MFP Weight Goal ACHIEVED - 95 Pounds GONE - Wheelchair User
MindfulDecision
Posts: 42 Member
Hello all,
I want to share my story because I want to inspire newcomers to MFP, and CICO so that they believe that they to are able to achieve their goals. My key takeaways is that to be successfull at CICO, it will take determination, persistence, and a plan.
In December 2016, I was at my heaviest around 200-210. Since I am in a wheelchair (cannot bare any weight on my feet), I had convinced myself at that time that I would never be able to lose weight because I perceived "exercise" as the only way to slim down. Thinking back now, the calorie amount I was intaking per day was outrageous. Looking at my old eating habits, I ate out far too much, and I would go for 2nds/3rds most times at dinner.
Anyhow, I digress.
In December 2016, I began feeling chest pains, which really started to make me worry. In addition, since I use my arms to get myself in and out of my wheelchair - lifting myself/doing my daily care became really difficult. Moreover, I started getting shoulder pains and essentially everything started breaking down. At this very point in time, I knew I could not maintain the food lifestyle I was living, and I HAD to make a change.
I started YouTubing every diet in the book. Most of them that I found required you to eat VERY specific foods, which was not too appealing to me because I like variety and my meal amounts are not FIXED. Finally I found CICO and my life immediately changed. Aside from learning the all important BMR, TDEE, I also watched videos of what an average meal looked like in a day at specific caloric levels so I had an idea of what I'd be getting into. Once I understood the goal and seen the promise land (through other people's success stories), I felt that I could do it.
The Journey
Getting the weight off was not an overnight event. Before I even began CICO, I first made MINIMAL changes in my lifestyle and made sure I kept to it for at least a month each time.
The first change I made was NO fast food for a month. While this is not reasonable in the long run (people eat out as a means of socializing), I wanted to test myself to prove that I was serious about this lifestyle change. Once I successfully accomplished that (on first try), my next change was to begin cooking all my meals from scratch (no more prepared chicken nuggets, or fries, etc). Cooking your own meals is going to be very helpful when following CICO as you will know everything that goes into your body (helpful to ensure you are eating properly, lower calories per meal, and lastly knowing caloric amount of each food). Finally, after these two changes were made I knew I was ready for CICO.
When I started CICO, my goal was to lose one pound per week. To get to this goal, I would be allowed 1200 calories to play with for the day. This was incredibly hard at first because I had not developed the knowledge on how to count calories (thank you MFP/community), or the art of “staying full” without eating the amount of food I was previously accustomed to. I won’t go into these details here, but if you are interested in how I did this I can expand in the comments. Once I figured this out, and learned how to make it practical, I then transitioned into the stage of staying the course and sheer will power. I am proud to say a month ago I reached my target weight of 125 (1 year and 5 months).
This is a journey and a life style change. It is not a diet – your attitude towards food must change in order for this to be successful. I use to get happiness from food. I was not depressed, but sitting in front of a big meal use to comfort me, and I liked the feeling of being “stuffed” – but ironically hated how I felt and looked 99% of the rest of the time. Now, feeling that stuffed makes me feel sick inside. One of the biggest factors of my success was that I removed the emotional attachment to food – I look at it as fuel for living rather than a fun activity or a driver of my positive emotions. I still love good food, don’t me wrong – but I don’t use it or NEED IT to fulfill me emotionally anymore.
There will be set backs along your journey. There will be many naysayers, skeptics, and people secretly rallying against you along your journey. There will be days, hell, a couple days where you will go past your calorie limit. But in the long run if you stick to it, and persevere, CICO works.
I wish you the very best along your journey. You CAN do it. I am here for all your questions, or need support along the way.
Before:
After:
I want to share my story because I want to inspire newcomers to MFP, and CICO so that they believe that they to are able to achieve their goals. My key takeaways is that to be successfull at CICO, it will take determination, persistence, and a plan.
In December 2016, I was at my heaviest around 200-210. Since I am in a wheelchair (cannot bare any weight on my feet), I had convinced myself at that time that I would never be able to lose weight because I perceived "exercise" as the only way to slim down. Thinking back now, the calorie amount I was intaking per day was outrageous. Looking at my old eating habits, I ate out far too much, and I would go for 2nds/3rds most times at dinner.
Anyhow, I digress.
In December 2016, I began feeling chest pains, which really started to make me worry. In addition, since I use my arms to get myself in and out of my wheelchair - lifting myself/doing my daily care became really difficult. Moreover, I started getting shoulder pains and essentially everything started breaking down. At this very point in time, I knew I could not maintain the food lifestyle I was living, and I HAD to make a change.
I started YouTubing every diet in the book. Most of them that I found required you to eat VERY specific foods, which was not too appealing to me because I like variety and my meal amounts are not FIXED. Finally I found CICO and my life immediately changed. Aside from learning the all important BMR, TDEE, I also watched videos of what an average meal looked like in a day at specific caloric levels so I had an idea of what I'd be getting into. Once I understood the goal and seen the promise land (through other people's success stories), I felt that I could do it.
The Journey
Getting the weight off was not an overnight event. Before I even began CICO, I first made MINIMAL changes in my lifestyle and made sure I kept to it for at least a month each time.
The first change I made was NO fast food for a month. While this is not reasonable in the long run (people eat out as a means of socializing), I wanted to test myself to prove that I was serious about this lifestyle change. Once I successfully accomplished that (on first try), my next change was to begin cooking all my meals from scratch (no more prepared chicken nuggets, or fries, etc). Cooking your own meals is going to be very helpful when following CICO as you will know everything that goes into your body (helpful to ensure you are eating properly, lower calories per meal, and lastly knowing caloric amount of each food). Finally, after these two changes were made I knew I was ready for CICO.
When I started CICO, my goal was to lose one pound per week. To get to this goal, I would be allowed 1200 calories to play with for the day. This was incredibly hard at first because I had not developed the knowledge on how to count calories (thank you MFP/community), or the art of “staying full” without eating the amount of food I was previously accustomed to. I won’t go into these details here, but if you are interested in how I did this I can expand in the comments. Once I figured this out, and learned how to make it practical, I then transitioned into the stage of staying the course and sheer will power. I am proud to say a month ago I reached my target weight of 125 (1 year and 5 months).
This is a journey and a life style change. It is not a diet – your attitude towards food must change in order for this to be successful. I use to get happiness from food. I was not depressed, but sitting in front of a big meal use to comfort me, and I liked the feeling of being “stuffed” – but ironically hated how I felt and looked 99% of the rest of the time. Now, feeling that stuffed makes me feel sick inside. One of the biggest factors of my success was that I removed the emotional attachment to food – I look at it as fuel for living rather than a fun activity or a driver of my positive emotions. I still love good food, don’t me wrong – but I don’t use it or NEED IT to fulfill me emotionally anymore.
There will be set backs along your journey. There will be many naysayers, skeptics, and people secretly rallying against you along your journey. There will be days, hell, a couple days where you will go past your calorie limit. But in the long run if you stick to it, and persevere, CICO works.
I wish you the very best along your journey. You CAN do it. I am here for all your questions, or need support along the way.
Before:
After:
174
Replies
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Wow! Congratulations on your success!0
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Wow! Super inspiring
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Wow!! So inspiring!!! Congrats!!0
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Great job you look handsome0
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Amazing! You are an inspiration.
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Well done! Congratulations
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Great job!!0
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Awesome! You look great! God bless you!0
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Fantastic job!0
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Incredible! So well written too! You gave me a kick in the a**! Thankyou!0
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A brave man in so many ways. You are an inspiration, well done!
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Amazing story! Thank you for sharing!0
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Amazing!0
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Your approach and plan seemed so practical - glad it produced such positive results.1
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What a handsome man! Great job!
Your story is particularly inspiring to me as I have nearly identical problems and goals. I started at 212 and my goal weight is 125, plus I walk with a cane and can't exercise very much. I, too, am eating 1200 calories per day and I like knowing it only took you 1 year and five months to reach your target weight. Yay!6 -
MindfulDecision wrote: »
This is a journey and a life style change. It is not a diet – your attitude towards food must change in order for this to be successful. I use to get happiness from food. I was not depressed, but sitting in front of a big meal use to comfort me, and I liked the feeling of being “stuffed” – but ironically hated how I felt and looked 99% of the rest of the time. Now, feeling that stuffed makes me feel sick inside. One of the biggest factors of my success was that I removed the emotional attachment to food – I look at it as fuel for living rather than a fun activity or a driver of my positive emotions. I still love good food, don’t me wrong – but I don’t use it or NEED IT to fulfill me emotionally anymore.
This is a very profound statement. Mindset and how to view food and its place in your life is key. Congratulations and much more success to you!
3 -
Wonderful,
Wow
Good work
Thanks for your inspiration,1 -
I love your thought process. You didn't go at it full balls to the wall and burn out. You were patient and achieved your goal systematically. I am so happy for and proud of you. Giant high 5 from Manitoba, dude!1
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So awesome. Looking sharp, man.1
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Wow!!!
This is so beautiful in its truth and reality. You put your mind into action and achieved great things.
Absolutely love it. You look so healthy and happy now!! Much respect.1 -
So inspiring!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your journey.
You look amazing - healthy and happy - you've put a smile on my dial!1 -
You look fantastic! Congratulations. This is so inspiring. I have been looking for a long time for someone with mobility challenges to show my mom that it can be done. She is disabled. I haven't been able to accomplish what you have done even with exercise! You are a rare gem. Thanks for sharing your story!2
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Your no nonsense approach and steady determination is fabulous. Well done!0
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Many congratulations1
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Fantastic job!1
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I have returned to this thread in amazement with the outpouring of positivity!
I wanted to write a bit more about my journey, and some additional practical tips that helped me along the way.
Firstly, in my post I wrote about how I instituted small changes to ensure I never bit off more than I could chew. Around the 9 month mark (and this will be a good tip for those with mobility issues), I purchased a stationary arm bike off Amazon (https://www.amazon.ca/Sunny-Health-Fitness-SF-B0418-Magnetic/dp/B00QIM5CMA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1529782297&sr=8-4&keywords=arm+bike). I thought this would be a great way to achieve some much needed cardio exercise. I figured it would allow for me to 1) increase the amount of calories I am allowed per day if I desired a bit more 2) improve my lung function 3) allow me to getting to goal weight quicker 4) add in a balance of diet/exercise into this new lifestyle I was trying to achieve. I aimed to do an hour of this arm bike exercise, 3-4x per week. After my dietary changes, weight loss, and now with the arm bike - I discovered upon visiting my Respirologist that all of my lung test numbers improved on average by 30%.
When performing cardio, I focused on getting heart rate up, and reaching the point of "sweating". There is no need to go crazy and burn out - that is not the point at all. Maintaining a steady rhythm, and getting the heart rate up is the goal. Lastly, the arm bike is small enough that I accomplished these session while it sat on my coffee table while I watched TV. I encourage those with mobility issues to look into this, as it is something that they can do. I increased my calorie allotment by roughly 200 cals/day, however most days I still aimed and achieved 1200. I did this routine for roughly 5 months, however ramped down as I moved closer to maintenance stage of weight loss/weight maintenance. In case some are wondering, I am 100% sure I did not need to exercise to reach my weight loss goal, but saw the benefits that I listed above.
Secondly, I wanted to fire off some helpful practical tips that I use on the daily to help meet my calorie goals.
1) When I eat meals, I cut my food up very small, chew longer, and drink water between bites. There is a window of time where your body will finally recognize you are full. Eating slower, thinking about your food, and realizing what you are eating will allow you to reach that period of time where you will feel full instead of just shovelling everything in at once, and still feel hungry for seconds.
2) I use a teaspoon to eat rice, and soups (again, consistent with my reasoning above).
3) I have NEVER weighed my food, not once.
So you must wonder how do I accurately calorie count? MFP has been extremely helpful for this. My entire philosophy of weight loss is that it must be manageable, and the steps involved cannot be overwhelming (or I will relapse into old habits, imo).
My method of calorie counting goes as such: I will log onto MFP, and plug in what I will eat. Let's say I am having a chicken drumstick, I will put that in MFP, and take 4-5 suggested calorie quotes (this is the range of calories the chicken drumstick could be), then I will find the LOWEST amount of calorie listed and the HIGHEST amount of calorie listed. I take the highest calorie listed on MFP (and consider the range), and put that in for what I ate in the day. More often than not, that highest calorie item is higher than what mine actually is (because of the way I cook most foods, and how I prepare them), so in the long run my actual calorie intake is lower than what my total calorie for that day will show me.
Is this the most accurate method of calorie counting? NO.
Is this more convenient? YES, for me.
4) I look for alternatives to my favourite fattening foods. (Ex: buy low fat mayo instead of regular mayo, or Greek yogurt, popcorn instead of chips, zoodles instead of pasta).
5) Use google to find low calorie, filling snacks.
6) I eat before I am hungry to avoid over eating on meals (meals are usually higher calorie). For example, an hour before dinner I'll eat an apple/pear/raw fruit/almonds. From my experience, if I am ever hungry during the day it means I have not eaten or drank enough and I've let things go too far.
7) If you decide to snack, portion the snack out in a bowl. Put the bag away after. Snacking is fine, I do it basically every night and factor it into my daily calories allotment. But, COUNT what you are snacking on (use suggested amount on back of bag/box), and control your intake to make sure you are within your allotment. Warning: suggested amount on back of bag/box is not 100% accurate, however convenience always takes priority and as long as I am CLOSE to calorie goal (+ - 50-100) I am satisfied.
8) Prepackage and measure meals beforehand to give you greater control over calories, and portion (for example: I make big pot of brown rice, and then portion out half a cup, put them into ziplocs, freeze). It's easy math from there on out.
I hope you find these tips useful, and once again best of luck to all of you on your weight loss journey. If any if you would like to reach out with questions, or looking for some support along the way, feel free to add me up and shoot me a message!
Updated:
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@Mindfull -Thanks for this added information. I think it will be invaluable to me to show my mom the next time I go to see her. Wonderful!1
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I love your last photo. You have a wonderful story and should be proud. Best of luck in the future.2
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Well done! That's awesome and inspiring.2
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Amazing story, great result congratulations
2
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