bee_bee8 Member

Very helpful! Those all sound good and calorie counts are pretty reasonable. Thanks so much.

That’s a very good point. I’ve gotten so used to always making the same recipes that use a lot of fresh veggies, I don’t always think of obvious solutions like that :D I do have pasta and rice in the cupboard already, I’ll look for some ways to spruce up those meals using some canned stuff instead of fresh. Thank you!

Awesome!! Even doing regular planks, the first time I did that workout I was struggling a lot too haha. I generally do every other day, and by the third or fourth time trying it, it was already noticeably easier. Keep at it :-)

Thank you for the kind words :smile: as far as strength training, I did some in addition to the cardio but it wasn’t super structured. I mainly stuck with planks, lunges, and push ups. When I started out I did as many lunges/push-ups as I could for 2 sets, and then just upped the # of reps as I got stronger. Same for…

A couple weeks ago, I hit my goal weight and went into maintenance (so here's hoping all future victories are NSVs ;) ) While I was losing the weight, I would generally avoid of some of my favorite foods because they were "trigger" foods - if I had a little, I'd have a lot. Pizza is one of those foods, and after everything…

I’ve been keeping my “fat jeans” in regular rotation over the last year as I lost weight. They’re the largest size I own and were probably at least a size too small for me at my heaviest. Of course they’ve gotten looser over time, but I kept wearing them because baggier is comfier IMO. I put them on today and realized…

It took over a year, but I'm down 50 lbs from ~170 to 120 lbs at 5'3". Thanks MFP!!

Welcome! I've been using MFP on and off for years, but have been pretty committed for the last year. I've learned a lot from these forums. If I had to narrow it down to 3 pieces of advice, they would be this: 1. The ONLY thing you need to do to lose weight is burn more calories in a day than you consume. That's literally…

That's something I love about these forums... Sometimes it helps just to share how you're feeling. I know that "slippery slope" problem well and the anxiety of not being able to weigh yourself daily. If it makes you feel better, I took a little break in December where I wasn't diligently logging and wasn't even really…

A big part of the problem is that people have no idea how many calories they really eat (and, as others point out, how few calories exercise burns comparatively). Any meal from pretty much any restaurant, fast food or not, is easily at least 700-800 calories (yes, even the salads). And that's not including a drink. I…

If I eat breakfast, I don’t stop eating and I’ll eat junk. I have a coffee or a latte, but that’s all I need until lunch. I just eat good meals for lunch and dinner. Whatever works for you!

I was about to post here expressing almost exactly those feelings! I actually just hit my goal weight (which btw is about 5 lbs higher than I thought it would be when I started out - I feel good and I think I look good, so why push it?) but I have never actively maintained my weight in my whole 30 years of life. I've…

This thread has resurfaced, and I remember posting on it last year when I was about halfway to my goal and wanted to lose another 20-25 lbs. It took a while, but I finally got there! Last week I reached my goal weight of 120 and it’s all thanks to MFP and this community. I’m still committed to the lifestyle even though I’m…

Thank you both! As far as my exercise routine: I usually use a stationary bike to get my cardio in, or an elliptical on rare occasions. The length/intensity of my workouts has changed over time. When I very first started and wasn't fit at all, I just did as much as I could (which was usually about 20 minutes of…

What everyone else said, it's definitely not 9 lbs of fat. I try not to weigh myself after cheat meals/cheat days/cheat weekends (cuz sometimes it turns into that, for me :D ), the number on the scale is always overly inflated. If it makes you feel better, last Sunday I ate a ton of crap (way more than just one big meal,…

Oh honey, I feel that!! I lost the first ~40 lbs relatively quickly but it seriously took FOREVER to get rid of that last 10-15. I wanted to put my weight loss graph with the original post but I forgot... here you go. Keep in mind I usually didn’t update it if I had gained weight (so all those plateaus basically mean I was…

I got my fitness tracker about two and a half years ago, around the time I started gaining weight quickly (I wasn't using it much for fitness, at first :D ). I've always worn it on the same notch, which made it just a little bit loose when I first got it but much snugger after packing on 60 lbs. Last week, about 1 year…

Sometimes I just decide to go a little nuts and treat myself, but for the most part I'd say my strategy is "committed but relaxed." I always eat light beforehand and usually get some cardio in, but I won't be restrictive during special occasions. I give myself permission to enjoy myself, order things that look good, but I…

I hear ya! I was about that weight when I decided to turn things around. I felt very "blah" too. I took it one step at a time and made incremental changes that eventually transformed my lifestyle. It sounds daunting but believe me, if I did it, anyone can. I set goals about 10 lbs at a time, and try to appreciate the…

I have no science to support this so take it with a grain of salt, but I think sometimes our bodies just have a 'preferred weight' at which point losing becomes much more difficult. I lost upwards of 40 lbs fairly easily (well, it was hard but it was doable) but I've been averaging between 130-135 for months and months and…

^^ This. You could try to stop snacking at night, but it would be just as effective to reallocate your calorie consumption. I am a night eater and always have been - I eat my first meal of the day around 1-2 pm, small dinner around 7-8 pm and spend the rest of the evening snacking. I'm careful to stay within my calorie…

The first sign was having to size up on my jeans. And then size up again. And again. And the nail in the coffin was when I checked my BMI and realized I was actually considered obese (and I didn't even think I was that heavy!).

No, I think once you do it for a while it becomes kind of automatic. After diligently counting for about a year I feel confident I could make a good calorie estimate about most meals, even those I don't prepare myself. In a way I suppose that's still "counting" but I think of it more as making informed choices - if I had a…

I agree Pinterest is a great source. Some of my favorite vegan meals: Breakfast - Avocado toast with sundried tomato (Just mash avocado with some garlic and lemon juice and spread on toast) - Oatmeal with chia seeds - Bruschetta (diced tomatoes tossed with olive oil and basil on toast) Dinner - Asparagus mushroom tacos…

I've lost 50 lbs over the past year. I lost the first 30 pretty fast, but the final 20 came off over about 8 months or so. I don't have any loose skin, but like you said everyone is different.

Good advice above. I'd just like to add that once you find a good balance of macros and master portion control, it will get a lot easier. I remember when I first started out I felt like I was starving, because I was eating far fewer calories than my body was used to. After just a few days in a row of sticking to my calorie…

I'd also like some new friends! I've been using MFP for about a year but my feed has gotten pretty quiet lately :-)

Pretty much everything, at first lol. Especially food you order at a restaurant. Everyone knows that fast food like big macs and whoppers are high-calorie, but if you eat out at all it's so easy to hit 1000 calories in one meal! Where I live a lot of chain restaurants list the calories of a meal, and unless it's…

I also find the calorie burn estimates on most gym machines (treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike...) are always much higher than what my HRM indicates. By like hundreds of calories. I too go with the HRM numbers, I think it has to be more accurate :-)

I have an underactive thyroid as well, but once I was properly medicated I had no trouble losing weight as easily as anyone else. Not to say that weight loss is "easy" for anyone, but the same rules still apply after step 1... * Work with your doctor to figure out an optimal dosage of Levothyroxine or something similar to…