I saw my abs for the first time in my life today!

My entire life I have been chunky and out of shape. I was always given trouble by my P.E. teachers and got bad grades because I struggled to keep up. A few things motivated me to start losing weight and working out about 8 months ago. The stars aligned, you could say. My family had a weight loss bet, my insurance sent me a scale that sent my weight to an app every day (with a live human keeping touch with me on my progress) and sent me reminders if I didn't do it and I also had to record what I was eating. These factors helped me make it into a habit and allowed me to shed 40 pounds.

I was feeling a bit discouraged last week because the stubborn fat on my stomach is clinging for dear life and I have been pushing to have a six pack by doing 100 crunches daily and sets of leg raises, but then today, I saw a glimpse of them while changing in the bathroom. I quickly grabbed my phone to use the camera, laid on my back and flexed as hard as I could and I saw them! There was a distinct line down the center of my stomach and a vague outline of where they're forming. I'm just excited as all hell for it.

Don't give up. Even when it seems like it's not doing anything. It is. You're still making progress. Weight loss never happens as fast as we want it to, but we got this!

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One year, 88lbs down and a whole new lease on life

Male, 31, 5'11 SW:265 CW:177 GW170ish

https://imgur.com/OHAbMZX

Hi All,

I've been coming here since day one and have learned so much from everyone on this sub. Reading both success and failure posts, as well as the encouraging and insightful comments from others really helped to keep me on track and understand the weight loss process. I don't think I'd at this point without this sub.

My journey starts with getting sober, which today is my one year anniversary of that. In addition to quitting alcohol, I made the decision that I had to get healthy both mentally and physically, and that meant losing weight and getting in shape. I started with coming to this sub and after a few days of doing some research here, I found that CICO and IF were the tools I would use. Granted, I lost about 30lbs in a month just from cutting out booze, but the loss continued even after that huge first drop. It definitely become harder as the booze weight fell off, but that's when people's advice and guidance on this sub really came to help me. I'll be the first to admit that I was probably a bit over eager to lose weight and looking back I would probably scale my deficits a bit. There were several hard weeks and months, many plateaus and many times that things felt hopeless. I've learned that patience is key, above everything else. Patience with the rate of loss, patience with yourself and patience with your body are all extremely hard notions to put into action, but they are essential to making this work for the long term. I still want to lose about ~10 more pounds. Frankly I haven't lost much since November, just about 5lbs, but I'm perfectly okay with that. I lost so much weight so fast that slowing down and losing at a more natural pace will be the smart thing to do.

I think most of us already know what it takes to lose weight, so I won't go into huge details, but feel free to ask me. The gist of it is CICO, very strict CICO, especially in the begging. I also did IF for about the first six months, which was helpful in regulating my hunger.

My diet consisted, and still does for the most part, of healthy grains, lean proteins and tons of vegetables. I don't eat a lot of fruit and my sweet tooth never went away, so I allow myself fill those cravings but I try to keep it limited to good dark chocolate, low sugar/low cal cereal or some flavored greek yogurt. I do allow myself some cookies or other treats(addicted to Hi-Chews) on certain days, but I try very hard to limit to single portions, no more than the allotted amount. But I would be remiss if I didn't say that I've had plenty of days where I flubbed that rule. This journey has not been perfect and it's been difficult to not get down on myself. I set very high expectations and I've had to learn (continuing to learn) that if I screw up on a day or even a week, I just need to brush it off and get back on track. There's no need to beat myself up.

As for exercise, I only walked for the first four/five months. In June, I finally took the plunge and started running. I choose running because it was the thing I hated most growing up. At first, I could barely make one lap around the grassy area of my local park and I was extremely embarrassed and self-conscious, I felt like everyone was staring at me, but I just kept coming back and coming back. I started with C25K and within about a month I was running 5K in like 40 minutes three or four times a week. Fast forward to today and I'm up to 45ish miles per week and have a 5K PB of sub-24 minutes. I've run half marathon distance several times and have capped out at a 16 mile run recently. My goal is to do marathons once they come back. Running has become my absolute favorite thing to do, it has filled a void. there's no way I could've imagined typing those words a year ago. I detested running. I don't say any of this to boast, I'm still slow as shit compared to a lot runners. The point here is that you can do it if you really desire it and you stay consistent. I suppose that's also the main key with weight loss, as well.

This has been a helluva year. If anyone out there is struggling, just know that it can be done. Keep coming back to this sub and don't give up on yourself!

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Weight loss seems impossible for me :(

(20, F, 5’6, 213lbs) I’m not sure if this is the right place for this but I just need to rant because I’m very frustrated. I’ve tried so many thinks and I just keep gaining weight. I tried consuming less calories, I tried Keto, I work out often and I just can’t lose weight. I used to quit early when I didn’t see results but I’ve been trying now for months because I just want something to work and nothing is working. I’m not sure what else I should do at this point and I just want to be healthy. I don’t even eat junk food anymore I haven’t had any fast food in a long time I just make my own food and still nothing. I’m so unhappy because I can’t eat my comfort foods and I was hoping to see results but I just can’t get them.

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So, I've lost 115 pounds since august 2019 and I don't know how to feel.

I'm new to posting here but have been lurking for a bit. So gonna explain my weight loss then my feelings.

I started focusing on losing weight around August 2019 I was 350lbs when i cut out 99% of sugar drinks to only water. Then a month later I started focusing a lot more on the calorie intake, I started buying premade meals of around ~400 calories eating 3 a day most of the time and sometimes 4 but never over that. (I found for myself canned soups and such were very helpful having low calorie counts and my brain still thought I ate a full meal I assume from the amount of water in them). I found that distracting myself with activities that I have to put my full attention on helped a lot too like a game with friends where you have no breaks and can't leave to get food (Out of sight-out of mind and out of mind-out of mind). So now I'm down to my current weight of 235lbs with my goal at 180. I kinda wish I took pictures before I started to do progress pics but I hated my body and taking pictures.

Anyway now that I talked about how I lost the weight my general feelings now and that I'm feeling different from what others have said and talked about. I DON'T FEEL BETTER AT ALL. I still feel the same and it worries me, I see all these posts about people who lost weight feeling lighter or more attractive and stuff seeing it in the mirror and feeling better. I don't at all, I know I lost weight from the scale and my old jeans are too big now but my body doesn't feel it and I can't see it myself. Other people tell me I've lost weight but I feel the same it's like nothing has changed. To me my body has always looked the same I still feel like I haven't lost any weight. I do still need to lose more to get to my goal weight of 180 (Adult male, 6'0, 22 years old). I don't know if then I will feel better or if my head is just messed up thinking I always feel the same weight wise. Maybe I over glorified what it would be like.

How many of y'all had/have the same feelings as me? does it get better? Should I be looking at more mental help?

TLDR: lost 115 lbs still feel the same

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Feels like you’re in a time loop, lol

Is it just me or do y’all ever feel like you’re stuck in a perpetual time loop during certain parts of weight loss? I’ve been close to 300lbs before, cut down a significant amount of it & have been continuously losing, but I’ll get to points where it’s like I keep doing the same self-hindering behavior that is cyclical.

I think what did it for me was there was a weekend where I ate whatever the hell I wanted to & said, “Alright, next weekend I’m not doing this again” & then next weekend came & I’ll be damned if I didn’t do the exact same thing. Monday-Friday, on point, but AS SOON AS Saturday came, I got to business as usual 😭

I know it’s about self-control, discipline, setting yourself up for success etc. etc., but it’s like come on man, is it Groundhog Day or something lol

TLDR; Old habits die hard lol

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Venting: lockdown fatigue, knee injury and just generally feeling blah (but there is NSV too)

TLDR: some obstacles are making me hopeless until the end of winter, gaining weight back, but optimistic for spring

Hey everyone, I hope everyone is staying safe and I'm glad for everyone making progress during these times. I have been feeling sluggish lately.. and even feeling like I might give up until spring when lockdown ends. So I decided to make a post here just to feel like a part of this community. I'll appreciate to hear that maybe I'm not alone in this, or some encouragement, but it's fine, just venting.

Short summary of my journey: started last May, was going great until December 25th lockdown, lifting and running, counting cals, it was perfect. My motto was consistency over intensity. F24 5'2 SW186 LW157 CW-not measuring to avoid disappointment but definitely not back to my highest. I was trying to maintain since lockdown started, because personally for me as a short sedentary female there is no way to progress in this situation.

I start with the big NSV:

• Looks like I broke my binge eating habit chain. Before, I used to... well you probably know what binge eating is and how it goes with uncontrollable urge to eat everything on your way. Before I used to order takeaway and also go to a store and bring whatever I feel like eating, or eat everything I got at home. Somewhere in autumn I started feeling like that much food is not fitting in my stomach anymore, and started buying less food during those binge sessions. And now I am only craving a single specific taste, getting that food item, consuming a package or portion of it and boom the urge is satisfied! In conclusion, CICO and weight loss may actually indirectly break binge eating habit for some people.

What went wrong:

• There is some slight pain in my knee since mid-january, it isn't swollen, no sharp pain, no bruise or redness, no pain under pressure, in general - it wasn't feeling serious, very mild. At first I thought maybe it's something minor, will pass in a week or two if I stop running. I didn't want to go to any medical observation, since it's lockdown here and the situation with covid was serious. So I stopped running, started walking, but the slight pain didn't go away so I decided to stop the walks and give it total rest for a while. The pain stopped but came back when I went for a walk after 2 weeks. (I am talking to a medical practice about it now)
• As a result of decreasing general movement like walks and exercising, I have become completely sedentary = very little caloric expense compared to before. I held on to my dicsipline and motivation for January as much as I could. Lockdown predictions were grim and I started to get hopeless about gyms and any movement, and everything restrictions take away from us. Don't get me wrong, I know it is totally possible to lose weight without exercising, but I'm an exercise addict and my mood and diet majorly depends on it. I live in student halls alone in a small room, not perfect situation to get stuck in during lockdown = more stress.
• I feel socially and physically deprived and hopeless, and now I don't want to feel restricted of food either. Like there should be something that I can have while everything else is so limited. I am practicing other hobbies too along with my studies, of course. But I feel like there is no way I can follow a caloric restriction right now until spring comes and lockdown starts easing.

But still, I feel like I want to eat something different, not sure what and I'm overeating a lot more often. I definitely gained weight but don't want to step on a scale until I undo some of the damage. I am having 3-4 1200 cal days followed by a 3000 cal day (healthy eating all day but then ordering pizza for dinner, no binge). Add zero movement to that and this weird streak is slowly but surely increasing my weight!

I just feel like giving up calorie counting until March but I know weight gain will definitely impact me in many negative ways, like looking less attractive for myself. Also lockdown and some discouragement cannot be a reason to let go of my 8 month progress... I barely open this reddit anymore, because seeing everyone having access to gyms and exercising, making progress is discouraging me, while i'm totally happy for everyone.

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4 pounds lost in a week, or is my scale just inaccurate?

(22F, 5’7”)

Hey all, so Monday (the 1st) I decided to start running every morning for 30 minutes and started counting my calories again. I eat 1500 calories every day and have only been drinking water and coffee. I stopped dieting and exercising for about a month before I decided on Monday to get back on my weight loss journey. I weighed myself this morning and the scale said I weigh 181. Monday I started at 185. Is it possible since I’ve just started up again that I’m rapidly losing pounds or is my scale just inaccurate? Or maybe it’s just about water retention or something like that. I know losing 1-2 pounds a week is normal but I’ve also heard that you can lose more when you first start dieting and exercising. I never ran before now; I only did cardio at the gym (stationary bike, elliptical, stair climber) but since the gym closed I stopped working out. I’ve found in the past that running is the fastest way that I’ve lost weight.

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