Counting calorie success stories needed please

[lewber]

I have started exercising and counting calories. It's been two weeks and I have lost about 5 pounds. Woohoo! So far this is doable. I need variety, some junk food, and some wine :huh:

 

I think this is going to be the best long term plan for me. I have my fitbit and am trying to keep my total calories eaten 1000 below total calories burned. Most days that ends up being 1500-1800 eaten and 2500-2800 calories burned. Pretty do-able. The days with less exercise I have been able to modify. Some days I break even, but most days I have been close to the goal. 

 

But you hear so many other types of diets with no counting calories, no exercise, eat this, don't eat that --  this seems to be out of fashion.

 

I know it's going to get tougher and the weight loss is going to slow down soon, so I am looking for encouraging success stories to keep me going! 

 

Share away! 

[zoobie]

Weight Watchers is that basic premise and works for many people! I've discovered for my body that simple carbs are the issue, not calories, but whatever works for you, embrace it. :)

[Mommy22alyns]

My Fitness Pal worked for me.  I lost 47 lbs last year just by eating 1200-1300 calories per day.  I went from size 12 to size 4.

 

Junk food - Skinny Cow has candy treats that are between 110-150 calories.  They also have ice cream too.  Fiber One has brownies, coffee cakes, lemon cakes, etc. for 90 calories!

[kiana]

It's worked great for me. I have dropped 75 lbs, from obese to normal, from size 20 to size 6-8 (I'm 5 10). My back no longer hurts and all my bloodwork has moved from good to excellent. 

 

I did find that lower carb (but not low-low carb) was more sustainable in general as I was less hungry. However, I am not dogmatic about it -- today there were free, very good lemon cookies and I happily ate two.

 

I have made a few permanent changes (for example, I no longer drink sugary drinks) and I have found that with daily weighing and keeping junk food out of the house, I no longer need to track calories. But I don't think I'd have gotten to where I am today if I weren't tracking in the first place, to make myself aware of just how many calories were in the enormous bowls of popcorn I used to shovel down.

 

I think the daily weighing is important, because I can see that if I start slipping on portion control and go up a few lbs I need to crack down and eat more mindfully. However, daily weighing is much less of a chore. 

[Artichoke]

Yep, calorie counting and increased activity is what works best for me. We also eat whole foods and almost no processed foods.

[lewber]

Thanks. You guys have some fabulous success stories. Congratulations.

Long term anything is just hard for me but I'm hopeful.

I tend toward lower carb and I think I eat pretty well, but I have a few vices that I need to count to remind myself how fast they add up.

Exercise I think is the key for me. Those extra 500 calories make all the difference in the long run by allowing me some extras.

[Mommy22alyns]

Thanks. You guys have some fabulous success stories. Congratulations.

Long term anything is just hard for me but I'm hopeful.

I tend toward lower carb and I think I eat pretty well, but I have a few vices that I need to count to remind myself how fast they add up.

Exercise I think is the key for me. Those extra 500 calories make all the difference in the long run by allowing me some extras.

 

 

This is really key.  Once you start noticing calories and logging them, what you used to eat will astound you!

[mamaraby]

You might want to check out GoKaleo.

 

I've lost 52lbs in 20 months. I don't count calories per se, but the same principle still exists. I swap high calorie foods for lower calories foods and eat fewer calories than I burn. My overall picture is high carb, low fat, and no oil. It's just the means by which I work with my body's satiety mechanisms, though, so that I can sustain lower calorie eating without feeling like I'm starving. I've been successful before on gimick-y things (and for me, low-carb was a fad diet), but I've never been able to sustain it for more than 6mos. At that point, once I left the diet behind, all of the weight went back on super quick.

 

In the end, there is no one perfect diet. The *best* diet is always the one you can stick with for the rest of your life. This is a whole lot slower than the time I lost 40lbs in 6mos, but I not only can maintain the weight I've lost, I can keep going. I've lost more in 8mos of year #2 than I did in year #1. I'm just shy of halfway to my goal and just keep plugging away. :D

[redsquirrel]

I am a huge believer in counting calories no matter the food choices. For me, what other people call calorie counting is what I think of as portion control. I simply can't eat without taking my portion size into account. I weigh and measure almost everything and it has made a huge difference.  The older I get the more important it is.  I can't eat like I did when I was in my 20s or even my 30s.

 

Now, I I am eating low carb these days but I think that is also an age thing. When I was in my late 30s/early 40s I lost close to 50 lbs by simply counting calories and exercising. I should add that when I track my eating I naturally gravitate to healthier food choices. I didn't lose that weight by eating french fries and drinking beer while counting calories.  I ate a balanced and healthy diet with a very emphasis on vegetables.

 

These days, in my late 40s, it has become overwhelmingly clear that I cannot eat carbs/sugar. I just can't. If I do I gain weight no matter the calories count...but I also think I am more likely to overeat when I am having a lot of carbs. 

 

So, I say that you should absolutely weight and measure and track.  Keep a food diary. My guideline back in those days was I could eat anything I wanted as long as I wrote it down. The idea of having to write down 'bag of doritos' prob helped me not to eat them, lol.  However, if things change for you over time be willing to experiment.  I managed to lose 10% just eating less and exercising more..not tracking or anything. Then things stopped. But that first 10% got me in my groove and I felt like I had figured out what I needed to do. It was only after that that I began tracking and things moved much more quickly.

 

I also think a weekly paper journal, one where you record your weight loss and take a moment to write down if you had any challenges or successes or found a new food you like etc can be very useful.  If you hit a plateau you can look back to your more successful weeks and try to do it again.  It is amazing what we forget and having a paper journal to flip through is very useful.