Gooooaaallllll!!!!

DUCKIEGYRL

Awesome results....

BlueBombers

Congrats!!

kokomo61

Had someone ask me about what worked....so I copied this from another post:

I had read so much about exercise/diet/etc that I don't know if I learned anything new that helped....but what DID help was realizing three basic rules:

1) It's what you eat.
2) It's what you eat.
3) It's what you eat.

BTW, did I mention that it's what you eat?

I had fallen down many times previously, because I just couldn't stop stress/anxiety eating, or I'd eat in situations that made it harder to manage my intake. When I finally recognized that I was eating for stress, and started disconnecting the two, it made things a LOT easier.

Here's what worked:

1) Tracking all food via MFP.
2) Drinking plenty of water.
3) Using a Fitbit, a Fitbit Aria scale, and Digifit to track all exercise and weight.
4) Weighing myself daily - that gave me lots of data to see what my trend was.Daily variations mattered less than overall direction.


Once I had lost 25 lbs, I started making things more public - I changed my Facebook profile photo to match the # of lbs I had lost (e.g., road signs, football jersey numbers, visual 'puns' like the '33' on a Rolling Rock label, a .44 magnum, a 45 RPM record, etc.

Once I got to 'milestone' numbers (40 lbs, 50lbs, 60, etc.), I would change my cover photo to how many lbs I had to go. Once I got into single digits with lbs left to go, I started posting videos from "Schoolhouse Rock" as my status. That got lots of other people cheering me on - because they got to 'guess' what the new status meant. I only told a select few people what I was doing, because I knew they'd be supportive. Same with the photos - I shared them only with people I knew would be able to help and cheer me on. I never told anyone I was on a 'diet', because I'm not.

Other things that helped:

Eating in a pattern - once I was confident my calories / nutrition were in line, I only had < 10 different 'meals' during the week. Lots of greens/salads, but also protein with every meal. It made planning a lot easier....and I was confident I was getting enough nutrients.

I kept almost all meals under 500 calories (with the exception of a Chipotle Burrito Bowl, which was 610 calories as a Friday night splurge).

I ate 4-5 times every day. Never more than 4 hours apart.

Target calories were 1800 a day. If I went over, I didn't get upset - I just adjusted over the next few days. Same thing with weight - I looked at the trend, not the individual #.

Don't drink calories. No juices, protein drinks, shakes, etc. If I was going to get calories, I wanted the satisfaction of eating something real.

Eat real food. Don't eat diet stuff. I tried NutriSystem and immediately gained 5 lbs. Ended up selling the entire 35-day box to get it out of the house.

Choose a motivating reward. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe, which cost a bit o'money, but with shopping aggressively, I kept the cost manageable....and I have some NICE suits now. It's good to feel and look better, but also good to dress up well and look good doing so. Here's a pic in one of the new suits:

JeSuisPrest

You look fantastic!! Only 1800? I'm a bit surprised you eat so low. I eat that I am 5'2" and a 45 yr old female. Way to go, wayt o stick with it!!! I'm only pounds away from my goal and feel I will never get there, bit that's okay too. I'm weight training to tone up and am very pleased at my progress!!! Congrats to you!!!

SKAVY7178

WOW!!!! amazing !!!! you ARE looking great ! Well done !

gaylynn35

Awesome!! You look amazing!! Thanks for sharing!

snowmanluv

Wow! Don't know if you're a hockey fan or soccer. Totally agree....you look great! Thanks for posting the extras. Did you eat your exercise calories? Did you do BMR/TDEE or MFP?

tiffanyraylene

WONDERFUL JOB!!!
You should be very proud!

kokomo61

1800 was a rough goal - I knew that I'd probably underestimate some things, in case I was off by 10% or so. According to MFP, and Fitbit, it was the target for a 2lb per week loss. I had fairly high activity, so I averaged about 2.5 per week. As I figure out maintenance, I'm upping by 200 per day for a week or so, to see how it evens out.

If I'm hungry, though, I eat - I'm just trying to make that food a positive choice instead of something I know I'll regret later.

holliebevineau

Well Done!! You look great!

raneylfrick

WhoopWhoop!! Way to go!!!

dzlynn

Great Job! Keep up the hard work.

playgun

Lookin great man! I know how hard you worked to get there! Be proud of your accomplishment!

kokomo61

Wow! Don't know if you're a hockey fan or soccer. Totally agree....you look great! Thanks for posting the extras. Did you eat your exercise calories? Did you do BMR/TDEE or MFP?

I used MFP as my main guide for planning eating.

Having had difficulty before, I came up with another saying -

"You can out-eat any exercise program."

I should know - In 2008, I was training for a century ride (100+ mile bike ride) - this was one of the toughest in the country, so I was training a LOT. Around 200+ miles every week. I didn't cut back my food intake....and gained 20 lbs over 6 months while training. Made it a lot harder to climb the mountains. Reducing calorie intake (and knowing just how much I was eating) to a -2lb deficit per week made it actually work.

If the hockey/soccer fan is about my screen name...it's actually for one of my other hobbies - I have 3 Taylor guitars (along with a Fender Strat and Telecaster, a Gibson ES-335 and a Rick Turner Renaissance-N).

tlou5

Congrats! Well done!

zombinaape

Righteous job, sir! Hard work pay off! Congratulations on meeting your goal!

tinamarie014069

awesome!!! what an accomplishment!!!

rjoset

wow! I want to be like you. I am just getting started on the program. For my health sake I REALLY need to loose weight. Appreciate everyone's tips and encouragement!

thanks

rjoset

Mpol2

That pic of you in your suit is damn fine! You should be really proud of yourself, you look wonderful and I like your tips about hoe to get there.

lcantrell65

I LOVE the way you lined up your photos. I think I am going to steal that idea. You look great. Congratulations!