How did you FINALLY lose weight after months of failure?

CrystalFlury

Make sure you keep track of your body measurements. I have gone weeks without losing weight but will lose a bunch of inches off various parts of the body. So don't let the non-shifting of the scale upset you! As long as you are doing the right things, it will move.

Agreed!! I've made it a habit to measure every two weeks and it really does help me see my progress. I've had times where I didn't lose as much as I've wanted to but then measured and found out I was progressing after all. Clothing is the best scale of all, it really says a lot when you get into a pair of shorts that once fit too tight and are now getting loose!

dannylives

For 3 years now I have lived with the extra 40lbs from having my daugther and before I got pg I need to lose 40lbs. SO 80lbs all together. In these last three years I felt ready, for about 2 weeks would stay on plan then I would let my mind control my mouth instead of me.I felt like I controlled everything in my life and this was one thing that controll over me. I joined a bible study with dear friends who got together and done stuff and familys do stuff and in every pic we took the only thing that was wrong was ME i wanted to photoshop myself in everyone of them. The problem for me was I never felt fat! I only realized it when I seen pic of myself and thought wow do I really look that way. I realized I was never gonna be happy in my life until I changed myself! Sure I would lose 4 or 5 lbs but never got past that then I was back to old eating habbits.Aug I told myself I was gonna change my life for the better. I have lost 21lbs so far and boy thats way past the 5lbs I woule normaly do. when I get settled in myself I go back and look at the pics I take progress pics and it helps me to see how far i have come and where I cant wait to be. When you realize your weight is the only thing holden you back from life, family and friends pics then its somthing you can change you have to want one more then the other..

What did you start doing differently in August? Jog? Treadmill?

rosebarnalice

Don't quit.......Spend 6 weeks at the EXACT same weight - but I just kept tracking and exercising - and it started coming off again......never give up!

7 weeks for me, but it DID finally start. coming off.

m_wilh

Believe it or not, I spent 8 months in the gym--2 hours a day, 5/6 days a week--while being very careful about what I ate and lost only 5 pounds. This was in 2009 and I gave up. Then in Dec. 2010, I had some serious medical issues that forced me to rethink my situation. Losing weight then became secondary to the medical issues as I got quite a scare. I decided that if I never lost a pound, I couldn't go back to eating the way I did or I would die. I was battling headaches daily from high blood pressure and my legs began to turn black (I thought due to poor circulation but now know that it was a sugar problem.) I started my lifestyle change again and it took me 6 months to lose 9 pounds. Extremely frustrated at this point, I finally sought out an integrative medical doctor and that's when my weightloss journey truly began. I found out I was hypoglycemic, had an underactive thyrold and a metabolic disorder. My body needed time to heal by feeding it all the right foods. I spent six months eating foods that I thought were healthy, but weren't healthy for me due to the sugar issue (such as sweet potatoes, brown rice, watermelon, cantaloupe, and dates). Basically, I had to cut out all vegetables that grow underground due to how quickly their carbs release sugar into the bloodstream, in addition to cutting out most fruits from my diet. I had to switch to foods that were low on the glycemic index list. I basically eat organic beef, chicken, turkey, fish, and eggs with lots of veggies and very little fruit. My proteins and carbs are limited to around 60 a day for each, but I get plenty to eat because most of my calories come from veggies, LOTS of veggies! I've found that calories and fats do not matter in my weight loss journey. I can eat as much as I want to as long as I count those carbs and proteins. Of the 27 pounds I've now lost, the bulk of those have been since July when I finally got the results of my bloodwork and found out what was going on with my body.

I just got the results of my second round of bloodwork, and things are improving. The results weren't the best they could be but a whole lot better than they were two months ago. My blood pressure went from 180/120 at its highest and is currently around 120/80 to 130/85. I have about 48 more pounds to lose before I reach my goal weight, but I know that this isn't a diet. I am eating the way I will have to eat the rest of my life, but I'm okay with that. I have so much energy and I can't tell you the last time I had a headache. I go nonstop from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. I feel so good that I don't want to ever go back to the place I was 10 months ago.

Don't give up! You may want to try to eliminate any medical issues that may be the source of your failing to lose weight. If not, try staying away from any prepackaged foods. Try sticking to only one ingredient foods and watching those carbs and proteins. (Too many proteins won't make you gain weight, but it can cause other health issues if you consistently take in too many.)

I hope this info helps. God bless.

porcelain_doll

I increased my calorie deficit by 200 or so more calories per day. I don't eat back all of my exercise calories, since the number of calories supposedly burned is just an estimate. I only eat foods that I can measure (things I prepare myself or pre-made meals where the calories are displayed). I realized that I was over-estimating calories burned during workouts and cheating too often throughout the week with my diet, and my weight training was also paralyzing the scale. Despite the benefits of weight training, I cut it out of my regimen entirely in early spring (I'll go back to it at some point). I was so frustrated from being sore all the time and not getting results, so I was done. But this all seems to have worked for me and the scale is moving now. Just in the last two weeks, I've lost 5 lbs. My present weight is the lowest it has been in years.

- Measure and weigh everything. EVERYTHING. Measure every tbsp of mayo, 1/2 or 1 cup of cottage cheese, 8 or 16 oz of a drink.... be methodical in everything you put into your mouth at this point, if nothing is working. It sounds obsessive, but if you've gone a very long time with no results anywhere, then you need to closely analyze the amounts of food that you're eating.

- Remember that everything is an estimate, including the rate that you burn calories during exercise. This is why I don't eat all of my exercise calories back. Our metabolisms don't all work exactly the same. I wasn't afraid of going lower with the calories because I wasn't losing anything anyway, so I had nothing to "lose" cutting a couple hundred more out, and whaddya know.... it worked.

- I spike my calories with a cheat meal once a week or every other week. I've had the most consistent weight loss in the last couple of months and this is one of the things I've been doing.

I don't believe in cutting out certain food groups for weight loss, unless there is a specific, medically proven reason for a person's unique health situation to do so. I eat from every food group, I just keep everything in moderation and within my calorie allowance. I eat healthy and that includes a lot of carbs from fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.

This has been my experience, and it took me a long time to figure it out. What weight loss comes down to is a numbers game. When the numbers you're utilizing aren't giving you results, use new ones.

stormieweather

I ate at the MFP calculated deficit for most of 2010, I worked out 3-5 times a week at the gym, I ate my exercise calories....and I didn't lose weight. Keep in mind that I have insulin issues and am over 50, so have extra difficulties.

So I took a break. For all of Nov and Dec of last year, I stopped logging and stopped counting and stopped working out. I ate what I wanted, when I wanted. I put on about 5 pounds, mostly water (bloat) weight from carbs. The point of this was to reset my metabolism and restore my leptin levels.

On Jan 4 of this year, I went back to eating at a deficit, and logging, and working out. And this time, I had a Fitbit to tell me what I was actually burning every day. I was extremely strict with my counting, weighing and measuring everything. I lost about 15 pounds and then stalled. So I started running. Running, for me, is the most strenuous thing I can do. So I embarked on a running plan 3x a week, interspersed with lifting 3 times, and one day off. Also, every three months, I ate at maintenance for one week. This helped me be extremely strict the rest of the time, as well as restore my leptin levels and keep my metabolism burning high. I increased my protein levels to 30% of my intake and made huge efforts to meet my goals. I only ate my exercise calories when they were over 200kc, because I found I didn't burn nearly what I thought I was during workouts. I lost another 13 pounds that way.

I am now stalled again, so am eating at maintenance for a while, maybe even through the end of the year. I only have 10-15 more pounds to go, and if I don't actually lose them, I'm ok with that. I'd prefer to firm up and develop some muscle form, so that is my focus right now. But, I still log every single thing (even those two macadamia cookies I had at the mall today!!) and weigh and measure and run and lift. I just eat more.

Patience is the key. That and be exact with your numbers, don't be sloppy. If you are eating at a deficit, you WILL lose weight. We are not scientific anomalies, the physics works every time...just make sure your numbers are accurate.

Good luck!

KettyLan

Bump...need to come back to this

Estela565

Cardio! Cardio! Cardio! White tea, and discipline. Low carbs. Lots of water.

spicypepper

I started by joining WW in April '11. I lost 7 lbs my first week!!!!!!!! I gained back those 7 + 4 more in weeks 2-4 I immediately cancelled my membership, joined a gym and reactivated my account here. In 6 weeks or so I managed to lose like 10 lbs. I was frustrated at first, but I guess it was my body adjusting to this thing called exercise.

I joined a 70 day challenge on here July 10th and when it finished 9/22 I'd lost another 30 lbs. I've since lost 5 more and I'm still going.

What did it for me, going to the gym 5x a week, working out at home on the weekends, holding myself accountable for everything that I consumed, and tracking everything on here.

spackham

bump, baby, bump

Miggy52

bump...I need have this around to read as well....lots of good suggestions..and motivation...my scales dont seeem to be moving but clothes are fitting a little loser...

jem728

bump

stevenleagle

I have yoyo'd in weight over the years. For me I always had a mental block when I reached a certain weight. As soon as I reached that number (even though way off my goal weight) I thought I was ok and slowly slipped into bad eating habits - the plateau became longer and longer until I simply gave up. Back up went the weight (plus some). I am NOT yet past that number but, though have seen a few plateaus, I feel that things are going to be different this time around. One word: tenacity. Or if you like: three words: not giving up! I'm mentally challenging that scale to a duel. If it's nice I'm gonna smile. If it's not I'm gonna be stubborn. I'm going to win this time! It's all mental!

dannylives

Ya'll are pretty dedicated. I admire that. Hopefully it will rub off on me because I hate to log food. I will try!

cschu544

I have the same problem you do. For me though, I can work out for weeks and weeks and lose maybe 1 pound. What really worked for me was to just kick it up a notch. I started going to the gym another day a week and I included zumba, I started losing steadily after I changed my work out.

Another thing that helps me, and I didn't think it would until someone told me to try it was to zig zag the calories. I eat a LOT of protein one or two days a week and blow my calories really high, then stick to my normal diet the rest of the week (and continue to work out) and that helped me shed 3 lbs in a week.

The last thing that really impacts me, personally, is my water intake. If I do not drink my water goal every week, I won't see a change in my weight. It's really mega super important that I make sure I maintain that.

I'm probably not very helpful, but who knows! Just keep changing your work-outs, enroll in something new that will challenge you, and stay within your calorie limits. Best of luck

Greenwellj

I had to cut almost all grains. Eat raw foods. Add a high quality protien shake. Makes a big difference!

ShannanLaNae

bump

emariec78

I have found over many years of slowly losing weight that I have had to make some type of serious change about every 10 lbs to continue to lose weight. My first change was switching to diet foods-lean pockets instead of pizza, healthy choice lunches and that sort of thing. That dropped about 10 lbs and then I was stuck for months. After that I started going to the gym a few times a week consistenly, about another 10 lbs off but then I was once again stuck. My third major thing was deciding to kick pre-packaged foods and start eating real, healthy foods. I made salads for lunch and my freezer was pretty much empty except for frozen veggies. Further changes in my diet have been what got me through the next 20 or so. Eating more protien, continuing to get rid of processed foods and all that fun stuff. Then my weight had been pretty much the same for about a year until I found MFP, as soon as I started really tracking my food on here I lost 10 lbs. Now I'm stuck again and have been for a couple months, but having the ability to really see what I've been doing through the logs makes it easier to figure out why. I feel like I have my diet pretty set at this point, so as of yesterday I'm trying a new workout plan to see if that helps.

Also, I think my approach has always been to make a lifestyle change and I think that's helped me stick with what I've been doing. Even when I wasn't losing I also wasn't gaining back so I always felt like I what I had done was good and it was just a matter of figuring out how to do better.

ahavoc

I've been plateauing for a few weeks, but finally lost 1/2 a pound this last week. I upped my cardio from 35 minutes to 45 minutes. A trainer at my gym said that you don't really start burning fat until 30 minutes into the workout, so that should help. Then I switched up my training. Instead of trying to fit in cardio and weights in one day and as I have a life and have to work and take care of my family I've changed my plan to this. Saturday and Sunday, full workout, 45 minutes of cardio and on Saturday lower body, Sunday upper body. Monday rest. Tuesday 45 min cardio. Wed upper and lower body weight training, Thursday 45 min cardio, Friday rest. Repeat.

I've also taken a good look at my calories. If I wanted to lose 1.5 pounds a week MFP said I had to eat 1210 calories a week. If I changed it to 2 pounds a week, MFP would only go to 1200 because it won't let you go below. So I reset my goal to 1 pound a week, which lets me eat a whopping 1390 calories. Add in my exercise calories and that's a lot of food, but, I'm going to try to keep myself up around 1300 calories. It gives me room to breathe. High protein, low carbs, lots of veggies, keeping it clean. And I measure and weigh everything, I never guess.

It's only been a week, but the scale did move that 1/2 pound, so I'll see how it goes. Cheers!

pinkgigi

I kind of burn out after about 7-10 kgs lost and have to recommit, or little bits and pieces slip into my diet and I either stall or start to go up again.

So, a few months ago I decided to make my weight loss a project, that was 'hot for my 50th', I managed to lose 5 kgs for my birthday party. Part of it was getting a personal trainer, who weighs me every 2 weeks, I know for me I need that accountability. the day after my birthday I started my new project 'slim for summer', and I know what weight I want to be by Christmas.

It sounds to me like you are a little bored and need to mix it up a little. Try something new, prepare a plan. Good luck, I think everyone's been there, there is not a 'one size fits all', know yourself and what would help and go for it!!!

GG