What nobody tells you about losing weight
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Sometimes you lose a certain amount of weight, and you still have the muscle memory of moving a larger body so you will propel yourself half way across the room when you stand up. Or if I’m going to stand up on a chair or ladder, my muscle memory thinks we need more umph than we do! Whee! 😂25
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When you buy clothes, I'm trying on stuff that's too big because my mind tells me small things will not fit me. It's very very strange.11
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It never occurred to me that I might dislike my body shape once I lost weight. I’m also seeing the age in my face and skin in a big way- I’m only 37 and have been wearing sunscreen daily my entire adult life so WTAF. I guess my genetics used to be hidden behind extra weight, and now I’m feeling exposed.
I still wouldn’t take back the extra weight. It was worth it.14 -
It never occurred to me that I might dislike my body shape once I lost weight. I’m also seeing the age in my face and skin in a big way- I’m only 37 and have been wearing sunscreen daily my entire adult life so WTAF. I guess my genetics used to be hidden behind extra weight, and now I’m feeling exposed.
I still wouldn’t take back the extra weight. It was worth it.
I hear you. I used to joke that I didn't have wrinkles because the fat in my face was filling them out. Didn't think that it was actually true. . . . and yet, here I am with laugh lines and wrinkles around my eyes. I agree through, I'll take the wrinkles over the fat.8 -
It never occurred to me that I might dislike my body shape once I lost weight. I’m also seeing the age in my face and skin in a big way- I’m only 37 and have been wearing sunscreen daily my entire adult life so WTAF. I guess my genetics used to be hidden behind extra weight, and now I’m feeling exposed.
I still wouldn’t take back the extra weight. It was worth it.
I saw the same after first losing, but it is going away as I've gone into maintenance. Perhaps it will improve over time for you too?7 -
Feeling like it's not hard to pack for a trip because most of our clothes actually fit!12
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That your fat will rearrange itself while you are losing and your body will look weird!17
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How much time and effort it takes to go through my closet and dresser to remove all those "too large" clothes that I can't or don't wear anymore. Every other time I have lost weight I just move those clothes to the back of my closet 'just in case' I gain the weight back, which I did. This time, using MFP, I've lost nearly 75 lbs and kept it off for the last year. My thought process when it comes to food has changed and my satisfaction with my body has improved.
Three large bags of GoodWill clothes has made me take a good look into the future. I can shop several sizes smaller and enjoy wearing them.24 -
I did the same thing in April. Took many, many outfits when I went to Oklahoma to see my son, daughter in law and first time to see my granddaughter. And it all fit in a carry on bag! I was totally shocked!!!10
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That it's not unusual to wake up sore because the positions that were comfy when you were heavier aren't so comfy now! Bits that used to act as cushions don't anymore!11
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It never occurred to me that I might dislike my body shape once I lost weight. I’m also seeing the age in my face and skin in a big way- I’m only 37 and have been wearing sunscreen daily my entire adult life so WTAF. I guess my genetics used to be hidden behind extra weight, and now I’m feeling exposed.
I still wouldn’t take back the extra weight. It was worth it.
I hated my neck for the longest when I lost the first 100 ....but it's reshaping and looks perfect!
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No one calls you obese anymore
How strangers notice and encourage your increased fitness.
How you have so much more energy. I feel like I had ADHD, I can't sit still anymore.
I have gone from less than 10,000 steps a day to over 20,000.
You realize the foods you thought you loved you don't really want to eat anymore.15 -
You will not get used to it. I've always been cold when I'm skinny. The only protection you might get against it is building muscle, as that also keeps your motor/metabolism running. But still, less fat = being cold.
The other thing that people have mentioned here is that less fat = more uncomfortable when doing things like yoga, pilates, and other mat work. Any position on the knees or elbows like low plank is worse when you're thinner, even if you are stronger (or equally strong but the moves are easier because there's less body weight to lift.) Once again, sometimes building muscle can provide a cushion that helps with this situation, but given where muscles go, that usually doesn't work (they're not ON the knee, for example.) Just use a thick mat or the other cushioning equipment when you're doing this kind of exercise.
My protection against being cold in the winter is to hop on my treadmill desk! Kills two birds with one stone.4 -
It never occurred to me that I might dislike my body shape once I lost weight. I’m also seeing the age in my face and skin in a big way- I’m only 37 and have been wearing sunscreen daily my entire adult life so WTAF. I guess my genetics used to be hidden behind extra weight, and now I’m feeling exposed.
I feel the same, but it seems that others who look at me don't feel the same way about it. Meaning, all I see are wrinkles and sags - but others just seem to see a thinner me. (((hugs))) This has been a brutal part of the journey, that while I have lots of feels about it, I have chosen to keep on the path and stay a healthy weight (instead of obese category 3).
No one told me that I would start thinking about food in three categories 1) protein 2) carb 3) oil. Literally food has become "what will this do for my dietary goals." I was going to make some dairy free mac-n-cheeze and at the store realized that I would be unhappy (and also unwilling to eat it) if it didn't hit some serious protein goals. I bought some tofu (which will make it look less like mac-n-cheeze) and at the end of the day this will help me out in my weakest link! When you have an allergy to whey, it is amazing how much harder it is to hit protein goals.7 -
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You will not get used to it. I've always been cold when I'm skinny. The only protection you might get against it is building muscle, as that also keeps your motor/metabolism running. But still, less fat = being cold.
The other thing that people have mentioned here is that less fat = more uncomfortable when doing things like yoga, pilates, and other mat work. Any position on the knees or elbows like low plank is worse when you're thinner, even if you are stronger (or equally strong but the moves are easier because there's less body weight to lift.) Once again, sometimes building muscle can provide a cushion that helps with this situation, but given where muscles go, that usually doesn't work (they're not ON the knee, for example.) Just use a thick mat or the other cushioning equipment when you're doing this kind of exercise.
My protection against being cold in the winter is to hop on my treadmill desk! Kills two birds with one stone.
The bolded may be common things, but they're not universal. It only takes one counter-example.
I'm not colder when thin (this time, though I was when I lost weight in my 20s - and then, the coldness didn't last, even at similar weight as time went on).
I absolutely have had no additional problems with discomfort in bony areas when doing mat work type stuff as a thin person, vs. when I was fat/obese: Maybe less discomfort, in some cases, even, because less weight bearing down. And it's not because my goal weight is high, so that I'm still well-padded. I overshot goal and got down to BMI 18.7 for a while (too low, 116 pounds at 5'5"), have been at BMIs in the lower 20s most of the past 6+ years (weights in 120s pounds).
I have no idea what makes the difference, but since I feel like a counterexample, I don't want people who are on the path to think these are things that happen to absolutely everyone, and are necessarily universally permanent. They may be common, for all I know, though. (I doubt that I'm a special unicorn and super unique, though.)
Muscles are always good, of course, for a lot of reasons - 100% agree about that. I maybe have a bit more muscle mass than average for my demographic (F, 66), but am not dramatically muscular in a more general sense. I also 100% agree about the usefulness of being active more generally.
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Also, I eat so much more now. When I started realizing the changes I was going to have to take on this journey, I spent some time on the volume eaters thread (my peeps, lets hear it for them!). I realized how much I really enjoy eating fruits and vegetables, especially if it means I have heaps of food on my plate! Now when the hubby eats his dinner (sans my veggie loading) I can't help but ask: is that all you are going to eat? I would starve! So, somehow I now eat more food than when I was obese!10
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The main difference in flexibility I've noticed now I'm smaller is scuba shutdowns. (Wearing manifolded twin tanks, this is the ability to shut off either tank or close the manifold. It's an important safety skill to get true redundancy from the tanks. You need to reach behind your head to reach the valves, which takes some flexibility.)
These are way easier now than they used to be. I don't know if this is because of the weight loss or because I've done a few hundred more dives so my buoyancy and trim is a bit better.9 -
There is hope!!!
I shattered my tibia in 10/15. Requiring 3 plates and 20+ screws to put it back together, in that joint area. I could not get down on my left knee for more than 2-3 seconds and excruciating pain with that. Now with almost 100 lbs off (was at 107 lbs off in April) I can stand weight on that knee a bit longer. At least long enough to do 10 knee type pushups or to get into a plank position. Should get even better with 35-40 more off!13 -
I was thinking this morning that the people who used to be so supportive and would celebrate my little wins have done less so recently. At first it made me kind of sad but then as I thought about it maybe they just realized that I don't need the support as much anymore and that that's coming from inside me and I'm going to do this regardless of whether they praise me. It doesn't mean they're not happy for me anymore it just means that that motivation is coming from me now.
I just started my weight loss journey with MFP and am only -9 lbs so far; however, these forum posts and your comment in particular have been insightful and motivating. It is good to know not to feel offended if my loved ones "stop supporting" me after a while if I am able to lose a lot more. So far they are praising every few pounds, haha.
Anyway, thank you, and cheers to everyone here!8 -
Losing weight actually helped with my mat classes. If you’ll pardon, I no longer felt like a “fat dachshund” floundering around on the mat.
I used to get lots and lots bruises from wedging elbows and knees in tightly for various poses. Nowadays I only see the bruises for certain arm balances.
And I guess I was fortunate enough to have always had instructors who stressed good knee posture and knee protection, even back in the obese days.
But, these days bow and locust/Superman poses can be a bit painful on the pelvis and pubic bone areas, since there’s no fat there or on belly to pad.
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Dental health! Since cutting waaaay back on sugar and processed foods, I haven't had any cavities.10
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dralicephd wrote: »It never occurred to me that I might dislike my body shape once I lost weight. I’m also seeing the age in my face and skin in a big way- I’m only 37 and have been wearing sunscreen daily my entire adult life so WTAF. I guess my genetics used to be hidden behind extra weight, and now I’m feeling exposed.
I still wouldn’t take back the extra weight. It was worth it.
I saw the same after first losing, but it is going away as I've gone into maintenance. Perhaps it will improve over time for you too?
Also a thing for me. I DO still have a lot of lose skin on my arms/stomach/thighs but the face/neck stuff looking too sharp/gaunt/wrinkled has faded a TON with time in maintenence. It's been about a year of maintaining for me and my face looks much better.
Or I'm more used to it but I look more like me to me now.10 -
Two things:
That at some point maintaining really does become very nearly automatic. I had some concern that what/how/how much I ate was going to always take up a lot of mental space. For me, it hasn't. There's still a need to check in and pay some attention, yes, both to my weight and what/how much I eat, but I don't really need to give it any thought anymore.
Also: I LIE having my picture taken/watching myself in videos. For a while it was just that I was fatter in reality than I 'felt'/thought I was, but even after the initial loss it was very surreal to the point of discomfort to see the change and I hated watching/seeing myself from the outside. These days, please bring it. I look fantastic.16 -
- That standing on the scales is the biggest mind-bend you'll experience.
- Its not been healthy getting obessing over numbers on a scale... measurements and a goal piece of clothing are much better
- Mental health is more important than physical health... look after that more than your physcial health... They end up going hand-in-hand.
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I’m visibly smaller today and holy cheekbones, has my face changed. It’s smaller, my eyes look HUGE… It’s shocking.13
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I knew my body would change. I just didn’t realize how much I would want to touch the changes. I love feeling my face and finding cheekbones. I love feeling how my waistline goes in now. I even like to touch my arms which are skinnier. So weird. But I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.11
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About the whoosh effect! After 4 weeks of bouncing around the same weight, despite hitting my calorie goals, I whooshed off 4 pounds this weekend.18
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