I lost 60 lbs
 

I just stepped on the scale and saw that I've lost about 60 lbs over the past 8 months or so. In hindsight, it was ridiculously easy.

I'm almost tempted to start writing a diet book :glugglug

Where was the last place you saw them? I'd look there first.

Congrats :thumbsup

Congrats!!!! What did you do to lose it?

A friend of mine lost over 100lbs and now runs marathons. Incredible.

60 lbs. Very nice. Well done.

nice! if i lost that much id be hospitalized lol

last time i weighed myself I was like 155 lol

Well done, congrats!

I mostly quit drinking alcohol, quit putting sugar in my coffee and tea, quit eating sweets and such, removed all white bread from my diet, mostly quit eating meat, and with every meal I stop eating before I'm completely full. A few times a month I still satisfy my cravings for junkfood like pizza, tortilla chips, etc., but in moderation.

Aside from that, I do a short strength workout almost every day, and at least half an hour of cardio each day.

Basically, common sense. Eating three medium-sized meals and two (healthy) snacks a day, avoiding all junk food, and getting enough exercise.

The hard part was finding out how to change my eating habits, rather than just reducing caloric intake. Once I incorporated a better eating pattern into my entire lifestyle, it became extremely simple.

That's all??? I have put on some wieght and I am freaking out about it so I will be doing something similar but not happy about it.

Its iinteresting that you place white bread so high on your list...

I have lost 3 stone over the past year... But I still eat white bread. Almost daily. Whats so bad about it?

Almost no nutritional value, and very little fiber.

When you eat less so you can lose weight, you automatically get fewer vitamins, minerals, protein, healthy fats and fibers if you don't change what you eat as well.

So you want to stick to foods that give the most bang for the buck - or, more accurately, the highest amounts of nutrients per calorie.

Foods like white bread, refined sugar and non-diet soda provide lots of calories and almost no other nutrients. Simply switching to wholewheat bread will increase the amount of fiber and other nutrients you get, making it less likely that you'll get hungry or create a nutritional deficit.

It's like the difference between eating either a Mars bar or an apple and a banana. The calories are roughly the same, but if you eat an apple and a banana you'll be less hungry and will have satisfied more nutritional needs than you would have with a Mars bar.

fair point. Since I have been dieting, I have been taking extra vitamins in the form of tablets etc... I agree straight away with everying else you said... It was just that the white bread comment threw me !

Anyway, congrats on you weight loss :)

Congrats! Main thing is to keep it off, or at least most of it. Maintain the healthy habits you've picked up, especially the exercise...in my struggles exercise has really made the difference.

I reached my peak weight about 2 and a half years ago (277 or so) and lost about 60 lbs in a year. Since then, my weight has been fluctuating between about 205 and about 225 (am about 220 as I type this but this after I binged really badly a couple days ago :P). I will be getting back into tennis on a regular basis soon enough, and with regular tennis (2-3 times of about 3 hours) plus a bit of exercise between, I could eat completely shitty and at least maintain weight if not lose.

Getting rid of the ridiculously stupid habits like drinking regular soda or other high-sugar drinks and constant junk food is certainly the easiest thing to do to lose weight and in my 70 lb loss, that accounted for the first 30 in just a few months. IMO exercise is probably even more important than the diet/nutrition stuff beyond that though, especially if without exercise your day is just a bunch of sitting around on the computer like mine is. My issue is that if I'm not exercising regularly (which is easy if I'm overwhelmed with work), I could eat great for a week and then get sucked into binging because my body craves it and honestly because I'm not a health nut and don't like most healthy foods, and I end up seesawing in weight, up 10 down 10 up 10 down 10. If I'm exercising regularly, as I said I could eat pretty badly almost all the time and I won't gain weight. In fact, if I'm not exercising regularly, even if I'm eating well and/or seesawing but not gaining weight overall with it, my body fat % generally goes up whereas with good regular exercise, even with eating like shit my body fat % will stay the same or go down. It really makes all the difference in the world IMO. I love tennis in particular because with it being a game, it's a lot easier to do a lot more than with going to the gym or running - at least for me. I used to wear a body bugg (should start again) and I think my best day including tennis was over 600 more cal burn than my best day with gym, like 15% higher. Huge difference.

I think part of why US and probably other countries as well have a weight problem is because people don't get into fun organized exercise activities like sports, end up relying on the gym, hate working out at the gym, eventually stop because they hate it or simply never get into the habit of doing it to begin with and end up being mostly sedentary all day because so much involves computer and lots of people's leisure time anymore is spent on the computer or watching TV. Unhealthy food has been around for eons, but the general activity level of people has really gone down in recent years/decades.

Yep, that's all. It's incredibly simple once you turn it into a habit instead of a diet. Once your body has gotten used to it, you often won't even be tempted to eat something unhealthy anymore.

The first time you eat an apple when you're actually craving a candy bar, you won't be satisfied. The twentieth time, you'll actually be craving an apple instead of a candy bar.

And it's the same with portion sizes. The first few weeks, it's seriously hard to stop eating in what seems like the middle of a meal. After a few months, you'll just feel full after eating the smaller portion.

The problem is that these days, we can eat all we want. And since the body appears to have a natural tendency to want just a little more than it needs and is used to, we eat just a bit too much. The problem is that the more we eat, the more we get used to and the more we need.

The problem wasn't created by a 3 week eating binge, and likewise the solution isn't a short crash diet. The solution is moving towards a sustainable personal lifestyle.

And really, that isn't all that hard to achieve. It just requires that you're conscious of what you consume, and limit your eating just a bit. Don't try to lose weight, try to create an eating pattern that will satisfy your needs (in terms of enjoyment as well) and keep you healthy.

ya you quit mainstream. and american's are fat. whatever fatass.

my stepson has lot about 60 pounds in the last 9 months just drinking tons of water, walking about 5 miles a day and eating a little better. he also takes a multi vitamin just to make sure hes getting enough vitamins daily.

While I agree that exercise is important, I have to disagree with you on it being the most important part.

A bag of potato chips or a bag of m&m's, things that many people can easily eat while spending an evening watching tv, both contain about 1200 calories - half the daily needs of the average man. Drinking a single can of regular coke a day on top of an otherwise healthy and sufficient diet will make one gain about 15 lbs per year.

Compensating for things like that is completely possible, but it requires lots and lots of exercise - roughly 10 miles of running for a single bag of potato chips.

Looking at the side of losing weight, you'll need to run about 30 miles to lose a single pound. If someone wants to lose 50 lbs and runs 10 miles 3 times a week, it'll take an entire year for him to reach his goal - and that's assuming he doesn't eat a single bit more than he would need without the running.

Few people I know have the willpower to do that, so losing weight by watching food is just lots and lots simpler.

Of course, in the end, exercise is still what makes you healthy instead of just slim :thumbsup

Fuck off, retard.

tell us how you quit adult and americans are fat once more. awesome tale.

teh acais?

sorry i quit adult.

can't believe americans eat burgers for lunch,

Losing weight is so easy I won't even bother with it.

budsbabes, are you drunk right now? Either way, go and be a 'tard somewhere else.

Congrats on the loss!


Whenever anyone tells my dad that they've lost some weight.. his joking response is "I think I found it! Look behind you!"

You're forgetting about increased metabolism, which is the primary benefit to exercising regularly. All I can speak for is my own patterns I've noticed and for me, little or no exercise + eating very well equals roughly the same results as regular exercise and eating like complete shit in terms of how I do with weight loss, and eating like complete shit meaning eating 3k+ cals a day avg. with lots of junk food, eating very well meaning eating about 1500-1800 cals/day avg with little or no junk food. So I actually do the best when I exercise regularly and eat moderately well (1800-2100 cals/day and little or no junk food, doing less than 1800 when exercising regularly almost guarantees I'll binge sooner or later as my body would be starving). Plus you even mentioned you do weight exercises...that's another factor - having more muscle burns more calories as well.

Diet IS important, that's for sure, and people SHOULD do both diet and exercise to lose weight, but if changing both aspects of their life at once is too much (which it can be for some people) and they are generally sedentary day by day, I firmly believe exercise makes more of a difference...unless they're eating something ridiculous like 6,000 cals a day. But hell, look at Michael Phelps...sure he does burn a lot of cals through exercise, but it's that combined with his crazy ass metabolism that allows him to eat ridiculous amounts of food. There's no way in hell he burns all those calories off through his exercise alone - he has to have a metabolism far beyond anyone here. He eats 12,000 cals a day and exercises only 5 hours a day, 6 days a week (lol @ "only" but considering how much he eats...). 84,000 cal intake per week with maybe 33,000-36,000 cals worth of exercise per week (that'd be 1,100 - 1,200 cals per hour, much higher than what most people burn swimming but figure it's very strenuous plus he's made of muscle). Surely he doesn't just sit around besides his exercise but c'mon - to maintain his weight taking in that much he'd have to burn the rest of the 84,000 for the week somehow. My daily burn if just sitting around is like 2,200 cals or so...his is clearly a lot more.

Increased metabolism is indeed a big benefit, but a downside is that you'll also be much hungrier. Moreover, strenuous exercise with a 1000/day caloric deficit (the amount you need to lose 2 lbs a week) is virtually impossible.

Plus, a 500/day calorie deficit (1 lb a week) is just much, much simpler to achieve through a changed diet than it is through exercise.

So personally, I think that for major weight loss dietary changes are probably the best primary strategy, whereas for maintenance, minor weight loss and improvement of overall health improvement, exercise should take up the first spot.

How much did you use to weigh? Did you do any exercise to lose that weight or was it just from changing eating habits?

At my heaviest, I was 240 lbs. Right now, I'm 180 lbs. I'm 6' tall, and fairly muscular - another 10-15 lbs, and I'll have 6-pack abs.

I lost weight through a combo of diet and exercise, but diet definitely played the biggest part.

Binge & Purge... Much easier.

Ha...there is that humor again...you used to be so well known for. Are you still as overweight as you used to be?

It is my understanding that losing weight...while it may be some what difficult...is actually easier than keeping the weight off permanently.

In my case it was easy to lose weight...not by choice...and not because I was over weight. I am down to nothing in comparison to what I was. I have scarring in my esophagus that makes it extremely difficult to swallow...so a lack of food intake will definitely reduce ones weight. I have had multiple procedures done...but they have not worked well and do not last long...so I do not intend to ever have anymore done.

I love you but I won't congratulate you over that...

You wont have a best seller with that... Kinda the obvious way to lose weight... Fatties, respectfully, either like their regiment, have no will-power or its a psychological thing where eating tasty food (junk) is the only thing making them happy... Fatties want short-cuts..

Yeah, I'm overweight. I'm a webmaster :)
Not as overweight as I used to be. At my most handsome I was 319lbs. I need to get me some bigmacs and candy to reach that level again.

Damn...319...how tall are you?

5.9" I think. 180cm.

cool, congrats:)

Thanks. I plan to grow a few more inches though.

TGF is a handsome chap, no matter at what weight class. <3

congratulations!

I disagree. While exercise is incredibly important and having a fine-tuned body will help you burn calories even better, the control of intake is much more important than the control of expense.

If you typically eat 3500 calories a day and you knock that down to 2200 calories a day, that is a massive reduction and totally doable. You can do that with virtually no physical assertion, it simply takes willpower and a lot of habit changes. Now if you maintain that 3500 calories a day and try to burn off 1300 calories a day... wow... that's a lot of calories to burn and will take a LOT of effort.

Many many many people are skinny with absolutely no exercise. They control their intake. I get absolutely no exercise at all, and to counter that, I keep my caloric intake decent so that it does not make me pack on the pounds.

In the end, it's all about habits. To control your weight, you need to control your habits. Get good habits. Eat fairly decent, do a little exercise, don't be a lazy bum and you can be just fine.

The math behind weight loss is incredibly simple. And everybody knows this math. Where people have a problem is their habits and their lifestyles. Those absolutely must change in order to keep your weight off.

You are right.

Sugar drinks, fast food, frozen dinners... it's all garbage. It's totally fine once in awhile when you are in a pinch or you just want a little indulgence. But to live on garbage like that is just terrible.

I make my own frozen dinners right now instead of buying them. It actually works great. They are fast, they are very tasty, they are nutritious because they are not loaded with preservatives and other crap that you can't spell... and, it's cheap. Once every two months or so I make a giant pot of pasta, make a huge batch of sauce loaded with my favorite meat and jam packed with vegetables... and then I freeze it. One big batch like that will make around 15 dinners and it costs under $15 and tastes so much better.

I've been packing on the pounds in 2009. at this rate i will be a fatfuck by 2010. it's 100% shitty diet. i live off complete crap...

whoever said the problem is fatty's love for shit foods. that's 100% true. for my soon to be webmasterfat ass...

Can you post a bit more about the recipe/instructions for doing this please? I tend to use very bad language in the frozen foods aisle because I read the ingredients and I like to control what I put in my body. My desired foods do not include modified food starch -- well, I desire those, but I don't like how I feel if I eat them, and it would be awesome to be able to have convenient non-poison in the freezer.

My plan for the bestseller is to put heavily photoshopped "before" and "after" pictures on the cover, divide the common sense info into 10 arbitrary parts, and name it something like "10 simple steps to guaranteed weight loss" :winkwink:

Sure, it really is as simple as it sounds. So far I've done it with spaghetti with meat sauce and also pesto penne with sausage.

All you do is make up a huge pot of whatever you want. I do spaghetti. And then get out a large skillet to make your sauce. I do mine with ground venison, garlic, peppers, onions, mushrooms, assortment of spices, a fairly basic tomato sauce and then sometimes add in an extra can of diced tomatoes.

After it's all done I'll usually stick it in the fridge for a few days and eat it. And then when I'm tired of eating spaghetti for the week I'll load the rest up in sandwich sized freezer bags. Pop em in the freezer, all set. Then whenever you want an easy dinner or you want spaghetti, grab a package out of the freezer, rip it open and throw it on a plate, you may want to add just a touch of water to make it a little more moist and then you throw it in the microwave for a minute or two. Take it out, break it up a little more, throw it back in for another minute or two.

It sure beats the prepackaged ones. And you have total control over what goes into it.

Congratulations! ;)

do worry, I found and have it right here for ya :thumbsup

Honestly nothing new here, it's called common sense and discipline, if you write a book about this it will basically be a copy of 1000 other books.

Congrats on losing the weight, I am down 8 pounds in 2 months, but I need to work on my discpline to stick to just eat right