How do you keep this up?

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2

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  • moodyshannon15
    moodyshannon15 Posts: 39 Member
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    Instill eat what I love, I just don't over eat anymore. I watch my portions and I don't feel deprived
  • Suffer4beauty
    Suffer4beauty Posts: 44 Member
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    As long as you keep at least a 500 calorie per day deficit, you will lose a pound per week or so. To that note - I exercise to "earn" extra calories. Sometimes I use them and eat a treat. Other times I "save" them so that maybe I will loose 3 pounds in 2 week's time.
    To exercise, admittedly I do some not-fun stuff (like Barry's Bootcamp video) because it helps me to loose A LOT of calories fast. But I also do fun things and I roped in friends and family. I LOVE dance videos - so i dance with my kids. I love to walk - so one friend walks 2 miles with me each morning. If I want to walk in the afternoon, sometimes I plan the walk with a friend, other times it's spontaneous and I call to see if anyone can walk with me. Making my walks to destinations - like, to 7-11 to buy milk or to work or to a friend's house, helps with this. Sometimes I listen to music while walking, other times I pray to God about things. I sometimes even get the entire family out walking,explaining to my young children that the walking helps "kill the bad guys that get into us with some of the not-so-healthy food." Those walks are a little slower - but we get to chat and my son feels like he got a lot of quality time with me.
    Mostly - find some exercises you enjoy. Hiking? Dancing? Walking? Step aerobic (another favorite of mine). Also, when doing those cardio videos - go with the easiest mode that still makes your heart go up some - and STOP before exhausted. A wise women once told me, "if you always work until you are tired, you will not look at exercise positively - you will look at work-out times with dread. Work hard enough to raise your heart rate and STOP when you feel like you can do more - this sets you up to feel good that you exercised, makes you happy to have "extra" calories, and raises your endorphins just because that is what exercise - without exhaustion - does."
  • beckylawrence70
    beckylawrence70 Posts: 752 Member
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    I eat what I want in moderation........
  • mareeee1234
    mareeee1234 Posts: 674 Member
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    You should be able to enjoy a variety of foods as well as treats and 'naughty' foods into your calorie goals!

    But of course.. no one is perfect, we all go over our calorie goals every now and then. I've done it multiple times. Especially those who suffer from binging.

    You can even give yourself one day a week where you don't log, and eat whatever you like! Thats fine :) OR you can just eat what you like, and fit it in your goal. But remember - healthier/wholesome foods fill you up more.

    But yeah - this is a LIFESTYLE CHANGE - no missing out!!!! You can eat your fav foods, and still lose weight/body fat!
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
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    I keep this up by not saying "foods I can't have." I will have any food I damn well please. I'll make it fit, or just go over... the world won't end if I do.

    Exercising is another matter, and I take a break off it when I feel burned out. I recently took a week off exercising, and after that I jumped right back in because its too important not to keep up.

    Same with the calorie counting. It sometimes gets tedious, but on the same token after you've been at this for a while you're able to eyeball a lot easier, and just constantly remembering WHY I'm doing this is a major motivation to keep this up.

    It's been a year and a half since I've started watching my diet and exercising, and that 1 1/2 years included days where I stopped exercising for long periods, said "**** it" and ate **** for weeks on end, and periods where I've had cheat meals, cheat days, and days where I felt like I can't do this for the long term... and I always end up back in the right mindset because giving up and going back to misery is NOT an option. That's why I threw out my old clothes - I can't afford to re-build my wardrobe a second time, I have to remain this size - for the entirety of my life.
  • Pimpmonkey
    Pimpmonkey Posts: 566
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    The more I've been researching my own health, the more I have realized that I can have what I want within reason. Then again, the more I research, the more I realize that some of the foods I love are not in my best interest, and I replace them with ones that are.
  • Celeigh12
    Celeigh12 Posts: 763 Member
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    You find a way of eating and exercising that you feel you can comfortably do forever. It may be slower, but figure out how you think you need to live to maintain your goal body and live that way.
  • MouseTmom
    MouseTmom Posts: 201 Member
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    Where did you come up with the idea that there are foods you can't eat?? You can eat anything you want - just use portion control and log it.
  • EOHerrera
    EOHerrera Posts: 45
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    REPLY TO "BOMBEDPOP"'s comment: So losing a lb a week is not progress? Did you gain at faster rate? Doubt it. Buck up.

    Actually, YES, I DO gain faster than that - MUCH faster.
    And as for your comment to "buck up" - how are comments like that supposed to be "motivation and support"? Do you seriously think that's what people who are getting discouraged really need to hear? Well, it's not! So thanks, but no thanks for your comments.
  • EOHerrera
    EOHerrera Posts: 45
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    Thanks for the positive thoughts!
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    I keep this up so that I can continue to fit into all the nice new clothes I bought.

    Plus, there are no forbidden foods.. unless you have allergies or something along those lines.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    The scale can be a lying liar. John Walker's chapter on "Signal and Noise" in _The Hacker's Diet_ (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/) explains why, and how to tame it. Those weeks when you weren't losing at all (according to Mr. Lying Scale) were probably weeks when you had retained more water or solids. If you're sticking to your plan, you should be losing body weight slowly but surely; it's just that the small change of less than 2 oz. each day is overwhelmed by the fluctuations in what you retain of the 13.5 pounds or so of food, water, and oxygen that your body takes in each day.

    I keep it up in part by comparing my daily weight to an exponentially weighted average; as long as my daily weight is below the average, I'm doing well, even if it's 2 lbs. higher than the previous day's weight. And I don't rule out any foods; instead, I cut back on the ones that I know are calorie dense or otherwise a problem for me. For instance, I love potatoes, and I know that if I cut them out now, but go back to them when I reach my goal, I'll pig out on them. So instead, I'm teaching myself to think of one medium potato as enough, instead of chowing down on a couple like I used to. I've added more legumes and crunchy veggies to my diet. I eat an ounce of cheese for dessert, instead of 2-3 oz. But I'm aiming to change how I eat for the rest of my life, and I'm not ruling anything out that I wouldn't want to give up forever.

    That said, it does help to think positively about the things you're adding. Don't think, "Boo-hoo, I can't have more cheese" (my downfall!); instead, think, "Yay - I can have more of that tasty lentil salad!"
  • shosho420
    shosho420 Posts: 220 Member
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    As long as you keep at least a 500 calorie per day deficit, you will lose a pound per week or so. To that note - I exercise to "earn" extra calories. Sometimes I use them and eat a treat. Other times I "save" them so that maybe I will loose 3 pounds in 2 week's time.
    To exercise, admittedly I do some not-fun stuff (like Barry's Bootcamp video) because it helps me to loose A LOT of calories fast. But I also do fun things and I roped in friends and family. I LOVE dance videos - so i dance with my kids. I love to walk - so one friend walks 2 miles with me each morning. If I want to walk in the afternoon, sometimes I plan the walk with a friend, other times it's spontaneous and I call to see if anyone can walk with me. Making my walks to destinations - like, to 7-11 to buy milk or to work or to a friend's house, helps with this. Sometimes I listen to music while walking, other times I pray to God about things. I sometimes even get the entire family out walking,explaining to my young children that the walking helps "kill the bad guys that get into us with some of the not-so-healthy food." Those walks are a little slower - but we get to chat and my son feels like he got a lot of quality time with me.
    Mostly - find some exercises you enjoy. Hiking? Dancing? Walking? Step aerobic (another favorite of mine). Also, when doing those cardio videos - go with the easiest mode that still makes your heart go up some - and STOP before exhausted. A wise women once told me, "if you always work until you are tired, you will not look at exercise positively - you will look at work-out times with dread. Work hard enough to raise your heart rate and STOP when you feel like you can do more - this sets you up to feel good that you exercised, makes you happy to have "extra" calories, and raises your endorphins just because that is what exercise - without exhaustion - does."
    This has long as you meet your 500 a day you should lose 1 pound a week. I know that when you are constantly eating healthy and after a month you have only lost 3 pounds it might seem like not a lot for all that suffering. BUT if you keep that up for a year it will add up fast. I know people who started dieting lost 1 pound in like two weeks and just gave up like "this isn't worth all the suffering" because at times it may seem like it isn't. BUT time is going to go by whether you eat bad or not, so I just eat under my deceit and expect time to slowly do the rest.
  • BioMechHeretic
    BioMechHeretic Posts: 128 Member
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    What foods can you not eat if you follow a general trend of staying in the numbers and exercising? I haven't found any yet.
  • bombedpop
    bombedpop Posts: 2,180 Member
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    REPLY TO "BOMBEDPOP"'s comment: So losing a lb a week is not progress? Did you gain at faster rate? Doubt it. Buck up.

    Actually, YES, I DO gain faster than that - MUCH faster.
    And as for your comment to "buck up" - how are comments like that supposed to be "motivation and support"? Do you seriously think that's what people who are getting discouraged really need to hear? Well, it's not! So thanks, but no thanks for your comments.

    Unless you hyper binge, you are not gaining a lb a week, excluding water weight during certain points of the month.

    Sad you missed the part about not excluding foods, which 1/4 of the comments noted, there is no need to exclude food, unless you have an allergy or medical reason.

    `Buck up` is motivation. Bucking up is what many people do who have goals they wish to achieve.
  • mumtoonegirl
    mumtoonegirl Posts: 586 Member
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    All I have to do is look at a picture of myself before and re,e,bet how I felt medicalY and I know I will never go back m
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
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    14 months & counting. It's not hard at all, in fact I enjoy it. I prefer to eat right & workout daily than anything else. A workout a day, I'm about to do Walk at home 5 miles.... I just came back from an 11km walk to the supermarket & back.
  • seanezekiel
    seanezekiel Posts: 228 Member
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    When you hit your goal your calorie intake can drastically increase when all you want to do is maintain.
  • Sherbog
    Sherbog Posts: 1,072 Member
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    Thin feels better than any food tastes. It is all a math game to me. I can and do eat anything I want. I record everything, exerciise and keep track of total for each day. If I want to eat more I exercise more. I prioritize my day to start with a walk every day. I am so worth all the work.
  • jestersand
    jestersand Posts: 61 Member
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    I've done it for over a decade and my trick is to give it my best all week and then I fall victim to all the good stuff on my one cheat day. I treat those foods like my long lost love. I can't let go of ice cream, but I have found a good alternative in non-fat frozen yogurt. If I want my Mexican food, I take a buddy with me (this buddy helps eat my food because restaurant portions are huge) and I sit there, smell my food, eat it slowly as i engage in conversation. Next thing you know, I am full and there's so much left in the plate. I never take it home. My buddy eats it. Then I start all over again. It has become a habit now and something to look forward to each week. Don't frustrate yourself.

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