What Other Factors (Besides Nutrition) Help You Succeed?

forthegoals

Food scale.

sassykat723

Realizing that I had the ability to make myself happy all along that I just needed to get up and do it

leeannek1

A lot of yoga! Mental health is part of anything you need to conquer.

kewzue

Small goals, it can be running a certain distance. A shirt that you would love to wear, pants etc! small items of clothes spurred me on along with setting certain goals of weight lifting in the gym etc!

Samarisa

Realizing there is hope for me, letting go of the past, and striving to live the happiest life possible.
Forcing myself to socialize with people I have interests and passions in common with.
Striving for goals that don't involve just losing weight.

All of this was vital because I learned two years ago, when I hit my lowest weight and was in great shape, that there is no point in being lean and healthy if you're still isolated, bored, and directionless. I needed to have an amazing life to lose before I could really experience the crushing terror of being morbidly obese and virtually housebound again.

ritzvin

Knowing my own lack of self control.. I will not buy and bring home more than 1 serving size of anything that will require self control to keep to correct portions (ie cheese, cookies, sausage, etc.).

firemanlang668

Being consistent whether it be in training or diet, no one will reach their goals if they are not consistant

Andyooooo

Finding motivation from fitness youtubers. Gives you a great insight into some meals you can make that are healthy and kill cravings

lachiespior

My biggest step in the direction of my fitness goals is removing all the bad junk food from my house, this way eating very poorly isnt even an option !

LilacLion

Accountability Buddies and my vivosmart HR tracker.

kingdonle

This post-it sits on my desk....

HABITS THAT HELP ME MOVE TOWARD MY GOAL....

- Prep my food the night before
- Eat 8-10 portions of fruit and veg each day
- Eat protein at every meal
- Reduce dairy to 2 portions each day
- Plan in dessert
- Take my supplements each day
- Drink 8 glasses water each day
- Achieve daily 10,000 step target
- Intense exercise for 30 mins x 3 per week
- Take part in activities I enjoy - tennis and skiing
- Do bodyweight exercises daily
- Log calories during the week
- Stick to routine during the week
- Get 7 hours sleep each night
- Plan my food for the week in advance
- Batch cook and freeze meals
- Have healthier snacks available in the freezer
- At time of high stress do daily meditations
- Plan evening activities to avoid snacking/tv habit

johnnyledford1

1. Sticking with myfitnesspal has been the main focus point to my success, logging my food and drink intake daily for 35 dates in a row and lost 35 pounds.
2. The support of my wife and family.
3. Researching diet and signing up for health-related daily emails delivered to my inbox to educate me on diet.
4. Monitoring and lowering Calorie intake to about 400 or 500 calories below daily recommended is better than hard workout for losing weight. at first but if you are trying to muscle up it is just fine. but you will not lose as much weight.
5. Drink plenty of good clean water "I get Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water from Florida of the United States delivered to my house and I drink about 64 ounces a day. I started drinking that amount because of the amount of medication I take and friend of mine had a kidney replacement and his doctor told him to drink that amount of water each day so I thought it would be a good amount.
6. I totally stopped drinking Sodas of any kind and juices and now I only drink a couple cups of coffee in the morning and maybe 1 cup at night and pure water the rest of the day. I feel cleaner for doing it.

mdlady65

Trying to find the will and energy to put my health above my husband's.
7 years ago he had a major stroke and became permanently disabled. His life changed, but so did mine. I lost the love of all things I enjoyed, like reading and listening to music...all love gone. There have been so many things that I have had to give up and what happens when you give up stuff you love? You replace it with food. From 2010 to 2015 I gained 80 lbs. I eat and eat and sit. He can't leave the house except to get to Dr.s appointments, so I pretty much go to work, come home, and sit. I still do that most of the time, but In Jan 2015 Dr wrote me a prescription for diabetes meds. Scared me to death! Did some research, found Keto and MFP and here I am, 100 lbs lighter.

Keys for my success
Do it every. single. day. Log!!!

Music...yes! I only listen to it when I am walking, but it keeps me going even when I want to quit!! Listen to whatever the hell makes you want to move..even that cheesy song from the cartoon movie 10 years ago!

Find your zone and keep others out!!!! My hub is always offering me cakes or cookies, I had to learn to zone him out!!! AKA just walk away.

Celebrate every victory, but NOT with food.

Make the change lifelong and you will live a long life

ChristineKing6

Meal prepping and strength training, getting that protein in and supplementing calcium, vitamin D and Magnesium and Iron, zinc, vitamin C has helped with faster recovery, I've had issues with recovery and my legs have been killing me up until the point when I supplemented calcium and made sure to get enough of those animal protein sourced amino acids. I'm paleo/keto (right now keto soley) and these two diets have been great to my health!

brrite

Started out Jan. 20, 2016 at 259 pounds and fairly sedentary. I ran my first race on July 4th, it was a four miler. Over the summer I ran a couple 5k races, and logged over a hundred miles. In early September I ran my first 10k, coming in first in my age bracket. I'm currently training for a half-marathon in April. So . . .

In 12 months, I've lost 74 pounds. I work out five to six days a week -- alternating runs, circuits, and weight training. I eat a lot of veggies and proteins without a bunch of sauces and stuff. I can't remember the last time I ate at a fast food place. I used to eat fast food three or four times a week. I use MFP to log every single work out, and every single calorie, (no matter how bad I blow it on my off days, haha!) I try to keep a 450-600 calorie deficit at the end of the day, and that seems to result in one to two pounds of weight loss a week -- although now that I'm lighter, it's getting tougher to lose weight and also build muscle mass, so I'm at a bit of a plateau, but I'm kind of in maintenance, so it's not a huge deal.

I started out walking, using MapMyWalk and MFP. Then I downloaded MapMyFitness and a third-party 5k trainer, and that's when things really started popping. All of the programs talk to each other, and it's pretty flawless. I received a fancy-shmancy running watch as a gift, and that was easy to get integrated with the whole suite of apps.

I think I could have done this without the apps and stuff, but being able to track and keep track of my efforts certainly helped, and the community of people on MFP is very supportive. I love the new, fit me! (Oh, and so does my wife, haha!)

dejavuohlala

Logging all food and drink consistently. Sticking with it everyday even if it's a bad day.
Mutually supportive friends. One way support which is all take and no give just does not work.

BloomEtta

Planning helps me.

I have 6 days planned ahead. I don't have to worry about portion control during the week because it's all in pre-measured, sorted containers now. Grab one meat, one veggie, one fruit and one carb per meal. And have snacks as needed. Since I don't buy what I won't like, it's like garanimals for meals! Remember garanimals!?

I put together a water schedule. Finish a 16.9 oz bottle by certain times to drink 6 bottles per day.

No longer trying to lose weight. Just stick to the planning.

krmsotherhalf68

A) Not obsessing over the scale - I weigh in no more than once a month. My emotional health seemed to be tied to the number on the scale for much of my life. No more!

Not having any taboo foods. - This was major gor me because in the past, I'd cut out carbs, fats, desserts, snacks, etc. and feel so deprived. This would lead to binging on "taboo foods" and then feeling like a failure, which led to more overeating. It was a vicious, never-ending cycle that led to gaining, not losing, weight.

C) Logging on MFP every day - no matter what my day is like.

D) Moving more. HUGE issue for me! Until I was 53 yrs. old, I hated exercising. After losing weight, I began to have more energy and started to slowly add in different exercises to my everyday routine. Now I go to the Sr. Center 3 to 4 times per week for yoga, Tai Chi, and Silver Sneakers Aerobics classes. Not only have these classes given me far more flexibility and energy, but they've allowed me to socialize a bit more. I never realized just how much I missed socializing until I started these classes.

Wishing all of my dear MFP family health, happiness, and peace.

KTRCZ

Just cutting out the unnecessary eating between meals and doing more exercise has certainly helped loads. Helps sticking to calorie intake.

zella1100

Being patient with myself was my best quality when losing weight. I had to learn to forgive myself for gaining the pounds but be stern and honest with my goals. Pushing myself too hard could cause burn out, or worse an injury. This was realistic and an accepting view that I could tolerate. Daily, I would remind myself of my boundaries. This was my motivation.

I've come to think that maybe each person has their own levels of motivation. A half mile walk might be unacceptable to someone with higher endurance and confidence, but for me...that mile six years ago began my journey to losing over fifty pounds. I had no coach, gym, or friends to help me. Because I couldn't afford it. I was by myself.

Months later, my walking gradually grew longer. I decided to change my diet after doing some research. An online article recommended different free apps and I chose Myfitness Pal. I'm glad I did because it taught me to look at the details of my diet. This changed my view of my unhealthy habits and I could no longer deny them.

My ideas on dieting have changed many times and I only fell-off-the-wagon once. Closing my account years ago and gaining twenty pounds. I came back later and I've since lost that weight. So, yes patience with myself truly was a life lesson that saved me from future troubles.

gradchica27

Lost my pregnancy weight after my 4th baby the same way I did before--weighing and logging my food, being more active.

I lost an additional 10 lbs to be smaller and lighter than I've ever been as an adult by shifting my exercise focus from running to weight lifting (with cardio as a support, not main activity). To compensate for reduced cardio, I try to be more generally active--I aim for 20k steps a day. I like seeing my "earned" calories go up as the day progresses.

thoughtfulnest

For me, exercise is the #1 element. So I want to feel and look better in my clothes? Yes. But at 42 and being a mom and role model, my priorities have shifted. I have a responsibility to let go of the habits of learned self-hatred and self-abuse and show the kids around me what it looks like to love my body right now, in this moment, the way I am.
I have suffered with anxiety and depression for much of my adult life and I've now found a naturopath who has put me on serotonin and dopamine and a natural Thyroid supplement instead of the synthroid that caused more problems had it fixed. This combination of supplements has enabled me to get off the couch and make exercise a priority and I have to tell you, once I'm doing regular, high intensity cardio, the other decisions start to change naturally after a few weeks. I drink more water, I make better food choices, and I'm mentally in so much better a place that I find myself getting excited and making plans for the future, as well as enjoying the "little things" that can seem grey when depression is not dealt with properly.

Exercise is the best antidepressant. Do some of us need other help? Yes. For me it's serotonin, for someone else it might be prescription mess or therapy or both...but exercise has been the catalyst for my 18 lb loss (so far) and I'm so happy to feel positive about the future again.

thoughtfulnest

Sorry, that should have said "prescription meds," not mess!

scraphappysteph

This app, my trainer and my fitbit.

Unknown

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grocksout

I started drinking this detox tea and I really love it! I wrote a review about it on my blog... https://yourhealthyfriend.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/lose-weight-best-detox-tea/

smellwelsh

Hi this is new to me but my brother absolutely swears by it. After doing ww and sw for many years and now realising these aren't for me! I hoping this is going to be more realistic for me!

yessie916

Consistency, consistency, consistency! Since I have made it a goal to exercise 4 days a week, I have stuck to it consistently for more than 6 months. Even when I have a bad workout where I just wasn't able to get into it, it makes me feel good knowing I stuck to my goal. Consistency is what has pulled me through and helped me lose 70+ lbs! This time 2 years ago, I was never exercising regulary so to me, making exercise routine is a big freaking deal.

clepant

THE 12 principles I learned on my journey to a healthy lifestyle.
1. Diets don't work. If you go on a diet, you have to go off of it. Who wants to stay on a diet their entire life. If you change what you eat and how you live, it ibecomes a way of life.
2. Hold yourself accountable. Get a person to tell it like it is and won't buy your excuses. Fitness Pal is a great tool if you use ithonestly.
3. Good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones. Once you establish them they become a part of your life. Like brushing your teeth. You don't really think about it but you do it anyway.
4.The best piece of exercise equipment you can own is the one you will use. If you don't use it what good is it. My equipment is my walking shoes, running gear and my bike. I have a gym membership for lifting weights two times a week.
5.Portion distortion. Don't be tricked by size. We are a society of bigger food amounts are better. This where My Fitness Pal will help. It made realize that I was consuming too much food. Once I changed that my stomach shrunk and I could not eat as much. A new habit.
6. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! Drink lots of water. You are mainly composed of water. Your skin is the biggest organ on your body and it needs hydration. It also keeps you feeling full. I need it for running now too.
7. You have to walk before you can run. Take things in baby steps. Your changes, your weight loss goals, your exercise habits. You did not gain weight over night so you need to take it off slowly. You are more likely to keep it off.
8.Make time for you. You have to take time in your day to exercise. I squeeze it in, early morning, late at night, immediately after work.
9.Sleep is healing. When I am tired, I go to bed, when I feel a cold coming on I go to bed, when I ache, I go to bed. Science proofs that we do most of our healing while we sleep and rest.
10.Don't sweat the small stuff. Most of time stress truckers eating and bad habits. You can only control what is in your personal circle.
11. Abuse it and lose it. If you don't take care of your body with nutrition and exercise you will be heading for major health issues later in life. Diabetes, heart disease, arthritis all result from an unhealthy diet. If you go out to fast exercising, you only create injury and you will be put out of action until you heal.
12. Good health is empowering. It gives you lots of energy, it sharpens you brain, it gives you new freedom.

__TMac__

clepant wrote: »

THE 12 principles I learned on my journey to a healthy lifestyle.
1. Diets don't work. If you go on a diet, you have to go off of it. Who wants to stay on a diet their entire life. If you change what you eat and how you live, it ibecomes a way of life.
2. Hold yourself accountable. Get a person to tell it like it is and won't buy your excuses. Fitness Pal is a great tool if you use ithonestly.
3. Good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones. Once you establish them they become a part of your life. Like brushing your teeth. You don't really think about it but you do it anyway.
4.The best piece of exercise equipment you can own is the one you will use. If you don't use it what good is it. My equipment is my walking shoes, running gear and my bike. I have a gym membership for lifting weights two times a week.
5.Portion distortion. Don't be tricked by size. We are a society of bigger food amounts are better. This where My Fitness Pal will help. It made realize that I was consuming too much food. Once I changed that my stomach shrunk and I could not eat as much. A new habit.
6. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! Drink lots of water. You are mainly composed of water. Your skin is the biggest organ on your body and it needs hydration. It also keeps you feeling full. I need it for running now too.
7. You have to walk before you can run. Take things in baby steps. Your changes, your weight loss goals, your exercise habits. You did not gain weight over night so you need to take it off slowly. You are more likely to keep it off.
8.Make time for you. You have to take time in your day to exercise. I squeeze it in, early morning, late at night, immediately after work.
9.Sleep is healing. When I am tired, I go to bed, when I feel a cold coming on I go to bed, when I ache, I go to bed. Science proofs that we do most of our healing while we sleep and rest.
10.Don't sweat the small stuff. Most of time stress truckers eating and bad habits. You can only control what is in your personal circle.
11. Abuse it and lose it. If you don't take care of your body with nutrition and exercise you will be heading for major health issues later in life. Diabetes, heart disease, arthritis all result from an unhealthy diet. If you go out to fast exercising, you only create injury and you will be put out of action until you heal.
12. Good health is empowering. It gives you lots of energy, it sharpens you brain, it gives you new freedom.

I'm quoting this in its entirety so we can all read it again. Excellent post.