Ways to approach goals, how do successful dieters succeed?

I can totally relate to you, Miriam! I'd been overweight since childhood and it wasn't until I was 27 that I had a major a-ha moment and have since managed to lose over 100 lbs and keep it off (well, I'm not pregnant and am gaining but I'm in control of it)!

First, you're right, it won't happen overnight. For people like us who've been overweight our whole lives we have a whole lotta bad habits to break! What worked for me was a lot of things but here are the most important:

1) I found a goal that internal, not external. Losing weight for the sake of being skinny is an external goal. When I started to lose weight because I was afraid of keeling over from a heart attack before I was 40, that really got my *kitten* in gear! Find your WHY to keep you going!

2) I ditched the diets completely! Diets don't work (as we've come to know). All they do is cause misery and weight gain. If you want to get the weight off and keep it off permanently you're going to have to change your lifestyle. I LOVE to eat and so I stopped restricting what I could and could not eat. Instead, I began to work on portion control and switching to cleaner, non-processed foods 80% of the time, keeping my favourite, more unhealthy foods for treats.

3) Start small. I just started by getting rid of all the snacks in my house. Then I got rid of any drink that wasn't water. Then I started going for walks. I started small to switch my unhealthy habits over to my healthier ones. This helped to make things less overwhelming and so that they stick.

4) I found workouts that I enjoy. There's no point in working out for the sake of working out. When you find a workout that you actually enjoy, you're less likely to make excuses!

5) I began researching the habits of highly fit people. I started to ACT like a fit person instead of a heavier person!

6) I got support! I surrounded myself with people who wanted to see me achieve my goals, got a coach (and have since become a coach myself)

7) Most importantly, I worked on my MINDSET! I stopped allowing myself to "fail" and began adopting a more positive and loving attitude towards myself. For people like us who've been overweight our whole lives there tends to be an underlying reason for our weight. Once you get to the bottom of what's kept you overweight, you'll find that the weight just kind of starts coming off because you're dealing with the actual issue instead of what we THINK is the issue (food). Does that make sense?

Feel free to friend me! We should chat!

Therese

As cliche as it sounds, slow, steady, sustainable. I never restricted what type of foods I could eat though I have a few foods I gradually stopped eating because they weren't worth the calories to me. I never looked at exercise as a chore, but a privilege. I also don't over work myself. Throughout my weight loss I only worked out 2-4 times per week. I lost 50+ pounds in a year and have kept it all off for nearly 2 years now. I had one small gain of about 6 pounds post major surgery. Good luck!

This is the first time I've lost weight/have been in maintenance and I'm here because of a diabetes scare I had last fall. I never thought of myself as overweight, but when my doctor showed me my glucose level and told me I needed to lose weight asap to keep from becoming diabetic, that motivated me to change. I've seen first hand what diabetes can do (lost one grandfather to it and currently my only living grandparent is losing her battle to diabetes, after surviving cancer three times-it's the diabetes that's going to be her end ). I'll never ever go back to where I was, my health and quality of life is way more important to me.

I lost the weight easily doing a calorie restricted version of IF and now I'm in maintenance, doing a different version of IF and eating a mostly whole foods, plant based diet. I will be part of that 5% that maintains successfully-failure to do so is just not an option for me.

Diets are temporary. You have to find the way you can change in a way that can be sustained for the rest of your life.

This...she speaketh the truth! That's why the low carb thing never quite stuck for you. You have to not just plan what to do to reach your goal, you also have to plan what to do AFTER you reach it.

this may sound silly, but whenever i cut, i just having many small snacks in between meals to appease my hunger.

Focusing on the process rather than an arbitrary goal weight. Focus on your nutrition and fitness. Just eat a little bit less to lose weight...have an energy balance to maintain weight...eat more to gain weight. The reason people fail is that they are so obsessed with some arbitrary finish line. This finish line does not exist...there is no end point and this is conceptually difficult for many.

Nutrition and Fitness are lifetime endeavors...you don't stop getting your fitness on just because you reach some arbitrary goal weight...you don't stop getting your nutrition on either. That's a huge issue right there...people so closely associate their exercise and fitness with needing/wanting to lose weight that they actually fail to have independent fitness goals...if you don't have independent fitness goals, what is there to keep you motivated to keep cranking out a good workout once you've crossed this "finish line?"

The process is ever evolving...goals are achieved and new goals are established. When I hit my goal weight, I never let off the gas...I saw maintenance as an opportunity to put into functional practice what I had learned nutritionally speaking as well as an opportunity to start breaking through some fitness plateaus. Increased energy (calories) = crushing your fitness. After months of maintaining I'm now in the process of a very long and slow cut to trim down a few more BF points so that I can put myself in position for a nice slow bulk that is slated to take place right around this time next year...

Make plan, dive in head first, stick to your plan, don't give up and surround yourself with good people.. Good things will follow

Hello,

July of 2012 I joined a gym, made sure everyone I know was clear that I was not on a diet, but did understand that my eating would change. My best friend and I had a bet that by my 45th birthday (8/2013) . . . I would in hot-pants (in my house) and he would have a 6-pack (not in the fridge) -- fast forward to the present. I am down 58 lbs and he complains about his muffin-top

In some ways I think, wow! it took me over a year to lose 50 lbs but the reality is that the time was going to pass anyway and I could either be 50 lbs lighter or the same. Sometimes I just really want this to be done, I want to be at my goal weight so I can buy some clothes that fit and be done with that part of things. But I am going with slow and steady wins the race, I tried dieting for about 5 days! I was out-of-sorts and grumpy, knowing I was not getting enough calories.

The changes in my eating have been because I listen to my body and with working out even more so. I cook most of my meals, lunch and dinner is usually meat and two vegetables, snacks are usually fruit and nuts, but I still have sweets. I see my changes as real life, which includes the occasional pizza, chocolate, ice cream, etc. . . these changes will be for life!