why do some succeed and others fail?

It is all about effort .. those that put in the required effort will be successful. Those that make excuses will fail.

I fail because I look to food to comfort me or make me feel better. Stressful days, irritating days, annoying days, when my reaction is to self medicate with food it never ends well.
I was made to crave God not food (or anything else for that matter.)

God bless,
Karen

I succeeded because I tracked every day and I learned that it really is a simple concept and that I do control my weight.

The simple concept is: calorie deficit= a loss in weight.

How do you know what a calorie deficit is? You can use online calculators such as this:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

This website helps you to calculate what your total daily energy expenditure is, or how many calories you need to just stay the same weight you are now. Then subtract 10 or 20 percent from that number to get a deficit. I subtracted 10% because I only had 15 pounds to lose and it is recommended that you don't have too deep a deficit if this is the case. I lost the weight very slowly. I was in chronic pain while losing so my exercise was sporadic. I didn't want to lose too much muscle so i ate at least 25 % of my calories in the form of protein and I exercised (ran, lunged, squatted) when i could. I couldn't use my arms very functionally for about a year so I did lose muscle.

But all of it worked!!! Why? Because I ate at or under my TDEE!!! My food diary was actually more accurate in determining my future goal (of being the weight I am now) than the scale. The scale was awful! But I still weighed in regularly so that I had data. The data, over time, showed that my intake and my weight were directly related:)

So awesome right? It wasn't magic, and I was in control of my body. Sometimes I ate too much, but then I just made up for it throughout the week. Some weeks I just maintained my weight because I averaged at my TDEE. If you want more info feel free to PM me.
Probably everything you need to know is right here in this thread:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants


I think that the one of the problems with other diets is that they have mysterious rules that really don't make sense but there is some sort of deprivation that might make someone lose weight temporarily. I'd rather have a variety, eat what I feel like, and be the driver.
Good luck and keep at it!

P.S. another bonus for tracking is that you can fine tune your TDEE until you have a pretty good grasp of what you need to meet your goals.

I think half of the battle is being ready and wanting to lose weight is a must. If your not ready to make this lifestyle change then you will keep failing until one day you wake up and want it bad enough.

Ditto this!!!! You really have to be ready and not let anything or anyone stop you. I'm not all the way there yet...but I'm certain I will get there!

I agree with a lot of earlier posts (don't drop calories to low, you don't have to cut out favorite foods, etc) but I want to add something else:

Some of it comes from realizing that failure =/= not succeeding. Failure is a temporary setback. But if you chose to learn from it and move forward to do better, it is actually a step to success.

For example, my son recently learned to walk. He failed many many times. He fell. He cried once in a while. But he didn't just sit there giving up on walking, or waiting till next Monday or next month or a new year to try. He squirmed himself back onto his feet, and tried again, over and over, until he had succeeded at walking.

The same thing goes for losing weight and becoming healthier. Sometimes we make great strides forward, only to be stopped in our tracks. Sometimes we mess up and go way over on our calories or skip exercising, or whatever. There's the day your friend brought cookies or the office birthday party where you caved and had pizza and cake or the anniversary date where you splurged at a restaurant … Or all those weeks you eat perfectly and exercise and the scale still doesn't move. If you look at it as the end and quit trying, you won't succeed. But if you look at the "failure" as a learning experience (which may be "I don't always have to give up my favorite cookies but I can have only 1 or 2 instead of the whole box" or "it's okay to enjoy food on my anniversary" or "oh yeah, weight loss isn't always linear") and move forward, you will learn how to succeed.

The only time you truly fail (no success) is when you quit trying.

In addition to all the excellent posts on this thread, I will add my voice to it is a life style change.

That is the only way it is working with me.

I succedeed when I understood that eating one candy bar does not mean that I failed and I have to eat 5 more just because the day is already ruined. Don't expect the impossible - don't be too harsh on yourself. Go step by step and change your habbits in time - not all at once. Don't compare yourself to others. Losing weight is a different process for any one of us.

I agree with what others have said, and I would like to add:

Not letting temporary failure stop them.

We all have bad days, days we eat too much, days we don't exercise.

I think one big thing for me is learning not to give up at this point, but to just keep swimming.

Don't focus on the end goal, focus on the journey. Fall in love with the process, and the results will just come on their own. Don't expect immediate gratification. This is a game of perseverance.



I agree with so many answers on this posting but this one really resonates with me.