Being successful and when it finally clicked?

The food never "clicked", the portion sizes clicked. I still have pasta, and cheese, and ice cream, but I have it in appropriate portions. American restaurants are so set for "quantity" that most people eat 2+ servings of food without realizing it, and I was so used to eating a lot, that even just cutting down on that is a major improvement. If I'm hungry, there may be a day where I go over 100 calories, and while that's not good, that's what happened, and I have to move on, and not wallow in what I did wrong. Still learning to wallow in what I did right.

As for the exercise, not a fan. I try and walk a lot, but I let winter (the dreaded cold) deter me. I have to do something I like or find a way to motivate myself. For that I like MFP challenge groups to give me motivation, and also Zombies Run, because it has a storyline to motivate me to find out what happens next.

I've always been great at losing weight. I don't know how many times I've reached my goal weight. It is the maintaining weight that was difficult for me.

Realizing that my perfectionism, which I had been struggling against since I was a child, was leading me to embrace cognitive distortions was huge for me. Once I was able to identify and acknowledge my faulty thinking, I was able to successfully work on changing those thought patterns.

Another huge shift for me was when I took the concept of losing weight off the table. I focused on how I wanted to live the rest of my life instead. What choices can I make to ensure that I remain healthy and active? I had lost weight successfully often enough in the past that I could trust that would happen as a side effect of choosing to be healthy.

These shifts allowed me to take the focus off of the numbers (that dieting mentality). It didn't matter if I lost X pounds in Y weeks - that was no longer part of my thinking. Instead, I focused on setting goals that would lead me to increased health and fitness, such as running X miles this week or limiting my eating out to once per month.

I had a health issue at work and had to be taken down to the clinic by co-workers were the doctor put me on a heart monitor for 72 hours. It also helped that when I looked down while working at my desk my gut was lying on top of it. I said enough is enough. Then after I cut out all the mountain dew , added water, and stopped all the overeating of processed foods, I stopped being in pain. My body did not ach anymore. I could workout and have the good ach not the bad, "I am not working out tomorrow!" ach. Most of all my clothes are lose again and taking the stairs is not so bad anymore. I feel bad when I don't take them. Oh and my gut is no longer hanging out on my desk. Jan 6 2016: 244 March 8 2016: 226.

ArtsieSarah wrote: »

Hi everyone, I was looking for HOW people were successful (some inspiration). When did eating healthy finally click and when did exercise become a daily routine? I'm struggling and want to know how everyone got to where they are today, thanks!

When I went in for my 38th birthday wellness appointment and my doctor told me that my blood work showed me heading down a very bad path that was likely to leave me very sick if not dead by my early 60s...that's pretty much where the rubber met the road and I realized that a lot of my bad habits and *kitten* living had caught up to me. Deep down I always knew it would...

Fortunately, my diet really only needed some tweaking...I've learned to cook back in college namely because I was broke and it was an easy way to impress the ladies...but I learned how to cook a lot of things using scratch, whole ingredients and always enjoyed eating healthy...it was just that my unhealthy eating outweighed my healthy eating...so I just flipped that around.

As far as exerciser, I grew up involved in all manner of sports from about 2nd grade through my senior year in high school...so training wasn't really something unfamiliar to me. Really, I just had to get back into the swing of things which mean that I had to push myself initially to go do stuff even if I didn't really feel like it. I started out doing a lot of jogging and calisthenics which I really didn't like too much, but I made myself go out and do it...

I got a little more twinkle in my eye when I joined a gym a few months into things and started hitting the weights again...I had forgotten how good it felt to push and pull the iron and to dip my hands into a bucket of chalk and to hear the sound of a heavy clean and jerk dropping to the platform. It was kind of like a home coming of sorts.

I still wasn't into my jogging, but I slugged it out anyway and in an effort to motivate myself I signed up for a sprint triathlon...as part of my training I had to start riding and swimming...boom, another little twinkle...I had forgotten how much I used to love to ride and as a former lifeguard and swim team guy I take pretty naturally to water. I never did end up participating in that race as injury prevented me from doing so...but I found a passion in cycling and doing a little swimming here and there.

Exercise wise, I'd say it took me about six months to really find my stride...but to find my stride I had to find my passions...cycling and lifting...and a little swimming to cool me down when it's hot....I also enjoy a good hike in the mountains. I run a little here and there because as a matter of general fitness I feel like I should be able to at least run a decent 5K...but I loath every single minute of it.

My road started somewhere are the 220lb mark- I'm 5'2".
Why have I been successful? because I stopped looking for fads, diets, quick fixes or magic pills. Things clicked when I stopped depriving and starving myself because I wanted to lose 20lbs in a few weeks time. It's just not reasonable, nor sustainable. I've done it and afterwards would put on more weight than I had started with.

I now lose 4-5lbs a month, I eat whatever, whenever. Pasta at 11pm? Does it fit into my calories? then Yes, Please! The weight started coming off and keeps coming off. I like moving now, my body anticipates me moving. Even at work, I get up from my desk every 1-2hrs and take a 5-10min walk.

I have also accepted the slip ups. When I have gotten away from things and the weight began to creep back. I acknowledged it and fixed it. I am now 156lbs and 20lbs away from goal weight.

For me, it was the realization that all weight loss really took was unflinching personal honesty. If you are honest about what you eat, and how much of it, and you are honest about your activity level, and you balance these two variables, you will lose weight. That is really all it takes.

Whenever I plateau for long periods, I realize that it comes down to not being honest. Maybe I didn't weigh some sauce or cheese; maybe I just guessed for a few days. It's hard to be perfect all the time, and that's ok. But if I want this to work, I have to be truthful (with myself!) about what I'm doing.

I never run out of "motivation" because I don't have any in the traditional sense. I made a choice to change because I didn't like being 190 lbs. Once the choice was made, I never went back on it.

When I realized eating better made me feel better, everything clicked! I honestly never realized the correlation between food and my weight or food and my attitude! Eating better quality calories and eating less makes me feel better and I can move my body without so much effort!