Welcome adventurer! Whether you're new on this quest or are towards the end of your journey there should be something below for you.
Daily journal.
- [Q&A] "I have a question."
- [Day 1] "I am starting my weight loss journey."
- [SV/NSV] "I have an accomplishment to share."
- [24hr Pledge] "Today I am going to..."
Interested in some side quests?
- [Motivation Monday] Share some motivation, get some motivation.
- [Tantrum Tuesday] Need to vent? People getting on your nerves?
- [Weigh-In Wednesday]
- [Track with Me Thursday] Did we just become best friends?!
- [Free Talk Friday] What's on your mind?
Community bulletin board!
- [Running with Loseit] Run with losers. Avoid arrows.
- [Wecipe Wednesday] Swap and discuss recipies!
If you are new to the sub, click here for our posting guidelines
Hello and Welcome to the LoseIt Fall 2018 Super Mario Challenge!
Your hosts this round will be u/Jameson1780, u/bananaslammock08, u/cosmam, u/sweetpsd, myself, and u/ThatCanadianGuy88 King of the Peasants!
Sign ups are now Open Sign Up Link Here!
Challenge Tracker Tracker Page Here!
Teams & Captains:
Joining your team subreddit isn’t mandatory but it should be. Being active with your team keeps participation up and might be that extra little push you need to keep you going. It could be the difference between an 8 week grind or 8 weeks of fun and support to lose the weight you want. Please do not ask to be assigned to a particular team.
Team Mario Subreddit Here! - u/sweetpsd & u/gan1lin2 & u/dylzim
Team Yoshi Subreddit Here! - u/bananaslammock08 & u/Vicariousgluten
Team Bowser Subreddit Here! - u/420spirit9 & u/revdrviking, & u/vampedvixen
Team Luma Subreddit Here! - u/capitulum & u/nukaprincess
Team Waluigi Subreddit Here! - u/ravenclawedo1 & u/Cadamar & u/Koehanna
Team Boo Subreddit Here! - u/ZeAltHealthAcct & u/Unconcernedlion & u/MrManBeard
If you have any questions, problems, concerns, ideas, or just want to drop us all a line, please use the message the challenge admin feature, which you can find in the r/loseit sidebar or by clicking here. Responding to this thread is great, but ultimately if you want to make sure all of us read it, the message the challenge admin feature is the way to go.
Please also note that we are not the r/loseit moderators. We’re volunteers and everyday users who run a specific aspect of one of the many interactive community elements of r/loseit. If you have questions about r/loseit that aren’t specific to the challenge, please take a look at the sidebar.
FAQs
What is the challenge?
The challenge is team-based competition that will last for 6 weeks (8 weeks from the beginning of signups to the results week) for which you set a weight-loss goal and then weigh in weekly, hoping to be at or beyond that goal by the end of the challenge.
What will I have to do during the challenge?
Weigh-in every week, each week begins on a Friday, so you will have until the following Friday 8am EST (when the next week is posted) to complete your weigh-in. You can miss the occasional week, but if you are going to miss two weeks in a row you must let the challenge admins know so they don’t remove you from the challenge. If you're a forgetful person, setting up reminders on your phone and/or joining the group discord chat might be a good idea.
How to succeed during the challenge:
- Check what team you’re on by looking at the Challenge Tracker and searching for your username (control + f username).
- Join your team’s subreddit, introduce yourself and be an active team member. Many captains have an online chat set up for their teams too!
- If you have any questions, worries or need encouragement, lean on your team and if someone else needs some support, be supportive.
- If you binge or have a bad week, don’t give up, log honestly and come back next week. Weight loss is not always linear and there will be ups and downs, but focus on the overall downward trend.
Rule Reminders
Missing Week 0 is an automatic boot. Do not ask for access to edit anything. All entries are submitted via form. The only people who can/should edit the trackers are the Challenge Admins.
Timeline
September 28th - Sign ups open
October 12th - Week 0
October 19th - Week 1 - Sign ups close
October 26th - Week 2
November 2nd - Week 3
November 9th - Week 4
November 16th - Week 5
November 23rd - Week 6/FINAL WEEK
November 30th - Results week (and break until January)
These past couple months my girlfriend was back from University meaning we spent almost every night together which was amazing and I have zero regrets. However as a consequence of this I can count the times I went to the gym over the months on my hands. Coupled with the worse diet that seems to come with us being together (more eating out and more snacks) has caused me to put on a lot of weight.
In the space of 3 months I put on 19 pounds, meaning for the first time I weigh over 200lbs. I'm so unhappy and annoyed at myself, I can't believe I let this happen. The worse part is I knew it was happening but never took any action. I never weighed myself so I didnt quite know how bad it was. I was most likely in denial.
So now she's back at Uni I am going to get back to using my gym membership I pay for and my goal is to lose 20lbs so I'm fitter than I was before. Sad thing is it will take me a lot longer to lose the weight than it did to put it on. And of course not let this happen again.
Just wanted to post since I on a quick search I couldnt find much about this phenomenon.
I had the best day of 2018!
The place where I work is pretty toxic. My coworkers and supervisor have a history of being very disrespectful to each other and especially me. I’m introverted and quiet—- and extremely nice to others. In the past people have used this against me. A part me believes I let them get away with it because I believe I deserve it. But that all changed today.
Today I reached out to one of my coworkers and suggested a different course of action for our client and she was just awful to me on the phone. Yelling at me- telling me I don’t know her and I don’t what she needs. Just being completely nasty. In the past when my coworkers have been rude to me it’s more like sly underhanded mean comments- and I just take it- but this was crazy. I somehow kept my cool and said what I needed to say and calmly got off the phone with her.
As soon as I got off the phone -another one of my coworkers from a different team texted me asking if I was the other person on the other line of my coworkers phone call. She told me how shocked she was by how she was talking to me. (Apparently a lot of people had overheard the phone conversation- how embarrassing!)
I cried in my car and then I decided I was sick of this shit! I went into the office - found my coworker in the hallway and told her I needed to speak to her. Off the bat I told her, “I didn’t appreciate how you spoke to me on the phone.”
She said: “how was I speaking to you?”
I said: “ you were disrespectful and rude and I did not deserve that.”
She tried to accuse me of yelling and raising my voice. But I didn’t and I told her I didn’t because that’s not like me at all. She continued to try and justify her behavior but I stood my ground and finally she apologized to me..... several times. I advocated for my client and she gave in to my plans.
She then wanted us to hug it out.....but the whole time I was over the moon. I stood up for myself. Me non-confrontational me. I was finally tired of it. I think my self-worth is changing and I think a lot of it has to do with this weight loss. I have so much confidence now. And I’ve only lost ten pounds.
I wanted so badly to reward myself. I kept thinking about ice cream. Stopping at Dairy Queen on my way home but I didn’t. I went to yoga class instead and had a great time.
On my way out of the studio I saw that quote. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone! It really does.
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I work in a hospital, and I am constantly requiring coffee to keep going. Luckily, I usually have black coffee or a splash of skim milk, so I can afford to have several cups without too much issues. However, when the clock strikes 2pm, it has become a terrible habit to have a cookie with my coffee - I get intense cravings if I dont!
The only thing that has been working for me for the past 2 days is taking someone with me down to get coffee. I notice that if I have someone else with me, I am far too embarrassed to order a cookie (nothing worse than being the fat girl who is buying a cookie while all your slim colleagues are drinking Americano's and black coffee). So for the past 3 days, I have been sticking with a skinny london fog with sugar-free syrup if Im having ++sugar cravings or just a black coffee.
The power of embarrassment.
The general answers to this are usually "to look better" or "to be more healthy" but what lead you to this moment? What is the deep specific reason that you started?
I didn't even know the raw truth myself until this subreddit caused something wild to happen to me. Someone had posted a thread that asked why everyone was losing weight for reasons other than looks or health. I read the title of the thread out loud and immediately after my mouth opened and said "because I want to value myself enough to never be in an emotionally abusive relationship again."
You know how you feel most thoughts processing in your brain before you say them? There was none of that here. My mouth just opened and I heard myself say that but I had never had that thought before. It was like one part of my brain trying to communicate at all costs to the rest of me because it was being ignored.
It was right. I am very confident, sociable, well-liked etc... but I stayed in an abusive relationship because I thought "who else would love me?"
It made me realize that there's always a lot more to the story than the one-line elevator pitch we give to most people.
So what is your reason?
F/29/5'2"/sw 255/cw 180/gw 130
I have officially been on my weight loss journey for one year today! I have lost 75 pounds and it's an amazing feeling. I still don't really see it when I look in the mirror, although people are constantly telling me I look great.
Counting calories has been amazing. A food scale is the best thing I've bought for myself in a long time. I also weigh myself everyday since I like to see trends, and I weigh 90% of what goes in my mouth.
I started this journey last year at 255 pounds, wearing size 22 pants. I am sitting at 180 pounds, and now I wear a size 12 pants. I've lost an underwear size, a bra band size, and men's medium shirts are fitting well.
I want to say thank you to everyone who posts and comments here. This sub has been an amazing community full of advice (and commiseration when needed.) Without you fine folks, and the folks of a couple other subreddits, I don't think I would have gotten this far.
Here's to losing another 50 pounds. Here's to not self sabotaging at every damn 5 pound mark. Here's to taking my own food to get togethers here on out. Here's to being able to put a real weight in my new drivers license in a few months, and being proud of that weight.
Here's to all you beautiful losers!
Since moving 5 years ago I have gained 35-40 pounds becuase I now have a less physically demanding job. I have decided I have to do something about it or I'll just keep gaining. However I do not have a drive whatsoever.
So, I have created a "20s Do Nothing" calender. I put a small bullet list for each day: 20 push ups, 20 sit ups, and a 20 sec plank. These are my daily exercises as if I'm not exercising. My "do nothing" days when I'm not planing to really workout.
Now I love me some bullet lists. It gives me the upmost pleasure to check off a bullet that I have completed so I feel that I can do at least this much everyday.
I want to buy a bike so I can ride a little bit every now and then but I don't know when I'll ever get the motivation to actually go buy one. I'll at least have my "do nothing" exercises that I hope will become so ingrained into me that I won't think of it as a work out.
I'm going to buy a binder after work tomorrow to put all my calender sheets in. I'm going to leave it open on the dinning room table so I see it every day.
I'm also cutting back on my suger intake and only eating veggies and tuna/boiled eggs for lunch at work. I've been doing this for several weeks already and getting used to it. My diet for breakfast and dinner hasn't changed yet though ( I LOVE butter), just less sugary snacks in between.
I'm slowly making more changes to better myself and the "do nothing" exercises are my next step. Wish me luck!
I’ve bordered on possible binge eating disorder for a long time now, but recently I’ve been able to control it and have lost almost 20 lbs in the last 2 months after dedicating to CICO. But now that I’m finally under 200 after 3 years of dieting for a few weeks and then bingeing, I’m finally seeing success on the scale and now I’m feeling those cravings come back. I’m constantly opening and closing the fridge, and looking for things to eat and I’m able to stop myself but its really starting to take a toll on my mentally. I just want to cry because my brain is telling me to do nothing but eat. I feel an emptiness that my brain is trying to convince me needs to be filled with food. I want to cry. I don’t want to give in to it, but part of me thinks maybe I should give in and binge for a day, and then just go back to CICO? That maybe I’d feel better? I don’t know. I guess I just need suggestions as to how to handle this binge craving.
TL;DR A year ago I started doing cleanups in my neighborhood because it had become filthy, now people have changed their ways and it is squeaky clean and I have become fitter and leaner in the process.
So last September, I started. It became too much to bear. I couldn't live in this filthy place. I don't know, but all of a sudden, in the space of a few months people seemed to have forgotten to use the bins? So I started by a few blocks around the neighborhood. Eventually, I kept about a square mile clean, then the following things happened, over the next few months.
- I got too annoyed by how little effort it took from one person, on their spare time to keep that square mile clean. It doesn't take that much and if a neighborhood is littered that means that most people don't care enough.
- If however, streets are kept clean, people are usually reluctant to throw litter on them. There are many streets and open spaces that are kept clean since last September just by that one cleanup a year ago. Some other streets needed more effort.
- After passing through the same streets and watching that there were a few houses that had litter appearing in front of them repeatedly, the same houses, I tried to bump into the people living there and told them nicely that if they let litter outside of their homes, if they didn't do anything about it it's as if they are telling passers by to throw anything, isn't it? Do they like that? That nice question seemed to take care of most of the problems. I always made sure to do the work in my best outfits. I think it gives a different message. That it is everone's job to look after their neighborhood. I'm also old enough and secure enough in my real life that it just doesn't matter what I do to keep fit. It does create the wrong impression for someone to do this job, that apparently even local authority cleaners don't find worth doing.
- People outside of the square mile seemed to have noticed and it looks like they bugged the local authoritiy, why their neighborhood is not as clean and the local authority took care of the rest and now quite some square miles are kept clean!
So I still do cleanups occasionally, only a few months from starting there is litterally maybe 1/10 of the work to do. Maybe not even that. People have remembered to use the bins after all. I have kept my blood sugars low, I need the workout as a T2 diabetic and picking things from the ground is an exercise that I don't get tired of somehow! It seems to have a purpose.
Just needed to put out there that exercise can happen outside of the gym. The blood glycose monitor doesn't lie. The mirror doesn't lie and the looks you get don't lie. It works. Too many squats to count. Anything you can keep up works. I do have issues with diet though, that explains my plateau, but I keep losing now slowly. Most regression happened from last winter holiday break! Weight loss will happen, eventually.
What I look like now (after adding even more LBM due to getting much stronger since May 2016)
Backstory:
I grew up in NYC and played sports in high school. So, I was relatively active and fit throughout this time period. I moved to a smaller city in college and I didn’t play college sports, so I was less active and therefore also less fit. It was about this time that I started to go through periods where I would gain and lose a bit of weight sporadically as I tried to adjust into “adult life.” After college, the ups and downs in weight turned into only a very long and steep up. I chose a career in accounting which has you generally working long hours sitting down. I was also trying to finish my graduate studies and transitioning in married life, so I was basically crushing insane amounts of sugar and caffeine just to function. At my heaviest, I was about 300 lbs (end of 2014).
What made me change my life:
So, it was not lost on me throughout this time period that my health was in decline. I just always rationalized that I would get it back under control at some point. I thought, “For now, I need to focus on my career and family – you know the really important stuff; the superficial stuff can wait.” I had all kinds of health issues that kept worsening as time went on. For example, at one point, I was popping Prilosec like TicTacs just to stop from feeling like my stomach acid was coming up my throat every second of the day. I also snored so loud I would wake myself up. The tipping point, and the straw that broke the camels back was when I got gout. I’m not usually the type to want to go to the hospital; at one point, I had lost hearing in my left ear for a few days before I even considered going to the doctor (case of impacted ear wax lol, but that’s irrelevant to this story). Anyways, for those of you that have no idea what gout is, I would describe it as the worst pain I have ever felt in my life, and multiple that by 10. Ok, so I’m not going to act like I also have a high tolerance for pain, because I don’t. But the pain was so bad, that one night, I literally passed out (first time ever in my life) from the pain. And getting back to not liking doctors, literally minutes before passing out, I had just told my wife at the time to get ready to take me to the doctor; I just had to take a piss first. This was at about 3 am. So, there I am taking a piss trying very hard not to put weight on the leg that has gout because it felt like someone was literally splitting my ankle in half, and next thing I know, I’m coming to consciousness, with my wife slapping me in the face. So maybe this is being a little overdramatic, but I remember thinking, “OMG, if I was here by myself, I could’ve passed out, maybe hit my head, or worse, hitting the toilet bowl face first… and drown in my own piss.” So yes, that next day when I was thinking about all this was the day I decided I needed to make a change immediately.
What I did to reach my goals:
(1) Obviously, I started to exercise. I began by buying an elliptical and PowerBlock Elite adjustable dumbbells. I would go on the elliptical for about an hour a day, and did random dumbbell exercises. Eventually, I picked up biking again, which I had always enjoyed. Finally, I started strength training via barbells about a year in (end of November 2015 – I ordered a power rack and 300 lb Barbell set on Amazon as a gift to myself for Christmas). In hindsight, I should’ve been doing this all along (more on that later).
(2) MOST IMPORTANTLY, and I can’t stress this enough, I got my nutrition in check. I say “nutrition” but at the time, I called it what most people called it, diet. Now I know better. First, I just started learning about the basics of nutrition (more specifically, calories/macros/micros). It all seemed so simple, so it took me a while to really trust in the process (again, more on that later). I also started watching YouTube videos on meal prepping, and combining this with what I learned about calories/macros. I’m glad I randomly decided to give that a try, because again, I remember specifically thinking at that point, “this seems way too easy… but I guess I’ll try it until I get to the good stuff.” Well, as I started to trust the process and saw results, I stuck with it. I meal prepped every week for about a year. I also weighed and measured EVERYTHING I ate.
What are the main things I learned about this process:
(1) Again, NUTRITION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to healthy living. If you don’t understand the concepts of calories/macros at a minimum, you will have a very difficult time maintaining proper health, even if you have no fitness goals. If you do have fitness goals, your nutrition will prevent you from reach high levels in that endeavor. If you are currently overweight or underweight, it’s probably because you don’t have a good understanding of nutrition, which may manifest themselves in many different forms, but ultimately they really can be simplified into not understanding the basics. I would recommend that anyone who falls in these categories to learn the basics of calories/macros, as well as meal prep, weigh, and track your food for a long-ish period of time.
(2) After nutrition, strength training is king. I won’t deny that there is a point where your strength can have diminishing returns (or even negatively affect) on your fitness goals. But I think that point is much higher than what most people think. For example, my opinion is (and this will probably be very polarizing) that every male should be able to at least Squat 405x5, DL 495x5, and Bench 315x5, unless you’re in some sort of sport that requires endurance at the highest levels. Otherwise, being strong overall will help you become more powerful (not the same as strength), faster, etc. This is why as I was saying above, I wish I had done Barbell training from the get-go, as these major compound movements are probably the most efficient and effective way of getting strong.
(3) On the subject of aesthetics… there are a lot of misinformation out there, but this is one of my pet peeves. It’s the idea that you should be doing high rep stuff (while avoiding doing heavy lifting) and eat clean (or eat certain types of food or get on certain diets) to look great. I call this the “I just wanna get toned” syndrome. What you’re really saying is that you want to look like the guy/girl in the magazines. Fine, I won’t judge you for that. But the truth is, a lot of those people aren’t that impressive to begin with (they’re just lean or airbrushed/photoshopped), are on gear (I don’t judge that, but let’s be clear about how the fact that you would never be able to achieve those physiques naturally), or they actually do the right thing (which I’ll get too in a sec) but you don’t know it (or they hide it). So what should you actually be doing to achieve your most aesthetic physique? Eat properly and get stronger. Yes, that’s it. Looking as close to a “Greek god(dess)” physique as possible is a matter of having as much muscle as possible while being lean. As a natural lifter, that means getting as strong as possible (the stronger a muscle is, the bigger it probably is). This is why you should be Barbell training. The May 2016 picture is a result of only 6 months of Barbell training. I have since added much more lean body mass, and have tried so many different types of lifting techniques since that point. I have always stalled when I stopped strength training, and added slabs of muscle when I did strength training again. But if you are a natural lifter, the gains do eventually taper, which actually works to your advantage if you have no interest in being a mound of muscle, and really do want to “just be tone.” This is especially true for women, who are afraid of looking like Chyna (WWF actress/performer) or some other geared female bodybuilder. This would be impossible as a natural female, as even men could not achieve that physique level naturally because the biggest determining factor of muscular potential is testosterone (in which even natural men could have 10x or more the level of testosterone as natural women). If you look at some fitchick who weighs about 120-130 lbs and has a killer booty, and you want to look like her, chances are she can probably Barbell Squat more than her bodyweight for reps. Anyways, I’ll end my rant. The point is, if there’s anything I could go back and re-do, it’d be to trust in the nutrition process, focus on strength training (more on this below), and not waste time on anything else.
(4) Remember when I was saying that I had always focused on what I thought was the important things first, and get to the superficial stuff later on? Well, I realized how incredibly misguided that thought process was. Your body is literally the vessel by which you interact with the world. Imagine you are trying to build a house with just hand tools. You could do it, but it’s not as efficient as using power tools. That’s you living life in “ok” shape vs “great shape.” If the hand tools were blunt, misaligned, etc, that is you living life as obese or overly underweight. Everything you do is enhanced by your physical state. Your can think more clearly if your heart and lungs are working as they should. You are more energetic and can get more things done during the day. Your relationships are enhanced when you can hang out with your friends in the summer weather in comfort because you aren’t sweating buckets, can wrestle with your kids, and not to be ugly here, but have passionate sex with your significant other without losing your breath or getting a cramp. Etc. etc. etc. Ask anyone who is in a skilled trade, whether it be building stuff, a chef, a tailor, etc. who is worth their salt, and they will tell you that they never neglect maintaining their “tools” because it allows them to do their craft well. Well, your body is your “tool” for living life. Prioritize it above everything else.
Where I’m at now:
When the May 2016 picture was taken, I was Squatting about 275x5, Benching 205x5, and DLing 275x5 (again, at a bodyweight of 170 lb) . Currently (a little over 2 years later), my maxes are Squat 395x5, Bench 305x4, and DLing 470x5 at a bodyweight of 210 lbs. I am sort of fluffy at this current state (which I don’t like), but it’s probably necessary for me to reach my goals (at some point, it becomes near impossible to gain muscle without putting a bit of fat on).
Again, I wish I would’ve focused on strength more in the last 3 years. Over this time, I tried some other non-strength training programs periodically, and I had just focused on getting stronger, I would’ve probably achieved my lifetime goals by now, and could’ve then focused on the other things I want to do. Having said that, because I am rather strong, I am still able to do many things well even though I don’t do them regularly. I have run a sub 7-min mile, touch a regulation basketball rim, do weighted pistol squats with relative ease, maintained 16 mph road bike speeds over decent distances, etc. These aren’t great stats in themselves, but having done them all at above 200 lb body weight and not being efficient due to lack of practice is pretty good IMO. After I reach my lifetime goals (hopefully by next summer), I will try to cut back down to about 180-185 lbs while maintaining that strength (which should also get me to my absolute best physique) while improving on these stats and many more.
Most importantly, all of the physical ailments I had when I was overweight disappeared. I had to throw out a huge stash of Kirkland brand Prilosec, my snoring completely went away, etc. My doctor told me she cannot find a single thing wrong with me. Ironically, my only problem now, if you can call it that, is I have too much energy. But that was just at the tip of the iceberg. Every other aspect of my life has improved drastically as well, including mental, social, career, etc. In fact, achieving this level of fitness helped me get through a divorce (as I’m sure you predicted by now) immensely, as being fit not only helps you deal with stress physiologically, but it also increases your overall capacity for stress, forces you to get your life in order so you can actually strength train properly, teaches you self-awareness and failure is part of getting better, etc.
I know this was long wall of text, but I wanted to share this story because I remember getting some benefit from others when I was going through this as well. Actually, I consider myself to be the type of person who does not generally get motivation from others, but instead can make changes instantaneously when I realize there’s a need – which is about all the motivation I need (hopefully that was obviously with how I portrayed the health issues I experienced). So, if you get motivation from this, great. But if nothing else, I guess it’s just to show (1) how I did (and you *should do*) and (2) what’s possible (and that you could have even better progress if you implement the fundamentals of nutrition and strength training).
Good luck, and if you have any questions, feel free to PM me! I’ve become very passionate about this because of how much it changed my life completely, so I’d be glad to help anyone towards that end.
Edit 1: Oh my word. I expected for this to get some attention, but not this level. Lots of great questions, and I'm glad it's helped a lot of you. Give me some time to answer all the questions because I'm getting questions faster than I'm able to answer. Keep them coming though as I'm glad to help!
Edit 2: Some have pointed out the lift videos are broken. I originally planned on linking my IG account, but I didn't want to break the self-promotion rule. I'll find another way to post these videos. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!
Edit 3: I believe I fixed the lift videos. I wanted to make sure I posted these because I think it reinforces what I was saying about how important strength training is.
Edit 4 (10/1/2018 8:25 PM EST): I appreciate all of the kind words from many of you. I am still working through the responses. I want to make sure I don't leave any questions unanswered because I remember asking questions of my own when I was going through this process. Just give me some time as I am getting questions faster than I can answer them.
F/22/5'10"/sw 225/cw 216
So I don't know how self doubting you all are, but I sure am. I just recently (about a month ago) starting working out and eating better. AND NOTHING CHANGED. I was a major athlete in high school so I'm super competitive with myself and I've done this whole weight loss thing before but A LOT MORE INTENSELY. I felt like I was gonna die during my workouts - I NEVER MISSED ONE. I ate 1200 calories a day of just salad. I just constantly felt like I was never working hard enough. And I lost the weight. Real quick. I was miserable from the diet all the time. And suffice it to say, I gained it all back.
So back to present day. I started this fitness routine this time telling myself I really am just gonna do what I can. I'll eat 1700-1800 calories a day and I'll go to the gym every day, but I'm only gonna do what I can and not really push myself to exhaustion every workout like last time. In my mind, I could not put myself through what I had the last time. I was just too miserable and honestly if thats what it was gonna take to be a healthy weight again I didn't want it. I wanted to be able to eat pizza and donuts occasionally without feeling bad about myself.
I started at 225. So for two weeks, I stuck to a routine I was comfortable with. I lifted weights 5 times a week. Never REALLY broke a sweat. Squats got my heart rate up a bit but thats about it. I did cardio for about 15 minutes 3 times a week. Kept my diet to 1800 calories on days I got a workout in. So after these two weeks, on a completely empty stomach, first thing in the morning I weighed myself. 223 pounds. Only two pounds?!?!? for what felt like a drastic change from what I had been doing. And lets be honest, that weigh in was on a completely empty stomach first thing in the morning. One big dinner and I would have been back to my old weight. The thing is I STUCK TO MY ROUTINE. I DIDN'T BINGE. I NEVER BROKE 1800. According to myfitnesspal I was supposed to be losing 2 lbs a week!
It felt like not being miserable all the time meant progress just wasnt gonna happen for me.
I had read a post on here that said something along the lines of "if you start exercising and dieting at the same time - don't be surprised if you don't lose weight immediately." I chose to believe it. I don't think I ever really did believe it. But what choice did I have? I knew I didn't have the will to do 1200 a day and multiple hour long cardio sessions. And i knew even if I did I couldnt sustain it. So whatever. I guess this is my life now. So two weeks went by where I would weigh in (always on an empty stomach) and find I'd just maintained or even gained a half pound. I was weighing all my food. I was not lying to myself about my calorie intake. Maybe my body was just great at storing fat.
BUT WAIT.
Point of the story, that post I read here... it wasnt lying. In the past one week (NOT CHANGING THE ROUTINE AT ALL) I am now at 216 (on a full stomach). Thats 9 pounds in a little over 4 weeks. 7 pounds I lost in the past week. It feels unbelievable.
I know I'm still really early in my journey but I just wanted anyone out there that might be afraid of starting to know that you REALLY dont need to be miserable to see progress. SERIOUSLY, I ate three donuts for lunch yesterday. And also that if it doesn't seem to be working immediately, but you know you aren't lying to yourself about your CICO then just wait it out.
Edit: Spelling
I moved into an apartment building with a decent gym 6 months ago, but never found the motivation to use it. However, in the last couple weeks, I've used it 6 times, every three days, with no exceptions. I've been focusing on using the free weights, so I don't think I should be going more often than that at first (my muscles already feel like achy jello for a couple days after each visit as it is). In all my weight fluctuations over the years, I'm at my second highest peak, and my knees are really starting to feel it. Let's hope this is the start of a long-term habit- while my doctor has confirmed I have no major health issues, I know that the longer I stay in the 'obese' zone the riskier it is.
Suggestions to make sure I stay motivated are absolutely welcome!
TL;DR: As someone who has had deep body issues for 20 years, I have come out on the other side of severe depression and sexual trauma to begin a healthy pursuit towards weight loss...while having PCOS. There’s a lot goin’ on here!
Hello everyone! Long time lurker, but never written (or even joined) prior to this. For a long time, on many different occasions, I’ve felt compelled to chime in or contribute my own post, but I did not, for whatever reason. I am now embarking on what feels like a complete over-haul in physical and mental health, and a complete lifestyle change to move towards genuine health and happiness. As such, I find myself at the bottom of what seems like a really fuckin’ tall mountain. I hope I can start utilizing the amazing community and support system places like this thread can provide. So, I want to just share my story. I hope that it finds you, and you find it helpful or moving or interesting-or something. If not, that’s okay too. :)
So, I’m gonna be as detailed as I can while attempting to keep this condensed. This is gonna be a long boi no matter what, but I’ll do my best to keep it reasonable.
I am a young woman, 24 years old, turning 25 next spring. For as long as I can remember-and I truly mean this-I’ve been aware of the space that my body took up. The first time I was around children who weren’t my neighbors or family members, the first day of kindergarten, I had an interaction with a kid named... Matthew. (fuck you, Matthew.) It should be noted that I was a mixed little girl (curly light brown hair, tan skin. My mother is mostly Italian, and some smaller degree Lebanese and Polish while my father is African American with a strong French/creole lineage from his mom’s side.) and I didn’t look much like my classmates. I already stuck out in many ways from the girls I shared play-time with. The black children didn’t believe I was black, and I wasn’t white enough for the white kids either. This is an entirely separate story in itself, but I think it’s important to mention because it instilled in me a strong sense of “outsiderness”. I never quite felt like I belonged anywhere. Still don’t, tbh. So, on top of that, I was a little chubby. It honestly pains me to have to even say that, because what was quite literally harmless baby fat was blown out of proportion for me in childhood, and kind of created a complex that grew and morphed with me as I aged. Anyway, back to Matthew. I was playing with a little girl on the first day who had offered to share the mini kitchenette privileges with me. We were pretending to eat those plastic McDonald’s hotcakes and chicken nuggets, for anyone who remembers them. I remember this really clearly. It was just she and I hanging out, minding our own fucking business, when Matthew comes over and asks what we’re doing, to which I or my friend replies something along the lines of “making lunch/dinner/whatever”. Mind you, Matthew is a marvel to 5 year old me. He’s blonde and blue eyed, and also a boy. I was an only child who was exposed to my artist parents and their adult friends. By 5 I knew my cousins and the boy next door. That was it. So he made my tiny heart pitter patter. Matthew, who was worldly and full of sage wisdom, told us something like: “You can’t play house without a husband”. Or a daddy. Or whatever other creepy sexist shit we were fed as little kids about domestic play. And my friend says, “Well which one of us is going to be your wife?” And Matthew points his finger at my friend and says, “You.” To me he says, “You’re kind of fat” I didn’t know exactly what that word indicated for me but I knew it was something that was “bad” to be. I went home and cried, then asked my mom what it meant. I don’t remember the conversation that would have followed. I do remember, however, my mom making me pick him out from her car while on the way to school and telling me to yell at him from her car window. I refused, and she ended up bringing enough popsicles for all but one person in my class like a day later to send the message that he was a punk. I learned to internalize two beliefs when I was 5. The first being that I was fat, and the second being that being fat was undesirable. It was the building block of my later damaging and distorted beliefs about myself and my value to the world (and, unfortunately, specifically my value to men). All it took was that comment. No amount of discussion or rage from my mother could fade the impression Matthew had made on me.
Soon after, when I was 7, my mother’s brutal and dangerous alcoholism started to gain momentum. She was hurling towards oblivion at great speeds and was almost completely out of my life by the time I was 10. I’d watched her have an affair with the neighbor, try to kidnap me and take me to live in California with him, found vodka bottles empty hidden in places in my room so my father couldn’t find them, watched her attempt suicide (she believed I was asleep, and she swallowed a bottle of prescription pills. My dad had to reach into her throat to physically scoop them out.) and finally, the end seemed to come when, during an asthma attack, I took a giant drink from her plastic water bottle and found it to be vodka, not water. My mother was a soft touch, but a deeply troubled woman. She was loving, affectionate, and positively affirming for me. She was exactly who I thought I was supposed to be when I grew up. She was devastatingly gorgeous and kind, and always taught me to root for the underdog. But she was really sick. And it was no longer safe for me to be around her. When she was gone, my dear dad was suddenly tasked with bringing me up all on his own. He was a hibernating punk rocker, a guy who fell in love and stopped living on people’s couches long enough to get a good engineering job and raise a family. When the support of doing this with his partner was taken from him, he was totally bewildered. I am now closer to my dad than anyone I know is with their own parents, and I think he did a fucking amazing job with me. That being said, I was on my own alot. He was extremely protective of me, so I wasn’t unsupervised-I was just alone. I played elaborate games of barbies, I wrote stories-I was deeply active in a fantasy life. I had a lot of friends, but I preferred my own company a lot of the time. So I wasn’t really exposed to the same things my friends were. By choice, but still. I guess this is getting ridiculously long, so I’ll speed up. I grew up with intense body issues. Deep, deep insecurities. And no female influence to guide me or diffuse the situation. I deferred to the outside world for this guidance, and therein lies my problem. I let the world form ideas about what kind of girl I was, how desirable I was, how normal I was. I was always the best friend, the late bloomer, the funny/smart/artist (insert whatever adjective you want there, they all served the same purpose.) girl. The one who was probably more fun to hang out with that the girl you wanted to fuck, but...let’s face it, was not as hot as her friend. At least I think that’s the mindset. I don’t really know. I was diagnosed with body dysmorphia at 16. I lost my virginity to my best friend’s older brother, drunk at a party. He treated me coldly after and I enlisted my older friend to buy me Plan B and spent the entire next day in bed weeping like my ribs had been cracked open. That was the pattern I created, and am still actively trying to break. I have never had sex sober. I have never had sex with someone who cared about me. And I have always, ALWAYS, associated my body with being undesirable and not good enough-which has seriously fucked up my approach to love and sexuality. You may wonder how this is relevant to weight loss. But the way that I viewed my body was that it was ugly and not deserving of real care. Not internally, not externally. I am 5’4 and curvy. I have big hips, a big butt, and a good sized chest. My waist is quite small, which has afforded me a very love/hate relationship with my body. Fast forward through to years and years of inadvertent sexual sexual trauma, a lot of old shit from the past I have to constantly work through, and a weird relationship with alcohol- thank you MOM-I have gained a lot of weight since highschool. About 60 pounds. Most people can’t tell how much I’ve gained because of the way my body distributes fat, but obviously I notice every single detail. It has, in the past, plunged me into deep, deep depression. I was truly suicidal on two separate occasions in the last 4 years, and found myself treating my body like it was a weapon to combat the brutality that was inflicted upon me. Men mistreated me, but I also perpetuated this mistreatment, and was in all reality, equally as brutal to myself as any man or woman had ever been. I have tried everything in the book since I was about 11 years old to try and be “beautiful.” I had eating disorders. I worked out. I went on fad diets. Blah blah blah. But I made no strides for mental recovery; fuck, I didn’t even realize I was in need of it. Since the second and hopefully last call I made to the Suicide Hotline- I have been on a deep journey for inner peace and the pursuit of being gentle with myself. I now feel, 2 years later, ready to finish up the last leg, the homestretch-physical weight loss. Though I am constantly focusing on myself mentally, I feel ready to lose weight in a way that is healthy and forever. I recently got a diagnosis of PCOS(poly cystic ovary syndrome. This fucks with your hormones and insulin response and other levels in your bod, so weight gain is easy peasy and weight loss is tough as shit. Lucky us!) -one which I was expecting and basically knew I had anyway-which is helpful, because I can finally understand why things that work for other people don’t work for me. I quit my office job that made me FUCKING miserable, and got a new dream job that begins in December. Thanks to savings, I have 2 months of rent taken care of and am free to stay unemployed (relatively; I am an artist and freelance writer who makes enough on the side for living modestly if rent is not an issue.) so I am using this time to FULLY dedicate myself to this journey. I don’t have a goal date necessarily, though I would like to ring in the new year with a lot of progress under my belt. I am currently using the bullet journal method which is great for me, because I fuckin’ love physically seeing things, filling up notebooks, making lists. The apps just don’t work for me and the way I respond to things. I’m also on low carb diet, starting today, and hormonal meds addressing the PCOS. So, things are looking up. This is my way of introducing myself, and I’m hoping that this can be yet another way to hold myself accountable and help me on my journey. I’m considering posting a before picture, but I’m quite nervous as it is. Thank you all for listening if you’ve gotten this far. I’m going to post this in a PCOS related weight loss thread as well, because I know I obsessively google things when I am struggling with something, and it’s majorly helpful just to read other people’s stories and identify or find inspiration from them. I’m hoping this could do that. I know it’s basically an essay, but I at least hope it does some good.
Feel free to introduce yourselves and share any insight or stories you may have. <3
I started CICO and working out a couple times a week about three months ago. I started out at 185 pounds and am now down to 159. I don’t quite know how to explain how I feel. My friends and family and even people I don’t really know but see every now and then tell me that they see a difference, but in day to day life I just don’t see it. I can see the numbers dropping, feel my clothes fitting differently, see the difference in photos. So I know I’ve changed. But then I look at myself in the mirror and I just feel like I’m the same as I was. It’s almost like some kind of imposter’s syndrome. I feel guilty, like I’m tricking myself and others into thinking I’ve lost weight when I really haven’t. So when I’m praised by people in my life I feel like I don’t deserve it. There are moments when I give myself credit and am proud of myself but they’re few and far in between. Does anyone else feel/think like this? How can I stop doing this to myself, it’s really frustrating! Obligatory progress pictures: http://imgur.com/G3SWJ0t
Welcome to the October DAC. I hope the month ahead is full of progress, joy, support & a little fall flavor for all of us! Here are my goals:
Weight by end of the month < 300: 310.4 this morning, 311 trend weight. Guess who has two thumbs & had salt late at night? This lady!
Stay within calorie goal of 1650: I have 1603 planned for today. Including low cow ice cream (I prefer it to Halo Top & it's usually cheaper, FWIW). Because of science.
Exercise 5 days a week & really get a sweat on: I’m going to do a lower back stretching/strengthening routine & swing my tbar tonight. I wouldn't usually do both but I'm trying to push this one. 1/1 for the month.
Improve my relationship with food & my body: Shark week is coming. I'ma batten down the hatches. I think I need another pair of tennis shoes. Maybe that's my reward for my next flair.
Journal once a week, uninterrupted 60 minutes about stuff that matters (in addition to other journaling I already do): I tend to do this on weekends. 0/4 weeks down.
Self-care treat once a week: I tend to do this on weekends too. I have face masks I want to try out. One of them has peaches on the packaging that look like butts so prolly that one. 0/4 weeks down.
How was day one for everyone?
Has anyone on here waited to start dating until they have reached their goal weight? Did you feel like it was the right choice to wait, or did you feel like you wasted time?
I'm constantly struggling with thinking I should be putting myself out there and get some dating experience, I'm 21f 185lb for reference, but at the same time I feel like I should feel happy with the way I look before I do, because I feel very unattractive currently. But I don't want to look back and feel like I wasted my 20's. Finding a partner is a huge reason why I started my weight loss journey, even though it's been something I've been struggling with my whole life. But I only became super motivated when I realized I'm 21 and still haven't had any romantic interactions with anyone.
So just wanted to get some insight from people who's been in the same situation as me before, thanks!
I've been weighing and logging my food for the past 483 days. I've lost 63 lb, about a third of my starting weight. I'm done with losing, and I'm transitioning into maintenance.
For the month of October, I'm running an experiment to test how well I can eyeball my portions. No more tracking, just eating. I hesitate to call it "intuitive eating" because my intuition is broken. If I listened to my body, I would go back to my old habits. Instead, it's mindful eating. I'm still cognizant of what and how much I eat, I'm just not tracking precisely in My Fitness Pal.
At the end of the month, I'll weigh and measure myself and see how I did. I hope I maintain my weight, but if I do gain a couple pounds, it just means I need to get back to external tracking, and that's okay.
This has always been my long term goal -- to learn how to eat appropriately to maintain a healthy weight. The weight loss has obviously been important (obese to healthy weight!) but the bigger picture is learning new habits.
Wish me luck, friends! (I'm celebrating by going on a big baking spree, and I'm going to leave a couple cookies here for myself and take most of them to work.)
I think for the most part, my attempts to lose weight were unsuccessful because I kept expecting immediate results rather than realizing that this is a lifestyle change.
I've given up so many times after working out for a week and not seeing the scale drop but now I'm starting to see and do things differently.
Although my main hurdle with weightloss is food and emotional eating (which I'm working on as well), I figure if there's one thing that will help me in the long run, it's consistency.
So I've set a goal to workout 5 days a week and so far I've been sticking to it. Today I was able to finish a workout with HIIT and weightlifting and I didn't even have to modify the workouts or pause the video to complete it! While I may not have lost weight on the scale, I have gained more strength and endurance than when I first started my journey.
Anyways, I just wanted to share my story and hopefully help/inspire anyone who may feel like giving up due to the number on their scale. All that matters is that you keep going and trying to improve.
Hopefully it’s ok if I post this here. I don’t care if anyone reads this or not. But I finally went back to the gym. 45 minutes of light working out and swear was running down my face. I’m ashamed I’ve let myself go so much. I was 21 and sitting in size 7 pants and now I’m 27 in a size 16. But I did it. Today, I also got sleep last night, and I ate my leftover spaghetti and Home made meatballs for lunch. Why put that? Cause I did that instead of buying my hotdog, chicken patty, fries, and two snack cakes that I have been buying forever. It’s not THAT much healthier, but the meatballs I made myself so I figure that’s a plus. I walked the elliptical, and did the beginners workout which consisted of squats, crunches, lunges, planks, and more. I want to change my lifestyle SO BADLY. Maybe this time I can. I know I’ll have ups and downs. But everyone started with a day 1 right? I’m hoping if I keep blogging it, it will give me motivation to keep going.
Just joking about the AMA, it's definitely not a real offical AMA nor do I think I did such an amazing thing that I have stuff to teach - but if anyone has questions I'll be happy to answer, of course. :)
Some people have expressed interest and asked me to update, so here is the conclusion!
I think there are some parts that are interesting from a weightloss / maintenance / relationship with food point of view.
Why I decided to stop buying food
At the end of August I saw this TV show. A couple tried different alternate lifestyles. In the first episode they touched on the food waste in our society, and how people are actually dumpster diving for food as a form of food activism. One guy had gone a whole month without buying food, and just eaten out of dumpsters + whatever basics he had at home.
Like many others I was brought up with the "clean your plate"... "There are starving children who would love to have your porridge", lol. Instead of figuring out a way to ship porridge to the other side of the world I became scared of wasting food. So I learned to always clean my plate and use my body as a trash can...
Later I learned to stop doing that and actually let some food go to waste. I think the food waste happens when we buy too much food, not when we actually throw it out.
Now I dislike food waste for a different reason. I think it's terrible for the planet.
We produce food on the other side of the world, and then ship it all the way over here on a jet plane. Our planet pays the price. We chop down the rainforests and pollute the world with all this food production. Then we transport it around the world. To add insult to injury we throw a lot of that food away once it reaches its destination.
Also it's expensive. I don't want to think about how much fresh food I buy only to throw some of it out, because I didn't plan when I was going to eat it.
The freezer as a final resting place for old foods I didn't want to eat
My own freezer has been filled to the brim with old foods I bought and saved for later, and never wanted to eat again. It was just easier to buy even more food. The fresh food in the supermarket was always easier and nicer than the stuff I had at home.
How I did it
As a part of my September goals in the European 30 day challenge here on the sub, I decided to go a month without buying more food.
I did not dumpster dive for food, but I mainly ate from
My garden - I have tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, kale, lettuce, carrots, onions and all that stuff
My freezer - I had a lot of old bread and meat and baked goods (etc) to use up
I'm also a pretty good cook, give me a bag of flour and some butter and I see a pie. That definitely helped.
Yesterday was the last day.
I did it! :)
For those who want to see a selection of what I actually ate during this month, there's a little link at the end.
Difficulties I faced
Getting enough
Dairy
Protein
To deal with these difficulties I did a few things;
For dairy,
I got hold of some oat milk which actually lasts for a long time, and noticed there are some types of milk that will last for months while unopened. Definitely going to stock up on those from now on.
But I also changed my habits a little. Instead of always having butter or cheese spread on my sandwiches, I started using olive oil. That's a habit I will keep up. (Healthier, too.)
For protein,
I usually eat quark for protein (a dairy product like yoghurt or skyr, but with a ton of protein in it) and that expired after the first week.
Canned tuna is good if you have it.
I had loads of canned beans and chickpeas. I also had dried peas and lentils to make soup. Never bothered to use those before...
I also started mixing protein powder into my homemade granola bars. I just blend some dates, oats, seeds, dried fruit, sometimes peanut butter or honey, and protein powder in the food processor and make bars. Great way of getting protein and healthy nuts and seeds. A lot cheaper than buying protein bars.
But dairy and protein were still the most difficult ones for me.
Effects on weight maintenance / weightloss
I reached my goal weight in 2016, my husband is still losing weight. There were some unexpected effects to this, both when it comes to maintenance and weightloss.
Maintenance: I found myself undereating a bit towards the end of the month.
It was just easier not to eat lunch than try to figure out something nice to make. Mostly laziness though, and trying to make my food look good for the internets lol - I did have food, I could have eaten peanut butter with a spoon or something. I tried to eat enough though, and compensate the next day if I had undereaten.
(It helped me a lot that I had previously learned to be around food without having to eat it all - otherwise I would have burned through my peanut butter etc. very quickly) ;)
Weightloss: The husband started losing weight a lot faster. We valued the foods we had much more, so overeating was frowned upon, lol.
(He has Night eating syndrome so it helped that there weren't as many goodies around too, and that I lost my shit if something was gone, ha.)
Effects on how I feel about food
I value food a lot more now - when I eat something, I really enjoy it. I already enjoyed it before but now I really appreciate dairy etc :)
I'm happy that I'm a small female who doesn't actually need to eat like a lumberjack. My husband was hungry more than I was. I felt awesome.
I found many ways to make my own versions of things, like vegetable stock, sourdough bread using a sourdough starter instead of yeast, protein bars etc. Cheaper and actually quite easy.
I'm sure that (from the 1960's and forward) when we forgot how to cook our own food and started getting hooked on TV dinners and fast food, we got a lot fatter and unhealthier. Cooking things yourself is a good skill to have.
I like to know what is in my food.
I really appreciate fresh vegetables, organic straight from the garden - I will start buying more organic veg if I can't grow it myself.
I did not miss the packaged foods, I missed the fresh foods. Packaged foods were something I had to eat because I didn't have fresh...
I was a little bored with maintenance before this, but it really gave me a boost :)
Things I will change permanently after this
I will start using olive oil on bread.
I will only buy food on Sundays, and plan out my meals so there is less waste.
I will try to grow my own lettuce etc. during the winter too. Stop buying so much.
I will continue baking bread, it's so expensive to buy bread.
(As a side note, I hear about there not being any decent bread to buy in the US; I've never experienced that myself but if I lived there I would definitely bake my own unsweetened rye bread "European style". It's the only bread that keeps me full for a long time.)
I will keep lists of what I actually have in the freezer and pantry. I will look at the list when I plan what to cook.
I will try to buy a lot less food, and instead choose higher quality on things that matter (veggies, eggs, meats etc) and cheaper brands on things that don't matter. Buy the foods that are on sale/on special offer.
etc.
I could go on and on about this.
I don't know if anyone was interested in reading about this but I'll post it in case someone was.
I realize not everyone has access to their own garden for fresh vegetables, and not everyone has the time or skill to cook all their food from scratch. But EVERYONE can do something to stop the food waste in their own household. The world's resources are finite, we can't keep wasting the way we are. We can also learn to appreciate what we already have, instead of always wanting more.
I'm a big fan of taking what I have (my body, my life, my garden) and making the best of it.
Just like I had hidden treasures in the freezer, I also have hidden treasures within myself. I just need to appreciate them more.
There are some pictures here (10 of them "behind" that post) if someone wants to see roughly what I ate during this time.
It looks pretty similar to my normal eating but there was a lot more thought behind everything.
Feel free to ask if there's something you want to know about this. :)
So I've been on and off working out and eating better my whole life, a couple months ago i went to donate plasma and the scale said 310 lbs. During the donation i ended up clogging three times and had to leave before the donate was done because i popped a vein. Looking at my cholesterol and weight i knew something had to change. I spent a few weeks researching everything i could about weight loss and exercise, what works for some and not for others. i read a lot of posts on here and r/progresspics and figured out a plan for myself. i slowly got back into the gym and for the last 5 weeks i go Monday through Friday. I stopped going out to eat and cut down my carbs to minimal i eat a diet with more clean foods focusing on healthy fats and proteins. To keep myself motivated i started posting weekly pictures on a private Instagram account and update it regularly so i can keep myself accountable. So far i have lost 18 lbs I'm down to 292 and start heading to the gym after work by habit now, not because i force myself too. I'm happy with this personal growth I've done and hope that when this journey ends I can help others.
Personally I'm not even certain my goal of 185 is going to be my final goal, but its what I'm shooting for. Whenever I bring up wanting to lose another 30lbs though, literally everyone around me says a variant of "from where?". It should be flattering, but sometimes its just so discouraging. I know what I look like under my clothes, and sometimes I just wonder if I'm pulling off an amazing illusion because if people saw what I see then there's no way in hell they'd question where 30lbs is coming from. Maybe it's trivial, but it matters to me, because while these people are saying I don't need to work any harder (which I disagree with) I also have people on the other side accusing me of having an ED or telling me I'll just regain everything again. Now for me it's just daunting because I had already regained a large portion of my initial loss, from 345-215 and then gained back up to 293. now I'm 215 again, and I'm just terrified of this becoming a constant cycle. Does anyone have advice on how to deal with this/these feelings?
Thought I would share as one of my key failures is consistency in logging my food - even if it took 30 seconds to go into the app to log, it was just another chore.
With the new integration of the Shortcut App, Siri, and Loseit, however I spend 30 seconds making a shortcut to ask Siri to log a meal and forever after I just have to say "Hey Siri, Log Work Salad" and she just does it for me.
This might be easier for me as I don't have a deep bench in day-to-day meals or quantities, but I have also noticed that I'll choose the salad for lunch just because of how easy it is to log the salad now versus creating a new meal manually. Go figure...
EDIT: The easiest way I have found to create the shortcut it to log the meal in LoseIt (by meal I mean a saved meal (like Taco Salad or Chicken Dinner), then go to the Shortcut app, Create a new Shortcut, and search for LoseIt -- it should have a suggestion listed to create a shortcut for that new meal. You will also have to create the Siri Statement as part of the shortcut to make her do it for you.
EDIT: This is a link that shows how to use the Shortcut feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxTqx1lK2lo
I'm 4'11" and my highest weight has probably been ~158lbs. I dropped down to 156lbs in a little less than a month and fell off the wagon not long after because of poor self control while eating with friends and even less control when depressed. Somehow, though, I still managed to drop down to 154lbs (???) for a week and now I'm back to ~156lbs. I don't know what happened, but that one week of keeping in the 154 range was so nice. I'd like to feel that again and eventually drop down to my goal which is 130lbs.
So, since it's the first of the month, I'm going to try to eat better starting today. I've started using the Lifesum app again to chart my eating habits and I plan on either walking every day or putting the 8fit app to use. Here's hoping I can lose weight and start feeling better both in health and in self-esteem!
Does anyone have any recommendations for vegetarian-friendly recipes? Preferably ones with ingredients that can easily be found at any old convenience store? What is okay to snack on? Also, does anyone have any tips for keeping going through depressive bouts?
Thanks! ♥
I Rant, Therefore I Am
Well bla-de-da-da! What's making your blood boil? What's under your skin? What's making you see red? What's up in your craw? Let's hear your weight loss related rants!
The rant post is a /u/bladedada production.
Please consider saving your next rant for this weekly thread every Tuesday.
Hi all! Since early July I have lost about 30 pounds and just wanted to share a little non scale victory with you all that I found really surprising and hopeful.
When I was at my heaviest I avoided mirrors and pictures at all costs. I’m still having a hard time with pictures (old habits die hard) but mirrors are like a whole new world for me! I. Can’t. Stop. Looking. I’m not at my goal weight, still have 20 more pounds to lose but I have already started loving the way I look again. So much so that I can’t stop looking! Every time I pass by a mirror I almost do a double take, thinking “that can’t be me” and then realizing it is me. Or when I accidentally open my front facing camera and I’m not immediately repulsed by my double chin.
I’m not trying to brag about my appearance by any means because like I said I still have another 20 pounds to lose, but it’s so nice to not hate your appearance. Hatred takes a lot of energy, so to hate yourself is probably the most draining and damaging things you can do. I don’t mean to get too deep in a mostly happy post, but this community showed me how important it is to forgive and love yourself throughout this entire journey. Good luck to you all!
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A place for people of all sizes to discuss healthy and sustainable methods of weight loss. Whether you need to lose 2 lbs or 200 lbs, you are welcome here!
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A place for people of all sizes to discuss healthy and sustainable methods of weight loss. Whether you need to lose 2 lbs or 200 lbs, you are welcome here!
Help & Resources
Review the subreddit rules here before posting
Quick Start Guide - How to start losing weight
Guidelines - Read this before posting
FAQ - Common questions and answers
- How can I get motivated?
- Will I get loose skin?
- How can I get through a plateau? ...and much more!
Compendium - Insights on losing weight
LoseIt Challenges
[Fall 2018 Mario Theme Weight Loss Challenge] - SIGNUP BEGINS SEPT 28TH
- About LoseIt Challenges
- Current Week Post Coming Soon
- First Weigh in: Oct 12th
- Last Weigh in: Nov 23rd
- Contact Challenge Admins for help
DAILY CHALLENGES
Recurring Threads
DAILY THREADS
- SV/NSV Feats of the Day - celebrate victories
- Day 1 posts - Introductions
- 24-Hour Pledge - commit daily to stay on track
- Daily Q&A Thread - no question too small
WEEKLY THREADS (open all week)
- Motivation Monday - Motivate self and others.
- Tantrum Tuesday - the place for complaining
- Wecipe Wednesday - share your favorites!
- Weigh-In Wednesday - share your numbers!
Track with Me Thursday - make new friends!
Running with Loseit - loseit running club
Loseit Weight Loss Totals
Total Weight Lost
- 1,669,143 lbs (757,110 kg)
Weight Lost per User
- 38.8 lbs (17.6 kg)
Last updated July 14, 2018 [info]
Related Communities
- Daily Posts -
NSV/SV - Feats of the Day | Daily Q&A | DAY 1 - Start Your Journey