This year has sucked for everyone, but for me it's helped to focus on my health and weight loss goals.
I posted last year that 2019 would be different, and oh boy it was! I'm down over 200 pounds, and at a point where I'm content with myself and everything I've accomplished. I'm in a place now where I'm more comfortable with myself than at any other point in my life. Simple things like taking pictures and buying clothes were always a source of fear and anxiety. I'm happy to say that fear and anxiety is gone!
My outlook on life is very different. I have so much energy now. I spend my free time working outside in the yard and on projects inside that I've put off for a long time.
This marks fifteen months post-VSG (gastric sleeve). I'm still at 1,000 - 1,200 calories a day. I exercise 3-4 times a week working in the yard, and get out on Saturdays for a 5 mile walk/run. I've added a cheat meal on Saturday which is something nice to look forward to. I've been experimenting with twenty-hour fasts and OMAD, and I think that's been helpful for me. Getting enough protein is a challenge sometimes, but I track everything to make sure I reach my daily goals.
If you're struggling, or just getting started, try to take things one day at a time. Don't look at the mountain that's in front of you, but focus on the individuals steps that get you where you want to be. If I can do it, then you can too!
I properly started my weight loss journey when quarantine started in March. I never had too much weight to lose (counting my blessings), about 15 pounds. I'm 21F, 5'3, 144 HW, 137 SW, 120 GW. Don't know where I stand currently as I don't want to see the scale, but it was 130 a month ago.
I was aiming for about 124 lbs, but I hit 120 lbs over summer by eating 1500 for several months. I was pretty active, but as a short female, I didn't think my calories were too low, I thought I just have to endure the hunger, that it was part of it. I should have seen losing my period as a warning sign. My energy was depleted and I was plagued by thoughts of food 24/7.
The binges became more frequent and worse as time went on. In the month of October, I gave up on counting calories because it was stressing me out, and did the Whole 30 for a month to reset my relationship with food. Not having to count calories was liberating, but I still binged nonetheless - on W30 compliant foods (which is a feat in itself considering W30 bans all sugar, sweeteners, grains, dairy, alcohol, junk foods substitutions etc. Didn't think I could casually put down a pound of nuts but here we are).
At this point, I just don't know how to proceed. I have visibly gained weight. Yess, I work out and a portion of that is muscle, but I have gained a lot of fat as well. I can feel my life becoming more dysfunctional. I don't know how to dig myself out of this hole. I feel like it's become a habit. I binge out of habit. Even if I'm not hungry, I don't even feel the cravings for the sugar anymore. When I think I could stop a binge in its tracks because I don't actually even want the food, I just go for more food anyway.
I guess what I'm looking for with this post is your stories - if you did manage to deal with your binging, I'd love to hear how. If you're struggling, you can share that here as well. I always found it comforting to know I was not alone.
Thanks for reading and all the best on your journey.
I'm maintaining my big weight loss, I went from 270 to 135 at 5'10 male. I pushed myself really hard to lose weight quickly and I cut calories drastically, which I slightly regret now.
I eat one meal a day to maintain, currently 1700 calories. I also exercise a lot.
I spend my whole day thinking about and planning this one meal. I'll prepare things way in advance, I'll even spend ages laying it out to make it look nice. I think I do this because I'm scared to actually eat it 😂
Even after eating this massive meal I'm still hungry sometimes and I don't understand why. I'm eating enough. It's frustrating. Sometimes I think I'm just destined to be fat, I'm a massive glutton and my body is always going to want more food than it needs. But then I realise how ridiculous that is and cut calories for even thinking that lol.
Restricting is much easier than maintaining for me, I like the high of losing weight and pushing myself, but now I've reached my lowest possible goal weight and I have no where to go and it's difficult.
I'm trying to re train my body to not feel hunger so much and just be normal and nothing seems to work. Any suggestions?
I (33F) have trouble with compulsive / borderline binge eating. I’d like to make myself a daily reward chart to help me develop healthier habits, but I’m struggling to put my rewards into positive language, can you help?
I deliberately want the chart to include some easy habits so that so that I am almost guaranteed at least a handful of stars each day. Then I’d like the rewards to graduall my increase towards my goals.
I follow a weight loss program which I know works for me if I stick to it (I don’t know if its against the sub rules to discuss it). I have previously lost 2 stone this way. I have also been seeing a therapist for 2 years, but that’s it’s own story.
The program splits all food into 5 categories, using these terms:
trigger food = cake, chocolate and biscuits. My intermediate goal is to not eat any of these foods. My longer term goal is to be able to eat a small amount of these foods without triggering a binge. But for the purpose of the reward chart, the aim is zero.
synned food = food with low nutritional value. The program allows a small amount of these foods to be eaten in order to make it easier to stick to the plan and not feel deprived. These foods must be weighed and measured. My goal is to eat a maximum of 200 calories of these foods a day. Usually, if I can’t eat one of my trigger foods, I have zero interest in this category, except for maybe a tbsp of flour to thicken a sauce.
healthy extras = cheese and wholemeal cereals (including bread). My goal is to eat a maximum of one portion of each a day, such as sugar-free cereal for breakfast and one portion of cheese in either lunch or dinner.
free food = very low fat, low simple sugar foods like lean protein, rice, potatoes, fat free yoghurt, beans, pulses, all fruit and veggies that aren’t classified as speed food (see below). The program allows for the unlimited consumption of these foods (as long as you are hungry). My goal is to have all of my meals made up of these foods.
speed food = certain high satiety, low calorie food, like leafy salad vegetables and blueberries. My goal is to have a third of every meal made up of these foods.
So far I’d like my chart to include:
I haven’t eaten any trigger foods before breakfast today. I haven’t eaten anything in secret today. I haven’t been to the shop just to buy trigger food. I haven’t eaten any trigger foods today. I haven’t skipped a meal because I was full of trigger food today. I weighed and measured all my synned food food. I haven’t eaten more than 500 calories of synned food today. I haven’t eaten more than 200 calories of synned food today. I weighed or measured my cheese today. I have had one portion or less of cheese today. I weighed or measured my cereals today. I have had one portion or less of cereals today. One of my meals was entirely free food today. Two of my meals were entirely free food today. All of my meals were entirely free food today. One of my meals included a third speed foods today. Two of my meals included a third speed foods today.
Tl;dr - please can you help me rephrase the goals in the last paragraph into positive language, i.e. “I have” rather than “I haven’t”?
So this year has been rough for me, as i’m sure it has been for everyone else. November 2019 I wasn’t living at home (was away for school) and picked up a realllly bad drinking problem and that went on for about 9 months. I was moving back home from school in April and my parents had told me that they sold the house & were moving to a different city. We are currently living at my grandpas house which is horrible because everyone is stuck to their room bc he’s kind of grumpy and morbid to be around. Between the virus and the move, i completely spiralled. I’ve had depression for as long as i can remember but it’s never been this bad. In the past I would be in a depression for a few days to a week and then be okay for a bit but this has been going on for months.
Last year I was eating super clean and lost quite a bit of weight and i felt amazing. That quickly changed when what I mentioned above started happening. i’ve gained about 50-60 pounds after my alcohol and take out food binge and i feel like i’m at a dead end. Most days I can’t get out of bed... but when I do I just move over to my desk because like i said before, we’re all stuck in our rooms. I’m pretty sure most of my depression is coming from my weight gain as i’ve never been this heavy (250lbs) and it’s quite disheartening.
Hi, if you don’t want to read the original post, the basic premise is that I was nearly 600 lbs, and I lost over 350 of that and now my phone doesn’t recognize me as the same person.
First of all, I want to thank everyone for their kind words and love. I wasn’t really sure about posting on here, but it’s proven to be a great idea.
Some background (while retaining enough privacy), my name is Sam. I’m a 25 year old dude living in America. A few traumatic events and stressful times led me to self medicating with food at just 12 years old. I quickly climbed the obesity ranks, clocking in at a massive 300 lbs at just 15.
I was bullied, a lot. Left out of events with friends because my size would be a hinderance, I never did anything with anyone. I became very lonely and even worse with the binge eating.
Soon enough, at 22, I was 600 lbs. Depressed, alone, suicidal. I bought the iPhone X and setting up the face recognition on that phone was the wake up call I needed. All I could see was fat. Just a mound of fat. I have no idea how it even tracked my face if I’m honest.
Okay, now how I did it.
I started small. I started by cooking my own food. Was it healthy? Fuck no. It was all the cookies and pies and friend chicken you could imagine. But it got me off of fast food. No longer could I rely on someone else to make my food. If I wanted to make it, I had to get my ass off the couch and go make it. It led to me eating a lot less.
When I hit my first plateau it was around 500 lbs, which is when I started intermittent fasting. My window was from 12-8. It cut out nighttime snacks which was a big source of calories in my overall diet.
When I reached 425 I hit another plateau. I bought a punching bag, set it up, and beat the shit out of it for exercise. It was whatever I needed it to be. The shitty friends who bullied me and left me out. The food that caused me to get to that weight. Whatever I was pissed off at, I would imagine it in the place of the bag and destroy it. I highly recommend this, because it’s a workout but it also really improves your mental health.
Once I got down to 350 I started using a treadmill for cardio, and that’s when the pounds melted off. I went from 350 to 250 in just a matter of less than 8 months. And that’s how I got to where I am now!
Also, some advice and tips.
If you’re just starting, if you’ve fallen off the wagon, today is the day. The diet doesn’t start tomorrow. The diet doesn’t start on January first. It doesn’t start next week, or next month, or next hour. It starts now. There is no “last hurrah” because you’re already on the diet. If you delay the start once, it becomes easier to do a second time. And a third time. And suddenly a month has passed, you’re 5 pounds up from then, and you feel even worse.
One other thing I did to help me lose weight was watch some of these youtubers:
LukeNarwhal - Luke reads stories from this sub, from his own sub r/lose it narwhals and from his website. His voice is very relaxing and his content is very good for background noise while you do something else.
Will Tennyson - Will is full of great advice but packaging it into easily digestible entertaining content. He does food challenges, workout challenges, and many other things. I would steer clear if you’re not a fan of sex jokes though, because this dude is full of them.
Jordan Shrinks - She went from 303 lbs to about 170 so it’s safe to say that this girl knows what she’s doing. She has very good info on food, on diets, on workouts, on everything. She doesn’t upload very often, but when she does you can be sure it’ll be good.
Erik The Electric - He’s known for doing absolutely absurd food challenges in which he routinely eats 20K+ calories in one sitting. I like watching these because they remind me of how I used to be and why I don’t want to go back there.
FrumpyFit - She is a registered weight loss dietician (if that’s the right name?) and she basically breaks down all the bullshit in the diet industry. She shows all the fake things, all things that won’t work, that are scams, etc.
(Edited in) Dellen Garcia - not really someone I watch but his weight loss journey got me through some of the tough times. It’s very inspiring!
Alright, hope that was able to provide background/context and help to those who needed or wanted it :)
Yoga’s health benefits seem endless, making it a great low-impact exercise to keep you healthy and lean. Not only does practicing yoga help you drop pounds and build muscle, it can also reduce pain, boost mood, lower blood pressure and encourage sleep.
What makes yoga so effective and simple is the fact that it’s a low-impact exercise, manageable for people of all ages and body types—those with different ailments, aches and pains, as well as varying levels of stress or motivation.
Anyone can perform basic yoga poses, even if it requires making minor adjustments. If you are just starting out, don’t push yourself too hard to go deep into your stretches to start. You can work your way there. Yoga should be soothing and nurturing to your body. It definitely shouldn’t hurt.
On the Nutrisystem program, we recommend 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Consider adapting a yoga practice to shed some pounds, take care of your body and create some peace in your life. We know once you give it a try, you will become a believer just like us! There are so many options when it comes to yoga for beginners. It’s as simple as breaking out the yoga mat and running through these yoga videos on The Leaf. Every move has step-by-step instructions on how to execute the low-impact exercise.
Here are seven yoga moves you should try for your low-impact exercise routine:
For the ultimate hip stretch in a soothing and peaceful move, look no further than the Butterfly Pose. This is a great pose for deep stretching in the hips, thighs, groin and knees. Sink into this simple stretch with feet pressed together and knees pointing out to the sides, creating butterfly wings with your legs. Make it a go-to pose for hitting those areas of your hips that are often overlooked, nurturing fatigued muscles, relieving stress and even potentially reducing pain associated with PMS and menopause! Try it here >
Snake into this low-impact exercise to strengthen the shoulders, abdominals and glutes. It can even open and stretch the chest and back. Cobra Pose may help sufferers of asthma and sciatica, provide comfort for overworked and stressed muscles and improve flexibility. Breathe through the elongating and soothing stretch, with care not to overextend your back, which can lead to injury. Try it here >
This is a classic pose that even non-yogis know and love. It’s a great standby to slip into for a quick midday stretch at the office, an unwinding routine after a long day or post-workout relief. Targeting the back, shoulders, arms, hamstrings and calves, this simple and blissful pose is a finger to toe stretch that has the power to help relax your entire body, calm anxiety, increase energy, soothe digestions, improve your mood and more! Try it here >
The cat and cow pose combination is a fabulous stretch to soothe and strengthen the chest, back and neck, while helping to reduce stress and aid in the flow of the digestive system. Performing these poses together is also associated with improved posture over time and lengthening of the spine. Once you get your groove of smoothly transitioning from one pose to the next, you’ll slip into back, neck and chest soothing heaven. Try it here >
Spending all day in the car… or at a desk? You need a low-impact exercise that will undo this burden on your body. Add Chair Pose to the routine. This yoga for beginners move will reactivate those leg muscles without any rapid movements or heavy weights. Just squat and rise to your toes. You’ll better your balance over time, so don’t feel silly if it takes awhile to ace the pose. Try it here >
Welcome a low-impact exercise that actually has an impact, because this pose might have you feeling a bit like a warrior. Warrior II is a fantastic way to ignite and stretch all of the muscles in your body. Legs to arms, you’ll definitely feel it. Extend one leg back and bend the other forward, as if performing a lunge. Just remember to keep your knee at a right angle to the floor to avoid straining your joints. Stretch out your arms, and keep your gaze forward. Try it here >
Want to tone your tummy? Modified Side Plank it is! Yoga for beginners is turned on its side with a low-impact exercise that targets your belly regions. As the name implies, Modified Side Plank is a pose that requires raising off of the floor and balancing on one side. Our quick video demonstrates it all in less than a minute, but you’ll feel yourself hitting muscles you’ve forgotten you even have. Even if you do crunches all day (a massive strain on your neck by the way), you’re not getting that laser focus on your sides. If you’re targeting a whole muffin top region, you’ll want to get it all! Try it here >
*Always consult a doctor before beginning any exercise routine.
