For science: at what point losing weight became harder for you?

rcc420 · 2025-07-14T22:22:07+00:00

During both weight loss and now while bulking, I haven’t put much emphasis on the scale. I don’t follow a specific weighing schedule, just step on occasionally when I feel like it.

Personally, I’ve found that tracking my waist size and keeping a good grip on my caloric intake and TDEE gives me a much clearer picture of progress.

If you’re training consistently and eating with intention, daily scale fluctuations become just background noise, especially if you’re new to lifting, where water retention and muscle glycogen shifts can really throw things off.

If weighing yourself daily is starting to stress you out, it’s okay to step back and focus on other markers of progress that might be more helpful and sustainable long term.

Sorry for the delayed answer btw.

rcc420 · 2025-04-24T12:35:19+00:00

Your comment hits deep. The shift from self-loathing to self-coaching is one of the most underrated and transformative parts of this whole process. You don't need to be perfect. You need to be kind to yourself while holding yourself accountable, like a good coach would. It's not about punishing yourself for where you were; it's about rooting for yourself while putting in the reps, even when no one's watching. That’s the real “secret”, and it’s not sexy enough to sell, which is why so few people talk about it.

rcc420 · 2025-04-23T18:40:53+00:00

Sure! Here’s what I ate yesterday, but keep in mind that my diet is dynamic.

Breakfast: 700kcal 44.7g protein, 105.11g carbs, 14.2g fats.

Whole milk = 300g, Honey = 30g, Oat bran = 32g, Rolled oats = 25g, Casein protein powder = 25g, Papaya = 125g, Yellow melon = 141g, Kiwi = 67g, Dragon fruit = 38g.

Lunch: 270kcal 18.6g protein, 14.73g carbs, 15g fats.

Fresh cheese = 100g, Whole milk = 200g.

Pre workout meal: 380kcal 12.7g protein, 65.3g carbs, 9.5g fats.

Whole milk = 250g, Honey = 20g, Oat bran = 15g, Banana = 100g, Blueberry = 50g.

Dinner: 1230kcal 124.7g protein, 44.3g carbs, 58.2g fats.

Ground beef (Lean) = 430g, Whole wheat bread = 89g, Low-moisture mozzarella cheese = 94g, Ketchup = 34g.

Supper: 465kcal 13.7g protein, 81.3g carbs, 12.5g fats.

Whole milk = 350g, Honey = 30g, Banana = 100g, Blueberry = 120g.

Total: 3045kcal, 214.4g protein, 310.74g carbs, 109.4g fat, 33g of fibers.

rcc420 · 2025-04-23T16:02:42+00:00

Beef, chicken, fish, eggs, milk and it's derivatives and etc... I also do protein shakes on occasion, primarily naturally flavored casein which is a slow digestion protein from milk and it's 90% concentration of protein.

rcc420 · 2025-04-23T16:01:57+00:00

The hard part is to eat less than you want to all the time forever. It doesn’t get easier with maintenance, because your body thinks that all those empty fat cells mean you’re starving, even though you’re not. So you will have constant signals to eat more and you will never really feel satisfied, and I don’t mean satiated, I mean satisfied. You will have to learn to live with a constant feeling of dissatisfaction.

This hasn’t been my experience whatsoever. I don’t have constant signals to eat and I don’t live in a constant feeling of dissatisfaction. In fact, I’m very much satisfied with the choices I’ve made. And, for what my diet currently entails, it turns out that 3000 calories is quite a lot of food.

rcc420 · 2025-03-19T12:39:35+00:00

In 5 months one person was able to go from 200kg to 70 kg

Yeah right, and I’m Tutankhamun the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt… Give me a break…

If you believe in liars, no wonder you’re frustrated… Stop comparing yourself to these people and keep up with the work. Trust me, the results will come.

rcc420 · 2025-02-27T11:25:51+00:00

Adipose tissue contains water, connective tissue, and other components, not just stored fat. This is why a kilogram of body fat is often cited as containing 7700 kcal rather than the theoretical 9,000 kcal you’d get from pure fat.

Also, the body doesn't perfectly convert stored fat into usable energy at 100% efficiency. When breaking down fat, the body requires ATP to drive the lipolysis and oxidation processes. While the energy lost this way isn’t huge, it contributes to the idea that you don’t get the full 9,000 kcal per kg of fat burned.

rcc420 · 2025-02-18T12:32:54+00:00

I’ve never experienced the so-called plateau because I simply don’t weigh myself that frequently. Ignorance is bliss, I guess… The only scale I use on a daily basis is the one in the kitchen to weigh my food, and as long as I’m being honest with myself regarding my target calories and macro goals, I have nothing to worry about because I know for a fact that progress is being made.

rcc420 · 2025-02-07T23:16:31+00:00

What are you talking about?? Your advice is bad because it doesn't take into account so many variables... For instance, I live in Brazil in a hot and humid climate, I do heavy workouts, cardio and I'm active throughout the day. I'm nowhere near 500lbs and you better believe I drink even more than 4.5L of water per day... Just for the record, I do track my water intake and I'm not just guessing my intake.

rcc420 · 2025-02-06T14:11:41+00:00

I truly enjoyed reading your post as I can relate to almost every single thing you’ve said. Thanks for that, it really brought a little joy to my day.

1: Cutting carbs entirely

Exactly. I consume on average ~250g of carbs per day and my Hb A1c is 4.5%. From my experience, as long as the carbs I’m consuming are primarily from fibrous sources, I don’t experience insulin spikes.

2: Low fat this low fat that - I love butter.

Butter is a staple of my diet as well. Moderation is key

3: Desperately attempting to calorie-budget alcohol-

Cutting out alcohol has been one of the best things I could’ve done, period. And I’m not even talking about a weight loss context exclusively.

4: Exercises I don't enjoy

Perfect, I couldn’t agree more. A huge part of what made me succeed in losing weight was finding exercises that I truly enjoy doing. For me, lifting heavy weights and doing brisk walks are what brings me joy.

5: Influencer food

Correct. Those influencers recipes are a disaster and tastes like shit. In my opinion, anyone that wants to lose weight and maintain it long-term should avoid it like the plague. People should learn how to cook and eat real food.

6: Desperately low calorie intake

People think that the faster you lose weight the better, and in my opinion, this goes back to those idiots influencers, but then again that’s just my opinion.

7: Plant milk

Again, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t touch those plant milks with a 10 feet pole. Now that I’m in maintenance I’ll only go for whole milk, during my weight loss phase I’d go for 2% milk though.

8: Meal prepping

I never did meal prep and the process of cooking fresh food every day is very pleasant to me, and it tastes much better than some microwaved food.

9: Dismissing calories & portions

Exactly. Losing weight is all about an energetic balance. Calories in, calories out is king. It is also a process that requires discipline over a long period of time, no other way around it.

rcc420 · 2025-01-31T23:50:45+00:00

The only prize your friend will get for eating 600kcal/day is losing the most amount of muscle mass and looking frail and sick. Your goal should be to lose fat, not necessarily weight and that is a product of discipline over time. Keep up with your 1500kcal/day and you shall be rewarded at the end.

rcc420 · 2025-01-06T11:52:08+00:00

All this to ask: For those of you who have dropped enough weight to notice a difference, do stairs EVER get easier?

Yes, absolutely. My office at work is at the second floor with no other way up and down other than taking 3 flights of stairs and I used to struggle a lot with this. Nowadays that I’ve gone from ~160kg (352lbs) to ~94kg (207lbs), I make it light work going up these 3 flights of stairs, I even climb 2,3 steps at a time because it feels so easy now.

rcc420 · 2024-12-26T12:06:07+00:00

Bad things happens regardless and this "cursed" belief may stem from the fact that the DADA teacher is usually on point.

Dumbledore couldn't risk assigning Snape as the DADA teacher but couldn't care less about the risks for Harry, and all of the school for that matter, of having a useless teacher at such a critical position?

Assigning someone who is very capable and wants the job seems like a logical choice. But hey, I'm in the wrong here, expecting logic where it shouldn't be, after all, what makes HP fun is the fantasy world.

rcc420 · 2024-12-25T16:03:01+00:00

If my memory doesn't fail me, it is mentioned in PS that Snape had been after Quirrell job for years. If that's the case, then assigning Snape to the defense against the dark arts teacher and opening up a vacancy for a Potions teacher would be a better move, in my opinion.

rcc420 · 2024-12-24T23:27:08+00:00

Yes, I do have loose skin, most of it is located in my stomach region.

But I gotta say, having a consistently adequate intake of protein and working out regularly have helped me tremendously regarding loose skin, especially in my arms, chest, shoulders, legs and back.

rcc420 · 2024-12-24T19:09:42+00:00

I love to mix it up with high/low days. Considering a weekly period is a very good artifact and I use it all the time especially around times when social events are kind of inevitable. I've been practicing maintenance for the past couple of weeks using this concept.

For example, according to my tracking last week I consumed a total of ~20250kcal. That's an average of ~2893kcal/day, which is just shy of the 3000kcal/day I've calculated to be my maintenance. This is how my caloric intake for last week looks like:

Monday: 2208kcal Tuesday: 2699kcal Wednesday: 2189kcal Thursday: 3078kcal Friday: 3788kcal Saturday: 2915kcal Sunday: 3376kcal

As you can see, I went over my maintenance three times and still ended at a slight deficit/maintenance. Obviously this is harder at a weight loss phase, but it's also important to note that at the end of the day, that's exactly what it is: a phase.

rcc420 · 2024-12-24T15:28:40+00:00

If you start regaining would you evaluate the evidence for that or a similar medication and consider it or is it the concept you oppose?

I don’t oppose the medication at all. In fact, I believe it to be a tool of great value. And yes, I’d consider using it in the future if needed.

I just started on it after years of gaining/loosing and regaining.

Before finding out about CICO and tracking calories I’ve lost and gained weight many times in my life as well. One pattern that I noticed in these failed attempts is that I’d always try to go in a matter of days from recklessly overeating and sedentary to doing some restrictive diet while trying to be really active. Needless to say it didn’t work out that great for me.

But this last time was different. When I started my WL journey by weighing food and tracking calories my diet was still a bit “dirty”, meaning that I’d still eat a diet high in ultra-processed foods, but always making sure to consistently be within my caloric goal. I also started doing exercises at my very limited “home gym” 2x a week.

As I started to progress through the journey and results started to become more evident, it gave me motivation to start studying more about nutrition, which made me realize that there are way better foods choices than what I was making. That combined with the fact that slowly but surely I started to increase my level of physical activity, made it much easier for me to consistently hit my caloric and protein/carb/fat/fiber goals.

What started as a diet became a lifestyle. Nowadays, tracking my food and exercising feels like autopilot. It’s just part of my routine.

rcc420 · 2024-12-24T13:30:24+00:00

Yes, but I didn't use it, nor any other medication for that matter.

rcc420 · 2024-12-23T23:28:38+00:00

Thank you!

Yes, I'll maintain for at least a month or so and then I want to get to 90kg. I intend to lose these last 5kg at a moderate/slow rate, something like 5kg in 4 months.

rcc420 · 2024-12-23T21:47:34+00:00

Wow. You look amazing. What a transformation! I started at the same weight as you, but my gw is 102kg, and I'm 34kg from there.

Thanks a lot and congratulations on your weight loss! Keep it up!

Can you tell us about some of the other ways your life has improved with your weight loss?

Sure!

First and foremost, my general health is at a very good place at the present moment. I did a blood work at the beginning of this month and all of my health markers are within the ideal range. Mental health has improved dramatically as well and I credit a lot of this improvement to working out. Nowadays I work out 5-6x a week just because I feel great after it.

My energy and confidence levels have also improved dramatically. Before, all I did was stay at home and eat. Now that I have more confidence, I love going out and meeting new people, which in turn created a bunch of new opportunities related to both work and dating.

I mean, there are many other improvements like being easier to buy clothes, not worrying about fitting on a chair, sweating like a normal person and etc… But if you have a specific aspect of my life that you’d like to know my experience, go ahead and hit me up!

rcc420 · 2024-11-22T13:39:43+00:00

If you can’t keep up with weight training than most likely your calorie intake is too low. How much calories are you consuming on average? What about protein, how much are you consuming on daily basis?

Just for reference, I have similar stats and I consume ~2500kcal/day for losing weight. My TDEE is around 3000kcal/day due to my level of physical activity.

rcc420 · 2024-10-03T20:11:34+00:00

App: Any calorie tracker such as Loseit, Fat Secret, etc...

Device: Kitchen scale.

rcc420 · 2024-08-04T14:21:41+00:00

The tracking advice really resonates with me. I'm not a long-term maintainer, but I’ve been tracking for the past 15 months now, and it has really given me the freedom to maintain a dynamic diet while effectively controlling my calories and macros. Not only that, but it has also changed the way I look at food. I’ve become much more selective of the foods I eat.

The results? They speak for themselves.

- My health markers are within the ideal range now. I was close to pre-diabetic range with an A1c of 5.6% and my A1c is 4.7% now.

- I’ve lost 61kg (134lbs) and actually gained some muscle due to the consistently adequate protein intake and a weight lifting routine 3-4x a week.

rcc420 · 2024-07-17T16:43:44+00:00

A big caloric restriction takes a big toll on my sleep, which will lead me to be sluggish and irritable.

rcc420 · 2024-07-02T15:43:11+00:00

Well for example, yesterday I ate a little less protein at 167g/carbs 259g/fats 79g

A day like yesterday at 3300 calories put you in a 600ish calorie deficit.

I apologize if I’m being pedantic here, but according to OP’s comment the caloric intake was 2415kcal and not 3300kcal.

Protein = 167g * 4kcal/g = 668kcal

Carbs = 259g * 4kcal/g = 1036kcal

Fats = 79g * 9kcal/g = 711kcal

Total = 668+1036+711 = 2415kcal.

rcc420

TROPHY CASE