Obese dieters- what worked?

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  • FattieBabs
    FattieBabs Posts: 542 Member
    that is a great post.. It has taken me 9 months to lose 20 lbs but I have got used to a whole new way of eating.. I still have a long way to go but your detailed post above is really helpful. Love the comment about the fajitas!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Accurate tracking, reasonable deficit (1 lb a week even with 80 lbs to lose), but being more active was the key (and the reason I'm still 70 lbs lighter after 3 years).

    Also only cutting out foods that I thought were not worth the calories (juice for me), and not completely deprive myself.
  • StarvingDiva
    StarvingDiva Posts: 1,107 Member
    I weigh and measure everything, when I can't if I eat at someone elses house, I will look for whatever I can in MFP that is relative to what I ate, and usually air on the side of more calories just to be safe, so if they were serving chicken Caesar salad I would usually pick the highest calorie one in MFP mainly because I didn't know where it came from or how it was prepared. Also, when I made recipes at my house for say a casserole, I would measure it out. So if I made a taco casserole, I put in the ingredients to the recipe page and measured out how many servings in the whole casserole, even if it was soup, I would sit and measure out by the cup from the pot to another dish to make sure I had it right. People would sometimes comment and say "how did you stay within your calories for the day you ate a homemade cupcake" Because I put the recipe in the recipe builder right down to how much frosting each cupcake got and I knew how much was in each cupcake so when I went to a party, I knew I could have one and not feel deprived. Sometimes I get irritated and don't want to measure, but I do it anyhow, because measuring and sticking to my eating plan, helps me stay on track with my goal and I am very slow losing on the scale, but I measure once a week because I go down sizes and my scale will not move. This month I actually went up 5 lbs but down a size. You have to look at the big picture and not just a number on the scale.
  • gabriellejayde
    gabriellejayde Posts: 607 Member
    I have yo-yo'd my entire life. I seem to be an "all or nothing" kind of gal, so I'm either super strict about what I eat, or... I eat anything I want.
    keeping track of what I eat is the only thing that helps. Obviously, eating in a calorie deficit is what makes me lose, but I don't go as completely off track if I'm monitoring how much I eat.

    The hard part is actually noting how much I eat on the days that I eat more than I should... it's very easy to NOT do it.
  • empressjasmin
    empressjasmin Posts: 170 Member
    FattieBabs wrote: »
    that is a great post.. It has taken me 9 months to lose 20 lbs but I have got used to a whole new way of eating.. I still have a long way to go but your detailed post above is really helpful. Love the comment about the fajitas!

    The same is true for me. It took me almost a year to lose 25 lbs.
  • amybkatherine
    amybkatherine Posts: 49 Member
    I love seeing everyone's response. It comforts me to know that so many others have struggled with this as I have. I have always had an issue with my weight and overall health. And like you, tried several diets to try and fix it. All of which only affected me short term, because I struggled to keep my long term motivation.

    Something that helped me get back on track, honestly, was knowing that other people have faced the same thing I have. That I'm not alone in this. One piece of advice that really got to me was not to let one meal define my overall health. If I slip up, I shouldn't just think the whole day is ruined. It was one meal. That is it. Forgive myself and get back on track.

    Forgiving yourself isn't easy. I've certainly thought plenty of negative things about myself and my weight. I'll always struggle with that I think. But I am making it a goal to forgive myself if I eat something 'bad' or don't see what I want on the scale. I need to let go of the thought that I've ruined anything and instead just think of what better choice I'm going to make next meal.

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