I have questions for those who have been successful.

kbogati

m/f:-F
age-28
height- 5ft 3
start - 193
goal- 130
time- about 7 months of taking it seriously. lost the 1st couple pounds before that tho i was off and on, i would stop and start. now i have put 12lbs back on so i am back on here.
daily calories- 1430
change?- kind of. i lost the 1st 33lbs before i joined MFP. didnt start counting cals til then.
eat back? yes, at least some/most

NatalieWinning

F, 51 yrs old, 5'2". Started around 180-ish, goal was a lowest of 128, I did hit it. Realistically 130 is better, and I've bounced up to it. Fat to Fit website says for my age and height 128 is on the low end for me, and my body agrees. (Another good website is My Body Gallery for realistic visuals)
It took about a year set at 2 lbs a week loss in this program. At the last 10 lbs when I realized it was taking much longer I raised my calories to 1/2 lb loss a week and thats how I lost the last 10 lbs, by eating more.

As I got fitter I burned less calories per expercise at the same intensity, I ate back ALL of my exercise calories. Half way through the year I got a Heart Rate Monitor and that was motivating me to exercise more plus harder, as well as motivating me to burn off what I overate. Because I could exercise to the overeating amount and then stop. Instead of trying to convince myself to get up and exercise more it seemed more managable. My calories burned were more accurate, so I felt more comfortable eating up to my goal amount. I realized I was doing some exercise at a higher rate than MFP database, and some at less burnage. So I felt more in control of my hunger as I ate enough.

Additional things I learned: Eating too little and my weight loss stalled. There was a "sweet spot" of how much I needed to eat. Predictible plateaus before every loss. Intense and longer exercise did not make me lose faster, more often it also stalled my weight loss. Though, I felt I was getting fitter when I did it. Consistant logging and being honest with myself was more important than being awesome and then having "cheat days". I didn't have cheat days. Occasional spikes in eating did nothing at all. Occasional is once every several weeks or longer. If I was really true to logging then it took about 4 days to see a pound drop. The last 10 pounds took months longer than I expected, but fitness was happening all along. Take your measurements and put them in the "check in" NOW because inches happen when there seems to be no progress. It's motivating and realistic instead of feeling like you are doing things right and stalling. So is logging all days, good or bad, so you can see "reports" and your mind can't tell you "but I did everything wrong, so I must just never be able to lose". Your mind lies. Keep pictures, too. Because the mirror lies and you won't believe how far you came some times until you look.

Acg67

Successful in what, hitting some arbitrary goal weight?

chimebird

M/F? F
Age? 26
Height? 5'10"
Start weight? 220 lbs
Goal weight? My initial goal was 155. I met and maintained this for nearly a year but lost some ground in the fall and gained about 8 lbs. Now I'm back to losing again and aiming for 145 lbs.
Time it took? about 15 months
Allotted daily calories? 1500-1700 when I initially lost the weight, now around 1450.
Did your allotted calories change with loss? Yes, once I was close to my initial goal I started eating close to maintenance, I was losing a pound every three weeks or so.
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories? Yes, I always eat back some but rarely do I eat all. Almost every day I'm burning 300-600 calories with exercise so that allows me to set my calorie goal quite a bit lower than I'd be happy eating. When I enter my exercise times I see what MFP gives me for calories burned and then manually enter 80% of that number, since I feel like MFP overestimates calories burned.

Another habit that has been essential to my successful weight loss maintenance has been calculating my calories weekly as well as daily. I wouldn't be able to live a happy, balanced life if I couldn't go out to eat and drink with my friends a few nights a week, which means a way bigger calorie intake Thursday-Saturday. So I offset this with my Sunday-Wednesday eating habits and keep a Google Doc that calculates my average intake throughout the week.

CyberEd312

M/F?
M
Age?
42
Height?
6 ft. 1 in.
Start weight?
560 lbs.
Current Weight?
249 lbs.
Goal weight?
238 lbs.
Time it took?
Still ongoing 42 months in......
Alloted daily calories?
3000-3400 (based on exercise calories for that day)
Did your aloted calories change with loss?
Yes started at 2500
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories?
I eat back my exercise calories based on my HRM (eating back 85% leaving 15% for error in logging)

jedikrissy

M/F? - Female

Age? - I was 28 when I started & now I am 29

Height? - 5 feet 6 inches

Start weight? - I fluctuated between 176lbs and 180lbs

Goal weight? - 125 lbs

Time it took? - 8 months

Allotted daily calories? - 1200

Did your allotted calories change with loss? - No my calories never changed always 1200

Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories? - I did eat back my exercise calories in the beginning but I wasn't getting very good results. So I stuck with my 1200 a day and I did great. (& I still do) Also I would never starve my self, I would go over 1200 if I worked out extra hard but never more than 1400. The one thing that I think was key for me was I would always make sure that every day I would have proper fruits, vegetables, whole grains and dairy.

StampsGirl2011

my daily calories do change, when I update my profile and let fit bit figure out the pace/goals, it only happens though when you adjust your profile settings.

chimebird

Successful in what, hitting some arbitrary goal weight?

No need to be trollish. When you know you have a lot of weight to lose it helps to have a number to work toward, even if it is arbitrary. I think most of us adjust our goal number throughout the process anyway. We all have other weight loss aims besides a number on a scale, that's just the easiest one to quantify.

tachyon_master

M/F? Female
Age? 32
Height? 5'2"
Start weight? 141 lbs
Goal weight? 105 lbs (though I am now at ~101 and more or less starting to go onto maintenance rather than loss)
Time it took? 12 months
Aloted daily calories? 1200 (without exercise). Up to 3500 with exercise.
Did your aloted calories change with loss? No.
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories? Not all of them. I'd eat back maybe a half of them.

onyxgirl17

M/F? F
Age? 26
Height? 5 feet 6 inches
Start weight?177
Goal weight? 130 (current 146)
Time it took? (May-Jan) 8 months to where I'm at currently
Aloted daily calories? Started at 1200 (not eating back exercise calories), now avg. ~1400)
Did your aloted calories change with loss? yes
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories? not at first, currently yes

offthedeependay

Acg67 says....Successful in what, hitting some arbitrary goal weight?

By the look on your profile you have never really been real heavy,dont crush the hopes of people that need to lose more than 10 pounds..we are proud to set goals of losing 50,100,200 pounds...just because it meens nothing to you doesn't meen it doesn't meen something to the rest of us..this site is here to help and motivate people ...guess you will never figure that one out unless you gain 100 pounds and have to try and lose it

AnjellaRose_GF_SillyYak

Wow, I didn't expect so many responces.

rjh1975

M/F? Female
Age? 37
Height? 5'6"
Start weight? 252 lbs
Goal weight? I set several goal weights along my journey. The first was healthy BMI (154 lbs). After that, I wanted to get down to 145 lbs to give me a good "cushion". Once I hit 145 and switched into maintenance, I actually lost more weight and I currently weigh 137.5 lbs (with no aspirations to get any lower).
Time it took? I hit my first goal weight (healthy BMI) after 7 months. To get to my current weight it has been almost a year.
Alloted daily calories? At the start, I set MFP to lose 1 pound/week and it put me on 1740 calories/day.
Did your alloted calories change with loss? Yes. Towards the end, to lose a pound, I was down around 1350 calories/day. The funny thing was, when I increased my calories to "maintenance", I lost weight much more quickly than I had in the weeks leading up to that. I suspect that I hadn't been eating enough given the amount of exercise I was doing.
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories? Not all of them, but I definitely would eat back a portion of them.

Best of luck to you!

adry20

Great post!! Exactly what I was hoping to find tonight

novaPuerto

M/F? Female
Age? 22
Height? 5'0
Start weight? 125
Goal weight? 85 (small bones)
Time it took? 7 months
Aloted daily calories? 1200
Did your aloted calories change with loss? Nope
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories? No. I find that when i workout i tend to eat less on days where I don't work out.

Acg67

Successful in what, hitting some arbitrary goal weight?

By the look on your profile you have never really been real heavy,dont crush the hopes of people that need to lose more than 10 pounds..we are proud to set goals of losing 50,10,200 pounds...just because it meens nothing to you doesn't meen it doesn't meen something to the rest of us..this site is here to help and motivate people ...guess you will never figure that one out unless you gain 100 pounds and have to try and lose it

BTW I've been obese, all I did was ask what the OP's definition of success was, it it is hitting an arbitrary number well meh. Scale weight while possibly a great motivator means very little. Too many people define success with the scale which is why you see so many freak out posts about not losing or zomg i gained a lb, since they have only care about a silly number on a scale vs looking at other factors that may be improving

CkepiJinx

M/F?
Age?
Height?
Start weight?
Goal weight?
Time it took?
Aloted daily calories?
Did your aloted calories change with loss?
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories?

THANKS in advance!

Female
36
5' 5.4"
293
150
Still working on it, but 52.4 lbs lost in just under 6 months so far
Started at 1790 with 2 lb a week loss now at 1670 with 1.5 lb a week loss
Yes, and when it got to a level I wasn't comfortable with I changed from 2 lbs a week to 1.5 lbs a week to gain some back
I eat some back but usually not all because I don't have a heart rate monitor, the amount I eat back depends on what exercise I did and how hungry I am

TravelDog14

M/F? Female
Age? 49
Height? 5' 10"
Start weight? 225
Goal weight? 160
Time it took? 7.5 months (I'm 2.5 pounds from my goal)
Aloted daily calories? Has been from a high of 1690 to a low of 1550 per day
Did your aloted calories change with loss? Yes
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories? No

sarahkristin33

Love this post, have always wondered about the questions you asked.

TheFitHooker

M/F: Female
Age: 30
Height: 5'2.5
Start weight: 250 lbs
Goal weight: 120 lbs
Time it took: Still doing it but only 7 lb's to g. It will be 3 year's in April.
Aloted daily calories: 1220
Did your aloted calories change with loss: I have tweaked them here and there but mostly yes.
Did/do you eat back your burned/worked off calories: I use to not now I do eat back some of them, I only eat when I am hungry.