Almost one year ago today I set out to lose 50 pounds. I didn't know if I could do it, but wanted to try. Now I've lost 78 pounds and am officially a normal BMI. 147lbs at 5'5". I'm down from 225.
I started off downloading the My Fitness Pal and decided to try and learn to track my calories. I stuck to the calorie goals and consistently lost weight; about 5 to 8lbs a month. As I felt better I started adding in exercise, mostly walking and biking. I have done all kinds of diets before and just gained the weight back. I didn't want to repeat the process so I decided to only do things I can do forever. Drink water, but I still have 1 diet coke per day. Keep my calories to the MFP goal and focus on maintenance from the beginning. I don't want to do this in a way I can't sustain it. I've been at 150lbs for 4 months now. I just dropped to 147 this week. This is the longest I've maintained a normal weight since I was a teenager and I'm 38 now.
I thought about posting this when I hit 150, but I wanted to keep it off for a little while first. It took me a while to get to the realization that maintenance is the most important part though. I have tried so many diets - Atkins, South Beach, diet pills, slim fast shakes, I even went vegan for a few months. I could lose weight with all the diets but it was just so restrictive and different from how I'm comfortable eating I stopped and gained all the weight back. I decided this time needed to be different so I focused on maintaining from the beginning. I've read books, listened to podcasts (Half-Size Me is a great one) and read tons on this forum. Once I learned about calorie counting and changed my mindset from how I look to how I feel, it kind of clicked. My eating is much healthier now, but it has been a slow process.
My Imgur before and after pics link is attached.
http://imgur.com/gallery/gPANm