Unexpected changes you experienced when you lost weight?

Good question. I have lost weight so many times so i am not sure that anything came unexpectedly this last time - in terms of things outside my diet that is.

What has been wonderful though is some of the consequences of my diet rules: I don't relapse, I can avoid depression so far; Its so freeing to exercise only when i want and not becuase i have set myself some unsustainable program of regular demanding exercise; How much i love healthy food and how much i don't miss the junk food i use to fill up on (all sweets). I don't miss chocolate, lollies, cakes, ice-cream, pudding. I still like those things but i hardly ever eat them now and i don't crave them between times because they are off limits unless someone else gives them to me.

Finally i feel free of the bad diet habits i used to have. I love eating my vegies now. I've always loved fruit but i have absolutely no trouble whatsoever getting enough veggies in. I'm enjoying cooking again. There are so many unexpected elements to losing weight. When you get there you will wonder why adn how you put up with being overweight for so long.

But i know. It used to be me. The answer though to why we did that is because we didn't (in my case) and don't probably still (in your case) know just how easy and enjoyable losing weight can be. In my opinion, it should be easy and enjoyable. It should not be a struggle, a battle, lots of hardwork and suffering and deprivation. And i know for a fact that for most poeple it doesn't have to be either. But for this to be so, people have to change their entrenched ideas about what you need to do to lose weight.

here's what i have found and which is also supported by scientific studies.
1. YOu do not have to exercise to lose weight.
By all means, exericse but only moderately and only for health and do it when you are ready even if its not until you reach your healthy weight range - that's what i did. Fix your diet to lose weight. You should be able to either lose or stabilise your weight simply by cutting calories and rather than exercise. If you can't succeed in losing weight just by cutting calories, then it means either your body weight is very low (too low to be comfortable) or dammit the other reasons just ran out of my head. Nevermind, maybe i'll think of it again later. My idea is that unless you are a person who has always been very active, don't bother with it until you are slimmer and until you are keen to do it because i have seen it so many times that people give up the whole program of weightloss when they stop exercising. I have failed that way myself many times but i am fairly sure that almost all of the poeple who come and then go from this forum, fail for this reason because i've read so many people talking about motivation and exercise and most of my many forum friends have left the site. People are always dropping out. They don't make a fanfare out of it. They just quietly stop showing up but the fact of their disappearance is there for me to see in my friends list. (last log in one month; last log in 40 days; last log in 3 months etc). And then when you do decide to start exercising, don't over do it, and don't lock yourself into a routine that doesn't permit you to not turn up if you don't feel like it or if you break a leg or have some other reason for not doing it. Find an activity that's fun, that has multiple dimensions especially say a social dimension and is easy for you to do all the time. My latest one is that i have a dog who needs to be taken for a walk every day so that's what i do now. Without the dog, i might get to the beach 4 times a week when I'm in a very motivated state but when not motivated, as nice as our beach is, i go for long periods of not going at all. But now with the dog, i find it so easy to go every day. It just easy. I only do about 30 minutes. But i've gone from walking to running a bit. So now my fitness is increasing and it all has been so effortless and stress free. In my view, that's how it should be.

2. Rely on improvements to your diet and moderately cut calories to lose weight. IMproving your diet helps you avoid hunger. It's important to avoid hunger if you want to make it sustainable. If you cut your calories dramatically, after a while you metabolism will slow down and your weight loss will be so slow. It will slow anyway so you might as well eat as many calories as you can while you can. So long as you are still losing. I mean we love food so why eat 1200 calories when you can eat 1800 or 2000 and still lose weight easily. Its actually better for your health to eat more calories than too few. You only need enough of a deficit to get you a reasonable regular loss. If you are obese, tehn you can afford to aim for a weekly loss of 2 pounds. But you are within a healthy weight range or even just over, its silly to try to lose more htan a pound. The reason being becuase the bigger your calorie deficit the more likely you will experience hunger. The more hunger you experience, the more likely you are to sliip up and start buggering up your weightloss plans, the quicker yo'ull fall off hte wagon. I think this must happen to a lot of people here too as I see so many people eating 1200 calories when they could easily be eating a lot more.

I mnight ahve contradicted myself somewhat but the thing is most people here try to follow a program with lots of exericse and big calorie deficits. This is how they make it so hard for themselve and set themselves up for failure. Their plans do not account for being tired one day, losing motivation for exercise, getting hungry, stress, low mood. And their big calories deficits actually help cause some of these problems. If you have a big calorie deficit then you will probably not get enough nutrition until you are eating an extremely ideal diet and even then, you may need supplements to ensure you are getting enough vitamins and minerals.

Well its possible that you did not bargain on this long spiel. For some reason people on the internet have trouble reading more than a few lines. I don't know why.

When i start out typing, i don't intend to write much but I tend to always end up writing more than i intend. But i tend to write the same thigns over and over because this has been working for me for quite along time now and i can't see why what i advocate wouldn't work for anyone else.

Uh I mean boobs

And also my wedding ring. I wasn't all that heavy when I got married, but I'm probably about 15 or 20 lbs lighter than I was then, and my fingers have become so slender.

I noticed how loose my wedding ring was while swimming about a month or so ago ... almost lost it!

It's tungsten so it can't be resized ... we're talking about ordering another one. Or something.

A few observations:

My backside is often sore because there's little padding any more.

It's harder to get in and out of clothes. My underpants used to just slide right off around my ankles -- now they are too small and I've got to pull them around my feet and calves.

That said, my (smaller) clothes fit much better.

I'm often cold.

Jruzer wrote: »

My backside is often sore because there's little padding any more.

Yes ... this.

I ride the bus to work, and after losing about 25 lbs, I started noticing that the trip wasn't as comfortable as before.


On the other hand, I flew Australia to Canada in late 2014 when I was nearing my heaviest weight ... and then I flew again in June 2015 when I had reached my first goal ... and the seats on the airplane seemed to have more room!! I could do things like tuck the pillow in beside me rather than trying to figure out where on earth to put it half the time.

ughbrit wrote: »

So far I've lost a total of 50lbs from my highest weight and mostly I've noticed that I am not comfortable in my body anymore because my perception of my size is very off. I've had to go clothes shopping and while I'm ecstatic to be out of the plus size range now, I find it sort of anxiety-inducing to try and find clothing in smaller sizes now (I guess I always think it's going to be too small and I'm going to embarrass myself). It's a temporary problem and will go away as my mind catches up with my body though

Yes ... I'm having all sorts of anxiety-inducing situations with regard to clothing.

If I shop, I have to try everything on. Used to be, I could grab a top or skirt I liked off the rack and it would be all right. Not anymore!

I have been this size before, so right now my closet has all sorts of different sizes in it from when I was this size before all the way up to my max weight. I haven't had time to sort it all out, so situations like today are happening.

Today ... I decided to wear a navy sweater I like with a pair of navy pants I thought were clean. I couldn't find them, so they must be in the wash (things have been very hectic here). That's OK, I have several other pair of navy pants. First ones I tried were too big. Oh dear. Next ones I tried were way too big. Same with the next two pair. Time is running out, my bus will arrive soon, so I grabbed the first pair and a belt, and spent the day swimming around in the smallest pair which were still way too large.

Sunday I will finally have time to start sorting my clothing ... I can't wait!!!

I can walk MUCH farther than I used to and I don't get winded or shin splints. I also agree on the temperature... I'm FREEZING all the time. (Bad news, it's October in Canada... do the math )