I want to say that this sub LITERALLY has saved my life, and I hope if someone else in my situation randomly comes across this post they listen to it.
Long story short, I was living with out of control obesity from basically age 16 until this year at age 34. Throughout this time, I had seen three medical doctors and a dietician. I had tried the fad diets like "keto", where I was told I could eat whatever I wanted as long as it was a keto food. I had already been jogging one mile a day and walking 30 minutes a day for over a year. I tried various other exercise programs over the years. I tried weight lifting. I tried "not eating before bed". NONE OF THIS WORKED. So, over the span of almost 20 years, I NEVER found anything that worked.
I developed high blood pressure in my early 20s. I am now 34. Early this year, I went in to see the doctor due to a pain in my upper right abdomen that had started off as a random pain but over months became a constant 24/7 pain. Blood work was done and I was pre-diabetic, bad cholesterol/triglycerides readings, and bad creatine indicating a potential coming kidney problem... but worst of all was my ALT reading was out of range. My doctor sent me to an ultrasound where it was discovered I had NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease).
My doctor told me that I was looking at coming liver failure as the next step, which would then lead to death without a liver transplant (which I wasn't going to get.) My doctor gave me her official "advice" on how to lose weight - "eat more fruits and veggies. And stop smoking." (I don't smoke nor have I ever smoked in my life, but for some reason, she thinks I do.) Literally, this was the written plan she gave me and instructions on how to lose weight. From a medical doctor.
Let me say this again - I was looking at LIVER FAILURE AND DEATH AT AGE 34.
I went home in a panic and got on Google. I knew I had to find SOME way to lose weight or I was as good as dead. Somehow, one of my Google searches ended up on this sub where I read about CICO for the FIRST TIME in my life. I had NEVER heard of CICO before. (It was pure LUCK that I randomly came across this sub.)
I decided to give it a try as I was desperate and had tried everything else. I went on a maintenance/TDEE calculator website, calculated my TDEE, and calculated the calorie range I needed to stay in every day to lose weight. (YOU MUST DO THIS. YOU MUST GO ON THESE WEBSITES AND CALCULATE YOUR PARTICULAR CALORIE RANGE TO EAT AT.) Once I started tracking calories, I figured out that I had been eating drastically more calories than I was supposed to my whole life. You will be amazed how many calories are in things compared to how many you SHOULD be eating.
I have an Omada weight loss tracking scale. I weight myself everyday. As I did CICO, I saw consistent measurable weight loss week to week. I noticed over time that my 24/7 liver pain had slowly become pain that only lasted a few hours a day. When my liver didn't hurt, it only hurt when I bent over. Then eventually it stopped hurting when I bent over. Then the few hours a day of pain became a few minutes a day of pain. Then the few minutes of pain a day became pain only a few minutes every other day. Then it became almost no pain ever.
Here I am now. I am only 20 pounds away from not being obese on the BMI anymore. I saw my liver doctor a few days ago. My pre-diabetes is gone, my cholesterol and triglycerides are normal, and my liver enzymes are only SLIGHTLY out of range. I still have high blood pressure, but it is much more in control. I am no longer at risk of liver failure and death. At my current rate of weight loss, I expect I will no longer be obese on the BMI scale within the next two months for the first time in almost 20 years.
I say all this for anyone else who comes across this post - IT ALL COMES DOWN TO YOUR CALORIE INTAKE. YOU MUST CALCULATE YOUR CALORIES AND EAT UNDER YOUR MAINTENANCE LEVEL EVERY DAY. NOTHING ELSE WILL MAKE YOU LOSE WEIGHT. You can jog 10 miles a day, but if you are eating more calories than your body is using, you will not lose weight. It doesn't matter how much exercise you do or WHAT you eat. If you were eating nothing but fruits and veggies, if you are eating more calories of those than your body is using, you will STILL not lose weight. You can go and spend money on a weight loss program or weight loss food or a gym membership. It doesn't matter -it WILL NOT WORK unless you eat under your calorie level.
Hell, I would even say don't spend money on doctors and dieticians. I saw three medical doctors and a dietician. NOT ONE OF THEM EVER said the word "calorie". They sure as hell didn't say anything about "maintenance calories" or "TDEE" or "eat X calories a day". The medical doctors gave me advice like literally "eat more fruits and veggies" "don't eat fat" "don't eat fast food". The dietician made unrealistic meal plans and showed me pictures of "what a good meal should look like". (She also charged $400 every time I saw her - trash insurance)
Everything else you have heard about how to lose weight is either well-intended misinformation at best or an outright LIE at worst. Tons of "weight loss" has been turned into products that don't work trying to take your money. The best part about this? You don't need to spend money to lose weight. Actually, you will save a lot of money because you won't be buying as much food. Don't wait and don't doubt this - DO IT before it is too late. If I had not found this sub, I would likely be dead within the next 2-3 years at the path I was on.
I am including a picture of my weight loss progress before (when I was trying the last thing I had tried - keto) and then when I started CICO. As you can see, it is a drastic difference.
https://imgur.com/a/tL1HfJs
I hope this post will help others who were in my situation.
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