So... just a few things I wanted to tell people who understand what I am doing and going through (not many in my immediate life do it feels like).
First, me... I am 46M, 6'1", SW 320, CW 277, GW 220 (then reassess goals). I have been working on this since early October and lost 43 lbs. I work a sedentary desk job from home and volunteer as a FF/EMT at night... but only run maybe a call a week... it's very rural here.
I stalled out around the holidays when we had Thanksgiving, my kids birthday, Christmas, New Years, then I got a cold for a week. Through all that though... I didn't gain any either, so felt like that was a win.
I just wanted to throw out some observations
- When I first started I figured I would count up to daily protein, try to eat fairly healthy foods and then eat whatever my family ate for dinner... but not count calories. The first moth I lost fast... but soon after it became apparent that there might be a problem. I tracked calories for a couple of days and sure enough, I was eating too little and feeling weak. So... I had to track calories... there is just no way around it.
- During my lull in 'being good' I didn't lose or gain weight... but it was like fat was shifting around on my body. I felt like I lost weight in places like my face even if the scale didn't show overall loss. Will fat be moved around my the body? Interesting...
- I started because my BP was too high. I knew the answer long term was to lose weight, so I started but also made a docs appt and got put on BP meds. (all other labs were normal, even cholesterol which surprised me as an overweight middle aged man). My BP cuff (which I calibrate against the Zoll on the ambulance) shows not only the numbers but also a color code of green for normal, yellow for abnormal, and red for way too high. It also likes to yell out those categories to my wife's delight and my embarrassment. I was well into the red (not high compared to what I see in the ambulance for a hypotensive emergency, but way too high). Today, before taking my meds, I measured and for the first time it was green. I am stoked!
- I gave up on controlling salt. Every thing that you are measuring, like specific calories per day, specific protein, specific carbs, specific salt makes it harder and harder to find food you can eat. I was doing calories and protein and trying to do salt... but holy cow is getting 2300mg or less a day harder than anything else I have every tracked. I did some research and the amount of BP I was saving by staying under normal salt was not nearly as much as losing weight would do for me. I decided to ignore the salt (still eating less than before, everything tastes salty now) and just track calories and proteins and it is so much easier. The BP lowering down to normal makes me feel good about that choice.
- I started with a really small number of things I could eat and really leaned on the protein shakes as low calorie and high protein. I have since been really expanding what I eat with high volume / low calorie recipes. I can definitely see how it would be easy to stay in a deficit too long now or just not enough in a day. Last night I had Konjac noodles in a stir fry. I couldn't finish the bowl I was so stuffed... but I still had 400 calories left for the day. Like I wished I had a candy bar laying around to enjoy without eating much more volume. Caloric density is where it is at.
- Watching the weight go down is addicting! I can see how it turns into an ED for people. It is really tempting to go even lower on my calories, especially when I know I can still feel full, and lose even faster. Watching those numbers tick down is amazing. I measured myself three times today... once when I got up, then I took a pee and pooped a bunch so I figured 'Oh! that will be more weight!' (.6 lbs), and then again after another BM (making it a full lb). I KNOW that is silly and there is variation every day, but it just feels awesome when the numbers go down. I am going to need to watch myself when I get down to a final weight and/or want to build muscle even more.
- You can definitely gain muscle while doing this. I have gotten noticeably stronger (well, noticeable to me... I can feel them under there) both to the touch (muscle size) and just in what I can do. I have far more endurance, use less air when on a SCBA tank, and can run a 10k now (slowly).
- No one has said a word about me losing weight. I think my wife is jealous (I haven't been successful at getting her to do this with me, but she doesn't sabotage my success either). Other people just haven't said a peep, which I guess is fine, but I am soooo proud of the success I have made so far.
- So far the answer to every issue, high BP, getting stronger, no one being able to tell, has always been... just keep going.
It's been a good journey so far and I am happy I am doing it. Still a long way to go, but I am glad that I am able to stay motivated so far.
Anyway... just me rambling.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/10gfell/random_thoughts_and_observations/
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