Well bla-de-da-da! What's making your blood boil? What's under your skin? What's making you see red? What's up in your craw? Let's hear your weight loss related rants!
The rant post is a /u/bladedada production.
Please consider saving your next rant for this weekly thread every Tuesday.
At 175lbs I'm officially bigger than I've ever been. I've lost weight in the past using the CICO method. Man, I don't know how I did it, looking back. It was end of 2017 and in 1.5 years I was skinner than I've ever been.
But then I had a massive anxiety attack due to some personal circumstances. Someone very close to me died suddenly and tragically. And the world went Topsy turvy in 2020. Needless to say I turned to food to cope.
I don't know, it could have been because I showed her a video of a family member of mine who is trying to be a budding influencer. She looks like a doll. Unlike me whose short and fat she's tall and skinny. But my mom has been picking on me more than usual. At every body part.
And then finally let night she said if I don't start losing weight now I'll never be able to do it. I'll get to the point of no return. Soon I'm getting a fat bump on my back. Soon I'll never be able to run back and lose weight.
The thing is, I know I've lost weight in the past. I want to this time, but because of my health problems it's hard to exercise right now. And because of my emotions and anxieties and all the trauma from the past few years it's hard for me to let go of eating as a coping method.
I just hate being compared to others but most importantly I hate feeling helpless. And now I'm about to embark on a brand new path in my life and I'm just scared I won't be able to handle the stress and will turn to food.
Is there really a time when it's too late for someone? And how can I get started on my weight loss journey when there's so much to deal with?
I've seen a lot of posts in this sub about how daily habits are the key to weight loss and how it isn't all about genetics and you are right. But recently I've read up on how genetics can make someone more prone to obesity, and it's really helped me understand my brain and body when it comes to food behaviours and weight loss and I thought it was worth sharing here.
(Disclaimer: I'm just a person reading academic papers and trying to wrap my head around them. There are lots of people out there that have a much better understanding than me and I will happily be corrected on any mistakes.)
The main gene out there that's been clearly linked to obesity is the FTO gene. You get two copies - one from each of your parents - and I recently found out that both of mine put me at a high-risk for obesity (thanks mum and dad!).
I'm not obese. I have a BMI that sits about 25 ish (borderline overweight) but I do feel like I'm constantly counting calories and fighting to keep it there. I wanted to find out what this FTO gene is about and if it means that I am genetically destined to become obese one day.
I found out that currently... they don't know. Scientists aren't sure what about this gene makes people, on average, 3kg heavier and 1.67 times more likely to become obese. But they have some useful ideas and one in particular resonated with me.
People with both copies of the high risk FTO gene have higher ghrelin levels, even after they have finished a meal. Ghrelin is the thing that makes you hungry, so effectively, they need to overeat to feel full. Also, they find pictures of calorie dense foods more appealing after eating when others don't, and they tend towards higher fat foods when selecting from a buffet which results in consuming 100-200 calories more.
My immediate reaction was that this gene sucks and that I can never have that happy full feeling after a meal. But now knowing that, it's a lot easier to turn down snacks or desserts after a meal that I used to reach for to "feel full" when I know that "feeling full" really means overeating. I've had a lot easier time sticking to my calorie goal because of it. I've also switched out some high fat and high sugar foods and added in more protein and that definitely helps.
Genetics is important, but there are plenty of obese people that don't have the high risk FTO gene and plenty of healthy weight people that do. It's not the be all, end all, and daily healthy habits and exercise are the biggest determinants of weight. But for me, it's helped me be more conscious of how my body is and how it works.
Thanks to anyone who has read this far, and if you are interested, I found this out using the CRI Genetics Ancestry + Traits DNA kit. In their database (probably has some inherent biases) ~15% of people have both high risk FTO genes, ~47% have one and ~37% have both low risk.
TLDR: Genetics impacts weight partly because your body is telling you to eat more. You don't have to listen to it.
Sources:
https://www.news-medical.net/health/Fat-Mass-and-Obesity-Associated-Gene-(FTO).aspx.aspx)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgene.2020.559138/full#B87
https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/34/3/675.short
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/90/5/1418/4598172?login=true
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/90/6/1483/4598063?login=true
My numbers: SW 270 CW 255 GW 175 (roughly, I’ll see how I feel when I’m under 200) 30F 5’9”
I’m 15 lbs lighter than when I began losing weight 3 and a half weeks ago, but I feel like I look the same. But of course I see myself in the mirror every day. So it’s hard to see the change.
So I don’t drive myself crazy taking selfies all the time and looking for minute differences, I wanna pick a goal weight for when I would take new pictures for things like my dating profile and the staff page at work. Can anyone share when they began to notice a visual difference? I’m especially annoyed with having a double chin and sort of puffy face that shows up in photos no matter the angle or lighting.
Also wondering similar things about clothes sizes (right now everything fits about the same) and ease of movement. I want to plan a time to go through old clothes to bring the too-small ones back into rotation, and probably go shopping too.
When did you start to to notice looking different, clothes being too lose, other practical or noticeable differences as a result of weight loss?
I see all these posts with people who lost 50 pounds / 100 pounds and that is great and wonderful!
However I don’t see many for people like me who are a stone/ two stone overweight. I lost 7 pounds (1/2 a stone) in three weeks. It was tough and I ate well and started running!
This is a post to encourage people that even losing 1/2 pounds a week is brilliant! This sub can be for us fat people who are slagged about being overweight and “fat” without being obese too!
I now only need to lose 14 pounds more which is really hard! For my BMI to read normal weight which has never done in 23 years, even with previous diet and working out but I will do, thanks to this sub and the people like me who I have seen achieve their weight loss goals!
I had a health checkup not too long ago after I lost 40 lbs. I'm not even finished with my weight loss journey yet but already it seems my health readings have skyrocketed. In the past,I was always diagnosed as pre-diabetic with high cholesterol,but now,none of those readings showed up. From the looks of it in fact,I'm perfectly fine. (I'm actually one of the healthiest in the family now,my readings look better than a lot of the thinner members of my family)
Its quite the pleasing accomplishment,but also rather surprising as I still have a long way to go before I'm done. anyone else have this experience?
I replied to someone's comment and that reply got surprising amount of prise so maybe it's useful on its own merit for some here.
It's very easy to fall into a trap of I fucked up a bit may as well fuck all the way. I think we have all been there. We couldn't eat healthy at lunch time so fuck it may as well make the most out of it and have extra helping of pudding and pint of beer.
I has changed for me when I started to treat weight loss/ healthy weight maintenance as any other selfcare activity.
If I was to fall asleep without brushing my teeth in the evening, I would not wake up thinking "Well I have fucked it last night may as well not bother brushing today either".
If I had too much too drink on the weekend, I would not wake up thinking "Well that is it time to chug that wine till next Friday I suppose". Nor when I start getting really drunk on a night out would I think to myself "May as well keep drinking until I pass out".
If I went to bed too late, I would not think to myself "I guess 3am is a new bed time from now on".
Every time I fuck up a bit food wise and I have a urge to fuck up all the way, I now stop sit down take couple of breaths and think "Okay so I had a bigger dinner than I have have planned for, I went over by 300 kcal, time to stop now and continue for the rest of a day like nothing happen". I no longer stop to think "well may as well have ice cream, bottle of beer and order pizza for supper" it doesn't help me and I wouldn't do it for anything else so why do it here?
As with everything little fuck ups happen, we are only human. You don't need to be perfect, you just need to be good enough. We are not exercising at olympic level here, we can be suboptimal. What is important is to snap out from those little fuck ups and just move one.
I remember reading once a story about guy who got his spine broken in car accident. He stepped on a road and car nearly hit him. Rather than stepping back. he turned around and swore at the driver. At this point second car that was driving just behind a speeding driver smashed into him and broke his spine.
His first mistake of stepping on a road didn't injure him. It was his second mistake of not stepping back but shouting that cost him his ability to walk. You can make first mistake, just don't stay there long enough to make a second or third one.
OP I was replying was eating under stress here is how I would tackle it but can be translated to anything.
If you eat when stressed recognise it. Okay you had extra helping because you felt stressed. Recognise it, recognise your stressed. That was your first mistake. Rather than letting it slide into your 2nd mistake, your course of action should be then to reassess, step back and plan for the rest of a day. You now know you are stressed and it will lead to eating more what are you going to put in place to avoid it? You can't help feeling stressed but you can help what you eat. Are you going to plan a menu for the rest of a day, so you know exactly what you will have for lunch and dinner? Are you going to pop to shop, pick up bunch of fruit and maybe carrot sticks and keep those near your desk so when you feel like snacking you can snack on those instead? You made a first mistake, don't make a second one that is all you need to do to stay on track.
