Here's the tl;dr photo link here!
Background: I've spent my entire life overweight. I was a chubby kid, an overweight teenager, and an obese adult. I remember being bullied as early as first grade over my weight. I tried keto and Weight Watchers a few times during high school through my early 20s, but after losing a few pounds I'd go right back to my old eating habits and would gain more weight than I lost. I fully believed in starvation mode, that I had a slow metabolism, that I was predisposed towards being overweight - essentially any excuse to defer accountability and make my weight something out of my control. I was somewhere between 180-195 for some time, but after college I managed to get up to 220. I started my weight loss last year at 208.
A year ago I went to an event where I made a costume for myself, and was absolutely horrified at the pictures afterward. I had meticulously worked for weeks on my project, and couldn't bear to look at the result because I was so embarrassed about my appearance. After years of denial and excuses and self-pity, this was the kick in the ass I needed to motivate me into doing something about it.
Process: For the first few months of adjusting my diet I went on Weight Watchers - disclaimer that this was before their reformulated plan. The plan I was on had me on 25 to 30 smart points a day if I'm recalling correctly, with weekly overflow points and unlimited fruits and vegetables. Now that I calorie count and my TDEE is lower, I personally wouldn't be able to follow the same plan for sustainable weight loss, but it was a great kickstart into being mindful of what I was eating and consuming more nutrient-dense foods.
After maybe six weeks of WW, I stumbled on r/loseit and contemplated calorie counting. It ended up being a great move for me, and instead of having some weeks of progress and some weeks not being sure whether I was eating the right foods or not, I started to learn the science behind weight loss. Disclaimer that I think if Weight Watchers works for you, that's fantastic. It gave me the boost I needed to get started.
Most of the time I'll log my food right before eating, but sometimes if I'm in a social situation where I don't want to pull out my phone I'll take a picture and log it later. I weigh myself daily because it helps take the intimidation factor out of the equation and helps normalize fluctuations. I know if I have beer or rice later in the day, the next day I'll fluctuate back up and see it go down in a day or two.
Diet and Exercise: Most mornings, I'll have either just coffee with sugar-free creamer for breakfast or something in the 100 calorie range. I tend to get hungrier later in the day, so I hoard calories so I don't find myself wanting a snack after dinner as much. I hesitate to call it intermittent fasting since I'm pretty casual about it and will eat breakfast if it works into my plan for the day, and don't typically restrict eating something later at night if I'm genuinely hungry and not just hangry. Usually when I'm snacky but know I'm not really hungry I'll make myself a cup of tea or have a glass of ice water, and then see if I'm still hungry after finishing it. At that point, if I'm not willing to have a salad or a bowl of vegetables or fruit for a snack, then I'm not REALLY hungry and I do something else to distract myself.
My meals usually consist of a protein, vegetables, and sometimes a starch in a small portion. Buying a food scale has been absolutely instrumental in my weight loss, along with taking the time to look up nutritional information if something seems too good to be true in the loseit app. Some of my savior snack foods have been Halo Top, the Sara Lee Delightful 45 calorie bread with reduced fat cream cheese, PB2, sugar free canned fruit, and Think Thin bars.
My exercise has been sporadic, since with my costuming hobby I'll go through periods where I'm intensely sewing or crafting every day after my full time job. When I have less high-strung weeks, I go to the gym and usually focus on cardio. I have a chronic pain issue that makes weight lifting a little difficult at times, but I'm working on it. I maybe add 100 calories back to my budget when I have an intense exercise session, if I eat back exercise calories at all.
Takeaways: Misunderstanding how weight loss actually works is such a barrier of entry to so many people. Even though I was raised by a nurse, I still drank Slim Fast shakes for breakfast as a kid with normal overeating patterns the rest of the day and didn't understand why I couldn't lose weight. Once I joined r/loseit and started tracking CICO, weight loss was demystified. I could still eat "whatever I wanted", but I had to be accountable for it.
Balance is important. I don't spend my entire caloric budget on nutrient-empty junk food if it fits in my budget, because that isn't sustainable and doesn't get me enough bang for my buck calorie-wise. However, if I want a treat and can work it in, I'll do so. Labeling food as "cheating" or "bad food" isn't in my vocabulary, because assigning a negative connotation to what I'm putting in my body just perpetuates a feeling of guilt or falling off the wagon. I just try to look at things holistically.
My progress has been slightly slower than some others because I also don't restrict myself as much to keep my sanity. I stick to 1200 most days, but I'll take a maintenance day if I'm going out to dinner with friends. Most of the time I have a maintenance day once every two weeks. However, I went on maintenance during Christmas, and had a week long vacation both in September and in March where I didn't calorie count at all until I got back home. Those breaks have been so good to refresh myself and for my ability to just get right back to the grind afterwards. Even though I have to lose the two or three pounds I gained again, I never feel like I'm doing something unsustainable.
At the end of the day, slow progress is still progress! Time will pass anyway, so you may as well give it your best and try to be good to yourself.
Back in March I started participating a singing and dancing class, which I NEVER would have thought possible last year. Dancing was absolutely out of the question for me once. It has been so fun to do something totally out of my comfort zone and put myself in the spotlight when I've been so used to casting myself as a behind-the-scenes support role. It sounds trite, but I finally feel like I'm the lead role in my life again.
Over the last year I feel like I've built a routine that I can really stick to and feel proud of! Every other time I've tried to be healthy I fell off the wagon after a few weeks at most, so I'm really happy that I've been able to establish this as my new normal.
Here are some bullet point takeaways and reiterated r/loseit wisdom I have from the last year that I hope may be helpful for some people:
- Follow the pace that works for you. If a high deficit diet with working out every day is going to burn you out, then it isn't going to be a long-term habit for you. It isn't a competition, and it's okay to take your time. Build good habits and results will come.
- Eat the way you can see yourself eating in the future, at your goal weight. Occasionally treating myself while eating healthier 80-90% of the time works for me.
- Take progress pictures! It's huge motivation when you feel stagnant.
- I never engage in passive eating. If I bite it, I write it. I log everything from vegetables to alcohol intake and splurge meals. Honestly, logging my maintenance or treat days makes partaking in them so much easier because I can track exactly how over I was that day, and then see how long it'll take my deficit to catch up to get back on track.
- There will almost always be people who will react negatively to your dieting and/or weight loss. Remember that you're doing this for you, and not for the approval of anyone else. Welcome the positive reinforcement from people in your life, but don't give naysayers the space to neg on you. When people react negatively when you're trying to improve yourself, it says quite a bit about how they perceive themselves. It isn't anyone's business but yours!
- Always remember to be kind to yourself emotionally. You'll experience plateaus, fluctuations, bumps in the road, etc. You're partaking in this endeavor to be good to yourself and positively impact your life.
I still have about 20 pounds to my first huge goal, but I wanted to post and contribute to the community that has kept me dedicated for the last year. This sub has helped me really shift my perceptions for the better, and the knowledge I've learned here has positively impacted people in my life as well. My husband and a few of my friends have said my weight loss has inspired them to start to take better care of themselves too, which is honestly the most flattering and heart-warming thing to me. I feel as dedicated as ever and excited to have my first summer of feeling somewhat comfortable in my body.
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