How I Managed to Lose 105 lbs
Lionpaw managed to lose over 105 lbs by making small changes to her eating habits and staying physically active. Lionpaw shared with us some of the challenges she faces as she continues to lose weight and described a number of motivations that help keep her on track.
She contacted us through our Share Your Story feature and provided the following answers to our questionnaire.
1. What made you decide to lose weight this time?
It was the slow culmination of a number of factors. The final trigger was when my doctor said "you know, your triglycerides are high; you could cut down on carbs and that might fix that." So I started eating low-carb lunches, and making other small changes, and slowly the train started to take off.
2. What other "diets" (programs, products, plans, or services) had you tried in the past?
Nothing really specific. I'd tried various kinds of exercise that I never really stuck with.
3. What changes did you make to your usual diet, activity, lifestyle, and attitude?
I made slow changes that, over the course of a year, resulted in a complete turnaround in everything - my diet, my activity, and my health. I started with the realization that my weight loss journey would not be fast, and that I needed to make it enjoyable. I set out to find healthy foods I enjoyed eating, and found, to my surprise and delight, that I really liked bell peppers. That was my first success; I have since found all kinds of healthy foods I enjoy eating. I LOVE what I eat. Overall, I greatly decreased the amount of processed carbs in my diet, and increased the fiber, protein, and vegetable content.
I also tried to ensure I picked exercises I enjoyed, so I started by taking walks with my dog. At first, I would walk down to the grocery store about a quarter mile away, and I had to stop and sit on the benches on the path both going there and coming back. Slowly, I was able to walk further and faster. Then I started adding in a little jogging - just an 1/8th of a mile at a time at first, then more. That culminated in me running a 5k in March.
4. How did Calorie Count help you to lose weight?
No one had ever told me the simple math behind weight loss, and Calorie Count was extremely helpful in that regard. Calorie Count has also been a great place to find information about tailoring my diet to my goals. Probably the most helpful thing about Calorie Count now is the recipe analyzer. My fiance makes wonderful healthy meals for me now, and I use the recipe analyzer all the time to figure out the resulting nutrition.
5. What was most challenging about losing weight?
I have had repeated, stubborn plateaus that sometimes take a long time to break through, and recently as I near my final goal, my weight loss has slowed even though I'm more active than ever.
6. How long did it take you to see results?
To begin with I started seeing results in 2 weeks, and for the first 8 months my weight dropped steadily.
7. When did you realize that you were a success?
When I started losing weight, I could barely walk up a flight of stairs, and my knees would be stiff after sitting in a car for half an hour. After a couple months, stairs were no longer a major challenge and my knees were only stiff on rainy days.
8. How do you prevent relapse?
I remember what it was like to weigh over 300 lbs. I think about how uncomfortable I was, how much my knees and feet hurt, how horrible I felt about myself, and how annoying it was to have clothing catch under my fat rolls.
9. How has your life changed now that you've lost weight?
I have so much more energy and so much more self-confidence than I used to. More important than anything else, is the effect I've seen on my immune system. I find myself succumbing to illness a lot less often, and when I do get sick, I don't get as sick and I recover a lot more quickly than I used to.
10. What five tips do you have for other dieters?
- Make the journey enjoyable. Find healthy food that you enjoy
eating, and find activities you enjoy engaging in. - Don't try to change everything at once. Make small changes one at
a time, and you'll be surprised how fast it adds up. - Be resilient. There will be frustrating weeks, and injuries that
slow you down, and illnesses that reverse your progress. When
whatever it is has passed, get back in the game. Enjoying your
activity and your food will help with that. - Give yourself a break once in a while. I take weekends off from
counting, and eat basically whatever I want as long as I get all my
veggies. It makes forbidding myself banana bread and chips in the
middle of the week easier, because I can say "oh, I'll eat that this
weekend." - Plan your meals ahead of time. It's a lot easier to eat healthy
if you know at 5 pm Tuesday that you're going to be eating homemade
chicken stirfry and you can start cooking, rather than getting hungry
at 6:30 and looking around the kitchen for whatever's fast and easy.
If you would like us to feature your success story, you can submit it here. The most insightful stories will be featured on this blog and in the weekly "Success Stories" newsletter.
Comments
Good for you Lionpaw! I've been doing this for a month and am finding - as you - that making it fun is key. Looking for and cooking healthy foods is a delightful challenge! Black beans are a lot tastier than I gave them credit for!
Congrats again and keep up the good work!!
Erica
So impressive Lionpaw. Thank you for extremely practical tips on being successful. I have been at it for 8 months and am growing a little weary in the battle. I too, have to remember this is a 'marathon' and not a 'sprint'. Congratulations!
Great job. I especially like the tips given at the end of this article. Good advice and thanks for sharing!
You are such an inspiration. I lost 32 lbs from 1/1/10 to 5/31/10 then went on vacation and I hanot been able to get back on the diet. I feel so down and ashamed. I have even put back on a few pounds.
Congrats. It is so true that behind the weight control is the simple math. Cals in and cals out!
Congatulations lionpaw! You are an inspiration to us all. I was feeling exhausted with my diet today but reading your story has inspired me to stick it out!
Congratulations!!! Your story is wonderful and you look awesome! Thanks for sharing the details.
Your suggestion about being resilient is so well expressed. It could apply to any difficult situation in life. I've copied it & plan to save if for future reference. Taking good care of ourselves is a lifetime effort, & it helps so much to get inspiration from others. Thanks for your story. MH
The loosen up during weekends does really help keep you going. As there's no way you can offset a good 500 cals a day/5 days a week calorie deficit in the weekend.
Plus if you get in the habit of picking the right foods then it becomes second nature. I even end up with big deficits in the weekend due to extra exercise.
Congratulations, your results are amazing.
You seem like a very articulate and very smart lady. YOur fiance is lucky to have a woman who enjoy her life and take care of herself very very well.
Enjoy your honeymoon :)
Great post! I think the most important thing is finding healthy food that you love. That makes sticking to a healthy eating plan so much easier!
I am glad to see someone else does what I do and has enjoyed a certain amount of success. "Give yourself a break once in a while. I take weekends off from counting, and eat basically whatever I want as long as I get all my veggies. It makes forbidding myself banana bread and chips in the middle of the week easier, because I can say 'oh, I'll eat that this weekend.'"
I try to do as well as I can during the week, and as much as possible keep breakfast and lunch as close to my diet as possible. I want to enjoy my favorite foods but not feel guilty when I indulge or that I have to "work extra" and punish myself to make up for it.
Wow 105lbs!! Congrats! I love your realistic approach to your weight loss journey, Thanks for sharing your ups and downs with us!
You go girl!
I especially liked your comment on being towards the end of your journey and you need to keep on plugging away. I only have 30 more to loose and it is tougher than the first 120 pounds. I am slowly incorporating exercise which has been my buggaboo. I now find I am unable to eat certain foods because of the change of lifestyle and hate to go out and watch my friends scarf huge amount of food.
Thank you for your great post!
Kudos, I am trying to do just that: exercise more and more and not pay attention to the scale and not expect miracles. Life changes, not dieting ! I am actually enjoying my life more now.
Hope to be a "before and after" some day too. :)
Thanks for the inspiration. I too take a day off which not only helps me stay on track but I've read it helps the body continue to make hormones that affect metabolism. When we restrict our calories for a period of time, our bodies adjust to the lower intake and slow metabolism - a survival instinct of sorts. When we over eat one day a week, our bodies realize starvation is no longer an issue and resume output of metabolism hormones which help us continue to lose weight and not plateau.
Your story is amazing. I really love it. I am going to follow some of your tips. Congratulations!
You are such an inspiration! Your journey will continue and the lifestyle changes are permanent! :-) Keep up the great attitude & work!
THANK you so much for sharing this, espcially I like the fact you have mentioned - BE resilient
My weight loss has been slow, but I focus on fitness and makes me feel much better and at ease in my journey
Also I like cheating days as you have followed. I have lost 6 kg 10 more to go, and your story gave a little spark in my journey
Thank you and keep fit and keep smiling :)
lionpaw, first congratulations on your sucsess, and secondly what a inspirational read, tomorrow i will embark on a calorie controlled diet of 1200, so many diet fads i have tried over the past 27 years all of short lived sucsess, but now i feel focused and ready to go, reading your post has just inspired me to stick to it this time..
Congratulations! You write well and I laughed out loud at your comment about your fat rolls. Thank you! I'm just about at maintenance and I love reading success stories, it helps keep me motivated.
Thanks again.
If your child or grandchild fell of a bike would you tell them to just give up? Heck no you would tell them practice makes perfect!!!!
Or if you fell down a stair would you quit going down stairs NOPE you would continue down...
Just a few things that help me when I have a feedback!! (That is what I like to look at it as not failure)
Thanks for this story..it is truly inspirational. I agree the recipe analyzer is AWESOME!
I really love the advice you gave about taking it easy on the weekends. I am going to use that advice and stop beating myself up so much so that I can enjoy the progress I have made.
I'm not where I want to be, but I am not where I used to be and am feeling good about that. Thanks for the reminder, Lionpaw!
thank you for the inspiration. I especially like this: Be resilient...get back in the game.
That is the part I have to remember cause it can sure be hard to get back on track when you wander off course.
Keep it up!
Congrats, I am so proud of as I know you are proud of yourself. I just hope that I have your will power to be able to do what you did and that are still doing. Keep up the GREAT work. And hopefully one day maybe I can be like you and share my story with everyone. 
american
apples
asian
beans
beef
blog
bmi
breakfast
calcium
calories
cheese
chicken
chocolate
coffee
confidence
cooking
dessert
diabetes
diet
dieting
dietsinreview
dinner
eggs
emotionaleating
exercise
family
fiber
fish
fitness
fruit
goals
healthyeating
hunger
hungrygirl
inspiration
italian
mediterranean
mexican
mindset
motivation
nuts
obesity
party
pasta
portioncontrol
protein
quinoa
recipe
recipes
salad
salmon
self-esteem
sleep
snack
snacks
soup
spinach
stew
stress
successstory
sugar
support
tbl
thebiggestloser
tips
turkey
tv
vegan
vegetable
vegetables
vegetarian
water
weightloss
workout
yogurt
Wonderful post. Congratulations!
I admire your commitment and positive attitude.
Thank you for sharing.