Looking for stories of 30-60lbs weight loss

gonzoschicken

Every time I look for stories of weigh loss I only find the 100+lbs kind. Which is great! But I don’t identify. What I’ve got is an eating disorder and a self-sabotaging cycle that has spanned YEARS of just trying to lose 40 lbs. Please tell me that it’s possible? And share pics if you can?

jamesmbray1957

The story you look for is mine. I am a 64 yo male who has been trying to control his weight as a central pre-occupation of most of his life. I was a fat kid in grade school and quickly regained the weight after my military service eventually reaching 275 lbs at 5ft 9 in tall. I've been on so many systems I could write books on dieting and weight loss, or the failure to do so. I can give lectures on glycemic index, body fat concentrations and genetic predisposition. I even gave up and determined to be the best and strongest fat guy I could be. 235 lbs 2nd degree black belt, bench press 225 and run 2 back to back 7 minute miles but never could control my weight. Went to seminars, employer sponsored programs, and anything else I could find over the last 44 years. I'm also a great cook who likes to cook and likes his own cooking. I will tell you don't give up. You're on a road, stay on it, all that's left is the ditch if you quit. Last time around I lost 50 lbs and put it back on sitting around for a global pandemic. This time I'm down 28 lbs and working on it again trying to combine all I've learned so far into one more effort. 40 lbs? BAH! The first thing to realize is that the number of lbs don't matter. what does matter is liking who you are and making your appearance reflect that if you wish it. My personal goal is to get off the blood pressure meds. Maybe save my knees. 15 lbs off you waist saves you 50 off your knees. Never quit. Remember it's a road that you never get off. Even if you loose the weight you never get off road. Good luck.

salleewins

Hello! I have lost about 53 lbs. It took some time. I have the self-sabotaging. I do go up and down in weight, but overall I am going down. It is a journey. There are many reasons we could be self sabotaging. I do have binge spells. There are physical reasons for it, too. You do get hungrier when under stress and when worn down, it is easier to give in.Sometimes we just need to take a break. I have worked with a holistic Dr and therapy at times. Makes a difference to get a very complete bloodwork done. I don't give up completely. I may throw the towel to the wind a day or two or week, but not forever. I know too well the feeling of being overweight for years and never want to return to that. I weigh most days. I have learned much along the way. It is doable!!

estherpotter1

Ive lost nearly 40 pounds.I used vita diet shakes,When I plateued I lost a bit more with optislim shakes.Ive been stalling for a year now but still trying different methods.It is hard for some of us.I noticed it was easy when I was younger though.

willboywonder

I lost 45 pounds since 1 January. It's not easy, but it is possible. I didn't do anything magical. I only paid attention to calories (via food and drink), increased my physical activity, and cut out added sugar and sodium. If I want a snack, I incorporate it into my daily eating plan. Meal planning is key to it all. As I'm eating, I'm already thinking about the next meal so that I won't make bad decisions. If I don't plan my meals, I know I will reach for the wrong thing when I'm hungry. So, just know it's very doable. Hang in there. You can do it.

wunderkindking

Me. I lost right at 60lbs - 190ish to 130ish.

Honestly I found it relatively painless. I spent about 14 months doing it, made mostly minor changes, and have eaten ice cream or a candy bar or something basically every day - just a matter of tracking my calories, replacing some of the super high calorie condiments I used with lower calorie versions, and fixed my tendency to eat effectively no protein (I mean like 12 grams a day most days).

kenpom

I am a 69 yo male who has weight yoyo'd three times between 160-196. Each time, I told myself that the last cycle would be the last. I attribute my weight gain to night-foraging, and working in a sedentary job, and carving out time for physical activity. Losing the weight has generally been predictable, if not easy. Successful weight loss was achieved through rigorous journaling, and keeping a net calorie deficit of between 500-700 calories, achieved by eating no more than 1400 calories, and exercising at least 300 calories per day. I stayed away from carb-rich dinners as a sole energy source, with no "extra" fat. Ate healthy fats instead. This past April, I was 196. As of today, I'm 160.8 lbs. Two more lbs to go. Once I loose the last few pounds, I know I'll have to keep the journaling up, and pay close attention to calories in/out to maintain. I hope this helps you.

RAxB

Just hit 51 lbs down! And binge free since February! In the past the focus was just keeping my calories every day low, but that inevitably triggered a binge or just ended due to diet fatigue - this time it’s been a focus on making sure this is sustainable. That means eating treats, enjoying life events and making sure nothing is off the table while still just keeping myself accountable with nutrient dense foods. I’m only a couple pounds away from maintenance and looking forward to that next step.

I’m also the lowest I’ve been, ever, by more than 20 lbs and learning about this new body and what it can do has been so much fun! I’m stronger, faster, and truly feel lighter.

Good luck in your journey! Be kind to yourself!!!

DevotedOne9

Wow...thanks for this question and these comments! This is my problem exactly. I have no idea why I can't JUST DO IT. I know how; I know why. My highest was 211. That was December 2012. And now now nearly 9 years ago! I was down to 186 right before the pandemic and quarantine. You'd think that would be the best time in the world to work out at home; walk more; eat right...no office snacks or treats, you can sneak away from your desk more often...nope. Laziness begets laziness. "I can exercise tomorrow." Back up until I realized in December I hit 200 again. What?! So back to work I went again. Finally back under 190 in June, and back up to 196 again. That may not sound like a lot of fluctuation, but I'm frustrating the hell out of myself. I do well for awhile, and then I get onto this "love thyself" kick and "eat the cake." (My blood pressure is normal; my sugar is normal; my bad cholesterol is normal; my good cholesterol is great; and my nutritionist says I have low visceral fat.) And I'm back up and hating myself again. I really need to get the habitual exercising back into my routine. I lost it and can't seem to get it back. Has anybody actually ever tried hypnosis?

sgs2021

I have lost 60 pounds. I basically lost it between last July and this February and have been on the longest plateau ever! Or maybe I am maintaining?! My doctor would like me to lose another 10 - 20 pounds but I really seem to be stuck, and to be honest, I am pretty okay with where I am now, so I am not stressing too hard. I feel like because I am pretty hard with muscle, that it might just be muscle weight and not fat, which is supposed to healthier.
I do daily workouts of walking and stationary biking, with strength training thrown on 3 or 4 times a week. I follow low carb, low fat, low acid, low calorie but I cut myself slack here and there (not too often though, and usually balance it out).
Here are some of my favorite comparison pics ...

timhoch50

It can be done, I did it once before and now am currently hovering around 30 lost. I'm trying to get farther but need to break through the plateau. Here's a post I made in May about my journey.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10833165/one-year-of-weight-lose#latest

AnnPT77

I lost from 183 pounds (just over the line into class 1 obese at 5'5") to mid-120s back in 2015-16, at age 59-60 - while hypothyroid (properly medicated) in case anyone thinks that matters (I don't). I've maintained a healthy weight for 5+, nearly 6, years since, with some ups and downs within the healthy BMI range; now back in the mid-120s (125.8 this morning), at age 65, 66 next month.

I'd been overweight to obese for around 30 years previously, eating lots of healthy foods (too much of them, plus too many calorie-dense treats); had been vegetarian since 1974, for example - slim to fat then obese (then finally back again to slim). The last dozen years of that, I'd been very active, while still obese, even competing as an athlete (not always unsuccessfully 😉). It was easy to eat back the few hundred extra calories burned in training most days.

To lose weight, I didn't change the foods I ate, but mainly changed portion sizes, proportions of foods within my meals, and frequency of some calorie-dense things. There are probably some things I've stopped eating altogether as not worth their calories (i.e., I didn't enjoy them that much in the first place), but I can't think of any of them offhand. This was and is my general eating approach:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

I didn't significantly change my exercise routine to lose weight, either, because I was already pretty active. The last couple of years in the recent part of maintenance, I've gotten a little more active, but primarily just out of enjoying more outdoor exercise. I've estimated exercise calories carefully, and eaten them back all through loss and of course during maintenance.

The weight loss made a big improvement in my quality of life, really major. Also, the process was simpler than I'd ever dreamed (though not easy every single minute, of course). I wish I'd been smart enough to do it decades earlier, because life would've been more enjoyable in various ways. (As an aside, when I first started being routinely active in my mid-40s - soon after the full 9 yards of cancer treatment, BTW - that also made big improvements in my quality of life. Both fitness and healthy weight are good things, IMO; either is better than neither, but both is definitely best IME.)

This is about the best before & after I have. The "before" is a year or two before I started losing, but at about the same weight where I started (and I'd already been athletically active for maybe 8 years or so by then). The "after" is the summer after reaching goal weight; I'm about the same bodyweight, and don't think I look much different, other than grayer hair (and it's longer/wilder, from haircut-skipping during the pandemic).



More (and maybe less flattering) photos here:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10809632/loose-skin-50lbs-loss-at-60-4-years-maintenance#latest

AlexandraFindsHerself1971

I've lost sixty pounds over the last year and some. It's stalled because my thyroid has chosen to misbehave and is going to be removed, and I see no reason to punish myself with a really strict diet I can't keep to when my metabolism is totally in the toilet. But I'm down four sizes and in a lot less pain from my arthritis, and once I'm back on a proper dose of hormones, I'll start losing the next 60 pounds, and then I'll definitely be in less pain.

yakoaohw

I just passed 40 lbs lost on my way to my ~60 lbs target. I started in June and have been strictly monitoring my calorie intake along with some running and strength training.

Even when I finally get to my goal, my diet is here to stay. I cut out soda and replaced it with unsweet tea or water and plan my meals more than I used to. And I don't beat myself up if we go out to dinner and I overshoot my calorie limit once in a while. But I still track and get back on the wagon the next day. Really the only thing I miss on the regular is french fries so I splurge every couple of weeks and get them anyway.

First shot is in May, second is this week.

aginghealthier

@gonzoschicken Yes, it is possible. I also had a self sabotaging cycle of trying to lose 40 pounds that spanned years. It all began with my first pregnancy at age 30. By the time I reached 60 years old and I started having health issues that were weight related, I finally decided to get serious! My first eye-opening step was reading the book "The Beck Diet Solution: Train your brain to think like a thin person", by Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. To make a long story short... I determined that I had to find a way-of-eating that I could sustain for the rest of my life. I chose vegetarianism while counting calories (to keep me honest). In the last 4 years, I have lost and kept off 30#. The remaining 20 pounds to my goal is proving to be a bit of a challenge, as I yo-yo a bit. At -35# I reached a plateau and discovered intermittent fasting which gave the scale a boost in the downward direction. I've lost an additional 5# using IF and not changing anything else (diet/exercise). I will continue with this until I've reached the 50# mark. Weight loss and maintenance really is a journey... you just have to find the best route to take for you.

s1im62

Sorry no before picture, so not much point in posting an after. Taking a 'before' photo never crossed my mind when I started, but I wish now that I had taken one.

Anyway, I've lost just over 40 lbs from my heaviest weight of 213 pounds. Started a bit more than 3 years ago when I noticed my triglyceride numbers and a number of other similar values from my blood-work had gotten outside the 'good' range and understood they weren't going to get better unless I changed my habits.

I've seen close family members experience strokes, heart attacks, and similar cardio-vascular issues, and realized I had to make some changes if I don't want to spend my golden years taking drugs with lots of nasty side-effects, live my final years with a crap quality of life, die early because of my own bad eating habits, or some combination of these undesirable outcomes.

So about three years ago, I got some help from a telephone counseling guide that was available via my workplace benefits then. Among some things she suggested, was using a logging application like MFP, so I gave it a try. Starting weight was 213 pounds. The telephone counseling included follow-up calls every few months, which provided some degree of accountability. I strongly recommend an accountability partner or group if you can find one. It helps.

Purchased an inexpensive food scale from Amazon, and that helps me get more accurate in gauging my portions and calorie count. That was an excellent investment because it's another way to keep me honest!

I've been in 'maintenance mode' for about the past two years. My recall of details in some of the weight-loss journey is a bit fuzzy, but the overall description is representative of my experience.

I think I lost about 10 pounds within the first three months, aiming at a goal of losing a pound a week, I used the MFP calculator to set my calorie allowance based on that goal. That worked great at first.

Then I hit a plateau somewhere around 10-15 pound lost. It took about a month for my body to adjust I suppose, then the weight loss resumed, and kept on until around 25-30 pounds, then another plateau for a few weeks, but I hung in there, and eventually the weight loss got on track again, until I finally hit 170 after about a year of working the plan.

I've maintained between 168 and 173 since then by keeping up the habits I learned and continuing to measure my foods and exercise. Along with now fitting in clothes that I hadn't worn in years, and not seeing that spare tire around my waist when I look in the mirror, I am able to do exercises that I physically could not do before losing the weight. So keeping it off now is much easier, and I'm having fun and getting a big boost of physical fitness from the additional exercises.

All through this, I made sure that I still eat foods I like, but not as much as I used to eat. And in some cases I found good lower calorie substitutes for some of my higher calorie items. In other cases I still eat the high-calorie foods because the alternatives don't satisfy my taste buds. To compensate, I have to eat less overall, or exercise more, and thereby stay on track. In a few cases I just don't buy certain foods any longer when I go to the store. If I don't have it in the house I don't miss it so much.

That pretty much covers it. Wrote more than I thought I would!

Finally, I'll agree with any and all who say that it's not easy. And I'm sure there are some who have a tougher time than I've had. I still have occasional craving events where I overeat and blow my calorie goal for a particular day. I've decided to consider those learning opportunities. Next day it's right back on plan, and no obsessing over past failures! Everyone fails sometime, but those who eventually succeed are the ones who don't give up.

Walkywalkerson

I'm down 46lbs but I still have 30lbs to go - so I'm not posting pics till then 😁
What works for me is counting calories and IF Sunday - Monday
I usually go off plan Friday and Saturday.
I feel that this is sustainable long term for me and is realistic for maintenance.
My weight loss has been slow and I haven't always been consistent because life happens.
And that's OK 😊

spaceage_polymer

I'm 47 years old, and I had an intracranial hemorrhage (aka a brain bleed) back at the end of May. I probably should have died, were my extremely high blood pressure not detected on an unrelated visit to a surgeon. The doctors all but confirmed I was lucky to have survived it without more complications than I had. We are working under the assumption it was a combination of weight, untreated blood pressure, and general lack of exercise, probably compounded (but definitely not to be blamed) by working from home due to Covid. I hadn't stood on a scale in quite a long time. I knew I was overweight, but I didn't have any real idea how overweight until I went to the doctor and saw 118 kg (about 260 lbs) on the scale. I'm 5'9" and in my prime I weighed about 155 lbs. So this was a massive shock to me.

I'm managing my blood pressure now with medication, but I've not dieted, per se. I've paid close attention to my portion sizes, I bought a kitchen scale to know exactly what I'm eating, and I've worked hard to cut out snacking. I've also walked the dog about 3 miles every day, which takes about 50-55 minutes, depending on how fast I decide to walk up the big hill behind our house. Since May 28th, which was the first day I spend in the Neuro Critical Care Unit, to today I'm down to 222 lbs. Definitely not bragging weight, I would have been horrified 20 years ago by that number, but it's moving in the right direction. The first 20 lbs came off pretty quickly. The rest has been a bit more of a slow burn, losing maybe 1-1.5 lbs a week. Again, I'm not dieting, I'm just eating smaller portions, and making a commitment to being more active. The dog helps, because he always knows what time he gets his walk, and he won't be ignored. I'd like to lose another 20-25 lbs over the next six months or so. I know I'm never going to achieve my prime fighting weight, but holy cow did I ever let it get away from me. If I can level off around 190-200, I'm okay with that. A bit overweight is an okay target for me if the alternative is morbidly obese.

I'm not going to lie. It's a struggle, because I love food. But I love my 11 year old more than I love food. I don't have any great pictures to share with you, but do know that I understand the struggle. My best advice is to not go crazy with your plan. My doctor told me to try to lose a pound a week, and that's an extremely achievable goal. If you lost a pound last week, that's awesome. If you didn't, don't worry. Some weeks are that way. People who lost 100 lbs in three months are going to gain it back. I almost guarantee it. Watch what you eat, but don't starve yourself. Don't cut out everything from your regular diet that you like, or it will never be sustainable. Allow yourself a cheat day. Mine is Saturday. You won't erase six days of doing well with one day of not doing great. Move more than you do. Try to move more every day, but don't get frustrated when you aren't feeling it. Mostly just keep tracking what you eat and how much you move. It's surprising to see, and how much you can enhance or avoid, once you see it on paper.

You're not going to see change overnight, and that's fine. You don't gain it quickly, you don't need to lose it quickly.

Xellercin

I'm 5'7" and was 200lbs at my highest, BMI just over 31.

I lost the first 40lbs slowly just with diet, and only very light exercise, like gentle walks. I focused not on restricting, but on adding.

I added as much vegetables to my diet as humanly possible. My plate would be 70% vegetables, and I did not snack. If I was legitimately hungry and needed more calories between meals, I kept hard boiled eggs in the fridge. So I would only eat between meals if I was truly in need of calories, not just because I had a craving for something.

I then switched to vegetarian, mostly legume based meals, and lost an additional 30lbs. I introduced moderate exercise at this point, but never anything intense. I have a chronic condition and multiple injuries, so exercise will never contribute much to my calorie burn, I had to learn how to manage my weight with diet alone, which was a valuable thing to learn.

I've since gained back 20 of those pounds due to multiple meds that cause weight gain, but some of that it okay because I was too thin. My BMI was down to 19, and I was sized out of almost all stores, their smallest sizes were too big for me.

So I've mantained at least a 50lb weight loss for several years with no regain except for during a 6 month period and that was due to meds.

The key for me was figuring out why I gained the weight in the first place. I was doing my doctorate at the time and I was so stressed, working 100hr weeks, never sleeping, self medicating with wine to try and sleep, and eating crap because I had no time. Also, I would often not eat all day because I wouldn't have time, and then be so starving by the time I got home that I would binge on pizza.

I gained the weight because my life and my stress were unmanageable. Once those stresses and time factors were relieved, it was easy to build healthier habits.

So IMO, the key is to first figure out what put the weight there in the first place, and solve the issue that caused that. Otherwise, you could end up fighting a losing battle. Which is why so many people don't manage to lose weight or don't manage to keep it off.

MsWax

I'm a busy, working mom of 3, and I spent the last few years putting everyone's needs in front of my own. That led to some bad choices on my part, but peaked after a VERY stressful few months at work where I was putting in 70 hours/week every week. It took a toll on my body (the back aches were awful), I gained ~10lbs from my already inflated weight, and just felt miserable.

I decided to make a conscious change to NOT put myself last. I've since lost ~30 lbs, and would like to lose another ~10, but I'm finally back at a healthy weight for my height, and the last 10 are vanity lbs. I still have a few beers or glasses of wine on the weekends, desserts, etc, but I do it with purpose, rather than mindlessly (or with guilt).

I've had a few binges since starting this effort in earnest, but rather than spiral, I pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep on keeping on.