The Mental Part of Weight Loss

[lem1955]

I am female, 65, 5'1" if I stand real tall. I was in very good health pre-Covid, 140#, some back pain and arthritis but nothing debilitating. But all of my clothes fit tight and I didn't like the way I felt in those clothes or looked. I've also had a history of pogo stick dieting/weight gain. March 1st, I decided that I would cut way back on sugar and alcohol and would embark on the intermittent fasting regime - eating nothing between 7PM and 11AM. I thought it would be hard to give up a beer, wine or scotch before dinner, especially artisan beer. I thought of myself as a careful drinker and one who relished finer wine, beer and liquor. In general, my self-image was hedonistic and sybaritic. I decided to allow myself one a week. A week later, restaurants closed and life changed. I was no longer dining out once a week, there was no socializing, and I found after a week of sobriety, I didn't really want a drink. It was easy to just drink water or seltzer. Long story short - intermittent fasting got me used to being a little hungry before my first meal. It was hard to maintain that time restriction after awhile, so I often have a small breakFAST after 9am - a piece of toast with butter and a piece of fruit. Summer made it easy to increase my exercise regime. Now I either cycle 2-3 hours or walk 6 miles (2 hours) 5-6 days a week. I've lost 20 pounds slowly in seven months. Back pain and arthritis have vanished. I eat bread, meat, lots of vegetables and fruit. The only things I eat very rarely are alcohol and sweets/dessert. With winter coming I've given thought to how I can keep up the outdoor exercise - I bought carbide studded waterproof running shoes for icy dirt road walking and I'm hoping for enough snow for x-c skiing. What I've learned is that the stories we tell ourselves about who we are can be a detriment to real change. I have not become an ascetic nor a puritan. But I'm finding pleasure in different food, clothes that fit and feel good, being out in nature more, pushing my body to do more (but gently). Are there others out there who have found silver linings in coronavirus isolation/shut down?

 

[njhowie]

Congrats! Great job!

 

[tb001]

I too have shed over 25 lbs since the shut down. Started in earnest in May. For me, the shut down has encouraged a sense of routine and rhythm that has enabled the weight loss. A few special splurges for birthdays but otherwise all cooking at home and a focus on healthful foods.

I’ve found it interesting that many people seem to go one way or the other. I know several people who have easily gained 20+ lbs over the last 6 months. I guess maybe boredom?

 

[njhowie]

Congrats and awesome job to you too!

 

[MRG]

Nice job.

 

[pacergal]

Congratulations on your healthier lifestyle.
I confess--I am a stress eater. My clothes still fit, but a little tighter, so I am guessing I have gained some, despite working in the garden and trying to walk more, along with my daily meditation that I always do. I have never owned a scale, but my clothes tell the tale! Generally, we eat healthy.
I really don't eat much after dinner, but so many posters have talked about success with intermittent fasting, I may give it a try.

 

[Aerides]

Stay-at-home in March coincided, for me, with the recognition that my torn meniscus from last year hadn't self-repaired, and I made a quick visit to my ortho for a 2nd cortizone shot (post shutdown, pre mask, the first two weeks). So that put an end to my running, again, tried bike riding but with parks closed...eh. Gardening/walking only.

I gained 2-3 lbs by May but then started being more careful with diet and dropped that by June. Had knee surgery in July. Getting the meniscus repaired gave my doc a good look inside my knee and now I know what to expect for the next 5 years (cartilage is shot...I'm 2-3 years away from making a TKR thread)

He recommended basic strength training over PT, and I'm slowing building a little gym in my garage. Started a mix routine based on powerlifting moves, and the scale stayed flat for the first month but is now moving south again, even as I'm padding my diet with more protein, and presumably have about a 1-2 lb muscle gain. My deadlift is 75 lbs after 6 weeks, and I'm back to running 2 miles at time (building 2 mins every run, will be easier as the temps get lower in Fl).

 

[eytonxav]

That is a great job OP. The mental part of weight loss involves eating right and exercising and showing perseverance over time towards those two elements is probably the biggest factor to success.

 

[Teacher Terry]

2 months ago I stopped drinking anything with calories except for 2 cups of coffee. I have lost 14lbs.

 

[AZ2020]

I started the eating nothing between 7PM and 11AM routine 1 year ago (pre covid). I went from 250 to 215 so far. I actually enjoy being a bit hungry before lunch.

I my case it was more of a work thing to go out to lunch every day, just to get out of the office. Once I started working from home (Covid) and then my retirement in August I have not been to a restaurant since February.

So Covid/Retirement made a difference. Mostly because now I have no "time" excuse as to why I'm not doing something. A silver lining for sure.

 

[momoftwo]

Love these sucess stories.
Congrats to all!

I had picked up a few after March shutdown. Im a stress eater. Being shut in was very hard in our small house.
I unfortunately landed in hospital in July with GI issue, since resolved.
Decided to take advantage of my temporary loss of appetite to lose some weight.
Began to walk more. Cut out all sweets and desserts, alcohol.
Im down 26lbs. Returned to our reopened gym a few weeks ago. Doing some weights in addition to cardio.
I still need to lose another 25. But finding my food cravings are largely gone..
Sometimes I 'forget' a meal if im busy.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Covid's been both a negative and positive for me weight-wise.

Working from home, it's been too easy to head to the kitchen to grab a snack, particularly with us buying junk food snacks. I think I put on a bunch of extra weight on top of already being overweight and out of shape. I didn't want to weigh myself because I thought it would be too disheartening to see how great of a challenge it might be to get myself back in shape.

On the flip side, once I got over the mental hurdle to commit to an exercise and diet regimen the covid restrictions on events and travel kind of allowed me to have time to focus on it instead of trying to slot it in among other competing activities. And I typically lose momentum when I go on a trip and can't get back on routine after being away on a trip for 2 weeks. What's also helped is that we have a treadmill and weights in the basement so I don't have to fight the weather or get motivated to leave the house to get my exercise in.

I was pretty strict in keeping to my routine for the first couple of months just to get the routine into habit but I've let off the gas a bit now into month 3 to get away from an all or nothing mentality.

 

[RobbieB]

Dropped 25 pounds during the covid times, I heard it kills fat people first.

How's that for incentive?

 

[tmm99]

Congrats!

I'm surprised that a lot of you have lost weight since the begining of the pandemic. My 3-4 days a week volleyball has stopped and my physical activity level has been way down so my weight has gone up although I guess it's still manageable. I can't drop pounds by drinking just non-caloric drinks because that's all I've ever drunk...

 

[Bamaman]

My hat's off to anyone that's dropped one ounce of weight if they've been quarantined these months. It's been said many people have gained 12-15 lbs.

And to make a change of diet refraining from the evils of starches, carbs and alcohol takes lots of will power. Physical activity really helps though.

As a Type II diabetic on an insulin pump, I have to maintain stability in diet and weight. My wife is on Weight Watchers, and I keep catching her in the kitchen about 10:00 p.m. She's a bad girl. She keeps asking me what I'm doing there, however I just lie and tell her I'm there to be her conscience.

We've had doctors appointments this week, and they didn't preach to us too bad. Now if I could just keep out of the ice cream.

 

[RobbieB]

We've been doing the WW online and I credit them for our success. Their "point system" really works. You can eat anything you want, but you have to pay the (point) price.

 

[1242Vintage]

Since all my amateur competitive events (trail running & bicycle races) have been canceled this Summer, I’ve been using this break and my recent retirement for a major self tune up. Been doing “two-a-day” workouts most days. Intense workout on my bicycle in the morning and strength training in the afternoon. On the diet side have been drinking lots of water, lite on the alcohol consumption and preparing healthier foods at home.

I was 250 lbs when I retired on May 1 and this afternoon my scale says 215 lbs. Strength and endurance are both way up. Able to muscle my mountain bike up gnarly rock strewn pitches that I haven’t cleared in many years. It’s a great feeling and a motivator to keep the fitness improvements going and weight dropping.

My goal is 180 lbs by April of next year. I’ll get there and maybe even occasionally hit the podium when we get to compete again. That hasn’t happened in many years.

 

[HadEnuff]

Congratulations to anyone who can achieve and maintain weight loss and find a way to get some exercise. It ain't easy to change. Likewise with quitting smoking.

Congratulations for giving yourself the best presents you possibly could. Carry on. Keep it going.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Congratulations! I'm down around 15 lbs. since self-isolating. Without my daily commute, short though it was, I was able to be more diligent and regular about exercise, and eating at home is always easier to track than eating out, IMO. And I have been out of work for a few months now, so I actually upped my exercise a bit after that. I'm probably in the best shape I've been in since high school!

Thanks for bringing this up, I've been reluctant to share this with anyone on social media, since I know some of my friends are dealing with work and child care issues and having a harder time of it, rather than easier.

 

[11522914]

I retired 21 months ago. My weight slowly rose until in June this year I was at my highest weight ever, 261 lbs.

5 years ago I weighed 214.

So in June I had enough and decided to do low carb. It's truly amazing how we create our reality. I simply said I would do it and did.

After a couple of weeks my desire for sugar completely went away. I now only eat when hungry.

Think about that. I only eat when hungry. Not because I think I should eat. Some days I eat one meal, some days 2 , rarely 3. But when I eat I eat as much as I want as long as low carb.

I also started walking maybe 1 or 2 times a week.

So far I've lost 19 lbs. 42 more to go. No rush. Do I miss pasta, rice, potatoes, processed foods? Honestly not really.

Anybody want some bacon!!!

 

[jollystomper]

To the OP, congrats!

I was still able to keep active during the shutdown and avoid gaining weight. I found some good, entertaining aerobics videos. They range in length from 10-30 minutes and I would go through enough of them for at least an hours work of activity. In addition, I kept active during the day by not sitting down more than 45 minutes at a time. We have an acre of land and a few parks a couple of miles away, so keeping active is easy. Give me my music on my phone and earbuds, and I can easily pass the time while fast walking/light jogging/push mowing my grass.

I started monitoring my added sugar intake and try to keep below the recommended daily minimum. No store bought sugared drinks, either no sugar sodas, low sugar sports drinks, or my own homemade drinks using erythritol instead of sugar. I also ensure I eat a lot of protein, including using protein powder.

I do not truly diet, I just eat much less of the "bad" things than I did before.

Currently I am a few pounds below my pre-pandemic weight, but not as low as in the middle of summer when I was walking the golf course 4-5 times a week and doing other gym/outdoor activities on other days. But, my low weight was below my desired minimum weight, so it was no big deal gaining back a few pounds.

 

[Navigator]

I originally was gaining weight during the lockdown, but read about the higher death rates for obese people with Covid-19. Officially, I’m normal weight now, but still feel fat. Alcohol and sweets have also been my downfall when trying to maintain my weight, but I’ve given up both since June. The urge to eat more and exercise less is strongest in cold weather, so I’m not looking forward to the winter.

 

[Koolau]

Down almost 10 lbs since Covid. I'm sure it's because we rarely buy food out (most restaurants are closed or only take out.) We used to eat out 5 or 6 times a week. If I can't sit at a restaurant, I won't take the effort to go out (just to carry stuff home.) YMMV

 

[Time2]

In general, my self-image was hedonistic and sybaritic.


I have not become an ascetic

Thanks, I learned two new words, I especially like sybaritic. You go girl!

 

[Teacher Terry]

I cut out alcohol entirely because of the calories. 2 months later I don’t miss it at all. I have replaced it with sparkling flavored water and alcohol free beer which is only 70 calories and tastes like the real thing. I am now up to 18lbs lost.