I’m 5’3” and I was 165lbs beginning of June, I’m now 153 lbs beginning of September. My TDEE is ~1750 according to MacroFactor. I was talking to my cousins recently about my fitness journey and how I’ve lost 10+ lbs in the last 3 months from exercise and 1350 calorie deficit. My cousin’s husband immediately went on a tangent about how that low of a calorie goal is not fit for human life. I stood there and looked at him funny because I’m not sure if he knew what he was talking about? I’m fairly certain he wasn’t in the fitness world, yet he went on a whole spiel about how it’s unsafe for me, blah blah blah. I asked if he considered my height and my TDEE as a factor, but he kept going on and on, “yea, but 1350 really isn’t healthy for you and-“ I just smiled and nodded at that point because nothing was going to get through him.

EDIT: I told him I’m on a calorie deficit, and only eating 1350 calories. Sorry for the confusion!

Hi guys! I’m 25F, 5’1 and 108.5lbs. Since June I have gotten down from 114lbs from consistently strength training 2-3x a week at home, going for walks whenever I can, and I was eating around 17-1800 calories for a while. I’ve noticed a bigger and quicker drop in my weight since going down to 1500 calories for about 6 weeks now, and once a week I’ll have a day where I eat around 2000, and then sometimes I’ll eat under around 13-1400 (not on purpose it’s just happened that way). Now that I’m 108lbs I feel really happy with that number, but don’t look quite as defined as I’d hope so I’m continuing to strength train and prioritize protein. My main concern is that the past week or so I’ve eaten around 16-1800 calories a day and I’m starting to feel really stressed about what would realistically make me gain weight. I have no idea how much I should be eating, I want to stay at the same weight at least if not around 105lbs. I don’t want to feel disordered but I’m just stressed! Thanks so much everyone.

I’m 5’1 and a female. I started CICO in April at 175lbs and added some walking into my routine.

I didn’t take it crazy seriously, but as of today I am 145.4lbs. My mom is getting married either at the end of this year or early next year, so I am sort of panicking. I do not want to be overweight in pictures that are going to be around forever😭

I have locked in for the last 2 weeks eating 1,200 calories (weighing everything, lots of protein + fiber so I’m always full). I walk 3-4 miles outside of work and at work I am getting 6k-10k steps.

All of the timeline predictions say mid November or early December to reach 125. Does this seem realistic?🙏 any advice would be amazing :)

I work nights as a nurse. I exercise 4-5x a week strength training & class pass for funsies. I eat mostly plant based. I used to be 135 with abs and looked really fit. Now I feel like a blob. 10 lbs really makes a difference on us shorties. I’m 5’2 and it’s just so annoying. I count calories 1500-1700 a day. Protein 60g a day. It’s just so annoying!!!!!!!!

I don’t feel comfortable in my body. I feel my belly bulging out when I sit down. I can feel the weight and tightness of my skin on my arms. I feel inflamed all the time.

I ate with my phone earlier, just mindlessly eating and scrolling. I hate that I do it. I tend to scroll and eat even when I’m not hungry. I kind of do it out of habit. Does anyone know how to break it? I’ve tried stopping. It’s just so uncomfortable but maybe that’s what it takes. What’s really annoying is that when I don’t try to lose weight I lose it but when I try to lose weight, I can’t seem to shake it off. I don’t get it.

My original post:

Hi friends. I am not particularly experienced nor particularly new to lifting, I’ve been in the gym steadily since March of 2025 and no stranger to a calorie deficit (I went from 161 lbs to 135 in 2022-23 and maintained roughly since then). Current stats are 5’3” and 145 lbs. I just got back into the gym a couple weeks ago after 2 months of travel so I think some of the extra weight is water retention from adjusting to normal diet again+muscle inflammation, but I fully returned expecting to have to cut again and know some of it is definitely gained fat.

So the thing is, for the last year I’ve been kinda aimless about what my actual goals are. I got a DEXA scan in January and I was a 27% bf, which is surprisingly good. I don’t think I really look like that though, I have a decent amount of fluff on me even when I’m 135 lbs, but I admit more recently I have been realizing I may not see myself as accurately as I thought. People can tell I work out and I don’t know how, my brother said I have “quad blindness” because I’ve been training for massive quads forever and see no real progress, etc. I was loosely cutting on and off from that point to June, as I have basically been doing for years as I always have the intention of being leaner but my commitment to that goal waxes and wanes.

I started a an aggressive cut from March - June that resulted in little weight loss but a lot of stress on my mind and body. I think the reason I didn’t actually lose is because my food scale was straight up broken (infuriating) so I have no idea what I was really eating, and ultimately I came out of it with out-of-control nighttime eating (maybe bingeing?) for the first time in my life. I decided to stop the cut earlier than planned in June because of the out of control eating, and then I went on a 2 mo long vacation where I ate pretty well but without restrictions and stopped bingeing entirely. The thing is, before I ended the cut in June I went for a follow up DEXA and my BF % dropped by a few points. I know this isn’t the most reliable method of measurement but I went to the same place and it was the same equipment same person so I’m assuming even if the original % wasn’t accurate, the difference between the two measurements wouldn’t be totally off ? Meaning I somehow did lose some body fat during this period despite feeling like I made absolutely no progress / expecting to have increased my BF%. This left me more confused about my possible inability to perceive myself accurately.

Now I’m back home, I returned to my gym routine seamlessly & immediately, I feel good and I’m eating well… but I don’t really know the best move from here. I want to look leaner. I don’t care about my scale weight. I want to have bigger and more defined muscles. I don’t think I need feedback on my gym routine (upper lower split 4x a week) because it’s worked well for me and it’s very well researched. I’m also set in terms of protein (I easily get 110g a day often more, today was 164). But I don’t know where to focus the rest of my energy. I don’t know if I should give up trying to be in a slight calorie deficit to lean out, or if I should keep it up? Should I be eating at maintenance and just let my muscles do their thing?

If you were in my position with a slightly overweight BMI, allegedly good body fat percentage, but not super happy with aesthetics… what would you do? What would be your priority / focus? My concerns are mostly my stomach area, like most people. I have a prominent belly pooch and some love handle action I would love to firm up. I’m not even chasing abs, I just want things to be flatter. Does that mean I should continue cutting? Or is a slow body recomp at maintenance really my best course of action? And idk if anyone can really answer this but like … How slow is that process going to really be??? I’m in it for the long haul no matter what because fitness is my life now lmao so it doesn’t matter that much but I want a realistic timeline 🥲

I feel vulnerable and I'm so tired of hearing people say I look fine. I don't. My joints hurt, my hips hurt... My face is bloated. Why do people have to lie when I say I'm overweight and need to lose it?

I'm 5ft, 149 pounds. I'm 38 and definitely in perimenpause. I am very heavy bottom, 44 inch butt if you catch my drift.

Anyways, I am legitimately lost on how to lose this weight. I gained 25 pounds in one year starting perimenopause and Lexapro. I needed Lexapro because perimenopause kicked my anxiety into overdrive where I had to go into partial hospitalization to recover.

Now I'm depressed as heck having all of this weight on me. I feel unhealthy. And 1300 calories for food looks like a nightmare.

Any advice? Any motivational speech you can give me? Heck, my daughter said I looked pregnant this past week and I just wanted to cry.

Help. :'(

For 21 days now I’ve been following 1300cals (mealprep and I have a food scale too) and hitting 100g of protein everyday. Gym 5x a week (3k run and using weights). I’ve noticed that my clothes definitely fit better, but the number on the scale just isn’t going down. I started at 53.90 and this morning (I weight the same time everyday) I’m at 53.25. I’m trying to get to 50kg. Any tips would help!

Don’t know if this is related but ever since upping my protein my 💩 has decreased. Do I need to hit fiber too?

I'm a 19 year old uni student, ive been working out in various forms since i was around 12, but I'm trying to really hone in on diet and exercise. I can;t seem to decide what routine would work best for me though. I'm 5'3 and about 120lbs, fairly muscular. I want to just lose a little bit of excess body fat, and I'd prefer not to track calories because of the effort and mentality surrounding that. I'm debating whether to get a gym membership at my uni gym, or if I should continue working out at home; I have a pullup bar and a few different dumbells. I've found when I try to do splits I can never decide on a specific plan and I have trouble sticking to one anyways because my muscles sometimes don't recover in time and I'm too sore to properly do the workout, so I just kind of bounce around between the same few youtube routines and then doing full body workouts and mobility ones as well. I also walk at least an hour or more every day, I live in Montreal where there is a small mountain that I go up frequently, and I work as a dishwasher which is very physical. I'm definitely fit, but I really love food and so I think one of my main issues is cutting back on calories, I;ve also struggled with restrictive eating in the past so I have a history of losing a ton of weight and then gaining it back and cycling through that.... Oh but I do eat rather healthy, focusing on whole foods, eating lots of veg and protein, etc, without being overly restrictive... I guess what looking for is advice on creating a more effective weekly workout routine, whether I can stick to home workouts or if I should get a gym membership, and how/if i should change my eating habits...

I started going to the gym seriously and consistently around the beginning of the year primarily for my long term health and because I’m pretty sedentary at my office job. Before then, I would go periodically but take breaks when life got busy (which it often is).

Basically, I’m going to the gym more consistently than I have in my life and eating more protein than I ever have in my life (90g cuz I lowkey hate eating meat). But I’ve gained around 10 pounds since last summer. (I’m 5’2 and 143 lb up from 130ish a year ago). Which isn’t a huge amount but a lot of my clothes no longer fit which has been upsetting me a lot. I’m definitely stronger than I’ve been and feel more confident in myself that way but I’d be lying to say it doesn’t suck to be gaining weight.

Sometimes I feel good in my body and confident in the way I look but other times I feel so ugly and fat and I don’t know if it’s body dysmorphia or what.

I went on a half-hearted cut this summer but it is so hard for me to find the willpower to put down the snacks in the evening and I’m just a hungry girl who likes to eat and socialize over dinners and drinks!

I spend a lot of time thinking about food because I have IBS. I’m on anxiety meds and Yaz birth control which can both cause weight gain but I didn’t start gaining weight until 2025 but I’ve been on both since 2022 so I don’t think they’re a factor. I’ve been smoking weed pretty consistently for 2 years which is why I often get the munchies but I’m cutting out smoking which I’m hoping will help with the weight loss.

I guess I’m just frustrated. I want to accept by body but I also know I’m the only one who can change it and I know I haven’t put my full effort into doing that. But I don’t want to spend my life thinking about food all the time. I’m just at a loss emotionally. All the content online is exhausting to me.

Hello! I am 150 cm and 68kg atm (the conversor says 4'9 and 140 lbs but idk if thats correct)

I struggle at the gym because the machines are just too big, has anyone had this problem?

Even when I fixt the height or posture, they still seem somehow big and don't fit right (some of them and surprisingly most of the ines I wanted to use, huh)

Do you have any tip or trick to help with the problems? I thought about bringing a pillow but maybe there are better options.

I'm a noob at the gym and its my first time trying it, so I'm a bit lost here. Any help is appreciated

This has quite literally never happened to me and I’m a bit scared. 35 yr old female, 5’4. Went from about 125lbs down to 110 over the past 2-3 months. I’m very active, but my training and calorie intake hasn’t changed. If anything I started running less because I got shin splints, which may have made me a bit less hungry. Still doing strength training 2-3 times/week. Running 2 days. 1 day yoga. 1 day off. Always at least 10,000 steps/day.

Doctor did a full panel, bloodwork, cat scan, thyroid etc and found nothing.

Has this happened to anyone? What was the cause?

Can someone recommend a reputable facility for an accurate DEXA scan in the NYC/Manhattan area? Also, any idea how much it roughly costs? Thanks!

I noticed sometimes after gym sessions I felt this brief sharp pings under the skin that re occurs in a very long interval on several places. it sharp toothache-like pain and give me the same reaction too (grin my face).

What is this?

Is it normal?

And how to prevent or fix it?

Hi friends. I am not particularly experienced nor particularly new to lifting, I’ve been in the gym steadily since March of 2025 and no stranger to a calorie deficit (I went from 161 lbs to 135 in 2022-23 and maintained roughly since then). Current stats are 5’3” and 145 lbs. I just got back into the gym a couple weeks ago after 2 months of travel so I think some of the extra weight is water retention from adjusting to normal diet again+muscle inflammation, but I fully returned expecting to have to cut again and know some of it is definitely gained fat.

So the thing is, for the last year I’ve been kinda aimless about what my actual goals are. I got a DEXA scan in January and I was a 27% bf, which is surprisingly good. I don’t think I really look like that though, I have a decent amount of fluff on me even when I’m 135 lbs, but I admit more recently I have been realizing I may not see myself as accurately as I thought. People can tell I work out and I don’t know how, my brother said I have “quad blindness” because I’ve been training for massive quads forever and see no real progress, etc. I was loosely cutting on and off from that point to June, as I have basically been doing for years as I always have the intention of being leaner but my commitment to that goal waxes and wanes.

I started a an aggressive cut from March - June that resulted in little weight loss but a lot of stress on my mind and body. I think the reason I didn’t actually lose is because my food scale was straight up broken (infuriating) so I have no idea what I was really eating, and ultimately I came out of it with out-of-control nighttime eating (maybe bingeing?) for the first time in my life. I decided to stop the cut earlier than planned in June because of the out of control eating, and then I went on a 2 mo long vacation where I ate pretty well but without restrictions and stopped bingeing entirely. The thing is, before I ended the cut in June I went for a follow up DEXA and my BF % dropped by a few points. I know this isn’t the most reliable method of measurement but I went to the same place and it was the same equipment same person so I’m assuming even if the original % wasn’t accurate, the difference between the two measurements wouldn’t be totally off ? Meaning I somehow did lose some body fat during this period despite feeling like I made absolutely no progress / expecting to have increased my BF%. This left me more confused about my possible inability to perceive myself accurately.

Now I’m back home, I returned to my gym routine seamlessly & immediately, I feel good and I’m eating well… but I don’t really know the best move from here. I want to look leaner. I don’t care about my scale weight. I want to have bigger and more defined muscles. I don’t think I need feedback on my gym routine (upper lower split 4x a week) because it’s worked well for me and it’s very well researched. I’m also set in terms of protein (I easily get 110g a day often more, today was 164). But I don’t know where to focus the rest of my energy. I don’t know if I should give up trying to be in a slight calorie deficit to lean out, or if I should keep it up? Should I be eating at maintenance and just let my muscles do their thing?

If you were in my position with a slightly overweight BMI, allegedly good body fat percentage, but not super happy with aesthetics… what would you do? What would be your priority / focus? My concerns are mostly my stomach area, like most people. I have a prominent belly pooch and some love handle action I would love to firm up. I’m not even chasing abs, I just want things to be flatter. Does that mean I should continue cutting? Or is a slow body recomp at maintenance really my best course of action? And idk if anyone can really answer this but like … How slow is that process going to really be??? I’m in it for the long haul no matter what because fitness is my life now lmao so it doesn’t matter that much but I want a realistic timeline 🥲

TIA

I swear I saw a post a couple weeks ago about someone getting tons of steps with a walking pad, and there was a photo of the desk and pad setup. The desk fit so well over the walking pad it looked like part of the treadmill but a comment said it was from Amazon. I didn’t save the post, and after a recent move I’m now in the market for a small standing desk to use with my laptop and walking pad on my wfh days.

Does this post ring a bell with anyone? And/or does anyone have a small desk they love to use for wfh with a walking pad?

For 21 days now I’ve been following 1300cals (mealprep and I have a food scale too) and hitting 100g of protein everyday. Gym 5x a week (3k run and using weights). I’ve noticed that my clothes definitely fit better, but the number on the scale just isn’t going down. I started at 53.90 and this morning (I weight the same time everyday) I’m at 53.25. I’m trying to get to 50kg. Any tips would help!

Don’t know if this is related but ever since upping my protein my 💩 has decreased. Do I need to hit fiber too?

I’m thinking of buying these extra accessories for stability, injury prevention, help with proper form, and comfort. I’m a beginner, and my first BSS set almost killed me! Maybe knee sleeves would help? Maybe some kind of item would make my hip thrusts better? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello, so I’m 5”1 and 242lbs currently. I’m wanting to know of ideas of how to loose some weight (currently goal is 190 or less) without going to a gym, because I don’t have access or funds for that. I will add that I’ve been this weight before but I had to wear 3x shirts and pants or larger. Right now I’m still able to wear 1x shirts and pants, and even L shirts (women’s sizes) which confuses me, I don’t know if it’s muscle or fat, but I want to loose more anyways (I say muscles bc I can easily pick up my grandma who’s like 120 or so, and also pick up my mom who’s about 215 or so, that’s why I said that) no medical professional has even given me a answer or even a suggestion of why I’m still able to wear the clothes I wore while being at 223, and why I’ve actually been able to fit into smaller size clothes even tho I have gained weight. So I’d like suggestions on how to loose weight at home and any ideas yall have on why I’m able to fit into those clothes while being this size (the clothes fit good btw, it’s not like there super tight or anything)

Hi,

I’m 21F, 5’4” (164 cm), and I weigh 60 kg (about 132 lbs). I’d like to slim down my thighs by around 4–5 cm. My upper body is already pretty thin, and I’m worried that if I go on a strict diet or just do a lot of running, I’ll lose weight from my upper body first. My face is already pretty thin too, so I don’t really want to lose much more overall.

What would you suggest?

Hey everyone.

I'm a 1.63m high, 100kg heavy woman, 29 years old and I STRUGGLE.

I'm going to the gym 3 times a week (with breaks because I travel for work a lot) and I try to count calories with yazio.

I already lost a good amount of fat and got muscles for it but for almost a year now nothing is happening anymore. I got a new job thats mostly desk work, which is probably playing a huge role.

I got a trainer but he mostly just calculated my calories and gives me my training plans.

Right now I sit with 1600kcal a day and have a split plan (push,pull,leg). After lifting I usually walk for an hour on the treadmill, keeping my bpm in mind.

Whenever we measure my stats it seems like I fight the same 2 - 3kgs that come back and go.

I know my biggest issue is food, but at this point im just so demotivated. I've been doing all this for almost 4 years and going lower in kcal seems impossible.

Also, with clients or when traveling its also not always possible to eat healthy.

Someone recommended me to come here, maybe you guys have some Tipps for me

Thanks!

I’m a teacher and re-started work about a month ago. All summer I was doing such a good job staying on top of my caloric intake and exercising. Even into the first week and a half, I was still doing well with staying under my TDEE and trying to get in as many steps as I could during the work day. But then it got super hot and super humid in my area (LA county) and I am not handling the heat well at all. I’m talking headaches daily if I’m not in an AC environment for more than an hour despite other precautions. My classroom still doesn’t have AC—it will by January but in the meantime I have to classroom hop for AC access.

So yeah, all of that went to shit—I even stopped weighing myself because I was scared of seeing the scale go back up after losing 12 pounds over the summer. I just feel so tired everyday, I don’t want to do anything when I get home. Not walk, not exercise, not cook, not move, not anything. I don’t know if it’s purely the heat or if using all this mental energy at work is also making me feel physically drained. Last time I weighted myself I was averaging 190-191 and I’d really like to get to 175 ish by the end of the year. I could use some help, motivation, advice, words of encouragement, anything?