What FINALLY worked?

1. Tracking honestly
2. Measuring stuff
3. Researching restaurant menus and pre-log before I go out. ( 50% of the times.)
4. Joining challenges. I try to join different ones every month to keep it interesting. I am doing the 24 hr exercise in a month this month.

I've been trying SEVERAL times. These combinations seem to work best for me. The community support helps more than I thought.

The biggest thing is truly making the decision to change your lifestyle. I stepped on the scale and saw a number I promised myself I'd never see. Then I got PISSED. Even after losing the weight, I'm STILL a little pissed at myself for letting that happen. I decided "Never Again." and got to work. From there things fell into place - and the weight fell off. I lost 40 pounds in 4 months.

My biggest things:

1. Know your BMR and TDEE and eat between these numbers. (Look online for calculators). Eat at least your BMR or 1200 calories, whichever is higher. don't starve yourself and make yourself miserable. For meany reasons, it's better to eat a little more and exercise more than eat less and exercise less.
2. Eat 5-6 "mini meals" per day instead of 3 larger meals. This helps keep your blood sugar more stable and your metabolism up. For me, I divided my calorie goal in 6 parts and ate 4 meals plus dinner which was a double meal. So if my goal was 1800 calories, I ate 4 meals of 300 calories and a 600 calorie dinner. My other meals were breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and evening snack. Log everything carefully and honestly - if you're not being honest, you're wasting your time logging at all.
3. Move away from sugar and simple carbs like white bread, white rice, pasta. I eliminated all of this for the first few weeks to sort of purge my system. I felt like crap for 3 days - with withdrawal symptoms like headache, hunger, fatigue, etc. but after that I was free and felt so much better - and had a lot more willpower. Instead of simple carbs, eat lean protein, complex carbs (whole grains) and veggies at every meal.
4. Don't drink any calories. Drink lots of water. Diet drinks occasionally if needed. If you're like me and have a beer once in a while, log it and deal with it.
5. Exercise 5-6 days a week. Lift and do cardio. Look into HIIT to really push yourself, improve your fitness level and really burn some calories. FYI, nothing burns calories like running. But do what you enjoy doing so you can stick to it.
6. Do NOT eat back your exercise calories when you're trying to lose weight. MFP automatically adds them back in, saying you have XXX calories remaining. Don't go by that - set a calorie goal for yourself and stick to it. Let your exercise calorie burns go toward fat loss!
7. Consider investing in a heart-rate monitor so you know how many calories you're really burning. I have a Polar FT7 and love it - but the numbers are much different from what MFP or the machines at the gym say I'm burning.
8. Once every week or two, log "free day" for the day and just give yourself a break from logging. Eat whatever you want, relax and de-stress. If you eat too much (like I sometimes do), you'll feel like crap and want to get back on track the next day.
9. Speaking of which, if you have a bad day, don't beat yourself up. Just make the next day a really good one. You are not defined by your bad day. But you may be defined by what you do the day after.

Good luck!

honesty is what worked


.... honesty to myself on what I actually consumed rather then what I thought/wished I consumed i.e I actually weighed everything and measured only the liquids and logged everything that went into my mouth (difference between measuring cup and weighing was 200 cals a day)

... honesty with how much exercise I could commit myself to and what I was likely to burn doing it i.e. I wasn't going to start training for a marathon or keep up an hour a day gym habit or burn a 1000 cals in any other way, I can however walk for 30 mins at least 3 times a week

... honesty about what I am likely to achieve i.e. I will not look like some Hollywood starlet, at the end I'll still have dimply thighs and stretchmarks

... honesty about the timeframe i.e. I have a small deficit so I am not going to drop 2lbs a week, so it'll take time to get to my goal

6. Do NOT eat back your exercise calories when you're trying to lose weight. MFP automatically adds them back in, saying you have XXX calories remaining. Don't go by that - set a calorie goal for yourself and stick to it. Let your exercise calorie burns go toward fat loss!

If you're following the MFP program rather than using the TDEE method, you should eat your exercise calories. MFP is designed for you to eat your exercise calories back. The calorie goal that MFP assigns already includes the necessary calorie deficit for you to reach your goals. If you add extra exercise on top of the daily activity you've already accounted for, you're creating a larger deficit than you need, which can be counterproductive.
It's not a big deal if you're meeting your nutritional needs and aren't feeling hungry or deprived, but the key is sustainability. If you have exercise calories left and you're feeling hungry or feel like you're missing out on some of the social aspects that come along with enjoying food, eat them. The best calorie goal is one that you can easily stick to.

I ate my exercise calories back from January to August and it worked really well. In August, I upped my calories and switched to the TDEE method because I didn't feel like logging every bit of exercise and eating a different calorie goal every day. That's worked really well too.

I just wanted to clarify that for the OP, who may be starting out on the MFP program rather than the TDEE method. If you choose the MFP program, follow it as it is designed. It works.
You can read about the TDEE method here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

GOOD ADVICE! You SHOULD eat back (at least a majority of) your exercise calories, esp if you exercise a lot! I went from exercising 187 calories a day to sometimes now 1500-1700 BURNED ... imagine if I didn't eat them back! I'd be sick and I'd be prone to binging out of starvation!

Nothing too extreme works for me. I eat *mostly* clean, but I have a lot of IIFYM (anything goes if it fits) thrown in too. And sometimes it doesn't fit my macros, but fits my calories and I eat it anyway. Keeps me going, though. I'm a long way from there, but I'm 1/3 down the path and 2/3 to go and have not had any trouble sticking to it. If it's too extreme, you will eventually stop doing it and you'll be back where you started.

Whatever you choose to do, make sure you can do it for life or it won't matter in the long run, you'll just be postponing the inevitable and letting yourself get set up for disappointment and feelings of failure.

I did some research, and learned how calories work, before then I other failed approaches of just excercise and even completely starving myself, no wonder why I kept losing motivated after just a day or two.

Lowering carbs and upping fat is what finally worked for me. Also, finding a good deficit.

1. Buying a food scale
2. Pre-logging my food and sticking with it
3. Not beating myself up if I fall off track for a day or two
4. Buying a HRM

1. Eat at a moderate calorie deficit.
Do this by eating however you like. No need to eliminate specific foods unless you want to.

2. Log your food accurately and consistently.

3. Exercise for fitness.

This.

1. Eat at a moderate calorie deficit.
Do this by eating however you like. No need to eliminate specific foods unless you want to.

2. Log your food accurately and consistently.

3. Exercise for fitness.

This is exactly what I do. I've had the most success this way and I never feel deprived. I eat whatever I am in the mood for, I just make sure to fit it into my calorie goals. Occasionally I will still eat more than I plan, especially when TOM visits, but I don't worry about it. I just let it go. Each day is a new day, there is no reason why whatever happened yesterday should matter today.

Yeah. I went to Olive Garden recently and chose the low calorie menu under 575 calories. The vegetable lasagna with chicken was delicious. When I weighed in the next day I actually had lost a pound!!:happy: