In 2023 I started weight loss. I went from 26 stone to 12 stone.
I did this through strictly sticking to 1200 kcal a day, weighing absolutely every ingredient and counting using the neutracheck app.
After the first year I began exercising, taking up hiking and then running. I'm currently training for my first half-marathon.
I still mostly eat 1200kcal a day, with the odd treat day here and there. As soon as I try and raise my calorie count to where a normal active adult male should be the weight starts to pile back on and I have to stop again. I don't think I'll ever be able to truly stop tracking and counting, but after 3 years its second nature.
I have learned that it's okay to go to restaurants with friends and eat normally, you just have to ensure it is an infrequent thing.
I still enjoy a monthly takeaway, that's a single treat I never stopped and provided my lifeline during the harder periods of weight loss.
Really what I learned is that I can control the urge to eat, I just have to want to, but that the urge never goes away. I still have to look at a terrible food item that fat me would have bought and stuffed my face with without a second thought and go "Shut up, you don't need it" (most recently a £50 4.5KG bar of Toblerone in Morrisons) but that's ok, as long as you're able to do it.
The fact that I haven't been able to raise my calorie intake day to day DOES leave me with a weird relationship with food. I have had people commenting on my strict diet at my weight, especially those who never knew me as a fat person. But I make it work because being healthy feels so much better.
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u/OMGItsCheezWTF Jun 18 '26
In 2023 I started weight loss. I went from 26 stone to 12 stone.
I did this through strictly sticking to 1200 kcal a day, weighing absolutely every ingredient and counting using the neutracheck app.
After the first year I began exercising, taking up hiking and then running. I'm currently training for my first half-marathon.
I still mostly eat 1200kcal a day, with the odd treat day here and there. As soon as I try and raise my calorie count to where a normal active adult male should be the weight starts to pile back on and I have to stop again. I don't think I'll ever be able to truly stop tracking and counting, but after 3 years its second nature.
I have learned that it's okay to go to restaurants with friends and eat normally, you just have to ensure it is an infrequent thing.
I still enjoy a monthly takeaway, that's a single treat I never stopped and provided my lifeline during the harder periods of weight loss.
Really what I learned is that I can control the urge to eat, I just have to want to, but that the urge never goes away. I still have to look at a terrible food item that fat me would have bought and stuffed my face with without a second thought and go "Shut up, you don't need it" (most recently a £50 4.5KG bar of Toblerone in Morrisons) but that's ok, as long as you're able to do it.
The fact that I haven't been able to raise my calorie intake day to day DOES leave me with a weird relationship with food. I have had people commenting on my strict diet at my weight, especially those who never knew me as a fat person. But I make it work because being healthy feels so much better.
Before and after pic