10 things I have learned along the way.
redlion45
Posts: 155 Member
I checked my logbook today, and I have been attempting to improve my health and fitness for 200 days now. I have lost 51 lbs from my highest weight and 45 since joining MFP. Admittedly others have had more impressive weight loss journeys than I have, but I think this still qualifies as a "success story." I have read more confusing nutrition articles, run more miles, lifted more weights and produced more sweat in the last 6+ months than I ever thought possible. Seems like a long time ago.
I am not a doctor, a nutritionist, or a personal trainer and I don’t play one on TV, but along the way I have spoken with all three at some length, and I have learned a few things I thought I could share that might help someone walking this same path.
Weight loss really is simple, but the catch is that it is damn hard to do in a Big Mac world.
Here is what I have learned along the way:
1. The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday - :sad: I borrowed this saying from my MFP pal Brutesquad (who borrowed it from the Navy Seals), but it sums it all up better than anything else I can think of. If you became obese, you will fight the “battle of the bulge” for the rest of your life. Apparently the most recent science from Yale and Cornell supports this phenomena - - one that most of us have experienced first-hand. Even if you reach your “ideal” weight after much effort, and hold it there for years; your body remembers that it was once heavy and wants to get back to that nice comfy place where they serve jelly doughnuts. You will always need to consume less calories than someone who is the same size as you, but who spent their entire life at the “ideal weight.” So, as many have said before, this must be a lifestyle change, not a temporary change. Diets are great to get you started, but no “diet tricks” will ever work for maintaining your weight. If you “diet” and then go back to your old method of eating, then you will just gain it all right back. You have to keep hammering away at the fat enemy every day for the rest of your life. You can whine about how unfair this all is, or you can accept it and get to work.
2. Eat Less and Move More -
That is the only answer to the weight problem. Now, tomorrow and 50 years from now, if you want to weigh less you have to do both of these things. I don’t care whether you go paleo, Atkins, low calorie, low fat, vegan, or whatever floats your boat. I don't care if you run, swim, lift, bike, or zumba. If it means you eat less than you burn every day, go with it. One approach may work better for you than another, and you can adjust things up and down as needed for your body situation, goals and metabolism, but this unforgiving rule of physics is one you cannot escape. You have to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight. And, you have to burn just as many calories as you take in to stay at that weight; every week from now until you are pushing up daisies. Anybody who tells you different and promises a “miracle” fix is lying. :devil:
3. Do Something You Like - :happy: You need to, for the most part, enjoy your fitness journey, or at least not hate it. If you hate your exercise routine, and it feels like torture every day, you will fail. Willpower alone can only take you so far. Once you figure out what you have to do (to meet Rule #2) and find exercises you enjoy (or at least can tolerate), you can go on cruise control and just go out and get it done every day. I know; you don’t like exercise, right? So find the ones you hate the least and do them until you learn to like them! You will enjoy them more than the diabetes/stroke/heart attack which are behind Door #2.
4. Do The (Hard) Work - :noway: I hate to break it to you, but you have got to work hard to make body changes. There is no fitness system, pill, or gizmo that will ever give you a flat stomach, a firm butt, or the physique you want. If you think there is, you will be continually disappointed and poorer for it. What “hard” means will vary from person to person, but you have to challenge your body and fitness level if you want them to change. Depending on your fitness level, a 5 minute brisk walk may be “hard.” Do it anyway if you want results. If you don’t want results, why are you reading this?
5. Eat some damn breakfast - :grumble: I know its early - just do it. Your body will thank you.
6. Drink a bunch of water - :drinker: Seriously! Keep drinking it every day. Drink ½ your body weight in ounces or as much as you can stand, whichever comes first. It helps. It also keeps you away from soda and sugared drinks which is HUGE for cutting calories.
7. Don't allow yourself to get HUNGRY - :mad: Eat something (preferably something healthy) at least every four hours unless you are sleeping. That “I could eat a horse” feeling will lead to trouble – metabolically speaking.
8. Eat Stuff That Used to Be Alive - :huh: I am not an “All Natural Organic Everything” type of guy, but I get the argument. If all you eat is a bunch of chemicals, why are you surprised that you feel lousy? I never read a food label before this year, but when I started doing it – wow, what an eye opener (both from a calorie and an ingredient standpoint). I don’t care what the carb/protein/fat mix is as long as you are hitting your nutrient and calorie goals, and you feel good, but the stuff that used to be a part of nature had better be the foundation of each meal. Everybody eats processed foods from time to time, but try to keep them to a minimum. They tend to offer less fiber, less nutritional value, and are less satiating. Thus, you eat more which is how we all got here. Most of the natural stuff is packed with fiber. Fiber's effect is the opposite of snack foods’. When you have fiber in your stomach, food takes longer to enter the bloodstream, and your blood-sugar level stays steady. You stay sane and your body works efficiently to burn calories - it's win-win.
9. Make a Plan - :smokin: If you haven’t thought about how you will get your workouts in, or how you will meet, but not exceed, your calorie goals, don’t be surprised when you fail. Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail. How you do it is up to you, but you better make a plan and stick to it. Figure out your BMR, your TDEE, and adjust your Plan as needed. Find a goal and make your plan to reach it. I don't care if its a target weight, a little pink bikini, or a marathon finish. Write it down, and work at reaching that goal. Wing it, and you might as well say “Goodbye diet - hello diabetes.”
10. Don’t Quit -
If you fall off the horse, you get back on. It’s as simple as that. Life will put obstacles in your path, and you will fail from time to time. Just don’t quit. You, and your loved ones, are worth the effort. Mine certainly are. Yours are too, aren't they? 
Remember, the only easy day was yesterday. :sad: (Sorry, I don't make the rules - I've just gotta live with them the same as everyone else.) I didn't think any of this stuff up, I just learned it the hard way.
Got it? Great, now go get to work! You got this!
Message Ends.........
I am not a doctor, a nutritionist, or a personal trainer and I don’t play one on TV, but along the way I have spoken with all three at some length, and I have learned a few things I thought I could share that might help someone walking this same path.
Weight loss really is simple, but the catch is that it is damn hard to do in a Big Mac world.
Here is what I have learned along the way:
1. The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday - :sad: I borrowed this saying from my MFP pal Brutesquad (who borrowed it from the Navy Seals), but it sums it all up better than anything else I can think of. If you became obese, you will fight the “battle of the bulge” for the rest of your life. Apparently the most recent science from Yale and Cornell supports this phenomena - - one that most of us have experienced first-hand. Even if you reach your “ideal” weight after much effort, and hold it there for years; your body remembers that it was once heavy and wants to get back to that nice comfy place where they serve jelly doughnuts. You will always need to consume less calories than someone who is the same size as you, but who spent their entire life at the “ideal weight.” So, as many have said before, this must be a lifestyle change, not a temporary change. Diets are great to get you started, but no “diet tricks” will ever work for maintaining your weight. If you “diet” and then go back to your old method of eating, then you will just gain it all right back. You have to keep hammering away at the fat enemy every day for the rest of your life. You can whine about how unfair this all is, or you can accept it and get to work.
2. Eat Less and Move More -
That is the only answer to the weight problem. Now, tomorrow and 50 years from now, if you want to weigh less you have to do both of these things. I don’t care whether you go paleo, Atkins, low calorie, low fat, vegan, or whatever floats your boat. I don't care if you run, swim, lift, bike, or zumba. If it means you eat less than you burn every day, go with it. One approach may work better for you than another, and you can adjust things up and down as needed for your body situation, goals and metabolism, but this unforgiving rule of physics is one you cannot escape. You have to burn more calories than you take in to lose weight. And, you have to burn just as many calories as you take in to stay at that weight; every week from now until you are pushing up daisies. Anybody who tells you different and promises a “miracle” fix is lying. :devil:3. Do Something You Like - :happy: You need to, for the most part, enjoy your fitness journey, or at least not hate it. If you hate your exercise routine, and it feels like torture every day, you will fail. Willpower alone can only take you so far. Once you figure out what you have to do (to meet Rule #2) and find exercises you enjoy (or at least can tolerate), you can go on cruise control and just go out and get it done every day. I know; you don’t like exercise, right? So find the ones you hate the least and do them until you learn to like them! You will enjoy them more than the diabetes/stroke/heart attack which are behind Door #2.
4. Do The (Hard) Work - :noway: I hate to break it to you, but you have got to work hard to make body changes. There is no fitness system, pill, or gizmo that will ever give you a flat stomach, a firm butt, or the physique you want. If you think there is, you will be continually disappointed and poorer for it. What “hard” means will vary from person to person, but you have to challenge your body and fitness level if you want them to change. Depending on your fitness level, a 5 minute brisk walk may be “hard.” Do it anyway if you want results. If you don’t want results, why are you reading this?
5. Eat some damn breakfast - :grumble: I know its early - just do it. Your body will thank you.
6. Drink a bunch of water - :drinker: Seriously! Keep drinking it every day. Drink ½ your body weight in ounces or as much as you can stand, whichever comes first. It helps. It also keeps you away from soda and sugared drinks which is HUGE for cutting calories.
7. Don't allow yourself to get HUNGRY - :mad: Eat something (preferably something healthy) at least every four hours unless you are sleeping. That “I could eat a horse” feeling will lead to trouble – metabolically speaking.
8. Eat Stuff That Used to Be Alive - :huh: I am not an “All Natural Organic Everything” type of guy, but I get the argument. If all you eat is a bunch of chemicals, why are you surprised that you feel lousy? I never read a food label before this year, but when I started doing it – wow, what an eye opener (both from a calorie and an ingredient standpoint). I don’t care what the carb/protein/fat mix is as long as you are hitting your nutrient and calorie goals, and you feel good, but the stuff that used to be a part of nature had better be the foundation of each meal. Everybody eats processed foods from time to time, but try to keep them to a minimum. They tend to offer less fiber, less nutritional value, and are less satiating. Thus, you eat more which is how we all got here. Most of the natural stuff is packed with fiber. Fiber's effect is the opposite of snack foods’. When you have fiber in your stomach, food takes longer to enter the bloodstream, and your blood-sugar level stays steady. You stay sane and your body works efficiently to burn calories - it's win-win.
9. Make a Plan - :smokin: If you haven’t thought about how you will get your workouts in, or how you will meet, but not exceed, your calorie goals, don’t be surprised when you fail. Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail. How you do it is up to you, but you better make a plan and stick to it. Figure out your BMR, your TDEE, and adjust your Plan as needed. Find a goal and make your plan to reach it. I don't care if its a target weight, a little pink bikini, or a marathon finish. Write it down, and work at reaching that goal. Wing it, and you might as well say “Goodbye diet - hello diabetes.”
10. Don’t Quit -
If you fall off the horse, you get back on. It’s as simple as that. Life will put obstacles in your path, and you will fail from time to time. Just don’t quit. You, and your loved ones, are worth the effort. Mine certainly are. Yours are too, aren't they? Remember, the only easy day was yesterday. :sad: (Sorry, I don't make the rules - I've just gotta live with them the same as everyone else.) I didn't think any of this stuff up, I just learned it the hard way.
Got it? Great, now go get to work! You got this!
Message Ends.........
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Replies
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HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for this. Common sense! (I guess Common Sense is not so common!!!)
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FANTASTIC post - and thanks for sharing it. 200 days...what a great way to spend them. I would call yours a success story, for sure...51lbs!!!! Way to earn each and every one of 'em, redlion!!
I am no newbie to obesity\weight loss attempts\etc. But finally - this year - I am waking up to some of the simple truths you've outlined. And IT just isn't as hard as it used to be. Weight is not just falling off of me...but I FEEL better. My body looks better\smaller. And I am at last content in knowing that I have to show up and do the work - every. single. day. And that when I do fall, I don't fall in to a bag of chips and a bucket of soda.
You rock. \m/0 -
Great post! I love #5!
Congrats on your success!0 -
Words to live by. Thanks for sharing.0
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Love this! Thanks for posting it
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nice advice!0
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WOW, love this post, very inspiring, thank you for sharing with us, I have to say I have a glass of water here and when I read that bit i took a massive gulp as I remembered I haven’t really had enough today, its the little things you forget that make the big differences.0
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Amazing post!!!0
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I love this!!!
In order to achieve #3, do somethign you like, I thought back to when I was a kid. Back when weight wasn't an issue...what did I do back then?? Well I rode my bike everywhere, heck I rode it in circles just for fun...I swam alot (I grew up on the beach). I went to dance class and I played....And it was all FUN.
So, I got myself a bike....one that kinda reminds me of the one I had when I was 12. I felt like a kid again the first time I got on it...heck I even rode thru puddles after a rain storm....I began making time to go swimming (I am not longer near the beach, but I am just a few miles from a lake). I broke out my Wii Fit, and started playing on it, and I got Zumba 2 and started dancing (and a lot of it is like the dance classes I too as a kid).
In the 2 weeks that I have been implementing my lifestyle change, I feel healthier and more alive than I have since I was a kid.....oh and a side effect of all of that is that I am down 3 lbs....
I know I can maintain this lifestyle change because I am having so much fun!!0 -
nice post
so true
but the one about eating breakfast???.....really hard
specially if you get up just in time to get to work !!!!!0 -
Phenomenal post. Thanks for the insight and reminders. The simplest things are often the hardest things to learn!0
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Love your post, so true. Thanks for sharing!0
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great top ten!! haha0
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Awesome post! Congrats on your success! ^_^0
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Fantastic post! Thanks so much for taking the time to share this, and congratulations on your success!0
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Great post0
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Good post, altho I disagree with #50
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Yep - I agree - this is a wonderful post!0
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Fantastic post!0
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bump0
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totally needed that! thanks!0
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bump0
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AMEN!0
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Congrats! And I agree with your top 10!0
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Awesome success story!!! It's learnings like this that help me so much. Like you said, we're all different. We're all going to lose it a different way too and that's OK. As I was reading, I grabbed my water bottle too for a drink. Great reminder. This was really well said and thanks for sharing.0
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You, have won my internet
All makes sense, it always makes me laugh when I see these women at work going on about the fad magazine diets and complaining about not loosing it quickly enough xD0 -
Great Post and something everyone should read a few times and YES eat your breakfast. I used to be one of those that skipped breakfast in favor of a bigger lunch and well clearly that didn't work out. I know eat multiple times a day as suggested in the top ten because it is never good to reach that "I can eat a horse" stage.0
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True story. \m/0
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Awesome success story!!! It's learnings like this that help me so much. Like you said, we're all different. We're all going to lose it a different way too and that's OK. As I was reading, I grabbed my water bottle too for a drink. Great reminder. This was really well said and thanks for sharing.0
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brilliant post and oh so true x0
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