Most of my weight loss so far has been achieved by cutting most of the junk out of my diet and eating smaller portions. I started losing weight in the summer, so it was really easy to eat mostly salads and lots of fruit. I always make sure I eat a good breakfast, and that I take healthy snacks with me wherever I go, so I don't get hungry and buy something fattening to fill me up. The best way to reduce portion sizes is by using smaller plates. Try to get hold of some old dinner plates, which will probably be smaller (I use some that used to belong to my grandparents), or try eating your meals off a side plate. My portion sizes halved when I started using smaller plates, and I never felt hungry because my brain told me I'd had a full plate of food.

In the last few weeks, I've started a more serious approach because my weight loss had stalled, and some of it had even started to creep back on (I was getting back into bad habits). I now track all my calories using an online food database and try to stay about 500 below maintenance every day. I also exercise for between 1 - 1.5 hours most days, and I do both cardio and resistance training. I've lost 4.7lb since I started my new approach 4 weeks ago.

Hi,
It's takes time. It's a process

John's right!

I'll tell you how everyone's done it...they take things one day at a time.They have a set back, but they pick up and keep going!

What kind of 'diet" are you doing??? Loosing weight is cals in vs cals out...how many cals do you think your consuming during an average day??

Hi,
It's not just cals in vs. cals out. The type of cals also matters. Simply by changing what you eat and at which time of day can make a hug difference. I studied dieting and fitness (no expert, just self study) and everything counts towards your goal.

Hey Blue, and welcome to the forum.

It takes quite a lot for you to decide to change your life in this way - I hope you get all the advice and motivation from this forum. I'm pretty new myself, but it's helping me a lot already, especially in terms of motivation, exercise and food advice. I lost weight once before and it was down to going to the gym and eating well. I have to admit I measured every food item carefully, which is probably why I gave up so close to my goal. I'm determined not to let that happen this time - as long as I know what I'm eating, and when, and am sure to burn off more calories than I'm eating, then I'll be sure to lose weight. It's up to you what method you intend to use for your weight loss - I'm curious to know.

I like Alibran's idea of using a smaller plate; if you can convince yourself in that manner then you should go for it. The more you can convince your brain that you're eating enough, the better it'l be for your weight loss. I'm also keeping a diary, but it isn't carefully documenting every pound of food I eat - it's simply meant to keep track of my mental and, hopefully, physical, changes over the next year for me. You might want to make a rough plan for yourself. But if I had to give a single piece of advice, it would be this: Don't be too hard on yourself. Take things slowly until you get into a pattern, and then add something else to assist you on your weight loss journey.

Well that's my little piece - I hope you get what you need from this forum. So far I've lost half a pound, but this isn't bad considering I started like a week ago :-)

Hey!!

I just joined about 5 mins ago actually, your post struck many chords with me , "I'm so scared and it's all I think about really cause I still have so much to loss" i have this feeling pretty much everyday, just wanted to say hi and to let you know, if you ever wanted to chat im here quiet alot. What sort of weight loss plan are you following??

[link=http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/weQTxVN/]
[image noborder]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/t/weQTxVN/weight.png[/image]
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Welcome to the forum

Well I did join weight watchers two months ago... See they help you more with the eating and they have a point thing for everyone. So once I get under 320 then it changes every 10 lbs goes down. I know this is for slow weight loss weight watchers. BUT it keeps it off in the long run and another thing is I dont go there anymore cause it stressed me out to much. BUT when I did go they really didnt talk much about what you do during the day they say about 20 min a day. That's great but for me I work out about 2 hours a day each day yesterday was my 1st day off in two weeks of doing 50 laps and the suana... I'm going back today ( girls you hear me when it's that time of the month ) swimming well weighting 324 is hard already pushing yourself BUT when I feel like I weigh 600 the next day with all my water billed up I NEEDED a day off lol...
But yes I do go with the weight watchers points and I can eat whatever I want every day but I have to count in one meal.

Calories in that meal
Fat in that meal
And then Fibre

Something lets say that is 179 calories 2 fibre and 2 fat would be 3 points for me, in one day right now I can have 39 points.

Now here I will also do one for everyone ok see I like subs so if I go and get a veggie sub from mr sub. The pizza sauce is a 0 point for me I dont get the meat just dont get all the others sauces just pizza sauce so a weggie sub would be

Calories 180 cals
Fiber 2 g
Total Fats 3 g

and with my chart here that sub is 3 points remember that is for a 6 in

now see you know how people fall off the wheel ( not all the time but some times ) say if you just wanted that Big Mac well here is the slap in my face

Calories 560 cals
Fiber 3 g
Total Fats 30 g

So a Big Mac would be 12 points

So when you think of it I could have 4 of those veggie 6 in subs pretty much and it would add up to be the ammount of a big mac ( SICK )

So I count points.... If I have something bad like Pizza then the rest of the day I have to have low point meals. I have lost 20 lbs so far. I like the weight watchers plan BUT it's just so hard to count points all the time LOL
Get back all

Hello and welcome to the site!

I started my diet on July 24, 2006 and so far I've lost about 48 pounds. I put myself on the 'No Crappy Food' diet and that has worked for a long time. I cut out pasta, white bread, candy, ice cream, and soda. I exercise about 4 days a week and keep my calories to around 1400 per day. I've hit a major plateau and I'm trying something a little different now so we'll see how that goes after a week or two.

My husband is also on a diet and when he started out he weighed 494 pounds. He's down to 436 and gosh I just wish it would fall off of him faster. But I guess patience is a virtue.

Good luck!

It's great that you've already made some headway in your weightloss and your enthusiasm is really refreshing (talking about dieting and weightloss is sometimes quite depressing). In any case, I'm also impressed with your exercising habits. As long as you stay motivated it really is easy to lose weight. It's those times that you foul up and go way overboard on a day that can take away all your steam and mess your progress up. Also with Easter coming up it might be tough to avoid candies and such so I wish you luck.

Well I did join weight watchers two months ago... See they help you more with the eating and they have a point thing for everyone. So once I get under 320 then it changes every 10 lbs goes down. I know this is for slow weight loss weight watchers. BUT it keeps it off in the long run and another thing is I dont go there anymore cause it stressed me out to much. BUT when I did go they really didnt talk much about what you do during the day they say about 20 min a day. That's great but for me I work out about 2 hours a day each day yesterday was my 1st day off in two weeks of doing 50 laps and the suana... I'm going back today ( girls you hear me when it's that time of the month ) swimming well weighting 324 is hard already pushing yourself BUT when I feel like I weigh 600 the next day with all my water billed up I NEEDED a day off lol...
But yes I do go with the weight watchers points and I can eat whatever I want every day but I have to count in one meal.

Calories in that meal
Fat in that meal
And then Fibre

Something lets say that is 179 calories 2 fibre and 2 fat would be 3 points for me, in one day right now I can have 39 points.

Now here I will also do one for everyone ok see I like subs so if I go and get a veggie sub from mr sub. The pizza sauce is a 0 point for me I dont get the meat just dont get all the others sauces just pizza sauce so a weggie sub would be

Calories 180 cals
Fiber 2 g
Total Fats 3 g

and with my chart here that sub is 3 points remember that is for a 6 in

now see you know how people fall off the wheel ( not all the time but some times ) say if you just wanted that Big Mac well here is the slap in my face

Calories 560 cals
Fiber 3 g
Total Fats 30 g

So a Big Mac would be 12 points

So when you think of it I could have 4 of those veggie 6 in subs pretty much and it would add up to be the ammount of a big mac ( SICK )

So I count points.... If I have something bad like Pizza then the rest of the day I have to have low point meals. I have lost 20 lbs so far. I like the weight watchers plan BUT it's just so hard to count points all the time LOL
Get back all

Thank you ever so much. Yes it's hard to work out as much as I do but i'm a strong person I added alot of my weight on from a bad car crash that I have been off of work for over 2 years now. From the pills to the lay ups. I have such a supporting boyfriend though ( now ) back then I didn't but that's another story and another web site lol. But he is so supporting he got me to go to the docs and talk to her and that's when she sent me to weight watchers and said i still have 6 more months of no work and then see what happens from there. I was scared about the hole ex skin ( I know swimming can help pull it in ) but I dont want any. I will be happy right now at 240 ( that's where I was at high school and now i'm 324 and I hate it.. These pics are more from when I was 240 (thats where I wanna be....)
But my doc told me do to the fact I came to her and wanted to lose weight and she got me help that the surgery for a tummy tuck is free so I also have that I could do too... But yes it's hard at times EVERY min of every day is hard for me but I KNOW I will do it this time with the suport of my parents my brother and my boyfriend/friends and EVERYONE here GOOD luck everyone else

blueberry_twist

I'm a noob too and although my journey is different to your own I'd say well done for what you've done so far.

You've obviously had a lot to go through and that does make things harder.

But in my experience if you're willing to start where you are and take one step after another you can get where you're going a lot faster than you'd ever realise.

A supportive partner is definitely a good help.

In my case I've lost a lot of the weight I wanted so like you I don't expect to be some kind of stick insect. But I'm a lot lighter than I used to be and that's the positive to take away for me.

Sounds like your life is on an upward spiral at the moment. Way to go!

That is for sure... I can be a real B**** to him now caue all I wanna do is eat my old food LOL... But he understands why and thats amazing this man in the 9-10 months we have been together... He has never once fought with me he is just so understanding and wants me happy and that is a big thing for me cause when we met I was just so cold hearted from what happen in the past now i'm becoming the girl I used to be JUST need to get the weight off YAAA lol

Well tonight was a messed up night and it sucks My boyfriend and I went to the gym and now I have lost the hole 20... Went back down cause I went up and I'm happy of that.. Then we went out for supper and I did good there then man we went to play Bingo with friends and I had chicken strips and fries there DAMMMM it I can just feel that I added weight tonight ( KICKING MY OWN ASS lol )