Weight Loss Motivation

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yurble
I'm trying fasting, not especially for weight loss but because I'm curious about how it focuses the mind. It turns out it is also great for weightloss (no surprise, right?).

I tried fasting( low income as my motivation at the time) I fasted with nothing but water for 52 days, it was hell, I didn't lose any weight, I didn't lose even a centermeter, all I could think about was food, what I wish I was eating, what I'd kill to be able to eat, smells were INTENSE, life felt without meaning, and I was on edge constantly while also being lethargic.

Once I could afford food again, (basic food, like a slice of bread and a cheap pack of instant noodles at first, then an actual samwhich daily) my body held onto everything I put into it, I gained 30kgs in a year after having two vbouts of fasting for 52 days roughly each time.

If your gunna fast you might want to view this video first to weigh up if its worth it for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RehCW0KM8RM

I won't fast more than 3 days at a time without medical supervision.

I guess stress really works on my waistline. I thought I ate all the calories while "vacationing" at a family reunion, but now I see that while I was gone I dropped just below the normal/overweight BM dividing line. I feel conflicted about it because I wasn't consciously trying, and all the effort I put into it in my normal life yields zero results, or infinitesimally slow results.
Bought my first pair of size 6 pants and they fit well, no muffin top. So I dug into the back of my drawer where my "motivational" sizes are lurking, and they all fit good.
Challenge: not backsliding! And feeling the aftereffects of so much family contact, my will power is LOW.
AND... another visit with some family coming up next weekend. Wish I was in a better place mentally. Too much family time lately...

I'm down to 164 from my starting weight of 205 last year when I started. It's been a slow-going road, but I guess that's not a bad thing. I've let go of the "sense of urgency" I had in the beginning. I've been getting sober (from alcohol) and trying to learn to live a more balanced life in many aspects so the weight thing went a tiny bit on the back burner. The weight loss is still happening but slowly. It just isn't my number one focus at the moment.

Edit: I know I can tell you guys this and you won't judge me hard. I didn't stay completely abstinent from alcohol, but I have decided that if and when I do drink, I want it to be rare and not to excess. I don't believe in the "you're powerless" mantra of AA, and I wasn't that far gone with my drinking yet in any case. I just noticed that my behaviors with booze were bothering me and I wanted to cut back a great deal. I was a "glass of wine a day" person for awhile, and it morphed into a glass of wine and a shot of vodka because of work related stress. I caught myself being kind of like my parents in using booze to self-medicate, and realized I was replacing one unhealthy coping mechanism, overeating, with another, drinking more than I should. So now my goal is to moderate and only drink alcohol on special occasions, and when I do, being extremely diligent not to overdo it, meaning stopping when I'm pleasantly tipsy rather than getting outright drunk.

That being said, I wanted to highly recommend an awesome weight-loss book called Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss. The author is a registered dietitian and fitness coach, but she doesn't condescend or boss you around. It's about slowly working over time to change your habits, one at a time, to make it so you eventually just have habits that support weight loss and maintenance. Working the habits is getting me out of the plateau I'd hit all summer. And I'm not counting calories (although I use the label as a guide to help me make a decision about what to eat), and nothing is necessarily "off limits." Basically the entire time I've been fat, I've wondered how skinny people can sometimes eat junk food and still be skinny. This book sort of breaks that down for you and busts a lot of myths and misconceptions. It's a really cool and enlightening read if you're looking not just to drop weight but learn how to also keep it off in a sustainable, livable way where you won't feel like you're starving all the time or being deprived of anything. I've lost a few more pounds since I started working the habits. I'm down to 161 now.

Now I'm dealing with my sweet and well-meaning but misguided husband showing some resistance to the change. He says I look good where I'm at and he thinks I should stop. It took him until just now to really notice the changes in my body since we see each other every day. Since I'm still technically obese, I'm simply not ready to stop losing weight yet. I thought initially since he's a bit chubby (and not even chubby enough for most Americans to consider him fat) he might feel like if I got to be proportionally slimmer than him that I'd feel like I deserve a more slim mate. He claims he wouldn't be worried about that. I guess he's worried that I'll go too far and get too thin. He's going through some shit with his family right now so I don't argue with him, I just tell him that I've got this, and I won't let myself get starvingly thin or develop anorexia or anything. It's somewhat annoying but I suppose it could be worse. I was always grateful that he never pushed me to lose weight or be a certain way in any case.

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cosmictraveler
He says I look good where I'm at and he thinks I should stop. It took him until just now to really notice the changes in my body since we see each other every day. Since I'm still technically obese, I'm simply not ready to stop losing weight yet. I thought initially since he's a bit chubby (and not even chubby enough for most Americans to consider him fat) he might feel like if I got to be proportionally slimmer than him that I'd feel like I deserve a more slim mate. He claims he wouldn't be worried about that. I guess he's worried that I'll go too far and get too thin.

If he brings it up, perhaps emphasize on how the weight loss makes you feel, rather than look? That you have more energy or it is easier to climb steps .... and also the positive aspects: lower your risk of diabetes, blood pressure, reduce the chance of vascular issues down the road.

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Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss.

I'm going to check that out. I need to lose weight, but I'm not really going for the look, but the health. I'm at the age where I'm being given pills to correct issues such as getting my blood pressure down. It's like the doctor is thinking "middle age lady, just like all the rest. If she'd just adopt a healthier lifeststyle, but I know she won't..." so she gives me a script for Lisinoprol. I never thought I'd reach that point in life, looking and acting like other middle age women, but here I am. It sucks

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Dorisan

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cosmictraveler
He says I look good where I'm at and he thinks I should stop. It took him until just now to really notice the changes in my body since we see each other every day. Since I'm still technically obese, I'm simply not ready to stop losing weight yet. I thought initially since he's a bit chubby (and not even chubby enough for most Americans to consider him fat) he might feel like if I got to be proportionally slimmer than him that I'd feel like I deserve a more slim mate. He claims he wouldn't be worried about that. I guess he's worried that I'll go too far and get too thin.

If he brings it up, perhaps emphasize on how the weight loss makes you feel, rather than look? That you have more energy or it is easier to climb steps .... and also the positive aspects: lower your risk of diabetes, blood pressure, reduce the chance of vascular issues down the road.

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Lean Habits for Lifelong Weight Loss.

I'm going to check that out. I need to lose weight, but I'm not really going for the look, but the health. I'm at the age where I'm being given pills to correct issues such as getting my blood pressure down. It's like the doctor is thinking "middle age lady, just like all the rest. If she'd just adopt a healthier lifeststyle, but I know she won't..." so she gives me a script for Lisinoprol. I never thought I'd reach that point in life, looking and acting like other middle age women, but here I am. It sucks

Yeah, with the husband I can tell he sees that I feel better and am more fit, can do a lot of things more easily, etc. and he knows my health will be better as a result. He gets that part of it and seems happy for me that my confidence and abilities have increased. After thinking it over, I really think there has to be some latent insecurity on his part since he's a bit overweight too, an insecurity he is in complete denial about, but it's not my problem. He maintains that he doesn't have a fat fetish, and I believe him. His high school crush was thinner than me by miles, for example, so I think it's a bit of insecurity, even if he won't cop to it. My health is really important, and so I'm not going to waver. He married a strong woman so I won't be swayed. If he has a genuine fear of me "going too far" and developing an anorectic disorder, that's so unreasonable and illogical. It's like he's watched too many after-school specials on eating disorders.

I didn't just marry him because I was fat at the time. There's that whole being in love and compatible personalities thing after all. He's quite good looking, and his amount of overweight is not severe. He's pretty conscious about not getting bigger so the fact that he's chubby doesn't bother me. For me it would become a problem for me if he fucked up his health with it or if he got so big we couldn't do normal things together anymore, sexual and other fun activities, and I would have a talk with him and offer to help remedy the situation, and I still wouldn't leave him over it. Either way as of now he doesn't show the telltale signs that he's going to pack on the pounds. He's maintained at the same weight for years. My honest thought is that if I don't bug him about his weight, he shouldn't bug me about mine. I hope this won't cause any conflict, but I'm not going to get and stay fat to appease anyone. If it comes down to it, I will lay down the law and remind him that nowhere in my wedding vows did I say I promise to be fat, and if he doesn't like it it's kind of his thing to sort out and figure out why it bothers him. My bodily autonomy is not something I'm willing to sacrifice for anyone else. He's a great guy but this issue kinda drives me bananas, even though we never really "fight" about it. He just kind of whines about it.

Dorisan, I think you can get your health back on track by adopting a healthier lifestyle. Surprise the hell outta your doctor, it'll be fun! The no-nonsense but sustainable and step-by-step approach in the book is really helpful to a lot of people. What helps is it's something you can live with, it's not just a temporary and dramatic change which is overwhelming, but something you can break down and do easily, so I highly recommend it. Honestly at this point even though I'm still young, it's more about health for me too. I would prefer not to end up being elderly before my time. I have hopes of being one of those old crones who's oddly spry for her age and that everyone's vaguely afraid of because they're not sure what I'll be up to next.

Update on my husband: He has seemed to chill out about my weight loss and not whinge about it anymore, which is good. We have few issues. He's a cool CF dude and I love him so I'm glad this hasn't created much drama. He has "accidentally" lost some himself and has built a good deal of upper body muscle from his physical job, and he seems to be pleased. He just kind of noticed that his clothes were getting looser on him and from some photos that his shoulders and arms look more "cut." And I think he enjoys that (as he should - and I do too). He is appreciating the fact that since my weight loss, my libido is much higher and I want sex a lot more, so he gets a lot of nookie. That and my moods are generally better (at my highest weight I could be a grump - I just didn't feel well at all). So I think seeing that I'm in a better place mentally and physically because of the weight loss, and the fact that I'm not going anywhere, have chilled him out a bit. That and I point-blank told him that his whining was annoying me and making me feel guilty even though I shouldn't feel any guilt over taking better care of myself. I think it made him realize that he wasn't necessarily in the right about those feelings, and hey, we all have irrational feelings from time to time. That's why they're calling "feelings" and not "logic."

About my alcohol consumption, I'm pleased to report that thus far, I've been able to mostly abstain. I've enjoyed a few glasses of beer or wine here and there and have managed to quit before I got drunk. One of the times I got close to mildly tipsy (New Year's Eve) and decided I was good at that point and didn't want to drink more because I wanted to wake up feeling refreshed the next day since I had plans with a friend to hang out during the day. I haven't drank since NYE and don't feel the pull to do so any time soon. This little experience is really making me doubt the whole disease model of addiction in any way, although I know total abstinence is the best way to go for some people. But the fact that I've showed myself that I'm capable of moderation in this area is really encouraging to me.

My weight mostly maintained for months (didn't gain over the holidays, yippeeeeeeee!), and has just recently started to go down again. I got back into some patterns of binge eating and wasn't sure why, but reading a couple of good books on the subject helped me understand some common behavioral patterns and how I can actively address them. So now I've been more into learning habits and moderation. I was starting to feel like a crazy person counting every calorie, feeling deprived, and then finding myself having eaten an entire container of calorie-dense junk food du jour and wondering what happened. I do want to keep working on my weight loss and body composition but I decided that I want to address the actual behaviors and mental roadblocks I have which lead to dysfunctional and out of control eating. I'm focusing now on learning how to eat intuitively but sensibly, using logic, reason, and self-love. I think intuitive style eating backfires on people because we confuse intuitive eating with "go hog wild." "Permission to eat" becomes, "permission to eat everything in the Universe in one sitting." It's probably the result of years of negative self-talk and deprivation.

Basically I'm using my body's feedback to determine what and how much I'll eat. I'll allow treats but remember that an abundance of treat-food makes me feel nasty and that eating in a way that gives me a powerful punch of nutrient-dense fuel is much more satisfying anyway. Learning what true hunger is, and that it's not actually an emergency, has been great in helping me reframe my relationship with food and making peace with this whole process. I can go hungry for hours if a situation gets me in a bind with no food (or desirable food that I'd actually want to eat and not just some nasty junk that I don't actually like, like vending machine food) around, and I just try to take my mind off it by reading or listening to podcasts or something until I can get home to the kitchen, or to a restaurant or food store where I can get something actually tasty and nourishing.

I may not get pencil thin doing any of this stuff, but I am hoping that I'll get down to a normal BMI eventually. I do enjoy this way much more than strict dieting and then feeling like a shark-monster who wants to devour every morsel in sight.

Checking in because I've lost about 35 pounds. I've got a BMI of 21.3 (plus or minus a tenth of a point or two depending on food/water/salt intake, time of the month, etc.) Still have about 17 more pounds of fat to lose in order to get an 18.5 BMI, after which point I plan on gaining a few pounds of muscle. I'm trying to get back into running after a long, cold winter while continuing my strength training. I have also developed a strong liking for tea. So much tea, all the time. It's amazing.

I may have some stretchmarks around my midsection, hips, and rear due to puberty and poor nutrition in childhood (seriously, my parents fed me instant ramen for several years), but I think that they have faded and will eventually become unimportant once I get good muscle tone and a flat stomach (sooooooo close! I can almost taste it!)

I think that my journey of taking care of my body really plays a part in my childfreedom. I think that a flat stomach is a sign of health and never having children due to the prevalence of the "dad bod" for men and the fact that a woman's stomach muscles literally separate to make room for the fetus and generally don't go back where they started.

I am pretty self-conscious about my collection of fading scars and stretch marks, but I am learning to feel more confident in myself by gaining strength and being able to run, and I could never do that if I were taking care of sproggen.

Congrats to those who have lost weight!

Still struggling here. Just quit my birth control in a last-ditch attempt to lose the pounds that have steadily piled on in the last few years. Counting calories religiously and exercising 6 days a week doesn't seem to be having any effect whatsoever. My hiatal hernia is causing such severe acid reflux that my stomach burns constantly, causing me to eat more than usual to stop the pain. I also have chronic constipation, which makes me FEEL like a bloated tick and adds ~5 lbs to the scale. Oh, and I turned 30 a year ago which supposedly spells disaster for one's metabolism. I haven't been this big in over a decade. Blah.

On the bright side, I'm having hernia surgery before the year is up, which will shrink my stomach and (hopefully) lead to weight loss. So there's that!

Hard to care about weight when you're in pain, if eating reduces that pain. I don't know if it would help, but maybe you can try to make what you eat very low-calorie stuff, like plain vegetables. The medication I used to take for my period-relating cramping had to be eaten with lots of food and I remember forcing myself to eat lots, when I didn't want to, to avoid the stomach cramps that would come if I didn't. It sure didn't help my weight, teaching myself to eat when I didn't want to.

I need to lose about 5 more kilos. I've found the only thing that works for me is going extremely low on calories. I can eat three meals a day stuffed with vegetables and I'll only maintain. It takes some time to figure out what works for your body. For me, exercise seems to be about condition and doesn't affect weight, not like reducing my intake does. For a lot of people it is carbs, although for me it isn't. When you feel better, try tweaking your diet in various ways to figure out what you need. It took me years before I hit on the right combination for me, and that was after seeing three dietitians and two doctors, none of whom could figure it out.

I've lost around ten pounds in the last two and a half months, simply by cutting out the snacks and stopping sugar. I didn't even realize it until I tried on a dress that used to be too tight on me, and now it fits beautifully. I eat a light breakfast, lunch and then a healthy dinner. Afterwards, no snacks or dessert. I don't even crave sugar anymore, and eating lighter has made me feel much, much better. I've cut my portion sizes down considerably, and only cook with healthy fats...and that is rare, as I prefer not to cook with much fat at all.

I still enjoy food, but smaller portions and cutting out the junk has done wonders for my waistline - and my husband's. He's lost weight too, and is feeling a lot better.

As the weather warms up, I'll be eating a whole lot more fresh fruits, veggies, salads and other things, and meats will be a rare treat. I am a meat and potatoes gal, but prefer not to eat heavy meals in the heat.

Also, the house keeps me much busier and more physically active, and I'm moving around a lot more. It's amazing what some moderate housework / yardwork will do for one's physical strength and health!

Well, I had a terrible health scare, that wound up to be nothing in the end. My anxiety got the best of me and I quit eating for awhile, and dropped even more weight. I'm slowly getting back into eating again, but I want to maintain what I've lost, simply because I feel much better being leaner. I've decided that once per week I'm going to eat nothing but greens and fruits all day, and eat very lean proteins like fish and chicken breast for lunch and dinner during the rest of the week. Once in awhile I do plan on enjoying a roast or steak, simply because I love those foods and I crave the nutrients from red meats.

My husband has lost weight as well, because he was worried, and because the meals I was preparing were much lighter and more veggie filled than normal. I've discovered that I love veggies more than anything, and chilled fresh fruits are perfect for cooling off on a hot day. For the first time in my life, I'm craving broccoli, cauliflower, fresh beans and snap peas, oranges and watermelon. I steam the veggies in the microwave with just a touch of butter and salt, and serve. They are amazingly delicious.

My aunt, who has been there for me through the entire thing, is also teaching me how to can, freeze and prepare foods well in advance so that I can just have them handy and ready for when I need them. She's been bringing me blueberries, canned and fresh, cranberries and canned apples. She's going to show me how she does it, because she also had a health scare awhile back and wants to teach me some healthy eating tricks.

My husband has been thrilled with all of the positive healthy eating changes we've made, even if he was worried that I'd not been eating for a couple of weeks. I promised him that I'm going to get back on the wagon again, and make sure that I have a balanced breakfast, small lunch and healthy dinner from now on.

Guys, as of now I'm only 15 lbs. from being at the top of a normal BMI for my height (5'0" and 127 lbs. would be the top weight I could be to be considered a normal weight on the BMI). 15 pounds. Holy shit. I had the hardest time with this weight loss thing, but I damn slayed it. It took a lot of work and two years of mental reprogramming. I have had a few setbacks along the way, but I got through them. I learned how to change my habits and not just what I eat, but how I eat and how I relate to food and fitness. My relationship with food is way more normal than it's ever been. I still enjoy food and consider myself something of a "foodie" in that I like to cook and also enjoy finer foods, but it's in its proper "place" in relation to the rest of my life. It basically piques my interest when I'm hungry and then fades quietly to the background once I'm satisfied, whereas before I was thinking about food 24/7. I think I used it like a drug, to be honest.

I also work out 5 days a week now. I'm trying things I never thought I would try and getting way more fit. I'm starting to have visible definition in my muscles. I won't be concerned about losing more fat once I get to the normal BMI, but I will keep working on my body composition because it just feels really cool and I feel sexy as fuck building my muscles. As a huge bonus, my husband has chilled out about my weight loss. I think he sees me enjoying the fitness aspect of it and reaping benefits of feeling well, and also sees that now that I'm down in weight my health is better and I get more horny and want to jump his bones all the time (when I was at my heaviest, sex had turned into a chore because I didn't feel well most of the time, my libido was really low and I had to will myself into it because I didn't want to live in a sexless marriage). I did kind of have to put my foot down on his resistance at one point. We literally had no other relationship issues besides his resistance to and whining about my weight loss. Once I laid it all down he realized he was being a dork about it and now that he sees the positives he doesn't complain anymore. He knows he married a headstrong woman and that I'ma do what I want (within reason, lol). Relationships require work and we are in a great place now.

EDIT: I don't drink much, and this is not something I have to put a lot of effort into. I find that my workouts provide the stress relief I was hitting up the booze for. Now when I do drink, it's not much, and the couple of times I've overdone it a little I found the after-effects to be unpleasant enough that I now have it pretty reigned in. I have alcohol maybe once a month now and don't even drink enough to get much more than a mild buzz most of the time. Pretty good to go from thinking I might be an alcoholic to not even wanting alcohol most of the time.

I'm now fitting into a size six. All I did was cut out most of my sugars, carbs and eat more lean proteins and a LOT of fresh veggies and salads. I have so much energy, that it's almost over the top. I've never felt better. When I was a size 18, I never thought I'd ever see the day I'd get into pants this small. I've had to go out clothes shopping, because nothing is fitting me anymore.

My husband is taking me out to get fitted for a new bra, and buying me some matching panties for my birthday. Everything is too big, and I'm not even sure of my bra size anymore.

All I know is that I'm feeling healthy, attractive and confident. I've never felt better in my LIFE!

ETA: I'm never getting big again, so I've decided to take my larger sized clothing and donate it to my local battered women's shelter. My clothes are in beautiful shape and look like brand new stuff. If I can't use it, I might as well give it to women in need.

I guess I'm gonna be joining this club, as I was recently diagnosed with a somewhat fatty liver. And here I thought I was making some progress over the last couple months. I quit eating lunch entirely and almost never eat snacks anymore and was attempting some light exercise, though my weight still keeps waffling around between 265 and 275. I'm in a lot of godawful pain right now and pretty much can't do even the slightest physical activity (even breathing is painful) and I don't know how long I'm gonna be this way, so it's gonna have to be exclusively dieting. As a small aside, I've had a barrage of tests done to rule out life-threatening causes of the pain and it's been deemed muscular in nature after CT and VG scans came back normal.

Maybe I have made some progress. I normally take a size 22 in jeans and most 22s fall off me now, and a shirt that fit me like sausage casing in the spring now fits me a bit more normally. All I know is the scale says the same thing and I can't have made much of a dent if my liver is all screwy and I still weigh the same.

Plus, I have no idea how to effectively diet when my mother is such a control freak and does the cooking. I really do not want her riding my ass and dictating every single crumb that goes in my mouth. She stresses me out enough as it is and I don't feel like adding even more stress to my life. If I just eat less, she'll ask why I'm not eating as much and/or throw a fit that she made so much food and will have to throw it out since I won't eat it.

Well, I inadvertently wound up in this club over the past year. I've had to cut carbs fairly drastically (A1C lvl was headed the wrong way). Weight loss was not the goal, but it sure happened. I have lost over 45 pounds in the last year, most of it between Dec 2018 and June 2019. It's tapered off a bit since and I'm just maintaining, but I am definitely happy with the results. I have bad knees and feet, but losing weight did lessen those issues a bit. Have to get new clothes; current jeans are falling off me w/o a belt. Things that were too snug are fitting normally or a bit big now.

I'd like to continue shrinking if possible...right now it looks like I'll have to control portions a bit, or exercise more. I mostly have been focusing on cutting obvious carbs and eating mostly vegetables and protein. I also think whatever I lose now will happen more gradually, which is fine. As I said before, shrinking was not the goal. It was just improving some lab numbers. But I certainly feel better in terms of energy, sleep quality, joint comfort, etc.

Hopefully I can keep this up.

Way to go Random! That's awesome. Glad to hear your aches and pains are lessened too. I did gain a fair amount of weight again due to a medication I was put on, but since taking myself off of nearly all the drugs, my weight stabilized and I've lost a few pounds.

I always try to put mostly veg on my plate and then protein, followed by some carbs. I love carbs unfortunately. I make a killer fried rice, lol. I'm happy with what I have lost over the past six months, and I'd like to continue on that track. My weight has been a continued struggle due to a lot of the medications I was placed on unnecessarily. I'm hoping to get my metabolism back to normal eventually.

Thanks M06B. I plan to keep working with my doctor on this. I have an annual checkup coming kinda soon, so we'll see how my lab numbers look. I've also noticed my heartburn is just about gone. Not sure if it's the lack of carbs or the weight loss. Probably both.

I am sticking very closely to the "At least 50 percent of your plate is veg" rule. Then I'll add a little fruit (fructose is still a carb) sometimes. I've been making very good use of our Instant Pot for batch-cooking beans, and the produce delivery company makes having a decent supply of veggies pretty easy. I don't completely deny myself those tasty, tasty carbs because for me that's a surefire recipe for disaster. I have the occasional packet of M&Ms or slice of toast.

Exercise has been harder to do in the winter when it's cold, dark, wet, etc. I am not afraid of weather and am practical about just putting on outerwear and going on with life, but this winter I've been a bit of a fair weather hiker. So I am walking in town more and just trying to work in some small stuff like taking stairs instead of elevator/escalator, taking transit instead of driving, etc. I've actually kind of stopped trying to find "good" parking spaces sometimes...I mumble, "walking is good for me" and take whatever space and hop out of the car. We do live within walking distance of a good grocery store, so I'm trying to get back in the habit of taking my daypack and a couple bags and doing food shopping that way.

ETA: I totally hear you about loving carbs. I miss baking. I make a mean pad thai. I love me some deep dish pizza. I'd utterly fail at Atkins (if only because I'm a vegetarian and that diet's very animal product -intensive). I like having the occasional carb for sure! I just try to remind myself how much better my digestive system is doing and that needing an entirely new wardrobe is a good problem to have, in a way.

Been losing weight at the pace of a glacier, but I'm down almost 90 pounds since I started. Still have 50 more to go once I hit my short-term goal, but it's more road behind me than in front of me. The only bad thing is the skin apron I've been left with. It's not down to my knees or anything, but I still hate it. Unfortunately, it's the kind of thing that I think is too flabby to fix with exercise and I can't afford a tummy tuck either. That, and I've got flying squirrel arms that make me too ashamed to wear a tanktop.

That's what I get for letting myself get so fat in the first place, I guess. I cringe to think how much less I'm gonna have to eat to hit and maintain my goal weight if I'm losing so slowly eating 1200 calories a day.

90 pounds down is phenomenal! Kudos to you for your willpower and stick-to-it attitude.

Aw shucks, thanks bell_flower.

I decided to give a low-carb diet another try in an effort to break my plateau, even though I had a lousy experience with it in the past. I'm not being super strict about it and doing keto - just trying to not eat as many carbs. It's a little hard finding things to eat, but I'm not having as hard of a time as I did before, nor do I feel as shitty as I did last time.

Still, finding low-carb stuff can be a pain in the ass because almost everything has freaking carbs in it! And low carb desserts SUCK - at best, the ones I tried were edible. Thankfully, I have a couple recipes that do work (mousse/fluff and flourless chocolate cake) and Quest bars/cookies are easy on the carbs too.

Weight came off pretty fast when I started low carb, but then it kinda stalled again. At least according to the scale Meanwhile, my jeans I just bought are falling off me, so something's happening.

But it has its perks - I've learned to cook some things I might not have bothered with before. I've made cauliflower crust pizzas, crispy tofu and I made a steak for the first time tonight! They all turned out okay for first tries.

When I am doing low carb one of my staples is Alexia riced cauliflower. It is as close to tasking like rice as you will get.

Sometimes I grill a piece of fish and viola, you have a great and filling dinner. Or I cook some of that fake meat and put McCormick's gluten free taco mix in it. (Ground turkey works too if you are not vegetarian.)

It is not easy to find but I've seen it at Publix and Wegman's and sometimes Kroger:

https://www.amazon.com/Alexia-White-Cheddar-Cauliflower-Pepper/dp/B071KFSQTN/ref=sr_1_4_0o_fs?almBrandId=QW1hem9uIEZyZXNo&crid=55GFVO5IFX8D&dchild=1&fpw=alm&keywords=alexia+riced+cauliflower&qid=1598534359&sprefix=alexia+riced+%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-4

These sandwich rounds are also good:

https://www.amazon.com/Outer-Aisle-Cauliflower-Sandwich-Friendly/dp/B07B4P6MRS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=55GFVO5IFX8D&dchild=1&keywords=alexia+riced+cauliflower&qid=1598534359&sprefix=alexia+riced+%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzVUNTUlYyNUE3QUlHJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODc0MTU2MVNaNzlGNlNSNEMzRyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjUwMTA4UUMzWDVGTldTRFVCJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

They are not cheap. I buy them locally at Wegmans and they are $6.00 for a packet, which comes down to $1.00 per crust, but they are really good.

I order this brand on-line sometimes. They are not cheap either but they do have the lowest carbs and if you sign up for their mailing list they are always sending you coupons and sales. I order them in bulk and freeze them. I cook two at a time and divide them into thirds and eat that for bread during the week.

Bird's Eye has pasta that is made entirely from vegetables that is lower in carbs and is pretty good.

ETA: Sadly healthier food costs more than unhealthy food. Cheetos are cheap.

I’ve started intermittent fasting to see if that’ll bring about a breakthrough. I’m already finding it easier to stick with a calorie budget because now it’s shared among two meals and not three. Easier to do two 750-calorie meals than three 500 ones. It’s just a little difficult considering what I do for a living.

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"Why children take so long to grow? They eat and drink like pig and give nothing back. Must find way to accelerate process..."
- Dr. Yi Suchong, Bioshock

"Society does not need more children; but it does need more loved children. Quite literally, we cannot afford unloved children - but we pay heavily for them every day. There should not be the slightest communal concern when a woman elects to destroy the life of her thousandth-of-an-ounce embryo. But all society should rise up in alarm when it hears that a baby that is not wanted is about to be born."
- Garrett Hardin

"I feel like there's a message involved here somehow, but then I couldn't stop laughing at all the plotholes, like the part when North Korea has food."
- Youtube commentor referring to a North Korean cartoon.

"Reality is a bitch when it slowly crawls out of your vagina and shits in your lap."
- Reddit comment

"Bitch wants a baby, so we're gonna fuck now. #bareback"
- Cambion

Oh whatever. Abortion doctors are crimestoppers."
- Miss Hannigan

Apparently Aldi has quite a few low carb items, including real bread with zero carbs, cheese rounds (basically huge slices of cheese meant to be a zero carb tortilla substitute) and their own Halo Top knock off ice cream. I gotta take a little trip over there again soon.

Thanks for the links, bell_flower! I'm definitely curious about the veggie pasta if I can find it. I know everyone raves about zoodles, and while I love zucchini, I'm not nuts about zucchini noodles, so I'd definitely be interested in a lower carb pasta replacement.

I gotta find better snacks. I have a little stash in my desk at work and it's mostly smoked sausage sticks and some Quest cookies. Sausage sticks are low carb, but I figure they can't be very healthy to eat every single day.

Paragon schnitzophonic, I've been doing something similar - having just two meals a day instead of three because it was much easier to have two high-ish calorie meals than three low-ish calorie ones. And I liked being able to relax more about what I ate because I had a 700 calorie budget, so I could have pretty much anything that wasn't fastfood. It did definitely work for weight loss, but god I hated how hungry I was every day. It's hard to get used to. Still, good luck with intermittent fasting!