How long did it take you?

I'm 31 yo, 5'7 and was 172, now I'm 159 since starting in January. I aim for 1200 cal but I average 1300-1400 daily sometimes. I am mostly sedentary but I've been going for walks. Slow going but maybe when the weather warms up I'll get outside more to exercise.

I went from 183 to 143 in 9-10 months in 2017. It will vary for everyone based on how much they have to lose, their deficit, and other factors.
Have you read the stickied posts? They can be very helpful to find out if you are "missing something." Like, are you weighing your food, did you set you activity level correctly, etc.
This one especially:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

I’m also a 28y/o F. My starting weight was 184lbs and I would like to lose 37lbs in total. In 3 weeks I have lost 14lbs. I used to eat very unhealthy foods such as takeaways, crisps, chocolate and I’d drink numerous cans of full fat Coke every day. I have cut all of the above from my diet and replaced it with healthier foods such as porridge, chicken salads, soups etc and I have also started walking more.

A few years ago, I lost 25 lbs averaging a half-pound per week. I was aiming for that amount because I'm small and without a lot of activity outside intentional exercise. Losing more than that weekly would have put my calories too low. Plus, muscle preservation was extremely important to me.

I am 26 y/o, 5'7'', and lost 35 lbs. in 10 months. (February 2018 @ 180 lbs. to December 2018 @ 145 lbs.). That is almost .88 lbs. a week.

I have been plateauing for 2 months now, I am currently at 143 lbs., and set my calorie goals to lose 0.5 lbs. per week. I hope to weigh around 130 lbs. in the end.

Since the beginning of the year I have dropped from 200 down to 182. I am hovering now between 181 - 184, trying to get to 170-175. The last little bit always takes longer even with logging a deficit.
All I can say is Keep At It!

Summer of 2014 I was 325 lbs. (I'm 6'2", & 42 at the time) and doctor told me to make some changes if I wanted to see 60. December, 2016 I weighed 180 lbs. I did it through a juice fast (ala Joe Cross from the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead") which helped reset my taste buds and becoming a Nutritarian (through Dr. Joel Fuhrman's books "Eat for Health" and "The End of Dieting") which is all about making food choices based on the nutrient density of the food. Another way of putting it is that there are no restrictions on what I can eat, I just choose to mainly eat high nutrient, low calorie foods such as greens, veggies, fruits, nuts, and seeds. I can still eat low-nutrient foods, but those are used as condiments or every now and then. Unfortunately I went through a rough time in my life struggling with some family issues and went back to eating mainly low-nutrient density foods (such as processed foods, a lot of meat and pasta, etc.) so I was back to 255 at the beginning of this year. I then decided to go 100% Nutritarian in middle of February and am down to 240 now, so that's 15 pounds in a month. Some of that was water weight (maybe 5 pounds), but the rest is just my body thanking me for giving it all the micro-nutrients including plant-based nutrients that it needs. I've been walking but now that I'm at 240 I've started jogging to train for a 5K.

If I could offer any encouragement, it would be to find your "Big Why," which is why you want to be fit. Dig deep. I went through this process in 2014 after seeing my doctor and I view it as the "key" to my success for those first two years. Why do you want to be thin? Is it to be healthy? Then why do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be thin to impress someone or feel better about yourself? Then why do you want to impress that person? Why do you want to feel better about yourself? Keep asking questions until you get down to some deeper stuff. I wrote that stuff out and saved it on my computer. It helped me to go back every few months to look at it, and sometimes I would modify it. I've found that when I change my way of thinking about myself and food I can then change HOW I interact with food and that results in me changing what I put in my body.

I found that if I want what healthy people have, I need to do what healthy people do. Dr. Joel Fuhrman doesn't present a "diet," he presents education on food based on long studies and new discoveries in food (e.g. phyto-chemicals) that have come out since the turn of the century and have turned conventional wisdom about food on its head.

What helped me lose weight and achieve better health was a process of learning about food, how my body works, and how to live a healthful life. Regardless of whether you go Nutritarian, Vegetarian, Vegan, Flexitarian or whatever way of eating you decide is best for you, we are adults and do not need to prove anything to anyone about how we eat and live. We make our choices on food like anything else: as adults who are capable of making good choices. Whether we make good choices is another matter.

30 y/o, 5'6", started out at 179 and weighed just under 153 as of this morning. 1200 calories/day for me (though lately I've been eating closer to 1400). From September 29th to December 29th (so 3 months), I lost 20 lbs, which is about 1.5 lbs/week. Cut myself some slack over the holidays, and from mid-January to now - roughly another 3 months - I've lost 6 lbs. =] My (new) goal is 150, so I'm super close, but it's definitely been slower going lately than it was when I was hyperfocused before the holidays. But that's okay! My original goal weight was 160 lbs so this is just icing on the cake (as it were), and it isn't a race.

What do they call someone who meets her goals 3 years after setting them? A success. =]

Slow progress is still progress!

i'm down exactly 50lbs in 6 months. first couple months the weight flew off, now it's going more slowly. marathon, not a sprint, etc etc

Started August 2018, have lost 81 pounds since (18.6 since joining MFP)! Just 23 more to go and then I can start bulking 😭. (Or after May 6, if I’m satisfied with results).