After a conversation with his doctor, Yvar found Calorie Count and has been hooked since.  Realizing that he was actually over consuming his daily caloric needs was the eye opener.  He’s lost over 24lbs by simply using Calorie Count’s tools and throwing in extra exercise.

He contacted us through our Share Your Story feature and provided the following answers to our questionnaire.

1. What prompted you to begin this weight loss journey? Did you have an "Aha!" moment?

My doctor told me I needed to get more fiber in my diet, and upon researching how to do that I found the CC site, and after I started logging for a few weeks I became aware that I was consistently eating more calories than I was burning, so I started making changes accordingly, my food choices drastically changed at that time.

2. What other "diets" (programs, products, plans, or services) had you tried in the past?

None, I have never taken time to consider what foods I was eating in comparison to how much activity I was getting. I had a vague sense that if I was being less active I should eat less, but I never tried actively changing my behaviours before.

3. Please describe how you reached your weight loss goal. What changes did you make to your usual diet, activity, lifestyle, and attitude?  Did you implement any other strategies besides Calorie Count?  What was the most important change?

Logging on Calorie Count was key, as it helped me have the limit on my calorie consumption; in addition the analysis helped me learn to have the best combination of foods to get a balanced diet. I have also been taking multivitamins, calcium, and fiber supplements to help ensure I was meeting the nutritional recommendations. Most important change was food substitution, where I used to eat bagels I now eat rice cakes, plain yogurt instead of flavoured, frozen blueberries instead of trail mix, cottage cheese instead of cream cheese. This was so key for me, as by doing this I still could satisfy my emotional eating, but without the huge overload of calories. The other thing I have learned is that adding even the smallest bit of activity in my day is a good choice, taking the stairs, going for a walk, extending my bike rides a bit further, 30 minutes at the gym, it all adds up.

4. Please describe how Calorie Count was instrumental to your weight loss.

As described above, Calorie Count website is what woke me up to the realities of my inappropriate eating habits, allowed me to figure out how to make good changes, and gave me the focus to stick with it.

5. What difficulties did you experience losing weight?

So far none, once I adopted these healthy practices, my weight has consistently been dropping.

6. How long did it take you to see results? When did you realize that you were a success?

Within 2 weeks of making changes, I saw my scale weight start going down, and right away I was convinced the process was going to be a success.

7. How do you prevent relapse?

I continue to keep to this new structure for my eating, and I'm starting to look ahead and set new fitness and exercise goals for myself.

8. How has your life changed now that you've lost weight?

I'm definitely feeling more confident. I'm fitting into shirts that were shoved to the back of the closet before. Just last week I noticed while handing out some papers during a business meeting, I was keenly aware how I did not mind standing out in front of everyone, and I knew this was because of my trimmer belly. Also my bike rides to work have totally transformed, there is 20lbs less of me to move around, so I'm zipping along now, it's just like how it feels when I ride my bike without my saddlebags and gear, but I still have the saddlebags on! (I just realized I should go for a ride without the bags and see how that feels now, Yee-haa)!

9. How long have you maintained your current weight?

Still planning to lose another 8lbs to reach the healthy BMI range, so once I reach that goal, I will be seeing how maintenance is going to work for me.

10. What five tips do you have for other dieters?

• Use the CC site to analyze the foods you eat often and that are very high in calories, and try to find lower calorie substitutions.
• Get cooking, try some new recipes!
• I am no expert, but I think taking multivitamins, calcium and fiber supplements has been a good thing for me.
• For me setting a higher calorie limit for the day has worked great, so set your limit at just below your BMR, and get your negative net calories by adding activity (if you can swing it).
• Rely on the trend feature of the weight log, to not get thrown off by scale weight fluctuations, I log my weight every 4 days, but track my progress by the trend not the scale weight.