Lost 100 lbs, how'd you do it?
lizcc13
Posts: 12 Member
I would love to know your weight loss tips and advise if you've lost 100 labs or more.
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Replies
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Honestly? A lot of damned hard work! LOL Don't let anyone tell you it was EASY for them! When you've got a lot of weight to lose it's not just about how much you move your body and cutting back on portions ('cause that's really what it takes on the outside), you have to be willing to go DEEP within yourself to figure out WHY you gained the weight in the first place. Work on what triggers you to overeat and figure out WHY you really want to do this now. It requires a ton of dedication, commitment and focus. On the outside, start with baby steps. Don't let it all overwhelm you, start changing 1 - 2 unhealthy habits at a time and work from there.
That being said, it wasn't easy for me and I still have a few more pounds to go but I wouldn't change it for the world! My quality of life is SO much better!
Feel free to friend me!0 -
Eat at a calorie deficit and keep doing it.
There's honestly no secret at all.0 -
Get a routine. Nothing is accomplished without a routine. Have a routine for eating a calorie-healthy meals. Have a routine for exercise (even a walk around the block, no joke!), have a routine to avoid things that make you over eat. For example,if you tend to snack on oreos while relaxing in front of the TV. Buy some baby carrots (something low calorie) instead. Get in a routine of eating lower calorie snacks while watching TV.
Make your routine a priority. I WILL eat healthy meals, I WILL make time for my walk (even if it's "only" 10 minutes. It still counts!), I will have low calorie snacks on hand! I WILL chart my calories. I WILL get sleep. Etc...
Let's say you blow it. You eat crappy and skip the walk.
Get up the next day and follow your routine again.0 -
Honestly? A lot of damned hard work! LOL Don't let anyone tell you it was EASY for them! When you've got a lot of weight to lose it's not just about how much you move your body and cutting back on portions ('cause that's really what it takes on the outside), you have to be willing to go DEEP within yourself to figure out WHY you gained the weight in the first place. Work on what triggers you to overeat and figure out WHY you really want to do this now. It requires a ton of dedication, commitment and focus. On the outside, start with baby steps. Don't let it all overwhelm you, start changing 1 - 2 unhealthy habits at a time and work from there.
That being said, it wasn't easy for me and I still have a few more pounds to go but I wouldn't change it for the world! My quality of life is SO much better!
Feel free to friend me!
I've lost 121 lb total from my heaviest and to be totally honest, I don't feel like I really had to dig deep within myself or anything. The first 45 lb came off slowly over a period of about 4 years...because I didn't understand about calories. I just moved more and cut back on restaurant meals and Starbucks. It worked, but slowly!
The rest I've lost on MFP and it has not been difficult for me. I've followed the MFP set guidelines for everything and been patiently losing between 0.5 and 2 lb each week for the past 13 months. Thus, I am now at 186 lb from my highest weight of 307. I am still losing, of course.
Please understand I am not trivializing my own progress or anyone else's but I do think it is different for everyone and for some it's not quite as much of a hardcore, difficult thing to do. For me it has been more about math and biology - and sticking to it over time.
ETA: TOTALLY agree with the post above about routines. That helps so much, especially having go-to healthy and/or light meals to avoid difficulties with your schedule and eliminate the guesswork or temptation to grab fast food.0 -
What works/ed for me:
1. Weigh and measure my food
- basic portion control
2. Logging in a food diary
- keeping at a deficit (-500 at first, this year's -250)
Edit: lrn2apostrophecorrectly0 -
Start, then don't stop. That's my biggest tip. The rest is details.
It helped me to:
1. Break my big goal into many small goals.
2. Exercise. It changed my relationship with my body in a powerful way.
3. Plan. I pre-log nearly every day.
4. Make no changes I was not willing to stick with forever. No weird macronutrient restriction or insane exercise schedule. Just a moderate deficit. By the time I got hial weight, all I had to do is increase calories slightly.
133ish lost. Working on two years of maintenance.
Check out my blog - link in profile - for a lot more tips and pics
Good luck!!0 -
I've only lost 90, and still have 70 more to go, but my advice is just don't stop.
Even though I had a really unhealthy relationship with food, for me it was just a bunch of bad habits I needed to break. I don't feel like I've had to deal with a lot of emotional stuff, but I think everyone is different in that regard. I would say just replace your bad habits with good- for me it is all about planning. Plan and log what you're going to eat the day before and then stick with it. Don't panic if you need to swap a meal, just go for something similar. I used to go most of the day without eating and then gorge at night because I was starved- breaking that habit was half the battle for me.
So figure out what your bad habits are, and then work on them. You don't need to cut out any food if you don't want to- I still eat pizza, and donuts and ice cream, but I plan my day to make sure they'll fit!
Good luck, you can do this!
ETA: I just wanted to second what Shannon said about exercise- finding exercise that I enjoy and want to work on has made me think about my body in much healthier ways, both in terms of wanting to fuel it well and in terms of feeling confident in my own skin.0 -
Consistency is key! But to be more specific, I've lost 122 pounds so far by sticking to the following:
- 5 meals a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner)
- I ate foods that were high in protein and low in fat
- beef jerky and special k protein bars were the two i used the most for my morning and afternoon snacks
- I very rarely ate red meat (besides beef jerky). Instead I eat a lot of fish and extra lean ground turkey.
- On a day that I know i'm going to eat unhealthy, I try to get a bigger workout in to help balance it out.
- I obsessively use myfitnesspal.com (on my computer and phone) to help me manage my calories, fat, and carbs
- Avoid high carb foods like french fries, white rice, white pasta, and white potatoes.
- I portion my food when I cook it. This keeps me from over-cooking and thus, over-eating.
- No skipping meals. It just makes you over eat at your next meal.
- Drink 8-12 cups of water per day.
- Find something to motivate you (in my case it was playing with the kids) and constantly remind yourself of that.
It's been 1 year to the day for me and I've had weeks when i've lost 5lbs and weeks when i've lost 0lbs. Just remind yourself that a mistake today doesn't mean a failure tomorrow. Just try to avoid another mistake tomorrow!!
Hope this helps.......0 -
At my heaviest I was 275, my Dad died and I realized how unhappy I was in general. I made some big changes, started looking at what I was eating and joined a gym. I hated the gym but it helped tremendously. In 2 years, I lost down to 170lbs. I've gained a little this past year because I let those little things slip back in (like sweet tea!). It's a constant battle but I will continue. Honestly the best thing I did was cut out fast food, I am now known as the Left-Over Queen. I bring things from home to snack on and for lunch. Cut out a lot of extra calories plus the temptations.0
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I have lost 91 lbs and I have to say sometimes it is hard. Sometimes I just don't feel like watching what I eat, but even when I don't feel like it, I do it because I know that I feel so much healthier and have more energy. There are no big secrets though. It's a matter of eating less and moving more for me. It does take a while. Since making a SERIOUS effort, it has taken almost a year and a half to lose what I have lost. Good luck to you. Feel free to add me if you want.0
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Consistency is key! But to be more specific, I've lost 122 pounds so far by sticking to the following:
- 5 meals a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner)
- I ate foods that were high in protein and low in fat
- beef jerky and special k protein bars were the two i used the most for my morning and afternoon snacks
- I very rarely ate red meat (besides beef jerky). Instead I eat a lot of fish and extra lean ground turkey.
- On a day that I know i'm going to eat unhealthy, I try to get a bigger workout in to help balance it out.
- I obsessively use myfitnesspal.com (on my computer and phone) to help me manage my calories, fat, and carbs
- Avoid high carb foods like french fries, white rice, white pasta, and white potatoes.
- I portion my food when I cook it. This keeps me from over-cooking and thus, over-eating.
- No skipping meals. It just makes you over eat at your next meal.
- Drink 8-12 cups of water per day.
- Find something to motivate you (in my case it was playing with the kids) and constantly remind yourself of that.
It's been 1 year to the day for me and I've had weeks when i've lost 5lbs and weeks when i've lost 0lbs. Just remind yourself that a mistake today doesn't mean a failure tomorrow. Just try to avoid another mistake tomorrow!!
Hope this helps.......
This is what has been working for me, although I am nowhere near 100 lbs lost!0 -
Great information. saving for later
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Controlling WHAT I eat... HOW FREQUENTLY I eat and HOW MUCH I eat. I had 70% of my stomach surgically removed to help me manage the "HOW MUCH" but the WHAT and the HOW OFTEN will always be a daily battle... if I can't manage and control all three then I don't lose.
As far as exercise goes.. I vowed a long time ago never to look at exercise as a weight loss tool again. My exercise and fitness goals are completely independent of my weight loss goals. This keeps me going with exercise even when the scale is not moving or even if I'm eating like crap. I exercise for my health and well being and so that I can build more stamina for long distance bike rides or hikes so that I can enjoy being active no matter WHAT weight I am.0 -
I agree with almost everything mentioned here. When I tell people that I'm not doing anything complicated, they always respond that if it would be simple more people would be successful at it. The answer is that it's simple but not easy. The rules are simple but you definitely need the commitment to stick with them.
Here are my rules:
Keep it simple. No complicated meal plans.
Have good food handy for different situations (hungry between meals, in the mood of something sweet, etc.).
Don't eat anything you don't like.
Don't cut out anything you do like.
When you have a bad meal, day, couple of day, week, get right back on. Don't wait until "tomorrow".
Start slowly and don't make any drastic changes.
Take all advice (even from experts) with a grain of salt. Every person reacts differently to specific situations.
LOG ALL YOUR FOOD
I find that logging exercise encourages you to do more of it. I never logged walking until last week. I was very surprised to see how many calories it burns and started walking much more.0 -
I agree with many of the posts. I have juggled with weight issues for many years and this time I feel something has just clicked. I am not getting any younger and couldn't put off until tomorrow to make this lifestyle change. That is just it - it's a lifestyle change. Yes I still have my sweets but I have become accountable for everything that crosses my lips. Record every bite, lick and taste
Don't kick yourself for having a bad day or week. As long as you continue to push forward you can make the changes necessary! You can do this.0 -
Down 99 lbs. 34 more to go. Went to see George Strait in April 2014. Quite the milestone for me.
Everything that has been said is mostly true. The biggest thing you have to due is (to quote Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke) is "get your mind right". Without the proper attitude and finally deciding to do it for yourself , It wont happen.
If you want all the nitty gritty details...here's my blog. You can do it! If I can, anybody can. But its not a temporary fix, its a lifestyle change. Accept that and you will be successful.
Good Luck!!!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/joecmoore10 -
Lost of inspiration on this thread! Thanks! Commenting so that I can return and check more out later!0
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I agree with everyone. My personal ways (in addition to what others have said) is distraction and making sure I never get really hungry. I want to eat and make poor food choices when I'm bored, stressed, or hungry. So for the first two I do distraction. Exercise is the best distraction, when I'm bored or stressed, as it burns calories in addition to helping me avoid taking them in. It also helps with the boredom or stress. Quick computer games can help too, if I'm stuck somewhere. Or reading. I just try to distract myself from thinking about food, especially when I just ate, and the interest in eating, when I'm really not hungry, usually just goes away after 10-20 minutes.
For when I get really hungry, I just eat. I make sure that I always have something to eat on me. A healthy granola bar or some nuts, that sort of thing. If I'm going by the grocery on the way home from work, I'll eat something just before I leave work. That way, when in 15-20 minutes when I'm at the store, I'm not starving for dinner and I can make rational choices. If I can't do that, then my rule for cafeterias, stores, or restaurants is that I get only what I was planning to get and absolutely no more, no matter what reason I can come up with while there. So I can go into my work cafeteria when really hungry and just get soup, because soup is the only thing I'm allowed to get right then. I ignore anything else I might think to buy "just in case, for later". I have other food at my desk or in my purse for just in case or later, so I make myself get only what I had planned. Soon it became a habit.0 -
No miracles I just ate less and moved some more. Consistency and accuracy and personally it was a lot easier than I expected.0
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Wow thanks to all who replied and will reply. You are truly an inspiration.
:flowerforyou:0 -
I have lost 150 pounds about 100 of that was without the help of mfp .. joined it and then lost the 50 you see on my ticker thing
routine was a big thing making it a new routine
kept a food journal ... still keep one where i write everything i eat down in a journal and what exercise I do along with how I am feeling
allowing for big splurge times like birthdays, holidays
drinking a *kitten* load of water
it has not been easy at all I cried a lot ...I still cry over it lol have really bad "i cant do this anymore when will this end" days and lots of set backs but as long as you always keep trying you cannot really fail0 -
I lost 133 lbs once but gained some, honestly it's will power, learning what you want most over what you want in a moment. I'm back to it and will get the little I gained off. You'll gain a little after you get close to your goal because you'll get comfortable but the trick is, catching it before it gets out of hand.0
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Great thread! Many helpful tips, thanks!!0
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On weeks when I didn't have a good loss or I only lost .2 or went up a little, it helped to look at the weight loss chart. Life sometimes gets in the way and you don't lose 2 lbs every week, but if you're losing and the squiggly line is going down, it's still a move in the right direction. As long as my weight was decreasing, I wasn't worrried!0
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