How long did it take you?

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lcoophou
lcoophou Posts: 6 Member
I'd like to hear some personal stories of weight loss victories. I'm looking to lose 15 - 20 lbs and have only lost ~0.5 per week over the past two months. I'm curious if this is working or if I'm missing something.

Was hoping to get some encouragement from those in the same boat who have been there and done that. I'm currently ~172 lb. 28yo F.
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Replies

  • CharlieCharlie007
    CharlieCharlie007 Posts: 246 Member
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    Weight wise, I could not tell you. I can tell you that I went from 26% to 10% bodyfat since june 1 2018.
  • Lemmon827
    Lemmon827 Posts: 27 Member
    edited March 2019
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    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.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
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    I lost over 100 lbs. The last 20 took me a year. At your weight it is likely going to take some time and you are actually losing exactly at the rate you should.
  • Kathryn247
    Kathryn247 Posts: 570 Member
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    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
  • lx1x
    lx1x Posts: 38,311 Member
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    30lbs since late Nov last year.
  • o0kody0o
    o0kody0o Posts: 642 Member
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    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.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    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.
  • kellycz
    kellycz Posts: 57 Member
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    25lbs over the course of 8-9 months total. Went from 148 - 123lbs.
    Thanks for this. I started at 146 and am aiming for 126 or thereabouts, so very similar to your starting/ending weights. (Started Jan. 1 and am at 136.7 today.) I know everyone is different, but it’s helpful to see your overall timeframe.
  • peachvine29
    peachvine29 Posts: 400 Member
    edited March 2019
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    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.
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
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    M/44yo/183cm(6'0")

    - Started in Jan 2018 at 160kg (352lb)
    - Passed the halfway mark 120kg (264.5lb) this Jan.
    - Currently 116kg (255lb).
    - Expect to pass my next milestone of under 100kg (220lb) towards the end of the year (probably around Sept - Nov)
    - Expect to get to my healthy Height/Weight target 83kg (182lb) some time in 2020
    - Expect to get to my ultimate/"I like round numbers"/"I halved my body weight" goal of 80kg (176lb) end of 2020/start of 2021.

    All future dates aren't firm targets by any means. If it takes me 3x as long as I expect to hit my next 3 milestones then so be it. My only real goal is constant progress no matter how small and not letting my weight management get in the way of enjoying the remaining years I have on this planet.

  • rosiorama
    rosiorama Posts: 300 Member
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    When I started here in 2015, I was at 186 and wanted to lose 20 pounds. It took me about six months by counting calories, and by doing aerobic and bodyweight activities.

    I haven’t figured out maintenance very well because almost every fall since then I’ve gained about 8 pounds and then begin losing again sometime in December.

    I am currently sitting around 172 and the number hasn’t budged in 3 weeks. I would like to get below 170 - I’ve discovered that I’m happy anywhere between 165 and 170. I’ve been weightlifting pretty consistently for the last three years, so my 170 now looks different than my 170 in 2016 - I have more muscle and that makes a difference in how I look at this weight.

    Slow and steady. Half a pound a week is what I aim for. I don’t often feel hungry, which makes it easier.
  • davepollack
    davepollack Posts: 19 Member
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    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!
  • snwangel831
    snwangel831 Posts: 6 Member
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    Add weights to your workout to build muscle, which burns more calories. Muscle also weighs more than fat, but takes less space. Sometimes the scale isn't the best gauge of loss--how do you feel? Are your clothes fitting better? You can also add spurts of increased intensity to your workout, it seriously makes a difference!
  • Mawnstroe
    Mawnstroe Posts: 17 Member
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    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.
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    With 15-20 lbs to lose, .5/week is a great rate. That will put you at 2-2.5 a month. Nice sustainable loss without having to slash your calories too bad. I always figure the time is going to pass anyway - it'll take as long as it takes but I'll be healthier than the month before.
  • sheloves89
    sheloves89 Posts: 88 Member
    edited March 2019
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    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!
  • tyforthewin
    tyforthewin Posts: 4 Member
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    Early 2014- I was 5'0 and my highest of 155. I got down to 135 in about 8 months through very strict calorie counting. I gained back up to 140 over the rest of the year.

    2015- I started to be aware of when I was eating refined flour, avoiding it in favor of whole grains probably 70% of the time, and I quit drinking soda. I maintained at 138-140 for the year.

    2016- I started dating my current boyfriend and his step-mom is super in shape. She has great eating and exercise habits and she convinced me to walk/jog a half marathon with her! We walked 5 miles or so once a week, and I hiked once or twice a month. Her eating habits also rubbed off on me a bit. She made me more aware of trying things like cauliflower rice instead of regular rice, zoodles, not ordering french fries EVERY TIME, cutting back on beer, etc. Lots of very small lifestyle tweaks, along with my half-marathon training, that added up to me losing about 10 pounds over the course of the next 8 months.

    2017- Maintained again at 130 for another year by just sticking to my eating habits (was still not a regular exerciser).

    2018- I signed up for another half marathon, started training alone and actually running. I also started eating more "plant based". Very heavy focus on whole grains, sprouted grains, beans (so many beans!), and veggies. I lost 5 pounds in 6 months and maintained the rest of the year.

    2019, Now- Am still at 125, been maintaining there for about 8.5 months and am ready to get focused and kill these last 15!


    It overall took me 5 years to lose 30 pounds, but it was through actual slow, sustainable lifestyle changes. It's been important to me that I not kill myself losing weight in an unsustainable way, expend all my energy, and then just gain right back when I inevitably go back to "eating normally". So I've taken my time at each milestone to just "live it" for awhile and ensure that the changes I made to lose the weight became "eating normally". That includes a lot of Christmases, Taco Bell, vacations, "oh f--- it" weekends, beers, and REAL LIFE.

    When I look back over the last 5 years though, my overall habits have changed dramatically. But it didn't necessarily feel like it, because I went so slowly.
  • thanos5
    thanos5 Posts: 513 Member
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    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