the world.

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65lbs Lost = Insulin Resistance Reversed!

23 5ft SW: 175 CW: 109.8 GW: 100

So happy because I haven’t been this small in 8 years😊 Also met my quarantine weight loss goal, wanted to be 110 by mid-July or by the time my state fully reopened.

I started this journey to look and feel better but improving my health was also in the back of my mind. 5 years ago, I was diagnosed with insulin resistance and PCOS at 140lbs. I was advised to lose weight and the doctor (an endocrinologist) offered metformin and birth control to control these conditions because it would be “hard” to lose weight without medication. Personally, I felt that the doctor was a bit pushy about the medications and negative about the prospect of losing weight without going on any medications. But I decided to skip the medication because I didn’t feel it was necessary and told the doctor I would just lose weight on my own.

Well I left for college a few months after that appointment and the college lifestyle (combined with me just not caring about my weight) led to me putting on 35lbs by the middle of my senior year. At my highest weight, I was likely pre-diabetic. Being alone on campus for a winter class led me to eat out of boredom and I put on a few pounds. I had also been buying whatever I wanted and it was a bunch of junk food like ice cream and cheesecake.

Seeing myself in the mirror, I hated how fat I’d become and I knew I did not want to keep getting any bigger.

For the first time in my life, I made a serious effort to lose weight and I’m glad I did it on my own (through college, a semester of grad school and quarantine) because it showed me that even with insulin resistance and PCOS, the weight can still come off by cooking healthier foods at home, counting calories, working out and having discipline (you won’t always feel motivated). Anything is possible when you put your mind to it.

At first, my goal was to just “lose weight” because I’d never done it before. But as I started making lifestyle changes and saw the weight coming off, I started to believe I could do it. I still have PCOS and I ended up getting a hormonal IUD 3.5yrs ago to get rid of my heavy, irregular periods after I had one that that lasted for 2 months. Truly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

However, I’m 99% sure I no longer have insulin resistance since I’m 30lbs under my diagnosis weight and my Acanthosis nigricans aka. “dark neck” cleared up somewhere between 140-150lbs, approximately 6 or 7 months into my lifestyle change. All it took was making true lifestyle changes vs trying to “diet”. Though I can’t go to an endocrinologist to take an official test right now with covid going on.

Maybe it’s because I’m 5ft on top of my family history, but it doesn’t take much extra weight for me to develop insulin resistance so even though I was diagnosed at 140lbs, it is entirely possible that developed it at a smaller weight.

I share all this because I see a lot of women use PCOS as a reason they “can’t” lose weight. While it can definitely make it harder to lose weight, hard ≠ impossible. Anyone will lose weight if they are in a caloric deficit.

I’ve also heard of a lot of doctors being a bit eager to prescribe metformin to help with insulin resistance. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking it but please don’t feel like metformin is necessary for weight loss if you are insulin resistant. I know someone who has been on metformin for years for their pre-diabetes. He has only kept gaining weight because he doesn’t want to commit to a lifestyle change. Metformin can absolutely help you lose weight but *only\* if you put in the work.

https://imgur.com/a/b3VFlKc

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NSV: beating the ASOS prediction

Hi, I lurk here a lot for inspo but finally felt I had something of my own to do a little brag about! I was ordering a very comfy jumpsuit from ASOS who offer a size “prediction”. I put in my height and weight and they predicted a 16, which was my size when I was at my biggest. I’ve lost 11kg (22lbs) since then I figured a 14 should be okay. It arrived and it turns out the 12 is my best fit!! Absolutely over the moon! My weight loss journey so far has been hella slow: 11kg in 14 months but I’m getting so fit and strong. My lifestyle has changed to intuitive eating, trying to be aware of my hunger cues and what I’m actually craving. I’ve also switched from a strength focus (back when gyms were open and life was more normal) to a cardio focus where I’m running every other day and doing cardio classes from YouTube on other days. Also yoga every damn day I remember! Really appreciate this community even though I’ve been quiet up until now.

TLDR: I’m a dense lady cause ASOS had me two sizes out!

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