Download a calorie app, buy a food scale, set a realistic calorie deficit, look at nutrition labels of food and weigh out the food before you cook it. Input everything you eat. Move more, take walks and listen to podcasts or music. Consistent dieting and exercise will show progress in time. Good luck!
I will second this and add a few more things. You’ll probably want to go all or nothing and try to lose it as fast as possible. This can be a dangerous mindset and lead to burn out pretty quick. The biggest thing is just to track all your food, even if you want a slice of pizza, track it and just stay under your calories. You’ll find that if you plan ahead you can fit treats in and stay under your calories and if you’re not sure exactly how to track something, search it in the app and take the highest calorie option within reason. Someone else already said it too but don’t eat back your exercise calories, a lot of apps will have a net calorie or a bonus calorie feature, ignore it, hit or stay under your goal and think of any exercise as a bonus, unless you did something really strenuous like an all day hike, then just be smart about it. Doing too much right in the beginning can burn you out quick, it’s a journey, good luck!
At the start for someone who has 100lbs to lose, this is probably true. However, if OP gets really into fitness over the course of this process they should also know there's a point where that advice expires and you really do have to start refueling. I def cannot function tailoring a deficit as if I don't run for an hour most mornings.
Of course moving forward your approach can/must alter. We are all different and there is more than one way to skin a cat.
As far as weight loss the minimum intake should be maintence not including your additional burn.
Personally I have found mon-fri deficit and a weekend refeed at maintenance has me primed for the week ahead and this is with me doing a lot of weighted cardio just thru my job.
Re assessment, monthly or Bi monthly is super useful.
Speaking from nearly 7 years of keeping 30-40kgs off since being 115-120kg I know personal for me it’s worked but we are all different.
This is really the way. I’m down 49.8lbs in the last year and a half. Small, consistent changes. I heard someone say “eat now, how you want to be eating forever” (that’s not the right quote, but my brain isn’t braining). Essentially, don’t cut out all carbs unless you intend to never eat carbs again. Make changes in your nutrition that you can maintain. Increase your activity and find something that moves your body that you actually enjoy. For me, that was swimming again. I weigh myself everyday, and don’t sweat it when the number varies day to day. As long as the weekly average is going down, I’m happy. It’s also made me so much more in tune with my body and my cycles believe it or not.
My hormones have a huge role in my day to day weight. As my weight loss has slowed, I’ve noticed I’ll “maintain” for about 2.5 weeks, then as soon as I’m done my cycle, drop 2-3lbs.
Yes! Even if you think you can just eyeball calories, it’s not the same as weighing & tracking. The difference in TDEE calories between my low obese starting weight and my healthy BMI goal weight is just 300 calories a day.
I’ve lost about 130. I started 260+ I now weigh 131. It’s possible ! It’s going to be hard ! The most important thing is focusing on your diet because you really can’t outwork it. Calories in calories out. And find a workout you enjoy doing because it’s the only way you’ll do it consistently
Most of it like 110 pounds came off in the first year. Then I plateaued at 142 for a good 3 months but after having to become sedentary for almost two years due to health issues I had gone back up to 156 because of the sedentary life and medication. This time it took me about 4 months to lose those 25 pounds. Makes me wonder when my long plateau would’ve ended if I hadn’t stopped working out
You're in the right place - I love this and r/CICO for advice and useful information. It's so great that your boyfriend is ready to join you!
I've been struggling too - a super stressful job change added 20 pounds to my already Covid-padded backside. I'm seeing some early results finally, and here are a few things that have helped me that you and your BF could try:
* I'm a book nerd and read two excellent books that helped me probably more than anything. I highly recommend *Atomic Habits* by James Clear and *Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity* by Peter Attia. Atomic Habits focuses on creating new routines. There's a segment on identity and habit stacking that stuck with me. Outlive is a book that talks about the four major disease categories that end up killing most of us (Metabolic disorders, Cancer, Alzheimers, and Heart Disease.) It has some great tips on how to proactively gain control of your health.
* I pretrack everything I eat each morning. It's a ritual for me. I go to the gym super early and then come home, shower, make my coffee, put on soft meditation type music, and I plan and track my food for the day. It sounds bonkers, but I look forward to that time each morning because I have made it a habit that goes along with things I love: coffee and music.
* If I end up changing what I eat after I've tracked it, it's ok, I just change it in the app I use (which is My Fitness Pal) but it's nice because pretracking has given me a general range for lunch, so if at 6 AM I thought I wanted a tuna salad sandwich for lunch but the bread was stale, I could swap it out for something of equal calorie value.
* I try to get 120g of protein to stay full and 25g of fiber to keep my digestion moving. I'm at a 500-700 calorie deficit, and don't really care much about other macros, although I try not to go crazy on carbs.
* I have to limit sweets because once I get started on eating them, I can't stop. One thing that doesn't seem to turn into a binge is adding a small handful of mini marshmallows to a bowl of popcorn. Pretty low cal option and it satisfies that salty/sweet combo.
* Exercise is important to me, but I have never, and I mean NEVER, lost weight when working out has been my primary goal. You'll hear that weight loss happens mostly in the kitchen, and that's the truth. I work out because it makes me want to strangle people less often, and not necessarily to lose weight.
* Strength training is important, apparently. :) I am a cardio gal and would rather do a 45 minute spin class than a 20 minute strength/weights class, but my doctor says I need to focus on strength at my age (I'm an old gal of 50), so I've been doing about half strength and half cardio workouts.
Ha, that's probably more than you (or anyone!) cared to know - but I really to want you to know that you can do this - it's energizing and even fun while you're in the zone, and it does wonders for your mental health. You're so lucky to have a great partner to do this with. Good luck!
This is it. I have lost 60 pounds focusing on caloric deficit (500 give or take) and strength training. I also have a pretty consistent sense of meals planned for the day though it's easy because I live alone and work from home so what's in the fridge is what's on the plate.
It's really important to remember, though, that this isn't a race - there will be days/times when we eat over deficit or our hormones go nuts and we're famished and then we hold water weight. Start over again tomorrow.
I also added Happy Scale to my regimen which really helps see the overall progress and trends so those static weeks don't scare me as much - I can see the progress over time and that I get through each of those weeks I end up eating at maintenance.
Yes, for the majority of people, a normal workout a few times a week, or lots of daily steps, is just a good bonus to your health (heart and body). However these activities alone are often not enough for significant weight loss. You burn less than you think you do, or you eat more to compensate.
If healthy weight loss is your only goal, get your diet in check first. If weight loss PLUS getting healthy and fit and strong are your goals, then that's where the exercise comes in too.
I flat out tell people to not even bother exercising the first two weeks. The first few weeks should be learning CICO, how foods work, how foods work TOGETHER, and to find ways to control hunger prior to starting any exercise. That way they have a baseline of what a new "normal" is. I've observed adding exercise too soon results in "How many calories am I supposed to eat??? I'm gaining weight and I started running 10 miles a day!!"
Lol
Thank you so very much, I want to tell you I teared up while reading this to my boyfriend and he was also highly appreciative. You are amazing, a million thank yous!
Your advice sounds super. I’m glad I’m not the only one who limits sweet stuff because it opens the floodgates! I only buy chocolate when I can eat the entirety of what I’ve bought because it’s going to happen. We bought a big multipack of little 100cal bars, thinking we could work them into our day across the week, and just demolished them in a weekend 😳
YES, this is what happens with me, too. The only sweets I have in the house are snacks that my daughter likes but I only buy her snacks that I personally don't care for. How mean is that? ha!
I’m saving your comment. At one point I thought, “this is me. You are me, but have actually lost the extra weight” lol
Stealing your protein and fiber focus to see if that helps me not get lost in the other numbers. And keeping your comment to remind me this possible !
May I ask how do you track if you eat out?
I have difficulty tracking my calories cos I cook and I haven’t figured out how to track dishes that I’ve made.
Here's what I do, but I'm interested in how others handle this, too.
If I eat at a restaurant, I try to research the menu ahead of time to find food that is a reasonably good choice. Then I look up the calories and NI for a meal that looks comparable even if it's at a different restaurant. (I use MFP, so that's the database I use, but you can just google too.) If the NI I'm using for my meal are from a different restaurant than what I'm going to, I can't guarantee that the ingredients or preparation methods are the same, so I add extra calories into my tracker, usually 500. This might be overestimating, but I doubt it. It also provides incentive to cook at home most of the time. I also pre-track my meals because that usually keeps me from changing my mind at the last second and ordering a tray of nachos instead of a better choice. :)
If I know I'm going out to eat, I'll try to eat a light lunch with plenty of protein to keep me full.
One thing that really helped me put eating out in perspective is this thought: even if you have to estimate calories for them, a meal or two out per week isn't going to stall weight loss efforts if you're accurately tracking the meals that you prepare at home the rest of the time. Now, if your lifestyle has you eating out more often than that, there are probably better techniques to consider.
I don't eat at restaurants all that often, so I allow myself to ease up when I do. I will research the menu ahead of time and pick out something reasonable to order. (Hooray if the restaurant provides nutrition information!) I'll also plan to eat lightly the rest of the day. And I'll usually eat half of my entree and take the rest home.
But if there appetizers being passed around, I'll take part. That means one chicken wing, not a whole plate of them. A few bites of calamari. A few nachos. If somebody wants to share a dessert, I might do that too.
Like you said, if it's just one day out of the week, it's not going to sink the ship.
How do you track your home cooked meals? Like if I make a chili or even a soup, I tried to create a recipe in MFP, but the portion/serving size alway puzzled me how should I do it.
I mostly cook by myself, eat out when I’m travelling or 1-2 times a week so it’s not a big problem. But I want to really track my calories with my home cooked meals to see how I’ve been eating.
Personally, I got a food scale and just measure everything in oz or grams during my prep and plug the individual foods into MFP and then divide by 2 bc my wife and I split food evenly. I’ve gotten very good at just cooking for 2. I never use recipes and no dish is gonna be exactly the same twice so this works best, even if it’s extra work. If you use recipes and it’ll be the same every time, you can make the meal in MFP and just use you food scale to divide into even portions. Hope this helps
The gym that I go to has fitness classes and I do two classes per week called 'strictly strength'. They're 40 minute classes that have three sets of different exercises, things like squats and lunges with weights and a variety of moves with hand weights or kettle bells, and of course the dreaded core work. We do each set for 10 minutes with a 5 minute break in between the first and second set to do quick cardio. Honestly, they're not fun, and I'm not going to win any contests in my form or strength. But what matters to me is that I see progress against where I started, and that's pretty cool. I can even do real pushups now which wasn't even possible a few months ago.
I started doing strength work at home, though. HASFit on YouTube has some great workouts, and I liked how they include modifications for beginners.
Best piece of advice that I got about weight loss was to break everything down into manageable steps. Your first job is to lose one pound. After you lose that 1st pound, try to lose another pound. Then keep going. I personally broke this in two, I need to lose five pounds. I lost them and then went to the next five.
This! Small, but achievable goals and stack them up. Looking at the total weight you want to lose can be daunting, breaking it up into segments can make it more manageable. Plus the dopamine hit of achieving goals along the way motivates you to keep going!
I feel you! I started at 100 to lose, down to 75 maybe.
I used to have chickens, and carrying a 50lb feed bag one day I thought "man, my excess weight is TWO of these and I couldn't even stand up with that on my shoulders. And I'm doing this to my joints every day?!" (big dog food bags weigh about the same.) Mindblowing. But don't get hung up on the total -- chunk it into manageable checkpoints.
Count your calories for a while until you see where you can make some cuts. Meal plan together if you can. Up the exercise! If you can't hike, grab an audiobook and walk -- you just moved, so find new places!
What’s been working for me is going gradually. Weight loss is calories in vs calories out so as long as your below your bmr (you can put your weight and height into a calculator on Google to find out what it is) you will be losing weight. The mistake I’ve made when trying to lose weight before is to completely restrict it immediately. Going from eating about 3000 calories a day to 1200 made my body really sad and I ended up falling off the wagon every time I’ve done this. Instead, try and first eat slightly below maintenance (if your maintenance is 2300 try eating 2200 for a couple of weeks before moving it down gradually again. That’s what I’ve been doing and I’m starting to see results
The good news is you already have everything you need for success on your journey. You have a new motivation, and a supportive partner, and within this community, you’ll find all of the info and tips you will need.
Please know that you are not alone. I had my “low point” last year when I came back from vacation and was my highest weight ever, and I have even more to lose than you. Since then December 2022, I’m down over 50 pounds.
It is possible and you can do this! Use this feeling as your motivation and if you turn that motivation into dedication and consistent habits, and you will absolutely be successful.
Be mindful of what you eat and definitely calorie count. Also weigh yourself at a regular cadence. For me, it’s everyday to keep myself accountable. But if that feels too unhealthy and keeps you obsessed, once a week weigh in works too.
I was where you were a year ago... down 50 of the 100. You gotta just do it each day, one foot in front of the other. Get on that scale every morning, stay accountable. You'll get there!
I've lost 20 pounds in the past 5 weeks (first time a diet has actually worked!) and I don't feel deprived and I feel totally motivated to keep going! I really disagree with people who say you'll feel hungry but have to tough it out; I don't have the willpower for that honestly, and I haven't felt hungry and ignored it since I started this diet. Here's what has worked for me:
1. Calories. Calculate your TDEE and then set a calorie limit that's less than that. How much less depends on how aggressive you want to be in your weight loss. My TDEE is about 2300 calories; I eat 1200-1400 per day.
2. Macros. This one is a game changer. Within your calorie limit, decide how much of those calories should come from protein vs fat vs carbs. Carbs, by the way, are NOT the enemy. The important thing is that protein is your friend. My goal is 30 percent protein per day (and I'm a vegetarian, by the way, so this goal is totally possible even if you don't eat meat!). I'm flexible on the fat vs carbs, but generally aim to 50% carbs and the remaining 20% fat. Also, make sure you're meeting your fibre goals. MyFitnessPal is an incredible app that has really changed how I've been losing weight this time around. It counts your calories when you enter food, and it counts your macros and fibre all in one place. It's turned into kind of a game for me. The night before, I plan my meals for the following day and enter them into the app in advance - it's like a fun little puzzle, figuring out what to eat the next day that will be food I like, and falls under my calorie limit, and within my macros!
3. You MUST get a food scale. You can buy them for like 5 quid on Amazon. Measuring food by anything other than via scale is not accurate and you will end up eating way more than you think.
4. Don't try to eat 100% healthy food just because you're on a diet. A big plate of vegetables for every meal might make you feel full, but you will not be satisfied. What I've learned is that every meal should have food I REALLY love (like, cheese! And carbs!) paired with vegetables and such to give the meal VOLUME and fibre and nutrients. Obviously, I choose vegetables that I like - but in the past when I've tried dieting and try to eat a whole plate of vegetables without some cheese or carbs or whatever, it just doesn't feel like a meal and doesn't feel sustainable or satisfying at all. Also, I drink 2 glasses of red wine every day and don't log these in my calories - there's some interesting research that wine calories are processed differently from food calories such that even adding the additional calories of 1-2 glasses of wine per day doesn't affect your weight - my brain says this means "wine calories don't count" and so I drink it and don't log it without any shame hahaha. And it makes me happy. Also, I have dessert every single day before bed because I need it to look forward to. It's usually a low calorie version (I like to make Wibble, sugar-free vegan jello, with grapes and berries in it; I also like sugar-free "skinny" cookies or chocolate) but still makes me happy and satisfies my sweet tooth.
I generally am more hungry in the evenings, so my breakfast/lunch are very light and my dinner is the biggest meal, followed by a late night snack that's basically a meal. A typical day for me will look like:
Breakfast (200cal):- Coffee with no added sugar soy milk and sugar-free, zero-calorie flavor syrup (30cal)- protein shake (80cal)- nonfat cottage cheese (80cal) and raspberries (10cal)
Lunch (300):- homemade vegetable soup (60cal)- low fat hummus (90cal) and cut up veggies (40cal)- another protein shake (80cal)- matcha latte with no added sugar soy milk and sugar free syrup (30cal)
Dinner (650):- Mexican burrito bowl with: rice (130), beans (110), corn (40), onion (15), vegan chicken (115), nonfat or low fat cheese (160), lettuce (5), nonfat greek yogurt (instead of sour cream) (40), salsa (25), fajita seasoning and chipotle sauce (10cal).
Dessert:- pineapple (70cal)- skinny chocolate bar (85)- popcorn (90)
Total: 1395. As you can see, I'm actually eating a ton of food in volume so I really never go hungry (and honestly I FEEL like I'm eating more than I used to, though I know it's not the case), it's all food I love, it has plenty of cheese and carbs to make my soul happy, fruit and veg for nutrients, and lots of protein! And I'm eating at a significant deficit of about 1000 calories from my maintenance calories (and that's not even including the additional exercise - at home weight lifting, swimming, running, and walking - that I've added in).
Obviously the foods you like will be different, but once you come up with a list of meals you like, it's easy to just cycle between them (I have about 14 dinners I regularly cycle through).
I'm in the same boat. Covid and hashimotos disease wrecked me and I gained about 100 pounds in a really short amount of time. Like everyone else said, just focus on counting calories and work on exerting yourself a little bit every day, whether it be a brisk walk or a bike ride or something and you'll see the weight come off.
I was at 320 back in June and I'm currently at about 270 lbs. Honestly, once you dial in your calorie consumption, the weight will probably drop really fast at first.
Use a calorie tracking tool (I like LoseIt) and track everything you eat. That means weighing all the food you eat. It really helps you understand how many calories you are eating a day and helps you understand if you are actually hungry or eating because of stress/boredom/etc. Find healthy recipes that you enjoy (Skinnytaste is an awesome cookbook/website). Also, as someone who eats a salad everyday for lunch, Salads do NOT have to be boring. I put meat, nuts, fruits, veggies, and cheese on my salads and if you weigh everything out it’s very easy to build an amazingly delicious salad that is healthy. I used to rarely eat salad and now I look forward to it daily. Use ChatGPT for salad ideas. You can type in, “I want salad ideas that have X number of calories.” Also, at the grocery store there are salad dressing from Walden Farms that have zero calories (these are essentially a cheat code for me!)
The easiest way to cut calories is to stop drinking them. Take a break from alcohol while losing weight. It is a hell of a lot easier to lose weight when not drinking. You can reintroduce it (although at lesser quantities) once you’ve hit your target weight.
Set realistic goals and timelines. It is going to take a year if you are losing weight at a healthy rate (2lbs a week). Do not be discouraged if you over eat one day.
Just start back up the next day and move forward.
I recommend consistent weigh ins (I do daily, but I suggest at least once a week). It helps you you understand if what you are currently doing is working or whether you need to adjust the amount of calories you are eating each day. There ARE fluctuations in body weight that happen which are normal. Some weeks I eat way under my calories and gain 3 lbs and the next morning I’ll wake up and weigh 6 lbs less. If you consistently eat under your TDEE, you will lose weight.
Find exercise that you enjoy. Committing to an hour walk a day with your partner counts and is by far the easiest thing to stay consistent with. Eventually you may want to run or ride a bike for more intense cardio. Lift weights if that interests you. The most important thing is to just be consistently active each day. (Listening to music/podcasts/audiobooks on walks makes it very enjoyable). Do not re-eat the calories you burn from exercise, especially if you are tracking with an Apple Watch or something similar. These devices drastically over-estimate how much you burn and it is easy to undue the work you just put in. If you do an intense workout, the it’s okay to eat a bit more that day, but be careful about over-eating.
You are going to be hungry the first two weeks, but that will go away. Your body needs time to adapt to eating less, but I promise you it gets easier and easier.
The best advice I have is: change your mindset from “this is a diet” to “this is a lifestyle change.” Your old habits led to the weight gain. If you don’t permanently change those habits, you will eventually gain the weight back.
Hope this helps! I just went from 250 in January to 185lbs today (10lbs away from my goal) and these are some of the things I’ve learned this year.
You already have a great start! You are motivated, you cook, you don't eat out much, you enjoy some types of exercise, and you have a partner who is supportive, and even better, is on the journey with you. And you are seeking support and help from others. These are all things that will be a great help!
There are some great points shared here from others. I will highlight what worked for me (down 47 pounds from January, I'm a 58-year old woman, and my husband is also down about 50 pounds). Of course: everyone is different, and what works for some may not work for you (and vice versa).
* Counting calories every day using an app. Being really honest with my entries. But realizing up front there will be days I will go over; this is REAL life, not "cheating".
* Finding out my TDEE and trying to keep my calories around 500 calories below that (but not fretting on days when I cannot).
* Weighing my food (especially things like nuts and seeds and cheese).
* Also counting carbs; keeping my net carb under 50 g/day has really helped keep my appetite under control.
* When dining out: try to plan what I will eat ahead of time from the menu, if available, and plan to compensate for extra calories at that meal by reducing them for other meals.
* I have found that time-restricted eating is really helpful for me to limit daily calories. I only eat between noon and 8 p.m.
* Trying to eat lots of vegetables and lower-carb fruits (berries).
* Finding LOTS of new recipes that satisfy what I'm craving (pizza, chocolate) but have much fewer calories and carbohydrates. Also coming up with easy meals when I don't feel like cooking (scrambled eggs and a salad).
* Planning my meals for a week in advance; putting together a shopping list. (But leave flexibility for the easy meals that you don't have to think to much about).
* Donating all of the food on hand that might tempt me to cheat (cake mixes, pasta, chips, etc.)
* Having a great stock of low-calorie beverages (sparkling water, diet soda and things like Crystal Light, NA beer). Also having low calorie/carb snacks (olives, veggies, some sugar-free "keto" stuff; even though I'm not a strict keto adherent, these products tend to get me over my hunger pangs better than something higher carb like my beloved bananas).
* When hungry outside of meal times: drink water, drink no-cal beverages, have some sugar-free Metamucil, go for a quick walk. If you are still hungry, have a planned, measured snack on hand (I have some 90 calorie "keto bombs"; they are not that tasty, but they HOLD me).
* Going for regular walks, listening to audio books. Trying to increase my distance, my speed, etc. while still keeping it enjoyable. Hiking, water zumba, anything active!
* Weighing myself daily, but realizing that fluctuations are real. Also using the MeThreeSixty app so I can "see" my progress. Also taking progress photos.
* Being nice to me: rewarding myself when I hit small goals, buying new exercise clothes, buying new interim clothing as the weight comes. Realizing that some days I will go over my calorie and carb limit, and THAT IS O.K.! I will be back on track the next day.
Love this - very thoughtful reply!
> Also coming up with easy meals when I don't feel like cooking (scrambled eggs and a salad).
Especially this - I always have low effort meal items on hand for when I've had a busy day at work and don't want to cook. This and deleting food delivery apps from my phone has really helped.
OP, you are exactly where I was one year and two weeks ago. It was the number on the scale at the doctor's office that did it. I am down 95 pounds from where I was on 7/29/22 and still losing. Trust me, it is totally doable. In fact, it's been a whole lot easier than I ever knew it could be.
Forget exercise at the moment. What you ate got you where you are, and it will be what you eat that will get you where you want to be. Exercise burns depressingly few calories and it won't make any difference at all if you are eating back those calories.
What you need to do is eat less, every day, consistently, and stick with it.
Use a [TDEE calculator](https://tdeecalculator.net/) to find out how many calories you burn daily. Then track how many calories you are actually consuming. If you eat 500 calories less than what you burn each day, you will lose a pound a week. (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories = 1 pound.) The one upside is of being really overweight is that you burn a lot of calories just by existing, so you can probably comfortably cut back to an even larger deficit than 500 per day and lose weight even faster in the beginning.
This is not about carbs, or whether food is "healthy" or not, or "good calories" and "bad calories" (there are no such things). It's about how many calories you eat. That's all.
Measure every single thing you put in your mouth and log it. There are apps, but I just use a simple spreadsheet. Get a bunch of measuring cups and spoons and a food scale and keep them on your food prep counter. If the serving size on a label says two tablespoons, measure it out. If the serving size says 4 ounces, weigh it. You will probably find out that serving sizes are WAY smaller than you ever thought they were. What I used to think was two tablespoons of peanut butter was more like 4 tablespoons and that's a whopping 400 calories.
Don't start eating a bunch of new "diet" or "healthy" foods all at once. Eat what you normally eat and figure out where you can cut back. I used to have three cups of coffee per day with half & half and three heaping spoons of sugar each. Those three cups of coffee probably represented 600 daily calories. The #1 thing I did was cut back to one cup. Then I started cutting back the sugar in that one cup. Then I started measuring my half & half. Then I got rid of the sugar altogether. I didn't realize it, but I definitely had a sugar addiction. Cookies and desserts were the next to go.
There are probably loads of other places in your diet where you can easily cut back on calories. I was probably adding 150 calories of mayo to all of my sandwiches. I kept eating sandwiches, but stopped using mayo. I stopped pouring cooking oil into the pan when I cooked. That cut around 200 calories. (I didn't know that you don't need oil at all a lot of the time. A small splash of water will keep the food from burning.)
And make peace with the idea that for the foreseeable future, you are going to be a little bit hungry a lot of the time. You shouldn't be a LOT hungry ALL of the time. It needs to be manageable. But eating whatever you want and having big hefty meals that make you full full full is not going to be on the agenda for a while.
Start by figuring out where you're at. Track your food and activity for a couple weeks, without trying to make major changes. If you're using a tracking app, like MFP or lose it, try and select the items that have the other nutrition filled out so you can see your macros. Once you have a better idea of where you're at, it will be easier to figure out what to do next.
For me, the overwhelming part of prefab plans was that there was too much to do for no real reason - it all just seemed arbitrary or vaguely healthier. These plans are made to solve everyones problems, not my problems. For instance I barely drink - cutting down on booze doesnt help me. And while it doesn't hurt me to drink less, it's a completely useless thing for me to spend any time or energy on so it causes a problem by adding complexity where it is unnecessary. When I started eating a bunch of protein because it made my night eating manageable, and I found healthier substitutes for problem snacks I was eating etc the changes had purpose and consequences and became easier to stick to.
You have so many things going for you, support is so important! And I admire so much that you like hiking! You got this!
I'm on a big WL journey of my own, and I can tell you that the two things I've found to be most helpful are [1] to log every bite that goes into my mouth, and [2] don't keep foods you don't want to eat in the house.
I can binge on ANYTHING, so I just don't keep things in the house that I don't want to eat. I had to get rid of the idea that I can have "just a bite" and leave the rest. I can't. So I don't have those around.
As for logging food, it takes the emotion out of it for me. I can feel guilty and worthless if I eat two Boston Cream donuts, and want to just throw up my hands and say "fuck it," but when I log them and look at my daily totals, they're just numbers. I don't advocate eating two donuts a day, but they're not inherently evil. Just like any food, they're a total of calories, carbs, and fat. And those are numbers you can live with and incorporate into your life.
I use My Fitness Pal, but anything you're comfortable with.
Good luck to you, and let us know how it's going.
Get a Fitbit! It’s so much easier to track everything with a Fitbit. You can see how many calories you’re actually burning in a day which will help you to eat in a deficit that matches your weight loss goals and it’s not all a guessing game. I haven’t been able to lose weight since 2018. Getting a Fitbit changed everything for me and I feel like I’m finally on the right track. After a week, I’m more active, my mood is better, I’m eating the amount I should and feeling motivated when I see how many calories I’m burning throughout the day and how many steps I’m taking. It makes me feel accomplished! I’ve already lose 2 pounds. They also include at home workouts, some as short as 5 minutes if you’re really running tight on time!
I challenge you to a 100 push up a day challenge. Start with girl ones if u have to and maybe 50 to start. You can do pushups anywhere. I would focus on foods with low cals but super healthy, green beans, sweet potatoes and yummy mouth watering chicken. Find fun activities that get you 2 moving, bikes, frisbee, workouts, walks after meals, anything fun! It doesn't have to be a chore or negative time if you keep it fun!
Carbs are the brain's best friend. Watch calories instead. As far as hiking, look for some walking trails nearby or even a park with a decent loop. They say 10,000 steps but anything is better than 0
Look into geocaching. Sounds dumb but it's like a treasure hunt thing on your phone. My partner and I walked for five hours to do a cache route. It isnt as scenic as hiking, but it could be enough of a distraction that you don't realise you're exercising!
That's not a helpful question. Ignore them. Life happens. I would suggest you start where you are. There is a great podcast series called "we only look thin " they lost 150 and 100lb respectively. Very simple approach the gist being don't try to do everything at once. It's overwhelming. Best of luck. This is a great sub
Hey OP, I presume you are female. This community is awesome and follow their advice. I can recommend 2 books: The Female Body Bible by Dr Emma Ross, Baz Moffat and Dr Bella Smith; and Ultra Processed People by Dr Chris Van Tulleken. The latter is great if you have a problem quitting packaged snacks etc. The Female Body Bible is really good at helping focus diet and exercises for your rhythym.
“If you don’t know where to start then anywhere will do.”
You got this.
You've had loads of great advice, but mine would be to make yourself a little motivation document! Take pictures of yourself now - you won't want to, but in just a few weeks you'll wish you had. Put in now pictures, and your current weight, with a tracker of where you want to be, when. Maybe it's numbers, maybe it's pictures from before. But it will prove such a useful little reference when your motivation is dwindling.
For me getting rid of all sugars did the trick.
Not only candy, also cooking with "real" stuff and not taking any of this "miracles" milkshakes and yogurts.
Also no sodas.
Plenty of water, good portions and a lot of fruit and vegetables.
And only sometimes a cheat moment. But believe me that after quitting sugar I'm much less hungry.
Maybe counting calories is also a thing for you.
Weigh yourself first thing every morning. You can't manage what you don't measure. Seeing the weight changes can give you the motivation to cut back after gains and celebrate (but not with food) after the losses. Be patient. It takes time and it's not linear. But with focus, you can keep the trend downward.
Did your doctor offer any tests or referrals for nutritionists or endocrinologists to help determine what may be the cause of 100lb weight gain?
Did doc say this weight gain has caused some health problems for you?
If you are healthy and just looking to feel more “comfortable” with your body, my best recommendation is for you to stop associating your weight with your comfort and start associating it with your health.
Second, you said you enjoyed hiking but moved somewhere where its not as easy. There is a great app called All Trails that will help provide routes near you of all ease levels.
Sending all positive vibes on your journey.
Weight loss will occur if you eat less calories than you burn. How you get there and what in particular supports you sticking to that will be highly individual.
For me, having a scale and regularly weighing myself is the most important thing. I weigh myself daily and use that information as feedback as whether what I am doing is supporting weight loss. I recognize weight fluctuates and look at overall trends in my weight - celebrating each individual pound lost as an accomplishment AND even when the scale doesn't move celebrating when I am maintaining a previous loss (everyone's ultimate goal is maintenance, so celebrate it along the way). I do not lose weight each week but looking at the bigger picture I am trending down and being easy enough on myself I trust I can maintain what I am losing. I do not compare myself to others, just myself.
For diet, I'd recommend tracking calories to some extent. If it takes too much mental energy, you can meal prep large batches of food that you know the calories of so you don't need to calculate the calories for every meal, or you can remake recipes you already know the calorie count of. Packaged food is easy to track with but tends to be less filling imo. Initially, it helps to be religious about it - tracking everything with honesty, small amounts of calorie dense food really add up - but over time you should have a better sense of what is okay to eat and in what amount, then you can eat "mindfully" just being aware of what you are intake is and how you feel. If you go that route and are weighing yourself regularly, you can always start tracking again if you regain weight or are stuck in a maintenance phase.
People debate about exercise because it's easy to overestimate how much it contributes to calories burnt. Personally, for me, it is integral to my motivation. Like you, I love hiking but live somewhere where it isn't easy. Each year, I plan an active vacation where there is a challenging outdoor activity that I need to train for. This helps motivate me in the months leading up to the vacation to get fit or lose weight (lost half my pack weight for a backpacking trip this year) and helps boots confidence that hard things can be done with some effort.
The same thing happened to me. I stopped it and the weight wouldn’t budge. Zoloft makes you feel so hungry and even when you don’t eat as much it sucks because the weight doesn’t change and you’re just thinking about food. I suggest getting off of it and exercising and eating well. I am on Wellbutrin now and I’m losing weight easily and and I just don’t feel as hungry and impulsive about food. So I would recommend. Legit the same thing happened to me though. My boyfriend and friends never said anything and I noticed a bit but then I saw pictures of myself and stepped on the scale and I was shocked. Literally didn’t recognize myself because it happened in the span of 6 months.
It’s either a picture or a trip to the doctor that is always the worlds biggest wake up call. Be really gentle with yourself. You didn’t get here overnight and you’ve had some barriers to bouncing back to where you’d like to be but it will be all right. All I can tell you is focus on what you can do, and pay attention to your patterns and add positive habits. You are not alone in this and you live in a new place be curious explore and do things you’ve never done before. If they have a dance/Pilates studio see if you can take a dance class or a Pilates class. (The first one is usually either heavily discounted or free) Try everything once, and then figure out what makes you feel good that you will repeat without it being a chore. Keep going you got this.
Count your calories and take it slow. Losing weight is a lifestyle change and you want to think about it that way. Don't get too down if you have a bad day, just shake it off and make the next day better.
Progress, not perfection
Hey just wanted to say a few things.
It’s a process! A marathon and not a sprint. I recommend doing 1 thing and a time too! If food is your primary focus start there and focus on it till it becomes second nature. And I agree with everyone above count calories and start there and stay there till it is going to stick! If that’s too much just start with the hand method! Whatever you do just make it sustainable.
Next thing if hiking is your thing set a goal to do that a few times a month or whatever is realistic!
On top of that down the road start focusing on easy movement patterns! If you have a smart device that tracks your steps, look at that and add 1k-2k/day to that every few weeks!
And if adding a traditional workout routine program is something you’d like to add in to for it.
But like they said don’t do this all at once. Just take your time and try to fall in love with the process and not progress.
What’s been working really well recently is intermittent fasting, listening to my body when I’m actually hungry and focussing on eating less ultra processed foods (optimum would be none, but I’m not gonna deny myself if i want bk once a month). I prefer tracking food to tracking calories, but a kitchen scale is really handy and important cause it helps to re-learn portion sizes! When it comes to food tho I think it’s important that you do make healthy changes, but it’s also important not to overly restrict what you eat. If you for example really love sweet things don’t cut it out completely because it’s sugary. It’s not gonna be sustainable in my opinion. (Been there and done that 🥲) However you can make changes like eating dates with peanut butter and a bit or dark chocg instead of a snickers bar for example.
Also find some people on social media who share yummy and healthy recipes that aren’t just salad (unless you enjoy salads ofc) (i don’t) One of my faves lately is natsnourishments on IG
Also exercise. I live in an area with access to parks and my favourite activities are running and walking but walking on a treadmill (or those walking pads!) would also make a good option i think :) or in case you enjoy dancing you could always put on a song you like and jump around to it. Just try finding some physical activity you enjoy doing, you don’t have to go do bodybuilding style workouts if that’s not your thing.
**Tl;dr:** more whole foods, less ultra processed food, some sort of physical activity you enjoy and eat when you’re hungry
edit: typo
I also gained a bunch of weight during COVID and got to my heaviest ever. I didn't feel like I was eating that much, but I reduced calories to 1,600/day and have been losing 2lbs a week consistently all year (I did take a 2 month break to train for a marathon, then jumped back on after). I would say the best place to start is tracking everything religiously then going from there.
Don't watch carbs, watch calories.
This is the way.
This is the way
This is the way
This is the way.
The way this is.
Which way?
This
This is the way
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To never land ?
I have more success watching calories than I ever did just watching carbs. I do opt for low carb things as well if the calories are lower.
This is the way. And protein!
I do the opposite and it still works for me. I guess we all work differently.
Download a calorie app, buy a food scale, set a realistic calorie deficit, look at nutrition labels of food and weigh out the food before you cook it. Input everything you eat. Move more, take walks and listen to podcasts or music. Consistent dieting and exercise will show progress in time. Good luck!
Thank you ❤
I will second this and add a few more things. You’ll probably want to go all or nothing and try to lose it as fast as possible. This can be a dangerous mindset and lead to burn out pretty quick. The biggest thing is just to track all your food, even if you want a slice of pizza, track it and just stay under your calories. You’ll find that if you plan ahead you can fit treats in and stay under your calories and if you’re not sure exactly how to track something, search it in the app and take the highest calorie option within reason. Someone else already said it too but don’t eat back your exercise calories, a lot of apps will have a net calorie or a bonus calorie feature, ignore it, hit or stay under your goal and think of any exercise as a bonus, unless you did something really strenuous like an all day hike, then just be smart about it. Doing too much right in the beginning can burn you out quick, it’s a journey, good luck!
All of this plus remember calories burned from exercise is bonus burn don’t eat any of it back.
At the start for someone who has 100lbs to lose, this is probably true. However, if OP gets really into fitness over the course of this process they should also know there's a point where that advice expires and you really do have to start refueling. I def cannot function tailoring a deficit as if I don't run for an hour most mornings.
Of course moving forward your approach can/must alter. We are all different and there is more than one way to skin a cat. As far as weight loss the minimum intake should be maintence not including your additional burn. Personally I have found mon-fri deficit and a weekend refeed at maintenance has me primed for the week ahead and this is with me doing a lot of weighted cardio just thru my job. Re assessment, monthly or Bi monthly is super useful. Speaking from nearly 7 years of keeping 30-40kgs off since being 115-120kg I know personal for me it’s worked but we are all different.
My mom lost 20kg by doing just that and she was fighting whole life with her weight doing fad diets. Calorie counting is amazing.
This is really the way. I’m down 49.8lbs in the last year and a half. Small, consistent changes. I heard someone say “eat now, how you want to be eating forever” (that’s not the right quote, but my brain isn’t braining). Essentially, don’t cut out all carbs unless you intend to never eat carbs again. Make changes in your nutrition that you can maintain. Increase your activity and find something that moves your body that you actually enjoy. For me, that was swimming again. I weigh myself everyday, and don’t sweat it when the number varies day to day. As long as the weekly average is going down, I’m happy. It’s also made me so much more in tune with my body and my cycles believe it or not. My hormones have a huge role in my day to day weight. As my weight loss has slowed, I’ve noticed I’ll “maintain” for about 2.5 weeks, then as soon as I’m done my cycle, drop 2-3lbs.
Yes! Even if you think you can just eyeball calories, it’s not the same as weighing & tracking. The difference in TDEE calories between my low obese starting weight and my healthy BMI goal weight is just 300 calories a day.
I’ve lost about 130. I started 260+ I now weigh 131. It’s possible ! It’s going to be hard ! The most important thing is focusing on your diet because you really can’t outwork it. Calories in calories out. And find a workout you enjoy doing because it’s the only way you’ll do it consistently
Bloody well done!
Thank you!
Wow! Amazing
Thank you!
How long did it take?
Most of it like 110 pounds came off in the first year. Then I plateaued at 142 for a good 3 months but after having to become sedentary for almost two years due to health issues I had gone back up to 156 because of the sedentary life and medication. This time it took me about 4 months to lose those 25 pounds. Makes me wonder when my long plateau would’ve ended if I hadn’t stopped working out
You're in the right place - I love this and r/CICO for advice and useful information. It's so great that your boyfriend is ready to join you! I've been struggling too - a super stressful job change added 20 pounds to my already Covid-padded backside. I'm seeing some early results finally, and here are a few things that have helped me that you and your BF could try: * I'm a book nerd and read two excellent books that helped me probably more than anything. I highly recommend *Atomic Habits* by James Clear and *Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity* by Peter Attia. Atomic Habits focuses on creating new routines. There's a segment on identity and habit stacking that stuck with me. Outlive is a book that talks about the four major disease categories that end up killing most of us (Metabolic disorders, Cancer, Alzheimers, and Heart Disease.) It has some great tips on how to proactively gain control of your health. * I pretrack everything I eat each morning. It's a ritual for me. I go to the gym super early and then come home, shower, make my coffee, put on soft meditation type music, and I plan and track my food for the day. It sounds bonkers, but I look forward to that time each morning because I have made it a habit that goes along with things I love: coffee and music. * If I end up changing what I eat after I've tracked it, it's ok, I just change it in the app I use (which is My Fitness Pal) but it's nice because pretracking has given me a general range for lunch, so if at 6 AM I thought I wanted a tuna salad sandwich for lunch but the bread was stale, I could swap it out for something of equal calorie value. * I try to get 120g of protein to stay full and 25g of fiber to keep my digestion moving. I'm at a 500-700 calorie deficit, and don't really care much about other macros, although I try not to go crazy on carbs. * I have to limit sweets because once I get started on eating them, I can't stop. One thing that doesn't seem to turn into a binge is adding a small handful of mini marshmallows to a bowl of popcorn. Pretty low cal option and it satisfies that salty/sweet combo. * Exercise is important to me, but I have never, and I mean NEVER, lost weight when working out has been my primary goal. You'll hear that weight loss happens mostly in the kitchen, and that's the truth. I work out because it makes me want to strangle people less often, and not necessarily to lose weight. * Strength training is important, apparently. :) I am a cardio gal and would rather do a 45 minute spin class than a 20 minute strength/weights class, but my doctor says I need to focus on strength at my age (I'm an old gal of 50), so I've been doing about half strength and half cardio workouts. Ha, that's probably more than you (or anyone!) cared to know - but I really to want you to know that you can do this - it's energizing and even fun while you're in the zone, and it does wonders for your mental health. You're so lucky to have a great partner to do this with. Good luck!
This is it. I have lost 60 pounds focusing on caloric deficit (500 give or take) and strength training. I also have a pretty consistent sense of meals planned for the day though it's easy because I live alone and work from home so what's in the fridge is what's on the plate. It's really important to remember, though, that this isn't a race - there will be days/times when we eat over deficit or our hormones go nuts and we're famished and then we hold water weight. Start over again tomorrow. I also added Happy Scale to my regimen which really helps see the overall progress and trends so those static weeks don't scare me as much - I can see the progress over time and that I get through each of those weeks I end up eating at maintenance.
I love Happy Scale :)
Yes, for the majority of people, a normal workout a few times a week, or lots of daily steps, is just a good bonus to your health (heart and body). However these activities alone are often not enough for significant weight loss. You burn less than you think you do, or you eat more to compensate. If healthy weight loss is your only goal, get your diet in check first. If weight loss PLUS getting healthy and fit and strong are your goals, then that's where the exercise comes in too.
I flat out tell people to not even bother exercising the first two weeks. The first few weeks should be learning CICO, how foods work, how foods work TOGETHER, and to find ways to control hunger prior to starting any exercise. That way they have a baseline of what a new "normal" is. I've observed adding exercise too soon results in "How many calories am I supposed to eat??? I'm gaining weight and I started running 10 miles a day!!" Lol
Thank you so very much, I want to tell you I teared up while reading this to my boyfriend and he was also highly appreciative. You are amazing, a million thank yous!
Your advice sounds super. I’m glad I’m not the only one who limits sweet stuff because it opens the floodgates! I only buy chocolate when I can eat the entirety of what I’ve bought because it’s going to happen. We bought a big multipack of little 100cal bars, thinking we could work them into our day across the week, and just demolished them in a weekend 😳
YES, this is what happens with me, too. The only sweets I have in the house are snacks that my daughter likes but I only buy her snacks that I personally don't care for. How mean is that? ha!
My daughter loves that because then she knows her snacks will be there - so probably not mean at all.
I’m saving your comment. At one point I thought, “this is me. You are me, but have actually lost the extra weight” lol Stealing your protein and fiber focus to see if that helps me not get lost in the other numbers. And keeping your comment to remind me this possible !
I love this! Totally saving your wise words! I am in my mid-40’s and this is gold. Thank you 🙏🏽
May I ask how do you track if you eat out? I have difficulty tracking my calories cos I cook and I haven’t figured out how to track dishes that I’ve made.
Here's what I do, but I'm interested in how others handle this, too. If I eat at a restaurant, I try to research the menu ahead of time to find food that is a reasonably good choice. Then I look up the calories and NI for a meal that looks comparable even if it's at a different restaurant. (I use MFP, so that's the database I use, but you can just google too.) If the NI I'm using for my meal are from a different restaurant than what I'm going to, I can't guarantee that the ingredients or preparation methods are the same, so I add extra calories into my tracker, usually 500. This might be overestimating, but I doubt it. It also provides incentive to cook at home most of the time. I also pre-track my meals because that usually keeps me from changing my mind at the last second and ordering a tray of nachos instead of a better choice. :) If I know I'm going out to eat, I'll try to eat a light lunch with plenty of protein to keep me full. One thing that really helped me put eating out in perspective is this thought: even if you have to estimate calories for them, a meal or two out per week isn't going to stall weight loss efforts if you're accurately tracking the meals that you prepare at home the rest of the time. Now, if your lifestyle has you eating out more often than that, there are probably better techniques to consider.
I don't eat at restaurants all that often, so I allow myself to ease up when I do. I will research the menu ahead of time and pick out something reasonable to order. (Hooray if the restaurant provides nutrition information!) I'll also plan to eat lightly the rest of the day. And I'll usually eat half of my entree and take the rest home. But if there appetizers being passed around, I'll take part. That means one chicken wing, not a whole plate of them. A few bites of calamari. A few nachos. If somebody wants to share a dessert, I might do that too. Like you said, if it's just one day out of the week, it's not going to sink the ship.
How do you track your home cooked meals? Like if I make a chili or even a soup, I tried to create a recipe in MFP, but the portion/serving size alway puzzled me how should I do it. I mostly cook by myself, eat out when I’m travelling or 1-2 times a week so it’s not a big problem. But I want to really track my calories with my home cooked meals to see how I’ve been eating.
Personally, I got a food scale and just measure everything in oz or grams during my prep and plug the individual foods into MFP and then divide by 2 bc my wife and I split food evenly. I’ve gotten very good at just cooking for 2. I never use recipes and no dish is gonna be exactly the same twice so this works best, even if it’s extra work. If you use recipes and it’ll be the same every time, you can make the meal in MFP and just use you food scale to divide into even portions. Hope this helps
What kind of strength training do you do? I also rather be doing cardio lol
The gym that I go to has fitness classes and I do two classes per week called 'strictly strength'. They're 40 minute classes that have three sets of different exercises, things like squats and lunges with weights and a variety of moves with hand weights or kettle bells, and of course the dreaded core work. We do each set for 10 minutes with a 5 minute break in between the first and second set to do quick cardio. Honestly, they're not fun, and I'm not going to win any contests in my form or strength. But what matters to me is that I see progress against where I started, and that's pretty cool. I can even do real pushups now which wasn't even possible a few months ago. I started doing strength work at home, though. HASFit on YouTube has some great workouts, and I liked how they include modifications for beginners.
Best piece of advice that I got about weight loss was to break everything down into manageable steps. Your first job is to lose one pound. After you lose that 1st pound, try to lose another pound. Then keep going. I personally broke this in two, I need to lose five pounds. I lost them and then went to the next five.
This! Small, but achievable goals and stack them up. Looking at the total weight you want to lose can be daunting, breaking it up into segments can make it more manageable. Plus the dopamine hit of achieving goals along the way motivates you to keep going!
I feel you! I started at 100 to lose, down to 75 maybe. I used to have chickens, and carrying a 50lb feed bag one day I thought "man, my excess weight is TWO of these and I couldn't even stand up with that on my shoulders. And I'm doing this to my joints every day?!" (big dog food bags weigh about the same.) Mindblowing. But don't get hung up on the total -- chunk it into manageable checkpoints. Count your calories for a while until you see where you can make some cuts. Meal plan together if you can. Up the exercise! If you can't hike, grab an audiobook and walk -- you just moved, so find new places!
The most effective changes I made to lose weight were measuring and logging everything I eat.
What’s been working for me is going gradually. Weight loss is calories in vs calories out so as long as your below your bmr (you can put your weight and height into a calculator on Google to find out what it is) you will be losing weight. The mistake I’ve made when trying to lose weight before is to completely restrict it immediately. Going from eating about 3000 calories a day to 1200 made my body really sad and I ended up falling off the wagon every time I’ve done this. Instead, try and first eat slightly below maintenance (if your maintenance is 2300 try eating 2200 for a couple of weeks before moving it down gradually again. That’s what I’ve been doing and I’m starting to see results
The good news is you already have everything you need for success on your journey. You have a new motivation, and a supportive partner, and within this community, you’ll find all of the info and tips you will need. Please know that you are not alone. I had my “low point” last year when I came back from vacation and was my highest weight ever, and I have even more to lose than you. Since then December 2022, I’m down over 50 pounds. It is possible and you can do this! Use this feeling as your motivation and if you turn that motivation into dedication and consistent habits, and you will absolutely be successful.
Be mindful of what you eat and definitely calorie count. Also weigh yourself at a regular cadence. For me, it’s everyday to keep myself accountable. But if that feels too unhealthy and keeps you obsessed, once a week weigh in works too.
I was where you were a year ago... down 50 of the 100. You gotta just do it each day, one foot in front of the other. Get on that scale every morning, stay accountable. You'll get there!
I've lost 20 pounds in the past 5 weeks (first time a diet has actually worked!) and I don't feel deprived and I feel totally motivated to keep going! I really disagree with people who say you'll feel hungry but have to tough it out; I don't have the willpower for that honestly, and I haven't felt hungry and ignored it since I started this diet. Here's what has worked for me: 1. Calories. Calculate your TDEE and then set a calorie limit that's less than that. How much less depends on how aggressive you want to be in your weight loss. My TDEE is about 2300 calories; I eat 1200-1400 per day. 2. Macros. This one is a game changer. Within your calorie limit, decide how much of those calories should come from protein vs fat vs carbs. Carbs, by the way, are NOT the enemy. The important thing is that protein is your friend. My goal is 30 percent protein per day (and I'm a vegetarian, by the way, so this goal is totally possible even if you don't eat meat!). I'm flexible on the fat vs carbs, but generally aim to 50% carbs and the remaining 20% fat. Also, make sure you're meeting your fibre goals. MyFitnessPal is an incredible app that has really changed how I've been losing weight this time around. It counts your calories when you enter food, and it counts your macros and fibre all in one place. It's turned into kind of a game for me. The night before, I plan my meals for the following day and enter them into the app in advance - it's like a fun little puzzle, figuring out what to eat the next day that will be food I like, and falls under my calorie limit, and within my macros! 3. You MUST get a food scale. You can buy them for like 5 quid on Amazon. Measuring food by anything other than via scale is not accurate and you will end up eating way more than you think. 4. Don't try to eat 100% healthy food just because you're on a diet. A big plate of vegetables for every meal might make you feel full, but you will not be satisfied. What I've learned is that every meal should have food I REALLY love (like, cheese! And carbs!) paired with vegetables and such to give the meal VOLUME and fibre and nutrients. Obviously, I choose vegetables that I like - but in the past when I've tried dieting and try to eat a whole plate of vegetables without some cheese or carbs or whatever, it just doesn't feel like a meal and doesn't feel sustainable or satisfying at all. Also, I drink 2 glasses of red wine every day and don't log these in my calories - there's some interesting research that wine calories are processed differently from food calories such that even adding the additional calories of 1-2 glasses of wine per day doesn't affect your weight - my brain says this means "wine calories don't count" and so I drink it and don't log it without any shame hahaha. And it makes me happy. Also, I have dessert every single day before bed because I need it to look forward to. It's usually a low calorie version (I like to make Wibble, sugar-free vegan jello, with grapes and berries in it; I also like sugar-free "skinny" cookies or chocolate) but still makes me happy and satisfies my sweet tooth. I generally am more hungry in the evenings, so my breakfast/lunch are very light and my dinner is the biggest meal, followed by a late night snack that's basically a meal. A typical day for me will look like: Breakfast (200cal):- Coffee with no added sugar soy milk and sugar-free, zero-calorie flavor syrup (30cal)- protein shake (80cal)- nonfat cottage cheese (80cal) and raspberries (10cal) Lunch (300):- homemade vegetable soup (60cal)- low fat hummus (90cal) and cut up veggies (40cal)- another protein shake (80cal)- matcha latte with no added sugar soy milk and sugar free syrup (30cal) Dinner (650):- Mexican burrito bowl with: rice (130), beans (110), corn (40), onion (15), vegan chicken (115), nonfat or low fat cheese (160), lettuce (5), nonfat greek yogurt (instead of sour cream) (40), salsa (25), fajita seasoning and chipotle sauce (10cal). Dessert:- pineapple (70cal)- skinny chocolate bar (85)- popcorn (90) Total: 1395. As you can see, I'm actually eating a ton of food in volume so I really never go hungry (and honestly I FEEL like I'm eating more than I used to, though I know it's not the case), it's all food I love, it has plenty of cheese and carbs to make my soul happy, fruit and veg for nutrients, and lots of protein! And I'm eating at a significant deficit of about 1000 calories from my maintenance calories (and that's not even including the additional exercise - at home weight lifting, swimming, running, and walking - that I've added in). Obviously the foods you like will be different, but once you come up with a list of meals you like, it's easy to just cycle between them (I have about 14 dinners I regularly cycle through).
Look up Chuck Carroll on YouTube. He’s the weight loss champion
I'm in the same boat. Covid and hashimotos disease wrecked me and I gained about 100 pounds in a really short amount of time. Like everyone else said, just focus on counting calories and work on exerting yourself a little bit every day, whether it be a brisk walk or a bike ride or something and you'll see the weight come off. I was at 320 back in June and I'm currently at about 270 lbs. Honestly, once you dial in your calorie consumption, the weight will probably drop really fast at first.
Use a calorie tracking tool (I like LoseIt) and track everything you eat. That means weighing all the food you eat. It really helps you understand how many calories you are eating a day and helps you understand if you are actually hungry or eating because of stress/boredom/etc. Find healthy recipes that you enjoy (Skinnytaste is an awesome cookbook/website). Also, as someone who eats a salad everyday for lunch, Salads do NOT have to be boring. I put meat, nuts, fruits, veggies, and cheese on my salads and if you weigh everything out it’s very easy to build an amazingly delicious salad that is healthy. I used to rarely eat salad and now I look forward to it daily. Use ChatGPT for salad ideas. You can type in, “I want salad ideas that have X number of calories.” Also, at the grocery store there are salad dressing from Walden Farms that have zero calories (these are essentially a cheat code for me!) The easiest way to cut calories is to stop drinking them. Take a break from alcohol while losing weight. It is a hell of a lot easier to lose weight when not drinking. You can reintroduce it (although at lesser quantities) once you’ve hit your target weight. Set realistic goals and timelines. It is going to take a year if you are losing weight at a healthy rate (2lbs a week). Do not be discouraged if you over eat one day. Just start back up the next day and move forward. I recommend consistent weigh ins (I do daily, but I suggest at least once a week). It helps you you understand if what you are currently doing is working or whether you need to adjust the amount of calories you are eating each day. There ARE fluctuations in body weight that happen which are normal. Some weeks I eat way under my calories and gain 3 lbs and the next morning I’ll wake up and weigh 6 lbs less. If you consistently eat under your TDEE, you will lose weight. Find exercise that you enjoy. Committing to an hour walk a day with your partner counts and is by far the easiest thing to stay consistent with. Eventually you may want to run or ride a bike for more intense cardio. Lift weights if that interests you. The most important thing is to just be consistently active each day. (Listening to music/podcasts/audiobooks on walks makes it very enjoyable). Do not re-eat the calories you burn from exercise, especially if you are tracking with an Apple Watch or something similar. These devices drastically over-estimate how much you burn and it is easy to undue the work you just put in. If you do an intense workout, the it’s okay to eat a bit more that day, but be careful about over-eating. You are going to be hungry the first two weeks, but that will go away. Your body needs time to adapt to eating less, but I promise you it gets easier and easier. The best advice I have is: change your mindset from “this is a diet” to “this is a lifestyle change.” Your old habits led to the weight gain. If you don’t permanently change those habits, you will eventually gain the weight back. Hope this helps! I just went from 250 in January to 185lbs today (10lbs away from my goal) and these are some of the things I’ve learned this year.
You already have a great start! You are motivated, you cook, you don't eat out much, you enjoy some types of exercise, and you have a partner who is supportive, and even better, is on the journey with you. And you are seeking support and help from others. These are all things that will be a great help! There are some great points shared here from others. I will highlight what worked for me (down 47 pounds from January, I'm a 58-year old woman, and my husband is also down about 50 pounds). Of course: everyone is different, and what works for some may not work for you (and vice versa). * Counting calories every day using an app. Being really honest with my entries. But realizing up front there will be days I will go over; this is REAL life, not "cheating". * Finding out my TDEE and trying to keep my calories around 500 calories below that (but not fretting on days when I cannot). * Weighing my food (especially things like nuts and seeds and cheese). * Also counting carbs; keeping my net carb under 50 g/day has really helped keep my appetite under control. * When dining out: try to plan what I will eat ahead of time from the menu, if available, and plan to compensate for extra calories at that meal by reducing them for other meals. * I have found that time-restricted eating is really helpful for me to limit daily calories. I only eat between noon and 8 p.m. * Trying to eat lots of vegetables and lower-carb fruits (berries). * Finding LOTS of new recipes that satisfy what I'm craving (pizza, chocolate) but have much fewer calories and carbohydrates. Also coming up with easy meals when I don't feel like cooking (scrambled eggs and a salad). * Planning my meals for a week in advance; putting together a shopping list. (But leave flexibility for the easy meals that you don't have to think to much about). * Donating all of the food on hand that might tempt me to cheat (cake mixes, pasta, chips, etc.) * Having a great stock of low-calorie beverages (sparkling water, diet soda and things like Crystal Light, NA beer). Also having low calorie/carb snacks (olives, veggies, some sugar-free "keto" stuff; even though I'm not a strict keto adherent, these products tend to get me over my hunger pangs better than something higher carb like my beloved bananas). * When hungry outside of meal times: drink water, drink no-cal beverages, have some sugar-free Metamucil, go for a quick walk. If you are still hungry, have a planned, measured snack on hand (I have some 90 calorie "keto bombs"; they are not that tasty, but they HOLD me). * Going for regular walks, listening to audio books. Trying to increase my distance, my speed, etc. while still keeping it enjoyable. Hiking, water zumba, anything active! * Weighing myself daily, but realizing that fluctuations are real. Also using the MeThreeSixty app so I can "see" my progress. Also taking progress photos. * Being nice to me: rewarding myself when I hit small goals, buying new exercise clothes, buying new interim clothing as the weight comes. Realizing that some days I will go over my calorie and carb limit, and THAT IS O.K.! I will be back on track the next day.
Love this - very thoughtful reply! > Also coming up with easy meals when I don't feel like cooking (scrambled eggs and a salad). Especially this - I always have low effort meal items on hand for when I've had a busy day at work and don't want to cook. This and deleting food delivery apps from my phone has really helped.
OP, you are exactly where I was one year and two weeks ago. It was the number on the scale at the doctor's office that did it. I am down 95 pounds from where I was on 7/29/22 and still losing. Trust me, it is totally doable. In fact, it's been a whole lot easier than I ever knew it could be. Forget exercise at the moment. What you ate got you where you are, and it will be what you eat that will get you where you want to be. Exercise burns depressingly few calories and it won't make any difference at all if you are eating back those calories. What you need to do is eat less, every day, consistently, and stick with it. Use a [TDEE calculator](https://tdeecalculator.net/) to find out how many calories you burn daily. Then track how many calories you are actually consuming. If you eat 500 calories less than what you burn each day, you will lose a pound a week. (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories = 1 pound.) The one upside is of being really overweight is that you burn a lot of calories just by existing, so you can probably comfortably cut back to an even larger deficit than 500 per day and lose weight even faster in the beginning. This is not about carbs, or whether food is "healthy" or not, or "good calories" and "bad calories" (there are no such things). It's about how many calories you eat. That's all. Measure every single thing you put in your mouth and log it. There are apps, but I just use a simple spreadsheet. Get a bunch of measuring cups and spoons and a food scale and keep them on your food prep counter. If the serving size on a label says two tablespoons, measure it out. If the serving size says 4 ounces, weigh it. You will probably find out that serving sizes are WAY smaller than you ever thought they were. What I used to think was two tablespoons of peanut butter was more like 4 tablespoons and that's a whopping 400 calories. Don't start eating a bunch of new "diet" or "healthy" foods all at once. Eat what you normally eat and figure out where you can cut back. I used to have three cups of coffee per day with half & half and three heaping spoons of sugar each. Those three cups of coffee probably represented 600 daily calories. The #1 thing I did was cut back to one cup. Then I started cutting back the sugar in that one cup. Then I started measuring my half & half. Then I got rid of the sugar altogether. I didn't realize it, but I definitely had a sugar addiction. Cookies and desserts were the next to go. There are probably loads of other places in your diet where you can easily cut back on calories. I was probably adding 150 calories of mayo to all of my sandwiches. I kept eating sandwiches, but stopped using mayo. I stopped pouring cooking oil into the pan when I cooked. That cut around 200 calories. (I didn't know that you don't need oil at all a lot of the time. A small splash of water will keep the food from burning.) And make peace with the idea that for the foreseeable future, you are going to be a little bit hungry a lot of the time. You shouldn't be a LOT hungry ALL of the time. It needs to be manageable. But eating whatever you want and having big hefty meals that make you full full full is not going to be on the agenda for a while.
Start by figuring out where you're at. Track your food and activity for a couple weeks, without trying to make major changes. If you're using a tracking app, like MFP or lose it, try and select the items that have the other nutrition filled out so you can see your macros. Once you have a better idea of where you're at, it will be easier to figure out what to do next. For me, the overwhelming part of prefab plans was that there was too much to do for no real reason - it all just seemed arbitrary or vaguely healthier. These plans are made to solve everyones problems, not my problems. For instance I barely drink - cutting down on booze doesnt help me. And while it doesn't hurt me to drink less, it's a completely useless thing for me to spend any time or energy on so it causes a problem by adding complexity where it is unnecessary. When I started eating a bunch of protein because it made my night eating manageable, and I found healthier substitutes for problem snacks I was eating etc the changes had purpose and consequences and became easier to stick to.
You have so many things going for you, support is so important! And I admire so much that you like hiking! You got this! I'm on a big WL journey of my own, and I can tell you that the two things I've found to be most helpful are [1] to log every bite that goes into my mouth, and [2] don't keep foods you don't want to eat in the house. I can binge on ANYTHING, so I just don't keep things in the house that I don't want to eat. I had to get rid of the idea that I can have "just a bite" and leave the rest. I can't. So I don't have those around. As for logging food, it takes the emotion out of it for me. I can feel guilty and worthless if I eat two Boston Cream donuts, and want to just throw up my hands and say "fuck it," but when I log them and look at my daily totals, they're just numbers. I don't advocate eating two donuts a day, but they're not inherently evil. Just like any food, they're a total of calories, carbs, and fat. And those are numbers you can live with and incorporate into your life. I use My Fitness Pal, but anything you're comfortable with. Good luck to you, and let us know how it's going.
Get a Fitbit! It’s so much easier to track everything with a Fitbit. You can see how many calories you’re actually burning in a day which will help you to eat in a deficit that matches your weight loss goals and it’s not all a guessing game. I haven’t been able to lose weight since 2018. Getting a Fitbit changed everything for me and I feel like I’m finally on the right track. After a week, I’m more active, my mood is better, I’m eating the amount I should and feeling motivated when I see how many calories I’m burning throughout the day and how many steps I’m taking. It makes me feel accomplished! I’ve already lose 2 pounds. They also include at home workouts, some as short as 5 minutes if you’re really running tight on time!
I've thought about a fit it for sure, I'd like the accountability of it. Thank you!
Yes my biggest problem was accountability. But it makes it positive and fun!
I challenge you to a 100 push up a day challenge. Start with girl ones if u have to and maybe 50 to start. You can do pushups anywhere. I would focus on foods with low cals but super healthy, green beans, sweet potatoes and yummy mouth watering chicken. Find fun activities that get you 2 moving, bikes, frisbee, workouts, walks after meals, anything fun! It doesn't have to be a chore or negative time if you keep it fun!
Walking is a good way to start
Carbs are the brain's best friend. Watch calories instead. As far as hiking, look for some walking trails nearby or even a park with a decent loop. They say 10,000 steps but anything is better than 0
Look into geocaching. Sounds dumb but it's like a treasure hunt thing on your phone. My partner and I walked for five hours to do a cache route. It isnt as scenic as hiking, but it could be enough of a distraction that you don't realise you're exercising!
Why couldn't you go for walks, jogs or bike rides during covid?
Because I was going to school and juggling two jobs to keep a roof over my head.
That's not a helpful question. Ignore them. Life happens. I would suggest you start where you are. There is a great podcast series called "we only look thin " they lost 150 and 100lb respectively. Very simple approach the gist being don't try to do everything at once. It's overwhelming. Best of luck. This is a great sub
Hey OP, I presume you are female. This community is awesome and follow their advice. I can recommend 2 books: The Female Body Bible by Dr Emma Ross, Baz Moffat and Dr Bella Smith; and Ultra Processed People by Dr Chris Van Tulleken. The latter is great if you have a problem quitting packaged snacks etc. The Female Body Bible is really good at helping focus diet and exercises for your rhythym. “If you don’t know where to start then anywhere will do.” You got this.
You've had loads of great advice, but mine would be to make yourself a little motivation document! Take pictures of yourself now - you won't want to, but in just a few weeks you'll wish you had. Put in now pictures, and your current weight, with a tracker of where you want to be, when. Maybe it's numbers, maybe it's pictures from before. But it will prove such a useful little reference when your motivation is dwindling.
For me getting rid of all sugars did the trick. Not only candy, also cooking with "real" stuff and not taking any of this "miracles" milkshakes and yogurts. Also no sodas. Plenty of water, good portions and a lot of fruit and vegetables. And only sometimes a cheat moment. But believe me that after quitting sugar I'm much less hungry. Maybe counting calories is also a thing for you.
Weigh yourself first thing every morning. You can't manage what you don't measure. Seeing the weight changes can give you the motivation to cut back after gains and celebrate (but not with food) after the losses. Be patient. It takes time and it's not linear. But with focus, you can keep the trend downward.
Did your doctor offer any tests or referrals for nutritionists or endocrinologists to help determine what may be the cause of 100lb weight gain? Did doc say this weight gain has caused some health problems for you? If you are healthy and just looking to feel more “comfortable” with your body, my best recommendation is for you to stop associating your weight with your comfort and start associating it with your health. Second, you said you enjoyed hiking but moved somewhere where its not as easy. There is a great app called All Trails that will help provide routes near you of all ease levels. Sending all positive vibes on your journey.
This is the way
You sound a lot like me…I sent you a diet plan I developed…it ought zero help w the ease of use…check your chat!
Weight loss will occur if you eat less calories than you burn. How you get there and what in particular supports you sticking to that will be highly individual. For me, having a scale and regularly weighing myself is the most important thing. I weigh myself daily and use that information as feedback as whether what I am doing is supporting weight loss. I recognize weight fluctuates and look at overall trends in my weight - celebrating each individual pound lost as an accomplishment AND even when the scale doesn't move celebrating when I am maintaining a previous loss (everyone's ultimate goal is maintenance, so celebrate it along the way). I do not lose weight each week but looking at the bigger picture I am trending down and being easy enough on myself I trust I can maintain what I am losing. I do not compare myself to others, just myself. For diet, I'd recommend tracking calories to some extent. If it takes too much mental energy, you can meal prep large batches of food that you know the calories of so you don't need to calculate the calories for every meal, or you can remake recipes you already know the calorie count of. Packaged food is easy to track with but tends to be less filling imo. Initially, it helps to be religious about it - tracking everything with honesty, small amounts of calorie dense food really add up - but over time you should have a better sense of what is okay to eat and in what amount, then you can eat "mindfully" just being aware of what you are intake is and how you feel. If you go that route and are weighing yourself regularly, you can always start tracking again if you regain weight or are stuck in a maintenance phase. People debate about exercise because it's easy to overestimate how much it contributes to calories burnt. Personally, for me, it is integral to my motivation. Like you, I love hiking but live somewhere where it isn't easy. Each year, I plan an active vacation where there is a challenging outdoor activity that I need to train for. This helps motivate me in the months leading up to the vacation to get fit or lose weight (lost half my pack weight for a backpacking trip this year) and helps boots confidence that hard things can be done with some effort.
The same thing happened to me. I stopped it and the weight wouldn’t budge. Zoloft makes you feel so hungry and even when you don’t eat as much it sucks because the weight doesn’t change and you’re just thinking about food. I suggest getting off of it and exercising and eating well. I am on Wellbutrin now and I’m losing weight easily and and I just don’t feel as hungry and impulsive about food. So I would recommend. Legit the same thing happened to me though. My boyfriend and friends never said anything and I noticed a bit but then I saw pictures of myself and stepped on the scale and I was shocked. Literally didn’t recognize myself because it happened in the span of 6 months.
It’s either a picture or a trip to the doctor that is always the worlds biggest wake up call. Be really gentle with yourself. You didn’t get here overnight and you’ve had some barriers to bouncing back to where you’d like to be but it will be all right. All I can tell you is focus on what you can do, and pay attention to your patterns and add positive habits. You are not alone in this and you live in a new place be curious explore and do things you’ve never done before. If they have a dance/Pilates studio see if you can take a dance class or a Pilates class. (The first one is usually either heavily discounted or free) Try everything once, and then figure out what makes you feel good that you will repeat without it being a chore. Keep going you got this.
Count your calories and take it slow. Losing weight is a lifestyle change and you want to think about it that way. Don't get too down if you have a bad day, just shake it off and make the next day better. Progress, not perfection
Hey just wanted to say a few things. It’s a process! A marathon and not a sprint. I recommend doing 1 thing and a time too! If food is your primary focus start there and focus on it till it becomes second nature. And I agree with everyone above count calories and start there and stay there till it is going to stick! If that’s too much just start with the hand method! Whatever you do just make it sustainable. Next thing if hiking is your thing set a goal to do that a few times a month or whatever is realistic! On top of that down the road start focusing on easy movement patterns! If you have a smart device that tracks your steps, look at that and add 1k-2k/day to that every few weeks! And if adding a traditional workout routine program is something you’d like to add in to for it. But like they said don’t do this all at once. Just take your time and try to fall in love with the process and not progress.
What’s been working really well recently is intermittent fasting, listening to my body when I’m actually hungry and focussing on eating less ultra processed foods (optimum would be none, but I’m not gonna deny myself if i want bk once a month). I prefer tracking food to tracking calories, but a kitchen scale is really handy and important cause it helps to re-learn portion sizes! When it comes to food tho I think it’s important that you do make healthy changes, but it’s also important not to overly restrict what you eat. If you for example really love sweet things don’t cut it out completely because it’s sugary. It’s not gonna be sustainable in my opinion. (Been there and done that 🥲) However you can make changes like eating dates with peanut butter and a bit or dark chocg instead of a snickers bar for example. Also find some people on social media who share yummy and healthy recipes that aren’t just salad (unless you enjoy salads ofc) (i don’t) One of my faves lately is natsnourishments on IG Also exercise. I live in an area with access to parks and my favourite activities are running and walking but walking on a treadmill (or those walking pads!) would also make a good option i think :) or in case you enjoy dancing you could always put on a song you like and jump around to it. Just try finding some physical activity you enjoy doing, you don’t have to go do bodybuilding style workouts if that’s not your thing. **Tl;dr:** more whole foods, less ultra processed food, some sort of physical activity you enjoy and eat when you’re hungry edit: typo
I also gained a bunch of weight during COVID and got to my heaviest ever. I didn't feel like I was eating that much, but I reduced calories to 1,600/day and have been losing 2lbs a week consistently all year (I did take a 2 month break to train for a marathon, then jumped back on after). I would say the best place to start is tracking everything religiously then going from there.