Need some food and fitness advice

ShivaAaliyah

Hello everyone,

After yo-yo dieting for many years and losing a lot of weight and gaining it all back, I want to know what kind of methods you are using to lose weight. I weight about 250 lbs and this is the heaviest I have ever been. At my slimmest I weighed 180 lbs and felt really good being at this weight, even though I know my ideal body weight should be around 130-140.

Some of the diets I have done include Dr. Bernstein and Weight Watchers. I really liked WW because it gave me the freedom and flexibility to eat whatever I wanted, as long as I was keeping within the allotted points. I saw great results with WW and it motivated me to exercise more and be very mindful of what I was eating but not in a strict way.

So, that brings me to ask what kind of weight loss methods are you finding successful? I don't want anything that will require me to cut out a lot of foods.

Also, with exercise, what's effective for weight loss. I want to look toned and strong and don't want to have loose skin after I lose the weight.

Thanks so much,

Shiva

scare006jack37

Hello Shiva,

I just came back from vacation and gained all 40lbs I lost in 2013 plus a bit more. Last month, I weighed 221lbs. I set the myfitnesspal goal to lose 2 lbs a week the first month; I'm down to 211lbs 5 weeks later with a goal of 200lbs by the end of the year.

What works for me
...walk everywhere if less than 6 miles round trip including grocery shopping (cant splurge with only two hands to carry so i shop wiser)
...6 days a week eat pretty much the same oj, water, v8 juice and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch with light snacks in between; no dinner
...one day, not always the same day, i will eat anything i want with the goal of eating more calories than the goal myfitnesspal sets for me including drinking loads of beer
...i keep myself busy with brain exercises like reading, learning from Khan Academy for free and exploring global news stories
...if i get hungry and i'm near the top of the daily calorie goal then i'll drink more water
...i update myfitnesspal nightly and see my progress then mass myself once a month
...no other exercise other than walking
...i dont usually cut anything out i like; i just eat whatever in moderation
...i did remove soda for the first month, just had my first vanilla cream soda was heavenly!

In my opinion, calorie control is 99% of the battle with a 1% error, haha. My UMaine medical physiology professor said "It's easy to lose mass, just consume less energy than you use like the cavemen.'
...easier said then done with all the yummy treats out there and is a challenge worth fighting for

baby-stepping to a healthier lifestyle

Hope this helps, be strong, smile and happy mass loss goals!

Cheers
Rusty

ShivaAaliyah

Thank you!!

amwoidyla

Just a few things that have worked well for me:
Consistency and honesty! If you're calorie counting, log everything! Even if it's a guestimate. I find that I have the most success when I am honest with myself about what I'm putting in my body and am logging regularly.

During the week, I usually eat a few hundred calories under my goal for the day, so I can afford to have a few higher calorie days during the weekend. It allows me some flexibility of my coworkers decide to go out for happy hour one night or if I want to eat in a restaurant over the weekend.

If you can make time for it, cook most of your meals at home. Then you know exactly what's going into it and don't have to guess. Keep healthy snacks in your purse, car, desk drawer at work so you're not tempted by the drive through or vending machine.

arditarose

I use the eat less method. Worked for me. Exercise did not make me lose weight but weight lifting helped me keep muscle. Never tried any special diet.

ana3067

What works for me:
Eat less food than my body needs to maintain its weight. Of course, eating a reasonable deficit is what I recommend, i.e. calculate estimated maintenance needs without exercise, then subtract 20% max from that, eat that every day, log and eat back exercise calories. Or calculate needs with exercise included into the average activity level, same process as the first method only you don't need to log and eat back exercise calories.

Exercise is for fitness and body composition, not weight loss. Macros are for composition as well, satiety (ratios), and possibly health (e.g. diabetes).

There are no tricks or secrets to weight loss, although it seems everyone wishes there WAS. probably because realizing that it's this simple makes people feel bad that they haven't been successful?