Wanted to start a thread for all of us in the Lots To Lose club, to discuss goals, challenges, how it's going for you, what's worked and what hasn't. It has always seemed like an impossible task, to lose this much weight, but with these new meds, it's not only possible, many have done it. So the discussion becomes how to do it in the healthiest/happiest/smoothest way possible. And, what do we do once we're there?
Would love to know:
What's your weight loss stack? Workout/movement? Got any good food prep or meal plan strategies? What about wardrobe, changes in appearance like skin and hair? Changes in the way others treat you? Etc etc.
Basically anything that's helping you get there.
Cheers.
Down 170lbs as of yesterday with 50 more to go.
My story may be a little interesting and unique, because of the way I lost this weight. Also, I want to share a lesson I've learned, so none of you make the same mistake I did.
I guess I'll start by mentioning that I have a groin injury that we are having trouble diagnosing. I've had an MRI, ultrasound, CT, X-ray, etc and other than inflammation and a hydrocele behind my testicles, nothing has been found, but it absolutely kills me when it flares up. I mention this, because this injury has limited my movement and exercise, so I've practically lost all of this weight with very little exercise and just melting in my chair. I can't even lift weights for my upper body because it will also cause that injury to flare up.
Also, I was super worried about loose skin because of the unique way I scar (keloids), so loose skin surgery may be out of the question. Throughout my research, I couldn't find a diet method that consistently solved this skin problem, but I noticed that vegans seemed to have the least amount of loose skin after a large loss like I was looking at. Also, fasters claimed to see results, but there aren't a lot of people sharing photos to prove it.
I decided to run an experiment with my diet that will cause most of you to think I'm an idiot... which I don't deny - but daily LOW PROTEIN with fasting mixed in is what I landed on - in the hopes that this would cause protein recycling from skin that was no longer needed to more necessary areas like organs and muscle. My first 2 months of loss, I ate only potatoes with a little butter and seasoning.
I was all in on this and lost weight like a crack head with an unlimited supply of crack. During those first months, I was averaging about 15 grams of protein per day and less than 1000 calories per day. After those first months, I upped the protein, but it's still low - my average daily protein is less than 50 grams over these 10 months of loss
The results -
I'll start with the bad first
- Very little noticeable improvement of my skin and I'll have a lot leftover to deal with.
- I had a dexa scan done after my first 70lbs lost and I was still so large that they could only scan half of my body. I recently had a second scan done (I fit on the machine this time woohoo!) and 25lbs of the last 100lbs lost was lean mass and I'm still over 40% body fat. Lean mass does include skin, muscle, organs, and some of your fluids, but still, that number worries me, because I can definitely tell my muscle took a big hit
The good
- my blood pressure is completely fixed now. I average 110/70 and that's down from 200/130
- I no longer snore
- besides for the groin pain limitations, I can move around without being instantly winded
Would I diet like this again after everything I've learned?
YES! I already admitted to being an idiot, what do you want from me???
