Best 5 decisions

1. Tell myself "act like the person you want to be."
2. RESEARCH. SO MUCH RESEARCH.
3. Create small goals, revise as needed.
4. Learning to view my body as a machine that needs good fuel (vs. crappy fuel).
5. Portion control - everything in moderation so don't you dare forbid me from beer and pizza.

1. Use the kitchen scale and measure everything
2. Water beyond 8 glasses ( i aim for 12-16)
3. Not a diet, so don't treat it like one
4. Enjoy the food, any food as long as it is in your calories
5. Don't measure yourself against others, you have your own path

Rdsgoal16 wrote: »

1. Set my alarm to get up at 5 AM, 1 hour earlier than before, use this time to do 30 min exercise
2. replaced my recliner with a recumbent bike and taped remote control to tv to it.
3. bought a dog, she needs walked every day
4. Use MFP and watch calories
5. Joined the YMCA and started doing hour long group classes.

46years old, SW 299, goal weight 205, loss to date 41 pounds (in 110 days)

I love this post!! Back in December, I thought about getting rid of my couch so I would have room for a treadmill. Everyone thinks I am crazy! Lol. I joined a gym instead. Actually, currently I belong to 2.

1. Pre-log as much as possible, saves having to think for the rest of the day
2. Use my fitbit - even if I don't look at it much the fact that it's there keeps me mindful
3. Walking half of my commute means I get a really strong minumum amount of exercise without even trying
4. Some days I will be really hungry, and that's fine
5. Deadlines are not my friend - relax about the timescale it'll all work out!

Love it

These are all great, and very similar to mine.

My 5 best decisions:

1. I won't give up. A setback becomes ancient history if you get back on track and keep going.
2. I'm making lifestyle changes, I'm not on a diet.
3. I won't get too hungry (I eat lots of fruits and vegetables to stay under calorie limit without getting hungry.)
4. I will strength train.
5. I will at least MOVE my body 20-30 minutes a day. For example, a "rest day" still includes walking the dog for 20 minutes.

Oh, one more!
6. Bringing my water bottle with me everywhere has been a key habit.

Only 20 or so pounds out of 50 to go but here's mine

1. This truly isn't a diet, you cant look at it that way, if you do, once you lose the weight and stop "dieting" you will go right back to where you were before you started, look around MFP and you will see how true this is. This HAS to be a lifestyle change. That goes hand in hand with cheat days, if you aren't on a diet that means there's nothing to cheat on. If you feel like eating something unhealthy go for it, just don't blow a weeks worth of progress because you decided to live and eat the same way that put you here in the first place. In times that you have a huge calorie surplus, do everything in your power to be at 0 net calories within a week.
2. Don't listen to MFP calories for burn for most things, typically they aren't even close. "So and So burned 741 calories doing 35 minutes of cleaning" - Nope, no they didn't. A light 30 minute walk typically doesn't burn 400 calories even if this app says it does. When you want to burn calories, burn them, that means elevated heart rate and sweat. A heart rate monitor and a good app is vital for this. Always underestimate your burn, never over estimate it.
3. If the weight loss stalls there is typically a reason for it. Usually it comes down to not measuring or recording food good enough. Did you use butter to top of the veggies you had for lunch? Olive oil to fry eggs? How bout that glob of chipotle mayo on that wrap? Can you really eyeball one serving (30 grams) of shredded cheese??? Everything needs to be recorded correct when weight loss comes to a halt. When picking foods off of the list, make sure they are exactly what you are eating. Don't guess.
4. At times when the binge comes on for me is usually at night while I am watching TV. I can't satisfy a binge, I can eat and eat and eat and eat and by the time I realize what I am doing, I've eaten 1000 extra calories (minimum) and I'm still not full. Its happened before and it will probably happen again. Best way to get over those nasty cravings, hop on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Work up a good sweat and it changes my whole mentality, hop in the shower, have a cold protein shake for 150 calories to resupply from the treadmill and be done with it.
5. Make zero excuses as to why you are where you and, and make zero excuses as to why you "can't" lose weight. Unless someone has literally force fed you for however many years you have been old enough to make your own decisions, there is only one person that has put the spoon into your mouth. Its really easy to say that I'm big because I eat when..... Or I'm big because 2 years ago this happened... The truth is I'm big because for the last 10 years or more I haven't shown enough self control to not shove too much food down my throat and haven't worked out enough. It took me coming to this realization before I could even think about jumping into this with two feet and changing my life. I can't blame someone or something else for how I treat my own body.

Like I said above I'm only around 20 pounds down and just over 60 days into this. There are days where I have a deficit and days that I have a surplus. There are days when I just don't have the energy to work out and days where I do an hour and half of cardio. This is a journey of life and it needs to be a permanent change. These five things are the most important for me. If I had to add a 6th it would be all about how important meal preparation is.