Success stories out there - How do you shut out the noise?

hartwell17

Hi everyone, this is my third time back on MFP. I am determined to stick at it this time. Its funny though, for a while I do well, tracking food, being consistent with exercising and all is going well and I feel good. Then I start to let outside noise in, should I stop eating carbs, should I go paleo, no diary, juice blah blah blah.... you all know what I mean.

My question to you success stories is what have you stuck with that has got you amazing results and how do you shut out the noise!

eluvscats

I'm not really a success story yet, lost about 45 lbs over a couple years and have some more to go, but I too sometimes get this syndrome of overthinking and trying to perfect or improve upon a strategy that is already working. I think this tendency is part of my personality, so I set my plan and goals, such as staying under my calorie goal, getting some walking in here and there, and otherwise doing other things. Living my life. I eat my calories worth of food I enjoy, and try not to think about it otherwise. Slow and steady.

50extra

Every time that I start to wander like that and think that I should be eating differently and go on some eating plan I stop and think about what I did to drop my 32 pounds. I have bounced up and down (luckily down more than up) since I started my journey in January. I lose weight when I count calories and I gain weight when I don't. It doesn't matter what I eat, it only matters how much I eat and how much I move. It reminds me that jumping on someone's bandwagon as it drives by isn't going to help me progress.

Therealobi1

To lose the weight I kept it simple. I really just cut down and moved more. I still eat snacks and fast food but just less of it. Any other way I would have given up after two weeks.

Now to keep the loss it was the simple fact that I like what I had achieved and don't want to go back. So I go to the gym and if I can't I walk as much as I can.

Elise4270

The question for me is "is it practical?". I don't do "diets". I try to chose foods close to the source, eat pizza and burgers sparingly, make a point to eat more veggies (don't look at my diary, it's bad lol! Still recovering from surgery/regaining strength, pouting). I don't buy the packages food diets. It's just lazy and seems unhealthy. 1. Take a stand

I understand it's easy to get reeled in by the quick fix scheme, we all have. I'm sure some of the diets out there have merit. But I'd encourage you to develop a diet specifically for your needs and tastes. Then work those changes in one by one rather than "today I'm 100% doing x". I don't want to give up certain foods- and the trauma of "oh no I'm off my diet" is counter productive. I can eat tamales, just not every day

Another helpful tid bit that helped me was from Matt Fitzgerald Racing Weight- there are fattening foods and there are slimming foods. Easy to identify. Just takes a moment to ask yourself the one question before you eat. He's developed a method to track these choices. It's DQS (app is great, think it was $1). No calorie counting. I'm hit and miss on it, but it does help get my diet back on track. 2. Develop a method

Put a plan in writing. Make a basic grocery list of healthy staples and a few go to easy recipes. Maybe start an exercise journal (not on mfp- physical write it out). When you feel like you want to try another diet plan, see how it fits with your goals and go from there. 3. Put it into action

Good luck. Only you know what's right for you, trust yourself.

fireytiger

Everything Elise4270 said is right on. Personally, what's helped me is having a dietitian, and a health & wellness coach through my insurance. Whenever I start thinking i'm getting off track, I always have someone I can call or email who knows my journey, and just talking with them helps me get back on track. It's not enough for me to have a fitness buddy or MFP, I need to have someone who is actually trained in proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle changes who can help me filter out a lot of that noise. I meet with each of them every 4-6 weeks, which helps keep me on track as a form of accountability.

Overall though, you have to find a way of eating that works for YOU for the long haul. Remind yourself that dieting fads are just that, and any loss on the scale that you may get from them is temporary. The vast majority of people will not find those ways of eating sustainable long-term. Find healthier options that you like, enjoy your food, and on occasion have a burger (or whatever your "poison") to stay sane. Good luck!

momofamadhouse

I try not to pay attention to any of the voices in my head. Few of them are friendly.

elisa123gal

I feel pretty determined this time to get to my goal weight..and i have a feeling of certainty because I decided to take what I need from this site..and ignore what I just don't want to do. So, I've stopped counting calories.. because i read about the avid "weigh your food" …"log each and every bite forever and ever!!"… no thanks.. don't want to live my life like that and it hasn't worked for all the years I've been on here.
So, listen to the noise … and just like advice.. take what might work for you and your journey.. you don't have to listen to any of us. We are just average people..and not experts.

STEVE142142

For me it was a totally mental thing. Something clicked in my brain January 1st 2016 I was 288 pounds. My current weight is about 208 pounds.

I've been on diets before and I failed miserably cuz I put the weight back on every time. This time it's different it was easy like hell to lose the weight. I didn't give up anything. I still have the occasional Wendy's hamburger pizza and beers on the beach. I don't look at this as a diet. Diets suck and you fail miserably you're miserable all the time you're giving up stuff you like and eventually you're going to fall off the wagon. Educated myself as far as what I'm eating and nothing is off-limits to me. It's just a simple matter of eating less calories then my body Burns.

How do I shut out the noise. Fear. I never want to go back to where I was.

To me weight loss and nutrition is the same as politics and religion. Everybody has their own opinion and whatever works for you works for you.

Lchflex

Funny, you mention this because I'm only a month in and I notice people trying to tell me how to do things. Now that my body is getting used to the lesser amount of calories and I'm not hungry like I was in the first week, it makes me feel like I'm not doing anything. So I had to remind myself that A) I've already tried all those fads and they may work but I myself can't stick with them, so for once I'm gonna do the old fashioned way. And B ) I may not be suffering all week, dreaming about carbs, or eating some special diet, but again I'm doing what works for me and time will show me that I didn't have to suffer, I just lost as I made these changes one at a time. Taking progress pics helps too, when I feel like I'm not changing. I look at those pics and I'm like...maybe I don't need to ruin this, even if I did mess up and have too many glasses of wine. I can get back on it now.
I hope my newbie info helps.

IremiaRe

I know, right? Suddenly, you are looking around going... wait, this isn't hard... why did I always think this was so hard? It's all about getting your head right... and not depriving yourself of EVERYTHING, ALL the TIME.

Sure, you can't eat like you did before - but you can still eat good, tasty food... you just have to burn it off.

My one rule though... burn it first - then eat. If you have already done the work - the food tastes that much better.

mababauta

I think you have to accept that the 'noise' will be there no matter what. I block it out with two things: I'm doing this for me and I now know what works for me. In the past I simply said, "I want to be healthy." Now I have specific reasons I want to be healthy. It was like saying, "I want to lose weight," but not having a plan on how to go about it.

This time around I experimented with different things and found something that I can do and that's sustainable. Sustainable being the key word. When the noise starts to creep up I remind myself of all the wonderful benefits that have come from losing weight thus far. That quickly gets me back on track.

JDixon852019

R/Fatlogic on Reddit.com snapped me out of my pity party.

Kennyyoli

I started out with a plain-jane approach when I started, and it served me well. I didn't want to over-complicate things. Eating fewer calories than I was burning was the task. Period.
The rest of it came along the way. I read a lot, and listened to my body & how I was feeling and performing on my runs, swims, & bike rides as I was adjusting the kinds of foods I was eating. You can make yourself crazy with everything that is out there. Paleo, Vegan, Low Carb/Keto, and all the like. I stayed away from drastic changes initially, and just tried little tweaks, and kept notes on how I felt and how I performed. Keeping under my calorie goals obviously. I run every day, and found I ran best with around 150-175 grams of carbs a day, and 175-190 grams of protein. Once I found that sweet spot, I just found nutrient dense choices in the foods I was choosing that gave me the nutritional values I was striving for, and kept me under my caloric intake.
"Keep it simple" worked for me.

Shana67

Dude, just keep it simple and BE PATIENT. I think that a lot of us lose focus and wander away from what works when we're trying to speed up the process. It's a long journey - hang in there.

SavedByGrace26356

Listen to your body and do what works for you.

Machka9

Every time I've needed to lose a little bit of weight (4 times in my life) ... I've simply consumed fewer calories than I've burned. It works.