How did you kick start your weight loss? How did you begin?

Doing a diet helps a ton more if you plan what exactly you are going to eat for the day. What time you are going to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner helps if you plan exactly what you are going to eat, when you are going to eat it. It's helped me so far! Good luck!

I read the book "Wheat Belly." I lost 5 pounds the first 2 weeks of giving up wheat and I haven't looked back. It was mostly water weight at first, but it was the kick-start I needed. I discovered that I'm wheat intolerant and sensitive to carbs, so I've been working on finding the right carb balance for me. So far I've lost 14 pounds, but I've hit a plateau. That's when I joined MFP and started tracking everything. I love to cook and bake, so giving up baking sweets was tough, but it has made the biggest difference. I've replaced much of the carbs I used to eat with protein and veggies.

I did a lot of research and finally made up my mind. I've tried dieting before but this time something clicked in my brain and I just comitted to myself and my health. Im not on a diet, Im changing my lifestyle. After that, I started reading labels religiously, planned out my meals and stuck to my plan. I also started to exercise just 10 minutes a day, I did that for a couple weeks and then found Hip Hop Abs. Ive been doing that, and now started on Insanity as well. Ive lost more inches than pounds but I am starting to feel a lot better, and the better I feel the easier it is to stick with it!!!! Also Ive learned the most important thing to watch is sodium, and your water intake.

I started my weight loss after seeing how much weight I have gotten. 170llbs is not a lot for most people but it is for a 5'4 - 5'5' Asian male. I was committed to a healthier life style and I had to admit to myself that I was overweight.

I first started off by sticking to water, tea, and coffee. I cut out all the soda and anything with corn fructose in it. This went on for a good 1-3 months.

3 months later - I then started buying fresh cut deli slices and whole grain bread for my lunches. I avoided going out to eat for lunch during work and it saved me a WHOLE lot of money. I slowly adjusted my life style to include healthier food while excising daily. Stuck with a low calorie 6 meal schedule.

4 months later - I started p90x and is now about 149lbs. I just finished my second week and the results have been impressive so far.

I am hoping to get a 6 pack in the near future and try MMA for a bit. It took time to change what I was used to for over 10 years. But I have never felt so energetic and stronger since I was 18 (9 years ago).

I cut out sweets cold turkey since that was my downfall. I logged everything!! This allowed me to see whether the things I were putting in my mouth were good for me or not. Logging my food helped me become more accountable for my food choices. Now, I will check calories BEFORE I eat something:)

^^^^ This. I cut out all fast food (except salads at first, now I eat the side salads from mcdonalds for a lunch or snack *only 20 cal without dressing*. I cut out needless calories like salad dressings, etc (they hog your calories). I cut out any soda, sweet tea, juice (every once in a while I will mix 8 oz of juice with 8 1/2 oz of water it helps get in my water intake an makes the juice not so sweet so I'm still keeping my taste buds in check! But a nice treat) It took me about a week to recognize that I needed to stop eating late at night, not past 8 pm if I can help it at all...Eat LOTS of protein for breakfast and lunch and eat a SMALL dinner. Help your body by burning off most of your food calories before you sleep Also, try to fit in healthy food wherever you can... One thing I'm going to try recently Plain Greek Yogurt instead of sour cream to dip veggies/etc mixed with ranch packets. Switching your mindset and getting more active is what you really have to challenge yourself to. Sometimes cold turkey on stuff is better...helps clear your mind, taste buds and body of the junk!

I went cold turkey on alcohol, chocolate and soda on the 2nd of January. I also watched what I was eating.

I found other food to fill me up like fruit, corn-flakes and salad. I also re-discovered the value of water. Water makes me drop weight.

I just thought I would do it for a couple of days to try and clear out all the excess from new-year but stayed on it. I lasted about 97 days off alcohol but I am still off Chocolate and soda.

I think I can either maintain my weight OR drink alcohol and eat chocolate. I think more cardio will help restore balance as well.

I was caught in the classic web...I would go to the gym and "work out" and then because I had "worked out" I figured that I earned ______________ (fill in the blank with any number of high calorie food or beverages with little nutritional value). To kickstart my weight loss I started keeping track of my calories, which I was grossly underestimating, and stopped phoning it in at the gym. Now I really work up a good sweat and make good nutritional choices to fuel my body.

My biggest thing was portion size and then started jogging and now running a lot.

Checked out all the success pictures here, with weight loss SO obvious! Then I started...because I know what to do, I just start.

I decided one day that I was going to get healthy.

I came home, dumped all of the junk from my house, replaced it with nutritious stuff, and took a walk.

Seriously. That's it. No looking back.

I did a 10 week wellness program. Learned how to set healthy goals and learned about eating healthy. I kept a food journal that was evaluated each week by a nutritionist, who would then make suggestions to make my choices better (healthier), I learned about portion size, calories in-calories out and how to calculate my needed calories and how to exercise properly within a target heart rate. for exercise, I just started with walking a minimum of 30 minutes a day and increased as I could. During the wellness program, an exercise journal was kept and evaluated each week by a trainer who again offered advice to get a more effective workout to reach our goals. We were taught how to properly read labels and how to make the most of our trip to the grocery store. Best of all it was free, given through my work!!!

I looked at myself in the mirror and stopped making excuses... found an exercise program that i liked ( insanity and p90x) the tried to eat as healthy as possible by eating clean ( limit ANY processed foods)

Started to sleep better, feel better, less bloated and I liked it. Then joined mfp to try to create a sense of accountability.

I went to a Nutritionist. I thought that I was fine with my breakfast choice: special K, fruit and skim milk. I've switch to oatmeal or Kashi Go Lean with fruit. Needed more protein in the AM so that I wasn't starving by lunch time. Learned when that happened, one craves fats and carbs. I now have a mid-morning snack of cottage cheese or yogurt so that I don't go to lunch hungry. Have an afternoon snack of Laughing Cow cheese and Mary's Gone Crackers. That way, I don't get home and reach for food immediately.

Also log every morsel of food to stay within 1700 calories...I'm not deprived of anything.

I spent 2 weeks working out 1x a day and holding on to 1 Coke a day. With no progress whatsoever, I committed. I dumped all Cokes and started twoadays. I can't always do 2 workouts a day, but when I can, I do. Also, I exercise every single day.

In December, I cut out soda and all other drinks completely, I now only drink water. I used to have at least 2 cans of coke in a day. I started jugging 20 mins -3days a week. By February, 8 weeks after I had lost about 21pounds.
I now attend classes in the gym 3-4 times a week, still struggling with portion sizes and eating out. Trying to eat more veg and protein.
Looking to lose more weight still.