ONE YEAR, 80lbs lost! Notes and Pictures

Thanks for the compliments, comments and support everybody — very nice to wake up to today...while eating a crumb cake donut (1 instead of the 5 I'd have eaten a year+ ago).

It's great seeing how many commenters already achieved their goals or are well on their way. And for the people just starting out it shows that this works. There were a few questions, I'll answer them all here.

@sjb74uk
No plateau for you, just constant loss. I'm curious as to your technique. 7 days a week in calorie defecit or do you have a day back in maintenance level or above?
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I was surprised at the consistent loss, though there were a couple weeks where maybe I only lost a pound. And in the last few months I've lost only a few pounds, but I wasn't trying to lose more (and made it through the holidays relatively unscathed). Since I started, I worked a 7-day deficit, no days off. I had very few instances where I went over my calories in the first six months. Most of my weight loss was done eating 2000 calories a day. 6'7" really helps, I advise anyone who wants to lose weight to be tall.

@Toxictinkerbell
You are so right about the portion control and eating what you want but not pigging out! I don't think I noticed a plateau either, do you have any theories as to why?
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I have my activity level set to sedentary, and while I do way too much sitting, maybe I'm more active than I think. So it may be that my deficit was greater than I realized. It's crazy to me how this was almost easy — it took me 12 YEARS TO LOSE 50 POUNDS IN 4 MONTHS

@jtrav2011
What types of excercises did you do?
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I really don't exercise enough, but I love walking. I'm in grad school and walk 20 minutes to get there — so that's 40 minutes each visit. I walk and run on treadmills, sometimes 30 minutes, and for a little while I did an hour (haven't been to the gym yet this year though). I tried doing the 100 push ups regimen, but didn't stick with it long. And that's about it!

I know the cardio helped me a lot when I started MFP, if for no other reason that I ate the calories back that I burned which was important when I was still craving larger portions.

:drinker:

@cryussery
Did you ever have a week where you were doing everything right, staying well under your calories and exercising, but still not lose anything?
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I did, right around week 13. But that could easily be due to water weight (I still consume too much sodium) or loss of fat/gain in muscle. For the most part I was fortunate and lost steadily and consistently. As I said before, my height and gender allow me to eat plenty, so a calorie deficit hasn't required me to starve.

I did eat a lot of late-night low/no-calorie snacks to stay under my daily calorie budget. 10 cal jello, 60 cal pudding, 30 cal olives, and godsend: 0 calorie dill pickles!