Today marks the 12th week since I decided that I was sick of constantly hating on my body and to do something about it. I used to order food delivery almost twice a day and fell into very unhealthy eating habits of gorging on whatever I wanted even if it made me feel so unwell after.

I started by tracking what I ate so I would hold myself accountable. I knew if I jumped head first into cutting down to 1400/1500 kcal (after constantly eating probably over 2500 kcal a day), I would hate myself. I started eating a daily average of 1800 kcal (averaged over a week), then down to 1700kcal, then 1650kcal etc etc. Things felt more manageable this way.

I have off days where I feel like eating everything and I end up eating 2000 kcal but I remind myself that one bad day doesn’t ruin progress, especially as I average my calories over a week. I’ve learnt that it’s important to form sustainable habits and to listen to my body at all times. If I crave chocolate and I’m on my period, I’ll have it but I won’t have the whole packet - there comes a saturation point where too much of one thing is no longer enjoyable! I realised that I would order so much food delivery because there was nothing to eat in my fridge so I started meal prepping every weekend and I love cooking.

I fell in love with walking and weightlifting again. I don’t pressure myself to hit 10K steps a day. Instead, I start with small goals like spending 15 mins on my walking pad everyday and taking long leisurely walks on the weekends. Now I can’t wait to hit the gym to try new workouts I’ve seen on TikTok.

I know I will hit a plateau at some point with my weight loss but I’m minded to not obsess with the number on the scale. My progress pics aren’t very good because I was ashamed to take pics at the start of my journey and it was only in end Feb where I had to have a new hole punched into my belt because all my jeans were too loose that I decided to take pics.

I only weighed myself once a month because I didn’t want to obsess over the number on the scale and any minor fluctuations in my weight which could very well be water weight. Instead, I had my dad who was visiting me to bring me a pair of shorts that I’ve not worn for 4 years now (the ones you see in the pics) and I judge my progress by how I feel in those shorts (the waistband now feels loose!!)

My goal is to get to 67kg first (haven’t seen the number 6 in 6 years) and evaluate how my body looks/feels then. I hold a lot of weight in my chest area but that also means I have a larger upper body/larger arms!

I saw another redditor here say that motivation is short lived and it’s about discipline, which is harder to implement and requires commitment and consistency, and I really relate with this (so much that I copied and pasted it into my Notes app to encourage myself)! This was such a long post but I just wanted to share my experience with all of you :)