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I had NO idea that getting 3-4 hours of exercise per week is still considered sedentary if I'm not working out every day and am sitting a lot otherwise. (EDIT TO ADD: I learned this through various posts in this subreddit and a couple of the fitness subs).

I think the recommendation is 7k (?) steps every day, but I get less than 5k most of the time. I know, I know. I'm working on it, so please don't shame me. I go to the pool twice a week and do water jogging/deep water running for an hour to an hour and a half each time, but I get so tired afterwards that I literally just stay on my couch for the rest of the day once I get home. And my non-pool days aren't super busy either since I've had some time off work/studies.

I recalculated my tdee and choose "sedentary" this time instead of "lightly active," and realized I'd basically been eating at maintenance for the last several weeks like, 10-12 weeks). And most likely eating back my exercise calories. So now I have to get used to a new daily calorie budget AND get in an extra day at the pool each week to make up for my bad math and limited understanding of fitness. And I have to stop tracking my exercise calories so I don't eat them back. 😂

So yeah, apparently I'm not actually active. I started working out again a couple months ago and found it to be hard work getting up to 60-90 minute sessions twice a week. Edit again: I choose to be proud of myself despite the small mistake. :)

I'm down just over 50lbs. My husband has not made much comment on my progress. I asked him not to because he doesn't celebrate me in a way I feel celebrated.

He started off kinda making comments like "of course you're going with the vegetarian omelette" or "are you sure you can eat that?"

These comments are well-meaning and supportive, but I was and am still feeling insecure about sharing my weight loss with anyone. I don't want excess commentary on my choices from family and close friends.

Anyways, tonight when we were having our adult time, my husband went to grab my thighs. They've always been his favorite part of my body. *Cue pause* and barely audible "wtf??"

I was like "what's wrong?"

And he said "Well I guess I just hadn't realized how your body has changed. There's a lot less to grab than there used to be" (MASSIVE EYE ROLL to this bc I haven't dropped any pants sizes)

I was torn between feeling flattered and self conscious. I told him when I started that I'll likely wind up with loose skin and he said he would love me no matter what. Anyways, there's my kinda sorta NSV for today!

Hi! Please bear with me if this was already discussed before. I just need some sort of guidance. My mind is currently suffering from distorted plans and expectations.

For a little context, I'm 21 F and I have a goal of losing 20kg or 44 lbs. I am aware that the most healthy weight someone can lose a week is 1 kg so I initially set a timeframe of 5 months (July to November) or if still needed, I will add an extra month (December) for my goal.

However, there's a very special occasion coming up on September 6 that I feel the need to appear pretty and thinner. Now my brain is constantly telling me that I need to lose weight fast. From my original plan, I am currently tempted to lose 14 kg of my weight in a span of 7 weeks so that I will look better on the date I mentioned.

What do I do? Half of me knows that it is not in any way sustainable and is dangerous to do to my body, but my little desperate self is starting to take over. I'm nearing my limit before I give in.

Also, I already bought smaller in sizes satin skirts and other smaller tops that I intend to wear only after my 5 or 6 months journey. These clothes are also fueling my desire to lose weight rapidly so that I can already wear them on September 6.

Please be kind. This is my first time reaching out about weight loss and mental struggle :(

Back in the summer of 2023 my wife and I bought an elliptical. I weighed 210 at the start of my journey. Did the elliptical for 30 minutes a day in the morning, watched what I ate and walked in the evenings. By mid December I had hit my goal of 175lbs. Slowly added resistance training and managed to keep the weight off through the summer of 2025. Got Covid really bad in August of last year and haven't felt right since. Have dizzy spells several times a week and severe fatigue. Needless to say I haven't been able to work out and trying to stick to a diet has been almost impossible due to not feeling like food prep and all that. Went to the doctor and got weighed, the scale said 206 and I just sat in the office waiting on the doctor bawling my eyes out. I knew I had gained but wasn't expecting it to be that bad. So now not only do I have this medical mystery of why I still feel horrible but gained all my weight back. So if/when I ever get back to normal I have to start my journey all over again. So disheartening and frustrating.

34f/156lbs

hey everyone!

so, i love using egg whites to boost the protein to my breakfasts.

the few brands I’ve tried all indicate 45 calories and 10 grams of protein at 1/3 cup / 100g. most days for breakfast I cook 1 whole egg and 2/3cup of egg whites.

Today, I decided to weigh out a 1/3 cup serving and to my dismay it only weighed 45 grams!!! I’ve been severely over calculating my protein intake for awhile now. i know that grams are always better practice than measuring cups but I did not expect such a huge discrepancy :(

For reference, the two brands I’ve used that both have these measurements are Kirkland (the one I weighed today) and Naturegg.

The last few days, I've been essentially insatiable.

I stopped tracking about 2 months ago as I was losing weight on high fibre, high protein MD inspired diet and I've lost a stone since then without really thinking about it other than to eat intuively and make better choices.

Well, this last week has been a nightmare in terms of my diet tbh.

On Saturday I watched the football with a pizza and had some beer

Sunday was OK

Monday, I ended up stranded and ordered takeaway again.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I went back to it

But yesterday and today, I've just been ravenous. I'm trying to make healthy choices, but I've just eaten so much food the last 2 says it's unreal. I'm still eating fibre and protein and trying to eat whole foods, but I've eaten so much extra. I'm genuinely hungry, and there's just so much food noise. I dont seem to be able to stop.

I've not tracked per se, but I know I'll be well over my maintenance for yesterday and today, and I don't know how I'm going to cope thos weekend I'm travelling and going to parties so it's going to be indulgent.

How on earth am I meant to get a hold of my appetite?! I feel like it's all slipping away from me.

I’ve been on a weight loss journey for a while now and lost about 10kg so far. I decided to still have some sort of cheat days because denying myself things constantly is exhausting. Something like once per month was the plan. And it’s not like I gorge on sweet things. I still try to make healthy choices but I allow myself to overeat on fruit or have sweetened protein bars.

The problem is, a day turns into two and two turns into three and here I am still on my cheat day. Thankfully I haven’t gained much probably but I can feel myself slipping. I feel guilty and I’ll definitely make a comeback but I was wondering how do you guys manage cheat days? I think I need to stop having them because of my relationship with food and binging. I do well so far I really don’t want to fuck this up for me.

It all comes down to calories in the end, but I'm curious to hear what has made it sustainable to eat the right amount of calories.

I've gained and lost weight enough times to know that success isn't just about knowing the math of weight loss. It's about all the other things that make up your life. Calorie counting was an awesome tool to learn about, and one I still use today, but it wasn't the only piece of the puzzle for me.

Would love to hear about what has made a difference for you, and what you would encourage other people to look into.

So I started eating right. I was exercising more but have been hindered everyday for one reason or another from working out intensely. I am not giving up.
NOT AT ALL!

Just pushing the pause button till things calm down.

I have mapped the progress and u can see a huge difference in my body comp in the pictures here. (NSFW)

It’s very encouraging to know I can change body comp so easily and am looking forward to getting even more healthy

I was intending to go out on a bike ride last night, but, what with the air quality here in michigan being hazardous, thanks to Canadian Fires, I was unable to go. I have a respirator, but it restricts airflow too much, and I get gassed too quickly in that case. I did some situps and such at home, though.

I know Situps and crunches help with core strength, and I really do need to improve my core strength. 35+ years of poor posture and being heavy takes its toll. Plus, my dad, now 70, is dealing with the long-term effects of being fat his whole life. I don't want that.

The concept of 'Gotta learn to walk before you can run' is in full effect here. I'm not expecting to be able to do 100 pushups or situps inside a month. But, I do want to build up to that.

Right now, if I have my hands on an elevated surface (3rd or 4th step on the stairs, usually), I can do 10 pushups before my shoulders just can't anymore. Trying pushups flat? I'm lucky to get one. That being said, me doing one pushup on flat is the same as someone bench-pressing 370. So... yeah.

My goals, moving forward are to cut back caloric intake and keep working on the training. And, when the air quality improves, I'm getting back on the bike and going for a ride. That being said... My prior trend of hitting a PB every other ride... entirely unsustainable at this point. Because my Current PB ride is 9.66 miles, and my current PB speed is 20.2. That 9.66 mile ride had about an hour break between the first 5.6 miles and the last 4.06. During that ride, I downed 4 liters of water.
My goal is, by the the end of july, to hit that 10 mile mark. Right now, by best contiguous ride is 7.68 miles.

I realize that, for regular cyclists, those are rookie numbers. However, for me? Before june, I hadn't ridden a bike since 2005. And, back when i was riding regularly, it was always short rides around town. the longest ride I ever did, prior to this year, was 7 miles. And, you can imagine how stoked I was when my first ride in 21 years was 5.2 miles.

For context, I’m M32, 5’11. I’ve been trying to lose weight recently. Typically, I’ve been weighing in anywhere from 189-191. Two weeks ago, my weight randomly jumped up from 191 to 194 in two days, and bounced around from 193-194 for over a week. A few days ago it finally dropped back to 190-191, before immediately shooting back to 193 today despite being in a calorie deficit the last few days (I weighed 190 two days ago and 191 yesterday). I am beyond frustrated.

My main form of exercise is running (4.5-5.5 miles per run), but recently it has been brutally hot out. Because of this, I’ve switched to a mix of running and light weight lifting at the gym and tried to limit the amount of time I’m outside (I have golfed a few times which takes a free hours). Not sure if the change in workout explains the fluctuations.

I typically try and consume around 2,000 calories or less a day. Over this span, I have definitely gone over this a few times, but not by that much (maybe 500ish calories). I have been consistently exercising throughout this roughly two week span to try to make up for the days I went over, mixing in a few rest days.

I’m wondering if this is water weight or something else. I’ve had my weight shoot up like this before, but it’s typically back to normal in a few days and stays there. I’ve never had it shoot up, stay for this long, drop back to normal, only to return to what it was overnight. Has anyone had this happen to them? If so, how did you get rid of the water weight or whatever is causing this? Any advice would be appreciated.

As the title says i'm curious as to how often you weigh in to check your progress? I know the number can be motivational or tear you down and i don't want to jump the gun on it. My last weigh in was just about a month ago and it did show promising results and i felt good. I can tell in the mirror that my body is making progress and that this is a marathon not a sprint. I keep having the urge to get on the scale and see my number but a part of me thinks i should just keep holding off because as long as i can see the difference in myself with the mirror, then it will make it all the more rewarding and motivating when i do get on the scale down the line. Thanks!

I don’t know what to do but it bothers me that I have loose skin on my arms, legs and stomach. Standing up I look good, but then when I lay/sit down I look fat still. My thighs and calves have always been larger parts of my body, it’s mainly just muscle when I touch them, but they jiggle from the fat loss surrounding the muscle and I don’t like that, my muscle on my calves look big, kinda loose and it looks odd because I have small ankles. My breast are much smaller now, but they’re long and you have see folds from the loose skin.

I started this journey back in November October, I still want to loose about 40 more pounds overall before starting to maintain. But I don’t know, there’s apart of me that feels regretful for gaining all that weight when I know, I was young and didn’t really get much of a say in my diet, plus experiencing traumatic experiences in my childhood and teenage years, your body will hold onto fat to feel a sense of safety.

Now that I’m older, I can eat clean, I mainly do walking as my work out of choice, that’s how I lost the weight. I’ve been practicing yoga everyday recently because I want to become an instructor. I just feel dysmorphic in a way that my body is a reminder of my past self, I’m going to have to carry all of that with me physically as a reminder of all the things I’ve been through. I’m in my mid twenties, I want to feel young again after having to be the adult my whole life, I’m slowly getting that spark back in time. I would like to look lean and tone. I want to have a strong back. I want to be confident in a bikini and not conscious about my body. I feel that my confidence is growing as I lose the weight, but as I get closer to my goal weight, I feel like I’m at that stage of weight loss where you think that you look fatter than you actually are, until you look in the mirror one day and say “huh I look different” you know?

I’ve been overweight my whole life and this is the result of that, my weight currently is probably the lowest I’ve ever been since maybe 15/16. I don’t want to get surgery, because I don’t want the scarring. Non-invasive methods won’t work as well as going under the knife, and might go in the opposite direction of what you’re looking for. I heard that using copper peptides, skin tightening creams with retinoids can help, plus red light therapy, but that can only do so much when you’ve been overweight your whole life. I also think as I go closer to my goal it intensifies my relationship with beauty which I’ve always struggled with.

I exercise a lot however it gets too tiring. One time I decided if I want to eat a bowl of Qdoba (the Mexican food bowl) I would run at least 5k steps however I was too lazy and just ate it. I then decided to go for the walk and I did it then. I kept doing it for a while until I gave up because of the heat outside. I even walked down the hallways of my apartment complex several times to reach the 5-10k steps until people noticed and I got too embarrassed because they started whispering.

My self control is so bad and my parents know it. They tell me to lose weight but they buy unhealthy food home constantly from ice cream, fast food, to cooking meals with high calories because they add a lot of oils and spices. They make sweets at home too. I basically have nothing healthy in the fridge I could cook myself besides egg sandwich and salmon. I made white rice and salmon for a while then I got tired of it because it was the only healthy meal.

My house always has snacks and sweets. It is everywhere. I told my parents to stop and they will say they will then my dad decides to cook the dinner with huge amount of calories in it.

My sleep schedule is messed up which is adding to the weight problem. There is no school so guess what I am doing when I am bored.... snacking and watching movies.

When I make healthy food I go back for seconds. I buy fruits to stay away from eating the sweets and here I am finishing a whole fruit bowl in one sitting.

One time I tried drinking a lot of water before I eat but then I just threw up and started eating a lot.

I hate being fat and I want to lose weight. Whenever I fail to lose weight my self esteem and impulse just goes down. They keep dropping. Some people think I am older than I am because I store fat in my face the most and it is just destroying.

My next plan is just to go to the park with only my phone and a book so I can be away from these snacks. I will let the heat fry me.

I acknowledge that I am the problem and I am responsible for myself so please help me out. I exhausted every plan I had and my impulse control just kept dropping. I am not obese but I am still really fat.

I've been seeing so many posts on here and insta reels lately with people warning you about what to watch out for when you're trying to lose weight. There is always a lot of talk about hidden calories and things that can catch up on you super easily if you aren't tracking carefully like cooking oil, heavy sauces, and fat heavy salad dressings.

Don't get me wrong, I think it’s so so important to be aware of these kinds of foods and stay mindful of what we're eating. But also it can also feel incredibly draining after a while. On the flip side, it gets quite off putting to always focus on the things we need to avoid, restrict and like cut out entirely. It makes calorie counting feel like more of a chore instead of a positive lifestyle change.

So, I wanted to flip things around a bit and focus on something way more positive and fun. I’m curious to know, what has surprised you in a good way since you started tracking? Obviously, there are the standard options like fruit and veg, which everyone knows are high volume and low calorie. But I’m talking about like random treats, specific brands, or weird kitchen hacks that genuinely feel like a total game changer for your daily budget.

For me, discovering Vegan Cornettos and air fried tinned potatoes has been AWESOME!!! They are both so incredibly satisfying, hit the spot perfectly when I have cravings, and are so so surprisingly low in calories compared to what I thought they'd be. Finding little wins like that makes this whole process feel way more sustainable for the long run.

What are your ultimate low-calorie holy grail items that made you go “I can actually eat this and still lose weight??” Pls tell me xxx

EDIT: bonus points if you have any vegan ones as well! 😎

SW: 180 lbs (81.6 kg) CW: 129.4 lbs (58.7 kg). I am 5'3" (160 cm) and 32F. I lost most of the weight December 2023-October 2024, going from 180 to 132 in about 10 months eating 1400-1500 calories a day and prioritizing protein. I was vegetarian at this time so I supplemented protein a lot. I was also rock climbing and walking, as well as lifting maybe 3 times a week.

Took a "maintenance break" and gained back up to 139 from October 2024 to June 2025 😬 and got back down to 131 in October 2025. Gained again to 135 from October 2025-June 2026. Stayed active throughout with lifting, yoga, pilates, and a lot of walking (10k+ a day)

I work in special education for a public school district and have definitely noticed a gain/loss pattern that I'm determined to break this year lol

This morning, I saw 129.4 on the scale. Breaking 130 lbs has felt IMPOSSIBLE for the last couple of years. I attribute it to getting my ADHD, food noise, and comfort eating under control, as well as learning more about nutrition, and separating food from emotions. Now that I'm at a healthy weight, using a food scale to measure everything is crucial. I eat the same meals often. I have a go-to grocery list to lessen decision fatigue even when I haven't meal prepped because I'll always know what to make. I aim for 120+ g of protein a day and now usually stay between 1200-1400 calories of whole foods with little to no snacking. I'm still getting about 8-10k steps a day now that it's summer but my activity has gone way down this month because I'm finishing university (late, i know) and taking teacher certification exams. Weight loss in this range has been slow but steady, especially when compared to losing 6-9 lbs a month back when I was class 1 obese lol

Aiming to get serious in the gym again in August after taking my last exam and planning on slowly increasing my intake a bit once I get more active again. My original goal was to get to 120lbs but I mostly want to lower my body fat %. Using the navy formula I'm estimating it to be around 27% right now and I'd like to get to the 22-24% range. (Apparently can't get a Dexa right now because I have healing piercings I can't take out??? I haven't asked about glass retainers yet.)

Just wanted to celebrate myself. I worked hard!! It's not always smooth sailing but it's possible!!

Okay everyone. For some of you this will be a “the sky is blue!” type of revelation. For the rest of you, I really hope you give this a quick read.

As I’m sure you all know, there’s more to your health than calorie intake, minutes of exercise, amount of sodium consumed, et cetera. Of course, all of these factors combined still don’t create your health. There’s so many moving parts and components and it’s so very important to pay attention to all of them. It’s also important to remember that healthy looks different for everyone, to a certain extent.

However, I feel like sleep is SO OFTEN overlooked in the context of weightloss!! It’s mentioned here and there but not nearly as much as components to a diet, you know? Maybe because it’s an indirect factor, but…

I’ve finally started getting 8+ hours of sleep every night. I’m an early riser, so this means sacrificing my time in the evenings. I’m asleep by 10:30 most nights.

I understand that this isn’t feasible for everyone as I have a pretty awesome situation right now that allows for that type of flexibility // that early of a bedtime, haha.

But after I’ve made that shift, my night snacking has disappeared, my cravings have decreased, my energy has greatly increased, and I feel way less inclined to eat high-calorie junk food as I start off my day feeling energized already (although that type of food certainly has its place 😉).

I am by no means an expert, just a newbie sharing her experience. I’ve also done some reading on the topic — I’ll link some of the articles I’ve read here!! Thank you for reading and get a good nights rest tonight 😉

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9031614/

https://www.webmd.com/diet/sleep-and-weight-loss

https://www.patientslikeme.com/blog/how-sleep-affects-weight-loss-four-ways-better-rest-leads-to-results

Had my regular Friday weigh in today and weighed in 3 lbs heavier from last weigh in (203.2-206.2) This is my first time gaining in about 3 months besides a weigh in I had impromtly for surgery but was able to correct that very next week.

Just feeling very down and out right now, I'm hoping it is just water retention or bloating but I stopped eating at around 8pm last night and weighed in at 3:55am and bloating/retention have never really been an issue for the past couple weeks when it comes to weigh-in day.

I have been binging or at least eating at maintenance at least 1x-2x a week for the last month and I'm completely lost on what to do, I'm on GLP-1 and I still binge from time to time and it makes me feel like I have ZERO discipline or self control.

I've tried taking my binges as is and not trying to over correct and just carry on with my diet as regular, I've tried over correcting to "make up" for the binges, etc and none of it seems to be helping. I was at least losing .5-1lb for the last 4-5 weeks so I wasn't getting too down on myself I just hate how much my mental health relies on the scale...

I am in therapy for my BED and have a table chart I log my weekly calories and expenditure into along with what I weighed in at for said week so I'm pretty well informed and weigh my foods correctly and don't lie to myself about my eating habits but even when I expect I'll probably gain a few lbs I still freak out.

Idk sorry for the long rant/vent, just kinda needed to get my thoughts out in a safe place where people experience similar issues. Any advice or kind words would be greatly appreciated, even just taking the time to read my rambles would make me thankful.

TL;DR Gained 3 lbs on my weekly weigh in and shot for ideas on what to do or how to restructure my thinking into not thinking 3 lbs (or weight gain in general) is the end of the world

Took me 8 months to drop to 220, about another year to get to 170. Cut sugar and weighed myself daily until I plateaued at 220 for months. Did mainly keto and OMAD , along with some days just fasting. Lots of exercise, and the best part is I can do pullups now. I think once the weight starts coming off its easier to keep going, but you do always feel like the big version to be honest.

My guess is what do I do about those stretch marks and extra skin, I tired lotion but I would really like to get a 6 pack or close to it.

https://imgur.com/a/KXTYiGD

I’m not sure what to do. I hade been sticking to a healthy diet/calorie deficit for about a month and I feel off a week and a half ago. I’m having such a hard time stopping myself from overeating and eating high calorie/fat foods. I think it might be stress from work and my up and coming school semester. I’m so disappointed in myself but don’t know what to do to overcome this. I haven’t had the energy/time to meal prep lunch so I’ve been eating out as well. Ultimately I just need to get my discipline back and don’t know how. Any tips?

Hi team Euro accountability, I hope you’re all well! For anyone new who wants to join today, this is a daily post where you can track your goals, keep yourself accountable, get support and have a chat with friendly people at times that are convenient for European time zones.

Check-in daily, weekly, or whatever works best for you. It’s never the wrong time to join! Anyone and everyone are welcome! Tell us about yourself and let's continue supporting each other. Let us know how your day is going, or, if you're checking in early, how your yesterday went! Share your victories, rants, problems, NSVs, SVs, we are here!

I want to shortly also mention — this thread lives and breathes by people supporting each other :) so if you have some time, comment on the other posts! Show support, offer advice and share experiences!

As my current cut comes to an end soon, I’d like to learn and practice eating less rigidly from an attitude standpoint. Even at maintenance I typically only eat the same meals and foods and have a mental block for adding in things or eating out or opportunistically. I’m not afraid to, but having so many choices and permutations of my macros over the meals in each day is kinda overwhelming. Maybe I’m just a maladaptive creature of habit, but I’d like to learn to be able to easily flex in different foods here and there without feeling like it is a monumentous mental effort to fit it into all my macros. Tips? Again, I’m not scared to, I’m just overwhelmed by the decision making and how a bowl of pizza rolls at noon might affect how I have to edit my usual dinner slop bowl.