Lets try this again. How long did it take YOU to lose 30lbs?

I have lost 61.5 lbs as of this morning . I just looked at my report and it took me about 6 months to lose the first 30 and 6 months to lose the next 30 ..... basically I am OBSESSIVE about logging my food and have only gone over my calorie limit a few times the past year In June I bought a fitbit flex and although the exercise ups my calories allowed, I sometimes have a hard time eating all my calories -- stopped obsessing about that and worry more about whether I am truly hungry.

I have 30+ more to go so if I can do this in the next 6 months it will be just in time for a new spring wardrobe! :bigsmile:

Hi I was going to post about how you posted your height/weight in your first thread, but someone beat me to it.

149 at your height isn't terribly overweight, but it is obviously not ideal. I'm 5'4 and started somewhere around 165. I wanted to be 120 SO bad. For some reason it was ideal to me. Well, I started doing cardio every day and watching my food intake. I also stopped drinking alcohol which was probably like 75% of my calories. Within 4 months I'd lost around 27 pounds. Then I hit a wall. I got sick and I stopped losing weight. I was also still super squishy. I turned to MFP and found that I was not eating enough and doing wayyyyy too much cardio. I was super annoyed by the advice that I was getting because nobody ever told me before that you had to actually eat to lose weight... All I'd ever heard was to eat as little as possible. I was also always told that if you pick up a dumbbell you will look like Arnold. But what I was doing obviously wasn't working. So I slowly started going from 1100-1200 calories up to 1500-1600. And I took a cardio break. I started doing it twice a week and lifting weights 3 times a week. My goodness, never in my life have I loved my body more. I didn't weigh myself for a long time, but when I did in September 2012, I was 129. I now sit around 130. When I was in high school, I was 118 and I am smaller now at 130. So it took me about 9 months for me to lose a little over 30 pounds. I'm sure I could stand to lose a few more... But I'm happy so I don't really care. Everyone's body is different, and I think that a lot of the time when you begin you will lose fairly quickly but then it becomes trickier. For me, heavy lifting made the difference. But it is not for everyone. To each their own.

As for your date... In my opinion, once you start treating your body with care and taking steps toward a better you, I think you will be surprised how happy you will be in general! Regardless of your weight on Valentine's Day, I tend to think you will already be considerably more confident and your date will pick up on that.

Good luck!!!


ETA: when making your plans and goals, you want to make sure you will be able to stick to it LONG TERM. That's super important and probably why so many people gain weight back so quickly... You run out of steam.

You don't look like someone who has 30 pounds to lose...

What's your height and weight?

she said in her original post shes 5"3 and 149...Shes at a normal weight for her height. http://www.ask.com/question/if-im-5-3-how-much-should-i-weigh

Actually, if you go by the BMI chart, (which many people think is bunk), she is in the overweight category at this height and weight. If she has a large frame, the healthy range goes up to 147, yet if she has a small frame, it could be as low as 111. This number would also vary, depending on how much muscle mass she has.

To the OP, I lost my first 30 lbs on here in about 4 months. I had quite a bit more to lose than you do, but I was also 49 and partially disabled, so it is a bit harder to lose now than when I was 20. It took another year for me to lose the next 20 lbs. I have done it so far by mostly diet alone, but getting in extra activity as much as I can. I am insulin resistant, so lower carbs have worked well for me. I try to stay away from processed sugars and grains, and eat more protein, healthy fats, and fruits and non starch veggies. All the extra sugar and goodies during the Holidays have put a few lbs back on, but I am starting to get them off again.

A 500 calorie deficit per day will give you 1 pound loss a week. A 1000 cal deficit will give you 2 lbs per week. After the initial first week extra water weight loss, you should be able to lose 1-2 lbs per week fairly easily. Consistency is the key. Log everything you eat, and stick with your calorie goal. No binging on the weekends after starving all week. That rarely works.
Exercise consistently and do some lifting as well.
Read the other good advice on here given by those who have succeeded long term. There are no easy quick fixes.

You don't look like someone who has 30 pounds to lose...

What's your height and weight?

she said in her original post shes 5"3 and 149...Shes at a normal weight for her height. http://www.ask.com/question/if-im-5-3-how-much-should-i-weigh

Actually, if you go by the BMI chart, (which many people think is bunk), she is in the overweight category at this height and weight. If she has a large frame, the healthy range goes up to 147, yet if she has a small frame, it could be as low as 111. This number would also vary, depending on how much muscle mass she has.

To the OP, I lost my first 30 lbs on here in about 4 months. I had quite a bit more to lose than you do, but I was also 49 and partially disabled, so it is a bit harder to lose now than when I was 20. It took another year for me to lose the next 20 lbs. I have done it so far by mostly diet alone, but getting in extra activity as much as I can. I am insulin resistant, so lower carbs have worked well for me. I try to stay away from processed sugars and grains, and eat more protein, healthy fats, and fruits and non starch veggies. All the extra sugar and goodies during the Holidays have put a few lbs back on, but I am starting to get them off again.

A 500 calorie deficit per day will give you 1 pound loss a week. A 1000 cal deficit will give you 2 lbs per week. After the initial first week extra water weight loss, you should be able to lose 1-2 lbs per week fairly easily. Consistency is the key. Log everything you eat, and stick with your calorie goal. No binging on the weekends after starving all week. That rarely works.
Exercise consistently and do some lifting as well.
Read the other good advice on here given by those who have succeeded long term. There are no easy quick fixes.

Yes you are correct but in all actually shes only over weight by 2 lbs. Not that much compared to others. So her weight loss will more then likely slow

I started at 145 and it took me about three months to get down to 130. I didn't exercise at all and only ate 1200 calories a day. I stalled at that weight for what seemed like forever so I joined MFP for advice. Everyone told me to start exercising but also try the TDEE method. I started fast walking for about 30 minutes a day but now I'm up to running five miles a day. I also went from eating 1200 calories a day to 1600 calories and the weight started coming off again. Losing the last 12 pounds took about four months. You know what they say about the last 10 pounds! At about 5'5" tall I don't think my body liked being 118 because I gained back three pounds pretty quickly even eating well. It will take awhile but you can do it!

I have lost 61.5 lbs as of this morning . I just looked at my report and it took me about 6 months to lose the first 30 and 6 months to lose the next 30 ..... basically I am OBSESSIVE about logging my food and have only gone over my calorie limit a few times the past year In June I bought a fitbit flex and although the exercise ups my calories allowed, I sometimes have a hard time eating all my calories -- stopped obsessing about that and worry more about whether I am truly hungry.

I have 30+ more to go so if I can do this in the next 6 months it will be just in time for a new spring wardrobe! :bigsmile:

Congratulations! That is incredible. Keep up the good work! :drinker:

I'm with you op. Even though I am a couple inches taller than you are since I have a small body frame so I look really big at 147. I need to be between 120-122 to look the way I want to look. I have friends who are about the same height as I am but since they have larger frames they look great at 150.

My goal is to lose 45 lbs. I started in October with an exercise program, and lost 0 lbs. and a few inches here and there (but gained inches also, for a net loss of 0.5 inches overall) after 4 weeks. Started tracking my food and eating my macros, and it took another 3 weeks for the scale to move. I'm down about 8 lbs. total now from where I started, losing 1-1.5 lbs a week at the moment. That pace is going to slow down significantly as I lose more weight. I was hoping to have lost the weight by May, but realistically July might end up being more accurate.

Based on your timeline, you might end up losing 8 lbs or less by Valentine's Day doing 1 lb per week (which is what is healthy given you only have 30 lbs to lose). I don't know if you consider that significant or not, but it's probably close to reality. I should also mention that while my clothes are a little looser, I haven't gone down a size in any article of clothing. Just wanted to put that out there in case you had visions of being able to fit into a smaller dress for the occasion, because weight comes off of whatever area of the body that it wants to.

It took me 1.5 years to lose 28 Ibs if that's any help?

You don't look like someone who has 30 pounds to lose...

What's your height and weight?

she said in her original post shes 5"3 and 149...Shes at a normal weight for her height. http://www.ask.com/question/if-im-5-3-how-much-should-i-weigh

Actually, if you go by the BMI chart, (which many people think is bunk), she is in the overweight category at this height and weight. If she has a large frame, the healthy range goes up to 147, yet if she has a small frame, it could be as low as 111. This number would also vary, depending on how much muscle mass she has.

To the OP, I lost my first 30 lbs on here in about 4 months. I had quite a bit more to lose than you do, but I was also 49 and partially disabled, so it is a bit harder to lose now than when I was 20. It took another year for me to lose the next 20 lbs. I have done it so far by mostly diet alone, but getting in extra activity as much as I can. I am insulin resistant, so lower carbs have worked well for me. I try to stay away from processed sugars and grains, and eat more protein, healthy fats, and fruits and non starch veggies. All the extra sugar and goodies during the Holidays have put a few lbs back on, but I am starting to get them off again.

A 500 calorie deficit per day will give you 1 pound loss a week. A 1000 cal deficit will give you 2 lbs per week. After the initial first week extra water weight loss, you should be able to lose 1-2 lbs per week fairly easily. Consistency is the key. Log everything you eat, and stick with your calorie goal. No binging on the weekends after starving all week. That rarely works.
Exercise consistently and do some lifting as well.
Read the other good advice on here given by those who have succeeded long term. There are no easy quick fixes.

Yes you are correct but in all actually shes only over weight by 2 lbs. Not that much compared to others. So her weight loss will more then likely slow

I have a very small frame. 149 or even 147 is not a healthy weight for me at all. I understand what your saying but considering I have a small frame I should be nowhere near 147.

I know. Im not picking on you either. And as I stated on your other post im the same height as you so I know how small you are.....May I ask where do you carry the weight the most? For me it was my thighs

I can tell you how NOT to lose 30 pounds like i did initially.

DO NOT DO THIS-
I ate 1200 calories a day
I paid no attention to protein intake whatsoever (looking back it was about 30-40 grams a day)
I did only cardio (mainly elliptical) and refused to do resistance training
I would consistently be under my daily goal (about 1000-1100 cals)


I lost about 25 pounds in 4 months doing this.

And then i looked just as fat as when i had started. It took less and less and less to maintain my weight. My skin looked horrible. I still had stomach flab.... uh... yeah.

Then I switched to:

Eating 1450 calories a day
Eating minimum 90 grams protein per day
Resistance training which switched to heavy weight lifting


This is the difference of 14 months on this new regimen. I gained about 5 pounds total.


Before at goal weight-




After 14 months of lifting and eating enough cals/protein:




I guess what I'm trying to get at... is... TAKE IT SLOW! Do it the right way the first time so you dont have to go back and start over like i did. It took months and months and months to undo the mistake i made when i first started.

Can you tell a difference? Yeah... i'm pretty sure you can.

Focus on your body fat percentage.... NOT the "weight". Even if you are losing less "weight" atleast you'll be on the road to improving your physique.

I don't recall how long it took me to lose 30 lbs. I've lost close to 4 times that much by now. I eat right, workout, get plenty of sleep, and the fat burns off.

It is not really the best plan to make scale weight time-based goals. They very often fail because you can do everything correct & the scale might not say what you think it should. The scale weighs things other than fat loss & those are all includedc in the number you see. Just eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and the fat will burn off. The scale will reflect that in its own time. Take your measurements. They are more telling of fat loss.

I lost my first 20 pounds in five months by eating slightly less than my TDEE. I also did some lifting and running for muscle preservation and health. (I then added 20 pounds in about 18 months by eating slightly more than my TDEE while continuing to lift and run. For the past few months, I have been eating substantially more than my TDEE while lifting considerably more (and running considerably less) with a plan to bulk then cut.)



Of course, this is my own unique situation that will apply to no one else...

...except the eating under and over TDEE leading to losing and gaining weight, respectively, which applies to everyone else.



ETA: I'll plan to lose the inevitable extra 20 pounds I finish adding in the next month or two in about two months, but that's not really applicable to your situation.

30lbs lost in 70 days