I've been lurking in this sub for months and have found it very inspiring seeing other people's posts, now I'm getting close to my target so wanted to give my thoughts on the past year and my experience too.
Last Feb I was approaching my 28th birthday at 260lbs (6"1 male) and was starting to have various health issues, I saw the Dr who couldn't find any major issues other than my weight and as simple as it sounds the Dr telling me it was that was exactly what I needed even though it seemed obvious. I started CiCo that same day and didn't realise how fast it was having an effect. By the time I bought a scale in late March I was already down 245lbs and someone had commented that I looked like I had lost weight which felt fantastic and spurred me on.
Then lockdown happened, still happening. I've not been to the office or been in any indoor space with anyone other than a shop and my home for over 11 months now. In a way this was a blessing for me though. It meant I could completely control what I was eating without having to guesstimate things I bought out and also gave me an extra 2 hours a day saved from commuting to work, I started using this time for daily walks and by summer bike rides too. Up until then I hadn't touched a pushbike since my teenage years.
I'm now very close to my target of 174lbs at 180lbs, my bmi has dropped 10 points and I'm fitter than I've ever been in my life. I still have an eating issue as whenever I stop counting it rockets up as fast as it came down so I still need to work on that but I feel like I've finally understood a secret to controlling my weight. Some other thoughts on the experience :
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scales and daily weighings were essential to me, the improvements were the daily motivator I needed to keep going and the regressions were there own punishment for slip ups.
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I drop down to 65% daily calorie needs on weekdays, maintenance on weekends. This encourages me to exercise as the more I do at weekends the more I can treat myself knowing I'll Continue making more progress the next week.
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cheat days where I don't count are okay, just don't do them more than one every few months
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major change doesn't come quickly, I worked out at the beginning it would take at least 10 months to get to my target and how much I would expect to see each week.
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I have an especially easy time at this, being reasonably tall, male and of able body and young. The maintenence calorie difference when your shorter or female or older is so much less I know I'd struggle on such low amounts. At my lowest current intake is 1600kcal, starting at 1900kcal back last year, maintenance days can be as high as 3300kcal. This could still easily cause weight gain if my metabolism was different.
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I didn't actually change what I was eating very much, the only major change was cutting calore rich drinks out (coke, milk, apple juice). The rest was portion control.
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exercise like cycling or running is very hard when obese, just walk at first and wait till bmi drops below 30.
Thanks for reading this ramble if you got this far, I just hope I'm able to keep the weight off now but am determined too.
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/lucxy6/80lbs_lost_during_the_last_year_thoughts_on_the/
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