Today is the day! Topic

Shiznik 01/11/16
Today is Day #1 and I am down 6.5lbs since Dec 27,2015. I currently weight at 273.5 and my goal is to be 200lbs within 6 months time. So I need to lose 73.5lbs.... I failed so many times trying to lose weight, so this time I am not trying to lose weight within 3 months, or trying to rush it, and failing. I will take a solid year if I need to, in order to lose my total of 80lbs. Anyways, I hope everyone begins there journey today!

Shiznik 02/07/16
Hehehe, I gained up to 284! However, it has been about another week and a half and have gotten down to 273.4. I am so tired of this up/down, up/down, however, I actually believe this is the first time I have found an actually diet, along with using my treadmill daily, that I have found a way to consistently lose weight! I will post here periodically to post how I am doing, it doesnt even matter to me if nobody but me reads this, hehehe, lol!

RayGlasscock 02/08/16
Somebody's reading, I had to join the group to be able to read it. I am in a very similar situation now that I have the full understanding of your situation and goals. I started in the middle of Jan at 261. About a year before that I was at my heaviest weight, 278. That previous year was full of ups and downs but somehow I came down a few pounds with any real intention or direction. Since starting MND I am down to 246. But there were some odd plateau's in there.

Its a multiple front fight for me. I am trying to get back under 200 as you are, to get there I am watching my deficit each day. I try to walk/jog when I can, sometimes morning or evening. I cut out most drinks other than water. I quit smoking the occasional cigar. I have added some supplementation to my diet, and am trying to squeeze in healthy choices though we still eat out occasionally as well.

I hope whatever I can lose is gone for good. I hope to not come back here. I was once a rather fit guy before work/kids and such got me less focused on me and taking the easy way out. I am trying to figure out now how to squeeze it all together and find balance. To kill the first 10% I need to hit 235 so that is my next interim goal. I hope your fight keeps coming along well. I already had a 5 day pause without loss, that ended in a two pound drop on day 6, very frustrating to get there though. I think it might have been due to water retention from a cold I had.

Keep us posted on your progress!

Spower 03/02/16
I just applied to this group and this is what I am trying to do as well. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I started last may at 320 pounds and figured that I needed to lose weight after losing my Mom. I was very overweight and looked terrible in the pictures from the funeral. Now I am down to 250 pounds, down a total of 70 pounds. That may seem fast, but I started May 5th and now we are in March, so that is about 7 pounds per month. I figure that I am about 20 pounds of reaching my goal of about 20% body fat. I am not targeting a weight, but a body fat percentage as I still have some muscle mass that will keep my weight up anyways. The only issue that I am dealing with now is the loose skin that has become part of my new norm. Hopefully this continued slow drop in weight, which is only about 2-3 pounds a month now, will continue until I reach my goal. Maybe sometime this summer, maybe in the fall. But for now, I am happy to be where I am at.

RayGlasscock 03/02/16
Wow, what an inspiration you are, what an achievement! I haven't even lost half that and I am feeling pretty good about myself. I was gonna stop at 200 as my goal but after reading your story I think I may shoot for 190 after that. That would be 70 pounds for me.

How do you keep it up for such a long period? I have only been on MND for less than 2 months and I kinda get tired of counting now and then. Usually I will just skip counting a meal, not to cheat because I won't change how I am eating, I just want a logging break!

Update on me, my loss has slowed to 2 pounds a week average. Today I walked/jogged 5.5 miles, 2 when I woke up and 3.5 after putting the kids down. Breathing is still getting easier all the time while walking and such. Times haven't really sped up any though. Still on track to make 200 by September if I can hold this pace on losing, with it slowing down I am not convinced I can.

Expecting my third child to be born next month, maybe I can hit the 220's by then if I am lucky.

Spower 03/03/16
RayGlasscock, I started out fast with my weight loss and then it has slowed down a lot. This is normal, from what I can tell. So if you are still losing 2 pounds a week on average, that is great. With my 7 pounds per month, I am under that. I feel that this is a marathon and as long as I keep dropping a little bit at a time, then I am still moving towards my goal. But since now I am only losing 2-3 pounds a month, it is much slower than earlier. However, I am still losing. Besides, over time, this has become a new way of life that is sustaining. I am 2 months away from a year and I feel that I can still eat normal foods, just in moderation as I still try to reach my caloric limit on average per week. Keep up the good work.

RayGlasscock 03/04/16
Great info Spower, I feel like it will be slowing down even more too. In a way that's ok, because I do want to keep my new habits for good and if it slows I don't intend to change things. That being said, for the benefits in interviews and so on the sooner I lose more the better.

Example:
We took the kids to the mall to play last night, the wife wanted to get Panda Express while we were there. I was trying to see how to stay under on cals. Ended up getting 2 low cal entrees with mixed veggies and water. For comparison, 3 months ago I would have chose 3 entrees, the highest calorie options no doubt. With fried rice the highest calorie side item and filled the largest cup with Coke they offer at least twice. It's like a 1500 calorie difference in one meal.

The best part is it doesn't even feel like I am being denied anymore. At first it was tougher, now if I can get to the nutrition facts for a place it feels natural to select low calorie options. The funniest part, until I looked last night, I didn't even know they offered mixed veggies as a side. Go figure. I used to be quite out of control.

RayGlasscock 03/12/16
Just like we said, I have come upon a slow period. I hover within a pound of 235 and have for over a week.

Part of it is I have a staph infection and am on two antibiotics, that also means I am sleeping a bit more and working out a bit less. Hopefully get back into a loss groove again soon.

On the bright side on my walk last night I ran the entire first mile straight and in under ten minutes, and it didn't kill me. I was breathing heavy but I made it. Haven't done that in at least ten years.

Spower 03/17/16
Just had my weigh in officially at my Weight Loss clinic. Went 5 weeks since my last appt and I was down 9.5 lbs and lost 1.25 inches around my waist. So that is close to my 2 lbs a week average. I guess I am back on track. Now down 75 lbs total. Weird that I lose 10 lbs in 2 months, and now 10 lbs in one. The big trick is this month. going on a week long cruise to the Caribbean. Lets see how I do without internet access. I will have to journal my food items manually during that time period and place them on here afterwords. I plan on taking new post pic (for now) when I get back so I can compare my before and after of when I started.

RayGlasscock 03/18/16
Awesome to be back on track, great job. It feels so good to see the results, I am sure you noticed the inch plus change in your clothes the most!

Let us know how the cruise goes, I hope you have a great time and manage your tracking well.

You're going for 20% body fat right, more than a number? How much closer did these 5 weeks get you to that? It seems like my body fat percentage hardly ever changes even with weight loss, but that's a scale doing the measurement and I don't think it's very effective.

Keep up the good work.

Today is the day!