the TRUTH about weightloss

1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch

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.

1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch

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:

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.

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.

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.

1.an added responsibility/work for all overweight people

2 .while the normal weight can focus on better things in life than us

3. being overweight because of thyroid or medical conditions Sucks

bump x

1. It takes a while. It took me a month and a half of exercise and eating at a deficit to lose 5lbs. I'm not very big either so that slows things down.
2. this is your journey. No one elses. You can't expect others to change just because you decide to. And it's not your job to harp on anyone or annoy people with it.
3. You have to be consistent.
4. Portion control and food weighing is soooooooooo important.
5.Even if your body isn't immediately changing from the outside, it's changing from the inside. Be patient. See #1. :flowerforyou:

1. Losing weight is easy. Maintenance is a b*tch

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:

If a sustainable exercise routine for you is no exercise at all, then so be it.

The key word is "sustainable." My point is that it's not a great idea to jack up your calorie budget with an insane level of exercise just so you can eat more. There are other, better reasons to exercise. And burn outs are best avoided, if possible, whether on the calories in or calories out side of the equation. They have a way of being counterproductive.

And of course a "new normal" diet is needed. What seems "normal" at any given point is whatever you're been habituated to, which was the whole point of my post. People who have successfully dieted to lose weight do not necessarily have the best set of skills to maintain their weight. In fact they often don't, or so many wouldn't fail at it. And the failure to establish a favorable "new normal" is responsible for more than a few of those failures.

So many people restrict their diets to a short list of mostly low cal "clean" foods, meal after meal after meal. That's a relatively easy way of doing it - for a while - but then they reach goal (or burn out) and get into trouble when they go back to eating foods that had been temporarily placed off limits. Their portion control skills come up short because the "normal" that got them to their starting weight hasn't changed for those foods.

My strategy was to "start as I meant to continue." I couldn't see life without pasta and bacon, so I regularly included both in my diet along with any number of other "unclean" things. I just stopped super-sizing my servings and going back for seconds. My diet is cleaner than it used to be, but nearly all of the changes have been lateral in terms of my enjoyment and satisfaction. I haven't given up anything that I miss. So... more than 2 years of maintenance after a loss of nearly 60 pounds and my BMI is still below 20.

As soon as you lose the weight, you find 10,000 other things "wrong" with you! lol