the TRUTH about weightloss

So what "truths/reality" did you learn on your journey.Here are mine

Even after lifting weights vigourously and eating better I had 35.2 % fat (omrom)but had visible biceps.It was shocking.So...

1.one needs to follow a structured plan.
2.Progress is slow
3.Unresolved issues with food will always exist
4.It may be difficult for some people to deal with"fatty" issues
5.weightloss does not solve all problems
6.It may be tough to pinpoint the causes of obesity
«134

Replies

  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    1. You really have no idea what a proper portion is. Measure it.

    2. You will be hungry sometimes, because you didn't plan very well and you ate too many calorie dense things that aren't satiating. Or you're just hungry that day.

    3. Sometimes you'll do everything right and you still don't lose weight that week.

    4. Weight loss is addicting, and you might develop anxieties about food, be tempted to under eat on purpose, or start exercising excessively. Therapy helps.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
    1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch :tongue:

    That's all I got :laugh:
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    1. I don't have to starve myself or eat an insanely small amount of calories to lose weight.

    2. I don't have to be hungry, ever.

    3. Going over my calorie goal on occasion (whether planned or unexpected) is not "cheating" and it doesn't necessarily make for a "bad" day. It's all about averages.

    4. There are no "bad" foods.
  • pinkiemarie252
    pinkiemarie252 Posts: 222 Member
    1. Self control is HARD

    2. You have to get up and do it even if you don't feel like it. You'll feel better after.

    3. I'll never be able to cut enough calories to trim up my behind.

    4. Watch macros...I was way below on protein. If you're exercising you need the proper nutrition.
  • pwittek10
    pwittek10 Posts: 723 Member
    you are so right
    Loosing is easy compared to keeping it off.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    Losing weight is simple. Not easy.
    Losing weight doesn't fix your other life problems. You're still you. Just thinner.
    Eating to lose weight should not feel like punishment. If you eat good, tasty food, not stuff just because "its good for you", you'll be happier.
    Sometimes the answer really is chocolate. Or bacon.
    Diets are temporary. They all work. Temporarily. If you don't learn how not to diet, but how to live healthier, you'll be back on the diet merry go round pretty quickly. The pounds will come back, and bring friends.
    Most of all...you get one body. Treat her well and love her.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
    Sometimes the answer really is chocolate. Or bacon.

    and sometimes the answer is chocolate covered bacon.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    The ONLY thing required to lose weight is to burn more calories than I eat.

    No food is good or bad. It is all just food.

    There is no such thing as cheating.

    It's okay if I go over my calorie goal once in awhile. It's the calorie average each week that is most important.

    The scale is not my higher power, it is a tool only.
  • Once I started measuring my food I realized how much I was overeating. I was just as full with smaller portions and the weight just started dropping.

    Buy a skipping rope! 1 min of skipping is like 10 minutes on a treadmill. This is the one I use: http://amzn.to/IPNvmx

    Weight train! The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism.

    Cut out sugar and gluten.

    That's all I have and it worked for me.
  • romancefan1983
    romancefan1983 Posts: 88 Member
    1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch :tongue:

    That's all I got :laugh:

    Where's the darn like button?!?! LOL

    I agree!
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    It's all just math.

    When people stumble, it's because they're doing the math wrong.

    Wishful thinking leads to bad math.

    Maintaining is easy when you minimize deprivation during the weight loss phase, but you still have to track everything accurately.

    Sometimes, you just have to eat everything in sight. And that's okay. As long as you do that less often than before, you're good to go.

    It's a marathon, not a sprint. Speaking of marathons and sprints, exercise is really not necessary to lose weight, and should be undertaken to achieve other fitness goals, not simply to burn calories that can then be eaten. It's easier to burn calories by not eating them in the first place. No cupcake is worth an hour at the gym.

    Sometimes a simple substitution can make your math much more favorable. Knowing which components of a meal are the real calorie killers is essential. Fill up on the low cal stuff, and savor the smaller portion of the high-cal stuff.

    Fast food is not the enemy.

    When you're conscious and you count calories, you can eat things that you'd previously thought were off-limits, which feels very indulgent.

    Weigh in the morning, every morning. After you pee/poop, but before you shower. Not only will you be your lightest at that time of day, it's the most consistent baseline for measuring your progress.

    Did I mention that it's math? Because it's math.

    If you don't know why you're not losing weight, it's because your math is off and you're eating at maintenance. Pie in the sky thinking with regards to calorie intake and the calories burned through exercise (and then "eaten back") leads to unintentional maintenance, i.e., "plateau".

    People, really, really, really, don't want want to be told they're eating too much. They want to have their cake and eat it too. Literally.

    Losing weight feels good, and so does keeping it off, and it's totally worth it. But it shouldn't consume your life and your thoughts.

    Some people want you to fail. Some people on this very website want you to fail. You can tell who those people are because they pooh-pooh the importance of calories, even though the whole point of this website is to track calories.

    Some people want you to succeed. Sometimes to help someone succeed, they have to tell you what you don't want to hear. Any time you hear something that you don't want to hear, pay attention, because that might be what you need to hear.

    Smileys are fun. :drinker: :smokin: :devil: :flowerforyou: :noway: :grumble: :explode: :laugh: :bigsmile: :huh:
  • DavidSTC
    DavidSTC Posts: 173 Member
    1. For me, portion control is hard. I'll have to be vigilant about that for the rest of my life ... not just during my weight loss phase.

    2. Patience and balance are key. It's best that I take it slow. I've had to learn to be patient. If I had to give up everything to slim down, I wouldn't. So, I've sought and found a balance.

    3. I'm not special. I didn't want to count calories and measure my food. That resulted in a number of setbacks. To make more progress, I HAVE to count calories and measure food.
  • DavidSTC
    DavidSTC Posts: 173 Member
    It's interesting to me that so many people say no food is bad food, and that fast food is not the enemy, and other stuff like that. To me, it's important to eat nutritious food. Or else, I'd have a very hard time keeping to a low calorie count.
  • Loving this thread
  • knitapeace
    knitapeace Posts: 1,013 Member
    It's all just math.

    When people stumble, it's because they're doing the math wrong.

    Wishful thinking leads to bad math.

    For my quote in my profile, I wrote: "Losing weight is easy math and hard work."

    For me, the numbers don't lie. The numbers point the way to correct choices. I'm still working on the macro part of it, but I'm happy with the math I've done so far and the hard work is following behind.

    The only math I enjoy is calorie counting and knitting measurements.
  • It's all just math.

    When people stumble, it's because they're doing the math wrong.

    Wishful thinking leads to bad math.

    Maintaining is easy when you minimize deprivation during the weight loss phase, but you still have to track everything accurately.

    Sometimes, you just have to eat everything in sight. And that's okay. As long as you do that less often than before, you're good to go.

    It's a marathon, not a sprint. Speaking of marathons and sprints, exercise is really not necessary to lose weight, and should be undertaken to achieve other fitness goals, not simply to burn calories that can then be eaten. It's easier to burn calories by not eating them in the first place. No cupcake is worth an hour at the gym.

    Sometimes a simple substitution can make your math much more favorable. Knowing which components of a meal are the real calorie killers is essential. Fill up on the low cal stuff, and savor the smaller portion of the high-cal stuff.

    Fast food is not the enemy.

    When you're conscious and you count calories, you can eat things that you'd previously thought were off-limits, which feels very indulgent.

    Weigh in the morning, every morning. After you pee/poop, but before you shower. Not only will you be your lightest at that time of day, it's the most consistent baseline for measuring your progress.

    Did I mention that it's math? Because it's math.

    If you don't know why you're not losing weight, it's because your math is off and you're eating at maintenance. Pie in the sky thinking with regards to calorie intake and the calories burned through exercise (and then "eaten back") leads to unintentional maintenance, i.e., "plateau".

    People, really, really, really, don't want want to be told they're eating too much. They want to have their cake and eat it too. Literally.

    Losing weight feels good, and so does keeping it off, and it's totally worth it. But it shouldn't consume your life and your thoughts.

    Some people want you to fail. Some people on this very website want you to fail. You can tell who those people are because they pooh-pooh the importance of calories, even though the whole point of this website is to track calories.

    Some people want you to succeed. Sometimes to help someone succeed, they have to tell you what you don't want to hear. Any time you hear something that you don't want to hear, pay attention, because that might be what you need to hear.

    Smileys are fun. :drinker: :smokin: :devil: :flowerforyou: :noway: :grumble: :explode: :laugh: :bigsmile: :huh:

    Hmmm some people use the website to gain access to people who know alot about weight lifting/nutrition not necessarily to count calories.
  • 1. I don't have to starve myself or eat an insanely small amount of calories to lose weight.

    2. I don't have to be hungry, ever.

    3. Going over my calorie goal on occasion (whether planned or unexpected) is not "cheating" and it doesn't necessarily make for a "bad" day. It's all about averages.

    4. There are no "bad" foods.



    ^^^^ This! This is how I am approaching it too. I eat the same foods as I always have done. I just watch my portion sizes and make sure I get at least 45mins moderate/brisk walking in most days or a 30 - 60 minutes cycle ride in once in a while and the weight has fortunately come off easily for me. I have learned that for me inactivity is the major cause for me to pile on the weight.
  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member
    It's all just math.

    When people stumble, it's because they're doing the math wrong.

    Wishful thinking leads to bad math.


    Maintaining is easy when you minimize deprivation during the weight loss phase, but you still have to track everything accurately.

    Sometimes, you just have to eat everything in sight. And that's okay. As long as you do that less often than before, you're good to go.

    It's a marathon, not a sprint. Speaking of marathons and sprints, exercise is really not necessary to lose weight, and should be undertaken to achieve other fitness goals, not simply to burn calories that can then be eaten. It's easier to burn calories by not eating them in the first place. No cupcake is worth an hour at the gym.

    Sometimes a simple substitution can make your math much more favorable. Knowing which components of a meal are the real calorie killers is essential. Fill up on the low cal stuff, and savor the smaller portion of the high-cal stuff.

    Fast food is not the enemy.

    When you're conscious and you count calories, you can eat things that you'd previously thought were off-limits, which feels very indulgent.

    Weigh in the morning, every morning. After you pee/poop, but before you shower. Not only will you be your lightest at that time of day, it's the most consistent baseline for measuring your progress.

    Did I mention that it's math? Because it's math.

    If you don't know why you're not losing weight, it's because your math is off and you're eating at maintenance. Pie in the sky thinking with regards to calorie intake and the calories burned through exercise (and then "eaten back") leads to unintentional maintenance, i.e., "plateau".

    People, really, really, really, don't want want to be told they're eating too much. They want to have their cake and eat it too. Literally.

    Losing weight feels good, and so does keeping it off, and it's totally worth it. But it shouldn't consume your life and your thoughts.

    Some people want you to fail. Some people on this very website want you to fail. You can tell who those people are because they pooh-pooh the importance of calories, even though the whole point of this website is to track calories.

    Some people want you to succeed. Sometimes to help someone succeed, they have to tell you what you don't want to hear. Any time you hear something that you don't want to hear, pay attention, because that might be what you need to hear.

    Smileys are fun. :drinker: :smokin: :devil: :flowerforyou: :noway: :grumble: :explode: :laugh: :bigsmile: :huh:

    ^^ So happy you are on my friend list. Every single thing here is true!! Thanks for the reminder!!

    Edited since I just figured out how to BOLD! :-)
  • judyde
    judyde Posts: 401 Member

    For my quote in my profile, I wrote: "Losing weight is easy math and hard work."

    Love it!!!
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    le snip :wink:

    Hmmm some people use the website to gain access to people who know alot about weight lifting/nutrition not necessarily to count calories.

    Well, you are in the WEIGHT LOSS forum, you know. :huh: And even if the only thing you use here is the community tab, there are a lot of other tabs that have to do with recording calories and tracking progress 'n such. If you don't use those resources, more power to you. But that doesn't change the fact that the site is geared toward helping people track calories in and calories out. :tongue:
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch :tongue:

    1st corollary: It's never too early to begin cultivating a good maintenance mindset, along with the skill set you'll need to be successful long term.

    You'll need to settle into a sustainable exercise routine at some point anyway - at least as far as the amount of time you're willing to devote to it is concerned. And you'll have to learn to "eat normal" at some point anyway, and conditioning yourself to normal sized servings is a really tedious process if you're used to having a lot of super-sized variety in your diet. It's best to face both issues early in your diet when your enthusiasm and resolve are at their highest. The transition to maintenance will be a lot easier if you do.
  • clambert1273
    clambert1273 Posts: 840 Member
    It's interesting to me that so many people say no food is bad food, and that fast food is not the enemy, and other stuff like that. To me, it's important to eat nutritious food. Or else, I'd have a very hard time keeping to a low calorie count.

    doesn't necessarily have to be a low calorie count ;) PLENTY of us on here eat well into the 2000+ calorie range...
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch :tongue:

    1st corollary: It's never too early to begin cultivating a good maintenance mindset, along with the skill set you'll need to be successful long term.

    You'll need to settle into a sustainable exercise routine at some point anyway - at least as far as the amount of time you're willing to devote to it is concerned. And you'll have to learn to "eat normal" at some point anyway, and conditioning yourself to normal sized servings is a really tedious process if you're used to having a lot of super-sized variety in your diet. It's best to face both issues early in your diet when your enthusiasm and resolve are at their highest. The transition to maintenance will be a lot easier if you do.

    Wait, what? Exercise? What is this thing you call exercise? :huh:

    You don't "have" to exercise to maintain weight. And eating "normal" is what got us to our starting weight, so clearly a new normal is needed. Weight maintenance is a kitchen thing, not a gym thing. And if you've been dieting to lose weight, you already have the skills to maintain your weight. All you have to do is the same things you were doing to lose weight, except you have additional calories that you can either eat, or that you no longer have to burn through exercise.

    So if you're like me, and you skipped the exercise option because you knew it wouldn't be a sustainable lifestyle change, then you can just eat more than you were before. Woohoo! :drinker:

    Or if you've doggedly stuck to the grind and exercised your way to your goal weight, you can simply continue to eat the way you've been eating during your weight loss journey, but ease up on the exercise a bit. :drinker:

    If you're one of those bizarre people that likes to exercise, you can do the same level of exercise as before, but allow yourself more calories to eat each day. :drinker:

    In all three scenarios, it's still a win, because you get to do more of what you like to do. :bigsmile:
  • DavidSTC
    DavidSTC Posts: 173 Member
    1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch :tongue:

    1st corollary: It's never too early to begin cultivating a good maintenance mindset, along with the skill set you'll need to be successful long term.

    You'll need to settle into a sustainable exercise routine at some point anyway - at least as far as the amount of time you're willing to devote to it is concerned. And you'll have to learn to "eat normal" at some point anyway, and conditioning yourself to normal sized servings is a really tedious process if you're used to having a lot of super-sized variety in your diet. It's best to face both issues early in your diet when your enthusiasm and resolve are at their highest. The transition to maintenance will be a lot easier if you do.

    Very good points.
  • JasonAxelrod
    JasonAxelrod Posts: 58 Member
    That something as simple as standing up can give you a whole mind****ingly new set of perceptions about yourself and your life.

    Weight loss doesn't fix everything, but holy **** does it give me the drive to do so.
  • srobertking
    srobertking Posts: 74 Member
    You have to set yourself up to succeed.

    Example. I used to find it really hard to not snack at night. I'd try to stop but I'd just end up cheating. Solution: leave night time snack calories open.
  • xoemmytee
    xoemmytee Posts: 162 Member
    1. Love and accept yourself before you lose the weight. Otherwise your journey will be centered around negativity and you won't be happy at your goal weight.
    2. Measure everything. The little devil on your shoulder wants to convince you that portions are bigger than they really are.
    3. Strength training may not burn many calories while exercising, but it sure makes you feel and look amazing.
    4. Read more scientific articles. This does NOT include mainstream media articles. Read everything skeptically and critically in order to prevent yourself from subscribing to myths with little to no scientific basis.
    5. Associate yourself with people who actually know what they're talking about. You will learn so much from them.
    6. Stop calculating "lose X much weight in Y amount of time." It will only disappoint and frustrate you when you don't meet your unrealistic goals.
    7. People have different definitions of "healthy food" and though this is frustrating, you will most likely polarize the people you try to get to see your side of things. Just care less about them and focus on what works for you.
  • MrsSDolan
    MrsSDolan Posts: 27 Member
    Great thread!! Very informative x
  • DavidSTC
    DavidSTC Posts: 173 Member
    6. Stop calculating "lose X much weight in Y amount of time." It will only disappoint and frustrate you when you don't meet your unrealistic goals.

    This is true for me, too. As long as I'm burning fat and losing inches, I'm happy. Whether it's 2 pounds in one week or 2 pounds in one month, it's progress. You have to take a long view.
  • BenjaminMFP88
    BenjaminMFP88 Posts: 660 Member
    1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch :tongue:

    That's all I got :laugh:

    I was just about to say the complete opposite :laugh: