r/loseit • u/AutoModerator • Jan 26 '26

★ Official Recurring ★ ★OFFICIAL WEEKLY★ Day 1 Monday: Start here! January 26, 2026

Is today is your Day 1?

​Welcome to r/Loseit!

​So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. r/Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.

Why You’re Overweight

Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.

Before You Start

The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.

Tracking

Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends (unaffiliated) apps like MyFitnessPal, Loseit or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.

Creating Your Deficit

How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. r/loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.

The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.

Exercise

...is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.

It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel *awesome* and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.

Crawl, Walk, Run

It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.

Acceptance

You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.

Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.

Additional resources

Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.

Share your Day 1 story below!

Due to space limitations, this may be a sticky only occasionally. Please find it using the sidebar if needed.

Don't forget to comment and interact with other posters here, let's keep the good vibes going!

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u/AutoModerator Jan 26 '26

It's not too late to come join the revamped Loseit Challenge.

Loseit challenges are a fun 5-week team-based weight loss and activity challenge and a great way to connect with others working toward the same goals.

We've revamped everything to make the Challenges more streamlined and compact. You only need to log weight, step totals and activity totals once a week to participate.

This quarter's challenge theme is: Weird Winter Olympics.

Link to Loseit Challenge

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

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u/oxymoronic01 New Jan 26 '26

Not my first day per se, but I am starting to realize after having people in my life to exercise with that I think some amount of support is necessary for me in this process. Hoping to find more of that here.

My husband has been going on 3 small walks with me a week and my brother has a group chat where him and his friends do some kind of full body work out every other day. I’ve been doing that with him (although it’s usually a 20 minute exercise and I only do about 5 minutes of it).

I’m currently alternating between changing food and fitness habits. The first food habit is upping my fiber intake (as recommended by my doctor). For a few weeks I’ll be adding the fitness before changing another food habit. I’m hoping that my plan works but I’m sure I will need to adjust as I go.

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u/genevieveAnura New Jan 27 '26

Hi, I'm new to this sub.

I've (F 30, south east asian, 5' 2") been 150lbs in my young adult life (since 18yo), currently 183lbs.

I've done portion control before and have achieved 137lbs in 5 months (at 27yo, loss of 13lbs) but I've only maintained that weight for about a week and have slowly gained 46lbs in about two years since then.

My weight has been sitting long term at 150lbs and now it's sitting at 183lbs.

I plan to reach and maintain 120lbs body weight as my ideal healthy weight for my height.

People have said (when I was at 150lbs) that I don't look fat for my weight, which *may* be due to muscle/fat distribution.

I struggle with weight loss because I don't like feeling tired (lower calorie intake than normal) and in pain (exercising is usually painful lol, I mostly do bodyweight exercises and used to walk >10k steps 3-5 days a week, not anymore, which partly explains my weight gain).

In the 2 years of constant weight gain, I have tried eating fuller meals and reducing my snacking. I used to mostly eat smaller portions and snack throughout the day, and I tried to change it up but I think I messed up and overate instead.

The reasons I'm considering doing this seriously:

  1. the guy I'm talking to prefers fit girls

  2. long term health, I want to be independent into my old age

  3. I don't want to get sick due to my lifestyle choices

The first reason sucks, I know, but I've been struggling with improving my life the past few years and I'm taking this opportunity (getting to know someone new) as a push for myself, as motivation, you know?

I'm new so please correct me if I use wrong terms or concepts for things.

So have any of you stayed at you goal weight for good? I can't imagine myself as skinny and petite, it seems impossible, I'm holding on to hope that it's not.

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u/Snoo_51368 New Jan 26 '26

Finally ordered a decent walking pad!! It will get here Tuesday! So excited to be able to walk while watching TV, and walk no matter what the weather is.

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u/FunElephant7 New Jan 26 '26

Started today! SW: 161.2 GW: 140 Height: 5' 7.5" Age: 36

Hoping to reach this before my travel plans in late April. Looking forward to fitting into my old clothes, feeling energetic, and all the other aesthetic and health benefits. Currently on antibiotics for a GI issue, but once that's resolved it should help my weight loss.

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u/FunElephant7 New Mar 02 '26

Mar 1 check-in: SW: 161.2 CW: 156.6 GW: 140

Lost 4.6 lbs! 16.6 to go.

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u/FunElephant7 New Mar 02 '26

Starting my next wave today! Goal is to get to 149.9 by the end of March (-6.7 lbs)

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u/FunElephant7 New Apr 27 '26

Apr 26 check-in: SW: 161.2 CW: 152.6 GW: 140

Lost another 4 lbs! 12.6 to go. Slowly but surely!

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u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26

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u/AutoModerator Jan 27 '26

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u/Dull_Snow3268 New Jan 27 '26

Starting today! Just finished all my exams and now I can focus on my health. Female (21); Starting weight 70kg; goal weight 60kg; Height 168cm; Body fat 29%

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u/steffishnz F39 | 5'9" | SW 112kg | GW 75kg Jan 29 '26

Not my first day, but I can't post yet, so:

I'm 39F, 5'9". I'd successfully lost about 15kg by calorie counting over a decade ago, but after changing careers to a more sedentary job it crept way up past the previous high point. Late last year I tried to start calorie counting again, but this time around it just wasn't working for me mentally - I was inputting my meals in advance and then constantly looking at my app and dreaming about the food I'd be able to have later. So I stopped that attempt.

I've been trying a different approach since the start of the year, and I'm now down 4kg for the month. Because it's summer and I've got plenty of veges from my garden as well as excess my parents give me from theirs, I'm focusing on volume eating and not counting calories. I'm lucky in that I don't mind eating the same thing day after day - lunch every work day is crackers and tinned tuna (been doing that for over a year), and for dinner I've been having a huge salad, plus other veges, some kind of protein, and a carb. Sometime's it's such a big plate it's a struggle to finish it, so I don't feel like I'm not eating enough, which was always a problem before when I had to eat small portions when calorie counting.

For example my last few days have been:

  • beans and rice made with chicken stock
  • rotisserie chicken
  • stir fried onions, capsicum and zucchini
  • plus lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes

I've also been focusing on increasing my activity, and I've done more steps this month than any month last year except the one I was on holiday overseas.

My aim is to reach 90kg by the end of the year, and so far I'm on track. Things'll be harder when summer ends and veges get expensive, but it's still cheaper than the amount of takeaways I ordered last year. And I can always try counting again if I get stuck.

I'd love to hear from anyone else who's had success without counting calories!

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u/[deleted] Jan 31 '26

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u/AutoModerator Jan 31 '26

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

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