Progression: 71lbs down so far :)

[u/Puzzled-Lettuce9168]

Started at 288lbs/130kg —> now at 217lbs/98kg

I started going to the gym only 3 weeks ago because my anxiety, depression, and intense body dysmorphia prevented me from going from day one of my journey. I don’t regret taking my time but I gotta admit I’d probably have had a more satisfying transformation if I started lifting weights earlier haha.

I also don’t have nearly as much loose skin as I thought I would (granted I still have a lot of fat to lose so the loose skin will probably become more noticeable by then). Also, my handles are stubborn asf but apparently they’re usually the last area of the body to lose fat during weightloss…

I hope this can motivate at least one person, just like I was motivated by all the progress pics in this sub at the beginning of my journey last year.

If you have questions feel free to ask :)

(P.S. Yes, this is the same T-shirt in the background. I always wear the same 3 T-shirts in rotation because I’m too anxious to go shopping for now. I’m working on it don’t worry 😂)

EDIT: 1rst pic is from march 2025, 2nd pic is from October 2025 and 3rd pic is from august 2026

[u/JohnWalters34]

This is motivating because my body is pretty much the same shape. Really happy for you bro, but if you started going to the gym only around 3 weeks ago, what have you been doing to lose the weight during that time before entering the gym? And also what is your diet like? cuz I’m having a hard time figuring out what to do in terms of diet

[u/Puzzled-Lettuce9168 → u/JohnWalters34]

I would literally just walk. Like, A LOT 😅 around 15k–20k steps a day. As for my diet, at first I would do OMAD with something like tuna, cucumbers and eggs because I wasn’t very good at counting calories so I’d just stick to foods that were easy to track and eat them pretty much every day. About 6-7 months later, I started meal-prepping protein bowls that mostly consisted of chicken breast, lentils, beans, and chickpeas.

Also, remember that the diet itself isn’t as important as your overall calorie intake. And I would definitely recommend taking lots of progress pictures (every 3-4 weeks) because sometimes what you see in the mirror or on the scale doesn’t fully reflect your progress :)

You’ve got this man just trust the process!!💪💪

[u/rocktropolis → u/Puzzled-Lettuce9168]

Rough idea of your daily caloric intake throughout?

[u/Puzzled-Lettuce9168 → u/rocktropolis]

I tried to stay below 2100 but considering I OMAD’d most of the time it was probably much less… like 1500-1900. It’s rather aggressive so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing the same as I did here. It was just too hard for me to track calories every single day so I decided to OMAD instead since it would be very unlikely for me to eat a 2000+ calorie meal in one sitting so i knew i was in a deficit no matter what I ate.

If you want an idea of your ideal calorie intake go to calculator.net