My Weight Loss Story

[samanthabwolfe]

So the people in the IRC chat might know but if not I'm Sammi, and I'm working on losing weight before I begin transition. I started in August of last year at over 450 and I have, I think pretty remarkably, dropped over 150 pounds to 298 today. My goal is 200, but I'd like to continue on even further and eventually get down to the 160-150 area, where a either a man or woman of my height would be ideal

I use CICO, which is a calorie counting method, supported with tech on my iPhone and Apple Watch (I sell Apple equipment for a living, I will talk it up. :-).

If I can answer any questions or share anything specific please let me know.

[Eryn T]

Hey, Samantha!

That is INCREDIBLE! I know you will be able to keep going, since you've already achieved so much! It definitely seems like calorie counting is helping you along with your journey!

I am not very heavy myself, but I feel like if you shared more of your regimen details, then those who really need it will benefit!

Anyway, just wanted to pop in and say how amazing and awesome you are!

[Megan.]

Well done, that's a great achievement, keep it up! X

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[Dani]

Congratulations Sammi.

I am another 100+ pound loser. I lost my excess baggage by eating natural foods, predominately fresh vegetables and fruit. The first 50 pounds came off effortlessly, but after that, any more weight loss was a struggle for me.

CICO is a "calorie in calorie out" method of keeping track of what you eat versus how much you burn off due to work, exercise and just plain living. It works.

My only comment is that to keep the weight off, you must find a diet and work/exercise schedule that you can live with for the rest of your life. Too many of us have been on diets where we lost the weight and then went back to eating our normal diet and gained the weight right back and we often gained more weight than before.

Finding that right balance between diet and a desirable, constant weight is the real challenge.

Again, I am happy you found a weight loss method that works for you. Keep up the good work. 

[Gertrude]

Deborah turned me on to keto. I'm down 133lbs since June 19.


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[samanthabwolfe]

Generally, I've done just a few things:

1) Log everything. Even things you don't think should be important. A few green onions, 10 calories? It goes into my log (I use MyFitnessPal on my iPhone). Coffee with a few little creamer things? In it goes.

2) Daily workouts. It sucks, but you gotta have that little outlet. That 300 calorie burn is the difference that counts.

3) Be honest. If you lie on the log, you're only hurting yourself. No one else in the world cares. You are doing it for you so be honest. If you slip, you slip.

4) If you slip, you get up. There's no reason why a bad day ends progress, it pushes it back a bit. If I have a terrible day and eat 3000 calories (About two days worth of calories) then I've delayed myself for two days. In the grand scheme, that's really not all that bad. It's certainly no reason to feel like I have to stop.

5) In the end it's math. A pound of fat is about 3700 calories. For every 3700 calories in a week you either skip eating or work off, you lost a pound. that's it-  it's that stupidly simple.

6) Every little thing counts. Not having the cookies your boss set out at work, doing that extra 10 minutes on the treadmill to make your move counter go up to 200%, switching out the higher calorie meat for a lower calorie alternative, every step counts and everything helps.

[samanthabwolfe]

Deborah turned me on to keto. I'm down 133lbs since June 19.


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Keto works for some people amazingly, though in the end, it's CICO too. It's thermodynamics - take in less then you burn, and you're using the reserves thus losing weight. Keto is easier for some people to stick to and if it is then awesome. Personally, I can't give up rice bread and pasta, even if I have to restrict it seriously.

[samanthabwolfe]

Congratulations Sammi.

I am another 100+ pound loser. I lost my excess baggage by eating natural foods, predominately fresh vegetables and fruit. The first 50 pounds came off effortlessly, but after that, any more weight loss was a struggle for me.

CICO is a "calorie in calorie out" method of keeping track of what you eat versus how much you burn off due to work, exercise and just plain living. It works.

My only comment is that to keep the weight off, you must find a diet and work/exercise schedule that you can live with for the rest of your life. Too many of us have been on diets where we lost the weight and then went back to eating our normal diet and gained the weight right back and we often gained more weight than before.

Finding that right balance between diet and a desirable, constant weight is the real challenge.

Again, I am happy you found a weight loss method that works for you. Keep up the good work. 

I don't think I could go back at this point. Honestly, I haven't had to make a ton of food choice differences, I was eating the right things when I was eating meals for the most part. I just was eating way too much of some stuff, and snacking. I had to seriously cut back the breads/pasta, I've increased things like rice and vegetables, and I've worked harder to find flavorful things that don't add much calorie wise. I also had to drop the in-between meals. Things I didn't realize were so rough (peanut butter is something I love but it's so calorie dense it has to be treated like the bomb it is. :-) had to be controlled much more. I feel the last 9 months have done that though.

[Eryn T]

Generally, I've done just a few things:

1) Log everything. Even things you don't think should be important. A few green onions, 10 calories? It goes into my log (I use MyFitnessPal on my iPhone). Coffee with a few little creamer things? In it goes.

2) Daily workouts. It sucks, but you gotta have that little outlet. That 300 calorie burn is the difference that counts.

3) Be honest. If you lie on the log, you're only hurting yourself. No one else in the world cares. You are doing it for you so be honest. If you slip, you slip.

4) If you slip, you get up. There's no reason why a bad day ends progress, it pushes it back a bit. If I have a terrible day and eat 3000 calories (About two days worth of calories) then I've delayed myself for two days. In the grand scheme, that's really not all that bad. It's certainly no reason to feel like I have to stop.

5) In the end it's math. A pound of fat is about 3700 calories. For every 3700 calories in a week you either skip eating or work off, you lost a pound. that's it-  it's that stupidly simple.

6) Every little thing counts. Not having the cookies your boss set out at work, doing that extra 10 minutes on the treadmill to make your move counter go up to 200%, switching out the higher calorie meat for a lower calorie alternative, every step counts and everything helps.

This is really cool to know! It's more about honest dedication to yourself, rather than doing anything overly strenuous.

But I was wondering(and Ive always wondered this) how do you figure out where your calorie median is? Like, how many calories per day I could eat without gaining, but also without losing weight?

I've been getting those grandma brownie cookies at the end of the day as a little reward, I should probably stop that right now lol

[Dani]

Things I didn't realize were so rough (peanut butter is something I love but it's so calorie dense it has to be treated like the bomb it is. :-) had to be controlled much more.

Samantha,

I have switched from peanut butter to dry peanut powder. The powder is mixed with a little water just before eating and it spreads just like peanut butter. The big advantage is that it has about one-third the calories of peanut butter. Most of the calories of peanut butter is in the peanut oil used to make the peanut butter spreadable.

Also, you can put a little peanut powder in your smoothie to boost the protein content.

[Gertrude]

Keto works for some people amazingly, though in the end, it's CICO too. It's thermodynamics - take in less then you burn, and you're using the reserves thus losing weight. Keto is easier for some people to stick to and if it is then awesome. Personally, I can't give up rice bread and pasta, even if I have to restrict it seriously.

Any time you eat less than you need and use, one will lose weight. The question is, what diet is the most tolerable and works for someone's genetics? I tried the Fuhrman diet that Penn Jillette did for 3 weeks. I lost 22lbs, but felt like >-bleeped-< all the time. 6 months and 7lbs later Deborah told me about keto and I tried it. It was tolerable and beyond the first three days, I've been fine for the most part. I think I have an ulcer now, but that's been symptomatic in the last couple weeks and not keto related. Anyway, I'm big and my metabolism likes keto. My natural inclination is protein and fat. To put it another way, my wife took most of our kids on a 10 day trip years back and I ate what I bought, which is different than she did. I lost 10lbs in those 10 days. Fuhrman is a vegetarian diet and I don't know how Penn did it. He's bigger than I am. Like the show he had on cable, I'd like to call BS on it. Either he put himself in a coma or he had gastric bypass. Veggies alone do not cut it for me.

When I reach maintenance, I'll probably allow a little more carbs, like 50g net vs 30g net and not use a calorie deficit and see how it goes. Right now my macros are 2095cal, 160g fat 30g net carbs and 133g protein per day and that reflects a 20% deficit in calories and that I am mildly active. If I was more active, I could get away with more. My only real exercise is 17-22 miles a week of walking and hiking.

[samanthabwolfe]

This is really cool to know! It's more about honest dedication to yourself, rather than doing anything overly strenuous.

But I was wondering(and Ive always wondered this) how do you figure out where your calorie median is? Like, how many calories per day I could eat without gaining, but also without losing weight?

I've been getting those grandma brownie cookies at the end of the day as a little reward, I should probably stop that right now lol

LOL yes you should stop! they're empty calories. There's not much and they're not filling. Grapes work better, IMHO.

If you use an App like MFP or LoseIt! it will do the work for you. You can also use a calculator like https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

[samanthabwolfe]

Any time you eat less than you need and use, one will lose weight. The question is, what diet is the most tolerable and works for someone's genetics? I tried the Fuhrman diet that Penn Jillette did for 3 weeks. I lost 22lbs, but felt like >-bleeped-< all the time. 6 months and 7lbs later Deborah told me about keto and I tried it. It was tolerable and beyond the first three days, I've been fine for the most part. I think I have an ulcer now, but that's been symptomatic in the last couple weeks and not keto related. Anyway, I'm big and my metabolism likes keto. My natural inclination is protein and fat. To put it another way, my wife took most of our kids on a 10 day trip years back and I ate what I bought, which is different than she did. I lost 10lbs in those 10 days. Fuhrman is a vegetarian diet and I don't know how Penn did it. He's bigger than I am. Like the show he had on cable, I'd like to call BS on it. Either he put himself in a coma or he had gastric bypass. Veggies alone do not cut it for me.

When I reach maintenance, I'll probably allow a little more carbs, like 50g net vs 30g net and not use a calorie deficit and see how it goes. Right now my macros are 2095cal, 160g fat 30g net carbs and 133g protein per day and that reflects a 20% deficit in calories and that I am mildly active. If I was more active, I could get away with more. My only real exercise is 17-22 miles a week of walking and hiking.

Well, Penn's a wealthy person in a big city, I'm sure he can take all the time he needs to do what he needs to get his diet done well.

I'm pretty aggressive in terms of calories - I do about 1800 a day, and I often only barely scrape 1200. I haven't gone over except for one day (my brother's wedding) since Christmas. I don't track Macros too hard (I view my goals and overall I usually am within them just by my normal work), in the end for me Calories are all that really matters. i can care more about macros when I get lower and out of the danger zone.

[samanthabwolfe]

Samantha,

I have switched from peanut butter to dry peanut powder. The powder is mixed with a little water just before eating and it spreads just like peanut butter. The big advantage is that it has about one-third the calories of peanut butter. Most of the calories of peanut butter is in the peanut oil used to make the peanut butter spreadable.

Also, you can put a little peanut powder in your smoothie to boost the protein content.

LOL I'm not a smoothie fan. Partially because I hate bananas. Personal thing, hated them since I was little. Texture mostly. I haven't tried it but when I can find a smaller container I'll give it a go.

[Gertrude]

Well, Penn's a wealthy person in a big city, I'm sure he can take all the time he needs to do what he needs to get his diet done well.

I'm pretty aggressive in terms of calories - I do about 1800 a day, and I often only barely scrape 1200. I haven't gone over except for one day (my brother's wedding) since Christmas. I don't track Macros too hard (I view my goals and overall I usually am within them just by my normal work), in the end for me Calories are all that really matters. i can care more about macros when I get lower and out of the danger zone.

With keto, macros matter. Some in the keto world say pay attention to macros and not calories. I do both. I know exactly what I eat. As far as penn goes, wealth doesn't matter much and he did it very quickly. 5-6 months I think. The vegetarian diet just doesn't work for me. If I drop much below 1700 calories a day, I start to get cranky. At 1200, I'd be killing people.


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[samanthabwolfe]

With keto, macros matter. Some in the keto world say pay attention to macros and not calories. I do both. I know exactly what I eat. As far as penn goes, wealth doesn't matter much and he did it very quickly. 5-6 months I think. The vegetarian diet just doesn't work for me. If I drop much below 1700 calories a day, I start to get cranky. At 1200, I'd be killing people.


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hehehe... I won't say I've been a constant ray of sunshine. One young kid who works for us, he sometimes gets my goat and he has a particular way of finding tricks to annoy me when I'm struggling so he gets my worst more often then anyone else. But overall I think I handle it okay. Today was very good, 1214, including a carton of strawberries when I got home, plus 500 calories of exercise. any day with a +1000 calorie deficit, IMHO, is an excellent day.

[izzymacattack]

What an awesome achievement! I've done 50lbs in a year, but I'm having trouble getting below 195lbs. I'll definitely try to channel your dedication as I continue my own journey!

[Gertrude]

hehehe... I won't say I've been a constant ray of sunshine. One young kid who works for us, he sometimes gets my goat and he has a particular way of finding tricks to annoy me when I'm struggling so he gets my worst more often then anyone else. But overall I think I handle it okay. Today was very good, 1214, including a carton of strawberries when I got home, plus 500 calories of exercise. any day with a +1000 calorie deficit, IMHO, is an excellent day.

I'm taking the slow road. 133lbs since June 19. 20lbs to go.


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[Eryn T]

hehehe... I won't say I've been a constant ray of sunshine. One young kid who works for us, he sometimes gets my goat and he has a particular way of finding tricks to annoy me when I'm struggling so he gets my worst more often then anyone else. But overall I think I handle it okay. Today was very good, 1214, including a carton of strawberries when I got home, plus 500 calories of exercise. any day with a +1000 calorie deficit, IMHO, is an excellent day.

This is turning in to everyone's weight loss story! <3

Really proud of you, Samantha! It is a daily battle, and you are gonna be the ultimate victor!  I feel like I should try to figure out how many calories I intake, because I don't think it's alot? But I have no idea... and I did stop getting those brownie cookies lol :3

[samanthabwolfe]

This is turning in to everyone's weight loss story! <3

Really proud of you, Samantha! It is a daily battle, and you are gonna be the ultimate victor!  I feel like I should try to figure out how many calories I intake, because I don't think it's alot? But I have no idea... and I did stop getting those brownie cookies lol :3

Well, IMHO, I think it's terrible how companies have for the last 15-20 years hid what they're putting in food and what they're serving. I can't go out now-a-days. Do you know how hard it is to find food that's not obscenely proportioned, laden in oil, and served with high calorie dipping sauces? And then they whine to us about how it's a burden to put calorie counts on dishes. It's frustrating and its wrong.

That said, you should try tracking. You can download several free apps (LoseIt!, MyFitnessPal) to do it. They scan barcodes on food, and allow searching to find anything else. It's extremely eyeopening.

For the record, 3 more pounds this week, down to 295.

I realized today that if I keep at 3 Pounds a week by my birthday (June 14) next year I could be at my ultimate goal weight of ~150, which is the low end of male and higher end of female average for a person my height. Now, 3 pounds a week is a TALL order as I continue to reduce, but it's a goal and something to push toward. My initial goal is 200 (which would put me about 25 pounds out side of the high end of male). At 2 pounds a week (Being more conservative here) that would also be about a year. Being I'm not on HRT male goals are not outside the realm.

Either way, as I continue to reduce weight, I can and will have more strength to do better workouts, which will support better weight loss. My eating is, IMHO, on point right now and that just needs to be maintained (And honestly, I could probably loosen up a bit, but I'm doing good with it as is).