Ask ME how I lost the weight!

I ran across a thread with a similar title here the other day.  Thought I'd chime in.  I've made my goal weight in the past month.  I started exercising in February (08), eating better by March and joined CC Mar 30th.  I've lost 48 pounds total. 

For me, it was a black and white issue.  I never did the diet thing before, despite being fairly fat for the past 11 years.  I followed the CC plan and took a lot of advice from the fitness forum. 

It came off pretty  easily, though I did get a boost from  the break up of my marriage.  (got healthy, started losing weight and gained confidence, husband decided to bail) 

I'd say the biggest components to my success early on was preparing healthy foods at home, scheduling exercise, squeezing exercise into regular activities, and paying attention to the percentages of nutrients (25% fat, 25% protein, 50% carbs worked for me).  I work hard to eat at least 25 grams of fiber a day.  A digital scale was a great investment and now I can figure calories by sight and guessing. 

I'm an advocate for "cheat days" aka eating to maintenance/just over at least once a week. 

I never had a plateau.  I think another component to successful weightloss/maintenance is to  figure why you got fat in the first place.  Then correct the problem.  I used to get bored because I was completely unsatisfied with my life.  I was miserable and would  fill the void with the worst foods and lots of it.  You have to fix what's wrong with YOU when you decide to change your body appearance. 

Well said, and very inspiring! I sound like you in some ways (11 years without really doing much about it), not so much in others (being consistently successful).  

Thanks for sharing your success story; I personally cannot read too many of them!

Have you noticed how delicious healthy foods taste after getting used to them?  How good everything tastes when not overeating?

I don't know about you, but I sleep much better when I eat clean and in suitable portions.

Over the holidays I cheated and the scale got it's revenge (16 lbs more on Jan 1st than just before Thanksgiving), but strangely enough 7 lbs. have already dropped off after only 3 days of clean eating.  Must have been lots of bloat.

I also agree with 25/25/50 fat/protein/carbs %-ages.  I can feel very well, have virtually no cravings and be fairly satisfied with 1500 cals per day if I eat this nutrient balance.

I also agree that so-called "cheat days" are to be recommended.  It allows you to live guilt free!  (which in turn keeps you from feeling so bad that you just give up on the whole thing)

what a great accomplishment!  congrats!  :D  it's great to know you lost weight the right way, too.

enjoy!

glad i stopped by to read your post. i haven't figured out the 25/25/50 ration thing yet, but i have discovered in the past few months that protein and fiber are both really important in keeping me feeling good and not being hungry. especially protein! 

I eat stuff now that i would not have tolerated four months ago, like marinated tofu for dinner. 

48#s in 10 months! that's like a pound a week! I'm doing good if i'm at a half pound a week, which i blame it on the cheat days, but I'm only two months into this and I've been fat my whole life, so I'm not expecting miracles overnight. the fact that two months in and i'm still committed, i guess that might be a miracle. And I agree, I do need cheat days, but they are dangerous and slow this down for me, so Im learning to use them with care. . . 

looking at "the reason your fat" thing is really interesting. I've been talking to my mom about that lately, and she talks about how fun it was to feed me when i was a baby, id be happy, and laugh, and since my dad was gone, i suspect my eating was taking care of mom in some ways too, she had to be sad about having an absent husband, i suspect making her happy made up both happy. its been helpful to let that sink in a bit, to acknowledge that I've probably had some disordered emotional eating all my life and that it emerged in the mommy baby relationship. It must be helping, because here I am. 

Thanks for sharing your story. I hope to be in the shoes of the successful one of these days, and its nice to have you who are already there shining the light of possibility for the rest of us! 

Bravo! 

b. 

Thanks for the feedback.  For many weeks, I was losing 2 pounds.  Then I wouldn't lose for a few weeks, sometimes a pound.  The last few months I stopped logging here but I was maintaining the same principles.  I never went back up. 

I think a big factor is that I see weightloss as an end result of good habits.  So, no miracles or cheating allowed! 

Thanks for sharing! It will help me to stay motivated!

Sounds like you have a solid plan. I have done well with a similar concept. I just didn't control what I ate but changed everything from starting exercise to planning to get more rest. Cut out most alcohol....cut out caffiene...worked on eating more fruits and vegtables.....to eliminating all trans fats and keeping saturated fats at about 15-18 grams a day. I feel great and am 30lbs down.

One big benefit is that my pot belly is gone and ....this will sound odd....it feels so good to lie flat on my stomach in bed. My snoring is greatly diminished as well!!

I delayed my caffeine until after exercise when I first started.  That would naturally cut my coffee to a cup a day.  Mostly because I was always dehydrated and coffee was a factor in skipping a good breakfast and overeating later in the day.  I'm back on coffee now but I still manage to eat well.  I do need to drink more water-I hate water!

The alcohol has stayed low.  I can't drink as much or I'll get blasted!  Six packs last a lot longer as a result!  When I started here, I logged my beer and wine calories faithfully.