SV: Hit my first goal weight! + a ramble about what worked and what didn't

Hi guys! So, I made a "I'm gonna do it!" post here, I don't know, a year or two ago. Well, I did it y'all! I thought I'd make a little guide about what helped me, a multiply disabled person, reach my goal, in hopes of maybe reaching some other people that have had unusual difficulties with conventional CICO wisdom.

DISCLAIMER: LONG POST AHEAD

After my initial post and commitment to losing weight, I unfortunately continued to gain a few more pounds, and topped out at 5'4", 146lbs, with a body fat percentage of approximately 31%. I was really bummed about that, as only a year or so prior I'd been in great shape. But despite that setback, in time I set a focus on improving my lifestyle. I'm now at 135lbs, BF ~22% (as of this morning!!)

The thing I'm proudest of is that I managed to lose 11lbs slowly and sustainably over the course of about a year. I've struggled with disordered eating in the past, particularly BED but also cycling through phases of orthorexia and bulimia. With this weight loss, my focus was more on being healthy and doing things that were good for my body rather than losing the weight on any specific timeline. I have Ehler-Danlos syndrome (particularly badly in my knees and hips), so running isn't something I could do. I also have ADHD and a few other mental issues so, among other things, I tend to be pretty impulsive and have difficulty with executive functioning. So here's a few things that didn't work, and a few that did.

What didn't work for me:

• Direct calorie counting with MyFitnesspal. I know it's kind of a sacred cow here, but the only thing calorie counting would do for me is stress me out. Having a goal count of calories is a nice idea and certainly works for some people, but for me anytime I accidentally went over my calorie count I felt like the whole day was a loss and binged. This may have been due to setting too low a goal and getting too hungry/feeling deprived. When I found myself slipping into the mentality that certain foods were terrible and bad for no other reason than that they were more calorie-dense than others, I knew I needed to look for a different strategy.
• Weighing myself every day. The fluctuations from water, carbohydrates, and salt meant that I got very frustrated with my progress. I've heard there's an app that trends these out, but I didn't use it.
• Putting myself on a timeline. Like direct calorie counting, having a strict timeline increased the amount of stress that my weight loss was adding to my life- and as we all know, stress makes it harder to lose weight!
• Meal planning. I reeeeally hate cooking, and trying to cook a lot of food in one day was exhausting. On top of that I work full time, pick up acting gigs on occasion, take classes, and have been planning my wedding.

What did work:

• Knowing the approximate calories of the food I was eating. I would instead write down everything I ate, or just take a picture. It took the stress out of "Oh no, I'm going to miss my goal" and allowed me to still keep track of what went into my mouth. It also helped tremendously that I work at a company with individual catered lunch, which has calorie counts on the package. Otherwise, just checking your food labels or looking up the calories in any given food item (when cooking) helps make a semi-accurate portrait of your caloric intake.
• Weighing myself every couple of days, or whenever I felt like it. Self-imposed schedules don't work well for me (see orthorexia/impulsivity) so only weighing myself when I felt like it ended up making it a more positive, sustainable experience, even when my weight was up.
• Letting the weight loss happen as it happens. Fluctuated up? No worries, I'm not on a schedule - let's just refocus on making good choices. Lost weight? Cool, I'm doing a good job, let's just keep chugging on that.
• Cooking when I felt like it, but also having packaged food available. My favorites are pre-cut fruit and frozen low-cal meals. Another thing that helped with food is having replacements for things I like that aren't good for me- in particular, when I feel like having a beer, I'll crack a kombucha (30kcal/8oz). When I feel like a glass of wine? I'll go chill in the hot tub, because most of the time I drink wine when I want to relax.
• I signed up with a personal trainer. While I'm aware this may not be an option for everybody since it's expensive, personal training really worked for me. It helped me get into a routine of working out at LEAST once per week, and staying accountable to my trainer about diet and exercise. However, due to my disordered eating problems, I found that the first trainer I had didn't work out, as he weighed me before each session and required a calorie count every day. I ended up switching to a different trainer (who started out at the same gym at the first, but now runs his own gym in the same town). I told him about my food issues and we decided that instead of macros and calorie counts I would just send him a list of the food I ate. We also do not weigh me and instead focus on making good, nutritionally-dense food choices and exercising often. For me, this was a key thing - my current PT is like a buddy I only get to see at the gym, and we get along really well.
• Finding exercise that I enjoy. I HATE running, particularly because it makes my knees hurt something awful. I'll do it while playng with my dog, but running as an end in itself? Bleh. Swimming, yoga, and weights with some climbing thrown in are my go-tos. I go swimming twice a week during my lunch break, yoga occasionally (when I'm feeling tight) and weights/calisthenics anytime I'm feeling some exercise but not feeling a class. I've also found it's super easy to fit pushups in anytime during work, so whenever I grab more coffee or water I get down and do fifteen.
• Finally, I started going to therapy. Getting mentally healthy allowed me to focus on getting physically healthy. I started meditating at my therapist's recommendation and reducing overall lifestyle stress. I think it was a major part of this weight loss.

Overall, the takeaway I've had is this: not putting too much pressure on myself, obsessing, and holding myself to a standard I personally can't follow does a lot of good for me. Stress reduction has been MAJOR. Allowing and accounting for my previous food problems as well as forgiving myself for "screw-ups" (minor setbacks) made it more sustainable to work on weight loss for a full year.

Anyway, goal #2 is 130lbs! See you whenever that happens.

TL;DR: having a full picture of your physical AND mental health habits helps weight loss a ton. Even though I wasn't stringently calorie counting, CICO works. Working out is fun and motivating. If my scattered ass can lose it, I promise you, you can too :)

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