What was the first thing you changed?

mgibbons22

I cut my beer intake form 50 a week to about three per week. But I don't think I could have done that as a stand alone. Eliminating the beer as part of an overall reduction in caloric intake made it much easier. Walking up to five miles a day made the reduction in calories easy. So for me, all the parts work well together, but would probably fail on their own.

equestrian_girl

Started packing lunches for work! Only ate my groceries saved a ton of money which was double motivation!

SammieMozi1990

I completely cut out soda, even the zero calorie soda. When i did this at first i felt like crap because of the caffiene withdraw but now i feel great and it is amazing seeing the weight you can loose just by cutting out a drink.

besaro

i stopped lying to myself

LemonJuice33

I started stocking the fridge with fruits and veggies as well other healthy things (minus beer). No junk food in the house, no junk food in my belly.

gmthisfeller

Dropped eating out to one evening a week, and no fast food.

jsissom86

I've stopped drinking Fountain Soda's. My "fountain dew" love would add about a thousand calories to my day. Also, not eating sugary things for breakfast. Well, I still eat fruit -- but not donuts. I've substituted my sugar for healthier sugar, I guess!

laurie04427

First thing I changed was my diet.

I was drinking alot and eating alot of starches like pretzils etc so I gave the drinking a break and started to try to even out what I was eating more by adding more protein etc.

Naedantz

I stopped drinking sugary drinks and eating white rice (which I loved). I also started planning ahead of time what I was going to eat and when I was going to exercise. Planning has been key for me to stay on track.

lorigrocks

I started working out, doing kickboxing for an hour 3 times per week - started eating healthy...no more junk food such as chocolate and chips and no more greasy fried foods and I also cut down on my Tim Horton's Large Coffee with double cream to 1 per day (I used to have 2).

RunninginHighHeels

I started stocking the fridge with fruits and veggies as well other healthy things (minus beer). No junk food in the house, no junk food in my belly.

Couldn't agree more. This was probably the first thing I did too - started doing grocery shopping while really thinking about the food I was buying.

heathercicle

I stopped drinking 4 XLG coffees with 4 cream and 2 sugar every day I think they worked out to very close to 2000 calories extra every single day.. Making many little easy changes was good for losing at least 60 lbs - BEFORE I added any additional exercise. Go for the low hanging fruit first!

Similarly, I made little changes in the beginning, like switching out particular food items for others. For example, instead of regular ice cream as a treat, I would have fat free/ low sugar sorbet in different flavors. Instead of doughnuts, I would have whole wheat muffins. Instead of regular jelly, I now use Polaner preserves (sugar-free with fiber). Not only is it super tasty, but a lot better than strawberry flavored sugar syrup I recently tasted from one of those squeezy jelly bottles from Smuckers.

mediamogulsteve

I started tracking everything - not just assuming I was eating healthy because my girlfriend was.

Bounce4

I immediately stopped drinking all pop and eating out for lunch (which included loads of high fat greasy things and junk like candy and chips). Shortly after that I added a little exercise - not sure that impacted weight loss as much as I do feel better and it is easier to eat healthy if I feel good.

amberrea82

My mind

ruthtc08

Started tracking what I ate and eating more fruit and veggies and less candy and junk!

jonralfs

You've done the first thing already, joined MFP. Then I joined the gym and started to watch what I eat. In my opinion you can't beat "EAT LESS, DO MORE"
I still eat chips every now and then and I even had a takeaway curry last weekend. If I have a bad week, it only encourages me to do better the next week because I know I can loose 2lb, because I've done it before. Encouragement comes from friends and when you realise your clothes fit better or are even too big and best of all you feel amazing.

jackjackattck

I stopped making excuses for myself!!

"I never have time to work out and can't wake up any earlier" - Now I wake up at 4:15 AM to work out before work! It was hard at first, but now my body has adjusted to that time and become reliant on those morning endorphins.

"I am not willing to ruin my social life" - Now when I go out, I only drink vodka/club soda or red wine, and I limit how many drinks I have. I still go out to eat, but I am a lot more aware of the portion sizes and I order healthier meals. I will still go out for pizza and beer occasionally, but I limit myself to the number of slices and I do not do it as often as before. Everything is okay in moderation!

"Just this one time" or "I'll just have one piece" - I have now become accountable for everything I do and eat, even if it puts me over my calorie goal for the day. Before, I would push it off like one cookie or donut will not matter. Now, I will eat the sweets and bad stuff, but I realize that it needs to be countered with a lighter meal or exercise later in the day.

conniehv40

I stopped drinking 4 XLG coffees with 4 cream and 2 sugar every day I think they worked out to very close to 2000 calories extra every single day.. Making many little easy changes was good for losing at least 60 lbs - BEFORE I added any additional exercise. Go for the low hanging fruit first!

same--i started measuring the cream in my coffee??? Ridiculous amounts. I am not at 2 Tbsp a day of light cream. That was the first thing I did.

GBrady43068

Sitting on my a@@ My first big goal was that no day go by without SOME sort of exercising, no matter how short the length. 10 minutes was better than nothing. Over time, I worked to boost it. It's still not anywhere it NEEDS to be but now my daily average is probably around 20 minutes.

140 minutes a week has to be way healthier for me than 5 or 10 minutes was. (and I'm losing weight which is also not a bad thing). It's starting to get closer to where it needs to be because we're dogsitting until January so that will mean an extra 15-30 minutes walking the dog everyday..and I'm also training for a 5K in May three times a week so that's an extra 1.5 hours activity a week.

Still not "there" but a heckuva lot closer than I was in October...

MapleFlavouredMaiden

Started lifting hard to fix weak asthmatic lungs. Turned out as best thing i ever did.

This makes me happy

Lifting for me too. And research. Copious amounts of research.

Fit_Fox88

I started accurately logging with a food scale and being consistent with workouts even when I didn't feel like moving. If I went over on my calories by 100-300 I didn't care b/c I was logging and I could look back over those days to make better choices going forward. I also spend A LOT more time in the kitchen weighing, measuring and prepping.

jolancy

Ashamed to admit this, but I used to eat 3-4 packets of crisps per day; 1 with lunch, 1 mid-afternoon with a choc bar, 1 or 2 packs as a mid-evening snack too. Crisps are my weakness, so couldn't cut them out entirely so decided to just keep the lunchtime pack and ditch the rest. After a few weeks of that, swapped my mid-afternoon choc bar for a kids-size / mini choc bar, next was starting to take a short walk during my lunch break then it just snow-balled from then on. Didn't start on MFP until after I'd made those changes and a few friends had commented that it looked like I'd lost weight, so I thought it would be an idea to keep a track of progress and have been here ever since, 60lbs down and now trying to maintain.

crsawinton

First I started watching my portions, not getting seconds, and not mindlessly snacking all day. Making my food accountable or a SMALL treat.

Then I added exercise and started tracking and bought a food scale to really help with portion size (found mine for $6 on amazon)

kbmnurse

My attitude.

dt3312

I quit "grazing" and logged what I eat on MyFitnessPal.

1948sixty

It was a combination of minor adjustments: protein at every meal, dramatically increased intake of water, added strength training.

princessmommy122

Tracking my food and going back to swimming.

jwhackers84

The very first thing I changed was that I upped my water intake, and lowered my intake of coffee and diet soda. I used to drink coffee and diet soda all day and no water at all! Now I have cut coffee almost completely out of my diet. I have a cup of green tea every morning and I allow myself one can of Diet Rite Cola a day if I want it, but the rest is water water water!

Wegs813

Mountain Dew! And it is still a daily struggle for me!