Best Tip You Received?

macclone

Go by the mirror, not the scale.

HOKA36

Drink water

explodingmango

1: Exercise is easier if it doesn't feel like exercise.

I have a way easier time sticking to a workout regimen if it's a game or sport, or training for a game or sport. It has to be fun. Sure, I have a gym membership, and I go do the usual exercises there, because like I said, training for the stuff I like to do is pretty enjoyable, but...mainly I'm into fencing, I've played baseball and soccer and volleyball before, I just had my first rock climbing experience of my adult life today, I'm signing up for a bunch of obstacle course races...all of these things are fun in their own right. They're not chores I'm just drudging through to "earn" a better body or some junk food; they're things I'm doing because they're actually fun, and that makes a huge difference in motivation.

2: Your body is like a toddler - you should listen to it, but not give in to its every whim.

This is a lot easier in principle than in practice, but just realizing the principle helped me start to turn my life around. Your body will tell you when it needs something. But it can also be pretty demanding when it just wants something it's used to having, but doesn't actually need. Learning to tell the difference between your body's requests for true needs, for wants that you need to appease a little bit for sustainability, and for wants that you can push yourself through, is a pretty important skill.

3: It doesn't matter if you fall off track; what matters is minimizing the time you stay there.

This is something I understand better than most people...for all the most unfortunate reasons. I have issues with inertia - once I start doing something, ANYTHING, I have a hard time stopping until something else stops me. That...especially includes falling back into bad habits. If these things lasted only a day, they wouldn't even be setbacks; they'd be off days. But they rarely last only a day. Now, I'm making a conscious effort to remind myself of this - so far, so good.