Please post your MOST IMPORTANT weight loss tip :)

Find a lower calorie version you like of the same food you eat now. This may help you by allowing you to keep the same foods you like in your life and make the change in your diet feel less like you are forcing yourself to do something.

Get your blood work done and make sure you don't have any issues causing the weight gain in the first place.

Get off the couch...weigh and measure all your food untill you can realistically know what an appropriate portion is. Dance those clories away.

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

Work out at.least 1 hour per day. You will not want to eat too much crappy food after your hard work in exercise.

weight loss occurs in the kitchen, fitness in the gym

THIS^^^^^
Best thing I've heard all day!

consistency ! Gotta stick at it through the ups and the downs :flowerforyou: !

No matter what you eat, even if you go WAY over your calorie intake, log it. It keeps you honest. Being honest with yourself is one of the most important factors of weight loss. Ultimately, it's all a head game, and if you play games with yourself, you're going to lose. )

Avoid grains.

I have a few, most of them have already been mentioned but here they are anyway....

Live a 'normal' life as possible when trying to lose weight in order to sustain it. 'Adapt your diet and exercise into your life, not your life into your diet and exercise'. Be realistic and allow yourself treats as you will only end up having a binge afterwards and feeling crap. It also keeps your cravings under control.

Slightly similar to above, don't bother with any fast track fad diets, they are unsustainable and the only way to lose weight and maintain it is to eat healthily and exercise.

Log your food and drink intake daily as it is a good way of staying on track and makes you less likely to be 'bad' if you see it all written down and know you are going to feel crap when recording your intake.

Find a form of exercise you like and start doing it regularly. You won't want to eat junk food afterwards in case you undo all your good work.

If you have a bad day, don't beat yourself up. Life is too short and you have to enjoy your food otherwise you won't be happy. Just start again the next day. Or if you have access to a form of exercise at the time to burn it off do it.

Don't bring any junk food into the house if possible as if there is no temptation there, you won't give in to it.

Place your weighing scales where you can see them as a reminder that when you stand on them next you want a positive result. This discourages you from eating junk if a craving comes on.

Put a photo of you at your biggest on your fridge door or anywhere in the kitchen you can visibly see it as motivation. Or if you have progress made, post progress photos on fridge or around the kitchen.

Buy an item of clothing you really like in a smaller size and work towards fitting into it as your goal.

Drink green tea.

don't waste calories on liquid
pickup heavy *kitten*

Eat less, watching the calories.
Exercise more to help your body thrive and be efficient.

This is such a helpful topic!!! There are so many wonderful tips that everyone is sharing! For me, the most important tips are to watch/log everything that you eat, drink LOTS of water, stay positive, and move around as much as possible. There will be days you will be excited about, there will be days you will be discouraged about. That's all a part of life, and a part of this new you!!! :-)

Ditch dairy!

consistency is key.

Start your weight-loss program on a small deficit that will allow you to eat the highest amount of calories possible.

^^Some people may think I'm nuts for making this suggestion but I'm going to explain why. Women message me ALL THE TIME complaining that they have plateaued in their weight loss and don't know what to do. Here is why that happens. These people decided to start a weight-loss program because they were fed up with the way they look and they have finally made up their mind they want to lose it... and they want to lose it NOW. As a result they start a super-strict diet of 1200 calories/day + cardio. Two weeks pass and they are down 4lbs and feeling fantastic. Eventually they start to tire out. Their motivations wanes and even worse... the scale stops moving. 4-6 months later they are now down to 1000calories and an hour of cardio... and still they have failed to meet their goals or even make much progress. What gives??? I'll tell you what gives... YOUR METABOLISM. It pretty much GIVES OUT! If you want to begin a weight loss program... start out at 2000 calories and slowly track downward. If you plateau, drop a couple of hundred calories and stay there for a while. If you start high you can always decrease calories and/or add cardio to break through those plateaus. If you start low you have nowhere to go. Will it take longer? Yes. Remember this is a lifestyle change so it's worth doing right. You will save yourself all kinds of metabolic issues by taking the long road rather than opting for the quick fix. If you want more info check here: http://www.biolayne.com/nutrition/biolayne-video-log-16-metabolic-damage-v3-0-damage-control-a-mechanistic-discussion-of-metabolic-adaptation/#comment-122726