HW 251 CW 195 GW 160

Total for the year is -45lbs! CICO, weight training and increased activity. Cut out drinking which also helps with my stomach bloat which with my genetics causes my stomach to balloon when I'm at a higher bf%.

Just an update-lost 35 pounds following CICO. Not perfect everyday but steady overall-you can do it!

The biggest change is definitely in my belly and my face. Working on my anterior pelvic tilt has also changed my body for the better. My daily budget is 1,300 on weekdays and 1,500 on weekends. I’ve found it’s pretty easy for me to stay in a deficit when I avoid alcohol. Also how many diet root beers is too many? 😅

Ever realize CICO is just adult math class with food? Like:

• “Can I afford this cookie?” = the same stress as checking your bank balance before rent.
• Logging oil = finding out your “free” trial has hidden fees.
• That 2am pizza = putting a $300 impulse charge on your credit card.

The difference? At least credit cards don’t sit on your hips. 😂

But seriously, once I started thinking of calories like money, it got easier. I ask myself: “Is this snack worth spending my calories on?” Sometimes the answer is yes (hello, cheesecake), sometimes no (soggy fries? nah).

Turns out the trick isn’t to never “spend,” but to make sure you’re not constantly overdrafting your deficit.

What’s the dumbest “calorie purchase” you’ve made lately?

Officially started around the end of May since my breastfeeding journey was over. I’ve been officially lower than my pre pregnancy weight for about 2 weeks now so yay me! Still got a longggg ways to go

30F SW: 233 GW: 120s CW:209

So I am easily adding 150 calories to my diet with cooking spray. I can definitely make that work and I think it’s better than if I pour oils into a pan or on veggies. I just think it is still easier to use smaller amounts but I’m not going to spray my veggies before baking them and I’m not going to spray in between foods that I am cooking on the pan. Or at least I’ll be more mindful of how long I am spraying. It’s fine that I use it as my fat source. Has anyone else been shocked by how calories sneak in there?

Hey guys, 52M 198 lbs 5’10

Started counting my calories about two weeks ago. I’m also avoiding refined carbs but not all carbs (not keto). I walk 30-40 mins (rucking) morning or mid-late afternoon most days. I’m eating about 1700 calories a day. Sometimes a bit less, rarely more. Reducing calories is when this started.

I sleep well once I fall asleep. The problem is I can’t fall asleep. It’s like my fall-asleep switch is broken.

I feel like I’m trying everything.

• fixed sleep schedule
• avoiding devices before bed
• taking magnesium
• taking ashwaganda (early morning)
• eating carbs at dinner or an evening snack (nuts for example)
• dark, cool, silent room
• tried a hot shower before bed - no change

It drives me nuts that I can’t fall asleep - I hate it. Even if I might “need less sleep” I want to put my hours in for brain health reasons.

Any tips I may have missed above?

hello! i have been doing a calorie deficit for about a week now and as it stands ive been keeping up with it really well, i always eat below my calories for the day and have started to feel better physically. the problem is tonight i was still hungry despite eating the same amount of calories i have been the past week, so i went into my fridge and saw a rustlers burger which was still within my calories (literally 270 calories) but after eating it the guilt is eating me alive, i feel like ive sort of ruined my progress because the food is so processed, i dont really know what to do or feel.. does anyone else feel the same? im about to work out but i still feel like i wont work out enough to undo the food i just at

SW 261lbs, CW 201 lbs.

So close to the 100s.

Yes, intentional word play with the title. Maybe not dad joke worthy, but you get the idea

It's been a few years since I decided to start actually counting calories and taking responsibility for what I eat and how it affects my weight. I started out a morbidly obese male at 300lbs, 5'8" about 40% body fat. Been wanting to lose weight for basically since I was a teen, but 2023 was the year I actually took initiative to weigh foods and log my calorie intake.

Started in February of that year, I stuck to a strict calorie intake of only 1700 calories. Everything I ate was home made, all foods were weight and calculated into a calorie tracking app. Aside from special occasions, I was very responsible with following my diet. Without gym intervention, I dropped 70 lbs up until Oct 2023. Mind you during this time I worked with door dash and food delivery, so I was always surrounded by food and temptation. Especially with cancelled orders and I was stuck with an undeliverable order haunting me. Those rare occasions I was strong enough to give up the food and give it to someone else.

My weight stayed around the 230lb range until I decided to start incorporating exercise into my routine. I would sign up for split shifts, which would allow me to work mornings, take a break within the day to go home and make lunch, then get back to the grind. Once orders would die in the evenings, I would hit the gym then head home to cook dinner. This allowed me to push my weight down from 230 lbs to 200lbs. This was from Oct 2023 to Feb 2024.

During this time, I got my associate degree in software development. In Feb 2024, this degree helped me land my current job. This was a huge shift in my career choices, as this is the first office job I've had that was mentally exhausting instead of physically exhausting. It also introduced to me a living wage, which is something that food delivery could never offer me. I attempted to keep a steady gym routine with this job, moving my gym hours to the morning before work started instead of evenings.

However, this is when my weight journey pivoted backwards. The stress of this job, especially when I was new and felt so dumb due to lack of experience, really weighed on me. Back in the 300lb days I was a heavy drinker, something I gave up almost cold turkey (with a few exceptions like holidays). In my current job, I am on the phones with angry customers everyday. The stress of learning how to deal with them, along with inadequacy of being way less experienced than my peers drive me back into unhealthy habits. As much as I love my job too, there are a lot of food rewards (company potlucks, bulk pizza orders, restaurant nights funded by management). Along with all this also came the financial ability to afford the luxuries I couldn't with door dash, such as ordering from the platform instead of taking orders from the platform.

I eventually lost the willpower to force myself to the gym and turned towards my bad habits of ordering out instead of cooking and drinking on stressful nights. I had started this job declining all food offers to me, but after pressure form coworkers to indulge and stress from the job, I started to indulge in the food available. I would also justify ordering takeout, telling myself I just want to avoid extra work at home and wanted any easy meal provided to me instead of made by me. From April 2024 to July 2025, my weight slowly rose back up to 260lbs. I no longer even fit comfortably into my work outfit and started wearing street clothes to work.

Today, I am a much more experienced man at my job. The angry customers are less of a hassle, but there are a few that do get under my skin (I'm sure anyone in a customer service role understands how this feels). My feet and back are now feeling pain that had subsided after dropping so much weight loss prior. I felt like I take up way more space than I used to. I have realized I am back to being ready to drop this weight again.

However, I am still trying to manage the feeling of mental exhaustion vs physical exhaustion and realizing how much easier I had it at committing to life changes when I wasn't mentally stressed. I have started both cooking at home again and going to the gym. I am logging my foods into an app again and aiming for a 1700, calorie intake total. I do still struggle with cravings, as I am currently typing this while at a BWW ordering a small boneless wing order with a couple beers. This is the end of my week and I am justifying one night a week to break my diet.

Would I give up what I have to go back to my meager earnings in order to commit to weight loss? No, I want to get a savings going so I can have a retirement plan. But I also want to gain the sense of euphoria I had when I was closer to 200lbs and even under. I'm trying my best to find balance.

I'm hoping by then end of this to express my struggles and use this as an opportunity to build myself up. I want better for myself.

I think this is my first post here, I'm a long time lurker and I decided to use a throwaway account. I'm F/39/170cm and my current weight is 77kg. Back when I was 33 I was followed by a professional to lose some weight since I had reached my heaviest at 82 and in a year I lost 13kg just to discover I was pregnant right after I reached my goal weight 😅

I kinda lost the weight in around 3 months but then Covid happened and I gained something back. Three years ago I decided to seek help from the same professional (a nutritionist btw) since I was 72kg and I managed to reach 65kg in around 7 months.

Now I'm here again, 77kg as per yesterday. I realized I am someone who eats out of pure boredom and my whole "I'm eating fiiine" was an excuse because I never counted the bits of cheese, the excessive oils, the late snacks and so on. I know how to eat relatively healthy and my diet is full of vegetables, but it's time for me to actually track what I eat, not being ashamed of adding stuff I shouldn't be eating and I'm focusing on being healthier for my kid and also because I have a couple of back problems and the excessive weight isn't helping.

I did the TDEE calculator and since I usually walk around 5-6 days a week at a relatively good speed (5-6km/h) I decided to go with "Light active" and the calories to lose weight are arouns 1600. I do not eat back my calories and I'm wondering if they're not too high and eventually, based on all the precious informations I found here, how often I should calculate my TDEE if I manage to lose some weight.

Been on CICO for over a month now and lost a good amount of weight.

However, this last weekend I screwed up, I went to costco and picked up a few snacks.

I then ate them throughout the weekend while still being in a calorie deficit and guess what, i gained like 5 lbs!!!

After looking at the snacks i was eating, i realized the sodium was off the charts after adding it up, one day I ate 2xxx mg of sodium past my daily intake, other days, between 1xxx and 2xxx.

After some research, the gain of weight might be mostly water that my body is retaining due to the high sodium in my body.

Anyways, point is yes CICO, but there is obviously a lot more to it.

Back to the basics, rice and protein!

My brother posted the picture on the right this weekend. I generally believe what I look like from the back is none of my business, I just hurt my own feelings lol, but I was pleasantly surprised to see this. On the left is about one year ago, the last time I saw myself from that angle. Sorry for awkward crab pose lol.

Over two years I went from 250 to 166lbs, I still religiously track and weigh everything. I cook 99 percent of all my meals. However the last two months I've been more lenient, I stopped weighing myself three times a day and did it every 2 to 3 weeks,increased my carbs, increased my salt intake and ordered a few meals, maybe like 8 total in two months, i still gauged my intake and was more of less at maintenance tdee, but there were a few weeks in those two months that I ate At a deficit. Please explain to me how I was 166 on June 25th and I am 174.2 today.... an 8 pound jump makes no sense to me, I just bought 2 new body scales today and will immediately be throwing away all my rice, salt based seasonings and buying a new food scale to make sure its calibrated right. For the last two years, I've eaten the same meals.. the last two months, yeh some more carbs and salt but its not like im eating a pizza every day. Whenever I ordered food it was like Greek food or a veggie burrito. I only drink water and milk, usually skim. I feel hideous, I am a fat lard and I hate this is happening

Do you have a meal or food that you feel you couldn’t have gotten through your calorie deficit without?

How bad is this break down of a meal I have regularly?

I do 16:8 if usually run about a 500 can deficit and I cut out alcohol, fried foods , sugar and dairy. First 10 months was all walking and body weight exercises. Started lifting now and fasted cardio to get the last 35

Sw 350 cw 235 gw 200

Sorry that when I turn to the side I disappear now

Hi CICO community! Looking forward suggestions for lower calorie meals/snacks that are easy on the stomach. All these fruits and veggies (especially veggies) I’m eating all day in attempt to keep my daily calories in range can be hard on the stomach. Especially if I need to take medication that can be rough on the stomach as well. I want to just go for simple carbs because they seem to be easy on the stomach (but terrible for my calorie count). Suggestions appreciated!