Looking for Community in Times of COVID

Hi all,

This is a post to pretty much just say “Hey” and share where I’m at with weight loss.

I’m 25F, 5’3”, CW: 181, GW: 130 I work in management for a food production facility. I’d say it can be half-desk, half-strenuous as far my activity levels at work.

I’ve been in this role for almost a year and I’ve had difficulty making time/staying motivated to workout. My schedule is kind of sporadic and I don’t always know when I’m coming home from work. I generally work 8-12 hour days, 5 days a week.

I like my job but most days I’m exhausted after work and cannot find motivation to workout (sorry, I’m not trying to come across as lazy). I’m trying to change that, but I’m looking for support from a community.

Really the past year: my weight fluctuates between 177-181 lbs. I believe my menstrual cycle plays a role in the strongly.

My strategy: do CICO (around 1500 calories per day), possibly do some intermittent fasting and meal prep. Ideally focus on weight lifting during the week with a bit of cardio. I also Bellydance, and I think continuing with that, will help add something “fun” to my workout routine.

I’ve followed this method in the past and was successful with weight loss (lost around 20 lbs but gained it back) however I don’t know why I’m having such a hard time with it, this go.

I think I overeat a lot and am paying attention to CICO like I should, but sometimes with my job, I am running around and expending so much energy which causes me to snack a lot.

I would call myself overweight but I am curvy. I want to keep my curves but get down to a weight that is healthy for me and build some muscle.

There are days when I love my body and then there are days when I cry looking at myself in the mirror. I’ve been overweight for majority of my life and it’s always dimmed my self-confidence.

My mental health lately hasn’t been the greatest and social distancing hasn’t made it any better. I really want to use this time during the pandemic to focus on weight loss and health but also connect with people that are trying to do the same thing.

I thought joining this subreddit would make me feel less lonely and would hope to seek encouragement but also add some “glimmers” to my life to help me look at positives and gain momentum.

If you stuck around long enough to read, thank you. I really need to focus on my health but really would appreciate any encouragement. Looking forward to becoming part of this community.

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Reframing weight loss as recovery changed the game for me

TW: talk of mental illness, suicide and self harm

I’ve dealt with mental illness for 15 years. Been in hospital 5 times, tried to kill myself 8. I’ve gained over 100lbs in the last four years through a combination of medication and symptoms leading me to consistently overeat and never leave the house. Until two weeks ago I hadn’t left the house in 2020.

But, in the last month I’ve lost nearly 20lbs.

I’ve been at varying degrees of obese since I hit puberty, and have never managed to successfully lose weight and maintain that loss. I’ve been someone who hops onto diet trends, loses water weight but feels deprived and depressed so I go back to old habits. Anything to give me some serotonin.

There’s a couple of changes I managed to make over the last year. I stopped self harming, and I gave up smoking over 8 months ago. And I was able to stick to these changes because I looked at them as part of my recovery. I knew I was helping myself get better by doing these things.

So I started to do the same with food. Just calories in calories out. Paying attention to which foods make me feel good, and which don’t. Working through late-night hunger by asking myself if I was actually hungry or feeling an emotion that I associate with binging. And if I was genuinely hungry, having a snack that was nutritious and not a full blown binge.

I haven’t started an exercise regime yet, as I want to feel confident in my relationship with food before I start throwing in workout videos. However, I am more mobile around the house (cleaning sprees), and trying to go for a walk around my neighbourhood a few times a week.

I guess I just wanted to write this for anyone else who was on a recovery journey. Healing your relationship with food is a kindness, and necessary to your recovery.

TL;DR - reframing my weight loss journey as a recovery one is finally helping me lose weight and stop crash dieting.

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Being vulnerable and seeking help

The mods allowed a woman to search my post history, mock me for daring to post a nude in a gw sub. I said I was uncomfortable, and she did it again and worse. Then lied about my posts' nsfw tag. When I showed her they had them she started swearing and insulting me.

Mods said it was okay, cus somewhere in the bullying, disregard for my feelings, and profanity, she posted an emoji.

Be careful here, folks. This place is supposed to be a safe place for a sensitive subject... I'd only posted two posts before mod-sanctioned bullying chased me away.

https://imgur.com/a/0ribo4t

And the message that shows as deleted within that screenshot:

https://imgur.com/a/M5hLTP

That's the thread. I said I was embarrassed and tried to change the topic back to weight loss... but she kept going.

And at least three separate mods said absolutely nothing was wrong with her behavior.

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What am I doing wrong?

I’ve calculated my TEE and I’m pitching 1000 under this (I review regularly what my TDEE is). I’ve been doing this for 3 months and it’s been going great!

Now all of a sudden I’m gaining weight. I’ve gained 2kg in a little over a week. I’ve checked my TDEE (and not increased food for the 2kg gain) and I’m eating the exact same things I was a fortnight ago when I was steadily losing - right down to eating the exact same meals and going for the exact same runs (and I have also checked my pace and heart rate are still hitting the same numbers). I know it’s only been a week but it’s so disheartening. This hasn’t happened all over the 3 months I’ve been losing - I get some day to day fluctuation but I’ve never had my weight graph start to curve upwards like it is now.

I don’t really understand macros but that’s why I picked the exact meals I have had previously with amounts adjusted for weight loss.

Help :(

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Wednesday, 15 July 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’ve been eating well for the past 3 weeks (1000 under maintenance) and not going hungry in the slightest. Just started running daily as well. Feel great and feel lighter. But I haven’t weighed in 2 months and I’m terrified of checking. What should I do?

I’ve been battling weight loss for the past few years now. Went for 270 to 170 in less than a year, then felt like my work was done and fell back into my bad habits. Got up to 220, but lost 30 lbs by intermittent fasting (and CICO, of course). Then got frustrated by a plateau and have slowly gained all the way back to 220, at which point I stopped weighing and my last logged weight is 220.2 as of 2 months ago. As my title says, for the past 3 weeks I’ve been going hardcore and feel great. I know how to lose weight and I know what I’m doing is working, but I’m terrified of checking on my progress. I have no idea how much I gained in the time between my past weigh-in and when I started up again. I could be over 220 if I gained a lot during that grey period, or I might have maintained during that time somehow and I could be doing fantastic, either way it might motivate me or demotivate me. I remember one time when I started IF and didn’t weigh for months and checked the scale and I lost so much weight and was psyched, but it led to me feeling like I deserved a break... which led to gaining it all back. On the other hand, hitting a plateau can seriously demotivate me, as I imaging seeing all my hard work not actually pay off numbers-wise could do the same.

I know this needs to be a lifestyle change, which has obviously been my failure in the past, so no matter what, I need to keep at it, but I’m just scared of how I might react to actually seeing it.

As I am right now I can live without seeing it, and I can continue going as I feel great and not burning out in the slightest. I’m eating high volume recipes and am not going hungry ever. Do you think it’s important enough to risk checking even though I’m doing well without it?

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Update, People Are Starting To Notice But I Am Becoming Impatient.

My brother and mother have began to compliment me regarding my weight loss, as are random customers. It feels great, but I want to keep going. I guess I can not be called fat anymore. I am still not skinny but I look much better these days. I really want to be down a significant amount of weight by the Fall. No, there is no rush, I just want to do this. Certain clothes fit better, My jawline is more defined and my face looks much thinner. My old work clothes look kind of baggy, and I do feel a lot better about myself., I am working hard to accomplish this goal, and I will not stop. So...I have a question. Will exercise speed up the process? I diet and I exercise, almost everyday. I gave up sweets and soda for the most part, and I will remain devoted to my daily exercise regimen. Ofcourse I burn calories in my sleep, I also run on the treadmill for an hour daily, along with my usual walking and riding my bike about. I plan on upping my game a bit by exercising daily, and eating less. I only cosn ume around 1500 calories, when it would take about 2500 to maintain my weight. Yes I was quite heavy. I hope to see a noticable change real soon. So will exercising make the weight fall off quicker. I can afford to lose the weight, and I can not wait til I am where I want to be.

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