What nobody tells you about losing weight

ritaknowles1 wrote: »

Big battle with constipation.
I have tried many remedies, kiwi, linseed/flaxseed, magnesium, opti constipation but it seems that it works to start with and then I am back to being constipated. According to my nutritionist, I eat enough vegetables and fibres but still never comfortable and feeling bloated. I suppose if you eat less there is less to pass out.

While is certainly is true that if you eat less there is less to pass, this does not sound too nice. I was the same after my weight loss. Ended up seeing a specialist and in the end was found to have IBS. With FODMAP diet (use a dietician, not a nutritionist as this is specialist work!) determined what caused the bloat and what made me constipated and adjusted diet. As I constipate badly I have to use an old people med (macrogol) to help things along on a regular basis.
I still have the odd flare when I eat something I know I should not but love. Just last week I did have two dates - I needed 4 days to fully recover, but that was worth it and I knew what I was doing. That helps too

PS Difference nutritionist vs dietician. In most countries; everybody can call themselves a nutritionist, for a dietician you need to be licensed and have a specific education

obscuremusicreference wrote: »

-Some "friends" get weirdly competitive or passive aggressive

Your "tighter" appearance can cause others to feel threatened. It can get difficult in the workplace when your line manager, a compulsive over-eater, begins to frequently verbalizes his athletic accomplishments - something that never happened before your began the myfitnesspal journey.

I've noticed a lot of people telling me not to lose any more weight. I am not underweight and know I usually feel better with another 10 lbs off. But it's just weird that people either feel self-conscious or if they don't like me being smaller than I was, or if they've only known me while I was at my heaviest? I've come across 3 people now who actively tell me "not to lose anymore weight".
I've lost 27 lbs in 4 months on carnivore and feel great.

sollyn23l2 wrote: »

mae1658 wrote: »

I've noticed a lot of people telling me not to lose any more weight. I am not underweight and know I usually feel better with another 10 lbs off. But it's just weird that people either feel self-conscious or if they don't like me being smaller than I was, or if they've only known me while I was at my heaviest? I've come across 3 people now who actively tell me "not to lose anymore weight".
I've lost 27 lbs in 4 months on carnivore and feel great.

I don't know. 1 person saying don't lose more weight... I'd say just shrug it off, they're not used to seeing you smaller. But 3? That would give me pause. But I can't say, because I don't know your stats nor can I see how thin you are. So, in the end, do what works for you.

I'm 5'8" and 33yrs old. Starting weight was 167 and I'm now 140lbs. I was 123lbs back about 5 years ago, I'm only planning on trying to get to 130 or so as I know I feel my best around that weight. I carry more in my hips. I've taken measurements, and I've lost 13.5 inches overall, pretty evenly from all over (waist, hips, thigh, arms, chest). I would say I'm leaner now, but not underweight.

@mae1658 As long as you feel good and there are no concerns other than a few comments, I wouldn’t worry about it. I think we are all so used to seeing overweight/obese people that a lot of us don’t even know what a normal, healthy human being looks like. I always notice this when I look at photos from the 1970’s or earlier… everyone looks ridiculously thin, but that used to be the norm. Our perception is severely skewed I think.

4Aon wrote: »

Waking up to the feeling of an empty stomach somehow hits the "I did it again! Yeah" button.

Agreed! It’s an accomplishment to wake up feeling a normal hunger for breakfast rather than being bloated and uncomfortable from eating too much the night before. It reminds me of alcohol in that eating too much gives me a “hangover,” but if I do it too often my body will still crave the extra food even though I feel awful in the morning.

I previously had an issue with getting stomach pain when I was hungry. It made me extremely averse to ever letting myself get hungry. Turns out I had gastritis caused by too many NSAID medications. Now that my migraines are under control, I don’t have to take them and my stomach has healed. I don’t get painful hunger anymore, just normal hunger. It’s still a challenge to remind myself that it’s OK to get hungry. I don’t have to overeat to stop the pain.

Trying to lose weight - again... all members of my household are eating out-of-control portions & Candy. Even special runs at night for candy bars. I have to be strong and eat what I know is going to help me lose these 100 pounds. Not partaking of the candy bars. Write down everything I eat so I see where I might be slipping. Try to figure out why one day I am down and the next day up. I do drink all the fluids. At this stage, due to a damaged lung from Covid and a knee that needs Ortho work, I am not getting workouts. But, I am starting to walk a bit more.

DonaStrong wrote: »

Trying to lose weight - again... all members of my household are eating out-of-control portions & Candy. Even special runs at night for candy bars. I have to be strong and eat what I know is going to help me lose these 100 pounds. Not partaking of the candy bars. Write down everything I eat so I see where I might be slipping. Try to figure out why one day I am down and the next day up. I do drink all the fluids. At this stage, due to a damaged lung from Covid and a knee that needs Ortho work, I am not getting workouts. But, I am starting to walk a bit more.

@DonaStrong, that part (bolded) is 100% normal. If the overall trend (multi-week) is downward, you're doing great.

If you want to figure out some of the reasons, this thread (especially the article linked in the first post) is really informative, IMO:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

springlering62 wrote: »

I7300 wrote: »

The Body Dysmorphia is real, and looking in the mirror or photos I can't help but still see the bigger version of me.. Even though I've gone down a size in clothes, and I'm sure clothes don't lie !

Some work colleagues (especially those who say they are trying to lose weight but clearly aren't) get envious and then love to make backhanded comments about the weightloss, or be nasty towards you.

Being treated different in society, for me I just get more elderly people (mostly women!) talk to me 😂.
But the opposite sex (who aren't pensioners haha) never approach me, so that doesn't help my confidence 🙃.

But it's not all doom and gloom, being able to have more energy to do activities you couldn't do before is a bonus, and not feeling pain in the body because you're lighter!

Body dysmorphia can tear its ugly head, even in maintenance, with small weight gains or other events.

I’ve been in maintenance nearly four years now.

I’m in the process of whittling down, sorting and moving 30,000 family photos to a new device. It’s taken dozens of hours over the course of the past few weeks. I’m shocked to see that I was overweight far longer than I’d thought. I had fooled myself for so long. I find myself resting on photos with me in it, criticizing that person and wondering how “she” could justify letting herself go for so long, ashamed at her appearance, and how she could let her family down like that.

I’m far harder on myself in the third person viewing than I would be on a random person on the street. At least I’d have empathy for that person, ya know?

Being immersed in these “fat” photos, along with a few pounds temporary water weight gain from an injury, I find myself looking at, if not fat, a larger woman in the mirror. I know it’s temporary (the swelling’s finally going down a bit) but I am overwhelmed at how easily my brain can fall back in to old, self critical, self deceitful views of myself.

And yet I know, this too shall pass. I’m still on plan, undereating if truth be told, due to anxiety. This is my brain tricking me, my beautiful body healing rather than swelling to mock me.

But it’s interesting as well. Body dysmorphia is a total mind f*** at any time.

True that to the body dysmorphia... When I was at my heaviest and slightly in the overweight BMI category (and for my wedding), I didn't think anything of it and thought I looked fine. Now that I've dropped close to 30 lbs and am in the middle of the "normal" BMI I feel like I'm overweight. It's the struggle with trying to identify when you're having an "irrational" thought about your weight, and it's hard.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Thought about this while I was putting clean dishes away: No one told me that my plate/bowl preferences would change, and that shopping for them (when I need replacements) would be mildly challenging.

I know it's a mind trick, but I find that smaller plates give my smaller portions psychologically more impact. Therefore, plate-wise I'm mostly using what manufacturers call salad plates or appetizer plates, not usually dinner plates.

For bowls, it's actually hard to find bowls that don't make a reasonable serving of ice cream look like a chihuahua in the bottom of an empty swimming pool. Usually they're called "dessert bowls", but even some of those are kind of big.

I've had excellent luck buying smaller, yet still very beautiful, dishes from Japan. As long as you stay away from the ramen bowls, you can find some very reasonably sized dishes that suit very well. I also have some small Chinese dishes I use for everything from dips to single servings of nuts.

No one told me about the huge amount of conflicting advice that is available online regarding weightloss.

mkksemail wrote: »

WeimingLi2979 wrote: »

No one told me about the huge amount of conflicting advice that is available online regarding weightloss.

LOL ... but, right!?! *no* joke on that score!! What did you choose?
Hi fat, or low fat?
High protein, or low protein?
Carnivore, or Vegan?
Snacks every 2 hours, or Time Restricted Eating?
Mediterranean, or Pescatarian?
I can't even think of the other choices right now. lol

Oh, track WW points, carbs, fibers, protein grabs, ounces of water, mg of sodium, something else?

There are experts that says that the key to weightloss is CICO (Calories in Calories Out) but there are also experts (I think the most famous now is Dr Jason Fung) that says that it is not feasible because our body will get used to the calorie deficit and then cancel it out eventually. He recommends intermittent fasting instead.

I tried the 16/8 intermittent fasting but I couldn't do it. While others reported higher energy levels, more focus and whatnot. My body started shaking due to low blood sugar at around the 12-hour mark. I couldn't focus on doing anything.

My diet at the current moment is protein (50%), carbs (30%) and Fats (20%) and at about 500 caloric deficit (I do not track religiously though). More natural food and less processed food. I didn't follow any specific diet such as keto, carnivore etc.

I eat about 3 times a day. (Again some experts says to eat 5-6 times but some experts say our bodies are not meant to be eating so many times a day. ) hahaha

I walk at least 5000 steps 4 times a week. Light resistance training 3 times a week.

Started at about 88kg in April. Now I am at 81kg. I used to have many health-related problems such as heat rash, heartburn, mild hypertension and snoring. After changing my diet, surprisingly most of it is gone. My BP has gone down from 145 to 130.

Honestly, I just follow the advice that I am comfortable with. Things that I know I can do long-term and on a consistent basis. I know I cannot avoid carbs because I am Asian. I need my rice and noodles. lol

Ultimately, I just try to listen to my body because everybody is built different.

takinitalloff wrote: »

WeimingLi2979 wrote: »

Ultimately, I just try to listen to my body because everybody is built different.

This right here is what it all boils down to, in my opinion. Having experimented with various ways of eating, I know there are at least two different versions that work well for me; and a few others that don't. I think that many of the people we consider "experts" are recommending what worked for them -- which may or may not work for the next person.

B B B BBbbbbbbingo!

I enjoy candy.
My life would be much sadder if I had to restrict myself to no sugar at all ever.

I also am physically disabled and either rely on someone else to cook for me (most of my meals) or prepackaged convenience food. Including microwave meals and canned goods.
There is a good reason my diary is private. I am not open to comments about my personal choices to eat. And I know that I am not a good example for others who don’t have to rely on such things.

Everyone is different. Physically, mentally, medically, motivationally, and temperamentally. There really are a huge number of choices.

What distinguishes the successful long timers here from those who are here for a few weeks or months is that they have dialed in what works best for them Often after some trials and revisions.