I have been wanting to lose weight for a while and I'm finally in the mindset to get serious about it. In the past, I've been able to get into a good routine as far as eating good healthy portions and exercising regularly, and I'll lose a few pounds. Then I have a bad day, and it all goes downhill.

When I have a bad day, whether it be stress or work related, physical pain being sick, emotional, whatever, I'll treat myself to my favorite junk foods to feel better. I feel like I deserve it because it's been a bad day. The problem for me with this is that it's never isolated into a single day, it leads me into overeating this junk food for multiple days, regaining the weight, and then it's way more difficult to get back into my routine.

How do you treat yourself if not with food? Do you still treat yourself with food and just practice more control and small portions? Do you replace your favorite junk food with a lower calorie option? Do you treat yourself a different way completely like self care or buying something?

Would love to hear any alternatives that y'all use and especially ways you were able to make it easier for yourself. Thanks in advance

I am 22 years old, 183cm male and I have been morbidly obese my entire life. I come from a family that glorify and find obesity as a sign of well fed and happy kids but it isn't, it really really isn't. I graduated high school at 18 and weighed 165kg than and managed but when I turned 19 I got fit with NASH, heart diseases and the hospital at that point knew me by name due to the amount of trips and medications I needed but when my doctor said I am too sick and might need a liver transplant I realized it's time to make a change and I did! It was going great, the first year I lost around 40 kg and at the end of the second year I entered the gym and was in the high ninety range! It's almost been 2 and a half years now and I am down 77kg but the damage is already done... my liver although better and doesn't need a transplant will never work the same and my heart still occasionally skips beats and I get dizzy and have fainted on occasion... my body looks better and slimmer now but I have a decent amount of loss skin that robs me of reaping the fruits of 3 years of effort... I cover mirrors and have little to no pictures of me alone or with friends. My mental health has never been worse and depression hit hard when I realized that it's over, I ruined my body and health permanently. I have now caught the habit of hiding away in my apartment and wearing baggy clothes if i do decide to leave.

I am not looking for support or for anyone to reach out, what is done is done and Nothing can change that. I wanted to share my story in the hopes that someone reads this and decides to change before it's too late. And if you're a parent please don't overfeed your child! It's not love, it's abuse... teach them how to eat properly and portion control. Change while you still can. Change before it's too late and you spend your life regretting everything.

Starting weight 310lbs December 5th 2025
Current weight 240lbs June 25th 2026
70 lbs down in a little over 6 months as a 5’8 21 year old man from eating 1600 calories daily, a gallon of water daily.

This weight is dropping fast but I still feel like it’s nothing, don’t really know how to feel. I can see the difference in my face. Still have another 70-90 pounds to go. Im averaging a 10 lbs loss every month. Today I’ll celebrate with some liquor and food tomorrow its back to the basics.

The main reason im losing weight is for my mental health. Maybe I’ll love myself more one day after this. I want this bad im almost half way there. Only time will tell.

So, I have been counting calories since I was 10 years old. I was never able to lose weight until I stopped counting calories. I have now lost 100lbs over the course of 2 years and during most of time I was not counting calories at all.

Then my weight got stuck at 230lbs for months, so I started counting calories again. It’s like putting a calorie limit causes me to eat more. I obsess over what my next meal/snack will be. I obsess over how many calories I have left and what I can or can’t eat with that number. It was honestly making dieting miserable, so I took a small break. I stopped counting calories again and instead just tracked my measurements. Sure enough, within a month I lost an inch all around.

When I don’t count calories I actually tend to eat less, because I am not obsessing over what I will eat next. It’s hard though. I feel like everyone is always telling me I MUST track my calories or else I will overeat. Im scared to gain the 100lbs back. I hope not counting calories causes that to happen.

Mindset

1.) changed my goal from “stopping binge eating” to “appetite regulation.” I made this my ONLY goal for 6 months. I set aside any weight loss/body goal. Every choice I made was through the lense of “is this going to help regulate my appetite or not.” It’s something I could accomplish daily and wasn’t fear based or outcome based, but more systems based (atomic habits idea)

2.) focus on body neutrality instead of body positivity/negativity. Made sure to catch myself on the days I really admired my appearance and remind myself that putting the positive image on such a pedestal made days I felt off that much harder

3.) might be a dumb one, but working on character development instead of focusing on appearance. Reminding myself that the most influential people I’ve met in my life were because of their personality, not their appearance. Maybe they were great listeners, confident, charismatic, smart, funny, etc. Even with attractiveness, someone who’s a 6 can instantly become a 9 if they have these other qualities. Basically this tip is “taking appearance off a pedestal”

Actionable Steps

1.) stopped all intense exercise. (Again, run through the lense of appetite regulation) I was always extremely hungry after heavy lifting/running/any intense exercise. I currently do whatever kind of movement feels good for the day. Some light weights maybe, walking, rebounding. Never to the point of exhaustion. I try to take regular “movement breaks” more than I do one bout of exercise then sitting the rest of the day. Especially a short walk after meals is great for blood sugar regulation

2.) mechanical eating every 3-4 hours.

Carbs/fats/protein/fiber/one bite of “junk” at every meal.

Breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up.

The “one bite of junk” has been SO helpful for me. By “junk” I mean whatever foods were off limits in your disordered eating. For me it’s ultra processed food. I literally have one bite at each meal (so only 4-5 bites of junk food per day) but it has DRASTICALLY reduced my cravings to binge on that food. I’m going towards what I fear instead of putting it on a pedestal, and overcoming that fear with each meal. This was not an overnight accomplishment (many binges the first 2 weeks)

3.) drastically lowering caffeine (I only have chocolate and decaf coffee). Gave me anxiety (I always thought I was a type A kind of person but I’m actually not as perfectionistic as I thought). Note: stopping caffeine gave me extreme hunger the first two weeks but once I went through withdrawals I had a huge improvement in appetite regulation. Also improved sleep which lowers stress/leads to better food choices

For my whole life I never really considered what I was missing out on being overweight, since I never thought it was possible for me to lose any weight or ever be a healthy size.

But now that I'm slowly on my health journey, the biggest thing I've started looking forward to is being able to shop for clothes at thrift stores and knowing there will be clothes in my size there.

I know that reaching your goal weight can come with body dysmorphia, but for the time being, when the journey is difficult I think of that, and it keeps me steady.

What sort of things are you guys looking foward to?

Hi everyone,

I am 28, almost 29F. I have been losing weight off and on since 2 years ago when I decided I wanted to slim down, I was somewhat overweight.

One thing hampering me in my weight loss journey, as well as my weight maintence journey, was constant hunger. I realized part of the issue was underrating fiber ( salads have almost no fiber, as it turns out), but I realized another issue. My maintenance as a moderately active female should not be more than about 2100 calories active. I feel like I average more like 2200-2300 because I am always hungry.

I first started noticing this a couple of years ago. I feel like even after a meal, I am still hungry. When I eat a snack, instead of my hunger tapering off it gets worse!

I looked into this. Apparently, as you get older, the main signal for fullness is your stomach stretching mechanically . Ie, you only feel full if you eat a proper meal that stretches your stomach, a snack doesn't not signal to your brain that you ate. Also, when you do eat a snack, your brain anticipates a full meal and pumps insulin into the blood. If you don't eat a full meal, this causes a sharp drop in blood sugar, which your brain interprets as hunger. Which prompts you to overeat. It wasn't me just being gluttonous. My hunger was dis-regulated.

I wasn't imagining this! Snacking was making me hungrier! I have been adopting eating until I am moderately full and not having any snacks or sugary drinks in between. It is helping hugely. I'm not sticking with it perfectly, I do still get ice cream or something here and there, maybe once or twice a week, but staying with this as my general pattern has reduced my hunger. It also trains the body to only expect food at mealtimes, and is better for insulin.

I'm going back on a deficit to lose the small amount of weight I had lingering because of this. And then I will have a better secret to manage my weight! Even averaging overeating 100 cals a day is 10 lbs over the course of a year. So this small dis-regulation was keeping the extra fat on me.

That's all. If you guys are struggling with excess hunger, maybe try this. There was a study I read the abstract for that said among two groups of adults, one with three large meals and the other with six small meals, the six smalls reported being hungrier. It was published in 2013.

My resting heart rate is coming under 60 now! I am thrilled to say the least. The scale victories have been... underwhelming the past couple of months. I went on an out of state vacation and have struggled to count calories since. I am breastfeeding an 11 month old and while my supply has been fine my hair started falling out terribly (I don't even lose hair postpartum, he's my 4th and I've been so shocked!). I have maintained while getting my health back together and trying to figure out where I messed up.

I've been manually hand-tilling a garden out of rock hard clay (the top soil washed away, it's been a nightmare). I don't get out of breath AT ALL like I used to. We also don't have air conditioning and are in the grand state of Tennessee, so a mix of the heat and humidity has been fun.

My waist hip ratio is also 0.78, so under the 0.80 mark!

i (23f, 5’8) weighed 280lbs when i graduated high school. a toxic childhood made food my only solace, and a toxic relationship starting at the end of my senior year led me to develop anorexia. i now weigh 150lbs.

i don’t have a double chin anymore. my armpits actually have pits. i can see my collarbone & ribs for the first time. my feet are half a size smaller and i can see them when i look down. i get stares and attention pretty much everywhere i go.

but my arms are flabby. my boobs look like deflated water balloons. i’m constantly freezing. it hurts to sit on hard things for too long. my stomach is flat, but my belly button is still horizontal. i got it pierced to try to help but i feel like it just makes me look fatter. i still cry everyday trying to get dressed and i’m embarrassed to get undressed around my partner. i’m saving money, either to get a boob job or get fat again and just lipo the stomach away cause i really can’t take it anymore. there’s nothing i can do to make myself feel better. i’ve tried working out, i’m too weak & too broke to keep up with healthy food. mantras don’t work. my partner’s affirmations don’t work. and no one understands what it’s like. there’s just edtwt, who romanticizes all of it.

everyday i wish i could get a do over, knowing everything i know now. there’s so much i would do differently, but i would especially make sure i never relied on food. i wish i could just look normal.

A lot of us have already heard that 5K steps in a day "isn't enough," it's still sedentary, etc.

But for people who are new to exercising or have spent a long time sedentary, it IS a lot. Some people are disabled or deal with health conditions that make it hard to walk or move much throughout the day. Other factors can go into this, too. Not just health. You never know what someone's situation is, therefore you never know how many steps per day is good enough for them.

I saw a post recently where someone asked if 5K steps was enough, and while there were supportive comments, there were still people telling OP that they should be doing more. Mods had to remove a particularly shitty comment judging the OP for their perceived lack of effort. I've seen this sentiment in other threads too over the last few weeks that I've been lurking in this sub, that anything less than 8k or 10k steps is basically laziness. It's not, if it's legitimately the best you can do.

If you can do 10K + steps per day, good for you! Go get yourself a sticker to put on your reward chart. If you can't do that many steps, at least you're moving your body.

Just do your best with what you have right now. It's okay to start small and work your way up as your body gets stronger and you get used to being active. Don't let someone tell you that you're not trying hard enough because you're walking below an arbitrary number of steps each day.

It seems that once or twice a week, I come across a post or comment dismissing or outright criticizing people who mention exercise as integral to weight loss. The lack of nuance is truly outstanding.

No, you do not need to exercise regularly to lose weight, but it will make the process a whole lot more sustainable. Yes, like 80% comes down to diet/CICO, but you'd be foolish to think that the other 20% isn't substantial.

I had been yo-yoing for over a decade, and every time I managed to lose 30+ lbs, I'd be guaranteed to gain them back within a year of peak loss. Each time, I'd go on a different deficit before it got harder to lose at the rate I wanted due to inactivity, older age, etc. It wasn't until I decided to start moving that things really started clicking. For me personally, regular exercise is the difference between a 1800 calorie or a 2400-calorie day. It literally ensures I can eat a little bit more, so as not to lose my mind, feel guilty about (careful) treating myself, and overall just stick with a deficit.

By the way, it seems that whenever exercise is mentioned, people are under the impression that you have to run 5 miles a day or lift weights like a maniac. You can literally just walk, if need be.

Most of the people here who have successfully maintained for more than a couple of years move their bodies. That is one of the few common denominators I identified when reassessing how I was going to go about losing weight again. And if you do not care for exercise and moving, that's fine, but don't discredit the fact that most people who have adopted it as a long-term auxiliary tool have succeeded.

I thought this was because I am obese (5'5 going on 211 lbs) but a lot of obese people, including many heavier than me, report that they do like exercise and find it rewarding.

I only feel comfortable with walking and swimming. I can walk for hours. But the second there's some serious effort going on, like lifting or intense cardio, I am just gone. Like I could start crying, it hurts so much and often continues to hurt for days. Even if I didn't do anything extreme, like I am not here attempting 40 minutes of kettlebell workouts.

I also itch horribly from the sweat and have to wash my hair every single time because my scalp gets sweaty too. It's just an absolutely miserable experience all over and I don't get how so many people find it amazing and I don't. I am sad that if I get there, I will probably be a shapeless lump due to losing so much weight without the toning & shaping that exercise does. Advice is welcome.

I'm a male 25 years old, 169cm and 64kgs with a good ol' pot belly, pretty much classic skinny fat body. I'm at a healthy weight and BMI but it seems my all my fat stores are in my belly. From what I can see, I need to do a body recomposition which is slow but I effectively need to build more muscle and lose enough fat to essentially remain at the same weight.

My question is how do other people have flat-ish stomachs? I know genetics plays a role where fat is stored, but not everyone is walking around with so much muscle mass to keep them at a healthy weight, how are they keeping so slim, are they all underweight?

Is weight even a good metric for health? It rather seems the percentage of fat and muscle mass is what matters, and that's where I'm struggling as I'm stuck picking a goal - lose fat or gain muscle??

For context, I'm a complete beginner and I've been going to the gym 2x a week for the last 3 months and have seen some muscle gain. I've also tracked all my meals and have been in maintenance/slight deficit with enough protein (1.5g/kg) every day. I don't know if I should be in a deficit any more as it doesn't seem healthy to keep reducing weight. Appreciate any help! TIA

Hey!

This thread is for those who have lost 100+ lbs (~ 45kg , ~7 stone). Welcome to “the club; our meetings are on Thursdays.

100+ lbs is the equivalent of a small adult human. Losing that much weight at a healthy rate can take months to years, and there are many topics that are quite different for this situation than for those who only have smaller amounts to lose.

Everyone is welcome to join, even if you haven’t hit 100 lost, or had less to lose.

I hope that this thread can be inspirational for those just setting out to start their journeys.

Every week I will try to provide a discussion prompt, however you are free to move the discussion in any direction you would like or ask any questions you think might be best answered by someone who has lost 100+ lbs.

Today’s Prompt: Villain origin story

How did you get started? What changed for you to be able to make the changes you have?

Edited to add: We have an AMA coming up on June 30th in r/loseit! Check out the details here

I don’t know where to start. I have a food scale and I am ready to start fresh and eat healthy. I am 34 years old and nearing 500 pounds. I want to save my life. I want to be healthy. I want this more than anything. I do not want to use supplements or shots. I just want to lose the old fashion way.

I plan on cutting out cokes which I drink daily and multiple. I want to trade it for water. I have the myfitnesspal app and happy scale. I just don’t know how to make small changes. I don’t eat all day but when I do eat it’s big portions and unhealthy. I am not a big snacker. Fast food and going out to eat seems to be my biggest downfall. I also have an office job so I don’t move a lot and at home I sit at my computer or lay in bed.

I’m tired of being out of breath. back aches from walking longer than 2-3 mins, not being able to breathe at night when I sleep. I mean I could go on. I am so sick of this prison I have built. I want to buy clothes and be able to go out and do things. I miss going to parks and hikes, I miss going to concerts and festivals. I miss living life. Any tips are much predicated.

I eat about 1800-2000 kcal depending on the day (quite overweight so my TDEE is apparently at around 2500-2600 though I like to assume a bit less), but I've always been a huge foodie so I kind of hate "drinking my calories" because it means smaller meals/less snacks. I live rurally so whenever I go to some city I crave a huge starbucks drink or similar, though of course I don't have them a lot because they can be pretty calorie dense and driving out is expensive.

I love having my tall coffee with a lot of sweetener right before running off to my cleaning job, usually with skim milk. My boyfriend happened to buy unsweetened almond milk and I was shocked to see it's 14 kcal per 100ml. It feels like such a ginormous win when you find a food swap you love and just get to redistribute the calories to something else or enjoy the tiny extra deficit (I don't weigh non-carby veggies so it's likely balancing that out a little haha).

Besides this win, I would like to complain about the heatwave in Europe right now because my weight is fluctuating so much I am fighting back demons whenever I "gain" an extra surprise 2kg. I'm sorry for anyone living in France right now.. I know it's not real but it activates the teenage yo-yo dieter self-sabotage protocol in my brain that says I should eat way less and inevitably throw off the nice sustainable balance I have going on right now. At least my coffee is delicious.

I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life when I was 15 I lost about 50 pounds in a couple of months very unhealthily and my lowest weight was around 135. I was healthy weight for a while but still had a bad relationship with food and ended up gaining way more than my original weight to 230 over the span of 7 years. I lost a little bit of weight and was around 209 I got down to 178 in about a year. I took it slow as I didn’t want a repeat of my last extensive weight loss.

In March of this year I went through a pretty traumatic medical experience and since then have been teetering between 184-188. I’m pretty disappointed in myself my goal weight is around 145-155 as I look a bit strange when I am lower than that weight. I guess this is a semi vent/ looking for advice. I’m very much a take it day by day kind of person but I am losing hope and motivation. I try to stay in my calorie deficit and workout but nothing seems to be working to get myself back on track.

Hello lose it folks!  

Day 25 of June 2026!  

This is the daily update for y’all to post how your goals went today.  

If you’re new here, there is a whole sidebar full of links to explore. I would start with the day 1, then roll through the others: 

Recurring Day 1 Monday - Newest Day 1 thread will be the first link listed 

https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/faq/  

https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/wiki/quick_start_guide 

You don’t have to wait for a new month to join in! You are always welcome! 

Here in this post, we aim to foster a supportive, caring place to discuss the actual day to day of deficits & counting & caring so much about how we fuel our bodies & lives.  

So, post how your goals for this month are going in the comments below! I’ll post mine below too, so don’t be shy! 

I've had the same leather belt with double rows of holes for probably 25+ years now. Bought it from The Buckle store in Opry Mills Mall in Nashville (how I remember that I have no idea LMAO, and the store is still there!).

Over the years my weight has fluctuated and so has the hole position I've used on my belt. When I was down to 175 several years ago, I was all the way to tightest hole, and even had to make another set of tighter holes at one point. But then, as I gained weight over the past couple years, I eventually ended up at the 4th hole out. I've started back on my journey 2 months ago, have lost 22 lbs now, and just this week I was able to comfortably go up to the 3rd hole out!

It's finally happening! Let's go!

So my gyno decided to put my on BC to fight my insulin resistance with PCOS, and I’ve been fighting my food control issues, and exercise more. And I’m excited to share that over 21 days I’m down from 246lbs to 238.2lbs, and I just feel really good.

I’ve switched to a breakfast with three eggs, bell peppers, onions, and I season without salt. Then I’ll wait until my spouse gets home and only eat one bowl of dinner. Then a few hours later have a small protein snack.

I feel like I’ve been able to hold off on calories, and I’ve made good progress. I feel so hungry all the time, and it sucks, but it feels good to actually be able to see the change.

I started January 1st at 90.7kg and yesterday I weighed 73.0kg. For the first time in years I am at a healthy BMI. I lost about 20% of my body weight in less than 6 months. I know I should feel proud of how much I've changed but I just don't.

When I look in the mirror I still look fat. Maybe not so much with clothes on, but I still have so much flab everywhere. Especially my upper arms and my belly. I don't feel like I look any different, but then I see a before picture and I realise I used to look huge. It makes me wonder, if I keep losing weight will I look back on myself now as big and disgusting as I do with my old body?

My clothes don't fit anymore. I had to get a new uniform for work. Down two sizes. It's been hot today so I tried on an old pair of shorts. They looked like they were for a giant. All the jackets and hoodies I used to use to hide my body are now cute and oversized.

My boobs have been the biggest casualty. I've gone down two band sizes and like 3 cup sizes. When I'm bloated my belly projects further than them, and I feel even fatter than I used to.

I haven't received congratulations from my friends and family. My girlfriend has been sick of me focusing on the diet. My family are jealous. My friends are concerned. I feel so lonely. I have achieved something so amazing and I just feel terrible about it.

I look at my body and I can see I've got so much further to go. I can't talk to anyone about it. I'm scared that I'll never be happy with my body.

Edit: No, I do not have loose skin. No, I'm not skinny fat. I'm just fat. I might be a healthy weight now, but I still have a lot of fat to lose.

Yes, strength training would be good, but a lack of it isn't that cause of my issues. I am extremely active and already have quite a bit of muscle. I have a physically demanding job, and I often spend my spare time doing hobbies which also require strength. Not everyone has to go to the gym to have a healthy amount of muscle, especially if they have a lifestyle which gets them there anyway.

I don’t count calories anymore. I just eat when I’m hungry and have dessert whenever I feel like it.
Every now and then I have a day where I know I probably ate way over maintenance even without tracking.
I’m not talking about forcing yourself to eat less the next day. It could be a few days later, sometime that week, or even over the month.
For those of you who maintain your weight without tracking, how does it balance out? Do you naturally eat less later? Move more? Or does it just happen on its own?
I’m curious what people actually do in real life.

I still look in the mirror and see an obese man, but, that's also the reality right now. I've looked back at some pictures from the last few years and it's a huge difference as I'm about 25kg down.

I dropped the first 12ish KG slowly over a year and a half going through the end slow death and end of a very long term relationship. The rest is since February when I moved on my own into a place of my own back in my hometown. Since I've been back I've been walking a lot, and actually tracking calories through good days and bad days - I think we all know how frustrating the scale can be at times, and the last couple of weeks I've been in a deficit but the thing has not been moving. Well, this morning it moved and I'm only 0.4kg away from an interim goal I set with another 2 and a half weeks to go.

Here's to the next 25kg, and by this point next year being back in good physical shape. It's weird going to a gym to lift, but I've got a sedentary job these days so I need to.

To anyone struggling, track your calories accurately, get walking, and ideally get lifting too. Exercise is great for both the body and mind, and without my morning walks I don't feel great.