What is working for you?

Green tea has been working wonders for me. I drink a cup before I go to work, and it also keeps me energized for those long server shifts. And I also have a cup after dinner. That and getting rid of all soda and most juices. I drink just water and green tea and I've started to tell a bit of a difference c:

I stopped eating fast food and drinking soda and gave up candy, cold turkey. I logged all my food and I just naturally water to put better food in my body, I got addicted to the stats. It's continued to work and now I pretty much cook all my own phone, trying things I would never even think of trying, love the changes I am seeing.

What works for me is logging every single bite that goes into my mouth. Going over on my calories less than 2 days per month (and not by much). Trying not to go into the red on sodium, and being careful about how much I go into the red on fat and sugar (although I do, regularly, on both of those).

I still eat "crap" weekly, but I make it fit into my MFP set guidelines. And because of that, I eat far less of the junky foods.

I make swaps a lot. Like instead of a Snickers bar, I'll eat 1 T. Nutella or Marshmallow creme and a couple of almonds. Instead of getting the white mocha at Starbucks like I used to, I go to the local coffeehouse to gab with my best friend and get a cold brewed black coffee and a small delicious pastry...still 50% fewer calories than the white mocha. I thought I knew the roundabout calorie counts and nutritional info of the foods I ate...but MFP has taught me a lot more, which makes those swaps a lot easier (and satisfying).

I don't do a ton of exercise to be honest. I go for long brisk walks a few times a week. We walk to the grocery store or nearby errands. On weekends, I ride my bike or hike at the nature center but only weather permitting. My husband and I take long walks at the local mall when it's icy outside like right now. But I don't do any gym workouts and I don't lift weights (although I may in the future). I would rather walk 7 miles in the cold than do 30 minutes of Zumba with a bunch of shouty ladies and embarrassing music. But that's just me.

FWIW I lost 45 lb before I discovered MFP. It took me 4 years and was mostly through exercising regularly and taking stabs at what I hoped was a healthier diet. Since joining MFP on March 25 of last year I've lost 58 lb with relative ease. Knowing exactly what you consume and pinpointing your calorie goals is a very powerful tool. Best of luck!

Eating and drinking whatever I want provided I am staying within my calorie and macro targets.

Weight training

Light cardio.

This post is entitled "what is working for you?".

I eat what I want when I want but I make sure I stay within my calorie allowance. In other words, I've lost weight because I've eaten in a calorie deficit.

I weight lift and run, and do other exercise each day, which tones, gives me endurance, and helps to create a calorie deficit, but it is not necessary to lose weight.

As for your remark about the "simple answers"- it really is THAT simple, it's just that people make losing weight so difficult.

It really is that simple: eat at a calorie deficit and you will lose weight. Exercise to keep in shape: resistance training to ensure that most of what you lose is fat, and cardio to improve stamina. Make sure that any dietary changes you make are ones you want to maintain for the rest of your life: don't cut out a food unless you plan to never eat it again. Instead, cut back on things that don't meet your calorie goals: 1/2 oz. of cheese instead of a giant piece, for example (I love cheese!).

However, simple doesn't mean easy. You're basically going to be starving yourself, in the sense that you will be routinely eating fewer calories than you need to maintain your weight. The rest will come from fat stores. Since we have evolved to eat when food is available, reserving fat stores for lean times, you'll need to deal with cravings for food, which is exacerbated by the fact that those of us who are overweight generally don't have a reliable appetite and are likely to get hungry even if we're eating enough to maintain our weight.

Some things that have helped me along the way are:

* Planning meals in advance, cooking them, and carefully weighing ingredients to get accurate calorie counts.

* Pre-logging much of my food, including what I plan for dinner, so that I know how much wiggle room (if any) I have for snacks or treats.

* Exercising a lot, and using an accurate heart rate monitor for cardio, which lets me eat more.

* Learning that after about three weeks, I stopped getting frequent hunger pangs in mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Your body will adapt to burning fat stores as a matter of course. The first three weeks last January were tough; now it's much easier for me to eat at a calorie deficit. (However, for the last two weeks I've been at maintenance, during the holidays--I'm wondering how hard it will be to return to a deficit next week!)

That last point is important. If you can stick it out, it does get easier.

I don't agree with everything John Walker wrote in his book "The Hacker's Diet," but I recommend that everyone read it. And it's free online: http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/

Good luck!

ETA: Oh, and as Phaedra2013 wrote, use online calculators, etc., only as estimates. Compare your data with your results. If you're eating what MFP says is a 1000 calorie/day deficit, and you're losing only 1 lb. a week, your real deficit is only 500 calories/day. So many threads on these forums have people claiming that they are on a plateau despite eating only 1200 calories/day while exercising hard for two hours and not eating back exercise calories. All those threads show is that the posters are wildly off in their estimates of calories eaten, calories burned, or both.