Weight loss - What worked for you?

Two years ago, I was a size 12/14.

I went on a road trip to help my best friend (who is a size 4) move, and her landlords constantly called me fat. It was embarrassing and awful.

Then I came back home and was working as a nanny, and the kids of one family I worked with constantly called me "fatty" or made fat jokes. (Their mom is a size 0.) I had watched these kids since they were babies, but their behavior got so out of control I quit.

Then I moved to the other end of the state to finish college. I was jogging on day past a frat house. Some guys started yelling out that I was a fat heifer and started mooing.

Then I threw myself into my college work. I made almost all A's and finished in a year and a half. I was also working full time. At the end of the day, I barely had enough energy to get up from my desk and go to bed, much less work out.

Then in the past year, I've moved twice, got married, my parents divorced, and we had 3 graduations (DH, my sister, and me). My way of dealing with all the stress was to eat.

Now I would give anything to go back to being a size 12. I'm the fattest I've ever been at a size 20. I don't even know where to start with weight loss.

I've never really worried about my weight before. But I'm sick of having to shop in the "plus" section of the store. And I want to be healthy for myself, for DH. I want to have kids sometime in the next few years, but I can't imagine being pregnant when I'm already this big.

I walked 30 mins/day this week and gained 2 pounds. I don't drink sodas. I have a serious sweet tooth and am thinking I need to give up/seriously limit chocolate and sweets.

Has anyone on here lost weight? What worked for you? What didn't work?

Firstly, you're lovely and never let bitchy horrible people tell you otherwise, some people have real deep seated self worth issues that they take out on other people. but saying that, wanting to change your weight to be healthy is a great step, and something that's very worthwhile.

I think that you need to start by finding your triggers. Are you an emotional eater, is it snacks, is it something more medical, associated illnesses, are you worse at work or at home?

One of the best ways, but hardest, of doing this, is to keep a really honest food diary. Seriously honest. Everything you're eating, no cheats, or "it was only a spoon, it doesn't count". When you've done this for a couple of weeks you can really go back and review it, and you'll probably find a couple of obvious places where you can make some simple changes which will make a big difference.  Like for me the period between 3 and 5 at work is my danger period, it's then that the vending machine looks tasty, so it's then when I have snack or treat ready, like olives or nuts or veggie sticks or something.
I really broke my sweet tooth by going cold turkey on sweets for about a month and then gradually adding small bits back, like 80% cocoa chocolate and berries with whipped cream and a little sweetener, sugar free jelly, etc. Eventually you get to the point where high sugar deserts are just too rich and don't taste as good to you, honestly I never ever though that could happen to me.

There's loads of different diets, calorie and portion control is probably the most sensible  for me, I have high insulin resistance, PCOS and auto immune conditions, low carb to regulate my insulin levels was the only thing that ever worked for me, it is very hard to sustain for long periods though.

Ever since I was a teenager I thought I was fat- not huge but not thin. When I got in my twenties the weight added on. Three years ago I was a UK size 22 and my biggest wish was that I could just walk into any store and buy clothes.
My motivation for change was my DH was diagnosed with diabetes and he needed to change his lifestyle-- typical woman, easier to do it for someone else than him.

I know that doesn't help-- but what I found was once I got started I began to do it for me. I lost over 5.5 stone-- and now wear a size 14. I have been this weight for a year and a half. I am content with my weight-- and happy I am maintaining with pretty little thought or effort. I hope to motivate myself to lose some more-- but no hurry.

My tips--- portion control-- eat small amounts- more frequently. EXERCISE-- I hate it, but I couldn't have done it without it. It had double benefits besides burning calories I found I craved food less when I exercised. I didn't do a lot-- wii fit 30 minutes a day-- I started at about 10 minutes a day and built it up or I walked or rode a bike.

I also strongly believe in not weighing myself more than once a week.

At the beginning I stayed away from certain foods that I knew I would over eat, now I don't stay away from anything-- I just keep it in moderation.

The fact is there is no secret answer, you just have to be ready-- and trust me I know how hard it is to be ready.

I hope you can find your motivation

Diet and exercise - flat out. I did Weight Watchers and I did my Tae-Bo video at least 3 times a week, and went for a long, brisk walk on weekends.

I started off with a fast (7 days) in order to detox.  I really didn't lose any weight from this but I wanted to get all the nasties out of my system.  Then I did a modification of Daniel's Fast.  Basically I ate no meat, no sugar, no dairy, no bread and nothing processed.  So I ate a lot of fresh fruit and veggies (I usually ate 2-3 salads a day with all-natural dressing), whole grains (I learned to love whole wheat pasta), nuts and beans.  After about 2 weeks of following this diet very strictly, I began to add in things like veggie burgers, veggie sticks (potato chips made out of veggies), all natural blue corn chips, etc.  I would also eat chicken or tuna every now and then.  After awhile I modified this to just a low-fat diet (but continued to eat most of the same type of things because I knew how healthy they were).  So I added in things like fat free angel food cake with fresh strawberries and fat free cool whip for desserts.  Believe it or not, there are actually a lot of tasty fat free products now (not like a few years ago where you couldn't find any and the ones you could find tasted disgusting).  I would also have one "cheat meal" per week...usually dinner for obvious reasons.  It gave me something to look forward to and I used it as a reward for doing so well during the week.  This worked out perfect for me and I lost 45lbs in 6 months and kept it off for a year.  

The thing about this was that it was a lifestyle change for me, not a diet.  And it was something I could live with for the rest of my life (unlike a low-carb lifestyle change...which I could not deal with).  I knew I was healthier every day because I stopped eating crap all the time...and that made me feel better about myself even after I stopped losing weight.  I will be going straight back into this lifestyle change in a few weeks to help bust off the pregnancy weight.

I think every individual is different and you have to try different things until you figure out what works best for you and your body (I tried for 1.5 years before I found something that worked and that I could deal with).  Whatever you decide to do, I wish you good luck because I know how difficult it is!

Ohhh, I could fill a book, maybe TWO books, on the things I have learned. I was fat since I was 3 years old, and pretty much was overweight or obese from then on out to age 28. By then, I was morbidly obese. I grew up in an environment where exercise wasn't encouraged and bad food was plentiful. (Gotta love the South!)

Here's the long and short of it...as someone mentioned earlier, you have to eat right and exercise. That's it. There's no secret diet, no magic pill, you just have to retrain yourself. And I mean literally retrain yourself. You have to make a new lifestyle for yourself, one you can keep up. And let me tell you, after eating crap and being sedentary for 28 years...if I could retrain myself, ANYONE can.

I've lost 108 pounds (at 5'4" and 126, I'm not rail thin, but I am fit), and have maintained my goal weight now for almost a year. I work out five-six (I always aim for six) days a week, I cook a healthy dinner every night for my daughter and I (lean meat and veggies), and I keep temptations out of my house. I have a cheat meal once a week, and I remember that it is okay to LIVE MY LIFE. Meaning, if I'm at a birthday party, I'm not going to be the downer and refuse a piece of cake. And on that note, it would be unrealistic to expect that I'm NEVER going to have pizza again. But if you eat right 80-90% of the time AND workout regularly, you can get away with a few slips here and there. I cannot stress just how key the exercise bit is.

As cheesebiscuit said, keeping a food diary helps a lot, because many times you don't realize how many calories you've nibbled here or there. There are some great online calorie counters. I've gotten to the point to where I can portion off how many calories I get per meal/snack, and I just make sure I don't go over that and I'll be under for the day.

Like I said, I could go on for days, but I don't want to bog you down with the details. Breaking a food/non-exercising habit is like breaking any other habit...you have to be mentally ready for it, and you have to WANT it.

(P.S. I saw you mentioned walking...can you work in a little bit of light weight training? Muscle really does help increase your metabolism.)

I have a great app for the iPhone called Lose It! and it's helped me to lose a quarter of the pounds I want to shed.  I also use RunKeeper on the iPhone for my runs.  Not to sound all Dr. Phil, but it has helped me get real.  It's amazing seeing the actual numbers.  I would have thought in the past that running 4-5 miles would justify a frozen yogurt or a few brewskies, but now I realize it's only 400 calories.  Logging it has really helped me, and the magical iPhone makes it super easy.  Best luck.

Like the others have said, it can be done.  At my highest weight, I was 280lbs.  I lost 120 of it in a couple of years.  Unfortunately, no magic formula, just journalling my food, keeping tabs on calories, and getting as much exercise as I could.

I did it so we could have kids.  As you said, I knew how dangerous it would be to embark on a pregnancy in such an obese state.  I put on 40 lbs when I had my daughter, and am still trying to get rid of 20 lbs of it!  So back to the drawing board, as they say....

Just remember one thing.  It isn't done in one day.  And you can't succeed or fail in one day.  You will succeed by not giving up.  If you have a bad day, it's just that, a blip.  If you quit on that bad day, it's failure.  As long as you hang in there and try, try again, it's never failure, just a momentary setback in a longer journey.  And if you refuse to give in, you'll get there.  But it will, and probably should, take years, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen quickly.  Quick weight loss doesn't stick.

Quick weight loss doesn't stick.

Absolutely.

I've lost and gained weight so many times in my life, and am now back to being big. I don't mind it all that much, though, to be honest. I'd like to lose a bit, but not as much as I once did.

What you have to make sure of, in my opinion, is that you're doing it for YOU. If your reasons for wanting to lose weight aren't really personal (i.e., because of idiots calling you fat), then it probably won't work.

For what it's worth, I'd rather be a size 20 than a size 0 or 4 ... but I realise I may be alone in thinking this.

For what it's worth, I'd rather be a size 20 than a size 0 or 4 ... but I realise I may be alone in thinking this.

No, you're definitely not alone in that!  Personally, I think I would look ridiculous if I were that size - it wouldn't be a good look, for me. 

I lost a bunch of weight after I moved to England, by walking far more than I ever did in the sedentary US lifestyle that I had (not saying it's like that for everyone) and by making small changes in my diet - mostly due to DH because he's a pretty healthy eater (also thin as a rail - grrrr).

Anyway, I've lost a bit of ground the last couple of years, but I need to keep working at it because my health is at stake - blood pressure & things like that.  (And my husband wants me to be around for a long, long time.  He's probably forgotten how to wash his pants.  )

Good luck, IME & hope you find what works out best for you.

I can lose weight doing a lot of things.  In my lifetime, I've lost hundreds of pounds.  I am only able to consistently keep them off with low carb.  Like cheesebiscuit, I have insulin resistance and auto-immune issues, as well as some other things.  And, like cheesebiscuit, I have food addiction issues centred around carbs.

I would love for things to be different for me, and I could keep things off by "eating less and moving more".  I actually don't like eating meat.  I am me though, and I cannot control my consumption of sugars and starches for long periods with out cutting them down drastically.  I was successful maintaining a significant weight loss with low carb by eating some starches and sugars in small amounts, but my health problems returned.

I think that people approach obesity and weight loss from the wrong angle.  They constantly treat it like it's a defect of character and about personal weakness.  However, those who maintain a weight within normal weight limits naturally shouldn't break their arm patting themselves on the back.  Their bodies tell them when to eat and when not to eat.  Fat peoples' bodies are out of whack in that regard.  Otherwise, before the discovery of the calorie people would have ballooned wildly or lost too much too quickly.  People who aren't fat or aren't too skinny would be constantly monitoring their daily activity (taking into account their lean body mass on that day as well), weighing their food, weighing themselves.  The margin of error for weight loss and gain is too narrow.  Off by a hundred calories a day (about a UK slice of bread), and you gain or lose ten pounds in a year.

I am not saying that I've never overeaten when I knew I shouldn't.  I am a food addict.  That's what we do.  I have found something that works for me to boost my self control a bit.  And no, it's not about limiting food choices.  I have plenty of tasty things from which to choose.  I am eating none or very little of the food to which I am addicted.  It fixes whatever has gone wrong with my food monitoring system, and I can eat but I don't eat to excess (often).

I am not saying that it's the only way.  If people have found other ways of doing it, I feel great for them.  I just don't know where I would be without low carb.

It's not how the media portrays it.  Sure, some people might eat only meat and cheese on it, and that's their business.  I eat mostly whole foods, green vegetables, and yes, meat, eggs and cheese.  I never rely on supplements such as Atkins shakes, and I always recommend that people avoid them unless it's an emergency.  I eat what you might find in a gastropub almost every night.  I am happy, losing weight (albeit slower than when I was at my heaviest over a hundred pounds heavier than I am now), but more importantly, I am healthy.  

One of the things that have saved me has been finding a low carb plan that works for me.  I think this is important no matter what sort of weight loss method works for you.  For some people, moderation works, but for others, they need something more structured.  I found Neris Thomas and India Knight's "Idiot Proof Diet" (not to be confused with diets of a similar name).  They have an excellent cookbook to go with it with tonnes of recipes, especially for "problem" meals like breakfast or packed lunches.  It's sort of a no counting low carb plan.  It's not perfect, and it's definitely geared to UK dieters (a plus for me actually), but it's what I've come back to after about 9 months of trying to return to vegetarianism (my mind's "ideal" diet).  It's very geared towards women, and there's a lot of self-help stuff in the plan.  But I've low carbed for years and know the ropes.  For a beginner, I'd recommend Atkins, but beware of the processed stuff.  Aim for whole foods, and Atkins is an excellent plan.

Again, I am not trying to say it's the only way for everyone. It's the only way for me.

As for weighing: I weigh every day.  It isn't always great to do that.  You can get discouraged, but it does help especially when you're not dieting to keep an eye on gains.

As for exercise: I did a lot more structured exercise when I was starting out on low carb in '07.  I do periods of semi-idleness followed by big adventurous bursts of activity.  I manage both fine and probably better than some people a lot thinner than I am.  I am considering starting a moderate weight training regimen.

Whatever you choose, know that there are others that have been where you are.  Millions others.  I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that things go well for you.  Drop me a PM any time you'd like encouragement.

In the year before I moved to the UK I went on a massive diet & exercise kick. Mainly due to stress and feeling like there was nothing else I could control in my life so I controlled what I ate & I took a minimum of a 5 mile walk every night after I got home from work no matter what the weather was.

I limited myself to eating only lunch and dinner even that was just a 250-400 calorie diet ready meal and I had a 20oz quad-shot mocha for breakfast. I walked everywhere (I had no vehicle). On the weekends I lived on coffee and dinner of a ready meal (no lunch) and all day was spent walking for 8-9 hours all over the place clocking up 20-25 miles a day.

No sweets, no sodas, lots of water, serious portion control and lots of exercise. I also took a multi vitamin plus a Calcium supplement to make sure that I wasn't depriving my body of nutrients.

I lost 100 lbs in 11 months.

Then I moved to the UK, had a baby and gained it all back because I couldn't keep up the exercise or calorie control that worked to begin with and yeah lots of other things as well...but I know what I need to do and I know I can do it again, but it takes serious will power that I just don't have at the moment.

It's great that you were able to lose so much weight, but I'm not sure I'd recommend ready meals as the best way to do that. Just my 2p. 

I've lost the same 40-50 pounds at least 3 times.  Sometimes healthily, other times not.  At worst, I hit a BMI of 38.  Not good. Not healthy.  I'll probably never be thin, but I'd settle for not fat.

Things are on their way down again, which is good, but it requires every ounce of willpower that I have to control intake, but also to not be too extreme, either.  The temptation for quick results is awfully strong, but the weight never stays off that way.  At 37, I'm almost out of time for children and the only impediment is my weight, so that's what is motivating me.

Another thing I forgot to mention is I feel it is really, really important not skip meals. Your metabolism works better if your body doesn't go into starvation mode and can count on its next meal. There have been lots of studies done that many overweight people don't eat a lot more calories- and many don't eat breakfast.
I know I used to very rarely have breakfast- and used to go long stretches without eating and then binging on rubbish. I now make sure I always have something to start my day.