Weight loss journey

I’m down 20 pounds in my weight loss journey, with at least 65 more to go. I’m doing Weight Watchers for the 2nd time, because it worked for me before. I had trouble sticking with it due to mental health reasons towards the end the initial covid lockdown.

Hoping to get it to stick this time!

7 Likes

So it’s been a struggle but as of today I’m down 30lbs as of December.

That sounds like allot but in November I was up to my heaviest I’ve ever been around 375lbs and my Bp was getting dangerously high even maxed out on my medications.

My sugars are relatively controlled around 80-90 most days and my A1C is down to 5.1 which is the lowest it’s been in years.

My BP is still high and that’s concerning but nothing I can do about that today.

I had to cut caffeine for my heart which was rough. I’ve been off caffeine entirely for 3 months now with nothing but my morning decaf coffee as a ritual.

To cut weight I went on a partial liquid diet cutting my morning and afternoon meals into protein shakes and low carb high protein or fiber snacks. For my own sanity I haven’t cut dinner as a solid meal but I’ve cut my portions to less than 16 oz of food total for that meal and try to eat at least 3 hours before bed so I’m not going to sleep with a large meal.

Part of the liquid diet is that I’ve been in a program to lose weight and get approved for gastric bypass as I’ve been on GLP1s for a bit over a year with minimal long term success. In some of the testing I have been diagnosed with fatty liver and will have to go through a 2 week liquid diet leading into the surgery. This made me realize I wouldn’t succeed if I just waited till the surgery and I changed some habits which have been hard so I can get used to drinking my meals.

I’ve also cut alcohol but I don’t drink much anyway so that was an easy sacrifice.

This all sounds simple to do but gosh darn is it hard in practice. It’s all so I can go on rollercoasters with my son and stay around longer for my kids.

Lots more work to do. 340lbs is still problematic and my heart still doesn’t like it so I got to drop way more before I can declare success.

My average breakfast cause long post feels strange for me

Who else is doing well on their weight loss goals in this new year?

11 Likes

Super pumped for you. I’m also working on losing weight and definitely understand the huge challenge that it can be. Stick with it, you’re awesome and I appreciate the motivation.

3 Likes

Congrats! That’s a HUGE accomplishment!

1 Like

Wishing everyone the best of luck in their weight loss journey!

Here’s some useful advice, the goal is to lose 10-15% of your body weight in about 6 months. Try to exercice at least 5 times a week for a minimum of 40 minutes, in order not to lose a lot of muscle mass (it’s inevitable but try to minimise it).
I would recommend fast paced walks and lifting weights.
Remember to stay hydrated, that water plays a huge role in your weight and that whatever you read on the scale is determined by a lot of factors.
The best way to track your progress is by measuring bodyfat and your BMI.

Have you ever heard of the yoyo effect related to obesity? Here’s a fun fact!
Gaining weight and losing it after becomes harder and harder if it occurs repeatedly as fibrosis occurs in adipose tissue and fat cells. Thus, the goal is to lose weight progressively over a reasonable amount of time as early as you can and to try to keep the curb steady!

I hope that this medical advice helps you in your journey!

2 Likes

I’m very happy for you, Brandon! glad to hear you’re doing a little better, I’m sure it’s very tough.

I’ve still been working on gaining weight. I’ve been gaining it well enough but then I just get taller, so my BMI hasn’t really changed, still 14.4…

only somewhat related, but I’ve gotta go see a geneticist soon–turns out I probably have Marfan Syndrome, but they’d like to find out for sure, all fun stuff…

not to make this about myself, though… best of luck in your journey, Brandon! :wink:

2 Likes

If you don’t already have a lot of muscle I wouldn’t expect you to lose muscle while losing weight if you start training at the same time, probably would still make gains.

Real, when I started my fitness journey I couldn’t do a single proper pushup… few years later and I bust out 30 every morning as part of my warmup :muscle:

4 Likes

Strong legs weak arms on me.

Like I said, it’s inevitable. It’s going to happen.
You cannot just lose bodyfat while retaining your muscle mass :man_shrugging: Or at least this is what they taught us in medschool.

Yes you will have more muscular cells if you do resistance training, therefore a higher base metabolism and more energetic needs if that is what you are saying.

1 Like

So last few weeks I’ve been sick and miserable and my motivation to be active has been minimal but I’ve maintained and even still lost a few pounds since last update which with lower activity but still low carb and calorie intake isn’t terrible. Big thing is regardless of the scale my waist size has shrunk and I can see it in my clothes.

I put a suit on to check it still fits before this weekend and it’s a bit baggy on me. My largest clothes are about to be pulled out of rotation and I’ll keep one as a reminder of where I was to wear I’m going.

How’s everyone else doing?

7 Likes

In my own experience… it was letting go of alcohol and a drastic reduction in food intake that made the difference. I am at the point now where I eat so much less than I used to eat but it satisfies me… and that’s the key. It may be difficult to keep up with what you are doing right now, but eventually your body will adjust. You’ve already seen the results in an overall positive effect and the lower intake hasn’t caused you to become unhealthy… quite the opposite. It gets easier until the point that it feels normal. Slow and steady weight loss is the way to go. It didn’t get there overnight. Love ya brother, I’m so glad to hear you’re making progress. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

3 Likes

I’ve been doing pretty bad, and have been trying to get back on track. Lots of work stress, following up on the holidays has not been helpful. Winter in general is also hard for me.

3 Likes