Top reasons for weight loss success

Log everything that you eat................everything................and be honest with yourself. Stick to your plan and you WILL lose!
It really works!

Food Logging IS the one of the BEST things to do!! How could I leave that one out!!
Great one!

Never give up!!! Everyone has moments when they want to throw in the towel wether it be because they aren't loosing fast enough or they had a bad food day and think it isn't worth it to keep trying. The only real difference between those who succeed and those who don't is that those who do keep trying. If you aren't loosing you have to take a serious look at what you are doing and what you can change to see results.

Start resistance training NOW!!

Take the time to log everything - food and exercise - as accurately as possible. This is really the only way to figure out your own unique calories in/calories out equation. (You can use a online TDEE calculator to get a good guess for when you start.)

Be consistant even when it sucks and be patient with yourself.

Don't freak when you go over your calories goal - you're eating at a deficit already, so having a slightly smaller deficit for one day isn't worth feeling bad about.

Give your body time to change and don't expect miracles every week when you step on the scale, actually expect some setbacks.

And remember the scale doesn't have all the facts, especially if you train with weights - get a measuring tape and some calipers!

1. Logging accurately, that means weighing and measuring everything.
2. Exercising, doing cardio and weight training.
3. Upping protein intake.
4. Not being hard on myself if I eat something that is not healthy or going over (significantly) in my calories. A couple of days will not ruin the 3 months I have put into this change.
5. Support from my family and groups
6. Trying new things. I HATED to run. I mean I HATED it! However, I decided to try it again and could not believe I could run and I could run far at a decent time. Now I enjoy running and miss running on my recovery days. I also do Zumba and I am no where near being coordinated, but it is fun and I give it my all. Look like a wounded Baboon, but I am enjoying myself and getting a killer workout done!
7. Preparation. I try to prep once a week. I clean and cut my fruits and veggies, cook my meat, boil eggs, plan my meals and get everything ready the night before (e.g., workout gear out and ready for use)!

These are a few of the things that have been instrumental in assisting in my weight loss. I have lost 20lbs in 3 months and it has been hard, but easy too. I have slipped up. I have eaten pizza, drank wine, eaten sugar cookies, over indulged on things that I probably should not have, but I moved on from it and started fresh the next day.

I do think the biggest contributor is me. I want to change, I want to get better in regards to health and fitness. You can have all the tools, support, and preparation readily available and still slip back into old habits. How I view this journey is really what has helped me thus far.

consistency

Through being on here, I learned there are many different ways to go through this journey. But I also learned that we all have a reason to go on this journey. I have good days and bad days, but as long as I remeber why I stated this journey I always find my way back to it. I wrote myself a letter. A letter from the fat me. Stating all the reasons I want to succeed. When I get discouraged or down, I read it. It reminds me of all the reasons why I want this to succeed. Why I want to be healthy. I found that to be the best thing for myself. I can track calories and exercise all I want, but if I forget why I'm doing it, I just slowly give up, but that's just my mentality. That's my top reason for successful weight loss, to never forget why you're doing it.

ACTUALLY measure things, don't just look at things and have a guess.
EVERYTHING counts - Just because the margarine doesn't look like that much doesn't mean that it shouldn't be logged
Don't lie to yourself - changing the quantity of peanut butter in your diary because it sounds like too many calories doesn't make the calories disappear
Don't just have a guess based on what's already on the database - creating your own recipes really helps - I a had difference of hundreds of calories because my recipe was that different
Eat smaller amounts more regularly - skipping meals and then binging at the end of the day really isn't helpful
Veggies are my new best friend

I agree with a lot of things said. I think dedication is one of the most important things, no matter how hard it gets, you have to keep going.

Inertia is a b!tch. Make it YOUR b!tch. Starting is the hardest part. Whether it's changing your diet, committing to exercise, or beginning a single workout - once you get started, it's not so hard. But I f you stop, you have to start over again, and that's harder. So once you get started, don't stop - just keep going. Eventually it will be easier to keep going than it is to stop, because inertia.

Never give up!!! Everyone has moments when they want to throw in the towel wether it be because they aren't loosing fast enough or they had a bad food day and think it isn't worth it to keep trying. The only real difference between those who succeed and those who don't is that those who do keep trying. If you aren't loosing you have to take a serious look at what you are doing and what you can change to see results.

Definitely this! Eating a pizza will not ruin it, but thinking you've wrecked that day so you may as well have dessert as well and then give up will.

Planning - have some 'healthy meals' always in stock, We do a big prep every few weeks - lots of ragu and chilli to freeze, and I have some wholemeal bread in the freezer (Beans on toast in always good ).

If you are doing exercise treat it like a job - unless you don't turn up for work because you can't be bothered! Often I feel I don't want to go to the gym, but I know it will be fine when I get there. If I am struggling to motivate myself I go to a class so I have a time to aim for and can't keep putting it off.

It really is as simple as calories in versus calories used.

If you are honest with yourself, weigh (no guessing) and log everything, you'll get there.

Knowing yourself. Know what your limitations are and work with them. If you can't cope with a 500 cal deficit but can stick 350, then work with that and you will sustain it longer. If certain foods trigger binges just avoid them. If you can't function without ice cream/chocolate/chips/pizza etc then factor it into your diet to stop you getting bored. If you need a radical change make it, if a radical change puts you off then don't. Eat under maintenance and other than that do what works for you in the short and medium term at least.

- Consistently maintaining a reasonable calorie deficit from maintenance. My goal was not speed...it was having consistent losses and over time, those losses added up to about 40 Lbs.

- Being as accurate as possible with my intake by using a food scale

- Being as accurate as possible with my "burn" from exercise by comparing what I think I burned with a few different sources and using a lot of common sense rather than looking at some data base and assuming that I did indeed burn 900 calories doing 60 minutes of elliptical (yeah right). I usually ate back about 70-80% of whatever my HRM told me I burned for an aerobic event...and usually compared that number to other formulas out there for that activity.

- I didn't cheat my diary....I always logged everything even if it meant that my numbers didn't look good that day. You have to be consistent and honest with yourself.

- I didn't deprive myself and don't at maintenance either. I ate/eat a lot of nutrient dense foods...I generally get 4-6 servings of veg and fruit per day and I eat a lot of chicken, fish, salmon, etc and get my healthy fats from avocado, almonds, avocado and olive oil, etc. But I also indulged in desert and still do pretty much nightly...I just fit it into my calorie and macro goals.

- I don't categorize foods as "good" or "bad"...there are more or less nutrient dense choices you can make but long term success is going to require a healthy relationship with food.

1. Do it for yourself.
2. it's easier if the whole family participates in creating new habits (eating well and excercising).
3. Try not obsessing.
4. Don't get discouraged.
5. Walk 10 000 steps everyday - this = 8km or 5 miles.