One year on MFP - 105 pounds down

Thanks everyone, diet is the number one thing! I tried to follow the "If it fits your macro" approach rather than calling it cheating, so while I did lower my carbs and sugar counts, I still allowed myself to eat items I liked in moderation.

The other big thing about the diet is portion control, looking back I had no idea what 3oz of anything was, so when I started off on MFP the first thing it did was create a calorie deficit because my portions were sometimes 1/3 or even 1/4 of what I had been eating, lol

The top three things diet wise when starting were:

Buying a digital food scale and measuring cups/spoons
Being absolutely honest with myself about everything I ate
Learning about what worked and what didn't for my body

As for exercise, I joined a gym 10/13/11 and started with walking, then added something new each week. I purchased a heart rate monitor after my second week of walking and found that for me the calculations on MFP were sometimes double what I was actually burning. After 30 days I hired a trainer for 1 session a week for 6 weeks total. She was able to get me into strength training and I have been hooked ever since.

I did a lot of research on routines and workout styles only to find you need to use a program you are comfortable with. I slowly started adding HIIT to my workouts and to this day I blend it all together. The biggest part of exercise for me is that it helps control stress eating.

For anyone struggling or starting out try to follow these things:

Be honest with yourself about your goals and giving it your all
Surround yourself with great supportive friends on MFP and in real life
Take the time to learn about your body and what it needs, everyone is a little different in this regard
Remove the word CAN't from your vocabulary!

I'll add some more thoughts later today