Successful weight losers

If you have successfully lost weight, 10 lbs or more please share tips with all of us still trying to lose weight. What are your stats...How did you do it? How many calories did you eat, at what time did you eat...how many carbs, protein, fat, etc? Did you snack, what snacks? Did you work out, what work outs did you do? Please share helpful tips for us, we want to lose weight too! Anything that you think will be helpful, we need the courage and support to go on..

I am 5'4, about 143 lbs, and want to lose 20 lbs. I am 21 years old and have been trying for the last 3 weeks and only lost about 2 lbs :(

I don't consider myself successful just quite yet, but I have some momentum behind me. I lost about 10-11 pounds in the past 3 weeks following the advice I've found on this site...here's the 411.

Started Sept 8, 2008 - 5'6" male, 31 years, 225 lbs. Goal: Lose 40 pounds and get to 185 lbs. BMR on cc says I burn 2500 calories/day. Plan: Try to eat 2000 per day, and exercise 5-6 days a week (exercise consists of playing basketball, biking to work, going to the gym, simply walking around the block, depending on my mood and how tired and/or sore I feel).

Breakfast I eat the same thing almost everyday. 6-8 eggwhites, 1 cup fiberone honey cluster cereal (300-320 calories), 1/2 cup soymilk.

Lunch I eat a 6" subway oven roasted chicken sandwhich (footlong is on sale for $5), no mayo, no cheese, no oil, all veggies and mustard only. I often wish I had potato chips, so I often add baby carrot sticks or cut up brochili with ranch dipping sauce as a substitute with a diet coke (350-400 calories)

Dinner varies, but so far fish, chicken, turkey burger w/ low calorie bun, or even top sirloin steak (only 8 ounces) with steamed or boiled frozen veggies or something similar (800-1200 calories)

Snacks - fiberone chewy granola bars, apples, pears, nectarines, carrot sticks, and even cereal often do the trick.

Exercise - I use my lunch hour to exercise so I don't feel like I'm wasting time at home, or I bike to work instead of driving.

I'm fortunate enough that I don't get tired of eating the same things everyday. I'm more about convenience. The trick I learned so far is, I go grocery shopping every weekend, and prepare my dinner 3-4 days in advance and put it in the fridge so I can microwave it after work each evening, otherwise I get tempted with Burger King and McDonald's which is 3 min walk from my house.

Hope this helps. Good luck to everyone!

Hey:

I've lost about 23 lbs. I'm 5'2" and my start weight was 157.4 and right now I'm 134.4. I'm aiming to lose another 9 lbs, but just because I'm short :).

When I started, I was eating around 1500 calories a day, giving me about a 500 calorie deficit. I've slowly brought it down to 1300 calories a day to give me a 400 calorie deficit (because my daily burn has reduced as I lost weight)

I think the most important thing that I did to lose weight was to start planning out what I was going to eat for most of the day. Like bigkorean, I would plan out and pack my lunches for work (I also eat my breakfast at work because I don't get up early enough). I would plan out dinners when I went grocery shopping. I also upped the water consumption immensely.

Stuff like eating out I started in later, it takes a fair amount of planning but dinners out are easily doable if you make sure you order healthy stuff and take a couple extra steps.

As for exercise, I started walking, playing squash with my boyfriend and doing pilates videos from youtube. I tried to integrate exercise naturally, so I would enjoy it. Gyms aren't really my thing so I bought a good set of adjustable free weights to start weight training along with the cardio activities (squash, walking, running). I'm planning on taking a yoga class and start indoor rock climbing.

The most important thing is to know yourself. Know your likes and dislikes, know when you want to eat... but most importantly, know where your limits are and push through them.

I'm 5'9 and right now I'm at 151. I started at 164 at the end of July. I've stayed between 1300 and 1500 calories a day. My one major rule is no eating past 7:00pm. I love to eat late at night and it makes me gain! I go to bed a little hungry at times but I wake up feeling so much better about myself. I alternate my workouts between tae bo, my bowflex, and this dance aerobics dvd. I look like the biggest dork doing the dvd's but they are fun and it seems to be working. I walk every night after dinner, maybe 20-30 minutes, just around my neighborhood. And I usually have 1 or 2 rest days during the week, where I might just jump rope(which burns more calories than i thought it would) for 10 minutes in the morning and then my after dinner walk. Snacks are usually Kashi bars, apples, a few slices of deli turkey, applesauce, etc. I've gained 35 lbs. since I got married and I hate it. But it is slowly coming back off and so I'm really excited. The more I stick with it the easier it is to keep going because I see results. My breakfast helps too, I bought Protein powder from Vitamin World. It's Spirulina Soy Protein. I put a spoonful or two of plain yogurt, 1 scoop of frozen blueberries, a 1/2 cup of soy milk and 1/2 cup of cold water, with one scoop of the protein, and blend it. I have hypoglycemia so I get really shaky if I don't eat often enough, this shake seriously holds me over for about 3 hours or so, which is great for me. It gets me through the morning without snacking or getting so hungry that I binge at lunch. Good luck! I know it sucks sometimes, always wondering how many calories is in something, always counting, always logging every bite, but once we get to our goals, we can be healthier, happier people and we'll know what we can and can't eat, and hopefully we won't always need to constantly count everything we eat. I can't wait for that day!

Oh yeah, and NO COKE!!!!! I love that stuff so much but I get addicted and it makes me gain weight. I haven't had one in about 3 months. Yikes.

Hello!  =)

I've lost about 47 lbs in the past 7 months since starting cc and just reached my goal weight this month.  My stats... 28 years old, female, 5'7", SW: 182, GW: 135, currently maintaining about 136ish. 

When I first started, the weight came off so easily... I ate about 1400 calories/day and did some brisk walking on the treadmill a few times a week (couple miles each time).  I always drink a TON of water and/or green tea (I'm talking at LEAST 1.5 liters, minimum).  After quite a while, my weight-loss slowed some, so I decided to drop down to about 1200 calories a day... I started getting dizzy and having health issues - not a good idea.  So, needless to say I increased again and eventually went up to almost 1800 a day and exercising almost daily.  This helped me to lose the last few and now that I'm maintaining I eat about 1800-2000 calories a day with daily exercise (running on day one, weights on day two). 

As far as food goes, I'm not much of a cook and we eat out almost all the time.  Breakfast was oatmeal, lunch was usually a Lean Cuisine or Healthy Choice and maybe a small salad.  Dinner was out at Subway or another sub place, Panera Bread, Fazoli's (small penne w/meatsauce), or Taco Bell (Fresco menu).  Lately, we try to eat at home more... been trying to cook things out of the Hungry Girl recipe book.  See!  It can be done - you CAN survive on eating out, you just have to make good choices.  Snacks - LUNA bars, protien bars, Fiber One granola bars, trail mix, apples, bananas, light string cheese, fat free yogurt or cottage cheese...

Just stick with it and make sure you eat enough for any activity you do and you'll be fine!  =)

Hello!

I've lost 16 lbs since I started at the end of June (June 26th to be exact). I am also 5'4 and weigh in at 157 (started at 173 this year)

I've gone from eating 1200 - horrible!, up to 1300 - better but not really, and now at 1450 (I actually eat between 1350 - 1550 depending on activity level). I exercise every day - I swim 3 times per week and I walk on days I don't swim. And I'm starting the C25K program... My RMR is only of 1760 (with current weight) which is why I make it a point to include some type of exercise every day.

I've given up on sodas, switched to light soymilk instead of 2% milk, whole wheat everything, very little or no sugar, no refined anything! I cook almost all of my meals from scratch.. I eat mostly fresh veggies, fruits, and grains. I only eat chicken breasts and the occasional fish fillet - I dislike red meat...

I eat 3 regular meals but snack every couple of hours.. by the size of my lunch and dinner I could actually say that I eat 5 small meals, with the biggest one being breakfast which usually consists of egg whites, cottage cheese, turkey bacon and a soy latte.. yes, I drink coffee - 3 ounces per day - and no, it's not something I'm willing to give up! =)

My snacks include fruits, cut up veggies, flavored rice or corn cakes, kashi cereal, protein bars (balance, zone, luna), fruit smoothies, and protein shakes.

I drink quite a bit of water .. 3 - 4 liters if not more.. it's very hot and humid where I live so need to keep hydrated.

I still indulge in 'bad' foods on occasion - cake, pizza (I actually make my own), sushi, beer (mini beers that are half the size), etc.. BUT I really watch my portions.. it's not so much that I feel guilty for eating them, it's that my body no longer likes them as much and will rebel...

Hope this helps!

Hi all, First thing I want to say is congrats to everyone here on their weight loss!! To the OP..2lbs is 2lbs...great job!! I myself starting my weight loss journey in April and ate somewhere around average 1500 cals a day..SW was 131 and now I am at 112..would like to get to 110 since I am 5'4 and small framed but I am plenty happy right now with 20 lbs gone!! YAY!! So what did I eat? I DID NOT RESTRICT!! I am a firm beleiver in moderation..I wanted pizza I had pizza..just if I knew ahead I was going to have it I ate lighter the rest of the day..if it was a spur of the moment I ate lighter the next day..I had no SET calorie intake per day it was more like a range..I use the analysis tool on cc quite a bit to average out my week..but a typical day averages at 1500 in the beginning and now lately I am struggling to keep it under 1800 to maintain. I did not stop eating at any peticular times of the day..in fact always had a late night snack and I also drank wine a few times a week with my dinner...like I said before everything in moderation..Losing weight doesn't have to be a complete lilfestyle change..if you like mcdonalds fries and chocolate..have them just work them into your cc for the day. One thing I will say is strength train...muscle burns more calories overall. Start slow and work your way up. I work out 5 days a week..3 days weights 2 days cardio...sometimes adding in some cardio on my weight days if I went a little overboard on my eating the day before to compensate. It worked for me and it can work for you..stay focused and stay within your range and you will lose! Best of luck to you!!

I loved what "personaltraining" said about "I DID NOT RESTRICT." I think she makes a really good point which reminded me of advice that my friend gave me that really helped me in certain situations. I'm hoping this advice will help others...

She told me the following...

1) If I crave something, I always tell myself, I may want it now, but I can always have it later, therefore I don't need to eat it. She then told me if I crave it 3 days in a row, might as well have it (therefore satisfy the craving) but plan your day around it so you can eat it in moderation and therefore it's not really cheating if you're within reason.

2) If I'm at an event (birthday, wedding, bbq, etc) she told me to tell myself "This food is not special, I may want this food now, but I can eat it anytime." As soon I started saying this, I realize she's right, the food at these things are not special. I can go to the store and buy cake anytime. I can go to a restaurant and have steak anytime. I can go a bar and have champagne/beer/wine anytime. The point is, I realized there's no need to gorge on such things during such events, as the food is not special, so feel free to sample some of these things, but no need to go all out.

Hope this helps. It has helped me so far  :-)

I've lost lots of weight again and again - and found it again and again. I think the real trick is keeping it off. But gotta get it off to keep it off.

I think the trick is eating enough and losing slowly, 1 - 1.5 pounds a week. Losing weight successfully and keeping it off is a patience and perseverence game. 

Hi, I started in July of '07. In May '08 I reached my goal, losing close to 35lb, and I've been maintaining for about 5 months now. You can read my profile if you'd like, and PM me if you have questions.

On February 4th, 2008, I weighed 286.3 lbs....  After freaking out for a couple hours I came back to this web site I had registered with before - calorie-count.com and logged everything I had eaten the day before.  Ever since that day I have not missed a day of logging my food and for the most part my activities as well.  My goal weight is 175.20 lbs (self.com called that my "happy weight.")  I am a 39 year old male that is 6 ft 1 in tall and as of October 1st, 2008, I weigh 208.6 lbs; I have lost 77.7 lbs with 33.4 lbs to go.

My advice is be relentless with your logs.   Eat what you want, just make sure you log it; that way you learn moderation.  As I was keeping my logs I knew that once I approached my calorie limit for the day I had to stop.  I don't necessarily always stop at my limit, we bought Pumpkin ice cream yesterday, but at least when I do go over I know about it.

The day that I started this back in February, I had logged 4753 calories for the day before!  That was a wake up for me when it came to making myself aware of portion control and what I was choosing to eat.  Now, my wife & I, she has lost some weight too just because of my choices and activities even though she hasn't been keeping a log, we read labels religiously at the grocery store.  We also always check for nutrition information for restaurants so we still eat out as well.  Now we just make better choices and ask for a doggie bag.

My exercise regimen mainly consists of playing with our 3 year old son at the playground and yes I log that too.  Yes, there is a calories burned amount for that:

Moderate, Only Active Periods

378 calories per hour

Don't give up, the first few weeks are the hardest.  It was substantially easier for me to lose at the beginning just simply because my calorie requirements just to be alive at 286.3 lbs were unbelievably high.  I started by restricting myself to 2700 calories a day and that was a little over a 1000 calorie a day deficit.  Now at 208.60 lbs I try to stay with 1500 calories a day but I average 1611.  Luckily, that's still a 950+ deficit when my activity level is taken into account.

Things have slowed down as I've gotten closer to my goal and I'm sure I will be more in a similar situation as you when I have only 20 lbs more to go.  Basically what I am saying is, I'm sure it's a lot harder to lose that last 20 lbs than it was for me to lose that first 20 lbs. So don't get discouraged.

Keep at it, log everything you eat and log your activities so, on balance, you are keeping your goal deficit and you will see the results you want.  I myself have resolved that I will probably need of keep some sort of food log for a very long time even after I have reached my goal weight... if not forever.

Oh, yeah, and have the chocolate or the ice cream or the whatever you like, just remember that if you eat it you need to enter it.  Be honest with yourself and the rewards will come.

Hey all! I decided during my second year of law school that I had no more excuses and that the college weight had to come off.

Height: 5'4"

SW: 167

CW: 125

I honestly would like to lose maybe another 5. But my weight seems to have leveled off here and I am content at a size 2/4. Right now I am working on toning up and building muscle! I lift weights a few times a week, cardio the rest, and I throw in a spinning class for good measure.

The way I lost the weight was the good old fashioned way: counting calories and exercising. I am convinced that weight loss is 80/20 diet and exercise. I have completely changed how I eat and live. No more booze, no white carbs, no sugar. I eat small meals every few hours and try to limit carbs to only brown, high-fiber, complex carbs. I give myself one meal off where I can have WHATEVER I want to eat!

I think the key to weight loss is considering it not as a "diet" which is temporary. It has to be a new way of living.

I was reading this forum and saw that you can find your 'happy weight' at self.com.  I went to the site and found the tool, entered my stats and it said my happy weight is 115 lbs!!! I haven't seen that weight since GRADE school!  Man...my goal weight is 125 at the moment but I'd really like to maintain between 120-125...maybe i'm not a small frame like i thought?  I can overlap my thumb and middle finger when i have them around my wrist, not covering the whole nail, but definitely some overlapping there. 

Original Post by fairydust125:

I am 5'4, about 143 lbs, and want to lose 20 lbs. I am 21 years old and have been trying for the last 3 weeks and only lost about 2 lbs :(

First of all, at your size (i.e. right around healthy BMI range), losing 2 pounds in 3 weeks is *great*.  The reality is that the smaller you are the slower the weight comes off.  But it's coming off, so you should keep at it and it will continue to come off.

Me, I'm a little heavier than that.  I weighed 176 lbs at the beginning of July and have lost 17 pounds to get down to 159 lbs at the end of September.  I started counting my calories (typically eat 1500-1700 a day but usually have one day a week down at 1350 and one up around 2000).  I try to eat more fruit and vegetables, but my main thing is portion control.  I don't deny myself foods; I just don't eat as much as I used to.  So, instead of sitting down with a box of Triscuits, I'll weigh out a serving (or grab a couple of pieces of Ryvita or something like that).  Instead of sitting down with a tub of Ben & Jerry's, I put a few spoonfuls into a small bowl.  I also try to pack lunches instead of buying food at work and keep things like cherry tomatoes and sliced carrots readily available for snacking.

In terms of exercise, I started riding my bike to work instead of driving and I started doing strength training so that I won't lose muscle mass.  I also started walking to the grocery store and pharmacy (30 and 45 minutes walk round trip) instead of driving.  I'm really not a gym person and running bores me, so I'm all about incorporating more movement into my regular life rather than specifically "exercising".  I'm fortunate enough to have a job that's half desk-job, half standing/walking so that helps a bit with the metabolism too.

When you guys say NO SUGAR...does that include sugar in fruit because i know fruit has good sugar but it does have a lot of sugar, and almost every morning i have a fruit smoothie, i make it myself with banana, strawberries and blueberries and water. It tastes so good and naturally sweet but then when i read my analysis of what i ate it always says like 40 g of sugar and im like how??!!? Is fruit sugar okay? I only drink water and don't eat any candy or sweets except sometimes on the weekends

Original Post by mdillman3:

I was reading this forum and saw that you can find your 'happy weight' at self.com.  I went to the site and found the tool, entered my stats and it said my happy weight is 115 lbs!!! I haven't seen that weight since GRADE school!  Man...my goal weight is 125 at the moment but I'd really like to maintain between 120-125...maybe i'm not a small frame like i thought?  I can overlap my thumb and middle finger when i have them around my wrist, not covering the whole nail, but definitely some overlapping there. 

 i went there and i can't find it. The least i've ever been at this height was like 120 lbs i think and i was really skinny looking. But i want to be about 115 maybe, idk it depends how i look once i get there lol

Yes, fruit sugar is ok because the body processes it differently than white sugar. Just don't go overboard & eat 20 pieces a day. The amount you're eating now sounds fine.

fairydust~  it's on the left column on the page... under the heading "Try Our Tools" and click on the 'these handy tools' link and that'll take you to the page with the Happy Weight, etc on it.  It said my happy weight was 140.  ;)

Height 5'8"
Age 47
SW 210 (Aug 2007)
CW 150-153 (8 to go)
Calories: 1600-1800

I swim, bike, or run 3-5 days per week or a little of all (not the running so much). I've had good days, good weeks, bad days and bad weeks -- but I just keep coming back. Counting/logging absolutely keeps me more honest (I tended to not log if I thought I'd go over, since stopped that). I eat about 45-60g fiber per day, drink about 130-180 oz water per day, and try to avoid all HFCS foods.

This isn't "all or nothing" this is a lifestyle -- you just gotta know that with life there will always be good and bad days.

Oh -- and I never gave up the chocolate... and I consistently ate after 10pm at night (going to bed around 12-1), I still cook with olive oil, and I don't eat artificial sweeteners.

Original Post by jamminatorr:

Hey:

I've lost about 23 lbs. I'm 5'2" and my start weight was 157.4 and right now I'm 134.4. I'm aiming to lose another 9 lbs, but just because I'm short :).

When I started, I was eating around 1500 calories a day, giving me about a 500 calorie deficit. I've slowly brought it down to 1300 calories a day to give me a 400 calorie deficit (because my daily burn has reduced as I lost weight)

I think the most important thing that I did to lose weight was to start planning out what I was going to eat for most of the day. Like bigkorean, I would plan out and pack my lunches for work (I also eat my breakfast at work because I don't get up early enough). I would plan out dinners when I went grocery shopping. I also upped the water consumption immensely.

Stuff like eating out I started in later, it takes a fair amount of planning but dinners out are easily doable if you make sure you order healthy stuff and take a couple extra steps.

As for exercise, I started walking, playing squash with my boyfriend and doing pilates videos from youtube. I tried to integrate exercise naturally, so I would enjoy it. Gyms aren't really my thing so I bought a good set of adjustable free weights to start weight training along with the cardio activities (squash, walking, running). I'm planning on taking a yoga class and start indoor rock climbing.

The most important thing is to know yourself. Know your likes and dislikes, know when you want to eat... but most importantly, know where your limits are and push through them.

 Thanks, i also want to try rock climbing. I did it when i was younger and it was so much fun. I do yoga, and i feel like it helps a lot, i feel a lot leaner when i do it and just great! I do Bikram yoga. I was eating 1200 cal a day but sometimes feel that may be too little so some days i eat 1400 a day when i work out, but i dont know for sure how many i should be eating. I think that is the problem with me