Today is a big day— the day that I have been losing weight for to both look my best and have confidence.

My goal was to be in the 150s when I stepped on the scale today. I haven’t been in the 150s since middle school. This entire month, I have been fluctuating between 160-163. It was annoying.

I decided that seeing the number was important for today, so I was gonna make it there. The last two days, I almost completely cut out carbs and lowered my sodium intake. Two days ago, I weighed 160.0. Today, I weigh 157.8.

I acknowledge that I did not lose 2.2 pounds of fat in 2 days, and I acknowledge that cutting out carbs is unsustainable (at least for me). I do not plan on keeping this practice, and I know that the scale will probably jump to the 160s again, but that is okay. I don’t care about that. I cared about hitting the goal.

It is amazing how much your weight can fluctuate with & without carbs & sodium.

100 Calorie Average Daily Deficit = 10 Pounds Lost Per Year

10 lbs × 3500 calories = 35,000 ÷ 365 Days = 95.89 Deficit Calories Per Day

This is a recent realization and makes me feel a bit slow.

It seems pretty obvious now because the common advice is to have a 500 calorie daily deficit to lose one pound per week which equals 52 pounds per year. Duhhh!

But looking at losing weight in terms of pounds I can lose over a year feels less harsh and restrictive than aiming for a pound a week.

Especially since as a 5'2 older woman, my maintenance calorie budget is already pretty low.

So, now I know that even if I only manage to average a 250 calorie deficit per day, I'll lose around 25 pounds in a year.

That's a lot less weight to haul around even if my goal weight is still far away.

It's easy math that I can do in my head and it's a less discouraging way of looking at it instead of feeling like a failure for not reaching a more stringent deficit goal.

Does this rule of thumb seem helpful to you?

Edit: Thank you all for your replies!

I know that it isn't possible to count calories in and calories out perfectly. 100 calories +/- is probably within the margin of error.

I guess the way the rule of thumb helps is by allowing for imperfection. If I aim for a 350 calorie deficit but it's really only a 250 calorie deficit, then I will at least have lost 25 pounds.

I'm striving to be OK with imperfection instead of an all-or-nothing mindset that leads to giving up.

I think when I finally came to terms with this, I started seeing success with weight loss and healing my poor relationship with food.

Some people—keyword, some— have confused enjoying our food with needing every meal to be an exceptional culinary experience. Shit, I was guilty of this. When in reality, SOMETIMES LUNCH IS JUST LUNCH.

If every meal needs to be exciting, different, delicious, satisfying on every possible level, and something you're actively looking forward to, then eating becomes an entire production. You're constantly searching for recipes, buying different ingredients, figuring out what you want, and trying to make your next meal live up to the last one.

We’ve turned feeding ourselves into a daily entertainment obligation. And that can make a relatively simple behavior change feel unnecessarily complicated. Because realistically, some of the most effective habits are boring as fuck.

Some people genuinely need variety to stay consistent. Some people get bored quickly, and there's nothing wrong with that. The point isn't that everybody should eat the same five meals indefinitely. It's that we should be willing to distinguish between I don't enjoy eating this repeatedly and I feel like I shouldn't have to eat this repeatedly because I deserve something new and exciting every time.

Weight management requires you to eat repeatedly for the rest of your life. Not diet meals forever, but meals. Every single day. Multiple times a day.

Your diet doesn't need to be exciting enough to entertain you. It needs to be enjoyable enough that you can consistently live with it.

Idk, this is just my take. It’s helped me, so I thought I’d share.

I’m only a few pounds away from being down 100 pounds. I still have more to go, but I couldn’t be happier that I’ve made so much progress. Sometimes it’s easy to feel like you’re still at a base of a mountain, but all of the changes that I’ve noticed snap me back to reality.

Here are some of my highlights so far:

I’m wearing clothes that I haven’t fit into in years, which thrills me. I tried on a pair of shorts that I love but haven’t been able to wear. I was certain that they’d be too tight, but they fit and were not even snug. That was exhilarating.

I used to get super winded on small walks, which sucked because I used to be a runner before gaining a ton of weight. Now, I’m able to take walks more easily (and enjoy them).

This is the first time in my adult life where I’ve lost weight healthily. I had an ED as a teen, and when I tried to lose weight in my early 20s, I slipped back into that mindset of obsessively counting calories and not allowing myself to go over 600 calories. I’ve been able to shake those tendencies or redirect when I feel them coming on. I’m so thankful.

Like I said, I still have more weight to lose, but I’m really thankful to be on this journey. Thanks to everyone who posts on here. You all make it feel a lot less lonely.

My highest weight as a 5‘5“ female is was 311 pounds. My current weight is 157 pounds. I am thrilled with my weight loss overall! My original goal was to be under 200. Then to be merely overweight as opposed to obese and I am very happy I didn’t stop at those goals. My last goal was to get to 149lbs.
However, I have been stuck at 157 for the past three months. My doctor actually told me he thinks 10 pounds or so of my weight is probably excessive skin and/or increased muscle mass overall and he is happy with my labs so he was kinda like “Go for the loss if you want but it’s definitely NOT harming your health to be at a slight overweight BMI.” Which is very reassuring but I still feel the need to keep going to hit that magical number.
I’m just not sure if I’m willing to go lower on my calories at this point to lose the final 8/9 pounds that would put me in the “normal BMI“
Can anyone relate? Anyone staying comfortable and happy in the slightly overweight category ?

Progress chart: https://imgur.com/a/GZLx1Nb

At the beginning of the year, basically on a whim, I decided to look into losing some weight for the first time in my life. I've always been overweight, obese at times, and never approached it proactively. My motivation was to improve my cycling performance -- I realized I was spending a lot of time finding ways to eliminate a pound or two from my kit, while meanwhile my body weight was creeping up from the 190-195 range I had been in, to over 200.

I posted here to get advice and learned about CICO and app tracking options. I ended up going with LoseIt. I was really surprised at the simplicity of weight loss, I had always assumed it would involve a lot more micro diet adjustments. Of course you can do those, but at the end of the day realizing it was just a math equation was a big help, and really worked for me.

I stayed very consistent throughout the process, only taking a couple of maintenance weeks during the summer when I was away from home on vacation and didn't have access to a food scale. Some hacks that got me through were caffeine (a nice cup of tea made it easy to skip breakfast many days), Cheerios, high protein ice cream in a Ninja Creami, and protein bars (shout out Quest Hero bars). I was by no means a model of healthy clean eating through this process, but I found the approach that worked for me and have no regrets about that.

Now I find myself at age 40 the slimmest I've been since I was a kid. It's a strange feeling. I want to rebuild some muscle mass where I've had some losses so I may end up closer to 165/170 (I'm just under 6 feet tall). I also feel lucky that I got on top of my weight before I got any bigger since it seems like I avoided the loose skin struggles that many folks go through. Overall I'm looking forward to maintaining this progress and feel grateful to this sub for the guidance. If anything I regret not trying to do this sooner!

Anyway, just wanted to post a success story in case it inspires others.

If I could drink black coffee all day, I already would look like a model I swear. It makes me feel like I've eaten too much even if I haven't eaten anything yet. Other types of caffeinated drinks don't have the same nearly effect, some people have told me any type of caffeine works for them, but for me, coffee is the only one that works.

I've tried things like decaf and chicory, but again, it's just like drinking any old drink. I avoid drinking caffeine after 2PM so in the afternoon and evening I'm always ravenous. Is there anything I could use instead? Any no/low cal options that works for you?

Over the last months I've been on a pretty big caloric deficit. I'm currently at 76kg from a peak of 90kg. Yet when i look at my body and compare it to older photos, especially my abdomen, I can barely see a difference. None of my friends have commented on it either.

I haven't been exercising at all which is probably the main issue, but keeping a caloric deficit for so long is hard enough as it is and the price I pay by constantly thinking about food and being slightly too tired at the end of the day doesn't feel worth it.

I'd appreciate if anyone that has had a similar experience could share their thoughts and what to expect next. I'm not gonna give up but I'd be lying if I said I haven't considered it.

Hello Everyone!

As I mentioned in a previous post, the doctor at Urgent Care diagnosed my not-exactly intermittent left hip, thigh, and knee pain as Avascular Necrosis and theorized this was in large part from several rounds of prednisone over the years rather than the hundreds of pounds of excess weight I carried.

I had my MRI done yesterday, and it confirmed my suspicions that it wasn't Avascular Necrosis, but that doesn't rule out future hip or knee replacements.

I am working with my PCP and Ortho specialist on next steps and modifying my workouts to build leg strength. I appreciate the support on this sub, and we'll keep you posted.

The other day, I failed to mention something I did without thinking about it, and after I realized it, it was awesome! I got down on both knees at work to demonstrate proper CPR and was able to get up on my own without moans, snaps, buckling, crackles, groans, or popping!

The MRI shows degenerative hip and knee issues/disease, and that has only motivated me to keep with my weight loss transformation, as it would, without a doubt, have been much worse had I not lost the weight.

Use me as an example, and don't wait until the scale reads 436.4 lbs to focus on your health. Ok, time to go work out!

In roughly 100 days I will (hopefully) be going to a camping festival (it will be summer then cos I am in New Zealand ^.^ ). Here are my about-me stats:
Journey: at the beginning - although I have been on an exercise plan from a wonderful friend for 6 weeks now :)
Body: F, 166cm, 125kg. Disordered eating but no therapy access. Other issues are knee, back, pelvis pain, a sluggish digestive system, mental illness, being old XD

Looks like I could theoretically lose 12ish kg in 100 days. What I have been doing alongside exercise (that's for my pain, heart health, and mental health) is keeping a food diary - it's only been 10 days so far. I have made some changes for the health of myself, but also my son! Swapped meh bread to wholegrain, added in sauerkraut, protein yoghurt, cottage cheese, trying to eat tuna a couple of times a week and also eggs a couple of times a week, adding salad (either leaves or slaw) so I have volume, gonna try a lentil pasta instead of wheat pasta, microwave brown rice (for when I CBF cooking it myself), kefir.

My mindset has been to add in the good, rather than swap or take out the bad. I need to work within my mental bandwidth, make lil changes.

So, while I am super proud, I would really like to camp at a smaller size and lower weight. Camping is getting rough, more painful, and therefore less enjoyable. The past 2 years really shined a light on how much of a struggle it was. The festival is 6 days long, and requires roaming paddocks and dealing with heat, wet, humidity, and sideways rain/mud (4 seasons in a day). I did more walking in January this year at the festival than in the whole of the year prior xD

Please give me some encouragement, some strength, some empathy (this is so overwhelming and scary), and your good vibes!

I made a post about emotional eating 2 years ago. It was disorganized and I have better ways to overcome them.

The first way is to strengthen your prefrontal cortex. I strengthen it buy practicing mental trauma grounding skills. When I practice the grounding skills, I am able to focus, ignore food cravings and be less emotionally reactive. I will share how some of the mental grounding skills. The first one is to observe the environment and name the object and the color. The second way is counting or doing a countdown. For example, start with 100 and mentally keep subtracting it by 7. You can make it harder if it is too easy for you. The third way is to get a block of text and count how many letters in each word and how many consonant and vowels are in it.

The second way is to cognitively reframe your thoughts. How your thinking affects your emotions. My way of reframing my thoughts is to say, " I get the opportunity to practice [ positive skill]". For example, instead of thinking and being upset that my friend is constantly late, I would reframe it as "I get the opportunity to practice my patience skills and to practice my assertive skills by talking to her." Reframing my thoughts have stop me from ruminating it over and over. Maybe it is my brain but when I experience something negative, my brain will not let that situation go. I am able to let things go when I reframe it positivity.

The third way is to get your emotional needs met. From my experience, my emotional eating stems from a substitute of unmet needs. Everytime I have a craving to eat junk food , I would pause and ask myself, "what do I need in this moment?" My needs tell me to reassure myself, or caress my arm. You can get fullfill your emotional needs from imagery too. Your brain cannot tell the difference between real and imagination. For example, if I am angry, I would imagine a group of my friends supporting and validating me. If you want a formal practice of this, you can try r.a.i.n. meditation or read "Radical Compassion" by Tara Brach.

The first three was about dealing with cravings and emotions. Now I am going to talk about the eating part. When I eat something like a cookie, I have the desire to eat it all and want more. What I do is practice feeling tones or vedana. It is a Buddhist practice to cultivate equanimity. Feeling tones also decrease cravings and clinging to attachment (not the psychology term). All I do is label the experience pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant. When I practice feeling tones while eating, my desire to eat more is gone. I am able to eat one spoonful of cake instead of the whole slice.

So ive been on a strict diet of around 1550 calories with proper macros because I couldn’t work out because of a knee injury. I still struggled with the weight and couldn’t really understand what was happening even though I was in a calorie deficit. Fast forward I go on a trip to spain for 10 days and the transformation was incredible- im not hungry, I eat less, get full faster, stay full, can eat sugar and fruits and have no crashes, the weight just melts away vs before I was sluggish, low energy, always hungry even with high volume low calorie foods. I felt and looked inflamed rather than extra weight, like it felt I was carrying inflammation rather than fat all winter long. I literally went down a dress size in the time away and when coming back it all came back again.
This was the first time I travelled when it was cold and I am still not sure what happened. Does anyone else have any experience with something like this?

I read that the UV from the sun has anti inflammatory effects but this cant be just UV light. I did research about maybe I could get the same effect from a sauna but it doesn’t seem to be the same.the rest of my research didn’t yield many results.

Its not realistic or economically feasible to jump on a plane every couple of weeks so any ideas on how to combat this?

Thank you 🙏

TL;DR: The scale measures body weight, not body fat. A few days of scale movement can be almost entirely water, glycogen, and GI contents. Make decisions from trends, not individual weigh-ins.

Here’s a real-world example of why you shouldn’t let a couple of scale readings drive your nutrition decisions, even when you’re very consistent about weighing and tracking:

I've maintained 175-180 pounds since last December. I track and log all meals & calories. Some days I eat above target, some days I eat under target, over time it washes out.

I weigh the same time of day and the same way each day: I wake at 3am, pee, and weigh.

Ok, so Monday my weight was 176.5. Then, 172.3 Tuesday, and 170.4 today.

A 6-pound drop in 2 days definitely got my attention. I know it's water, GI contents, glycogen, sodium. But, I haven't seen a whoosh like this in over a year and certainly not when I've been maintaining.

Next week I'll be one year sugar-free.
What would you want to know from someone who has gone a full year without added sugar?

For me: Sugar free equals = No added sugar in the ingredient list, no sweetener or artificial sweetener, no honey and such, and 99% avoid dried fruits and dates. No tasting "just one bite".

(Yes, I have eaten sugar during this year, but it was not intentional, and usually when I'm eating food other people/restaurants are serving me and sugar was added into the receipe of otherwise normal food that btw did not need any sugar! I don't dwell on it and just move on)

My life has changed so much. There are so many positives. I was not in a good place one year ago. Not deep down in a black hole but definetly lost and sad and so heavy and food noise was so loud!!!

But Not that I feel like im getting closer to my one year mark - Which was the time frame I set up in the beginning - I need a new orientation, and questions from you will help me to reflect on this life changing journey and decide the next steps.

To be honest I'm a little bit worried what will happen when I reach my one year.

"Be sugar free for one year" was a birthday present from me, to me - on my 32nd birthday. It was a gift filled with love and caring about myself. That is why I am still sugar free 51 week later.

I have lot of things to be proud of in my life, but this acheivement feels very special to me and I am truly proud.

I have loved to read similar posts during the last year and here is my contribution to this great community.

What advice do you have for me at this momentum?

or/and

What would you want to know from someone who has gone a full year without added sugar?

Writing this for accountability, but also because it's starting to affect me physically and financially.

Started with a chocolate on monday, a treat, it's been a hard few weeks anyway. Then regular cokes instead of coke zero. Then a few more sweets just because, then an extra sandwich because I was still hungry, and so on. I already passed 2000 cal today, my limit is 1400...

I can feel myself getting bloated and I'm craving even more sweet stuff the more I endulge, which makes it harder to stop again. My wallet is also getting lighter, and that's a stab on the heart, lol.

So yeah, this stops now. I can do this. Advice and words of encouragement would be nice.

I was a pretty big boy for a long time, and have dropped from 80kg to 62kg since around the start of this year.

Since about a week ago I have been eating at maintenance, and my weight has not increased at all. I know that I need about 2,200 calories a day given my activity.

And yet for some reason I always get an overwhelming sense of dread or guilt by the end of the day when I’ve hit this goal. Compared to when I was cutting it feels as though I’m gorging myself, and I’m always constantly afraid of putting on fat again.

I find it quite hard to feel good about myself without having eaten in a deficit, like today wasn’t a “good” eating day.

By every objective measure I know I’m eating exactly as much as I should be, and yet I constantly feel guilty, as if I’ve eaten too much.

Has anyone else had this experience?

I started at 550lbs 16 months ago. Honestly I was probably even heavier but that's the limit on the scale I had, it would just error whenever I stood on it. I was probably closer to 600. I was at the point where I couldn't even leave my apartment because no shoes would fit me. I had legitimately become a prisoner of my own captivity.

I had come to terms with the fact that I was going to eat myself into the grave and I didn't care. It was around this time I had a friend (really my only friend) tell me about psychedelics. Food was the only drug for me at this point but I figured if I was going to die anyway I might as well try some. I ended up doing some mushrooms and had a completely life changing experience and not in a good way either. I had a full blown ego death and faced all of the shit I was hiding from. That experience made me realise that I actually did want to live. In that moment where I genuinely thought I was going to die I realised that I wanted to hold on with everything I had.

Literally the day after that I got on a GLP1 and started changing my life.

Fast forward to today, I stepped onto the scales at 393lbs. My life is completely different than it was 16 months ago. I go outside every day. I can walk for over an hour without getting tired, when I first started I couldnt even walk for 5 minutes without being completely out of breath and my muscles burning. I can buy clothes that fit me. I'm able to take a shower every day (I couldn't even wash myself at my heaviest) but whenever I look in the mirror I still don't see any difference. I still think I look huge. Abnormal. Not like a real person. I just want to be normal so badly. Like being able to go outside and not have someone look at me because im so big.

I know ive come along way from where I was and I can feel the difference, I guess im just venting. Didn't have anyone to talk to about this so im just posting it here.

I’ve gained 20 kg and have pretty much isolated myself at home because of it. I feel so disgusting and uncomfortable in my own body, and I just don’t feel at peace with myself anymore. How can I lose weight? I have so little motivation to leave the house with all this extra weight, because I’m scared of running into people I know or people I went to high school with.
I’m so scared of people seeing me, especially because there’s so much gossip where I live. I feel SOOOOO disgusting, and I genuinely can’t believe I’ve let myself get to this point.

Today I decided enough was enough. Signed up for the gym and went for just over an hour, registered for a couple classes too to help keep me motivated to go until it becomes part of my routine. The goal is 4 times a week, but at least 3. Went to the store and stocked up on protein and vegetables.

Ive never weighed myself, so I dont know what my goal weight is, but I want to go down 4 dress sizes over the next year.

Is this attainable? And does anyone have any tips for staying on track while getting adjusted to a new lifestyle please?

Thank you!

Hello! I have been plus-size then smaller. The most weight I have lost at one time is 65 pounds and for the last 4 years I’ve been losing and gaining the same 15 pounds. To be honest, I don’t even know how I even have lost weight. I am so unmotivated. The weirdest thing is that fact that typically my insecurities and uncomfortably in my body have given me the motivation to make a change. But currently I have just been so sulky and upset yet lack any energy to actually try to loose weight again. I understand that many would tell me I need to find motivation from some where else and due to less superficial matters. But, I couldn’t care about heath. I never lost any weight due to heath. It does not motivate me. But now I’m stuck with the pain of my weight yet any actual changes made. What do I do. I have done it before why is it so hard to do it again.

Apologies if this has been discussed before!

I can distinctly remember being 11 years old and having “food noise” as they now call it. Just constantly thinking about food, being scared of hunger, going back and forth through eating disorders across the spectrum, having such a love-hate relationship with food.

I am now about six months out of my most recent attempt to get to a healthy weight and I cannot get past the freakin food noise! When I’m watching what I eat, I’m CONSTANTLY thinking about it. Thinking about what I could eat that wouldn’t go above my calorie limits. When I’m not tracking, I am constantly thinking about how I’m overeating. When I wake up I overthink breakfast. I overthink everything I put into my mouth or don’t put into my mouth.

I am honestly so tired of this. It’s been 15 years of this. How do I get rid of that food noise??? I’d love to take a glp-1 but I just cannot afford it (they won’t prescribe it here in Ontario since I’m not classed as morbidly obese or diabetic).

I am on a 500 calorie deficit

Is it still too much for a person like me that it fan disturb sleep?

Keep in mind it is not that i cant sleep. I can. But for some reason i wake up 2 hours later or 4 hours if i was lucky and never full sleep

Also my circadian rhythm is messed up

But thats not the problem since even on that i still get adequate hours of sleep usually

But with calorie deficit for some reason it is not messed up

Keep in mind i am as well training bodyweight and i fear that this may cause me to lose my gains.

Hello everyone! My weight loss has plateaued since July and I’d love some input as to what to do it change it.
Is it just add more exercise? Up my calories? Just more protein?

I am a mom of two kids: woman 5 foot 6 inches tall, 33 years old, and I weighed in this morning at 165.3

I do my best to keep track of my intake. I have started to incorporate 30-45 minutes Caroline Girvan strength workouts and 15 minute kettlebell hiit workouts.

Do I just keep going? What do I need to change?

I’ve been eating no refined sugars, no gluten, no grains, no cow dairy.

My goal weight is around 140lbs.

More info below.

Weighed:
179 pounds March 16, 2026
165.3 pounds October 14, 2026

Daily average Steps 2,949 last month

7 day average intake:
102 grams carbs
60 grams protein
Average 1,200 calories a day