I HIT MY GOAL! Lessons learned...

lizard9800

I am happy to report that in the 9-10 months that I have been using MFP I have lost 43 lbs and 15 inches! I hit my goal weight (actually surpassed it by 1 lb) yesterday. Trust me, this site works wonders!
Unfortunately I don't have any good before pictures, but my profile picture shows pants that fit me when I started. I went from a size 14 to a size 8.:drinker:

My general food menu was oatmeal with ground flaxseed and blueberries for breakfast, hardboiled egg or fruit for snack, frozen lunch (time constraint), more fruit for snack, small pre-workout snack of cottage cheese or banana, big salad for dinner with homemade bread or small portions of something else combined with lots of veggies. I drank a lot of water and green tea. And I never made myself miserable by completely restricting certain foods, which I think was key for me because I never felt like binging. I still had a small piece of Dove chocolate for dessert at lunch. I had 100 calorie popcorn bags during movies at home. I typically had light beer or wine with dinner. I went out to eat once a week with friends to "jump start my metabolism". Of course I had days that I went over, but never more than 500 calories, and I made up for it the next day. I tried to log all my food in the morning so I knew what kind of snacks I could have, and what kind of a workout I should do. I started with low calories and bumped them up at each plateau (and it worked everytime!!) Now I don't really log much anymore, mainly because I can spout calorie info like the best of them, but I will never delete this site from my Favorites list.:laugh:

During the winter I was out cross country skiing or I was in the basement on the elliptical, treadmill or doing cardio videos. Once it warmed up I started hiking A LOT and got a personal trainer to help with toning and strenghening. I started to like running:noway: , and I am looking into buying a road bike. I was doing 6 days a week, and now I am to the point where I can do 3-4 days to maintain which is nice. I feel like I have my life back. And the biggest key was the Polar heart rate monitor I bought. So incredibly helpful for outdoors activities, and to find out the gym machines always overestimate for me.

I have been extremely lucky to have a very supportive fiance throughout everything. He endured all the countless salads, food measuring, pricier food bill, extra workout equipment and babbling about MFP. And he took it like a champ - of course, he does like the results a lot!!

I wish everyone the success that I have had. I will still continue checking in with the MFP family on a regular basis to see others results and because I learn something new everytime. The information shared on this site is amazing! Thanks to Mike and everyone else. Keep up the good work, and keep off the lbs!

Liz:flowerforyou:

lizard9800

I am happy to report that in the 9-10 months that I have been using MFP I have lost 43 lbs and 15 inches! I hit my goal weight (actually surpassed it by 1 lb) yesterday. Trust me, this site works wonders!
Unfortunately I don't have any good before pictures, but my profile picture shows pants that fit me when I started. I went from a size 14 to a size 8.:drinker:

My general food menu was oatmeal with ground flaxseed and blueberries for breakfast, hardboiled egg or fruit for snack, frozen lunch (time constraint), more fruit for snack, small pre-workout snack of cottage cheese or banana, big salad for dinner with homemade bread or small portions of something else combined with lots of veggies. I drank a lot of water and green tea. And I never made myself miserable by completely restricting certain foods, which I think was key for me because I never felt like binging. I still had a small piece of Dove chocolate for dessert at lunch. I had 100 calorie popcorn bags during movies at home. I typically had light beer or wine with dinner. I went out to eat once a week with friends to "jump start my metabolism". Of course I had days that I went over, but never more than 500 calories, and I made up for it the next day. I tried to log all my food in the morning so I knew what kind of snacks I could have, and what kind of a workout I should do. I started with low calories and bumped them up at each plateau (and it worked everytime!!) Now I don't really log much anymore, mainly because I can spout calorie info like the best of them, but I will never delete this site from my Favorites list.:laugh:

During the winter I was out cross country skiing or I was in the basement on the elliptical, treadmill or doing cardio videos. Once it warmed up I started hiking A LOT and got a personal trainer to help with toning and strenghening. I started to like running:noway: , and I am looking into buying a road bike. I was doing 6 days a week, and now I am to the point where I can do 3-4 days to maintain which is nice. I feel like I have my life back. And the biggest key was the Polar heart rate monitor I bought. So incredibly helpful for outdoors activities, and to find out the gym machines always overestimate for me.

I have been extremely lucky to have a very supportive fiance throughout everything. He endured all the countless salads, food measuring, pricier food bill, extra workout equipment and babbling about MFP. And he took it like a champ - of course, he does like the results a lot!!

I wish everyone the success that I have had. I will still continue checking in with the MFP family on a regular basis to see others results and because I learn something new everytime. The information shared on this site is amazing! Thanks to Mike and everyone else. Keep up the good work, and keep off the lbs!

Liz:flowerforyou:

cp005e

Liz!!! Way to go!!!! I am so proud of you! :drinker:

laurenk182004

Wow, fabulous job! You look great I always love a good inspirational tale of weight loss. I can't imagine how u must feel to be DONE needing to lose weight! lol

tweety3

AWESOME!! What an inspiration!!!!

skinnydreams

Fantastic! Way to go!!! That's such a wonderful accomplishment!

Carrie6o6

Wow!! It is very inspirational! great job!! So proud of you!! :flowerforyou: :bigsmile:

BetterVersion

Awesome! Way to go, Girl! Thanks for the inspiration!

lenmana

That rocks! Thanks for taking the time to share too. I'll have to channel your good energy to reach my goal...ENJOY your new and improved body!

natalie1

Thanks for sharing your sucsess, Liz. Great to see somebody' s achievements- gives hope to rest of us:flowerforyou:

LandBsdotingchauffeur

That's awesome!!! Way to go chica!!

mdrk

Wow ! Congrats. I just joined this site and I hope i can say the same one day.

saraloman

Just curious.......when you say you hit a plateau you bumped up your caloric intake. I have a feeling I am taking in too few cals. What did you add to your diet to get more calories? By the way, congrats!

jlwhelan1

((Happy dance))
((Cartwheel))

Happy days and congratulations to you.
Good job!

SkinnyMama

WOW! I hope that I can say that in a few more months! Thanks for the inspiration, you look great!:flowerforyou:

mommared53

What an inspiration!! Thanks for sharing with us. I can't wait til I hit my goal. Congratulations. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

heartshapdworld

:drinker: CONGRADULATIONS:drinker:

stacystar

Woot!!!

LovelyLady1977

WAY TO GO!!! I'm doing the happy dance for ya!!!

Vans

WoW Liz!!! thank you for posting this....I am looking to loose the same....and would looove to be a size 9 again!
again THANK YOU its so nice to read stuff like this:flowerforyou:

songbyrdsweet

Woohoo!!! Congratulations! You make it sound easy!

bellmom627

yay! great job!

arewethereyet

Awsome!! such an inspiration.:drinker: :drinker:

kellch

Wow! That is just awesome! Congrats to you!!!:flowerforyou: :drinker: :flowerforyou: :drinker: You look great!!! :drinker:

lizard9800

Just curious.......when you say you hit a plateau you bumped up your caloric intake. I have a feeling I am taking in too few cals. What did you add to your diet to get more calories? By the way, congrats!

I started at 1200 cals like most people and then bumped it up to 1450, 1650 and now probably 1800 or 1900 to maintain. I just started eating more, and it was great!! I would have the entire hardboiled egg instead of just egg whites. I had regular cheese on my salad instead of fat free feta, or I would add black beans or chicken. Litltle things incorporated into my usual routine.
If you think you are taking in too few calories, then bump them up a few hundred and see what happens. You may be surprised. Check out these two posts from Banks -
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/12250-1000-calorie-deficit-not-for-people-with-healthy-bmi
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9433-expectations

Good luck!!

lizard9800

Woohoo!!! Congratulations! You make it sound easy!

Ha! Not easy at first with the lower calories, but it got better over time. And I really enjoyed working out. Now I get a little cranky if I can't get a good workout in every other day or so! I would have never believed it considering how much time I used to spend in front of the tv!

Just curious, what were you doing all summer that required you to live in a tent and eat trail food?

TamTastic

Congrats to you!! How wonderful you must feel!!! You are definitely an inspiration! :drinker: :flowerforyou:

songbyrdsweet

Woohoo!!! Congratulations! You make it sound easy!

Ha! Not easy at first with the lower calories, but it got better over time. And I really enjoyed working out. Now I get a little cranky if I can't get a good workout in every other day or so! I would have never believed it considering how much time I used to spend in front of the tv!

Just curious, what were you doing all summer that required you to live in a tent and eat trail food?

I am the same way! I neeeeeed my workouts, it's an addiction! :laugh: This summer I was a climbing director with the Boy Scouts...so I lived at an outpost in the woods and entertained the crews that backpacked to my area. I had to live in a tent because there's nothing out there lol, no electricity/plumbing/running water (except the creek, but that doesn't really count). I taught climbing and did campfires and such. It sucked, and if I never have dried milk again in my life, it'll be too soon. :sick:

abby1949

Fantastic!!! You must feel great! Please keep in touch as we need people like you to inspire us!
cheers!
Lyn:drinker:

karabeccasmith

CONGRATS!!! Your a great inspiration!!!!! :drinker:

msce2

Congratulations! And thank you for the tips on how you did it!!!!!