It is far less restrictive than keto and i can still enjoy having foods that are high in carbs such as pizza, i just limit myself to one slice a day. I am starting out by limiting myself to under 150 grams of carbs per day.

I have just started on another weight loss endevour, i have decided to go with low carb as i like how a low carb diet cuts out all junk and fast food, which is all high in carbs, especially simple carbs.

And when i do go out for fast food such as with family members, i can just not eat the simple high carb buns and eat just the burger patty and salads in it.

Has anyone else on their weight loss journey chosen to do low carb, If so how many carbs do you limit yourself to each day and how successful have you been in losing weight doing low carb.

Hi,

I am 33f, 5’6” currently 142lbs. My goal weight is 125lbs. I have been doing CICO for about a year and eating 1500 per day plus doing 30 min of elliptical every other day. My protein intake is not great at about 30g per day, fat is about ~40g per day and carbs take up a lot. The answer is maybe not enough protein too many carbs..

I work at a desk and average about 180 billable hours a month in a high stress legal job. I’ve only lost 5lbs.

I feel miserable eating less than 1500 and I don’t know what to do anymore. I’ve stopped drinking and nothing has changed. I feel hopeless. I would really appreciate your advice and support.

Hi

I live in the UK where I'm obsessed by a shop called Heron Foods which has promotions on branded crap like chocolate, biscuits and ice cream. They often have products that you won't find cheaper anywhere else.

I get really excited when I buy tubs of known brand ice cream cheaply - or big bags of peanut m n m's.

An hour later when I'm at home having eaten all my shopping and feeling guilty, sick and weak, I hate myself. ​​

I persist with this behaviour even though the only logical solution is not to buy this rubbish at all.

I'm type two diabetic!

I know it's only an illogical voice in my head telling me that it's worthwhile to buy this nonsense. But I've listened to it over and over again year after year for over a decade now.

Is recovery even possible?

Regards

HC​​​​

​

I know the best answer would obviously be to just stop cannabis usage, and I plan on doing so. However, I've decided to cut back/stop cannabis usage while I still have around half of a vape cartridge left, and am going to try weaning myself off with that prior to just stopping.

I had stopped my cannabis use before and am a lot more reasonable with food when I am sober. But once I am nice and toasted, I eventually end up heading to the kitchen and eating anything I can find that sounds good. I've tried to reason with myself before getting stoned, and sometimes during, but I find once I take a single bite of any food, it's like opening Pandora's Box.

I try to keep busy by playing a video game, reading, watching a movie, etc. but 9 times out of 10 still end up snacking my way to an over eating episode, just last night I wouldn't be shocked if I ate over 4,000 calories. It's depressing, and I know chances are I just have to completely quit cannabis before I start seeing real results, and I think it took me a little too long to come to that realization - but I'm wondering, for those of you here who were/are cannabis users, is there anything that worked for you to allow you to consume cannabis and also not overeat yourself into oblivion? My self control when stoned is despicable.

Any input is appreciated!

I recently got back on lexapro a few months ago and went from eating pretty healthy to only being able to stomach sugar. Ive tried eating healthy again but all the foods I used to love make me feel sick. I made chicken patties and homemade fries today and was only able to take one bite before feeling nauseous

If I could just manage to cut out sugar I know I would probably drop weight pretty quickly but at the moment its the only thing I can stomach. I also am a binge eater which doesnt help me at all. Im pretty sure my hunger cues are back to normal (after binge eating for many years) thanks to this medicine and thats why I have a hard time eating because Im actually full most of the time but I override that with sugar.

Ive pretty much been living on sugary coffee and ice cream with the occasional sandwich forced in just to get some kind of protein down.

I guess what Im really asking is how do I manage these sugar cravings specifically looking for advice from others on ssris or lexapro.

Im on 20mg and about 4 months in. Im also on combo birth control so its just a double whammy 🫩

I was around 120lbs at 5'6" a year or so ago and thats the best Ive ever looked or felt and I would really like to get back to that

I ask because I've never had it measured before, but now I have a trainer and between my first weigh-in and my latest I've gone from 30% to 20% (InBody machine). That was 7 weeks, which seems really fast to me.

I do eat a very, very healthy diet. The healthiest I've ever eaten. It shocks me when I think about it. I also workout a lot and am pretty focused on finishing this time, so I'm pretty hardcore about it right now.

Also, during this time I only lost 10 pounds. I basically plateaued compared to the 7 weeks before. I blame this on my new diet, which has me actually eating instead of basically starving. No problem with that, since I'm changing shape and adding muscle.

Why the overshare for such a simple question? Because the rules kept telling me I needed to write more.

Hey everyone,

This is just a little rant haha but I wish I understood our bodies

I have days where I walk 15,000 steps, have my little snacks throughout the day and have 3 slices of pizza at night (it was a cheat day for me) and lose .5 lbs the next day yet yesterday when I walked 24,000 calories and ate a little less than usual, I woke up gaining .2 lbs, it just doesn’t make sense to me and today we’re going out for breakfast for our friends birthday and I was going to have just a simple eggs, bacon and toast (which is why I was planning on walking more yesterday and today to make up for it) but now I don’t even want to go because I feel discouraged with my weight loss :(

I'd been making slow but steady progress (losing 1.5-2 lbs a week) for several months, and then last week I my appetite disappeared with a sickness and I dropped 3 lbs in a matter of days. I've been back to my regular diet for about four days now -- but I've noticed that since then, I've gained a few tenths of a lb every morning, even while in calorie deficit.

My best guess is that the 3 lbs I lost while sick was mostly due to dehydration/water weight? And it's probably water weight that I'm gaining back now? And once my water levels are back to normal, then my weight should start going in the opposite direction again?

Does that sound right? It's pretty demoralizing to see the scale go up even while I know I'm tracking calories, so I'm trying to hold onto both willpower and logic.

I don't have much free time and spend most of my day sitting, so I'm thinking about creative ways to increase my NEAT calorie spending without increasing time (I want to speed up my weight loss but don't want to lower my kcals)

I thought about wearing ankle weights when I'm cleaning my house or when I'm going for a short walk (to buy groceries), but the ones I have immediately rubbed my skin and made it itchy and irritated (before I was only using them wearing leggings, not on bare skin, but it was before summer heatwave). The weights themselves have a pretty nice surface, but they aren't long enough so they wrap around about half of my ankles, and the other half contacts the strap, which is, well, typical strap. Very rough.

Can anyone recommend ankle weights that are bare skin friendly, please?

I’m 29F, 167cm 80 kg and my BMI is 28 but my body fat percentage is at 36%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is this possible that I’m obese by body fat standards but overweight by BMI standards. So technically I’m obese? I don’t even look very big tbh. I look pretty average weight. I do get tired more easily now as I’m heavier especially walking uphill (it’s hilly where I live). I’m so upset by this I didn’t even notice the weight climbing tbh. I just ignored everything for the past two years while I was going through some personal bs. But I gained all this over 9 years. I went from 58kgs to 67kgs and then from there to 74kgs and onwards to this stupid weight.

I’m so mad at myself. I’m also trying to reverse pre diabetes now. Over the past two weeks my weight has gone down and up again over a day. Idk if it’s even working. I’m afraid of the scale and I’m afraid of mirrors and I’m afraid of going to the beach and seeing people. I just want to hide forever. I’m certainly not going into a gym this size. I have a free membership from work till apr 2027.

Hello everyone, I’m 18F, 5”2, and 109 lbs. I was always kind of lanky growing up until freshman year of highschool I think I stopped growing vertically and that may be part of my problem. I don’t do sports and i used to eat what ever I wanted (it was never REALLY unhealthy but It was a lot).
Last year I started eating way too little and I did loose 15 ish pounds.
I began walking in May (15-20k steps), although, I’ve been missing days more frequently these past two weeks. I gained a lot of weight back because I stopped being on a deficit and thought that walking would balance it out or something
Everything I see tells me to start lifting and to be in a deficit but I don’t understand what lifting will do for me. I also don’t understand HOW much of a deficit to be in because I always get conflicting feedback.
PS:im generally good at cutting out processed foods and sugars for long periods of time so i do plan on doing that again

Ok, so my work is not very linear. I can have months of slowness and then months where I feel like I can't breath. I try and give my body what it needs and take care of my mental health. I unwind with reading and writing, it is the one thing I can do that doesn't make my brain think of work. So when my work life is insane, my workouts tend to take a bit of a dip. I understand this is what I am choosing to do, and I could chose to prioritize working out, but working out doesn't give my brain the break it needs, and it adds stress. For me, right now, I don't like the way my life feels with organized workouts in, so I am trying to focus on day to day movement increasing and good food in a calorie deficit.

I am getting married in the fall. I started this journey in March at 168lbs (26F, 5'4"). I was able to workout for the first two months and felt really good about it, dropping about 5 lbs in that time. I felt like I was eating what I wanted to still, I cut back drinking but didn't remove it, and I worked out and got my steps in.

June came and life started to get busy. I tried to hold on for a few weeks of working out, but as we looked at our work scheduled and life schedules, I knew were coming up to a time where working out would have to go to the back burner.

For all of June and July, I think I lost about 2.5 lbs. I am around 161 right now, and I feel decent but not like I did while working out. I am trying to get 8-10K steps every day as that is something I can control at work. Still eating as well as we can and still trying to not drink too much (although, admittedly, this week hasn't been successful in that front lol and busy work does make it harder, although I am working on that). I feel like I have hit a wall, staying around 160-162 each morning when I weigh myself.

My brain wants me to give up because I am one of those all or nothing people. My brain is very wrong, but without having workouts in, I just need to know that I can still do this lol. I don't have a goal in mind, just a healthier BMI. The walking has been a wonderful addition, I do feel like my legs are stronger just from that, and my cardio health definitely has been improving. Walking a few miles is so easy to me now, and I love that feeling, but I was raised with the idea that weight lifting is the best way to get healthy and loose weight. So I am struggling with it.

I just need some encouragement from people who have managed this without working out. I know working out will change my body composition and I know it is healthy for me, and I fully intend to get back into it, but my chaos at work is literally going to take me to the WEEK before my wedding. I want to feel good for that.

For those of you who do workout, what are easy ones to sneak in at an office job? I work partly in the office partly out in the field, and my all office days are the hardest for me to get movement in, I mostly do so by taking all my calls on my AirPods while walking, but thats all I got.

Thank you all in advance. Just feeling a bit annoyed that the scale isn't moving when I know I am eating in a deficit nearly every day and I need to remember to keep the path I guess.

Morning

As the above states, my weight has been stalled for pretty much 4 weeks now.

Before I left for my holiday on June 22nd I was 11st 9.2lbs (163.2lbs). I went for a week and when I came back I was around 11st 12lbs (166lbs). I didn’t eat a lot while there as I’m a picky eater and don’t really eat meat, plus I walked daily 10-15k steps as usual. Anyway, I expected some water weight so I waited for a week for it to come down.

I believe I then may have started PMS’ing (I’m on the mini pill, so it isn’t exact) and subsequently having hormonal shifts for a week or two.

Forward to last week, the doctors think I had gastroenteritis. Between my holiday and last Thursday, I was still in my usual deficit, still walking 10-15k steps daily and lifting weights at home every second or third day. Things have cleared up now, and I’ve been calorie counting again and walking for the last 2 days. My weight is bouncing anywhere between 11st 11.6lbs (165.6lbs) and 11st 13.6lbs (167.6lbs).

Based on everything, I should be around 11st 4-5lbs (158,159lbs) but the weight is not dropping whatsoever.

I’m just looking for some advice as I’ve been trying to keep a cool head and keep at it with the idea it will drop but I’m having no such luck at all

This could just be me misremembering and I’m assuming I either am or just am ill informed about exactly what I’m eating, but I just can’t get a handle on this so I’m sucking it up and asking for help online, and the main/only real reason I’m asking is because I’ve recently noticed what I think are really bad stretch marks on my lower stomach to upper thigh area that look almost purplish red colour? I don’t know exactly what to call it and when I run my fingers over them I feel slight divots where the marks are one the particularly big ones.

I’ll preface this with the fact I’m not athletic, I only really go outside when I want to take a walk and it’s been scorching out recently where I am so it’s not been much, but this has persisted for a while.

So for most days in the past I’d say year or two I’ve only really been eating two meals a day, being something for dinner and something at any other point of the day. I became accustomed to this after my days in high school where I would just skip out on lunch most days, cuz I didn’t want to pack anything to bring, but that’s besides the point.

So despite eating two meals and snacks (stuff like a few slices of bread, not junk food) over the past like 2 years I’ve gained a few pounds, I don’t have exact numbers cuz the only scale I have in the house is dead but last I checked I was nearing I think 200lbs. so I’d say I’m probably that or a bit higher. My diet isn’t exactly balanced but at the same time I don’t really have the funds to make it so, it’s mostly just proteins and carbs I think; beef, pork, chicken, rice, potatoes, and bread make up the majority of my meals. I don’t have a perfect calculation of how much I’ve been eating but I don’t thing it’s even meeting 2000 calories.

I’ve tried making goals for myself and trying to stick to a regiment but I always flake out after a few days to weeks, and nothing really ever sticks. I don’t think this is serious enough to see a doctor about yet at least but I know I need to do something, so I’m really just asking for help/tips from yall to see if I can gleam some knowledge from here.

Any help is appreciated.

TLDR: I got weird stretch marks that concern me so I’m asking for tips about losing weight. I eat around 1800-2000 calories a day I’d assume at most but I’m still gaining weight so I’m just confused. Not super active, just walks mostly, which I haven’t really been doing in the past few weeks.

Hello!

I am 25, 5'3, 270lbs.

This is the first time I've been TRULY CONSISTENT these past 3 weeks. And I'm proud of myself for that and plan to keep sticking with it. But I am getting frustrated that the scale won't move!!

The first week I lost 3 lbs. The last 2 weeks? NOTHING.

I'm eating 1,400 calories. 100+ grams of protein, whole foods, fiber, no sugar. Weightlifting 3 times a week. And just started kickboxing last week (45 minute class) that I plan on doing 2-3 times a week.

Now I heard that all the added exercise could be causing me to retain water. But for 2 weeks?? Nothing at alll???

I know body recomp is slow. But I figured with weighing as much as I do, the fat loss would be quicker. Feels like I'm doing everything right but not seeing the scale move.

I know the scale doesn't technically "matter". I'm tracking my measurements, doing the DEXA scan quarterly, and taking progress pics. But when you weigh 270 pounds at 5'3 - the scale kinda DOES matter when you're this unhealthy.

Please help. Lol

Hope this is ok to post here, let me know if there’s another subreddit more suitable!

My personal trainer (who I’ve got to help me end my 2-year long plateau from the gym) told me that my maintenance is 1700 but I (25F) find it hard to believe that 1700 could truly be my maintenance given my activity levels. Honestly, if it is indeed my maintenance calories, I’m going to have an extremely harsh reality check.

For context, I’m 5’4 and approximately 116.4lbs. Body fat last I checked a week ago (on calipers) was 15.5%. I am fairly active — I work out 4 times a week at the gym and 2-3x doing Muay Thai (1hr each session). I also average over 10k steps a day. Sometimes, I get so hungry on 1700 that I feel lightheaded, particularly on days when I’m doing Muay Thai but my trainer keeps asking me to stick to 1700. I don’t want to underfuel and I AM committed to making the most of learning from my trainer’s expertise but this feels like one of those moments where maybe I shouldn’t be listening to her.

Edit: grammar

Edit 2.0: thanks everyone for the insights so far! I guess I’ve learned that I probably need to pace my meals better and get better at volume eating…

Edit 3.0: There are a few comments asking why I’d be cutting even more even at 15.5%. I’m not cutting at the moment, just asked to stick to maintenance at 1700 (which I am already struggling with). My trainer did suggest I go to 1500 for a couple more weeks, which was my cutting calories but I’ve pushed back on that. The reason why she’s asked me to continue cutting or at least try to stay at maintenance is because 15.5 was the measurements given by the caliper measurements, which can tend to be off by around 2-3%. So, actual body fat could actually be around 17-18% and cutting down to a lower bf % would put me in a better position when I’m doing a bulking phase later (I.e I can do it longer). The purpose of this post is not to ask how I can keep cutting but whether 1700 is truly my maintenance or am I actually still in some kind of cut phase that my trainer is putting me through.

F22 73kg 163cm, lift weights 3-4 times a week, 20-40mins on the treadmill and otherwise average 2-4k steps a day. He calculated my TDEE and it said my maintenance would be 2,200kcal, I’m tracking my food daily and eating 1,300kcal (give or take, 1,500 on some days but I don’t mind slower progress) thinking i am in a 500 deficit but apparently im closer to 900.

I started my deficit in June at 75.5kg, but the thing is the scale has barely gone down since, 2.5kg so far. If I was on such a massive deficit shouldn’t it have been way more than that? Shouldn’t I be losing muscle as well as fat? Or is my body in “survival mode”? I’m not feeling fatigued or groggy so it doesn’t feel like im starving. Should I eat more and see how my body responds?

Any help/advice is appreciated, i feel my judgement is very cloudy on this and need an objective outsider view. Thanks a lot!

​

I'm not sure that is the correct sub, but it should fit.

I'm trying to learn about dieting, specifically on the extreme end of being able to manipulate several concepts to lean down or build muscle.

there are several terms that I've seen pop up over the years and I don't know how to thoroughly learn them to use them for me and my spouse to get where we want to, like refeed period, calorie maintenance/deficit/surplus etc.

I'm not sure in my country that there are people that teach that stuff, and I'm looking to educate my self.

Edit: I'm basically trying to learn how natual body builders prep to a show. I don't plan to prep for one, but I want the knowledge to manipulate body composition through food and exercise.

Hello everyone, I am currently at 212lbs and my goal is 150-160lbs. I tried calorie counting on my phone years ago, and it did work for a time. As time went on, I began to become obsessed with it. I didn't enjoy eating, and it got to the point where I cared just about tracking. Always tracking, even the smallest thing had to be tracked on my phone.

My question for everyone: is there a way to lose the weight WITHOUT using calorie tracking or a food scale? I want to be able to enjoy the food I eat and drink. I eat healthy all the time and enjoy a variety of foods (with the exception of not liking a select bunch of vegetables)

These are my measurements, according to google i am normal and leaning towards the small frame
I started at 164 i am currently 140
my goal is 120, so i have about 20 pounds

100 shoulder, 35 neck, 92 bust , 75 waist ,100 hip ,55 thigh

My problem is even though i lost 20 pounds i still feel big especially in my hips, thigh and shoulders, i started working out a month ago only
I am scared that even after i lose the other 20 pounds i wont be happy in my body, cause i wanna be skinny wearing all small clothes not medium not large 😔

I am going to lose the 20 pounds anyways i just don’t want to put my hopes up and then be devastated by the results

Hi all! 42F

I’ve noticed, my body looks different at same weight, when I follow different diets.

Let’s say I was 62 kilos and I look slightly chubby or bloated, while I’m on a balanced diet, then I gain a couple of kilos, and I am now 65 kilos. I switch to low carb, high protein diet. I lose weight and go back to 62 kilos, but this time I look leaner, my waistline has reduced remarkably. My body is carrying weight differently than the last time.
Then I gain weight again, back to 65kilos, this time, I add Intermittent fasting to low carb and high protein diet. I lose weight and at 62 kilos I look much more leaner, my neck is longer etc.
My clothes fit differently and look better on me, than it did at the beginning.

Can your body composition vary depending on the diet you are on?

This thread will basically be explaining where i started, where i am now, and asking what can i do to improve

Hello, I go by Zero in most places, im 24, Im Neurodivergent (Autism, ADHD) suffer Social Anxiety, and im physically & mentally disabled, and im 380 US lbs
ive always been a big or fat person since i was a child, and i hate it the same way i hate myself, on my own or in public

be it genetics or more likely, due to my mother who was my enabler for far too long, and how it was never realized or caught until too late into my late teens years ago, growing up and always eating the most, so much fats and sugars, poor habits i was eventually able to kill off

ive done endless changes to myself, one of the biggest cornerstones being ending soda, and i never went back, the day i compared the sugars of mainline soda to something like tea, or other countries, it concerned me enough to just stop, i only drink it if handed to me now, especially when its so easily replicable via Sparkling Water + Whatever Fruit flavor water packets/powder/droplets you have, healthier and cheaper, and its all i drink now besides Tea

i *Just* started getting into Fruit Smoothies, The realization of “if i cant properly get myself to eat fruit as often as i need, why not just drink it?” Spurred that, and as of a month now, im blending frozen fruits with evaporated milk, ginger, & sometimes cinnamon, its practically my breakfas/lunch some days, same applies to salads, Asian Cucumber salad is so damn easy & good, idk why it took me forever when i love greens in general, anything works if it just has enough seasonin for taste of flavor, or adding grilled chicken

and overall, despite my weight, i just barley eat anymore, due to autism, the mounjaro i take after switching off ozempic, and learning last year i have a eating disorder, i just dont have the same gluttony anymore, pretty much everyday now its between “dont eat anything besides small snacks like greek yogurt with stuff, bag of nuts, or few pieces of asian candies/snacks until dinner” or basically same method but ill try and eat a breakfast OR Lunch of something, i dropped the “3 meal a day” cycle long ago, it only happens when family cooks, not from me

___

this is overall simplifying things, but as you can see, ive done a lot even for an average intake of a typical american, but heres my problem: why am i still fat? Why was i losing weight so well for a year straight (i started journey back in 2020 at 415 Ibs, lowest i got was last year at 340 Ibs) to now being 380 Ibs again

nothings changed besides i probably have been eating just tad more? But nothing dramastic, and due to this its really activated my eating disorder again past few months as im trying to not starve myself constantly as punishment or worse, the only real thing i can think of that would help is getting back into proper physical activity

when youre disabled + have social anxiety, its hard existing, especially around strangers who you hope dont care about you but your brain says otherwise, wanting to just ignore interaction out of fear, i used to walk outside in neighborhood all the time, but the world lately has ate at me and ive lessened it, thats the only thing i can think of why i probably gained again, and currently my mother And I are working on possibly getting a treadmill at home, something i could use daily with the weights we got

am i going on the right track? Or am i still missing something?

please give me anything, and thanks for reading to the end

Hey all! I'm currently looking for a new scale but there are so many options, my head is just spinning. What type or brand do you use currently?

I have a very very genetic, bare basic from Walmart that I've been using for years. But it is not accurate. I have to step on 3 times and take the average of the 3. The first step on is always 2lbs heavier then the 2nd step on, and the third is a few Oz off the 2nd.

I'm trying to get one that can connect to (formerly) fitbit but now Google health. Any suggestions would be helpful, please and thank you!!

I am 27F, 230lbs, and 5’5. I started weightlifting 6 weeks ago and love it, but the scale has barely moved. Part of it could be that I started taking creatine everyday since my first day, but I’m worried I’m not in a large enough deficit. I’m on summer break right now, so I’m lifting 3x/week and playing tennis on Sundays. All about an hour each. I would say I lift heavier aiming for 8-12 reps for most of my exercises, except a few that are closer to 15-20 due to the weight jump. I’m pretty sedentary beyond that. Once I go back to work, I’ll lift 2x a week with the 1 day of tennis and 1 day of volleyball + 7k steps a day. I’m currently eating 1800 calories a day with 140g of protein. Am I eating too much? Should my protein even be this high?

EDIT: Thank you everyone! Your comments have been reassuring. I’ll give it more time and put a little less intense pressure on the protein aspect. I think having some days with 100-200 lower calories makes sense for me too.