How did you lose weight?

Skmellyg

I see all these before and after pictures (please keep them coming, I love them) but I how did you do it? I want to know in detail what exactly did you do to get to where you were. Do you have kids? How did you balance that? Do you work? How did you fit that? Did you go to a gym? Did you do video tapes at home? What did you eat? If you are low income how did you handle your want to eat healthy and the cost of it all? I am on a budget, I have 2 kids 3 years old and 2 years old. I work from 6-3 and then pick up husband. By the time I get home It is around 4:30. I have 30 minutes to either rest or work out. Then make dinner. Spend time with kids, get kids in bed and be in bed by 9 to get a full nights rest that I need. So how did you do it??

BehindBlueEyes988

I'm starting my second journey, but the first time I lost 35lbs. in 4 months. I did it by honestly just running and watching what I ate. I had been eating out a lot or eating terrible things for me (like hamburger helper). By simply watching my fat and processed food intake and running I lost weight!

mgnmsn

So start with eating right. You can always make time for that.

For exercise, you do not have a lot of time to spend hours at the gym. What I have done is the c25k program because it took like 30 minutes a day and, for me at least, burned about 300 calories per go.

I also did the 30 ds. I did not like as much because workout videos bore me. However, it was really nice because it is like 20 minutes long and I burned about 200 calories in level 1 alone. It was 5 dollars I believe for the online version on amazon.

californiagirl2012

I see all these before and after pictures (please keep them coming, I love them) but I how did you do it? I want to know in detail what exactly did you do to get to where you were. Do you have kids? How did you balance that? Do you work? How did you fit that? Did you go to a gym? Did you do video tapes at home? What did you eat? If you are low income how did you handle your want to eat healthy and the cost of it all? I am on a budget, I have 2 kids 3 years old and 2 years old. I work from 6-3 and then pick up husband. By the time I get home It is around 4:30. I have 30 minutes to either rest or work out. Then make dinner. Spend time with kids, get kids in bed and be in bed by 9 to get a full nights rest that I need. So how did you do it??

My kids are grown and married, but if I knew about calorie budgets and there were computers when I was raising kids I think I could have done this before way before age 50. I always found a way to exercise even when I was raising kids and working full time at a stressful job.

Here is what worked for me:

Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy. You might have to say no to some social events sometimes.

There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.

All I can do is share what worked for me. I achieved my goal at age 50 after beating my head against the wall for 15 years. Yeah anyone can do it, but I can tell you that you are up against a lot when you are older and I believe females have some unique issue to face with hormones and such. The sooner you can get a handle on it the better. DO NOT GIVE UP. As I got older and the weight piled on (and I didn't feel I was eating too much!) everyone kept telling me to give up, this is what happens when you get older. I'm small, and I didn't realize how small I was until I lost the weight. Everyone said I had big bones. I looked hefty because I worked out. Once I lost the weight I realized how small I really was and that small people don't need to eat as much as big people. HINT: If you are short you are probably small.

These were the diets I tried and failed and did the diet yo-yo with for 15 years:

Low fat high carb, Slim-Fast, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Organic, Weston Price Diet, The Schwarzbein Principle, Eat Fat Lose Fat, The Ultimate PH Solution, The Makers Diet, A friends diet from a personal trainer/dietician

I finally just got sick of it all and made up my own diet with healthy foods I enjoy and smaller portions. I ate my meals from small desert plates and bowls. I stopped eating in the evenings (not that when you eat matters.) I started calling what I did mini-meals and mini-fasts and I lost 40 lbs. Then I found Eat Stop Eat and learned why it worked and everything took off for me at that point.

Eat what you want, eat what you like, mostly healthy. Don’t deprive yourself of foods you love unless there is a serious health risk. Depriving yourself of food you love and creating extensive good food and bad food lists at some point borders on a mental disorder. It will drive you insane.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.


Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).

If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

It really is about calories. I tell people this all the time and they say "Well if calories are all that matter why do you eat so clean???!!" Well, because it makes me feel better, sleep better, and perform better at my sports.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

for me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.

When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.

I am debt free and I never want to go into debt ever again!!!!

BrawlerBella

Hi Doll! I have 2 kiddos. I wake up at 5am do my Body Revolution workout approx. 30 minutes with warm up and cool down. Get on with my work day. Then while my kiddos are in their activities in the evening I run or power walk. As for food I eat everything in moderation. So far these things have worked for me.

Remember the best gift you can give your family is a healthy YOU! I wish you the best of luck on your journey.

rizzaG

In my case I found a perfect workout that will do the job for me. Insanity. As I love to push myself beyond my limits, I'm on day 54 off of the 60 days. I'm a creature of habit so Insanity has become a part of my lifestyle. So far I have lost 17lbs. doing it and gained a lot of muscle definition. Proud to say I'm 5'6 and toned because of hard work and persistance. Of course nutrition is very important too.

As we have the best knowledge and available tools out there that we don't even have to pay for we need to figure out what would work best for us. Every step is a learning process, we learn along the way how our own body react to changes. I have good days and bad days too but I have no problem getting back on track. I am married with no kids so I have full respect with mom's like you so I understand fully when 24 hrs. is not even enough to get everything done. In return don't you think you deserve the best as well?

SueGremlin

I followed the calorie recommendations for this site. And I gave myself time to see a difference.

Gradually I learned what foods I can eat large quantities of and what I needed to eat sparingly, or at least wait till after filling up on the lower calorie ones. I learned that a half hour walk = some cookies! Or an extra serving of risotto.

Yes, really. That's all. It was so easy that I am still beating myself up for not doing this when I was in my 20s. I will never be fat again. Ever.

AlbaAngel25

Hi there. I had a baby almost 14 months ago, so I decided to start my journey around January '11. It has been a slow but great process. Having just had the baby I was so exhausted and didn't have the energy to do minimal things at times let alone workout so I just follwed MFP and their reccomendations for calorie intake.I also did some casual walking everyday. Took the baby out in the stroller and went for walks ,ran errands etc., not an actual workout-workout. I stuck with that and lost a good amount of weight. Although, If I had actually done some working out, I would have lost so much more weight faster and probably at my goal at the moment...but that's okay .

Fast forward a few months and I had hit a major plateau, decided to incorporate some "working out" so I bought 30 day shred, and everyday my daughter goes for her nap, i throw it in and get my sweat on. I have since lost 10 inches or so and about 4-5 lbs and counting,(not done yet).

You can do it, but with weight loss goals and health goals you must be diligent with it. Consistency is key. You don't have to take all the foods you love out of your diet, just modify things. Smaller portions etc.


For some people it is very overwhelming to start a workout regime full force, cut out all bad foods, etc etc. So do it a day at a time. Results will happen over time, trust me. I didn't see results up until now really to be quite honest. I might have looked different but I am starting to fee,energetic and more confident now.


Good luck ,and YOU can do it!

Bootjockey

There's no real secret.

Eat less.

Exercise more.

All you have to do to lose weight is to put less fuel into your body than your body consumes. Over time, you will get to where you want to be. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change.

For a more disciplined approach, try counting calories. To lose a pound a week, you only need ot eat 500 calories a day less than your body burns. That may sound like a lot, but, pass on one candy bar and a dinner roll a day, and you're there. That would reduce your caloric intake by 3,500 calories per week. Assuming you were neither gaining or losing before, you would lose on average 1lb per week by eating 500 calories a day less. Wanna lose 20 pounds? Do that for 20 weeks.

Losing weight isn't any big secret. It's dedicatation. Determination. Commitment.

Good luck!

strenght900

how much time it took you to lose this much weight ? i want to loose around 15 to 20 kgs in 2 months have sisters wedding going up

NewLIFEstyle4ME

I see all these before and after pictures (please keep them coming, I love them) but I how did you do it? I want to know in detail what exactly did you do to get to where you were. Do you have kids? How did you balance that? Do you work? How did you fit that? Did you go to a gym? Did you do video tapes at home? What did you eat? If you are low income how did you handle your want to eat healthy and the cost of it all? I am on a budget, I have 2 kids 3 years old and 2 years old. I work from 6-3 and then pick up husband. By the time I get home It is around 4:30. I have 30 minutes to either rest or work out. Then make dinner. Spend time with kids, get kids in bed and be in bed by 9 to get a full nights rest that I need. So how did you do it??

My kids are grown and married, but if I knew about calorie budgets and there were computers when I was raising kids I think I could have done this before way before age 50. I always found a way to exercise even when I was raising kids and working full time at a stressful job.

Here is what worked for me:

Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy. You might have to say no to some social events sometimes.

There is no mystery to weight loss, everyone thinks something is wrong, their metabolism is broken, they have low thyroid, they have menopause or whatever issue, they are as unique as a snowflake, whatever. I thought a lot of these things once too but once the doctor helped resolve the health issues for me I learned there is still no magic pill. Most people eat more than they need to and are not at good at estimating calories as they think they are. Most people have a lower BMR than they think they do. The only way to know for sure is to go to a lab and have it tested. It doesn't seem fair to have to eat less and feel a little hunger. It's hard to face the truth of it, very hard. It's not fun. It's drudgery at times. But if you learn to enjoy your smaller amounts of food (necessary to lose weight, since the reason we got fat in the first place was eating too much whether we knew it or not), and rejoice in your victories it can be done.

All I can do is share what worked for me. I achieved my goal at age 50 after beating my head against the wall for 15 years. Yeah anyone can do it, but I can tell you that you are up against a lot when you are older and I believe females have some unique issue to face with hormones and such. The sooner you can get a handle on it the better. DO NOT GIVE UP. As I got older and the weight piled on (and I didn't feel I was eating too much!) everyone kept telling me to give up, this is what happens when you get older. I'm small, and I didn't realize how small I was until I lost the weight. Everyone said I had big bones. I looked hefty because I worked out. Once I lost the weight I realized how small I really was and that small people don't need to eat as much as big people. HINT: If you are short you are probably small.

These were the diets I tried and failed and did the diet yo-yo with for 15 years:

Low fat high carb, Slim-Fast, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Organic, Weston Price Diet, The Schwarzbein Principle, Eat Fat Lose Fat, The Ultimate PH Solution, The Makers Diet, A friends diet from a personal trainer/dietician

I finally just got sick of it all and made up my own diet with healthy foods I enjoy and smaller portions. I ate my meals from small desert plates and bowls. I stopped eating in the evenings (not that when you eat matters.) I started calling what I did mini-meals and mini-fasts and I lost 40 lbs. Then I found Eat Stop Eat and learned why it worked and everything took off for me at that point.

Eat what you want, eat what you like, mostly healthy. Don’t deprive yourself of foods you love unless there is a serious health risk. Depriving yourself of food you love and creating extensive good food and bad food lists at some point borders on a mental disorder. It will drive you insane.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

To say eat more is wrong.

To say eat less is wrong.

To find the exact calories needed for YOU to be in a healthy sustainable calorie deficit is the right answer. Wait, if you need to adjust by 100 do it, wait, adjust, wait, adjust, wait. The tortoise wins this race.

All that matters is calories. A healthy balanced diet within a calorie budget for a deficit that is right for YOU is all that matters for weight loss. Don't make it complicated.


Also people play mental accounting games with calories just like with finances. Make steps to make sure you are making accurate measurements. Packaged foods can have MORE than they say but not less (they get in trouble if less so they would rather error with MORE).

If you typically intake sodium at a certain rate your body adjusts, but if you make a sudden change then you will see a spike.

Exercise is for making your lean body mass pretty (especially lifting weights) for when the fat is gone. Losing fat with no muscle is ugly and cardio alone will not make you pretty. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

It really is about calories. I tell people this all the time and they say "Well if calories are all that matter why do you eat so clean???!!" Well, because it makes me feel better, sleep better, and perform better at my sports.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The good thing is you don't have to worry about the starvation mode myth if you are fat. Only skinny people have to worry about starvation mode. It does not mean you have the capability to eat at a large calorie deficit if you have emotional eating disorders or other issues going on, but at least you don't have to be afraid of it anymore.

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is! Also I believe it is why most people think I look much younger than I really am.

Start lifting now, lift heavy and change it up often, find a lot of weight routines with free weights, make it fun, embrace it, make it part of your life. Only 3 days a week is all it would take. Crank up your tunes and learn to love it, because your body will love it and it will make your quality of life better in many ways, especially when you get older like me.

Because of this I don't have to worry about osteoporosis. If you wait until you are older and your bones start to deteriorate it's a bit too late, you can't get back what you lost, and you can only start a resistance routine that will prevent further damage.

If you are female you don't have the hormones to get big naturally. I lift heavy and I'm still really tiny. My lean body mass is only 104 lbs and that is fairly heavy for a 5'1" female, and quite a bit of this is due to my having very dense bones from 30 years of lifting, not all muscle, and I'm still quite tiny.

My muscles really are not that big, but they show a lot of definition because I'm quite lean. If I gained some fat then I would have a softer more toned look (which is OKAY too!). Then if I gained more fat I would look bulky and hefty like I did most of my life until last year. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT. Lean and ripped, soft and toned, or hefty, it all depends on how much fat you leave on your body. Calories are the only thing that changes fat. Exercise is for changing or maintaining your lean body mass only. Lifting weights will give you the best bang for your buck for shaping your body. I finally changed my shape by putting lifting first and cardio 2nd. You cannot out exercise too many calories.

for me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.

When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.

I am debt free and I never want to go into debt ever again!!!!

Ya know, I can not thank you enough for posting this. You avatar makes you look like a 20 year old super star!!!!! --I'm your age--and it seems so HARD for me and to see you not merely talk the talk...but to have and continue to walk the walk is nothing less than tremendous to me. EVERYTHING you have written here is music to my ears. You look like a super shero, FOR REAL!

A couple of questions:

Do you weigh your food?
My weight loss isn't dropping as much as I think it should be and even though I really don't want to weigh my food (it seems to be kinda "extreme/obsessive to me" but I'm considering it.

When you first started, were you totally outta shape--i.e. get winded easily, etc.?

Thanks again for posting, I'm so encouraged reading this

DawnieB1977

I see all these before and after pictures (please keep them coming, I love them) but I how did you do it? I want to know in detail what exactly did you do to get to where you were. Do you have kids? How did you balance that? Do you work? How did you fit that? Did you go to a gym? Did you do video tapes at home? What did you eat? If you are low income how did you handle your want to eat healthy and the cost of it all? I am on a budget, I have 2 kids 3 years old and 2 years old. I work from 6-3 and then pick up husband. By the time I get home It is around 4:30. I have 30 minutes to either rest or work out. Then make dinner. Spend time with kids, get kids in bed and be in bed by 9 to get a full nights rest that I need. So how did you do it??

I've been into exercise for a good 10 years, and have always eaten healthily (my mum made sure of that - I didn't even try a take away until I was at university). I was overweight as a teenager for some reason, and lost loads at university and then when I started working. Put on weight when I did my teacher training, lost it for my wedding, put it on in both pregnancies.

I'm now 35 and mum of a 3 year old and a 17 month old and now nearly as slim as my thinnest when I was 25 (a UK size 10/12 - US 6/8).

My husband does shift work, a week of early shift and a week of late shift, so I fit my gym sessions around that. When he's on lates I go in the morning, and when he's on earlies I go in the afternoon, or put the kids in the crèche which only opens 9:45-11:45. I also go at the weekend.

I work part time (2 days one week, 3 the other) as a secondary school teacher, so when I'm at work i'm very active, on my feet all the time. I finish at 3 and often go to the gym straight after, before collecting my kids from nursery.

I took a year for maternity leave, and went back to work in April.

On my days with the kids we always go out for walks/to the park/to soft play etc. We live right by the sea, so often take my son's scooter with us, and he scoots along and I push the buggy with my daughter in.

On a typical week I will go to the gym 4 or 5 times. It's been half term this past week so I did......pump and tone class on Mon, personal training on Wed and Fri, spinning on Thurs and aerobics on Sat. I have also been on several long walks.

Eating-wise, I am more aware than ever that I need to make heathly meals as I have 2 young kids to feed. We don't have take-aways or use convenience food. As babies, my 2 never had baby jars, I made all my own purées. We usually have egg and beans for breakfast, and dinner is usually something like a fishcake and veg, or something with chicken. Lunch could be a tuna sandwich, some crackers, banana, cucumber, yoghurt, cheese etc.

So since my daughter was 7 weeks old I have lost around 50lbs and would like to lose another 15.

slshaw23

The best form of exercise for me is to do it with my daughter she has tons of energy and I can spend time with her.

Skmellyg

Thank you guys for your input, everyone. It is really encouraging.

tialynn1

Hello! I am single. But, I work 2 jobs and until end of September was finishing my college degree. So, I know about being really busy.
I started this journey on January 5. First thing was I started getting up a little earlier to exercise in the morning. Now, I hate when I don't get a chance to exercise. At this point I can count on one hand how many days I didn't get in at least a half hour of exercise. During the week, I go into work early and get a minimum 1/2 hour walk in. Then on the weekends I do Leslie Sansone dvd's. Starting this past Wednesday I started doing Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I really don't like them, but they produce great results. They are also less than 25 minutes long.

MsNewBooty83

i work ouuuuuut! :bigsmile:
really tho, ive been working at this for about 1.5yrs and i didnt start tracking on here till april of this year, untill then i changed NOTHING in my diet whatsoever and lost 50+lbs just working out. BOOM!
I have 2 kids (3&5yrs old). i hired a trainer for 36 sessions, it cost me an arm and a leg, but i needed it. i was too shy to be in a gym, didnt know where to start or how to start. i saw him 3 days/wk. then i started doing classes on top of seeing my trainer and over 3 months or so progressed to being in the gym for 5 days/week, an hour each visit. i would do a little extra cardio here and there, but mostly used it just as a warm up and cool down. once my sessions were finished i did classes only for a long time, with more cardio. there were weeks where i didnt go at all. i started serisouly getting back into it in january of this year. i started trying a wider variety of classes as my confidence grew and found that a really loved boxing and cycling. i cycled my *kitten* off and bout 12 more lbs! lol. i really want to get into more strngth training...i get scared to do it alone and **** up! not just my body, but the embarasment factor of possible looking like a total bozo who doesnt know wtf theyre doing plays a bigger part for me. damn it all.

prairiedawg2014

i don't work, im home everyday. i just followed the guidelines MFP set for me. i used only 1 dvd workout and thats leslie sansone "walk away the pounds....ultimate collection". i started out doing this once a day doing 1 mile, then upped it to 2 mile. after 2 months i started doing the 2 mile walk in the mornings and the 1 mile walk in the afternoons. thats all i did.

goron59

Married, no kids, we both work.

Lost approx 55 lbs.
Ate less (and better).
Exercised more.

Willpower.
Support from peeps here (people in real life a far less supportive).

Simple really.

Stopped exercising as much (injury) and fell back into some old eating habits and some weight back on.

gabriellejayde

Hi. I have two semi grown kids (16 and 20), a husband, and an hour and a half commute to work 3 days per week. I've been losing weight steadily by eating as cleanly as possible - lean meats, plenty of fruits and veggies, and losts of water. 1200 cals a day, most days. I have had a drink once in a while, or a bite of cake, but that's it while i'm losing.

for exercise, I walk- weekends I try to get in 3-5 miles and days that I work from home too. Other days, I rest. I'm about to start lifting as well, but right now i'm doing situps and unweighted squats.

stephyy4632

Hi
I have two little girls and I babysit a baby boy . I have a YMCA membership and they have a in center child care area that my girls LOVE almost beg to go to they have so much fun there so working out isn`t an issue. I go about 3-4 days a week for 30-45min and do a mix of cardio and heavy free weight workouts. When I was trying to loose weight (just recently set myself to maintain threw the holidays) I set my food goal at 1600 and I`m 32years old and 5foot 5inches and ate most to all of my exercise cals back ( I have a HRM and Fitbit ultra). Thats it I worked out and tracked my cals and water on here and went from a tight size 16 jeans to my current size 8 in the same brand (style)

ChildrenCryinNCoffee

It's that important to me that I make the time for myself & my health--plus that sets an example to my 4 kids. I'm 27 years old. I am married. Derrick and I have been married nearly 10 years, we have 4 kids; 8, 5, 2 & 1/2 and a newborn. We own our own Graphic Design and Printing Company--so we work far more than just 'full-time'. I'm a student. And we're on a budget--a very tight budget, utility and grocery-wise. I make it work because I want it that bad. I plan everything because I have to. I watch what I eat, I sneak in exercise everywhere, my favorite is playing Just Dance with the kids on the Wii. I can't wait for my clearance from my OB/Gyn on Monday to get back to running, because that was my pre-pregnancy routine: Get up, get ready, walk the older kids to school, once their on campus, go for my run and depending on the distance, it was about 90 mins round-trip and Derrick dealt with our youngest.

Lisseth03

I lost 20 lbs with 2 rounds P90X, and sticking to as many healthy mean plans as I possibly can, it's hard at first but after a while your body doesn't really crave the junk that you once fed it. I don't have any kids, just work and school. The hardest part at first was pushing play, but after a while it just becomes a habit. I'm currently doing Insanity-The Asylum and loving it.

plumkzy

I have lost 72 pounds so far. I did it with a combination of 2 rounds of Insanity, 1 round of P90X, and running. I contribute it all to eating healthy and working out.

NewLIFEstyle4ME

i don't work, im home everyday. i just followed the guidelines MFP set for me. i used only 1 dvd workout and thats leslie sansone "walk away the pounds....ultimate collection". i started out doing this once a day doing 1 mile, then upped it to 2 mile. after 2 months i started doing the 2 mile walk in the mornings and the 1 mile walk in the afternoons. thats all i did.

Thanks so much for posting this...so encouraging. How long did it take to drop the 40+ pounds for you with Leslie?

Debbe2

For the very first time I examined my health goals and devised a plan to begin to achieve them. I put the plan as my top priority in life above my children, husband, friends, family and all other responsibilities. I love them all but I needed to love me too. I didn't quit. Everyday I work towards my goals and forgive myself for past mistakes and imperfections. I accept my success and am proud of how far I've come. I'm patient. I make this a priority everyday and I stay focused on what I need to do. But I also don't make it impossible to achieve. I live life, I enjoy. But the focus for how and what I enjoy has shifted. I also seek professional help from my primary care doctor, registered dietician and exercise therapist as needed. I put together a team to help support me in achieving my goals. It meant getting rid of my previous doctor and finding team members. Logging all food I've eaten and working out are the tools I use to achieve my goals. But I also surround myself with supportive people and limiting my time with non supportive ones. I schedule workout time, plan what I'm going to eat etc. Until recently I did this 99% of the time, now I find I'm more on auto pilot and preplan about 75% of the time . The rest of the time I now trust myself to make pretty good decisions and not venture too far from the road I'm on. But it takes time, patience, tremendous focus and trust. Anyone can set their mind and do the same as I. :flowerforyou:

dansls1

Big thing was buying an exercise bike on amazon for $150 so i can exercise at home at nite.

julimonster

46 yrs old, 4 kids (grown & gone)
In March I weigh'd 204 and STARTED with a low carb diet, I cut out sugar and processed foods and started drinking a lot more water. 30 minutes per day of BRISK walking, and as of today I am at 150.8 lbs. I'm not done yet, I have another 5 lbs to go, but I'm amazed that at this point in my life I am NOT stuck with the extra poundage, the hardest part for me was giving up the snack foods but I've completely changed the way I look at and eat food now, and eating healthy isn't difficult anymore - Best of luck to you!

Gwen_B

Believe it or not, by eating more!

BigDnSW

Major accidents + rehab & meds = weght gain.

PT + consistent exercise + proper food plan for me = current weight loss & recovery.

Consistency, faith, and hope, and most of all...wife and dear friends...the foundation. :happy:

rml_16

I simply ate less and more healthy foods and exercised more. It really was that simple.

I have a daughter, but when I started trying to lose, she was already old enough to be home alone and everything, so that wasn't an issue. Though when she was little, I would put her in a stroller and walk a lot.

Elizabeth38NC

Awesome reply