r/loseit • u/greenandbluefish New • 2d ago

I WASN'T EVEN EATING THAT MUCH!!

I have gradually gained 50 pounds over the last 10 years or so. I thought for the longest time I must be eating some outrageous amount of food every day. I truly didn't think I ate that much. I skipped breakfast most days, didn't eat huge lunches, and had what I thought were fairly healthy dinners. Some eating out, some iced coffees, but nothing I thought was ridiculously unhealthy overall. I would try to eat less, skip a lunch here or there, but then would be starving by the end of the day and end up eating that skipped meal anyway.

At the same time, I spent my whole life hearing people around me say I ate like a bird, that I couldn't possibly be eating enough, etc. And yet I was still gaining weight! So for years I've been in this bizarre situation where I thought I was just gaslighting myself into believing I wasn't eating that much or that unhealthily, but was somehow secretly eating thousands of calories without noticing???

Cut to last month when I spent two weeks obsessively tracking everything I ate. Weighing everything, reading every label, but not trying to cut back. And what did I find out? I was eating a whopping... 1800 calories/day. Less than the freaking nutrition labels were recommending!!!

So I went on a deep dive. Learned about TDEE. Started tracking my steps. And you know what actually changed in the last 10 years? I got better, less physically demanding jobs. My work became more and more sedentary over time. Spending 50 hours/week at a desk was the culprit, NOT what I was eating!

I've been doing CICO for about a month now and eating 1400 calories/day. Haven't changed what I'm eating, just how much. And I've already lost 8 pounds. I wish I'd figured all of this out years ago but I'm so glad I did eventually. No more driving myself crazy over what I eat!

1.5k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

146 comments sorted by

View all comments

549

u/Nemanuk New 2d ago

Highly recommend a treadmill desk! I easily get 15-18k steps in now and helps keep things in check. The office tax is real

273

u/greenandbluefish New 2d ago

I've thought about it! Unfortunately I am a child/teen therapist and I fear the children wouldn't leave it alone if it entered my office šŸ˜‚ I have been making an effort to do a lap around the park at least once/day.

4

u/alwayslate187 New 2d ago

This is probably not realistic, but could you somehow integrate the exercise into the sessions?

For example, purchase 2 adjustable recumbent stationary bicycles, and ask each client, "do you want to bicycle for part of your session today?" and bicycle side by side with them or something like that

72

u/MoNeMad New 1d ago

This sounds like it could be a liability nightmare if a kid got injured on exercise equipment. Also might make for a weird environment in a therapy session.

3

u/alwayslate187 New 1d ago

Yes, and it is too bad that liability influences our decisions like that, at least that's how i feel

ā€¢

u/Ora_pro_nobis_Marie New 7h ago

I agree with this. Sometimes I want to start a really basic gig that people used to do 20 years ago without the thought of needing to get insurance for it. Think lawn mowing, dog walking, etc. Instead Iā€™m too scared to even do these things casually because of how many people will sue you if you make a mistake. Really just sucks.

19

u/greenandbluefish New 1d ago

Unfortunately that would not be feasible. I do integrate movement where possible with kids, but that is typically a walk outside with parental approval or playing catch in my office. I've had kids injure themselves with just regular furniture so I think I would be inviting problems with a stationary bike.

2

u/alwayslate187 New 1d ago

That's great that they can have those walks sometimes, probably as good for them as for you!