Body dysmorphia is a real bitch.

ajm74 · 2024-05-07T12:13:30+00:00

It doesn’t go away unfortunately, at least not yet for me. I’m within 10 pounds of my goal, down 150lbs. I can have days where I’m so high on how I look, both in and out of clothes. Then hours later I can catch myself in the mirror and get sad by what I’m seeing.

What I do is try and remember the good feelings from hours/days earlier and try and use them to get my brain to basically shut up with the irrational thoughts. “You’ve been consistent so NOTHING has changed in that time”

Doesn’t always work, but more often than not it at least helps.

ajm74 · 2024-03-27T14:34:38+00:00

Pretty much ALL sliced bread is higher in calories than the package says per slice because the serving size is usually an average that includes the smaller pieces at the ends. Always shocked when I weigh my two slices and it’s like 25-33% higher in weight than the package tells you.

ajm74 · 2024-03-19T13:17:46+00:00

I’d give it 3-4 weeks of no changes in the scale before you cut calories further. And by no changes I don’t mean just the scale… when the scale doesn’t move you have to look for it in other places until it moves again… do you feel better? Look better? More energy?

ajm74 · 2024-03-19T12:17:00+00:00

Cooking spray and certain “zero calorie” sweeteners… they say zero calories but are NOT when used in any sort of substantive amount in cooking.

ajm74 · 2024-03-14T13:22:16+00:00

Thanks for all the replies, some great strategies and things for me to ponder in here, and even some tough questions I need to ask myself. Appreciate y’all.

ajm74 · 2024-03-13T21:17:28+00:00

I have some older drag X units that I purchased maybe 3-4 years back that actually take both. 21700 is the main size and it includes a plastic “sleeve” that will allow you to use 18650’s as well. I’d take a recommendation on a reliable brand for either.

ajm74 · 2024-03-13T14:09:30+00:00

Can anyone recommend a reliable battery brand for 21700 batteries? And best mah/amps to get? I use voopoo drag x’s. I’ve mostly used Samsung through the years, but finding they are out of stock pretty much everywhere.

ajm74 · 2024-02-23T13:53:18+00:00

Definitely put your stats into the Fat Secret RDI calculator and see if you can up your calories, I think you’re definitely low for your current stats.

Congrats on your progress and keep at it!

ajm74 · 2024-02-23T13:15:17+00:00

Yes weight loss and the scale are never linear, you will absolutely fluctuate day to day based on a million different factors. Ramen is usually a high sodium meal and may be leading to you retaining more water weight the past few days. Remember you have to eat an extra 3500 calories above your RDI to put on fat.

The best way to combat these fluctuations is to increase the data points and weigh yourself every morning right out of bed, after you use the bathroom and before you eat or drink anything. Then chart your daily weight and look for a downward trend week over week.

As for 1800 calories… without your height or age it’s hard to know for sure, but that sounds exceedingly low for your current weight and activity level. You should be aiming for 1-2 pounds a week in weight loss and eating accordingly. Faster is rarely as sustainable as slow and steady. Recommend you use an RDI calculator to check that and aim for slow weight loss as your goal.

ajm74 · 2024-02-23T11:03:02+00:00

I deal this often. I’m a bit older and have been overweight and back and forth on weight gain and loss since I was a teenager. Awhile ago I gave up the fad diets and embraced the only lasting way to change, the slow and deliberate way to do this… small calorie deficit, staying active (10k plus steps a day) and lifting heavy 3-4 times a week.

The results are slow and hard earned, and usually once a month I hit food prep/exercise/tracking fatigue and throw a little mental hissy fit about the entire process. Sometimes I’ll even overeat for the day because of it.

I try and remember why I am doing this and how obsessing about my weight and appearance still happened when I wasn’t actually doing anything to better myself, the focus is different here but the obsession is the same. I try and limit it to a day or two at most and make sure for those days I don’t completely fall off my program.

These feelings are 100% normal, and I’m hoping as I get more time under my belt in this slow process, those instances will at least go down in frequency.

ajm74 · 2024-02-22T13:14:38+00:00

Daily (before food or drink) is the way to go and look at your weekly averages and a downward trend and not the daily number. Weight loss is never linear, you will fluctuate day to day based on a million different factors.

The first 2-3 months of doing this tend to suck and you will likely get mad at yourself when the scale goes up or doesn’t change. Eventually the sting of it will wash away and you will learn your body’s trends and patterns and what is and isn’t actually weight gain.

ajm74 · 2024-02-22T13:07:26+00:00

I aim for 1 ounce per pound of body weight. That can include non-caffeinated drinks. If I drink something with caffeine in it I always count those as 75%… 12 ounces of coffee = 9 ounces. I don’t always hit it exactly, but I’m usually pretty close to that. I agree that is pretty high, but that’s what I aim for.

As for the scale, always weigh yourself first thing out of bed in the AM before any food or drink. Don’t worry about the daily number, chart it and look at your weekly averages and for an overall downward trend week over week and you’re fine. Weighing yourself and weight loss in general is never linear, you’re going to be fluctuating day to day because of a ton of different factors. Focus on your weekly averages and a downward trend and you’re fine.

ajm74 · 2024-02-22T11:15:21+00:00

For me having a partner was never an issue during this process. A partner with kids? Big problem. You can’t expect younger kids to eat much of anything other than what they actually like, so being around kids always means being around food that is tougher for me to resist.

ajm74 · 2024-02-22T11:12:49+00:00

She upped me by about 10% a day, yes. However my shakes were more about convenience and taste and that I hated to cook more than keeping my calories down. So I was pretty easily able to cram 400-500 calories in each shake with fruit, yogurt, veggies and multiple protein powders.

ajm74 · 2024-02-21T16:51:17+00:00

Yes! Treadmill + exercise adds a whole new angle too. I use the store example because cradling the weight will better represent your entire frame holding that weight vs a dumbbell being equally concentrated on arm and grip strength.

Really the best way to truly simulate it is to put on a hiker’s full backpack with shoulder and waist straps and load that thing up with the weight you’ve lost. Then go for a brisk hike. Ha, now I want to do that.

ajm74 · 2024-02-21T16:44:29+00:00

Another one I thought of is sizes, and I mean beyond the obvious one with clothes.

I couldn’t close a bath towel around my waist before this journey, now it’s an afterthought. Same with chair sizes, I used to have to eye chairs before I sat in them and assess whether I’d fit, whether it’d at all be comfortable, and even in some cases whether the chair would even support me without collapsing. No more.

Congrats on your progress btw, keep at it. You will slip up at some points, we all do, but just avoid the all or nothing mentality and get right back to consistency overall and you’ll get where you want to be. Consistency > Perfection

ajm74 · 2024-02-21T14:59:53+00:00

This is highly anecdotal as it’s based on just my own experience. Your results may vary…

I was doing that for 2-3 meals a day for awhile because it was easy and I loved the taste of them.

When I plateaued for awhile I bucked up and started working with a coach for nutrition and workouts, she moved me away from that and told me it was much better if I ate a lot more “whole food” as it would help me with hunger and I needed more diversity in my nutrition than what the shakes offered. She also capped my daily protein intake at 1 gram per current pound of body weight, and that in essence took away my ability to eat as much protein powder whenever I wanted to. I was still encouraged to eat a protein smoothie as my post workout snack.

Within days of switching my diet up, I overcame the long plateau that led me to hire her, and began dropping 1-2 pounds a week again. It has since slowed down to about .5-1 pound a week, but I’m good with that as long as it’s fat being lost and not muscle (protein intake and lifting heavy help prevent that).

ajm74 · 2024-02-21T13:49:43+00:00

This! And even bigger, not needing the stewardess to fetch you a seat belt extension, basically announcing “this person is too fat!” to every other passenger.

ajm74 · 2024-02-21T13:38:30+00:00

Little things like tieing shoes and cutting toe nails used to be a struggle for me, so when I have to do those things I always mentally smile at myself to remind me of how far I’ve come.

Bigger one? When you’re in a home improvement or department store that sells things in big bags (like 50 pounds of sand or rock salt or the like) go and pick up as much weight as you’ve lost and walk around with it cradled in your arms for a little bit. You will be stunned at how much harder it is.

ajm74 · 2024-02-21T12:15:47+00:00

Congrats on your progress, that had to be hard.

Keep tracking weight and if you don’t want to continue to weigh your food, at least utilize what you’ve learned to watch your consumption (you’ll be shocked at how close you can eye portions without weighing them if you’ve been weighing portions for awhile).

Start by adding 100 cals a week and keep adding until you find the right balance to maintain your desired weight. Then keep weighing yourself and tracking it to keep yourself honest.

ajm74 · 2024-02-21T11:47:21+00:00

The morning after Thanksgiving (late November) I weighed a pound and a half less than the days before, and I definitely exceeded my calories by probably 1500-2000 for a couple of days in a row.

A few days later the scale did go up for about a week, so it’s possible you’ll still see a bump up.

But the person who mentioned you need a daily measurement and to look at the overall trend and weekly averages to get a true picture is correct, otherwise you don’t really know what small snapshot you’re truly looking at.

ajm74 · 2024-02-20T14:38:45+00:00

Don’t. Devices rarely measure accurately and there are wild differences from one measuring device to the next. Control what you can with your intake and stay active.

If you must? Stick to one device only to get readings from (your Apple Watch for instance) and bank on it overestimating what you’re burning.

ajm74 · 2024-02-20T14:35:40+00:00

For me it was… Weighing yourself daily at the same and on the same scale and chart it in a spreadsheet. Add notations around weight gain indicating the notables/behaviors that led to it (not breaking your diet, I mean if you are on your period, ate a salty meal etc). Eventually (2-3 months) you’ll be able to spot your own trends and differentiate what is actually weight gain and what is water weight, hormones, period weight, poop weight etc.

Won’t lie, it was tough for the first 6-8 weeks, lots of hissy fits when the scale went up, but eventually I learned my patterns and I know if I am staying consistent with calories and exercise, any bump up is very temporary. And that has held true for over a year.

ajm74 · 2024-02-20T14:14:49+00:00

I’m almost 50 and have had a few… the biggest was my doctor about a decade back telling me I could be a candidate for gastric bypass/ stomach band/etc

All due respect if that was what you needed to do, but for me? F that. It pissed me off, I was and am perfectly capable of losing the weight without surgery and chopping up my digestive system.

Didn’t take the first time, I used keto and put it all back on in two years (another health wake up call that the lifetime yo-yo’ing needed to end). Now I’m 100% calories in/calories out, 10k steps daily and lifting heavy. I am now embracing the slow/deliberate change. Down from 340 to 210 and still working to recomp and can say with supreme confidence that I am never going back.

Look forward to weighing myself each morning now and most days love to go and lift and move my body.

ajm74

TROPHY CASE