Lost tons of weight without surgery??

duckychic

Check out my profile. I have several of my tips for success!

MCLA4mom

I lost 75lbs on a program and have kept it off for over a year. I did it on a program that helped me eat 6 small meals a day. I was insulin resistant and there was something magical about balancing my blood sugars. I had a lot of support. I didn't exercise much at first but now I love it. I am a runner . I would start my cutting out sugar. The first three days are tough but after that its easier and any cravings you have go away. Good luck

barky586

164 pounds down...proper diet (1800 calories), weightlifting and cardio. No surgery!

lacroyx

Most people will say by moving more and eating less. Good luck with your weight loss.

Well yea smarty pants. But I see people that have lost 80+lbs, so I want in on their weight loss secrets lol

There are no secrets. Seriously. Eat less and better, move more. End.

patience. I also cut out soda pop entirely.

pdj1220

Most people will say by moving more and eating less. Good luck with your weight loss.

Well yea smarty pants. But I see people that have lost 80+lbs, so I want in on their weight loss secrets lol

Lol, I'm down 121 and it really was eat less and move more. One thing I really track is sodium. I'm not sure if controlling my salt had as much to do with my weight loss as it did with my portion control. I have to stay around a single serving of things to keep my sodium in the 2500 range.

kristen6022

There's no secret to weight loss. A bunch of hard work, determination, self motivation, cutting back, but no secrets. Once you get your head wrapped around the fact that eating right and exercising is a lifestyle and your old life is, just that, your OLD life, you'll never get anywhere. Losing weight isn't a temporary thing then once you are at goal you can just go back to doing what made you heavy in the first place. It's finding a balance, finding something you can stick to.

steph1278

Hard work and dedication. You have to be in the right mind set and be committed to changing your life. I have lost mine by counting calories and exercising. No gimmicks or quick fixes. I can live the rest of my life doing what I am doing now, so I know I will lose the rest of my weight and keep it off.

RBXChas

Most people will say by moving more and eating less. Good luck with your weight loss.

Well yea smarty pants. But I see people that have lost 80+lbs, so I want in on their weight loss secrets lol

No secrets here. Just tracking my food so that I didn't take in too many calories, and after a few months I started running (I did Couch to 5K), then Spinning. I Spin 4x/week and run 1-2x/week, depending on my schedule and how horrendously hot it is out. I eat between 1200 and 1400 calories/day (more on days that I work out, less on rest days).

The biggest "secret" is that you have to self-motivate. No one else can motivate you or make you do it. If that "I'm-gonna-do-this switch" isn't turned on in your head, it's wasted effort. You have to want to succeed badly enough to stick to it and not give in when old habits are slapping you in the back of the head, telling you to just eat mindlessly the way you have (that got you where you are).

Best wishes as you start your journey!

RBXChas

Its not about eating less but eating the right amounts of good clean foods. What some folks fail to realize is that you can eat the same amount of food (portions / amounts of times you eat) but if you eat clean you are taking less calories and less fat. For example lets say you eat 6 times a day but your constantly eating McDonalds well your going to gain a significant amount of weight. But if you eat 6 times a day and your eating Chicken, small portions of rice, vegetables, fruits, tuna, eggs etc well in theory you will lose weight as your fat and calorie intake are less. Too many people focus on eating less and only eating 1200 calories when they should be focused on what they are putting in their mouths instead.

Oh and doing some sort of cardio (walking, running, HIIT, biking etc) at least 6 times a week for at least 20 mins a day helps as well

No if you're like me a lot of it IS about eating less! I know about the "right, clean" foods, and I eat a lot of those too, but I also like more common foods, and less is the key there. One slice of pizza instead of the whole thing, a handful of fries instead of a plateful. That sort of thing. Baby steps. Yes we should all eat less processed crap but this is about lifestyle changes, and these need to be manageable and in stages.

Agreed, I don't eat "clean" and have clearly lost a lot of weight that way. Could I have done better eating clean? Quite possibly. However I find that the better I eat, the more I want to eat clean foods and get rid of any junk. So even though I'm not technically eating clean, my diet is ending up that way, sort of naturally. As you said, baby steps. I started out with those little 100-calorie packs of snacks and low-calorie desserts and whatnot, but I haven't bought those in months. My snacks and desserts are usually fruit and/or Greek yogurt. I just crave better stuff and think of food more as fuel now rather than comfort.

RBXChas

How did you do it?!
I want to hear from people who have lost lots of weight from dieting and exercising alone

Here is how I did it.

I started small. I worked on making small changes like not going back for seconds and cutting back on how much I put on my plate. Then I added in changing what I drank to 90% water (or more). Then I moved on to changing my food choices. I had to make it realistic so that I stick to it. It is not realistic to me to say "I am never going to eat <insert favorite food> again". As soon as I say it, that food is the first thing I want and when I give in and eat it I go overboard with it. Because of this mentality, there is litterly NOTHING off limits for me. Now don't get me wrong, I have still drastically cut back on all of the horrible stuff I used to eat but when I want pasta, I eat pasta. I pick a healthier pasta (higher fiber) and I have a smaller portion, but I have it. I have found that as I have progressed in this, I want these things less and less because I have found equally as fulfilling healthy foods to take there place.

The second half of this is the exercise portion. Again, start small. Walk around the block, Park at the back of the parking lot at the grocery store so you have to walk a little farher. Then work up from there. There are a couple keys here to me. 1) CONSTANTLY work toward doing more. While the small start is great, you will not achieve your goal if you just do the small stuff. 2) Vary your exercise. Your body builds up an endurance to any exercise you do so you need to switch it up. 3) Strength train, strength train,strength train. This was huge for me. Now I am not talking about becoming a body builder but in addition to cardio, you NEED to add strength training into your exercise! Why? Because Muscle burns calories even when you are not exercising. This does not need to be done at the gym. You can find many programs online or DVD's what allow you to do it at home with resistance bands or small weights

The final thing is DO NOT GIVE UP! You had a candy bar? SO WHAT, get back on track. You went to an all you can eat buffet for dinner and got kicked out for eating to much? SO WHAT, get back on track. You went completly off the wagon for a week and gained 5 lbs? SO WHAT, get back on track. The bottom line is that some of these things WILL happen. Learn from them and get back on track. “It’s not how many times you fall that matters; it’s how many times you get back up.”

^^^THIS is fabulous advice here, especially the part about not giving up because you messed up once (or twice, or three times, etc). If I quit every time I slipped up, I'd have quit a looooong time ago.

Lauran845

I had a gastric band put in in 2008 and lost 70lbs with it. I was successful, however I had to have emergency surgery to have it removed in 2011 when my body became incompatible with it. I gained 50lbs back and am miserable. I am now trying the slow and steady route and hope to not have another surgery to get this weight off. You are right education is a HUGE part of any weight loss journey, surgery or not.

starfuryzeta

Here's my story and I'm sticking to it.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/363746-2-years-and-215-pounds-later

Amazon_Who

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/626293-3-yr-anniversary-307-lbs-lost-picture-heavy
Ed is amazing!

skinnybitchbarbie27

I have *total* lost 85 pounds. I started July 2011 and reached my 80 pounds in June 2012. Here is the secret. You have to be strong enough to want something and fight like hell to get it. I started a weight management program and I never cut anything out except fatty foods (like fried foods) high sugar desserts, and SODA! I was drinking 64+ ounces a day and I cut that cold turkey. Was I a b-word for the first month? oh yeah I was, but that was my body literally learning how to survive without caffeine. I traded little debbie cakes for cucumber and carrots. Was the first month hard? YES but when I was 25 pounds down just from making simple choices I knew this is what I have to do. I weighed and logged every bite of food to go into my mouth. Accountability is KEY!

I, Obviously due to my 330 pound body, did not start exercising like a pro right away. I have been involved with Curves (my family owns one) which is circuit strength training and cardio for a half hour. I started doing that 4 times a week, then after a few weeks bumped to 5. I did just this for approx 6 months. When my knees started to feel better and my heart/lungs could handle more exercise I started walking on the same days I did my curves. My next step up a few months later was adding hour long zumba classes *while still maintaining my 5 days a week curves and walking). Next came the Bicycle. Instead of using my car (see I live in Eugene, OR where we are a VERY bicycle friendly city) I decided to bike myself where I needed to go. My work is 1.5 miles from my house. Did it kill me the first week to have to pedal my butt to work? Yes. However, that baby step led me to where I am now. I ride, on average, over 60 miles a week. I only use my car if I need to go grocery shopping for larger items. One gallon of milk? ok, I will ride there and get it. According to my tracking device I use to calculate my MPH and calories, I have averaged 16 miles an hour on my rides in the last week. This did not happen over night. I picked a goal and said hey, Im going to go for it. Now, on top of the riding, I do curves 3 times a week, Ultimate strength and core 3 times a week, and zumba 4 times a week. I can't stop!

You have to have fight. You have to learn to crawl through the crap that is weight loss sometimes. There will be days you will be up on the scale. There will be weeks that you might not have any loss. There are days that you leave the gym feeling like you can fall to the grass and sleep but you fight through that, take a rest day, and continue on the next. There are days you will go to dinner thinking innocently that you can handle it and leave knowing you ate enough calories to sustain your diet for 3 days. These things happen, but it takes those baby steps. Those little steps to get you on track. I still eat carbs, but they are healthy whole grain/wheat to give me energy. My life change is high protein, plenty of veggies, with fruit, dairy (skim products), and whole carb. It feels wonderful!

You can do it, everyone can. No excuses.

Narisong

No secret... Eat less than I burn :-) I have not done anything fancy, I still eat the same foods (well most of them anyway) and have just cut down the amount. I log EVERYTHING, I weigh EVERYTHING for portion sizes.

I know lots of people have done clean eating but for me that would just not work...

Sorry.. no secrets here :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

raeleek

I've been looking for a "secret" since my teenage years - and now at 31 I've finally found it with the helpf of MFP.

I exercise 6 days a week (with a HRM) and I try to add variety to my workouts and track the calories of everything I eat. I've just upped my calories to 1350 - and I eat back about half of my exercise calories. I haven't lost 80 lbs yet - but I'm well on my way to my goal of losing 112 lbs. I've lost 15.2 in 55 days. It's a lifestyle change for me because I've learned that diets just don't work. I wish you the best in your journey - you can do anything you put your mind to - you just have to work for it but that's going to make the victory that much sweeter!

This is pretty much me! Always looking fora quick fix and there just isn't one. It's all diet, exercise, willpower, and compassion for yourself!

kbairdphillips

How did you do it?!
I want to hear from people who have lost lots of weight from dieting and exercising alone

Here is how I did it.

I started small. I worked on making small changes like not going back for seconds and cutting back on how much I put on my plate. Then I added in changing what I drank to 90% water (or more). Then I moved on to changing my food choices. I had to make it realistic so that I stick to it. It is not realistic to me to say "I am never going to eat <insert favorite food> again". As soon as I say it, that food is the first thing I want and when I give in and eat it I go overboard with it. Because of this mentality, there is litterly NOTHING off limits for me. Now don't get me wrong, I have still drastically cut back on all of the horrible stuff I used to eat but when I want pasta, I eat pasta. I pick a healthier pasta (higher fiber) and I have a smaller portion, but I have it. I have found that as I have progressed in this, I want these things less and less because I have found equally as fulfilling healthy foods to take there place.

The second half of this is the exercise portion. Again, start small. Walk around the block, Park at the back of the parking lot at the grocery store so you have to walk a little farher. Then work up from there. There are a couple keys here to me. 1) CONSTANTLY work toward doing more. While the small start is great, you will not achieve your goal if you just do the small stuff. 2) Vary your exercise. Your body builds up an endurance to any exercise you do so you need to switch it up. 3) Strength train, strength train,strength train. This was huge for me. Now I am not talking about becoming a body builder but in addition to cardio, you NEED to add strength training into your exercise! Why? Because Muscle burns calories even when you are not exercising. This does not need to be done at the gym. You can find many programs online or DVD's what allow you to do it at home with resistance bands or small weights

The final thing is DO NOT GIVE UP! You had a candy bar? SO WHAT, get back on track. You went to an all you can eat buffet for dinner and got kicked out for eating to much? SO WHAT, get back on track. You went completly off the wagon for a week and gained 5 lbs? SO WHAT, get back on track. The bottom line is that some of these things WILL happen. Learn from them and get back on track. “It’s not how many times you fall that matters; it’s how many times you get back up.”

^^^THIS is fabulous advice here, especially the part about not giving up because you messed up once (or twice, or three times, etc). If I quit every time I slipped up, I'd have quit a looooong time ago.

^^^^^^THIS