Biggest losers

tmwyles

I am just beginning on my weight loss journey I would love to hear from those biggest losers out there who have lost 50 pounds or more and how did you do it/ how long did it take? How much did you weigh at your heaviest versus how much do you weigh now? Once you lost your weight what changes did you make to maintain? And how about saggy skin has anyone experienced going from extremely heavy to fear what is your experience with your skin? I’m sorry for so many questions?

lorrpb

I encourage you to read the success stories forum. You will find lots of inspiring stories!

I lost 150 over 2.5 years and maintaining 2+ years. Maintenance has simply been a continuation of the habits I developed while losing. I might have sags in some areas, but many people have commented that I don’t have saggy skin. I have gone from barely being able to walk 1/4 mile to hiking all over Switzerland and now training for triathlon. I can do fun things now and am in the best shape of my very long life. That’s the payoff.

apullum

I lost 100 pounds over about 2.5 years. I am just under 5 feet tall and I went from 215 to 115. I now maintain at 112-115. I’ve been in maintenance for about a year and a half.

I lost weight by tracking all my food as accurately as possible, consistently staying within my calorie goal. I began exercising, and I ate back my exercise calories.

Weight loss is training for maintenance. I had already made all my dietary and exercise changes while losing, so I didn’t make any more changes when I got to maintenance, except to slightly increase my calories.

I have some loose skin but not much. There isn’t much you can do about loose skin. This is largely determined by genetics. I was also relatively young (early 30s) when I lost weight, so that might have helped. Some people find that strength training makes them happier with their appearance after losing weight. It’s good to start a strength training routine as early as you can to help preserve muscle mass.

shadow2soul

I’ve lost over 100lbs. My success thread (which includes information you are asking for and pic’s):


https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10257157/c-section-mom-of-2-my-progress-over-the-past-couple-years-lots-of-pics
**Loose skin pics are on page 3 :drinker: **

MalkinMagic71

I've lost 200ish lbs. From 385 to 185 or so. I've been maitaining for the past year or so. Took me 18 months or so to lose all the weight.

tmwyles

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

I've lost 200ish lbs. From 385 to 185 or so. I've been maitaining for the past year or so. Took me 18 months or so to lose all the weight.

Wow how in the world did you do that

estherdragonbat

I've dropped 108.6 lbs since Oct 30, 2016. Working on the last 5 or so. Gone from 254 to 145.4.

callsitlikeiseeit

lost 100+ in about a year and a half/2 years. been maintaining the past 3 years. have 30ish more to lose (im not married to any number on the scale)

how did i do it?

• weighed and logged EVERYTHING
• worked out regularly (on average 4-5 times per week anywhere from 30 min to an hour, sometimes with an additional walk but that was more to get away from my ex for awhile and not for exercise lol)
• ate what i wanted on holidays and birthdays. it was one DAY for those events and not an ongoing free for all.
• made what i wanted... fit into my calories. including chocolate, alcohol, and eating out.

maintaining for me is stupid easy, so i cant help there. it is harder for others. everyone is different.

i dont really have any loose or saggy skin, but am likely to on my lower abdomen, at least it looks like i will have a not so lovely but better than being fat flap of skin.

gcminton

I initially lost 60 pounds over 3-4 months and maintained about 50 of that for several years before starting to regain about a year ago. I'm down another 60 (around 100 lower than my all-time heaviest) since the end of April 2018 and still have 90 to go to my goal.

Since I'm not at maintenance yet I can't really say for sure what I'll be up to, but so far it's primarily been dietary changes with sporadic exercise. I expect I'll continue tracking food indefinitely, unless I stumble upon a way of eating that works well enough for me that it isn't necessary. My SO and I actually just started a new bodyweight workout routine today that we can do at home, since we're both absolutely horrible about getting out of the house for activity this time of year.

Diet-wise, the first round of loss I went fairly low carb. Nothing too strict, mainly cutting out packaged stuff and cooking a lot, planning menus, meal prep, etc. but it was a sudden dramatic change. I felt so much better being low carb but my head really wasn't in the right place to sustain major lifestyle changes and I gradually fell back into old habits. This time around it's been pretty basic: counting calories. Eating whatever, just less of it, and tracking tracking tracking. I'm easing back into low carb eating this time around so it isn't so jarring and will hopefully be easier to change my habits long-term.

As for loose skin... too soon to tell, really. My inner thighs have some wrinkly tell-tale signs, and some other areas are really squidgy compared to my higher weight(s), but that's to be expected. Even if I do reach my goal looking like a shar-pei, it's still going to be better than all of the garbage that comes with being morbidly obese, right? I know building/maintaining muscle mass will help minimize it, but beyond that I don't think you can avoid it. You'll either end up with loose skin or you'll win the genetic lottery and not have any.

Honestly, the BIGGEST change between now-me and old-me is my mindset. My head is in the game like I flipped a switch this past spring and I'm determined to see this through. I don't know what changed or why but I was suddenly really and truly ready to make changes and stubbornly keep going.

MalkinMagic71

tmwyles wrote: »

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

I've lost 200ish lbs. From 385 to 185 or so. I've been maitaining for the past year or so. Took me 18 months or so to lose all the weight.

Wow how in the world did you do that

Logged everything I ate. Became more active. Didn't restrict any foods I liked. Switched to coke zero from regular coke. It's not difficult it just takes discipline and the want to do it.

Silentpadna

tmwyles wrote: »

MalkinMagic71 wrote: »

I've lost 200ish lbs. From 385 to 185 or so. I've been maitaining for the past year or so. Took me 18 months or so to lose all the weight.

Wow how in the world did you do that

I don't qualify for your 50+ amount (I lost 48 for now) - but, what I did applies regardless of the number. The how is simply doing it day by day. It's not in chunks or rigid discipline. It's the development sustainable habits. That's it. Don't try to accelerate a timeline, just one decision at a time - over time.

LoPotion

I lost 50 pounds in about a year, going from 180 to 130. I set my goal to lose half a pound per week, and exercised on top of that to further increase my deficit (I chose not to eat back those calories). I had a treadmill at home that is sadly broken now, but I used it every weeknight for an hour, walking at various inclines. It sounds tedious, but I enjoyed it. It was time I got to myself after the kids were in bed. I wish I'd incorporated some strength training too, but I just didn't know much about fitness at the time. I thought cardio was everything.

I have some sagging skin on my lower stomach, but it's left over from my pregnancy two years ago.

I didn't make a lot of changes to maintain. I run three times a week now for 30 minutes and lift weights. As for my diet, I eat the same stuff. My portions are slightly larger (I still weigh and log everything because I suck at estimating), and I have an extra treat for dessert, a beer, or a glass of wine at night.

ceiswyn

I lost 16 st 7 (about 230 lb) in a little under two years. That was around 60% of my bodyweight. I’ve been maintaining at between 10 st 9 and 11 st 5 for several months now.

How did I do it? Scrupulously honest tracking of calories, never going above my daily allowance, and distracting myself anytime I felt hungry.

GrumpyHeadmistress

112lbs in 20 months (237 to 125). 5’4” female. Dress sizes 22 to 6 (18 to 2 in US).

Basically just ate fewer calories than I burned.

Maintained now for over 12 months, stayed within maintanence range of 5lbs or so.

tmwyles

Wow everyone’s stories really help me. Yesterday was awful in-laws are in and they insisted on a huge breakfast. I did my best with that and Lucy was ok too. After lunch I did some yard work I have been neglecting. My back was hurting pretty bad before the work but when the pain really hit during the work I knew I was in for it later. Sure enough by the time I rested 5 min my back pain was in full bloom. I hurt to move anything. Well for me it is kind of a self inflating problem. My back hurts when I work, when my back hurts I want to eat, when I overeat I gain weight, the heavier I am the more I hurt, the more I hurt the more I want to eat. But I’m determined not to fail I may not hit my 100lb this year but it will happen and more.