Your biggest difficulties AFTER losing the weight (Pics)?

We all know the positives, but what new and unique challenges have come to the forefront as a result of drastically changing your life by drastically changing your body? I have highlighted some of mine below.

My feet are smaller-
This I was totally not expecting. I was one of those guys that had a sneaker/shoe collection that rivaled most girls (or retired rappers). It was just one of my quirks. My body getting smaller I was fully expecting as I lost weight, but my feet? Nobody clued me into this possibility. I had previously wore a size 11 and a half, but these days I can fit into a 10 or sometimes a 10 and a half depending on the brand. Most all of them began to look like clown shoes on me after about 7-8 months in. All but my crown jewel pair of Jordan's that I simply cant part with no matter if I can wear them or not have since been sold on Ebay

Food and eating will never be the same-
Most of the challenge of weight loss is not exercise, it's diet, and this is the first major overhaul most of us have to face. The strange thing is the amount of self discipline required to consistency lose weight makes food not really an enemy per se, but an ally that you constantly have to watch and keep in check like a sketch GF you suspect might be cheating on you. Spending ridiculous amounts of time in the grocery store trying to find the ultimate beverage, lunch meat, cheese, etc. that contains the lowest possible calorie count but still tastes edible is an art form in and of itself. Going out to dinner with friends on a Friday makes you form a battle plan like a general by looking up the restaurant website days in advance and finding out the best food selections. Being constantly preoccupied with meal planning seems very odd at first, but after awhile you get so used to it that it becomes the new normal.

I truly miss the freedom of "I don't give AF"-
It's always easier not to care right? Not caring about food choices and operating with reckless abandon is strangely liberating in many ways. This motto goes far beyond just food selection. When you are fat you are in a constant state of denial where 3rd party perspective almost does not exist. You never care about how straight your neck tie is, if your hair is styled, or how your pants may fit. Comfort always took precedence over style. Once you drop the weight you become far more dialed in to aspects of appearance you had previously never given a second thought to.

All the attention from the opposite sex is not always positive
Even pretty overweight, I have never been a horribly bad looking dude, but now that my facial features are more pronounced and the bod is smaller, the females are much more front and center in my life. This was a welcome change of pace at first no question, but after awhile it gets a little odd and overwhelming. Since I am single, Tinder, POF, and other such apps have been my dating life. After doing this for awhile I have come to the conclusion I was not missing all that much previously. Probably the biggest shocker for me about using these various apps is many of the girls are not much different than the guys in that they are basically just looking to f**k. The only major difference is the girls are more subtle about this most of the time. There likely is truly awesome girls on many of these apps, but I doubt I would even notice in my present state. I am afraid of love. I am afraid that I would lose my focus on my program. I am afraid that my significant other would never be able to understand my irrational idiosyncrasies. I think I can only ever get together with another former fat person. Other than dating apps, my social life has pretty much dried up to be honest. Unlike most dudes in their 20's I don't go out to the bars on the weekends anymore, and I avoid going to lunch or dinner with coworkers or clients because I have less control over the food/calories. Except for my interactions at work, I pretty much keep to myself these days except here on MFP and BB.


I have realized that even after reaching goal I will have body issues-
I have already started to get the preliminary signs of the dreaded loose skin phenomenon, both on my belly as well as under my arms. I weight train like a bat out of hell which will no doubt help, as will my relative youth, but at the end of the day there is going to be nothing I can do about this. In fact, it is only going to get worse. The image I had in my head of being ripped like Atlas is never going to be a reality for me unless I pony up the cash for expensive plastic surgery. I have started wearing compression garments under my clothing almost daily to minimize how noticeable this is.

I am no longer funny/the life of the party.
It's an all too common theme that those who are overweight often try to compensate for this lack of physical attractiveness with having a robust personality. This was certainly the case in my own life. I was always the guy that would order another round of shots. I was always the guy who would make extremely inappropriate jokes that had everyone rolling. I was told I made other people at ease by my extroverted and giddy personality.
These days? I rarely smile anymore. People tell me I am stone faced, ineffectual and stoic, as if "you must have something weighing heavy on your mind". The truth is, I guess I really do.

In my mind, I am always going to be the fat kid
You can take the weight off the guy, but you can never remove the fatty mentality from his brain. In most ways, I am still just the same insecure guy I ever was, regardless of the positive reinforcement I often receive from others. The odd thing is I feel like I am desperately running away from a past that hasn’t relinquished it's influence over me. Perhaps I am feeling this way because I am not entirely used to being ‘not fat’. Perhaps in the years to come, my insecurity will diminish. Maybe I could even be "happy" again. But in the interim I am just going to have to deal with this.


Before (my Mom is in the background)




Last Weekend