It's not that hard..

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257_Lag
257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This morning I hit -60 pounds. It's been 28 months from a high of 257. People usually say something like "Good for you! Losing weight is SO hard!" Usually I just say thank you and occasionally I will voice what I am thinking "It's really not that hard."

I will admit this is the first time I ever tried to lose weight other than the occasional short lived fads but I really feel that armed with proper knowledge, dismissing all those myths you always heard and having of a terrific tool like MFP had made this SO much easier than I ever thought possible. Not "easy" by any stretch, just not that hard.

For those of you with some success, do you agree or disagree?
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Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Excellent work, congratulations!
  • roonetta
    roonetta Posts: 4 Member
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    Well done you! I think if you get into the right frame of mind it is easier than trying to fight all those cravings. Having said that, I do find some days harder than others. Today I managed to say no to a Snickers Brownie (that was quite hard!) but on a different day I may have caved. I agree that MFP is a great help though.
  • coreyreichle
    coreyreichle Posts: 1,039 Member
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    257_Lag wrote: »
    "It's really not that hard."

    It is "that hard", and you are undercutting the work you put into losing the weight :)

    I get irritated when people say how luck I am to be able to lose weight. B*thc please, luck had nothing to do with it. Walking 4-8 miles a day, coupled with running 9 miles a week and eating less does.
  • emdeesea
    emdeesea Posts: 1,823 Member
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    I agree. I crossed the 50 pound mark today. Is it hard? Not really. It was the breaking of old habits that was the hard part to me. But the actual process? No.
  • rawk_fairy_666
    rawk_fairy_666 Posts: 103 Member
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    i would agree, mostly. I was shocked at how easy it has been to lose weight once you get the process down. Changing bad habits was tricky, sorting out my emotional issues surrounding food was tricky, eating less and exercising was easy! There are easy bits and difficult bits. I think the reason i waited so long was because i thought losing weight was going to be hell, but its not. I eat enjoyable foods, i dont starve myself, i enjoy the exercise. It's good!
  • tinascar2015
    tinascar2015 Posts: 413 Member
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    First, let me say congratulations! Second, I agree that with the right attitude (not viewing a diet as punishment), this isn't hard. In fact, I'm loving it.

    Lastly, I'm sending you a friend request.
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    257_Lag wrote: »
    This morning I hit -60 pounds. It's been 28 months from a high of 257. People usually say something like "Good for you! Losing weight is SO hard!" Usually I just say thank you and occasionally I will voice what I am thinking "It's really not that hard."

    I will admit this is the first time I ever tried to lose weight other than the occasional short lived fads but I really feel that armed with proper knowledge, dismissing all those myths you always heard and having of a terrific tool like MFP had made this SO much easier than I ever thought possible. Not "easy" by any stretch, just not that hard.

    For those of you with some success, do you agree or disagree?

    The concept it easy and people make that part of it WAY harder than it is. You see that by all the dumb threads in the forum such as detoxes and fad diets.

    The actual part of sticking to the concept and maintaining it is the hard part and I think that is what people are referring to when they say it's hard. I've found it somewhat easy but I can certainly see how some people, especially with emotional problems and eating disorders, could have a hard time.
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
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    coreyreichle wrote: »
    257_Lag wrote: »
    "It's really not that hard."

    It is "that hard", and you are undercutting the work you put into losing the weight :)

    I get irritated when people say how luck I am to be able to lose weight. B*thc please, luck had nothing to do with it. Walking 4-8 miles a day, coupled with running 9 miles a week and eating less does.

    I'm not saying anything we have done is easy or that we shouldn't be proud of it, just that I imagined the process to be hell as rawk_fairy_666 mentioned, I found the hardest part was sticking with it for so long once I found what worked, I couldn't agree more with ncboiler89 comments.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I would agree that the process itself is not difficult for me. But the length of time it is taking to get there is. The first year was super easy IMO. The past 5 months have been the worst.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    Um...congrats? For a lot of people, it is that hard.

    I agree that the concept of losing weight is simple. Eat less, move more. But actually putting that into practice is not easy for a lot of people.
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
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    257_Lag wrote: »
    This morning I hit -60 pounds. It's been 28 months from a high of 257. People usually say something like "Good for you! Losing weight is SO hard!" Usually I just say thank you and occasionally I will voice what I am thinking "It's really not that hard."

    I will admit this is the first time I ever tried to lose weight other than the occasional short lived fads but I really feel that armed with proper knowledge, dismissing all those myths you always heard and having of a terrific tool like MFP had made this SO much easier than I ever thought possible. Not "easy" by any stretch, just not that hard.

    For those of you with some success, do you agree or disagree?

    I've lost almost 60lbs and I've been maintaining for over two years now. Weight loss and maintenance are pretty simple-calories, math and eating at a deficit/maintenance. However, starting out it can be very overwhelming trying to sort through all the rubbish and getting to that simple truth. Also, there are factors that can make the process more challenging, like people who are dealing with issues like binge eating, medical conditions etc.

    For me-yes it's been pretty easy going, but I also realize others have to deal with things in their lives that I don't have too, which may make their journy's more difficult/different than my own.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Congratulations! I understand what you mean. But I also understand the "it's so hard" sentiment as well.

    There is so much (mis)information out there...you should eat this way, don't eat after 6 etc. etc.

    Getting started can be tough and overwhelming. It took me a little bit to figure out what worked for me, but once I got into my groove the weight and inches melted off of me.

    Now keeping it off is another story, but I'm doing well and I work at it everyday.
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    I get it.

    I don't think its that hard either. The first week was hard. After that, it really wasn't.

    When people ask me how I've lost weight I usually say "calorie counting and exercise and a lot of hard work." But then I feel weird because I don't really think its been that hard.

    I get that it's hard for some people, but when I get into the groove, I just sort of run on autopilot and it happens.
  • LovingLife_Erin
    LovingLife_Erin Posts: 328 Member
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    I agree... I mean it takes work, willpower and dedication, but if you are ready and willing then it doesn't feel that hard (to me!). I actually get annoyed because my whole life I've heard how hard it was to lose weight, and it was always portrayed to me as being so hard, it was practically impossible. It wasn't until I grew up, and moved away that I realised that it simply just meant eating less than I burned, and didn't require intense workouts, or starving yourself with only lettuce for months. If I'd known/realised that I could do it earlier, I might have tried to lose weight before now. For me, the rhetoric about it being so hard simply made me not want to try, and sadly, I think that's the case for a lot of people.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    edited May 2015
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    LovingLife_Erin wrote: »
    I realised that it simply just meant eating less than I burned, and didn't require intense workouts, or starving yourself with only lettuce for months. If I'd known/realised that I could do it earlier, I might have tried to lose weight before now.

    Exactly! At first I thought I had to cut out things like pizza, candy and ice cream etc. I don't. I just have to look at my day/week and work the calories in. When I did I was miserable, I'd eventually binge, give up/feel deflated and repeat the cycle.

    It really does comes down to eating less than you burn consistently and you don't have to starve yourself/eat diet foods or do hardcore workouts.
  • gotolam
    gotolam Posts: 262 Member
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    Get yourself down to 5 lbs from goal and then come back here and tell us about how easy it is to get to goal.
  • Sarasmaintaining
    Sarasmaintaining Posts: 1,027 Member
    edited May 2015
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    gotolam wrote: »
    Get yourself down to 5 lbs from goal and then come back here and tell us about how easy it is to get to goal.

    I'm not the OP but I had no problem losing the last few pounds, transitioning into maintenance and staying in maintenance for over two years now. It really is pretty simple-figure out what your needed calorie deficit is and then stay within those parameters. You will need to adjust your deficit as you go along, but that's just some simple math. Also, as you get close to your goal weight you'll want to adjust your weekly weight loss goal down to .5lb a week. But again, pretty simple math to figure this out :)
  • BigGuy47
    BigGuy47 Posts: 1,768 Member
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    gotolam wrote: »
    Get yourself down to 5 lbs from goal and then come back here and tell us about how easy it is to get to goal.
    This.

    It was easy when I was morbidly obese. Still easy when I was obese. Moving from overweight to normal weight has been far more challenging.
  • Slashnl
    Slashnl Posts: 337 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    I would agree that the process itself is not difficult for me. But the length of time it is taking to get there is. The first year was super easy IMO. The past 5 months have been the worst.

    This is kind of where I am. I've lost 74 pounds in 17 months. I have a ways to go yet, so starting at such a high weight made the first 11-12 months easier. But that was only after the struggle of getting into a groove with workouts and logging food. I'm 51 years old, and it never clicked like this before. So yes, it can be easy, once you get your system figured out.

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