best advice

laurennnnnnnnnnnnnnn

To those who have seen a lot (or a little) success with weight loss, what is the best piece of advice you have been given that has really made a difference for you?

misskarne

Weigh everything on a food scale.

And also: eat what you want, just make it fit your calories. That completely changed my whole outlook on dealing with losing weight.

zoeysasha37

Weight loss comes down to calories in - calories out.
Eat less then you burn and you'll lose weight

No need for fads, gimmicks, special diets ,or any of that. Just eat less then you burn and you'll lose weight. No need to torment yourself with diets that restrict foods or food groups. No need for pills, shakes, or detoxes.

flabassmcgee

It's a marathon, not a race. It takes time and patience to see a change.

One bad day is not a failure. You can't let it derail you. Your overall progress will shine through. There's always a margin for error anyway.

Eat whatever you want, just smaller portions. I prefer to look at the 80/20 approach. 80% whole food, 20% whatever food. Also, there's no such thing as "clean" food. As long as you wash the "dirty" food, you'll be alright.

Work a treat into your day or at least three times a week. Your body will thank you.

Go the TDEE approach. MFP's NEAT is okay, but I much prefer to take guesswork out of how many calories I get to eat a day depending on what I burn for exercise.

Don't cut the food you love. White bead, pasta, chips, ice cream, chocolate, etc. Work them in and enjoy them.

Fast food is not the devil. Plan ahead and you can eat some macro friendly stuff.

Meal planning is awesome. I shop on Saturday, prep my breakfasts, lunches and snacks on Sunday then try to cook at least four dinners a week. It gives me wiggle room and variety to choose from for at least one meal of the day.

Measure yourself once a month. The scale is not the perfect tool for weight loss.

You don't have to kill yourself with cardio. Do what you love. And do some kind of resistance training to retain muscle mass!

Eat moar proteinz and fat.

Fat will not make you fat. FAT WILL NOT MAKE YOU FAT!

flabassmcgee

misskarne wrote: »

Weigh everything on a food scale.

And also: eat what you want, just make it fit your calories. That completely changed my whole outlook on dealing with losing weight.

I second this!

laurennnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Wow, such great comments all! Thank you! I have always resisted calorie counting but it seems like it's what works!
And totally agree on limiting how often you get on the scale.

What's the difference between TDEE and NEAT?

Thank you thank you!

jennifer_417

Don't quit.

PAV8888

I don't agree with weighing yourself once a month.

You can weigh yourself on February 1 after a glycogen depleting run and on February 28 after a meal at a restaurant and find out that you gained 5lbs in February, when in reality you lost 4lbs.

IF your psyche can handle it, your best option is to weigh yourself every day and to input your results into a trending weight application.

Trending weight applications apply a 7 (some 10_ day smoothing to your scale weight which makes transient water weight changes less important while highlighting the underlying changes to your weight level over time.

www.trendweight.com connected to a supported scale or free fitbit (even without a band) account
www.weightgrapher.com allows for manual entry or as above
libra for android
happy scale for iphone.

CurlyCockney

Nobody really cares if you're fat or you're thin, but they do care if you whine about it without putting in maximum effort to fix it.

Not really advice, more an internal dialogue ;-)

AnvilHead

Be consistent and don't get obsessive over the small stuff. Adherence to your calorie intake is much more important than whether you should have broccoli or asparagus with dinner, if green tea will increase your metabolism (it won't), if your bowels need a cleanse (they don't), whether you burn more calories on the treadmill or recumbent bike (who cares?), etc.

Some people get so wrapped up in every diet/health fad they see on TV or a magazine cover (or read here on MFP) that they're not sure what to do. Then their head is overfilled with all this conflicting ridiculous derp and they lose sight of what they should be doing - keeping a consistent, reasonable deficit and eating a moderate, reasonable diet. Optimally paired with an enjoyable, reasonable exercise program. If it's not sustainable you won't keep with it, and if you don't keep with it you won't lose weight.

As far as weighing, keep it simple - weigh yourself consistently (on whatever schedule you like best), always using the same scale on the same surface in the same clothes (or lack thereof), in as close to the same conditions as possible (e.g., in the morning right after you get up, naked, right after you pee, before you've eaten or drank anything). Do it the exact same every time. And accept the fact that you won't see a loss every time you step on the scale, because weight loss isn't a linear process.

cthakkar1985

AnvilHead wrote: »

Be consistent and don't get obsessive over the small stuff. Adherence to your calorie intake is much more important than whether you should have broccoli or asparagus with dinner, if green tea will increase your metabolism (it won't), if your bowels need a cleanse (they don't), whether you burn more calories on the treadmill or recumbent bike (who cares?), etc.

Some people get so wrapped up in every diet/health fad they see on TV or a magazine cover (or read here on MFP) that they're not sure what to do. Then their head is overfilled with all this conflicting ridiculous derp and they lose sight of what they should be doing - keeping a consistent, reasonable deficit and eating a moderate, reasonable diet. Optimally paired with an enjoyable, reasonable exercise program. If it's not sustainable you won't keep with it, and if you don't keep with it you won't lose weight.

As far as weighing, keep it simple - weigh yourself consistently (on whatever schedule you like best), always using the same scale on the same surface in the same clothes (or lack thereof), in as close to the same conditions as possible (e.g., in the morning right after you get up, naked, right after you pee, before you've eaten or drank anything). Do it the exact same every time. And accept the fact that you won't see a loss every time you step on the scale, because weight loss isn't a linear process.

I was about to post the best advice I got, but I think this ^ is actually it. Fantastic points.

Bryan24680

Get a food scale, no really if you don't have one get one.

Also weight loss is not linear, you might gain 2lbs one week then lose 4lbs the other, our bodies are very complex machines that are very finicky regardless of enivroment. Also get a food scale.

Eat fat and proteins! As one of the posters said above me FAT DOES NOT MAKE YOU FAT! I also recommend getting the daily amount of fibre and potassium.

sweetcherae

flabassmcgee wrote: »

It's a marathon, not a race. It takes time and patience to see a change.

One bad day is not a failure. You can't let it derail you. Your overall progress will shine through. There's always a margin for error anyway.

Eat whatever you want, just smaller portions. I prefer to look at the 80/20 approach. 80% whole food, 20% whatever food. Also, there's no such thing as "clean" food. As long as you wash the "dirty" food, you'll be alright.

Work a treat into your day or at least three times a week. Your body will thank you.

Go the TDEE approach. MFP's NEAT is okay, but I much prefer to take guesswork out of how many calories I get to eat a day depending on what I burn for exercise.

Don't cut the food you love. White bead, pasta, chips, ice cream, chocolate, etc. Work them in and enjoy them.

Fast food is not the devil. Plan ahead and you can eat some macro friendly stuff.

Meal planning is awesome. I shop on Saturday, prep my breakfasts, lunches and snacks on Sunday then try to cook at least four dinners a week. It gives me wiggle room and variety to choose from for at least one meal of the day.

Measure yourself once a month. The scale is not the perfect tool for weight loss.

You don't have to kill yourself with cardio. Do what you love. And do some kind of resistance training to retain muscle mass!

Eat moar proteinz and fat.

Fat will not make you fat. FAT WILL NOT MAKE YOU FAT!

I love this :-)

FabianMommy

Don't expect to see a change unless you make one.

callsitlikeiseeit

weigh everything on a food scale

dont obsess when you have weeks where you gain or dont lose weight

dont worry about going over your calories on occasion - especially special events or holidays

take before (now) photos and then photos every month or two

take measurements once a month

know that the VAST majority of the 'advice' you see on tv is total BS

CurlyCockney

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

weigh everything on a food scale

dont obsess when you have weeks where you gain or dont lose weight

dont worry about going over your calories on occasion - especially special events or holidays

take before (now) photos and then photos every month or two

take measurements once a month

know that the VAST majority of the 'advice' you see on tv is total BS

All good advice, but especially the bold part, because you can't go back and take them retrospectively! I took photos that I can't bear to look at (yet!), but one day I'll be glad I did :-)

laurennnnnnnnnnnnnnn

This is pure gold. Thank you everyone. Loving this community so far.