Your Fat Loss Story

[outdoorsnewzealand]

It would be cool to see a whole bunch of real life fat loss success stories. We're are all used to hearing commercial hype about what is possible ... but what happens in the real world??

Tell us a bit about your nutrition and excercise as well as how much weight you lost and how long it took. What benefits have you seen in your life?

[Shamou]

Well... a long time ago, I had a girlfriend... she got fat... so I managed to lose her...

Not much help... but hey... I did the best I could...

.

[cela]

Hey OutdoorsNZ,

What happens in the real world is that it takes way longer and is much more hard work! I've only lost about about 7kg (~15lbs) on the scale, but have gained a couple of kilos of muscle mass over the last year or so. I'd like to lose another 7kg.

Nutrition: Not what it should be, but I try to focus on lean protein and green vegies, and avoid too much processed junk. Easier said than done!

Exercise: Cardio and free weights at the gym 3-4 times a week.

Benefits: Too many to mention! Not struggling on long walks with my husband is a big one, as is knowing clothes will fit, and not being afraid of having to venture into 'plus sizes'.

Look forward to others' stories.

[escapee]

I lost about 18 x 2.2 (lbs) in 8 months .

Diet : Low grain diet with a new twist. Replacing a portion of starchy carbohydrate with green vegetable, fatty animal foods (like eggs), nuts and supplementation of essential fatty acids as found in Udo oil + primrose oil and now with Yes-EFA.

Study Shows EFAs Eliminate Carbohydrate Cravings, Reduce Appetite and
Increase Energy and Alertness

Exercise : about 30-45 mins of sprinting/weight training daily.

Weight check : Monitor daily .

Calorie counting ? No, calorie counting is too advanced for a layman like me.

[AngelaE8654]

Sounds like you have a really healthy plan.

[Ilya]

Most of my life I was thin. Then I stopped growing. In half a year I gained 20 kilos. It is about 45 lb. I didn't notice it, because I've never had scales and never knew my clothes sizes.
When I got onto scales, I was shocked. I didn't know anything about controlling fat percentage at the time, so I went with an instinct. I went into lacto-vegetarian mode. I drank milk, and sometimes had some cheese and butter, but nothing more. Now I know that lean meat would be fine as well, but I didn't want it then. Soon I was back to my previous mass of 155 pounds. I don't remember doing exercises, I was pretty active at the time.
Then, next year the food provider at the office has changed. All what was left was junk food. I again gained about 45 pound.
This time I was more conscious of the process. I didn't want to go into vegetarian state, because I wanted to save whatever lean muscle I had. So I started counting calories, eating 6 times a day. Each meal consisted of lean meat for proteins, some source of carbs and vegetables for volume.

I've also started cardio, and basic strength training. At first cardio was like strength training with 45 lb of fat hanging on me. I started just walking the stairs. After some days I could think of a run. With three times per week running regimen, I've lost most of the excess fat. It took about 3 months. My resulting body mass is higher then before, but that is because of new muscle that I've built somehow along the way.

The benefits are clear. I can move faster, I'm more energetic, I have higher endurance. I've never reached the stage when fat would affect my looks, so I can't post any social life improvements. However my wife is more happy with my fit body

[Uplift]

I have helped in some deluxe transformations as a personal trainer. Working with people who are huge, who can barely move, full of fluid, blubber aches and pains. And to see them genuinely athletic, strong, healthy and the change to their self image and belief is more deluxe. And you know what, hardly anyone here would believe the methods. They just keep trudging down the road of hardly any results. So I'll say it again, ever seen a fat sprinter...who is it that struts their stuff so confidently at the the Olympics.

And who looks androgenous, stiff, shut down hormones...not sprinters. Surely something to think about, some clues there. I wonder...what about 400 metres, what about middle distances.

[Uplift]

What about Pygmies, Hotentots, what about Poynesians, what about Nigerians, what about desert dwellers. Aborigines in lush regions, Aborigines in sparse regions. Eskimos, Masai, Tibetans. So many clues, so much information... But, the most obese cultures ever, have 'The food Pyramid', and 'Cardio' and 'Hormone Replacement Therapy' and 'Viagra'. It's all under control.

[bdp]

I'm 6'4", 145 lbs of lean body mass. I lost 40 lbs in a year through simple (but drastic) diet changes. I've never felt or looked better in my life.

July '06: 205 lbs, 21% body fat, eating the standard American diet. Cut portion sizes in half, lost 10 lbs in 2 months. Maintained my weight.

January '07: Started standard vegan diet with refined/processed food. Energy increased, acne disappeared, lost 4 lbs. Hit a plateau at 188 lbs.

April '07: Started "Eat to Live" diet style. Whole foods, plant-based diet. No salt, sugar, oil, refined/processed food, very little animal product. 3 meals a day, no snacks. Energy increased more, dry skin and eczema disappeared, lost 20 lbs in 3 months. I hit a plateau at 168 lbs, 16.5% body fat. To lose more fat I have started high intensity interval training.

[Chet]

I could actually stand to gain a bit, I am right at bottom edge for height/age. At one point I was putting a bit too much on, all I did was cut out as much 'processed food' as possible. That is nothing I can possibly help that has added anything (vitamins/dyes/preservatives/etc).
I eat anything else I feel like, ice cream/cakes/cookies deosn't matter as long as it is 'real' food. I lost about 20lbs doing this and it has been holding there for a while.

[Matthew Shea]

I've been able to lose about 30 lbs over the past year by adding more exercise and trying to be smarter about the foods I snack on. I'm 6' tall and was 263 at my heaviest (although you'd never guess). I'm about 238 now, but was down to 226 recently. The recent gain is due to my two big weaknesses: fast food and sweets (mostly ice cream). My goal is to be able to maintain 200 lbs. but I would be ecstatic if I could hit 190.

To get to that goal, I have to figure out how to better control my food cravings. I feel that I eat well overall, but when I get a craving, that all goes out the window. In the following order, I eat oatmeal and a fried egg in the morning, exercise, snack on carrots mid-morning, lunch is turkey/whole wheat sandwich, yogurt, apple and cheese, afternoon snacks are carrots, brocolli and/or celery possibly with nuts and a little dark chocolate. Afternoon is typically when the fast food cravings are strongest. Dinner is meat, a starch and a veggie typically. Later is when I get the ice cream cravings. Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Anyway, back on topic, I'm feeling much better without the excess weight and with the increased exercise. I feel that the more I exercise, though, the stronger my appetite and the worse my cravings. Would a protein shake or something help with that? If I can make the right habit changes to hit my goal, I expect that I'll feel even better yet.

[Jayne]

I lost 37lbs in 6 months and built a tremendous amount of muscle doing yoga - mostly power yoga. That and walking. I've always eaten pretty healthy so I didn't alter my diet much - just increased activity.

I've been on a plateau and recently changed my diet to eliminate all refined carbs, artificial sweeteners, and trans fats. Pretty much just fruit, veggies, lean protein, nuts, olive oil, lowfat yogurt and water for me with a few whole grains. No results yet (2 months). Last week I increased my raw food intake. This week I'm adding extra strength training. I have 30lbs to go and I know it will go - I just have to be patient.

[jippykid]

Almost three years ago (Sept '04) I sat in a doctor's office and listened to her ask me, with an extremely worried look, if I was feeling ok. She had just reviewed the results of my blood pressure test and was worried that I was going to have a stroke. My BP was 195/165. I was 24 at the time, and I weighed about 280 lbs. I didn't care what I ate, and the extent of my exercise was mashing buttons on the remote control every evening (I did develop well-defined thumb muscles with this workout plan, though). I knew that I needed to make a change, but I didn't have any idea where to start, having not been taught about good nutrition by my parents -I take full responsibility here. My experiences with health and nutrition in school received the same treatment as the rest of my classes -specifically, I listened to enough to pass the test, and didn't really commit any of the lessons to practice.

Leaving that office, I felt hopeful that this would be the shock I needed to propel me into action, and it ended up being so. I decided to go on a walk each evening, and as my endurance progressed, I began to add some running into the mix. I started slow, just running the last 1/5 mile of my route home. Over time, I systematically replaced the amount of time I walked with longer spurts of running. It took me a while to even get to a place where I could run a whole mile, but I ended up sticking with my plan. The culmination of this part of my development was a 5K race in June of '05. By this time I was down to about 170 lbs and I felt better than ever before. I love exercising now. I try and make it as engaging as possible. I play a lot of disc golf (great for walkers/hikers) and still run, though not as much as I used to. Adding resistance training to my routine was helpful, too. I'm now up to about 190 lbs, having added some lean mass to my frame.

Diet was really the hard part for me, but I decided that I needed to pay attention to what I was putting in my mouth, and I took stock of what I had been eating. I hadn't read a food label in years, if ever, and I knew nothing about how my body used food. I was taking in too much bad fat and a ton of carbohydrates. I ate virtually no vegetables unless they were fried in oil. Going through a six pack or more each night was commonplace. I loved eating, and received a lot of pleasure from it.

For the first 5-6 months, my willpower, combined with the visible result of the weight loss, was enough to help me overcome cravings. However, I began to notice myself heading back to old habits after this initial period. I recognized the need to "nip" this behavior, so I immersed myself in reading about what food actually does when you eat it. Almost as if a switch went off in my head, I began to shift my perspective from "oooh, that tastes good" to "man, I've been out all morning working in my yard, I'll bet my body needs some energy and nutrients to replace what I've lost" I started to look at food from an evolutionary point of view, in terms of what my body needs, and I learned to earn my pleasure in other places, like beating a previous disc golf score. It's amazing what can be done with a little shift in perspective. I still eat food for pleasure, just not as often.

There were some huge bumps along the way, but I tried to get myself in the mindset that any small change, even if it's eating one less doughnut in the morning, was a positive thing. This helped me not beat myself up about my mistakes, and it put the focus on the positive things I was doing for myself, even if those positive moments seemed to be few and far between at times.

[outdoorsnewzealand]

Originally Posted by jippykid

so I immersed myself in reading about what food actually does when you eat it. Almost as if a switch went off in my head, I began to shift my perspective from "oooh, that tastes good" to "man, I've been out all morning working in my yard, I'll bet my body needs some energy and nutrients to replace what I've lost" I started to look at food from an evolutionary point of view, in terms of what my body needs, and I learned to earn my pleasure in other places, like beating a previous disc golf score. It's amazing what can be done with a little shift in perspective. I still eat food for pleasure, just not as often.

That's great, a bit of education about nutrition certainly does help. You can even shift your mindset so that nutritious food provides the "oooh, that tastes good" response.

[jippykid]

Originally Posted by outdoorsnewzealand

You can even shift your mindset so that nutritious food provides the "oooh, that tastes good" response.

It's amazing to actually experience taste. In the same way a beautiful Janurary snowfall might engage your senses in a real and present way if you let it, you learn to love your senses of taste and smell differently with good, whole food.

[VacMan]

Hey everyone,

I go through periodic bulking/cutting phases.

This time around I bulked more than normal, as kind of an experiment.

As a result I was carrying a bit more bodyfat than I normally would like.

By using a "Simplify and Win" technique based on HST principals, which is basically 30 mins in the gym 3 times a week, using mainly compound movements, I was able to cut down my bodyfat significantly.

The guys over at the HST (Hypertrophy-Specific-Training) forum really know what they are doing. Hypertrophy-Specific Nutrition™

This was pretty much the easiest "cutting down" on bodyfat phase I've ever done.

And I've been Beta testing some software that really makes the diet part of "cutting down" much easier.

It basically lets you pick the foods you want to eat and then reverse engineers a diet for you based on the foods you enter. It's kinda cool realizing that even ice cream can work in with your daily requirements even when losing weight.

It works kinda like a backwards FitDay.

This combined with HST "Simplify and Win" really helped keep me from getting bored, and it maintained my motivation, energy, and retained most of my hard earned lean body mass.

Here's some pics, I'm a little bit fanatical about taking pictures to measure my progress. Pictures help me a lot with motivation, as it's easy to get discouraged if you don't see progress. And when you see yourself in the mirror every day, it's hard to notice little changes over time.


Before (front):



After (front):



Before (back):



After (back):



Those above pics are just for comparison purposes.

Here's a little more normal one

[Uplift]

Way to go Vacman! Great example of self discovery, investigation, exploration and empowerment.

[VacMan]

Thanks Uplift!

[Jenny]

Nice work VacMan! Looking good, I'm impressed.

[NotesMaeve]

My high weight was 158. Now I weigh 113. (Should post pics, but shy. )

Mainly lost weight by leaving an abusive family and not requiring food to self-medicate. I'd like to lose 5 more lbs. for me, really. Now I have time to work out and can prepare healthy foods I enjoy. I've maintained this about 45 lb. loss for two years.

[jasonprice2]

Weight loss in real experience boils down to one thing - change of habit. In order to lose weight, one has to change their eating habits, fit in a couple of exercise routines to their "busy schedules". 6 small meals per day and 10-15 minutes of exercise, 2-3 times a day, should do the trick.

[ragtag]

One thing I've found, and people sometimes forget, that things that seem completely unrelated to training and diet can affect your weight indirectly. For most of my life, I've had rather demanding jobs, often working long hours, and having people from work call me up all the time to ask me about stuff, when I'm not there. When working like that, it's easy to forget to take care of yourself. You don't find the time to exercise, and buy fast foods or snack as a reward for your "hard" work...or because you don't have the time to cook....even when all that hard work, just involves sitting in front of a computer for hours on end.

The one time I've gotten a visible six pack, it was a combination of things. I spent a year working at a part time job that wasn't very demanding (no late night phone calls or long hours), while working on my own projects from home. For that year, I ate much healthier and enjoyed cooking good and varied meals. At the same time I was swimming regularly and playing squash a couple of times a week, both of which I really enjoy. Because I was working from home for myself two days a week, I was able to schedule the exercise to the middle of the day, when the pool wasn't crowded.

Currently, I'm trying to get back into good shape, but am back to a really demanding work schedule. I try to go the gym 3-4 times a week, but it's more of chore, when you have little time. I also work on my own comics projects in my free time, but when working long hours at my day job, there is only so much time left.

I think when you're looking at loosing weight, you have to take your whole life situation into account. Your work, your relationships, your emotional state and so on. Actually eating healthy and exercising is a priority you have to make, and it takes time. It might involve working less, or spending less time browsing forums like this one or sitting on the couch watching TV. There are only so many hours in a day, and if you add an activity, you have to make time in your schedule for it. And you have to be mentally prepared for it too.

Any exercise program or diet in the world is worthless, if you can't stick to it.

[lifetimelearner]

Originally Posted by Shamou

Well... a long time ago, I had a girlfriend... she got fat... so I managed to lose her...

Not much help... but hey... I did the best I could...

.

not nice !

[lifetimelearner]

I never had a weight problem -even after 4 kids-except towards the end of my abusive marriage
I stopped caring about myself

but through weight watchers I lost 60 pounds without exercise
but now I do exercise -just not as much as I would like
but that is about to change


now I am trying a new healthy way of eating McDougall Program & Dr. McDougall's Health and Medical Center