How has achieving your weight loss goals affected your life

jan110144

I am coming up on 1 year since I started this journey last July and 6 months since in maintenance. This has out me in a reflective mood and I am just recognizing the ways in which achieving these goals have changed me in other areas of my life, including

. I have significantly more confidence about what I can accomplish in all areas of my life

. I have developed healthy habits in other areas of my life, using the same basic tools I have used to lose weight and get more fit.

. In general. I am far more disciplined and less dependent on "being motivated"

. I have much greater empathy for others who embark on major life changes

In what ways has this journey impacted you, besides weight loss and fitness?

.

seltzermint555

Greater confidence is the biggest one for me, without a doubt. In all areas of life.

I feel less vulnerable in a lot of situations (though not all, long story there). Especially when it comes to any type of critical feedback in the workplace, for some reason(s).

I have more patience in about 95% of situations -- but far less patience when people are griping or preachy about diet/weight loss stuff.

I've started to feel like I have more time to think, learn, and care about things around me due to losing weight. I know it probably sounds very pathetic and crazy, but I think a lot of my time & energy used to go into worrying about how I was perceived. For example, I remember going to concerts or brewery tours or hikes with a group and about 50% of my brain was focused on my body & weight and whether others were judging and noticing me. Now when I go to things like that I'm 100% focused on the experience. I'm sure people still judge me for a million different reasons but I no longer care or think about it!

SummerSkier

This is a great thread for us to reflect on Jan.

I think I have more time to accomplish other things because I am not mindlessly snacking and thinking about dieting all the time. LOL. Also much more time to play with the critturs.

It has helped with my fitness goals. I feel so much better about running and walking and riding now and my clothes fit better. In maintenance I can focus on getting stronger and faster and not worry about being in a deficit calorie wise.

I don't have to worry about "what am I going to wear to work" and trying on 5 different outfits because they don't fit right.

There are just so many benefits it's difficult to write them all down but the health ones (blood pressure, blood sugar, etc.) deserve a mention for sure. I believe that in addition to just losing the weight, staying within a good range in maintenance and eating consistently contributes greatly to keeping our bodies functioning at their best.

jrwms714

For me, it's some about being able to wear the same clothes season after season, year after year. But, more than that, it's about health ... everything has improved, as @SummerSkier mentioned above. All "numbers" are great at each annual physical ... I also have improved so many minor health issues that I am thrilled about. But here's a really good one: I was on a CPAP machine for years. I was 40 lbs. over my current weight, which at 5'0" is 'way too much. With the weight loss, and the maintenance of almost 5 years, I have been off the CPAP for the same amount of time. It is great not to have sleep apnea any more, and, above all, not to use that damn machine!

nowine4me

I have learned the importance of self care and making time for reflection and mediation. I’ve lost ( and gained back) weight many, many times. This time, I’m focused on the mental aspects rather than white knuckling a “diet”

MadisonMolly2017

June 30 2019
(I’m sorry for the book, but this is a really important topic.)

I resonate with the sentiments of all of you.

I am transformed.

Tomorrow will mark 3-1/2 years on this journey. I had given up hope of ever being able to maintain a weight loss, so I had stopped using diets since 2007. (Back then, I had lost weight & was riding in 100-mile fund-raising bike rides. But I got to the point where all I was doing was riding, working, commuting, and sleeping/recovering.

I wanted to be able to pursue other interests & a work change increased my stress & decreased my happiness. I wanted to be happy. Looking back, I don’t know why I didn’t go back to my previous position. I gained it all back, ate out “to treat myself”, and didn’t exercise.

So, that’s the biggest change (now, 75lbs lower, at my maintenance weight 9 weeks & after 7 months of weighing under my GW+2lbs),

I’m mindful.

I’m in touch with what I need, and I make changes as necessary to be:

HEALTHY
(food, exercise, sleep, stress reduction breathing, etc., meds, staying on top of Dr. appts & labs.)

&

HAPPY
(Created an art studio & developed an extensive daily creative art practice, coffee with my husband to begin our day, time with friends & family, keeping our home organized & neat & welcoming, teaching others creativity techniques, keeping on top of the little tasks of life, a little Netflix for fun, some travel (doesn’t have to be fancy, I just like to see new places), and LOTS of discovery & learning!)

I have a favorite quote: “The Life You Ordered Has Arrived.”

I’ve created the life I’ve dreamed of by mindfully creating habits & making baby changes that address my Health & Happiness Goals.

There are many things I’ve had to tackle that had nothing to do with calories:

Coming to terms with the regret that arose over the loss of the more active life / youthful beauty, I could have been living these past decades.

Coming to terms with the tragic loss of very close family members through no fault of their own & the loss of second pregnancy.

Coming to terms with skin that is no longer perfect & hair (was one of my best features) ravaged by kidney transplant medications. When I was heavy, I could imagine my perfect body, and the other times I lost weight, the reality did not match that imagined perfection. I worked actively through this over the past year, so I would not regain - again. I feel very happy with my body now.💕

Coming to terms with Regret. Grief. Perfectionism.

Coming to the realization that overeating won’t fix any of the above, I’d just have double the problems then.

But I did overcome all of these things!! I have realized what a strong & brave person I am.

Because of an MBSR course, I realized, at a very deep level, that Everything is ephemeral. Everything changes. Both the good & the bad. I have come to expect the changes, and that brings peace. I am grateful for the good times & know the bad will get better.

I remain in the moment, not in past regret or worry about the future.

Yes, things can still bother me, (that’s life), but I right the apple cart far more quickly.

I’m making the most of each moment. I’m awake!

I am transformed - inside & out.

psychod787

I have learned that my goal weight is not my ideal weight. I might have to be 20-60lbs heavier than I am now. I have learned a love of produce and have fallen back in love with lifting.

alias1001

I think we all look towards a goal or endpoint, but in the end, it is a continuous process. Just like life.

I hit maintenance in Sept. 2015 (holy cow) but am still changing. New fitness goals, new healthy foods, and trying to work on the things that caused me to overeat in the first place.

I also realized, like above, that a goal weight is very arbitrary. I'm now averaging about 8 pounds heavier than goal but I'm in the same clothes (I'm only 113, so 8 pounds could be significant).

ceiswyn

I have more confidence. I am willing to 'take up space' metaphorically as well as physically; I'm far more likely to complain or stand up for myself, rather than accepting whatever I get because I don't feel I 'deserve' to be treated well.

People treat me better. Strangers in the street, cashiers, baristas; they are all just more pleasant to me, and a lot more likely to give me random freebies!

And I now have a huge choice of awesome clothes. It's like being a child in a sweet shop, only with more zeroes on the end of the price

ceiswyn

(...and speaking of random freebies, today's last ever coffee at the coffee shop nearest the job I'm quitting was on the house. This never happened to me when I was obese.)

steveko89

I have experienced two distinct phases of losing fat, not necessarily significant scale weight in MFP terms, though.
For reference, currently 30, male, 6'1" tall.

TL;DR up front - was a chubby nerd until 17, that does some things to one's self confidence. Losing weight the first time showed that I could be in control of how my body looks and was key to allowing me to take up lifting in an effort to make my body look more like the superheroes I've idolized since my childhood. I'm happier now in my body than I've ever been as a 30-y/o still nerdy powerlifting/bodybuilding father and ever-improving my self-confidence and my physique.

At 17 I went from ~195-200lbs to ~165-170lbs over the course of a summer before starting my senior year of high school. Interestingly, this happened mostly by accident. I spent a number of weeks at a college prep "camp" away from home at a university in Indiana. I stayed in dorms, didn't have a TV, very many snacks, 3 squares at the student union, mandatory intramural sports, fell into an active group of friends, and it was SW Indiana in July so 90+ with high humidity all the time. In the three weeks I was there I lost 15 lbs going from a size 36 waist to a 34. I know that's a high rate, but this was 2006, a full 6 years before I'd discover MFP and probably 9-10 before I really educated myself well about weight management, fitness, etc. Hindsight being 20:20 I'd of course do things differently with what I know now. In the following 3-4 weeks before starting back to school I lost another 15ish lbs getting down to a size 32 waist as my appetite had adapted to not eating such large portions and snacking. By this point I was also making a loose-yet-conscious effort to lose weight once I'd happened upon some momentum. I was not nearly as meticulous about weighing myself/record-keeping at this point so I don't know my actual scale weights but 165 is my best guest; which happens to coincide with the exact middle of the BMI range for a 17 y/o male of my height. Needless to say, school shopping that year was a bundle of fun, my friends were pretty well shocked, and let's just say my girlfriend liked what she saw now even more. This resulted in a level of self-confidence I'd never experienced before. It also opened my eyes to the possibility of what my body could/should look like. Growing up I'd always been overweight to a degree; though in attempts at self-confidence preservation my parents used comforting terms like "husky", leading me to believe that I was just constructed this way and powerless to make any meaningful changes despite not really ever liking my body. I would roughly maintain this weight through college (even getting leaner as a freshman) until entering the workforce in 2011.

This section purely for context: fast forward to 2011 my first job out of college involved a good bit of travel with an expense budget. I often traveled with a coworker as well, he was already overweight and liked to indulge after hours. We wouldn't shy away from hitting up the local steak houses or microbreweries, polish off an appetizer, hefty dinner and a beer 4-5 nights per week. As you would expect after a few months of this there was palpable evidence of this lifestyle in the mirror and on the scale. Ultimately, this led me to find MFP and lose that weight, plus some more, getting as lean as 159 shortly before getting married in June 2013.

From this low point, weight crept to mid 170s by early 2015. I didn't love how I looked but also wasn't 100% satisfied with how I looked at 159 as weight lifting become more and more en vogue. This was also prime Marvel movie era and being the nerd that I am the on-screen physiques of Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth aren't blameless in my desire to get more muscular. Enter Phase two - picking up progressively heavier things. I'd putzed about with P90X and P90X3 with middling results but I started looking into more traditional lifting programs. BuiltLean, NerdFitness, and StrongLifts were all tried at various intervals and I started to progress both in strength and aesthetics. Within a few months I found myself upgrading from a small adjustable bench and bowflex dumbbells to a barbell and bench, moving from a second-floor bedroom to the basement so I could squat and deadlift without worrying about the floor. I will remember discussing the barbell/plates purchase with my wife; "300 lbs? Do you really need that much?" she asked. "Don't worry, I can't imagine this isn't all the weight I'll ever need." Four years later I Squat 365 and deadlift 385 (pre-child PR of 400) and I've gone from 18+% body fat to 12%. I find I'm more self-confident, diligent, and focused at work and in personal settings.

brenn24179

I love going into my closet and I can wear everything in there!

sgallagher137

psychod787 wrote: »

I have learned that my goal weight is not my ideal weight. I might have to be 20-60lbs heavier than I am now. I have learned a love of produce and have fallen back in love with lifting.

I learned this as well! I’m a 5’10” female and my original goal weight was 135, but once I got to 145, I realized how happy I was with that weight, and started getting worried that losing any more would affect my weight training. I’m much more focused on my “gains” at this point than getting to the lowest weight I can healthily manage!

88olds

First and foremost, weight loss saved my life. At 285 lbs I had a CPAP, HBP, debilitating back pain, and a seemingly permanent cough. I couldn’t walk more than a couple of blocks without stopping to rest my back. If I did’t have a heart attack it was going to be some combination of type II diabetes and/or a stroke. If it didn’t happen at 285 lbs maybe it would at 300+lbs which was where I was headed. My journey actually started 12/24/94. So I’m closing in on 25 years in weight loss. I would have been lucky to make it 6 months the way I was living in 1994.

nxd10

I have learned how much society discriminates against people who are overweight - particularly older women. I'm 60, but people assume I'm in my 40's (good genes - my mom looks young too). For reference, I was never more than 'overweight' - BMI 26 at the highest. My clothing size never changed because clothing sizes have gotten bigger over the years. But the difference is STRIKING.

I am a professor. Since losing weight six years ago, my students and colleagues treat me as if I am younger, 'cooler', and are much more excited to work with me. It is noticeable.

I am also starting a business, so am pitching for fundraising. Being fit and attractive makes a huge difference in being able to attract investment in my business. It shouldn't. It does.

On the positive side, I love looking in the mirror every day. I feel SO MUCH BETTER every single day. My only regret losing weight is that I didn't do it 10 years earlier when the weight started to creep up.

I have also recently learned that exercising is a great thing. I always walked - 10K steps was my goal. I walk to work every day. But I recently started working out in a gym for 45 minutes every day on an elliptical and found that my hips no longer hurt and my core muscles feel great.

psychod787

sgallagher137 wrote: »

psychod787 wrote: »

I have learned that my goal weight is not my ideal weight. I might have to be 20-60lbs heavier than I am now. I have learned a love of produce and have fallen back in love with lifting.

I learned this as well! I’m a 5’10” female and my original goal weight was 135, but once I got to 145, I realized how happy I was with that weight, and started getting worried that losing any more would affect my weight training. I’m much more focused on my “gains” at this point than getting to the lowest weight I can healthily manage!

Glad you figured it out. It took me almost 22 months of maintenance hell to admit it. #goingbearmode! Lol

cwolfman13

Biggest thing would be that I'm more fit and healthier than I've been in a long time.

MadisonMolly2017

88olds wrote: »

First and foremost, weight loss saved my life. At 285 lbs I had a CPAP, HBP, debilitating back pain, and a seemingly permanent cough. I couldn’t walk more than a couple of blocks without stopping to rest my back. If I did’t have a heart attack it was going to be some combination of type II diabetes and/or a stroke. If it didn’t happen at 285 lbs maybe it would at 300+lbs which was where I was headed. My journey actually started 12/24/94. So I’m closing in on 25 years in weight loss. I would have been lucky to make it 6 months the way I was living in 1994.

Amazing Accomplishment @88olds! I’m glad you are doing so well!!

MadisonMolly2017

nxd10 wrote: »

I have learned how much society discriminates against people who are overweight - particularly older women. I'm 60, but people assume I'm in my 40's (good genes - my mom looks young too). For reference, I was never more than 'overweight' - BMI 26 at the highest. My clothing size never changed because clothing sizes have gotten bigger over the years. But the difference is STRIKING.

I am a professor. Since losing weight six years ago, my students and colleagues treat me as if I am younger, 'cooler', and are much more excited to work with me. It is noticeable.

I am also starting a business, so am pitching for fundraising. Being fit and attractive makes a huge difference in being able to attract investment in my business. It shouldn't. It does.

On the positive side, I love looking in the mirror every day. I feel SO MUCH BETTER every single day. My only regret losing weight is that I didn't do it 10 years earlier when the weight started to creep up.

I have also recently learned that exercising is a great thing. I always walked - 10K steps was my goal. I walk to work every day. But I recently started working out in a gym for 45 minutes every day on an elliptical and found that my hips no longer hurt and my core muscles feel great.

@nxd10 Agree, sad but true. I wonder as more women become VC’s if this will change.

As someone who was overweight/obese since late high school, I have had to work through the grief this knowledge brought me. The flip side, in my case, was people took me more seriously, thought of me as smarter.

Amazing world we live in.

FriendlyNeighborhoodEngineer

I'm only 2 months in, but I feel much more disciplined and confident. I feel like my wife may be a little more attracted to me (I had really let myself go). I also dont feel embarrassed at work like I did when I was indulging in the breakroom.

sgt1372

Look better, feel better, got stronger, more fit and heathier AND am getting compliments about my build from other men (which men know is something that rarely happens because men seldom explicitly compliment one another about anything).