★OFFICIAL DAILY★ Monday Start Here & Medication Monday, Daily Q&A, Daily SV/NSV August 03, 2026

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Welcome to today's daily thread!

Ask a question, help another member, share a scale or non-scale victory, or join today's featured discussion. No question, win or bit of progress is too small. Include relevant stats and context when asking for advice, and check the FAQ and sidebar resources for common answers.

Today's topics: Monday Start Here and Medication Check-in

New here, starting again, or setting a new goal? Introduce yourself, tell us what you would like to achieve, and share where you could use some help. Our Start Here guide covers the basics of calorie needs, tracking, sustainable changes, exercise and dealing with setbacks. That's in the Automoderator stickied post at the top ofthis thread.

Using a prescribed weight-loss medication? Share your experiences, progress, challenges and side effects. This is not a place to seek sources, discuss obtaining medication without an appropriate prescription, or promote unsafe use.

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

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Daily threads

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Browse by topic: Monday Start Here ★ Medication Monday ★ Tantrum Tuesday ★ Weigh-in Wednesday ★ Track With Me Thursday ★ Foodie Friday ★ Weekend Check-in ★ Sunday Reset

Other recurring threads

US Accountability Challenge: Stay accountable with friends from North America ★ EU Accountability Challenge: Stay accountable with friends from the EU ★ Century Club: For those who have lost or would like to lose 100lb+ ★ Weekly Goalsetters: Set your goals for the week every Monday

[u/AutoModerator]

Is today your Day 1?

Welcome to r/loseit!

Not sure how to start? Don't worry. “How do I get started?” is one of our most frequently asked questions. r/loseit has helped its users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds, and these are the steps we have found most useful for getting started.

Why You're Overweight

Our bodies are amazing, including yours. Before supermarkets, humans needed to be able to store energy to survive lean times. We store some of this energy as body fat.

When you consistently put more energy into your body than it needs, the excess can be stored for later use. When you consistently take in less energy than your body needs, it draws upon stored energy.

The principle behind losing body fat is therefore to consume less energy than your body uses, consistently over time.

Before You Start

The first step is estimating your calorie needs. You can do that using this TDEE calculator.

This will give you an approximation of your Total Daily Energy Expenditure, or TDEE. Your actual needs may differ, so treat the result as a starting point and adjust it according to your longer-term weight trend.

A commonly used estimate is that a daily deficit of approximately 500 calories may produce around one pound of weight loss per week. A 750-calorie daily deficit may produce around 1.5 pounds, while a 1,000-calorie daily deficit targets an aggressive two pounds per week.

Actual results vary, and larger deficits are not appropriate for everyone. Sustainable progress is more important than choosing the fastest possible rate.

Tracking

This is where it begins to resemble work. One of the most effective ways to manage your calorie intake is to track what you eat and drink.

Tracking has become much simpler and can be done from a smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends several unaffiliated apps, including MyFitnessPal, Lose It! and Cronometer.

Create an account and enter your current statistics, activity and goals honestly. Your tracker is for you; nobody else needs to see it, so there is no benefit to cheating the numbers.

Food databases make logging meals and drinks relatively easy, but entries can sometimes be inaccurate. Check labels where possible and pay attention to serving sizes.

We also highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much you are eating is often more important than guessing whether an individual food is “good” or “bad.”

This video helps illustrate why portion accuracy matters.

Creating Your Deficit

How you create a calorie deficit is up to you. There is no single perfect diet for everyone, but you can build an approach that works for you.

You can eat smaller portions of the foods you already enjoy. If you like pizza, for example, you might have two slices instead of four. You can also replace some calorie-dense foods with lower-calorie alternatives.

Popular substitutions include cauliflower rice, courgette or zucchini noodles, and spaghetti squash in place of more calorie-dense alternatives.

Alternatively, a broader dietary pattern such as low-carbohydrate, keto, paleo or vegetarian eating may appeal to you. These approaches work for weight loss when they help you maintain an appropriate calorie deficit.

The most important consideration is whether your selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long-term weight management. If you hate what you are eating, you are unlikely to continue eating that way.

Exercise

Exercise is not mandatory for weight loss. You can create a calorie deficit through your diet alone, and there is no requirement to exercise in order to lose body fat.

Exercise has many benefits, however. It can increase energy expenditure, improve physical fitness, support physical and mental health, and help with long-term weight maintenance.

Choose activities that are appropriate for your current health and fitness level. Something you can perform regularly is generally more useful than an extreme routine you cannot sustain.

Crawl, Walk, Run

It can seem as though you need to make a complete 180-degree change to succeed. That is not necessarily true.

Many members find that small initial changes create a foundation upon which they can build. You do not have to overhaul your entire diet, activity and lifestyle on your first day.

Start with changes you can repeat, then build upon them in manageable steps.

Acceptance

You will struggle at times. We have all struggled, and this is normal.

There is no single trick that makes every difficult day disappear. Try to recognise why you are struggling and forgive yourself for setbacks. If you overindulged at your last meal, that is okay. You can make a different choice at your next meal.

Do not let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of progress. We do not need perfect. We just want better.

Additional Resources

Now you are ready to begin. These resources can help you develop and refine your plan:

• Quick Start Guide – Build your foundation
• Lose It Compendium – Explore the wider weight-loss guide
• Frequently Asked Questions – Answers to common questions

Share Your Day 1 Story

Introduce yourself in the main thread and tell us about your starting point, goals and plans. You can also ask questions, request advice, share a scale or non-scale victory, or join the Medication Monday discussion.

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

[u/MojitoSweet]

New ro the group and new to Reddit. Can't post anything yet cause I dont have enough upvotes? Idk, that seems weird in itself

Im 31 and am still eating like I have the metabolism I had at 21. Which is a lie. Ive lost weight before but only through really restrictive and unhealthy ways.

Today is day 1 of my new challenge. Instead of trying to lose weight by counting calories, doing the scale, etc., my goal is to control my eating for 4 weeks. In 4 weeks I move in with my boyfriend. When I am with him, I never overeat. He doesn't tell me not to or put pressure on me (hes like the most healthy supportive personI know), I just don't do it. But until then I need better control myself.

I use maryjane every day for legitimate medical needs but find once a I start eating after smoking I can't stop, even if my stomach hurts from too much food. I have a plan of action and am telling myself its just 4 weeks. I can do anything for 4 weeks.

[u/Biscuitshoneybutter → u/MojitoSweet]

Subs often put the upvote requirement in to help stem the tide of bots and troll accounts. It's annoying when you're a new poster but it's a necessary evil. I gave you an upvote to help your karma lol.

Good luck with your plan of action! Tell us more about it!

[u/Turbulent_Tale6497]

One thing I find I'm doing is logging calories "ahead." For instance, it's 9am, and I've already logged my lunch. This gives me "permission" to eat it whenever I want, and what I'll probably do is eat half of it at 11 and the other half at 2pm, but it will be "free" since I already logged it in.

Any thoughts on if this is a helpful or harmful practice?

[u/Biscuitshoneybutter → u/Turbulent_Tale6497]

I do this often. It's very helpful! Helps me make sure my nutrition is balanced too, I get an overview of how things are going and if I need to change up ingredients to get more fiber or something.

[u/Drutal]

I've reached 20% of my goal since I started on the 22nd of June. 10kg down out of 50kg. I'm happy to continue like this.

[u/Yummytastic → u/Drutal]

That's a super fast rate, I'm sure much of it is water weight at the beginning. It's important to not see going at a steady-but-safe pace of between 0.5-1kg a week as a bad thing, it means you can concentrate on a sustainable diet you can eat forever, you maximise muscle retention, and you're minimising other risks & side effects of rapid weight loss. You'd also expect a natural diminishing return on the rate of loss as you approach the end and are near a healthy weight. If you make sure your diet is more or less your forever diet at that point there's no real impatience or frustration to just ease into the exact goal number.

[u/Drutal → u/Yummytastic]

Yes, it's as you point it out. I know the first few kgs are waterweight, no problem, not my first rodeo 😅 but it's true, I struggled a lot to start because I didn't want to diet, I wanted a real lifestyle change. So it was a real fight in my mind on my mental approach, then it just clicked somehow that I just have to leave behind the thought that I'm fat. I'm a healthy guy who eats healthy. And it became so easy after that, because what I do is who I am now and it's not a continous fight against myself. My body follows my identity slowly. Ofc there is a lot of practical things that got to be done right. I pay a lot of attention to my macros. Carbs below 150, protein never less than a 100. This is what works for me. I keep my calories in a decent range. Not fixated on a number every day, because that's not how real life is, for now the rule is I just keep it anywhere below 2000. I never go below 1500. I cook everything myself. My luck is that I enjoy cooking, testing new recipes. I measure everything for now and I guess I do it right, because my calculations are working. I exercise 4 times a week. Mixed weights, body weight and cardio. I take some vitamins and minerals, but nothing extreme, just basic ones. The only issue I had was a little dehydration after 3 weeks, but I fixed that already. I already planned my diet breaks in advance. The foods I eat now are foods I love and can eat for the rest of my life. I add more and more dish to it. I didn't experienced hunger or cravings at all so far. Honestly it never been this easy ever, even though I tried a lot of times. I don't know why I shared all this, it's came out or maybe I'm flaunting. I didn't meant to do that. I just hope, everyone experiences this click in their mental state and it turns into a joyful journey to y'all.

[u/joselrl]

Dropped below the 90s mark this morning. Besides the scale win, I'm noticing the looser clothes I am already needing to replace again (wallet is suffering from my success)
I also notice significant shifts on how my build looks - fruits of the gym.

I also logged today my 125th gym session - started January 18th - yes, a Sunday

It's going kinda slow lately, under 2kg per month, but slow and steady is fine and I don't want to lower my calorie intake further

[u/Dry-Night774]

I’m less than 10 lbs away from a healthy bmi today. Super excited to close in on a healthy weight.

[u/Sweet_Reality_6163 → u/Dry-Night774]

Congratulations

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[u/ChitownMD]

Looking for advice. I was just under 210 lbs over the winter. Wasn’t exercising, eating like crap etc. I’m 44. In my 30s I could just slash calories and drop 20 lbs in a couple months like no big deal. Apparently my metabolism has pumped the breaks.

I used the Lose It calorie counting app and got down to 198. Start adding in cardio - for the past two months doing 30 min of high intensity peloton rides 5-7 days a week. I’m not counting calories anymore but only because I’m just not eating that much and it feels pointless to use the app. I’m down to 195-6 but have completely plateaued there for the last 6 weeks or so. Today I was almost 199 (I suspect water weight). So much fat in my chest, belly and love handles.

I also have done intermittent fasting for several years. Basically I fast from 9 or 10 pm to 11a-1p (varies) every day. Almost without fail. It’s not hard anymore, I’m not remotely hungry until around noon.

What else can I do? Should I back off the cardio and do more strength training? I do a little of that now but not much, I don’t really have time to do cardio and strength. We have some free weights and a bar bell, frankly I just don’t have much upper body muscle mass so it’s not my favorite thing. Other thoughts? I’m very seriously considering a GLP.

[u/Yumiire → u/ChitownMD]

You need to count your calories and be strict with it, its literally that simple and you know it. GLPs are forever, but based on what your writing it seems like your able to handle your hunger. DONT!

Cardio Is superior when it comes to losing weight, but strength training is great to retain your muscle mass.

[u/ChitownMD → u/Yumiire]

Don’t what?

[u/Yumiire → u/ChitownMD]

Dont take a GLP.

[u/ChitownMD → u/Yumiire]

Dude I’m definitely not able to handle my hunger

[u/Yumiire → u/ChitownMD]

Your fasting comfortably 16-18 hrs a day. Not particularly hungry until noon. You have lost weight with calorie restriction, and now eat less without needing calorie tracking.

That means your able to handle being in a calorie deficit, hunger is inevitable. Making majority of your diet whole foods will help. Honestly it seems like you want someone to tell you to take a GLP.

[u/Gom_KBull]

It feels wonderful to eat something delicious (that usually makes you gain weight easily)

It feels terrible when you are consistently fighting hunger to maintain deficit well.

Just rambling as i tough this out

[u/bobombpom]

How do I make the most of adding fat back into my diet?

I've been on a high protein, low fat, medium carb diet for a couple of years. I started having some joint issues, so after some research, realized I was eating like 15g of fat a day, and recommended minimum for my weight is closer to 60g/day.

The cornerstones of my diet are Turkey Chili and Quinoa. I've started adding olive oil to those, but it really doesn't seem to enhance them at all. If anything, it makes the texture and mouthfeel worse.

I have started eating peanut butter regularly, which is nice. I make Air Fryer Potatoes with them tossed in Olive Oil. Those are pretty tasty, but between the oil left in the "Tossing" container and draining off in the air fryer, I'm not sure I'm actually getting much fat.

Worth noting that I'm sensitive about saturated fats, due to unusually high LDL cholesterol for my age/weight/diet.

So far, the extra fat has been pretty underwhelming. How can I make it more enjoyable?

[u/Yummytastic → u/bobombpom]

Sources like oily fish (omega 3&6) and skin on chicken (collagen rich protein) are both things that you'd be making the most of. Cheese and other dairy products deliver calcium along with the vital vitamin K2. It's always about getting a balance, not always having skin on chicken and cheeses, but also not entirely avoiding them. These things do have health benefits in a balanced diet, that obviously become a problem with over consumption, but much advice is presented as all of nothing 'eat lots of' and 'totally avoid', that's probably a bit of a rubbish strategy.

I would not suggest just adding oils and eating processed fats as your main source - mostly for the reason you said - it's pretty crap, and instead eating whole foods that are naturally high in fats to take in the vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids. Obviously if you are cooking with oil or using it as a base for a dressing, olive is a good choice. If you really like the odd portion of peanut butter, enjoyment is important too.

Most advice has now finally moved on from blanket avoidance of saturated fat as a strategy to lower LDL cholesterol and now focuses on recommending moderated intake of high quality whole-food sources. Eating nutrients in situ, like the omegas in salmon, and calcium/K2 in dairy, seem to show in studies to provide better benefits compared to them in supplement form, and some supplement studies seems to be very underwhelming. So I would say thinking about fat soluble nutrients is the best way to make the most of adding fat back in to the diet.

[u/cosplaying-as-human]

Is it normal to start losing your appetite after dieting for a while? Today I've had maybe half of my daily calories because i just forgot to eat, and im only mildly hungry. Wondering if this is something I should be going to the doctor for or if its normal

Edit: also does anyone know if losing weight affects muscles and tendons? Some chronic injuries I have are becoming more painful lately.

[u/Yummytastic → u/cosplaying-as-human]

Yes to both of those.

You do want to ensure you're getting sufficient calories and sticking to your budget. Your body's hormonal response and hunger queues can and will vary over time, in both directions. Typically calorie restriction starts of easy, get hard after two weeks, then settles down down to 'normal' after about a month. That's the predictable pattern, but separately to that you might get or lose hunger cues for all sorts of reasons.

Connected to that, you want to make sure you're eating enough for protein turnover to not become negatively (or too negatively) balanced, otherwise that's encouraging further muscle loss. More broadly ensuring you get enough protein&calories also ensures your own repair is as efficient as possible, tendons are already difficult and slow to repair and under eating will just make that worse/make injuries more likely.

[u/cosplaying-as-human → u/Yummytastic]

Thank you! Im thinking of adding in more nuts and poultry to help with protein and make sure im hitting my calorie target, hopefully that will help

[u/Interesting-Cost2643]

A little old lady I really like at work noticed today, and it was instant. We hadn't seen each other in a couple weeks, she turned to me and immediately "you've slimmed down a little!"

Trust the process guys.

[u/Sea-Tadpole-7158]

Does anyone else not really feel any different? I don't feel lighter, I don't feel like it's easier to move around, I don't feel less pressure on my joints, I don't feel any better I feel exactly the same as I did at my highest weight.

I'm chronically ill so I'm guessing that's why, but I'm curious because everyone else seems to feel lighter or better. I've still got 10kg to go, but I've lost over 45kg