How did you lose weight? (I'm new to this)

I agree, you can't go in with the mindset of 'I just want to lose weight, and fast' - you have to know that there isn't some magic end date. You cannot ever go back to the former lifestyle that you had that made you gain the weight. So you need to make changes you can live with for the rest of your life.

I like to eat more (and drink alcohol occasionally) so I choose to make time for moving more to help me lose and keep weight off.

I go to the gym 4-5x per week but I only spend 35 minutes at the gym. I walk 1/2 a mile to from my parking garage to work and I do it as fast as I can to give me a little boost in calorie burn. On the weekends, I don't think I sit down all day until dinner time, I am constantly moving.


I lost the weight in segments, 20 pounds from January to June. I had lost 10 pounds in the year prior to that and had maintained that, then lost the next 20 in 6 months.

I know you probably think, "ok, everyone's giving me these "typical" "easy" answers that I've heard a million times before," but it's because they are the absolute truth. It took me a LONG time to realize this and have my epiphany moment. Seriously. Soak it in now, and not after a decade of crazy yo-yo'ing and trying to figure out the "magic secret" like me. lol. It's 100% about the math and science of it. In order to lose weight, you have to eat at a caloric deficit. Although it's easier said than done, that's really it.

Read this: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

...Read the post, read the comments. Read them over and over and over until you have your ah-ha moment like I did.

The thing I personally still struggle with (in my brain) is remembering this: "Eat at a deficit to lose weight; exercise for health and fitness." I've been exercising consistently, hardcore, high-intensity forever. I'm a gym rat. Sometimes I've been a 145lb gym rat, sometimes I've been a 210lb gym rat. Sometimes I've lost massive amounts of weight while doing "workout x y or z," and sometimes I've gained that weight back, all while working out even harder. I've told people I've had "massive success with such-and-such workouts the first time around, but not the 2nd time around," etc. ... I know now, that my weight loss successes/"failures" have been 100% nutrition-related. I had it hammered in my head so many times, but it just never sank in until I really delved into MFP. I let pregnancy, medications, hormonal issues, stress, and every other thing I could think of BESIDES "calories in vs. calories out" be my excuse.

I would say, "I eat all healthy foods...I eat salads every day...I only "cheat" now and then...I eat "clean". Then, my trainer, who's a total MFP guru, told me something that stuck hard and fast. She said, "You can eat the 'cleanest & healthiest' foods in the world...but 6,000 calories of 'clean, healthy' food...is still 6,000 calories. Yes. Yes. Yes. Back to calories in vs. calories out. I then realized my "clean eating" obsession was what helped me gain back 40lbs of pregnancy weight that I had already lost!!!

Also, for me, the "automatic" calorie burn calculations MFP puts out are highly inflated, so either use a HRM or only eat back like half of your exercise calories to be safe. (Yes, you can eat back exercise calories and stay in a deficit. MFP calculates your daily calorie goal as if you were trying to lose weight without taking additional exercise into account.

Oh yeah, and I ONLY ever enter "intentional" exercise (for example, I don't eat back 100 calories if I spend 1 hour cleaning my house, or total up the minutes I spend "incidentally" doing things like walking to my car or taking the stairs at work, etc. That's just how I roll, but I know a lot of people track steps and house chores, so play around with what works).

And, remember this...I've heard it on MFP forums a million times over: "Weight loss isn't linear." If you don't lose for a couple weeks, don't think you are "failing." It takes time. Some weeks I'm up, some weeks I'm down. Some weeks I stay the same. Some weeks I drop a few lbs at a time.

One last thing...treat MFP like it's Facebook. I don't even have a fb account anymore. This is the only social media I use. All of my MFP friends are friends in "real life" and I make my diary public. Support and accountability. Be active in the MFP community. This social media site has a purpose. I used to spend hours on facebook. At least on here, I'm on it and in it for my health.

I hope all of this helps!!!

valcala23 wrote: »

MelWick524 wrote: »

I know you probably think, "ok, everyone's giving me these "typical" "easy" answers that I've heard a million times before," but it's because they are the absolute truth. It took me a LONG time to realize this and have my epiphany moment. Seriously. Soak it in now, and not after a decade of crazy yo-yo'ing and trying to figure out the "magic secret" like me. lol. It's 100% about the math and science of it. In order to lose weight, you have to eat at a caloric deficit. Although it's easier said than done, that's really it.

Read this: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

...Read the post, read the comments. Read them over and over and over until you have your ah-ha moment like I did.

The thing I personally still struggle with (in my brain) is remembering this: "Eat at a deficit to lose weight; exercise for health and fitness." I've been exercising consistently, hardcore, high-intensity forever. I'm a gym rat. Sometimes I've been a 145lb gym rat, sometimes I've been a 210lb gym rat. Sometimes I've lost massive amounts of weight while doing "workout x y or z," and sometimes I've gained that weight back, all while working out even harder. I've told people I've had "massive success with such-and-such workouts the first time around, but not the 2nd time around," etc. ... I know now, that my weight loss successes/"failures" have been 100% nutrition-related. I had it hammered in my head so many times, but it just never sank in until I really delved into MFP. I let pregnancy, medications, hormonal issues, stress, and every other thing I could think of BESIDES "calories in vs. calories out" be my excuse.

I would say, "I eat all healthy foods...I eat salads every day...I only "cheat" now and then...I eat "clean". Then, my trainer, who's a total MFP guru, told me something that stuck hard and fast. She said, "You can eat the 'cleanest & healthiest' foods in the world...but 6,000 calories of 'clean, healthy' food...is still 6,000 calories. Yes. Yes. Yes. Back to calories in vs. calories out. I then realized my "clean eating" obsession was what helped me gain back 40lbs of pregnancy weight that I had already lost!!!

Also, for me, the "automatic" calorie burn calculations MFP puts out are highly inflated, so either use a HRM or only eat back like half of your exercise calories to be safe. (Yes, you can eat back exercise calories and stay in a deficit. MFP calculates your daily calorie goal as if you were trying to lose weight without taking additional exercise into account.

Oh yeah, and I ONLY ever enter "intentional" exercise (for example, I don't eat back 100 calories if I spend 1 hour cleaning my house, or total up the minutes I spend "incidentally" doing things like walking to my car or taking the stairs at work, etc. That's just how I roll, but I know a lot of people track steps and house chores, so play around with what works).

And, remember this...I've heard it on MFP forums a million times over: "Weight loss isn't linear." If you don't lose for a couple weeks, don't think you are "failing." It takes time. Some weeks I'm up, some weeks I'm down. Some weeks I stay the same. Some weeks I drop a few lbs at a time.

One last thing...treat MFP like it's Facebook. I don't even have a fb account anymore. This is the only social media I use. All of my MFP friends are friends in "real life" and I make my diary public. Support and accountability. Be active in the MFP community. This social media site has a purpose. I used to spend hours on facebook. At least on here, I'm on it and in it for my health.

I hope all of this helps!!!

Thanks this is really helpful.

You're welcome. (Now, every time I struggle with my own journey, I can just read what I wrote, lol!)

As others have posted before- calories in/ calories out. Track accurately with MFP. My diet hasn't changed much-other than trying to not drink most of my calories. I also learned that my snacks need to have a bit of protein or complex carbs to keep me going (ie apple w PB, Veggies and hummus, berries and greek yogurt). I do workout at least 5 times a week- for the health, the "me" time and to earn my glass of wine! I've also built in multiple strategies for support- A nutrition support group at work (I work at a university so the nutrition students and prof lead the program), a trainer at the gym (YMCA) and the MFP community. My workouts tend to be at the gym. Spin classes or TRX are my current go tos. But also walking, hiking, biking, skiing and yoga- because I enjoy these. HIIT videos at home when I can't get to the gym. And when its too nice out to go to the gym- a playground workout while the kids run around.

I stopped drinking beer, cut way back on other alcohol, and overhauled my diet. I replaced a lot of the food I was eating with whole foods that were lower calorie so that I didn't end up hungry all of the time (I'm not very good at eating anything I want but keeping the portions small, which works for many people). I started cooking my own meals instead of going to fast-food restaurants or ordering pizza. I walked or did resistance machines at the gym a couple times per week (have been slacking on that lately). I started doing all of that in September of last year and as of today I have lost 39.5 lbs. So, around 7 months.

80 pounds gone, very simple, eat less, move more.

I'm not a success story yet, but so far this has been working for me:

The only thing I cut out is soda and sweet tea.
I added in more veggies, because it's good for me. I budget some calories for a treat (reasonable portion of something I truly like) regularly.
I exercise by walking 30min-1hour each day, with usually one day a week when I don't do a 'walk for exercise' but am otherwise lightly active like cleaning the house (going up and down stairs 20-ish times usually!), sight-seeing or taking a short hike/walk in a park. I don't generally track that 'doing fun or required stuff that's also sort of exercise.'

The mistakes I've made are not planning ahead and finding myself with nothing healthy to eat, and going over my calories because I neglected to log something in and forgot about it. I've learned to actually take the time to plan out my meals, and to log food right away while it's fresh in my memory.

I haven't lost that much yet but it's only been a short time.

I didn't really do any workouts. Just focused on eating within my deficit most of the time and making sure I met my protein/fat/fiber targets every day. I added a daily walk after a few months, but only help ease my back. I rewarded myself for losing 65lbs by joining a gym and becoming much more active.

I also ate out as usual, did business trips and vacations when I didn't log and just managed to get back on to it when I got home. You don't have to be perfect.

Mistakes?.. Honestly, what I did worked for me. I wish maybe I'd done it sooner, but that's about it.