I lost about 115 pounds from 2018-2020, and I’ve kept it off, within 10 pounds of my lowest weight since then. I started around 280 and got to about 165, and stayed around 170 (where I am now).
I’m average height (and female), so I never quite got all the way down into a healthy BMI category. The beginning of January is usually dreary, but the momentum of a New Year’s resolution can be energizing. I decided to recommit myself, and see if I can’t get the last 25 pounds off that I’ve been wanting to lose.
The purpose of this post is two fold: (1) to reassure anyone who is in week 1 of their journey that it absolutely can be done (and you can keep your weight off) and (2) to join in on the good fight.
Keeping my weight off has never really looked that different than losing weight for me. I continue to track my calories, but now I’m going to get a lot tighter on my goal (dropping from an average of 2k/day to 1600 a day).
Here are some tips that helped me get here:
-Reading the quick start guide in the sidebar: https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/s/OEMq6a7B2F
-finding a calorie counting app I use consistently. I can recommend Macrofactor and Loseit. I don’t have much experience with the other ones.
-being realistic: I’m cutting my calories quite a lot, as compared to what I’m used to. Normally, I bike to work. I’m allowing myself to take the bus instead for a few weeks, while I adjust to dropping my calories. It’s really gotta be one step at a time!
-getting support online. I used to post very frequently in the daily accountability challenges here in Loseit. Reddit has a lot of great subreddits where you can find support in weekly/daily threads. Making a standalone post is good for a getting little boost of engagement, but I found that posting regularly in threads meant for it really helped me stay on track. As an example, right now now r/Macrofactor is hosting an 100 day New Year’s challenge with a cash prize- I’m sure there’s tons of support to be found there! Find info about the challenge here: https://macrofactorapp.com/challenge/
-listening to podcasts. I really like We Only Look Thin. Their earlier episodes are genuinely a gold mine of discussing what it’s like to be on a weight loss “journventure.” I can really recommend the episode “coming in hot” (https://www.weonlylookthin.com/episode-47-comin-in-hot/ ); it’s really relevant for this time of year
-weighing my food with a food scale. I always use one; it has been an absolute game changer in terms of learning what a portion size is
-meal planning for the week. There are apps out there that can really help with this (Plan to Eat is a good one!). It helps to sit down and know what I’m eating so that I can minimize disruptions during the week. It sucks to have a long day at work and then get home and stare at the fridge wondering what to make. It’s a lot easier if you can just look at your calendar and see what you planned to eat.
-setting time based goals, rather than weight based ones. For example, my current plan is to achieve 100 days in a calorie deficit. Obviously I would love it if those 100 days were consecutive, but I’m giving myself 115 days to accomplish 100 of deficit— overages happen!
I changed a lot and learned a lot about myself when losing the first 110, and, after a solid 4 years of maintenance, I’m ready to tackle the rest of the challenge. I’m here to answer questions for people just starting, cheer on all the resolutioners, and commiserate with the people trying to lose those last 10/20 pounds. We got this!
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