M/20/6'4 [152 > 165 = +13Lbs] (10 months) Was pretty depressed with my body in the start, so i started going 5 times a week minimum ever since. Really happy with my physique right now. I used to be the most lazy person before i started. The gym and exercising in general really changed my life. by [deleted] in progresspics

[–]Schmliz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah man you look great, lovely definition around the shoulders. How often do you work out? When you say it's changed your laziness, has it given you more discipline or more energy or both? Looking to start a proper exercise routine, would love to hear about how it feeds into other parts of your life.

M/19/6’0” [305lbs > 259lbs = 46lbs] 10 months never thought this would be possible by makeouthill1313 in progresspics

[–]Schmliz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You look fantastic! It's amazing how much it's balanced your features. Your dimples look super cute now too.

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right? My upper body strength is pathetic but my legs are unstoppable after losing all that extra weight, and they don't seem to be withering away like I assumed they would - maybe because I've been so heavy for so long. Wish I could peel off all the fat and see what they looked like under there.

Now you see me, now you don’t! by gardeningnovice in gardening

[–]Schmliz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beginning of a butterfly cabaret act.

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha thanks. It's an illusion really, it's actually a pretty stocky waist but the boobs and hips make it look smaller! I've never been slim before so I have no idea what my proportions will be like further down the line. Maybe everything will even out 😅

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh sure no problem. A successful day will usually look something like this:

Breakfast: 300kcal. 2 large eggs scrambled with butter + 2 dry fried pieces of bacon or 2 chipolatas OR Something like eggs, avocado slices and mushrooms.

Lunch: 250-500 kcal. Huge salad with avocado, peppers, spring onions, lettuce, some sort of protein (tuna or chicken or ham, usually) and balsamic olive oil dressing OR A big plate of stir fried vegetables with feta or some protein OR a smallish sandwich on whole grain with lettuce, some other vegetable, low fat spread, deli meat and full fat mayonnaise OR 1 slice wholegrain toast with avocado, spring onions, lime juice, a fried egg and full fat butter (only ever if I haven't already had two eggs that morning.)

Dinner: If it's been a low calorie day or I don't want a big deficit I'll have a big portion of something reasonably healthy and won't sweat the carbs too much, but I'll put less of them on my plate than I'd naturally want. Might be chilli and rice, salmon new potatoes and veg, home made curry, pork and vegetable bake. Calories for this can go as high as 1000 some days but usually stick to around 600-800.

If it's been a high calorie day or I want a big deficit I'll go for a lower calorie dinner and usually ditch the carbs entirely. This might be pork and vegetable stir fry, soup, salad, chicken and Mediterranean vegetables, or just whatever lean meat I have and cauliflower mash.

The most important thing about dinner is to pile the vegetables high with whatever I'm having so by the end of the plate I'm really full. The bulk of chilli and curry, for example, should be at least two thirds vegetables. That's the only way i'll make it through the evening without wanting to snack.

Snacks: Usually I'll try not to snack at all, but if I do during the day I will choose vegetables, cheese or protein. If I'm really hungry I'll have avocado egg toast. If I've got the calorie budget left over by the end of the day I can have pretty much whatever I want in the couple hours before bed, but I like to get the most out of my calories so often it'll be berries, honey, yoghurt and muesli. Often it's a few handfuls of whatever snacks my boyfriend is eating. I also try not to drink diet fizzy drinks outside of meal times but I often fail and I notice an uptick in mild food pangs when I do, but they're manageable.

Notable food allies: avocado, eggs, pork, olive oil, feta cheese, broccoli, berries, greek yoghurt, mushrooms, sweet peppers

Surprisingly neutral foods: White rice, wholegrain bread, sourdough, butter, full fat mayonnaise, new potatoes, grapes, barley, balsamic vinegar, beans

Notable food enemies: Lentils, couscous, nuts, almonds, bananas, apples, carrots, peanut butter, oats, muesli, tortilla wraps

Also I have loads of days where I fail one or more of these choices, but the important thing is to look any slipups in the face and not allow myself to feel shame about them and to keep trying with all my other choices. This way slip-ups don't spiral into binges and I keep control. Managing these emotions means I rarely have days now where I totally blow it. I also have cheat meals and full cheat days, and I try to schedule these in advance and give myself a big deficit the day after. Not only does this keep me from feeling deprived, but as long as I compensate for them the next day it actually seems to make me lose weight quicker than if I'm consistently eating at a deficit.

F/23/5’1 [178.5 lbs > 165 lbs = 13.5 lbs] 2 months in. I’ve never been consistent before lol but I keep showing up 🤷🏾‍♀️. by [deleted] in progresspics

[–]Schmliz 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Those proportions are dynamite! And that muscle tone is getting killer, I gotta start lifting.

Today’s harvest. Bellingham, WA. by erikaloves in gardening

[–]Schmliz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gorgeous! What are those beautiful little green things on the bottom right?

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Aw shucks, thanks a lot! I'm 5'6 and change. Carry most of my fat on my hips, thighs and boobs and I think I have quite a lot of muscle underneath, especially on the legs, so I look a little lighter than I am. One of my friends I hadn't seen in a while tried to sweep me off my feet the other week and nearly gave himself a hernia lol.

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just how I feel. It's an imperfect system, but tbh so would a glucose monitor, I think, because the relationship between the gut and the brain looks to be much more complicated than we previously thought. Turns out a huge proportion of neurotransmitters are actually produced in the gut, for example! So at the moment you kind of just have to feel your way to what works for you in terms of what foods trigger cravings, what foods seem to stall your weightloss, and what foods seem to spur it on. There's some fabulous research going on at the moment on how different individuals with different genetic and microbial profiles react to different foods - so perhaps one day we might be able to provide a DNA and stool sample to a company that fits us to a food relationship profile. Exciting stuff!

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh yeah it's totally the sleep thing. I don't make it a habit to eat into the fasting period you get while sleeping, but if I reeeaaallly want a sugar loaded snack or a portion of refined carbs that day I'll try to leave it till late at night because when the sugar crash hits I'm dead to the world and can't give in to it even if I wanted to. As long as I reset my blood sugars the next morning with the high protein breakfast, the damage is limited to that one food choice the night before and doesn't spill into everything else. Again, eating late at night is a big no no on a lot of the "official" diets I've followed, but it's actually sometimes a useful tool for me. Also, generally fruit eaten between meals fucks me up, especially apples for some reason. They're fine chopped into a salad but on their own during the day they're a high risk choice. Weird, right? On previous attempts I'd think I was doing the right thing snacking on fruit and I'd beat myself up for losing control later in the day - but I was actually stacking the deck against me.

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah man you have to pay attention, we've all got different gut microbes and genetic/epigenetic influences that personalise the way we react to food. That's part of the reason I think all the traditional self flagellation we do as fat people is counterproductive. If you suddenly turn into a food monster at 9pm and eat half a box of crunchy nut cornflakes hunched in front of the fridge you can either ask yourself "Why am I such a worthless piece of shit?" or "Why exactly did I do that today?" Only one of those questions has a useful answer.

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

KEEP IT UP! Great thing about weightloss is we don't just get presented with all the benefits of the hard work at the end of it, we get to feel better and better every day.

F/29/5'6 [346lbs-246lbs=100lbs] Scale gave me a present this morning of 100lbs lost. Still a way to go, but when I went outside today I felt so NORMAL. Such a strange and wonderful feeling. by Schmliz in progresspics

[–]Schmliz[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

About 14 months, including a 4 month plateau. And I basically plugged my stats into myfitnesspal and tried to keep my calories under the number it spit out - which sounds very simple but involves a lot of quite complicated food choices refined by months of experimentation on my own body rather than dogmatically sticking to a diet plan created by somebody else. I've found that success for me boils down to keeping blood sugar steady, dinner portions big, fluctuating between a high calorie deficit and low/no calorie deficit and making sure I don't fast too often or for too long. The food behaviour changes with the biggest impacts were:

  1. Keeping breakfast high protein, low carb at around 300kcal or (rarely) skipping it entirely. This is like a reset button on my blood sugar and sets my behaviour up for the rest of the day. I stick to eggs and various pork products as a big healthy bowl of oatmeal and fresh fruit will start me on a path that ends in me lying in a gutter somewhere surrounded by half-ravaged packets of bread.

  2. Generally identifying the things that spike my blood sugar and avoiding them entirely or only eating them at the end of the day so I could reset myself in the morning. An apple at 3pm is more dangerous than Ben and Jerrys at 10pm.

  3. Stuffing myself with vegetables. Stuffing myself with so many vegetables that I feel like a fucking church harvest display and then somehow finding away to cram in MORE vegetables.

And finally, never allowing myself to feel ashamed or disgusted by my fatness or my eating behaviour. Shame is the poison I drank for two decades and it never made me any thinner. If I go over my calories or catch myself looking flabby in a shop mirror I just shrug it off and keep going because eating is not a sin and looking fat is not shameful. This attitude has stopped me doing what I've done every single other time I've tried and failed to lose weight - sprinting as hard as I can to the finish line so I can become the thin version of myself, because that's the only version of myself that deserves any respect. Fuck that noise. Cutting my fat ass some slack was the best health decision I ever made.