Who here has been over 100# overweight and then lost that weight and kept it off for over a year and is still less than 20# overweight?
What was your reason for going overweight, your reason for losing that weight and your method for keeping that weight from returning?
Well, I haven’t lost 100 pounds, but I lost 70. I’m 6’3", and went from 250 to 180.
My reason for getting overweight: I was miserable in my job, 21 or 22 years old and living with guys still in college. I played a lot of video games, drank a ton of beer, lived half a block from McDonald’s, and didn’t think I had a reason to stop eating. I gained a ton of weight.
My reason for losing the weight: I didn’t like being fat. It made everything harder for me… getting into/out of my car, climbing stairs, walking, finding clothes. My main reason for losing weight was when I was out buying new pants and realized that I couldn’t button a size 38. I didn’t buy a pair of pants that day… I bought a pair of running shoes and started that night.
Keeping it off: It hasn’t been easy. I got a bit comfortable in a relationship and gained back about 45 of those 70 I lost. I was in much better shape, but still remembered how much better it was when I was a lot thinner, so I re-lost about 50 of those, getting down to my thinnest at 175. I wouldn’t consider myself overweight anymore, but its a constant struggle. I weigh myself every day, and now I hover around 182-185, every once in a while dipping into the 170’s. For me, if I weigh in at closer to 185, I’ll “diet” and push up my exercise schedule until I’m back down to 178ish, then relax it a bit and do the whole game again. I don’t think its fair that I’m forced to play those games with my weight while others maintain or stay thin without really trying all that hard, but to me its worth the extra effort. Being thinner works a lot better for me.
220 for the longest time. 250 now…I’m 6’2" and look great at 200. So I’m working at it. Since laying off the booze my weight has started a spiral down. It’s amazing how much the alcohol affects ones weight.
Well, I haven’t lost 100# (yet, hopefully).
I started at 270-275 (5’5" 25yo female). I’m not really sure what my max weight was exactly, but when I got serious about losing weight I weighed in at 270. Since the beginning of April I’ve lost 35lbs by carefully tracking what I eat. (Using a free website called www.fitday.com - it’s fabulous!).
So far I haven’t had to do any regular exercise at all while losing weight, but I intend to start that in the future. It’ll make continuing the weight loss easier, and I’d like to be a lower weight and fit.
My goal weight right now is about 170, so that would be a 100# loss. According to heigh-weight charts that would still be overweight, but in high school I was a very fit 175lbs playing various sports year round and I was a size 14. For my bone structure I think I don’t think I could realistically be smaller than a size 10-12.
I’m only 1/3 of the way to my final goal so far, but discipline hasn’t been a problem, and I’m doing it sensibly (gradual weight loss, 1.5lb per week).
Hopefully I’ll be posting here in the future that I was able to keep the weight off.
I lost over 100 pounds (125, to be exact), starting in 2002 and ending in late 2003. I’m currently about 2 pounds over my Weight Watchers goal weight (about 10 pounds over my own personal goal weight).
My reason for being overweight was that I just never worried about what I ate. When I was a teenager and in college I could eat pretty much anything I wanted and not gain weight, but as I got out of college and got a sedentary job I didn’t change my habits and the weight slowly crept up on me. I lived at McDonald’s and ate a lot of junk food in general.
My reason for losing weight is that one day I just got tired of being fat. I got tired of not being able to wear the kinds of clothes I liked, sit comfortably in restaurant booths or amusement park cars, and just generally of being a fat person. It didn’t fit with my self image at all, so I went to Weight Watchers. I knew it took a long time to put it on and accepted that it would take a long time to get it off, so I knew I was in for the long haul.
The way I keep it off is that I still follow Weight Watchers’ point system. Not as diligently as I used to, but I pay attention to how much I’m eating. I still eat junk food (and did throughout my weight loss, including half of a small pizza weekly with a whole lot of cheese on it) because I recognized that I wouldn’t be able to stick with it otherwise. I just eat a lot less of it now, and have switched to things like chicken instead of hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes. I don’t think I’ve had a hamburger in six months, and I haven’t really missed it, either.
I used to weigh 180. Now I weigh 115. Have stayed relatively slim (and constantly hungry) for thirty years. Sometimes people ask for my “secret.” Ha. There isn’t any secret. I just eat a lot less than I want.
Two years & 5 months ago, I weighed 178 (I’m 5’2") one year ago, I weighed 118, yesterday, I was 122 (I’m still 5’2"). 8 years ago, I weighed 100, give or take 5.
I went from scrawny to fat, because I sat on my ass, drank like a fish & stopped cooking for myself. I went from fat to thin by getting off my lazy, arthritic butt, sobering up & paying attention to exactly what I was putting in my mouth. Cutting back to semi reasonable potion sizes was not wonderful (but not too horrible) for about a month. My eyes & tummy got used to a saner amount of food, I guess. My motivation is that I hate not feeling good, and fat makes me not feel good. Turning 40 was bad enough, without being sick & in pain all the time, as well as old. Looking good is nice, but it really isn’t the reason.
I don’t feel deprived at all – I’m lucky, I have a basically good metabolism. I can eat anything I want, I just can’t eat everything by the buckets full. I have a glass of wine or a martini, instead of a 6 pack. I drink a lot of water instead of a lot of Sprite, & put Splenda, hershey’s cocoa & non-fat in my very strong coffee, instead of having 4 mochaccinos every day. I don’t weigh myself very often – but I do pay very close attention to the fit of my clothes. An even slightly snug waistband means one more lap around the block & no booze or dessert until my waistband isn’t snug again.
The worst part was that I lost the weight too fast, and it took almost another year for my skin to shrink to fit. :rolleyes: The second best part is I’ve saved enough money (by cooking & making my own coffee) to pay for the necessary smaller, cuter clothes. The best part is, of course, feeling good.
Well, I only lost 55 lbs but you seem to be interested in maintenance and it’s an important topic to me.
Twice previously, I have lost sizeable amounts of weight and never kept the weight off. I always gained the weight back (and more) whenever I reached my goal and “stopped dieting.”
This time - I’m not dieting, I changed the way I eat forever. I made some tough choices - giving up fast food, fried foods, packaged baked goods (like Otis Spunkmeyer muffins) forever. I have stuck to the “no’s” for almost 14 months and don’t really miss them in my life anymore.
I went from a tight size 18 to a comfy size 10, losing over 50 pounds and 40 inches. My waist went from 37" to 28".
Why was I heavy? I was a sugar addict. I had no “off switch.” I ate when I wasn’t hungry, I kept eating when I was stuffed. I ate a lot of convenience food. I didn’t pay attention to anything I ate. I had the same breakfast at work every morning for nearly 4 years - a cranberry/walnut muffin and a venti caramel latte - close to 800 calories and 40 grams of fat - for breakfast, every day. I never exercised. If I ate one cookie, I couldn’t stop and had to eat the box of cookies. Now, I just don’t eat the first cookie.
My plan for keeping the weight off - do exactly what I did when I was losing weight, only I allow myself more calories a day. I plan meals, hit the grocery store several times a week, take healthy lunches, eat 5+ servings of vegetables, 2+ servings of fruit every day, pack healthy snacks, keep a food journal, count calories - maintenance is exactly the same hard work as weight loss. I make a lot of goals and reward myself generously - massages, fancy hair cuts, clothes shopping. I got a tattoo to remind myself of how hard I worked and how much I want to maintain.
Nearly 7 months at maintenance! I have a great reward planned at the one year mark 
I love being thin (well, thinner, I have a healthy BMI but I’m not skinny), I love shopping for clothes, I am never gaining the weight back!!
Don’t meet the thread criteria, but I’m chiming in anyway…
Went from 315 lbs. in December of 2004 to 250 lbs. today on South Beach. Still losing weight slowly but surely. I’m very surprised, as I’ve always screwed up and gained all the weight back by this point with other diets.
The maintenance phase of South Beach looks pretty easy. I think I can do it for life without problems.
I lost all that weight because I’d like to date again. And even with 6’4" of me over which to stretch that 315 lbs., I was still quite unattractive. I’ve gone from a size 52 waist to a 42, and I think I’m about ready to drop down to 40. I think I’d be ecstatic if I were a 36 or 38.
I haven’t lost nearly 100 lbs, I doubt I have 100 lbs to lose anyway. I started at about 302 and am currently down to 255 or so. I don’t really bother to lose weight beyond this point as it just comes back really fast. I went from a 50.5" waist to a 41" waist, but anything lower than that would just come back so I figure there is no need to struggle to get to a 35".
What I did was eat alot of fiber, about 40-50 grams a day, especially at breakfast. I also try to eat alot of protein and dairy foods as these can help with weight loss, so I’m now eating about 40-50g fiber a day as well as about 150g a day of protein. I also switched to diet cola & added about 3 hours a week of exercise to my routine.
I didn’t lose 100#, but was at my heaviest on my 18th birthday at 215. I was depressed, had dropped out of school, and just gotten out of a bad relationship. Within a year and a half I was down to 135 (I’m 5’4"). Exercising instead of feeling sorry for myself on the couch helped greatly, although I blame my step-mother’s cooking (I call her product “food” only out of a technicality ;)) as well.
Then I quit smoking and gained about 20 pounds that I’m working on at the moment. I don’t weigh myself but prefer to use a measuring tape. I’ve lost about 4 inches on my waist and I’m swimming in my size 12 jeans, woohoo! I want to lose weight to look better (duh) but also for health reasons: heart disease is the number one killer in my family, and I’m 95% sure I have PCOS on top of it.
Total hijack: but would you mind elaborating on what makes you suspect PCOS, Sausage Creature? I’m asking because I’ve been told it’s unlikely that I have it, but since there doesn’t seem to be a hard and fast list of symptoms…
If you don’t want to answer here, just email me when you get the chance (email’s in my profile).
[/end hijack]
Email sent.
Two months ago I weighed 210 lbs. Today I am at 150 lbs.
My secret? Pop out a 11.5 lbs baby and get rid of the excess water that I retained because of pre-eclampsia. I should lose another 30 lbs to be at my ideal size 4-weight, but I will be happy if I lose 20.
But this is not the first time. I once had about 175 lbs, went back to 115 after I started jogging and changed my eating habits. I will start exercising again as soon as I recover from the c-section. I have had problems with the wound.
BTW, I am 5"2’.
I was 334 as of 11.11.04 when I had gastric bypass surgery. As of 8.11.04, I weigh 204. I will be a year out from my surgery on 11.11.05 (obviously). My surgeon estimates I will lose another 30-40 pounds; given a total loss of 160, I will weigh approximately 175 pounds. At 5’10", 175 would put me at a BMI of approximate 25, which is “overweight”
Guess what? I don’t give a rat’s ass I would have this surgery every day of my life with NO weight loss if I could feel as good as I do right now. Off my CPAP machine and high blood pressure medication within 30 days of my surgery. No more knee problems. I would have been happy 50 pounds ago.
As far as keeping the weight from returning, the restrictive and malabsorptive components of the surgery (laparascopic RNY) will enable me to a point to maintain the weight loss. The rest is up to me; now that I can exercise without total pain, I fully believe that I can maintain the weight loss. I would not obssess about a 10-15 pound regain at the end; that’s a common occurence with this type of situation. I’m in it for the health benefits - not because how my jeans fit.
VCNJ~
Forgot to add:
Why was I overweight? Two part - I never had that switch that told me “you’re full”; coupled with the fact I’m a stress eater. The surgery has given me that switch for which I am eternally grateful. Combine the above with an inability to exercise with any effectiveness (plus agonizing knee pain), and the cycle was vicious.
VCNJ~
I’m a new member. I’ve been reading these boards for months but today I had to join. Had to put in my 2 cents…
On December 6th, 2001, I had gastric bypas surgery. I weighed in that morning at 465 lbs. (Yeah really, I’m not proud of it, just being honest) I wasn’t really aware that I weighed quite that much until that moment. Probably part denial and part just simply not being able to weigh myself on a normal scale.
I had researched the surgery and considered/researched it for almost a year (www.obesityhelp.com). I didn’t have much support from family and friends. Until you weigh that much, you can never understand that, at that point, I couldnt just go on a diet and lose it all. I also had no major health problems that I was aware of due to the extra weight. After the surgery, while I was in the recovery room, I stopped breathing. Turns out I had sleep apnea that had not been diagnosed. See, I rarely saw a doctor previously because I didn’t want to hear about my weight problem.
My surgeon was wonderful. He became a good friend of my husband’s during the time after my surgery through the support group and because I had a few complications. We even invited him to our wedding a year later.
It took me over a year to lose about 260 lbs. Then I had a breast reduction in May of 2003. (without telling TMI, think “rocks in socks” after you lose a lot of weight) I got pregnant two months after that surgery. I gained 50 lbs. I was devestated. I also ate a lot. Suprisingly though, as soon as I had the baby, I lost that 50 plus some more very quickly. My stomach had started working the way the surgeon intended again. So now I weigh about 175. I’m almost 6’, and if you consider all the extra skin I have now, that’s not too bad.
Why did I get that fat? Several reasons. (1)I think I had some self esteem issues. (2)Throughout a lot of the years between high school and now, I was dating an alcoholic, which made me eat out of stress (3) I grew up in a house with a mother (sorry mom ) who was always on a diet, we had fat freee, low cal everything, and then I moved out and went crazy on normal food.
What amuses me now (and I can laugh because I did it myself) is when I meet people at the bypass support group who say “I really don’t eat too much, I just gain weight from everything I eat” BULL!!! You gained weight because you ate too much. You can’t be 100 lbs overweight from not eating.
I have one other thing to note: A gastric bypass is not an easy way out. It is a major surgery that can have major complications. Along with the obvious side effects of getting smaller, there are also some pretty hefty mental issues involved that you won’t ever understand until you do it. It is also a diet. I am still on a diet. I still have food cravings.
I’m certainly not recommending a GB to anyone. Its a personal decision. But if there’s anyone out there who wants to email me, feel free.
I’m worried there are so few replies to this thread. Is it really true that very few peeps here have lost a lot of weight and kept it off. This looks quite discouraging for those who currently are very overweight.
Some people above mentioned never having had the feeling of getting full, not knowing when to stop eating, and so eating far more than necessary. Is that common?
Do any of the people who are currently very over weight remember ever having been hungry without enough to eat as a child?
Thats the sad part, because weight is about 50-90% genetic. Its true that if you starve someone in a concentration camp they will become thin, but if you put someone in prison they will become abstinate. These aren’t examples of free will conquering genetics, this is free will being taken away. The second free will enters the equation again things go back to what they were before. Like me, I had no problem losing and keeping off 50 lbs, but ask me to lose 70 pounds and I can’t do it unless I become a health fanatic. Other people can lose 10 pounds but can’t comprehend losing 50.
I’m not hungry, I just changed my macronutrient ratios in my diet. I added more whey protein, eat a high fiber breakfast, eat alot of dairy, get enough sleep and take a few supplements. I still eat alot of foods that would make a dietician puke but I try to get in alot of fiber, protein and dairy each day as all 3 can help with weight loss. Combine that with compliant genetics (if you don’t ahve these I doubt it’ll matter much), an exercise regime and a few supplements and I lost and kept off 50 pounds for about 2 years so far.
I’m not fat because of any childhood trauma.
Well, I got really fat after a couple of really hard years living in Chicago. I was in college, living off my parent’s money for the most part. After buying school and art supplies and paying rent, I had approximately nothing left over. I didn’t eat hardly anything and had to walk everywhere I went. I lost a lot of weight and got sickly skinny.
I moved back to my hometown and got a well-paying job and went a little nuts. After a few years of starvation and never having enough to eat, I ate whatever and whenever I possibly could. I think that’s when my “off” switch disappeared.
Now I constantly struggle with it. I don’t have an automatic “off”… I have to keep reminding myself to stop after X amount of food. This “off” switch still disappears after 3 or 4 beers. When out for dinner and drinks with my friends, I often eat my whole meal and finish off all my friend’s meals. The next morning I work out extra hard to make up for it.
It is possible to maintain, but in my experience its harder for people who used to be overweight than it is for people who never were.