Its great reading seeing success stories but...

downsizinghoss

All that really matters is that you don't give up. Burn more than you take in. Keep going.

chanson104

thats because everyone does someply completely different.

Even if I do running and you do running - we still eat with different forks and pee at different times.

You know how we all did it?

Trial and Error
practice makes perfect
Just keep swimming
If at first you dont succeed
plan b
plan c
try harder
try something else
eat something else
dont eat something else
plan f
start over and retry all those things
do it again
do it harder
do it faster
do it slower
sweat
cool down
sweat
eat
shower
read
learn more
learn WAY more
trial and error
practice makes perfect
succeed.

Yep, this sums it up. You have to figure out what works for you and that changes.

tyrantduck

i've changed my eating habits, eating between 1400 and 1600 cals per day and doing an hour of cardio 5-6 days a week (on weekends, split up into two 1/2-hour sessions) and burning around 1000 of it off. I'll eat back maybe half of that 1000 calories. I also do regular calisthenic-type stuff 2-3 times a week like push ups (lady style, on the knees lol), jumping jacks, crunches and squats. I'm addicted to whole grains like brown rice and whole wheat bread, prefer chicken to any other meat, take daily vitamins and supplements, and drink a TON of water every single day. I also make sure to NEVER WORRY ABOUT WHAT THE SCALE SAYS. If it goes down, fantastic. If not, oh well. I measure myself every Sunday before I weigh in. Inches speak louder than pounds. I'm worrying about burning off body fat first and would rather see proof that my body is shrinking with the help of my measuring tape. I invested in a very reliable HRM so I know exactly what I'm burning and I make sure I give my calf muscles and feet a good, deep massage after every workout so they don't cramp up.

I let myself go over my daily calories one day a week. I don't overdo it, I still keep my portions small, but I allow myself one or two things that I haven't had in a while and love to death so I don't randomly go on a binge on it when nobody's around.

And I don't care how long it takes me. Whether it takes me a year or another five or even ten, I will get myself back down to a healthy weight.

LadyBeryl

Everyone does it differently and can be successful.

More exercise
fasting
less sugar
high protein
low fat
low carbs
surgery
pills/supplements
etc.

The common thread is this: eat less fuel than you burn so you burn your stored fuel (fat). MFP just helps you to log the fuel. Additionally, it provides a social network for those who need that aspect for whatever reason (accountability, support, information, etc.).

ccebohmygod

I eat between 1400 and 1600 cals a day on average and walk daily for about 30 minutes. I have a lot of weight to lose and from never ever walking anywhere to 30 mins daily is big for me. I have lost 17lbs in the past 3 weeks cutting out nothing. I find eating fresh unprocessed food is the best way to feel better, boost energy and be comfortably within calorie allowance. No fizzy drinks, just water with lemon or berries if I need a taste and tea. I still have carbs, have completely switched to wholegrain bread, pasta, rice but I have potato's about twice a week, no butter or milk etc. Just today I had some chocolate, only 15g but it was enough and I think as long as I can continue to eat everything within my allowance I won't feel like I am missing out on anything.

After YEARS of trying to lose weight I realise I wasn't really trying. I was invested short term looking for immediate dramatic results. I now know I am in this for the long haul and it is as much about changing and breaking habits and learning about what my body specifically needs. I love feeling energetic, I love the changes in my body and I love that I am excited about the future, events etc

shrinkingfeefee

That's a great question as all questions on MFP are great!!! i signed up a few weeks ago but I wasn't faithful/dedicated to myself but when I first started I went straight to success stories and wondered the same thing but as the weeks went by I caught on that everyone does something that suits them, it's not one of those diets where everyone has to follow exactly, it's a lifestyle change that suits each person's need. I am back on it and after reading success stories and seeing pictures everyday just like someone mentioned previously that motivates me and keeps me pushing. I did however talk with my Dr. this week and she recommended that I do 1800 cals instead of the 2010 that MFP recommended for me so I have been! Good luck with your journey and thanks to everyone for sharing!

sweetpea129

I ate by MFP guidelines. Started at 1500 and am now down to 1200. I find it easy to stay within my calories because i only heat healthy foods and they fill me up more than junk. Lots of chicken, veggies, fruits and even wheat bread. I do not eat white bread, red meat, soda, chips. I walk often and am getting into jogging. I also have 2 children, a 1 & 2 year old who keep me busy and moving. Its all about just moving more for me, i dont have a gym membership.

ccebohmygod

Your post could have been written by me. Our experiences are so similar. I wish you the best

LorinaLynn

Yoovie summed it up perfectly. :laugh:

For me, I started at 1200 and that lasted about a month before I realized I didn't have enough excess fat to lose 2 pounds a week unless I had a stomach flu. So I switched it to one pound a week, plus most my exercise calories, until I got within 10 pounds of my goal, then switched it to a half pound a week. The whole time, I ate at a total of 1800-2000 calories a day.

For exercise, I started with running and walking with Couch to 5k, then EA Sports Active 2 on the Playstation with 5# dumbbells, then just running, then heavy weight lifting using machines at the gym, and more recently, lifting heavy free weights at home (and still running).

Currently weight training 3x a week and running 3x a week, and eating about 2000 calories a day, but I'm probably going to increase that soon.

Long version... How everything I thought I knew about weight loss was wrong: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/709987-how-wrong-i-was-600-days-of-mfp-lotsa-pics

abigailmariecs

I use the scooby calculator to figure out how many calories to take in and I recalculate it every 5 lbs. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I look at different calorie amounts for both 1-3 hrs a week of light exercise and 3-5 of moderate. I enter the lowest number for my calorie goal to make sure I get at least the minimum daily but my goal is to be between the numbers that I find. I don't eat back my exercise calories as per MFP but the exercise is already calulated into my calorie goals for the week though some days it looks like I am because I have a range of calories I am looking for. I also don't worry about going over 1 or 2 days a week because it usually averages out by the end of the week. Plus for whatever reason the day after I have a heavy calorie day I am usually not hungry and most of my calories come from knowing I need to eat something and not from real hunger or desire to eat something.

Jmstill300

Eliminated regular soda (had briefly gotten rid of all soda, now it's an occasional diet soda), drastically cut my portion sizes and started with simply walking a mile and then built up from there. According to MFP, to maintain with a 5x/week workout, I should have a net of 2250 calories/day, however, I find that I gain (just a little) by doing that, so I try to stick closer to 2000 net calories per day.

derekj222

I do a Split style workout for strength training:

Chest
Shoulders
Back
Chest
Arms
Legs

I do chest 2x a week because I don't exactly have the best chest genetics. (This was also a recent change, maybe 2-3 months ago)

I also do cardio once or twice a week (maybe more).

Then I simply do calories in versus Calories out, and shoot for 100g of protein a day.

I usually attempt to go 500 under daily.

Nice and simple.

I also do similar...one day for each: (about 45 min each day)

Chest
Shoulders
Back
Chest
Arms
Legs

Abs: every other day.
Cardio: 5 miles on bike every , 1 mile run

Gym every evening, unless I go from work to night class, 1500 cal goal each day
Whey protein scoop after every workout
-No red meats
-no pop/soda

Since I joined MFP 35 days ago I have been at -2-3lbs/week

BrettPGH

I posted a success thread. I went on and on about my transformation and how all it took was using MFP and exercise. That's it. Watch your calories, move your body. THAT IS ALL YOU NEED TO DO!!

People still asked what my "secret" was.

You can say eating right and exercising a thousand times. But all people really want is to hear about a quick fix.

eddysuchydvm

Mine started out as a "knee-jerk" reaction to a diagnosis of diabetes. I stopped eating sugar (real or fake) just before lunchtime on November 22, 2011. I started reading labels and figured out a day's worth of meals that I could have that didn't contain sugar. I ate the same thing every day for about a month. Then, in January, I got on MFP. I sometimes stalk other peoples' food diary to get ideas of what I could eat. I started incorporating a better variety of food into my daily menu. I found that I really enjoy canned salmon, though. I eat it for lunch at least three days per week. Some of my coworkers started making fun of my "cat food" habit. I didn't think much about it until a neighbor had to call the fire department to get me out of a tree the other day. Most of my exercise comes from chasing mice and running from dogs.

HA!

yoovie

Actually I sold my soul to the devil. Its easy, he lives on the Upper East Side and accepts sexual favors.

zachatta

Actually I sold my soul to the devil. Its easy, he lives on the Upper East Side and accepts sexual favors.

That is funny he never returns my calls.

I guess I have to pay cash????????????????????????????
























wut?

destinee1103

I have seen a few that post about the shred 30 ordered mine today thanks for the tips it helps alot

I've lost 53lbs and am close to my goal weight.

I always ate between 1350 and 1750 calories per day, with one higher calorie day every weekend to incorporate a cheat meal(s)

I walk as much as I can and I used to go to the gym three times per week, for an hour each time, but NOW I run every second day, do the 30 day shred on alternating days with one 'rest day' each weekend

In the process of weight loss I cut out all meat apart from fish after doing a lot of research into nutrition and reading a lot of books/watching a lot of documentaries, mainly for health reasons (my digestive system) & for animal rights reasons, but doing this helped me drop a few quick lbs (not too sure why!)

I don't have any food off limits BUT I've totally changed my lifestyle and my taste palette so I usually always eat healthy foods now, with the odd treat thrown in here and there...but I'm having pasta tonight for dinner (granted its wholegrain) and nobody is going to tell me that carbs are bad because I've had a lot of success with a very 'carby' diet. Our body runs best with sufficient carbohydrates.
[/quote]

destinee1103

ordered my shred 30 today thanks for the good tips

arrawyn79

thats because everyone does someply completely different.

Even if I do running and you do running - we still eat with different forks and pee at different times.

You know how we all did it?

Trial and Error
practice makes perfect
Just keep swimming
If at first you dont succeed
plan b
plan c
try harder
try something else
eat something else
dont eat something else
plan f
start over and retry all those things
do it again
do it harder
do it faster
do it slower
sweat
cool down
sweat
eat
shower
read
learn more
learn WAY more
trial and error
practice makes perfect
succeed.

this!!!! exactly. just exercise (cardio and strength) x 5 to 6 days/week. sweat a lot. eat healthy (or at least HEALTHIER)

californiagirl2012

Not many have shared HOW you have done it? With so many variables it all gets confusing I would love to know what worked, MFP settings, sticking around BMR etc? Its great to see that something is working tho! :]

HOW to lose 60lbs ---> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

HOW to get Abs ---> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/746754-how-to-get-abs-with-pics

HOW to prepare for vacation body blueprint --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/745151-i-got-a-compliment-from-rusty-moore-from-fitness-black-book

BAMFMeredith

This is my 2nd day back using MFP. I am only eating 1500 calories a day and not exercising for the first month. I want to establish good healthy eating habits and a pattern before I start trying to exercise and then get overwhelmed with all the changes and quit. One day at a time.

^^This is a BRILLIANT plan! :drinker:

Totally agree, baby steps. It's hard to just try and go balls to the wall right away, that's a good way to get stressed out and quit!

For me, eating somewhere around 1400-1500 calories a day, macros set at 40% protein, 30% carbs, 30% fats and not really worrying about going over my cals once a week or so has been really helpful. I don't stress out about having one "bad" day because I make up for it on my good days. As far as my exercise habits. I've generally been sticking with 3 days of cardio per week, along with 3 days of strength training, and it's really paid off. I also sub a traditional weights workout day for an intense hot vinyasa yoga class sometimes, which is nice because it just breaks things up. I get bored easily, so I gotta switch things up. That plan has gotten me from 170 lbs, 36% body fat, and a US size 14 in jeans to 139 lbs, 26% body fat, and a US size 8 in jeans.

All that said, everybody is different. I also have PCOS with mild insulin resistance, and at the advice of my doctor and a dietician, I stick to a relatively low (or "slow") carb diet. If I don't, I simply do not lose or I gain. If I didn't have PCOS though, it would be a different story altogether. The best thing is to find what works for YOU. Don't like running? Don't do it. Do something else you like to do. Don't like certain types of "super healthy" foods? Don't eat em. Find things that you DO like to eat that are also good for you. And whatever you do, make sure it's a lifestyle change that you can commit to for the rest of your life. I'd much rather lose slowly and still get to have beer watching a football game or brunch at my favorite Tex Mex place, than lose all my weight quickly and never get to enjoy those things, or worse, gain all the weight back later when I decide I don't want to deprive myself anymore.

erickirb

Not many have shared HOW you have done it? With so many variables it all gets confusing I would love to know what worked, MFP settings, sticking around BMR etc? Its great to see that something is working tho! :]

HOW to lose 60lbs ---> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

HOW to get Abs ---> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/746754-how-to-get-abs-with-pics

HOW to prepare for vacation body blueprint --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/745151-i-got-a-compliment-from-rusty-moore-from-fitness-black-book

This is what you did, and it worked, and you look fantastic, but these are not requirements to do it, correlation =/= causation.

You lost fat due to caloric deficit, and maintained, or gained lean muscle by getting enough protein and by incorporating strength training. It is not more complicated than that.

Your route was one way, but you stating How to get Abs, there is only one way to get abs, have a low enough body fat %, no ab work necessary. You did ab work, but the reason you have abs is due to BF%, even if you did no direct ab work you would have had a six pack.

How to lose 60lbs, stay in a caloric deficit and give it time (not too large of a deficit so you don't lose much muscle). No cardio required, but you can choose to use exercise as a tool to achieve the desired deficit, but can be doe on diet alone.

I am not bad mouthing your plan. I just wanted to point out what is necessary vs. specifics that individuals did, which greys the water. But telling people this is how you do something when it will probably work, but what I stated above is how, you just showed them how you incorporated those key things.

DonniesGirl69

I make sure I troll the forums every day and the weight just falls off

:laugh:

Katanthus

I think the key to it, is NO excuses.

When I started with MFP at the end of March this year, I could hardly walk without agony due to a fall and a damaged cartilage. People make excuses "I don't have time to exercise". If it is important to you, you'll make time. Turn the TV off, and go for a walk. I still have an injured cartilage, but I found a way to keep active (I now run 3-6 miles 3 times a week), and I was never a runner before. Swimming, walking bit by bit, Aeropilates, and some weights got me to this point.

Make sure you change your goals on MFP as you lose weight.

I have lost 40lb and 88 inches since 31st March.

Log everything you eat, drink the water, and make sure you choose quality MFP friends over quantity. You support them and they support you. I couldn't have come this far without my incredible MFP friends. Thank you.

MyM0wM0w

Not many have shared HOW you have done it? With so many variables it all gets confusing I would love to know what worked, MFP settings, sticking around BMR etc? Its great to see that something is working tho! :]

3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 lb.

The first 50lbs of weight loss I just had to cut my calories to 1200 and that was far enough below my BMR to drop weight like crazy.

After that it slowed down so I used my BMR and shaved off 500 calories each day and that's how much I eat in a day. That = 1lb a week.
Then I exercise 6 days a week to burn off another 3500 calories to = 2lb a week total weight loss. I usually hit around 4300 from my exercise so I can eat a little extra on some days if I want.

It's worked for 99 lbs of weight loss

ETA: This only works if you LOG your food religiously and never lie on your log. I always try to overestimate calories and never underestimate. I'd rather be wrong and eat a little less than I should than a little MORE.

Heaven71

Not many have shared HOW you have done it? With so many variables it all gets confusing I would love to know what worked, MFP settings, sticking around BMR etc? Its great to see that something is working tho! :]

Log food, work out, log workouts and keep a deficit. Good Luck!

ChunkiChica

I've lost 15 pounds and dropped two pant sizes since the beginning of August. Here's what I do:

I log in my food every day. If I can't figure out the exact calories, I estimate. The guesstimation may be off, but I always log my calories.

I go over my MFP 2-lb a week calorie goal of 1290 cals. Frequently. I don't stress about it. I just keep logging.

I started doing Zumba DVDs for 20 minutes a day. I worked my way up slowly to prevent injury. I've moved up to 60-minute intervals, 3-6 days a week, without any significant pain or setback.

If I don't get my exercise in one day, I don't stress about it. I move on to the next day.

I still eat ice cream, cheese curls, cakes, hershey's kisses, and homemade chocolate chip cookies. I had Burger King last week. I want to be healthy and fit, but I choose my battles. Some days are 'better' than others. And some days you just want the d@mn cookie!

I still eat at fancy restaurants and have extravagant meals. I live in Jersey, what can I say - we like to eat!

When I'm feeling down or particularly rough with my journey, I troll the forums. There's always inspiration to be had on here!

PiggySweet

I just eat whatever i want and make sure i track everthing. Eventually i realized which foods are more worthwhile to eat.
If i want sesame tofu, i probably won't eat the white rice that comes with it because it does absolutely nothing for me (my bf loves white rice so he usually eats it). I also learned to understand what the actual portion size is. Yea i'll eat as much of said product as i want, but this way i know that i'm actually eating 6 meals worth instead of just 1. If i want a chocolate cupcake then i'll probably eat more low calorie foods that day so it fits in. If i've pigged out all day and i have an hour to do nothing, then i'll workout for a bit so that i burn off some of those extra calories. Sometimes i'll do a quick workout just because OR i might not even feel like working out so i won't.

So long as you treack everything (regardless of what you eat) calories are calories. you can* eat complete *kitten* and still lose weight if your caloric intake is lower than wat your body burns in a day. *you won't feelvery good though and might actually get sick. believe it or not, eating healthy actually make you feel good.

I'm just under 5 feet. I eat atleast 1200 each day and NET 1100 on days that i work out. If i'm hungry, i eat. If i'm not hungry, i still sometimes eat. I started at 170 pounds almost a month ago and i just hit 159 on my scale this morning (i track my weight on tuesdays so wish me luck for the rest of the week!)

weightloss is MATHEMATICAL!!!

Shara126

I have gone from 162 to 135 since January (I'm 5'4) I was on WW for the first 18 pounds and then I hit a plateau. I decided to try out MFP and I started losing again. I work out 4-5 days a week. In the beginning I used to just do long sessions of cardio (45 min to an hour) but I started adding weights the last two months and it has made a big difference in developing tone!!! I absolutely love it.

Right now I am less concerned with the weight on the scale as I am only 5 pounds away from my goal weight, it is more about decreasing my body fat%. It is about 30% which is much higher than I thought it would be after losing almost 30 pounds. I most likely lost a good amount of lean body mass during my weight loss journey from not eating enough protein, sustaining a high calorie deficit and doing long cardio sessions. I would recommend more protein and weights for everyone looking to build a nice lean body, the scale is not EVERYTHING!!

I was eating 1200 calories a day and I now upped it to 1350. Holding steady here for a while before I increase it some more.

Shara126

OHHHHH ......and I also use a food scale and measuring cups and spoons for portion control. They are great tools in anyone's weight loss arsenal!!