How long did it take you to lose 40 pounds? And... page

[dreadlockmama]

Hi everyone,

If you have lost 40+ pounds...

How long did it take to lose that 40?

What was your basic diet and exercise strategy?

What do you feel was the secret to your success?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Thanks,

dlm

[Ghâshûl]

I have lost around 50lbs from winter until now. For me, I had some visible results immediatly, but the first 10lbs took quite a long time to come off, but after I started losing I would say I've lost somewhere around 1-2lbs per week.
Did it by eating primal blueprint with few starchy vegetables and intermittent fasting.
The main point is just sticking with the program, even if you feel it should be going faster

My exercise strategy was doing starting strenght + working towards doing a pull-up (using bands to assist), although I injured myself in early May (traffic accident), so I have not exercized nearly as much as I would have liked, but have lost weight nonetheless.

[LauraSB]

You can see from my sig below that I was pretty significantly over weight. The 1st 40 lbs took a little over 4 months. I gradually went from SAD to mostly primal in that time, while counting calories (but not starving) the whole time. Weight is coming off slower now, but still steadily.

How fast you lose 40lbs will depend on a lot of different factors.

[Rusty]

I lost my first 40 on hCG, an subsequently have gone on to lose 86 more lbs. I was at a drastic place in my life, weighing 325 lbs. I am currently at 198.

I lost those first 40 in just under 40 days, but again, I was morbidly obese, so it worked better for me than it would work for others (no diet is "one size fits all").

[sbhikes]

I lost about 30lbs. 25 of them came off in about 6 months, starting at month 2. Nothing wanted to come off for the first month. The last 5 came off during the last 7 months very slowly. I would like to lose more but it won't come off and stay off.

I got the first 25 off going on a low carb plan. I consumed plenty of dairy in the form of sour cream or cheese and butter. Otherwise, no grains, no more than 1/4 of a sweet potato in a day, plenty of fatty meat, plenty of seafood, some wine and chocolate most days. I would put butter on top of cheese for a snack. Basically the Swedish LCHF plan as described on dietdoctor.com/lchf.

I have always been an avid hiker. Before I started the diet I had been running 3-4 miles at lunch each day. I quit doing that and took slow walks instead. I would stop on my walks to look at the sea birds and watch them play. I kept up hiking on the weekend at least one day a week. Some time in January I started taking a body weight exercise class twice a week. I do not credit it for any of the weight loss. It did help my posture and give me more strength and gave me something different to do. In the spring I started sprinting. All that did was hurt me so I quit after a few months of always hurting myself.

[Metric]

I lost about 30 lbs in 3 - 3.5 months.

What was your basic diet and exercise strategy?
Diet: Eating high fat, moderate protein, low carb. Only eating when physically hungry and ignoring psychological hunger. Being strict with these rules.
Exercise: walking 45 minutes (speed of about 5km/hr) at a minimum of 8 times per week.

What do you feel was the secret to your success?
Not worrying about the weight-loss aspect and concentrating on eating well, according to the PB principles and getting my walking in.

[UniqueTII]

I don't know how long it took me to lose the first 40, but I did hit a plateau in there somewhere and got through it with IF. I did a lot of walking and messed with my macros until I figured out what worked for me. I am still losing now without even trying.

[keithpowers]

About 2-3 months... I already had a fairly sturdy frame from growing up on the farm, but I had to stop eating grains and sugar for the muscles to start chewing through the visceral fat. The fact that I literally pissed out 17 lbs. of water weight in the first 5 days made that 40 lbs. come off a little faster than most people.

[Owly]

My first 30 was very much faster than the last 10, but even that took several months. I lost size far faster than weight because I was doing Crossfit and lifting, so I gained quite a bit of muscle mass at the same time as I was losing fat. I started out low carb and then kept cutting down to vlc levels but saw better results after adding more carbs back into my diet in the 100-150g range. I found that planned IF didn't suit me but unplanned works well (i.e. only eating when I am hungry and good food is available). Sleep is critical, as is adequate protein for me.

I am now where I want to be for weight and like my body size although some recomposition would be cool if it happens. I'm more focused on my health and fitness goals than my scale numbers now.

[palebluedots]

I've lost about 190-ish pounds now over the last couple of years (not all on primal). I think when you ask how long it takes, the answer you get will likely be irrelevant to your own situation. How fast you will lose will depend on your own body composition, how overweight you currently are, and how strict you are with not eating junk. Since starting primal at the end of May 2012, I've lost about 57lbs.