To those who lost over 100 pounds

I lost 106, then gained back 10 and have been fighting with those 10lbs ever since. I still need to lose a minimum of about 45lbs to get within spitting distance of where I want to be.

To answer your question, for me all that mattered in the beginning was calorie counting. I lost a lot of weight at a good rate with very little concern over what exactly I was eating. I was making an effort to improve my eating habits along the way just because it made hitting my calorie goal easier, but ultimately I had plenty of room in my calorie goal to eat pretty much whatever I wanted and not go over.

However, as I've gotten lower in weight, it's become more of a struggle (as I said above, I've been fighting with 10lbs for quite a while and still have a significant amount to go). I've been doing a lot of experimenting with diet and exercise options and what I've concluded from that is that I do need to be more careful about what I'm eating in order to succeed at this lower weight. I think it is a combination of issue. First, I need to actually be able to eat closer to maintenance (and sacrifice the speed of weight loss) in order to be able to stay on track. If I try to eat too little, I lose it and binge on crap at night. This has lead to the second issue, which is that eating at a higher goal has sort of opened a floodgate for me because I can technically get away with eating more high calorie treats than I was before. Which leads to me wanting more of that type of food and less of the lean meat/ fruit/ veggie that I lost all of my weight on. My struggle right now is to not use my higher calorie goal as an excuse to eat more junk and then to not use the eating of junk to justify eating a little more junk and putting myself over my goal every single day.

So, yes, you can lose weight just by strictly adhering to your calorie goals, however if you have problems with being tempted into routinely eating over your goal, I recommend trying to cut back a bit on the high calorie treats and eat most of your calories in lean meats/ fruits/ veg/ etc. That said, I am still a big proponent of eating whatever you want in moderation. I just think that people need to make sure they understand what moderation is. One twinkie a week is moderate and isn't going to hurt anyone's weight loss. But eating four a day because they technically fit in a calorie goal is not moderate and can lead some of us down that path of chronic overeating.

The basics that helped me:
1. portion control
2. calorie deficit
3. patience

I do have HBP and have to keep my sodium <2000, so that changes a lot of what I eat. I will say that my diet is what I want and like to eat, not what's good for me. I eat "dirty", "junk", "bad" foods and plenty of "bad carbs".

Proud to be a member of this club! In general weighed measured and opted for much healthier overall choices. That being said, I "treated" myself well and often with chocolate, candy, chips, and those sugary protein bars, as long as it fit within my calorie goals. I still have about 100 lbs to lose, and things have slowed considerably, but I truly believe it was due to exercise restrictions after a surgery, and with the consequent infection. To speed things up, I went on Dr. Hyman's 10 day detox plan, and lost an amazing 6 lbs twice. The first time after coming off it, I did go to the Chinese Buffet for a birthday indulgence. Promptly gained back 4 lbs that I know was mainly water sodium but took a good week to come back off. The second time, my big "splurge" was a cinnamon roll at a brunch. 3 lbs gained. I added back to my diet a salsa with sugar (still 10 calories) salad dressing with sugar (35 calories) cheese (within caloric guidelines) and quinoa. Promptly showed a 3 lb gain. Grrrrr, since I'm not going to live the rest of my life without sugar, or dairy or grains, I am simply not going to restrict myself any more. I will continue to eat generally healthy and allow myself fruits, dairy, wheat and the very occasional caffeine. I feel that binging is caused by deprivation, so I do not deprive myself, but now I will severely limit what I get. I was jonesing for cheesecake last Feb and bought one, figuring out exactly how I would work off that pile of additional calories. I ate that first piece and was enveloped by peace, tranquility and happiness. But that piece did the trick, and now my freezer is taken over by a box of cheesecake with 1 piece missing. I know I will end up tossing it. Next time I will get a slice of cheesecake or a 2 pack. Same thing with corn dogs..... something I don't generally like. Was going to go to Sonic and just get one, but instead found some fakey corndoggy things made by Morningstar Farms... a vegetarian concoction. If you don't look at them while you eat them they are incredibly tasty, and satisfied the craving and under half the calories. I say eat what you want if it's generally healthy and indulge in your cravings and less healthy options as needed to keep you from feeling deprived or unhappy.

When I started I was stricter on what I ate because I thought that's how you dieted. Then I learned a little bit more and up'ed my calories, got rid of the "diet" foods, and started eating what I enjoy.

Once I figured out that I didn't have to eat mini meals all day long, could eat my 1-2 bigger meals that were heavy on protein and veggies, it's kept me satisfied and left me room for a nightly dessert.

There's days I eat fast food, I love to bake, make ice cream, and I do all of that usually a few times a week. Learning how to eat in moderation and finally understanding portion control is what made the difference.

Towards the end -- for ME -- it just became harder to maintain a deficit because my TDEE lowered, and lowered, and lowered from around 2500 to around 1950, and there was less room for error while still losing (and I started running to raise my TDEE). That's when it made more of a difference what I ate. Mainly because I had to make sure I was getting in all of my nutrients in smaller and smaller total calories. When you're only eating 1200-1400 per day, it's tough to fit in that glass of wine or cheese on your lasagna.

I think this has made things a lot tougher for me since I hit the normal weight range, too. Just no wiggle room anymore.

I've found that it's all about calorie deficit and getting the exercise to balance both your metabolism and body in general. Through the years I've learned that you should make every calorie count, in other words, eat foods that give you a proper amount of nutrition.

When you're restricting your calories it's a must that the food going into your body will give it everything it needs to function properly. I think it helps a great deal to make healthy choices. Your mind and body will thank you. Even when you get to maintenance you still need to stay away from overly processed foods. It's perfectly fine to cheat now and then but the bulk of your food needs to count.

I lost my first 50lbs by simply just calorie counting. Now I did cut out fast food, but besides that I let myself eat anything that I wanted so long as I stayed with my deficit. Once I lost that first fifty pounds I began slowly weening myself off all the bad stuff. I stopped consuming soda, corn syrup, and by in large most empty calories. I allowed for a treat now and then of course, but I made sure 90% of what I ate in a week was food that had value beyond its calories.


So yes you can lose weight based on restriction alone, but eating healthy and cutting out the bad stuff will help control your appetite better, and in the end will just make your healthier. My cholesterol did not budge and inch when I lost my first 50, but losing my next 50 with better food it went down dramatically.

I actually recommend to people to just eat what they want at first and slowly ease into eating better, cold turkey rarely works for the long haul.

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