Life changing weight-loss
This is a thread for everyone to share their personal story. But I'll start with mine.
I was never an obese child. I was always borderline overweight, but I was never at risk for being unhealthy. At 15 I even managed to lose some weight when I did go into the overweight category. And then I graduated high school. I ended up gaining thirty pounds before starting college, and the weight just kept on piling up. Ending with me gaining over 120 pounds, and being over 300 pounds. I was 17 during this time period. I ended up losing quite a bit of weight, down to 218 during the summer following my first year. But I ended up gaining it back and could not go back down.
By the time I graduated college I was back up almost to my original weight. Unfortunately for me, I graduated in Spring of 2020. Right when the pandemic started. This just caused my weight to climb up even more. Even worse, I finally looked in the mirror and realized that my hair was thinning. This was an easier fix: Dutasteride. Got on that pill and that started growing my hair. You can read more about my struggle with that here. My eating was another ball game.
In late 2021, after being diagnosed with pre-diabetes, I decided to lose some weight. I did Keto, not because I felt like that was the only way to lose weight, but because I had read that was the best diet to reverse pre-diabetes. I did that for three months and it did indeed crushed my A1C number, and I lost a fair amount of weight. The problem was that when I got off the diet I gained a lot of weight back. Not all of it, but enough to make a difference. Keto was not a sustainable diet, but on top of that my thought process was "when this ends I'm gonna eat this I'm gonna eat that."
One day I take a pretty hardcore edible. Weed has an anxious effect on me and constantly makes me reflect on my own life and how unhappy I am with it. But this one time it made me realize how much of what was wrong with my life, or how much of what I did not like about my life was connected to my weight. And how many insecurities me being obese gave me. And how it was holding me back from doing what I wanted to do. It also made me realize why I used food as a coping mechanism, and it made me come to terms with the fact that on some level I had an addiction to food.
So that was actually very helpful, and I was able to move on, and actually commit. It helped me to recognize the signs of overeating, and made me pause whenever I would grab something to eat. I would eventually also start lifting weights and focusing on eating a lot of protein. And that helped me lose fat more than Keto ever did. Just the consistency of that was a lot better and honestly easier than the incredibly restrictive diet Keto is. I still struggle with food. I can't really eat chips, or popcorn, because I will finish the whole bag whether I want to or not. But it's gotten slightly easier, at the very least I've gotten better at trying to avoid things like that.
It's completely altered the way that I look. I just recently saw some family that hadn't seen me in a while, and they did not recognize me. My face is much more visible now. When I would get high I would look in the mirror and not recognize myself but now I do. Part of that problem is that I hadn't actually seen myself properly in a mirror since high school until this recent weight loss. So I was just completely delusional, by choice, about what I looked like. I look at old pictures and go "damn that's how I really was huh."
Now that I'm close to being the same weight I was back in high school, I feel more like me. I feel like I look more like how I perceived myself. I'm not scared to look in the mirror anymore. I'm not scared to take pictures anymore. I'm not scared to try on clothes anymore.
What's really been a trip is the fact that people find me attractive again. I don't want to sound conceited, but I am in fact not ugly. But my face was hidden under the weight. So for years nobody really found me attractive, and that's fair now that I've seen pictures of myself from that time (on top of me having no confidence back then). But now they do again. And it's going to take a little bit of getting used to, but damn it feels good. It feels good to finally date, to have the confidence to go out. It feels good for people to think that I'm 19 instead of thinking that I'm 30.
And I feel so much younger. I'm still in my early 20s, but before now I felt old. Like I felt like my body was falling apart. With how much my hips hurt, with how much my knees hurt, how slow I was. I remember when I was 20 my ankle hurt so much. There was like so much pressure on it and it would not pop. And then when I finally did pop it I had to continually pop it to feel relief. That's gone now. My joints pop a normal amount now rather than the excessive amount. I can crouch, I can get up from the floor, I can walk longer easily. Stuff that I should have been doing this entire time that felt almost impossible to do.
It's like I've been rejuvenated. Like I've been given a second chance to enjoy my youth.
And I really really don't want to mess it up again.
First, congratulations on the hard work to become healthier!
For me I capped out at a kid/teenager at 120 lbs which the doctors loved to remind me every time I went in that I was underweight for my height (by BMI standards, which are generally garbage on the individual level). I didn't have a disorder, I was just a tall and lanky teen. But I had (and to a degree continue to have) a terrible diet. Fast-forward 15 years or so and, with a full-time desk job and having slowed down/stopped exercising, I'm starting to get a gut and I've gained 45 lbs in a year. My doctor says "oh congrats you're finally in a healthy weight range," which is completely ridiculous because none of this is a good sign (my diet has a bit too much burger and pizza and not enough things-that-were-grown-in-the-ground). So I am technically in a "good" range, but none of it is healthy weight and my cholesterol levels are not good for my age (still manageable, but a bad sign for the future).
So just a few months ago I decided I didn't want to slowly build up bacon grease in my heart until I became another American mortality statistic. I ended up getting an under-desk treadmill and it has completely changed how much exercise I've been getting. I've worked my way up slowly, but I'm basically walking for the entire workday (with occasional breaks). It took a little getting used to, but I'm feeling so much better than before. I hit over 20 miles last week! I've been losing weight at a fairly healthy pace (i.e. not too quickly), and people have already noticed a change from when I started. I still have a fair way to go before I'm feeling like I was in my 20s again, but I'm already seeing and feeling the difference and it's been huge for me!
I am still working on the diet issues, but that one is a bit tougher because of the local restaurants and inconvenient work hours that make it difficult to cook (because I'm only just learning to cook and it takes time and effort that I don't always have). But I'm slowly but surely improving there too and I'm looking forward to eating healthier (and hopefully lowering my monthly food bill!).
What a great move getting the treadmill! Congrats as well and thanks for pointing out the underweight aspect!
Congratulations! I’m 60lbs down in the past 18 months or so. I have a history of disordered eating, so I’m being really careful about noticing when it’s becoming unhealthy for me - I’ve had several long breaks from trying to lose in there (luckily maintaining each time) to get my head back into the right place. I started just calorie counting (very bad for me it turned out), and now I’m doing loose intermittent fasting. I’m also back to running, and I’m finding that IF is very hard when I’m running a lot. If I’m truly hungry I eat, no matter the time!
I’m a short woman with a low BMR. Exercise is absolutely crucial for me if I don’t want to feel too deprived! I walk everywhere, I run 3 days a week, I swim, sometimes I play ring fit… I rarely have a day where I’m totally sedentary unless I’m ill. I think this has been much more effective than diet, for me
Losing weight is hard - it's really fucking hard. The mechanics of it are simple, calories in < calories out, but the execution... that's where it gets you. And as hard as that initial weight loss is, that's the easy part - maintaining it is the killer. I've been struggling with the same 10lbs for about a year now with the goal of getting to 18% bf. I'm a small woman with a lot of muscle mass (I was a serious powerlifter for years), so 5lbs of fat in either direction is the difference between my pants fitting or being too tight to comfortably wear.
Given the things you've written in your post, there's two things I'll recommend you do right now:
You can have fun, you can indulge occasionally, have a week of vacation and enjoy, as long as you always come back to that original commitment to yourself and your health.
I'm ahead of you there. I treat it like I'm an addict. I was probably a borderline alcoholic, but I have friends who were really deep in alcoholism. And it feels very similar, in terms of the cravings and how hard it is to just stop yourself when you encounter stress.
The first step is interesting though. I wouldn't know what to do with that though.
Do you have a current goal?
And yes, food addiction is very real. But unlike alcohol, you can't just stop eating, which is why so many struggle to manage it. If you can, therapy helps but it's unfortunately not always easy to access.
Congratulations on your health journey. It seems like through these endeavors we learn quite about ourselves.
I remember always being an overweight kid. My father would put me through sports to lose weight and I grew to dislike sports. I struggled with weight until I got married that my wife went on the keto diet. At first, I hesitated, but joined in. I lost quite a bit of weight, but as you state, unsustainable and once we went off keto, we gained some weight back.
However, we have been losing weight again (albeit very slowly) by walking more and waiting 5-10minutes after we finish our food to see if we want more or not.
I have also joined an MMA gym, but got injured 2 months in, so after I finish physical therapy, I will be returning! I think in addition to helping with weight loss, MMA (or any physical activity) has improved my mental health. The improvement in mental health has improved by outlook, which has helped me make better dietary choices. I still eat fast food and food that is not too nutritionally healthy, but I only eat on training days ;).
Thanks for your sharing your story and taking time to learn about the story of others!
I’ve heard people describe MMA as a form of meditation. Because your mind is almost blank, you’re just in the moment. Do you think that’s why it’s helped your mental health?
Good question! For me, it was disconnecting for 2 hours a week. Nothing but your gear and body on the mat, so it was nice to not worry about anything related to work (I teach high school English and work ever ends lol). I suppose it could be meditative, I am definitely much more tuned in with my body (mostly due to injuries sustained sparring with people in their teens to mid twenties while I am in my 30s).