How did you lose weight?

kdeaux1959

Cut calories and exercised. Yes I have a job and sometimes that inpinges on my gym time (seasonal). I do have a daughter and my wife and I include her in the gym times (YMCA-she loves to swim)... Admittedly though, she is 10 Y-O so that makes it easier. I started with just cutting back though. Then I added the exercise when I started feeling good enough to do so. You have a difficult set up but it is not impossible. Best wishes to you.

snapril68

I lost 16 lbs just by mainly switching my eating habits. I was logging 1200cal per day and switched to lean meats, no starches, and lots of fruits and veggies and lost in 3mos. Just started adding exercise to my routine ... try the 30day shred. It's only 20min workout and I can already start feeling a difference in my muscle tone

premiumchilenita

I too am a mother of 3 young boys. When I go to drop my son off to school is my "GYM" time, I run to and from his school with the younger 2 in the pram. I end up doing 10k's a day. If I'm not dropping him off to school, I run to the park that is roughly 30mins away, so I get 30mins both ways of a workout.
To add my strength training I time the "play time" i have with the kids and I consciously lift them multiple times for the work out, squat with them in my arms (adds weights) and while they sit and watch a little TV I do my planks, and abdominal work outs.
As for a food budget, definitely on that! I only by fruit and veggies that are in season, this way I know its cheap and fresh I also started doing brown rice and milk for breakfast for the kids and myself, I figured a kilo of brown rice is cheaper than a box of cereal and a lot better for them and me :bigsmile: , and I make my own pizza base, lots cheaper and better, since I know exactly what goes into it.
And meat, I buy the bulk chicken, come home and skin and defat all of it. Lots of work but if it's for my health and the kiddy's then I don't mind.
Hope it helps, Good luck

petite_boleyn

Sorry if the pic gets cut off. But, gotta be honest here...lost my weight through having an eating disorder. I wouldn't recommend it, thank God I'm doing better now, but maybe this can serve as motivation to do it the healthy way. (Hell, I know I look at all of you and am jealous cause you guys get to, ya know, eat.)

Anyways, here's my before and after.

Height: 5'1
HW: 153
LW: 112
GW: 102
CW: 113

Umeboshi

I lost 60lbs, before gaining back 30lbs during a relapse in my chronic illness. I don't work or have kids. However, almost all of my meals are quick and easy, usually something microwaveable or able to make in one small pan or the toaster oven and/or the rice cooker. I lost weight by reducing my calorie intake to 1200-1400 on average. Cutting out soda/pop REALLY helps, as the calories from that add up FAST.

I live with my partner, who does not wish to eat like me, so on the meals that we share I modify what she wants to eat into something that will meet my goals. For example, if she wants burgers and rice, I will eat the burger (or one of my veggie burgers) but skip the bun, and also eat a smaller portion of the rice. If she wants fast food, I will get the healthiest options and aim for under 500 calories for the meal. I've found that you can eat the same meals with a picky high-calorie eater if you reduce your portion size and supplement with low-cal vegetables or soup.

We are not wealthy but do choose to spend a decent amount on our food ($100ish a week), though we do consistently use some strategies to save on food, such as often buying store brand for many staples (bread, pasta, frozen veggies, powdered milk) and buying fish/meats on sale and keeping them in the freezer. Anything we're not going to use right away and can freeze, we freeze. You wouldn't believe how much food you can save just by freezing little leftovers and using them in small meals. We splurge on stuff like soda (my partner refuses to go without it), bottled water (OCD on my part), Crystal Light/ TrueLemon Lemonade, and basically stuff that is actually better than generic or that has no generic alternative.
I've found eating "diet' food has not increased our expenses but rather reduced them because most of my calorie reduction is portion-size based.

So far I have not spent any significant amount of time working out. At least not enough to say it has contributed to my weight loss. I am however planning on joining a gym soon and exercising more regularly to speed up my weight loss.

The biggest secret is to not give up when you screw up! No matter if you screw up for a day or for months, you can't fail if you don't stop trying.

Natashaa1991

I lift 3 times a week, eat 1500 kcal a day, have cheat days weekly, 100 grams of protein (i don't care about the carbs or fat)

ctalimenti

bump

charelg

This website, definitely..logging food, did NTC for workouts, now insanity..

SillySkittles

I don't have any kids of my own but my husband and I have a doggy and we do a lot of work with our church group. We are leaders for a youth group that meets Friday evenings and we also sing in our church choir (practice on Thursday evenings and sing Friday evenings and Sundays) for which I am the coordinator for. We are also members of an Ultimate Frisbee team that used to play Wednesdays and Sundays but we're just down to Sundays now. My husband and I both work full time and on the side I bake and decorate cakes.

When I first really started getting down to business with trying to change my lifestyle, I started by logging back on here and then joining a gym. Before I could really "join" I had to do a fitness assessment that I did NOT enjoy because the lady was pretty rude. I know there can be a difference with being brutally honest and just plain rude and she crossed it by basically telling me that I had "no hope of getting to my goal weight without signing up for a personal trainer, and FYI, your goal weight is still too heavy and it will take you 77 weeks of commitment that you won't have without a personal trainer....and did I mention you need a personal trainer?" I was 5'0" at 202 then and wanted tossed out 130 when she was hammering me for goal numbers when I hadn't really even thought of one yet. The only thing that she did hit the truth on though was that if this was really important to me, I'd find the time (she also included that if it was important to me, I'd find the money I said I didn't have for a personal trainer) and if me getting healthy was important to my husband, he would help me (find the money for a personal trainer).

So I guess my first "how" is having a goal. Mine wasn't a number or a day. I realized for me that when I had a number to reach or a date (ie. wedding) in mind that I had to have lost weight by, I was never hitting it and felt discouraged OR when that "goal" date was reached I would forget it and go back to my old way. Going into this, in my mind, this wasn't a diet that had an end date. It was REALLY committing to myself that this was a lifestyle change. There's no end goal because being healthy is a lifelong process.

My second "how" was finding the motivation and for me, getting pissed off at this lady for judging me when she's met me all of two seconds and telling me what I could and couldn't do...? That lit a fire under my butt for sure. There was NO way I was going to let her get away with making me feel the way that she felt regardless of how big I was or what I had done (or not done) to get myself to where I was that landed me in her office. I was going to prove to her that YES I could lose weight without shelling out the big bucks she wanted for a personal trainer.

Third "how" was my husband. While it wasn't about helping me find the money, my husband has been a BIG part of the startup to my losing weight and the lifestyle change I've been trying to incorporate for both of us. He has been my biggest cheerleader and has been enthusiastic about the change I'm trying to make in our lives. He doesn't just let me try to eat healthy, he eats whatever I eat and because the time I'm making for working out kind of cuts in to time I could be doing something else, he's taken over that too with ZERO complaints. The second I get home from work is usually the time I want to collapse and just take it easy for a second, so I can't let myself get there so right away I "TRY" to get changed and workout. So this means when he gets home from work, he fixes dinner. Sometimes this will also mean getting groceries as well though we try to do that together. And when he makes dinner, he keeps it healthy. It's the same for us both and not something healthy for me and whatever he wants for himself. He's had to pick up a lot of the slack since I've been trying to "make" the time to lose weight and I know soon I will have to re-balance everything so that he's not always doing a lot of the work around here, but his help and encouragement and not complaining about the extra things he has to do because I've replaced that time with working out has been AWESOME. And yet he comes to me sometimes and tells me he worries he hasn't been more vocal about encouraging me. His helping out so I can focus on this for right now has been invaluable.

I know this is getting DANGEROUSLY long, but if you bear with me, I have one more "how" which was this place. This place has been the second anchor on my other side keeping me propped up along side my own will and my husband's support. THIS place/community and the people here are COMPLETE proof to me that the antics and attitude that that woman pulled on me at the gym for my "assessment" are unnecessary. Perhaps for some people, being bullied and made to feel AWFUL about yourself and blaming them for what they've become works and perhaps some people really do benefit with personal training, but making that quick judgement call after only meeting someone for 10 minutes wasn't for me. I have received nothing but encouragement and support from everyone on here and yes, sometimes that encouragement and support is harsh truth but done in a positive way.

Anywho...those were my "how" did I lose weight. The means and the tools I used? MFP food diary and sticking to me set calories and making sure that I get even a little bit of exercise every day. Right now the means to that is the Insanity program. It has a calendar where I can check days off (big motivation for me) and since the program has something every day, it also satisfies my goal to move every day. They are half an hour to 45 minutes in length so far and I move them around according to me day, either in the morning before work or after work. It doesn't have to be that particular program though, I'm not saying this one thing and one thing only works. On days where I need a break from the Insanity, I join classes at the gym (and steer clear of that lady's office LOL) or when none of those things are possible, even just fitting in a walk with the hubby and pup. Or going for a walk on my lunch hour with a co-worker.

The other means is prep. Like someone mentioned on here, it's preparing your environment as well. I wasn't dumb to how I ended up where I was. I made poor food choices and purchases and because we were busy, we felt justified by eating out a lot. Now we try our best to grocery shop once a week and I try my best to prepare food ahead of time or get things ready ahead of time for my husband to cook quickly. Boxes of chicken have been a miracle for us. I will cook 6 - 8 chicken breasts in the oven (sprayed olive oil and some seasoning) and those are the basis for my lunches and dinners for the week. Always having good, healthy things to grab means there's no reason or excuse to spend money "grabbing" something (which is usually unhealthy) along the way. A tool to help out with this is a food scale for me and a small notebook I keep close by to record the numbers so I can log them here. And another thing that's been super useful for me is a LOT of different sized "tupperware" containers. Small ones for dressing or dips, medium sized ones for small side salads, etc. etc. Helps with the portion control and also organization. Pack things up and line 'em up in the fridge so it's easy to grab and go.

I keep going back and adding things! LOL...sorry, my last tool which helped my how is an HRM. I know it's not the most budget friendly thing, but it really has been invaluable. To me, I can't bear the thought of working this hard and staying within my set calories as best as I can if it will all mean nothing by guessing at the calories I've burned. Calories burned is variable by SO many factors that it really can be specific to a person. I've noticed for a LOT of the generic things that are on here, the estimated calories burned are a LOT higher than what I actually burn. It would be sad for me to think I was doing well in both eating and burning calories and to have nothing change because my estimates are wrong. To help out with this (I don't go super overboard), I usually try to overestimate my calories eaten and underestimate my calories burned if I don't have an HRM to ensure that I'm really staying within my deficit. I don't do it all the time and even less so now that I have my food scale (mine was only $19 from somewhere so it doesn't have to be too high tech). But when I find that I have to estimate or best-guess, I stick to my over/under estimates.

Sorry so long!!!!! Hope anything I said has helped, but the most valuable thing for me that I learned is that honestly, no matter how busy...you can find the time for even half an hour for yourself. It may come at the cost of something else and you may need help with other things so you can have the time, but you can do it

jeme3

Set my goals using MFP, eat as clean s I can on a given day, log every single thing that goes in my mouth (drives my husband nuts that I weigh and measure everything, but that's his problem, not mine), and walk or ride my bike (mostly walk/hike) four or five times a week. Yes, I eat my exercise calories. They are yummy.

Simple, but it works. Eat less, move more.

Three college age kids at home, retired husband, a job, lots of pets, plenty of demands on my time. My husband does nearly all the cooking, and that has caused some tension. He gets grumpy about my weighing and logging, but I think I have finally convinced him he just needs to live with it.

larryc0923

@Californiagirl - Excellent posting. There is a lot of information and more importantly wisdom in this post. Thank you.

annams76

I have a 3 yr old also. I watch what I eat and I do Insanity at home and when I am at work I am lucky enough that they allow me time to go run. When I am at home working out I just let her workout with me. Yes everyone my 3 yr old does insanity with me. Granted it is her version what she sees but she motivates me when I have to take a break. She is right there with me telling me to keep it up and that I am doing good. It is all about how you fit it in. I say you have to look at your day and literally just put in an hour a day for yourself.

TheRealParisLove

The kids are grown, but I'm still very busy. I spend the weekends on food prep. Healthy food can be very affordable, but you have to put in some planning. I eat a lot of chicken breast, beans and veggies.

On Sundays I buy a family size package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, season, roast and freeze the whole thing for the week. I also like to buy packages of portioned salmon as fish cooks up very quickly and is really healthy. I cook an entire bag of brown rice in a large pot and freeze individual servings to use throughout the week. Frozen vegetables are handy as you can throw them right into the skillet for a stir fry with your meat and rice.

To save money, I sold my car and bought a bicycle. This is probably not practical for a working mom, but it worked for me after my step son was old enough to drive. I commute to work on my bike several times a week, for a calorie burn in the neighborhood of 1000 calories. I also think about how if I were to buy a car, it would be another $700 or so out of pocket every month, so this keeps me on my bike even when it is raining and cold. I live in Portland, OR so we don't get all that cold here (snow on the ground only about 1 week each year), but it does rain 9 months out of the year.

larryc0923

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.

Weighing your food isn't obsessive - it's a total game changer! I bought a digital food scale and it was one of the best things I ever did for my weight loss. I had been using MFP for a while (like a year) and seeing NO change. Once i bought my food scale I realized that it was because I'd been eating 4 or 5 servings of cheese and logging it as 1 (you'd be surprised how small 30g of cheese is!). Or I'd be eating a huge handful of almonds and again, counting it as one 30g serving. Since I started actually weighing my food and correctly counting calories, the weight is falling off. I bought my food scale about a month ago and have lost 8 pounds. This is after a FULL YEAR of "counting calories" with MFP (incorrectly) and seeing no change whatsoever.

I do not know where I learned over the years that measuring and weighing food was considered obsessive but I can tell folks this is wrong. I mean is it obsessive that every time I fill my car with gas it is measured? Of course not. What can be annoying is if a person does measure their food that they rub it in the face of people who do not. So do not do that. Just quietly and quickly measure and go about your business. Your body will appreciate it and you will begin to lose weight.