To those who have lost 100+lbs

What did you do? How did you eat ? What kinds of exercise did you do? I'm really curious and need some encouragement. I just feel I am going to be 250 for the rest of my life. I can't even visualize myself thin! I will keep at it because I do want to be healthy and I enjoy a good workout, but I cannot visualize me thin!

I lost 120 pounds once about 11 years ago. I do 22 minutes of cardio 6 days a week and every other day I strength train with one muscle group. I try not to look too far ahead. I have friends in the Navy SEALs and they go through a hell week of 24/7 straight training. They made it through hell week by only looking hour to hour. When the going gets tough, I don't look any further past the next hour. It has served me very well. When you are already struggling to find motivation, looking too far ahead can be psychologically daunting.

What did you do? How did you eat ? What kinds of exercise did you do? I'm really curious and need some encouragement. I just feel I am going to be 250 for the rest of my life. I can't even visualize myself thin! I will keep at it because I do want to be healthy and I enjoy a good workout, but I cannot visualize me thin!

I barely missed your cut-off but I'll reply! I'm copying and pasting from my blog so I hope it flows ok....

I joined mfp in Feb 2011 and bought a $200 exercise bike (thank you, tax refund!). I have logged my food on myfitnesspal everyday since then. It's something I actually like to do. I know for some people, logging makes them obsess over food but for me it almost keeps me from obsessing over food I think. I have it all planned out in the morning (or the night before) so I don't have to think "I WANT TO EAT THIS I WANT TO EAT THAT" all day.

I started out eating about 1800-2000 calories per day and slowly got down to around 1600-1700 per day after several months. I just tracked it, whatever I ate and even on days I ate 2800 calories. I do my calories by deficit. When I was obese, I was aiming for a 3500-5000 calorie deficit per week, when I was just overweight, I was aiming for around 3500 deficit per week, but once I got really close to my goal, I started aiming for just about 1000 calorie deficit per week. (I set mfp to maintain and log my exercise calories so my calorie goal ends up being an estimate of my TDEE and the whatever is left is my estimated deficit)

I eat a lot healthier than I used to. Lots of real, healthy foods but I also eat plenty of junk too.

I started out doing just exercise bike, eventually switched over to DVD workouts (lots of Jillian and Tae Bo), and eventually joined the gym and started lifting.

When I started MFP, I didn't know if I could do it and I set my goal to get into the 170s at first. Once I'd lost 10 lbs, I gained so much confidence and set my goal to get to a healthy weight (under 145)! Losing the weight has been a lot easier than I thought it would be. It has not been hard to stick to. I love tracking my food on mfp. I like going to the gym. I hate when I miss gym days. I like playing with my dumbbells at home. I love hiking with the kids. I hated working out at first but I kept doing it 6 days per week and slowly I started loving it. I eat so much healthier than I did before. I still love to eat and I eat so much deliciousness every day.

Patience hasn't always come easily. But 18 months to lose 85 lbs really is nothing in my hopefully 100 years of life. Now that I'm at my goal weight, progress is even slower so I think that was just practice for the patience required now to reach new goals

I lost 90 pounds once, gained it all back, and I'm on my way to losing it for good and then some this time. I've got over 100 to lose (more like 150 at least). Don't forget to keep it in small, manageable chunks and remember that some weeks you will not do as well as others, but the key is not to lose all hope and fall back into bad habits but to just get right back on the wagon. Also, sometimes you will be doing great and the scale won't show it. Don't let THAT discourage you! I flatlined at 200 pounds last time, and I got so discouraged that I couldn't break the 100 barrier that I let it eventually lead to complete weight regain. Argh!

Here's what I do now:
1. I log all of my food here so I can track calories and make sure I'm balanced on nutrients (not going over on sodium, fat, or sugar most days, for example).
2. I log all of my food in a handwritten diary (love my moleskine notebook!), so I can track what times I eat and other items (did I have a headache, am I feeling bloated, etc) that may be of consideration later on.
3. I set my exercise goal at an attainable 3x/week @ 30 minutes per time. I'm exercising more than that, especially now, as I'm craving it now that I'm active again. However, I know me, and I know if I set my goal at 6x/week and couldn't make it, I'd browbeat myself. So I have a minimum of 3x, and everything over that is gravy.
4. I eat smaller meals more frequently, and I try not to eat processed foods whenever possible, as that will blow your sodium, fats, and sugars right out of the water, and for me, I'm trying to retrain my tongue and brain to like foods 'as-is' without addictive taste crap added unnecessarily. I'd rather add my own butter, salt, and sugar, so I can control it. Example: Instant oatmeal for breakfast - the health value of plain versus "maple and brown sugar" or some other flavoured variety is way different! So I do the plain and I add a small packet of sugar sometimes or some fresh fruit instead.
5. BYOL - bring your own lunch. I've got free access to a cafeteria and well-stocked lounge where I work, and that was dangerous! Plus, there's a coffee bar right here too. I bring my own lunch so I know ahead of time what I will be eating at work.
6. Food scale - it was a great investment for me so I could tell if my 'eyeing it' was right. If I put 6oz chicken, was it really? Or was I fooling myself? The scale helps. You can get some fairly cheaply.

PPMA - proper positive mental attitude! Keep telling yourself you can and will do this. Don't focus on one weight or one 'look' (aka being thin), focus on a lifestyle change. I'm calling it re-healthing myself -- I'm getting the healthy back, and whatever that weight looks like is fine.

Moderation - allow yourself cheats, but try to keep it within your calorie limits for the day. That way you don't feel deprived! You have to select them carefully and not do them all at once, but it really does help so you don't feel like you gave something up forever.

Set small goals (I'm going to eat at my calorie limit for the whole week, I'm going to work out once a week for 4 weeks, I'm going to walk 5 minutes a day more, etc), and log them and celebrate (in a non-food way!) when you reach them Pat yourself on the back and slowly ramp up your goals, but not too quickly. If you set a huge goal and don't make it, you may depress yourself. Baby steps! It sucks to have so much to lose, trust me, I know! But self-recriminations aren't going to make me healthy -- small goals and thinking positively will!

What did you do? How did you eat ? What kinds of exercise did you do? I'm really curious and need some encouragement. I just feel I am going to be 250 for the rest of my life. I can't even visualize myself thin! I will keep at it because I do want to be healthy and I enjoy a good workout, but I cannot visualize me thin!

I lost 113 pounds with Weight Watchers. I am now a Lifetime member and still attend meetings weekly. About the time I reached my goal they introduced the Points Plus program and I began to gain weight. It was suggested by someone on the WW Blogs, that I try MFP to see if I could pinpoint what was causing the weight gain. I've been counting calories instead of points ever since.

I always tell people that the first 80 pounds lost was all about learning to eat healthy, portion control, and starting on activity. The last 30+ pounds was (and is) all emotional. In other words, it was at that point I really had to face my issues that got me obese in the first place. I had to learn to deal with emotions without covering them with food. It meant learning a lot about myself, forgiving the people in my life, and letting go of a lot of emotional baggage.

But... to answer your questions...How did I eat? I ate what I wanted. I figured out very quickly that any changes in my diet (food intake) would be for a lifetime so I needed to learn how to have the foods I loved without going overboard. Portion control was key for that. Also finding alternatives for the foods I like (pop chips instead of regular chips, fat free popcorn instead of the butter loaded popcorn, etc), but have the "real" thing when the craving hits.

As for exercise, the first 80 pounds I did very little more than walk and the occasional DVD. Then four years ago I started running. To my surprise (and to my husband and friends surprise), it became my "thing." I run three days a week and I have now completed 9 half marathons. Besides running, I walk, hike, work out to DVD's, do the spin bike, and most recently gave Zumba a try. I am open to trying new activities because I won't know what I like or don't like until I try it.

Good luck on your weight loss! Lots of great advice on here... take what works for you and run with it! :flowerforyou:

Thanks...this is very motivating for me. I still want to be able to eat treats now and then...like I did today, I had a brownie at the church dinner! I want to be able to eat like a normal person. I want to be healthy, but I'm not a health nut. I'm a broke person trying to figure out cost effective alternatives to unhealthy snacks. I do enjoy veggies and fruit..I have yet to meet a veggie I didn't like! I don't want this process to get complicating! I keep reading things...one article says cardio doesn't work and do just do weights...and then somebody else says the machines don't work because you're sitting....um, after the work out I had today I would beg to differ. I was sweating and shaking and a few machines!

1) I am a normal person who eats treats. I ate them the whole time I lost weight. But the thing is? treats are supposed to be occasional! Now I eat them occasionally. That brownie at your church dinner was just fine; log it and enjoy it.

2) Exercise in the way that you enjoy. Screw what is "correct" - I know what works for me; find what works for you. Cardio makes me happy. Lifting weights makes me sexy. I do them both