Tip, tricks, and secrets

Jcox300

what would be the #1 thing you wish you could share with everyone that you found most helpful

Arizona_C

That I started to imagine my best self, in an ideal world, and started living as if it was already my life.

I composed a good breakfast with food I really liked and took a photo of it on a beautiful tray, and used it as en example for breakfasts from there on. No more reheated coffee and soggy supermarked bread. I began wearing my favorite clothes daily and threw away most the rest. I stopped accepting things being barely good enough when they could as easily be great.

apullum

There is no magic exercise or magic food that makes you lose weight. There's no "secret." It's just basic math: eat fewer calories than you burn.

braves3134

Meal prepping is huge! I pre make salads to take to work. Cook 9-10 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breast at a time and keep them in the fridge. Easy to grab and go. It helps make it harder to say "I don't have anything to eat. I'll just grab "insert bad food here"."

brig220

What helps me is planning, planning, planning and patience. Planning meals with lots of veggies, having healthy low-calorie foods available at all times, and also planning for workouts. Block a time of the day for some exercise on your calendar, a walk, a bike ride, an youtube exercise video. Although, you don't need to workout to lose weight, it makes the weight go down faster and it puts you in touch with your body and it is great for the mind. It is too easy to disconnect with our amazing body and let it go, exercise reconnects body and mind.

Jruzer

You don't have to be miserable to lose weight.

SeikoMonster

Do it for yourself and noone else.
If you are doing it for other people it is all too easy to fail.

Don't talk about it.
If asked answer questions. But just keep your head down and working.


Stop listening to the"expert" advise of friends and colleagues.

judywalsh97

Accept that it's not going to be easy but it will be worth it.

Setting aside the time to plan meals that you know you'll enjoy and look forward to.
Meal prepping snacks has been my new lifesaver. Portioning out almonds and fruit so I can just grab and go. Having hard boiled eggs in the fridge for when i'm peckish.

NewLIFEstyle4ME

It took us time to gain the weight and develop poor eating, drinking and thinking and living patterns & habits and it's going to take time to lose the weight and develop better/healthy eating, drinking and thinking and living patterns & habits. Don't allow yourself to get in the "hurry up and get it done" trap. Time is on your side--take your time.

As painful as it may be, take pics of yourself AND do measurements each month to monitor your progress.

When (not if, but when) the scale seemingly isn't moving...take measurements. This weight loss is not merely about the pounds going down, but NSVs (non scale victories) are just as (if not more) important as well.

It's really and truly about cals in and cals out--no matter what fantastic diet plan or scheme you discover, it's still going to come down to "cals in and cals out" (CICO).

This weight loss is truly an adventure and it's an exciting and COOL and FUN one--it's all how you look at it. It's truly a "glass half full or half empty" deal. You can CHOOSE to look at this as hard, tough, bitter and a bummer OR you can look at it as it may not get easier, but you're getting stronger and stronger more each day.

You will have some "hiccups" and failures, DON'T get bent outta shape (literally) about it OR blow it off either. Take it as it is when you fall/fail, get back up, dust yourself off and get back into the race, period.

Lastly...be your own cheerleader and watch how FUN and COOL this lifestyle change becomes and is--BOOM!

ISweat4This

You can eat what you want, just maintain a deficit.

diannethegeek

One of the things I had to learn during weight loss is that tips and tricks are highly individual. A calorie deficit is necessary for weight loss. This is an indisputable fact. How you get there, whether it's low carb or moderate carb, lots of little meals or IF, small plates, food scales, condiments, spices, favorite meals, they're all individual. What helped me might make things harder for the next person. When it feels like weight loss advice all contradicts each other that's because it often does. The important thing is to get into a deficit, however the best way to get there is for you. Play around with different things and see what you like rather than feeling like you have to stick with something dogmatically.

Also, read the stickied "most helpful posts" at the top of each section. Really good info in those.

Vicham76

Be true to oneself. Do not lie to yourself when you exercise and do not lie to yourself when you eat. When you count calories it is extremely important to account for everything. A bad day is a bad day, tomorrow you can do better. Do not cheat the numbers to fit.

JoeCWV

Weight loss and lifestyle changes are a marathon, not a sprint. Slow and steady wins the race. You didn't get fat in a month so don't expect much progress in a month. Give the program at least six months regardless of your goals. At the end of those six months, if you are being truthful in your logging and you maintain a deficit, you WILL weigh less. Even if it's five pounds it's a win. Keep doing what you're doing so long as you are moving in the right direction.

skinnyscorpion99

Drinking about 20oz of water before each meal helps me feel fuller longer and has reduced my cravings, especially in the evenings.

NewLIFEstyle4ME

Vicham76 wrote: »

Be true to oneself. Do not lie to yourself when you exercise and do not lie to yourself when you eat. When you count calories it is extremely important to account for everything. A bad day is a bad day, tomorrow you can do better. Do not cheat the numbers to fit.

Boom! These are tremendous tips, period.

dsboohead

Even bites...licks and slurps count. Decide what you will count those as and document!

rundgrenrocks

These help me:
1. Log it before I consume it.
2. Prelog my expected dinner (a guess is okay to start with, edit later) so I can see how much I can eat earlier in the day and not get caught short of calories.

eastsiderapids

That I didn't have to starve myself to be successful.

SnazzIT

To be honest

rajeshvvcool

Use intermittent fasting as a tool to lose fat quickly.

callriter

Making my own lunch and bringing it to work instead of just grabbing something from a fast food joint.

abbynormalartist

For me, don't eat a thing without logging it FIRST.

If I don't log it first, I somehow always think "Oh, I'll just eat 10 cookies, they're tiny, probably just 30 calories each". Then I get around to logging those cookies and guilt and a tummy ache follow.

If I log every bit of food FIRST, I'll look up the cookies and see that they're really 160 calories each and I'll choose to just have one. I still get my sweets but it fits into my day and I don't feel like hurling afterwards.

I'm awful at estimating calories and eating just a little of something. If I log and portion things out ahead of time, I know when I need to stop and oddly enough, I'm still satisfied.

cs2thecox

Honest logging, honest logging, honest logging.

At the end of the day, the only person you'd be cheating is yourself...

NoxeemaJackson

Arizona_C wrote: »

That I started to imagine my best self, in an ideal world, and started living as if it was already my life.

I composed a good breakfast with food I really liked and took a photo of it on a beautiful tray, and used it as en example for breakfasts from there on. No more reheated coffee and soggy supermarked bread. I began wearing my favorite clothes daily and threw away most the rest. I stopped accepting things being barely good enough when they could as easily be great.

For me, I got a haircut, and a good color job at the salon.
Before, it was "I'll wait til I'm skinny to look good" but then, I thought "no, I deserve good things. Fat me deserves all the good things that skinny me deserves" and so, I started to treat myself better, similar to your story, I started living my life the way I planned to live it when I "got skinny" and, it's tough to pin down, but I just realized I am worth it - I am worth the investment.

It's a good feeling.

And though I'm not a success story (yet!) I workout most mornings at 545 am. I know that's not for everybody but it's nice to do something FOR ME before I do anything for anybody else.

WilmaValley

Plan my meals and snacks!

Good_Morning_Glory

NoxeemaJackson wrote: »

Arizona_C wrote: »

That I started to imagine my best self, in an ideal world, and started living as if it was already my life.

I composed a good breakfast with food I really liked and took a photo of it on a beautiful tray, and used it as en example for breakfasts from there on. No more reheated coffee and soggy supermarked bread. I began wearing my favorite clothes daily and threw away most the rest. I stopped accepting things being barely good enough when they could as easily be great.

For me, I got a haircut, and a good color job at the salon.
Before, it was "I'll wait til I'm skinny to look good" but then, I thought "no, I deserve good things. Fat me deserves all the good things that skinny me deserves" and so, I started to treat myself better, similar to your story, I started living my life the way I planned to live it when I "got skinny" and, it's tough to pin down, but I just realized I am worth it - I am worth the investment.

It's a good feeling.

And though I'm not a success story (yet!) I workout most mornings at 545 am. I know that's not for everybody but it's nice to do something FOR ME before I do anything for anybody else.

This really hit me in the feels. You’re right!!!!! What an insightful moment. Fat me DOES deserve all the good things as well!!! Well said and thank you VERY much!!

Mr_Healthy_Habits

That it's not your fault, it's not lack of will, discipline, restraint, or drive... You already have all of these things inside you...

Maybe Mr fitness with the shredded physique spends more time then you do in the gym and counting calories... But maybe, your lawn looks nicer, or your better with money, or raising a family...

Just because someone is athletic, doesn't mean they somehow have more virtue than you do... They just simply have more momentum towards health goals...

It's not a lack of any virtue nor character, it's simply a lack of momentum... It's all within you

doubleap77

Tons of good advice here already. I love the effort everyone puts in for themselves, but also in sharing their means to success.

My own:

Do it for yourself. No one else can make you do it, so the drive has to come from you.

Even as much as you might hate it, even if it hurts, do it anyway. The short term pain in the gym, on the trail, or at the table will evolve into a long term improvement in health and self-esteem.

Imagine the person you want to be and slowly make the effort to be that person.

lorrpb

NoxeemaJackson wrote: »

Arizona_C wrote: »

That I started to imagine my best self, in an ideal world, and started living as if it was already my life.

I composed a good breakfast with food I really liked and took a photo of it on a beautiful tray, and used it as en example for breakfasts from there on. No more reheated coffee and soggy supermarked bread. I began wearing my favorite clothes daily and threw away most the rest. I stopped accepting things being barely good enough when they could as easily be great.

For me, I got a haircut, and a good color job at the salon.
Before, it was "I'll wait til I'm skinny to look good" but then, I thought "no, I deserve good things. Fat me deserves all the good things that skinny me deserves" and so, I started to treat myself better, similar to your story, I started living my life the way I planned to live it when I "got skinny" and, it's tough to pin down, but I just realized I am worth it - I am worth the investment.

It's a good feeling.

And though I'm not a success story (yet!) I workout most mornings at 545 am. I know that's not for everybody but it's nice to do something FOR ME before I do anything for anybody else.

Yes, you are a success story!

spzjlb

So many great comments here! My tip is far less inspirational or philosophical than some (thanks for posting those):

For me, I need to work out (at home) every single day for at least 30 min. It’s just easier for me to find a small amount of time each day than scheduling 90 min or more 3-4x per week. Also, I exercise in the early morning. It’s just so convenient for me to roll out of bed and work out in my home while I watch the AM news; then, I get dressed for work. I feel pretty virtuous all day.

But my way is not for everyone. My DH likes to exercise before supper - also at home, though.

For the record, we have very busy and challenging careers with a family. I think that’s also why the “every day but for a short time” has been easiest for us. I’m also happy that our son has grown up watching us prioritize fitness.

bz2018

What I’ve learned is whatever your goal, 80% is diet