Has anyone else losing weight without the effort?

*grrr screwed up the title and can't edit it ,"Has anyone else FOUND THEY ARE losing weight without the effort?"

I know lot off people that are struggling with their weight loss and I think it is great that you are sticking at it, but has anyone else found that their body is just into the swing of things and dropping weight without a lot of effort?

When I started at 245lbs I started running I drank lots of water, gave up alcohol and got crazily specific about portion sizes.

That was a few months back, I now down to 218 and I seem to be consistently losing about 0.75lb every morning weigh in.

I only run once a week, I drink a couple of Smirnoff ices or a couple of classes of wine a few times a week. My breakfast is a couple of sandwiches and lunch is usually a packet of chips. Dinner recently is from the Hairy Dieters cookbook. Occasionally a trip to McDonalds.

Has anyone else found their body just knows what it is supposed to be doing too?

I wonder whether my mind set has changed so I don't notice it, or that my metabolism has change so I don't need to?
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Replies

  • cedarghost
    cedarghost Posts: 621 Member
    That's awesome, and good for you! Just don't get discouraged if you should plateau as you get closer to your goal weight. I don't know any of your stats other than weight but I assume you may have quite a bit to lose if you are seeing a .75 pound a day loss. As you get close to your goal weight, that amount will become impossible or at the very least extremely unhealthy.
    Now as for your question, if you are running and watching your diet, you ARE putting in the effort, but what I think you are wondering is if everyone's loss is as steady and constant?
    Mine is pretty consistent. I lose about 2 pounds a month. I lift heavy 3 days a week and occasionally do a day of HIIT on the weekend. However I don't know how consistent that is day to day as I only track monthly even though I am weighing in every week while I am playing with my calorie intake.
  • weeblex
    weeblex Posts: 412 Member
    Started at 245 aiming for 180-190 as a 6'1" guy. (Or just no tummy :smile: )
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    It may be that your healthier habits are now habits and just don't take as much effort anymore, thus it's easier for you to lose the weight now. A huge part of weight loss seems to be struggling with creating better habits. That's so awesome that it's working for you!
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 928 Member
    it's probably that you have adjusted your lifestyle so that doing the "Right" thing most of the time doesn't take much effort.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
    ....and we all hate you!!! :angry: :angry: :angry:


    LOL good for you. Some have a body that lose the fat easily....others are not that lucky.
  • DoomCakes
    DoomCakes Posts: 806 Member
    They say that it takes about a month or so to unlearn a bad habbit, and then a week or so to learn to make a habbit. You probably are finding it easier to make better choices that lead to a healthy lifestyle. So now it's just "natural" and you're just losing because you're doing what you should be doing.
  • Everybody's body knows what it's supposed to be doing!

    It's the over-analyzing, over-dramatizing, worrying about every carb/fat/protein/fiber calorie, "OMG I'm 50 cals under today I'm going to go into starvation mode", "OMG I'm only 50 cals under today - I need to go run 5k", "I need to do more cardio - no wait I need to do more strength training" (I could go on and on...) mentality that's got so many people spinning their wheels!

    When you just let it happen, it happens. When you truly allow yourself to make steps toward better health, that piece of cake that really doesn't taste good anyway has no pull on you any more. But if you still like chocolate, you eat a piece, and then you don't go into fits of guilt over it. You don't have "cheat days" - you have days where you eat a lot of yummy food! And then days where you just back off a little and maybe focus on vegetables for a day or 2.

    It's not rocket science!

    So glad to hear there's someone else out there that knows how to enjoy life, and can still lose weight. (I'd throw a few more vegetables in there if you want to get really healthy too! But that's just my opinion...)
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    Initially yes - I was working a lot and not eating much.

    Unfortunately as I slowed down, my activity levels at work also reduced, which made it overall a lot harder - both from wanting to eat more, lower calories burnt and easier accessibility to food.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    Yes... losing my extra weight was really simple/easy/effortless for me. I cut 250 calories a day from my TDEE and tried to stay active (walked my errands, went hiking, rode my bike). I had an initial goal of losing 50 lbs, but it went so smoothly that I ended up losing 66 and now weigh less than I did 20 years ago in high school. I don't think I ever had a bad day or even what I would consider a 'slip up'. I think when I cut calories minimally, and was still eating 2000-2200 calories a day, it was easy to make progress without ever feeling deprived.

    I've been maintaining that loss since June now.

    I think the key (for me) was NOT dieting, NOT making food rules about what was good/bad, NOT avoiding treats and NOT weighing in more than once a month.
  • Coramae09
    Coramae09 Posts: 60 Member
    i lost 30lbs fairly quickly and slowly lost about 13 more. In Sept I started a new job as well as my children starting school. I realized i had let exercising and weighing in take too much control of my life to the point that I had no time for my family...not good! Anyway I had to let it go for a while because too much of a good thing is not always good. I didn't completely give up and eat whatever I wanted but i honestly did not try to lose either my only exercise has come from my daily walking and i haven't gained anything at all in 3 month. Though its amazing how quickly u can lose the muscle tone! So I'm back at it again :-) tracking everything and trying to fit exercise into the mix of chaos that happens after 3:30 pm when my children get home! Sometimes I think its good to give you body a break and eat at maintenance for awhile then jump back into it and shock your body into losing again :-)
  • ChitownFoodie
    ChitownFoodie Posts: 1,562 Member
    Losing weight has always come easy to me. I can go from normal weight to underweight in a matter of weeks with no trouble. Gaining weight has always been a struggle. Its not that I don't eat, I just think I have an overly active lifestyle. Weird, I know!
  • deb3129
    deb3129 Posts: 1,294 Member
    Honestly, I feel like mine has been pretty easy too, though I have worked for it. I completely changed my diet and started moving more, but it does not seem like a great deal of work to me for the results I have gotten.
  • Eric53066
    Eric53066 Posts: 46 Member
    Several years ago I lost 70 pounds in about 7-8 months and it came off really easy. Of course I gained most of that back and now I can't seem to shake the weight to save my life.

    When I lost all that weight a few years back I think it was the switch from massive quantities of full-octane Mountain Dew every day to either diet Dew (an embarrassment to Mountain Dew) or water. In the beginning I was walking on the treadmill and watching what I ate, but I hurt my knee or back or something and couldn't do the treadmill and the weight still kept coming off. I think it was the jolt from saving hundreds of calories per day in soda that made it so easy that time. Now that I don't have that and my body is used to a lower calorie intake, I find it harder to lose.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    I can say that I'm in this category. I got fat simply from not paying attention. I was too busy with family and work and everything else and never considered how much I was eating. It took me to get to 263 pounds to even realize that I had gotten fat. Since I started tracking on MFP, I have been steadily losing. I have found it to be the easiest life change that I ever made.

    I do feel sorry for people that struggle.
  • Sunflowerinbloom
    Sunflowerinbloom Posts: 119 Member
    Right now I lose 1-2 lbs a week and thats with eating what I like and I eat up to 2000 cal a day and I work out 3-5 times a week I dont burn that many calories when I do mabe about 260 calories burned a day it has always been easy for me to lose weight my only problem is I always gave up in the past!!! I know at some point I will have to change it some are blessed with losing weight every week and it can be harder for others to lose it like they want it but as long as you are losing it then your good to go :)
  • weeblex
    weeblex Posts: 412 Member
    (I'd throw a few more vegetables in there if you want to get really healthy too! But that's just my opinion...)

    Veggies are important, and usually have my 5 a day with dinner (well 6 if you count potato chips for lunch as a veg :smile:) But they are also so low calorie I've given up logging them
  • The leaner you are the harder it gets
  • axialmeow
    axialmeow Posts: 382 Member
    Nope. Its a struggle.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Honestly, I feel like mine has been pretty easy too, though I have worked for it. I completely changed my diet and started moving more, but it does not seem like a great deal of work to me for the results I have gotten.

    ^^ This too

    It's not *entirely* effortless because I spend quite a bit of time and definitely put forth the effort needed.
  • weeblex
    weeblex Posts: 412 Member
    I'd also like to say I still have Full English Breakfast *Fried Bacon, Fried Egg, Fried Bread, Fried Mushrooms and baked beans) for Breakfast ever Saturday. That is proof you don't have to give up the good food. :smile:
  • WVmom24
    WVmom24 Posts: 266 Member
    I also lose weight without much effort----INITIALLY. It slows down, and can even stop. Don't take it as a given!
  • JessicaSunflower
    JessicaSunflower Posts: 38 Member
    I've been eating cookies, chili, pasta, etc and I seem to be loosing about a pound a week somehow! Im loosing weight faster being off a diet than on one and i don't know whats going on! I'm not gonna go to the doctor about it until i hit my goal weight LOL
  • The beginning of my weight loss was without even try but that's becauseinwent from spending 20 hours a day in a cell filled with honey buns, ramen noodles, chocolate, mac n cheese, donuts, etc. to being free. After that I started intentionally losing weight and every so often my weight loss stalls and I'll change something I'm doing.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    I find that, for me, it's all about lifestyle. To become and stay a healthy weight, I need to organize my life such that I am always burning so many calories that it's not really possible to overeat. I guess that's the same as not putting in effort.
  • Elf_Princess1210
    Elf_Princess1210 Posts: 895 Member
    the first 6 months I had no issues with losing weight, but that changed the closer to the 1 year mark I came. I plateaued for the last 6 months. It's starting to come off again.
  • meg7399
    meg7399 Posts: 672 Member
    I had a pretty effortless 2 weeks...I just laid in bed with the influenza virus, didn't eat much and when I did it was junk...oddly, the pounds flew off! I didn't even workout during this 2 week period of lathargy and nausea!
  • Z_I_L_L_A
    Z_I_L_L_A Posts: 2,399 Member
    I keep getting bigger and heavier and the fat keeps going away. I guess I scared it pretty bad in the gym last, I heard my fat screaming.
  • jonilynn70
    jonilynn70 Posts: 145 Member
    I have to say that I am surprised weight is just falling off with little exercise, alcohol intake, and a couple of sandwiches for breakfast and chips for lunch. I guess for you it doesn't matter WHAT the calories consist of. For me, if I stick to my calorie range and include sandwiches, chips and alcohol I gain, gain, gain. Count your blessings.
  • AmyFett
    AmyFett Posts: 1,607 Member
    No, must be nice though. Some of us bust our butts and don't get the weight off half as quickly. Stop questioning it and enjoy it IMO.
  • pegsum
    pegsum Posts: 15 Member
    Yes... losing my extra weight was really simple/easy/effortless for me. I cut 250 calories a day from my TDEE and tried to stay active (walked my errands, went hiking, rode my bike). I had an initial goal of losing 50 lbs, but it went so smoothly that I ended up losing 66 and now weigh less than I did 20 years ago in high school. I don't think I ever had a bad day or even what I would consider a 'slip up'. I think when I cut calories minimally, and was still eating 2000-2200 calories a day, it was easy to make progress without ever feeling deprived.

    I've been maintaining that loss since June now.

    I think the key (for me) was NOT dieting, NOT making food rules about what was good/bad, NOT avoiding treats and NOT weighing in more than once a month.

    THIS!
    My tracker is set to 1/2 pound a week. I am losing super slowly, but it's EASY. I'm good with easy :-)