Have you found the secret?

The secrets that are working for me:

1. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

2. If you aren't already using one, get and use a food scale. Weigh all solids. Measuring cups/spoons are not accurate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

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

4. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

1. Log your food as accurately and honestly as possible - If it goes in your mouth it gets logged good, bad and the ugly. While you are starting just worry about the calorie number once you get good at logging then start looking at protein, carbs and fat. Keep it Simple. If you don't have a medical condition that you have to monitor your sugar intake don't even bother tracking it.

2. Get a digital food scale they are very inexpensive and probably my greatest investment. This will help you learn portion control, which helps with being able to eat in moderation.

3. Understand that this takes time, so being patient is good!

4. Understand that weight will fluctuate all the time, don't let your emotions get tied into the number on the scale, the scale is just one of many tools you will use to gauge your progress. My favorite ways to track progress: Fitness Goals, Progress Pics, Measurements, how my clothes fit, and most importantly how do I feel.

5. Strive for consistency over perfection, if you make 80% good choices the other 20% don't make too much of a difference.

6. Remember weight loss comes from a calorie deficit, don't make it a huge deficit, keep it reasonable and remember any change you are considering making.. Ask yourself "Am I willing to do this for the rest of my life?" If the answer is yes, then go for it, if the answer is no then start thinking about why you are considering this change.

7. Find an activity and/or exercise that you enjoy and Get up and MOVE!

8. STOP LOOKING FOR a secret or magic pill - Calories in vs. Calories out keep it simple it works!


Bonus Point - Eat Ice Cream nightly

eat less that you burn

Portion control and hydration.

1. A scale. It is very important to weight things.

2. Make a plan. It doesn't have to be anyones else plan. It has to work for YOU. 5-6 meals a day, 3 meals and 2 snacks, 3-4 small meal and a huge dinner, it doesn't matter. It has to work for you and your lifestyle. You have to be prepared 99% of time to follow it. Keep your ingredients and recipies at hand.

3. Make a lifestyle. If you can't do it for your life, you'll get back to being fat.
Don't follow diets. Follow a lifestyle.
Maintenance has to be only a period of time when you eat a little more and overindulge a little more often.
A lifestyle should bring health and equilibrium to your life in the end. It should be easy to follow. It will keep you at bay with your weight.

4. Have patience.
It takes time. To change minds, to change life, to change what you eat, to change what you exercise.
You will plateau many times before you get there. Weeks, maybe months.
If you don't have the patience you will fail at some point.
Having a lifestyle rather than a diet it's also a good patience boost.

5. (and the classic MFP) eat less than you burn.
And my personal advice: don't eat too less. You cannot build healthy lifestyles with 1000-1200 calories a day. But you can build a healthy eating along with losing weight at 1500-1600 calories (at an average height and if you don't sit on a chair all day).
I personally had a great success with losing weight at 1700-1800 calories. And I could do this for all my life with no regrets. Because I have a lifestyle now, I'm not just pushing things down my throat to make me feel filled.

Overall scale readings have to be steady or minus .2, otherwise you are underestimating. This simple strategy makes a huge difference when you have the last 5-10lbs.

Of course I try to measure too.

For me it is all about planning. Plan your meals a week in advance... Then eat your plan... Evernote is a great App for this.
If you fail to plan... You are planning to fail.

The secret is that there is no secret!

In my experience, it's about weeding out habits that get you further away from your goal and replacing them with good ones that get you closer to your goal. It's also about "stacking" good habits on top of one another day after day...'cause they're habits and not a secret nor a magic bullet!

Everything that previous posters have already mentioned are all great habits and they are almost all "stackable." For example, you could commit to the habit of logging your food every day....even if you do nothing else, you could start there. How could you know what aspect if your nutrition needs changing if you don't log it?

Then, for example, once you've got that "logging" habit going strong, then commit to a new habit perhaps by swapping out a food that you tend to eat on the regular that moves you away from your goal with something else that will move you forward. Then repeat that until it becomes second nature to you.

Notice that I didn't say "immediately swap out *all* the foods"...just "a" food. The point is that it needs to be sustainable and it needs to make sense for you. In this example, you could continue making better (and better) food choices *all the while* still logging everything (since that was already a habit). Then one day, you could introduce an exercise program that you could do just as part of your normal routine. And then, when the time is right, up the ante and make it your habit to work out harder or longer or on more days, and so on...

Everyone is different. Some people shouldn't even start with counting calories. If there's genuine confusion about good food choices, why start there when so much more progress could be made by, for example, weaning oneself off of a diet rich in processed foods? Or maybe someone makes excellent food choices but hasn't yet started a fitness habit yet.

For me personally, the secret is constantly inching forward by creating MANY small, new habits that are compatible with my fitness and body-composition goals. I've noticed over time that by approaching my goals this way, my goals have changed quite dramatically over time. I hope this helps!

Getting rid of processed foods in favour of whole foods (the stuff without an ingredients list)
No more sugar! (Refined sugar, not this fairy-tale "sugar food group")
Heavily limit my starches and natural sugar sources (aka fruits, berries, potatoes, rice, etc)
Eat as much high fibre, low carb veggies as I can stuff into my hole
Eat animal fats and no processed fats (no oils, margarine, etc)
Try to maintain a calorie deficit of -500
When hungry between meals I fill up on fibre, if that doesn't do it I fill up on animal fat (like heavy whipping cream)
Water
Water
Water

I lost 12lbs in 5 weeks.

No.

The "secret" is that there is no secret. There are no gimmicks, magic pills, etc. that will help you lose weight. You need to want to change your old habits. Once you're ready for your new healthy lifestyle and you embrace it wholeheartedly, that is when the pounds will melt away...seriously.

Some tips that have helped me include:
-planning meals in advance (I log everything in advance on MFP)
-not skipping meals (this might be ok for some people, but I tend to just overeat later on)
-being active every single day (even if it's just a short walk or quick yoga break)
-replacing unhealthy foods with healthier versions - I realize this one might be controversial, but I personally am not able to eat chips and things like that in moderation. Some people can, but I just can't. I eat homemade baked kale chips when I'm craving potato chips and drink herbal tea after dinner when I'm craving something sweet. That doesn't mean that I don't eat treats every now and then, but I definitely don't have them as regularly as I used to.
-And finally, if you fall off the wagon, whether it's for a snack, a meal, or even an entire month or two...just get back on!!