It's been a year since I started my weight loss journey, but beyond the number on the scale, my life and health improved in many ways.

Hello, fellow losers!

If you are reading my post and considering going on a weight loss journey this year, I wanted to share my story with you and tell you that there is more to find through it than just weight loss.

Here's a bit of a rant of how I got there. You can skip to the end to see how this improved my life.

In December 2019, I got back home after a boozy Christmas party. Mildly intoxicated, I was dancing in my bathroom while removing my make-up. Suddenly, I realised that I was out of breath just after a few hip swings. I looked at my body in the mirror and I didn't like what I saw.

At that time, I was already trying to lose weight but wasn't really successful. I always struggled a bit with that. I started gaining after my 21st birthday when I met my ex and by the age of 25, I was officially obese on the BMI scale. It was a wake-up call, I dropped the weight and the boyfriend but even after that, I was still overweight. During that time, I lost around 20lbs and kept it more or less off.

Now, I'm 31, dancing, or trying, in my bathroom and I'm wondering what I'm doing with my life. The next day, I was installing MFP again and that's how I started this one year journey.

While I don't have the most impressive numbers, I more or less reached my goal. I started around 164 lbs ( My size is 5.54 ), I reached 140 lbs last summer thanks to a lot of outdoor runs and walks. Now, I'm up to 147 after the holidays, but I'm starting this year as motivated as ever to go back to my summer body.

But beyond the number on the scale, my life and health improved in many ways:

• I stopped smoking. It's been since March! I would have never even think about stopping before but when you start taking care of your health and exercising, you start thinking about the rest of your body.
• I'm drinking less alcohol. I was quite a regular drinker before, constantly tracking my calories made me realise that I needed to cut off my drinking. Actually, I'm doing Dry January now.
• Barely any binges in the last months. I have binge eating disorder but maybe soon, I will say " I had a binge eating disorder". It's been a while I didn't binge, the last time I did, it was a binge on hummus and carrots?? Does that even qualify? Seriously, I might have healed my relationship with food
• I'm into sports now, I guess. I started running and swimming regularly. I never liked sport, never exercised, what the biggest couch potato of this planet before. I was even too lazy to just walk somewhere so imagine running. Now, I really enjoy it and wouldn't see my life without it. I also try to do 6000-10000 steps a day and do yoga or HIIT workouts when I can't run or swim.
• I eat my greens. I learned a lot about nutrition this year. I have never eaten better. I'm mindful about getting a bit of everything and eating nutritious food.
• I'm more patient. I'm not jumping on whatever sweet treat I can find when I'm a bit tired or stressed. I learned to control myself better.
• I feel happier. Not insanely more, I still have my issues but overall, I do feel better.

The big takeaway from all this is that it's never really over. I want to spend the rest of my life exercising, eating well and protecting my health and my body to live a long and happy life with my loved ones.

Good luck to all of you, I look forward to reading about your 2021 milestones, on the scale or not.

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Just started my journey!

Hey guys, been lurking here for about a week and you guys have inspired me to get serious about weight loss. I did my first meal prep yesterday (they don't tell you how much work all that cooking is lol) and today is my first day of eating healthier following about a year of not doing great.

I started working from home in March and being that close to so much food was not great....then I had a baby (2nd child) in May....even worse. My wife can basically eat whatever she wants and not gain weight, so that's fun /s. She's been super helpful and encouraging with my plan to eat healthier.

I have a goal to lose about 40 lbs by August doing CICO and ~16 hour fast everyday. I really need to fix my bad relationship with food. Luckily, I'm halfway through my first day and it hasn't been too bad.

Anyway, thanks for your support and encouragement!

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Progress - 2 months in

Hey all! I have been trying to lose weight for more than a few years, but when I reached 180 lbs (5'2" female, 23) a few months back I decided that was it. It's the heaviest I've ever been. So, I started dieting, exercising, the like. And I'm happy to report that I've lost just over 10 pounds in the last two months, even with the holiday (which I actually lost weight during). This is huge for me, as my husband has lost about 50 pounds from just stopping drinking beer nearly as often. I have tried fad diets and exercises, but what has really helped has been learning about what I'm putting in my body and how weight loss really works.

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This sub has been amazing for that. You have all been helpful in giving advice from calorie deficits to exercise routines to understanding that at some point the progress will stall out and it will be hard. I'm so appreciative for that, and I am looking forward to being at my goal weight (115lbs). My goal weight comes from talking with my doctor about a happy weight, and she suggests anywhere from 110 - 125. So I'm kinda in the happy middle.

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I look forward to going through the year with you. Thanks so much for the support, and to those that are new, welcome! :)

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Losing Weight in the Hopes of a Healthy Future Pregnancy

This year is the year I think my husband and I plan to start trying for a baby. I'm 32, will be turning 33 in April. I've been battling my weight for YEARS with half-hearted diets, a stint on Weight Watchers, etc. I've hovered around 200 pounds on a 5'4" frame for the last few years. My lowest adult weight was in the 140s but that was nearly a decade ago at this point. I really would like to get my body into better shape before getting pregnant.

I was reading this book, Expecting Better by Emily Oster, that talked about how it's not really about how much weight you gain DURING pregnancy but what weight you start at. Obese mothers tend to have more complications, the babies have more complications... all around, it's recommended that perhaps you try to lose a few pounds. I was born prematurely and I'd love to just try to avoid whatever setbacks I can actually control with my weight. I don't know what those are but I have a lot of anxiety and fear about pregnancy and childbirth and my weight is one thing I actually CAN control for the most part.

So that's me. Today is my Day 1 of the 2021 weight loss journey. I'm aiming to get down to maybe 160 by June, MAYBE. That's about 40 pounds for me. I'm not sure if it's possible but I really want to try. I need it to click in my head that this is not just about me. It's no longer just ME, it's about my future baby. I want to give them a good life and the best chance before they're out in the world. So this post is me holding me accountable. Any other future parents-to-be trying to also get healthier?

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Why Should We Try?

To preface: I want to be incorrect. Please convince me that it's not a wasted effort!

I searched this subreddit for answers but am not having much luck. I am serious about CICO, tracking, and becoming a healthy weight. I need to lose about 20/30 pounds. I've been restricting to about 1500 calories/day and find I am hungry all the time. Moreover, study after study shows that keeping weight off is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Only 5% of people who lose weight keep the weight off. The idea of "it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle" still reinforces the idea of controlling/restricting what you eat, which is show to be unsustainable. There are biological factors working in our body to prevent weight loss and keep us at a set weight and storing fat. The body can’t tell the difference between a diet and a famine and it works to protect us by slowing our metabolism. You can't just willpower your way through it every single day of your life for the rest of your life, most of us aren't programmed to have that much self-discipline. I've looked into intuitive eating, but I have issues with binge eating, so if I were to eat intuitively, I would eat 25 choc chip cookies in one sitting.

I guess the thing holding me back is that I manage to lose some weight and then gain it back, plus more. Why should I make an effort to lose when I can maintain and not gain more weight than when I started?

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6 Month Progress after Serious Reflection F/24/5'2 [SW:159 CW:144 GW:130]

Hello friends! I joined this sub back in June when I started my weight loss and wanted to post my progress to help motivate those who are just started and to thank this community!

I have lost weight multiple times in the past, but never maintained for more than a year. I believe that this was due to my approach and mindset in dieting. My primary goal was always to be fit enough to feel and look attractive, which was too shallow of a goal to carry me through lack of motivation (more on this later). I would cut out entire types of food or exercise for hours a day, which wasn't sustainable in the long-haul. Thus, I always regained.

When I started again this June 2020, I began with CICO (250 daily calorie deficit) and running 8-10 miles a week. Now, I continue CICO, but I walk 30 miles a week (IT band issues). Over the next few months I noticed some important changes in the way that I approached food and exercise:

• I started only eating when I was hungry, rather than eating because it is "mealtime". I also no longer eat as soon as I wake up, but wait until I am actually hungry.
• I started tracking how many calories I have in a day, so I am now choosing what to eat based on what is the most filling (which often is more nutritionally dense). This leads me to choosing better options.
• I now prefer to exercise every day (even just walking), not because I should, but because of the energy it gives me. When I can't exercise one day, I don't let myself get condemned about it or give up.

These changes in mindset and behavior have made all the difference! I don't have forbidden foods or beat myself up over one bad day anymore. I have lost 15lbs so far and am enjoying taking the slow route to my goal. Part of what has helped me to continue forward when I don't feel motivated was having a solid set of goals. After some serious reflection in 2020 and deciding what I want for my future, I have now these reasons to stay healthy:

1. I know from friends and family that is gets harder to lose weight as you age. If I cannot maintain a healthy lifestyle when I am young, how will I expect to maintain a healthy lifestyle when I am older?
2. I want to have a healthy relationship with food and consistent fitness as I age, especially into my 40-60s. I have seen the difference between a 70yo who has been active their whole life and a 70yo who has not. I want to be the fit and energized granny!
3. When I have kids, I want them to grow up with healthy habits. Children who are overweight will have a much harder time being a healthy adult than children who are not overweight (I was an overweight child). If I am living out bad habits, I will certainly pass them on to my kids.
4. I now work a job that will send me into physically challenging places for several months a year (i.e. the Himalayas). If I am not in good physical condition, I likely won't even survive the excursions. I would be stationed locally (CA), which I do not want.

I have a ways to go, but my life goals push me forward when things get hard. I hope that someone on this sub will find this helpful and perhaps reflect on lifelong goals that will push them towards a healthier lifestyle! Best of luck to all of you and thank you for being such amazing support on this sub!

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New Years Update!

previous posts

Hello everyone! I'm checking back in after the new year for the first time, and it is truly motivating as always to see the success stories, as well as the influx of people just starting or restarting their journeys.

Just wanted to pop in and give a quick update to hopefully add to the motivation for others. I am now officially over 100 pounds lost since mid-August 2020. Started at my highest weight ever of 485 on August 16th, and weighed in this morning at 383! Still a long way to go, but I am so happy with the first real progress that I've ever made, that it doesn't bother me that it will be a while until I reach my final goal.

In addition to CICO, I have begun walking daily. I started just walking my dog around the block, and now I do that first, then I go out back alone for a loop around the neighborhood that is just under 2 miles (I would love to bring him with me the whole way, but he's an old boy with arthritis, so he can't take the long walks anymore.) It's amazing to think that less than 6 months ago I would get winded walking from my desk at work to the bathroom.

I sleep better now, I used to be so tired all the time that all I wanted to do was take a nap after work. I used to always get headaches, it was pretty much my daily routine to pop 3 Advil a day, and I had to eat Pepcid like they were candy to deal with near daily heartburn. And the crazy part is that it didn't take long to completely change the way my body feels. Yes, I know I still have a lot of weight to lose, but the quality of life improvements I have noticed began even when my weight loss was much lower, probably around the 40 pound level, which for me was less than a 10% weight reduction. I just can't wait to see how much better I can feel when I eventually reach a normal healthy weight for the first time since I was 13. I imagine I will feel like a kid again!

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