QUESTION: How in the world ?

It could be a lot of things - perhaps they are on a medically supervised liquid diet, which will help you lose a LOT of weight in a very short amount of time, or maybe they had gastric bypass and are not advertising that here.

I am amazed at the amount of people that have huge weight losses (170lbs. and more) in 1 year.
say at 180lbs. that works out to be almost 4lbs. a week with no gains.. My question is how is that done ?
I also say congratulations to all that have...

Being totally devoted to making behavior changes regarding food.
Being totally focused on getting rid of the bad foods out there (I dont want to hear from the moderation police on this) and only focusing on healthier options and choices with food
Staying committed to working on exercise as a regular course of action

Not creating excuses for yourself on why this and why that. Just admit and acknowledge and get back up on your own two feet and get moving in that direction from where you fell off from.

Being honest with yourself means dont go complaining you arent losing weight and profess eating right, drinking water, exercising, when your food diary shows you eating all the wrong types of foods (junk food, processed food) and you are loading up with the types of foods and beverages that everyone knows will stall you.

For some people, they alone are the reason why they cant seem to lose weight - they dont want to admit to making the wrong choices, but want it all... it just doesnt work that way.

Ive dropped almost 70lbs in six months, I have another 70lbs to go, and if I stay on track, keep all three of my doctors informed of my progress and stay honest, true and real to myself.... I know Im going to lose the other 70lbs...

You wont find one box of frozen meals in my house ever.... you wont find soda in my house ever.... you wont find junk food in my house ever....

Thankfully with my medical background and my culinary background, this transition into 'work-on-me' mode has been really successful.... and having a supportive husband really makes a difference.. that man never knew how awesome chimichurri sauce was until he tried it on his steak...

Come on over, Ill show you what fresh, healthy foods are and how awesome they could taste!

My husband and I started our life style change July 19th, 2011. I know it has only been 7 months but my husband lost 61 pounds. I always wonder about people that loose it so fast how is that possible. We are working out 5 days a week right now but we only started at 3 days and slowly built up to the 5 days. He wants to loose 84 lbs by the time we go on a scheduled cruise in June. This would put him at 299 that is why the strange number. We started this knowing it is was going to take awhile. In the past we have attempted fad diets which we both had some luck with but in the end you have to eat normal again.

Just remember it is not how fast you lose but how healthy you are becoming with every pound lost. BTW the way in June the doctor told him he was borderline dibetic and in September the doctor said he was not worried about that anymore at that point my husband had lost 30 pounds.

I guess what I am saying with this very long story (sorry about that) is just don't worry about how fast others lose it or you might drive yourself crazy. Good luck to you and your future weight loss.

I always wonder about people that loose it so fast how is that possible.

It really depends on the circumstances that the weight is coming off. Are they a post WLS patient, like the other poster on the thread. Are they someone coming back from a non-WLS related procedure. What is their current health and what changes from a food-related perspective did they make?

As long as no other medical situations arise, you can lose 3 or 4 pounds per week, even 5 pounds provided you have notified your physician(s) along the way... they can give you feedback....

I lost almost 80 lbs from March 2011 to Jan 1st 2012.

Why I lost so much while others do not? I have no idea! But here are some of the changes I made in my life last year.

I drink at least 2 L of water per day plus what I drink while I workout.

I cut way down on sodium. It has creeped back up a little since the holidays but I will get a handle on it again!

I added massive amounts of cardio exercise! Mostly I added biking, I was biking almost every day from early March through the first week of Dec. In addition I was showing up for my martial arts classes about 30 min early so that I could get in 3 - 4 rounds of skipping before each class. (With the snow I cannot bike,. So my NY resolution was to start running. I have started and am slowly getting used to it.)

I stopped eating & drinking junk food! Coke, chips, dip, pizza and Mcdonald's were all but eliminated from my diet. I also, stopped buying frozen prepared foods & canned foods (because of the sodium). Added were salads, fruit, raw veggies, yogurt, beans and multi-grain bread.

In addition, I started with MFP and started logging my food and exercise. At the beginning, it was shocking to see how many calories I was consuming each day. As an example, one of my favorite lunch meals while at work was to order a 1/2 BBQ chicken, with fries, sauce, a bun and a coke. This meal was almost double the 1500 calories that MFP told me I should be eating each day.

My goal is to get to the 180 lbs my Doctor suggests before the snow melts. I am at 198 lbs right now. So this gives me 3 months to drop 20 lbs. With what I accomplished last year, I know that I can do this!

Wow, some really great shares here. I was kinda getting concerned because I have lost 10.7 lbs in 6 days (I just started this past Fri. nite, Jan. 7/12). I am eating all "real" healthy foods and am staying in the recommended caloric, carb, protein, and fat gram range. I have not had any gastric surgery nor do I consume shakes or diet pills or any other such things. To all you who posted here who have done so well on your weight loss journey (eating healthy and under calorie goal and exercising) I would sure be glad if you sent me a friend request (it's so nice to get support and i love giving encouragement too).

A lot of that could be water weight. As long as you don't expect that kind of loss every week you'll be fine.

sorry, my reply is further down

Right on! OK then, I no longer am worried because I am eating properly - I am quite heavy so pounds do come off but it's not so much the POUNDS in any given range of time but I think more the PROPORTION or PERCENTAGE of weight loss (ie/ amount of pounds lost DIVIDED BY original starting weight). I think if we were to report the % of weight loss then perhaps a better comparison could be made amongst all of us (heavy, not so heavy, etc.). Thanks for your reply.

Doctors will tell you that 1-2lbs loss a week is healthy. If you are doing everything you should by logging your food, keeping within your calorie goal by eating healthy foods, cut soda, sugar, reduce simple carbs and get exercise daily, an average of 1-2lbs a week shouldnt be too hard ot accomplish. Note I said "average".

At an average of 2lbs loss per week (on the high end) would be 104lbs in a year. We think, Wow.. this person lost so much weight! but that is still by the doctors' standards a healthy weight loss, not an unhealthy rapid weight loss.

I am DETERMINED to reach that average of 2lbs a week. I want to be one of those people that post in Success Stories how much I've lost in 2012 and then post the ugly before and AMAZING AFTER pictures!

Determination, motivation, encouragement from others are all factors that attribute to a success story. It also helps if you have a partner to work out with, whether that is a spouse, co-worker, family member or friend. Push each other and dont go back to being that sedintary slug that got you where you were before you started this journey! (I'm not calling anyone else that sedintary slug, I'm referring to myself here.)

Most importantly - KEEP MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (my motto for 2012)

Thanks for posting this thread!! Learning so much!!!

My husband and I started our life style change July 19th, 2011. I know it has only been 7 months but my husband lost 61 pounds. I always wonder about people that loose it so fast how is that possible. We are working out 5 days a week right now but we only started at 3 days and slowly built up to the 5 days. He wants to loose 84 lbs by the time we go on a scheduled cruise in June. This would put him at 299 that is why the strange number. We started this knowing it is was going to take awhile. In the past we have attempted fad diets which we both had some luck with but in the end you have to eat normal again.

Just remember it is not how fast you lose but how healthy you are becoming with every pound lost. BTW the way in June the doctor told him he was borderline dibetic and in September the doctor said he was not worried about that anymore at that point my husband had lost 30 pounds.

I guess what I am saying with this very long story (sorry about that) is just don't worry about how fast others lose it or you might drive yourself crazy. Good luck to you and your future weight loss.

Just wanted to say I LOVE your profile pic