soniams Member

My longest gap was four months as well. Looking forward to stopping forever. When you started again after 13 months, was it a one time cycle or did you have other periods as well?

I have been an MPF member for three years. Counting calories was an eye opening experience and helped me to learn how to eat in a healthy manner. Throughout my entire weight loss effort, my approach has been that whatever I do to lose the weight must what I am willing to do to for the remainder of my life in order to…

I have found that finding the right number to be learning process. I have been the same weight for the past year and a half. Over that time my calorie intake has varied from 1400 to 1800 per day. What has really helped me is having a Fitbit. I burn about 1800-1900 calories per day. For the past couple weeks, I am eating at…

My weight loss effort took two years. Along the way, I donated all of the clothing that I shrunk out of. I felt it was very important to not have the larger sizes available to me. This fueled my motivation to keep losing weight. I bought a new wardrobe three times during my weightloss effort. I did not buy a full selection…

This is so true. When I began my weight loss effort three years ago, I knew I had to establish a sustainable lifestyle. Anything I did to lose the weight had to be what I was willing to do forever in order to keep it off. Diets that restrict specific food groups were not going to work for me. I did have to learn how to eat…

What a great question. You have raised an important issue that I had not thought about before. Like many others have said, I don't have a memory of being a normal size. Even though I was not especially overweight during college and in my early 20's, I felt big because I had a poor body image. I always believed I was fat. I…

Congratulations on what you have accomplished! You should also be proud to be making this change early in your life. My regret is waiting until age 50 to become healthy and fit. Losing weight is so much a mental process. Seeing yourself as the new person you are becoming is an important transition. It will come with time…

I use RunKeeper to track the distance and calories burned. It will not calculate your heart rate though.

I have a similar issue with FitBit and RunKeeper. The calories that RunKeeper calculates for my bike rides is over twice as much as FitBit (I enter the activity manually since FitBit does not calculate calories for biking). The solution I have come up with is to enter the RunKeeper calories into FitBit rather than using…

For me, discovering what would work came over time. I think this gradual process was actually a very important key. I was able to how to learn properly eat and exercise by creating new routines that eventually became permanent habits. My approach from the beginning was: whatever I do to lose the weight must be what I am…

Wow, so many delicious foods I have discovered over the past three years. Beets (love these roasted with dinner or in salads for lunch). Arugula (this is my salad staple). Broccoli (I liked this even before my weight loss but now I eat it for dinner on a regular basis). Berries (mixed in with oatmeal for breakfast each…

I think the key is learning how to eat healthy foods as you lose weight. By eating well as you are getting to your goal weight, you are learning the skills you will use to maintain the loss. I would encourage you to look back at how you lost the weight in the first place and then determine what is sustainable for you.…

I'm with you. I started my weight loss journey in July 2010. Over the first two years I lost 120 pounds. At that point I had 15 pounds remaining to reach my goal. It has taken me a year to lose 8 of those pounds. I will say it has not been too bad though. I am viewing this experience as part of learning how to maintain my…

Thank you so much for continuing to post. I have followed your progress over the past two years and your insights have served as a valuable role model as I reach my goal.

Me too. Heat but no sweat. I think I've been really lucky because the hot flashes have been very infrequent.

I love your comment on how getting a new driver's license photo was the final step of your transformation. I feel exactly the same way. I have about 10 pounds to lose in order to reach my goal weight. This has been a three year journey for me thus far. My entire life has been transformed for the better. Getting a new…

I love the recipe calculator on MFP. I enter the recipes for all of my home cooked meals (which is most of what I eat). I like having very accurate calculations of what I am eating. It keeps me accountable and on track.

How many calories a day are you eating? When I dropped down to 1200, my period stopped for 3-4 months. It came back when I upped my calories to 1500

Fantastic resource! I have spent the past hour going through the links. Thank you so much for sharing.

All excellent advise! As I move into maintenance, I find articles like this to be especially powerful reminders of why continuing to work at maintaining my weight is so important.

This is exactly what has worked for me.

My weight loss was pretty steady for the first 1 1/2 years. I lost 110 pounds over that time period at about 5 pounds per month. I started off eating about 1600 calories per day (I am 5'1"). I lowered my calorie limit as I lost weight. At the end of 2012 I was eating 1250 calories each day and my weight loss stopped. I was…

Single digits is absolutely the best! Congratulations.

Do you have a smart phone? If so just download an exercise tracker app. I use RunKeeper. Then just strat to track you walking when you arrive at the zoo. I've done this in tha past whe. I've gone to Disneyland.

Thank you, thank you so much for this. I am at that transition point. Close to maintenance but not ready to give up the weight loss goal yet. Two of your comments resonated the most with me: 1. Average your calories for the week and 2. Maintenance is a choice. These will really help gain the focus I need right now.

Count me with those who have been successful in losing weight by walking. I started two years ago and huffed and puffed walking one block and back. Now I walk three miles a day. I have also walked on three half marathons. Walking is great exercise that I know I will continue to do for the remainder of my life.

Like you, I don't like running. I've tried it. Tried C5K, just never clicked for me. What I do love is walking. I walk a lot (at least 3 mikes a day). What keeps me motivated is walking outdoors. I really enjoy seeing all of landscapes and plants growing in the frontyards inmy neighborhood. I have also discovered a number…

I had the very experience. Two months without and then in April, bam its back. Ugh. The only good thing that happened is that my weight had plateaued when my period stop. Once it started again, I lost a couple pounds. While I can't wait until my TOM is over and done with forever, I also want to reach the end of my weight…

That is how I lost all of my weight. I walk almost every day, 2-4 miles. I changed my diet to healthy, unprocessed foods and reduced portion sizes. Developing this new permanent lifestyle has been very successful for me.

You are correct about keeping them around potentially sets up for failure. As hard as it is to give up favorite items, I strongly suggest you get rid too big clothing. Chalk up the investment you made on the expensive pieces to a lesson learned and use this to motivate you to keep the weight off. I donated my old clothes…