MFP Weight Goal ACHIEVED - 95 Pounds GONE - Wheelchair User

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.

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