Dieting easier then you thought??

yeah its really not all that difficult. sometimes staying within my calorie allotment is though! lol

Awesome man. I think you are in the perfect mindset. You know what needs to be done and are just doing it. This is as it should be. You should not be struggling. Way to go.

I can very much agree with you!!! Never thought it could be this simple. Even though the excercise part I have not really incorporated I have adjusted my eating habits without any problem.

I was only slightly overweight (184lbs, 5'9") when I started and still lost 5.5lbs in 2 weeks. I'm happy and not looking forward to it slowing down, but it has been awesome and not difficult at all

it's easy if you don't think about it as a diet... think of it as you will be doing this forever, you just have to get used to it. stuff i used to eat everyday is stuff only eat once a month IF even that... eventually you won't even be able to imagine eating the way you used to.. just stick to it.

I think when people go on "diets", which encourage you to limit or eliminate a particular food/group of food, they find it more difficult to stick with it and struggle when it doesn't go as well. Or when they revert back to eating normally, the weight comes back on.

Most people here are in it for a lifestyle change, and most diets cannot feasibly be your lifestyle forever. A life without carbs? What's the point? :P

What I've discovered here is portion control, healthy alternatives and making conscious good-food decisions. I can still eat cookies, but now I know that I don't need 5!! And when you see the caloric difference between 1 cookie and 5 in your food diary, you start to re-think whether it's worth it

My weight loss has been slower than maybe it could've been if I'd taken up a 'diet', but I know these pounds and the knowledge I've gained from this are going to stay off much longer (or permanently!) because it's sustainable.

Well said! Coming from someone who a year ago would have SWORN I'd NEVER count calories, it didn't take long for me to admit that it is a HUGE help. It didn't make me diet or feel deprived or like I have to give anything up - it just makes me aware of what I'm eating and how to make better choices and what something will cost me. That awareness is really the key, for me at least.

You know what I like about this? (and I really don't have a lot of experience with the program cause I just started 2 days ago) The only one you have to be accountable to is yourself. There's no one telling you that you can do better next time, or trying to shove this kind of weightloss pill down your throat or that kind of stinking milkshake (eww) at you. If I don't get to my goal, or start loosing weight it's because it was that important to me. This sight has all the tools (from what I can see) in it to be successful, all it needs is someone to be motivated enough to make it happen. I look forward to my journey and am excited to see how it all turns out.

I has mostly been easy. I have had a couple of rough days, but I still never go more than 300 over. And that just puts me at maintainance calories, so the weight it just coming off, not gaining. It has only been about 3 weeks for me, I think? I have to look at that. But I have lost 6 pounds. I put my weight loss goal at 1 pound a week.

I just had to get to the mindset where I not just wanted to lose weight, but I had to have the mindset that I had to lose it.

I haven't found it difficult at all. Like some of the others said, I don't look at this as a diet but changing the way I eat. I am a serious foodie, so I'll never get on board with something that focuses on what I can't have. I'm using the calorie counter as a tool to be smarter about how much I eat. For instance, before MFP my typical weekday lunch was a sandwich, a can of soup and a 1 oz. bag of chips. When that one meal showed up on the counter as being around 900 calories it was a no brainer for me to make changes. Now I'll have either the sandwich/chips OR the soup with a salad...a small change that cut my lunch calories in half.

I'm only 3 weeks into the program but aside from my Sunday "cheat days" I haven't gone more than 100 calories over my daily allotment (this includes the exercise calories), and there have been a few days that I finished under. I miss grabbing a handful of cookies just because, but surprisingly I am doing just fine having just 1 or 2.

I am finding exercise easier than I thought, but weight loss much much harder. Ie, it just isn't happening, despite eating super healthy, and with a decent deficit.