What Other Factors (Besides Nutrition) Help You Succeed?

DennysWifeMrsMattox

My small shorts. I try them on every 2 weeks. They still have the tags and they are the size I want to be. Once I get those to fit, I have another smaller pair of shorts to try on every two weeks! It helps me remember what I'm trying to do here. And keeping a routine does it for me. I get up at the same time every day, work out at the same time every day.. eat at the same time every day. It helps me to realize if I get off track.

rcktgirl05

Learning to forgive myself if I am not perfect with my food choices, or logging, or exercise, or my steps. I stopped beating myself up. Just move on, this is a permanent change not a crash diet that I can ruin with one meal.

I spent 10 hours driving yesterday and I stopped and ate Popeyes chicken with fries AND sweet tea. I hadn't had anything that bad in three months. It tasted good at first, but ended up making me sick in the end. Too much fat and grease for my clean system now. I won't do that again for a while, that's for sure. I will remember how awful I felt when I'm tempted. To me that's a lesson learned, now move on!

JillyBeans02201

I, too, had to resign myself to the fact that there is no quick fix, and I am a busy middle aged woman, so I have ot make this work for my lifestyle. Meeting one-on-one with a trained nutritionist really helped me re-focus. It wasn't information that was totally new to me, but having those frank discussions with a professional really helped me reshape how I look at my own caloric intake. And having accountability to someone every week was helpful for me. Also - very reasonable, moderate changes to my lifestyle and realistic goals have helped. Most recently, having my husband on board has made a huge change to my ability to stay focused in the evenings/weekends. It's SUCH a process.

nitaaaaa

What inevitably trips me up when I am doing well is when I get depressed. This can be for a variety of reasons (or no reason at all). For the longest time I thought if I could only lose weight, I wouldn't be so depressed. Through proper care I learned that it wasn't until I got my depression under control that I could then lose weight. So, monitoring your mental health as well as your physical health is what works for me.

One unexpected thing that also helped was throwing out all my old "skinny" clothes and just buying stuff that fit me, even if I wasn't happy with the weight I was at. The stress every morning of trying to find something you can wear is unnecessary extra stress.

Lastly, my most successful streaks are always when I give up, or mostly give up, alcohol. It's been easier since I moved out of a city and back to the suburbs for a bit. Hopefully, I can keep it up once I move back to a city and have a more active social calendar. Thanks everyone for sharing!

RaptorMommy

Short term goals!

I'm talking about non-scale victories here. Buying a piece of clothing you LOVE but it's a hair too small...3-4 weeks of hard work will make it fit perfectly! Or improving fitness: now I can do X push-ups in a row, now I can run for X minutes or at X speed.

I find this keeps me going and takes my mind off the number on the scale. It truly becomes a journey, with lots of exciting achievements along the way!

goldthistime

nitaaaaa wrote: »

What inevitably trips me up when I am doing well is when I get depressed. This can be for a variety of reasons (or no reason at all). For the longest time I thought if I could only lose weight, I wouldn't be so depressed. Through proper care I learned that it wasn't until I got my depression under control that I could then lose weight. So, monitoring your mental health as well as your physical health is what works for me.

One unexpected thing that also helped was throwing out all my old "skinny" clothes and just buying stuff that fit me, even if I wasn't happy with the weight I was at. The stress every morning of trying to find something you can wear is unnecessary extra stress.

Lastly, my most successful streaks are always when I give up, or mostly give up, alcohol. It's been easier since I moved out of a city and back to the suburbs for a bit. Hopefully, I can keep it up once I move back to a city and have a more active social calendar. Thanks everyone for sharing!

Same. I have noticed in the past that shortly after I finally breakdown and buy myself some nice clothes in a bigger size, I'm able to start turning the ship around again. It has seemed like a weird good luck charm. Your post made me realize that it's all about my mental health.

Also ditto on the alcohol.

chandraminick

If you are not working, or may be if you are and you can do both, totally immerse yorself in YOURSELF. For me, while I was in between jobs, this meant thinking about health and fitness every moment of the day for three months. I put on my workout clothes first thing in the morning and wore them all day so that I was ready for my daily workouts and my stretching routines. I kept a chalk board calendar and joined a support group here. Logged everything in MFP and exercised multiple times a day with different programs. HIIT was part of it. Eating clean was necessary to avoid temptation. Didn't deviate from my menu since I'm a food addict. Put all the nonsense on the back burned and slowed things down to a pace I could manage.

iMuteYou123

My motivation comes from other's hateful comments.
"You're too fat, you'll need a bra" - 2014; P.S: I'm a guy.
"You're too skinny, you need to get bigger" - 2015; This was after losing ~60 lbs in about 4-5 months. It was hard, it was unhealthy, but it had to be done.

They hate me for being active, healthy and motivated, and I LOVE that hate.

Also, another big motivating factor is self-care. I despise myself if I don't get off my *kitten* everyday and do something, anything. Gardening, dishes, coding, internships, literally anything. I started eating healthy a few months ago, and it feels awesome. I get to eat tasty food, feel happy about it and actually be productive.

Kullerva

[quote=They hate me for being active, healthy and motivated, and I LOVE that hate. [/quote]

So. True. As soon as people learn you didn't lose it all using some quick fix, they hate you. I feed off it.

Discipline, self-care, and understanding that just as there is no way to get fat overnight, there's no way to get thin overnight, either helped me get here. Also, I've accepted sugarless Jello as my binging-prevention Lord and Savior.

grrrgirl

Not calling it a diet.. diet to me is just temporary. I made it a lifestyle change and eat and do excercise I enjoy Makes all the difference because now I can say that I eat healthy and take care of my self. NOT diet.

bocedos2

Getting real with myself. As someone who has been on a diet yoyo I found that not being realistic was a huge reason i failed. As a chef food is a huge thing in my life and I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of eating plain chicken with broccoli and rice for ever. It wasnt going to make me achieve my goal to lose weight because I was so uninterested in the food. So i got real with myself. Doing research and know from experience food pairings that went well with each other I was able to turn it into a healither version while still enjoying the taste. Now instead of plain chicken I'll season it with spices (which most of have no calories to begin with) and stuff it with veggies and bake it. Taste 100 times better and I enjoy it so much more!

lionuff

I lost my 80 pounds by eating what I want when I wanted it instead of waiting until I couldn't take it any more and then eating twice as much as I would have in the first place.

putrifatin96

Don't stop when you're tired. Stop when you're done.

jesssiebee1983

Ugh. To ignore those who go on about having to do this for the rest of your life. This is a diet and there's nothing magical about it. Eat whatever you want, as long as it's under your calorie goal. When you get to your goal weight, eat at your calorie goal to stay there. Don't get malnourished by living off instant noodles. Exercise if you like it and if you care about your health move for like 30 minutes a day, but it's probably not going to help you lose much weight unless you spend hours in the gym every day. Mystery solved!

SaraWestenbroek77

I would say a big thing for me is not weighing myself. I stepped on the scale in the beginning to see where I was at and I won't step back on until I am at another doctor appointment or I feel the need to. Seeing what I look like and how I fit in my clothes is priority for me because if that part is getting better I know the eating and exercise is what is helping that part. I use the food diary each day and it yells at me when my sodium would be too high or fat content is too high so I try to adjust what I need to in order to stay under that threshold.

katkearro

1. Exercise
2. Recording Food
3. Using a Scale
4. Being accountable
5. Not giving up!

lorrpb

Having a variety of goals in addition to the scales -- measurements, progress pics, new foods, new recipes, new hacks, new exercises, more reps, more weight. more steps. That way a few things are always going well when other areas are slower.

Carysta

snickerscharlie wrote: »

Realizing this is the key to success and cuts through all of the derp and woo.

Thank you for 'derp and woo' I laughed so hard at this Everything you said about calorie deficit is true and I wholeheartedly agree with that, but your finale... thanks. Needed that!

For me, it's been about recognizing that I needed help to get started. I'm in a bariatric weight loss program now (not geared to surgery, just to learning to be better, forever) that the Ontario Bariatric Network provides. I've only been to two sessions so far but I am finding it a hugely positive experience.

Sometimes it's incredibly hard to ask for help, but it's so worth it. My friends and family and MFP friends are so supportive and having support makes it so much easier.

Something else I have found helpful, oddly, is adult colouring books. I find that they keep my hands and mind busy and distracted and I'm less likely to overeat. Have been reaching for my water and a book to help refocus and so far it's been helping! Any distraction that keeps your hands busy, be it knitting or colouring or gaming could help. It's what makes you happy and works for you that isn't food oriented

fit_caligal

10,000 steps and weight training 6days a week. Lost 100 pounds in 1 year. Plus I cut out eating out and sodas.

adriennevy

Going to the gym straight from work so I don't have time to sit down and get lazy.