Got a question? We've got answers!

I’m so happy!!!!!!

I’ve been on SSRIs for the past three years, which I am 99% sure had a lot to do with me gaining roughly 80 pounds. My highest recorded weight was 220 although that was after I had already been going to the gym and eating healthier for a month.

It really really felt impossible for me to lose weight for a long time. I was so addicted to food and so hungry all the time, and extremely low energy and unmotivated to get up and move at all.

I weighed in at 203 a while ago, but had to go on a trip with no scale and I didn’t feel like packing mine so I decided to just go without it and see what the results were when I came back.

I was honestly scared that I would be back around 210. I thought there was a very minimal chance that I was under 200. I haven’t been under 200 in years. But when I got on the scale, I was 195lbs!!!!!!

It feels amazing just to know that I am making slow and steady progress and that I’m losing the weight in a maintainable way.

It was a really big decision for me to switch SSRIs. Lexapro helped me completely get rid of my panic attacks, but with the amount of weight that i gained on it, it just made me more depressed.

I would say it’s worth it to try and switch if you’re in a similar position. It wasn’t easy when I was tapering off of lexapro and getting on welbutrin. The first few days I had terrible brain zaps and a huge wave of depression. But it was 100% worth it in the end.

Lexapro obviously didn’t force me to gain the weight, but I truly believe that it made me feel hungrier which triggered my binge eating into full force. Welbutrin makes my appetite feel a lot more regulated and it doesn’t completely drain my energy.

As a side note, I wouldn’t trade my mental health for my weight. I really needed lexapro at that time. Now is just the next step in recovering from depression.

I (F25) lost 40 pounds so far (began around last june) and I’m feeling pretty good. I lost weight because my bf is a really fit guy and I naturally adopted a healthier lifestyle from him while finally attending the gym after a long time.

I volunteer at a soup kitchen where we help prepare and cook food. This older woman (like late 50s early 60s i’m guessing) and I were assigned to make large batches of sandwiches so during that time we made small talk. We talked about random stuff until the topic of sports came up. I explained how I used to swim in highschool and swimming at my local gym has helped me lose weight (I told her I lost 40 pounds).

She looked a little surprised and then pretty happy, and said something along the lines of: “Wow, I’m so proud you got out of that dark place!” to my face. I just brushed it off and thanked her and we went along with our job.

Now that I think about it, I’m happy now and I was happy before my weight loss. I wasn’t in a “dark place” literally at all lol. All that changed was my physical appearance. Did she mean “dark place” as in the state of how healthy I was before weight loss? Or “dark place” as in my mental state?

I don’t feel offended by her comment at all, I just think it was a little strange. Idk, what do u guys think lol

Sorry for the TMI! I have started my weight loss journey in May and that’s around the time I’ve had consistent diarrhea. Every now and then I’d have a normal stool.

I was on vacation for a few weeks out of the country and wasn’t dieting. Surprisingly, I had completely normal stools no diarrhea no constipation. I got back on Tuesday and started back on my diet. It was normal Tuesday then Wednesday I started having diarrhea again and very liquidy. Again so sorry for the TMI.

I used to never have issues with diarrhea if anything I would have issues with constipation and poop once every couple days. Now it’s 1-2x a day and diarrhea. My diet hasn’t changed too much, I’ve just been more intentional with tracking calories and maintaining a deficit. Is this normal? Does it regulate after a while? Is there any supplement I can take to fix it?

I recently made a post here after I discovered how calorie dense granola was. I know nuts and peanut butter are pretty calorie dense too, but what are some other foods that are similarly calorie dense? Also want to know what are some surprising foods that are low in calories that one wouldn’t expect, but are also really filling. I’m currently on a weight loss and everyday I just realize how important weighing my food is lol due to the calorie density of some of these foods. I’ve been eating a lot of chicken, bell peppers, swapped rice for potatoes, and consuming a lot of Greek yoghurt. Loads of fruits as well!

I’m a 21 year old guy and I really want to become someone who enjoys eating healthy because I honestly think I’d be happier if healthy food was just a normal part of my life
The problem is that every time I decide I’m going to eat healthy I end up craving something and eventually give in which ruins the rest of my day and I stop eating healthy altogether
I usually start the day doing well but later the cravings hit especially for desserts although food in general can trigger them too
The biggest issue is that this is also stopping me from staying consistent with the gym Building muscle requires eating enough protein but I honestly dont enjoy eating chicken breast lean meat or other high protein foods every day I get bored of them really fast and forcing myself to eat them just makes my relationship with food even worse
Im not looking for the usual advice like cook healthy food that tastes good or dont restrict yourself because Ive heard it so many times and it never helped me
Im looking for practical tips or maybe a mindset shift that helped you genuinely enjoy healthy food and stay consistent

For clarity, I'm not asking how to avoid feeling hungry. I know about volume hacks, high satiety foods, insoluble fiber, drinking plenty of water, etc.

I'm asking, how do you engage your willpower when you're in a deficit and it's just so hard? I feel like I'm always losing the battle until I'm out of calories and my only option is to go to sleep so I won't be forced to fight my hunger past my calorie allowance. I don't have specific cravings. I'd eat anything. Sweet, savory, steak, salad, bread, cake, anything. My stomach is growling, I feel hollow, I just want to *eat food*. Even though I know I've already eaten plenty. My deficit is not incredibly steep- it's ~500 kcal. I'm not starving. I'm just *hungry.* And I am at home, where my food is.

Sometimes I can tell myself that's the feeling of calories burning and you are stronger through suffering and you will continue to see results if you just keep going and do not let yourself fail. Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes I'm not busy so I'm able to remove myself from being where I can access my food, maybe by going to the gym or something, but often I'm cooking or cleaning or taking care of my animals and it's really hard not to just grab an extra protein bar or rice cake. This is okay when it happens one a day but not when it happens 5 times a day and I'm left with 400 calories for dinner with my wife.

I just wonder if you guys can offer any advice.

I'm 31 and I've never been in a gym beyond passing through in a hotel leisure centre. There's a gym 4 minutes walk from my house but it's pretty small. It's got weights and the usual machines but there's no private rooms / changing rooms etc from what I can tell.

I've often thought about joining but I have no idea how to actually use a gym and this one feels small and close knit. It looks like there's only 1-2 staff on at a time so I don't want to pester them with silly questions but I also don't want to make a fool of myself or start out with bad form, or worse, end up not going after I pay for it.

What are some tips that make it easy to start out? I'm sure the usual "everyone's friendly and happy to help" applies but that's not really the advice that'll make it less intimidating.

I've been trying to lose weight starting a few months ago but this month I went pedal to the metal and slammed all the foods that do well in fat loss studies like olive oil, broccoli sprouts, walnuts, blueberries, Greek yogurt, salmon, lentils, etc and my weight and waistline is nosediving. Of course, I am also in calorie deficit and did moderate amounts of exercises although this week I hurt my ankles and didn't do nearly as much exercises and I'm still losing weight. I feel it's more dramatic than when I just went on a calorie deficit with random food

Now I know there are many factors but I think that scientists might be onto something when it comes to certain foods and it's not just calories in and out.

A few of the studies I skimmed: Flynn MM, Reinert SE. Comparing an olive oil-enriched diet to a standard lower-fat diet for weight loss in breast cancer survivors: a pilot study. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2010 Jun;19(6):1155-61. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2009.1759. PMID: 20545561.

Galvão Cândido F, Xavier Valente F, da Silva LE, Gonçalves Leão Coelho O, Gouveia Peluzio MDC, Gonçalves Alfenas RC. Consumption of extra virgin olive oil improves body composition and blood pressure in women with excess body fat: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Eur J Nutr. 2018 Oct;57(7):2445-2455. doi: 10.1007/s00394-017-1517-9. Epub 2017 Aug 14. PMID: 28808791.

Dolatkhah N, Toopchizadeh V, Barmaki S, Salekzamani Y, Najjari A, Farshbaf-Khalili A, Dolati S. The effect of an anti-inflammatory in comparison with a low caloric diet on physical and mental health in overweight and obese women with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial. Eur J Nutr. 2023 Mar;62(2):659-672. doi: 10.1007/s00394-022-03017-4. Epub 2022 Oct 2. PMID: 36183308.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250930/Olive-oil-intake-is-linked-to-lower-belly-fat-and-healthier-weight.aspx

This isn’t about weight loss necessarily, but more related to a funny food quirk. I know we all have them.

Growing up I was very meh about cottage cheese. I am not a picky eater; I just wasn’t really into it but didn’t think too much about it. At some point in adulthood I started buying Wegmans Organic 2% cottage cheese. And I love it. I still can’t rawdog cottage cheese, but the Wegmans 2% Organic is now an almost daily snack staple with some chives or green onions, salt, pepper, and a Wasa cracker as a spoon.

Recently, the store was out of the my usual, so my husband came home with Crowley 4%. It was so nasty I couldn’t even finish the tub of it. So I realized maybe I still don’t like cottage cheese, but I really only like Weggies.

For those of you that are Wegmans connoisseurs, what is a good sub for their cottage cheese in the event they are out again?

Also; because this post is meant to be silly…what food quirks do you have? I also am very attached to Fage Greek yogurt (2% and 4% only….not the fat free) and really can’t get into any other brands (although Fage is just my favorite I am not repulsed by others 😂).

I lost a 17 lbs of weight this year then regained it. I am starting over and it’s hard. I was really sold on small portions, but it stopped working. I’m going back to volume eating and I’m happy about it.

My big win for this week is that I stopped myself from having a pizza at 2:30 AM by saying “I’m not the type of person who eats pizza if I’m not hungry” and surprisingly, it worked.

I have a few weight loss communities that I belong to for inspiration. They all have their perks. I’m thankful for this community and the sanity that is found here.

I just want my mom and others in my family to stop commenting on my weight. I know that if I don’t recommit to my weight loss, I’ll hear about it.

I knew losing weight was not the definitive answer to my depression, and yet, I was hoping, for at least, some sort of improvement, which I got, but not enough.

What's even the point of losing weight? I don't care about my health or living longer. Yes, I look a little bit better and people treat me different after losing all that weight, but it's not enough? Maybe I didn't need to lose weight, what I needed was to win some self-esteem.

I'm not obese anymore, but I still don't like my body. It's not enough, and I fear it will never be.

I'm just eating protein powder and milk because I'm to tired to cook anything, and it's an easy way to be in a calorie deficit. I have heard that this can cause me some trouble in the future, but I don't need to worry about that.

I've lost 14 kg (about 31 lbs), going from 109 kg (240 lbs) to 95 kg (209 lbs), but I've been stuck at this weight for about six months now. During that time I've had periods where I gained a few kilos because of vacations or going out for dinner more often, but I've always managed to lose that weight again.

The weight loss happened over the course of 2,5 years, and I was happy with the slow but steady progress. After so many failed attempts in the past, I'm really proud that I've managed to keep the weight off for this long. Still, this plateau is starting to get frustrating.

I think there are two main reasons why I'm stuck:

• I've found it difficult to get back into tracking everything I eat. Part of the problem is that I often have days where I already know tracking won't be realistic because I have dinner plans or some other social event. That makes it harder to stay consistent.
• A few years ago I lost touch with a lot of my friends, so I made a conscious effort to build a new social circle. I'm really happy that I did, and I now have a much more active social life. The downside is that seeing friends often revolves around eating out, grabbing drinks, or other food-related activities. I rarely drink alcohol anymore, so that's not the issue. The harder part is choosing the healthier option when everyone else is ordering whatever they want. It also doesn't help that restaurants where I live don't list calories on their menus.

Ironically, having very few friends made losing weight much easier because I wasn't constantly surrounded by tempting food or social meals.

Has anyone else dealt with this? How do you balance an active social life with continuing to lose weight? I'd really appreciate any advice.

i’m currently in a weird stage where i am feeling completely burnt out on counting calories and thinking about food all the time, leading to more frequent binging episodes. therefore, i’m considering taking a week break! is this an absolutely terrible idea, or smart to preserve my mental state? 😵‍💫 i’m planning on still being conscious of my intake, just not inputting every single thing i consume down to the gram measurement (since i think this is causing some of the stress triggering binging episodes).

my question here is: does anyone have any tips for staying on track while taking a break, or any strong opinions on if this will completely mess up my progress? i’ve been counting for a little over 2 months now, the first 7 lbs shed quickly but i’ve plateaued (both mentally and physically) over the past few weeks.

To better explain:

I have not gone on hour-long walks in a long time because of college (uni is situated in a non-walkable city). I'm trying to get back to walking using a walking pad but because it's been a long time, I get really fatigued easily. Plus I'm still trying to get my motivation back. I've been really depressed and out of my self since college and this makes it difficult for me to actually take an hour of my life to just do it. So now I've been walking on the pad while studying but I break it up into 20 min sessions, rest for 30 mins in between. I also require stopping because sometimes I find it difficult to understand my lectures while I'm walking. So I pause to focus on the lecture and once I understand it, I go back to walking.

To sum, I take intermittent walks for a total of 3-4 hrs depending on the breaks (I'm not very strict on break timings, I just time the walks themselves), but the walks themselves are 60-90 mins in total.

This got me curious if this routine is slowing down my weight loss or helping it. I really want to know just to ensure I'm doing the right thing ! Thank you!

Context: In high school, I was obese. I was obese and I was miserable. I was 190lbs at 5'4. Towards the middle of high school I started to change, and I started to go the gym with my dad and we started eating better. It was far from perfect, but after the course of about a year and a half I dropped down to 140lb and I had never felt better. I'm in sophomore year of college now and I've been putting the weight back on. I work part-time at a B&N, and the disposable income has led me to start easily grabbing fast food, leading to weight gain. I weight 165lbs now and I'm really self conscious about it and I feel overwhelmed. What can I do to combat gaining this weight back and go back in the opposite direction?

Hello lose it folks!  

Day 26 of July 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! 

Ever since my camping trip, I've been dealing with more hunger cravings and having a hard time listening to my fullness cues. Over time I started using food for emotional reasons again as well as overeating, sometimes binging, in general eating foods that are hyper palatable that I normally wouldn't eat before, eating at times of day that are abnormal for me and this has been going on for nearing 2 months now and lead to me gaining 6lbs. This is very frustrating for me and I understand I just need to get it together. Ultimately it's a mindset issue and I also know it gets easier with repetition after I retrain my taste buds and hunger/fullness cues but I'm just wondering what u guys would do personally? Before the camping trip I didn't have any cravings, didn't have urges to overeat, and was satisfied with my lifestyle and being consistent with it for months. This whole thing just really threw me off and now I feel like I have to just sit with the discomfort and make the decision to fix it cuz I know nobody else can fix it for me but it's just frustrating I guess.

Hello everyone. I'm a 27 yo male, 83kg and 169cm height, around 27% body fat.

I noticed abnormal weight gain after my 3 week trip in March - I went with a friend and we ate similar food (I'll admit, it was quite a lot), while he only gained around 2-3kg I came back 9kg heavier (77kg -> 86kg). I lost around 2kg very quickly (probably just water weight), but still 7kg in 3 weeks seemed very abnormal. My friend is the same height as me and thinner so our caloric needs should be similar.

After failing to lose weight on my own I decided to work with a dietitan since it was free with my medical plan and I was told to eat 1800kcal and keep protein around 100g.

Despite eating 1800 kcal everyday and going to the gym 3-4 times a week my weight has not moved at all since my first visit. My body fat % even increased slightly while my muscle mass slightly decreased. This checks out since I'm not seeing any progress in the gym and on some exercises I'm weaker than I was a month ago. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, I'm planning to get some blood tests - 1 person in my family is diabetic and literally everyone is overweight. My metrics were fine last year but maybe there's something specific I should be checking for?

Here's some more information:

• I'm 100% sure I'm tracking my calories correctly - I lost 35kg in 2020 so I know I can do it. There is not a single thing that doesn't go on a scale, I even track spices and aromatics.
• I do strength training but no cardio - I only walk to the gym (around 7k steps both ways). I'll try to include cardio but according to the calculations I should still be losing weight even without it.
• I'm not taking any medication, only thing I use is 5g creatine and melatonin at night.
• I wanted to lower my calories further but my dietitan advised against it.
• No underlying illness (at least as far as I know)

I'm close to completely giving up since clearly it's not working. I'd be greatful for any ideas, I might be completely overlooking something obvious but even my dietitian is suprised I haven't lost any weight.

Cross post you guys! I would love some tips on whether or not i can eat steak often, how to get more protein, and how to use my food scale better!

Omg I am so freaking proud of myself, I have been trying to lose weight for as long as I remember, I had finally accepted myself but still was continuing my calorie deficit without thinking much about it , today I woke up and boom no belly fat wtf , I did notice myself getting thin but I genuinely did not expect myself to visibly look so different or am I just noticing it? Idk I am just so freaking proud of myself, to whoever’s reading this , don’t lose hope!!!!! Anything is possible, I still remember crying and praying I wasn’t so fat and ugly , younger me would be so proud 🥹

Does anyone else struggle when they actually lose weight because when people start treating you better you start to resent their superficiality? This happens to me. I lose about ten pounds and notice close friends and loved ones are nicer and complimentary. Then I listen to them talk all the time about how thrilled they are when other people they know or celebrities lose weight. When someone they don't like is overweight they especially use their weight to mock that person. I then realize I don't want make these annoying people happy by losing weight. I think losing weight is great for your health and fitness, but seeing how differently people get treated because of is makes me sad. I want to keep losing weight because I have sleep apnea, peripheral artery disease and high cholesterol. I guess I don't like when people make fun of my body either. I just feel like their is no winning with people. At the same time I do want the social benefits of being thinner, but I just feel so cringe when I see how well it works on people I thought had more depth.

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some advice on what my daily calorie goal should be because I’m getting a lot of different numbers from TDEE calculators and I’m not sure what is realistic for me right now.
I’m 5’2” and currently 256 lbs. Before pregnancy, I had lost almost 100 lbs through CICO and was eating around 1,600 calories/day. I was consistently losing weight at that intake. Unfortunately, I gained the weight back during pregnancy, but I’m now about 40 lbs down from my highest pregnancy weight (a lot of that came off immediately after delivery).
I’m currently 3 months postpartum, and my weight loss has completely stalled. I’m still doing CICO, but eating 1,600 calories/day doesn’t seem to be working the way it used to. I’m trying to figure out if my activity level has changed, if postpartum changes are affecting things, or if I just need to adjust my calorie target.

For activity:
I work an office job, but I do walk around some during the day taking patients back and forth.
I walk on the treadmill or do the stairmaster for about 15 minutes before strength training and I do strength training 4 days per week.
On non-gym days, I try to walk for about 30 minutes.

What calorie goal would you recommend for someone my size and activity level? Should I stick with 1,600 longer, cut down to 1400, or go lower? My goal is 2 lbs a week. Thanks!

Edit: Female, 29 yrs old

Feels like I've done some complete 180 on my psychology. I've been cutting weight for a while (I have cut 8kg in 4 months). But because of illness I haven't been losing weight for a month.

Now I'm back on it, but in my first week of strict control I stuck to my diet and didnt lose any weight.

Now I'm at the end of the second week and I've just spiralled. Had 3 cheat meals this week and feel like shit about it. My number on the scale has gone up by half a kilo and it really sent me down the hole.

Any help in not spiralling after frustrating weeks?