Weight loss: Done with Arby’s |
- Done with Arby’s
- 1 year apart, I can do up my coat again! Years of dealing with Endometriosis and horrific medication, I didn’t feel like I recognised myself. I had surgery 18mnths ago and I’m back to my old self, healed and happy
- (24F) How my psychiatrist helped me lose my first 20 lbs!
- IF + CICO + HUNGER CONTROL !? I think I cracked the code y’all
- NSV - My house still has Peanut Butter
- I got words of motivation from a random stranger!
- Covid Temp Scanner is having a hard time recognizing me nowadays.
- Finally 3lbs from not longer being overweight
- I'm stuck!! I need help! Been at 195lb for almost 3 months
- Refried Beans are AMAZING for staying satiated
- Today I really needed to remember why I am doing this.
- I Put the Doritos Back!
- 30 Day Accountability Challenge - Day 3
- I’m finally doing it!
- i got the 'someone falsely assumes pregnancy' and it really hurt me
- NSV - I am STILL trying to work my way through all of my Christmas chocolate!
- Depressed and struggling to lose it
- Pavlov's Guide to a Healthy Life
- Advice/support specifically for very short girls?
- Mental illness and being severely overweight
- One thing you didn't give up
- I've had a bad week
- this is my first reddit post. I just need to get this off my chest. My health is declining at a rapid rate and i don't know how to fix it.
- It’s getting easier!
| Posted: 03 Feb 2021 03:43 PM PST As I was throwing some 3 bean turkey chili into the crockpot for dinner this afternoon, my husband said that he was going to run to Arby's for some lunch. He asked if I wanted any. I caved because the suggestion sounded so good. But I ordered the small curly fry and single beef and cheese instead of my usual large curly fry, double beef and cheddar, mozzarella sticks, AND soda. I don't know if it's because I've been eating healthier or what...but the first bite of fries tasted so weird. I felt like I had a layer of fat coating my tongue...probably because I did....but it just really put me off. I should have stopped there and just tossed them since I wasn't enjoying them, but I hate wasting food, so I ate them. Stupid reason to finish food, I know. I tracked it all in MFP and OMG...850 calories for lunch. So not worth it. I didn't even enjoy it. So I'm done with Arby's. And honestly, probably with most fast food like that. If I ever do fast food again, I'll be choosing non-fried, healthier options. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2021 09:53 AM PST https://imgur.com/gallery/bP6fO0j I was very sick for many years, crippled by endometriosis, I ended up getting put into an early menopause, then having major surgery 18mnths ago. The years of reduced movement, nasty medication and comfort eating took their toll and I ballooned. I am proud to say that I'm healthier than I've ever been, in body and mind. In the first picture, I didn't recognise myself, I was massive, still healing from my surgery and mentally ravaged by the years of pain and pain management. Today I can zip that damn coat up and say, I GOT HEALTHY, I AM HEALED. Whatever reason you want to lose weight, I'm here rooting for you. I can move my arse and shift some lbs, so can you. [link] [comments] |
| (24F) How my psychiatrist helped me lose my first 20 lbs! Posted: 03 Feb 2021 10:37 AM PST Hey guys! Even if no one sees this, I had to tell someone of this small victory! I'm F24, 5'6 and 215 lbs. I have problems with my back that make it really difficult for me to exercise, so I'm sedentary in my lifestyle. I work from home, so I don't even walk to and from a bus stop. I recently started mental health treatments to treat my binge eating and uncontrollable cravings. In the process, without realizing it, my portion sizes got smaller. I kept ordering the same amount of food as before thinking that I would need it, and would end up having to throw out more than half of it. I know, I know, a huge, giant, privileged waste of food. I don't keep leftovers from my binges because I always try not to expect myself to binge again (even though I always do.) But without realizing it, my binges were becoming just normal meals with normal amounts of food! Only today did I realize that in reality, I haven't binged in quite some time! Thanks to my treatments, I've been feeling like I don't need food so much to rely on emotionally anymore, so I've been planning on starting a serious weight loss journey today. I weighed myself to see the damage, thinking that I've gained even more since last time (since, after all, I was still ordering takeout.) To my surprise, I've lost 20lbs! In my mind, I was eating the same as before, but I'm realizing now that simply being able to eat normal amounts as opposed to straight up bingeing has changed everything. That being said, I want to encourage anyone who struggles with self control around food, and wanted to share what my psychiatrist told me: She said that sometimes, people lack dopamine and serotonin. Similarly to how pregnant women get cravings for things like dirt and egg shells because of deficiencies they develop during pregnancy, our brain latches on to whatever source of missing chemicals it can get. For a lot of people, that ends up being food. If it feels like you find it impossible to gain control over your own cravings, or that you seem to get more depressed the more you diet, chances are that you're deficient in a happiness chemical. But getting treatment for depression often isn't enough. People who get treated for depression are often treated through serotonin, and aren't given any external source of dopamine. Dopamine is the reward chemical that's most in charge of making us feel motivated and wanting to do things with our time. To simply remove the food/drugs/smoking that we rely on to feel a sense of fulfillment without replacing it with another source of dopamine is asking us to give up the will to live while somehow finding the will to care about our physical health. That's why, we often feel most motivated to lose weight after a binge, because things become clear again and we feel capable of experiencing motivation. That's why food becomes drug-like. She explained to me that motivation is nothing more than a combination of chemicals triggered in our brain. If you lack one or more of these chemicals, motivation becomes impossible. This was a very, very simplified version of things to help me understand it. She recommended that I read about the biology of ADHD, not because everyone that's overweight has ADHD, but because studying ADHD is the best way to learn about the reward system in our brain and how it works to help us in absolutely everything that we do. We started treatments with medications for dopamine and serotonin, and two months later, I'm 20 lbs lighter! I plan to use this newfound freedom from cravings to start a proper CICO routine, and when my weight allows me, daily walks. I hope even one person out there reading this can find comfort in this post that the ability to get motivated sustainably is a privilege, and the ability to control yourself from cravings is too. You're not weak for relying on food and not being able to let go. If you're like me and you can't imagine a reality where you can be happy without food, consider talking to your doctor about psychiatric treatments to aid with your weight loss. I wish you all the best and good luck! [link] [comments] |
| IF + CICO + HUNGER CONTROL !? I think I cracked the code y’all Posted: 03 Feb 2021 11:46 AM PST I love CICO but was also so intrigued by intermittent fasting. Could I take these 1500 Calories and .... make them work better? Maybe. But I needed a good reason to do it. Evidence. Something concrete that worked for ME. Because my first day was kind of a bust. 16:8....and a massive headache, and after enjoying my first normal sized (600 cal) healthy dinner since November (I was so excited) I proceeded to get a huge stomach ache and felt like I had been run over by a truck! went to bed very very early 😂😂 I wanted to keep trying this. But I needed a reason to continue .... and today I found it. Today I read that for some people IF works because eating .... makes them HUNGRY !!?? Eating makes us hungry!!!!??? Did I read that right!?! 🤪 This blew my MIND yall. Because I knew it was true from my own experience. I just had to think back.....whenever I eat its hard to stop. Eating makes me hungrier always !! (Not even talking carbs or sugar...I mean salmon and veggies and eggs etc...it's hard to stop) I found out that eating sets in motion a whole chain of events (insulin....glucose...) that creates hunger and desire for MORE FOOD. In other words, the juices are flowing. So it follows that by delaying breakfast.... I can feel more comfortable (aka NOT HUNGRY) !! For a long time!! It also follows that eating just revs up our bodies digestion / hunger cycle! I remember how it used to be....the feeling of waking up, eating my small healthy breakfast at 8 am, and being done in 10 minutes and then feeling the DREAD of an entire lllllllong day stretching out in front of me —- and only 1300 or so calories left. Torture !!! I had to fill the whole day with these hunger- making nibbley little meals!?! (Now yes I was determined to do this so I had success but it was through sheer willpower. Not sustainable.) But Today..... on my IF schedule .... I ate breakfast at noon. I was hungry at about 11 but knew one more hour to go. So no problem. Sailing on to a Big breakfast. And now only a few hours until another nice sized meal!? YES!! AND I know I will be done eating at 7-8 - also awesome. Door is shut and done. Belly is full. Alarm is set for tomorrow. At noon I can eat again. YALL THIS is insanely comforting to me. I can't even tell you. It's actually comfortable for the first time since beginning CICO (which is of course the king of any loss program....but IF with it is GOLDEN) 👑 [link] [comments] |
| NSV - My house still has Peanut Butter Posted: 03 Feb 2021 02:06 PM PST One of my biggest weaknesses is Peanut Butter... It might be weird but I can eat a whole jar... or more. It has been so bad that I just never buy it. When my partner and I started living together, she had to stop buying it because I would eat ALL of it before she could get to it. It felt like I tried everything. I pretended it didn't exist, asked for it to be hidden, you know the usual. I felt really bad, because my bad habit impacted my partner. She likes peanut butter sandwiches and I was basically taking that from her. (she never said that out loud, but could sense it) When she bought peanut butter, she might get one sandwich before it was all gone a few days later. Well... a month ago we got peanut butter and we still have most of the same jar. I have had a sandwich here and there, but I have never had more then 1 serving (two tablespoons). This is huge, at least it feels that way. In stead of just quitting it... I have moderated myself. Yeah, it is just one part of a whole set of things I need to change, but I thought it was one I would never be able to. It is just a huge relief. EDIT/Addendum: HOW I DID IT? I used a tool from when I quit drinking.... I quit drinking by getting into making non-alcoholic drinks... as a hobby... so when I wanted to drink it would be fun and I could share it. Well... I opened the peanut butter and thought... instead of downing it, why don't I make a bunch of Sandwiches.... Sounds odd... but while I can Eat a jar of PB strait... a bunch of sandwiches don't scratch the same itch. So I made sandwiches with all the bread we had (like more than 20)... and put them in the fridge. I know... everyone who has looked in the refrigerator has asked why are there so many peanut butter sandwiches in the fridge. Honestly, I have block out that they exist, because... well, we had just bought bread and I used all of it. The loaf of sourdough, multigrain, and hamburger buns. It is like a monument to the absurdity of it all... SO... I guess meal planning... kind of. [link] [comments] |
| I got words of motivation from a random stranger! Posted: 03 Feb 2021 03:19 PM PST Hey guys, I'm new here, but at my peak in 2020 I (29M) was around 365, 345 at the start of January after getting sick at the end of the year, and am down to around 337 now. I finally sat down and made a workout schedule in early January, and have been sticking to it for better or for worse for three and a half weeks now! But anyway, I was on my Couch-to-5K jog today, and my neighborhood is very hilly, so I was struggling to climb one of the last hills during a jogging segment. Suddenly I look up and see a little old woman going downhill in the opposite direction towards me, and when she saw me she shouted "YOU GOT THIS, YOUNG MAN. IT'S A DIFFICULT HILL BUT YOU GOT IT". And my motivation to finish the workout skyrocketed from there and I increased my pace enough the last two jogs to increase my overall distance traveled. I'm so happy she would show support to a stranger like that! I never thought I would actually stick to a workout regimen. But it turns out that writing one down and really planning it out is all I needed to get it to stick! 200's, here I come! [link] [comments] |
| Covid Temp Scanner is having a hard time recognizing me nowadays. Posted: 04 Feb 2021 02:56 AM PST So, about six months ago we got this fancy scanner at work that has a video camera we have to look into. It takes our temp and announces that we are verified to work. When we first got it, our boss had to have it scan our faces so that it would be able to tell that we really work there. And it's very good at recognizing us. I've gone in both with heavy goth-like makeup and bare-faced, my hair up or down, wearing hats sometimes, with face masks on and off. It's never had an issue. Other people have also told me similar stories about it. Today it took four tries for it to recognize me. I don't remember how much I weighed when I was scanned, but I think I've lost around 25 or 30 pounds. And now it's starting to say "Stranger alert" instead of "Authenticated". I still don't see much of a difference when I look in the mirror. But there is no denying it, I am becoming unrecognizable at least to a biometric machine. [link] [comments] |
| Finally 3lbs from not longer being overweight Posted: 03 Feb 2021 01:00 PM PST My flair is old, I don't know how to change it And OF COURSE I SCREW UP THE TITLE But yeah, I've always been fairly slim. I work out a ton, run half marathons, eat healthy, all that nonsense. I had a baby 2 years ago, I gained 20lbs total during my entire pregnancy, I was in the gym the day I went into labor, I was back down below my pre pregnancy weight 2 weeks after giving birth. Awesome right? Enter depression, of the post partum kind. 10 months after I had my baby I started Zoloft for PPD and anxiety. I felt great. I slept great, I wasn't obsessing about my son dying in his sleep, I was more confident. However, I was getting squishy. I attributed it to COVID, but that made no sense because I was working 1 week on, 1 week off and on my off weeks, I was running 3-10 miles daily and doing HIIT workouts on my non run days. But I was still gaining noticeable weight. I cut calories, according to my Garmin watch I burn anywhere from 2000-3000 calories a day depending on my workouts. So I cut down to 1800 a day. Still gaining. I cut down to 1500 a day, weighed my food, cut out wine. Still gaining. 1300 a day, 1500 on a long run day, still gaining. I talked to my doctor, he said I was probably just being less active because of COVID. I talked to a nutritionist, she said I was probably "eating more because I was feeling happier" from taking Zoloft. I talked to reddit, who said weight gain from antidepressants isn't a thing and I probably wasn't "eating less and moving more". I finally had the courage to step on a scale in October 2020, after I'd been on Zoloft for a year. I weighed 150lbs the last time I checked, in early October 2020. The scale said 189lbs. I couldn't believe it. But I could, because my clothes were tight and I was squishy and ugly and sad about it. I cut down to 1100 calories a day and lost 2lbs in a month. Then gained 2 back. Then lost 1. Then gained 1 back. I called my psychiatrist in December 2020 (who had been out of the office for COVID) and he said that yes, weight gain is a COMMON side effect of Zoloft, and it's a combo of a reduced metabolism, water retention, and hormonal changes. I stopped taking Zoloft THAT DAY and didn't change another thing. I lost 10lbs the first 2 weeks. Then the holidays happened, I didn't bother counting calories, and yet I still lost another 5lbs. 171 is just below "overweight" for my height, and I'm currently at 174. I'm so close to not being ashamed of my body, I'm trying to be patient with myself and lose the weight slowly and sustainably but it's so hard. I'm training for another half marathon so that helps with motivation but I'm just ready to not be fat anymore. Fuck you Zoloft. [link] [comments] |
| I'm stuck!! I need help! Been at 195lb for almost 3 months Posted: 03 Feb 2021 09:24 AM PST F28 5" 6" 195lb. I've been here for almost 2 months with no progress. I started at about 205lb about a year ago. Ended up losing 20lbs and then as covid closures dragged on I started putting weight back on. I sort of caught my self but I still got back up to 200lbs again. I was able to work down to 195lb but have been completely stuck here. For reference I've been overweight pretty much my entire life. I grew up in an environment where we definitely did not have the best eating habits and health in general was never prioritized. I was never very active, always thought I wasn't good enough to play sports or anything. Spent most of time in doors. Anyways, a little more than a year and a half ago, I had a pretty big break up after a relationship of 8 years. Fortunately, it was a big turning point in my life. I started focusing on my health a lot more, I dropped almost 20lbs wayyy faster than I thought I would. I was doing pretty great! And then covid... I started slipping ... not right away, but after a few months I was back to my old habits 😕 I finally caught myself and sort of started to get back into my routine but have seen almost no progress. I've been stuck at 195lbs for almost three months now. I feel sort of overwhelmed, I know there is probably so much I could be doing better, I just don't know where to start. There is so many resources/ information out there. I'll like read something about some meal planning thing or exercise thing and think it looks great and then just not really change anything.... Idk what to do at this point. [link] [comments] |
| Refried Beans are AMAZING for staying satiated Posted: 04 Feb 2021 12:13 AM PST I'm currently on a budget of about 1350 calories a day. This is HARD. My body usually gravitates towards eating 2200-2500 calories a day, if not more. Whenever I try to CICO, I usually fail because I'm constantly in a state of hunger. I hate vegetables, but even if I try to pack them in, it doesn't usually help or satiate me. Enter, refried beans (without a ton of oil, just 2 Tablespoons for a pound of boiled beans). I make a huge pot* and I have enough to make just two quesadillas a day for about a work week - and I'm a happy camper and am not starving. The tortillas also let me get in the carbs I crave without it turning into a carb binge. It also gives me room to have 1-2 squares of dark chocolate. You can dress up the quesadilla however you want: - with sour cream (I use Silk's coconut-based yogurt) and fresh cut green onions - with shredded cheese (I use vegan Parmela Cheddar shreds) - plain, with salsa and/or pickled jalapenos *It is so cheap and healthy to make your own refried beans from dried beans as well. I had never tried it until recently because it seemed daunting, but it's so worth it! I pretty much follow this recipe, although instead of onions and a bay leaf, I use sliced shallots and garlic, and mash them into the beans after cooking, and 2T of oil instead of a quarter cup. To season, I use a variety of spices, lime juice, and cilantro. SO GOOD. Black beans work too. If anyone else has some good refried bean recipes, please share below! [link] [comments] |
| Today I really needed to remember why I am doing this. Posted: 03 Feb 2021 10:09 PM PST One of those days. I'm only 5 weeks into my journey and today was probably the first day that I really struggled with and had to push through to remind myself why I am doing this, I feel like that's a NSV in itself instead of reaching for the food! Forgot my fruit and nut snack so had cheese and crackers, not a major because was within my cals but still, when I deviate from my plan it's hard to change my mindset that it will be "ok". Visited my mum who gave a lovely backhanded compliment, and was very hungry by the time I got home and hubby had cooked something less than healthy, again I ate it but stuck to my cals. It's also hot and muggy here which should make me not feel like eating, but for some reason feeling physically gross makes me want to eat junk. BUT amongst all that I really feel my mindset changing! I found myself saying to myself to enjoy and appreciate the process, and THIS feeling IS a big part of the process! I haven't wrecked my day just because I deviated from my plan, I was able to text my mum and explain what hurt me (never done that before), I acknowledge the physical feeling is temporary, and my kids will eventually stop screaming and go to bed 😂. Usually I would be driving straight to the supermarket to numb all this, but, instead I jumped on here to share. This is such a learning moment for me. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2021 10:08 AM PST Hey everyone! I'm so glad I found this community! 😊 I (female/32 years old/5'4") am currently six months out from having my babies (twin girls!) and once they started sleeping through the night in December, I decided it was time to get myself back in order. Stats
(Note that I do not breastfeed, my weight peaked at 170lbs when I gave birth) In January I started exercising using Ring Fit 3x a week. I don't get much time to work out, this game works awesome for me. However, the scale didn't budge a point after a month of this and I felt a little discouraged. I found this community and became a lurker. Downloaded MFP and started recording what I ate. I can't believe how much more accountable I feel now! I'm a lover of snacks, and never truly appreciated how much I was eating in between meals. It's so easy to snack mindlessly when you are on mat leave with nowhere to go! Last night, my husband was eating nachos, naturally this made me want chips. So I got my bowl of Doritos, sat down and went to log it before I ate it. I saw how many calories I was about to eat and thought on it for a moment. I'd just eaten a healthy dinner and now that I was really thinking about it, I wasn't even hungry. I was literally just about to eat for the sake of eating. I put the chips back, no regrets. Weighed in this morning 7 pounds lighter than I was at the end of December. I'm so happy and excited to keep going! Thanks to this awesome community I feel in control of my body again, and that's HUGE for someone who was pregnant and then recovering from said pregnancy for the majority of last year! Thank you! [link] [comments] |
| 30 Day Accountability Challenge - Day 3 Posted: 03 Feb 2021 06:52 PM PST Hello losers, I hope your day 3 was filled with winning. Weigh in daily, enter into Libra & report here even if I don't like it: 235.8 lbs this morning, 232.9 lbs trend weight. Entering it even when I don't like it. Stay within calorie range (1800): A little high today but hanging in. 3/3 days. Exercise 5 days a week: 30 minute weight lifting routine plus 20 minutes vigorous stationary bike. 3/3 days. Self-care time (journaling, beauty treatments, anything that fills the bucket, non food rewards): Dentist. Handled some adulting. And now doing a pore strip to see if they're better than I remember. Try a new recipe once a week: So, grocery substitutions meant my chili wasn't quite red or green & I think that counts as new. 1/4 weeks. Express mindfulness and or gratitude: I'm grateful for decent dental coverage & grocery pick up orders. It's been very comforting to just swing by the market parking lot to pick up groceries. A weight off my mind during this weird time. Your turn kids! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2021 09:46 AM PST High weight: 280 lbs SW: 263 CW:199.6 GW: 180 (initial goal) 31F/ 5'6" I wasn't going to post but I can't help myself. For the first time since middle school, I am below 200 pounds. I actually did it! I have 20 more pounds to my initial goal and probably 40-50 or so to my final goal but right now I'm just sitting here crying. I've been overweight since I was a toddler. Both my parents were morbidly obese. I was a size 16/18 in middle school. I never knew what portion control was and just never had healthy habits. My parents didn't like to cook so we ate a lot of fast food and prepackaged foods. I reached my highest weight in 2016 at age 26 when my mom died from COPD and other health issues at age 51. Between 2016 and 2019 I lost almost 20 pounds but I seemed unable to lose more. Last April I got engaged! I realized that I wanted to have a baby more than anything. I couldn't have a baby at 263 pounds. I also don't want to die young like my mom. My blood pressure and cholesterol were both high. My back and knees hurt. I needed to get it together if I wanted to have a baby and a healthy life with my fiancé and family. I started CICO and intermittent fasting (I fast 8 pm to 1 pm). At first, I didn't change my eating at all just the amounts. Steadily over time I've paid attention to what I am eating - focusing on protein and vegetables. I haven't cut all carbs because when I tried to I ended up binging on them. Instead, I eat 1 piece of bread or a small serving of rice instead of filling my plate with it. I started with 1700 calories a day, now I eat 1450. I also drink at least 1 gallon of water a day. I also learned you can diet your way to weight loss without exercise. My exercise leaves much to be desired, honestly. My goal was to diet my way to under 200 and then start exercising. And now I really need to. I had COVID in august and my lung capacity is still building back up, but I'm able to run so I've been trying to ease into that a bit. I also need to do something to tighten up a little bit of loose skin - especially around my thighs and upper arms - so I'm buying some weights and a resistance band. Now that I've lost the lions share of the weight I needed to lose, I can exercise without pain! My cholesterol is still not normal, but close. My BP is normal. My thyroid meds had to be lowered (I've been hypothyroid my whole life). My acne is largely gone. I'm getting married in October and I'm confident I can reach and exceed my initial goal of 180 pounds by then, if not my final goal. And I'm so damn proud of myself. I hope this post helps someone else. I know other posts like this really helped me! [link] [comments] |
| i got the 'someone falsely assumes pregnancy' and it really hurt me Posted: 03 Feb 2021 08:18 AM PST Before lockdown, I (28F ) was kind of a healthy person (i think). I was doing a lot of hot yoga and other types of dynamic lessons three to four times a week and I was in a good shape. I was never one of those thin/fit girls, mostly because I like my occasional sweets but in combination with my sports regime, it balanced each other out. Until this whole fucking covid thing hit. I am not good at exercising at home, i have no machines no nothing and during the year (gyms were closed pretty much the whole time here) I slowly stopped doing even basic stretch yoga at home altogether. I work from home, so I really didn't get outside much. Anyways, a month ago we had a service man come to check the gas security and he was more that thorough. Great, I thought. Today i got a call from my landlady FUCKING CONGRATULATING me, cause the guy told her I was pregnant. That's why he was extra careful, because of THE BABY. Naturally, I laughed it off and had breakdown later. I have been crying since and thinking of getting a treadmill. They are pretty expensive though, so thats why I am kinda fighting acting/buying it on impulsive. Did i really got so fat during the span of a single year? It's not that I hate sports, I miss it A LOT, but covid has been hard mentally, financially etc etc. I dont even know it this is the right thread, if I am asking for advice or venting... EDIT: Thanks a ton everyone! I feel so much better. I calmed down. I am honestly shocked that it's so common to assume pregnancy and make comments about it still, hearing all of these stories. I think it hit me hard because I knew I wasn't living a healthy lifestyle during the lockdown and it was like my worst nightmares came true. I will start doing small steps towards a better regime though, starting with walks (it has been raining here nonstop past two months, so maybe an umbrella for now instead of a treadmill, haha) and at least some stretching daily. I'll see where that takes me. Thanks again, you've been a great help. [link] [comments] |
| NSV - I am STILL trying to work my way through all of my Christmas chocolate! Posted: 03 Feb 2021 11:52 AM PST Bit of a weird NSV, but every Christmas I seem to get a mountain of chocolate from friends and family. Every year (with losing weight halfheartedly in the back of my mind) I seem to go with a strategy of inhaling absolutely all of it before January 1st, with the mindset of starting fresh for the new year with no temptations. I normally end up gaining an extra 5-6 lbs or so purely from the chocolate alone over Christmas, which generally puts me in a bad position for the start of the year. This year I adopted a different approach. I decided that I was going to try and make it last, by having normal portion amounts of ~200 calories or so if I ever wanted chocolate. We're now into February and I don't think I've even managed to get through half of it yet. It seems crazy to me that I used to think having all of it within the space of a week to get rid of it was a good idea. Low and behold, this is probably my best start to the year in terms of weight loss in a long time. Throughout January I managed to lose about 7 lbs, which might not seem like a lot but I'm quite happy losing roughly 1.5 lbs a week and being less restrictive. I joined this subreddit in roughly 2017, and I did not think I'd still be trying to lose weight almost 4 years on. There have been plenty of ups and downs so far, and I've learned a lot from the experience. I feel like I'm finally starting to make sustainable changes to my lifestyle, and I'm excited to see where I can get to by next Christmas! [link] [comments] |
| Depressed and struggling to lose it Posted: 04 Feb 2021 02:37 AM PST Hi, I'm a 235lb, 5'7 woman. I'm on medication for anxiety and depression and really struggling to make any kind of effort with healthy eating and exercise. Does anybody have any really simple advice? My weight and physical health is definitely making my mental health worse but that in turn is making it harder for me to do something about it. I tried tracking on MFP a few months ago when I was feeling a bit better but found it completely exhausting. I try to cook healthy-ish teas with lots of veg (chillis, fajitas, pastas) and don't overdo it on the Carb elements there but the rest of my food intake is not great. [link] [comments] |
| Pavlov's Guide to a Healthy Life Posted: 03 Feb 2021 11:32 AM PST TLDR: Know yourself I'm a little late for the New Year's Resolution folks, but I wanted to put down everything I've learned in my 2+ year journey of losing over 100lbs (and 20+ year journey of losing and gaining the same weight). I am not a registered dietician, but I am a scientist, so I'm somewhat qualified to dissect studies and evaluate data. Most of this Is largely available info and I'm not stating anything new, and all of this is highly qualified (may, might, should, could) because the most important thing to remember is that you are an individual, and what works for one may not work for all. There is a lot of great info on this sub about beginning tips, things to keep in mind (e.g. water retention if you start working out). I'm not going to dive into that since I think it's been stated perfectly well already. First rule: The more you focus on weight loss, the more likely you'll panic and derail yourself. Weight loss is not an action. It is the end result of certain habits. I can lose 5lbs today if I want. I just won't eat and dehydrate myself. This is of course a terrible decision for long term weight loss. You probably know you need to eat right and exercise, but if it were that simple, no one would be overweight unless by choice. There's going to be some flaws in your daily routines that make you gain weight or prevent you from losing weight. Identifying what those things are is probably pretty easy. You either don't work out, or eat too many meals of convenience (fast food, unhealthy work cafeteria food, quick meals like frozen/processed food), or both. You probably know what is wrong but don't know how to change things. Tip: don't focus on what you're doing wrong. Focus on any discipline. My issue was anxiety. Most people with generalized anxiety disorder will self-medicate with either drugs, alcohol, or food. I've developed a lifelong pattern of eating when I worry, regardless of if I am hungry. We could probably expand this out to anyone with emotional eating patterns, or eating out of boredom. My solution wasn't to just tell myself, "don't eat when you're worried." That's worthless advice. Treating my anxiety can help, but I still have a bad habit to break. I decided to pick up a certain discipline. It can be almost anything that takes time and dedication, but I learned calligraphy. It's a skill that shows best when you don't rush things. You have to slow your mind down a bit and focus. You can learn the basics remarkably fast and gain a sense of accomplishment. All of these things helped me reduce anxiety, but more importantly get some control of my unconscious motives. Calligraphy became my nightly ritual when I was most likely to snap and start binge eating. I would suggest anything from learning a new language on duolingo or wherever, to learning a musical instrument, to taking an online continuing education course in something that interests you. Whatever you think would be fun but challenging. Learn the fundamentals of any discipline and you'll see how it can translate to everything else. Don't attack diet and exercise the way you would attack learning French. Slow and steady, with consistent, even if short, repetition. Immerse yourself but don't worry about daily progress. Reflect on the long term. If you were upset that after a year, you could only speak French on a 3rd grade level, instead realize that it took a 3rd grader the first 8 years of their life to get there. Second Rule: Exercise should not be a component of weight loss. It should be done for its own sake. The health benefits extend to almost every corner of your body. The important thing here is that you shouldn't be torturing yourself with exercise so that you can grow your calorie budget. You should really consider divorcing exercise from anything concerning weight loss. If you only work out to lose weight, you'll fall into the trap of thinking, "I need to work out." You should never feel like working out is a chore. There is basically no part of your life that won't be improved through exercise. We all probably know the benefits for heart health. The more you exercise, generally speaking, the more improvement you'll see in your cardiovascular fitness. It's been recommended to workout at least 150 minutes a week (21-22 minutes a day), but recent evidence suggests ideally you can triple that number to 450, or about 64 minutes a day. Going from 0 to 150 minutes of exercise a week decreases your risk of death by any cause by up to 31%, and 450 minutes decreases it by 39%. Basically, exercise is your life's plot armor. Go for a morning or evening walk each day and gain +30 health. We can unpack the reasons why, from improved heart health, lowered insulin resistance, improved muscle tone, etc. The huge thing though that a lot of people miss is that exercise is a critical component to brain health. People who exercise regularly are at a much lower risk of dementia (potentially up to 31%). You can get bonus points here if you have a workout partner, as increasing your social interactions will also help stave off cognitive decline. It's important to note that cognitive decline is a symptom of lifestyle habits that start decades in advance. If you're in your 20s or 30s, you probably don't think much about dementia, but evidence suggests if you make changes to your lifestyle now, it can dramatically lower your risk of dementia later in life. Side note: if you want a relatively easy pop-science book to read on brain health that dovetails with the goals of this sub, Sanjay Gupta's Building a Better Brain is easily digestible and pretty heavy on the science. Tip: Know yourself. Can you see yourself strapping on running shoes for the first time in years, going for a mile jog, then waking up the next morning, hating your life and never running again? Then don't do that! The effects of exercise are apparent no matter how hard you work out. If you never move, just going for a 15-20 minute walk is plenty. Going on three 10 minute walks is pretty much as good as one 30 minute walk. Lifting weights for 15 minutes is better than lifting weights for 0 minutes. My biggest advice here is that you shouldn't invest in expensive equipment or a gym membership until you know your routine is set enough to use it. Make sure you can get yourself to go on a walk or short jog every day for a few weeks before you jump into something that costs money. I've actually hit a point where I love working out so much that I get a bit frustrated if something derails me. Three years ago, I couldn't even fathom that thought. Third Rule: Take every study about diets with a hefty grain of salt This one is pretty simple. It's incredibly hard to run randomized, controlled studies on diet and nutrition. The simple reason is that it's unethical to deprive a group of people of something important. You can't just eliminate vitamin b12 from someone's diet and watch what happens to them. Instead, you have to piece it together and observe for instance what happens when someone goes vegan. This leads to all sorts of noise in the data. Another big component of diet and nutrition studies is that you're largely reliant on self-reported data. A crazy phenomenon here is that people will just flat out lie, or they have faulty memories. Something else to keep in mind is that because of these limiting factors, a lot of studies are run on model organisms (e.g. mice). While these can give us some understanding of the complex interactions of nutrients on the body, they're not perfect. That's not to say every study is worthless. It's just important to note that if a study says, "fish oil is good for you," they're probably talking about eating fish, not taking a fish oil capsule. There are so many nuances here that unethical companies can exploit the noise and promote products that either do nothing for you or have a negative effect on your health, but they can cite "studies" that show otherwise. Tip: Not all diets are about weight loss. It's important to seek actual medical advice if you have a serious nutritional deficiency, food allergy, etc. There are also generalized things, like the DASH diet, that are more about a concept than individualized meal plans. DASH for instance is about lowering sodium intake to lower blood pressure. Studies tend to focus on that element of it, but with most diets, doctors will promote it as an aspect of a healthy lifestyle and not a magic cure for hypertension. Fourth Rule: As a result of rule three, never lock into a specific "diet", and generally avoid any diet that restricts entire food groups. The biggest exception here is if you are a vegetarian or vegan for moral/ethical reasons, or have a serious food allergy. Outside of this or similar reasons, there's not a lot of evidence to show that restricting large portions of food types from your diet is beneficial. By this I mean, the difference between low-carb, high-fat diets and low-fat high-carb diets is individualized and largely inconsequential. Some people do better on one, some on the other. Some people swear by Keto, while some swear by Whole30, etc. There's no one "right" diet, but you really have to know yourself again here. Can you really go all day without eating carbs? Can you go all day without eating any fruit because it has sugar in it? If a diet is asking you to do these things, think about how you feel. Don't listen to some other person's testimonials. If you know you can handle a diet like this, you could give it a try, but if you're not 100% sure, then realize that you will probably yo-yo. It's also never wrong to give up on a style of diet if it's not doing anything for you. There are some general principles that may be more universally applicable. The "Mediterranean" diet incorporates most of these (which is also basically DASH). High intake of veggies, some fruit, nuts, seeds, moderate intake of fish, poultry and oils and some dairy products, and low consumption of red meats. I personally love this approach, but the benefits of the diet itself may be a bit overstated. People in the Mediterranean live a far different lifestyle than most people. It's hard to tease out exactly what is diet and what is "lifestyle" related when studies are conducted (Rule 3). General Tips: I like to stack good behaviors on good behaviors. I "reward" myself for a good morning jog with a healthy breakfast. I like to workout outside whenever the weather is nice so I can get some sun. If I'm just going for a walk, I like to work in a bit of contemplation. This is not exactly meditating, but it has a similar effect for me. I absolutely cannot deal with "cheat days/meals". If I eat one bad thing, it snowballs. As a result, almost all of the food in my house has to be prepared. I only keep dried whole grains and pulses in the pantry. I buy everything in bulk so it's cheaper. I don't keep a ton of fresh veggies in the house on purpose because I'm generally healthier when I go to the store frequently and pick out meals based on what looks good. I don't have a weight loss target, but I have several workout targets. I build my running endurance by keeping the thought of doing a triathlon this summer. I try to add as many life-value-added activities as possible into my routine, such as reading, calligraphy, and continuing ed courses. However, I do not beat myself up over being "productive". I do these things because they add richness to my life, not because they will benefit me financially. General pitfalls: Don't fall into the trap of thinking that what works for another person will work for you. Take suggestions to heart, but don't force yourself into someone else's routines. Don't worry about your end goal, and how you'll feel once you get there. Think about how you feel now, knowing that you're taking control of your life. Think about what you really want from life. You'll more often than not find that your end goal is about vanity more than anything. This is ok to some extent, but you'll come to appreciate the little things more if you consider life satisfaction. I love the feeling of jogging up my stairs when I bring my dog in from a walk. It may not be much, but a few years ago I would literally use an elevator to go up one floor because I didn't like being winded and sweaty from a flight of stairs. Don't be ashamed of anything that requires help. If you are scared of the gym, scared of cooking, scared of loneliness, well just realize that you're further along than you know. Just by being in this sub, by thinking about what you want, you're two steps ahead of most people. You can do this and it's so much more fulfilling that you realize. Some sources: GAD and substance abuse: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1107248 Amount of exercise: https://www.heart.org/en/news/2019/02/22/for-the-best-health-does-the-intensity-of-your-workout-matter Exercise and brain health: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-exercise-protects-your-brains-health-and-what-kind-is-best/ Model organisms and nutrition research: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22707260/ Low/high fat/carbs: https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-compares-low-fat-plant-based-diet-low-carb-animal-based-diet Mediterranean diet: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801 [link] [comments] |
| Advice/support specifically for very short girls? Posted: 03 Feb 2021 09:00 PM PST I am 5'0" and I am really struggling right now. My tdee is 1500 which means that in order to lose 1lb a week I would have to eat 1000 calories daily. At some point relatively soon in my weight loss journey that will go down to 900 calories a day. There is a lot of rhetoric about how no one should go lower than 1200 a daily, but if I were to eat 1200 a day instead of 1000 that would be an extra 1400 calories a week which is 0.4 lbs. I would essentially be losing a little more than half a pound a week; a much slower weight loss progress than it seems like mostly everyone else. Some people can even lose 2 lbs a week safely. If we extrapolate to the time when I'm supposed to be eating 900 a day to lose 1lb/a week then by eating 1200 I'd be losing 0.4lbs a week instead of 0.6 at 1000 a day. Exercise does not seem to help much. For one thing you're not supposed to eat back the calories that you burned. For another, being a short woman also makes it difficult to burn calories. The same activity for a tall man will burn a lot more calories whereas for me might burn only 200 or less after significant cardio. I also feel like it's very mentally taxing to count 1200 or less than 1200 calories. If you're trying to count 1000 calories a day, you can only eat ~3 300 calorie meals a day. That means that when I cook I have to be very religious about counting everything - I find cooking to be very difficult because very, very few things add up to a meal that's around 300 calories. The portions are mostly vegetables with very very little oil and some very small amount of protein that isn't even as big as my hand. You also can't have any cheat days. Say I were to have a cheat day; it completely obliterates the 0.4 lbs that I've lost that week with just one day. I have to stay on this very rigorous low calorie diet for a long time to see any results basically. I'm wondering if the only way for me to lose weight and keep it off is to spend several years working on some very intensive weight training that i will then have to keep up for the rest of my life. This might be other people's cup of tea, but honestly the idea of spending 2 hours a day working out every day for the rest of my life doesn't sound appealing at all. Just feeling very demotivated by the very, very slow progress and seemingly road blocks every where I turn. [link] [comments] |
| Mental illness and being severely overweight Posted: 03 Feb 2021 04:36 AM PST First off, I just want to say this post is about me and is not throwing shade on anybody out there. We all have our journeys. My parents had me young, 15 & 16 years old. They were children themselves, and quickly fell into drugs. They chose drugs over me and my sibling everytime. We ate from food pantries, expired food from grocery store trash barrels, and survived on dog food. The drugs always came first, even when the home my extended family financed for my parents fell apart. The floor rotting, rats, wasps, feral cats running the house. I remember walking to the bathroom at night (they didn't pay the electricity bill again, so it was pitch black) and I stepped on a rodent, it exploded under my foot. This type of environment led to a famine/feast attitude with food. When we had food, you better tuck it away fast and eat as much as you can because tommorrow may be foodless. My mother was too proud, stupid proud, but eventually signed me up for free meals at school. The famine/feast attitude followed me and I ate at school and at home. Constantly worried that tommorrow the food wouldn't be there, I was doubling up on portions. Being a child and in a terrible environment, I didn't have the capacity to think clearly, I was in a constant state of panic over food and safety. I mean, how many kids do you know who sleep on the floor in front of their bedroom door so if someone enters the room at night the door hitting you will wake you up? I got out of the situation when I turned 18, but it took 10 years of therapy to be even able to pass as normal. Fighting so much as a kid had spilled into adulthood and I didn't trust anybody or anything, even something as simple as a steps-tracking watch or a calorie counting app. They wanted my name and location, they wanted my weight. Any information given can be used to coerce you, is power over you in the bad places of the world. I was extremely paranoid, but that paranoia had served so well in childhood. You survive in situations such as where I grew up when you aren't noticed, and when you don't accept help. Accepting help means you owe help back, and that is a street no one should go down. Eventually, I met someone who introduced me to the normal world. I was able to educate myself, to afford, and to plan meals. He allowed me to be in charge of the grocery budget, to cook, and have control. He wore me down with logical reasonings for step-trackers, and calorie apps (also convinced me a phone is a safety thing and not a way to track me). My whole culture changed over six years, it was jarring. I was now able to afford to try something new and throw it away if I didn't like it. Food was so precious before, everything had to be eaten, even if it tasted terrible. I stopped letting my life circle around food, I stopped buying food-scented candles (like apple pie, or brownies) and I stopped watching cooking shows and following facebook recipe pages. It's a process, and I've gone up and down in weight over the years, but I have to keep trying. I have kids now, and I feel so good giving them wonderfully healthy meals. They don't worry about food, and never will. I struggle now with portion sizes, my mental illness still present. At my peak weight I was 390lbs, and now I'm 280lbs. This was achieved over many years, and rested solely on avoiding fast food, and any food where I couldn't see the individual ingredients. It's such a silly yet simple thing, but living in a poor area you don't have many options. I'm 37 years old, a female, and I weigh 280 lb. I am 6 ft tall. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2021 02:03 PM PST I can't go cold turkey - going from pizza and junk food to no sugar, lots of veg, keto, etc never worked for me. I'd try it, but I would just eat out until the healthy food in the fridge rotted, or I'd restrict myself but binge as soon as I had a cheat day. So far, taking it slowly and fading out old eating habits and increasingly adding new, healthy ones is working better for me. I remind myself I'm learning; I'm building new habits. And, this way I don't waste food. Okay, yes, I'm eating the zesty Italian salad dressing that's in my fridge already. Yes, I see that the third ingredient is sugar. But, I'm eating salad instead of a burger. I'm not soaking the salad with it, I'm trying to measure and count what I consume. And, I'm truly enjoying the vegetables. When this bottle is gone, I can buy something else at the store and upgrade to something healthier. But there's one thing I don't want to give up yet: soda. I feel I've done well limiting myself to two cans a day. That's probably still a lot to other people, but I've rationalized it because I don't like coffee or tea or other things people drink with sugar and caffeine. And maybe someday I'll give it up completely. But right now, I feel there are other habits that are more important to change: like eating vegetables with every meal or exercising at least once a day. I think it's given me a healthier opinion of soda and junk food, even. Because rather than having a soda whenever I want, I see it as my treat. My theory is getting healthier isn't a straight line from A to B; it's a spiral. No one goes from couch to marathon. You start by getting up and walking. Then running. Then running farther or faster. I'm choosing to see my diet similarly: I don't have to give it up all at once. Small changes that help me to enjoy healthy eating will help me make better choices for, hopefully, the rest of my life. So, was there something you waited until 'the end' to give up, or gave up later? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2021 11:25 AM PST I think I just need to get this off my chest. I've had a rough month, with work and some issues in my personal life. And over the last week I've had a mixture of days where I've binged on candy and sugar. Not crazy binging or anything, but some where I've gone well above my calorie limit. I recognize that I'm trying to medicate myself with food and I know that's not a healthy behavior. I've been so, so good over the last year and have relished being disciplined. But over the last month I seem to be developing a case of the "fuck-its" and it's starting to creep into my diet. There are other factors at play here that I need to deal with, but I also just need to get this off my chest. It's been hard to find motivation after the scale has stalled when I'm so close to my goal. I can't really seem to get myself to get back into deficit, I just feel so tired from doing that for almost a year. I'm just tired, I suppose. If you've read this, thank you. I just needed to rant a bit. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 04 Feb 2021 01:20 AM PST I'm an 18 yr old girl with type 2 diabetes, hypertension, GI issues, mental health issues, 2 eating disorders, heart issues, and possibly liver issues. All of which i was diagnosed October of 2020. Im not even done getting tests run so theres no telling what else might be wrong. Last time i got weighed i was 380 lbs. I've lost 30 lbs since my diagnosis's in October. My highest recorded weight was 420 lbs but i feel as though I've been bigger than that. I live a very sedentary lifestyle and the quality of food i eat is very poor (that is changing tho). Im a really paranoid person and every little thing that happens with my body i get really scared and have panic attacks..i want to get healthy. I'm so young. But some days i want to get help and other days i want to kill myself. My mental health has played a huge role in why im like this in the first place and why its so hard for me to fix it. I just don't know what im doing and i needed to get this off my chest. I've never even heard of someone this young having these issues. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 03 Feb 2021 07:38 AM PST 29F 5'5" SW: 251 CW: 224 GW: 150 I've been obese for all of my adult life. I've dieted before with varying degrees of success, but I always ended up gaining everything I lost back and more. But I really feel like this time is different. In December I went to the endocrinologist and he told me I was pre diabetic and that I needed to lose weight. My father and grandmother have/had diabetes and I do not want to go through what they have gone through. I also have high cholesterol. So my short term goal is to lose a good amount of weight before my next doctors appointment in mid March and get my insulin levels down. My longer term goal is to impress my primary care physician when I have my physical in September and get my cholesterol down. I think it helps accountability to have set dates to see doctors. How I'm doing it this time is different though, and that's why I'm hoping it will stick. On previous attempts I would count every calorie and it led to some really unhealthy behavior. I would try and get as low of a calorie count as I could (usually between 700 and 800 calories a day), while still eating mostly junk food, which obviously wasn't sustainable, so I would just end up binging, getting discouraged, and gaining it all back. I'm not counting calories directly this time. I stopped eating junk food. I just refuse to buy it anymore. For me it is much easier to not buy something than to resist it in the home. I also have all my groceries delivered so I don't have to resist temptation at the store. My fridge is full of vegetables, meat, fruit and Greek yogurt, and that's it. Each week at I'll prep a bunch of meat that I can have for dinner for the week and I'll steam a giant pile of vegetables to go with it. For lunch I'll usually have a homemade vegetable soup. For breakfast I have one container of greek yogurt. If I get hungry during the day I'll have a piece of fruit. I also had a bad habit of ordering delivery takeout, so I deleted all of my food apps. I have no option but to eat healthy or actually go out somewhere, which I have only done twice, because eating at home is now the easier option. At first I was really hungry. I had a lot of cravings. But everyday it's getting easier. I have found myself actually preferring the healthy options at home. When I see ads for food, I don't really want it anymore, I'd prefer my chicken and broccoli. That's why I really think it's going to stick this time. I'm changing my lifestyle, not just focusing on a calorie number. Obviously, it is still CICO, all weight loss is, but I know myself and I know I'm not going to enter every gram into MFP for the rest of my life, so I need to do something that I can do for the rest of my life. I know I am still in the beginning and I have a long way to go, but I'm really hoping I can get healthy this time. [link] [comments] |
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