r/caloriedeficit

My hw was 209 and after a terrible break up i decided i needed a change. Im now 115 and im the healthiest ive been in years.

Reluctantly sharing but hit my 164 lbs milestone today 😅💪🏻

Starting point was end of March 2025, at both my heaviest weight and lowest headspace 😞 Fast forward to today however (19 August 2026) and feeling healthiest in years!

Not looking to be the next bodybuilding champ or whatever, but just want to be functional and healthy. Happy to share any tips / things that worked well for me as requested 🙂

PS - Weight loss journey was all done through diet and exercise, no enhancements or Ozempic along the way as I'm a poor bastard 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

5'8" - from peak bulk to peak cut! Did lots of walking and ate around a 700-750 calorie deficit on a diet that prioritized high protein and consisted of mostly whole foods. Trained 4x a week the entire time with high intensity and volume.

Please help.

According to BMI and body fat % at gym, I am overweight, thought I don’t think my body looks that “bad.” I wonder why?

I weigh 157 pounds with 37% body fat.

For context, I usually work out 6x a week. I can squat my body weight. I ran a half marathon a few weeks ago. I think of myself as a fit person even if the scale does not reflect that.

A usual week for me:

• hot yoga class w some weights
• Gym workout class w light weights
• Lifting day (5 exercises)
• 3 mile run
• Long walk

The problem. My eating. I sometimes overeat (usually when not sober.) example, last weekend did a wine tasting and had 10 glasses of wine. Often I feel social pressure to do things like this. I’d rather go to wine tasting with friends than be home alone twiddling my thumbs.

So, while I focused on exercise for the first half of the year, I want to focus on diet for the second half of the year. The reason- even though I worked out ~almost every day the first half of the year, I gained a little weight. This is very frustrating to me.

So, I’ve been counting calories the past week to achieve said goal. I would like to lose a pound a week, and get down to ~137, so a 20 pound weight loss. I would like to be fit, able to run and lift.

When I mark my lifestyle as sedentary, my TDEE is 1775. Right now to start the deficit off easy, I put 1450 into my app. When I exercise it adds those calories to my budget.

I usually walk a little, though not every day. So I figure that even though my deficit is 300 right now, the walking can make it closer to 500.

Questions for kind internet strangers:

• Does anyone agree I don’t look overweight even tho the metrics say so? (Or am I being delusional🙈)
• Important: what should I make the calories / day on my app? Should I decrease over time?
• Do you have advice for sticking to deficit and counting for 20 weeks ( 5 months 😳) ?
• Should I change my exercise break down for my goal?

Thank you!

315lbs - 218lbs. Took time, discipline, and lots of grinding in the gym, but I got there!

F31 5ft 7in. I have been so hesitant to post as I see no difference when I look in the mirror, but the decrease in the scale and inches don’t lie. I slipped into a deep depression last year and reached my highest weight of 190 pounds. Today I celebrate 40 pounds of weight gone in the past 6 months due to a calorie deficit. I am eating around 1400 calories a day, with mild physical activity. Thank you to everyone on this sub for being incredible humans, I could not have done this without everyone else’s vulnerability and posts!

Oh and sorry for the terrible photos…I didn’t take before pictures as I did not think I’d succeed even slightly!

282 lbs in the first pic, and floating 208-210 in the last 3, with the last being my lightest at 208. 6’1” for reference and currently 40 yrs old

SW: 260 CW:199.6, also 5'10 inches tall. All through diet and exercise after dealing with years of binging and hating every ounce of my being. Getting told I was prediabetic and my blood pressure was at 140, also dealing with severe sciatica pain, at the age of 26, woke me up real fast. 15,000+18,000k steps a day and weights 3 times a week. Also had maintenance days once every 2 weeks and 'cheat' days on holidays and my birthday. Still feels surreal to me that I really did that too, espeically since I'm no longer prediabetic and my blood pressure is down to 120 now. Goal weight is 175!

I started at over 100kg

Stayed on 74kg for about 2 years

And now I am at 58kg

Since october 25 I lost 16kg fast as I added daily 1h fast paced walking to my routine.

People are shocked and keep telling I am too skinny, or that I am wasting away, or that I am using the pen, or advising me to stop which I am about to, as this is my goal now.

I come from a dark background with chronic pain and depression, I was bedridden and now I am back running and moving freely, lower pain which I thought I would never be able to have again.

I was very happy with my progress until a week ago, but now they are getting in my head, I am over thinking and getting self conscious.

Be honest... Do you think it is too much?

I’m really happy with my progress so far and would love to hear from people with weight-loss experience.

I’m 21M, 5'8" (173 cm). I started at 90 kg (198 lbs) and I’m currently 76 kg (167 lbs), so I’ve lost 14 kg (31 lbs). My current goal is around 65kg.

The first photo is from February 28, 2026, and the second is from August 19, 2026. I’m wearing the same clothes in both photos.

I’m really happy with the difference so far and want to keep going. I still have noticeable fat around my lower stomach, side belly/love handles, and thighs, so I’d especially like to hear from people who have been through this:

1. Does my progress look good so far?

2. Does 65 kg sound like a reasonable target for my height?

3. How much more change would you expect to see in my thighs and side belly/love handles as I continue losing weight?

4. Does the remaining fat in those areas usually take longer to come off?

5. Is there anything I should focus on at this stage?

I’m open to all opinions and advice on my weight-loss journey!

Four months in, started at 109,6kg, finally got below the 100kg! Claude was amazing help that even pushed me (with projection data) to start doing cardio walks to sustain the loss since my BMR is dropping. I'm an old dude - 51.

Sorry for the badly made collage lol, at my highest weight I intentionally took no full-body photos because of how self conscious I was. First pic I weighed in at 410 pounds and was taken during March 2026, and second photo is from earlier today, August 2026, and this morning I clocked in at 320 pounds!!! 😭🫶🎉 sometimes I get down and feel like I can't tell much of a difference and then I look back at photos from earlier this year and remember I HAVE lost a lot of weight.

I am so happy, feel so different and less self conscious and am so very glad I took a chance on Terz!! Calorie deficit and recently workouts have helped me along so well, and I am so happy to report that I am the lowest weight I've been for a good decade. Can't wait to reach a hundred pounds loss and beyond! 💪

80,9 kg -> 66,7 kg (178,4 -> 147 pounds).
I’m so proud of myself! I know that I still have some steps to take, but I feel so much better in my body:)

3 months and 24 days, same pair of sweats! Very happy with my progress, always crazy to see how sad I looked just not long ago.

Ask me what you wanna know!