Question for those who have lost 100+ lbs

Options
13»

Replies

  • Pikashel
    Pikashel Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    I started in 2011. I'm 39lbs away from my goal (GW 130, SW 310(ish)) It may seem like a long time, but after losing so much, I would maintain for a few months, then start my deficit again, lose so much again, then maintain.

    I logged daily for the first 100lbs, then started changing my habits, and making better choices. Honestly, that was a personal preference. Logging daily is not a hill I want to die on. When I said 'reach my goal' I didn't just mean my weight, but also being able to maintain a healthy weight without logging.

    I usually only gain back at Christmas time, (mmmm cookies...) somewhere between 6-10lbs. not to much to re-lose ;)

    Whatever works for you! I am not planning to log forever either, but we'll see what happens. Congrats on the loss so far!
  • Pikashel
    Pikashel Posts: 61 Member
    edited May 2016
    Options
    rankinsect wrote: »
    Down around 110 lb since July of last year, so about 10 months. Starting weight was about 320.

    Not on maintenance yet - going to lose at least another 35, then see where I go from there. Definitely plan to keep logging.

    My main technique is prelogging, or reverse logging. I don't log what I eat, I eat what I logged. Every day I plan out my next day, and then I just eat what I planned. Works really well, super easy. I weigh out portions but don't correct my logs unless I'm off by a lot.

    Amazing, keep it up! I also log a day in advance usually. I like to have a plan. Did you do anything else that helped other than prelogging?
  • Pikashel
    Pikashel Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    Phrick wrote: »
    I lost 112 +/- over about 2 years. I'm certain I could have done it faster - however doing it relatively more slowly gave me time to really learn and get a handle on how things work best for me, and I feel pretty confident now that this weight loss is something I can sustain for a long, long time.

    Congrats! I'm hoping for the same!
  • Pikashel
    Pikashel Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    I've lost around 171 lbs. in a little over 2 years (most of while on MFP, some of it not). I haven't really given too much thought about what my goal weight should be. I'm currently 185 lbs. I just want to be in a healthy weight range for my height and I've got a long way to go still, I guess.

    I think once you feel comfortable with yourself you'll know when to stop :)
  • Cutemesoon
    Cutemesoon Posts: 2,646 Member
    Options
    It took me 2 years to lose 100+ lbs. I still want to lose 5 more. I did it by logging everyday. I lost around 75+lbs 1.5 yrs in and hit a plateau. It was my fault because I starting eating more of what I wanted to. I also changed my workouts but didn't wear my HRM to track how many calories I was burning. So I sought out help from an online fitness coach. I lost 25 lbs with her. I'm still in weight loss mode tho. So I log what I eat. I need it to keep me on track.
  • Pikashel
    Pikashel Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    Cutemesoon wrote: »
    It took me 2 years to lose 100+ lbs. I still want to lose 5 more. I did it by logging everyday. I lost around 75+lbs 1.5 yrs in and hit a plateau. It was my fault because I starting eating more of what I wanted to. I also changed my workouts but didn't wear my HRM to track how many calories I was burning. So I sought out help from an online fitness coach. I lost 25 lbs with her. I'm still in weight loss mode tho. So I log what I eat. I need it to keep me on track.

    If you can lose 100 lbs you can lose the last 5 :) Which HRM do you use? I was thinking of getting one but afraid it won't fit me :/
  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
    Options
    Thanks for this question - it made my realize I've just lost 100 from my highest weight, but I did it over a very long time in small chunks - and different ways. That was not intentional- I kept waning to lose it all at 2lbs a week, I would end up losing a chunk, then get tired of trying and stop, gain some back some then try again. My highest was 330 - 22 year ago, way before MFP existed, took 5 years to get to 280, and immediately gained. Hung around 300 for several year. 9 years ago I got down to 275 and never went back over 300. Four years ago with MFP I ended up under 270 for a while, stopped logging and slowly drifted up again. In the last year I've lost over 45pounds, longest continuous loss I've ever had and am down to 227. Current goal is 220 - I remember the shock when my scale showed I was over that.

    I've lost weight by several ways
    .. counting calories and no exercise
    .. only keeping fat consumption low
    .. ignoring what I ate and hiking hills several times a week
    .. accidently while doing a house renovation - on my feet moving all day for several weeks
    .. counting calories and walking 8000 steps a day
    .. currently I'm on a ketogenic diet for health reasons - the weight loss is a side-effect


  • Pikashel
    Pikashel Posts: 61 Member
    Options
    Bob314159 wrote: »
    Thanks for this question - it made my realize I've just lost 100 from my highest weight, but I did it over a very long time in small chunks - and different ways. That was not intentional- I kept waning to lose it all at 2lbs a week, I would end up losing a chunk, then get tired of trying and stop, gain some back some then try again. My highest was 330 - 22 year ago, way before MFP existed, took 5 years to get to 280, and immediately gained. Hung around 300 for several year. 9 years ago I got down to 275 and never went back over 300. Four years ago with MFP I ended up under 270 for a while, stopped logging and slowly drifted up again. In the last year I've lost over 45pounds, longest continuous loss I've ever had and am down to 227. Current goal is 220 - I remember the shock when my scale showed I was over that.

    I've lost weight by several ways
    .. counting calories and no exercise
    .. only keeping fat consumption low
    .. ignoring what I ate and hiking hills several times a week
    .. accidently while doing a house renovation - on my feet moving all day for several weeks
    .. counting calories and walking 8000 steps a day
    .. currently I'm on a ketogenic diet for health reasons - the weight loss is a side-effect


    Thanks for sharing. Losing 100 lbs is no easy feat. You're almost there!
  • ElvenToad
    ElvenToad Posts: 644 Member
    Options
    I started 27 months ago and I have lost 136lbs so far, with only 2 more to my goal weight. The first 100lbs took 15 months, and another 12 months for the 36lbs. I have not taken any diet breaks along the way but I do take one day off every week and eat at maintenance calories since day one.

    I found a way of eating that was sustainable for me and completely changed my lifestyle. Still losing so no, have not put any back on and will continue to log for the rest of my life. It takes me 5 minutes per day and is well worth it to keep the weight off in my opinion. I was morbidly obese for over 20+ years and other than childhood have never been at a healthy weight until now. There is no way I will ever go back to that and if logging is what I need to do than it is priority #1 to me.
  • GreyKnight120
    GreyKnight120 Posts: 60 Member
    edited May 2016
    Options
    I'm down a bit over 120lbs over 9ish months. Still got a little ways to go to be somewhere I'd be comfortable staying. Tracking calories was by and far the greatest boon.

    SW = 390.4 lbs. @ 9/24/2015
    CW = 269.8 lbs. @ 5/27/2016
    Height= 6'1"

    I haven't been this light in probably around 20 years or so. The weight fell off a lot easier last year than it has so far this year. Though exercise is much easier this year. I think getting started and forming new healthy habits was the toughest part, and getting my mind right. Once that foundation is firmly in place, it's pretty easy to build on top of it.

    I do now exercise regularly, but nothing really overly structured, though we did recently set up a power rack in the garage and I'm about three weeks into StrongLifts 5x5. Prior to that, most of my exercise was from riding a recumbent stationary bike in my basement, taking walks (and more recently jogging a bit), and swinging around some kettlebells.

    Lots of great shares here!
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited May 2016
    Options
    Took about 3 years with longish maintenance breaks every now and then.

    Edit: to clarify, I lost about 105 pounds in about 3 years then regained some when I decided to let go to focus on quitting smoking (learned to never let go for whatever reason) now I'm back at 85 loss with about 70 to go.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    Options
    I'm at 111lbs lost. hit 100lbs on 4/24. Started the first of the year. So far so good. I still track my food daily, along with workouts. Not at maintenance weight yet, but I'm sure I'll continue to log everything. It's been a heckuva ride, that's for sure...

    Today is 5/27 and you lost 100 pounds between 1/1/16 ane 4/24/16 ... and another 11 pounds since 4/24/16. So ... how did you lose 25 pounds a month?
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
    Options
    Pikashel wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Took me 13 months to lose 100#. Took me 4 years to lose 173#. I've kept it off and will continue to log my food because I can't be trusted to trust eyeballing portions and my hunger signals.

    You gotta do what you gotta do! I am hoping I would have learned enough to be able to eyeball portions when I reach my goal weight (which will probably take 3 or so years).

    Was the 13 months to lose 100lbs? the first 100lbs? And then 4 more years to lose the remaining? Were you taking it easier in the last 4 years or did your body just take a lot longer to lose the rest?

    13 months to lose the first 100#. 2013-2015 I was dealing with not going down the ED (eating disorder) road, so I did sneaky eating and not logging a lot of things (no nutritional info = no calories, uh nope). I spent time listening to people telling me how to eat, aka the Naughty Foods Police (no "bad" carbs, no sweets/desserts, eat your body weight in protein, etc.), and not enough listening to myself. Had I had enough discipline, I'd have lost this weight a year or 2 earlier.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Options
    I've lost just over 130 lbs. It has taken me 4 years to get to where I am.

    2012: I was 260 lbs six weeks after my first c-section. I started working on my weight. I wasn't counting calories at the time; just being really restrictive. I was able to keep it up for several months, but that summer fell off track. The restrictions were just to hard for me to keep with. I maintained my loss until the holidays hit. I ended up gaining 20lbs back.
    2013: I started using MFP in March 2013. Lurked in the forums for awhile which resulted in me getting my first Fitbit and a Food Scale. I went from 220 lbs - 170 lbs. In September, I found out I was pregnant with my second.
    2014: At my 41 week appointment in May, 2 days before my second c-section, I was 212 lbs. I didn't start working out again until September, but started tracking my food again almost immediately. I was 159.6 lbs on Dec 31st.
    2015: Started Stronglifts 5x5 in Feb. Ended up switching to Ice Cream Fitness 5x5 in April for the extra lifts. Hit my original goal weight on the scale in the first week of August and my trend weight was at my goal at the end of the month. I switched between maintaining and losing multiple times before the end of the year. I ended the year at 121.7 lbs (8.3 lbs under my original goal).
    2016: Jan was a bad month which resulted in me gaining 2 lbs with trend weight predicting a continued gain of 1 lb per week. I fixed it in Feb. In March I maintained due to lax logging. In April I decided to switch to recomp for a while. I also started Strong Curves at the same time I switched to recomp.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
    Options
    Nikion901 wrote: »
    I'm at 111lbs lost. hit 100lbs on 4/24. Started the first of the year. So far so good. I still track my food daily, along with workouts. Not at maintenance weight yet, but I'm sure I'll continue to log everything. It's been a heckuva ride, that's for sure...

    Today is 5/27 and you lost 100 pounds between 1/1/16 ane 4/24/16 ... and another 11 pounds since 4/24/16. So ... how did you lose 25 pounds a month?

    He says on page 1 that he started at 400# and when you're that fat, it's easy to lose 25# a month. He's also on a VLCD (supervised by a medical team/doctor I hope).
  • vixtris
    vixtris Posts: 688 Member
    edited May 2016
    Options
    I've lost 98 lbs in 14 months (but a total of about 150 from my highest), so it was an average rate of just under 2 lbs a week. Some weeks I would only lose 1 lbs, some weeks none, some weeks 2+ lbs, some weeks even had a gain... I exercised and counted calories (using a food scale) every day. No foods were off limits. I occasionally had fast food, pizza, soda, sweets, etc. but more minimally than before. I started slowly in the beginning, which I didn't really do on purpose, but it happened that way because I was slowly learning my best methods of losing the weight. I used an elliptical for 20-40 minutes, walked when I could, and did some lifting. As I lost, I progressed physically. I added more time on the elliptical, and more weight with my lifts. Towards the end, I admit, I became obsessed with hitting my goal and was using the elliptical for 2 hours, sometimes more, every day. Now I am maintaining, I still count calories, still weigh my food, but I do eat more. I use the elliptical for an hour 5 days a week, and I lift anywhere between 1-3 times a week. I am also more active outside of exercise, like going for walks at the park or around the neighborhood with my dog. I still enjoy junk food, but veggies and protein have become big staples of my diet now.
  • FlakeyMusician
    FlakeyMusician Posts: 15 Member
    Options
    zyxst wrote: »
    Nikion901 wrote: »
    I'm at 111lbs lost. hit 100lbs on 4/24. Started the first of the year. So far so good. I still track my food daily, along with workouts. Not at maintenance weight yet, but I'm sure I'll continue to log everything. It's been a heckuva ride, that's for sure...

    Today is 5/27 and you lost 100 pounds between 1/1/16 ane 4/24/16 ... and another 11 pounds since 4/24/16. So ... how did you lose 25 pounds a month?

    He says on page 1 that he started at 400# and when you're that fat, it's easy to lose 25# a month. He's also on a VLCD (supervised by a medical team/doctor I hope).

    ^^^ this
  • NikiChicken
    NikiChicken Posts: 576 Member
    edited May 2016
    Options
    I am down almost 107 and have 11 more remaining to go to goal. I was never in a big hurry to lose plus my metabolism moves at the pace of a snail, so it has taken me 4 years to get here. However, because it's taken so long, I'm pretty confident I can maintain, since I'm really basically doing that already! I absolutely still log everything I eat, every day and I plan to continue that habit for the rest of my life. It's too easy for me to fool myself into thinking that I didn't eat as much as I really did if I don't log and that behavior would quickly undo all the time and hard work I've put into losing the weight!