153 lbs in 365 days (pics)

Fantastic... Inspiration at its best. I have a question, how did you push through the plateaus?

Patience and busting my *kitten* on a regular basis.

So, I'm being bombarded right now with some messages about secrets/tips/what worked for me. It isn't really a secret, I just found what worked for me.

I WILL say this:

When I first started, I thought I had to eat "diet" foods. You know, the stuff that all of the commercials tell you about. I was perfectly happy with it and lost weight. Not because they were special miracle foods, but because I wasn't really eating enough.

I'm no miracle. I'm just a regular guy that found what worked for him. I have my diary closed to public, but it isn't because I'm ashamed of what I eat... it's because I know that when I first started here, I would look at open diaries from people that had lost a lot of weight... and I would think "well, THAT worked for THEM, it should work for me too."

Not true. My intake isn't going to work for what you guys do.

I lift at least 3 days per week, I try to get some cardio-only days in at least twice a week. I'm about to start YOGA and I'm freaking excited about being able to scratch the back of my head with my toes. At least I think that's how it works. Because I'm doing this, I'm eating enough to sustain and feed me, but maintain loss. I follow IPOARM because it works for me.

When I first started, I followed the numbers MFP gave me.. and I ate back my calories most times.

Aside from motivation, if you guys take anything away from this... there is a lot of generally GREAT advice. There aren't magic numbers (1200 calories, 40/30/30 macros, 42 being the answer, etc).

It amazes me to see so many of you guys stepping up and replying to this as your first post on the forums. I seriously cannot wrap my mind around the response here. Keep on being awesome yourselves.