How to Start Losing Weight, Straight From People Who Have Lost 35 or More Pounds

Alex, who lost a total of 125 pounds, started by tracking everything she ate. While she used an app on her phone, you can also use an old-fashioned food journal. It's advice she gives to people who are looking to start losing weight: "track your food," she told POPSUGAR.

One way to track your food is with the Lose It! app, which helped Cortland lose more than 80 pounds. "Someone recommended the Lose It! app to me as a great way to easily count calories, so I downloaded it and began to plug in everything I would eat in a day," she told POPSUGAR. "I didn't realize just how much I was eating in a day until I began using Lose It! — I was shocked. I started paying attention to portion sizes and cut out regular soft drinks and sweet tea. I saw that drinking calories can add up very fast!"

WW, the healthy lifestyle program formerly known as Weight Watchers, has helped countless people lose weight. Bri DeMattia, who went on to lose 99 pounds on the program, liked its flexibility. "I had done Weight Watchers in the past, prior to my wedding, so I knew it worked," she told POPSUGAR. "Weight Watchers lets you live your life — I couldn't survive without eating out and birthday cake — while helping maintain a healthier lifestyle."

Mandie, who at one point weighed 375 pounds, started her weight-loss journey with the help of her family doctor who referred her to a nutritionist. That nutritionist helped Mandie determine more appropriate portion sizes, how to lower her calorie intake, and how to incorporate tips to get her started with overall healthy eating habits. In just over two years, at age 37, Amanda was able to lose 150 pounds!

Adrienne, who lost 90 pounds and has kept it off for six years, started her fitness journey slowly. She started exercising by working out at home with the Walk at Home DVDs. "I was afraid to go to a gym and ashamed, so working out at home was the only way I was going to do it," she told POPSUGAR.

Brooke started to lose her baby weight with the usual: eat healthy and exercise. But after a year, she lost only 15 pounds. It wasn't until she started counting her macros that she saw a significant improvement — she soon dropped 28 pounds. With the help of CrossFit, she went on to lose 75 pounds.

Jess Dukes, who lost a total of 75 pounds, followed the PortionFix Meal Plan from Beachbody (the one with the color-coded containers). It's all about clean eating in the right portions for your body based on where you are now and what your goals are.

Kayla Mills jump-started her weight-loss journey with a new workout plan. "When I first started working toward a better me, I purchased a month of unlimited HIIT-style bootcamp classes from Groupon," she told POPSUGAR. With the goal of losing weight and keeping it off, she knew the added accountability from the group classes would help her accomplish her goals.

After her first month of classes, Kayla said, "I was seeing a lot of progress. I enjoyed the classes, and I found a new love for challenging myself." She continued with the classes for a few months, and once her stamina and strength improved, she began working out on her own. Thanks to her new lifestyle of healthy eating and working out, Kayla went on to lose 70 pounds!

To get started on a weight-loss journey, you don't need a fancy gym membership or a private chef. Kim Dye started losing weight simply by walking. Although she didn't initially set out to lose weight, Kim began to walk nearly two miles every day to take her son to school. "About two weeks in, I noticed my clothes were fitting looser, and I decided to step it up," she said. This progressed to three-mile walks at a trail nearby, then six-mile walks. After adopting healthier eating habits and upping her workouts, Kim went on to lose 100 pounds.

Although Sophie was going to the gym regularly, she found herself still gaining weight. It wasn't until she transformed her workouts by following BBG, Kayla Itsines's Bikini Body Guide program, that she noticed a major difference.

"I followed [BBG] strictly for 12 weeks and lost the majority of my weight," she told POPSUGAR. "I was 12 stone 1 [169 pounds] when I started my journey and I'm now sitting at around 9 stone 9 [135 pounds]."