Thinking about documenting my 100lbs weight loss journey online, but struggling with privacy concerns. Looking for honest input.

TLDR:
28F, previously fit but struggled with mental health for years, which led to unhealthy habits and ~100 lb weight gain. I am finally feeling much better mentally and feel ready to focus on my health consistently. I’m considering documenting my weight loss journey on TikTok/Instagram for accountability and to help others, but I do not want having unflattering face photos/videos permanently online. I’m open to faceless or partially faceless content and full face reveal after getting to my goal weight. Looking for input on whether people follow weight loss creators, what content they enjoy or dislike, whether real-time journeys or “already lost it” creators are more appealing, and whether seeing the creator’s face actually matters.

Full post:

I’m 28F. For most of my life, I was fairly fit and healthy, and had pretty healthy habits but I struggled a lot with my body image due to harsh beauty standards and severe bullying throughout my childhood and adolescence. At my smallest as young adult, I was around 120 lbs at 5’3”, and still genuinely believed I was fat.

I had several pretty rough years struggling with my mental health severely and I coped in unhealthy ways and developed a severe food addiction with bingeing, which eventually led to me gaining around 100 lbs. I’ve been sitting at roughly 220 lbs for a few years now and at this point, I am just so over it. Over the past year, I’ve been seriously working on my mental health and have healed quite a bit and am in a much better place now with the healthiest mindset I've had in probably over a decade, if not the healthiest ever. For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel like I’m constantly in survival mode and I finally feel like I have the emotional capacity to take care of my health and body consistently, instead of swinging between extremes, like I always used to.

Because of that, I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a TikTok and/or Instagram account to document my journey (meals, routines, fitness, things that work for me, things that don’t, and just the overall process + possibly some other glow up stuff like figuring out beauty/makeup etc.). I feel like it could help keep me accountable even on “off” days, and maybe also help other people who are on the other side of something similar feel less alone and see that there’s always a way forward.

That said, I still struggle with insecurities/concerns from my past, and there are a few things that really hold me back:

• I come from a small hometown in a country with extremely strict beauty standards for women (to clarify - I no longer live there and live in the US and personally do not adhere to these "rules" nor find them healthy), and no one back home has seen me in several years. But I really don’t want people there to see my content, become the talk of the town, or judge how much weight I’ve gained. I especially don’t want my parents or family to have to hear comments like “what happened to her?” or “how did she let herself go?”.
• If the account were to gain traction and I decided to keep it long-term (even after reaching my goal weight, posting fitness, cooking, beauty, or general “glow up” content), I honestly don’t want unflattering photos or videos of my face permanently floating around online. I can handle people seeing my body pre-weight loss, but showing my face feels extremely vulnerable to me. With extra weight, my face looks very awkward and honestly just not like me, and I don’t want those images to exist forever for public consumption or potentially be used against me to make fun of me or anything of the sort.

I’m much more open to revealing my face after losing the weight, but I’d really prefer not to do so beforehand. I could maybe be okay (if truly needed or preferred by the audience) with showing my face in selfies/"talking head" videos, where I'd have more control over angles and lighting, but not in full-body shots, before videos, or casual clips - and even then, that's a big if. I’ve thought about covering my face with a sticker, wearing a mask, or something similar. My goal isn’t necessarily to be anonymous as I’m okay with people online knowing who I am, I just don’t want bad photos or videos of my face following me forever if I decide to move on from the account one day.

All of this brings me to a few questions, and I’d really appreciate honest input:

1. Do you follow (or would you follow) weight loss creators?
2. What kind of content do you enjoy seeing from them? And on the flip side, what do you dislike?
3. Are you more likely to follow someone who is going through weight loss and figuring things out in real time, or someone who already lost the weight and is explaining exactly what they did, what worked, and what didn’t?
4. Do you care about seeing the creator’s face, or are you just as likely to watch and engage with faceless content (such as making meals, POV grocery shopping/fitness, walks etc.?

Thanks so much if you read all of this. I really appreciate any perspectives or experiences you’re willing to share.

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How do you break a weight loss plateau?

I’ve been in a plateau for 6-7 weeks now and am at a loss for how to break it. I’ve read old posts on this topic but would love more recent advice!

About me:

- 34 year old woman

- 5’9” and 175 lbs now, down from ~195. Those 20 lbs came off pretty easily in my first few months

- ~1500 calories daily, with occasional couple days at maintenance calories (some of you said eating at maintenance for a few days helps - it hasn’t for me).

- Exercise daily. 2 days of moderate/vigorous cardio (jogging), then 1 day walking. Always 10k steps. Rest day every 2 weeks

- Rest of the day is pretty sedentary, as I work from home. I’ve been wondering if I need to add some evening walking

- 8 hrs sleep

- Low stress, but worried cortisol might be high from many weeks of this diet-exercise routine

- protein shake daily and fiber though may be slightly low on protein overall. Vegetarian trying to lower my cholesterol so dairy is out.

- I do some resistance band training but am currently taking a short break from it to see if it impacts my weight (so far it’s not)

- drink minimum 75 oz water per day

- was intermittent fasting for about 8-9 weeks and therefore exercising on an empty stomach but I am going to take a break from that to see if it helps

Edit to add: other health indicators (blood pressure, heart rate) continue to improve even while my weight stays stagnant

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Hormonal changes from weight loss

Start weight 270lbs, 5ft female. Lost about 40lbs so far. When I was at my largest I didn’t get periods much, used to get them maybe every 2 months and was very light for a few days. Since losing weight I’ve got my period back. I feel like I’m going through a second puberty, I’ve got a couple spots which I used to very very rarely get. I’m growing hair where I previously didnt. And I am on my period and I have been so angry. I’m not even sure why I’m just angry about everything. Not in a shouting way I’m just very tense. Maybe I have forgotten how bad periods are but does this get easier as I get used to it?

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Admitting I was wrong

I'm doing this for the long haul and thought I got it all figured. I also resigned myself that I will lose on average max 0.5 kgs a week.That was my first mistake. When I recently noticed being sleepy after my breakfast, I got a second opinion on my forever meal plan, realized I got something wrong and had to make changes. Then, contrary to my previous thoughts on the issue, I started weighing in every day. Yes, there are some up and downs on the scale but mostly not, and it became worthwhile trying to trace it backwards, and motivated me not taking that small cheat. Third one. The fourth is not to invest in exercise; I previously experienced myself that it will not contribute to my weight loss. But - it just may help to even out some of the fluctuations on the scale - and a clear downward trend on the scale, however small, is worth it!. And it's great to feel my body growing stronger by the week.Today I weighed in 3 kgs less than start of the year.

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At a loss and very confused.

UPDATE to include my current height and weight, weight is 271, height 5’9”. I was about 256ish when I started.

Very confused about my current issues not being able to lose weight. I (25M) have been trying to lose about 30 pounds for going on two years now. I have tried everything. I have been to a weight loss clinic and showed them my food logs and they said I was eating great and told me there was not much I could improve and kind of just didn't know what to say to account for my lack of weight loss. I had my BMR measured by an RMR machine and it measured my BMR at 2550 calories. I was suggested by a nutritionist (who I consulted with before going to the weight loss clinic) to try eating at 2500 calories, which I did. Didn't lose anything. The nutritionist then slowly brought my calories down until I was eating 1900 calories. I upped my protein intake to ~150 g a day. Still nothing. I have cut out all soda (I only drank diet soda anyways), tracked all coffee intake (I know that coffee can contribute too! I don't drink coffee a lot, but when I do I choose sugar free/low calorie options 95% of the time), tracked all sauces and oils (I don't actually use oil that much anyways), and track every little snack that I eat (e.g. if I have 3 cheez its, I track them, no cheating!)

I average 9k steps a day, work out 4x a week (split 2 days cardio only, 2 days weight training: one upper body day and one lower body day). For about a 3 week test period I tried working out 6 days a week to see if that could help but realized it was pretty unsustainable so I went back to 4 days a week. Also haven't seen any changes in waist/chest measurements which I track regularly.

I have had countless blood tests. My A1c, fasting glucose, insulin, TSH, T3, T4, testosterone, cholesterol and lipids are all normal (ruling out some metabolic causes). Only things that were abnormal were vitamin D which was low and HDL which was also just slightly low but I don't think that explains much? (Although open to suggestions)

Despite all this, I have not only not lost weight in the year and a half I have been doing this, but I have in fact gained 10-12 pounds. I'm just sitting here wondering what in the world am I doing wrong and is there anything that can help me?

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Weight loss plateau afyer 2 year deficit

I am a 24-year-old male, 175 cm tall, currently weighing 67 kg. My estimated body fat percentage is around 20%, and I have visible softness around my lower abdomen and love handles, even though my chest and shoulders are well-developed. I have been in a calorie deficit for about 2 years, with the last 6 months being particularly slow and frustrating in terms of fat loss. My current daily intake is around 1600 kcal and 100g of protein, which results in an approximate deficit of 450 kcal based on my real maintenance with my activity level, including training at the gym 8-10 times a month and because of my office job I do only around 5k steps a day. Despite this, weight loss has been extremely slow, sometimes stalling for weeks before occasional small drops. I maintain a decent amount of muscle and strength, but my main goal is to lose the last 4 kg of fat to achieve a flat stomach and reduce love handles without losing muscle mass. Should I do a metabolic reset for a longer time and start the deficit again, or should I keep the current deficit and make adjustments, since weight loss is currently stalled?

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Is pacing effective for weightloss

I like pacing around a lot, mostly just around the house or at the park, but I walk pretty slow. I usually get about 30,000 steps per day, I'm curious if it's actually effective for weight loss. I get most of my steps in 2 long walking periods, but i also still pace around a bit in between.

I'm mostly wondering because I heard that calorie burning is mostly based on heart rate and muscle effort and I don't really get tired or feel any rise in heart rate from walking, especially because I'm so used to it. Would it even have any significant effect?

I'm female, 152cm 50kg for reference

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