First, good job!
What does your current training regimen look like?wolf30 wrote: ↑ How do you guys keep motivated and tackle the mental aspect of losing weight for so long? I've been cutting for over 1 year now and lost over 30 lbs and shaved off 7-8% bodyfat, but I'm estimating that I still need to cut for another 5 months. I should have lost a bit more weight but got lazy and stopped tracking calories a few months back and thought that I could just wing it and also didn't adjust for my new lower maintenance calories which added in another 2-3 months to my cut where my weight plateaued and even increased 1-2 lbs! After making adjustments my weight loss was back on track with about 1 pound loss a week. Cutting for this long and not seeing too much difference (eg. abs) is really starting to now really demotivate me. Seeing how much more longer I need to continue the cut is making me have doubts.
Yup
Good for you for losing all of that weight. I think 155 pounds for someone 5'7" is getting quite low and you might want to start thinking about how you will transition back to a more "normal" eating habit, as in eating a regular amount of calories when you're not fasting not in a calorie deficit. I'm 5'9" and a few years ago I was at 155 pounds. Looking back, that was probably a pretty unhealthy weight for me as I was getting too thin. I'm now at 175 pounds and I definitely feel and look a lot better now.boat73 wrote: ↑ Just gonna share this here.
Started out in February 2019 at 195 lbs, 5'7" male. Starting out with bad eating habits. I'd order a high-carb, high-fat lunch at work because it's tasty, along with a can of coke or two.
I just had an appointment with a liver specialist for NAFLD, who recommended focusing on lean protein and eliminating refined carbs, with the goal of 160 lbs. Then I saw a counselor for other life stuff happening, and shared the subject of the liver specialist appointment. The counselor mentioned the ketogenic diet as something to consider. It was the second time I heard this brought up, so I looked it up. I was also not working for the rest of this year, so I had all the time in the world to research very thoroughly on how to approach this for the best results, along with all the recipes out there to keep me adhered. I never really bothered tracking or logging my progress. My focus was just to live day-to-day on this exciting new keto diet, but here's the milestones from memory.Since then, my weight's been hovering around 145-150 for the most part. A 7-day fast last February (done not for weight loss in mind) had me go down to about 142, and when I dropped my IF for a bit and ended up snacking more, I went up to 155.
- In April 2019, I had a blood test. Already by then, all my liver enzymes were already within normal range, which is a first in years.
- Towards the end of June 2019, I decided to see how well this would still work with fast food, minus the carbs. It may have slowed down my progress, which I remember I was stuck in the mid 160s.
- GOAL REACHED/EXCEEDED: Mid September 2019, I was at 150. I also decided to check out what the big deal is with intermittent fasting, or just fasting in general. Before, it sounded like some crazy thing that I wasn't sure why people would do, but then turns out intermittent fasting is the term for what I probably was doing throughout the year without tracking it. Did two days of IF, felt it was easy, then stepped it up to 2 weeks of alternate-day fasting (not even the 500 calories on fasting days). That managed to trim off some extra weight down to 145. Thought I might be over-doing it, so I just kept a prolonged fast at least once a month. In January, a monthly 3-day fast became the norm.
Also, I haven't actually gone to the gym throughout 2019. I started going back to the gym for a couple weeks in late February or March last year. When gyms had to close, I dusted off that P90 that jacksfilms convinced me to get. Went well, but then when summer arrived, I shifted all my focus towards running outside. Totally neglecting resistance training, I lost any progress made during those months, and it is one of the possible culprits why I ended up with knee pain towards the end of 2020 - no leg day, not even any resistance training.
Weight is no longer what I'm concerned with now, but more focus towards body fat percentage. Although this is a plateau, it is a good spot to hit that plateau. To continue improving myself, I've been considering changing things up, like a week of more protein (1:1 vs fat or slightly more calories from protein), and cyclical keto before I completely forget how to interact with glucose. And I'm going to start with 100 pushups daily to help me solidify my commitment to resistance training in general.
Yup
Congratulations on the weight loss. You are doing well.wolf30 wrote: ↑ How do you guys keep motivated and tackle the mental aspect of losing weight for so long? I've been cutting for over 1 year now and lost over 30 lbs and shaved off 7-8% bodyfat, but I'm estimating that I still need to cut for another 5 months. I should have lost a bit more weight but got lazy and stopped tracking calories a few months back and thought that I could just wing it and also didn't adjust for my new lower maintenance calories which added in another 2-3 months to my cut where my weight plateaued and even increased 1-2 lbs! After making adjustments my weight loss was back on track with about 1 pound loss a week. Cutting for this long and not seeing too much difference (eg. abs) is really starting to now really demotivate me. Seeing how much more longer I need to continue the cut is making me have doubts.
I already eat a normal amount of calories when I'm not fasting. Fast hard, feast hard. That's what sets fasting apart from simply going for a caloric intake deficit on a daily basis. Abundant calories, with some intermittent periods of no calories at all, instead of presenting the body with a constant state of scarcity, forcing it to adapt by destroying metabolism. On some or most days, I'd go for time-restricted feeding. Once a month, I would go for a 2 or 3 day fast for metabolic health. Very sparingly, and probably going to be a yearly practice, would be a 7-day fast, just for that overall health. I know some people out there have good reasons to be fasting longer, but I personally don't.MarinersFanatik wrote: ↑ Good for you for losing all of that weight. I think 155 pounds for someone 5'7" is getting quite low and you might want to start thinking about how you will transition back to a more "normal" eating habit, as in eating a regular amount of calories when you're not fasting not in a calorie deficit. I'm 5'9" and a few years ago I was at 155 pounds. Looking back, that was probably a pretty unhealthy weight for me as I was getting too thin. I'm now at 175 pounds and I definitely feel and look a lot better now.
Will just put this out here for you. When you go back to consistently eating a more normal amount of calories, you're inevitably going to gain back some of the weight that you lost. This is completely normal. It doesn't mean that you're gaining fat. You're just eating more food and drinking more water that your body has to carry to be used as energy later. Don't let it panic you back to a fast/calorie deficit. Accept it and focus more on how you look and not what the scale says.
Thanks for the encouragement. Making adjustments to my diet definitely made a huge difference for overcoming those weight loss plateaus. I now track my calories and weight on a daily basis and make small adjustments when necessary. I'm down about 37 lbs so far and my waist has shrunk to a 34.25".blexann wrote: ↑ Congratulations on the weight loss. You are doing well.
I'm not familiar with cutting but you might need to change things up a bit - both in diet and training regiment. I train and have gone through various phases of calorie restriction, keto and IF and as soon as I stop seeing results I change my diet and training and things start to happen again. Works for me.
As for the mental aspect and motivation, honestly I found it very difficult to start, which was years ago for me, and now I find it difficult to stop lol, almost like a drug. So maybe just changing things up would bring back that drive for you. Seeing results will get you motivated again.
Update - fasting overall has lead to a reduction in hunger. I average 176-181 today. I wasn't sure more weight loss was possible but it is. Granted this is augmented with working out! I've had to alter some work clothes I bought that fit me perfectly 4 years ago. Intermittent fasting works and you can maintain it after.KravenHead wrote: ↑ Same height but it would be physically impossible for me to weigh 180lbs.
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