How long did it take you to reach your goal??!

jlneibauer

I'm a 5'11 female and right now I'd say I'm about 180-182lbs. I'd like to get down to 160lbs. I'm combining Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and 45 mins of cardio on a recumbent bike. I'm doing both workouts 5 days a week. I was wondering how long it took you to reach your goal? I understand it takes longer if you don't diet as well, so I'm on a very natural high protein diet. No artificial sweeteners and no bread!! So I just want a bit of a time frame
p.s. I'm not so much worried about the numbers on the scale. I'm more focused on the LOOK I'm going for. Which is more toned and lean. I'm not yet comfortable in a bikini (yuck to the max) and I know when I feel 100% comfortable in one, I'll have reached my goal!!

SezxyStef

It's hard to say with the time...everyone is different.

I have yet to reach my goals after 1 year...6months on MFP but I am the closest I have ever been.

Now if you aren't that worried about the scale and more about how you look take this suggestion.

Strength train. Eat at a deficet with enough protien (probably 130g a day*just a guess based on my own), fat is lost through a reasonable calorie deficet which results in the muscles being more visable but....if you lose muscle while you lose weight...there is less "tone" to see.

Cardio will get you extra calories but it wont help you get that look you want.

30DS will only get you so far as well. I did it 2x and did lose 13 inches but to be frank it's jus not enough to help me maintain my LBM.

GauchoMark

even if you are exercising and eating a lot of protein, if you don't keep your calories under control you won't make any progress. You can still go over even if you completely cut carbs (fat has a lot of calories and many high protein food have a pretty good amount of fat too).

Point is, without setting a caloric deficit goal, your results are not going to be predictable at all, so the question you are asking is relatively arbitrary. I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong or anything - do whatever works - but we can't really tell you how long it will take!

My advice - just stick to something that you like (the simpler the better) and make adjustments as needed as you follow your results.

Holly_Roman_Empire

Of course, anyone will tell you that everyone loses weight at different rates. I lost 15 pounds in 4 months of diligently logging my foods. I didn't get a ton of exercise, but I did what I could in the time that I had. As far as you saying it takes longer if you don't diet as well--well, that's pretty much all there is to losing weight. You exercise to achieve a certain look that you want, but you restrict calories to lose weight.

If you're not worried so much about numbers on a scale, I would start incorporating a strength training regimen. That will do more for your body composition than vast amounts of cardio. (Not that cardio isn't good, but I find myself only doing it to increase my calorie deficit.)

bcattoes

My original goal was to get back in a specific pair of jeans. It took me about 4.5 months to do it, during which I lost about 27 lbs.

I made few diet changes during that time, I just stopped being lazy and started exercising (Zumba, at first) regularly.

Summer_Lunatic

I'll let you know when I get there. :drinker:

Phrick

the rest of my life, since my goal is to be healthy not just a specific weight.

jlneibauer

even if you are exercising and eating a lot of protein, if you don't keep your calories under control you won't make any progress. You can still go over even if you completely cut carbs (fat has a lot of calories and many high protein food have a pretty good amount of fat too).

Point is, without setting a caloric deficit goal, your results are not going to be predictable at all, so the question you are asking is relatively arbitrary. I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong or anything - do whatever works - but we can't really tell you how long it will take!

My advice - just stick to something that you like (the simpler the better) and make adjustments as needed as you follow your results.

I'm trying to stick to 1200-1400 calories It said 1200 calories on MFP but I'm afraid that my body will go into starvation mode or something (since I've done low calorie diets I know it can be hard to loose weight if your body is holding onto all calories you eat) So I figured I'd eat a little more if my body is telling me I'm hungry.

jlneibauer

Thank you all for your advice and support!!

Holly_Roman_Empire

even if you are exercising and eating a lot of protein, if you don't keep your calories under control you won't make any progress. You can still go over even if you completely cut carbs (fat has a lot of calories and many high protein food have a pretty good amount of fat too).

Point is, without setting a caloric deficit goal, your results are not going to be predictable at all, so the question you are asking is relatively arbitrary. I'm not saying what you are doing is wrong or anything - do whatever works - but we can't really tell you how long it will take!

My advice - just stick to something that you like (the simpler the better) and make adjustments as needed as you follow your results.

I'm trying to stick to 1200-1400 calories It said 1200 calories on MFP but I'm afraid that my body will go into starvation mode or something (since I've done low calorie diets I know it can be hard to loose weight if your body is holding onto all calories you eat) So I figured I'd eat a little more if my body is telling me I'm hungry.

Your body won't go into starvation mode, but it is likely you could lose weight eating more than 1200 calories, so why would you want to eat that little? Good luck to you! :flowerforyou:

Jkn921

Less than a year, I started in February at 161lbs I'm down to 142lbs although I messed up a bit in September from comfort-eating in stressful times. I'm back down and am the healthiest and fittest I've been. I'm in the range of my last pounds (hopefully)

Francl27

Still not there! At this rate, I'm guessing 1.5-2 years, lol.

bcattoes

Of course, anyone will tell you that everyone loses weight at different rates. I lost 15 pounds in 4 months of diligently logging my foods. I didn't get a ton of exercise, but I did what I could in the time that I had. As far as you saying it takes longer if you don't diet as well--well, that's pretty much all there is to losing weight. You exercise to achieve a certain look that you want, but you restrict calories to lose weight.

You achieve weight loss by having a calorie deficit. That deficit can be achieved by consuming less calories OR by burning more calories.

Exercise is not just about a "look". Exercise is vital to long term health and may be all that is needed to create enough deficit for weight loss (depending on just how much of surplus one has been eating).

Holly_Roman_Empire

Of course, anyone will tell you that everyone loses weight at different rates. I lost 15 pounds in 4 months of diligently logging my foods. I didn't get a ton of exercise, but I did what I could in the time that I had. As far as you saying it takes longer if you don't diet as well--well, that's pretty much all there is to losing weight. You exercise to achieve a certain look that you want, but you restrict calories to lose weight.

You achieve weight loss by having a calorie deficit. That deficit can be achieved by consuming less calories OR by burning more calories.

Exercise is not just about a "look". Exercise is vital to long term health and may be all that is needed to create enough deficit for weight loss (depending on just how much of surplus one has been eating).

My point is that you can burn 2000 calories doing hours of cardio, but it's not going to help you if you aren't in a calorie deficit. I know people here that lose weight not exercising at all, and you don't have to. Yes, people exercise to increase their calorie deficit, but people mainly exercise to achieve a certain body composition once they're at goal weight. No one wants to lose weight and still be flabby.

ETA: My main point to the OP was that while she said it's hard to lose weight without a proper diet, I wanted to point out that that's the most important thing to get in line. Not sure how what I said was wrong.

bcattoes

Of course, anyone will tell you that everyone loses weight at different rates. I lost 15 pounds in 4 months of diligently logging my foods. I didn't get a ton of exercise, but I did what I could in the time that I had. As far as you saying it takes longer if you don't diet as well--well, that's pretty much all there is to losing weight. You exercise to achieve a certain look that you want, but you restrict calories to lose weight.

You achieve weight loss by having a calorie deficit. That deficit can be achieved by consuming less calories OR by burning more calories.

Exercise is not just about a "look". Exercise is vital to long term health and may be all that is needed to create enough deficit for weight loss (depending on just how much of surplus one has been eating).

My point is that you can burn 2000 calories doing hours of cardio, but it's not going to help you if you aren't in a calorie deficit. I know people here that lose weight not exercising at all, and you don't have to. Yes, people exercise to increase their calorie deficit, but people mainly exercise to achieve a certain body composition once they're at goal weight. No one wants to lose weight and still be flabby.

ETA: My main point to the OP was that while she said it's hard to lose weight without a proper diet, I wanted to point out that that's the most important thing to get in line. Not sure how what I said was wrong.

Like most generalizations, this sentence - "You exercise to achieve a certain look that you want, but you restrict calories to lose weight" - is wrong for many people.

Not everyone has to lower calories at all to lose weight. Those that experience a slow weight increase may only be overeating by 100 or so calories per week. Exercise alone can be enough to lose weight without any dietary changes.

And while some may exercise only for a "look", a lot of people exercise for health or weight control. Suggesting exercise is only for looks is just silly.