The thing about cosplay and weight.

Recently I hear from a lot people that they want to lose weight. Some of them because of Cosplay, some of them just because they want to.
Cosplay and weight has always been a highly sensitive issue. People get laughed at because they are "too fat". People get bitched at because they are too thin. It's rare to find a cosplayer who likes him- or herself.
That's sad, even though I can totally understand it. And there was I time, when I stepped on my scales and thought: No. That's enough. Not anymore.

Here's what helped me. To lose weight to a point that I'm almost comfortable with (damn three kilos ;D). This can work for you, or not. It's not something weired that forbids you too much. And this was very important for me. I'm a chocolate addict. I get annoyed when I can't have my chocolate. I feel bad when I can't eat something sweet after dinner. I didn't want to feel bad. Like I could never do a low-carb and whatsoever even more complecated diet.

Basicly, what makes you lose weight, is when the body needs more than it gets. It's so easy. And so acutally what I did is - tadaaaaa - counting calories. I figured out that I needed to eat around 1500 calories a day to eat less calories than before. If you want to try it, this number depends on how much you eat normally of course.
Now this sounds very familiar: actually Weight Watchers does the same! They  "group" the calories in their points-system.
To make things easier, and not to need to count every little bit, I figured out the stuff I eat about everyday. In these days this used to be cereals in the morning, some slices of bread, a normal meal with my boyfriend. I drank a lot apple juice with sparkling water back then (Apfelschorle) because I felt sick of only drinking water (don't ask. I'm weired with drinks).

First thing was drinks. Any drink that contains sugar is really bad, so you should stick to water or tea. Softdrinks are REALLY bad, unless you choose the diet-version (and they're still bad for your teeth =P).
I personaly tried to reduce the amount of apple juice bit by bit, and in the end I now drink mineral water every day.
With drinks you can gain a lot weight because of the calories. Apfelschorle has around 30 calories per 100ml, which means 300 calories for a litre! That's a whole meal if you drink up to two litres a day.

Then there was my breakfast. I used to eat oat flakes with milk and cocoa, a very common thing in germany. Oat flakes do not look like it, but they've got a lot calories as well. I was allowed 100g with the fitting amount of milk and cocoa. To make it easier for myself to measure, I searched for an old honey-glass where 100g perfectly fit in, so I didn't have to weigh it every time.
Start with at least something for breakfast anyway, because it wakes the body's metabolism for the day (Nowadays I drink a glass of cocoa because I noticed I stay hungry until 1pm anyway XD less calories that way lol)

I personally need to eat until I'm full, else I will get grumpy and unsatisfied. So i decided to eat my bread around 1pm, and with my list, I was allowed to eat 4 slices - and choose the topping myself. Yes, even Salami, which is a fat topping. Of course not in heaps. Common sense here. Along with with this I'd eat an apple or tomatos. For me it was very important to eat apples before eating the bread, because apples make me hungry.
And it was important that the last bread had something sweet as a topping, because after eating, I get  a ravenous appetite for something sweet. I can totally recommend "Apfelkraut" (apple syrup, though I'm not sure if syrup is actually the same as I mean) here, as it is surprisingly low on calories.
Of course, If you can deal better with eating little stuff over the day, nothing stops you, as long as you're within the amount of calories.

In the evenings, I did eat a cooked meal with my bf. Yes. The "big" meal in the evening. It still worked. We didn't even pay too much attention to the amount of fat in them. Again, use common sense here. Not a MacDonalds Meal every day, not a bucket of KFC. A normal one would be something like pasta with tomato, around 125g is a normal portion and it worked well. Usually, when you cook yourself, it's not THAT hard to keep within 6-700 calories per meal. Just do this and don't eat too much fast- or frozen food.

All this is not very little food I think, and I'm still not done yet. I was also allowed to eat a yogurt every day, as well as a piece of chocolate, I usually ate this in the evening as a dessert. For this we bought stuff like celebrations (mars, milkyway and stuff, in very small pieces). Or really expensive dark chocolate, because I can discipline myself if I know it's expensive. And dark chocolate does not make you wish for more and more, like milk-chocolate.

My diet in short:

• Breakfast with oatflakes and cocoa (approx. 100g)
• 4 slices of bread
• 1 yogurt
• 1 normal meal
• 1 piece of chocolate
•  as much fruit as I want (apart from bananas and grapes)

Not too bad I think. At weekends I allowed myself cake and icecream. Not in heaps and the whole day (common sense). Toast with Nutella. That stuff.
This is important. Because else I wouldn't have been happy if I had forbidden myself all the good stuff. I mean, how can you be?

I lost 13kg like that (it took me round 5 months I think), and after 5 years, I'm still on the weight I got after this. Last year, when I gained three kilos after christmas, I did the same thing and lost one kilo additionally that I didn't get back until now.

Some advice on the way:

• Do not start before christmas or easter. If you're living in a first world country, you're bound to have to eat a lot.
• Do not start in a time you mentally feel ill, because your work sucks, you've got a bad relationship, whatever. You will properbly not have the nerve, and that's ok.
• reward yourself. I rewarded myself somewhere in between, and at the weight I wanted to get - I bought a pair of pants. Two sizes smaller than I was used to. Hell, that was an awesome feeling!
• Don't push yourself! Losing weight takes it's time. The first kilos will go rather quickly, but after about 5 it took a little longer in my case.
• The first week will require a lot of discipline because you're constantly hungry. This will vanish once your stomach gets used to smaller portions.
• Maybe do not start out with the thought of losing 40 kilos, but only 10, 15 in the beginning. It's good. It's less.

The thing about sports

I lost all this weight without doing any kind of sports as I didn't have time to excercise by then. So this is possible.
But remember: excercising on a regular basis is healthy! It's good for your body and your soul!
However, if you start dieting and doing a lot sports from the beginning, it can actually be that you gain weight instead of losing it. Because you build up muscles, without losing your fat instantly. Think of this fact before getting desperate!

Non-eating and still not getting thinner

This also happens. If you're someone who eats very little, your body may go into "standby mode". I know some people like that. They don't move very much anymore, and they're always tired, and then sometimes they like to eat snacks in the evening. This means they do not burn very many calories, even though they don't eat much. This is why you should have breakfast, to get your metabolism to work.

Please note:
I'm not an expert about that stuff. If you tried and tried and tried, and never got a good result, consult a food expert. This is what worked for me, and I still like that way. Because I can have some chocolate. Because I don't have to stop eating. Not even to special times or special stuff. There was a point where I stopped losing weight, and where I maybe would have had to reduce the number of calories a little more. But with this weight I like myself a lot more.