Tips for practically scaling big portions

Hi,

Over the past ~6 years I've put on roughly 40kg - largely due to life stress and a lack of self-care. I'm looking to start my weight loss journey and understand that I need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight. My issue is this: I've been eating so poorly for so long, and my portion sizes throughout the day are significantly more than where they should be.

Does anyone have any practical tips on how to deal with this? Do I just go in hard and restrict my portion sizes heavily to meet the calorie count per day, or should I be looking to scale down over time to healthier portion sizes? If so, does anyone have any advice on a method that worked for them or have any research that I could read around methods? I've struggled (and continue to) with binge eating and my concern around heavy restrictions is that it's likely to result in even harder binging, which worries me greatly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/x0zdwy/tips_for_practically_scaling_big_portions/

Is OMAD safe?

Because it's the only thing working for me.

I tried so hard to go against my body's natural cues and cravings and struggled with weight loss for so long, that I practically completely stopped trying to lose weight.

It was a total nightmare - I, a mostly sedentary 5'2" woman, needed to eat 1200 calories to lose weight and everyone and their mother kept telling me to eat 3 meals a day. Well, 400 calorie meals were so depressing to me, and trying to make the food I enjoyed low-cal was sucking the life out of me.

Let's get one thing straight - I love food, but that doesn't mean I love just what's considered unhealthy food. What excites me most of the time isn't deep fried chicken, it's salads with ingredients like high quality olive oil and good parmesan (not that there's anything wrong with deep fried chicken - yum!).

My point is, what always frustrated me is that I felt like I have to cut back on things that are good for me or things I eat in moderation anyway, just so I don't go over those 1200 calories. I hated stressing over how many pecan nuts I had put in my salad, or measuring my olive oil (I'm a Mediterranean girl, so that's basically a crime). I hated reading "Just cut back on coke!" online, when I don't drink coke to begin with. No, I was just a short woman who couldn't have nice things.

Until I allowed myself to not have breakfast. I'm always nauseous in the morning anyway, and coffee and fresh lemon/orange juice keep me feeling full for up to 5 hours after waking up. When lunch came, I allowed myself to eat what I want, dessert included. No, I don't want that low-cal thing pretending to be an ice-cream, I want a Magnum Caramel Gold, thank you very much!

After I allowed myself to really eat as much as I needed to and eat food I actually enjoy, I realised that I stay full for a long time. Even if I had a craving in the evening, it wasn't because I was actually hungry, and when it was, I allowed myself a small snack (again, something I enjoy).

I am losing weight like I've never had before (not to brag). It's so much easier for me mentally to eat just one meal a day (and have a few drinks/snacks), than to obsess over calories. It just feels so much more natural to eat this way, instead of dividing meals into 3 just for the sake of having breakfast, lunch and dinner. I also feel like I found a way to cheat the system, and to be who I always was - a foodie.

So, after this long-ass post (sorry), I wanna ask you if eating like this is safe? Can I do it for a longer period of time? What has your experience with OMAD been like?

I really appreciate your insight!

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Finally hit the big 50 in pounds lost after peaking at 302lbs in late 2020/early 2021.

The before/after, mostly the same outfit in both worn the same way

It's surely a milestone, but far from over yet! There was a lot of stalling on the way due to my mental health fluctuating, and my eating habits and current mental state are very closely connected.

I have PCOS which I've been told time and time again makes weight loss that much harder, but what got me to this point was frequent walking of 1-3 miles and intermittent fasting (calorie intake fluctuating depending on my activity/energy).

I'm already seeing loose skin on my stomach and thighs which admittedly scares me a lil bit because I still have like another 120 to lose. But I'm trying not to let that stop me because already I feel insanely better, and I'm excited to see how much better I become.

It's weird because in the mirror I feel the same as I did at my highest, but the photos are what really tell the story. I'm glad I took plenty of befores too because back then I was so ashamed of ever having photos taken of me.

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Follow up: I wasn’t getting enough protein or veg (shocker) 🙄

Soooo this probably won’t come as a shock to most of you but I posted earlier about some side effects of my fast weight loss (hair loss, fatigue, bad skin, poor sleep quality, despite enough hours etc.) and I did a deep dive, writing down all of the foods I like and how much protein and calories are in a serving (and weighing out with a food scale what a serving looks like).

… Turns out I wasn’t getting enough protein or nutrients. Despite supplementing with vitamins (which is maybe the reason it took me so long to notice). Obviously I was still in a deficit since I was losing weight, but I really think the cut was too deep considering how few nutrients I was getting and how much I was walking (6 miles, 15,000 steps daily without fail). I am quite overweight so I figured I would be fine because my body could just run off the extra fat if I was starving, right? (Wrong).

I can’t even tell you how much protein I was getting but it wasn’t anywhere close to 100g a day. I was wasting my calories on junk food. No wonder I felt like shit.

Conversely I was terrified of overdoing it on healthy things like nuts and meat so I would keep my portions of THOSE things tiny (like not even half a serving size). My “snack” would be a single walnut and two cashews. My “protein” would be a slice of turkey (the thin kind from the Oscar Meyer pack) which isn’t even 2 oz. But then that inevitably would lead to me eating 2 cookies later instead of 1. There goes my calories for the day! Might as well skip breakfast. And the cycle continued. I would basically live on caffeine and sugar.

Thank you for correcting me and teaching me the low-calorie protein hacks. 🙏🏼 hoping the next check in will have better news.

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Starting to feel "burnt out" after long term weight loss

It's not even that I'm feeling hungry or that the things I'm eating aren't nice, I think I'm just tired of thinking about food so much. I even tried just eating closer to maintenance for the last 2-3 weeks but I still feel the same mentally. I feel more like it's the lack of ability to be carefree about what I eat that's starting to wear on me a bit.

I also don't experience much of the negative physical symptoms that I did at my starting weight, so I guess my remaining weight loss has started to feel a lot less 'urgent' since I don't need it as much. The rest really is honestly more for looks, but I struggle to find the motivation to lose the last kgs to get comfortably within 'normal weight' range (which is my long term goal).

Idk, at this point I don't really feel like it's mentally sustainable for me to try and lose more than maybe 1 kg every month or two or something. I'm just tired. For anyone else who has been doing this for more than just a few months: do you have any advice? Because I'm really starting to struggle. (it's been around 4-5 months for me so far for reference)

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I am overweight.... FINALLY

29m, 6'2". SW:317 CW:224 GW:200

Title says it all, I am finally overweight. I've lost 93 pounds.... That's crazy to say, I never thought I'd actually be here making a post.

I started my journey about a year and a half ago, I hated what I saw in the mirror. There has been may ups and downs, wanting to quit, feeling unmotivated and everything else in between. The majority of my weight loss so far has come from counting calories and IF, I rarely hit the gym. At this stage I feel like incorporating the gym into my routine a few times a week will help me break through and get to my goal weight while also gaining some muscle and beginning to tone my body a bit.

If you are struggling, I believe in you. I know it's hard and you want to quit sometimes. You can do this. Stay strong.

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Can you put in the comments some non scale victories to motivate me please?

I’m starting my weight loss journey in September and I’m doing it again. I often get caught up on how the scale doesn’t budge and get discouraged.I guess I’m looking for things like how losing weight has made your social life better or improved your self esteem.Maybe your back doesn’t hurt as much or you can sleep better.anything even if you think it’s small would be very helpful for me to hear.Thanks🥰

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