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What Other Factors (Besides Nutrition) Help You Succeed?
Nova
Posts: 10,466 MFP Staff
WE WANT TO KNOW: What have been your personal keys to success? Can be anything from getting 10K steps a day to adjusting your sleep schedule. Tell us below!
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Replies
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Self-discipline.106
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Simplifying the process was the biggest one to me. As soon as I stopped worrying about eating the right foods or doing the right exercises I was able to make it work. I ate things I enjoyed that kept me full and did exercises I enjoyed.
Second biggest was to stop trying to lose weight so fast. Two pounds per week didn't give me nearly enough calories and once I decided on slower weight loss I was able to stick to it.309 -
Having a more positive outlook on weight loss helped me a lot! I felt so defeated at first, and really fought against my body. Once I stopped fighting it and started enjoying it, it really started to click! Also realizing that every meal and every snack is a chance to do better helped! It's not all or nothing
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Knowledge. The food planner aggregates and accumulates nutrition label information to provide me with the knowledge of what I'm doing to myself with food.45
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Being honest with myself - i.e. recording everything in my food diary even when it makes me cringe.
Forgiving myself if I don't 'nutrition' as well as I should and moving on. And remembering that this is a lifestyle, not a diet. 252 -
Is this a research survey? How is MFP planning on using this information?32
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I just started 40 or so days ago (13 lbs lost so far), so this is all new to me.
My answer would be knowledge and research.
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1) removing toxic horribly abusive people from my life
2) changing jobs
3) 10k steps a day
4) joining a gym and hiring coaches/personal trainers
5) MFP app using macros and going lowish carb high protein
6) daily vitamin
7) haven't watch TV in 2 years (except for seahawks at the bar)
8) learning to like myself and being alone
9)therapy
10) lots of self work374 -
Just plain old fashioned stubbornness. I made up my mind to do it after doing research and becoming convinced that this was the only really good way to get this accomplished. And I started.
360 days, -31 pounds, and counting.126 -
Simplifying the process was the biggest one to me. As soon as I stopped worrying about eating the right foods or doing the right exercises I was able to make it work. I ate things I enjoyed that kept me full and did exercises I enjoyed.
Second biggest was to stop trying to lose weight so fast. Two pounds per week didn't give me nearly enough calories and once I decided on slower weight loss I was able to stick to it.
This ... absolutely this! It isn't a race and I don't have a time frame. And being kind to myself, I have two kids (6 and 3) and a busy-ish home life so I do what I can when I can.
And my Fitbit ... changed my life and the first time I have consistently lost weight, even if it has been slow and small 87 -
I had to understand that this change was going to be for the rest of my life and not temporary changes. What is working for me so far are small changes, a couple at a time, that I can make work and then I add in a couple more. This lends itself to sustainability which is what I desire. Some people can change everything all at once, that is where I failed, because when it got hard I fell back into old bad habits. So far from my heaviest at the end of August I have lost right at 50 lbs. I still have about 80 to go, but I feel more confident that I will achieve my goal weight.112
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Having the will power and determination to do this getting closer each to my goal the road to success was never a easy Road getting closer per day though. I can and I will do this before the year ends I will be in better shape then in 2008-2011 six pack I.miss you your coming home.15
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After yo-yo dieting for several years I finally found MFP and educated myself about nutrition after reading through the community forum. Counting calories worked for me along with portion control and weighing/measuring all of my food. Logging everything is key along with moderate exercise (weights & cardio). I've been at a healthy BMI since February, 2015. I've lost between 51-53 pounds (fluctuations) and recently transitioned into maintenance. I continue to weigh/measure and log. It's all about balancing the calories in / calories out. As I lost weight, my sleep and general health improved a great deal. My personal goal is to reach a minimum of 15,000 steps a day or more if I can.
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My friends on my FL!10
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Simplifying the process was the biggest one to me. As soon as I stopped worrying about eating the right foods or doing the right exercises I was able to make it work. I ate things I enjoyed that kept me full and did exercises I enjoyed.
Exactly! Stuck to my calorie goal and ate what I wanted.
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Mindset is the biggest factor for me.
Resigning myself to the fact that this is for life, I have to eat moderate amounts if I want to get/stay healthier.
Clearly this is not a big revelation, I've always KNOWN this at an intellectual level, but haven't been willing to accept it and run with it.
Not that I'm posting a success story just yet (I'm back after a few years away from MFP weighing more than ever), but I feel as though I'm heading in the right direction with 2kg gone this month.71 -
Yeah, I stuck to my sleep schedule.21
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Staying insanely crazy hydrated. It helps my appetite, my cravings and my energy level tremendously. I've tried tons of homemade fresh infused water recipes like cucumber-lime, lemon-raspberry, mint-strawberry. I mixed them up so they're enjoyable and I don't get sick of them. My other favorite is iced green tea infused with coconut.90
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My personal key to losing 75 lbs was finding people here who actually knew what they were talking about.
Without their help, I would have had a much harder time of it, sorting through all the 'noise' to get down to the basic truth which is this:
Different diets or ways of eating are only vehicles you can use to get into a calorie deficit which is the one and only key to weight loss, and which applies regardless. You can eat in any trendy manner you like, if that's your thing, but unless you're also eating less of it than you burn, you won't lose weight. Conversely, if you lose weight on your diet-du-jour, there's really no magic involved - it just means that you were also in a calorie deficit.
Realizing this is the key to success and cuts through all of the derp and woo.
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- Making my health a priority
- Taking personal responsibility
- Researching what works for other people but tailoring that to me
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Taking the time to read and learn what needed to be done to be successful. It's not about fad diets, quick tricks, or restricting everything I love. The simplest approach works just fine, and I'm thankful for the many people who have shown me this.26
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Personal responsibility and taking ownership of my actions which led me to where I was, and realizing that I had all the power to fix it in the palm of my hand.
That and my trusty digital food scale, of course.41 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »My personal key to losing 75 lbs was finding people here who actually knew what they were talking about.
Without their help, I would have had a much harder time of it, sorting through all the 'noise' to get down to the basic truth which is this:
Different diets or ways of eating are only vehicles you can use to get into a calorie deficit which is the one and only key to weight loss, and which applies regardless. You can eat in any trendy manner you like, if that's your thing, but unless you're also eating less of it than you burn, you won't lose weight. Conversely, if you lose weight on your diet-du-jour, there's really no magic involved - it just means that you were also in a calorie deficit.
Realizing this is the key to success and cuts through all of the derp and woo.
So much this, too.
If it hadn't have been for certain posters on thelse forums, I would've never learned how to be successful. I'm not at my ultimate goal weight, yet, but I'm over halfway there, and I have those very knowledgeable people to thank for giving me the tools to get started.
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Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »Personal responsibility and taking ownership of my actions which led me to where I was, and realizing that I had all the power to fix it in the palm of my hand.
That and my trusty digital food scale, of course.
This.Taking the time to read and learn what needed to be done to be successful. It's not about fad diets, quick tricks, or restricting everything I love. The simplest approach works just fine, and I'm thankful for the many people who have shown me this.
And this.Simplifying the process was the biggest one to me. As soon as I stopped worrying about eating the right foods or doing the right exercises I was able to make it work. I ate things I enjoyed that kept me full and did exercises I enjoyed.
Second biggest was to stop trying to lose weight so fast. Two pounds per week didn't give me nearly enough calories and once I decided on slower weight loss I was able to stick to it.
And this.9 -
Figuring out that stress makes me an emotional eater.
Taking the focus off of a certain number on the scale and putting it more on achieving in the gym or the running trail.
Understanding the connection between how I fuel my body (what I eat) and how I perform in my workouts.45 -
Having a wonderful partner at home that goes to the gym with you and helps you make awesome, healthy meals. Support at home is #1.61
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CICO.
Not eating breakfast.
Planning ahead for meals out/events by banking calories.
Sleep.
10k steps a day.
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Realizing that if I wanted to have some reasonable expectation of a normal life while losing this weight I needed to stop lying to myself about how the choices I was making was influencing not just my weight, but my emotional well-being. I needed to accept that the weight was a symptom of so many other issues and that, while I could take the weight off without fixing those, I would still be a miserable cuss, just a thinner one.
Following the no nonsense approaches to weight loss that were sometimes less than gently explained here allowed me to get my head around all the lies and misrepresentations that are spouted by the diet industry and get to the heart of the fact that I have the control, I needed to learn to use it. While doing this, I worked on other aspects of my life that were out of balance.
While I'm only half way to goal, I am much happier with my life and I have confidence that I will get there and be better balanced for it. The friends I have made along the way are amazing and regularly make me smile. They also keep me focused and accountable, and send me hugs (not the creepy kind though) when I need them.59 -
I've lost 34 kg since April 2015.
How?
CI<CO... eating the foods I love within my calorie limit.
Not waiting for motivation... just doing it.
No excuses.
Science-based advice from Community unicorns.
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