Hello All

Just a regular guy with bad genetics who works out a lot found out that weight loss has less to do with exercise then your diet so I am here. I can gain and lose weight really fast, every year I got my skinny pics and heavy pics. I also have two sets of clothing and it is truly frustrating. I am unfortunately addicted to food, as long it is infront of me or someone asks me to go out and eat, I do not have any control. Its the only part of my life where I don't feel any control. 

I want to drop 30lbs overall and keep it off for once, seems like calorie counting does work.

So right now I am feeling good that I am being more proactive :), and hope to get rid of all the negatives mentioned above.

Hursh

Um, you might want to edit your title, because it sounds like you are cursing everybody.

Hello, welcome to CC.  I accidentally found CC and have become addicted.  It is incredibly useful for information and support.

Good luck on your goals!

Aha! you beat me to it!

Thanks, I noticed that right away!

I think the most important thing you can do for maintaining weight loss is to think of what you are doing now as a "lifestyle change", not a "diet".  Diets end.  Please tend to think they can go back to their old way of eating when the diet is over, and they can't.  Their old way of eating is what got them overweight in the first place.

When you finally do hit your goal weight, continue calorie counting.  The only difference is now you are trying to hit your maintenance calories instead of 500-1000 calories below it.  This should actually be easier.  Continue counting unit you establish a habit.  Once you have a good feel for what you can eat in a day, you can stop counting - slight calorie fluxuations from day to day won't effect your weight much.  Continue to weight yourself once a week to make sure you aren't gaining unexpectedly.  If you do gain, go back to counting until you are back on track.  It's not that hard to maintain weight.  It's considerably hard to lose it.

The other key factor of maintaining weight loss is not to punish or deprive yourself while losing.  Being too hard on yourself is a recipe for relapse.  Remember, you want to be able to maintain your healthy eating - don't put youself in a position where you're looking for any excuse to go back to your old eating habits.  Allow yourself to eat the foods you enjoy... within limits.  Don't pick a meal plan that too difficult to maintain.  Don't starve yourself.  When you do hit your goal weight, you'll be happy to finally be able to add some calories, but hopefully you won't need to binge on Big Macs and pizzas.

--J