For context, I'm 35/M/5'11": Wanted to share without dropping my whole life story....sorry there's no before/after, but I'm not done yet! I can just taste my ticket to the century club, and it tastes like almonds and monkfruit powder!

Hit 299 today. Knew it was coming but it was such a morale boost anyway! Have been on the journey for just under two years, but accelerated progress after an off-the-charts A1C and liver enzyme result: The visceral fat around my organs was hobbling my ability to produce insulin, and the weight and excess tissue around my neck and chest was giving me sleep apnea, making it even harder to lose weight and have steady blood sugar levels. I was also in near constant back and joint pain and would regularly be exhausted by everyday tasks.

Since March I've lost 55lbs, using low carb* and Metformin ER, along with daily walking. That makes 85lbs since last year, and I finally feel like I can make it stick.

Fringe benefits!

-sleeping much better, waking up more rested and not anxious.

-Not constantly sweating at work while doing almost nothing.

-not uncomfortable to the point of exhaustion by prolonged standing, walking, hot afternoons, or nights out with friends.

-free of several weight-and-nutrition related maladies: random leg cramps, knee and foot pain, acid reflux, swollen digits.

-no longer intimidated by stairs or restaurant booths.

Unexpected side effects!

-body image issues magnified like a second round of puberty: my body is changing faster than my perception of it, so the mirror is, for now, unpleasant. I feel like a melting candle!

-posture is actually worse than before. Weight isn't being shed evenly, so my gait is all wrong now.

-to-the-gram food tracking is its own source of stress, causes meal planning to consume a lot of time and effort, while reducing flexibility. Higher protein and dietary fat requirements also expensive compared to a majority-carb diet.

-recipe book is a mess (was already a home cook with a drastically different set of cooking habits) and dining out can be a chore

-clothes. Just...man...clothes you guys wtf

I've got a ways to go, trying to reach 225 or so, so I'm not sweating the discomfort too much. I wish I was happier with how I look, but I know that will pay off when I hit a goal and stay there. I can't pretend this journey isn't up-ending my life compared to the ease of ignoring my health from day to day, but I'm starting to see real tangible benefits, and that's made a huge difference in my dedication to the task. Thanks for reading and for all the positivity and helpful conversation over the years!

*[for those interested: under 100 grams/day for the first 90 days with NO starches or other than vegetables, now around 125 carbs and reintroduced rice, wheat, potatoes, fruits in sensible amounts. Virtually no soda, candy, syrups, etc. Gave up the stuff that was easiest for me, and carefully portioning or finding healthier versions of the stuff I couldn't do without]

feel free to add your story / check in in the comments below

Weight has been stagnant for the last week or so. The immediate connection is of course that I stopped tracking calories for various reasons. I have sticked to general recommendations of my dietician with regards to portion control and I credit this with the fact that I did not gain weight.

Today I had to take care of a sick child at home, so now (~8pm) I am really tired, but still I think I can pat my back for eating 3 moderate meals (breakfast was 60g of oat flakes with yoghurt, for lunch Austrian cheese with full-grain bread I baked today, dinner was Pizza (!), with crust prepared from 100g of flour and mushroom topping).

I am a bit in this weird situation that I need to strengthen my back as past yoyo dieting has somewhat atrophied the muscles of the core, while I also should lose weight now as a lot of things in life are now in a place where I think sustainable weight loss is now a possibility.

So I am working out for a healthy mind (and to hopefully prevent further losing of muscle) while at the same time I am a bit worried of hurting myself in the process / messing up regeneration at a deficit.****

Making steady progress thanks to hiking. I go about 5 miles with a 800ft elevation gain 6 days a week. I will admit it is tough, but it seems to be working. The first month was rough, but July yielded better results. Yesterday was wild since I suddenly dropped 2lbs.

I know there is a pattern to the seemingly random drops, but I love the surprises.

Hello to my friends who are winning at losing!

So what's your story?

Are you just starting? Are you in the middle of your journey? Are you taking a pause? Are you in the final rounds? Have you been keeping it off for a while?

Is this strictly a fat loss effort or are you working on fitness too? Any other self-improvement things going on right now?

Are you doing this just with behavioral modification? Are you being assisted with some of the latest medications or surgeries available to us now?

Let's get to know each other!

I am a picky eater, have been a picky eater all my life. I managed during my late teenage years and early twenties to acquire a taste for vegetables (and I am grateful that I did), but fruits (apple, grape, etc) are still a problem for me.

I have identified however, that I like

• Mango
• oranges
• lemons

Now I wonder what fruit I could "try" next. Preferably I would not start with Apples and Bananas (as a kid it was constantly suggested I should eat apple/bananas that I don't have the best memories in this regard, I think these will be tougher fruits to start with).

Why am I asking this? Ultimately I want to balance out my diet more and potentially get into a position where I can opt for fruit over chocolate if I want to have something sweet.

This was passed out at my TOPS meeting ...

Just for Today

Just for today - I will stay on my diet.
Just for today - I will write down everything I eat.
Just for today - I will count calories and measure my food.
Just for today - I will busy myself during my difficult times.
Just for today - I will take the time to think about what I do before I do it.
Just for today - I will be in control of the emotions that send me into the kitchen time and time again, searching for something that isn't there.
Just for today - I will act like the intelligent person that I am, realizing that I am not perfect and that I can fail without the world coming to an end.
AND IF I FAIL?. . . . .
Well, just for today I will pickup the pieces and try again.

TOPS NEWS, June 1981

Hope it helps someone... if even just for today.

Got a question? We've got answers!

Do you have question but don't want to make a whole post? That's fine. Ask right here! What is on your mind? Everyone is welcome to ask questions or provide answers. No question is too minor or small.

Include your stats if appropriate/relevant

Don't forget to comment and interact with other posters here, let's keep the good vibes going!

We enjoy the Voila! Three Cheese Chicken from Birds Eye $6.49 But we add our own additional frozen vegetables (plain, 1 pound, Italian blend) and cubed boneless skinless chicken (marinated for a day, then cooked and cubed) to make it come out to about $2.25 per serving (4) and about 300 Calories.

For $2.50 in the added ingredients, double the yield and improves the carbs, sodium, and protein. The calories are virtually identical.

The 21 ounce Birds-Eye package says that it serves three, but in practice we find that it serves two. Add your own generic frozen veggies and cubed cooked chicken and you serve four.

• Original half-package nutrition

• Stretched-recipe nutrition

• Recipe

This article gives a history of how our food environment changed in recent decades, just as our waistlines started to increase.

Scale victory: 4kg lost. I am pretty happy, also I actually didn't get to swim in the last few days and the last times the scale dropped, it was after a >1000kcal workout or so.

My main method of weight loss is calorie counting, but I am also working with a registered dietician on learning again to feel my satiety

Got a question? We've got answers!

Do you have question but don't want to make a whole post? That's fine. Ask right here! What is on your mind? Everyone is welcome to ask questions or provide answers. No question is too minor or small.

Include your stats if appropriate/relevant

Don't forget to comment and interact with other posters here, let's keep the good vibes going!

This is an excellent article highlighting both sides of the divide...

• on one side, the classical Physical Activity Level view that we can add up exercise calories from the Compendium Of Exercise Activities in the same way as we add up calories in; and
• on the other, observations and some controlled studies that show that exercise calories eventually settle down to be in a relatively constrained range, or at least far diminished from what the caloric estimates of the activity say that they should be

Starting from 298 lb, about 135 kg, I walked for exercise and when MyFitnessPal awarded calories for that exercise, I ate them. Despite eating them, I lost weight at the predicted range and sometimes better than the predicted rate in MFP profile.

But after 9 months, it was apparent that all of that walking was paying off less and less. In part, it made sense, because I was walking around a much smaller body by then (having lost 105 lb or about 45 kg). But now, 9 years later, my exercise which has remained active moves the needle slightly. My present day TDEE and my calculated TDEE for a sedentary body with my stats are very nearly the same.

Of course, moving around burns more calories than not moving at all. The constrained model does not argue that. It's simply indicates that there are compensatory shifts in energy that result in a overall calorie output that is far less than we think it ought to be based on our calculators and our fitness watches.

None of this should be interpreted to say that we should not exercise for our body's fitness and health. And like I said up top, it did help me during the weight loss phase as far as I could tell. We certainly cannot diet our body strong, and exercise can even function as an appetite suppressant. Many of us have already been looking at these exercise calories reported by our wearables with some huge grain of salt. This article explains why.

I don't mean to post this often, but today was fun. I finished my 5 mile hike much faster, so I took a look back at the first time I attempted it this year back in June.

Not great, but it was the first time in awhile that I did it. Fast forward to today.

I shaved off 20 minutes and my average pace is 5 minutes faster. While I might not be losing much my body is certainly getting faster, stronger, and hiking is getting easier.

So don't look at just the scale because it can be deceptive. Find something that brings you joy and go do it.

Back in 2021 I started hiking because I stopped going to the gym because COVID, and it worked pretty well for me. Then winter hit and I had to stop because of lack of light in the morning and it was getting dangerous.

Last year I switched jobs and we moved just as I got back into hiking. Anyway, I started back up in June because I hit a high of 270 lbs. Well I am attempting to hike 100 miles this month and I am already at about 55. I am on track to hit 30 miles just this week. To be more specific, my goal this week is to hike a 5.1 mile loop 6 days. When I started I was hiking a 2.5 mile loop mostly.

On the weight side, I was pretty stable around 268lbs for most of June, and last week I stayed under 268lbs. Granted it is only Tuesday, but I've stayed under 267 so far, and today I weighed in at 265.2

Obviously it's not much but I am feeling better, I'm hiking faster, and I am not bouncing back up to 268+. I can't wait to see what next week is like.

TL;DR - been battling weight my entire life, starting Vyvanse for help with binge eating

I’m here because I broke up with Reddit and there is no Lemmy community specifically for binge eating yet… I wanted to stop in and share. I’ve battled weight all of my life to different degrees of success. Most recently I’ve been confronting trauma and binge eating related to trauma. I think I’m at the point where I can have success on my own but I have thought that many times…so at my last physical I talked to my doctor about getting on something to help me with weight loss and appetite.

At this point, I’m 43 and even if something has some side effects or negative effects it would be worth it over losing years of my life by staying too heavy. Because I first talked to my doctor about what I believe is behind it all…binge-eating as self-numbing related to trauma…she suggested trying Vyvanse first rather than Wegovy or Ozempic because it doesn’t have the same side effects and has been shown to help specifically with binge eating as an appetite suppressant.

I’m ready to do the work, I know I can’t just try to take something and not try, and excited for weeks and months to come. I have found success at different points in my life using LoseIt for calorie counting and exercise…that’s the goal now with a little help.

Wish me luck. See you around lemmy loseits :)

Got a question? We've got answers!

Do you have question but don't want to make a whole post? That's fine. Ask right here! What is on your mind? Everyone is welcome to ask questions or provide answers. No question is too minor or small.

Include your stats if appropriate/relevant

Don't forget to comment and interact with other posters here, let's keep the good vibes going!

Article: Exclusive: Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year, data show - Reuters, 11 July 2023 Wayback Link

Some lede and pullquotes for basic facts just in case you hit a paywall:

Only about one-third of patients prescribed a popular weight-loss drug like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy were still taking it a year later [...]

The analysis by [...] reviewed pharmacy and medical claims data for 4,255 people with commercial health plans. They had all received new prescriptions of the drugs from a class known as GLP-1 agonists between January and December 2021, and had a diagnosis of obesity, prediabetes or a body mass index of 30 or higher.

Overall, 32% of the patients were still taking the medicine for weight loss a year after their initial prescription [...] and the results did not differ materially based which of the drugs was prescribed

Patrick Gleason [...] a co-author of the analysis, said this real-world data suggests a substantial drop in adherence compared to what was reported in clinical trials. In trials with adults, Novo found that 6.8% of patients taking Wegovy discontinued treatment due to gastrointestinal problems and other adverse events.

Prime did not ask patients why their prescriptions stopped. [...] All the patients had insurance coverage for GLP-1 drugs.

This article is very interesting to me and prompts the question, why are people stopping? Were you prescribed one of these drugs, did you stop taking it?

I got my first plateau, of 9 days (an arbitrary number, there is no official one), in the middle third of my 9-month weight-loss. There were three of them, about 3-4 weeks apart.

Don't expect to avoid plateaus. The body is a system of systems and its main composition component is water. When we are very large, we often will have a bodyfat% of 35-45 (Obese male) instead of 18-24 (Normal male). The amount of water our body is using or storing at this present moment is a percentage that is always changing, but it is 60% when we are normal bodyfat% and less when we are higher (bodyfat contains very little water). So, when those upward water fluctuations happen in a body with obesity, they don't affect the downward trend of our fat loss as much as when those fluctuations happen in a body of normal weight. Therefore, someone with a smaller weight body will get plateaus more often than someone with a higher weight body.

You may read in articles about the body fighting back against losses. That's true, but if we are tracking and managing our deficit to be both accurate and substantial, then this fighting back doesn't affect us. The hormonal signals of the body defending a set point would normally cause us to eat more if we were depending on those signals. But we, thanks to tracking and measuring our food, are keeping up our deficit despite those signals.

So the things to do:

1. Ensure your program is right and tight. Right in that you still have a pronounced deficit (-500 to -1000 against your current TDEE based on your current stats). Tight in that your tracking is 100% itemized including the oft-forgotten condiments, cooking oils, salad add-ons and dressings, and all the little things and that those things are well estimated.
2. Occasionally take a 10-14 day period at maintenance. This helps restore order to your metabolism and your psychology. The body, like much of nature, needs tension and release. I took 3 such periods in 9 months, usually connected to some travel or major holiday. I kept up on exercise and tracking, all the normal things, but at maintenance calories instead of deficit calories. https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break explains the rationale and how-to.
3. Expect more plateaus more often as you get closer to goal weight. Expecting them helps us be mentally ready.
4. Ride them out. If you're doing all these things, then assign plateaus to the body doing its watery thing. Nothing is wrong. This is expected and healthy. Sometimes it helps to manage our patience with the thought that at goal weight, our effort becomes to maintain one life-long plateau at goal weight.

• https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/in-depth/weight-loss-plateau/art-20044615
• https://health.clevelandclinic.org/weight-loss-plateau/

Edit: changed rational to rationale

For those not in the USA/Canada, Cottage Cheese may be known as something else in your country or may not be there at all. Also similar to Curds and Whey, Rögös túró, Requeijão da Beira Baixa, Serra da Estrela, and Katiki Domokou.

Over the decades, it's popularity has been fading as flavored and plain yogurts have soared, but now Cottage Cheese is making a comeback!

obviously while counting calories, but the longer i delay eating it seems to help. just wish i could stop binging at night

This is the award I received for 5 years of maintenance from Take Off Pounds Sensibly, a old and relatively unknown non-profit, non-commercial support group for weight loss with local chapters (IRL meetings) in the USA and Canada (and, recently, there are some online chapters with no borders).

Each year is recognized with a gold number pin and 5-year increments are recognized with a jeweled pin like this. I'm now 8 years maintaining, working on that 10-year pin.

I've been attending since 2014.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/news/t/121990

Industrially processed pizzas, cereals, and convenience foods are responsible for a host of diseases. Policymakers and doctors need to lead the food fight.

We should be working in our favorite meals into our daily diet -- using portion control and our food data to learn how to make them lighter (if necessary). For eating right to be a habit that we keep doing forever, it has to include our favorite foods and our personal and family traditions.

Otherwise, it's just another temporary diet that will end in regain once it is over.

Recapping my week -- logged 7/7 days, doing well staying in the low half of my maintenance leeway, summer humidity is here. Keepin' weight off! Keepin' activity up!

Finally stopped ignoring the literal weeds in my literal garden and put in 45 minutes of weeding in lieu of walking -- now 2 days in a row. Fewer steps on the counter but the body still got it (and the garden needed it).

Who's lurking? How was your week? Let's hear it!

I started CICO, once again, mid-May at 160 pounds. Now at the end of June, I'm down to 153 lbs.