What will make me succeed this time? - Help

I feel your pain young lady. I was really on the road to successfully getting my health in check when I was a paramedic and a police officer, then on Christmas Eve 1994, I was struck by a car at the scene of an accident and lost my left leg. My activity plummeted needless to say, even after I got fitted with an artificial leg. Since I can't work that streets like I used to, I have had nothing but desk jobs every since and my weight has yo-yoed ever since then.
I will be 50 this year and I have commited to NOT let the years I have left be wasted because my butt is the size of a dump truck.

Diets are a joke. Just the word "DIET" makes the average person cringe. I am changing up my lifestyle. As long as there are no tornadoes or hurricanes outside, I am typically grilling my food. Heavy on the seasonings and light on the marinades cuz most of them have lots of sugars and/or oils.

When you cook/grill your meats, under cook some of them that you are gonna put in the fridge or freezer so that way when you reheat them, they will finish cooking and won't be dry.

Steamer veggies in the freezer are a must. With so many varieties out there, there is no excuse to not have any or to get bored.

WATER WATER WATER. Fills you up and cleanses you also. Keep little bottles of flavor enhancers handy. A Mio in the purse, a Crystal Light in the glove compartment in the car, a Sugar-Free Kool-aid in the desk drawer at work.

I would seriously consider investing in a good protein bar. Quik, ready, and ULTRA YUMMO! We have Quest Bars on hand and they are to die for! My favorites are Strawberry Cheesecake, Vanilla Almond Crunch, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

Last thing, STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR BUDDIES HERE! We all have a story, we all have a struggle, we all have good days and bad, so we can all relate. You are not alone young lady. Keep your eye on the prize and stay in touch :-)

What made me realize I was ready for this attempt to work was reminding myself of two things

1) don't judge yourself from your past, you don't live there anymore
2) it's not a diet it's a lifestyle change-that has no ending

I'd suggest looking at what people who have succeeded and are maintaining their weight currently do, then how they did it. It helped me figure out that I don't need to give up everything I love to eat to loose weight.

I believe you need a strong enough reason to succeed such as living past your 50's, being able to go to the bathroom, something that will pull you towards your goal of weight loss.

In addition, a lot of studying on health really helps.

Last but not least, support from the outside, or on MFP. Build a long list of ACTIVE and SUPPORTIVE friends. Not just a long list.

I hope this helps you, it did for me.

Feel free to friend me and I'll be more than happy to introduce you to a team of 300 motivated users on MFP.

Every one of these posts carry great ideas. One that I might add is that I really don't enjoy exercising. So rather than exercise, I download audio books onto my cell phone, put on my awesome new running shoes, and take myself for a nice 3-mile walk whenever I can with my stories. I try not to let myself listen to the stories any time except when I go walking so that I have something to look forward to, rather than trying to talk myself out of the walk. Best of luck to you in your quest for better health.

Hi! Today is only my second day back, yup that's right I said back. I started 2 years ago and logged in everyday for over a year. I was so proud of myself and met new people on here who also encouraged me. I lost 50 lbs. it's so easy to be down but try to remember it's a life style change and nothing happens over night. It's the small steps that matter the most. I am such a emotional eater or well was. I am trying to hard to stay busy and not think about all the yummy snacks my kids have in there. It hasn't been easy but with friends who support you can help a lot. Find a friend who wants to do it with you. Work together. And add friends on here they are great encouragers. Were all here for one reason or another. You got this. The ending reward is so much better then the brownies that last just a minute...good luck. Feel free to add me if you want

The key to succeeding is being ready to want it.

Educate yourself!

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

You said the last time you tried this, you worked out like crazy and severely restricted your diet. Of course you failed-that's not sustainable.

Plugged your numbers in briefly, and saw that you can, at this point, easily lose weight on 1800 cals/day without exercise.

You don't have to go down the 1200 cal/day route. I promise! Build healthy, sustainable practices for life. You can totally figure this out!

And feel free to add me if you like!

First- don't diet
Second- make sure you don't exceed your calorie allowance
Third- be consistent
Fourth- find and exercise routine you can do and enjoy

Follow those and you should be able to succeed.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Welcome! This is my third time back on MFP; and I pray that the third time really is the charm for me!! Over the years, I have been doing research, buying several different diet books and getting a lot of research from shows like Dr. Oz, Oprah, etc., an then researching the internet. I finally decided that I am not going to follow a diet plan, but I would do what I felt was best for me. I am eating somewhat low carb, and that is because from the last time I lost weight, I noticed that my lower carb weeks were the weeks that I lost the most. I am a big sweet eater, and I am an emotional eater, having food addiction traits. My family has witnessed several of my outbursts if I could not eat the sweets when I was wanting to emotionally eat; very similar to a drug addict or alcoholic. One key for me was coming to terms with things that happened to me as a child, and to not allow my dad to have control in my life. Taking the control from him has seemed to make a difference for me; I have given my inner child a voice, so now I do not feel that I have to stuff the feelings down by suffocating them with food (and I pray I maintain that voice). I also am currently reading two books about food addiction. I was also a popoholic, and not the diet stuff. I hated lemon water, and I have recently discovered that I do enjoy it, so I drink about 6 to 8 glasses of lemon water, plus 2 to 5 cups of green tea every day. If I have a snack attack at night, I drink a hot cup of tea made by using a tea bag of green tea and a tea bag of apple cinnamon tea (otherwise, I do not like many herbal teas). I also created for myself a very extensive spreadsheet that tracks my weigh ins (I weigh every morning, and take the weigh in on Fridays as my official weekly weigh in), inches lost in my hips, waist, and abs, BMI, and Fit To Fat Ratio. It will also help me track my TTDE (I probably wrote that wrong). I know "they" say not to weigh every day, but for me, I have decided that since I tend to have an addictive personality, I am fine replacing a food addiction with an addiction to daily weigh ins and posting it to my spreadsheet. This spreadsheet also has graphs, so the visual is really good for me. I love my spreadsheet!!! My family does not share in my desire to eat healthy (my husband and 24-year-old daughter will at times, but they give up), so this time around I have decided that I need to put myself first. Tonight, for instance, it was difficult to smell their baked ziti and cheesey garlic texas toast, but I knew that it was my choice to make myself a priority, and so I chose to eat my healthier meal. One of the most important things for me to do for eating is to prep the fresh vegetables ahead of time so I have them easily accessible when I am making a veggie omelet, salad, etc. I just re-started 1 1/2 weeks ago, and I have yet to start exercise. I know that I will, but I will also take it slow, as I do not enjoy exercise, and I especially do not like exercise in a gym. I did it before, and I know I will do it again when needed (bad weather, too dark to walk outside, etc.). A lot of people have other good information for you. Take what you know/feel will work for you. This is not something we can do in a blink of an eye, and that we need to take time, be kind to yourself, and simply jump back on track if you have a higher calorie day than you planned. Heck, on Sunday, I had pizza, pumpkin pie, and ice cream. The difference was that I knew I was going out for pizza, so I ate a lower calorie "brunch", and then at dinner, I ate about half of what I would have previously eaten, and I drank water. The next morning when I weighed, I was prepared to see the scale up by at least 4 to 6 oz. To my surprise, I was down 3 oz, and the next day I was down 2 oz. I know, too, that I have to eat within my calorie range over the next week so that I make sure I stay on track. If you would like more thoughts or suggestions, please friend me. I would also appreciate your support, should you like to share it. I wish you well in your journey.

I am a lot older than you, but last year I lost over 50 pounds. I don't belong to a gym and don't own any equipment. I did buy a good pair of sneakers, but that was my only expense. You don't have to spend money to lose weight.

You lose weight when you reduce your calories. You can lose weight eating any kind of food. You could lose eating Pop Tarts for all your meals (although you would have terrible nutrition).

I chose to cut out foods that I can't stop eating or that bother me for ethical reasons, but you don't have to do that (you could try to learn moderation). I made up an eating plan based on foods I like, that are easy to make, and that I know I can eat long term. Other people might not like my food style, but it works for me. Include foods you enjoy, whatever they are, or you will feel you are punishing yourself.

Find an exercise you enjoy, anything that gets you moving, and you are more likely to stick with it. Go small. Choose to be positive and compliment yourself for what you can do today instead of looking at how far you need to go.

Fantastic response

As for your title. The only thing that will make you succeed is yourself. Outside influences can effect you but in the end it comes down to you your will power and what you are doing. The thing with losing weight is everyone has an opinion and wants to give it to you if you want to hear it or not. So you just have to be sensible and get on with it your way. Everyone is different so what works for some wont work for others. Take other viewpoints absorb and throw away the bits that don't apply or work for you.

The most important thing is finding something you will stick with. You don't need fad diets of any sort. You will find by counting your calories you are drawn to the healthier foods anyway as these normally fit within calories better anyway. You can have a glass of wine or the occasional chocolate bar if you wish. Just remember moderation is the key

The two most important words in weightloss are 'Moderation' and' Patience' if you keep those in mind you will do well. Good luck and there is no reason you can't succeed in your goals feel free to add me if you wish (if not no problem)