RE:
 

I understand that I know to lose 1200 calories a day for weeks are substantial £ 2 ... Just like he always wanted Divy calories.
3500 calories to lose one pound uh. Losing every pound that big!
I keep getting good work and good healthy diet.

Hi faith and bizi
 

congrats to you both on the weight loss. Keep up all the good things you are both doing. When the weight loss ended for me, the challange was to keep the weight off, but not being so "diet" crazy. I wanted a normal way of eating to keep it off and discovered that the portion control and mini meals was the way to go. I eat all the foods I want now, but all of it in moderation. I don't drink so I don't get calories from that. I still am nuts on sunsweet mango dried fruit. That particular brand is better than the health food stores and has less sugars. I still drink water. Keep going! Cloths are fun again. ginnie

Update
 

Update:
Have lost 43 lbs in 31 weeks. Wedding is less than 4 weeks away. :-) Won't likely make my 50 lbs by May 22 goal, but, that's OK. I'll be close, and, because of my original success, that was revised from my original goal, which was to lose 50 lbs in 50 weeks (Sept 2010 to Sept 2011), so I'm still way ahead of that.

~ Faith

hey faith,

congrats on your great wt loss.
you're such a success already.
now just enjoy the wedding. congrats for your dd.

congratulations faith!!!!! you have done really well. yes the wedding will be fun for you.
enjoy your new self!!!!! that is A LOT OF WEIGHT TO LOSE!!!!!
bizi

Don't drink soda or other sugary drinks
Caffeinated beverages will raise your blood sugar and make you gain weight
Start slow, and do something you enjoy. Everything you do burns calories. What about playing DDR, swimming or riding a bike? Walking is sooooo boring for me, which is why I do it a couple times and stop. If you aren't interested you won't keep doing it. Gardening, hiking...lots of things.

Aside from cutting out soda eat what you want, just eat half as much as you normally would.

FYI, breads fill you up temporarily but there is so much air that you will feel hungry soon after. Vegetables, fruits and meat is what should be on your plate.

Caffeine can increase your metabolism and be a good thing. Artificial sweeteners, however, can increase the work load on you liver, so it works less diligently at getting rid of fat.
And, yes. Sugar and sugary drinks will raise your blood sugar and make you gain weight.
I rarely eat breads, white flour, pastas, starchy vegetables (such as potatoes and corn). Limiting "simple" carbs has been a huge part of my weight loss success. Carbs turn into sugar in your body.

Eat half is only a good idea, Chris, if you are currently eating twice as much as you should be. Although it is important not to eat too much, it is also important to eat enough.
There are other strategies to determine how much you should be eating. ie: You can use the "plate method" and fill a lunch-size plate with half vegetables, 1/4 healthy protein, 1/4 complex carbs/whole grains. Or, you can use BMR calculators to determine your "maintenance level" of calories, and try to decrease by 500 calories per day, etc. Also, if you eat fewer than 1200 calories, be sure that, at least once every 3-4 days, you eat a minimum of 1200, so that your body does not go into "starvation mode" and hang on to fat, calories and weight.

~ Faith

Lost 56 pounds since September 2010. Am ahead of my initial goal (lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks: Sept 2010 to Sept 2011; goal was 130 pounds) and almost reached my revised goal of losing 50 pounds by May 22 wedding (lost 47 by then). I've gone from 180 pounds to 124 pounds, and am currently more concerned about body fat percentage and waist size than the scale.

Update:

My initial goal, in September 2010, was to lose 50 pounds in 50 weeks. I revised my goal, because I was ahead of schedule, and I made this initial post in December. By my daughter's wedding, I'd lost 47 pounds. By my July 9 reunion, I'd lost 53 pounds.

Now, in October 2011, I've continued to lose more weight than my initial goal. I currently weigh 120 pounds.

I'm still sort of still going. Right now, it's more about health than the scale.

I reached a healthy BMI (body mass index) back in April. And, I reached my initial goal weight about 10 pounds ago (sometime between my daughter's May wedding, and my July thrity-year reunion). However, I very quickly realized that my "muffin top"/"love handles" were still too big.

Online calculators tell me that, even though I have a "heatlhy" BMI, for my height and small frame, my waist measurments still put me"at risk" for cardiovascular diseases and Type II diabetes. I supsect that, if some more inches come off, more pounds will too. And, I could lose up to another 15 or so pounds without being considered underweight.

I'm not really expecting to get that low. But, I haven't changed my eating patterns/food choices back to what they used to be, and, even though I'm losing more slowly than I was earlier, I've still been taking off about 2 pounds a month.

~ Faith

P.S.: I've posted some photos in my albums here, if you go to my profile.