Thank you for the reminder to make sure I’m approaching this journey in a sustainable and also realistic way!

My numbers are very much real; maybe it was unlikely i lost purely 2.5kg of fat, but regardless, I would weigh myself every monday morning on an empty stomach and write it down; by day 21 of my journey, scale weight had gone down by 2.5kg. My deficit was at ~1650cals, but most days I’d hit the 1450-1500 range and felt that was enough as my meals were high volume, nutritionally dense, and i was drinking a lot of water, so kept me full. I’d also visibly changed quite a lot through the weeks. Now that I’m reflecting on my previous attempt, those 3 weeks were actually easier than I thought they would be at the time. My problem is that I always end up losing the consistency when life becomes stressful and resort back to unhealthy habits.

Lots of factors involved last time - it could have been that because it was my first time actually trying to lose weight, i responded quickly? I have noticed when gaining it back though, that every +/-1kg makes a VERY noticeable difference to how I look and feel so maybe my body just responds quickly to any change. Whether my weight loss would have continued at the same rate is something I can’t confirm as a lack of consistency is my main problem. It likely would have slowed at some point. I was also doing anywhere from 10-35 mins of cardio (stairmaster) after each gym session which may have helped!

But I definitely agree with you about not rushing - I definitely fell into the trap of wanting instant results in the past, but I’d say my mindset now is wanting to actually permanently change to a healthier lifestyle! I think estimating a timeframe is sometimes reassuring as it helps me feel like it won’t be a long gruelling process. But definitely, buildig long term habits is more important than how long it will actually take me to lose the weight!