After two years of on-and-off calorie counting I think I now have an answer and now I need your help

5’4”F

Six years ago, I lost 15lbs (from 155>140lbs) through CICO alone. I had to stop my 4x/week running for that year and it proved to me that weight loss is done in the kitchen, not at the gym.

Over the last two years, my weight slowly crept back up. I had gone back to 155-160 in four years and then very suddenly betwen January to April 2022, I went from 165 to 180. Since April, I would count calories OBSESSIVELY. I weighed everything that went into my mouth, I was relentless about measuring even the oil I cooked with and oil that a piece of bread may have soaked up on my plate. I wanted to do it right. I got myself a smart watch to make sure I was still moving as much (if not more) than before. But after three months of this work, the scale would not budge below 178.

I went to five different doctors who told me I was not doing CICO right and recommended everything I learned from this sub and was doing anyway. I felt disheartened and hopeless, until I finally met a doctor who started taking me seriously and ordered All The Tests to see if anything was wrong with me.

The answer: insulin resistance. It always flew under the radar because my fasted glucose levels were always within normal range, if a bit on the high end of the range. But it explains so much why I suddenly gained so much weight so quickly without my diet changing, and why my belly now carries most of the weight when I used to gain around the hips.

I am not sure yet what this means for my diet besides cutting way down on sugar (I started three days ago), I’ll find that out later this week on my consult. (Although my doctor is very against me monitoring my food consumption so tightly.) A personal trainer friend started helping me learn how to do weight training this week, which I intend to do regularly now that I live literally 10 yards from my gym. I walk my dog 3-5 miles daily so I’m not worried about cardio being a problem.

For those who have come from similar situations I’d love to hear your stories.

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Need help with a meal and weight loss plan!

(I’m in the UK) I lost weight in the past with a strict VLCD plan (Exante) but I fell off the wagon over covid and put the weight back on and WAY more. I’m the heaviest, unhealthiest and unhappiest I’ve ever been and I need a routine to follow to the t and stick to. However would like to have more of a health and fitness focus this time as I’m aware that the VLCD just isn’t sustainable.

Was considering buying the Six Pack Revolution 75 day plan but it’s expensive and doesn’t start for a few weeks. Does anyone have any good beginner (fitness level = zero) plans or programs that tell you exactly what to eat and do, meal prep, grocery lists, exercises etc? I know I could work out my own but I feel like I need a few weeks done for me to give me a kick start in the right direction.

Thanks!

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Gave myself a reminder today not to be so hard on myself…

Height: 5’1” Highest weight (and starting weight): 312 lbs Current weight: 287 lbs

It’s been a hard year. I found out early in the year that my liver enzymes were elevated, and an ultrasound ultimately gave confirmation that I have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It was a panic.

I saw a gastroenterologist, weighed in at 306 lbs at that time. He recommended 10% weight loss to help with NAFLD. Gained 6 lbs more to end up at my highest weight yet, 312 lbs. This was in May. I’ve struggled. I’ve worked hard, I “fell back” a time or two.

I weighed myself this morning, just to see what was up, for lack of better phrasing. 287 lbs. Good. That’s down from last time I weighed. I thought, “could be better, but this is good.”

Now, I log on MyFitnessPal. I realized I hadn’t updated my weight in a bit, so I went in to do that. But I scrolled back through the log. May 2022–312 lbs. August 2022–287 lbs.

In 3 months, I’ve lost 25 pounds. In 3 months, I’ve had “slip ups”… I’ve still lost 25 pounds. I’m 11 pounds away from the goal my doctor wants me to reach by December. (It’s not my final goal, but I figure it’s a good jumping off point). But 25 pounds..

I’m 25 pounds away from something I thought, something I hoped I’d never see, something I don’t think and I hope I won’t ever see again. Away from a mindset and a level of fear I hope I don’t have to experience again.

This morning, I thought “it could be better.” Right now, I’m thinking, I’ve never done this before, I’ve never showed up for myself like this before, I’ve never felt so AT PEACE about this journey before. For years, trying weight loss felt like torture. Now, somehow, it feels like the ultimate form of self-care, and it feels peaceful.

If you read all this mumbo jumbo, thank you. I don’t have many people I’m comfortable expressing these thoughts to or talking about my weight loss with, not because of them but because once I say things about it to those people, I tend to get in my own head about it, and that’s my own problem, I think. But I wanted to get this out. I wanted someone, somewhere, to know that I’m doing this, I’m proud of myself, and I feel hopeful about where I’m going.

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My weight loss motto: Count calories, and make your calories count.

I'm still relatively new to my current weight loss journey, but I've developed a philosophy that seems to be working really well for me:

Count calories, and make your calories count.

I've come to realize that when I used to binge on unhealthy foods that were sugary, crunchy, or whatever, I wasn't eating them for nourishment, I was eating them for entertainment. I was eating cookies because eating the cookies felt good and tasted good. I'd still feel like eating when I finished the box of cookies, so I'd move on to entire loaves of bread, which also felt good to eat. The fact that I still felt like eating after consuming all this stuff says something about how nourishing it actually was. I was eating for entertainment, eating for sport. The calories I ate were mostly empty and devoid of nutrition.

I'm now taking the approach that what I eat has to be nourishing and satisfying in a nutritional sense, and it's changed my view about food. I know when I'm actually hungry now, as opposed to just craving food. I've often heard "You aren't hungry unless you're hungry enough to eat an apple or broccoli." So true. I know that if I eat a cookie, I'll still be hungry after eating that cookie, but if I eat an apple, or a piece of cheese, or a hard-cooked egg, or veggies and hummus, I will actually be satisfied. Rather than eating fast food, which again, felt good and comforting to eat, I make a stir-fry with at least 2 cups of veggies, or a piece of fish/chicken/pork with lots of veg on the side. I'm hoping that I stay with this approach and avoid binge eating from here on in.

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How do I stay motivated to maintain my weight?

Hi everyone!

16 months ago I was 275lbs. I’ve lost 115 lbs. I have 5 lbs left to go. Weight loss has motivated me and kept me going over the last 1.5 years. I look forward to exercise and nutrition because I’m moving towards a goal. With only 5 lbs left to go, I’m concerned the excitement will be gone once I am maintaining my weight.

Every 3 months I take a diet break and try to eat at maintenance calories but I end up overeating. It gets boring for me if I don’t feel like I’m making progress.

I lift weights, walk, and do HIIT twice a week.

Are there any tips or strategies to keep maintaining my weight more exciting?

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My Journey how did i get so big?

HMM where do I start. In 2014 after being sidelined from work because of ultra venous ulcers, morbid obesity, sleep apnea and pretty much just existing in life at 789 pounds. My life consisted of taking my oldest child to practice having to show up early for games to get a handicapped spot just to be able to walk without collapsing from shortness of. breath ordering size 72 pants and 10x polos because its all thats available you kind of get the picture get the picture.

Fast forward to 2022 the good news is Im alive. For the past two years my weight has stayed between 380 and 400 pounds. I think when you get big you stop seeing yourself in the mirror (heck my stomach hung down so much from the bathroom vanity mirrors point of view at some point my stomach stoped getting rounder and fell down.

In 2017 I had drastic change in appetite. i wish I could say I counted calories,tried a fad diet, hit the gym. I did none of those things in fact when i wanted Soda I have it when I want chocolate or sweets I indulge.

What Ive learned is this. Being obese is a prison. Physically it becomes near impossible to do anything. This isn’t about that…. Im speaking its a mental isolation. Its funny there is times I will wake up at night or in the morning and start to do that long push to sit up and I will have to pause and go what the heck Im not pushing 800 pounds this is easier and I sit up easier. My weight loss came by a few primary methods one I stopped eating when I was bored. Which was probably the biggest. Two I noticed the bigger I got I would ask people for help simple tasks like “hey can you hand me that”. Thirdly I didnt pay attention to my weight or a scale. I noticed each day I just felt a little better.

WILL CONTINUE LATER

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He just doesn’t get it

Feeling very frustrated right now. I’ve had a summer of bad eating where I gained back 5 of the 10 lbs I’ve lost since last year. The bad eating habits were bc of my summer internship and since that’s over now, I’ve been trying to get back on track. But I’ve been staying at other people’s houses which has affected the amount of control I have on the foods around me and the past two days especially have just been not great for good habits.

I expressed this to my partner. I’ve talked to him about my weight loss journey before but usually by the time I talk to him about it, I’ve already developed a plan. But I was just feeling so bummed that I couldn’t think of a plan and wanted some help thinking of a goal. An easy short term goal that I’d be very likely to be successful at so that I could have a win.

And then he suggested buying a food from my “no buy” list to keep in the house and just not open to work on self control. And idk generally how this suggestion would be viewed, but frankly it’s an idiotic suggestion based on all the things I’ve talked to him about.

I agree that having a no buy list is not a great long term solution. But I’ve talked to him in the past and explained that for my habits right now, keeping certain foods in the house is not setting me up for success. Long term, I’d like to be able to keep anything in the house, but I’m not there yet.

So in what world is buying something from the list an easy short term goal that I’m likely to be successful with? So I flipped out a bit bc it was just such a dumb suggestion, but then I hurt his feelings (and he was trying to help) but was he really trying to help? I understand that different people are different. He’s the type of person who can buy Nutella, keep it in front of him, and just not eat it. He has a “just do it” mentality. And that’s fine for him. But we have talked repeatedly about how that’s not me. And so I feel like he has just ignored or discredited everything I’ve ever said to him about my eating habits because how could he possibly have thought this was a good idea for me?

Am I being unfair? Am I just lashing out bc I know that I do lack self control with food? I don’t know, I just know that I’m so frustrated and I feel like I can’t go to him for help bc it was just such an unhelpful suggestion.

What do I do? I’m sad and frustrated and I know I can do better but there’s also this layer of communicating with my partner.

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