My general weight loss advice is this:

Of course, you should make sure to eat healthy, low fat, high vitamin foods with enough protein.

BUT, stay away from all gimicky diets that urge you to eat only one kind of food or give you all sorts of complicated instructions and remember:

***in order to actually lose weight, you must spend some time being HUNGRY, ie. you need to burn more calories than you eat. Rather than spending time doing math and figuring out the calories, just stop eating before you are totally full, and wait a couple of hours after you start to feel hungry before you eat again.

Don't starve yourself or anything! But just listening to your body and making sure that it gets hungry enough to start burning its own fat is the key.

I also agree w/ Megs and Balengacia, that keeping your metabolism up w/ small meals -- after you've been hungry for an hour or two!! -- combined w/ exercise are the way to go. I've always stayed pretty thin by doing this.

gosh, let me try some of ur advice so I could lose all the unwanted pounds off......

Amanda, that is awesome you lost that weight, and still losing! You must be doing something right. :)

Coldplaylover, I'm really the worst when it comes to late-night snacking. I stay up so late, so therefore get hungry and snack right before bed, I actually like to go to bed on a full stomach. I need to cut that out. BTW last night instead of the Kettle corn, I had two pieces of that second kit kat bar and for once went to bed hungry.

Becca-I was hoping for everyone to share in this thread, so don't worry...talk away! As for steroids, what a crappy side effect, right? I have a friend who went through that and she had a very difficult time losing the weight, however she gained ALOT more than 15 pounds.

Originally Posted by MandM

My general weight loss advice is this: Of course, you should make sure to eat healthy, low fat, high vitamin foods with enough protein. BUT, stay away from all gimicky diets that urge you to eat only one kind of food or give you all sorts of complicated instructions and remember: ***in order to actually lose weight, you must spend some time being HUNGRY, ie. you need to burn more calories than you eat. Rather than spending time doing math and figuring out the calories, just stop eating before you are totally full, and wait a couple of hours after you start to feel hungry before you eat again. Don't starve yourself or anything! But just listening to your body and making sure that it gets hungry enough to start burning its own fat is the key. I also agree w/ Megs and Balengacia, that keeping your metabolism up w/ small meals -- after you've been hungry for an hour or two!! -- combined w/ exercise are the way to go. I've always stayed pretty thin by doing this.

This is great advice! I agree with you completely. The 'hungry' feeling does eventually go away and your body will feel satisfied with much less food, providing you are feeding it w/ proper nutrients.

Since coming to grad school (I shudder to admit this!) I've put on and taken off a good 40 pounds. For a couple of years there I just could not deal with the stress, I ate and ate and never exercised. Finally I started exercising again and lost it all, but I'd like to lose another 20 (that may be a pipe dream, but it would put me back at a size 6, a number I saw once in college for like a week ;-) ). But the only weight loss technique that has worked for me is focusing on the health benefits of exercise. I exercise because it gives me more energy and gets rid of the massive amounts of stress that I obviously don't deal with well. And I try to eat well to facilitate exercise (too many carbs and I literally can't exercise at all!). But if I focus on weight loss I get too depressed and impatient too quickly and just stop. I have to focus on making exercise a lifestyle/hobby rather than a means to an end. Good luck, I will be rooting for you!

the only way i can lose weight is by exercising. i just don't have the discipline to watch what i eat, i'm a snacker too! i'm starting to try and shed the winter insulation and i'm down 5 lbs already by adding some cardio and weights. i've probably got another 10 to go before i'm really happy.

http://www.fitday.com is way better than calorieking

Gained 30 lbs in the last year in a half. 30!!!! But I just can't seem to eat healthy and hit the gym like I use to. Excuses...ugh, I know.

MandM That sounds like sound advice. I tried the cabbage soup diet years ago lol its the only gimmicky diet I've tried ever. Nothing happened with it and it was gross. I did like the banana smoothies tho. :)

Organic, thanks for the info, I've bookmarked it...*going to take a look

Danica,

What worked for me ultimately wasn't calorie counting, but cutting WAY back on sugar, white foods (bread, rice, potatoes), eating some protein with every meal, and increasing my fresh fruits and veggies. I lost over 30 lbs. two years ago and maintained the loss, and have been getting back on track over the last few weeks and have lost another 5 lbs. (7 more to go to my goal.) I'm not saying this will work for everybody, but I'd struggled for years trying to lose the weight I gained during pregnancy and conventional low-calorie, low-fat diets just didn't work, and I felt ravenous and anxious all the time. When I cut the sugar out, I find I stop craving it and am much less anxious in general. If I really need a sweet, I either have some sugar-free hot cocoa or a single square of Valrona 71% dark chocolate and my sweet tooth is satisfied. Your Mileage May Vary.

Lots of good advice! I have recently "cut out the crap". No white foods-pasta, bread, potatoes, specifically. I have a serving of protein the size of my fist at each meal. I find that the protein really helps me stay full. I opt for baked or grilled over fried. And added exercise. I schedule 5-7 sessions of at least 30 minutes each week. If I miss one or two, I have still exercised 3-5 times. I cut out leaded pop, and will have a diet pop as a treat.

I was a size 2-4 before my kids, and think I'll end up being a size 6. I am a 6 to 8 right now, and it is hard to realize that things have moved around a bit since childbirth. My last 10 pounds happens to be localized between my waist and thighs, too.

Pseub and Tln, you both are killing me! lol
so I'm a vegetarian, and an unhealthy one, a carb junkie too. All i eat is pasta, bread, potatoes. I would have nothing left *cries*
I don't drink pop, so its only water and tea for me everyday...and coffee on weekends. hehe

I think if I can manage to eat my specialty danica sanwich's which consist of whole wheat bread, cucumbers, lettuce, veggie bologna, cheese and mustard that that will make a difference. Since I eat pizza every chance i get and so on.

Originally Posted by organic

www.fitday.com is way better than calorieking

The only thing better about fitday than calorieking is the free food log that you can use to log how many calories you eat, and the nutritional ratios of what you eat (the percentage of carbs, fat and protein you're taking in). I think if you want a food log on calorieking, you have to pay. I had more trouble finding the exact foods I ate on fitday than on calorieking. Fitday's free food log is great, I used to use it. But calorieking has a better food database

Originally Posted by Danica

Pseub and Tln, you both are killing me! lol so I'm a vegetarian, and an unhealthy one, a carb junkie too. All i eat is pasta, bread, potatoes. I would have nothing left *cries* I don't drink pop, so its only water and tea for me everyday...and coffee on weekends. hehe

Are you strictly vegan or do you eat dairy? Eggs, cottage cheese, tofu and regular cheese in moderation all are foods I regularly eat for a protein serving. Oh, and nuts too. Raw almonds are an excellent choice, full of calcuim! Try whole wheat pasta, brown rice and whole grain bread. I eat all of those, just watch the portions. It's the sugar and the highly processed carbs that I stay away from when I'm trying to lose.

Quote:

I think if I can manage to eat my specialty danica sanwich's which consist of whole wheat bread, cucumbers, lettuce, veggie bologna, cheese and mustard that that will make a difference. Since I eat pizza every chance i get and so on.

That sounds like a great choice!

Originally Posted by Danica

Pseub and Tln, you both are killing me! lol so I'm a vegetarian, and an unhealthy one, a carb junkie too. All i eat is pasta, bread, potatoes. I would have nothing left *cries* I don't drink pop, so its only water and tea for me everyday...and coffee on weekends. hehe I think if I can manage to eat my specialty danica sanwich's which consist of whole wheat bread, cucumbers, lettuce, veggie bologna, cheese and mustard that that will make a difference. Since I eat pizza every chance i get and so on.

Well there are still tons of foods for you to eat!! You can have sweet potatoes (much better for you than white potatoes), brown rice, all sorts of fruits and veggies, tons of beans and hummus, tofu... etc etc! There are good foods for a vegetarian... you are just finding the yummie ones that aren't so good