Share Your Best Advice

Being honest with myself.
Logging accurately, learning portion control with help from a digital scale.
Learning that I didn't have to be perfect just consistent.
Learning more about nutrition and fitness.
Setting realistic fitness related goals
Finding activities that I enjoy for me they are lifting, biking and a little running
Setting up good routines
Understanding I need patience it's not going to happen over night.

Those are the basics

I stopped obsessing over calories. I eat in moderation and I eat for my lifestyle. I do not starve my body just to lose a few pounds, like I used to do. When I'm hungry I eat. I use a food scale and its the most accurate measurement you can use. I workout 6 days a week, lifting heavy weights, because I love it. I am not afraid of bulking like a man, like many women are; it's a myth. If I go over my calories for the day, I don't throw my hands up in the air and give up or make myself feel like crap, nor do I exercise excessively just to burn those calories off. Life gets in the way, I move on! I am not perfect! These are the things I overcame!

Thinking hard before putting anything in my mouth...before eating anything i think about the calories, the fat, how i will burn it off later, what ill be eating later in that day...do i really want it or am i just bored? am i actually hungry?

i take the steps rather than the elevator each time, or i'll walk instead of run

having an active and bigger dog is the best! she's helped me so much because i need to run her and keep her active...she gets me out of the house, we go on long walks

CLEAN EATING has also helped me tremendously, as well as the smoothies i've created in my vitamix!


hope this helped !

for me, most simply It meant more to do well then not.

One day at a time, one pound at a time.

Exercise Is what I needed to be in routine. It was needed for my cholesterol levels. Its needed to be here for my kids.
More strength is needed to keep up now, and so I'm not falling and breaking at hip at 80 and basically 'taking myself out'.

It took me a LONG time to enjoy working out and being consistent. Its all about what works for YOU

For me, and this point in my life with two young kids, a job and business.... its home workouts done in the AM before everyone is up. Then the key was finding ones I LIKED so I was motivated to keep going.
Tape measure and pictures help.

Welcome and good luck on Your journey

Monitor how you feel and what you've eaten. If I don't eat the right amount of protein vs. carbs., I get light-headed or feel really hungry. If I eat protein and a little fat, I feel satiated and don't overeat. Find out what keeps you satisfied and get into a pattern that feels right for you. Repeat.

Log completely honestly and include every little morsel.
Love yourself first and foremost. Do this for you!!
Drink lots and lots of water daily.
Measure, weigh your food. You might be surprised.
Never give up. If you get stuck, press on!!
Get a good core group of friends to talk to and motivate each other. It really helps.
Eat your daily number and don't try to go as low as "you" think you can. It is counterproductive to starve yourself.
Move your butt! Daily. Get up and move, you don't need the gym, or a treadmill or barbells. Just move yourself.
Try not to eat your exercise calories unless you really need to.
Eat several smaller meals through the day.
Try try try to eat breakfast.
Limit eggs, red meat, deep fried foods, candy, chocolate, fast food etc. (notice I said limit, not eliminate. That is up to you)

Log accurately and consistently, and don't agonize over day-to-day fluctuations in weight. :flowerforyou:

Don't eat something that's not worth your calories.

Meaning, if you prefer chewy delicious freshly baked cookies to pre-packaged hard cookies, then stop eating the pre-packaged kind even if they're more readily available. If you really want cookies, take the time to bake them yourself (someone else used this analogy before. Unfortunately I cannot remember their username).

Stick to it and you can do it, one pound at a time.

Never stop working at your health, its the best thing you can do for yourself and for those you love.

Hi Tara,
If you're interested please see my post under the Motivation folder.
The post is titled "Find Your Motivation Now".
Hopefully it'll help you stay on track when times get tough.

Calories in versus calories out. No fad diets, in fact no diets at all, just a change of eating less while moving more.

Food scale and measuring cups are my favorite tools when losing weight. When I was "eyeballing portions" the scale would not budge or budged very slowly, using measuring cups, spoons, and a food scale helped me lose consistently while tracking.

When drinking alcohol stick to very low sugar clear liquors with seltzer water and lemon or lime wedges or red wine, I've found beer puts weight on me faster even if Im counting calories.

Learn to savor bites of sweet or very fatty things, I was really stubborn at first and was like if I cant have a whole piece of cake I DONT WANT IT AT ALL haha. Now, I can have three hershey kisses or a bite of cake and be very satisfied by that. You really dont need that many french fries, 4 or 5 will satisfy a craving.

The bulk of your diet should be fruit and veg. Use them often to bulk up meals like using thinly sliced cabbage with meat sauce instead of spaghetti noodles. Order that burger but get a salad on the side instead of fries. It's all about making good food swaps and compromises. Fruit and veg are your friends for weight loss against the fight with satiety eating low cal.

Exercise is helpful in weight loss but your diet is where the real work happens as far as actual mass decrease. I lost 30 lbs just counting with no exercise. You cannot out exercise a bad diet. So those cheese fries and beer you had on the weekend, you can't go on the treadmill and "work" those off. I am in the calories in calories out camp to some degree but I think eating foods easily utilized by your body for fuel that are highly nutritious are more important than simple math. Hormones are complicated and your body is not exactly like a furnace and from my experience, diet trumps exercise all day so if you need somewhere to focus definitely focus on what you eat.

It can be overwhelming, so I think the most helpful thing I did/do is "think small".

I always had an "overall" goal of getting into healthy BMI range, but that seemed so overwhelming when it meant losing 50 pounds. First goal was to get under 200, then 5lb increments after that.