What kickstarted your weightloss?

I have been injured (tendonitis for about the last 6 months) and had been slowly gaining weight over the past 2 years. Two things kick started my current about 20 lb weight loss in 2.5 months: 1. Committing to 40 min - 1 h of aerobic exercise each morning (walking, water walking and/or running) before lunch (difficult because I am so busy, but I put it as my top priority) 2. Starting with a keto diet (and specifically no alcohol, sugar or flour) for a month and trying not to really eat much until about 10 am 3. Tracking what I ate. Keto really decreased my hunger during the day and with skipping breakfast and the increased exercise every day the weight came off pretty painlessly. Since then I've increased carbs a bit by eating more veggies and fruit (though haven't really had sugar or flour yet) and added back one drink per week. I think it helped that I had an anti-inflammatory goal as my top priority (above weight loss) so I was really motivated not to cheat. I also found it easier to say "never" than "just one" in social situations where desserts or alcohol were present.

I just cut out breakfast and drank coffee with a little cream. I lost 30 lbs. without much effort and it motivated me to keep going, adding exercise and additional nutritional changes.

daynaxxanne wrote: »

Hey all!

I'm back after a bit of a break from MFP and I'm ready to start making changes.

So my question for you today is, what was the first thing you changed when you decided it was time to lose weight? Did you walk more? Did you cut a type of food out? What was it?

Let me know!!
Xx Dayna

I got tired of not being able to do the things I use too as a kid ... I weighed 190 and with the support of ww meeting I'm in the 160's with another 25 - 30 lbs to go... Before rejoining ww meetings. I lost the first 15 lbs on my own by exercising and drinking lots of water. I walk all 7 days ( unless weather ) I managed to cut out fast food . I rarely ever go any more . This summer for the first time I went ziplineing IT was FUN !!! I managed to jump off diving board at the lake without sinking to bottom and trying to gasp for air I DID it !!! I got tired of having no energy.

When I found out I was going to be a father, I took a hard look at my life, and decided to get sober.

I battled major depressed in early Recovery, and I put on a lot of weight quickly. Combination of substituting food for alcohol and drugs, emotional eating, medications, boredom. 40 pounds in less than 6 months.

Even sober, if I continued down that path I was going to leave my son without a father too young, and a trip to the GP in May proved it. So I made some changes.

- Counted my calories. Best I could. Used a good scale.
- Found a fitness program I liked and stuck with it. For me that was CrossFit. First three days a week, then 4, now 5 or 6.
- Came to terms with my late night eating. Used to believe all that junk about eating late and gaining weight. Now I realize is was me going over my calories that was causing it, so I plan my day that way. Save 1/4 of my calories for after dinner.
- I treat myself occasionally and don't shame myself for it. Shake Shack, Key Lime Pie, Fried Clams - all in my diary. And when I do, I don't get bent out of shape and throw in the towel. Just pick up where I left off.
- I cut out added sugar. NOT because I think sugar is the devil, but because those are foods that I binge on. I've never woken up with strawberry tops on my pillow, but Reese's wrappers are a different story.
- I walk everywhere. Seriously, I've filled up my car once since Late July. My toddler loves it - stroller time means more discovered parks and more seen dogs. Sometimes I have to take two trips to the grocery store, but it's worth it.
- I cook 95% of my meals at home. Breakfast is a spinach smoothie. Lunch is usually skipped. Dinner is a meal from Hello Fresh or Hone Chef. Cook them 6 nights a week. Leaves little opportunity to order pizzas.


In the last 100 days, I've lost 31 pounds. Averaged 2150 calories a day too!

Growing up, there was a long period of time where I only had online friends, went to online school, and was always home alone during the day. Needless to say, most of my time consisted of playing video games and eating whatever I felt like. I turned 17, still went to online school and had only online friends, but started to become more independent. I started working at Papa Johns for about two weeks before I quit. The job sucked but I started eating less, mainly since I would feel sick to my stomach before a shift. A little while after that I got my drivers license and my current job, which I absolutely love. The new independence made me feel empowered and when I found out about CICO I decided to start losing weight.

I finally had money in the bank to buy all the healthier foods I wanted to have, could work out if I wanted to, and started spending less of my time alone in my room and more time at work, dating once I turned 18, and just not being bored in my room. I'm a lot happier now and a little under a year later, I'm definitely seeing results!

daynaxxanne wrote: »

Hey all!

I'm back after a bit of a break from MFP and I'm ready to start making changes.

So my question for you today is, what was the first thing you changed when you decided it was time to lose weight? Did you walk more? Did you cut a type of food out? What was it?

Let me know!!
Xx Dayna

There've been 2 distinct times for me. The first was 1/1/2000 when an epiphany occurred to me and I decided to act as if I had the genetic tools to live to 100, because I do. The second was 1/25 or so/2016 when my Dr presented the results of a recent lipid panel to me and offered me a choice: Exercise and lose weight OR take statin drugs.

I H.A.T.E. drugs.

My hatred of drugs inspired me to choose to exercise and lose weight. That same day I googled for "food diary" and found myfitnesspal. I joined and the first thing I did was start using the food diary to record my food. For a week, I made no food changes, but I recorded everything. Recording everything and weighing every morning showed me that I could do this. Noting that losses followed days of low calories and gains followed days of high calories made me a quick student in the ways of CICO.

riffraff2112 wrote: »

This may not sound encouraging but I have never had much success with doing little things that make a difference. I only have success when I am firing on all cylinders...eating at deficit(or maintenance), weight training and doing cardio. With that goes carefully monitoring my weight and logging and keeping a journal.
As soon as I stop doing any of the things mentioned above, I tend to fall off the wagon and my progress regresses.

So for me...I commit to a full program. Good luck

Same here, which I've only recently fully embraced, since part of my programme includes starting at 6 AM, which means earlier to bed. But yes, with that final piece in place, it all works together. Otherwise it feels temporary.

After seeing my doctor for an annual my blood test were really bad, high cholesterol, back problem, chronic heartburn, high pressure. Started in July to eat only unprocessed food on a 30% carb 30% fat 40% proteins and go for weight training in the morning before work and for a run at lunch with one day rest a week.

90 Days later 45 pounds lighter went back to the doctor and i am in perfect health.

The first thing I changed was eliminating the 3+ (sometimes 4) 30oz Yeti mugs full of iced coffee (full on flavored creamer) per day - and I replaced two of them with water. Then I started to use this app and count calories.

The day after I turned 44, last November, I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I immediately went to the person who would become my best friend, a co worker who runs marathons and Spartan races, and asked him to help me learn to exercise. Even though he is super fit and 16 years younger than I am, he jumped right in and today we are work out buddies who also go to races together once a month. Thanks to him being willing to be my personal coach, I learned how to exercise so that I get maximum benefit (and since we work out together, maximum fun!). My A1C has dropped to nearly normal levels and my doctor says I have reversed my type 2. I literally owe my friend years of my life, I feel. Now, if only my husband would come work out with us to manage his weight and diabetes......

Had gall bladder attacks. Lost 40 lbs. easiest diet ever, but I sure don't recommend it. When I got past the pain, I felt so much better and could move so much easier with that 40 pounds gone, I decided to carry it further. Started exercising because I could. Later started counting calories.