Looking for MFPers who have lost 10-30 pounds...

atrgemini wrote: »

Hi all,

32 year old male here.

I've been clinically obese according to the BMI scale for my entire life, and have had high blood pressure since I was 18. I made a goal for myself at about 21 or 22 years of age that I would turn attention to trying to get healthy and finding out what my true body type should look like once I had finished with graduate school and had reached the peak of my field or career. From ages 24-31, I was working 60 hour work weeks and pursuing two master's degrees. Mercifully, that all came to an end in January of 2021, at which point I was sitting at 274 pounds, 6 feet 0 inches.

It was a really bad month. I had an awful run-in with local authorities after celebrating the end of my career at my previous job and passing my master's comp exams. My graduation was postponed until the summer because of the pandemic. I was in a dark place, and struggling with my mental health mightily for reasons I didn't yet fully understand. Luckily, I had just started my new job that week, so there were no financial ramifications to be had. I got vaccinated on January 20th and had a horribly adverse reaction to it within the hour - only to find out that I was COVID positive the next day, because California was burning with COVID cases and test results were behind. COVID changed everything for me; my taste and smell were lost for months. Even worse, I had suddenly lost my greatest asset - I was suddenly struggling to think, do simple math, and even complete my work. I would later be diagnosed with adult-onset ADHD as a result of COVID long-hauler symptoms.

Things changed quickly at my new place of employment. Promises that had been made were quickly undone. By June of 2021, I didn't recognize the company I was hired for, nor the role that I had been given. All the while, I was nagging myself for not following through with my promise to myself to get healthy. I just kept saying to myself "your graduation is in July, so technically, you don't have to start until then so quit being a bother and try to get right with yourself,". In hindsight, this was a poor decision, because I look at what's happened in just the 5 months since then and wonder what I could have accomplished before the start of 2022.

However, I did it. I started small at first, as I haven't been an athlete since high school. I would lift small sets of 30-pound dumbbells, and ride a terrible excuse of an exercise bike for half an hour a day. On August 23rd, I did my first 5k through work, a feat I'd never attempted, and clocked a time of 47:50. Today, I now run three or four days each week, doing a 5k each time, and my times have improved to a personal best of 25:12, even having reverted back to vaping after a 6-month hiatus. I do between 60-90 minutes on that same, awful exercise bike that was purchased on Mercari for $60 dollars and weight-tested for a max of 180 pounds. According to my MFP log, I've logged 119 days of continuous exercise and the bike tells me that I've ridden nearly 1600 miles since August. I haven't dieted because I don't believe in it. I'm a foodie, a self-trained amateur chef, and hold an MS in Food Science. I eat what I want, when I want, and just stick to the numbers game (Deficiting, thanks MFP for making this so easy).

Everyone always tells you how bad it is for you to be obese or overweight. What they don't tell you is how hard it is on your body when you're shedding that weight, especially if you've carried it for years. Today, I'm 214 pounds, and I wish I could tell you that it's been easy getting here, but it hasn't. The 220 plateau held strong for nearly 5 weeks. My friends all tell me, told me, "you can work harder, you can do better, what you've accomplished is nothing, and you're moving at a snail's pace,". I'm here to tell you that I couldn't have - only that perhaps I could have started sooner and achieved more. The changes that my body has been going through, from hormonal to physical, have been terrible.

While I'm proud to have shed 60 pounds in 5 months, going into a New Year, I am ultimately disappointed in how my body is shaping out at this weight. I figured 200-205 would be the sweet spot to start to focus on toning up and switching to a muscle-building regime, but it appears as if I will likely have to go a bit further because my gut is still hanging on. I got tested and am sitting at 21% body fat so I'm assuming nearly all of it is there at this point. I'm guessing the final target will be closer to 185, which would put me at 89 total pounds lost prior to the bulk-up period. I am also very tired of cutting, and the effects it's had on my well-being and focus. I was hoping to be done by the New Year, but so is life.

I am thankful that I've made it this far and that this has become a major lifestyle change, even if time-consuming. I no longer have high-blood pressure, and I haven't snored since October. I get restful sleep in as little as 6 hours, and I am much more energetic throughout the whole day. I get tired at a normal time each night. As much bad as there has been, I know that the cost-benefit analysis has been worth it and I am very near the end. Most of all, I am thankful for the opportunity to change through willpower and the help from the MFP community. Cheers to a wonderful 2022.

FABRICWOMAN wrote: »

I have read these posts and put them away, but came back to them twice! Being over 45 years old (69 and proud of it) I did feel offended by the age bracket. I have lost 100+ lbs. with MFP. I feel and look better than when I was in the 18-45 age bracket. If there was any reasoning behind this distinction, the staff should have let the readers know why they were pinpointing a certain age group and not have another member make guesses as to their purpose. Best of luck to everyone in your weight loss journey.

Also, in addressing "faurotann's" comment about the elderly not spending as much money. I worked hard all my life and now enjoy the fruits of my labor. I travel/vacation, because I can afford it. Not all senior citizens are living exclusively off medicare or hand-outs. I'm just saying!!!!!!!

fullbodiedred150 wrote: »

In December of 2020, my husband and I were both unhappy with our pandemic weight gain and decided to do something. So starting on January 1, 2021 I was determined to lose the 12 pounds I had gained.

I knew that tracking every single food/drink that I consumed would be key to my weight loss, but I didn't want to focus just on my weight-- I wanted to focus on health and fitness and knew if I did so, the weight would drop off. So I synched MFP with my Apple Watch to track my exercise and with my Withings Body Composition scale so that minor blips of weight gain due to water wouldn't sidetrack me or make me feel like "I'm doing everything right and it's not working so I might as well just have pizza."

Working with a nutritionist (I am a heart transplant recipient and as such provided with a nutritionist for my after-care), I set a daily calorie goal as well as macro goals for protein, fat, carbs, fiber, sugar and sodium. I also set a daily goal of drinking at least 70 ounces of water. And I set a weekly goal of 5 hours of exercise.

For most of my adult life, I cringed every time someone would use the phrase "lifestyle change." To me, it seemed like a new marketing term for the word "diet." But at some point in Q1 as I hit my goal of 12 pounds, I realized that I had actually made it through the lifestyle change and into the actual lifestyle. I no longer had to "remember" to log my food or to weigh every day-- it was just a part of my daily life. I no longer had to find new ways to motivate myself to stay on track or to exercise-- I just did it. And it felt great!

Those first 12 pounds came off so easily that I just kept going. Here are my year-end stats:

•36.2 lbs lost
•Decreased my BMI from 30 (obese) to 23 (healthy)
•Decreased my fat mass by 35%
•Increased my lean muscle mass
•Went from a size 12 to a size 4
•274 miles hiked/walked/run
•24,802 vertical feet gained
•215 hours spent exercising
•Competed in seven 5k’s

Because I'm smaller, have increased my muscle mass, and improved my cardiovascular condition tremendously, I can now eat more calories than before... but the foods I'm eating have not changed. This is my life now and I absolutely love it.

My new heart feels really happy about it as well!

mrskgriswold5 wrote: »

I am 35, I started my weight loss in May of 2021, and have been using MyFitnessPal as a main tool to track my calories. The evening the servers went down I was in a dead panic. lol. I have lost 138lbs in these last 7 months of calorie tracking.