How are you doing it?!

I'm 35, have 2 children and have lost 22 lbs since I started 3 months ago. 12 lbs since I joined mfp. For me, doing the "eat this instead of that" approach has worked well. For instance, I drink alot of milk. The first thing I did was switch from regular whole fat milk to simply smart fat free milk. Substituting part skim mozzarella for American on sandwiches, ground turkey for ground beef, turkey bacon instead of regular, egg whites instead of whole eggs etc. It's not the "clean" "organic" eating most here will swear by but for me it has been feasible and working. I still make the same recipes I did before, the only difference is the substitution of this for that. I walk every morning, if I feel like it I take my bike somewhere in the afternoon and another walk at night. If I'm sitting around watching tv I get off the couch and on to the floor and do squats, leg raises, pushups, planks..whatever. Nothing crazy or strenuous, nothing that makes me feel deprived or exhausted. I don't have a gym membership. I cut my sugar way down and try really hard to not eat at night after dinner. Sometimes I mess up. But I log what I'm eating here meticulously and that helps me to be accountable. Instead of spending time browsing Facebook I get on here and browse success stories or tips. Keeps me motivated seeing other people in the same boat. Good luck! You can do this!

Hi, I'm Celeste. I'm 61 and needing to lose 25 pounds. I've just been at it for a month. I'll weigh for the first time in about a week. I'm just doing it once a month so I can actually see some change. I chose to lose slowly because I think I'll be willing to keep it up for the long haul and not burn out if I don't make it too hard. I'm on a plan to just lose half to a pound a week and that's fine with me. I can always challenge myself on a daily basis to exercise a bit more or eat a bit less to give me a little quicker loss. I'm happy with where I'm at. I know I've lost, but not sure how much. It looks and feels like around 4-5 pounds so far, but we will see in about a week. I've had a total knee replacement, so impact cardio is not really feasible for me, but I walk and bicycle when I can. I'm exploring some Youtube fitness videos to do over the winter. I have not yet joined a gym, but I may do that for the winter. Good luck with your program.

I think everyone does it differently. The common thread would be eating fewer calories than we burn. Other than that, it's all over the place.

I have three pieces of advice...

1. Shake it up. Keep trying different exercises, because you may find one you love. But don't do just that. Every so often, do something else. The same thing gets boring and if you have something to fall back on, you'll be more apt to switch to that instead of just quitting the exercise. Old exercise fads aren't less beneficial than new ones and DVDs for them are cheap on eBay!

Eating, too. Make foods in different ways. Try new things all the time. If eating more one day and less another doesn't work, try sticking close to your number every day. If you're always near target, maybe try eating more and then less on a couple days. Whatever. Shake it up and keep it interesting.

2. Do what works for YOU. Not what works for someone else, not what the girls at work say and not what Gwynneth Paltrow or any other fitness guru says. (Consciously uncouple from that.) It's fun and interesting to hear all the different takes on fitness, diet and exercise, but don't second-guess yourself unless what you are doing is something your doctor won't approve.

3. Have patience. The weight loss journey is a long one, the scale will go down and up for seemingly no reason. You do everything right and you gain three pounds! Chill. If you do everything right, the weight will come off. Don't flip out if you overeat one day. Minor setback. Doesn't ruin EVERYTHING. Move on.

Everyone has to walk their own path. You will find yours.

Good luck!

46-year-old man here. I initially set my goal to 1.5 pounds/week. I actually lost about 1.1 pounds/week for the first 6 months, which was perfectly fine with me. (MFP's calorie goals are estimates, after all.) I didn't make many changes to my usual diet; I just ate less of everything. The one exception is that I used to alternate between cereal and toast for breakfast. I discovered that a slice of buttered toast kept me going until lunchtime, while the same calories in cereal and lowfat milk didn't, so I rarely eat cereal now.

I was active before starting weight loss. I cycle several hours a week, do the occasional long walk or hike, and row on a stationary rower. Now that I'm no longer overweight I also run a few times a week. Right now I average around 500 calories a day of aerobic exercise, which does make a difference in how much I can eat. I also do a basic bodyweight exercise routine a couple times a week, to maintain muscle strength and mass while losing weight.

Unless you have a substantial amount of weight to lose (over 100 pounds) I would advise against 2 pounds/week. That's a daily calorie deficit of 1000 calories. I would find that miserable.

I am doing a pound a week. The reason I am doing a pound a week is so that my body will adjust and try to minimize any potential loose skin issues.

I am also doing a pound a week because as a lifetime yo-yo dieter, if I want to keep it off, I am going to have to track my eating for the rest of my life anyway to keep it off, so what's the hurry.

The only real change to me being thin is going to be where I buy clothes and how fast I can swim.

I'm eating ~1700 calories a day. I can eat anything I want as long as I stay within calorie counts. Practically this does mean I tend to throw a LOT of veggies into my diet and eat a lot of lean protein. But I do enjoy my meals.
I do a 30-40 minute swim 5 days a week and am getting in about 6100 yards a week right now. I may drop back the swimming to three days a week and hit the weights a couple of days a week soon.

I'm 45 and an empty nester.

I started in January and am down 29lb. 13lb to go.

which plan did you choose? At the start, I was doing 2lb a week but I don't think there was really any need. If I went back I'd do 1 - 1 1/2 lb. Right now I'm set at about 1lb a week.
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Are you exercising, if so - how much? I used to work out at home about 3 times a week. Right now I work out between 0 and 3 times a week depending.

and how old are you? I'm 22. Started at 21.

Really all I have to do is stick to my calorie goal and I lose without fail. The weeks I don't lose it's only because I went over my goal.

You get very accurate in very accurate in your logging:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide#latest

I'm 47 and losing 0 to 3 lbs a week. So far I've lost about 15 - quit smoking on new years so I've lost what I gained and I'm going to keep going, I'd like to get another 20lbs off.

I run almost every day; love it. That's my 'me' time. Around 4 miles, and burn anywhere from 300 to 400 calories. Because of my age and my love of gin & tonics, I have to keep big calorie deficits every day.

I eat pretty healthy and I log everything I eat; I keep a very close eye on the numbers but recognize my daily calorie deficit probably isn't as big as I think it is. I try to go with nutritionally packed food but I am not afraid to have something I adore here and there or go out for dinner and drinks with my fiance - just not all the time.

I wear a fitbit 24/7 and use a heart rate monitor when I work out, log my calories and exercise on MFP. I love to lift weights but have stopped for just a bit; will integrate them back in after a few more weeks.

Just start making new habits. Every 'healthy' decision you make is another step on the path to building good habits. it's a lot harder to decide to eat something I shouldn't if I had a killer run that day!

There is a rule of thumb here regarding how much to lose in what amount of time and I think it is really spot on.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15-25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

Sure, its great to get to your goal and look/feel better as fast as you can, but IMO the things I'm learning about how I eat/why I eat/what I eat are super important and probably are what will allow me to keep the weight off. Fast weight loss would not have taught me what slower, steady weight loss has, IMO. I am about half way to my goal. I know I can continue eating this way now. However long it takes, it takes, because really nothing is going to change when I get to my goal weight. Oh maybe I'll get a few more calories a day but not too many due to my height and age.

TL/DR: if I lost 100 pounds in 6 months I'm not sure I would have learned enough about my personal eating habits to be able to keep it off. Taking a couple years to lose the weight will likely make eating this way a habit and sustainable.

twinzmom172 wrote: »

I just started a few days ago and have a bunch to lose! I saw a bunch of success stories - people losing quite a bit of weight in a fairly short amount of time which got me hooked! I'm just wondering how you are doing it?

I chose the 2lb loss/week plan -

which plan did you choose?
Are you exercising, if so - how much?
and how old are you?

I'm a 42 year old, recently divorced mom of twins and I need some inspiration!!!

Thanks!!!

I initially did 2 lbs/week, but felt like that was too restrictive. I needed to lose about 40 pounds to get into the upper end of a healthy BMI range, but I also was not in a rush to do so (so I dropped my plan to 1 lb/week to have more calories to play with).

Ironically, I was dropping about 2 to 2.5 pounds a week for about 2 months on the 1lb/week plan and then the weight loss kind of stalled. I currently at 0.5 lb/week to try to get the remaining 10 pounds off, but I have pretty much been maintaining my current weight (185 lbs) the last 8 months or so (which is not a bad thing).

I exercise everyday in the form of either walking (bad knee, lower back nerve issues prevent me from running) and I lift weights 2/3 times a week. I don't focus on the daily exercise minutes/calories but try to achieve at least 3,000 calories of exercise per week.

I am 54.