Question for people who have lost a lot of weight and kept i

Hsanders3961

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And thank goodness for Bump. This is a GREAT forum post....so glad I read it!

katerinab

Learn to love vegetables - try new ones, embrace the old ones. Just learn to love them, because you can eat an absolute crapload of them and still have room for other food.

Learn how to make your favorites healthier. Feel like having a burger? Don't go to a restaurant and get it, because most restaurant burgers I've found are at least 1000 calories. Get some lean ground meat of your choice, season it well, get a low calorie bun, and top it with whatever and you're gonna cut it WAY down. Baked instead of fried. Egg whites instead of whole eggs. Diet soda instead of regular. Etc.

Don't be afraid to go to restaurants, but do your homework before you go. Choose your meal ahead of time - check nutrition information on their website, or use a tool like MFP to estimate what your meal might be if they don't have info available.

Get a fitness buddy. A buddy who isn't afraid to kick your butt and motivate you to keep going, cheerlead for you when things are good, complain with you when things suck, etc.

And most importantly, don't let a slipup get you down. Whether you're hanging onto the wagon with the tip of your pinky finger or whether you've fallen off completely - the next meal is a new meal, the next day is a new day, and it's all an opportunity to do better. You will only fail if you give up.

miabrown66

Bump.

ImperfektAngel

I lost 60lbs so far as of May 2010
on days I workout this is what my eating looks like--->135g Protein, 135g Carbs and 60g Fats on days I do not work out this is how my eating looks, 135g Protein, 33g CArbs and 105g Fats. Days one does not workout carbs are not necessary. These are all lean proteins, good carbs (brown rice, whole grain bread,) and good fats (avacado, nuts, olive oil, cheese). It is all a lot of calculating and reading labels, takes lots to get used to but you do in time. I have a very inexpensive scale I got at Target to weigh my food, couple of measuring cups, measuring spoons. I workout at least 4 times a week for an hour but I workout hard! My goal is to keep improving in distance! I run on a treadmill and do the elliptical. I record my distance each time and try and beat it at my next workout! Lots of dedication and discipline is needed, it's not easy! Good Luck to anyone trying to lose weight

quilter1951

get a bike and ride every day you can..i started Tops ( take lbs off sensebly) may 2010 and lost 25lbs in 6 months,but starting in july i rode everyday because our town has a walking,bike trail..it made all the difference, i worked up to 2 hrs aday..stoped riding last two months and not going to Tops and have gained 7 lbs back...can't wait to get back home to my tops group, (snowbird)...
So going to try this till i'm back home!!! and getback on my bike noww....you can find Tops group online by googleing Tops weightloss and then your zipcode..if there's a goodactive group inyour town it can work well....

quilter1951

forgott to say i'm 60 yrs old ,and on a good day now i've done45 miles!!so i challenge you younges to try 15 miles a day

jbrown01

Change how you think about food. It's fuel. It's not a way to comfort sadness, or celebrate happiness. It's not a substitute for something else missing in your life. Part of the problem is that in this culture, with things like Thanksgiving, birthday cakes, dinner parties, etc. we associate food with other things. Eating a ton at Thanksgiving is fine if you're a pilgrim and you walked 5 miles to the party and you eat like that once a year. You have to get pleasure out of other things in life, not food. Certainly, to lose weight, and occasionally to keep it off, you have to suffer. No one likes to admit that or talk about it, in fact, people spend a lot of time obsessing about how to avoid it. As a culture, we're pretty much soft. You'll suffer, accept it, move on. It's helpful if you have a spiritual life that gives that suffering meaning. Develop your inner masochist a little bit.

ALW65

I've lost 75lbs and kept it off for almost 5 years now. I lost the weight by eating 6 smaller meals a day and using the mantra "eat to live don't live to eat." I'd keep reminding myself during moments of temptation that the first few bites of anything always taste the best so only have a couple bites and stop. It worked for me. Then, when I started seeing results it motivated me to keep going.

My best advice is not to beat yourself up. I was always on that constant roller-coaster ride of eating perfectly for two days and then having a piece of cake and deciding "well, that's it! I've ruined my diet. I'll try again next Monday." And until Monday I'd eat everything in sight. Then, I'd start the process over again. I was very erratic.

Don't do that! Just take it one day at a time. Also, I would weigh myself daily and then record any weight loss on a giant calendar in my room. I'd ignore any weight gains. So, lets say on Monday I weighed 233.6, Tuesday 232.8, Wednesday 233.4, Thursday 231.9, Friday 232.4. I'd show it as Tuesday 232.8 (-.8), then I'd skip Wednesday and post Thursday 231.9 (-.9), and skip Friday. That way it always looked like a loss to me. I'd no longer beat myself up or cry over gain days. I'd just ignore them and get super excited when I'd lose more than my personal best. That was a big turning point for me. That's when I really started to lose the weight.

Also, I didn't exercise that much. I know it sounds counter-intuitive. But I stopped thinking "I need to exercise today" constantly and just relaxed. Someone once told me that unless you are training like an Olympic athlete, you aren't going to burn enough calories to make a big difference in your weight. I fully believe that now. Exercise is great for helping you tone up and it certainly has it's health benefits but for weight loss I see it as being somewhat irrelevant (making a very slight difference at best...and certainly not worth beating yourself up over if you miss a workout). I'm sure it's very controversial to say that on here but I'm just trying to let you know what helped me lose 70lbs...it wasn't exercise. Instead, I focused more of my efforts on trying to change my diet. Once I got down to a healthy weight I started adding exercise back in to my routine but still only 20 minutes a day.

I still have a little ways to go. I want to get down to 135lbs and I'm trying to tone up hard core for a trip to Vegas in June. But I've been holding steady at between 150-165 since 2006. It's great knowing you can go in to any clothing store and they'll have your size. It's great knowing that you can go to amusement parks or airplanes and not have to worry about the seat belt not fitting. It's great knowing you can stand on a chair to change a light bulb without the fear that you're going to break through the chair. It's great eating in public without feeling like someone is judging you. But I think my favorite thing of all is going to sleep at night without fear that I'm going to stop breathing because my body is so heavy. I had horrible sleep apnea before.

I love this line: " I'd keep reminding myself during moments of temptation that the first few bites of anything always taste the best so only have a couple bites and stop. " You are so right about that, and I need to try to adopt that strategy...thanks for framing it in such a nice way...let me put away those York Peppermint Patty Pieces right now!!!

hpsnickers1

I've lost 75lbs and kept it off for almost 5 years now. I lost the weight by eating 6 smaller meals a day and using the mantra "eat to live don't live to eat." I'd keep reminding myself during moments of temptation that the first few bites of anything always taste the best so only have a couple bites and stop. It worked for me. Then, when I started seeing results it motivated me to keep going.

My best advice is not to beat yourself up. I was always on that constant roller-coaster ride of eating perfectly for two days and then having a piece of cake and deciding "well, that's it! I've ruined my diet. I'll try again next Monday." And until Monday I'd eat everything in sight. Then, I'd start the process over again. I was very erratic.

Don't do that! Just take it one day at a time. Also, I would weigh myself daily and then record any weight loss on a giant calendar in my room. I'd ignore any weight gains. So, lets say on Monday I weighed 233.6, Tuesday 232.8, Wednesday 233.4, Thursday 231.9, Friday 232.4. I'd show it as Tuesday 232.8 (-.8), then I'd skip Wednesday and post Thursday 231.9 (-.9), and skip Friday. That way it always looked like a loss to me. I'd no longer beat myself up or cry over gain days. I'd just ignore them and get super excited when I'd lose more than my personal best. That was a big turning point for me. That's when I really started to lose the weight.

Also, I didn't exercise that much. I know it sounds counter-intuitive. But I stopped thinking "I need to exercise today" constantly and just relaxed. Someone once told me that unless you are training like an Olympic athlete, you aren't going to burn enough calories to make a big difference in your weight. I fully believe that now. Exercise is great for helping you tone up and it certainly has it's health benefits but for weight loss I see it as being somewhat irrelevant (making a very slight difference at best...and certainly not worth beating yourself up over if you miss a workout). I'm sure it's very controversial to say that on here but I'm just trying to let you know what helped me lose 70lbs...it wasn't exercise. Instead, I focused more of my efforts on trying to change my diet. Once I got down to a healthy weight I started adding exercise back in to my routine but still only 20 minutes a day.

I still have a little ways to go. I want to get down to 135lbs and I'm trying to tone up hard core for a trip to Vegas in June. But I've been holding steady at between 150-165 since 2006. It's great knowing you can go in to any clothing store and they'll have your size. It's great knowing that you can go to amusement parks or airplanes and not have to worry about the seat belt not fitting. It's great knowing you can stand on a chair to change a light bulb without the fear that you're going to break through the chair. It's great eating in public without feeling like someone is judging you. But I think my favorite thing of all is going to sleep at night without fear that I'm going to stop breathing because my body is so heavy. I had horrible sleep apnea before.

I will say exercise is very, very important when dieting. When you diet you lose muscle mass along with fat mass. We diet to shed fat, not muscle. Heavy weight lifting builds muscle which increases your metabolism and you burns more fat during rest and normal daily activity. Cardio is good for your cardiovascular health. So if you are interested in shedding fat not muscle then YES EXERCISE - AS IN WEIGHT LIFTING. And there is no such thing as 'toning' through cardio or strength training. Our muscles do not get 'tighter' or 'harder'. They get smaller (lean muscle mass loss) when just dieting and doing cardio and they get bigger when weight lifting (you will not bulk up. It's hard enough for men to build muscle). Strength training while dieting will help combat that muscle loss. There is such a thing as "skinnyfat".

You will burn enough calories to make a difference. I'm 5'2" and 123lbs and I burn a good 300 calories during a 40 minute cardio/strength DVD. It only takes a 500 calorie daily deficiency to lose a pound a week. The bigger you are the more you will burn.

Edit: In fact read the link in my post: "And email response that might help some..." It's from a trainer and she discuss 2 different clients (one doing just cardio and one doing cardio/weight lifting). We all have 6-packs. We just need to burn off the layer of fat covering them. And not exercising or doing just cardio won't do that.

mauck1975

bump:)

kimber607

for me...count EVERY calorie..work out and stay accountable
get on the damn scale for good or bad every 1-2 weeks
it's a must!!!!

Janworkingitout

I'm almost to my goal so here are my tips:

1. Portion control is key, eat whatever you want but be aware of how much you're eating.
2. Limit fast food, as said above you can eat whatever you want, however, most fast food is loading w/sodium, slows weigt loss.
3. It really is important to drink lots of water.
4. Unlike a previous poster I believe, exercise is crucial for weight loss. I've tried without exercising and it doesn't work!
5. Big one here: Don't go on a diet change your lifestyle.

Good luck!

QueenofCups

I am also not at goal yet, and have been struggling with those last 10 lbs, but I have currently lost 70 over the last 2 years.

My advice is:

*Have fun! Dance, run around, skip, find something that makes you sweat and revs up your heart that also makes you smile.
*Eat food you enjoy and try new foods. Healthy is best, but allow for "treats" and indulgences.
*1 day a week of "free" calories (like, don't count ANYTHING, just try not to eat an entire cake. ) ~Don't think I haven't done it!~
*Give yourself the permission to be happy right this moment. No, "I am not where I want to be" or "I should be doing this, that or the other". Be happy where you are right now, and be glad you are you. ~This is my new journey~
*Realize that if you are unhappy with how you look, you got there by behaviors and mentality that are not gone. Its an inside job. Nothing will permanently change on the outside unless you change what cause it on the inside.
*Change things up a bit. I have kids, so sometimes my workouts consist of playing "Tigger" for 30 minutes (bouncing up and down the hallway). Or sometimes we play Horsey (kids ride on my back), or we chase each other and hide and scream and giggle. Sometimes we go for a walk, sometimes we climb up and down and up and down and up and down the stairs.
Like I mentioned before, you would be amazed how many calories you burn by just enjoying life and being in the moment.

I have spent most of my 2 years working out to DVDs or doing the treadmill. I am changing it up just recently to implement my above points more often,and I am noticing a change for the first time in a while. I have been "stuck" for a while and I realized I was looking at this "diet and weight loss" thing as something totally wrong.

So good luck! And LOVE you for YOU!!

hpsnickers1

I'm almost to my goal so here are my tips:

1. Portion control is key, eat whatever you want but be aware of how much you're eating.
2. Limit fast food, as said above you can eat whatever you want, however, most fast food is loading w/sodium, slows weigt loss.
3. It really is important to drink lots of water.
4. Unlike a previous poster I believe, exercise is crucial for weight loss. I've tried without exercising and it doesn't work!
5. Big one here: Don't go on a diet change your lifestyle.

Good luck!

I like this one. Simple and to the point. I treat the word "Diet" as a four letter word. You can lose weight without exercising but who wants to be skinny and flabby? And it is harder. I would rather cut out 250 calories through food and burn 250 calories through exercise than just cut out 500 calories of food. We need food. It's our fuel.

Sara1978

I've maintained at right around my goal for about six months now.

Every single day, I'm inundated with all the ways that dropping these 30 pounds have changed my life. I found the confidence to start my own business. I'm not depressed anymore, and my social anxiety disorder is under much better control than it has ever been-- without being on any meds! I don't hurt when I exercise. I can hike twelve miles without feeling like I'm going to die at the end of it. I've found the courage to exercise around other people (which used to be a huge issue for me), and now I have joined yoga and go to the gym regularly. I can wear cute clothes. I can swim at the beach without feeling embarrassed. I don't cringe when people post photos of me on Facebook. I feel beautiful for the first time in my life.

I appreciate all those things much too much to let myself go back to where I was before, and every day I stop and thank myself and whatever higher power may be for giving me the chance to become the person that I'm becoming.

I've been working hard to cultivate a feeling of awareness and gratitude within myself for everything and everyone around me. Appreciating my own body and what it can do is a part of that-- and it makes me want to protect it by continuing to live a healthy lifestyle.

Tree72

Over the past year and a half I've lost almost 60 pounds. I still have another 30 to 40 to go. It's definitely different for everyone, but here are some things that have worked for me:

Getting healthier is a journey, not a destination. And you can only start from where you are. So I try to make choices that are sustainable for me. I didn't give up all my bad habits at once. So, make a small change and stick with it. Next week, try another small change.

For me, exercise is key. I started working out before I changed any of my eating habits. It's not so much about the calorie burn as about the mental attitude. Even if I never lost another pound I need to work out several times a week. It gives me a more positive outlook on life and makes me feel capable and more confident in myself.

Remember that you're in this for you for the rest of your life. Making one bad decision does not mean that you're a failure or that you will make other bad decisions. Learn from any mistakes you make and keep moving forward.

Have someone you can talk with on a regular basis. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose more of the battle will be mental than physical. Realize that mental roadblocks may happen but that you can get past them. Don't beat yourself up for how you feel. Try to think about your feelings and figure out where they are coming from or what is causing them.

Hopefully these will give you more ideas on what might work for you. Good luck in your journey.

zarala233

Bump!

erikazj

First off, let me just say these are my very personal feelings on my own journey and what has worked for me. It is less about the calorie/exercise side of things (although yes, that is all important and you have to work out what works for you), but more about the attitude I have found helpful in my long term journey. I know everyone won't agree, and I don't expect you to, but hopefully you can understand where I'm coming from!! :happy:


I think for me, particularly with the losing side of it, is that you have to be realistic, particularly when it comes to expectations on how long it will take and what you can achieve. You are not going to be able to stick perfectly to your new lifestyle every single minute of every day for however long it takes you to lose the weight. There WILL be family occasions which are focused around food whether you like it or not, there will be the odd work lunch, kid's birthday cake etc. Your life doesn't have to stop because you are eating better. It is not the occasional event or splurge that causes long term weight gain, it is the daily grind. So, if most of the time you are as good as you can be, measure your portions etc, then the odd deviation from the new lifestyle will not derail the downward trend of the scale. Sure, if we indulge in these things too often then it can easily add up and yes, you shouldn't use it as an excuse (and yes, try and make the best decisions you can if faced with a budget blower of a meal), but it shouldn't be the be all and end all. In moderation there is nothing wrong with it. After all, life is more than just what we eat - it's about our friends and family and the special times we have with them. I really strongly believe that to maintain the loss over life, we have to practice during the initial loss period and be as normal as we can - have a 'good' attitude to eating well rather than an obsessive one, because nearly always inevitably an obsession will burn out.

Ok, the strategy above might mean that the weight loss takes a little longer than if you eat 1200 calories every day for 6 months- but as so many people say, the weight didn't go on overnight, so we can't expect it to just fall off. Daily/weekly fluctuations on the scale can throw a lot of people off, but I truly believe that you are looking for a long term downward trend rather than an X number of pounds each week. I'm talking over months! If you take things slow and steady rather than crash dieting it is far easier to maintain long term. I think it's also important to accept that it isn't always going to go the way you want. There are going to be times when you feel completely unmotivated, frustrated with having to change your habits - but again, I think that this is part of life, it is NORMAL and again we should just try and take it in our stride. Accept no loss, or a gain for that week and know that eventually it will all come out in the wash if most of the time we are doing what is right for our bodies.

I hope that this helps some of you realise that all the struggles are normal, we all go through them, but it is possible to lose weight without being completely obsessive. Yeah, it may take a little longer, but if you are happier in your own self rather than stressed to the max, I think there is something to be said for that!!

Erika

FutureMrsWanland

Bump