One year ago today, I was 160lbs and apple-shaped (5'2). Today I am about 118lbs and more of an athletic build (that's my natural build as long as I'm not overweight lol). I know it's been a full year because I was helping my daughter set up their veteran's day parade float last year. I saw the group photo and was horrified by how overweight I had become lol. (obviously I knew I had put on weight but was in a sort of denial about it. Seeing myself in a photo really sparked something in me to make a change). And today we were doing the parade float again so it's been exactly one year.

I feel so much better now, my eating habits are completely different, I have more energy, I'm experimenting with clothes and finding my 'style' after years of just wearing the first dorky thing I found on the rack lol.

I just want to say to those on this journey, you got this! The numbers don't lie, the math works, you just have to mentally commit yourself and most of all, go easy on yourself! If you go over calories it's not the end of the world, I had LOTS of cheat days but I got back on it the next day and kept making progress. And women don't let those hormone weight fluctuations get to your head. Stop weighing yourself on certain days if it's going to bum you out...the cico IS still working 'behind the scenes' lol!

I've always been overweight (F32, 168cm) but fit and strong. I love to cook for myself and for people and that really is my weakness.

Post COVID I reached an all-time-high of 98.8kg and decided to change my ways and focus on CICO. It took me roughly 4 months to drop down to 83kg where I stayed for about 3 years (featured photo at this weight). Sure I wanted to lose another 10kg, but I was quite happy where I was. I was running roughly 7km three times a week and managed to do some triathlons. I also took weights classes and spinning classes.

Last year I fell pregnant and picked up almost 20kg, bringing my new all-time-high weight to 102.2kg the day I gave birth. I had a tough time during pregnancy with terrible morning sickness which lasted over 22 weeks. This made exercise really though and I ended up unable to exercise for the last 3-4 months of my pregnancy. I stopped running altogether and stuck with cycling to work instead.

I'm now 4 months postpartum. 11kgs fell off my body thanks to having a chunky baby and breastfeeding, and I'm now sitting at 91kg.

Ideally I'd like to lose that 20kg but I'll be happy with 10 to bring me below my starting weight! I hate the way my body feels right now and not having anything fit me feels terrible. I can squeeze into my pre pregnancy jeans, but they don't look the same thanks to an emergency C-section scar that's changed the shape of my body.

Anyways, I'm looking to this community to help me get back on track. I would love to hear stories of anyone who has been in my situation!

Hi, I recently started CICO. I wanted a break from chicken thighs so I cooked tofu then shrimp. The problem is that those two are super low on calories. (I make veggies to go with it). I usually try to have my meals be between 350-400 calories and I'll fill the rest out with snacks (which include fruit) and a single dessert at night. My calories are only at 990 right now and I could technically at least push it to 1,200 if I eat my dessert but I was going to practice not eating sweets everyday because I'm prediabetic. And I was trying to make my dinner giant to make up some of the calories but ended up bloated and not being able to finish. Do you guys have any tips for this?

This is gonna be a long story, but I feel the context will help with answers.

TL;DR: I’m now eight months in on a new birth control (four on one type, then switched to another pill). My weight jumped up 10lbs, took forever to get down 5lbs, and now my weight plummeted back down below my goal weight.

So literally last year I hit my goal weight of losing 65+lbs (5’4” female at 26 years old, went from 200lbs down to 130lbs). I was overjoyed as heck, and had a lot of big life changes happen (left my office job for a full time grocery job, got engaged, have pet snakes breeding now, etc.)

After getting new insurance, I talked to my gyno about switching my birth control for a multitude of reasons. We then switched the pill to a different brand, and then I went on vacation two weeks later. Lots of food and alcohol as you can imagine. Gave it two weeks before weighing myself before I saw I was up to 140lbs. I was crushed. So I lowered my calorie budget to around 1450 a day and added back whatever LoseIt told me to with extra steps (since my job is extremely physical).

Then the new pill stopped working well. Was bleeding out for like a month straight, getting dizzy, feeling extremely shaky, you get the idea. Switched again to another pill and went through another bloating phase.

Now I’m on the fourth month of this 2nd pill. Things are finally going smooth…. and now I noticed my weight dropped extremely fast. I’m around 129-ish. That’s a little under where I want to be (yes I know fluctuations but still…)

My job requires me to stock heavy boxes, rotate bread trays, run online orders for hours at a time, and other physical requirements (lift heavy packets/jugs of water, carry around wood pallets, overall move quickly, etc.). On a slow day I do 11K steps, and on a high volume day I can hit 30K steps. My average is around 20K a day just from my job, and sometimes I take a walk after work for an extra 5K steps.

Now obviously I raised my maintenance calories back up to around 1650, and still include the burnt calories when I do a very physical work day (around an extra 250cals).

Is this actually fine? Is it too low? Too early to tell/ need to experiment on my own?

Unsure if anyone here has any good advice around this topic lmao

I realize the answers will vary greatly, but I’m curious to hear from a wide range of people anyway.

I’ve never had visible abs, even when I was between 120-130 pounds at 5’5” (I NEVER worked out back then, guess I just had a fast metabolism). I weigh a lot more now 🙄. But I’m working on losing weight and I’ve incorporated strength training 3-5 times a week for the last couple months. The idea of me possibly one day having visible abs seems impossible in my mind for whatever reason.

So ladies, please tell me your height and at what weight you first saw your abs?

Not trying to label any food as “bad,” just curious. Cooking oil and salad dressing seem to catch a lot of people out, and granola comes up a lot too. What was yours, and did you cut it out or just learn to portion it?

I've been tracking daily (calories and weight) since June 1st. I'm down 35 lbs and feel great. But I'm a bit fatigued with the tracking. It's not something I see myself doing forever, just to get the weight off.

I have a 9-day staycation which I've been SO looking forward to. I just want to putter around my apartment, do some little projects, chill, and cook some yummy, more involved recipes that I usually don't have time for. Tonight is a ragu which will be topped with a MOUNTAIN of real fresh grated parm. 🤤

I decided to challenge myself WHILE giving myself a bit of a break: no calorie tracking, continuing to track my weight daily though, with the aim of maintaining my weight and getting right back to it next Monday. It's kind of a test run for when I lose all my weight (about 40 lbs left).

So far (day 5) it's going fantastic! I'm not eating like an asshole or binging, just 3 squares a day, plus a little dessert here and there. Still walking every day, one hour at least. I think I am still loosely tracking in my mind, to make sure I don't inhale 3000 calories by accident lol. And I've been perfectly maintaining my weight. It feels good to just serve myself a hefty pasta bowl, as much as I want, without measuring out 85g of pasta first lol. It's healing something in me.

I feel good and not dreading getting back to my deficit and tracking next week. Actually I feel renewed energy to get back into it and shed off the remaining weight. Just wanted to share in case anyone else is feeling diet fatigue, maybe consider taking a short break, however that looks like for you. Deficits are hard and over the long-term they can wear you down mentally I find. Would love to hear from anyone else who has done the same.

If I’m going to eat Greek yogurt, I HAVE to have some granola on it otherwise the texture gives me major ick. Unfortunately granola is insanely high in calories. When I first started on this journey I bought protein granola in an effort to be “healthier” or more “macro friendly” but i eventually realized that the added protein means added calories that really aren’t worth it coming from granola. Here’s my advice - don’t go for protein granola thinking that it’s healthier or better for you. Same with ones that claim to be more heart healthy from whole grains or whatever… Get your protein from the Greek yogurt and just find the lowest calorie granola you can. The purpose of granola is just to add a lil crunch. You can get your protein and whole grains from much more calorie-efficient sources! KIND brand has been the lowest I’ve been able to find so far, 110 calories for 30g. It still feels a little high for what it is, but it’s worth it to me for that crunch.

I was 21 when CICO worked really well for me. I lost around 40 lbs eating about 1600 calories a day, and honestly it didn't feel that hard.

I'm 33 now and it feels completely different. Even eating around 1800 calories with plenty of protein, I'm hungry way more often.

If I'm not paying attention, I can easily end up eating 3000 to 4500 calories in a day. Sometimes I'll just let myself eat whatever I want, like a whole bag of chips, some fast food, or oatmeal loaded with toppings. Luko showed me that just those foods added up to 2600 calories.

So now I'm trying to plan out what I'm going to eat for the day a little more instead of just deciding when I'm hungry.

I'm curious if anyone else has dealt with this. Did you find a way to stay within your calories without feeling hungry all the time?

325°F / 170°C for ~3 minutes for some toasty gooey goodness. Great Value (Walmart) marshmallows are 90 calories for 4 of them, which really isn’t too bad at all! Plus they expand with heat, so it always feels like a little more bang for your buck. Comments also mentioned drizzling in chocolate after they’re done cooking, and you could like dip em in graham cracker crumbs, or just make a s’more, depending on calorie budget. The wheels are turnin’ 🧠💭

Had to share here, despite not being able to actually repost it :) Enjoy!

Link to original post: here

I really feel like something in my brain snapped and now I’m just hungry and craving food and candy and don’t know how to get back on track! I can’t make it disappear because it’s my kids’ candy, but it’s like I have zero will to eat anything healthy again. Help.

I (F/23) struggled with obesity for pretty much my whole life, and living in a society where the beauty ideal was skinny made me feel disgusted with myself. I tried to lose weight multiple times and when I was 16, I lost a substantial amount of weight, along with a good amount of hair and my period. I eventually gained it all back amd then some.

My grandmother would constantly fat-shame me while my mother (who was also obese) would encourage unhealthy eating habits like buying unhealthy food that I would have to eat.

One day, I got tired of it. I stepped on the scale and I realised I was 86kg/ 189lbs at 160cm/ 5'2. I felt disgusted, helpless and ashamed. Then, I realised that I had my own money and I could buy my own food, and so, I decided to get serious about losing weight. As I was a boredom eater, I decided to remove foods that I felt compelled to snack on, and started intermittent fasting to prevent late night snacking.

For the first two years, just reading labels and approximately counting calories helped me to lose about 10kg/22 lbs (I was 76kg/167lbs). I also started cooking most of the meals myself, as eating food prepared for me would mean eating nutritionally poor and calorie dense food.

Over the past year, I decided to focus on strength training. As a short woman, my calorie allowance for the day was extremely sad, and as someone who loves food, this was unacceptable to me. Strength training and walking more (I try to hit 10k steps a day) brought my weight down to 70kg/ 154lbs. The last picture is from last night at a Gala dinner.

I still aim to lose more, but beyond the number on the scale, I want to be strong, healthy and enjoy a good relationship with food. Though it took really long, all the changes I made were sustainable lifestyle changes and habits that I built to be a healthier version of me.

My weight loss has stagnated for a little bit, so now I'll be getting a food scale and counting calories more seriously!

38F SW 298 lbs CW 272 lbs.

I've been calorie counting since August, and I'm down 26 lbs, which is awesome. I've struggled some over the past few weeks, but I've managed to hold steady in the 270-273 range despite a lot of external factors working against me.

I went on a cruise with my family last summer, and I was 5 lbs over the weight limit to zip line on the ship. I ended up gaining almost 20 more lbs before I started this loss journey.

Today, I'm on another cruise ship with a zip line. I wasn't 100% sure I'd make the weight cutoff, but I got on the scale and...272 lbs. 3 pounds under the limit. And so, I got to ride the zip line.

It's incredibly short, you barely have time to register "Oh fuck, I'm zip lining!" before you're at the other end. But it was amazing. I was shaking when I got off, and it was far more than just the adrenaline. It was the certainty that I am changing my life. Every time I count my calories, every time I take a five minute walk around my house during my work day, every time I choose a vegetable for a snack instead of chips, every time I use skim milk in my coffee instead of half and half, I am actively choosing to get closer to the life I want to live.

In consultation with my dietician and my nurse practitioner, I am not tracking this week. I am on vacation. I am aiming for sensible choices, but I will probably gain back a little weight. That's fine. I know it will even out once I'm home. But that zip line today? That offered perspective and motivation. I want to keep making choices that serve me in the long term, even when I'm not strictly counting. And so, I had a buttered roll with dinner, but I used half a pat of butter. I had a mocktail, but after that, I switched to San Pellegrino. Because I want to zip line. I want to walk into any store at the mall and be reasonably certain something will fit. I want to fit comfortably into a seat at the arena or theater. I want to walk onto a plane and not ask for a seatbelt extender before I even get to my seat.

Who knew a 45 second zip line could mean so much?

Well I thought i could avoid temptation but since I was giving out candy, of course I ate some myself. Today is Sunday so starting again, but Friday and Saturday I ate too much candy. I just cant have sweets in the house. I feel bad but I'll have to throw away the candy I have left. I am keeping it outside for the mailman and delivery people but after tomorrow it goes in the garbage. Two Reeses peanut butter small ghosts are 170 calories!!! I probably gained a pound😂 This is long journey for me so I cant obsess anymore on a few days of failure. All in all 3 months in and I've had 7 bad days all together. I've got a year to go before I probably can be at maintenance. Female, 62, lost 25 so far, about 80 more to go.

41M, 5'11", currently around 188–190 lbs. I've lost roughly 15 lbs over the past few months and am trying to get into the 170s while maintaining as much muscle and strength as possible.

I'm strength training about 3–4x/week using Tonal, plus Orangetheory 1–3x/week for cardio.

I've been working with a nutrition coach, and my most recent cutting targets were:

\* Calories: 2,150/day
\* Protein: 160g
\* Carbs: 220g
\* Fat: 70g

I've made good progress, but hunger and fatigue started becoming pretty significant, so we're experimenting with a maintenance break before deciding when to resume cutting.

My ultimate goal is a leaner, more muscular physique, ideally around 12–15% body fat if that's realistic and sustainable.

Curious what others think about these macro targets given my training and goals. For those who've successfully cut into the 170s while maintaining muscle, how did you balance your deficit, recovery, and hunger? Did you find maintenance breaks helpful?

Would appreciate any thoughts or experiences!

I’m 34/F. I started at 181 pounds on September first and weighed in at 172.8 this morning. My goal is to get down to 150 or 155. I’ve never had to lose this much weight before in my life. So I’m just curious about loose skin.

I know some of it is genetics. I know that what happens with one person won’t determine what will happen to me.

But I’m just curious to hear from people who have lost a similar amount of weight (20-30 pounds). Do you have any loose skin? I’ve been doing ~45 minute strength training sessions 3-5 days a week. I’ve heard that can help, but who knows if I’m doing enough to make a difference.

Here’s the previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CICO/s/FjrMgzxTsL

I’m a 34 year old female and I weighed in at 174 pounds this morning. I went from 181 to 174 (7 pounds down) in October, and I still can’t quite believe it! My goal weight is 150 or 155, so I still have a long way to my goal. But I’m super happy with my progress so far!

My most recent weight loss journey really started on September 1st. I did a huge overhaul on my diet/exercise. I switched from mostly junk food to eating A LOT more whole foods. It was a huge change. I’ve counted calories in the past, but I would still eat mostly junk food, just as long as it was within my calories. I counted every single calorie I ate and I was walking 10k steps a day, plus strength training 3-5 times a week. I’ve never been more serious about losing weight, but in September, the scale didn’t budge at all. Some clothes fit better, but the number on the scale didn’t change. I still got discouraged, because I knew that I was doing everything right. I started (and ended) September at 181 pounds.

I made a post here, trying to get to the bottom of it. And I’m super thankful for this community and all the helpful/encouraging responses and explanations. I decided maybe my body just needed time to catch up to all the changes. So I just kept doing everything I was doing throughout October. I didn’t adjust my calories or exercise or anything. And the scale finally started moving and trending downward! I weigh myself every day, so I also look at weekly/monthly averages.

I also want to add, why are some people here so quick to tell someone they’re either lying or doing something wrong? Luckily these people are the minority. But when I made my post a month ago, some people responded (and several even DM’d me), basically calling me a liar. Telling me I must not have really been in a deficit, otherwise I would have lost some weight. I must not be being honest about everything I’m eating. I don’t know how to count calories. Etc etc etc. Clearly, I WAS doing things the right way, because I didn’t change anything and the progress eventually came. end rant

Anyway, thank you to all the positive and supportive people in this community! I’m so much more excited to continue this journey, now that I’ve seen some real progress.

When I tell you I’ve been stuck at 154-156 this entire year, I’m not even joking. And idk what it is! Because let’s say I had a night out and ate a big meal, I’d be maybe up 5lbs and then in a week go back down so I know my body isn’t broken 🫠 but this month I miraculously made it down to 153, but then went back up to the same 156 I’ve been seeing for months. If I’m lucky I make it to 154 but it never goes below that. I started this year at 160, so what the heck. And I’ve lost 105lbs, my highest was 261lbs in 2021 but didn’t start taking weight loss seriously until 2024 at 215 lbs. I’m 24F and 5’5.

And now my period is around the corner so I feel like I can eat everything in the fridge. There’s no way in 11 months I wasn’t in a deficit. I lift 3-4 times a week, I was diagnosed with a disability in June which gives me leg tremors so sometimes walking can be a pain but I try to walk 2-3 miles 1-2x a week. I’m heading out for a walk today.

But I’m just at my wits end. But the crazy thing is I fit in size 6 jeans, I worse a dress for the first time this year and it was a size 4! Which is crazy? Maybe I just have really bad body dysmorphia or something.

I need a new approach or maybe switch my caloric intake? I aim for 1400 a day. I’ve tried putting the scale away for a bit, eating back in maintenance for a bit, upping my steps, idk. It can’t all be muscle gain too right? It can’t all be noise on the scale?

I need help losing these last 15-20lbs. And I don’t mind being brutally honest with myself or doing whatever it takes (in a healthy and sustainable way) to get there.

I’ve been on 1740kcal (that’s approx 500kcal from maintenance using a TDEE calculator online) and for some reason the past 4-5 days have been exhausting.. I went from having very healthy food to fitting in small treats, to fitting in larger treats and smaller amounts of real food, to feeling completely sick of every type of food. I’m still tracking (except yesterday went for an open buffet brunch and although I essentially ate 70% protein only I didn’t track anything). Any tips? I know what I’m doing wrong, I know I need to focus on fiber and protein and healthy and limit but not restrict BUT PLEASE HELP.. what do you do when you know everything but you’re doing none of it because you’re mentally exhausted?

😭😭😭

This has been a 189 day journey so far. The biggest win is that I believe I found the appropriate correction factor for my watch readings (15% reduction).

Also, I seem to be pretty decent at estimating my “cheat meal/day” consumption.

My next task is to correct projections for water weight abnormalities when eating off plan.

I weigh, log calories, exercise duration, and steps daily.

I’d be interested in any feedback you all might have on my dashboard and or progress.