After 6 months of strict CICO, I threw my diet out the window for 2 weeks. Here's what I learned about myself ...

I was 51.5lb down when I returned home for the Christmas break. It was the first time in a year that I'd seen my family and I made the concious decision to forget about the diet while I was there. I had been feeling lethargic and homesick and my weight loss had been slowing. Some of this might read like a diary entry (apologies if it does) but I wanted to share what i learned about myself...

- First off, I gained 5.5lb. Honestly, I'm shocked it wasn't more. I was dreading stepping on the scales this morning thinking I would weigh in at 225lb or more but it rang in at 219lb.

- I have not broken old habits like I thought I might have. Some optimistic part of me thought that I wouldn't want the bad food, but I easily had 4 or 5 takeouts while I was back. In the beginning, I would start with a healthy soup or fruit but as the days went on I switched those out for leftovers or a slice of cheesecake or a cheese sandwich.

- Dieting gives me a great sense of self control and purpose. Counting calories takes a lot of time and energy, but I truly missed knowing how I was doing for the day. I had no sense of accomplisment and equally no will to improve on a bad day.

- My issues come from my mother. My mother is the best person I know and in no way meant to impose her issues on me, but I can see how her life, even still at 54, revolves around food. She had weight loss tips stuck to the fridge which me and my sisters agreed to remove (citing "bad vibes"). She was constantly saying she was giving up bad food in the new year because she wants to lose a lot of weight. No specific goal, just a lot. It made me sad.

- For the first time in my life, I'm not the heaviest person in my family and i have mixed feelings about this. My sisters & I would argue a lot when we were young and one of the insults my middle sister would use is that i was fat. it really hurt me at the time. I hadn't seen both of them for a year and I was surprised when I got home at how much weight they'd both put on. My middle sister, who was always the meanest and, not coincidentally, the skinniest is probably heavier than me now. I never expected to be happy about something like this... we're all adults and get along now, but it made me sad because I hope she isn't as miserable at her weight as I was before I started losing weight. She has always been so gorgeous... she still is. She has been unemployed for most of the year and living back with my mother since the start of COVID. Before that, she had a really good job and was about to move to Australia for a year. I guess i just feel sad for her because she's 26 and I want her to be happy in her mid 20s. We got along really well for the first christmas ever, i'm not sure how much of that was me being away for so long or us just getting older or if it's something else, but now i'm back in another country and i miss them all a lot. I'm proud of what i've achieved but I don't feel a sense of superiority which, i don't know, i thought I might feel after a lifetime of sisterly competitiveness?

- My weight loss was noticable. I made a post a while back worrying that no one had noticed my weight loss. I felt discouraged and a lot of people suggested that people either hadn't noticed because they see me so often or because they're too polite to bring up a subject like that. I think in retrospect both were true. It was the first thing my mother said when she saw me and the first thing she said to my sisters when I saw them was "look how much weight M has lost!". My boyfriend's mother also commented on it.

- Social media is triggering for me. Regardless of falling back into old habits, i had an amazing christmas break. The only times I felt myself feeling terrible about myself is when I went on instagram and started to compare myself to others.

- I can be really horrible to myself. The scales in my family home wasn't working so I could never check in on myself. Anytime I caught my reflection in the mirror I was trying to imagine where I'd put the weight on. I assumed it MUST be atleast 10lb because look how fat my stomach looks. Has my ass always been that big? What if I step on the scales and i'm 20lb heavier - is that possible? I still very much have these hateful instincts inside me. I need to work on loving myself regardless of how I look because even if I reach my goal weight I'm always going to have days where I'm bloated or have sagging skin or catch the wrong angle in the mirror.

- Gaining a few pounds is fine. My biggest takeaway is that being heavier after the Christmas break is OK. I can spiral into negative thought patterns but I don't hate myself. While I owe it to myself to get back to losing weight, i'm also not defined by it.

CONCLUSION: I have a lot of work left to do in 2021. This journey is constantly teaching me new things about myself and about the people around me. i need to put time into self-care. I'm not as dissapointed that I fell into old eating habits as i am that I fell into old self-criticising habits.

I'm setting a new goal to get into the 100s by my birthday in 4 months time. I'm so excited to see where I am this time next year (hopefully at my goal weight!)

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. x

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Happy New Year!

Welcome to r/loseit. We know this is a time of year when lots of people are making resolutions to finally tackle their health and fitness. If you’re one of them, great! We’re glad you’re here!

Here is a friendly guide to help you (as a new user) get the most out of this subreddit, to help you reach your goals. This is a quick overview of what kinds of resources we have, and what kind of posting behavior we expect.

First, check out the quick start guide. It is short, and will get you started with the basic information you need to get started. Find it HERE.

Are you looking for a place to post your resolution? Post it HERE!

Are you looking for a place to post every day? Check out the daily accountability threads, that are linked in the sidebar. Accountability/Progress posts made more frequently than every 30 days (outside of the designated threads) will be removed.

Are you looking to add friends on various weight loss tools (Loseit, MyFitnessPal, etc)? Look out for our Track with Me Thursday threads. Soliciting members to join accountability groups/discord servers (or otherwise asking for personal information) is strictly prohibited outside of Track with Me Thursday.

Are you looking for a longer commitment? Check out the Lose it Challenges (find the sign-up stickied to the top of the subreddit starting in 2021), and sign up!

Check back often to the subreddit homepage, to see stickied posts on r/loseit: we will be highlighting reoccurring threads there, as they come up. As a sampling of what you can expect: find motivation from reading The Century Club on Thursdays (for users who have lost/need to lose 100 pounds or more), connect with other new parents in our Wednesday "Parent's Corner" support thread, or chat with other aspiring calorie-conscious chefs during our Wecipe Wednesday thread.

Still have questions? We’ve got answers! Check out our daily Q&A thread HERE.

Please note: a lot of the things mentioned above are best accessed on the desktop site. We strongly recommend checking r/loseit out on desktop (especially if you've only ever used the mobile site)!

Looking for more motivation and inspiration? Check out this post from your friend and mine, the incredibly successful u/hxcjosh23!

Still want more? Keep your reddit-dial tuned to r/loseit, as the fantastic Catherine and Donald Wygal from the We Only Look Thin podcast will be here in r/loseit on Saturday, January 16 2021 (beginning at 3PM Eastern Standard Time) to do an AMA event! Never heard of 'em? No problem! Check out their episode Comin' in Hot, which talks about some of the common pitfalls that can happen when you (over-)enthusiastically start a weightloss journey.

We wish you the best of luck in your journeys, and hope that you will use the resources of this subreddit. Here’s to a healthy 2021!

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2021 New Year's Resolutions MEGATHREAD

Happy New Year, everyone! Post those New Year's Resolutions here!

As a Life Pro Tip, try to make your resolution SMART: Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based.

The last part (time-based) is what many users here have found to be particularly useful. For example: "I resolve to lose 25 pounds," is not very specific, and gives you no support (or plan of what to do), which can ultimately be difficult to stick to.

Instead, try: "I resolve to count my calories and log them in MyFitnessPal/Loseit!/Calorie Tracking App of Choice for 100 days." The ultimate goal you want (weight loss) will come from the specific behaviors you're targeting (logging your calories in an app every day for a period of 100 days).

Happy New Year, everyone! We got this!

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Unsolicited comments about my weight during grandpa’s funeral

My aunt arrived from out of town to attend the funeral of my grandpa. I haven’t even thought about my weight loss journey since my grandpa died. It’s been blood transfusions and hospital visits and quick, microwaveable meals this past month.

I’m obese. Four months ago, I weighed 209 pounds at 5 feet 2. Today, I weigh 177. My aunt has always been the type to tell me to lose weight every time she sees me.

When she saw me yesterday, she was in disbelief, as if the concept of me actually putting in effort to lose a few pounds wasn’t possible in this or in any other universe. She asked me about it openly, in front of a few other people, and wouldn’t stop pestering me about it.

I was severely uncomfortable with the attention. This was a time of mourning, not a time for prying into the reasons of losing weight. The thing is, I lost an additional 5 pounds drastically because I lost my grandpa. I was in shock and grappling with a sudden curveball right at the end of the year.

I found out later that she asked all around, including the help and my mom, if I was dieting, if I was starving myself, if I was taking weight loss pills. They told her I was strict with my calories (CICO).

She confronted me again and demanded many times I tell her my current weight. Which I don’t see as a topic of great importance. She also commented on how I was going to fail with calorie counting and that I should only trust keto, because it helped her lose 7 pounds. When I finally told her I was 177 pounds, her response was, “so you’re THAT big huh?”

I was ashamed. People heard. I got over it quickly.

The point of this post? I need a space to vent. Sorry if you’re privy to the whining of a young adult. Comments like these shouldn’t bother me. Unsolicited comments about your weight loss shouldn’t bother you either. I exercise and calorie count for myself and the future I am fighting for, not for the opinion of a meddling aunt. I just wish people were more sensitive of the questions that they ask.

Anyway, I lost 30 pounds! I still can’t believe I actually had it in me. The new year is fast approaching and we have dinner with one seat emptier, but there is still good in this world to be found. To whoever is reading this, the only opinion that truly matters is the ones you make of yourself.

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Is being boney a sign of unhealthy weight loss

I'm trying to figure out whether or not being boney is a bad sign of weight loss. I eat pretty healthy, I don't actually count calories so I don't restrict myself - I just eat healthy and stop myself when I'm full. I also stopped a medication that caused me to gain weight, which probably helped my weight loss.

I don't hit the gym and instead I just walk for several km a day.

When I lie down I'm uncomfortable because my hip bones poke into the mattress or my ribs do if I lie onto my stomach. On my back or side sometimes it's my shoulder blades that bug me. It feels like I can count my ribs and when I sit down my butt always feels uncomfortable/too boney.

I don't actually look boney either so I have no idea what is going on (BMI says I am 19.5 too)

I want to stop myself from doing any more if this is damaging my body. I didn't think weight loss would lead to me feeling this boney. Or if there's any way to change this boney feeling

I'm a female who went from 175 -> 115 lbs. I am now 23 and originally I was 115 lbs when I was in my teens but I never felt this boney, so I don't know what is going on. I am 5'5

Any advice appreciated

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Terrible relationship with food even after weight loss. Starting therapy next week.

I (28F) have never openly talked about my struggles with food and I hope this is a good place to open up a little. Prior to Covid, I had lost over 50lbs and although I gained some of it back during quarantine, as soon as my gym opened back up I (safely and with proper precautions such as wearing a mask) started working out again to lose whatever I had gained. I go to the gym a few days a week, and I also stay active by walking and hiking with my dog.

However while staying active hasn’t been a problem, food has become a huge issue for me, especially since it is holiday season. Last year and the year before around this time I was pretty good about sticking to my diet, but this year, it has been so impossible for me to stick to healthy eating habits. Since Thanksgiving, I’ve found myself in a cycle of binging and restricting, and it is so devastating because for a year I had the healthiest eating habits! No fast food, no soda, low carb, intermittent fasting, never binged. All that was what helped me lost the weight I struggled with for so many years. (I have PCOS which initially made it very hard to lose weight.)

Lately, I can’t complete my 18:6 fasting even though when I first did it a year ago I managed to do it so easily. I crave all the carbs, all the soda, all the fast food. I try to ignore the cravings but after hours and hours of thinking about having the fries, I crack and give into my craving. When I go out to get food I get a crap ton of food knowing that after the binge, I’ll be restricting heavily for the next few days so I overindulge. I cannot find my self discipline like I did the first time and I’m becoming so obsessed with restricting, but that usually causes me to not only overeat, but overeat really bad foods.

I know I can’t outrun a bad diet, and if I don’t get my food problem under control, I will gain a lot of weight back, if not all of it. I signed up for therapy with a therapist who specializes in eating disorders, and my first appointment is next week. I’m scared because I really don’t want to be diagnosed with BED but I know I need the help before it spirals further out of control.

I really don’t know why this so hard for me when I was so successful the first time. :(

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Taking a break was a horrible idea

I started my weight loss journey in September 2019. After reading a lot about intermittent fasting I tried 16/8 which was met with a lot of headaches and dizziness. Then 18/6 which felt like a struggle, then 20/4 because I can! My goal was to lose 20 pounds. I'm rather short so it shows a lot on me.

Up until a week ago I was back to 18/6 and I decided to take these 10 days of Christmas as a break from IF and counting calories to celebrate losing 15 pounds.

HORRIBLE IDEA

I have never felt so bad physically and mentally. I did for sure cheat on my diet every now and then during the last year (damn you munchies) but never for an extended period of time.

Well calories don't count over Christmas vacation so I indulged. I stopped tracking my calories, stopped tracking my water intake and stopped if.

We'll let me tell you I haven't pooped in 3 days (sorry TMI) and every night when I go to bed I have to take a cocktail of pills so not wake up with a wrenching stomach pain at 4am.

Anyway back to IF after tomorrow night's dinner..

Let's start the year by making better decisions!

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