41 year old male needing to lose 10-30 pounds

AdamImadA

I'm a married father of four boys ranging from three years old to 17 years old.I currently sit at 180 pounds and I'm looking to lose anywhere from 10 pounds to an amazing goal of 30 pounds. I don't diet but I try to lose weight by cutting out alcohol and portion control.

I love to cook and have done the majority of the cooking in our 20 year marriage.

Looking forward to the community to keep me on my goals to keep me positive and to encourage others as well.

See y'all around!

TheFinestRunner

Welcome! Sounds like a familiar story... I'm a 45 year old male, with 2 kids aged 15 & 17, and have been married for 20 years. After talking to my wife, I just decided to track my calories on MFP. Once I decided that, I thought why not lose 15 pounds? Then, I thought, okay... why not lose 20 pounds? I've always been happy at 170-175 pounds and have been there for 20 years. But I decided I want to be at 155, which is where I should be at 5'7". I like the idea of looking slim.

So, set your weight loss goal (I set mine at 1/2 pound a week) and watch the weight drop off. However, I've already had spans of 7-10 days where the scale doesn't drop at all - you just need to keep on the plan and it will drop and you will feel good. Your weight can vary quite a bit from one day to the next. I don't call it a diet, I call it a 'food plan'.

Here's a tip... Don't eat all your exercise calories back. I try to only eat 1/2 back, but sometimes I eat none of them and sometimes I eat all of them.

AdamImadA

Yes that sounds eerily familiar. Right down to shopping at Cosco(looking at your meal plans) how long have you been doing this?

TheFinestRunner

I've been doing this for just 42 days, but already feel like an 'expert'. I've lost 8 pounds so far. The first 5 went quick. Yes, I hit Costco at least once a week lately. I try to stay away from the highly processed foods & junk food. My wife is doing MFP too, so we try to keep most junk food out of the house. However, when we've had some I just log it and try to plan for it. On Valentines day I had a 70 calorie piece of chocolate - just one. When you are trying to stay to 1800 calories, 70 calories is a lot when you get nothing from it. I try to eat calories that will keep me satisfied. I don't like being hungry. However, when I'm hungry I just imagine the fat cells getting used up!

When I know that I'll be eating a large number of calories, I plan ahead, eat a light lunch and avoid snacks. The hardest part is eating a large lunch. It's no fun if it's 7:00 at night, your hungry, and don't have any calories left.