Lost 20lb in 2019 and maintained it. Please share your lessons.

[Anonymous]

41M here. I lost 20lb during the first half of 2019 and maintained it throughout the year. Here is what I did.

1. Calorie counting journal until April.
2. Maintained 16:8 IF for more than 98% of the days. I had very few exceptions during the Holidays. Disney kills it.
3. Drank a lot of teas and coffee - Green, Mint, Peach, etc.
4. Already vegetarian. So, no issues associated with processed meats, etc. But, I cut out all of the processed foods until June. Then, I allowed myself some processed foods which is not healthy.
5. Ran into a fracture in October. So, I could not go to the Gym after October. But, I maintained weight control by monitoring food portions.
6. I did not drink Coke for the whole of 2019! (I allowed Coke zero during summer. It is not healthy!)

Benefits:
> Heart rates and blood pressure always within limits.
> Increased energy and deeper sleep.

Things to Note:
> You will never gain weight unless you eat junk foods such as liquid calories, sugar, and salt. Vegetables and fruits never make you fat.
> Drinking 8 cups of water a day does magic on your body. I missed this habit during the latter half of the year.
> Never start weight loss goals at the Gym. If you are overweight, you will likely gain more weight. I started going to the Gym after I lost 20lb through proper diet and lifestyle changes.

2020 Goals:

Lose an additional 15lb and reach optimal body weight.

1. Maintain a Calorie log journal on a daily basis. It's just like maintaining the financials of your body.
2. Maintain IF at 17:7 for the whole year. This is harder than 16:8 but I am thinking 12.30 pm to 7.30 pm window.
3. Plan OMAD in advance for high-calorie dining events.
4. Avoid junk and processed foods - especially McDonald's fries.
5. Adopt two Vegan days a week. I am thinking of steamed vegetables, tofu, rice, fruits, etc.

Happy to take any suggestions from others.
Please share your story on how you maintained your weight loss and broke through plateau periods.

[Anonymous]

Lost 21 pounds @ 42, and maintained it.

Weighed myself every single day;

Slightest scale deviations caused an immediate course correction;

Counted calories;

Skipped many parties/outings;

If I purchased something that was not healthy, before I began eating it I would dump more than half of it in the trash. Wasteful? Yes. It really does work though.

[Anonymous]

Weighing daily is a great way to keep yourself in check! It’s amazing how people say do not weigh yourself daily due to weight fluctuations! I am with you PP. great job!

[Anonymous]

Soooo true on daily weighing. Ironically, I stopped doing so this summer and my weight has crept up since. It totally worked for me so I'm back to it.

[Anonymous]

Lost 20 lbs in 2019 and maintained. Looking to lose 15 lbs in 2020

After 40, can’t outrun diet. Still exercise a lot because I love it but know it does nothing or near nothing for weight loss Does help with body shape.

My entire life, Never lost weight quickly. However Could gain really quickly. As got older metabolism seemed to really slow down. Here is what worked.

Weigh daily - fan of happy scale app someone here recommended to smooth out normal fluctuations

Do IF most days 14/10 with 16/8 once or twice a week. Watch carefully what I eat and needed significant calorie deficit . Ate clean 90 percent of time. Lots more veg. Less white carbs and less sugar but not extreme. It didn’t come off fast but was sustainable. Family eats healthier now too.

Celebrate consistency on habits - that’s the part I can control. Embrace small losses. Many months just lost 1.25 lbs but it was better than gaining. Many weeks scaled barely budged but better than a big gain . At end of the year - it adds up and is sustainable. I’m fine with 15 lbs loss goal in 2020 taking a full year

[Anonymous]

Op, you sound just like me. Lost 20 lbs in early 2019, maintained the rest of the year and want to drop another 15 in 2020

What worked for me:

1. counting calories, weighing, measuring everything, focusing on protein
2. weighing myself daily
3. lifting heavy
4. running a few days/week- more because i enjoy it than thinking it will help me lose weight- losing weigh is all diet
5. eating everything in moderation- I did not put one thing off limits. knowing I could have whatever i wanted if it fit my calories and even when it didn't made me think about it and want it less.


2020 plans
1. Count calories- hit calorie target at least 80% of the time- no more than 1 day/week of not hitting calorie target
2. Continue lifting 3x/week and running 3x/week. focus on getting stronger.

[Anonymous]

How do those of you who IF have energy to work out?

[Anonymous]

Very inspiring - thanks for this thread. I must fast more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do those of you who IF have energy to work out?

For most people (not all, everyone is different!) IF doesn't result in feeling lethargic after an initial adjustment period. Yes, while you adjust you are going to feel kinda yucky - usually cold, hungry, and sometimes dizzy or lethargic. You body is accustomed to getting its energy from food, and until it switches over to getting energy from fat stores (it sorta needs to be convinced to do that again if you are used to feeding your body every few hours) it is going to scream at you that you should FEED ME!!! But that ends - depends on which IF program you are following, but give it a few weeks. There is some good evidence from trials and studies that fasting actually can make you more alert and with better brain and body functioning, both short and long term. That said...if it doesn't work for you, there are other methods and don't sweat it.

[Anonymous]

55 female. Lost 25 pounds, maintained for November/December and now working on another 10 this year.

Diet: WW, I have counted calories in the past, this works better for me now but either will work.

Mindset: listen to podcasts regularly on diet and mindset for keeping weight off long term. Maintenance is hard because it requires persistence to continue the effort even when you have a vaguer goal than weight loss and the “reward” for all the work is seeing the scale not move.

Accountability/support: this is the best part of WW for me, I do WW at work and the weekly weigh in and discussion really works to keep me accountable. Doing it at work makes it logistically easy. I also weigh myself daily. When I have gained weight in the past is when I have gotten out of this habit.

Exercise: I do not do much formal exercise, some yoga and a lot of walking is built into my schedule (my commute includes at least 40 minutes of brisk walking).

[Anonymous]

After I lost 50 lbs a few years ago and found that was the easy part...keeping it off was the hard part...I read a book called Refuse to Regain about the maintenance phase. It was pretty good. It got it through my brain that I would never be able to "go back to normal." Normal got me 50 lbs overweight. The simple thing that helped me was the idea of having a tripwire weight - if I hit xxx lbs, I had to start the full diet phase again until I was well below that weight. I did, and still do, hit that weight and restart the weight loss phase at least once a year. It no longer panics me. I just remember our bodies are designed to gain and lose weight, and here we go. I will say that I find that I like to try different diets and new ideas just to keep it interesting. I dabble in calorie counting, low carb, and every form of IF. All just because dieting is deadly boring and trying new things is at least a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Congrats, everyone!

My story is slightly older, but I'll share anyway:

I'm 33 years old. When I was in high school (and then again when I gained weight in grad school) I lost about 20 lbs. Since then (so for 8 years and counting) I've kept it off. I'm now 123 lbs at 5'3.5''.

Here's how I do it:

- I really don't exercise because I'm so tired (work FT and have a 3 year old). My story is proof that weight loss and maintenance is about diet, not exercise. Of course exercise has other benefits and I'm trying to get better about it, but it's tough to fit it in. I love yoga, so I'm trying to commit to going early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, before DH and DD are awake.

- I am VERY careful about what I eat. I do count calories, but more importantly I stop eating when I'm full and I don't eat junk food. We do not keep snack food in the house (except for snacks for our kid, obviously). When I go to Starbucks, I get a skinny latte and I note the calories. When I go out for a date night with DH, if we get dessert we share it.

- I weigh myself every day. That way I know if I'm creeping up. As my mom told me, "It's a lot easier to drop 5 lbs than 10/15/20 and it's easy for weight to creep back on."

[Anonymous]

I went from approximately 195lbs to 155lbs in about 8 months in 2013-2014 as a 32 year old male and have kept it off as I approach 40. I have always lifted weights and done some cardio at the gym my whole life but this never helped me lose weight. I lost weight entirely by cutting portion size and letting my elastic stomach shrink so that slowly, over time, I felt full much quicker. I still have a bad sweet tooth and periodically pig out and cookies or ice cream so try not to keep it around the house. I also like alcohol and probably drink 3 drinks 3 times per week. But the main key is just eating about 25%-33% less each meal. I found that overeating for years had increased the size of my stomach and you don't even realize it. This is the principle behind gastric bypass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After I lost 50 lbs a few years ago and found that was the easy part...keeping it off was the hard part...I read a book called Refuse to Regain about the maintenance phase. It was pretty good. It got it through my brain that I would never be able to "go back to normal." Normal got me 50 lbs overweight. The simple thing that helped me was the idea of having a tripwire weight - if I hit xxx lbs, I had to start the full diet phase again until I was well below that weight. I did, and still do, hit that weight and restart the weight loss phase at least once a year. It no longer panics me. I just remember our bodies are designed to gain and lose weight, and here we go. I will say that I find that I like to try different diets and new ideas just to keep it interesting. I dabble in calorie counting, low carb, and every form of IF. All just because dieting is deadly boring and trying new things is at least a challenge.

This is interesting -- just out of curiosity, how many pounds over your maintenance weight is your "trip wire" number? (i.e., do you go severe-course correct at 3 pounds, 10 pounds, 20 pounds over)?

[Anonymous]

My goals are fasting and not eating wheat and dairy, due to allergies to reset my immune system. I mostly improved my breathing and shortness of breath that was due to these allergies and attacking my body, mostly my respiratory system. I can tell if food I eat has wheat in it, as I start coughing within minutes. Even though I ask about gluten free, I think many foods in restaurants still have some of it, or some other ingredient that I am not aware is causing me allergies.