Those of you who have lost 40+ pounds

I cut a lot out.

Fast food. Pop. **** like that.

But....if I had calories left and I wanted something I ate it.

I've had cheat days. Hell all last week was a cheat week.

I go to the gym 3-4 days a week and mostly do cardio.

I also do pilates and yoga twice a week and play a few fitness games on my kinect 3-4 times a week.

I'm still learning.

I weighed 180 at age 15. Mostly muscle from Mixed martial arts but also way too much fat percentage from all the junk I considered to be food.
I started dating my Boyfriend Dan at 16, hes all about health and putting good **** into his body so I decided to transform myself .

I cut out all sodas,all corn syrop/artificial flavor products, nothing in cans or packaged for convenience(so much salt)
No white flour products,nothing with MSG or Trans Fat, no alcohol, no coffee.

It's important to take vitamins everyday especially Fish oil because the omega 3/6 fats help you metabolize fat and gives you a higher mood because fish oil niacin and glutamine is what your brain basically eats.

Green tea,hemphearts,salmon,oats,spirulina,all seaweeds,all fruits and veggies << these were my secrets, Whole Foods

Lots of cardio(x3 a week or more) plus strength training which is very important because building lean muscle and losing fat percentage go hand in hand.
So my favorite exercises are using the Kettlebell(1 minute of kettlebell is 20 calories! )elliptical,,jogging,Pilates(for nice bum,lower abs and thighs), And any kind of martial arts training is ideal as it focuses on making you a lean mean fighting machine.

What I did definitely works because I am just under 130lbs now, Although it did take me well over a year to get there.

Progress not perfection, your body is undergoing a transformation it can't be rushed.
It is a beautiful thing so cherish the time you put in with your body to become happy and healthy.
-Kiera

I'm down 46 pounds. I don't work out at all and have done this with sensible diet. I cut my calories down to the level recommended here. the home run was losing my apetite for sweets and carbs by cutting back. I have some carbs each day, but never feature them with a meal. I don't drink hardly anyway, so that didn't affect me, but I did cut out all drinks except water and green tea, with an occasional cup of coffee unsweetened.

How exactly did you do it?? What foods did you cut out of your diet?? How many hours a day did/do you work out?? Did you ever allow yourself drinks with friends or drinks on weekends????? I need to switch some things up because I am a stand still for over 2 months now... Help

I didn't cut anything out, I just started following portion sizes and keeping track of how many calories I ate. It helps that I haven't liked wasting precious calories on drinks for years anyway (I drink diet soda, coffee with creamer and sweetener, and water).

I currently work out about an hour and a half at least 5 days per week (I'm in a challenge) but at first I did 30-45min cardio per day or a session of 30DS.

I did and do still go out for alcoholic drinks sometimes. Sometimes when I go I limit myself to Diet Coke if I haven't got the calories. It still looks like I'm having my usual rum and diet but no one but me can tell there is no alcohol so I don't feel left out. I'm probably a better dancer without the alcohol anyway.

I stuck to 1,200 calories a day after exercise (which is 1,000 cal under my TDEE and amounted to a weight loss of about 2 lbs. a week). So, if I burned 400 calories at the gym, I'd eat 1,600 calories (1,200 & 400).

I do cardio every day for a minimum of 30 minutes. Started out walking (two 15-min. sessions) and progressed to joining a gym and hitting the elliptical machine for a higher calorie burn. Some days I'd go to the gym twice just to burn some extra calories!

At first, I just tried eating less of everything I normally ate, but I couldn't stand the small portions and feeling hungry. I quickly learned to make better food choices -- big salads with loads of veggies and just a little balsamic vinegar, TONS of broccoli, lean proteins with every meal, drinking lots of water. I would joke "I've never eaten so much food in my life as when I've been on a diet).

I also got a body fat scale so that on weeks where I might show no weight loss, and I'd otherwise conclude I had stalled, I could see that my body fat was going down.

OK, so I've shared what works for me, but what about you? How many calories do you eat each day? How often do you work out? Is there anything else besides you weight which has changed over the last couple months -- like less body fat, a smaller waistline, etc?

Finally, I'd say -- if you're stuck change something...eat less and workout more!

Down 72 lbs in just under a year. My wife and I have been vegetarian for years, so we don't do meat/fish/poultry, and we limit our dairy, so we didn't really cut anything NEW out of our diets, but we had that going. We limit our sweets to (at most) 1 a day. Our biggest change was portion sizes; what we were eating was (for the most part) fine. We were just eating too much. I work out between 30-60 minutes a day. I don't drink, but my wife has an occasional glass of wine if we go out; she just plans for it.

I'm sure you can do it. My wife & I have both hit plateaus and eventually busted through. Good luck!

How exactly did you do it??
Portion control and exercise, counting calories and measuring food mainly

What foods did you cut out of your diet??
None

How many hours a day did/do you work out??
On my workout days, at least half an hour. I do mainly body weight and strength exercises. Though lately I have started to incorporate a bit more cardio (walking and learning to run) now. I generally workout 5 - 6 days a week.

Did you ever allow yourself drinks with friends or drinks on weekends?????
Sure do , but I'm not much of a drinker.. I don't let my lifestyle change dictate my social life though

I am not doing anything that I don't expect to keep doing for the rest of my life. My weight loss is slow,19 kilos (42 lbs) in 9 months, but it's been steady with no plateaus.

How exactly did you do it?? What foods did you cut out of your diet?? How many hours a day did/do you work out?? Did you ever allow yourself drinks with friends or drinks on weekends????? I need to switch some things up because I am a stand still for over 2 months now... Help

1) set a calorie goal in MFP
2) recorded everything I ate... EVERYTHING... EVERY DAY
3) I used exercise as my carrot to substitute carrots for carrot cake
4) A food scale for accuracy
5) being a pain in the *kitten*... Not going to restaurants that didn't have healthy options, making 5 substitutions to bring a 1500 calorie menu option down to 500, bringing my own healthy food options to parties (if i knew healthy options wouldn't be available), and drastically cutting back on my alcohol consumption and spectating at my friends attempt at power hour.
5) Persistence... i'm at about 80-90 pounds of loss... and it took me 1 year and 3 months about.

How exactly did you do it??

Never quitting, always looking to do better, and tons of rough hard dedicated days.

What foods did you cut out of your diet

I've tried to cut out eating out as much as possible. When I was eating out and tracking, I was not losing. My guess is that this is because restaurants don't report their nutritional information correctly or the portion sizes are off somehow. I was (obviously) eating way more than I thought I was. At home, I just weigh, measure, and homecook everything. Sofar, it's been much more effective.

How many hours a day did/do you work out??

When I started, I spent all my time doing cardio. That worked but was B-O-R-I-N-G as heck. I'd have to bring my laptop and watch movies on the stationary bike just to amuse myself long enough to get through it.

Now, I just do 20 mins light cardio 3x per week and 45 mins of compound lifting and weight training (heavy lifts). The results are incredible. I'm much "leaner" looking despite the scale number not moving as much as before. I look about 10 lbs lighter than I really am. Plus, seeing the strength gains has really taught me a good lesson: I am really strong, physically and mentally. I'm a tough woman. That is more than I ever got from doing incessant cardio workouts.

FYI: I'm not saying cardio is bad, just not my thing. Just find something you LOVE to do.

Did you ever allow yourself drinks with friends or drinks on weekends?????

I rarely drink. Only one drink per night also. I used to have a drinking problem, so I just keep that on a very tight leash. You CAN drink and lose weight, but you need to be careful and track those calories also. Clear liquors and diet sodas or juices are good very low calorie drinks.

I need to switch some things up because I am a stand still for over 2 months now... Help

Here's the checklist:

1. Are you eating what you're logging? Make sure you are measuring diligently and tracking everything including condiments and drinks.
2. Are you eating enough? I started here eating 1200 calories per day. That worked, until I completely stalled out for two months. Eating more was the only thing that helped. 1200 calories is the MINIMUM. If you are working out, you need a lot more to fuel those workouts.
3. How is your sodium/potassium ratio? Water retention is often caused by excess sodium intake and insufficient potassium intake. Try to balance them as best you can. Potassium rich foods include: black beans, tomatoes, spinach, bananas, potatoes, and peas.
4. If you recently made a change, give it a full month to take effect. It takes a while to be sure what the effects are of any dietary changes so be patient

Finally, I'll just issue my standard public service announcement here: Please set some fitness goals for yourself. Do not measure all your success by the scale, because you will want to quit somewhere along the way. It happens. Throw that energy into something you CAN achieve with solid hard work: a fitness goal.

Hope this helps.

Generally: When I am good I am very very good, and when I am bad I am horrid.

Love this... there was a little girl... who had a little curl...
Nice job on the weight loss!