Been here more than a year? How are you doing?

redefiningmyself

It seems like a lot of people post who've only been here a few weeks or a few months - and sometimes they drop weight quickly, but do they keep it off?

I'm interested in hearing from people who have been here a minimum of one year - or more..

Have you struggled? lost ground? maintained? keep losing?

When you've been here for over a year, how is it going for you?


My story, I've been here 16 months. Dropped 40 pounds, then has 7 months of crisis after crisis, and gained back 14 pounds. Now I'm trying to get back onto my original plan and keep dropping. Its been tough, but I know I can do it. I just have to work harder at it.

So what about you?

redefiningmyself

there must be someone who wants to share....if not about yourself then maybe about a friend??

jamielr84

I have been here for almost a year. I lost 50lbs in the first 4 months. Then I trailed off a bit, gained some back, and am constantly trying to stay motivated for longer then a week. I am like you, I know I can do it, I just need to try harder....

jenr

After my First year on MFP i reached my goal weight of 145 pounds. I have a new goal weight of 130-135ish pounds, which I have yet to reach. I seem to be stuck at somewhere between 140-146 pounds, although i will admit I have not really been trying to stick to my calorie limit. I have no problem maintaining with this sight but I have lost the push to lose the last 10.

rklein88

I have been here almost a year. but only logged consistently about half the time. I've lost 26 lbs and feel amazing...my goal is to reach 40lbs lost by June 2012.

AmberBarrios

I have been here since May 2010 and I have lost 69lbs, 57lbs in the first year, then for some reason the losses became really really really slow and not consistent at all. I haven't given up I still keep pushing. I have lost my focus on occassion and have not always eaten the way I know I should or done my work outs like I know I should, but I keep pushing. Over the time that I have been on MFP I have not logged a gain; however, I have gained back 3lbs between October 27th and last week. My daughter broker her leg and had to be in a full leg cast so I decided to devote my time to helping her adjust and heal as opposed to helping myself. I am back to it now and have my work out plans ready and am counting the calories again.

NovemberJune

10 months here.... So here's a bump

UnderCoverShyGirl

i'd say i've been coming back here since March with concerted effort. I have A LOT to lose and have only lost 40some pounds thus far. I waffle, i gain a little lose a little here and there. I'm working on a wide spectrum of things - from my mentality and relationship with food and emotions, to trying to gear up for some exercise, and observing my "patterns and habits" so i'm trying to be okay with going so slow. I want it all gone now of course, but i know that slow and steady and paying attention to my person (as opposed to just getting to a number on a scale) is what i need to be doing and it's what will help me make this a lifestyle change instead of just a diet :-). That's what i'm hoping anyway!

jknops2

Nov 2010. Lost 40 lb. in six months. Stopped logging in May 2011, and have fluctuated within about 5 lb. since then. Latest cholesterol and glucose are great, I too could lose another 10 lb. but will do that slowly without logging. So, yes you can lose and maintain your loss. I know where I used to get my calories from and what to pay attention to.

anulle2009

I have been here a little over a year. I started off, then I had stopped and got back on track Feb 2011. I have lost a total of 50lbs since Feb, a total of 58 since I started my life change in Aug. 2010.

stormieweather

I've been at this a long time. I quit smoking, lost 15 pounds and plateaued. Finally, this year, I lost nearly 30 pounds and have kept it off. I only have 10-15 pounds to go and am sort of taking a break from the push towards my goal.. Since Oct 1, I've been eating at maintenance calories and exercising only sporadically. I'll jump back on the wagon come Jan 1 and get the final bit done.

moosenbratsmommy

a year ago i was 20 pounds lighter than i am now! i suffer from depression so i have really really bad times! i gained back 20 pounds by not working out or eating right, so i'm now trying my hardest to get back into it- all or nothing this time!

chantelle149

I have been on here almost 2 years. I now fluctuate 5 pounds up and down. I am at my goal weight. I keep loggin to stay on track. I know when I have a bad weekend that I will be up the 5 pounds then I log and am usually back down in a few days.

dls06

I'm doing good. Cheating lately though. Need to stop before I start gaining.

keeponkickin

I will reply since my one year anniversary is knocking on the door. January 11th will make one year for me. Within 9 1/2 months I lost 100 pounds and I am now down 106 pounds. I can say I lost 106 pounds and gained my life back. I still want to lose anywhere from 10 to 25 more pounds. Once the 10 is gone I will reevaluate what I want to do. Here's some pics.

rgoodearl

My profile states that I joined January 2011, but I think I've been on MFP longer :ohwell:

I've had some set backs over the last year...nothing to serious, just my brain wanting to slip back. For the most part, I stay pretty focused ! :happy:

CoryIda

I've been here since September of 2010. I met my goal at the beginning of August 2011 and, four months later, I've shed about another 10 pounds but have been maintaining for the last couple of months.

I didn't really have any setbacks, but I was very consistent, which I think made the biggest difference for me.

Focusing on health first - before the scale or whatever size goal I might have had - made everything much better, because I knew that every day I was getting healthier and more fit, regardless of the scale.

sarah44254

On the 19th I will have been here 1 year. For the first 6 months I DID AMAZING. I lost weight, inches, got crazy fit. Then for some reason the past 5 months I went into maintenance (not planned) and now I'm kinda bummed about that.

Really hoping the next 6 months will make me EVEN FITTER

ATT949

Friends are overrated…

:-)

I've been using MFP to track food and exercise for just over a year. I was on a diet for 7 months and had a great weightloss experience (Yes, I've had a "lifestyle change" and I've "changed my relationship with food" and I was also on a diet.)

I used a diet where I ate 800 to 1k cals/day for about 6 out of 7 days each week. I'd guess that on that other day, I might have eaten as high as 1100 cals. I exercised 3 x per week on an elliptical and twice a week using dumbbells for a while. As a result of my plan, I lost 95 pounds in 7 months.

I started running in June 2011 and upped my cals to about 2200, per MFP's recommendation. Testing revealed my BMR to be 1958 cals instead of 2200. I've been running a fair amount since then (I've had two injuries but I've averaged about 65 miles per month).

There were times when I was losing weight when I disliked food. I saw is as something that had hurt me. Since going into maintenance, I've had problems eating enough. At first, it was because I'd spent 7 months eating almost nothing so I suspect that I simply developed the habit of not eating much. After a while I realized that I had fundamentally changed how I think about food. I see it primarily as fuel for my body and I'm not that good at refueling!

My son is tall and slender (6' 6" and about 195). He's been clinically depressed since the age of 8 and had a very difficult time eating for all of his life. At one time, I tried to pay him to eat. When he and I were talking about "things" yesterday, I told him how hard it was for me to eat and he laughed at me and he used my words against me — "You may not want to eat but you have to feed your body." Smart *kitten* kid! :-) What he and I agreed was that we feel hunger but we just don't care enough about food to eat something.

The bottom line for me is that I'm very pleased with the results of my diet and I'm very fit (per my bloodwork, physicals, stress EKG, V02 testing, running, etc). I was overweight for about a decade and very heavy for three years. As a result of my diet, my weight is back to where I was in the late 1980's and my attitude about food is what I think it was back then — yes, I like food but it's just a means to an end and if I feel hungry and don't have time to eat, that's fine.

mrsskinny629

I just started MFP going on 4 weeks as of this Friday. I started weightwatchers Feb 24, 2011. My loss has been extremely slow with WW, so I decided to join MFP to see if it'll regulate my losses. So far so good. To date, I've lost 24 lbs. I have just over 55 more lbs to go. Cant wait to be part of the success stories!