When you first started trying to lose weight, what did you do?

Poll/story time. :)

When you first started trying to lose weight, how did you go about trying to figure out what to do?

Did you start by reading a book? Jumping into a program like Weight watchers or South Beach? Did you hop online to a board like this (or maybe this board if you've just started!)?

How did you start trying to educate yourself on how to lose weight?

i started exercising again... and lost 13 pounds. i stopped losing though, got frustrated, and thankfully, happened across an article in runner's world magazine that suggested this website for runner's wanting to lose weight! so i checked it out, created my profile, and started logging calories, limiting intake to what the tools suggested... i started losing weight again, and decided to venture into the forums where i learned everything i didn't already know about getting healthy! and, today, i am healthy!!

what's your story hk?!

When I FIRST started trying to lose weight, back in 2002, I started by going to Barnes & Nobles and got "Dieting for Dummies" and read through it cover to cover. It also suggested I exercise and lift weights. So.. I went to the university gym to hop on the treadmill and walk, at an incline. :)

oh, you wanted to know about the FIRST time... well, i could change my original post, but this is the first time i committed to doing it healthily, and really did it! so, i am leaving my story... :)

*nod* Yes, I'm asking about the very first time, but you can leave your story :)

My first time HERE is a different story entierly :)

I have dieted many times, so this might not be my first time, but the first I can remember.

My mom had a heart attack, the doctors told her to cut down the saturated fat to 5g a day, so we both did it, then I decided to not eat all day until dinner, then just have around 1000  calories, went from around 240 down to 185 (was 190 but got down to 185 after not eating for two days because I was sick, gee, I wonder why?) and then started dating my wife, ate out a lot, gained it back over the next couple of years, and then an extra 20lbs (dang those asian buffets!). I got down to a 36 pants then, but could fit in most 36 pants when I was 205 this time around, so I am guessing I lost quite a bit of lean muscle the last time.

I really can't remember the real first time, as I tried it many times with my mom growing up. I have been fat since I was around I am guessing eight years old. This is the longest I have been able to be good, so hope it will stick for a lifetime!

bill (thinking positive)

I started jogging/walking in my neighborhood.  I could do about 10 minutes before being exhausted.  I still lost about 5ish lbs.  Then I joined the gym at work about a month later.  Lost another 5, plateaued.  Then I was looking up the calories in something and happened across C-C.....and lost the last 15.  

My one year c-c anniversary is coming up in June.  :)

My first time was 3-4 years ago.  All I did was join a gym and cut my junk food I was eating.  I got a trainer to help me out once every other week, he set up my weight and cardio programs and I had follow ups with him.

It worked, for some time.  I went frmo 225 to about 205.  I had a good amount of muscle.  But the problem was that I did nothing for the nutrition portion.  He gave me tips and ideas for food, but nothing really concrete to follow.

I did that in winter time.  When summer came around, I didn't renew my gym membership and I started doing outdoor activities, mainly biking.

But as the summer went on, I slowed up.  I joined another gym, closer to home, and somewhat cheaper.  I didn't like their layout, machines were too close and there were lots of people, so I stopped going.  It just wasn't fun.

So I went back up to about 225 lbs.

A few years later, I joined CC. 

Wow, I should put that in my personal profile lol.

June of 2005 I went to Disney World.  Had them photo people take pictures of me and my family.  I decided to order some.  I got them in the mail a few weeks later.  My Gosh I looked like my mother.  Over weight!  I always vowed to not be like her in the weight department and here I was looking like her.  The pictures devestated me.  I was off for the summer from work.....work at a school...so when school started I decided to only drink water and not my daily Dr. Pepper.  The first week I lost 5 pounds.  Then I decided I would count calories.  Just had heard you could do that to loose weight.  I found this site.  Started doing that and then found a womans weight training class in a community paper.  Signed up did that for 11 weeks and lost 18 1/2 inches and 20 pounds.   I maintained for a year and I gained a couple pounds recently so I decided to start over. I lost 2 pounds and signed up here Jan. 15 and have lost 4 more pounds.  I also signed up for the same weight training class class #2 tonight. 

Glad everyone is here.

wow , i dont even remember , i was in yo yo dieting , also not so good for you

Oddly enough, my first time losing weight I did it the same way I do it here, counting calories.  My mom was really on my case about the 20 pounds I had put on (it is to laugh!).  I had this book of calories and a little notebook and pencil.  That was right before I got pregnant, and I got down to 128. Then BAMM!  Right back where I started.  One good depression later and I was 60 pounds up!

In another odd coicidence,  I found this site looking for an online way to do this that was easier than paper and pencil, which is miserable to keep up indefinitely.

Jeez...

Attempt #1: (at over 150 lbs) lived with an anorexic roommate for a semester in college and attempted to emulate her eating habits.  Didn't work because I wasn't anorexic and not eating for a whole day just made me binge later.

#2: Tried lifting weights and going running for a while but lost my resolve, got depressed, said "f--- it" and started using food to comfort myself during a hard time in my life.

#3: Went vegan (this actually worked, although I did it for health reasons more than weight loss specifically) and dropped 15-20 lbs healthily, but started over-estimating how many calories were in the food I was eating and restricted my portion-sizes like whoa.  Now that I know better I was probably  getting around 900 cals a day then.  Between that and some very unhealthy appetite-suppressants lost another 10.  Gained the last 10 plus another 6lb back after dislocating my knee and resuming eating like a normal person.

#4: Saw pics of myself at a party in early September and was shocked by how different I really looked after gaining 16 lbs.  Decided to nip this thing in the bud before it got any worse and I went back up to 150 again.  Did a web search for weight loss websites and ended up here.  Lost 9 of those 16lbs so far and am currently happy with my weight and just working on body fat.  Yay for CC!

Well...

I got weighed at my asthma specialist 2.5 years ago (115 and 5'2) -- I was SHOCKED -- I had gained 8lbs in like 5 months (But I was 14 at the time, so it might have been puberty).

Unfortunately, I became obsessed with losing weight -- for the first couple of months I didn't do anything drastic except cut down on portions -- and then found that July that I'd lost 5 pounds quite unintentionally.

Then decided to lose 5 more the be healthy and by August was 105.

Then the school year started and I developed an eating disorder. By January I was 80 pounds and admitted to the hospital.

Now, at 97lbs I found this site around Christmas, hoping it could help me understand a healthy weight and eating. So far, it has helped me :)

Anadrea

Glad your here Anadrea!   Everyone has such great stories.  It is awesome to know that we haven't given up wanting to be healthy and how we have seen great results.  :)

After years of trying different diets, I decided that the only way to do this was to count calories.  I bought a book and quickly got tired of looking everything up.  So I went looking for an online calorie tracker, fully expecting to have to pay for it.

And here I am!

I was about 10 or 11.  Went to see our family doctor for a regular check up.  He told me I was chubby (that was about the time I wanted to kick him in the shins).  He told my Mom to take away bread and potatoes and pasta  from my diet.  I did lose some weight but didn't last....how do you never eat pasta....especially when you're a kid...ya...that's gonna happen.  From then on it was yoyo dieting. I even made up a diet where all I ate was yogurt.  Stayed on that for quite a few months and lost but very unhealthy and show me a yogurt now and it's a no way...give me real food...lol.  Went to weight Watchers and lost 50lbs.  Gained 1/2 of it back. Did Atkins lost 40 gained it all back?  My daughter told me about this cool site that I should try.  I told her I'd give it a shot and here I am.  Thanks honey..:)  I have ups and downs but at least I have lots of support and encouragement and I know I'm eating healthy.

The entire scope of it was inputting my weight, height, age and when I wanted to be finished here and pushing enter.  In fact it was this site that gave me the idea that I could lose.  I found this site looking for a BMI calculator and started playing with the other tools.  When I punched in and saw that I could lose 100 pounds in a year, that the math said it was possible, I really started thinking I should do it.  

The first time I decided to lose weight, a couple of decades ago, I went to Weight Watchers and yes, lost weight. The second time I decided to lose weight, last year, I came here. There was a lot of talk in between the first and this time about losing weight, but little or no action, and I never did any weird diets or anything unhealthful. I did try cutting out all chocolate once, so maybe that's my entry in the weird diet category -- how foolish I was! :-)

I borrowed the South beach Diet handbook from a friend, read it cover to cover, spent $150 at the grocery store, and went out for beers and hot wings 3 days later :(

I did the EXACT same thing with Weight watchers (didn't join, just "borrowed" all the materials). I went through my entire kitchen and wrote points values on all my foods. I still run across canned goods that have numbers on them, lol. I should probably eat those darn beets pretty soon!

THEN I started searching the 'net for calorie info and found this lovely site! I realized it makes so much more sense to do what we do here than to "give up" the things I love. If I CAN'T have something (beer and pizza), I will fail. That's why diets don't work for me.

My "first time" was when I was like 12 years old.  I went on a crazy 900-calorie diet and lost like a pound a day.  My mother and my doctor were so proud.  It's unbelievable when I think about it now....how very unhealthy it was.  I only lost like 25 pounds, but it seems like I was doing that for a really long time.  I guess I wasn't, though.  Stayed pretty fit during high school.

College - did Nutri System and lost 40 pounds.  Gained it back after I got married (the pill did some crazy things to my body). 

Did Weight Watchers after my 2nd child and lost like 23 pounds.  Couldn't stick with it for some reason.

Hit my all-time high of 212 after having my 3rd and 4th child (twins) and even after nursing them exclusively for a year.

Tried Slim-Fast for a little while and gained and lost the same 2 pounds for weeks!

Decided to just count calories again because I know that's the only real way that works for me, and found this site.  I've lost 16 pounds so far!

When I decided it was time to lose weight at first I went with the time honoured tradition of eating less and moving more. Then I remembered that my moms dietician had her on a 1500 calorie diet and that some folks counted calories to lose weight. I started counting calories, going for 1500 cals a day. Since my tatoes don't have a nutritional values lable I googled it and found CC. Anything I need to know I search online for :)