Stopped working out for 4 months. Wondering how much is muscle loss and how much is fat loss.

Stopped working out (4 month break after 1.5 yrs of working out) and went from 188 (April 1st) --> 176 (July 11th) at 5'8. How much was fat/stored fat, how much was muscle?

I look visibly smaller now but my waist line has only gone down an inch or two. Did I mostly lose muscle? During this time period, I've been skipping breakfast pretty consistently as a part of intermittent fasting and want to say my calories in were lower than before but I'm not 100% certain I've been on a calorie deficit consistently because I would eat whatever I wanted for lunch and dinner. Perhaps 75% of the days I was in a deficit.

I've been excited about the weight loss but I'd be sad if more than 75% of the 12 lbs lost were muscle.

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Two months into losing and i have some observations I'd like to share

I just have a lot of random thoughts I'm going to put here in one place lol

1. First, I'm 8 lbs down in 2 months which means I'm losing at a pace of 1 lb/week which is ideal. But the weight loss has not been steady. I weigh myself everyday and the scale has definitely not gone down by 1 pound every week. In fact when i first started I dropped like 3 lbs almost immediately and then it stayed the same or even went up for a solid month after that. I just kept doing what I was doing knowing the scale would move again eventually. And that it did! That made me feel confident that what I'm doing is working and I just have to stay consistent and I'll see results. It actually felt very empowering realizing that it does in fact matter what I put into my mouth and I do actually have control over my weight.

2. I wish I had taken before photos. Since I'm short (5'1") I can already feel/see a difference with 8 lbs. It's nothing crazy yet but I would have liked to have better pictures to compare it and really see the difference so far.

3. Switching to more whole foods instead of eating what I used to eat just in less amounts, has made this process SO MUCH easier. I used to subscribe to the idea that you can eat all the garbage you want as long as you're within your calories. Which is true, but I was never successful doing it because I was always so dang hungry eating a bunch of junk that wasn't filling or satisfying and just made me want more. It is so easy now to stay within my calorie goals, especially since I have to keep them so low (again, I'm short, a woman, and not super active).

4. A lot of non scale victories already. My clothes are fitting better/looser. My stomach is much less bloated. It doesn't get in the way anymore when I'm bending over in the shower. When I'm sitting or laying with my legs crossed or up my stomach no longer just sits on my legs like it used to (if that makes any sense). I can tell my face isn't as puffy as it used to be and my double chin is getting smaller.

5. There's an upside to being short when trying to lose weight. I know we're unlucky when it comes to having a lot less calories to work with, and gaining even a little weight on our small frames is noticeable, but that means the opposite is also true. Just a few pounds down and it's a noticeable difference. Not just to me but others have been able to tell also. For instance I was barely 5 lbs down when my MIL commented that it looked like I lost weight. I couldn't believe it lol.

That's it for now! Seeing results is so motivating and I can't wait to keep going and see where I am in another 2 months. My goal weight is 20 lbs so I'm already almost halfway there!

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Breaking out of "maintainance" (or should I?)

So backstory/stats–

-I’m 5’3”, F, “small boned” and young adult weight around 120-125.

-Was 125 when I got pregnant with my first kid, summer of 2008 (I was 24).

-Was 190 when I gave birth (not a typo. A lot of it was water bc I was pre-eclamptic and had massive swelling, but at lot of it was just eating all. the. time.) in spring of 2009.

-By winter of 2009, I was 145 lbs. (not through any effort, just shedding water weight and breastfeeding). Got pregnant again.

-Fall of 2010 when I gave birth, back up to 190.

-By the following year, back to 145. Hung out at 145 until around when I turned 30, in 2013.

-My 30’s was just a slow and steady weight creep up from overeating and drinking. Occasionally would attempt to calorie count for like, a few weeks, never stuck with it.

-By spring of 2022, I was 172 lbs.

-Spent that summer losing weight by tracking my food and being active. Dropped to 158 from June to Sept. 2022.

-Went back to work (I’m a teacher) and stopped tracking my food, fell into old habits. Scale broke and I didn’t get a new one.

-Fall of 2023, I turned 40 years old. Bought a scale again. I was at 166 lbs.

Recent weight loss “journey””

Hitting 40 last fall is when I started to actively just “do it” and lose weight. Basically no exercise, just tracking calories. Joined this subreddit at that time, read a lot, joined the monthly accountability thread a few times. Used a tracking app religiously. Did frickin awesome. It was “slow” going but that’s how it is when you’re short and on the “1200 is enough” train. Dropped 20 lbs over the course of about 4 months.

Now I’m stalled. I’ve been “maintaining” around 146 (with a margin of 2 lbs or so either way) for the past few months, basically without trying. I only track my calories sporadically (although I have kept up the habit of weighing every morning after pee).

In a way this is good. I’m not overeating anymore. I don’t even *want* to overeat. Like, my portion sizes now vs a few years ago, the ability to feel “okay that’s enough” without overstuffing myself to the point of heartburn (used to have heartburn constantly, now I haven’t had *any* for half a year). It’s like I’ve retrained my hunger habits. I know “set point” isn’t actually real but it’s like, I feel like I’ve reset my “set point” lol.

I feel good. The lack of heartburn, the extra mobility, small things that just make me feel better.

I’m way down from the BMI-obese that I was in 2022. My waist has gone from 39 inches to 31.5 inches. Hips from 43.5 to 39. I went from an XXL underwear to a M underwear (I still can’t wrap my head around this).

I don’t hate how I look. Do I look as “hot” as I did at 24, lol no, but I’m 40 and have birthed/nursed two kids, it’s not like my body will ever be 24 years old again. I’m at peace with that.

So my dilemma:

How do I wrap my head around getting on track to lose the last 15-20 pounds? And should I?

I think I’m having a hard time shifting from “maintain” to “lose” again, because so many of my reasons for losing in the first place, I’m kind of already there. And I’m also like– I *know* I have loose skin from my crazy pregnancies, but right now it’s just kind of “eh” because there’s also fat there still padding it out a bit, even though I did lose a lot of belly fat. But if I keep going will it actually be aesthetically worse?

*But* I am still overweight. Medically it would be good for me to get a bit lower and actually hit “healthy” weight. And as much as I’m liking the way I look now vs. how I did a year ago, I might *love* how I look if I lost that last 15-20.

Part of this is also, I’m poor as hell so buying new clothes is a major expense, and I don’t want to buy clothes until I’m sure that I’m going to be fitting them for a while. So right now all of my clothes are falling off me (except for the new underwear I bought bc I literally had to). At my size, 20 lbs makes a *big* difference in how clothes fit. Should I just accept my current size and by the clothes, or buckle down and get back to losing weight, give a few more months, and THEN buy the clothes?

Advice? Encouragement? Anyone been in this situation?

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Pregnancy and Weight Loss

In 2018 I got on the scale and was 215 pounds at 5’6 and decided to make a change. I had my ups and downs but through CICO and falling in love with exercise, I got down to 145. I ran a marathon. I was weight lifting almost every day. I loved what I saw in the mirror. I loved how I looked in clothes. My energy level was so high.

In January I got pregnant which is a huge blessing and I am thrilled to meet my son in October. My body is incredible and I am creating a human life. I’m doing what I was meant to do. And looking in the mirror is so hard. I don’t look at the scale at doctors appointments but I know I’m above 200 pounds (started in January around 160 because I gained while marathon training and also happy relationship marriage weight which honestly I was ok with). Half of my brain feels like a failure because I’m “fat” again and the logical part of my brain knows that my body is doing what it needs to do to support the growth of this baby.

It’s a massive mindf**k. Looking in the mirror is so hard and also I’m so proud of what I’m doing. And I know I can be healthy again but I also know that my priorities have to shift a little and I need to be ok with that. Being a woman is tough. And amazing.

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How do you manage urges to emotionally eat/binge during stressful chapters of life?

Title says it all. I've been doing CICO, getting more physically active, and making some healthier meals choices. So far I've lost 45 pounds. However, I'm going thru a breakup involving selling a house, dealing with new job responsibilities, and stress over the deteriorating health of a close loved one. When I'm not working, I'm doing a good deal of house stuff, and have been for months. It's a lot altogether.

I'm doing a lot of things to productively manage my stress - I'm staying active, staying social and seeking support from friends and family. I'm in therapy. I make art, I do a little mindfulness, I rest when I can. I cook most of my meals at home from scratch,and they tend to be protein heavy vegetarian meals, or with lean meats.

What I'm looking for are suggestions on how you let the urge(s) to binge or emotionally eat pass you by when you're tired from doing...uh, everything? My difficulty is that I'll get mentally tired, usually at the end of the day, and then hit the corner store even when I'm not hungry.

It isn't frequently enough that I'm gaining weight noticeably, but it has stalled my weight loss and I don't want to slip back to where I was. Any ideas on how to ride the wave when the urge to body a bag of flamin hot Cheetos strikes?

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What is your «why»?

One of the most important things i’ve heard for weight loss is having a strong «why». Why do you want to lose weight? When you have your «why» you can remind yourself of that reason when things get hard, when you want to give up and etc.

I don’t really have a strong «why». Im a little overweight - BMI right over 25 and I look a bit «chubby». I try to think how confident I would look if I was more lean, and get motivated by that. But other than that, I dont have a specific reason to why I want to lose weight.

I understand those who are severely obese and others doing it for obvious health reasons. If anyone wants to share their «why» - even if you are in a similar position like me or not - I would love to know!

Thank you and have a nice day moving on!

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When CICO and exercise actually work 😳

I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life, been overweight since middle school and obese/morbidly obese since late college (I’m 26F). My family doesn’t eat well, and I always just thought that I had a slow metabolism too and that’s why I struggled. It’s not my fault, right?

My parents have struggled with their weight as well, and every time I’ve tried to lose weight by calorie counting my family would talk about how that’s unhealthy and I should just eat healthier foods. I’d do that, maybe drop a couple of pounds, and then ultimately quit because I was being so restrictive with my diet.

Last year, I weighed in at the doctor at 300lbs and had nearly pre-diabetic A1C levels. As a result, I started making slow changes to eating healthier (like putting a limit on my added sugar intake). I slowly dropped weight - yay! But I wasn’t paying too much attention to my weight. Those small changes helped prep me for my more serious weight loss journey by transforming my relationship with food for the better. I’ve learned that moderation is ok! I started roughly counting calories in February of this year, and I bought a food scale and have been counting my calories more precisely for the past month and started the couch to 5k program 5 weeks ago. I’m down to about 240lbs and have noticed so many non-scale positive changes in my life this year that it’s almost overwhelming! I’ve been feeling fuller more easily, my digestion issues have disappeared, my mental health has been improving, etc. I still have so far to go before my GW of 160lbs, but I think the changes I’ve been making are something I can sustain and that’s such a great feeling! It’s like something clicked in my mind.

Anyway, isn’t it kind of frustrating that the simple solution (CICO, exercise) actually works??? For weight and for mental health?? lol

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