What Other Factors (Besides Nutrition) Help You Succeed?

saransaran

I have been happy and successful since I reduced my goal to losing one pound per week.

kommodevaran

Education - relearning almost everything I believed about nutrition and the influence it has on mind and body.
Losing the all-or-nothing/black-and-white mentality. Learning to trust myself.
Prelogging and portion control, evolved into meal planning, and eating actual meals instead of snacking/grazing.
Thinking long term goals as well as getting in short term rewards.
Eating my favorite foods every day and always looking forward to eating, and finally eating without fear or regret.
Removing trigger foods from my home.
Not relying on exercise to lose/maintain weight, but move because I want to.
Getting a better sleep pattern.
Weighing regularly, first weekly, and daily after hitting maintenance.

amyvanblaricom

Exercise has been a big thing. Its not always easy to get up and start exercising but once I begin it feels great. Music has been a gift to me. Getting lost in songs and lyrics helps me forget what I'm doing and get started.

iheartchocolate2016

Sorry ^ I've just started and I'm losing weight and looking after myself by eating healthily now. The key for me was i had to be ready to start this journey. I have tried for the past year but had no success because my head wasn't in the right place. So it's a psychological thing to even get started and I consider that my success.

Eleted

First, get inspired. Read about others that have successfully lost weight and got healthy. Then begin to give yourself positive messages about health and strength. Then visualize yourself at your goal. Secondly, prepare your environment. Get your kitchen in order, get a food scale and stock up on healthy food choices. Treat yourself to something you enjoy eating every day, but log every bite.
Third, walk, walk and walk some more. Move your body and get a fitbit. Challenge family and friends and shut off the tv! Sign up for charity 5 K walk/ runs. Lastly, read MFP forums every morning before you start your day. It inspires and sets a postive tone for the day.

bluepoppies777

My personal keys to success would be
1) Being honest with logging food! (This is huge)!
2) Having friends on MFP to keep me motivated, who are struggling with the same things and who are wildly supportive!
3) Realizing that taking time for myself every day for my health is a necessity, even though I am a busy mom. (I always used to say I don't have time).
4) Joining a gym with a friend. I have tried to do home workouts in the past, but would lose interest. The gym classes kick my butt and I have to go if my friend is waiting for me there!

RWClary

Nova wrote: »

WE WANT TO KNOW: What have been your personal keys to success? Can be anything from getting 10K steps a day to adjusting your sleep schedule. Tell us below!

If I could sum up success in a single word: GOALS!
In every area of life, tapping passion, writing out goals, making a solid plan, taking action and staying motivated has been the key to my success in everything.

wrknonmedaily

Motivation board with my goals and rewards on wall that I see when wake up in the morning and go to sleep at night. Looking at pics when I was bigger and not wanting to go back to that place where I was not healthy or happy.

zillah73

The support of my fitness-buddy! We keep each other going, keep each other motivated and accountable.

sparklyglitterbomb

Getting my mind really on board.

Then enhancing that with programs like MFP, taking small steps in changing my lifestyle, and finding some fun goals to encourage me to keep going (zip lining, hikes, new clothes, sport events)

RespectTheKitty

For me, I definitely had to have a mental change before I started succeeding. I stopped thinking, "I have to lose weight at all costs!" and instead changed it to, "I want to take care of myself and my health."

Other things that are helping:
1. Joining the gym at my work building and going on my lunch hour every day.
2. Creating small goals for myself, like being able to run a mile and now I'm doing c25k.
3. Knowing it's okay to treat myself once in a while as long as I plan for it!

mrcs_jolly

Commitment, patience, consistency, and self discipline.

KJ4health

1) Owning my decisions- I am the one responsible for my body, what I eat and my lifestyle.
2) Trusting the process- If I consistently eat healthfully and exercise, the results with show up
3) Release the idea that weight loss can be fast! It shouldn't be fast, it is a journey!!
4) Accept that food everywhere, Food is not bad, and I have to improve my relationship with food

soufauxgirl

-Learning to really start loving myself and appreciate who I am.
-Realising that I no longer have the right to keep treating my body badly.
-That my body is a magnificent machine, wondrous and mysterious and has helped create and nurture three humans, so therefore deserves the utmost care and respect.
Rewarding myself as I reach mini goals set and how it has made me look forward to achieving more.

zmida

mrcs_jolly wrote: »

Commitment, patience, consistency, and self discipline.

This is my weight loss journey in a nutshell.

wonna13

mrcs_jolly wrote: »

Commitment, patience, consistency, and self discipline.

Great quote. Thank-you for sharing. I am posting it where I can see it everyday.

wonna13

soufauxgirl wrote: »

-Learning to really start loving myself and appreciate who I am.
-Realising that I no longer have the right to keep treating my body badly.
-That my body is a magnificent machine, wondrous and mysterious and has helped create and nurture three humans, so therefore deserves the utmost care and respect.
Rewarding myself as I reach mini goals set and how it has made me look forward to achieving more.

That's me. Realizing that am worthy of having the best. Your's was well said

CaptainJoy

1. When I started I didn't exercise until I had dropped 20 pounds. I found it too much of a strain for my ankles and feet.
2. Then I started using Fitbit to track my steps. Each month I increase my steps by 2,500.
3. I upped my water consumption and found that I wasn't as hungry. I believe I was majorly dehydrated before MFP.
4. I noticed on days where I got less than 8 hours of sleep that my tiredness made me want to snack on sugary foods.
5. When I know I'll be eating out I prepare by going super light on the calories. I also snap a picture of my plate so I can guesstimate it later. If I go way over my goal, I take a long walk, sleep well, and get back on track in the morning.

Gisel2015

Health, fitness, self discipline and self control. Vanity, more health, my family, more vanity and more fitness. Mind set. Commitment and stubbornness. Love of exercise and a life style of eat to live and not live to eat.

Disclaimer: I was never an obese or fat person; just 10 lbs over “my weight.”

bioklutz

I didn't try to lose weight quickly. I set my goal to 0.5 lbs/week.

I started with small changes in my diet. For example - instead making a sandwich with bread I started using the 100 calorie sandwich flats. Instead of mayo I use mustard or hot sauce.

I didn't cut out snacks (I LOVE to snack). I used to open a box of crackers/chips/chocolate/ice cream and eat from the container. Now I weigh out what fits in my calorie goal and just eat that.

I was successful with the small changes I made. Success is addictive and motivating!

I started paying attention to how full foods made me feel for the amount of calories they have and how much enjoyment I get from certain foods. For instance - I like donuts but don't love them. They are not really worth the calories for me. However I love ice cream and even if the ice cream is over 200 calories/serving the enjoyment I get from eating it makes the calories worth it.

Somewhere along the way I made my goal weight and started lifting weights and cut the cardio I do in half. Even though I am not losing weight anymore my body continues to change. I like that there is measurable progress with weight lifting. I know when I have added weight to the bar and have been successful doing so.

Progress and success motivate me to continue to progress and succeed.