Hit my goal! 55 lbs lost in 10 months!

Well, I haven't posted much here, and never posted pics, but today I'm excited enough to do so!

I am one of the many examples of "living proof" that MFP works! I set my profile up to lose 1 lb per week, and in 10 months have lost 55 lbs - so at 5 1/2 lbs per month average, it looks like I did just a bit better than hoped.

These, for me, are the most important keys to success:

Be true to yourself! Record EVERYTHING you eat. If you don't, you are only cheating yourself and undermining your efforts.

Get a portion scale and use it! This is a HUGE factor in success. There is no other way to be certain that what you are recording is accurate. By using the "tare" function and a little math, you can adjust the amount of calories recorded into a remarkably accurate number. For example, when I want that rare dish of ice cream, i put the bowl on the scale and zero the scale. Put the desired portion in the bowl and see the weight. Last night, I had 131 grams. The serving size on the "Nutrition Facts" label indicated a serving to be 114 grams. So, by dividing the actual grams by the portion size, i found I needed to record 1.15 servings to get the right calories into my MFP record. The package states 300 calories per serving, but my bowl was actually 345.

Treat your calories like cash! Spend them wisely. You hate to waste money, so just adopt the same attitude about calories and think twice before you waste them!

Increase your activity the easy way ... just walk! I have made a habit of walking at least 2 miles every day. When I hit the treadmill, I bring my iPad with headphones, put on an old TV show from Netflix (some of the oldies run 50 minutes), and I'm done before I know it. I'm lucky to have some good friends who will walk with me, too, when going outdoors - helps the time pass quickly.

But the biggest thing is - DON'T GIVE UP! There have been days when I have gotten on the scale after a week where it seemed I had almost starved myself, only to see the scale had jumped a pound or two. Sometimes it made me so angry and frustrated that I just wanted to quit. It takes a lot of focus and determination to hit your goal. But worthwhile accomplishments are rarely easy, so give this effort the commitment it deserves. You will be amazed how much better you feel.

I have seen so many great stories of people who have gotten off medication, licked diabetes, etc. In my case, I was lucky enough to be basically healthy ... but I did have back problems before that required an occasional visit to the chiropractor - but not any more!

Anyway, I hope this hasn't been too "preachy" ... but if it helps one person ...