Changes you have made

Yes, I gave up all fizzy drinks. I used to love diet sodas. I gave them up in June. The other day I bought one while I was out running errands and after two sips, I was done. Didn't want any more!

Yes I gave up diet sodas and the refined sugars. I use Stevia for everything. I drink water mainly, or green tea and my protein shakes. Also love to make kool aid using stevia and that is a big treat for me now LOL

i gave up table sugar, i use honey or agave nectar

I've made major change after major change.

The first one was I stopped drinking soft drinks.

That made a huge difference so I took it a step farther and gave up granulated sugar. That put me drinking water (I don't care for drinks like crystal light, etc.,) and it also did away with most sweets....although I now have a different opinion of a sweet treat (grapes are a sweet treat to me now.)

Then I went onto doing away with MSG....that lead to me quitting processed foods (because the MSG is hidden in the labels in so many ways.) The change for the better in my health is nothing short of astonishing, thanks to this change.

Next, our son the doctor educated us on the truth about High Fructose Corn Syrup. No HFCS for me.

Then I was still using Truvia, a stevia based artificial sweetener made by the coca cola company. You guessed it. Gone.

About the only added sweetener I still consume is in Dannon's Light & Fit Yogurt, of which I eat 4 ounces of it each day. That's not much.

A couple of months ago I started eating eggs only occasionally. My cholesterol intake was sky high, although I have never tested with high blood cholesterol levels. I just thought it would be wise.

I've made these steps one at a time and I'm the better for it. My current diet is quite healthy. Once I'm no longer looking to take off weight, I will add more healthy fats (high in calories) to my diet. This is the one place I feel my diet lacks perfection.

I gave up all protein shakes and supplements. I just take vitamin supplements for various aging issues (I'm almost 52 so yeah age happens). I eat all real food and get my protein from meat, poultry, fish, yogurt, cottage cheese, and PB2. I had to cut out sugar due to low thyroid, adrenal fatigue, and diabetes risk (I can eat them as occasional treats). I've found I feel better without the sugar in my diet. Mainly the biggest change is learning to eat within a calorie budget (I've been maintaining for over a year now). And I learned to eat at a calorie deficit to lose weight. I've learned that you can't out exercise too many calories. I ran marathon after marathon and lifted weights for over 30 years while I continued to pack on the lbs. It didn't seem like I was eating too much. I never pigged out, binged, or did any emotional eating. I didn't realize how tiny I was until I lost the 60 lbs. When you are tiny you need less calories than big people, even when just maintaining. So a big change for me was learning I need less calories than those around me.

I eat a high protein diet, too, and I get it from natural sources, too. I tried the protein shakes, but I couldn't deal with the fact that they're highly processed. I didn't have to deal with it anyway because like you I get it from the sources you mentioned and also beans.

And while I'm at it, you've done a wonderful job. You look fantastic.

Omg so many....september 9th 2012...I stop eating junk (none at all), i'm counting and checking everything i eat.
I take more fruits and veggies everyday, I train 6 days a week,sometime 7...... It's a 100% dedication process.

I have made several changes to my lifestyle that have helped me quite a bit. I'm 52 and pretty healthy overall, no significant health issues that I had concerns over (besides needing to loss the fat).

First, I exercise 5-6 days per week. Right now I'm doing Chalean Extreme 5 days and 1 day a live TurboKick class. I track my progress on TeamBeachbody site and through a fitness tracker at work. Building more lean muscle makes me feel and look better. I know I'm getting stronger each day.

Second, I try to drink more water 6-8 glasses a day and limit the number of carbonated beverages. When I work out for kickboxing or lifting weights, it's not a problem to drink water. My problem has been at the office so I always keep some Crystal Light on the go packets in my desk and flavor the water when I feel like I cannot drink it plain.

Third, I record and track what I eat - that has been a huge help. I keep MFP up up work and also on my Android phone to record. It helps with cutting down on the "mindless eating" I had succumbed to before.

Fourth, I try to eat 4-5 small meals a day and ALWAYS have breakfast, usually a protein shake, omelet, or steel cut oats. Snacking has been problematic for me so breaking down the calorie counts to these meals has helped a lot.

Last, I got my husband involved with he and encouraged him to cut back as well. We weigh in each week together and track our progress. He has become more knowledgeable about calorie counts and fat grams, the importance of protein, the need to move every day, and more. It is great to have him as my biggest cheerleader throughout this journey.

I gave up tobacco and less beer.

I have given up soda and I use to have a coca cola at least 3 times a day (unless I have a tummy ache and will get a diet 7up, which is very rare), I don't eat donuts or baked pastries anymore (that was a hard one for me), I went from baking nestle toll house cookies a few days a week to maybe once a month, now if I could only give up potato chips (but atleast it's not everyday like it used to be, now maybe 2 days a week).

2 changes: I went from never exercising to exercising 4-6x/week. I went from eating randomly to eating mindfully.

This exactly

I started excercising and eating salad for lunch instead of sandwiches. I find that the much longer munching time associated with salad satisfies me much more then easy-bite sandwiches. Even if the salad is overall lower in calories.

Lifestyle changes are definitely critical no t just to weight loss, but to maintaining it. I few I made that worked well for me:

1. Stopped drinking diet soda. Now I only drink water, tea, and black coffee (sort of similar to the OP, but coffee is an essential part of my diet).

2. Stopped snacking on processed carbs. I still eat bread, pasta, etc., but only as part of my major meals. No more eating a bunch of pretzels or cereal at 10:30pm. If I want a snack, it's usually going to be fruit or something with a lot protein.

3. Started eating a lot more protein!