Anyone Lost Over 30 and kept it off for more than 5 years, who doesn't work in the fitness industry

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Replies

  • jeannemarie333
    jeannemarie333 Posts: 214 Member
    Yes, and now I'm hitting a 40 lb loss, it's been close to 8 years, slow but steady - I'm the turtle :) good luck!!! you can do this!!
  • Lynnda7
    Lynnda7 Posts: 13 Member
    I lost over 50 lbs that I had only on me for about five years after baby but still joined every weight loss group and fitness center cried couldn't lose it until I got really sick with ulcerative colitis or celiac disease they never knew for sure.im glad it came off and never came back (except up to 10- 15 lbs) but in a painful hard way ......
  • Lynnda7
    Lynnda7 Posts: 13 Member
    I've kept 100 lbs off for over 5 years. It's challenging.

    I bet your awesome! I couldn't even lose 50 without being medically sick, you go girl🙌
  • justanotherloser007
    justanotherloser007 Posts: 578 Member
    delen4000 wrote: »
    All that being said losing the weight was easier than keeping it off.
    @delen4000 Why was losing the weight easier than keeping it off? I would like to know what you mean by that.

  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
    I lost ~37lbs 4.5 years ago, from 165 to 128 ("healthy" weight range). In that 4.5 years I've been as low as 111 and as high as 131, but I think that still keeps it more than 30lbs lost from my "peak" weight.

    I have a desk job (accountant), I work from home (generally burns fewer calories than away from home) and my kids homeschool (so no school shuffle). Exercise is intentional, I don't get a lot of NEAT.
  • v8maro
    v8maro Posts: 13 Member
    135lbs / 7yrs
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,968 Member
    Is there anyone here who has lost over 30 pounds and kept it off for more than 5 years, who doesn't work in the fitness industry, or a heavily appearance-biased field?

    It seems like most of the people who keep it off work in fitness. I hope I'm wrong.

    Other people can reply too, I'm just particularly interested in that group.
    I have lots and lots of clients who've achieved it. I know because though I no longer train them, I see them in the gym consistently.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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  • wprestong
    wprestong Posts: 2 Member
    Yes - I am 64 and I lost 55 pounds 2013-2015, mostly by counting calories and being careful. It was not for appearance reasons, but to take weight off my joints, which are very bad.
  • cpereyra831
    cpereyra831 Posts: 16 Member
    From 220 to 178 in 10 months (2013) and maintaining 177 for the last 9 years.
  • elothen
    elothen Posts: 155 Member
    One more here. I'm a 6'4" tall male and 12 years ago I was 260lbs. I got down to 185 in about 9 months. Ever since then I've been between 185 and 215. (75lb to 55lb weight loss). No one would want to see me on YouTube or leading a gym class. I'm a programmer and I sit for a ridiculous amount of my life.
  • dn0pes
    dn0pes Posts: 99 Member
    Me
  • pmbach1
    pmbach1 Posts: 2,361 Member
    I lost about 62 pounds somewhere around 2000. Then between Jan. 2015 and Jan. 2016 I lost another 100 or so. I have kept it off with some little slip ups. Quickly taken care of and never more than 20 pounds. Thank you COVID. I will be turning sixty three in November. Logging is of supreme importance. I also stick with the 5% challenge for accountability. Plenty of water.
  • aCountryVegan
    aCountryVegan Posts: 23 Member
    64 years young and 10 years ago I was 305lbs at 6'1" and was most likely heading for my first heart attack. I got winded getting off the couch. My daughter eats a whole foods, plant based diet and I was visiting with her for a week and she had me try it and I never went back to the Standard American Diet. I lost 60lbs in the first year just by changing the food I was putting into my body. Then I started walking 20 mins a day and now I run 20+ miles a week. I ran so much that I was actually causing a huge calorie deficiency and one day at work I hit the wall and nearly passed out from what I later determined was just a lack of fuel. So I started here at MFP to track my calories so I could ensure I was eating enough. Depending on my training schedule I HAVE to eat between 2000 and 3500 calories a day. I always say, if you like to eat, take up distance running. LOL So its been at least 9 years I have kept it off, but I will say, its a struggle everyday.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,740 Member
    I lost 50+ about 10 years ago. Because I had a lot of experience at yoyo dieting, I decided to keep tracking my food and exercise after I was satisfied with my weight. I know how easy it is to start eating more without realizing it. I also became a runner and we adopted a dog, so I get a lot of exercise. I am retired and have the time and schedule flexibility to get an hour or two of exercise most days. I don't think I've been more than 5 lbs. from my goal weight in the last 10 years.
  • obriencfc
    obriencfc Posts: 1 Member
    Back in 2011, I was in my second year of college and weighed around 260 lbs. After committing to OMAD for half a school year, I dropped down to 220 pounds. By the end of 2013, I was 215 pounds. From 2014-2022, I lost an additional 20 pounds and weighed between 195-205 regularly. My goal is to sit comfortably at 185! After trying EVERY quick fix in the dieting world, I have finally understood the importance of simply tracking food every day, even if I know I will be overeating!
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited October 2022
    Is there anyone here who has lost over 30 pounds and kept it off for more than 5 years, who doesn't work in the fitness industry, or a heavily appearance-biased field?

    It seems like most of the people who keep it off work in fitness. I hope I'm wrong.

    Other people can reply too, I'm just particularly interested in that group.
    I work as a freelance translator, specialised in medicine, i.o.w. not even remotely appearance-biased.

    I was on my heaviest in 2012 when I weighed approximately 127 kg. I started a weight loss diet, which was pure torture. Some time in 2018 I could not hold it anymore and was actively contemplating euthanasia, that's how terrible it was. I essentially gave up and started ballooning up. Then, around the end of 2018, I got a tip that was not intended for weight loss, but it turned out that it removed most, but not all, of the extreme discomfort I had experienced and I discovered to my delight that except for relatively tolerable but still incessant hunger, I was able to start my weight loss diet again.

    I have kept going and after stalling for about two years at around 72 kg, I made a decision and have now finally started losing again, albeit very slowly at around 20 g a day, i.e. about 600 g a month. That is fine. At 69 kg today, I am officially of normal weight according to the BMI standards used in North America (but overweight according to the Asian standards) and I am of subnormal weight according to the old Broca Index, but have a few kg to reach ideal weight according to Broca while I am also within 200 g of Hamwi ideal weight, as far as I know the highest of all ideal weight indexes that have been proposed. So, one could say, and I essentially do, that I am in maintenance while still inching closer to an even more ideal weight for me, which I have not reached yet. Unless I really am an outlier where ideal weight is concerned, I expect to reach it some time in 2023.

    There are 0 reasons to not keep the weight off until I snuff it. Hunger, while persistent, is tolerable and more bearable than the discomfort caused by higher weight. In other words, keeping it off is no longer a genuine choice, it is automatic and I don't even really think about changing anything anymore. There are good reasons to think I will never have to change and even if I do, it would easily be fixed by adding a tiny amount of vegetables to every meal, or a few grams of beans or a small portion of nuts every week or so, in other words, something that is really negligible in the grand scheme of things.

    As Robert Baron has said, the diet you have when you lost the weight is pretty much the diet you have for the rest of your life which is why he calls it the "forever diet". At least for me, he is spot on.

    Hence, the first part of my weightloss journey is an experience I don't even wish on my worst enemies, in case I should have those. The second part, also about 30 kg, is something I hope everyone who needs to lose weight could experience. All it took was resistance to temptation, something that I now don't even think about anymore, it is automatic.

    I am hardly an exception. As Chef_Barbell said, "It's not that rare".
  • kpolleck
    kpolleck Posts: 1 Member
    I lost 30+ pounds and overshot my goal--where friends and family members who hadn't seen me for awhile assumed I had some disease. It wasn't an unhealthy weight...although it was probably getting close, yet it certainly was a significant change.

    That was almost 10 years ago, and I've deliberately added a few pounds, still 30 less than my maximum weight.

    I don't eat healthfully, but I run...and I use MyFitnessPal to remind me to stop eating for the day, even if it's only 11:00am.
  • sunshineyourway
    sunshineyourway Posts: 1,153 Member
    edited March 2023
    Yes, I lost 41 lbs. 10-19-2014 and have kept it within a 3% range. Two years ago I lost another 5-10 lbs. fluctuating. I am not in the fitness field.
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