How long did it take you to get where you are now?

It's taken me since the end of April to lose 25 lbs. And my skin is def getting tighter and firmer! So I'm also hoping that i won't be left with a saggy belly!

I started in the beginning of January and reached my goal at the end August.

i started at 253.8 on january 1, 2008....my goal was to be at 199 by december 2008.....
today is october 5, 2010 and i am 209.4....44.4lbs down in 3 months shy of three years....could i have made the 199 goal before now, of course!!!!!!
BUT for me i have changed my life....i work out 4-5 times a week (i actually fit it in now with 2 kids and a full time job), i drink 100+/- oz of water a day, i skip fast foods or have salads or wraps if i take my kids.....of course i get pissed that i am not down more by NOWWWW but the big picture is that my body and my life have changed so much in the last 3 years that "THIS" time it feels like it is for real....for life....forever......i am not ever going back to 253.8....before i could never have said that....i have never once in the time i have been on this journey given up and resorted to a ****ty way of living...i may have slipped here and there and gained 5lbs or so and lost 5lbs or so and gained 5lbs or so and lost 5lbs or so BUT i have lost 44.4 lbs so far and that number is just going to keep going up as the scale keeps going down.....

of course i could beat myself up and give myself *kitten* for not making a bigger goal but i am sooo very happy with how i'm doing, and i will just continue on with my life as is and know this time, it is sticking....i'm just going to keep getting smaller, watch out 100's, i'm just around the corner.....knock knock, can you hear me??? i'll be there with in the next few weeks....get a nice tall glass of water cause i'll need a drink when i get there....

14 months to lose 48 pounds.

Slooooooooow as hell, but so worth it.

I started in April and was down 30lbs by June, then went up July and August 9lbs and Lost those 9lbs in Sept... so today I am down 30lbs...

I have to agree on how frustrating it is.. especially during July and August where I was fighting off the same 9lbs forever, I would gain and lose, gain and lose... Finally September I was losing!!! After I joined MFP.. and started Interval Running!

wow, what awesome responses, and if i can be so bold as to say that i especially relate and agree with and am 100% with meagalyne and bluiz13.

slow and steady win the race- IN THE LONG RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could have gone the quick fix route, worked out like a mad woman,. eat lettuce, protein shakes and egg whitese everyday, but that is NOT REAL LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i started in nov 09 doing weight watchers for about 4 months, then did about 2-3 months of weight watchers online to see if i could do it on my own without meetings and all, and then turned to this site, which i absolutely love as theres tons of support, and i have made some great friends all with the same goal- losing weight and starting a new, healthy life together. this time i wanted to do it right, do it healthy and happily, while still enjoying the foods i love, in moderation and not starving myself, but making good choices and NOT BEING SOOO HARD ON MYSELF WHEN I MAKE A BAD CHOICE!!! i have learned to jump back on the horse and keep going even when i have an off meal/day/week.

so, since nov 09 i have lost nearly 37lbs. i feel absolutely wonderful, and feel like exercise has become my antidepressant. no more meds for me! no antidepressants, heartburn meds, bp meds, i am all natural now and loving it!

good luck to you and come join us in the high heels and fishnets topic, there are some great supportive women out there, just come find us! we cheer eachother on and are there for eachother which is soooo helpful!

good luck to you and go at your own pace, enjoy life and the journey, it may be long but boy will it be worth it! i have about 8-10lbs left, and it is definitely the hardest part. but i am in the zone.

celebrate the small victories and set little goals, not huge ones like "i need to lose 75lbs" that is way too overwhelming! stick to little ones like, i will lose between 3-5 lbs this month. challenge yourself but make them realistic- with regards to you lifestyle.

good luck and keep us posted girl!

It's taken me 4 years. I started out with 75 lbs to lose...which proportion wise, is probably similar to you as I'm under 5 ft. Which, of course, sounds awful. And perhaps is not for you. But it isn't as awful as it sounds. About 15 lbs a year means that I spend very little of my time losing weight and most of my time learning maintenance. Which also means I don't really have plateaus. I got close to my goal weight feeling like I've already mastered maintenance. And my set point (if you believe in set points) has moved with me. I didn't know what I was doing was so smart until I've been trying to lose the last 10 lbs, and I've been yo-yoing and plateauing like crazy. I lose 5 lbs, then gain 2 back, literally overnight, and then can't lose anything. Then I get frustrated, and overeat, and gain the rest of it back. This experience has made me believe in the power of going slow and its ability to reset your set point. Now the trick is to be patient enough to lower it by 10 more pounds...

I stepped on the scale Aug. 16th ~ 202.4lbs..... :noway: I dumped out my M&M's that I had on my desk and started my new journey..... today I weight 184.0 :bigsmile:
I am amazed at myself for sticking with this..... I have a goal of 150lbs.... but I know once I reach that I will want to prob go for 130lbs....
I owe so much to MFP and all the support and encouragement I have received here!! I know I couldn't do it on my own, I've tried many many times!!
So glad we are all in this together!!! :flowerforyou:
Stac

It has taken me a year to lose 38 lbs. I lost the majority of my weight (30 lbs.) during the first 6 months then started eating bad and not working out. It has taken the last two months to lose those extra 8 lbs. I have a goal of losing somewhere between another 20 to 30 lbs.

I really started end of April, and i am now just about 1/2 to my major goal. I have given away 42.5 pounds in just short of 6 months. Its been slow and steady and taken a lot of hard work!

Amber-

I started around the same time as you-about 5 months ago, and have lost 22 lbs. Lost a TON of inches everywhere, especially my legs (spinning!). I have about 155 lbs total to lose. I figure slow it better than way too fast. It didn't come on in 6 months, it's not going to go away quickly, either!

Nina

I started this crazy adventure October 2008. I was 282 pounds. When I realized I had to do somehthing I gave up fast food (and that was it- seriously) and it took me a year to lose 22 pounds. Thing is, I wasn't "trying" I just changed one thing and I didn't step on a scale one time in that year. THAT motivated me. The last 54 pounds have come off since November 2009. My plan was that this was for the rest of my life and if it took me a year or 10 years I didn't care because this was what I needed to do to get healthy. I never really wanted to set a weight goal and I still don't. I will stop losing weight when my body says that's it. One of my co-workers the other day called me the "incredible shrinking woman." As I was writing this I just realized that I'm 1 pound away from the initial weight that I chose as my "goal" here on MFP. I've subesquently lowered it and probably will again. I think I'll end up joining the 100 club but thruthfully. If I don't hit 195 by Halloween, I'm not going to be upset because I've got the rest of my life to lose this weight. And with every pound I lose that life gets just a little bit longer, a little bit easier and a lot more fun.

Don't put the pressure on yourself to make this happen overnight. It will happen at the pace that your body wants it to happen.

Really, I feel blessed that it's taken me this long because just losing the weight doesn't fix the mental damage done by being fat. I've needed the time to come to grips with the new me, the attention (and don't get me wrong, I LOVE attention but this is diferent) and the fact that this is NEVER going to be over. I will NEVER get to be like my co-worker that brings in a box of hostess donuts for breakfast and has fast food for lunch everyday and stay an average weight. But it's ok because she may be thin but my cholesterol's better and I can run faster. :laugh: So- anyhow, that's where I am.

You've got this.:bigsmile:

I started on this quest in April of '09 at 162 lbs. I had only been that heavy before when I was pregnant!. This is the first time i was not on a diet but seriously planned on changing my lifestyle. Many changes stuck and I was 136 by March of 2010. That means I lost 26 lbs in 10 months. There were "fast" months and "slow" ones but the incredible difference is that at @ 48 years old I was in the 130's, somewhere I have not been in 20 years. So I feel good about my slow loss and staying here. I am working at those last 5 lbs. and am enjoying the idea of figuring out my maintenance lifestyle. I am having a great time finding new challenges. Right Now? Working to reach my first 5K!

I think I started in February sometime and loss was slow until I figured out what I needed to do. I hit my goal wieght around the beginning of Sept, so 6 months to lose 17#, but the 1st 3 months I only lost maybe 5#.

I started last December and today I've lost a total of 80lbs.

It gets frustrating when you don't see the results that you want right away, but you got to keep at it.