What’s surprised you about your weight loss journey so far
Jezebel_Barbie
Posts: 198 Member
Mine has been that not eating chocolate hasn’t had as much of an effect on my weight as I’d have thought!
I gave up chocolate for Lent and haven’t had one bite for almost 6 weeks. Pretty tough at times but I’m actually starting to lose the cravings…just in time for Easter Sunday of course. Before I gave it up I could eat huge amounts of chocolate. And I mean huge. I frequently ate one of those 150g bags of Cadbury’s Buttons to myself EVERY DAY, some days I’d eat two (which I’ve since calculated to be a whopping 788 calories per bag – yikes!)
I really though the lack of chocolate would have resulted in a drop – even a small one – on the scales, but my weight has stayed solid the whole way through. If nothing else it’s good motivation to steer clear of the chocolate after Easter, god knows what damage it would do to the scales (not to mention my health) if I went back to eating as much!
What have you found surprising about your weight loss journey so far?
I gave up chocolate for Lent and haven’t had one bite for almost 6 weeks. Pretty tough at times but I’m actually starting to lose the cravings…just in time for Easter Sunday of course. Before I gave it up I could eat huge amounts of chocolate. And I mean huge. I frequently ate one of those 150g bags of Cadbury’s Buttons to myself EVERY DAY, some days I’d eat two (which I’ve since calculated to be a whopping 788 calories per bag – yikes!)
I really though the lack of chocolate would have resulted in a drop – even a small one – on the scales, but my weight has stayed solid the whole way through. If nothing else it’s good motivation to steer clear of the chocolate after Easter, god knows what damage it would do to the scales (not to mention my health) if I went back to eating as much!
What have you found surprising about your weight loss journey so far?
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Replies
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That you can truly eat too little and it will cause your weight loss to stall out. Was eating only 1200 a day for months and now that i'm eating 1500 the weight is coming off. Hard to wrap my brain around
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Mine has been one thing, but it was a very clear one. Walking still gets me out of breath and gets my heart rate way up, even after a year and a half, but burning 500 calories a day walking didn't seem to be enough for my body to lose. Add in even the smallest amounts of other exercise, and I lose weight.
That was such a surprise that it took me eight months to find my issue.
I was living healthy and losing weight. I have been since November 2009 when I weighed 174lbs, and I've always been consistent and have stuck with it and stuck by my personal health principles. All was going well, then I hit a plateau at 155lbs in April 2010. Before then, I'd been playing Kinect and using the elliptical, but at around the time I stopped losing weight I moved house and let walking be my only form of exercise.
I was eating the right calories, I was walking enough to burn off 500 a day and I was getting completely exhausted from it, so it was definitely classed as a work out, but the weight stopped coming off. Over the remaining eight months of the year, my weight gradually crept back up by almost ten pounds. I couldn't understand it, because I was working out and still being consistent. I told myself I was going to stick to my principles and keep moving on - not drop my calories lower to compensate for the lack of change.
Eventually, just before Christmas last year, weighing in at 162lbs again, I realised the change had been that I'd put Kinect away and given away my elliptical. It finally clicked that walking was the issue, and I bought a bike at the start of this year and started running at the beginning of this month. Adding cycling and running back in has seen my weight drop down again - I'm 154.4lbs today, which is back in new territory.
So, I guess my surprise is that it's not always about the calories burned and the effort you put in, but exactly what you do to burn them. I don't put any more effort into my cycling than I did into my walking - when I cycle I very rarely reach 100 calories burned, but the variety is key.0 -
The more I eat the more I lose....I just up my calories to 1700 and the weight it coming off so much easier, and I finally have some confidence in myself and I also look forward to my daily exercise, it's a great feeling getting healthy!0
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The more I eat the more I lose....I just up my calories to 1700 and the weight it coming off so much easier, and I finally have some confidence in myself and I also look forward to my daily exercise, it's a great feeling getting healthy!
Question when you said up to 1700 does that mean that this is your minium not including exercise calories? Just wondering thanks.0 -
That after a while of not eating certain foods they start to taste FOUL! eg pizza!0
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I don't WANT to eat as much.
Before MFP I (now realize) that some days I was eating as much as 4000cal worth of food. It was pretty normal for me to eat a whole samll pizza by myself. Yesterday I got called in to work and for lunch/dinner I ended up ordering a small pizza. Though I had every intention of eating the whole thing I got half way through and I was full so I stopped eating. Guess who wasn't even over their calories for the day yesterday.
I'm still trying to figure out why I used to eat so much.0 -
1. as the weight dissolved, so did my self-confidence because I wasn't doing anything to strengthen myself mentally, only physically
2. I went from being the chubby funny kind friendly compassionate girl friend, to that elitest snobby self-righteous slutty skinny b!tch
3. When I got 20 pounds from my goal, all the rules changed and nothing that helped me lose the first 80 pounds worked anymore.
4. Burn more than you eat, works for 90% of your journey, then you have to start paying closer attention to details at the end.
5. I lost alot of friends who were overweight because they felt that Id abandoned them and/or switched teams.
6. My libido is now out of control, i mean almost. Im still classy.
7. Being 'intimidating', 'out of my league' and 'you've probably got men vying for your attention all the time' are now the only feedback I get from first dates, and they sting so much more than 'im looking for someone as active as I am' and 'youre not exactly my physical type'. Cant win for losing.
8. Fast food makes my stomach heavy and sick and ends me with awful intestinal cramping
9. I pretty much know how many calories are in something by sight... nutritional value I still have to check though
10. I can feed myself for 3 weeks on $40 because I found out how eating healthy is cheaper than eating like an American if you know what to buy and learn to cook
11. I can take far more pain that I originally guessed
12. I can run a half marathon on a whim and then go out partying that night
13. Beating your own PRs is magic
14. Its very very very very very lonely sometimes.
15. Once you've been at it for a while, the things you said you'd never give up, are now the first things to go. I remember when I was 260 and starting out, I was like OMG I will never give up white bread. What I didn't see coming is that eventually I would forget its existence and go a year or 6 months without and never realise it.
16. You start playing in front of the mirror- flexing your muscles like a man (and its awesome) running your finger over your hip bones and along the sides of your abs, paying attention to the feel of your hammies and glutes when you walk, making sexdy eyes at the dimples over your *kitten* that never showed before, batting your eyelashes at your collarbones... actually hoping you get the chance to show someone what you look like naked on a good day
17. People stop remembering what you looked like 'before'
18. Most people dye their hair and/or get a makeover when they are 80% of the way to their goal LOL
19. Taking pictures of my food when it is beautiful, spurs me on to cook more beautifukl healthy food later and tomorrow
20. You can lose 4 jeans sizes (from a 12 to an 8) and 26 inches around your body (including 6 on your waist and 4 on your titties and 5 on each thigh) in a year as well as shedding 9% body fat without losing a single pound.
21. Sometimes it's hell.
22. Sometimes it's nirvana.0 -
I don't have to starve myself or do cardio to lose weight. A simple calorie deficit does the trick along with being consistent.0
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the ladies. no joke. it's ridiculous how many girls approach me, talk to me, try to be my friend LOL0
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the ladies. no joke. it's ridiculous how many girls approach me, talk to me, try to be my friend LOL
Get 'em tiger! LOL0 -
That I'm still here on MFP and still working hard for what I want to make that lifestyle change. The old me would have given up two month into my "diet".0
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1. as the weight dissolved, so did my self-confidence because I wasn't doing anything to strengthen myself mentally, only physically
2. I went from being the chubby funny kind friendly compassionate girl friend, to that elitest snobby self-righteous slutty skinny b!tch
3. When I got 20 pounds from my goal, all the rules changed and nothing that helped me lose the first 80 pounds worked anymore.
4. Burn more than you eat, works for 90% of your journey, then you have to start paying closer attention to details at the end.
5. I lost alot of friends who were overweight because they felt that Id abandoned them and/or switched teams.
6. My libido is now out of control, i mean almost. Im still classy.
7. Being 'intimidating', 'out of my league' and 'you've probably got men vying for your attention all the time' are now the only feedback I get from first dates, and they sting so much more than 'im looking for someone as active as I am' and 'youre not exactly my physical type'. Cant win for losing.
8. Fast food makes my stomach heavy and sick and ends me with awful intestinal cramping
9. I pretty much know how many calories are in something by sight... nutritional value I still have to check though
10. I can feed myself for 3 weeks on $40 because I found out how eating healthy is cheaper than eating like an American if you know what to buy and learn to cook
11. I can take far more pain that I originally guessed
12. I can run a half marathon on a whim and then go out partying that night
13. Beating your own PRs is magic
14. Its very very very very very lonely sometimes.
15. Once you've been at it for a while, the things you said you'd never give up, are now the first things to go. I remember when I was 260 and starting out, I was like OMG I will never give up white bread. What I didn't see coming is that eventually I would forget its existence and go a year or 6 months without and never realise it.
16. You start playing in front of the mirror- flexing your muscles like a man (and its awesome) running your finger over your hip bones and along the sides of your abs, paying attention to the feel of your hammies and glutes when you walk, making sexdy eyes at the dimples over your *kitten* that never showed before, batting your eyelashes at your collarbones... actually hoping you get the chance to show someone what you look like naked on a good day
17. People stop remembering what you looked like 'before'
18. Most people dye their hair and/or get a makeover when they are 80% of the way to their goal LOL
19. Taking pictures of my food when it is beautiful, spurs me on to cook more beautifukl healthy food later and tomorrow
20. You can lose 4 jeans sizes (from a 12 to an 8) and 26 inches around your body (including 6 on your waist and 4 on your titties and 5 on each thigh) in a year as well as shedding 9% body fat without losing a single pound.
21. Sometimes it's hell.
22. Sometimes it's nirvana.
This pretty much sums it up!!0 -
Loved Yoovie's response. So much of that is true, even for an old lady like me!:laugh:
For me, the biggest surprise is that I love veggies. I crave veggies. And I really don't like much fast food. I also learned that if you have to eat fast food or restaurant food, Salsa makes a fabulous salad dressing, and most places have it. Horrible on the sodium though, so drink more water.
BTW - even McDonald's has salsa packets. LOL!0 -
1. Pain does not kill you!
2. Waking up at 5 am daily to exercise actually gives you more energy and does not make you tired.
3. Eating an 800 cal ice cream cup and still losing 2lbs the morning after.... is possible!
4. Exercise is ADDICTING
5. MF peeps are the key to success
6. Realize that no excuse is good enough for why you didn't do this *kitten* earlier!!!0 -
oh and 2 other things I learned from this experience...
23. if you lose weight too fast and dont care enough about your skin to moisturize everyday and drink real water- it will reward you with saggy flappy crinkly stretched out skin. I see it happen all the time. Drink water and moisturize as though your naked sexiness depends on it. Im very very fortunate that I kept up that small habit for the last three years, cause my skin has shrunk along with my body. THANK GOODNESS.
24. Tea isn't the same thing as water. Im sorry but its not. Its tea.
Or not- i dont care- probably 4 people are about to come yell at me for being ignorant at any second anyway.0 -
#1- You can loose yourself in the details, making a simple scale turning into the worst judge you would ever meet in your life
#2- I've lost so many people, being trapped by the time-consumering whole fitness journey - skipping parties, seeing people etc...
#3- I discovered it holds it's load of issues : Anorexia nervosa, Eating disorder, Orthorexia, Emotional eating
#4- Loneliness, since the only ones around you talking about weight loss TALK, they don't get involved like you.
#5- Loneliness
#6- Obessesion, since the beginning of it, I sleep and wake up with thoughts about fitness (food, training, weight, etc..), not to mention the whole fat-war
but...
#7- The nutrition world is amazing, I've learned so much, I think It's starting to be a passion to me
#8- The discipline and work it requires to make a diet/ training work require involvement and hard work. These are priceless values
#9- It's all about energy, when you go over the sentimentalistic bulls***t towards food, you enjoy eating
#10- The choices we make today are aquirements for my whole Life, I know I'll never be overweight anymore, @24 years, I'm lucky
#11- I've met the best people around, that helped me from self-destructive behaviours (induced via the weight losing) to self elevation
#12- in the end, the trial's over, where I used to see a judge, I only see a tool now0 -
I have lost many friends cos according to them exercising and eating healthily is "selfish." ummm right :S0
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EXACTLY this#1- You can loose yourself in the details, making a simple scale turning into the worst judge you would ever meet in your life
#2- I've lost so many people, being trapped by the time-consumering whole fitness journey - skipping parties, seeing people etc...
#3- I discovered it holds it's load of issues : Anorexia nervosa, Eating disorder, Orthorexia, Emotional eating
#4- Loneliness, since the only ones around you talking about weight loss TALK, they don't get involved like you.
#5- Loneliness
#6- Obessesion, since the beginning of it, I sleep and wake up with thoughts about fitness (food, training, weight, etc..), not to mention the whole fat-war
but...
#7- The nutrition world is amazing, I've learned so much, I think It's starting to be a passion to me
#8- The discipline and work it requires to make a diet/ training work require involvement and hard work. These are priceless values
#9- It's all about energy, when you go over the sentimentalistic bulls***t towards food, you enjoy eating
#10- The choices we make today are aquirements for my whole Life, I know I'll never be overweight anymore, @24 years, I'm lucky
#11- I've met the best people around, that helped me from self-destructive behaviours (induced via the weight losing) to self elevation
#12- in the end, the trial's over, where I used to see a judge, I only see a tool now0 -
I have lost weight before, but I never gained the confidence in myself. I think that is why it didn't stay off. I believe that this site is going to help me make it stick. I am feeling so much better about myself. I always had low self-esteem, but now I am gaining more confidence every day.
I am so much truly happier than before. I am the type of person that always had a smile on my face. People I meet always have said that to me. Now, I can't imagine how much more I will be smiling.0 -
I have lost many friends cos according to them exercising and eating healthily is "selfish." ummm right :S
To some extent, I agree, but then I decide I don't see why being selfish always has to be a negative thing.
I'm doing this for future children, yes, but that doesn't mean I can't be a bit selfish now it's happening. When my fiancé wants to cook and is hungry, and I ask him to wait half an hour so I can go out and get my bike ride in before it's time to eat, I'm being selfish. I'm not thinking about the fact he wants to cook, eat, sit down and relax and not be waiting around for me, but I deserve that and so do you.0 -
I have lost many friends cos according to them exercising and eating healthily is "selfish." ummm right :S
It IS VERY SELFISH!!! the problem is that people dont realise that's not a negative thing. Because they are looking for any reason to look down on anyone who does what they wont!
If a mother is healthy and full of energy and knows how to make moving fun and eating healthy 'normal'- wont she be a better mother than one who is too scared of being selfish to take care of herself?
Wont a dad that is strong and can run around and play and fix stuff and toss his kids across the room... more of a benefit to his kids than one that comes home after work, exhausted everyday before eating a high fat meal and passing out?
If you can be selfish for an hour a day- it wont be just you that benefits. People that take care of themselves are in a MUCH BETTER place to take care of anyone else.
Cause if you're a mess... what good are you to others?0 -
Yoovie - that was a great list!0
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I've learned that I am being a fantastic role model for my kids. When I'm done with a tough workout and I look over and my 3 kids are on the floor doing childs pose with me I just see that I am making an impact on their lives as well.0
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That I can do it. It has always seemed so impossible, but now I know that I am capable of changing my lifestyle and changing my body.0
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thank you!
Unfortunately, I had to learn every one of those the hard way- except the floppy skin one. I believed what I read ahead of time and made sure not to have that problem ever LOL0 -
I have lost many friends cos according to them exercising and eating healthily is "selfish." ummm right :S
It IS VERY SELFISH!!! the problem is that people dont realise that's not a negative thing. Because they are looking for any reason to look down on anyone who does what they wont!
If a mother is healthy and full of energy and knows how to make moving fun and eating healthy 'normal'- wont she be a better mother than one who is too scared of being selfish to take care of herself?
Wont a dad that is strong and can run around and play and fix stuff and toss his kids across the room... more of a benefit to his kids than one that comes home after work, exhausted everyday before eating a high fat meal and passing out?
If you can be selfish for an hour a day- it wont be just you that benefits. People that take care of themselves are in a MUCH BETTER place to take care of anyone else.
Cause if you're a mess... what good are you to others?
Like!0 -
Realizing that Fat isnt the enemy, carbs arent free for all and that I can eat A LOT OF FOOD and still not gain any fat.0
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I've learned that I am being a fantastic role model for my kids. When I'm done with a tough workout and I look over and my 3 kids are on the floor doing childs pose with me I just see that I am making an impact on their lives as well.
^^ the opposite of selfish.0 -
The thing that surprises me the most is that I started exercising a year ago- heavily and regularly- without modifying my diet. I didn't lose one single pound...not one...until I started limiting my calorie intake only 2 months ago. I find it odd that getting rid of an extra 1600-1800 (from exercise) calories a week didn't make ANY difference, but now that I'm limiting my calorie intake and tracking my food on here, I realized the insane amount of junk I was eating at work (I don't keep snacks in my home, and I eat mostly healthy meals). I finally found the culprit, so now I'm able to manage my journey much better.0
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Great post Yoovie! and everyone else!0
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