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How I lost over 40 pounds and kept it off: a LONG ASS thread
*WARNING* This is a thread for people that want to lose weight. I am in no way saying I or any of you *need* to lose weight, I just wanted to. There WILL be mentions of eating disorders & techniques to lose weight that can/are being abused. Please read & do at your own discretion
There is also no quick way to lose weight on your own. If you’re not willing to put the work in, this is not a thread for you. Call Dr. Miami for your “quick fix”.
Between 5th and 6th grade, I began the bigger parts of puberty. From the chemical imbalances & overall unhappiness, I developed an eating disorder called binge-eating disorder. With this, I go through episodes of eating uncontrollably & stop when I start feeling disgusting & sad
Through external and internal voices growing up, I was always unhappy with my body. And I was ready to change it. I began tracking my weight with the iPhone Health app in January of 2018. I was 211.5 pounds (roughly 96 kg).
I was watching what I ate, and lost a few pounds, hitting 207 pounds, about 94 kg. But I wasn’t seeing physical results. Which made me even more unhappy. And my eating disorder got worse and the number on the scale shot to 216 pounds (98 kg, shown in the picture)
I was back to 211 (95 kg) when I got my first job in July 2018, where I take clothes from the fitting room to their right spot on the floor.
On the days I work, I tend to hit between 10,000 and 18,000 steps by the end of the day (and we have pretty short shifts too). This also helped with my weight loss, though I didn’t know it yet.
In late October of 2018, I turned to a calorie tracking app because I heard it helped curb EDs. Though it seems tedious, I tracked every single thing, every single day.
The app told me to set my goal to 2200 calories a day. I thought it was going to be easy, but little did I know how many calories everything had.
I also started using an app called 8Fit. It’s an app that gives small exercise routines to do (under 8 minutes). The exercises don’t require equipment or even stepping outside, which is perfect for a time like now in a world of self-isolation and social distancing.
In December of 2018, I came across this thread post on the discussion section of the calorie app I was using that was titled “For Teen Using This App”.
Curious, I read through it. The user who wrote it was hateful, telling teens using the app to get off and get help because we don’t know what we’re doing. Upset and angry, I deleted the app and went to a different one. This is a screenshot of my thoughts after reading it:
I continued to use the app until I found MyFitnessPal, which I still use every day. I especially like it because I can see some of my friends tracking their days. Knowing that others are going through the same thing as me, it makes me feel better that I’m not alone.
By February 2019, I was at 203 pounds (92 kg) and my calorie goal was 2000, but I still wasn’t seeing physical results. I did some research around this time. I found out that when losing weight (naturally and healthily), the fat cells between your intestines get smaller first.
I feel like that’s something to know & remind yourself because many think they can exercise today & lose 10 pounds by tomorrow. There are ways to get fast results, it’s only water weight you’ll lose, & WILL gain back (this includes any apple cider whatever you find on FaceBook)
& many crash diets I’ve seen others try, do nothing but ruin their metabolism. I won’t get into much detail, but someone gained the weight they lost through an apple cider “quick fix” diet. Another ruined their incredible metabolism by eating single meals a day/fasting.
By March 2019, I was finally under the 200-pound mark (91 kg). I was starting to see a few physical differences. I could wrap my index finger and thumb around my wrists. I didn’t have as much a double chin. My jawline was coming through. My thighs didn’t rub together as much.
I began going to the gym regularly. Usually, I use the elliptical, reaching to around level 6-10 depending on the day (with a machine that has 20 as the highest level).
I use the machine to reach around 2 miles (or about 20-30 minutes, also depending on the day). I also do some lightweight training (which I’m gonna try to develop more in the future because I wanna be STRONG).
By late December of 2019, people started noticing my weight loss. I hit 175 pounds (79 kg). It was a whole new world for me. I started looking at myself in the mirror and began seeing someone I was proud of being. It triggered an overall happier emotion.
I’m currently at 173 pounds (78 kg). I hit a plateau before Ms. Rona started to spread so rapidly. I can’t do too much right now, but I’ve just gone back to my 8Fit app to stay active at home.
And right now, my calorie goal is 1800. I’m not great at keeping this goal, but I’m working on it. Also, you should NEVER be eating less than 1500 calories a day.
I can’t guarantee tracking calories will help you. But, watching what you eat and how much of it is THE most important thing. You can’t down apple cider vinegar, with 6 slices of meat lovers’ pizza and expect to just melt the weight off. I feel tracking my calories helps
I see myself in a much better light now. But I didn’t suddenly get happy and confident because of the weight loss. I had to change my thinking about myself and my body. I had to treat myself like others treated me. And that was all new to me.
All I can do is encourage you to strive for better, but don’t beat yourself up because you can’t do it as fast or as effective as you want to, on your first try. I hope this thread helped somehow. Good luck with any body improvements or changes you want to reach :)
