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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I've maintained a 50 lb loss for 14 years.
I still have more to lose, but as you know, it's a challenge to maintain a significant weight loss! My weight has gone up and down sometimes as much as 30 pounds (in 2020 due to Covid stress, isolation and takeout!). I lost the weight I gained in 2020, all on my own without special diets/programs. I'm learning what works for me and I get better at maintaining/controlling my weight. I'm also becoming aware of how food affects my body and makes me feel after I eat it. I've changed up my diet and feeling better. Just before Covid hit, I relocated to a different state and left my personal trainer of 3 years behind. 
I've really had a difficult time getting going with training again. I knew I had to make it fun. I turn on some good dance music and sometimes I just dance, but sometimes it leads to another warmup and a workout. I congratulate myself on tiny steps - even moving my furniture around to open up a space in my apartment to make it easier and more inviting to work out! I was super excited when I figured out how to extend my battle rope across my apartment (firmly anchored to the base of my stationary bike). It takes a while to overcome unhealthy habits and develop new healthier habits. It's a long journey, and I am happy with any progress in the right direction! 3 -
Yes it's possible. I lost most of my weight before I even started exercising. I did it gradually with losing about a lb a week. I didn't want to go crazy and then go back to my old ways. I started back in February 2020. 2 years later I was down from 260 to 185. While I'm at 192 right now that will go down because I'm finally over being sick and some injuries. I picked up on running and fell in love. I'm now incorporating strength and mobility training as well so I can add some more distance.
I find if thigs are slipping I go back to counting calories. I wasn't counting calories for almost a year, but when I started to put weight back on I made a choice to count again.1 -
I lost 150 lbs and kept it off until menopause. Now I am 50 lbs over but I am losing. SO SLOWLY. Maybe 3-4 a month. So far I have lost 32 lbs in the last year and 3 months.4
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I reached my high weight (over 300 lbs) in 2009 and decided no more. I lost 45 lbs in about 6 months - this is before MFP so I am just guessing, I lost the charts I had then, and I never regained that again. The rest has been harder, but I am currently down 80 pounds from my highest weight. I had been lower but that was before COVID (oops!). I have a desk job and now that I go back into the office I find it helpful because when I am at home I tend to boredom eat.3
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I went from a size 18 to a size 8 and I'm going on my 5th year and still wearing a size 8. I do keto.1
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in 2006, i was at my highest weight at 242. in 2012, i was 172, and although i'm still overweight, i've never weighed over 170 again. and not in the fitness industry.3
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Letsdothis749 wrote: »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.
Used to weigh 347 10 years ago. I now weigh 191. Diet and exercise.2 -
YES. I'm a retired octogenarian. I've taken off 102 lbs in the past 25 years and kept 94 of it off as of today. There were many yo-yo periods but I always returned to the downward trend. When I don't journal calories i.e. SparkPeople now FitnessPal; when I don't weigh daily, I gain. But those two disciplines keep me on track. I know my body, what it takes for me to lose or maintain. I don't count on trips or when I am a guest in someone's home but when I return home, it's back on my success program. Every year, I lose the battle between November 1 to December 31. But on New Year's Day, I'm back on. My new goal for this year is that my high weight on January 1 is never exceeded during the whole year. My fun exercise is competitive table tennis and I host people younger and better than me every week.7
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PS. I still have 25 years of daily journaling of daily calories consumed and weight, up or down, on my computer. I've adopted these wise sayings for myself.
“If I don’t measure and calculate food, losing will not happen. Estimating portions does NOT work for me!”
“If I don’t weigh often and keep records, I gain weight.”
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I went on Atkins 14 years ago. Starting weight 224 lbs. I lost down to 144 lbs. (80lbs.) and had kept it off until last year when I remarried after 31 years a widow. Needless to say eating out and socializing has caused me to gain back to 153 (9lbs.). I'm back on track again with a low carb eating plan and plan on reaching my goal by summer..2
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I lost over 130lbs, 48 inch waist down to 32, thru changing my food lifestyle and exercise. Not in the fitness industry but have become a runner thru the process and because of my mileage can now eat huge meals of healthy food. I actually use MFP to make sure I am eating enough calories with the proper distribution of macros, rather than restricting calories.9
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Lost 90lbs cycling. Have kept it off 3 years. Cycling.4
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I went from 170 to below 140 years ago. My weight now goes between 125 and 135 now. I'm trying to keep my weight below 130 going forward. The good news is that I've been able to maintain a size 6 even though my weight doesn't stay below 130 all the time.3
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Yes, me. I had to lose 70 pounds to qualify for foot surgery (I was 285, joined MFP at 280 and got down to 215). That was 10 years ago and I worked a sedentary office job. I have put some weight back on but between 30 and 40 pounds has stayed off. I am now retired and so have time to go to some keep fit classes twice a week. I also walked and swam a lot. I say "walked" in the past tense because I have had dreadful hip pain and only recently had a hip replacement. Unfortunately, the operation incision got infected and I have not lost any more weight but neither have I put any on. I have to wait for my wound to heal before I can go swimming but I can walk a bit more and will be concentrating on this as my main area of exercise.10
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I am in my late 60's I know the benefit of my weight lost. I have a pacemaker and just walking keep my heart beating normally. I also have a colostomy and the weight lost help me not to bust my bag so often. But the most greatest part is; I went back to work as a substitute teacher I can go up the stairs with high schools students. The best part they are always trying to guess my age. I guess because I don't act like most of the people my age. I want to keep enjoying life and I thank the LORD for this blessing.7
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I started my journey May of 2017. I lost 100lbs in 3 years and have been able to maintain the weight loss for the most part. When life gets a little hectic, I sometimes will put 5 to 10lbs on, but it never gets past that.6
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I lost 50 and have kept it off for 11 years.2
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I was an extremely active and athletic person. Played many different sports. I wrestled in college. Did short distance (Olympic and less) triathlons in my late 20s early 30s. Then life happened. Fast forward to 2019 at age 59. I weighed 270 lbs and couldn't go up a single flight of stairs without doubling over out of breath. Fortunately, I was able to take an early retirement in July of that year after reconciling a 5 year work plan with a 2 year life life expectancy. I immediately went on a program to recapture my health focused on light exercise and diet. MyFitnessPal helped me learn where the calorie bombs were, optimize my diet and plan my meals. Within a year I had lost 55 lbs and finished a sprint triathlon...barely. In 2022, at age 63, I ran my first two half marathons ever and achieved a top 8 age group finish in my first sanctioned international half ironman competition. I also had 15 minutes of rookie mistakes. I entered a few sprint triathlons and many road races that year and won age group in most of them with a strong overall field finish to boot. Fast forward to today. My weight is now 195. This year, the plan is to complete a full Ironman in September and the training is intensifying. I still use MyFitnessPal religiously but for a different purpose. Four years ago, I was looking to eliminate bad calories and lose weight. Now, as training ramps up, I am looking to add good calories with a need for 4000-5000 calories or more some days. Total calorie and macro goals are different, but the tool is probably even more critical now. I am trying to maintain weight, strength and optimize recovery. My weight will easily drop another 10 lbs. but I don't want to do it too fast. In 2019, one of my goals was to walk a 17 min mile and to finish a 5K without walking. In 2024, my goal is to qualify for worlds in the half ironman distance. It is possible. I am currently 64 and physical performance is still improving since the start of this adventure. MyFitnessPal has been instrumental since the beginning.10
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Almost 5 years. Lost 145 pounds over about 17 months (6/1/18 - 10/31/19) and have maintained +/- 3 pounds since (170 pounds target goal weight; 171 today). Male, NS current age 72.5
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I went from 435 to 265 from September 2018 to November 2019 with basically just diet and elliptical.
Stayed between that low weight and 310-315ish from then until April 2022 with some swings back and forth by being a little less militant on my diet but picking up crossfit and olympic weightlifting and playing softball.
Since then I got a new job where I wasn't able to keep up with my gym schedule due to travel and long hours and my wife got pregnant and got up to 360 a couple months ago. Working back down now into the low 340s with diet alone again.
So I've technically kept the first 30lbs off for about 5 years now.6 -
I lost 60lbs 7 years ago and have never regained the weight. My weight fluctuates from time to time by about 5/8lbs but never more.
And honestly , it's not that hard to achieve that ... just a bit of discipline, commitment and self-control.
But if you've lost your weight in a healthy way (no stupid miracle diets) you should have naturally switched to a healthier lifestyle and a healthier diet, so you just need to maintain that.
Well, when I say it's not that hard, I don't mean there's nothing to do. I'm working to keep my weight down (I'm controlling what I eat and as I've got a job where I sit all day, I get there by bike, which already means 40 minutes of cycling, as well as four 2-hour sessions at the gym a week). Everyone will have to adapt their new lifestyle to their own needs, but we're clearly in the realms of the achievable, if we have a bit of willpower.
The hardest thing for me is to get below 15% body fat and add muscle, and that requires a lot of effort for me, so the maintaining a healthy weight part is clearly not the problem anymore.
I don't really understand where this belief that you have to be in the fitness industry to keep the weight off comes from. The majority of people who were overweight or obese certainly didn't come from the fitness industry to begin with ...3 -
I lost 30+ish pounds 10 years ago and have mostly kept it off, but not without backslides and effort. I will abandon MFY logging for a while, thinking "I got this" and the starts weight creeps back. For me, using MFP as a nutrition/meal planner and exercising on a schedule, even while at my target weight, is the only proven way to keep it off. I'm mid-sixties and working at desk job. You don't have to be in the fitness industry, but it helps to be immersed in a fitness oriented social setting. This is hard to get in corporate America! Without a wellness niche, you'll have to fight harder just have to keep your health at the top of your mindset. Good luck.4
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In December 2019, at the age of 69, I was diagnosed with Diabetes. At that time I was 225 lbs. It was time to get serious about my health. Within 6 months I was down to 175. Ever since then, I've heald my weight to ±(5 lbs) at 175 lbs. Now at 73 years young.8
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I feel like I mostly fall into this category but not fully. I do not think I fall in the fitness industry as OP meant it, but full disclosure I am a Physiotherapist - qualified when I was at my highest weight so make of that what you want.
I originally lost almost 70 pounds (200ish to 130ish) in 2016 at age 30. I have since then been on a bit of a yo-yo ride, gaining back up to 152 and losing some of it again, rinse repeat. Have not weighed more than 152 since 2016 and hope to keep it that way - have thus always been able to keep at least 45 of those original pounds off since the original weight loss journey. Currently at 147 and hoping to get back into the 130s soon.
This time is the first that I have also started to see a dietician as, even though CICO totally works, I want to learn how to eat healthier and not just less... Have had some health difficulties and as such want to lose weight mostly by being healthier in terms of diet and not just by still eating the same crap as always, only less, as I did in the past.4 -
I'm in my 50s and five years ago I was 190 pounds. It took me a year to lose 65 pounds and it has stayed off ever since. I've found it quite easy, as I haven't restricted my food intake, I've just changed the type of food I eat. I have also taken up minimal exercise, of at least 10 minutes a day 5 days a week. I feel much healthier, which is the most important thing. I hope this offers some encouragement, because if I can do it, anyone can, as I'm incredibly lazy!7
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I lost 45 pounds in 2017 - down to 205. Have been as low as 188 and I need to get back there.
Regardless, I have stayed below 210 - a 40 pound loss - for 5 years. I work as a building inspector - light physical activity.3 -
Hello! At 16, I was over 400+ pounds. I recently turned 28 and have kept the weight off for over a decade! I now weigh between 140-160 depending on how frequently I work out and if I count calories. As time progresses, you realize it is a lifestyle change and not something you do for superficial reasons, but rather for your own physical and mental well-being! I lost my father recently and fell into a bit of a depression, which caused me to put on some weight. But I've been counting calories and working out 5 to 7 days a week and am already seeing results! The biggest piece of advice I have is, consistency is key rather than extreme caloric deficits or fad diets! Eat lean, eat clean, and move your body is whatever way you can!11
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@thiccc2fit, that's an awesome story!
I've finally (at age 47) ditched the idea of fast weight loss and am embracing the .2 of a pound daily loss (or 1 lb off / week) that I'm seeing this summer. I've gone from 238.8 in 2018 (my highest weight ever) to today's 190.8. I lost 30 lbs in 2019 but then gained some back during the pandemic, like most of the world.
These days, my focus is on eating vegetables and fruits AND getting in lots of exercise because it makes me feel like Superwoman. Weight loss is in 3rd place.
P.S. I don't work in the fitness industry, either.7 -
I did. I lost almost 50lbs. Kept it off for about five years, but then suffered an injury. 10 years after the injury, I'm starting over.4
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