Needing encouragement on this next step!

F/26/5’8 I lost 40 lbs in the last year. I am now at healthy weight and am working towards seeing slight ab definition. I wanted to get down to 140-145, but for several months my weight loss has slowed down a ton. My last weigh in was 153.

I decided to switch gears and am planning on doing a lean bulk. Starting in January, I plan on focusing on building muscle through lifting weights. In May, I will do a cut for one to two months to lose the last bit of fat.

Has anyone here done this? I feel like this is best at this time- it definitely feels like the next best step, but it’s also scary doing something you’ve never done!! I would love to hear from others who have done this. thanks for always being a source of support and inspiration!

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Accountability

So I've begun my weight loss journey in earnest this week. At this point I'm the heaviest I've ever been, I have to make changes for my health and for my kids. I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of being overweight. Currently, I'm trying to focus more on getting into a routine than CICO or IF or any of that, as that's usually where I fail. I found an exercise routine that I don't hate, and am trying to do it 5 times a week. Keeping it simple to start.

My issue is I need accountability. Previous attempts were thwarted by the "it's okay if I dont do it today, tomorrow is fine" mentality. And while I know you shouldn't beat yourself up if you miss a day or two, I tend to just never get back into it. I don't have anyone who can really help me hold myself accountable. My roommate was my previous accountabili-buddy... but she wasn't ready to commit and kind of took me down with her lol.

I need help keeping myself accountable. People who dont have anyone around to help, how do you keep yourselves accountable? Do you journal? Alarms? Self bribery? Online accountabili-buddies?

I want to do this for myself. I want to stick with it.

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What kind of sports do you do to keep motivated?

I haven't done any sports for years and some stuff (involving jumping or lifting weights) are off limits for me, since I have a not weight related back issue. So far in the weight loss proess, I've gone on longer walks, started trying out yoga at home and am interested in calisthenics. Sometimes I just danced around the apartment. Unfortunately, I'm not as strict with it as I would wish to be and am quite self-conscious (e.g. I didn't mind dancing in the club in front of others when I was still at a normal weight, whereas now being overweight I have to take care to not catch my reflection in the mirror or window even when dancing on my own). I wasn't always overweight but never had some kind of sport that I really loved and pursued regularily. Others with maybe a similar background, how did you do it, what kind of sport do you do now? Suggestions and advice from others is welcme, too. Thanks in advance.

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Micro-dosing mushrooms as an effective tool for weight loss

Background:

Let me start by saying that I have a relatively similar story to most people here. A series of traumatizing events happened to me when I was a child, eating became my coping mechanism, and the rest was (or is) history. In many ways, I am thankful that I didn't develop worst addictions, but the alienation and visibility that accompanies fatness has been difficult, to say the least. I've sharpened my personality, my skills, my athleticism, my fashion, my stage presence, etc. to compensate for the fact that I don't look like how I feel like, but that dissonance of being worthy of love and not loving myself has been RATHER horrific, despite all of my accomplishments. I am also genderqueer and when I put on weight *all* the curves and boobs and thighs come out, which is pretty dysphoric given that I prefer to present androgynously. Anyways...

Second, I struggle with clinical depression. Tackling that with a mix of therapy and medication allowed me to get to a space where I could really unpack my body image issues and also partake in things that make me feel good (movement! not binge eating!) but, two months ago, I made a pretty significant discovery, which is that taking small doses of shrooms (decriminalized in my state) has pivoted me into a wholly positive, progressive, and effortless relationship with myself. I used to trip a lot when I was a teenager but stopped.

In October, I went for a psycobillin trip, and stood in front of the mirror where I was very surprised to find myself feeling gentle towards... me. It sounds so sad in retrospect, but I think it's the first time I've ever smiled at me. I know, I know, this is a cliché, druggy story, but bear with me.

Eating small, measured tri-weekly doses has further cemented this sensation of just caring for myself. I've learned that I like my skin and my eyes and my mouth and all of the art and experiences my body has created. I like me how I am, but I would also like to be lithe, strong, and dress in dope vintage suits that were only ever made in sizes below 12. I want to eat food that doesn't make me bloated. I would like to start skateboarding again. And the best part is that I realize that I can have all of those things if I want them; It's that simple, and it's that easy because I care about me. I can only get better because I'm already enough.

For the past month, I've been doing a mix of intuitive eating and CICO (mainly to see if my body is intuiting a healthy intake) with plenty of long, leisurely walks that add up to at least five miles a day. I also bought an exercise bike for the real nasty weather days. Right now I am 15 lbs lighter than I was when I started. This Christmas, I didn't really indulge, but it was mainly because I didn't want to. Hypothyroidism/systemic sensitivities run in my family, and, since I've started eating cleaner and loosely following anti-inflammatory diets, I've realized how much inflammatory foods fuck me UP, like, in every single way, from my poop to my personality. The mushrooms have contributed greatly to my mindfulness about what actually feels good and natural. It's harder, if not impossible, for my brain to trick itself into partaking in decisions that only feel good for a millisecond but wreck me afterwards.

Most importantly, I am not a scientist, nutritionist, therapist, psychotherapist, etc. etc. I cannot recommend dosages and am certainly NOT encouraging everyone to start dosing shrooms. Don't go inject an ounce mushrooms into your bloodstream and then tell the attending doctor that TheWarOn from Reddit told you to do it. This is merely my own personal experience and experimentation, and, if you're curious to learn more, there are studies and a *vast* number of resources out there to point you in the right direction.

I'll try to give monthly updates on this journey :) in the meantime, enjoy your holidays and don't forget to treat yourself in whatever way makes sense. This year has been a rough one, and you deserve a bit of refuge.

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I finally lost 40 pounds after years of gaining and nothing working

As with most women, I have never had a great relationship with food. I was always picky which led to me defaulting to the plain options like pasta, pizza, or even just sticking with a chocolate dessert instead of a meal because I didn't like anything else at the event. I do like salads, which is something. I started getting older, started to drink soda again, and got diagnosed with PCOS and everything health wise just went downhill.

Before starting grad school, I tried a fitness program with a strict calorie counting, no processed food, no dairy, only whole grains, etc diet and working out for 1 hour 5 days a week. In 2 months, I lost about 2 pounds. Yes, I gained muscle but I was at a weight where I should have been gaining muscle and losing weight. It was extremely demotivating. I think that is something a lot of people don't understand. That you can be following all "the rules" and it just doesn't work. Even when I wasn't eating healthy food, I still wasn't snacking much or eating a crazy amount of calories. Once school started, I gained more. I'm not sure how much because I actively avoided the scale but at my max I was around 185. I'm only 5'1 so I was officially in obese territory even though I would never admit that to myself at the time. I hated pictures, I hated mirrors. I just tried to ignore it.

I was at the point where I was potentially considering weight loss surgery because I was just getting more unhealthy. Standing for too long resulted in my feet literally feeling like they were on fire. My doctor thinks I may have had multiple micro-fractures from the weight and the standing.

Before surgery, he recommended I try Saxenda. Its the name brand of liraglutide, which was originally used as a diabetes drug. It works by decreasing stomach emptying so you feel full longer and somehow reduces cravings. It also has a glucose dependent insulin release mechanism, which I would imagine helped with some insulin resistance I had built up due to my weight.

I have been using Saxenda for about 5 months and have lost around 40 pounds. It really does feel like a miracle. I don't have the best habits still. I drink a can of soda every day and still eat pizza, pasta, desserts, etc but just way less of everything. Sometimes I'll only drink 25% of the can and just be done with it while before I would finish one and crave 2 more.

With COVID, I haven't gotten to a gym but did a decent amount of standing/walking for school. That helped but it is 95% the medicine and eating less.

The craziest part is that I used to have the worst cravings. I'd literally have a longing for chocolate, soda, cookies, etc. I am definitely a dessert person. Now, I can look at an ice cream bar and just not want it. I didn't know that was possible. It really did feel like some of it was an addiction looking back. I knew I shouldn't eat the candy but I just had this nagging urge to eat it that wouldn't go away until I did. Repeat for an entire bag and its a disaster.

There were some side effects. Nausea and weakness (probably from not eating enough because I just couldn't figure out what I wanted and decided on nothing) were the 2 big ones. Also it is an injection and I had the worst fear of needles. Now I stab myself in the leg every night. But it is 100% worth it. I actually have bones? I forgot what they felt like.

I would always read posts like this and think I'd never be in that position. But I think my experience highlights that different ways work for different people. If you've tried everything else and nothing has worked, maybe as your doctor about it and see what they think. It is still relatively new so some might not even know it exists.

A few last points. I have a friend on the medication and it has barely helped, so its not a miracle drug. Plus its super expensive (yay US healthcare) so please check to see if your insurance covers it or helps with the cost before getting your hopes up.

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Energy drinks for working out, any opinions and/or suggestions?

Hey guys! Recently started my weight loss journey about a month ago!

I (24F) have been able to maintain a solid caloric deficit without any problems, but haven't been able to find the energy in me to exercise, even light cardio like walking. I force myself to do it but feel sleepy after 5 minutes and can't find it in me to keep going long enough for my blood to start pumping. It's not the muscle pain or feeling winded that stops me, it's the complete and utter lack of energy.

I've been thinking about having an energy drink before working out to give me that boost of energy. I do know though that energy drinks are bad news for health, but after extensive blood tests I still can't find the source of my fatigue. I can't keep waiting to fix my fatigue before I make a change in my life, and am looking for a boost.

Do any of you take any sort of energy supplements that help you get that short term boost of energy? I'd love some opinions as well as some suggestions! Thanks guys!

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My Weight Loss / Wellness Journey So Far (First Reddit Post, Warning: Long Post)

My first Reddit post ever so please forgive me if I'm inadvertently breaking any unspoken / spoken rules of the community (it's out of ignorance, not bad intent).

Stats upfront for anyone interested: F, 32, height 5' 0.5", highest weight (Apr 2018) 133 lbs, starting weight (Feb 2020) 127 lbs, lowest weight (Aug 2020 after an 87-hour water fast) 101 lbs, current weight fluctuates between 107 - 100 lbs, goal weight 100 lbs, current body fat percentage 21%, goal body fat percentage 15% (let me know if I'm missing anything of substance w/ regards to physical metrics, happy to update)

Over nearly a decade of sedentary lifestyle / long hours of desk job w/ some significant amount of long-distance plane travel over the last couple of years, I found myself slowly gaining weight (1-2 lbs a year) to reach a high of 133 lbs in 2018. While that may not seem like a significantly high number, please bear in mind that I was solidly in the "Overweight" category BMI-wise given my height. What's worse though is I was perennially lethargic, no matter how much sleep I got (I got relatively little during the work week but would catch up on the weekends), would be extremely tired in the mornings and useless until at least noon, got very little physical exercise, and suffered from adult acne (which I didn't have in college and only back in my early teenage years).

In 2018, I tried keto (not strict) for a month and lost 10 lbs, of course a lot of it was water weight but even after hopping off that diet I did manage to retain half of the weight loss so it definitely worked for me. Over time though, the weight continued to creep back up and reached a high of 127 lbs in February of this year.

I started a very strict CICO diet in February that was balanced across macros (<1,000 cal intake per day and logging as many as 20 miles running) and had tremendous success in many ways: weight consistently came off, I felt so much more energy, acne went away, and I didn't have any hunger cravings... until I didn't. After reaching a low of 101 lbs in early August and several months of what I intended to be a weight loss mode, but just more sustainable (as opposed to rapid, crash dieting mentality), I started to rapidly gain weight. Calorie deficit would no longer result in weight loss because my metabolism slowed dramatically and I lost a lot of hair.

My mental health took an enormous toll following the several months of extremely strict restriction. I didn't realize it at the time, but clearly I could feel the consequences afterwards. I've never - I repeat, never - had a binging disorder in my almost 33 years of life and yet I started having many episodes at least once every few days. I would eat even after I was physically stuffed, and still couldn't reach mental satiety. It was very depressing to see my progress slip away, my acne came back, I felt bloated, and when I would try to step away from sugars, I'd go through a major withdrawal. On days where I would successfully restrict my food intake, all I could think about was food, I constantly had an urge to snack, and it was incredibly mentally taxing.

Fast forward to this past Tuesday (so yes, it's only been a few days). For the first time since February, I had a ton of protein in one sitting: a large platter of mixed grill kebabs with only a little bit of side veggies / carbs. And it was the most satisfying, soul soothing, satiating meal of the entire year. I felt like a different person, but also myself from before the extreme dieting started, back when I was utterly unaware of binging / constantly thinking about and craving food. Calorie-wise, it was very similar to some of the other more substantial meals I've had over the last few months (~1,200 cal) but the major difference was that it was like 90-95% animal protein whereas previously it'd be mostly carbs, fat, plant protein, followed by animal protein. This meal made me realize just how much I missed meat (sorry, vegans). And it made me very satiated without feeling heavy and lethargic for the rest of the day AND the day after (I water fasted the next day). What a world of difference. So I've done a total of 3 OMAD days with 90-95% of calories coming from animal protein (beef, chicken, lamb) and alternated that with complete water / tea (no coffee) fasts of 40-45 hours. And I feel amazing. My mental sharpness is through the roof despite being sleep deprived and weight is coming off super fast.

Mentally, I feel the best I've felt in many, many months after such a huge emotional / physical rollercoaster. Very excited to continue this for about another month or so and then transition to still be heavily animal protein centric, but include more leafy veg and fruit.

There are so many other aspects of this journey I haven't even touched on or touched on only briefly (e.g. my relationship with simple carbs, mostly in the form of desserts), which I'm happy to address as well if anyone is interested.

P.S. Anyone know how to upload a photo? (Looking to upload my weight chart.) Thanks!

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