HOW have you gotten successful?

Qarol

Patience. I didn't lose weight fast but I am healthier then I was last year

What she said. Patience is not my strong suit, so I vent to friends when I need to. But I don't quit. I don't give up. I eat a lot. I lift a lot. And just hang in there...

timmymon

I only park in the parking spaces that are the furthest away from my destination.

worstmomof4

For me personally....
I try my best to eat the most wholesome healthy foods possible. I used to eat out a lot. I have dropped almost 70 pounds(hoping to pass that this week) in 10 months. I started by walking and using MFP. After two months I started going to zumba. I also tried a weights/toning class and have stuck with those this whole time. In November I added running(ok, so a very very slow jog) and have run a few three 5k's, and a 15k and shooting for a half in a few weeks. I'm slow, very slow but I am accomplishing things I never imagined. Calorie counting has been the foundation to it all though. The times I have slacked I watched the scale go up a pound or two or stay the same.
I also have trainers who help keep me accountable. There are cheaper ones out there that can do a great job. My suggestion is look for a small business fitness place.
Best wishes in your journey.

LilSomethin

I started out slowly. First I started making better food choices and exercising a few days a week. After 6 months the weight stopped falling off so I critiqued my diet some and that's when I found this site and started counting calories. I continually read the message boards and fitness sites/magazines on how to make my diet even better. People say I'm obsessed now but they really don't get it. This is something I have done over the course of 2 years so to me my diet is not strict. I love what I eat and don't miss all the crap I used to ingest. I found exercises I love (Zumba, Running, Insanity, and P90X) to do so I don't dred working out. Anyone can do this they just gotta believe in themselves. I will never go back to where I was. I feel AWESOME!!!

Sp1nGoddess

Patience, persistence, consistency, commitment.. I eat good 80/20. I really started to see the scale move when I started lifting and cut out processed food.

jodyl70

Accountability was the biggest motivating factor for myself. Realing that whatever I put in my mouth or excuses for not exercising were all my own choices......... a huge wake up call!

Have kept 50 pounds off for several years and almost at an additional 15 pounds down since January 2012. :happy:

You can do it - this place is an AMAZING support system!

Qatsi

Keeping the diary opened my eyes to the number of calories I was taking in a day. (That Cinnabon has 870 calories? Really?!) So setting a daily goal and staying under or near that goal most days has helped.

Note that I said "most". If I go out with friends now and then and blow past my goals for a given day, it doesn't mean I've failed. In fact, I'm probably more successful overall because I allow myself to have beer and pizza from time to time. I don't want to feel like I'm living in a constant state of deprivation.

Also, it was important for me to get of the mindset that, in order to reach my goals, I needed to make a long-term commitment to this effort. I couldn't allow myself to obsess over day-to-day fluctuations or even week-to-week progress, and I couldn't let myself get frustrated if I didn't get the results fast enough.

I started with MFP in November and had initially set a goal to be at my ideal weight by my next birthday in September. As I got into this, I came to realize that this was too ambitious of a target date. Now, the idea of a specific target date is gone. I'm estimating that if I stay the course, I'll be two-thirds of the way to my goal by September, and at my target weight sometime in early 2013. At this point, I don't worry about how much longer it's going to take - I just know that I *WILL* eventually get there, and that motivates me.

The other thing was to obliterate from my mind the idea that I could take days off from exercising. I plateaued a couple months in, and when I looked at my diary and my pedometer logs I saw that there were times when I'd go three, four, five days in a row without hitting my exercise goal of 10K steps. Once I decided that blowing off exercise was no longer an option, I got back on track.

DisneyAddictRW

I finally got the scale moving in the right direction. I upped my calories and got honest with myself. I stopped freaking out and sticking to 1200 calories. I try to eat 1800 and I no longer worry about if I can eat something. I make good choices and stopped my snacking on foods I knew I shouldn't. I was also doing a lot of cardio. I'm adding in more weights and changed my focused off marathon training.

ff1diver

I cut out all processed and fast foods...In the beginning I did alot of reps with light weights which did nothing for me...then I started lifting heavy with with low reps and wow what a difference. I keep my body guessing and change up my exercise routine about every 4 weeks...good luck...and most importantly...BELIEVE in YOURSELF!!!

CoderGal

I explained what I did in this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/579575-today-i-hit-goal-doing-this-5-7-sedentary-female

The second comment explains what everything is. As you can see, it worked for me!

Some things I've read that will make you feel better along the way:

For your fats, eat mono and poly unsaturated fats (there's 2 words that are often used for this, I forget them, google knows I'm sure)
make sure you're getting all the vitamins/minerals/macronutrients/micronutrtients you need.
Don't overdose yourself on crap like salt, and other processed food that leads to water weight
eat enough fiber (research the different kinds for dieting ie fermentable fiber etc)
eat enough water. I use to love water and somewhere along the lines I stopped. I started drinking more again and felt so much better (no stomach problems etc)
macronutrients, I have no idea what the right ratios are. Everyone has backed up proof for a million different ones. So my theory is to believe no-one. Make sure you get 'complete' proteins in your diet so your not deficient on any of your amino acids.
resistance training. The more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn in the run of a day (lots of links on this as well if you look them up).

JoolieW68

I just stopped eating crap all the time and started really pushing myself to workout. I started running last summer and it's now my favorite exercise (yes, I had a screw loose). I also do weights a few times a week or so.

With the exercise, I'm basically stubborn as h3ll and make myself really sweat. Lately I have been doing interval training and love it, too.

ebahde

For me it has been having my husband doing this with me. We both hold each other accountable (with food and exercise) which is great. Sometimes just knowing that he is going to go running is all the motivation that I need to get off my butt and go with him. I know that I could probably do this without him, but I know that it is SOOOO much easier having him doing this with me.

Chood5

Have a plan and stick with it. (lifestyle change) Mine is primal / low carb

love22step

Calorie counting, cardio 4 days a week, and strength training 3 days a week. It worked for me, anyway.

hedgiie

Planning, target to lose 0.5 lbs per week, try to target a long term, it's likely that you will be ahead of your schedule which will relief some stress to you.

Workout, make sure to take a rest, and during workout, keep the feeling of motivation by tracking progress.

Eating, see what's works for you, it's different for everyone. but in many, it's about avoiding processed carbs and sugary...

EPICSRT

Okay, so you're counting calories...is that it?
What are your secrets?
I see so many people losing weight so quickly - is calorie counting really all it is?
As this is day 5 I would love some tips and tricks to be one of these success stories!!

If you spend enough time reading through the "Success Stories" you'll see that different things have worked for different people.

Here's mine: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/572262-300-consecutive-days-of-mfp-w-pics-almost-60-pounds-lost

The one common thread that I think all of the success stories have is limiting caloric intake and adding at least some exercise to help along the way.

In terms of how quickly people have lost weight (I am sure some will disagree), I think rests more with the level of committment and determination the person has. I have never paid much attention to watching sodium intake, water retention, eating clean, whole food diet, watching carbs etc.

The one thing I did learn (again, it worked for me) is I altered my regular food intake to lower my calories such as having tortilla-less tacos, eating lettuce wrapped burgers etc. Looking at my food intake might lead one to believe I'm on some sort of low carb diet, but I am not watching carbs, I watch how caloricly expensive items are and make cuts where I can. Unfortunately for breads, they tend to be the easiest to cut out.