What has worked for you and what hasn't?

Being realistic has made a world of difference.

Telling myself I was going to work out twice/day and eat next to nothing (1200 calories *cough* 1200 calories)...UNrealistic.

Eating balanced meals-eating when I'm hungry and avoiding constant munching...working out 5-7 days/week including more strenuous exercise as well as more moderate/enjoyable exercise (walking our dog)...much more realistic. Allowing myself to have a drink once in a while...a dessert once in a while...a slice of pizza?

I'm maintaining which is honestly the best I have been able to do on hormonal birth control...and I fit into my clothes/look good in them...and look pretty darn cute in my bikini.

I'm happy....if I can just maintain and tone I'm alright with that. Trying to get into a size 2? Again...unrealistic.

I set up reasonable caloric and macronutrient goals.
I hit those macros as often as possible.
I lift things that are relatively heavy for me. They get heavier over time.
I rest
I repeat
And I don't complicate things beyond that.

What works for me is eating at a relatively small deficit (250-500 calories below maintenance), not cutting out anything I like, staying active, and eating back my exercise calories.

^
This.

Also, eating my fruits and veggies. And doing HIIT instead of low intesity cardio.

And, yes, I'm one of those who has used the "In place of a road map" post and it changed my life. I used to do 1,200 cals a day and I was tired and moody and couldn't find the motivation to exercise. Now I'm on 1600+ exercise and I feel so much better! (I'm 5'1")

I just started about a month ago but I find logging everything on mfp helps a lot. I am drinking a lot more water. I started eating breakfast as I used to only eat once a day. That was my biggest problem with me losing weight. Now I am eating three meals a day and two or three snacks a day and have been going to the gym at least three or four times a week. I have lost 5lbs in just over a month so something is working.

What has worked for me:
*Weighing/measuring/logging all food.
*Playing around with meal timing to find ways of eating that suit me.
*Not cutting out any particular food and still regularly eating my favourites.
*Increasing protein.
*Increasing vegetable intake (not so much for weight loss, but for feeling fuller, and making sure I get plenty of micronutrients).
*Making small, gradual changes to my diet that I can stick with long-term.
*Strength training.
*Running.
*Making sure I'm active most days.
*Small calorie deficit & giving my body enough fuel
*Forgiving myself when I go over my calorie goal, or eat way off what I'd planned; not considering it a "diet" or consdiering myself to be "on the wagon"; learning from my mistakes; not giving up

What has not worked for me:
*Not logging.
*Being too restrictive on the kinds of food I eat.
*Large calorie deficit.

I WANT MORE CALORIES

Why aren't you eating the ones you've got? I looked back about a week, and most days you have 300-650 calories remaining at the end of the day. Even considering the couple of days you were slightly over, you underate according to your goals by 1,761 calories in the last 7 complete days of your diary.

Giving up soda and bad carbs. Yes, I still cheat but when I do, it doesn't taste as good as it used to and I feel SICK after.
Exercise!!!! I feel AMAZING (mentally and physically)!!

What works/IS working for me:

*Cutting out meats, coffee, caffeine, dairy, processed foods/junk fast foods, processed soy products, store bought juices, sodas, sweets,

*keeping my daily calories to 1200 or a wee bit below (but eating back the majority of my exercise calories)
*daily outside walking a minimum of 30 minutes
*doing indoor exercises (treadmill, stationary bike, Leslie Sansone dvds, moderate weight lifting on home gym) along with outdoor walking
**Substituting fruits for sweets/treats and veggies (lots of them) for my main meals and veggie juicing (NOT homemade fruits juices ) to replace a meal a day
*home prepared meals
*eating mainly fruits and veggies, hemp protein and healthy fats, and sprouted grains and nuts, seeds (eating humanely raised and vegan fed meats and wild fish & pole&troll caught seafoods ONLY when my body calls for them)
**Fasting 24 hours once per week (from my last evening meal on Friday Sundown to resume eating Saturday Sundown---doing this for spiritual reasons more-so than weight loss)
*Pre-planning my foods/drinks and exercising for the day

My understanding that more than half of "my" battle of the "bulge" is one I must fight ALONE and is primarily a "spiritual" issue rather than a physical one (FOR ME)--and NOT to expect others to agree/cheer/go along with/accept me nor my "Way" of overcoming and winning this battle, for me I truly believe this is primarily a mental/spiritual battle/issue and therefore making sure I work-out/exercise doing what I call Mental Flab&Fat exercising ALL day (meditating/praying/seek God's Face for directions in what to eat, drink, think and live--my daily choices) and honestly, humbly believing that it is by my God's Power/Grace that I am able to say NO to somethings I've always though I wanted and needed and YES to foods and drinks that I've always thought I didn't like, want or need).


Things that didn't/DON"T work for me:

*Eating more to weigh less--a.k.a. upping my calories from 1200 cals per day (based on what worked for many many others)
*Moderation...eating and drinking whatever I felt like in moderation
*Not exercising--I must MOVE my body daily and purposely. The sedentary lifestyle does not work for me.
*Stressing and relying on my will power to say YES to/for what's good for me and NO to habits and things that I think I love/need.
*comparing myself with others
*weighing myself daily
**eating lots of outside/restaurant foods
**eating junky/processed so-called "clean" foods & sweets, etc. (you know, foods that are so-called vegan/vegetarian/so-called "clean", but are nothing more than junk foods and foods that make me FAT and FLABBY and miserable.

- Set a reasonable target for my caloric deficit and macros appropriate to me
- Hit them eating mainly nutrient dense foods but incorporated daily treats
- Did not make any food a 'no' food
- Strength trained
- Ate/eat ice cream daily
- Patience

Didn't work: low carb, eating more to weightless, tdee, turbofire, zumba, eating back all exercise calories.

Did work: drastic calorie restriction, 1200-1400 intake, not eating more than 100 exercise calories back