I lost 44 pounds by drastically cutting out sugar ... no more junk food, sweats, beer, sodas or sugar in my coffee. The only sugar I get these days is from fruits and milk.
Ditto. I lost about 40 lbs cutting out snacks at all, and sticking to highly regulated meals (high in protein - not carb-less, general caloric restriction, avoidance of processed high-fat foods like most sauces, dips, etc).
And then I gained 30 lbs of that back by moving to a new city and letting myself go. Physical activity did not really change.
What goes in has way more to do with your weight than what goes out.
I used to really tightly regulate everything I ate, and stuck to that as a bit of a crutch, and like you would gain it all back when I stopped. Since I've stopped allowing myself any candy (or candy-like things), I've been able to be pretty chilled out about what else I eat... Also: I weigh myself every day, and plot it, which helps me get back on track if I'm starting to creep up, and need to eat just a little less
This closely matches my experience. You don't even have to be too precious about it though: I'll still put half a teaspoon of sugar on my (sugar-free) cereal in the morning, and I don't feel I'm hurting myself...
I got married a few months back, and decided to eat sugar again from the day before the wedding until the end of the honeymoon. One week in to the honeymoon I'd noticeably gained weight, so cut it out again for the second week ... and ended up only half a kilo heavier at the end.
Same here. Lost ~44 pounds without exercising. I just take a 10-15 minute walk 3-4 times a week and removed most of the processed foods from the diet, no meat, no eggs, very low sugar, became a vegetarian. So most of the impact came from changing my diet and not merely from exercising.
More anecdata, from me and my wife: losing weight is easier in periods of reduced exercise (although we're both in excellent shape normally).
My suspicion: heavy exercise gives you a hunger response in excess of the calories you've burned. That said, I've been told your basal metabolic rate goes up with the more muscle you have.
