What's your secret!?

Hard work, sweat, determination, and dedication.

Making working out my highest priority and the first thing I do every day. Exercising usually paves the way for a successful day of watching my diet. I aim for burning 1000 calories doing cardio every morning. I listen to books from Audible on my iPhone and the time passes quickly.

There is no shortcut.

The secret is being able to maintain, therefore crash diets will never work. Develop habits.

having my fellow cf'ers hold me accountable!! that keeps me coming back!

Hard work, sweat, determination, and dedication.

This!

1. Drink a lot of water.
2. Plan your meals and snacks.
3. Stick to an exercise schedule.
4. Don't deprive yourself of your favorite foods. Enjoy them in moderation.
5. Be consistant and don't give up.

Weight Watchers and Running.

I refuse to ever feel ashmed or guilty because of a food-related decision I made. I am not "good" or "bad" - I eat foods. Most of the time, I eat nutritous foods that are under my calorie goal. Sometimes, I eat more than my calorie goal. Sometimes, I eat foods that aren't so nutritous. But, I don't feel guilty because it's simply not worth the energy and effort required to make myself feel bad about something so simple.

Cut carbs after 4, and turn to Green Veggies. Eat your carbs early and make sure you get some cardio in early so you can use your carbs for energy, and not get stored for fat.
Do High Intensity Training for your workouts, and get a good Hear Rate monitor to help you monitor your HR while working out.
Use your food as fuel, and dont eat when you are bored.

Good luck

Changing up the workouts every month...otherwise I get bored and don't do them.

As many will say, there really aren't any secrets. If there was a magic little secret, somebody would get awfully rich selling it, that's for sure! Like others will say, count calories, log the calories, keep moving, determination, etc. I would agree 100%!

However, I do find it fascinating that many of us (including me), try several times to lose weight and for whatever reason, we lose motivation and the will to keep at it. And then one day (and over several months usually), something CLICKS! We don't lose our motivation, we keep at it and the weight DOES come off! I wonder why this is...

For me, this last time at the weight loss journey, these are the things that were different (and most likely kept me motivated and thus contributed to my weight loss):

1. I only work 4 days/week (instead of 5). I have Mondays off. I use this day to buy groceries, do some meal planning, cut up fruit, veggies and get in a good work-out! Also, I guess the guilt of bringing in 20% less money into the household made me feel like I should be doing SOMETHING constructive with my day off!

2. I didn't cut out any food 100%! Of course I'm eating WAY more of the healthy stuff and WAY less of the bad stuff but if I want a piece of pizza, some chocolates or a glass of wine, I fit them in my calorie bank.

3. I focused WAY more on the food and WAY less on the exercice! If I exercice 1-3 times a week, I'm ok with that and I don't beat myself up.

4. Compliments. Oh my goodness, those compliments go a long way! By the way, people notice your weight loss way more when you buy new clothes! Buy a few new pieces along the way even IF you're going to lose more weight. You'll feel better about yourself (being in a smaller size) and you'll actually want to keep going!

5. Don't focus too much on the end goal! Make small goals that aren't far from reach. For me, it was always about getting to the next "tens" (ex: when in the low 160s, focus on getting to the 150s).

6. Bring your lunch/snacks to work!! You'll also save $$ by doing this!

7. Try new recipes/foods... you WILL get bored of that salad or that bowl of cereal even if you love it now!

8. Keep your mind in the game. Read articles, success stories, etc!

9. Don't allow yourself to get too hungry or you'll make bad decisions!

10. I weighed myself daily.

i cut back drasticly on eating out. I make more home cooked meals. oh & doing cardio a few times a week. i love zumba.

1. Delay my first meal until I'm hungry.
2. Enjoy the calories I consume. I don't waste calories on "icky" or "marginal" foods/beverages just because they're there.
3. Plan for/Log in advance when I know what I'm having for dinner or going out and adjust other meals accordingly, so I can enjoy what I want and still meet my goals.
4. Burn more; eat more. Burn less; eat less.
5. Keep doing what I know works even when the scale doesn't move -- eventually it will catch up!!
6. Give away all of the clothes I shrink out of, so there's no going back.
7. Hang out with like-minded friends and share "success!"

Come on.... I know the only thing that really works is diet and exercise... but I am sure everyone has their little secrets/short cuts to success!

Do share.

(And feel free to add me :flowerforyou: )

Maddie

There aren't any short cuts if you want real results that last. The most effective weight loss is due to a lifestyle change...and that requires not just a change in food or in getting in exercise....it also requires you to change your mind/attitude. Requires you to educate yourself and create good habits. That takes time and there is nothing that you can do to "rush" or "short cut" it.

And it isn't a secret either. That's what is so great about it. No secrets, no money for some program...just determination, hard work, and the commitment to better yourself physically and mentally.

My secret? Not caring. If the scale goes up instead of down, meh. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Weight loss, like life, isn't a marathon. It's a dance. You just have to be sure you're taking more steps forward than back."
---Me (seriously)