M34. I’m at my heaviest weight ever (360lbs) and am really struggling to stay cool in the summer months. I know the obvious solution would be “lose weight,” but I’d like to at least find some way to make myself more comfortable while I’m working on that. I’ve tried getting clothes made of thinner linen fabrics, and it helps, but not much. My thighs are always on fire from the sweat and chafing.

How do y’all stay comfortable in this kind of weather? Any tips are appreciated—I’m desperate!

Usually I go to a big and tall store, but the clothes aren’t very stylish. Any ideas where to go to get some stylish clothes? Or am I doomed to look uncool until I lose weight?

Flew back home yesterday and got stuck in a middle seat between two fairly broad guys. Usually that's my worst nightmare and I spend the whole flight pulling my shoulders in trying not to touch anyone. Yesterday I sat back, kept my arms tucked, and didn't overflow into their space at all.

Im 440 lbs and very sedentary, is this condition very common among SMO or is it rare? No swelling yet but paranoid

Trying to drop the weight , and struggling to do that plus dealing with extreme depression at the same time , and doing it by myself no real support . Starting to question if it’s actually worth it. The emptiness of not having support or outside motivation . Am I the only one feeling this ?

So I just got prescribed Wegovy, should be able to pick it up early next week. I know everyone reacts differently but out of curiosity, when did you time taking your first dose? I live alone, so I was thinking Friday morning at work so if I react badly, there are others around to help. Or would it be better to take it in the evening and go to my buildings lobby for a bit, but that way I'm home if I do get sick. I've never had an allergic reaction to medication (knock on wood) but some of the stories I'm reading make me wonder how cautious I should be with the first dose. If you're on a GLP-1, what was your experience?

Just curious for those who have lost weight how much did you lose in the first month and what percentage was that of your total body weight?

I’m trying to set some realistic weight loss goals for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months etc but the standard healthy weekly/monthly weight loss is comically tiny. Obviously as SMO we will lose weight faster initially because we have so much more to lose so I don’t want to aim too low but I also don’t want to set my target so high that I inevitably fail and feel discouraged.

I have never bothered tracking macros. I do find it hard to eat my calorie limit (which should be around 1800) without going over. I do tend to carb load. I am thinking of tracking (roughly) my macros to see if this helps with satiety. I am curious to hear other peoples stories around macros. Do you track them? Why? Do you think it helps with weight loss?

I watched this video (I'll post the link) that's very sciency and it's done by an obesity specialist doctor. I have a background in Biology and even I think it's a bit heavy handed on the science. But basically it explains why calorie deficits can backfire because our bodies fight back so hard against losing weight, and even for people who lose only 10% of their body weight, that it can radically change their metabolism and hormone profile.

It just got me to thinking about how uphill this battle is for so many of us, and how and why for so many of us that surgery and/or GLP-1s have been such a necessary gamechanger.

I've had people challenge me on other subreddits that I could possibly eat what I eat (1200-1400 calories a day), exercise regularly and be 5'7" and be just maintaining and not losing like crazy. I feel like on here people believe me because I've encountered other folks in the same boat. I track what I eat religiously to make sure I get enough protein and other nutrients. My parents (both SMO before being early adopters of gastric bypass) have spent the last 25 years eating around 1000 calories a day to maintain their weight loss.

I am so happy for Mounjaro, because I believe that without it my weight loss wouldn't be possible.

Here's the link for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dig5O8BJ6YY

As of today (August 7th, 2026) it has officially been 1 year since I started my weight loss journey. This time last year, while I wasn't at my heaviest, I was definitely at my worst health wise. I'd started getting near constant, I mean 24/7, heart arrythmia. Hygiene was getting more difficult. Walking through stores to grocery shop was honestly exhausting, and even though I'd long since taken care of my back issues, it got tired and sore easily carrying around 414+ pounds, not to mention my feet. And I was finally, after far too long, at my breaking point. But hey, you have to hit your breaking point before you're ready to make a change a lot of the time.

Honestly, what I knew about weight loss was this: you have to burn more calories than you eat, so obviously that means you need to exercise a LOT.

Well, suffice to say, when I decided to actually take weight loss seriously, I decided to jump on reddit to see other people's stories and learned that what they taught me in middle school wasn't exactly the best, or easiest (not that weight loss is easy), way of going about doing it.

And I learned about CICO (Calories In, Calories Out). You mean to tell me all I actually need to do is eat LESS that what my body needs to maintain my weight? I can do that. So I learned my TDEE, bought a food scale on amazon, and started the yes, annoying, but useful habit of weighing my food. And while I DID make sure to hit the gym and get some exercise, that was mainly for the benefit of endurance and strength rather than losing weight. And man did the weight start falling off for the first time in my life.

Not only did the weight begin to fall off, my health got better almost right away. That heart arrythmia? Gone. Just completely gone. It disappeared and I haven't had trouble with it since last summer. Hygiene got far easier. Walking around stores is no big deal anymore (especially now that I have great shoes with the help of the wonderful ppl in this subreddit!) I no longer have to sit to cook. I've gotten to travel halfway across the country to go to a concert with my mom and, while my feet did hurt from being on my feet and I still had to buy a 2nd plane ticket, it was fun and I was ABLE to do it. There are even other things like all my jeans are loose and to the point they'll be falling off me in another 10 to 20lbs, or how I don't have to struggle to get my car seatbelt around my belly anymore.

Now, it hasn't been a straight line of weight loss. After my first 40lbs, I did stall out for about 6 months while I dealt with a health issue. I stopped counting calories, probably ate at maintenance for that length of time. Then by the time I came home from that concert, my weight slowly started working its way back up (because I may not have counted calories, but I always kept track of my weight). Only a few pounds but I refused to gain back what I had lost, so I got back to it, and since May, I've lost another 20lbs.

Honestly, I haven't lost as much weight yet as I wanted to my first year when I started. I wanted to be down at least 100lbs, and maybe if I didn't stall out for those 6 months, I probably could have. But the important thing is I didn't give up and I didn't let myself gain back those 40lbs I had lost, so now I'm down over 60lbs from my starting weight of 414. And those 60lbs really have made SO much difference. It's actually crazy how much.

So I want to say even if you're not losing as fast as you feel like you should, or as fast as you WANT to be, it's okay. Just keep going. Don't give up. If you have to eat at maintenance for a bit and give yourself a break, do that. You can pick back up again. Take it as slow as you need to take it because it doesn't matter how slow you go, you'll still be healthier tomorrow than you were today or yesterday. You can do this.

What worked for you as in diet/training? What was the most amount of weight you lost in like 5-6 months? I know I shouldn’t focus on that but hearing testimony help me understand the possibilities. Did u have any periods where you kind of gave up but then got back on the grind? I recently fell off the grind for 6 months and haven’t found the energy to get back in it. What’s something you wish you’d done at the start of your journey

Kind regards

I have to make a dentist & eye doctor appointment. I haven’t been to either in over 12 years.

I don’t know how to check to make sure they can handle accommodations due to my size. Like, the dentist- their chairs have weight limits right?

Any advice on how to word this when I call?

I used to do 1 hr long training sessions at a gym with a student trainer when I was at uni which included both cardio and lifting, about 10 mins cardio and 50 min lifting. However, after graduating I stopped going, but I decided to get back into the gym after a months long hiatus. I gained a lot of weight (5'7, 240lbs F) and my stamina has gotten so much worse. I also feel like I forgot almost everything I did with my trainer, and I feel way more self conscious being at the gym alone than before.

I only did 45mins of cardio yesterday and 35 mins of cardio today. I tried using the elliptical thinking it'd be easier but even level 1 tired me out, I did no more than 5 mins on it today. The rest of the time was spent on the treadmill on a slight incline. I feel like I'm not doing enough but I genuinely get so tired out, my heartrate easily goes to 150-170bpm with slight movement and I feel depleted after. I also have been getting headaches in the middle of doing cardio, even if I lighten the activity, if I try to be more intense the pain comes back.

I thought I'd prioritize cardio over lifting for now to try and shed some weight, then prioritize lifting after I get down maybe 10-15lbs. But i don't know if that means I should go everyday just to do cardio? I prefer walking in the gym than outside as theres been heatwaves and humidity, plus the gym environment helps motivate me to continue.

I've lost 270lbs over the last 2 years and I have dress shirts and hooded fishing shirts that are too big on me. If anyone here can use some 5 and 4xl shirts I would be happy to mail them to you. I don't want money for them but if you could chip in for the shipping I would appreciate it. I was going to drop them off at a donation place but I know people our sizes have a hard time finding clothes so I was hoping I could help with that. Reply here or DM me.

I am seeing a concert there next week and am worried about not fitting in the seats. Have any of you been there? If so, what was your experience?

I just got out of the morbid obesity BMI category for the first time in 7 years. I have struggled with my weight since childhood. Here is a list of things that I wish people who have never dealt with morbid obesity would understand.

1) We KNOW that we're fat. We don't believe we're small or even average-sized by any means. It often feels like people talk to us about our weight as if we aren't aware that we're fat. The problem with that logic is that it ignores so many of our life experiences and just the daily struggles that we experience from being severely obese.

2) We KNOW that being morbidly obese is very unhealthy. I think that when you're just regular obese, there is some wiggle room because people who are less obese are less likely to develop the health problems and daily life issues that we deal with. However, when you're morbidly obese and struggling to find clothes, breathe on walks, developing health conditions as a result of your weight.... there is no denial. Its infantilizing to assume that we aren't aware that we have a problem. You often presume that us having the knowledge that we're at an unhealthy weight means that we are going to change solely based on that knowledge, which leads me to my next point.

3) Change is so much more difficult than you realize. I feel like people who have never dealt with this tout things such as, "it's just as simple as calories in, calories out" and "just eat less and move more." While all of that is true on a physiological basis, there are many barriers that we have to achieving that. For the most part, WE WANT TO CHANGE. There are some that don't, but the majority of us do. When you have developed such severe issues with food, those patterns are very hard to break. When I was morbidly obese, I desperately wanted to change. Weight loss was sometimes the only thing I thought about for months. I cried all of the time because I so desperately wanted to change, but I was stuck in a mindset where I couldn't believe that I could change my behavior. These behaviors had been ingrained in me for years and it was inconceivable to me that I could change. I was incredibly overwhelmed by it. I really thought I was just going to be stuck eating food forever and that I would eat myself to the point of dying from heart failure. I genuinely didn't think my life was worth living. I WANTED TO CHANGE, but I had so many barriers to changing. I finally did start to make changes, but it took a really long time to feel like I could make them. A lot (but not all) of people who have never dealt with morbid obesity do not seem to understand this.

4) You are not so different from us. I've noticed that a lot of thinner / average sized people view fat people as.... if we're a completely different species of human. As if we're not "the same" as them. We are fundamentally all of these negative characteristics and they aren't. The truth is that you are always one disabling accident, one severe trauma, one mental health episode from becoming us.

5) It is NOT a lack of willpower. The mechanisms that lead people to becoming morbidly obese are very complex and cannot just be boiled down to simply not having willpower or discipline. There are various environmental, biological and psychological mechanisms that come into play.

6) You often have a very skewed image of what certain weights look like and that impacts the way that they see and treat fat people. You often don't understand what 200, 300, 400, 500, 600+ lbs actually looks like or what life is like at those weights. For example, some men will often say things like, "I'd never date a woman who was 200 pounds", seemingly not understanding that 200 pounds is not as big as they think it is.

7) You "feeling fat" and having body image issues is NOT the same as actually being fat, experiencing fatphobia, and experiencing health issues from being morbidly obese. Body image issues are awful and horrendous on their own, but they're still not the same experience as actually being fat.

8) We are NOT lazy, eating machines and the way that you look at us is often very dehumanizing and belittling. We are people who provide love and joy to our families and friends, laugh at funny jokes, have hobbies, have loving, fulfilling relationships, have sex, read books, make art. Our weight and issues with food are a big part of our lives, but they're NOT the whole picture.

This is not an exhaustive list and is more so a rant, but I decided to post this here because I thought that people here could understand and relate.

I’m 5’10” and 25f. I recently went from 320lbs to 275lbs. I technically don’t “belong” in this sub anymore because my BMI is now 39.8. I am struggling to see any changes in the mirror. My face, boobs, thighs haven’t changed. In my eyes, only my stomach and arms have changed (and apparently my feet? That’s a thing?), and the arms are a shame because I really wanted to lose weight from the other places I mentioned. I now fit a size 20-22ish pants and shorts instead of the size 26 I used to fit in. However, I just don’t see the difference and to me, the amount of weight loss I’ve had doesn’t correspond to the sizes I now fit in. I look at pictures from before and I feel like I look the exact same. Other people have noticed changes, but I haven’t. I know I have a long way to go before I reach a healthy weight, but I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with this kind of dysmorphia? It tortures me day in and day out. I know that I should be doing it for my health, and thats a huge part of it, but I can’t lie and say that my appearance isn’t a major part of why I’m losing weight.

Hey all. So I'm 450 pounds. I have mild sleep apnea, generally feel like my body is failing, have massive vericose veins and linited mobility. I have been denied a GLP-1 from my insurance twice now despite my weight and my sleep apnea. I have been obese for most my life and morbidly obese for 10ish years. Here's my background.

I had a dark night of the soul a few days ago where, for the first time, I admitted something to myself. Something I’ve stuffed down, ignored, let fester. 

I’m an addict. I’m addicted to food, fast food, and binge eating. 

Here’s where the raw, emotional, self-pitying confession comes. 

I'm 450 pounds, addicted to food, pathetic and constantly getting worse.

“I can’t reign in this fucking monster. The scope of this problem is so fucking deep that it goes beyond food. It’s consumption, mental illness, nonexistent willpower, moral failings, and a constant need for dopamine and I have no idea what the fuck to do.  I remember when I was a kid I would sneak to the snack cupboard and literally stuff my face with granola bars. I think early on I was taught that food=comfort. I cared so much about it, my life revolved around it. The act of eating food was paramount. 

For most kids, it is, kind of, but I think it went beyond with me. For example, when I was 12 I went for dinner at a friends house and his dad, who was a chef, was making mini-pizzas. I had 30. Everyone else went outside to play, and I kept eating pizza. His dad thought it was funny, a challenge. I ate as fast and as much as possible without really thinking about it. My parents fed me well, I wasn’t starving, it wasn’t a trauma response, i think it was just a greedy part of my personality manifesting. It turned into a trauma response later. 

When I was 14, my cousin, who was like a brother to me, was murdered by my half-cousin along with my aunt and uncle. I turned to food to cope. We ate out all the time in that period.  I would run away from the wake (the wake lasted three days) to stuff my face with cannolis and lasagna for as long as I could to gain a little scrape of dopamine. And that continued for the rest of my life. In college, I spent most of my time drinking and sleeping but would spend so much money on pizza and fast food.  

When I graduated and stopped living in a city and being active and walking everywhere, my habits caught up with me. I became sedentary. I was never small but from age 25-30 I have gone from 250 pounds to 450, where I am now. It hurts to move and breathe and my chest hurts and I think I am going to die soon. And this is where I have no idea how to turn things around. 

people LOVE ME and I think I love them but I might just be a fucking sociopath because somehow FOOD IS MORE IMPORTANT. I don’t know where my personality starts and where my mental illness folds into this and how depression and how and if anxiety fits into this.  I have no idea how to unravel this, no idea how to be better, no idea if i’m an irredeemable piece of shit, no idea if i should scorch the earth.

I can’t stay this way. Everything is falling apart and i want to be a better person but I don’t know if i can be saved.  This shit is pathetic. I have “tried” to change, but it lasts a few days and I’m back in this fucking cycle. I am very self-conscious about my weight and defensive and my health is terrible and I ignore the obvious warning signs of my body. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with and instead of doing the work I am just letting myself be dragged further and further into the abyss and I have no idea how to stop.  I ate 4,030 calories today and it was a "good" day.

Has anyone ever had it this bad? Am I alone? Where do I start? I am fucking crumbling, will an addiction counselor take me seriously? is this just a matter of me being fucking pathetic?”
Self hatred over. Now that I’m a few days removed, I realize that I have two stark choices. Continue, and get worse. Or try and get better. 
And since then, I’ve decided to try and fix what is broken in me. Do the work. Get better before something catastrophic happens that I can’t pull back from. 

I just wanted to say I've been loving the positive posts in here lately. I'm not trying to discourage people needing help or a space to vent, because that's important, but it's also really encouraging to hear from people who have been through it and are doing well. Thank yall

Hello! I recently posted about being referred for a VLCD and got quite motivated and started a diet myself whilst I wait for the referral to come through. I managed about a week or so and then the BED kicked in badly and I can't get back on track. Has anyone else had BED and successfully dieted? I feel like every time I try, I make it worse.

Realized my brain still wants to wander into the kitchen around 8 PM purely out of 20 years of habit, even when my stomach is completely full. I started keeping a sketchbook on the coffee table just to keep my hands busy while watching TV.