Just a tip for anyone get a rash under armpits or other areas where skin sag occurs. (Hope this is allowed).

Hi, I’ve had multiple attempts at weight loss over the last decade, and I always end up with an itchy and ugly armpit rash. The only thing that ever stops it has been a 10% benzoyl peroxide facial wash called PanOxyl. (I’ve tried anti fungals, hydrocortisone etc).

You do need to wash the areas first (like to remove antiperspirants or sweat). If using on armpits, do not shave for at least 48 hours ahead. Apply a dime sized amount or so on the end of a wet q tip or on wet paper towel to rashly area. Rub in thoroughly and let sit for a few minutes then wash off, and gently dry. Put on a shirt you don’t mind ruining after; benzoyl peroxide does discolor fabric. Do not shave if under armpit and no aluminum based deodorants until you’re clear (and dispose of old razors!). (I use Lume). Repeat the next day. I do this before bed, or after work. You should see a massive reduction in itching within a day. There will be skin folds that darken and peel; this is normal. Once you see this, only use the PanOxyl 3-4 times a week. Once cleared up, use once a week or so to keep the rash away.

I’ve gone from dark purple, angry rash under both armpits to clear within a month. I never go without this stuff now and during hot months will occasionally add it to my liquid body wash as a little extra protection for under boobs etc.

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Anyone else noticing massive boosts in their sleep schedule?

Just wondering if this is a common occurrence. I've been eating at a reasonable caloric deficit for about a month and a half, about 1700 a day as a 6'0 man. Around the one month mark, I noticed I began getting drowsy a lot earlier than I usually do.

Sleep has been a struggle for me my entire life. No matter what I tried, I'd often still be up at 4 AM trying desperately to fall asleep. Working night shifts in the past hasn't helped my case. However, I've recently found myself getting tired around 9-10 PM, and I'm usually out by midnight. I've been out of bed around 8-9 AM consistently, which feels straight up surreal to me.

I guess what I'm asking is: is it normal for CICO to improve one's sleep schedule so dramatically? I suppose it makes sense given that I'm taking in less food energy, but I'm so relieved about it that I can hardly believe it. Between this and the weight loss, tackling two lifelong issues with one stone feels too good to be true.

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NSV: Hit a plateau, got kind of depressed, stopped tracking calories, ate out more...

... then naturally got back on track and didn't gain weight during the whole ordeal!

---

This year has been a roller coaster. I lost 102 lbs since February (332=>230), moved across the country, started a new job... but about 3 months ago I suffered an open fracture in my right leg and had to get two bones fixated after a bike accident.

Despite the accident, I kept up my weight loss (still making sure I got the nutrients I needed), I was back to working full time almost immediately, and I kept up with the gym (I think literally hobbling in on a walker to make it to appointments with my trainer is now a core memory for me)

Unfortunately doing all of that, combined with the stress of the recovery started to take a toll on me. And so when I hit a plateau (which had happened before without issue), I think it was the "straw that broke the camels back", and I got pretty depressed.

The old me would have went off the deep end and started ordering Uber Eats for every meal, but this time my eating habits didn't undo anything!

I started the month at 233 and fluctuated up and down but the trend stayed just barely negative. A few days ago I naturally decided to go back into my usual deficit, today the first day I counted calories since then and I'm at 230.

---

Things that I'd say helped limit the damage:

• I stopped counting calories, but I still paid attention to what I ate. When I ordered out instead of ordering 2 large boxes of fried rice like the old days, I'd order a small box of fried rice and and something mostly protein to go with it because now I know how insanely caloric rice is even if I didn't know the exact nutrition facts of this specific rice, and I know that without protein I won't get full.

  At one point I ate McDonalds (something I've avoided as it was one of my biggest issues before): I ordered a triple hamburger with no cheese because I'd be damned if I was going to waste almost 200 calories on extra Mac Sauce and cheese for a Big Mac like I used to (I would in the old days then multiply the whole order by 3 or 4...)

  I feel like it's a basic thing that most people do, but I really never thought about what I ate deeply at all before this journey. I'd think about what I was going to eat in terms of literally thinking "what food am I going to acquire and eat" and stop at that. Now I think further: "I wanted a sandwich but I didn't eat all day, maybe today is not the day for a sandwich that's more bread than protein"

• I kept weighing myself. At this point in the game I know I didn't gain 5 lbs in a night, it's water weight, booze, and food. But the one day I overdid it at a bar and ended up downing an coffee then chowing down and gelato and tiramisu with a glass of port on the way, then weighed myself and saw that number spike and take days to return back down, was more than enough to remind me that: yes, my actions have consequences that last more than an evening!

Things that would have made this easier:

• Exercise. I paused my visits to my trainer thinking it'd be temporary since I was starting to feel overwhelmed by that and physical therapy. And by itself that wouldn't be the end of the world. But that caused me to start spending days at a time indoors without any activity. And that started a cycle where the longer that went by, the more guilty I'd feel about not going, and the more guilty I felt the more I'd try and block exercise as a whole out of my mind and be unmotivated to start...

  Exercise hasn't helped me in terms of weight loss directly compared to caloric deficits, but indirectly it's clearly helping me cope with things, and I think it would have been easier to stay motivated through a plateau if I had kept up with my training sessions

---

Overall, I don't think it's a coincidence this happened right as I hit 100 lbs. I think I was extremely tired, and seeing myself hit that milestone got me wanting to get to enjoy the progress without the never ending "weigh every single calorie down to a squirt of ketchup" stuff weighing on me. And so I managed to do that, enjoy myself for a bit, and then when I got tired of the horizontal line on my weigh-ins I naturally went back on the path at my own pace.

The situation around this sucks, but this is a victory for me because I think it proved that when I reach my goal weight the are options other than "weigh ketchup for the rest of my life" and "go back to eating how I did when I was morbidly obese" and that's something I can see myself doing for the rest of my life. It gives me a lot of hope for the future.

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🎉 I LOST 5 POUNDS!! 🎉

I cannot believe it. I've officially lost 5 pounds. Went from 226 to 221. I've gone up and down the scale from 230 to 190 and back up again. I feel like for the first time I've made real permanent lifestyle changes which is incredible. Go me!!!! 🎉🎉🎉🎉

My Tips:

1. get referred to Form Health where you can meet with a dietitian 2x/mo and a weight loss coach 1x/mo 👍 you'll have plenty of accountability there
2. get put on a weight loss medication to lower your appetite (I wanted Wegovy but there's a shortage right now so I got put on Saxenda instead)
3. make portions smaller (obviously lol)
4. eat regularly 3-4x/day (I had a hard time with this so I started drinking a protein shake each day to help)

Form Health calculated that I'm losing about 1.5 lbs/wk which is pretty good considering I'm not exercising yet. I will incorporate running/walking soon.

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Is weight loss the answer to my health problems? Is it even possible?

I am currently thinking about trying to lose weight, because I think my health is suffering, but I am struggling with the idea that weight loss is even possible given that I suffer from depression and brain fog and am on medication associated with weight gain (an antipsychotic). I could use some encouragement/advice.

I am 44 years old, 5'6" and weigh about 226 lbs. I used to be around 145 lbs in 2006, but then I was put on an antipsychotic and it caused me to gain a lot of weight over the years. I have been trying to eat healthy - whole grains, vegetables, fruit, proteins - but I have bipolar depression and brain fog and have a hard time preparing meals (my partner has been preparing food and we get restaurant food too often). I avoid soft drinks, chips, candy, chocolate bars, that kind of thing. The heaviest I have ever been is 247 lbs. I tend to eat like crazy when in hospital with mania, so after the mania I have to deal with losing the weight, which sets me back every year or two. I have lost 15 lbs in the past year, but I gained 23 lbs in hospital before that.

I have developed a few health problems over the years and have developed new ones lately. Mostly they are musculoskeletal: food pain, butt pain, hip pain, leg weakness. The foot pain I have had since 2014, when I weighed maybe 200-205 lbs. I have not been told it is obesity-related, but it is strange and mysterious and no one seems to know what is causing it. It used to just be mostly in my heels while standing, but now when I walk it feels like the ball of my left foot is boring into the ground and the right arch is tearing. The butt pain happens when I sit, and I had it in 2016 but it went away, then it came back a few months ago. The hip pain has been the past couple months - the sides of my hips hurt while sleeping on them, and sleeping on my back is not that comfortable, so I often take painkillers. My quads are weaker than they should be - it hurts in the upper area when I get up from a chair or sit down. There is also a breathing problem when lying down that comes and goes. I have fortunately not developed diabetes or heart disease yet.

My family doctor tells me that my pain and breathing would improve if I lost weight, and he wants to put together a plan for me. He mentioned that the plan would include eating half of what I eat now, at least for stretches of time. He doesn't seem to want to entertain other reasons for me being in pain and having trouble breathing at times. He didn't even examine my hips today.

I am just not sure about all this. What if my health problems are not because of my weight? Like can obesity cause ALL THIS? What if the doctor is overlooking something? And what if eating half of my normal food makes me feel starving and sick, and unable to sleep?

I am also so foggy and depressed right now that I can hardly think about anything, much less achieve goals. I am just struggling to survive from day to day. Given my mood/brain fog/feet I am lucky if I can exercise 10-20 minutes for 3 days in a row. I can't even go for normal-length walks. Sometimes I follow YouTube bodyweight exercise videos. Often I can't get out of my chair because I am so depressed. I see a psychiatrist for bipolar disorder, but the meds are never right. I never feel like myself. I struggle to think and feel. It's hard to concentrate or care about anything. I feel quite zombified.

I am in near-constant pain. I don't even know when/how I will sleep from night to night, due to pain, and even with painkillers nothing is guaranteed. But I have this urgent feeling like I have to lose weight, that I have to go along with the doctor and give it a shot to the best of my ability.

What do you guys think? Has anyone here had such severe health problems simply due to being obese, or is it likely the doctor is missing something? He makes it seem like losing weight is a matter of small achievable goals, but what do you do when it feels like you can't achieve anything because of depression or brain fog? And does "eat half" really work, or will it set me up for a yo-yo in the future? If I restrict my calories can I expect to lose weight, even on an antipsychotic which causes weight gain?

I would appreciate any thoughts you might have.

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5/22/22-10/21/22 254.4 lbs to 174.3 lbs

This a long one. On December 11 2021, my life changed. My wife and I lost our home to a tornado. We were in the home when it happened with our 2 cats. Miraculously, even though the entire second story was ripped off and the home was lifted 20 feet away from the foundation, we walked out with our cats and some cuts and bruises- that’s it. We lost 90% of our possessions, but in terms of life and health, we were okay. We’ve always been big people- like our whole lives. However over the next few months of living in a one bedroom apartment with ptsd, depression, and anxiety, we both gained weight to be at our heaviest we’ve ever been. I was at 254.4 pounds on 5/19/22 when I had to wake my wife up at 2 am because my heart rate was over 165 bpm when all I was doing was laying in bed trying to sleep. This was a panic attack caused by the stress of building/buying a home I didn’t feel we could afford on top of noticing how big I was getting. Bending over took more effort than it ever had before. It turns out to have been the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. It woke me up. I stopped drinking, stopped eating out, started keeping a food journal and counting my calories, began to do what exercises I could do in the apartment (I hate gyms-social anxiety) and most importantly began doing a metric shit ton of research on weight loss, vitamins, cardiovascular health and activity, and fitness in general. Around the first of June I decided that I wanted to be at 180 pounds before my birthday this year. I knew this was a steep goal, and I was okay if I failed. But I wanted to feel like I accomplished something- a feeling I hadn’t had all year to this point. My wife decided it was time for her to get her health under control as well and we’ve been on this extra journey together since then.

I can’t believe I actually made it, but I made my goal. My birthday is tomorrow and my initial goal was to make it to under 180 lbs by today. Around the beginning of September I decided to up the ante and set my goal at 174.4 (80 pounds in 5 months). I’m a numbers guy, I know it’s not the healthiest thing to get obsessed with numbers but it’s been a huge motivator and helper for me in terms of calculating my necessary daily/weekly/monthly deficits and setting intermittent goals to get where I am. It’s not my final goal- I’m only 5’7”, so I want to make it to 154, but getting here means it’s time to slow it down. I’ve averaged 16 pounds per month to get where I am and I’m knocking that down to 10. I want to be (for the first time in my life) a healthy weight on 1/1/23. Tomorrow I’m having my first drink since 5/19/22 and I’m having some homemade peanut butter cookies to celebrate the most enlightening, destructive, and reconstructive year of my life.

My wife is kicking ass too. She started at 270lbs and is now down to 215 lbs. together we have lost 135 pounds in 5 months. We can do anything if we do it together- something I admittedly wasn’t so sure of until we went through everything we’ve been through in the last 10 months. We each have our own workouts/exercises we like- I prefer cardio (walking and running) and she mainly prefers lifting. But we encourage each other to be happy and healthy in our own ways and it fills me with such love and warmness that it’s never about what’s better or what’s worse, it’s all about “do what you want because it’s better than doing nothing at all”.

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Weight stall and trying to balance weight loss with appropriate food intake for exercise

I’ve been trying to gain fitness and lose weight, and I’m now finding it difficult to balance. Here are my stats:

• Calorie Goal: lose 1 lb a week, 1400 calories
• Exercise: 1-2 hours of exercise 4-5 days a week on average, mostly lap swimming with yoga, walking, and body weight exercises thrown in periodically
• Height: 5 ft 3 in, female
• Starting weight: 152
• Current weight: 129
• Time line: Started July 13 (a little over 3 months)

Heres the problem. For the most part I used to be able to hit between 1100-1500 calories during the week and switch to closer to maintenance on weekends without much trouble. I lost around 20 lbs with this pattern. At this point, I feel like I’ve hit a plateau since I’ve been bouncing around between 131 and 129 ever since October started.

This wouldn’t be too much of a problem since I still appear to be losing weight, just much slower. I would like to lose another 5-10 pounds before I up my intake. The problem is that I’m now very hungry in the evenings and even when I eat what used to feel like an appropriate dinner, I’m still getting strong hunger cues afterwards. Sweet cravings are also back and I haven’t craved sweets since I kicked energy drinks and soda. This wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t also feel like crap. I’m not bouncing back day to day when I exercise and I feel like I’m crashing when I work out.

Tuesday/Wednesday I had to up my calories to 2k to feel reasonably satiated and to be honest I was still hungry. Thursday I gave up on counting for the day. I’ve had around 500 calories of icecream twice so far this week. I don’t even usually like icecream.

I could add back some exercise calories but I’m hesitant to do that when my weight is stalled. On the same note, this calorie deficit doesn’t feel maintainable based off the the last few days.

Any good ideas?

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