18 week calorie deficit and progress feels slowwwww

Maybe it’s a posture thing, but I do see a difference in your waist! It’s hard to see a difference for yourself, most of the progress pics I’ve seen are over at least 6 months. You’ll want to be able to make it sustainable if you want to keep the weight off. Keep it up and stay kind to your body 🙌

I think there’s something to be said for ratios… 8 pounds for someone of your build is significant. Even if it were a smaller percentage of weight, it would still be forward movement and an accomplishment that you clearly have worked hard for and deserve to be proud of. I say this as someone who often gets hung up in the numbers, so this is a reminder for us both, honestly.

I’m in the same boat. Same timeline. I have this skirt -that once didn’t fit at all but is now 3 out of 5 buttons in- I’ve been measuring my weight loss with and it’s so much more satisfying than watching the scale. Lol

you can see a big difference especially in bloat around the stomach area! keep going!!

Honestly I get that it’s frustrating. But the best thing you can do is to just find different ways to make CICO sustainable for you. Whether that is calorie cycling, occasional cheat days, working in your favourite recipes, finding new recipes or food you love or just figuring out which foods keep you feeling full and satisfied.

The issue most people face when dieting is they go extremely hard straight from the go. They try to do everything perfect. Eat as healthy as they can, or as little calories as they can until eventually they break and sneak a treat. Then they feel devastated that they ‘failed’ this task of ‘eating clean’ or ‘dieting’ long enough. So since they ‘blew it’ they just give up and go back to how they were eating before, often regaining all that was lost and weighing themselves down with guilt, shame and feeling helpless since diets are impossible and just ‘don’t work for them’.

Even upon success the weight is often just regained.

Your journey seems a lot more sustainable. We’re not going into a crashdiet where we try to go as hard as we can until we break and then give up. Instead we are going to gradually lose weight over time while learning and integrating good habits and practices into our day to day life.

My advice is experience as much as you can. Many snacks throughout the day, fewer bigger meals, low calorie alternatives, low cal recipes or snacks, calorie cycling, IF, grazing plates, adding exercise, etc.

All of these can work for you or absolutely not work for you. There is no right way, just the way that is easiest for you. And once you find out what makes it easy it becomes less about just ‘holding on’ and more about a true change of lifestyle.

I hope it brings you comfort to know that, from what I’ve heard anyway, that gradual weight loss is much much more likely to stay off long term than rapid loss. I’ve also heard a lot of people talk about not only gaining back all the weight lost from a crash diet—but gaining even more than their original starting weight. Seems like your way leaves you way less susceptible to that, congrats!

You look great! Definitely see a difference. Everyone’s body is different and some people don’t lose weight as rapidly. Your progress is apparent and I was very loosely on this diet and it took me a year to get back into my jeans one size smaller than I was wearing. Don’t compare yourself to the posts of fast weight gain as there are a lot of other factors at play – just be proud of your commitment and progress.

I absolutely see a difference! Congrats and keep it up!

Weight ?

I see a big difference! Congratulations 🥂

Congrats!!!

Oh my GOD your waistline is looking amazing. Keep going, we all lose at different speeds! Congratulations. You’re rad for documenting and even radder for posting. I don’t think I’m that brave.

Don’t forget, that 8lbs comes from your whole body! There’s fat in our arms, legs, and around our organs. I’ve heard from a nutrition guy that bodies prioritize burning that organ fat first, and go to the “extra storage” (belly, thighs, etc) last. Eight pounds from your whole body? Oh your heart and muscles are thanking you so much!

You’re doing great.

You didn’t put all the weight on in 18 weeks and you won’t lose it all in 18 weeks either! If you feel like it’s too slow you’ll have to up your deficit. You don’t have to eat under 1500 to do this, but adding in walks is a very easy way to add another 100-200 calories burned.

A 45 minute walk at your weight would burn around 140 to give you an idea. Or you can try incline walking on a treadmill. You burn calories much faster walking at an incline and it’s a very low impact workout. I like to pop on a podcast or watch a show on my phone while I do it.

I see a difference.

The funny thing is that you’ll go on for months and not really notice the change but one day when you look in the mirror, BAM, it hits you hard. Just keep going!!