I swear to god, my mental health, self esteem, and confidence are flying to heights not seen since I graduated high school. That may be a low bar to clear, but I cleared it! I still want to lose another 30 pounds to reach my goal weight, but already I no longer feel ashamed when I look at myself naked in the mirror.
Congratulations! Did you follow any specific method or just eat healthier?
Thanks! No specific method, I've just taken care to limit my calories by eating smaller portions and avoiding foods with simple carbs and added sugar.
One of the downsides is that I haven't been cooking much at all anymore. If I put effort into a recipe that I enjoy, I can't keep myself from making too much too often and overeating. So everything needs to be simple stuff I can grab out of the fridge or pantry and assemble in 10 minutes. That's too bad because I really like cooking, I make a great pizza.
Once I reach my goal weight I'll be able to ease up on the calorie restriction a little, so my hope is I'll get back into it then
Interesting! From my experience, it's more often the other way around with people cooking for themselves more and eating less of the grab-n-go kind of food to lose weight. But I know what you mean, when I make a quinoa dish for example, I always make a TON more quinoa than I actually need and inevitably end up gorging on it because it's there. However, it's usually worse if I have a bunch of stuff around I can just grab out of the fridge or cupboard or whatever.
In any case, I'm glad what you're doing is working for you. Maybe you can find a happy medium with cooking, learning to cook in smaller portions? Might make it easier to maintain it when you do reach your goal weight, and won't have to give up something (entirely) that you enjoy in the meantime. Like, fwiw, OMAD has helped me in the past. It might be cool for you if you can figure out an OMAD schedule to stick to while also making and preparing that one meal yourself.
Just a thought. Clearly what you're doing already is working, so may as well not mess with it, I was just trying to think of a way you could get the best of both worlds.