What's the difference?

ArtemisRuns

What do you think makes the difference between those who succeed in losing fat and getting healthier for good, and those who burn out after a few months and fail?

MRSpivey

A person’s level of commitment and perseverance. The successful person has to have the ability to keep pressing toward the goal when short term results seem to be few or nonexistent.

Pearsquared

Those who know how to win wars and not just battles. :drinker:

Courtney011691

I think it depends on the person. For me, having this site and people supporting me really has made the difference. I've tried keeping track of food and calories in a journal before but it was always way too much work. I'd either get sick of carrying around a big journal or get discouraged when I didn't think I was progressing. Being able to use my phone to scan the food I eat has helped tremendously. Plus, whenever I'm feeling like I'm not progressing I just look at my ticker and see the progress I've made!

Also, I think it may depend on the person's motivations. I used to want to lose weight because my boyfriend at the time would make comments about my stomach or the size of my thighs. So then I'd feel awful about myself and start trying to lose weight. Eventually we broke up and afterwards I did a lot of emotional eating because I was convinced that he broke up with me because I was fat. It took a few years but I realized I have to lose weight for me and not to hold onto a boyfriend that can't accept me the way I am.

Another thing I feel is important is the support system you have. I love my mom and we get along great but we cannot be weight loss partners. We've tried multiple times before and it never works. Its hard to explain but I just can't do it. I haven't even told her that I'm working on being healthier now (she lives 3.5 hours away so I don't see her often). The friends I have on here have made a huge difference. I feel like I have to stay motivated. They keep me accountable.

Finally, setting goals has been big for me. Seeing what I want to do and where I want to be in one month, two months, etc. keeps me going when I feel like giving up.

It feels like this time my attempt at weight loss will be different. I feel much more confident that I won't give up in a few weeks or months but that I'll finally succeed.

MRSpivey

@Courtney01169 You've got the right attitude and valid points! You have to do it for yourself and nobody else. It helps to have encouragement when you hit rough patches. I've been on my journey to a better me since November 2012 and have only had significant accomplishments since about February of this year. My most significant have been after May.


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Nutrition Facts For Foods

taunto

What do you think makes the difference between those who succeed in losing fat and getting healthier for good, and those who burn out after a few months and fail?

Theres a few difference imho. Theres the mentality issue. Which is why you would often see folks who took there time to get to the healthier weight to often stick with it. And the folks who crash dieted to fail after a while.

Then theres the HOW you got there. Some folks eat clean. ALL. The. Freaking. Time. Once they get to the goal weight, they just cannot keep it going and start binging on fast food. Thinking once is ok. Then twice. Then all the week. And then months. Years. And they're back to old weight.

Some people let themselves go once they hit the mark. "Oh I'm at my goal weight, I will be on maintenance calories. I can totally eat entire large pizza and coke daily from now on!". "oh I don't need to workout. I'm done working out now that I'm at goal weight".

Just some of the things. But mainly the crash diet vs. slow and steady being the winner. When you take the time, you make it a long time habit.

DopeItUp

Research, proper planning and a hard work ethic generally helps ensures success in any aspect of life - including weight loss.

Koldnomore

What do you think makes the difference between those who succeed in losing fat and getting healthier for good, and those who burn out after a few months and fail?

The ones I see quit the most often are those that see this as a 'diet'. They join MFP, immediately throw out every scrap of 'bad' food, start working out 6 times a week and post threads at least once a month about the scale and it's evil ways. They are here because someone ELSE wants them to lose weight - or they want to lose weight so someone ELSE will like them or want to be with them. They have excuses for everything..it's too hard to exercise, it takes to long to log, they have to eat out or they don't cook. They are also notorious 'know it alls' - they ask for help and then proceed to point out why every piece of advice they are provided is wrong or does not apply to their case.

People who succeed generally lose weight slower, they tend to re-evaluate and adjust their methods as needed. They very rarely post for help preferring instead to read all the old threads which answer the same questions that they have and if they still don't find it THEN they post with all the relevant information that people will need to help them. People who succeed will help themselves instead of expecting someone else to do it for them and they will be here for themselves not because someone else has told them to get in shape. They log daily and realize that this is not a diet but a way of living which they will have to continue for the rest of their lives. People who succeed don't give in to the obsessive mentality about anything (the scale, the numbers, the food etc) preferring instead to make small sustainable changes in a gradual manner.

simsburyjet

Its very similar to AA GA or any of the other programs. You buy into it or you do not.. I bought into fitness
a long time ago but the eating part was my problem. .I finally realized if I was going to kill myself exercising
I might as well go all the way and eat right also.

doomspark

Successful people:
Realize that "diets" aren't going to do it. To get the weight off and KEEP it off requires a shift in lifestyle.

Realize that it's not going to come off in 2 days or 2 weeks or even 2 months. It took longer than that to put it on.

Don't get frustrated and quit the first time they hit a stumbling block.

_HeartsOnFire_

They think it's a diet and not a lifestyle change and they are either not really ready for what it takes or don't want it bad enough.
People let little set backs defeat them and give up waaaaay too easily.
I also agree with the win wars not battles comment. That sums it up nicely.

Serah87

What do you think makes the difference between those who succeed in losing fat and getting healthier for good, and those who burn out after a few months and fail?

Theres a few difference imho. Theres the mentality issue. Which is why you would often see folks who took there time to get to the healthier weight to often stick with it. And the folks who crash dieted to fail after a while.

Then theres the HOW you got there. Some folks eat clean. ALL. The. Freaking. Time. Once they get to the goal weight, they just cannot keep it going and start binging on fast food. Thinking once is ok. Then twice. Then all the week. And then months. Years. And they're back to old weight.

Some people let themselves go once they hit the mark. "Oh I'm at my goal weight, I will be on maintenance calories. I can totally eat entire large pizza and coke daily from now on!". "oh I don't need to workout. I'm done working out now that I'm at goal weight".

Just some of the things. But mainly the crash diet vs. slow and steady being the winner. When you take the time, you make it a long time habit.

THIS!!!!!!! ^^^^^^ :drinker:

amcsouth

The people who realize that its a lifestyle change NOT a diet are normally the most successful in my opinion.

LorinaLynn

I think it's the mental battle that determines long term success. As others have mentioned, it's about winning the war, not every battle. Not quitting the second you hit a speed bump or a detour or even a road block.

And the motivation behind losing matters, too. For me, what DIDN'T work in the past was berating myself and treating exercise and eating low calories as punishment for being a sloth. That just made me want to rebel.

This time around, I didn't think of it as eating less... I thought of it as eating the absolute most delicious foods I possibly can that still fit within my calorie goal. I don't think of exercise as punishment any more. I think of it as a reward. I think about all the cool things I'll be able to do and/or continue to do as a result of exercising. And running is fun for me now. It's like playtime when I was a little kid. Lifting still isn't really all that fun, but I do get a rush out of setting new personal records. And it makes my tushie look fantastic. :blushing:

"I'm doing this because it gives me a hot *kitten*," is a lot more motivating than "I'm going to stay on this treadmill for hours because I'm a bad, bad person who ate a cookie." :laugh:

Mother_Superior

Perseverance

ryry_

The elimination of all excuses as to why you got to where you are and what you need to do to change is all 100% completely within your control.

Almost the 100% differentiator between the success stories and the non.

Oishii

From my fairly long experience of mfp, I would say that trying to be too 'good', as Taunto said, is a major predictor of failure. Some people get all the way to goal, being 'good', but just being 'good' doesn't work in maintenance for most people, and the weight comes straight back on.

Also, being over-dramatic seldom seems to work. Being huge, then losing rapidly, collecting huge numbers of friends from the get go, recording vlogs, making it all into one big 'adventure' is hard to sustain; slow, steady and sustainable emotionally is the order of the day.

toutmonpossible

--An adoption of the mindset that one is always going to be healthily trim no matter what. If that principle defines your life, you won't become overweight.

--A commitment to educating oneself about calories, nutrition, and approaches to eating and to be aware of changes in the conventional wisdom.

--A willingness to carefully observe one's response to food and exercise.

--An ability to make independent judgments when something isn't working.

PetulantOne

Research, proper planning and a hard work ethic generally helps ensures success in any aspect of life - including weight loss.

Very true.

JesterMFP

Those who know how to win wars and not just battles. :drinker:

^ This.

I think it's the mental battle that determines long term success. As others have mentioned, it's about winning the war, not every battle. Not quitting the second you hit a speed bump or a detour or even a road block.

And the motivation behind losing matters, too. For me, what DIDN'T work in the past was berating myself and treating exercise and eating low calories as punishment for being a sloth. That just made me want to rebel. [...]

^ And this. And, a lot of what else has already been said.

I think you have to make the decision that it (losing weight, getting fit, getting healthy or whatever) is important enough to commit to for life. Once you make that commitment, you have to keep putting in the effort, regardless of whether you feel motivated at any given time. It's not always going to be easy, and you may well take backwards steps sometimes, but you don't give up.

For a lot of people, extreme black and white thinking is a serious obstacle to success. A lot of people have the mentality that once they slip up or fail, that there's no point in continuing. They've messed up, so it's all over. I had to realise that no matter how many times I "slip up", I don't get to go back to my old ways. This is it now, for life. I'm another that believes in being kind to myself and forgiving myself if I don't make the choices I planned to make. I just put steps in place so that I make better choices next time. If I go over my calories one day, it's ok, I just do better the next day. If I skip a couple of days of exercise, it's ok, I just take note of how much better I feel when I do exercise regularly, and recommit to working harder and not slacking off. I constantly remind myself of my priorities.

In my view (others may disagree!) It's ok to take small steps back in progress, as long as you keep on top of them. Life gets in the way sometimes - Christmas, birthdays, weddings, unexpected buffets, all-inclusive cruises... for some of us, stressful life events will also get in the way. If you get so discouraged by one bad day that you let it turn into a week, or you get upset because you gained 10 lbs from a week's holiday and let it carry on for a month - then you're not going to be successful. You need to keep on top of it so that small backwards steps are manageable. Sometimes it feels like a never ending battle, but being slim, fit and healthy is so completely worth continuing the fight.

I think of maintaining my weight (as well as healthy eating and regular exercise) in the same ways that I think of other areas of life. Succeeding professionally, or academically, or in marriage, or as a parent - those things aren't always easy and sometimes we make mistakes or don't perform as well as we could. We don't (hopefully) take one bad choice or mistake and totally give up on our job/marriage/kids. Those things are important, so we so what we need to do. If weight loss/fitness/health are important enough, you do what you need to do. The key is to be self aware, focus on your priorities and not let small slip ups get out of control.

MeanderingMammal

What do you think makes the difference between those who succeed in losing fat and getting healthier for good, and those who burn out after a few months and fail?

Fitting it into their lifestyle constraints, rather than constraining their lifestyle to fit the objective.

As an example I work in a field where I'm living in hotels three to four nights a week, we can eat appropriately, its not an excuse for failure. Similarly, pick a hotel that one can go out for a run from, rather than one that sits on a main road with no routes.

Ophidion

Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not' nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. --- Calvin Coolidge 1872



Or slimfast hahahaha

alisonlynn1976

It's making a long-term change vs. making a short-term change and then going back to the old habits.