So back in January, I started up with My Fitness Pal for the first time in a long time. At 188lbs, I was nearly ten pounds over my previous highest. Then 2020 started 2020ing and I abandoned that in favour of my mental health.
Fast forward to early November; 14lbs heavier but in a much better place mentally, I decided to get back at it. I've since lost eight pounds, from 202lbs to 194lbs. Woo hoo! The first time I've successfully lost any weight in many years! I decided to plug my new number into the app, looking forward to the little celebration you get when pounds are lost.
But I got....crickets? I double checked to make sure the change was input properly and sure enough, it shows my highest weight, 202lbs, my current weight, 194lb, my starting weight, 188lb, and my goal weight, 160lb. But it says zero pounds lost. Wtf, Fitness Pal?!
I guess if you gain weight after starting the app, you don't get to celebrate losing it again? I feel like MFP just did side eyes and went, 'We'll just pretend that little gain didn't happen.'
I'm still proud of me and my husband is encouraging too, so it's not really THAT big of a deal. But it still seems silly. Eight pounds is eight pounds and when you consider how difficult weight loss can be, you'd think they'd design an app that's meant to help with loss to acknowledge a loss no matter what.
Baking and sharing cookies are popular holiday traditions because they come with that genuine homemade feeling. Plus, there are so many tempting cookie varieties that nearly everyone has a few favorites that they love. Now here’s good news for you: you can enjoy making and eating healthy holiday treats and stay on track to your weight loss goal! We’ve given these easy holiday cookie recipes a healthy makeover so you can join in the fun. They’re all so sweet and delicious that you’ll be proud to give them as gifts—and only you will know they are made with better-for-you ingredients. Best of all, they’re quick and easy to make, even if you have no baking experience.
10 Ways to Prepare for a Healthy and Happy Holiday Season
Peanut butter, cocoa powder and coconut are the flavorful stars of these soft bites. You can whip up a batch in just 10 minutes, so you can eat them fresh whenever you have a craving for a treat.
The nutty crunch of pecans and the naturally sweet taste of cinnamon come together in these simple-to-make crispy cookies. You’ll get a little burst of protein from the nuts and the metabolism-boosting power of cinnamon, while everyone else raves about the delightful flavor.
With bananas, the handy vanilla Nutrisystem Protein and Probiotic Shake and a bit of peppermint extract, you can make soft, frosted cookies with that cool holiday taste. Add some festive sprinkles and let the party begin!
Stay Off the Naughty List with 9 Festive Treats Perfect for Holiday Gatherings
If you love the aroma of warm spices in your home and the seasonal tastes of pumpkin and maple syrup, make a batch of these simple but flavorful cookies. They’re very low in calories and high in satisfaction.
The air fryer isn’t just for making delicious, low-calorie meals—it’s a handy tool for baking tasty cookies like these in under 10 minutes! And that’s especially good news, because you won’t want to wait to get a bite of these peanut butter treats.
The richness of chocolate and the cool sensation of mint give these cookies the perfect balance of sensational flavors. Even better, you’ll be amazed that they have less than 50 calories each.
Christmas Workout Challenge: 12 Days of Holiday Workouts
Jelly-filled thumbprints are a staple of many family cookie traditions and you don’t have to pass on them when you’re trying to lose excess weight. These are made with four simple, healthy ingredients but don’t compromise on taste. Holiday cookie recipes don’t have to be complicated!
Oatmeal cookies are a classic treat to enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea or non-fat milk. These come out of the oven warm and moist every time because they’re made with applesauce, yogurt and naturally sweet strawberries.
Avoiding gluten as well as excess fat and sugar doesn’t mean you can’t join in on holiday cookie recipes. Our recipe developers took the classic sugar cookie and made it low in calories and satisfyingly sweet, as well as gluten free.
5 Holiday Hiccups That Can (Seriously!) Hinder Your Weight Loss
Each bite of these moist and chewy treats will light up your taste buds with the flavors of real chocolate and tart cherries. They’re so good, your family is sure to clamor for them all year long.
Ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg spice these cookies with the flavors of the season. Plus, they’re made with molasses, so they’re perfectly sweet but not loaded with excess sugar.
On Nutrisystem, Count As: 1 SmartCarb and 2 Extras
Mashed sweet potato makes these cookies lightly sweet and nicely tender, while real cranberries provide the tart contrast in every bite. It takes just five simple steps to bake a batch, so you don’t have to spend hours preparing them when you’re craving cookies that taste like the holidays.
If you love holiday cookie recipes that are both a bit salty and lightly sweet, these glazed cookies will hit the spot. They’re made with crunchy nuts, real maple syrup, the tang of apples and a hint of cinnamon, so you get a medley of seasonal flavors in each one.
Yes, you can have cookies for breakfast—or just about any time you need to fuel up—with these hearty treats. They’re made with real oats, so you get a bit of fiber, plus nut butter and pumpkin seeds for a quick shot of protein to power up your day.
On Nutrisystem, Count As: 1 PowerFuel and 2 Extras
Peanut butter and chocolate chips give you two great tastes in one deliciously healthy cookie. Make them in the air fryer and you keep the mess to a minimum and the goodness to the maximum.
If you thought you’d never be able to enjoy these classic frosted treats and stay on track with your weight loss plan, we’ve got happy news for you. With this version, you can make a batch whenever you want and enjoy three of them in each serving.
I've been weighing myself everyday since August 1st. This is what finally gave my weight loss journey the Kickstart it needed, I had been stagnant at 230ish pounds, my highest weight, for roughly a year and a half at this point and it seemed like a good time as any to start.
One of the things that weighing myself everyday has allowed me to do is, stop worrying about day to day fluctuations (strange as that may seem). Once you're able to look at the data from a wider perspective you see how
For those curious the slope of the line equates to about 2.3lbs per week. To make consistent progress I've been staying to roughly 1750 calories a day and cycling as much as I can, it's fun to see performance increases as the pounds come off!
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.
I specifically sought out a sub as a support group for people who want to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable manner.
Brief blah-blahs about me: I am 31, from a Southeast Asian country, working from home, living with my family and I am classified as Obese II on the BMI scale. I am currently 89 kg and I am only 5 feet tall.
And... I haven't looked at myself in the mirror properly since March 2020. I avoid mirrors around the house at all costs because I feel so disgusted with myself.
I can say that 5 years ago I was in great shape. I worked out regularly, I ate properly, I maintained my weight between 53kg to 55kg and I have decided that that is my most comfortable weight ever. I don't want to go lower than that even if the computation for BMI says my ideal weight is 48 kg. Nope. That is too light for me. I love my boobs. I love my butt.
Anyway, I entered graduate school in the capital (I live in a province), got into a toxic relationship, let go of myself to the point that I had to drink every night just to fall asleep. I stopped exercising. I stopped doing things for myself. I stopped taking care of myself. In short, the state of my body right now is a consequence of all the decisions I made.
Five years later, I am here, writing this, as an acknowledgment to myself that I need to do something before I reach 100kg. I have to put a stop to this. I have to do something.
Post-breakup, throughout those five years--- I was exercising inconsistently, I wasn't drinking anymore but I am not eating healthfully either. I am taking meds for my bipolar disorder, taking meds for my thyroid disorder. My thyroid activity is greatly reduced and virtually gone because I was diagnosed with Grave's disease in my early 20s and had a radioactive iodine treatment which I regret to this day (I should have gotten a second opinion). Anyway, the lockdown started, the pandemic started and from March to April to May, I barely got out of bed, I turned to food for comfort and justified it as something I deserve. I eat even when I am not hungry. I have this compulsion to eat left-overs in our refrigerator because I hate food going to waste. I ate and ate and ate but my physical activity remained the same- almost zero. It took me a while to realize that it's getting out of control. I made all sorts of plan---I am a registered nutritionist-dietitian by profession so I am supposed to know stuff right?---- diet plans, recipes I can follow, workout plans but I got so overwhelmed with all of it I ended up not doing anything.
It doesn't help that I have a go-big or go-home mentality.
I guess I am clinging to the fact that back then, I can work out for at most 3 hours a day when I don't have much to do. I just can't accept the fact that it was totally normal to exercise 10 minutes a day and gradually increase it as your body gets accustomed to it, again. Pride maybe? Now I can't even walk for 2 minutes without struggling for breath. It is a huge slap on my face.
I have low self-esteem. I don't socialize like I used to. When I am on a video call with friends, I shut the camera off because I don't want them to see me in this state. I turned down a good job offer because I will be working in a place close to where my ex frequents and I don't want him to see me in this state and give him the satisfaction that he "won" the breakup. I make excuses to not meet friends (pre-COVID) and I don't like taking pictures at all, I hate it but when I am socially obliged to, I stay at the back. I built myself a wall that no one can penetrate. I made it clear to my family I won't tolerate any comments about my weight. It took me some time to step on the weighing scale and see the damage I brought upon myself.
I am spiraling and spiraling further and I am fighting so hard to crawl out of it. It is affecting my work because I feel so lethargic, I'd rather be in bed. Good thing I fixed my sleeping pattern.
Tbh I feel like every 2 weeks I am starting all over again and then I trip and undo all my progress.
Today I hired a personal trainer (online consultations) to give me a workout plan. I need structure.
Today I am writing this post as an acknowledgment that I have a problem that only I can solve. I am starting my weight loss journey aiming to lose 35kg in at least 1 year. This time I will love myself and be mindful of what I put inside my body. And who knows, maybe in a year, I will be able to look at myself in the mirror without feeling ashamed, outraged, embarrassed, and sad.
I may not be the same person I was 6 years ago but I am determined to prove to myself that a person can peak a number of times during their lifetime. And I am looking forward to having this sub as a support group to reach my goals.
I kept wondering and wanted to ask, did anyone succeed in weight loss or weight maintenance without counting calories. If so, what are some tips you can offer.
Why am I asking this? Well, calorie counting became obsessive to a point where my therapist said, that there are early signs of disordered eating tendencies, specifically binge eating disorder. In the past, I've dealt a lot of binging, although managed to progress to a healthier place. Nowadays, it's getting back at me again. What I've noticed during writing out my thoughts that calorie counting and weighting the food out starts triggering anxiety which is always followed with binge eating. Then the spirals starts to go down hill...
Asking for some tips in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle. My priority is to eat healthy for the rest of my life without weighting the food or counting calories. I want it to be a sustainable thing and counting calories seems to cause me mental problems. Thanks in advance all!
For context, I lost 11.3kg (from 100kg to 88.7 as of today), but when I look at the mirror I don't see such a big difference. Sure, my clothes become looser and sure, I feel lighter, but I haven't changed as drastically as I expected even after losing more than 10kg - which is A LOT.
And I think I just realized why.
For me - who was 100kg, to lose 10kg, is different than someone who's - say, 60kg to lose the same amount. I lost 1/10 of my body mass, but they lost 1/6 of theirs - which is, quick math, a much larger amount than 1/10. It's incomparable. Depends on each person's total weight, height, fat distribution, natural body shape, the same amount of weight looks different. Heck, even when you compare 2 people with the exact same weight they don't necessarily look identical, do they?
The reason why I'm posting this, is because recently I've seen a lot of people - not only in this sub but also other weight loss related subs - saying they don't see progress even after tackling a huge weight loss milestone like losing 30-40lbs.
I just want to say, please be patient and keep going, I know this journey is stressful and tiring as hell. I too am very impatient when it comes to seeing results especially as I constantly see people posting progress pics and they look so different before and after - in the best way possible - even when they lost less weight than I did. But hey, this is a long term journey, if my result doesn't show at 10kg loss, then maybe after just another 1 or 2kg, it will. After all I set out to lose 30-40kg, this battle is not even near to being over.
I will be patient and stick to what I'm doing. You should too :)
