Seems like magic!

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mschwei1
mschwei1 Posts: 7 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I keep thinking back to all the years that I read through diet books looking for a quick fix only to try to follow a complicated restrictive plan that I failed to continue after a few days. The simple math of calories in vs. calories out = weight loss was there for the taking the whole time yet I ignored it as it just seemed too simple. I almost feel like the weight is coming off magically as controlling my calories is so much easier than anything I've tried before. I feel very much in control and not at all deprived. I've been tracking calories for 99 days and I've lost 26 pounds. I have many more to go but no doubt that I will succeed!

Replies

  • bkk40in2011
    bkk40in2011 Posts: 72
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    Congrats! I feel that way too but am in the beginning phases where I have been before with other ways of eating so i am still holding out hope. I am definitely moving more - because now I see if I exercise I can "work" to eat. Good luck on continued success.
  • nixxthirteen
    nixxthirteen Posts: 280 Member
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    I've been excitedly saying this to any family/friends who ask me about how my weight loss is going! I still enjoy most things I love as often as I love and it feels like I'm cheating the system.

    And you know what? No one believes me that it's this easy, either.
  • lemonlionheart
    lemonlionheart Posts: 580 Member
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    I know! i remember when I went from 75kg to 55kg a few years ago, people kept saying things like 'what are you doing? what's your secret?' I'm like guys, you just have to burn more than you eat, that simple. I feel like so many people still think there is some specific magic thing that will work for them in particular, like my friend once claimed that whenever her mum wanted to lose weight she just stopped eating anything after 7pm. It's just counting and maths and biology and determination you guys, and barring the few with medical conditions, it will work :)
  • ZombieEarhart
    ZombieEarhart Posts: 320 Member
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    Isn't it awesome? The whole concept of 'do math, lose weight' blew my mind. And you're right, you are going to succeed :)
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
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    Yeah honestly all these fad diets are just scams or bumf preying on those without the willpower or the drive to monitor and count their calories. I kinda fell into that category for a long time. Always looking for the way to do it without actually counting out or measuring what I ate. Nothing worked .Calorie counting did.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    I keep thinking back to all the years that I read through diet books looking for a quick fix only to try to follow a complicated restrictive plan that I failed to continue after a few days. The simple math of calories in vs. calories out = weight loss was there for the taking the whole time yet I ignored it as it just seemed too simple. I almost feel like the weight is coming off magically as controlling my calories is so much easier than anything I've tried before. I feel very much in control and not at all deprived. I've been tracking calories for 99 days and I've lost 26 pounds. I have many more to go but no doubt that I will succeed!
    Way to go!!
  • RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle
    RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle Posts: 1,349 Member
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    Yay!! I was in a museum in London a few years ago and there was a section that had floor to ceiling bookshelves of diet books. I actually saw at least ten I owned. I'm glad I only went as fat as reading most of the books !
  • laney4818
    laney4818 Posts: 73 Member
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    I totally agree! No more strange diets for me! No more Low Carb, paleo, etc.! I bought a FITBIT and it changed my life. Calories In and Calories out! I too have bought so many diet books trying to find the magic combination. It was right there and much easier all along. Like you say, barring some medical conditions, it works!

    I track my food in MFP, I track my calories burned for the day on FITBIT (they are synced together) and on most days I try to be 500 calories under my calories burned, some days I'm actully 1000 calories below my burned calories. Once in a while I eat all the way up to my calories burned and that's fine too!

    It's coming off slowly, but it's definitely coming off and I don't feel deprived!

    I don't weight myself very often because I don't like to be discouraged if it's not coming off faster of if it shows a small gain, so I'm not sure how much weight I've lost, I was at a 10 pound loss a few weeks ago when I weighed myself. I'm going by how clothes fit mostly. I've gone from a size 12 to just now getting back into some size 8s in 3 months.

    This finally feels like a lifestyle change and I think I'll use the FITBIT for maintaining in the long run.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    I know JUST what you mean. When I first hear that 3500 calories = 1 pound, it was like solving a giant mystery. Of course knowing is only 1/2 the battle, and I've sometimes faltered in DOING but that's behind me now. :)

    No pills, no diets with a name, etc. (To me diet is not a verb, its just a sum total of all that I eat.)

    PS-I also got a Fitbit and love it. Its my 'get up and move' reminder.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    Honestly that is exactly how I feel too. And I think that's why it frustrates me when other people who want/need to lose a LOT ask me how I did it and I share this "secret" and they blow me off or won't try it. I don't care that much but it's irritating.

    I made a serious effort to eat "better" and busted my *kitten* walking many miles per night and it took me 4+ years to lose 45 lb.

    With MFP I've lost 78 lb in 14 months and it's been pretty easy...just simple math.

    Now that I am closer to a healthy weight, it's harder to lose with the same frequency but I'm not having any trouble keeping off the weight I have lost. It's pretty awesome.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    So science and maths works.

    Who knew?
  • csy108
    csy108 Posts: 58 Member
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    Yeah, I've said this before but I'm legitimately embarrassed that I was overweight and obese for two solid decades because I never understood the simple relevance of caloric intake vs. output. In the past I have lost significant amounts of weight using extreme food restriction (low carb eating) but gained it all back because I truly thought if I ate low carb I'd get down to a healthy weight, but if I didn't eat low carb I'd be obese, and there was no in between and no other relevant factor. Ridiculous.

    I haven't even really eaten more "healthy" foods than normal for the past three weeks. I used to both nutritious and junk food and I still do. I've had doritos, beer, whiskey, wine, nachos, pizza, fries, hamburgers, etc.. But now, I just made sure everything fit in my calories. I've lost ~5 pounds and 2 1/2 inches off my waist. I did get frustrated when I didn't see any change on the scale for about ten days, but I realized that unlike every other weight loss attempt in the past, this time there was no real way for me to "give up" or "cheat." What was I going to do out of frustration, eat nachos and beer? I just ate that last night...

    And eventually the weight and measurement results appeared, at the exact rate I expected from my calorie deficit spreadsheet.

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