40lbs in 20 Weeks - No Exercise

Twenty weeks ago I decided I would start to track my calories and attempt to eat at a deficit of 1lbs per week. In the past, I had gone to extremes to lose weight spending hours in the gym every day, and eating very little food. The last time I attempted to lose weight I had dropped 50 lbs in 8 weeks (very unhealthy).

I ignored everyone’s advice to take things slowly and only ended up putting on 120lbs after that journey. For me, dedicating hours of my day to exercising put me in a mental state where I eventually stopped caring. I stopped going to the gym and stopped watching what I was eating and I ended up being punished pretty bad for it.

Two years ago I stopped drinking alcohol for mental health reasons. I saw a little bit of weight loss but not quite what I was expecting. I was still drinking 3-4 energy drinks a day back then and that was also a big problem.

I managed to find a substitute for my energy drinks that only come in at about 15 calories per serving and soon after that I began to count my calories.

Admittedly I had intended to incorporate exercise at some point in my journey but have t got around to doing that yet. But so far I’m happy with the results. I should also mention to anyone who might check my dairy that I haven’t been inputting my dinner lately because I’ve been working overtime. We use a meal kit service and the calories are listed on the bag of ingredients. I usually measure everything out still and put it into a recipe but the printed calories are pretty accurate so I’ve just been leaving enough calories left over to be +\- 50 calories for the day.

My advice? Take things slow, do what works for you. If you go too hard you might end up like me. As a note, my before pictures are with the white phone and after pictures are with black. I haven’t shaved or cut my hair since I started.