What was the main thing you did to help you lose the weight?
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For me: reducing and nearly eliminating alcohol from my diet and changing up my workout routine regularly.1
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What was the main contributor that helped you lose the weight you did? I am looking to readjust things for myself. I would love to hear some insight from the MFP community
thanks!
You are already doing one of the biggest things that I'm doing -- making adjustments (for better).
I keep updating my approach, finding new things to make it easier.
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Counting calories..1
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CICO and keeping my sodium under 1500 mg (for blood pressure, but has the added benefit of no water weight...and no swollen feet!!!!)1
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Exercise and reducing simple carbs1
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In addition to sticking to a calorie deficit and weighing my food?
Finally grasping that it takes time. Allowing it to take time and getting over the fact that it wasn't going to be fast. This finally allowed me to do the first part long enough to get 60lbs off myself.
I have more to lose but not being morbidly obese is awesome and well worth the patience.
This, exactly. I stick to a calorie deficit and weigh all food in addition to working out for a cardio health and a little additional deficit.
In the past I was entirely too impatient. I have(had) a lot of weight to lose (100 pounds) and starting from the beginning was scary. I have been up and down for years because when I didn't see the weight coming off "fast enough" I would become frustrated and give up. I've also finally just kept on trucking, knowing that my diligence would pay off. And 60 pounds later, it sure has. I've got 40 more to go, and I'm well aware it's going to take some more time, so I'll just stick with it!
One day at a time!
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ericatoday wrote: »I never used a scale. Ive lost 30lbs but maybe it would help the rest.
But mine has just been about what i eat. I eat generally healthy with a few slip ups.
I have a cheat meal not a whole cheat day about once a week.
I dont eat back my exercise calories thats a waste. But if your workout makes you extra hungry try not to eat more than 50% of them back.
Dont get discouraged during a plateau it took me 6 1/2 months to lose 30 lbs and the very first 15lbs took less than a month to come off so 5 months and 15lbs but its been well worth it.
why call it a cheat meal...are you married to your food? gives it a bad vibe and why not incorporate the food you like in your weight loss?
MFP is setup to eat back exercise calories actually to say it's a waste is not true. You don't need to exercise to lose weight and with MFP it's a bonus amount to eat more food.
plateaus happen when you are at maintenance...not when your body doesn't want to burn more fat.3 -
Jeffrey300050 wrote: »Exercise and reducing simple carbs
this is not required for weight loss.2 -
For me, I want to say it was MFP itself. Without the information on this website, I very much doubt I would have ever bought a digital scale, or tracked calories for the last 9 months. The tools made it so much easier. Add to that the community where I learned about weight fluctuations and patience, thus did not get discouraged. I have lost 83 lbs and I am sold!6
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Using MFP to count calories and stay in a healthy deficit.2
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Watching what I eat and making sure that I eat enough. Started using Fitbit and realized how sedentary I was !!4
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Measuring food and logging it.
Finding exercises I like to do and can do with little preparation.
Finding healthier substitutes for my old junk food favorites. Such as a cup of sugar free hot cocoa instead of a candy bar when a chocolate craving hits.
Most of all: be patient and consistent.0 -
Eat less
Move more2 -
I haven't reached my goal yet but like others have said it's all about calorie in and calories out. I also would say it's about patience. Just remember we didn't get over weight overnight and we arnt going to get healthy overnight. Because of this it's important to make sure your plan is sustainable over the long term. You are allowed to indulge along your journey just log everything! Also work to improve your relationship with food. By this I mean don't let what you eat determine your attitude. Don't feel guilt for indulging because it creates a negative relationship with food. This has been huge for me and it's stopped me from going on binges just because I ate a bit of junk food. I also like being accountable to someone. MFP is great for this because there is so much support if you add friends ( feel free to add me). I also have a friend who's my "personal trainer" and she calls me on it if I skip the gym or don't give it my all. Most importantly it's about truly believing that you will get to your goal. This is extremely tough if your like me and have failed in the past but if you don't 100% believe you can do it you will likely give up. So let yourself actually get excited to lose the weight and know that it will happen this time because you can do it 1
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Woah woah now let's not get crazy and give up macchiatos, order them without the vanilla syrup (or with sugar free syrup) and you save 75cals on a tall and they still taste plenty sweet enough with the caramel drizzle. If I had to give up my delicious coffee I wouldn't have stuck with it for a year now.Changed up my food to more nutrient dense options, moved more and cut out Starbucks Caramel Macchiatos.....
Seriously though the biggest thing for me was finding what made this work for me, and being prepared to find new things that work when it changes...I "waste"225- 300 of my 1530 Cal's on coffee everyday about, but it means I actually stick to my limit. Currently what works for me is one big meal (+1k) a day and small snacks the rest of the time. I also try to go to the gym at least 4-5 days/week. This has helped me lose 60 lbs this past year.
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For me, it was (1) weighing solid food and measuring liquids, so I had a decent idea of what I was actually eating; (2) estimating on the high side of things when eating out; and (3) finding out which foods keep me feeling sated for the longest.
The only significant change I made to my diet was for breakfast: I found that one or two slices of buttered toast (150-300 calories) keep me satisfied until lunch, whereas a bowl of cereal with milk (400 calories) left me feeling hungry by 10 am. Otherwise, I just cut back a little on everything. I was already exercising about 450 calories a day, on average, so I didn't make any changes there.3 -
A few of the main things that helped me to lose the weight:
1.) I used MFP to accurately and consistently track what I consumed 100% of the time. I used this site for a couple of years where I would be perfect with eating and tracking during the week and then wouldn't track on the weekend. Yeah that didn't work well for me.
2.) I cut most of the booze out while I was in the process of losing. I'm not saying you can't drink and still be in a deficit and lose weight but for me it made it very challenging to stay in a deficit and not be hungry when I drank any significant amount of alcohol.
3.) I found exercises that I LOVE to do. This helped me to focus on goals other than simply losing weight and reduced my frustration when I wouldn't immediately see a change on the scale. It also helped me to develop a much healthier relationship with food and my body. I stopped thinking so much about what I "couldn't have" or how much "I couldn't eat" when I began to focus on fueling my body in a way that would help me perform better.
4.) I found some fun friends here on MFP. Even though most of them don't talk too much about food/fitness it gave me a reason to keep logging in every single day.3 -
These are things that I've learned that personally help me. Everyone is different, but these rules are why I personally have been successful.
Log everything you can, log on the site every day even if you don't complete your food log for the day, because it keeps the habit of it up.
Exercise when you can don't worry about it if you can't. If you exercise at every opportunity that presents itself, then you won't feel guilty when you are too busy to work out or when you get sick and can't.
Find exercise you love. More than one type, so you don't get burned out on only one exercise.
Cardio before weight training. 15-20 minutes of cardio is a great way to prepare your body for weight training.
When lifting weights, more weight and less reps builds muscle but more reps and less weight burns more calories.
Most important: Keep your body guessing. When you hit a plateau, it's because your body is used to whatever changes you made from your original way of eating/exercising. Change it up how you want. Maybe one week do only cardio. Then the next week, do 30 min cardio/30 min of weight training, week after that, 15 min cardio/45 min weight training.
Plan your week out both in food and exercise. If you plan out what parts of your body you want to work out each week, you can make sure all the parts you are concerned about are worked on, whether that be just arms and legs, the whole body, or only your abdomen. If you plan out your food for the week, at the very least plan on what you're going to have for dinner. That way if you know you're going to have a high calorie meal in the evening, you can make sure to eat accordingly. It makes it much easier to distribute your calories accordingly when you at least know what your last meal of the day will be, high calorie or low calorie. In planning both your food and exercise you can also save time. For example, if you know you're going to make say, spaghetti and meatballs, you know that you'll need to de-thaw the meat, pick out your spices, and get a pot of water ready to boil. If you have all these ingredients ready to go before dinner, you might be able to sneak in a 20 minute walk around your neighborhood on a day that you were too busy to go to the gym.
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elkhunter7x6 wrote: »Using MFP to count calories and stay in a healthy deficit.
Same here. I've never used a food scale but I keep the measuring cups and spoons out on the counter, and I log everything, even if I'm only guesstimating. Logging has been the key for me; I would very easily and conveniently "forget" how much I've eaten otherwise.1 -
Weighed food.
Logged everything.
Lost at a reasonable pace and ate as much as I could while still losing.
Ate chocolate everyday.
Found exercise I enjoyed and did it.
Lost 86 lbs, entered maintenance, still doing everything the same but with a bit more calories.2 -
I stopped drinking beer. Drastic times call for drastic measures.3
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Every time i want to eat i ask my self is this feeling coming from my stomach or my mouth? If its from my mouth i ignore it and go drink some water as it means I'm not actually hungry its emotional or confusing thirst for hunger. If its physically from my stomach i know its not an emotional response to say stress or boredom and i go and eat.
Keeps me inside my calorie allowance very easy.0 -
Definitely not giving up if I didnt see a loss or if I saw a "gain". I used to get SO upset bc I would weigh daily and fluctuate of course. I used to then completely give up for that day and eat whatever i wanted. I finally stopped and I gave it about 4 weeks and I figured if I still wasnt seeing a change then I would re-evaluate my logging. But now I have been consistently losing for the past 13 weeks at .5 lb. I've realized it does take time but now I'm 7 lbs lighter then before!2
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Consistency over perfection.3
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1) Food scale, to the best of my ability (I don't pull it out at restaurants). Now I really know how many calories I'm eating - it used to be just guesswork. No wonder I failed.
2) Learning to recognize which foods gave me more bang for my buck, calorically - which means I eat a lot less bread and pasta than I used to, to be able to fit into my calorie goals for each day.
3) Recognizing that it's much easier to meet my calorie goals by eating less rather than trying to work out more (I used to overdo it and get injured a lot).
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Couple of things,
1. If I'm not hungry in the morning, I don't have to eat. (I was told my whole life that I would run my metabolism if I didn't eat breakfast)
2. I can eat 300 calories right before bed (once again, told my whole life not to eat before bed because those calories turn into fat. I'm the type of person who can not go to sleep hungry, so I would usually end up bingeing in order to get to sleep)
3. weigh everything.
4. Banking calories.0 -
More yoga, less red wine.
Food scale
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Eat less than I had been eating, move more than I had been moving
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Accurately counting calories.
Not drinking calories
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