5 Tools to Lose All the Weight You Want Happily

I just joined this site a few days ago. I've been losing weight for a long time now (over 50 pounds lost so far, and still going) and thought these might help those of you stuck in a rut or just looking for a push.

1. Honesty

Admit there is a problem
-Your body can be like a restaurant ordering much more food than it sells.
-Your body can be like a car at a gas station, and you’ve filled the tank to the point where gas is spilling out all over the ground.

Admit there is a solution
-There is no shame in the restaurant manager ordering less food, nor the car owner skipping the gas station when the tank is full. It is just a regular problem to solve.
-Weight loss is not only possible, it’s actually doesn’t even require you. The body does it naturally. Weight gain, however, usually does require you.

Decide on a healthy timeline
-1% of body weight a week is a healthy rate to follow. (this will change as you lose weight)
-If someone is overweight for decades, they have decades of habits to change.
-Your target weight may not be reached for years, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
-If you lose weight too quickly, it can cause eating disorders, health problems, and excess saggy skin.

Assess your level of determination
-Everyone wants to be determined around the clock, but that’s simply too demanding for most people, including myself.
-No one is forcing you to cut out your favorite foods or to exercise all day.
-No one forced you to gain more than your ideal weight in the first place.
-You are the sole solution to your problems. The best part is that you can choose to help yourself or to take a break whenever you want.
-You could think of it as choosing to lose weight because you want to, or you could think of it as choosing to free yourself of the burdens of being overweight.
-Remember you’re not a bad thing to be made good. You’re an artist trying to express themselves through the art of weight loss. You’re not supposed to be great at it automatically. No artist paints a masterpiece their first time painting. Practice always makes perfect.



2. Diet Changes

The meaning of Diet Changes.
-The word “dieting” has a pretty common negative connotation. It reminds people of what they view were their past failures.
-The main definition simply means the list of foods one eats. A cat’s diet is cat food, and a pelican’s diet is fish. If pizza was all you ate, you’d be on a diet of pizza. There’s no negative meaning there.
-“Diet changes” can mean whatever you want it to mean. It could mean eating less carbs or fats, it could mean becoming a vegetarian and never touching meat again, or it could mean simply eating less at every meal.

Take control of your calories.
-The simplest and easiest way to lose weight is to keep track of how many calories a day you eat.
-Everyone has a specific number of calories they can eat to lose weight. This number can vary by weight, gender, height, and age, but you can get a pretty good estimate from simply searching online or asking a doctor.
-As you lose weight, your metabolism will slow down. This means that as the pounds shed, so do the amount of calories you can eat a day to lose weight. Be prepared to eat less and less food as time goes by.
-If you’re too lazy to add calories, you’re too lazy to subtract pounds.

Start logging all the food you eat.
-Food journals are a great way to do this, even if you just jot down the number of calories in each food.
-If you like restaurant food, you can search online and find the calories in your favorite menu choices. Be prepared for a shock though.
-Food journals and logs will become unnecessary over time. The goal of using them is to help you become aware of how many calories you consume a day. Eventually you'll be able to just do this in your head. After all, who wants to write everything they eat in a journal for the rest of their lives?

Learn to cook at home.
-Restaurant food is notoriously high in calories.
-You can find an almost infinite sea of recipes and cooking directions online for any meal.
-Cooking gives you the power to make your meals as flavorful and filling as you want, and complete control over the portion sizes and number of calories.
-Remember that spicy food is very fulfilling, while salty food tends to make people feel hungrier.





3. Exercise

Working out doesn’t cause much weight loss.
-The truth is, working out is one of the healthiest things you can do with your free time. That being said, it also doesn’t help much with weight loss.
-If you go on a walk for an hour, you’d only be burning around 200 calories, which is basically two slices of bread. Don’t rely on it as a calorie-burner.
-When you start losing weight, the metabolism slows down. Exercising helps boost it to a higher speed. This doesn’t exactly help you lose weight, but rather, if you are losing weight, a faster metabolism helps you lose it quicker.
-Also, exercising has shown to be tremendously helpful to keeping people healthier and even happier than they would be without it.

Start small
-Everyone seems to think that after years of inactivity, they should be able to jump off the couch and run a mile.
-Instead, try walking a mile in 30 minutes.
-Try to find a close and convenient environment that you find particularly easy, fun, or beautiful to walk through.
-Over time you’ll notice your leg muscles getting stronger.
-When your normal routine doesn’t feel quite as beneficial as it first did, try walking farther or faster. Eventually our muscles get used to our routines and need a little extra push.

You don’t need to pump weights every day look your best.
-Weight loss relies much more heavily on calorie intake than on exercise.
-Exercise is still very important. It will help you gain muscle, become stronger, be healthier, feel happier, sleep easier, and feel more accomplished about your weight loss.

4. Awareness

Think of every bite as an accomplishment
-People tend to think of food as the enemy when they’re trying to lose weight.
-Food is a necessity. It nourishes our bodies with vitamins and energy that we need to survive. There is nothing bad about food.
-Think of every bite as being one step closer to your daily calorie goal. Food is never wrong or bad. It is simply an object. You can think of it however you want, so why not think of it as a friend?
-Slow down while you eat. Always swallow your first bite before taking your second.

Notice your full stomach.
-The stomach has a hard time communicating with the brain.
-It can take over half an hour for the brain to recognize a full stomach.
-Even then, stomachs usually feel empty or stuffed, and rarely ever feel “just right.”
-Instead of relying on your stomach to tell you when you are full, declare yourself full as soon as you eat the last bite of your meal.
-Drink plenty of water before, during, and after meals, as thirst is often confused with hunger.

Eat with a clear mind.
-Food can be a trigger for a lot of emotions. Whenever you find yourself in an emotional position while eating, try to remember food is meant to be enjoyed.
-To enjoy your food even more, try cooking your own meals, eating on dinner plates, not watching television while you eat, and only eating at the table.
-A lot of people claim to be addicted to food. I used to think I was. What I learned was that I didn’t actually care at all about the food. I just was addicted to taste. I was addicted to the sensation of eating tasty things. This helped me see food in a more accurate light. Food isn’t around because it’s tasty. Food is around because we need it to survive. As delicious as ice cream is, it still serves the same purpose to me as cat food does to a cat. In light of that survival purpose, ice cream is actually quite useless and unnecessary.
-Being addicted to the sensation of eating is just as unhelpful as being addicted to anything else. You may have to overcome this addiction just as I did. If you’re addicted to the sensation of eating, it can be just as detrimental to your health as being addicted to drugs or alcohol. It’s important to admit and accept your addiction. After that, all you have to do is try to be aware of it and keep it under your control. Any time you feel an urge to eat while you’re not hungry, remind yourself the urge isn’t for food. The urge is for taste. Instead of eating, try chewing sugar free gum or brushing your teeth.

Exercise with a clear mind.
-Many people use the time they exercise as a time to think about what they need to do that day, to listen to music, to talk to friends, or to watch television.
-Stop distracting yourself and try to experience every moment of your work out.
-Distractions will only cause you to devalue your workout. After all, if you do these things, you’re essentially saying that workouts are less important than the distractions.
-As you breathe in and out while you exercise, mentally say the words “in” and “out” with each breath. This will keep you in the experience of the workout, which will later make it feel more important and fulfilling.

Be aware of your weight loss
-It’s important to note, at least mentally, every pound you lose as an accomplishment. No matter what your goal is, losing a pound is always a step in the right direction, assuming you're doing it in a healthy time-frame.
-As you lose weight, remember your metabolism will slow. You’ll need to lose weight slower and consume fewer calories as time goes on.
-Weigh yourself every day, first thing in the morning, and you’ll be able to make small corrections if you notice weight gaining.
-If you’re easily discouraged by weight gain, still weigh yourself every day. This will help you get used to weight fluctuations as a natural part of life. If you weigh yourself once a week and you gain weight, you’ll be left guessing what days and what foods might have caused the gain. Take out the guess work.

You will make mistakes
-There are certain times of year everyone’s loosened their belts for.
-If you end up gaining weight, don’t take it as a personal failure. Think of it as just moving slightly farther away from your goal.
-You have your entire life to finish this race. If you’ve gained weight, all you’ve done is taken a few steps backwards. In the grand scheme of things, nothing can even come close to stopping you from crossing your finish line except your own discouragement.



5. Laziness

Take a day off
-Take one day a week off from dieting and exercise.
-Will power works like a muscle, and if you strain it every day, you’ll become exhausted from your own routine and give up.
-Use your day off to eat your favorite foods.
-Keep in mind weight gain is much easier than weight loss. Even on your day off, don’t eat on a full stomach.

Stop listening to other people’s advice
-Everyone has different body types and metabolism speeds. What works for one person will not work for all.
-Preplanned diet and exercise routines assume everyone loses weight the same way, and that everyone wants to lose weight the same way. Don’t be discouraged that someone who doesn’t even know you or your body type gave you advice that didn’t work.
-People love giving advice. It makes them feel more worthy and accomplished. That being said, it’s usually best to just let them talk and ignore what they say. You’ll be much happier by finding your own path to weight loss.
-Exercise and eat how you want, but don’t be ashamed or afraid to make some adjustments if you’re not headed in the right direction. That’s all weight loss is.

Enjoy your favorite foods
-There is no reason you can’t continue enjoying your favorite foods.
-It’s very important to watch your portion sizes. It’s almost shocking how many calories are in common foods.

Try to avoid sodas
-A lot of people really love drinking soda, but don’t realize how unhealthy it is.
-The main ingredient in all drinks is water. So why not make things simple and cut out the expensive flavoring and carbonation? Water is all you need to survive, and soda is all you need to gain weight.
-If you absolutely love soda, try substituting water every other time you want a soda. You’ll only be drinking half of your regular amount of soda.

Rest for 30 minutes after eating.
-This will give the stomach enough time to tell the brain it is full, which will reduce overeating.
-If you choose not to do anything for a half hour after eating, you’re choosing not to eat any more.
-Many foods can actually make us feel hungrier, so drink lots of water in your 30 minutes of rest to wash away the tastes and to fill your stomach with something.
-Desserts, as addicting as they can seem, are completely unnecessary. There is no basic survival need for desserts. Resting after every meal will help you skip right over them. You can always enjoy them on your day off.

Stop looking in the mirror for improvements
-Our own body images take much longer to change than our actual bodies. This means if you’re losing weight, you’re not going to be able to see it by looking in a mirror every day.
-Bodies will always change slower than we would like. So instead of counting on your looks changing, just look forward to the scale changing.
-If you want to know where your body is thinning, try simply feeling the skin over your bones with your hands. You will notice them getting more and more boney as time goes by.

Use leftovers as a way to take a break.
-Using leftovers will save you money, cooking time, and will keep your portion sizes down.
-Eating a big meal in one sitting is much less fulfilling than eating it over two or three.

Weight loss is fun.
-If you’re losing weight and you’re not having fun, something in your routine should be changed.
-Losing weight is not difficult. The hard part is staying patient enough and determined enough to lose weight.
-Every time you find yourself discouraged, it’s not because of your weight. It’s because you’re taking weight gain as a sign of failure. There is no failure. There is just your life. Don’t let a few pounds influence you to give up living the life you want.
-Every meal is a chance for you to lose weight, and it’s a chance you’ll love yourself for taking.