Biggest advice from people who have lost 50+lbs
ElleBellesTheoBear
Posts: 67 Member
I'm asking anyone who has lost 50+ lbs to share your number one rule to weightloss.
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Replies
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Dont give up!
The process can be slow, frustrating, and mentally painful. You will likely break your eating plan multiple times. Every day is a new day, when it happens just get right back on the plan. If you dont give up, the weight will come off.28 -
Honestly, I've learned that losing weight has to be less about dieting and more about changing one's lifestyle. A diet implies a behavior that you start & stop... I just read an article in Prevention Magazine that said 95% of people who lose weight regain some or all of it. Hence, a lifestyle change is sustainable & health focused
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Commitment & not buying junk food when I go grocery shopping8
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I've lost 82lbs so far and I've been successful only because I stick to my calories and exercise whether I feel like it or not. Too many rely on this feeling of "motivation", which comes and goes with moods and stress. Nope. Consider it like going to work, paying the bills or brushing your teeth. You do it because you have to.46
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Have patience and don't dismiss small losses as "not losing weight." I think those two things have to go hand in hand.
Realize that "1-2 pounds per week is a safe rate of loss" doesn't mean that you can or should be losing 1-2 pounds per week, every single week. You likely will have an initial period when you lose more and then it will level off and that is completely fine and normal. So you might lose 3-4 pounds per week the first couple of weeks and then it can drop to 1.5 pounds and after a bit you average .5-.75 pounds. Over the long haul, it's still weight lost and at the end of a year you can look back and think of yourself the previous summer/Thanksgiving/New Years/whatever and remember how far you've come.15 -
I agree with most of thses, and just want to emphasize patience, it's easy to want to lose 2 lbs every week, but sometimes it just with happen but you might lose .2 and that's still moving in the right direction! Don't get discouraged!
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1. I weigh myself daily and log my food.
Though I have had periods of time (some of them long periods) when I didn't log food - the one thing that keeps me on track more than anything is logging food. I lost 70 pounds in 2007. Other than a seasonal weight gain of 10-15 lbs. in those first couple years, I've kept it off.
If I don't see the numbers, I get portion creep and I start blowing off eating my vegetables. Without logging, I'm just not very disciplined. It takes me five minutes a day and it is so worth it.12 -
Wake up
Show up
Never give up
If you apply this to your daily life, workouts, etc you will succeed!14 -
Ive lost 113 pounds and patience is HUGE. when you have a lot of weight to lose it can come off rather quickly at first, then it can slow down a lot so just dont givw up. And its okay to have off days where you arent perfect as long as you get right back on track Ive always just focused on the day at hand and trying to make good choices. 18
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Trust the process
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"Small daily improvements bring staggering long term results."--Robin Sharma12
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Stay on the program. Even if the scale mocks you and your family and peers point and laugh. Stay on the program. Stay in the calorie deficit.8
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- Enter your information into MFP
- Select sedentary as your activity level
- MFP will give you a maximum number of calories to work with
- Eat that amount or slightly less
- Stick with it
- If you exercise, log it, but under-estimate the time and intensity for a more accurate number of calories burned.
- Eat about half the exercise calories back
- Stick with it
- Go to your grocery store and browse the aisles reading labels and carefully considering all the options ... there are a lot of options available
- Experiment with foods to discover which foods have staying power and keep you full longer ... and which don't
- Stick with it
- But only stick with it for 3 or 4 months ... this is not a forever thing ... at the end of 3 or 4 months you can reassess the situation and decide if you want a short diet break or if you want to keep going for another 3 or 4 months
- Focus on other things ... start training to run a marathon or cycling event or kayaking race or something ... take night classes ... volunteer ... clean your house from top to bottom ... take up a hobby ... make your life about something other than food
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All of these insights are amazing♡2
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Log everyday, no matter what, as accurately as possible (weigh your food on a scale).10
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Never stop trying to meet your calorie goals. You aren't perfect and you'll have days/holidays/events that you will overeat. You just WILL. It's LIFE -- Enjoy those events!
The very next meal/day? Meet your goal. Again. Strive to make that goal every single day. Just do it and you will absolutely succeed!
This doesn't apply to just the losing-weight process, but to long-term maintenance success. Practice this from day= 1!!8 -
Planning, planning, planning. If you don't have a plan, you can't stick to it. This includes interim goals -- weight or fitness -- like run a 5k or lose 10 pounds by Thanksgiving. Research restaurant menus in advance, know what you're ordering and stick to it. For trips, search ahead for walking trails or daily fee gyms. Pack breakfast. lunch and snacks every day and only eat what you packed (I do it all on Sundays). Plan out dinners for the week so you can back into your daily calories. Follow a fitness plan, like 10,000 steps and/or Stronglifts 5x5. PLAN!!6
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Find exercise that you LOVE so that you can stick to it. For me, I switch it up: HIIT+Strength 3 days/week, Zumba 2 days/week, personal trainer 2 days/week doing conditioning and weight training. I did boxing for awhile (amazing exercise) until I injured my wrist doing something else. Also, for me I know that I can't eat carbs without gaining weight. So I track on MFP with the goal of keeping carbs below 50 net (carbs - fiber). Finally, I track my steps and do everything possible to hit 10,000 steps/day. But key is nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. All the exercise in the world won't make up for a bad diet. So find a program you like. For some people, it's limiting the variety (eating the same thing every day - not for me). I love to cook so I search for low-carb/high fat recipes and cook something new at least 2x/week. Good luck!4
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Just one? I'd have to say my number one rule would be to stick to MFP and avoid fad diets/pills/etc. MFP works. Trust the process.6
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Don't double down on a bad meal, bad day, bad week etc. Chances are good I will have times I will slip up and fall back into bad habits for a time period. That doesn't mean I am a failure. I have a problem with binge eating at times. I have actually stopped in the middle of it, thrown out the rest of what I am eating or at least not gone out and bought more which I have done in the past.
Try to find a way to stay positive, keep positive friends, and work hard to make new habits. Be sure to praise yourself for doing the right thing and not just focus on the negative.8 -
My biggest tip is - stick to the calorie limit. It doesn't mean giving up anything. You can eat goodies... just count the cals on them.
I never lost weight til I realized this, because I assumed I had to give up everything yummy that I loved. Once I realized I could still have it... the pounds started coming off. Which I never thought would happen! So if I can do it, you can do it!6 -
Determine the smallest number of changes you need to make in order to reach your goals, and make those into habits.6
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If you do a treat day do not allow it to drag into the second day, get that day done and the next day be very disciplined and get back to the diet.
As fast as possible is not always the best way4 -
saraht4392 wrote: »I'm asking anyone who has lost 50+ lbs to share your number one rule to weightloss.
Routine. Once something becomes routine it's easy. Weight loss is easy with the right attitude and routine. 120 plus down with 10 to go.8 -
So many helpful posts here. Thank you everyone 0
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Eat healthy and make sure it's something you can do the rest of your life.
The trick will be keeping the weight off.
I lost 100 lbs then gained it back and now have lost alittle over 35 lbs.2 -
I have lost 94 pounds out of the 120 pound goal I set. For me MFP and my food scale. The online support systems I have got. Also dedication is a big one. The first weeks when you get the big numbers from water weight loss is great. I lost 8 pounds my first week. 25 my first month. Then the numbers started getting smaller then stalled. I would have up to three weeks with no loss. Some weeks a small gain during TOM. You need to learn weight loss is not a down hill slope. There is downs, ups and straight lines. That is where dedication comes in. You may not feel like it's working but it will if you stay in your calorie goal.
Take pictures. Plenty of them. Going back and looking at them helps a lot.4 -
Namaste_Heart11 wrote: »Honestly, I've learned that losing weight has to be less about dieting and more about changing one's lifestyle. A diet implies a behavior that you start & stop... I just read an article in Prevention Magazine that said 95% of people who lose weight regain some or all of it. Hence, a lifestyle change is sustainable & health focused
^^ This nails it. Thinking of it as a "DIET" is like trying to hold your breath. Eventually you're going to need to breath. (If you made a bad food choice today, log it and then don't dwell on it. Just vow to make a better choice tomorrow)
Making a decision to implement a series of small lifestyle changes (around food choices and exercise) brings lasting results. Eventually, these healthy steps become habits and weightloss becomes a happy by-product of your new healthy lifestyle. Finally, for me, having a performance goal (like in running, swimming, weights) provides a strong focus and motivation once the weight loss goal is met. Weight management then becomes just another habit that helps in achieving my performance goals.
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drink water. a lot of water4
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Eat things you like. Don't eat things you don't like. And weigh your food as often as possible.4
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