Lainey

1000 calories and 2 hours of cardio? That's few calories and lots of exercise.

I can maintain my desired weight, but it's just not fun. One gets sick of living on the "lettuce train."

Legal Bill

I can't live on it, but I need to ride it every so often.

Tough day today as far as hunger pains. I wasn't great, but not bad either. Did 35 minutes on the treadmill. NO snacking and no alcohol. Time for bed.

Fokker

1000 calories is way too low; that's a starvation diet. It certainly is not enough fuel for 2+ hours of cardio a day and the lack of calories is really what is causing you to lose weight. Try limiting your intake to 1600-1800 a day, manage the amount of carbs taken in, and add some weight lifting. Additional lean muscle will burn more calories and the weight lifting will help you burn more calories throughout the day. A more reasonable diet and an exercise routine will help you keep the weight off as it becomes habit; the extreme change is difficult to adapt to and really not sustainable in the long run.

rpg51

I lost 100Lbs last year. Getting in the right frame of mind is everything. This after a life time of being way way overweight. I found an excellent eating plan, doctor supervised, weekly coaching sessions. I was desperate and actually considering surgery. I got down to nearly my ideal weight for the first time in over 50 years. After I reached my goal, like most people, I struggled to get into a good maintenance regimen. I gained some back. I am back on the weight loss regimen now and going in the right direction. I think I am developing an addiction to being slender and I feel terrible - physically and emotionally, when I am overweight. I think/hope that my addiction to being slender will overcome my addiction to food. The knowledge that I can drop weight at a steady clip on my plan is empowering. I did it, I know I can do it. No doubt in my mind

The key is to be in the right frame of mind. For me that means that I must get to the place that I consider that there is nothing more important in my life than controlling my weight. Everything else takes a back seat to controlling my weight. The truth is that all the other things in life tend to fall into place when you keep weight control as #1.

I disagree with the statement that 1000 calories is too low. That is too general a statement. Every one is different. No one program is good for everyone. It does depend on your activity level in part that is true and yes, given the report of 2 hours a cardio a day 1000 probably isn't sustainable. If you are eating the right foods and taking necessary nutritional supplements many people (me for example) who are not heavy exercisers, can eat 1000 calories and you can put yourself into ketosis and you will have very little hunger, you will be full of energy and very healthy, and the fat will melt away every week, week after week. It is incredible. Also, it is totally sustainable in the weight loss phase. Not in the maintenance phase, I would agree you are going to need more than 1000 once you have lost the weight. The doctor supervised part of my plan is key and it gives me faith that the plan is safe and healthy. It works very well for me. Many many health problems I was experiencing have totally disappeared. I am way way more healthy now than I was a year ago. Its night and day. I went from a 46 waist to a 34 waist. For me the key was to stay away from exercising except for walking. I could not make huge changes in both my eating AND my exercising all at the same time. What worked for me was to take a walk every day and that is it as far as exercise. This approach helped me stick to my plan because I only made one change - food intake.

The easy part is losing the weight. The far more difficult problem is transitioning to a good maintenance plan after you have lost the weight. I am working on that now and it is definitely harder than losing the weight which I actually found to be fairly easy.

You can do it. Hang in there.

One last piece of advice - when you start dropping weight and you move out of your clothes into smaller sizes, GET RID OF THE FAT CLOTHES, ALL OF THEM, IMMEDIATELY. Having no fat clothes to use helps you with maintenance. Its like a governor on a motor. Clothes start feeling tight? Its a huge daily reminder to control your intake.

S2KRAY

How intense is your cardio training. Do you use a HR monitor. I bike and my cardio training is fairly intense. I do interval training which is 4-5 sets of intervals of 10-12 minutes with 6 min. rest in between. My HR zone is around 85% of max. You have to slowly work up to that level but I can burn about 2000 calories at that level. Not to mention the calories continue to burn off after I stop. I do light weight training on off the bike days and core work. I could never complete these intervals on a 1000 calorie diet. My weight is easy to maintain and the energy levels are very high.

Lainey

Tell me about it.. At 5' tall, to maintain my preferred weight my daily caloric intake should be in the 1300-1500 range, if not lower. Therefore my maintenance caloric intake is what constitutes a diet for most people. It's not fun. We all know the last 5-10 pounds are the hardest to lose, and that's where I and many women land. The 5-10 pound struggle. You guys can often drop 10 pounds in 2-3 weeks. Not so in my camp. To diet I need to be in that 1000 calorie range. I do burn calories with plenty of exercise, but the smaller you are, the fewer calories you burn. Pass me a cookie, please, I'm going to the Y later on.

MsPerky

Wow...that is an amazing weight loss, rpg. Good luck on the maintenance. I agree that is hard. Read so many stories of people who lose a lot only to gain it back or more. As for the 1000-calorie diet, go is a major runner, so he definitely knows his own body.

I personally have not lost a lot of weight, maybe five pounds. But my diet has changed considerably since I found out my A1C number is a bit high. As well as lipids. Reducing sugar and carbs is my main focus to get both those numbers down by the time I have my next blood work in March. And I've upped my exercise - hitting the gym (bike, rowing machine, weights) every other day and walking the other days. So I think I'm making progress. The +1 has never been really overweight as an adult (was as a child), but he thinks he is (6' and 185) so is very conscious of his waistline. He's a runner (mostly half marathons with some 200-mile relays) and has started climbing stairs every day in addition to the gym workouts.

dlq04

192 last night. I was actually surprised because I've been at 185 for several months but December was a great eating and drinking month. Oh well, a year ago I weighed 197 to start the year. I am really not a big eater. I just need to exercise which gets tougher to do every year. The dog use to push me to at least walk but now she can hardly get around. We are both showing some aging however I'm in better shape than she is but she's 84 (12 x 7). In any case my diet starts today.

Kyras

Okay, I'm in this year. Actually, I started on Christmas Eve, 12-24-2016. I've gone to Weight Watchers many times in the past 28 years and made it to a Lifetime Member. I just can't go there anymore. I've tired. I hate going.

This time I've come up with my own plan. I made this chart to keep track of my intake and workouts on a daily basis. I like to touch my data. I don't go for having to interface my data with a cell phone or computer. Already, I see the results of drinking on New Year's Eve and then not drinking but getting in a 20 mile ride.

We each have to learn what works for us. I know my biggest issues with putting on weight is booze in the evening followed by munchies up to bedtime. That's a great way to add weight.

I know the solution to my success at losing weight is to not drink alcohol and to stop eating hours before bedtime. I ride my ElliptiGO and that's an excellent cardio and weight bearing exercise. I also have gotten back into using my weight machine in the garage. The key for me is to keep at it even when I go up for a day or two for going off track. It will happen but it doesn't mean it's over.

Legal Bill

178.9 this morning. That makes me feel pretty good because I'm under 180! I'm waiting for dinner at the moment and then on to the treadmill.