But what did you really do to lose weight?

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Replies

  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    Elen1a wrote: »
    Fasted every other day for coming up to nine months now. Why? It offers quick weight loss, benefits my health in other ways, and I enjoy it.

    I give a rough estimate to calories consumed and stick with that. If I'm a tad inaccurate - so what? As I eat one meal every other day around 7pm, I'm hitting my deficit anyway (again, for health reasons and enjoyment as much as the weight loss. No issue with sticking with this for life) so if I'm a bit out that's fine. Whilst I respect some people wish to count calories and weigh their food for life this definitely isn't something I'd be willing to do. In my mind, life is too short to be ruled by a scale.

    Exercise - not too strict on it even if I should be. I just wanted to get the weight off fast, and even now I'm losing around a pound a week. No I'm not interested if certain people deem this unhealthy; my doctor is fine with me doing this. As I'm still losing around 1% of my body weight every week (currently 129 ibs, and definitely losing just over a pound a week) and eating enough protein, fibre etc, not interested in any dietary advice. Sorry but I know how this forum can get sometimes :p. It's great if you want/ ask for the help, but can get dicey if your method isn't something certain people agree with.

    That's about it for me. I'm in great health, I eat great food without depriving myself and have found something to sort any health issues I have. Good luck.

    Intermittent fasting: you're doin it wrong.

    (Please don't tell us how many calories your one meal per two days contains. It most likely qualifies as a VLCD and we don't want your unhealthy advice to get this thread closed)
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    edited January 2016
    Logged everything i ate and made sure i came in at my calorie allotment of 1500.

    I used a food scale for accurate measuring. I eat whatever i want....as long as it fits in my calories. That includes mcdonalds at least 4 days a week (i did change my standard order to a mcdouble, no cheese and half bun with a med fry to make it fit my calories more easily).

    I ran for cardio a couple days a week so i could eat more calories. I followed SL 5x5 for strength and to retain as much lean muscle mass as possible.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    AM workout- Cathe Friedrich strength/ circuit training or HIIT/ interval training
    PM workout- incline treadmill walk for half hour on level 15 to 20 and Arc trainer or elliptical for half hour

    Food: Started with Weight Watchers, then went to MFP. I eat meat once per day or less, mostly fish and chicken. I eat foods I like in modest portions according to the package size and what daily calories allow. Fruits and veggies at every meal and snack. 1200 to 1600 calories per day. 3 meals and 3 small snacks per day. I allow more breathing room on weekends since they're family days. I don't do cheat days- I'll have a smaller meals and snacks to allow more room for the "main event" meal so I can stay within limits. I also don't believe in labeling foods good or bad, but we are capable of making the best choices for ourselves when it comes to food selection and is not up to the food police to decide that for us.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
    And again to sum it all up-
    It makes no difference what your routine is. Weight loss comes down to calories. I could sit here all day and list every workout I did and every gram of each food I ate. But it all comes down to the calories for weight loss.
    Calories in / calories out.
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    I ate/ am eating the same foods, just less and make sure I eat my allotted calories for the day.
    No magic tricks or gimmicks. No dangerous vlcds, just plain old CICO.
  • akellyiii
    akellyiii Posts: 4 Member
    edited January 2016
    Eat better food, eat less of it and move your *kitten*. It's really not that hard. -90 as of this morning.
  • robot_potato
    robot_potato Posts: 1,535 Member
    I track my calories. I still eat whatever food I want, I just make sure it is within my calorie limit. it's higher right now cause I'm nursing a baby, so it's easier to stay in limit. My food scale is the best kitchen tool ever.

    I go for a 1/2 hour walk after I dump the big kids off at school, in a good week I do it 5 times.
    I also lift weights, I have a barbell and hand weights at home. Currently I manage twice a week, ideally it would be 3-4 times weekly.
    In good weather the whole family will do a long hike or bike ride at least every other week. With kids it's 1-2 hours, without we can do upwards of 3 and at a faster pace. We have fabulous bike trails in our city.
  • mach1chick
    mach1chick Posts: 2 Member
    So glad I don't have to exercise or count calories any more! That all sounds like such a drag!

    Oh, yeah, I remember now...I did all that.

    And then I learned what really works for me, any ways.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,722 Member
    I've been vegetarian for 41 years, eating mostly whole foods cooked from scratch, including lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains. Got obese that way.

    I've been pretty active for a dozen years, rowing 4-6 times/week in season on the water (less often in the off season, but usually multiple rowing machine workouts per week then), and going to spin class twice a week, along with some yoga plus intermittently weight training, bike riding, swimming & other stuff. Stayed obese that way (though I did lose some inches).

    April 2015, age 59, I reached my last straw as far as health problems/warning signs related to weight.

    I estimated my then target-weight maintenance calories (around 1500 calories for 130 pounds), then estimated calories and portion sizes to eat at that level. Around mid-July, down around 26-27 pounds, I started to plateau after having been losing at about 2 pounds/week previously. I decided my then-current weight's maintenance calories were too close to my goal-weight maintenance calories - that the estimation errors would make it hard to keep a calorie deficit.

    I joined MFP & started weighing meticulously and recording everything I ate, even on days when I went over goal (even way over goal), and even if I had to estimate (potlucks, non-chain restaurants, etc.). When I had to estimate, I tried to estimate on the high side. I also logged exercise, adjusting the MFP calorie estimates based on recent-past heart rate monitor data (my HRM had just broken). I set my goal to 2lbs/week.

    Initially, I was eating at 1200 calories net. I didn't find it impossibly difficult, especially when exercise was giving me an extra 200-300 to eat on most days. I didn't eat dramatically different things, but experimented to see what foods (among those I liked) helped me feel most satisfied and gave me the most tastiness and nutrition for their calories.

    Before starting weight loss, I had been drinking alcohol daily (a glass or two of wine, or one beer), and cut that back to mostly social occasions - not completely rare, but maybe once or twice a week if I went out with friends for dinner or something. (Not drinking at home in the evening also reduced my evening snacking by not squandering my will power.)

    I didn't go "low carb" by any standard definition, but many of the foods I reduced (as not worth their calories) were carb-heavy. Instead of eating pasta with heavy veggies & some cheese, I just ate the veggies & a reasonable cheese portion. Instead of a sandwich, I ate the things I would've put on it. Seemed equally satisfying to me.

    I also experimented with meal timing, and the relative sizes of meals/snacks to see what worked best. I found that protein kept me feeling full, and that a hearty breakfast was important for me in order to feel full and energetic for the rest of the day, and not want to snack at night.

    When I got around 20 pounds above goal, I cut my loss rate to 1lb/week, wanting to preserve as much muscle as possible. When I got around 10 pounds above goal, I cut to 0.5lb/week loss rate. That's where I am now. I've revised my goal downward a bit, but it's within a few pounds (I'll know it when I feel it). I'm down 60 pounds from my (obese) starting weight, and now just below the middle of a healthy BMI range for my height.

    Not always easy, but I found the whole process surprisingly simple. Pure Calories In < Calories Out, no pseudo-science, no tricks, no weird foods (at least nothing weirder than usually - life is too short to eat things I don't like!). Best of all, I learned how to eat in a way that's more satisfying and healthful along the way, so I know what I need to do to maintain the goal weight.

  • SteveMFP123
    SteveMFP123 Posts: 298 Member
    Honestly just calorie counting, once I bought a digital scale and started being really honest with everything I ate and drank I started to lose weight.
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    I played mental games to trick myself in delaying gratification (and not eating when I wanted to), like pretending that I was "practicing" walking by my favorite pastry shop without going in, as if I was going to go later.
  • YokiLenko
    YokiLenko Posts: 89 Member
    Originally I was in the mind space of the 'see' food diet where you stop eating as soon as you are full. But this was soon merged with simply replacing one meal or even 2 meals with a salad. I did 30-40 minute cardio exercises that worked out my legs giving me some killer legs. I lost 20 pounds (10 of which isn't shown because I inaccurately logged my weight when joining) in around 5 months.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    I just plan my next day's meals every evening, hit my target calories and macros on the plan, and then eat according to plan. Then I do it again, and again, and again, and again. All a diet really needs is doing good enough each day, and simple repetition.
  • insearchofcheese
    insearchofcheese Posts: 45 Member
    Let's see. 73 lbs in the last 10 months. For me I pre-log a week in advance, although I do make slight tweaks and changes as the week progresses. I exercise 6 days a week at minimum. This includes 3-4 days per week of kickboxing (real kickboxing with gloves and bags) and 2-3 days of weight training. I currently average about 1500-1600 calories per day. I am about 25 lbs away from goal. The most important things I've done to be successful are, not putting myself on a timeline and taking a break to maintain. I take a break every 12 weeks and work on eating at maintenance for no more than two weeks. I do this for the mental break it gives me and also to practice for when I do finally hit maintenance. Because I've managed to do this, I have a lot of confidence that I won't return to old habits when I reach goal.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    This is a great thread and deserves a bump.
  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
    edited January 2016
    I ate less calories than I burned. I did this by logging, weighing and measuring all my food. That's it. I read through a lot of these posts on this thread and virtually every person who has lost weight said the exact same thing,
  • melonaulait
    melonaulait Posts: 769 Member
    I've been losing weight by trying to eat under my maintenance calories every week. That's 7 days x <1900cal for me. I might not succeed at losing lbs every single week, but I'm also trying to give myself enough wiggle room that I don't end up with a binge. o:)

    I'm not at all into clean eating, or even eating organic (only my bananas and carrots are organic), but I often eat around half of my calories in fruit (and veg) every day. That's simply because I don't like the idea of having to restrict fruit intake... So the calorie count rises. But I'm happy with this way of eating, in fact I've never felt better.
  • Tymeshia
    Tymeshia Posts: 194 Member
    I'm back up in my weight, but I'm starting over. When I first got on here and lost 67lbs I started off by counting all my calories. Then I progress and started implementing eating 2 servings of veggies and fruit daily. I also, took away my target foods that I tend to overeat with. Lastly, I got into working out. I did C25K Couch to a 5K in 30 in 9 week. I also found fun activities like hiking, dancing, etc (Anything to keep moving). Focus on baby steps first.
  • HeidiMightyRawr
    HeidiMightyRawr Posts: 3,343 Member
    Calorie deficit. I logged all my food to make sure I was in that deficit.

    Yes, I worked out. I lift weights to get stronger which also means I need more calories than I would if I was sedentary but I don't see this as any real influence on losing weight. I've gained weight while lifting, maintained weight, and lost weight. It all came down to the food and my calorie intake (which is ~2200-2500 to lose weight)
  • neumann16
    neumann16 Posts: 4 Member
    I log my meals and still do. Day 485. Exercised more and ate about 1200 calories a day! Lost over 100 lbs in about a year. And have maintained for 6 months