What has helped you lose weight? How have you motivated yourself?

The number one way I lost weight was just cutting out anything with processed vegetable oils or added sugar. It cuts out junk food that ruins your liver and makes it harder to lose weight, but you're never hungry or eating bland food or anything. I still do this and I had chicken tacos for dinner and roasted chicken and broccoli for lunch and eggs and bacon for breakfast, all seasoned and salted and yummy. I eat this way now and haven't gained any of the weight back.


Also, if you drink now and you stop drinking, you'll drop weight like that. I lost 10 lbs in only a few months just by cutting our my regular cocktails and wine nights.

As for motivation, mine wasn't my dress. Mine was that I was unhealthy and my doctor told me I was risking my ability to have kids. Well that got me in gear fast. Healthy babies need healthy wombs.

I hired a personal trainer and continue with him after my wedding I liked the benefits so much. My trainer keeps me steady with strength training. Nothing crazy - a solid hour workout once a week. Once I cut out junk food, wine and learned proper portion control (1/2 my plate is veggies for meals) that really moved things in the right direction. Lost 17 lbs. You can do this!! ❤️

Find a workout you like. I gained weight during Covid because I stopped going to the gym and started snacking a lot.
I love biking so I bought an indoor bike and now I can bike every day.
If you have the ability to see a nutritionist I recommend that! They’ll help you eat healthier but will be able to customize a food plan that works best for you.

I cut out processed foods and do intermittent fasting. During the week I eat really healthy, protein shakes, salad with protein for lunch and dinner, and I pretty much only drink water. On the weekends I do treat myself to a meal at a restaurant but I also try to stick to something healthy.

My motivation was looking great for the wedding and getting back to my normal size from when FH and I first met. We've decided to postpone the wedding from August 2021 to 2022, but I feel like my habits are here to stay and I cannot and will not go back to gaining weight!

Fitness is 80% what you eat, 20% fitness. Follow a diet you're actually going to follow and when you don't feel motivated to work out just try and GO. just GO! don't think about it just start working out. Go for a jog if the weather is nice. Jogging always gets my muscles pumping lol. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Ways to get motivated: Make a date out of it, reason to buy new fitness clothes , workout with friends, challenge yourself, find out the time of day when you are most energized.

Cutting out sodas helps a ton. Anything with sugar (even if it says diet and contains sweeteners). If you’re a coffee drinker, try it black instead of with sugar.
It also helps a lot of people to fast (it doesn’t have to be a super restrictive x amount of hours). If you can have all snacks and dinner done by 7pm that will already be helpful. Ensure you eat healthy, don’t think skipping on food will help lose weight. You need to find a healthy lifestyle and can still enjoy a ton of yummy dishes. Seasoning is key!
If you make healthy lifestyle changes, you’ll likely stick with them. Any fad-ish diet will come to an end quickly and you’ll start eating BS because you crave it. Allow yourself some treats, but make sure they are truly treats and not the norm. For workouts I’d figure out what your workout style is. I enjoy the gym and weights but others prefer outdoor (it also depends on Covid restrictions in your area). A personal trainer can add up quickly, but if you can afford it, do it.

I started with keto & portion control. I cut the sodas down dramatically. Tons of water! Now I do intermittent fastings- have my last meal at dinner time & don’t eat until lunch (18 hours).

The biggest thing for me was portion control and just tracking what I eat. Use an app like MyFitnessPal and set your calorie goal from **** calories a day (you need at least 1200 calories) but can go up based on your activity level. Once I dropped a few pounds I kept challenging myself "what if I keep going?". And once I was a month or two in, it was much easier to stay on track when I know I've already put in so much work. I don't recommend any fad diets that limit any of your macros (protein, fat, or carbs), you need all 3 to keep your body healthy. Plus, they rarely work long-term.

I use MyFitnessPal to count calories and macros. It’s amazing how all the small things add up to put you over. I also have Beachbody on demand and Alo moves since all the gums are closed. I notice I lose more weight when I take walk and get close to my 10k steps. Having a Fitbit is also motivating because I see how little steps I take in a day. I agree with PP you get in the grove, it’s easier to stay motivated!

I stopped adding sugar to anything and lowered carbs. Not drastically, but no sandwiches, bread, pasta. Added more greens.
This was less to lose weight, I was trying to stop the daily ups and downs - tired after eating, etc.
i ended up losing about 25 pounds. I didn’t have a scale and one day realized by leggings were loose and weighed myself at a friend’s house.

You can start out slow and build momentum to the weight loss. For me, I wanted to be more active because I have a sedentary job and I was sick of feeling like a blob. So I found some at home workouts and I do at least 1 30 minute workout every morning before work. It makes me feel better and honestly I get up and move a lot more throughout the day as well. Swap out things for meals. I used to eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast every day. Now I have a protein shake mixed with cold brew unsweetened black coffee and a splash of sugar free hazelnut coffee mate and it keeps me full until lunch. Cut your portions in half because you're most likely eating too much. You can measure out your foods and keep track of your calories, my calorie intake for the amount of activity I do, my weight and my age comes in around 1500 calories a day. So I try to eat all 1500 and I'm still in a daily calorie deficit because I burn about 2500 calories through the day. Take some walks at lunch time. Drink a LOT of water. You'll start noticing changes and you don't have to starve yourself! I lost 13 lbs doing all of this.

I’m not quite in the same boat as my dress fits, but I’m overweight and of course would love to lose ~20 lbs. the struggle for me has always been the motivation to exercise as I’m a very anxious and regularly depressed person. What has worked for me is shifting my goals. I’m not focusing on the number on the scale, I’m paying attention to how I FEEL. I caught covid back around thanksgiving and (I was already out of shape) it wrecked me. I was constantly fatigued and out of breath over the simplest tasks.
I want to have the energy to dance all night at my wedding, I want to have the stamina to go on cool hikes or excursions during our honeymoon. When I stopped obsessing about the scale, I found the motivation to go out and find an activity I enjoyed. My self-talk went from “gross, look at your fat stomach” to “look at how energized you’ve been today!”
For me, it’s aqua Zumba. It’s such a blast! I have moderate scoliosis so low impact workouts are a must for my back. I burn 700 calories without breaking a sweat during the hour long session but most importantly it is SO MUCH FUN!

What helped me? Getting rid of all junk food in house. Eating pure fruits and veggies, unprocessed. Eating lean meats like grilled chicken. Whenever I had a sweet tooth, i drove to get one scoop of ice cream or a hot cocoa 2 to 3 times per week. Did Chloe Ting exercise videos on YouTube. No equipment needed, just a yoga mat. Lost 15lbs in three months.

Mind you, my starting weight was 132lbs and I went down to 117lbs. Was a size 6p and went down to a 4p. I'm 5ft 1in, and my bea size is a 32DDD. just giving you accurate measurements so u can grasp how my weight loss impacted my body

If you can afford it, I would recommend hiring a nutritionist. If not, find a few nutritionists or RDs to follow on social media. They often offer great free (and qualified) advice. Start out slow, by incorporating some movement and modifications to your diet and increase gradually as to not burn yourself out. Think about ways you can ADD to your diet, not just what you should eliminate. Adding things like lean protein, leafy greens, berries, whole grains, A LOT of water etc. will leave you feeling satiated and energized rather than deprived. Proper seasoning is KEY to enjoying healthier foods and to keep them from being bland/boring (many spices don't have calories, just keep an eye out for unnecessary added salt). Still incorporate things you love but in moderation, pay attention to portion sizes. Extreme restrictions are not sustainable and will likely lead to binges later on. Find movement that you find enjoyable and switch it up often so it remains enjoyable and exciting. Find people to workout with, I find I'm much more motivated when I work out with a friend. Please whatever you do, do not starve yourself. You deserve to fuel and nourish your body and have the energy to dance the night away at your wedding. Best of luck!

Calories in, calories out.

The easiest calculation: for weight loss, deduct 12-13 calories per pound of weight.

There are other more detailed calculations, such as using your BMR and AMR (metabolic rates) - if you want to go through this, you can Google "active metabolic rate calculator". This will guide you through determining how many calories you need to maintain. Then, if the goal is weight loss, multiply that number by 0.85 to get how many calories you should eat per day. That is a 15% caloric deficit, which is a percentage that will cause loss without it being aggressive to the point you struggle to lose weight (a lot of people go very hard at it, like only eating 1200 calories a day, and their body adapts and eventually this calorie deficit fails. A reasonable amount such as 15% will give you plenty of wiggle room without causing a metabolism crash.)

YIKES! I reread what I wrote and need to make a correction:

The easiest calculation: for weight loss, CALCULATE 12-13 calories per pound of body weight.

(Example: if you are 150 pounds, this would be 1800 calories.)

I accidentally typed deduct, DEFINITELY do not deduct that many calories!

I currently seeking out the motivation from last year that helped me lose 15 pounds. I’ve slacked since but because I’ve kept my deficit I’ve been maintaining but not losing. But to get to the mindset I had last summer I had dress shopping coming up and I kept thinking about the last time I tried on a dress in a dressing room and how sad I was at my reflection that I wouldn’t even come out with the dress to show my friend. That was the last feeling I wanted to have when searching for my dream dress so that was my motivation anytime I felt discouraged or lazy. Next I had to find out what would truly led to weight loss and I found that it’s constant movement and not the 20 minute workout video I’d do and sit down for the rest of the day. So I did something as simple as walking everyday to get to 10,000. And since it was covid era I was not ready to go outside so I walked for two month every day inside my studio apartment in place like marching. I’d do 1 hour in the morning and then walk again 20 mins after lunch and then do a walk after dinner to make sure I wasn’t letting the food sit and also burning it off. I also found the number for my caloric deficit using my bmr and activity level (there’s a formula online) I would eat within those calories and I kept eating what I like just found healthy alternatives. If I wanted burgers I’d make turkey burgers instead of beef, small changes like that. And in 8 weeks I lost 15 pounds. Now the next 15 is a challenge since walking doesn’t challenge me the same after the initial weight loss🙄

Try intermittent fasting. I lost about 10 pounds in a month. Just eat the normal amount you would eat but in a restricted timeframe. I skipped dinner but you can skip breakfast if that suits you better.