You are an inspiration to me and I'm sure others who have more than 5 or 10 lbs to shed.
Hold off on being too inspired until I keep it off for more than the 5 years I managed the first time I lost a big chunk. For me, once I put my mind to it the lbs come off fairly quickly - although it has been a slower go for the last 20 lbs than it was last time. The real challenge for me is keeping it off. I was doing well for 3 years, changed jobs to one with an intolerable food policy, struggled for 2 years then finally gave up. 50 lbs, and a diabetes scare later, I decided I had to try to make peace with the (still) intolerable food policy. (About twice a month we use food to celebrate something - virtually always concentrated fat, sugar, and calories + we are "invited" to eat lunch daily at a greasy spoon which only offers two (now 3) nutritionally acceptable items - declining the "invitation" is unfortunately not a real option.)
I started an exercise program at the local Y last week, and back on the WW. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
What works for me is first figuring out what my triggers are - what makes me crave more (and tends to sabotage my intentions) even when I am not really hungry - for me that is sugar and fats. I currently eat virtually no fat and two small sweet treats a day (e.g. 10 Jelly Belly jelly beans) - enough to reward my taste buds, but not enough to trigger cravings for more.
Once I know what my triggers are, I start the losing process by filling my belly with bulk until it gets used to not having so many calories a day - enormous salads or bowls of veggies, big bowls of very low calorie popcorn.
Beyond that, I limit my carb intake to a couple of large carbs a day - relatively empty carbs for bulk at the beginning then transition to less bulky but more healthy carbs toward the end, and limit my protein intake to two small servings.
It keeps me from having to count anything. WW would never work for me - I know myself well enough to know I would stop counting points shortly after the weight came off. If I can't keep up whatever I am doing to lose weight permanently, the weight loss isn't going to be permanent. Since permanent counting won't work for me, I had to find an approach to eating that works for both loss and maintenance without counting. On the other hand, I have a friend who lost in the range of 30 lbs with WW and who has managed to keep it off for at least 10 years.
Good luck!
I would like to join too.
Just jump in and start posting. There's the 7 day x 30 minute Cardio challenge thread which is a daily check in for exercise, and the weigh-in for a weekly progress check on weight (feel free to start it if you arrive on Thursday and no one else has), and a challenge to be the first to lose 10 lbs. It's been running since January and no one has claimed it yet - at 6 lbs down since it started, I'm rapidly creeping in on it
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