What ways/methods did you use that helped you successfully lose weight?

lovexlexi

Hi everyone, my name is Alexa and I'm 20 years old. I currently weigh 165 pounds and am trying to lose 30-40 pounds. I just started my journey a few short days ago and was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips on how to successfully lose the weight and keep it off. Are there any particular methods that worked really well for you? Also please feel free to add me as a friend! I could always use some more motivators and I'd love to help motivate you as well.

psuLemon

I would suggest starting with this two links. It also may be beneficial to pick up a book or two like the lean muscle diet (lame name, solid writers) and/or the new rules of lifting for women. They can provide some solid knowledge.

Calorie Counting 101

A guide to get you started on your path to the sexypants

williams969

psulemon wrote: »

I would suggest starting with this two links. It also may be beneficial to pick up a book or two like the lean muscle diet (lame name, solid writers) and/or the new rules of lifting for women. They can provide some solid knowledge.

Calorie Counting 101

A guide to get you started on your path to the sexypants

^^This. Beat me to it Those two links (which are also stickied at the top of the "Getting Started" and "General Diet & Weight Loss" forums for future reference) contain everything you need to know to get you headed in a successful direction to set realistic and sustainable calorie and exercise goals

nwalbers

Intermittent fasting really helped me due to the fact that small meals left me hungry all day. With intermittent fasting I can eat 2 large meals (lunch & dinner) and not feel hungry. The first week or so I felt hungry in the morning but now I'm not hungry until noon.

Whatever it is make it sustainable for you and be sure it fits into your lifestyle or it'll be difficult to stick with it.

ThePageStaysBlank

Personally I've found that getting regular sleep and keeping busy are both really important for me. I also know I eat much better foods in smaller portions if I don't watch tv while I eat.

BWBTrish

Weigh every solid food and measure every liquid.
Eat at a calorie deficit and walla the weight comes off....for me .

4leighbee

I rely heavily on exercise, which is good because I love sweet foods, don't have much food-related discipline and crave exercise to keep me sane.

Discover what drives you and move in that direction, learning and trying and doing as much as you can down that road. Also, realize that you have to put a check in every box (exercise, sleep, food intake, nutritional balance, hydration, etc.) to lose weight. For example, I must try to be disciplined with my nutrition if I expect to succeed. One element alone isn't enough.

terbusha

Eat a healthy diet at a moderate calorie deficit. What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

I do all of my exercise at home. Get in 30-60 minutes of intense exercise 5-6 days/week. If you're consistent with your nutrition and exercise, you're going to rock this journey!

Liftng4Lis

Don't over restrict yourself. The winner gets to eat the most and still lose. You're here to learn moderation, not deprivation. You've got this!

wizzybeth

By faithfully logging everything I ate or drank; by getting enough sleep, by drinking enough water (that just helps me feel better overall and helps me feel "full" when I'm tempted to munch and I don't want to use the calories.)

I've learned that I can eat my cake if I want it - I just have to allow for it. Which means I might take a smaller meal in order to splurge on a dessert.

I'm also hoping I learned, finally, not to give up and throw in the towel when I mess up.

Hitesc

Honestly, a life change.
Instead of busing to class, I walk instead now
Take the stairs to my lectures instead of the elevator
Rarely drink calorific drinks

Going to the gym regularly (when I'm bored or taking a break from studying)

ndj1979

get a food scale and weigh, log, measure everything.
realize that are no "bad" and "good" foods. Food is just food that your body breaks down for energy and various functions. So yes you can eat sugar, carbs, ice cream, cookies, etc and still lose weight. Overall diet, dosage, and hitting your calorie/macro/micro goal is what is important, not individual food type…

exercise if you want to for body composition and overall health, but it is not necessary to lose weight.

lcooper327

Can I ask how tall you are? My best advice is to go slow.

atypicalsmith

My niece weighed about what you weigh now when she was your age. She kept eating stuff like French fries dipped in mayonnaise and slept until nearly 2:00 pm after staying up all night playing video games on the computer.

I'm not saying that's what you are doing, but all you have to do is follow the plan here on MFP. Log what you eat. You will find that you eat much less when you have to account for everything. Exercise. Even if it's only walking in place in front of the television. If you drink alcohol, STOP! Very many empty calories. Avoid sweets. Once you get away from them, magically your sweet tooth disappears.

My niece, by the way, lost most of her weight and was down to 130 pounds which was ideal for her size. She stayed there for all of two or three months and now she is 350 lbs. again. I wish you the best of luck.

Sherry

LettingTheSmallStuffGo

Nothing has worked for me until I tried Intermittent Fasting. I'm a Monday-Wednesday-Friday faster although most people only fast 2 days a week. I did that and lost a pound a week but seem to be losing 1.5 lbs a week on 4:3 MWF. I've lost a total of 8 pounds in 16 days - don't freak out everyone.

The reason why nothing has worked in the past is because I cannot stick to an even keel of calories every day. Life gets in the way when you are stuck to eating only 1200-1500 calories a day. However, with 4:3 I can eat up to 1942 calories on non fast days. This means I can schedule my dates out with my husband or the girls to non fast days, not go over my calories and more importantly ENJOY myself instead of limiting myself to no appetizer, no bread, 1/2 a portion and only water. That's not to say I would eat all that but I am much more free to do what I want.

The bottom line for me is all plans work it's just a matter if you can work them. Find what works for you and keep looking until you find it.

Liftng4Lis

atypicalsmith wrote: »

My niece weighed about what you weigh now when she was your age. She kept eating stuff like French fries dipped in mayonnaise and slept until nearly 2:00 pm after staying up all night playing video games on the computer.

I'm not saying that's what you are doing, but all you have to do is follow the plan here on MFP. Log what you eat. You will find that you eat much less when you have to account for everything. Exercise. Even if it's only walking in place in front of the television. If you drink alcohol, STOP! Very many empty calories. Avoid sweets. Once you get away from them, magically your sweet tooth disappears.

My niece, by the way, lost most of her weight and was down to 130 pounds which was ideal for her size. She stayed there for all of two or three months and now she is 350 lbs. again. I wish you the best of luck.

Sherry

Whu? Where did this come from? She doesn't need to avoid anything and she's not your niece, nor does she have her stats.

PrizePopple

atypicalsmith wrote: »

My niece weighed about what you weigh now when she was your age. She kept eating stuff like French fries dipped in mayonnaise and slept until nearly 2:00 pm after staying up all night playing video games on the computer.

I'm not saying that's what you are doing, but all you have to do is follow the plan here on MFP. Log what you eat. You will find that you eat much less when you have to account for everything. Exercise. Even if it's only walking in place in front of the television. If you drink alcohol, STOP! Very many empty calories. Avoid sweets. Once you get away from them, magically your sweet tooth disappears.

My niece, by the way, lost most of her weight and was down to 130 pounds which was ideal for her size. She stayed there for all of two or three months and now she is 350 lbs. again. I wish you the best of luck.

Sherry

Fries are magical.

Alcohol is also magical.

Sweets are the things dreams are made of.

And yet I've lost 33 pounds still intaking ALL those things. It clearly must be some more...

lovexlexi

@lcooper327‌ I am 5'4". Also some additional information for everyone: my MFP has me on a 1,600 calorie diet per day. So far I haven't been hitting the mark. I've been eating around 1,300 calories a day and then burning a couple hundred exercising. Should I be trying to force myself to eat a little more so I can hit the 1,600 calorie mark before I exercise? I don't want to lose the weight in an unhealthy way. I want to find a good deficit.

psuLemon

kirkmana94 wrote: »

@lcooper327‌ I am 5'4". Also some additional information for everyone: my MFP has me on a 1,600 calorie diet per day. So far I haven't been hitting the mark. I've been eating around 1,300 calories a day and then burning a couple hundred exercising. Should I be trying to force myself to eat a little more so I can hit the 1,600 calorie mark before I exercise? I don't want to lose the weight in an unhealthy way. I want to find a good deficit.

You don't need to eat more food, just higher calorie foods. Add nuts, avocado, cheese, add oils, add post workout protein shake or some ice cream.

Liftng4Lis

kirkmana94 wrote: »

@lcooper327‌ I am 5'4". Also some additional information for everyone: my MFP has me on a 1,600 calorie diet per day. So far I haven't been hitting the mark. I've been eating around 1,300 calories a day and then burning a couple hundred exercising. Should I be trying to force myself to eat a little more so I can hit the 1,600 calorie mark before I exercise? I don't want to lose the weight in an unhealthy way. I want to find a good deficit.

You want to learn a lifestyle change, that's sustainable. MFP is designed to eat back exercise calories. Most eat half as they tend to be overestimated burns.

tigersword

atypicalsmith wrote: »

My niece weighed about what you weigh now when she was your age. She kept eating stuff like French fries dipped in mayonnaise and slept until nearly 2:00 pm after staying up all night playing video games on the computer.

I'm not saying that's what you are doing, but all you have to do is follow the plan here on MFP. Log what you eat. You will find that you eat much less when you have to account for everything. Exercise. Even if it's only walking in place in front of the television. If you drink alcohol, STOP! Very many empty calories. Avoid sweets. Once you get away from them, magically your sweet tooth disappears.

My niece, by the way, lost most of her weight and was down to 130 pounds which was ideal for her size. She stayed there for all of two or three months and now she is 350 lbs. again. I wish you the best of luck.

Sherry

What's wrong with fries, mayo, alcohol, or sweets? I eat them all, dropped weight just fine. Nothing wrong with having a different sleep schedule, either. I work overnights so I sleep until 2pm quite often. Your rambling makes absolutely no sense and doesn't help anybody.

Also, I'm sure your niece must be very happy to know her aunt is going around talking about her issues on a public message board. That's really good of you.

4leighbee

I adjusted my goal calories. For me, 1,200 wasn't enough food. I was hungry all day and focused too much on food. Someone suggested I look into TDEE, so I did. I upped my calories to 1,500 as a result and am losing faster now than before (although I'm not positive there's a relation) - happier and healthier. Some might disagree, but I think some of this is a trial and error for what works best for you. Definitely make choices that are sustainable, as Liftng4Lis mentioned. That is key.

gothchiq

Consistently work out hard every other day, including weights. On the off days, rest or do light cardio. Your muscles need to rebuild. Eat things that are high in nutrition such as lean proteins, lots of vegetables, some fruit, some complex carbs. Now is a good time to learn to cook new things. Nutritious eating should not have to be blah eating! Lots of herbs and spices. If you like tea, now is a good time to try many different flavors so that when you crave something to taste, you can make tea rather than going over calories eating something that doesn't fit in your plan.

MKEgal

kirkmana94 wrote:

I am 5'4", 165 lb trying to lose 30-40 lb...
MFP has me on a 1,600 calorie diet per day. So far I haven't been hitting the mark. I've been eating around 1,300 calories a day and then burning a couple hundred exercising. Should I be trying to force myself to eat a little more so I can hit the 1,600 calorie mark before I exercise?

This calculator says that at 135, if you were inactive, you'd need 1674 cal/day to maintain.
To lose 0.5 lb per week to get there, cut 250 calories, so 1424.
As long as you're losing slowly & gradually, you're doing fine. Adjust the calories to maintain 0.5 - 1 lb per week lost. You don't have to eat the whole amount if you're not hungry, but don't go under 1200 (makes it very difficult to get the nutrition you need).
And ignore exercise ("net") calories. Most people underestimate what they eat, most computers (including MFP) overestimate calories burned. For most people, in most situations, the errors more or less cancel out.