It’s getting easier!

29F 5’5” SW: 251 CW: 224 GW: 150

I’ve been obese for all of my adult life. I’ve dieted before with varying degrees of success, but I always ended up gaining everything I lost back and more.

But I really feel like this time is different. In December I went to the endocrinologist and he told me I was pre diabetic and that I needed to lose weight. My father and grandmother have/had diabetes and I do not want to go through what they have gone through. I also have high cholesterol. So my short term goal is to lose a good amount of weight before my next doctors appointment in mid March and get my insulin levels down. My longer term goal is to impress my primary care physician when I have my physical in September and get my cholesterol down. I think it helps accountability to have set dates to see doctors.

How I’m doing it this time is different though, and that’s why I’m hoping it will stick. On previous attempts I would count every calorie and it led to some really unhealthy behavior. I would try and get as low of a calorie count as I could (usually between 700 and 800 calories a day), while still eating mostly junk food, which obviously wasn’t sustainable, so I would just end up binging, getting discouraged, and gaining it all back.

I’m not counting calories directly this time. I stopped eating junk food. I just refuse to buy it anymore. For me it is much easier to not buy something than to resist it in the home. I also have all my groceries delivered so I don’t have to resist temptation at the store. My fridge is full of vegetables, meat, fruit and Greek yogurt, and that’s it. Each week at I’ll prep a bunch of meat that I can have for dinner for the week and I’ll steam a giant pile of vegetables to go with it. For lunch I’ll usually have a homemade vegetable soup. For breakfast I have one container of greek yogurt. If I get hungry during the day I’ll have a piece of fruit. I also had a bad habit of ordering delivery takeout, so I deleted all of my food apps. I have no option but to eat healthy or actually go out somewhere, which I have only done twice, because eating at home is now the easier option.

At first I was really hungry. I had a lot of cravings. But everyday it’s getting easier. I have found myself actually preferring the healthy options at home. When I see ads for food, I don’t really want it anymore, I’d prefer my chicken and broccoli. That’s why I really think it’s going to stick this time. I’m changing my lifestyle, not just focusing on a calorie number. Obviously, it is still CICO, all weight loss is, but I know myself and I know I’m not going to enter every gram into MFP for the rest of my life, so I need to do something that I can do for the rest of my life. I know I am still in the beginning and I have a long way to go, but I’m really hoping I can get healthy this time.

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Wecipe Wednesday - February 3, 2021 - Sandwiches!

Welcome back to Wecipe Wednesday. I volunteered to lead a return of this longstanding regular thread at r/loseit at least until the end of March 2021.

I have selected 13 meals or dishes that I keep making over and over that should be compatible with most diets. I'll include the ingredients list, nutritional information along with other hints. Some recipes are vegetarian/vegan, others not so much.

Post your favourite healthy recipes here to share with the rest of the loseit community!

Due to the spirit of the sub, please try to include the calorie and nutritional information if at all possible. MyFitnessPal has awesome recipe calculators you can use!

For the most part, I target my meals to have a component in the 350-550 kcal range. My lunch and dinner tend to be right around 400 kcal each and dinner can be a bit heavier, or include a side dish to bring the calories up a bit. When I was eating 1650 kcal/day the breakdown was roughly 400/400/600/250 for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks.

Anyhow: enough background on to the recipes!

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Sandwiches

Sandwiches can be things of beauty, but a common refrain heard around weight loss is that bread should be avoided, and yet I declared that I wanted to be a smaller guy who eats bread. Could I find a way to fit a good sandwich in to my rotation? If so, were there any tricks that I could take advantage of to help them fit into my diet? Can be such an easy lunch, so how can I make it mine?

Here's one such recent outing https://i.redd.it/j5381l75o9f61.jpg

• 55g baguette bread cut in half - 140 kcal (Approximately 1/5 of a standard baguette)

• 32g Honey Ham - 35 kcal

• 28g Provolone (1 slice) - 80 kcal

• 1 tbsp Whole Grain Dijon Mustard - 10 kcal

• 1 leaf Romaine lettuce - 0 kcal

• Chobani Hot Chocolate Yogurt - 140 kcal

TOTAL 405 kcal (48/11/25 grams of carbs/fat/protein)

So what are the tricks?

1. Choose good bread in appropriate portions. Hard to make a 400 kcal sandwich if your bread already adds up to more than that.
2. Mustard is amazing. I usually have several kinds open and it has become my go to "spread" for sandwiches. Yes mayonnaise and butter have their place, but most mustard I can slather on without measuring.
3. Veggies. I try to throw some greens into my sandwiches. lettuce, baby spinach, dill pickles (not sweet bread and butter).
4. Cheese. It's a tricky one. Here I threw in a whole slice, but I will often cut that back to 14-20 grams, half a slice or slice my own from a
5. Cold cuts tend not to be calorie dense unless they are very fat (salami, proscuitto) so pile them on. Some days I may have closer to 90-120g of leaner meat in my sandwich and skip the cheese.
6. You can substitute lower calorie cold cuts like turkey or chicken if you want to cut the fat content a bit more.
7. Consider your side. Depending on my mood, I can swap out my yogurt side from this meal for lots of other choices. (Note I usually enjoy the Chobani less sugar varieties). An ~80-120 kcal cup of soup, a piece of fruit, some cottage cheese, a small salad. I rarely make time for chips though, I prefer to use my carbs for good bread.

Overall, once you portion your bread and cheese or other fats appropriately, it just works. You can stuff the sandwich with low calorie density stuff and have a tasty satisfying meal. I will also sometimes have a similarly sized sandwich as a snack after a 10K run.

What about you? What's cooking for you this week?

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Weekly Accountability Update/Week 2, SW 231.5/CW 218.4

Still losing weight! I love being able to check in every few days on my scale. It’s super convenient and I don’t have to guess and wonder if what I’m doing is right! I had a big challenge over the weekend, and did have some days “in the red” where I went over my calorie limit. I always have a sweet tooth after dinner and we had some Kit Kat bars. And cans of coke. I love regular coke and treated myself. One night last week, for dinner, my husband made enchiladas (so good!!) and I ate more than I should have. I felt the stopping point and went beyond, because they were good and I didn’t want to stop eating. Turned out to be like 1000 calorie meal once I plugged it into the app, and I went over my limit by about 400 calories that day. It felt so heavy, like I’d eaten a rock for dinner. I’ve decided not to have a “cheat day” or day off from dieting/counting calories, and instead to have the occasional treat here and there. Maybe that will change in the future, but it’s working for me now. At least I’ve gotten rid of most of the temptations in the house by now, either by eating them or sending them away. I have noticed that I’m much more energetic now, before I NEEDED a 1-2 hour nap every day just to make it to bedtime. Now I don’t need a nap at all and feel fine throughout the day. So that’s a super nice change, because I always wondered why I seem to need so much sleep. Another struggle I’ve had is drinking enough water. My dietician wants me to drink at least 100 oz per day and the best I’ve been able to do is 50 oz on one day. Average seems to be about 40 oz. That’s something I really need to work on, I saw a post on here suggesting that being dehydrated can slow down or stall weight loss. Like anything else I suppose it takes practice and commitment. I’m starting to recognize thirst cues and keeping a big glass of water nearby. I’ve also noticed my lips aren’t so peely too. I guess I just get caught up in my day-to-day and don’t think to refill my glass as often as I should. Having a straw in my glass helps, and I got an app to remind me to drink—Plant Nanny. It’s like a sort of game to keep this virtual plant alive, and you have to drink water and log it before the thing dies. It sends notifications when your plant is thirsty! It’s a nice reminder. I’m also thinking of getting this device that you can put around your glass or water bottle, whatever you’re using, that tracks your drinks and lights up when it’s been a while since you’ve had a drink. It’s about $25 so I think it’s cheap enough to be worth the shot! Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, and good luck on all your weight loss endeavors!

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Progress!!!

I’m down to 213# from 255#. I changed how I looked at weight loss last September and decided that going slow and steady instead of doing one of those crazy diets and losing all the weight super fast before plateauing. I’m so happy and proud of myself. I’m over halfway to my first goal. My initial goal is to get down to 180. Then 160 and then I’m hoping to get to 140 in the end

I didn’t want to get skinny. I wanted to feel healthy and I’m already feeling so much better. I feel so much more comfortable in my skin now, I can do so much more without getting winded. I can wear all of my pre-quarantine clothes. I can’t tell if this small amount is enough to get this excited but it’s something I’m so proud of myself about.

In September I was placed on medication to help with some mental health issues, however it Kickstarter my wanting to lose weight by making me balloon up about 20 pounds after starting. After that I just made small changes, I started walking almost daily and am trying to get into the habit of exercise on a recumbent bike every other day (at least until my legs are getting used to it and I can switch to daily) I’ve been watching my caloric intake and speaking to my friend who happens to be a body builder and learning about nutrition and how to successfully use what I eat in a day to improve myself. Idk of what I do will help anyone but I really do suggest doing a ton of research on healthy weight loss. I thought it was dumb before and that it was as easy and just cutting calories and exercise but I realize now that the way I did it before was unrealistic and wouldn’t ever work for me

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Tracking my weight loss! (16 years old)

Hey guys! I'm not sure If this is the right place to do this butI wanted to make a post that I update weekly to track of my weight lossto motivate others. and maybe others can motivate me?? (who knows)

I will update this post every week and input my weight even If it went up or down.weight doesn't just go down In a straight line sometimes It will go up but don't let that discourage you, keep going and soon results will come!

so far I've lost about 9 pounds starting 2 weeks ago!I started at 209 and now I'm at 200. (can't wait to see that 1 at the start of my weight!!)

Edit: Forgot to mention my goal weight is 170!

JAN

WEEK 1: 207.6
WEEK 2: 205.0
WEEK 3: 200

FEB

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I need help devising a weight loss plan, tired of being fat.

tired of my weight, can someone help me out who has excess to a spreadsheet or something. my numbers are

Age: 22m

Height: 6'2

Weight: 270.0lbs

planning to exercise 6 days a week. purchased an at-home gym, treadmill, bike, weights, and a jump rope. (the basics)

I can't really remember the last time I was slim except like elementary school.

What I'm planning to do: LOSE WEIGHT, BUILD MUSCLE.

My Goal weight: 180lbs

Goal weight by: 12/31/2021

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ima be honest with you all, I'm REALLY tired of being overweight, it sucks, people don't respect me, and kinda hard to get a date let alone feel good about myself. so saying that I have a really strong drive to do this shit and I know I can't do it alone without some form of guidance/help. so please if you can help me out and share your wisdom and knowledge with me id very much appreciate it.

I would like it if someone could help me devise a meal prep plan for 6 days a week, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. no snacks in between no allergies.

if possible would like help with devising a workout plan for 6 days a week with what I have above etc. not sure if I should start slow or put a lot of energy each day into workouts. what should I focus on cardio, lifting, calisthenics? want to be slimmed and ripped and not weak and skinny.

Is 1500 calories a day with exercise viable for me?

lastly, I got a budget of $200 to spend on food. what exactly should I stock up on? fruits, cheese, meats, nuts?

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I gave up booze for January. Here's why I won't be rushing to start drinking again

Like a lot of people, I resolved to drink less alcohol and started the year by cutting it out completely. I had a couple of beers towards the end of the month but only ever one or two.

This weekend I had four beers (I know right, I am out of control🤣) and it completely derailed my exercise and eating routine for about 72 hours.

Here is why booze is not going to be a big part of my life anymore.

1. Direct Calories. There's a couple of hundred calories in a beer and who ever sticks to one? Before you know it you've racked up the same calories as a substantial meal and, guess what, you're hungrier than when you started. Which leads me on to...

2. Indirect Calories. Nothing healthy goes well with booze. Salt, fat, carbs, all the dirty snacks come out while I watch the game and sink a few beers. I tried focusing on protein snacks (basically meat) but even that means a lot of fat and salt. It's not just limited to 'during' either, I eat total rubbish the next day and sometimes that leads to a week-long train wreck. I crave bad food and can't be bothered to cook because...

3. Energy levels. I sleep badly when I drink so I wake up feeling crap. I suspect this is partly because it makes me snore which wakes me up. I have to get up to pee and I tend to eat heavily and late which I reckon makes me restless as I digest that food. I am a huge believer in the value of quality sleep when it comes to weight loss and wellness. Even one interuption overnight can impact the next day, making me less likely to exercise or cook properly and...

4. Mental health. Alcohol itself makes me anxious, lack of sleep makes me grumpy and crap food makes me lethargic. Then I drop out of my routine and that makes me feel guilty and depressed. Very quickly, it's a spiral. I believe weight loss is well over 50% mental and if you can't "get your feet under you" in this area, everything else is so much harder.

So, there it is. I am not going dry but I am going to swerve any booze on week nights and limit myself to 2 beers on the weekend. I am also going to move those beers to the afternoon rather than the evening in the hope that this limits the impact on my sleep patterns. I am also going to insert a big block of exercise on the morning of a drinking day so that (hopefully) I have enough endorphins and natural fatigue in my system to get some sleep that night.

Hope there is something here that helps you!

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