Sunday, January 2, 2022

Issues with Nausea? (Dealing with ED)

So I’ve posted before that as part of my weight loss journey I’ve come to realize I have an ED, Binge Eating disorder. And I am getting much better at managing it.

But as I get better at managing it I’m noticing a bigger issue. During times I would normally have binged (breakfast as cereal was a trigger food, gaming as snacks were an issue, and after 8pm) I find myself fighting horrible nausea. I can’t seem to shake it even with medicine.

Any tips?

Extra info: No I’m not working with a nutritionist due to limitations as so far I can’t get my doc to recommend one. I’m stuck with the notoriously crappy medical care of the VA at this time. My ED is set diagnosed because again, VA. (Veteran’s Affairs). So I’m on my own there. But so far in spite of this I have successfully kept from fully binging for a couple months now. (Yes I’m sure it’s BED, I can list out what my binges look like but I’d prefer not to due to embarrassment).

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Women with periods: track your cycle alongside your weight

I wish I’d known this when I started - it took a few months for me to notice a pattern while I was losing 50lb last year.

Everyone’s pattern is different, but your menstrual cycle is likely to affect your scale weight due to water retention. It can be disheartening to see the scale readings go up when you know you’re in a calorie deficit, but once you know your own pattern, you can make peace with it.

Lots of weight loss research studied men and for years people thought women were the same but smaller. We’re not, as our hormones change throughout the month and these can make you retain water.

Your cycle has phases: your period, the follicular phase, ovulation, and the luteal phase. It’s worth looking up what James Smith and Lyle McDonald have to say on female fat loss in relation to hormones.

My pattern is unusual: I stall when my period starts, then gradually gain 2-3lb, peaking at ovulation. For the last two weeks I experience a “whoosh” where my month’s weight loss is revealed. Then it all begins again. Many women experience the opposite, stalling/gaining in the luteal phase.

Here’s my graph from the last year where you can see every cycle as a hump! https://imgur.com/a/kIDXevR

I weigh daily and also track on the Happy Scale app (Libra on Android) so I can see a moving average. Weekly weighing doesn’t work for me due to the fluctuations - I could just be spot-checking a “high” day and I like to gather all the data I can.

Note when your period starts and also retrospectively note the middle of your cycle as this is likely to be ovulation. It may not work if you take birth control.

I hope this helps someone and stops you giving up in frustration!

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Maintaining Significant Weight Loss (Nearly 100 lbs after nearly 20 years)

Losing weight is extremely hard, but many people do it. What's even harder is keeping the weight off. Most studies suggest that, within a few years, almost everyone who lost weight has gained it back.

I am one of the very few who hasn't. This year is the 18th year since I began my weight loss journey. I'm still down 90 lbs from my heaviest weight. There's been periods where I've put some of the weight back on, and periods where I got even thinner, but I've always maintained most of my weight loss.

Here are some thoughts I have that I hope are useful to others.

Diet is far more important than exercise, but exercise is really important and you need to learn to love it -- not just tolerate it, or do it as a chore. The easiest way I've learned to do this is to pair exercise with something else that you find enjoyable/valuable. Certain kinds of yoga, for example, pair exercise with spirituality. Weight lifting where you are getting stronger and putting up more and more weight on a regular basis pairs exercise with self improvement and achieving goals (sadly, this ends after a few years). Team sports can make exercise into a fun social event (if that's your thing -- it's not mine, but for some people it is). There are so many examples and ways to do this. For years, I had a solid group of gym friends and so it was like a big hangout. Whatever way you go, just know that forcing yourself to do something you hate (take a boring jog for 30-minutes three times a week, whatever) is not sustainable.

Weight loss is possible through changing your daily habits, but long-term weight loss is only possible through systemic life changes. What do I mean by that? Well, if you have a job that's stressing you out and taking all your time so it's almost impossible to cook healthy meals, you may be able to deal with that for a few months or a year or whatever. But you aren't going to be able to deal with it for years and years and years. There will come a day when you will have to choose between something like your job and your weight. Or it could be a relationship or a group of friends. Or maybe even some internal demons you are afraid to address. This will be unique to every person and require a lot of introspection, but I'm convinced that everyone who has serious weight problems, also has serious challenges in their life that are bigger than just making smart choices about what they eat. Try to figure out what these are, and address them. You may find that this much harder than sticking to a diet.

Has anyone else here maintained significant weight loss for a few years (or more)? If so, what worked for you?

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My Weight Loss (and gain) journey and what I did throughout it.

I will try to keep this brief and would love to answer questions for more detail in the comments. My family and friends have encouraged me to share this so this is not of my own volition but I will try to do it justice nonetheless. What I did I’ll be briefly described but questions and

TLDR: I struggled with obesity, anorexia, exercise bulimia (anorexia athletica), and body dysmorphia. I have finally gotten to a healthy point and am looking forward to the future. I started at 285lbs (5’7”) and have gone down to 156lbs (5’11” which is my current height), up to 240lbs, and now am comfortable at 194. My extreme methods of gaining results has led me to be knowledgeable as to what I believe to be the best approach to living a healthy lifestyle

I was a victim of childhood obesity that lasted a bit longer than early childhood. I was very involved in sports but my eating habits caused me to be a bit on the very heavy side. Going into high school I was forced to quit football due to an excessive amount of concussions and that led me to going from 246lbs (5’7”) in 8th grade to topping out at 285lbs (5’7” tall) before the end of my first semester of high school. My dad played left guard until his sophomore year of college so he was unable to see much issue with me being obese cause he was 320lbs going into college at my same height so my situation was unfortunate to say the least. I was very active through my early life through soccer, baseball, swimming, hockey, football, etc. but tended to eat more than I should. Following middle school, I was kicked out of football for having too many head injuries and decided to do performing arts to replace it. This paired with my eating habits led me to gain 40lbs my freshman year. This resulted in me doing the “Tom Segura” diet of hating myself as motivation to lose weight. I developed body dysmorphia which led me down the path of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and athletica). Through the remainder of my next 3 semesters these disorders brought me down to 146lbs at 5’11. A comment from a friend led me to change my ways to pursue weightlifting and proper health management. Since then I have bulked to 175lbs, cut to 160lbs, bulked to 245lbs, and cut to 194 (current). While my eating disorder has stayed consistent I have reached a point where I know it’s time for a change. This post serves as my promise to myself to be stronger than them. Pictures with time stamps will be included below and I will include some minor (but important) details below the pictures. Thanks for reading.

SFW (not shirtless): https://imgur.com/a/LbXaela

NSFW (shirtless and/or pants are low): https://imgur.com/a/pRE3UFh

Starting Strategy (Do not do this)

I will briefly touch on what I did initially then elaborate on the changes I made to make it actually viable Diet: My diet consisted of 800 calories a day of anything I could eat to satiate my hunger or satisfy my cravings. -Breakfast: Black coffee, multivitamin, water -Lunch: 1 low-fat Pop tart from the vending machine and a small Granny Smith apple which was 180 calories. -Snack: Convenience store food adding up to 300-400 calories. This was only on days where I would train with a personal trainer and I would allow myself 1200 calories total for the day. -Dinner: Anything I could eat that would keep me below my calorie goal. Usually it was a Qdoba bowl with half rice half beans and chicken. Around 10 diet sodas would be had through the day minimum. This diet was developed because someone told me of the Twinkie diet and I implemented it for my own use. Exercise: -Elliptical: 4 hours every day -Weight training 2x per week

Improved Weight Loss Strategy: What I changed was I educated myself on macronutrients and learned to cook. I also began focusing on building muscle in order to raise my resting metabolic rate in order to eat more because my sleep was atrocious, I was always cold, and I honestly just enjoy food. Diet: -Breakfast: 400cals high protein and high fat. Usually eggs and bacon with a fruit or piece of toast and black coffee/water -Lunch: ~weekdays I got a a Qdoba bowl of half rice, black beans, chicken, grilled veggies, and salsa ~weekends were a sandwhich with turkey, lettuce, and light cheese -Dinner: High protein and carb meal of my choice. These were home cooked usually

Exercise: Weight training with a personal trainer 3x per week. These were powerlifting focused since that was his specialty.

After finally fixing my approach I educated myself on diet, sleep, and exercise optimization. I became much more focused on macronutrients, rest and recovery periods, and circadian rhythms for getting the most out of the time I was spending. Since then I have streamlined my approach and simply try to get as much protein in my diet, rest for my body, and sleep as I can as my life becomes more complex as I get older. My current strategy is much easier and has shown the best results. Train with a good split with however many days I have to train in a week, sleep as much as possible, and watch what I eat so I don’t eat in excess. I’ve found the best approach for getting results is simply being cognizant of what can happen when you aren’t on top of your health.

Long story short… I have been to every extreme in my journey through weight loss and management. My main piece of advice for all those wishing to become healthy is to simply know what it takes. It doesn’t make it easier to make the necessary steps, but it sure does guarantee success. Success eventually with time and effort as well as success down the road. I’m by no means an expert, but I think my experience makes me qualified to speak on that. Thank you for reading.

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Birthday weight loss

39F. 5'2". Work in a supermarket so on my feet all day, generally get around 16000 steps in a day when I'm working (5 days a week)

13 weeks 6 days till my 40th. Am currently 10st 11 lb (151lb) and my end goal is under 9st (126lb); would like to get under 10st (140lb) by my birthday, so this is my accountability post. Can definately lose 12 lb in 14 weeks!

Gonna try an IF paleo approach, have a few niggling aches that I hope these will help clear up as well as potential weight loss.

Any other tips to help? TIA.

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Saturday, January 1, 2022

Advice for new people that isn't talked about much. No, cardio is not the answer to losing weight.

If you are starting the weight loss journey, then good for you. Its one of the best choices you will ever make. That said, here are some less talked about tips.

Don't just do cardio, do strength training too. Cardio works well when you can put a serious amount of time into it every day. I'm talking over an hour a day just on cardio alone, and really giving it your all. You see, cardio burns calories well, but as soon as you stop so does the calorie burning.

On the other hand, strength training burns calories as well, albeit not as much as cardio. The kicker? When you workout to build muscle you keep burning calories after you are done lifting due to the muscle fatigue and repair process. Even better, in increases the calories you burn while sleeping because that is when your muscle repairs and grows.

The best part about strength training is that most people find it infinitely more fun than just doing cardio. Being able to track how much you lift and over time see how much stronger you are is very rewarding.

Another tip is try to stay motivated by watching fitness YouTube videos. People like Jeff Nippard, Sean Nalewanyj, Brian Shaw, Larry Wheels, and so many more offer great content with vital information on weight loss and muscle building all while being entertaining.

Finally, yes you can build muscle while on a calorie deficit. I personally have lost 50lbs in 6 months while doing solely weight training 4 days a week. I've seen significant strength growth all the while as well.

All this said, I am not saying this is the only way to lose weight, or that cardio doesn't work. My point is that this is a very viable way to get excited about going to the gym and losing weight.

Good luck everyone!

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What are some fun ways to track weight-loss over time?

Hello! I was recently over on r/CICO, and came across someone who had been tracking their weight loss journey by crocheting a scarf. Has anyone done anything similar, achievement or project wise, as a way to track weight-loss? I feel like the start of a new year is perfect time to start something like this. Doesn't even have to be something like crocheting, maybe just a white board of sorts. Just anything that'll be fun, and when I reach my goal weight, I'll also have completed something I can see and be proud of. Like a little reminder of the hard work, or to not go back to old habits. I'm looking for something relatively on the cheaper side, but I just want to see what others have done. Thank you:))

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