What have you done to make this a lifestyle and not just a diet?

akelarae
akelarae Posts: 17 Member
edited November 14 in Success Stories
I'm curious to know how you have made this (with the help of MFP) a lifestyle instead of just another diet. I'm working on my mindset. I need to view things differently than every other time.
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Replies

  • tbeebe99
    tbeebe99 Posts: 5 Member
    ... I may reach an ideal weight but that's not the end game. Health and longevity are my desires.

    Well said.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Changed my eating habits and went from being a couch potato to exercising on the regular...
  • Spliner1969
    Spliner1969 Posts: 3,233 Member
    Adopted a permanent exercise program. Granted, when I was losing weight I worked out six days a week. I've now dropped that to five days a week, and might drop to four later but I will try to keep that schedule up as long as I am physically able. That, at least, should keep me in shape and able to eat enough daily to be satisfied.
  • PaulaS1220
    PaulaS1220 Posts: 61 Member
    edited December 2016
    The number one thing for me is to not make any changes I can't live with forever. So that means no "bad" food that I can't have. Nothing is off limits. This is not a temporary thing, it's supposed to be permanent, so I don't restrict anything too much. I drink beer, I eat pizza, I had cookies yesterday. It's just finding a balancing point where you can have the things you love, but not in excess. I also found a form of exercise I enjoy (running), which I think has made all the difference in my effort this time around.
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
    I have a very addictive personality, so in order to see changes in my weight I absolutely have to stay away from sweets and junk food. For me there's no such thing as 1 cookie :( I'm afraid that if I have something I used to eat constantly I will fall back into my old ways and eat like complete crap. The trick is figuring out your flaws and trying to fix them or find the right route for you. I am currently taking it day by day and focusing on what i eat for each meal vs thinking about long term results right now.. I feel this is what is going to give me A+ results.

    I have absolutely no self control with certain (lots) of food items - I absolutely refuse to buy those items and bring them home. I will eat them when out though, or if I can buy a single portion at one time (as in 1 cookie or 1-2 pieces of sponge candy from the bulk foods or patisserie sections as a treat). Or 1 ice cream cone from the bodega after a long run.
  • IremiaRe
    IremiaRe Posts: 801 Member
    I have focused on exercise, vs. diet. Healthy people exercise - whether or not they eat "clean" or lowfat, or whatever... Exercise is for life.

    I am trying to eat more protein and less carbs - but, I am not doing anybody's idea of "Low Carb" or even "Dieting." I eat tacos, I eat chocolate... Deprivation is bad... at least in the long term. I eat what I like - just less of it. If I am at the store - I ask myself... am I willing to eat lowfat cottage cheese for the rest of my life? If the answer is yes - then I go for it. IF the answer is NO - then I buy the full fat cottage cheese... I want nothing that I feel like I will ever "go off of" or stop doing. Whatever I am doing now is what I will continue to do for the rest of my life.

    Also - I am trying hard to be patient. I set MFP for 1 lb a week - and it allows a good amount of calories, especially with exercise, but, it takes FOREVER... so, it almost has to be a lifestyle - since it is going to take what seems like the rest of my life to get where I want to be... lol.

    You can do this... we all can.
  • kingleahnidas
    kingleahnidas Posts: 280 Member
    edited December 2016
    for me, these are the things that worked.
    • drink water. I am now addicted to water. I bring it everywhere.. shopping, driving, working, the movies.... everywhere.
    • eat when I am hungry. I know this might sound counter-intuitive, but my life changed when I started snacking at work. I would get headaches throughout the day because I was so hungry, and then by the time I had lunch or got home, I'd eat anything in sight. I of course bring healthy snacks to work. Usually banana, apple, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, baby carrots, sometimes a dip of hummus or homemade peanut butter. It helps me resist the endless office treats too!
    • set specific goals. In the past, my goals were "lose weight" or "get healthy". Now my goal is = lose 100 pounds in 1 year. I shoot for 2 lbs a week. I am almost 6 months in and 48 lbs lost, right on schedule. Non-scale goals are helpful too. My 2017 goals are: do a push up, run a 12min/mile, hike Camel's Hump, etc.
    • exercise after work. It took me all of 1 day to realize I am not the wake-up-to-go-to-the-gym type. I go on runs after work or lately I've been doing 30 day shred.
    • take walks at work. I try to do it every day. Come rain, come snow. I'll be walking my same loop around the office.


    good luck! you can do this :)
  • I learned to eat in moderation. Also I started to enjoy diffrent things I avoided before. For example I like the gym, long walks, brussle sprots, asparagus, rosted root vegstables, coconut and cheeros. Also I always count calories and just got a food scale that I love.
  • SiegfriedXXL
    SiegfriedXXL Posts: 219 Member
    106 pounds down so far and the biggest thing for me was figuring out why I was eating the way I was. Why I was relying on food as a coping mechanism. Once I started to address the problems underneath then it became easier to say no to overeating and start making small changes. Now it's largely a matter of staying the course and waiting for the weight to fall off. My life is much better now. My health is much better now. I still avoid some trigger foods but I feel I will eventually be able to incorporate them back into my life as my relationship with food continues to get healthier.
  • treehugnmama
    treehugnmama Posts: 816 Member
    I integrated exercise that I enjoy into my life such as walking on breaks at lunch, hiking swimming, just started karate...fun stuff.
  • didknot226
    didknot226 Posts: 19 Member
    I used to hate weighing myself. Now look forward to it every Saturday because I am doing intermittent fasting plus calories count that worked for my body.
  • keezo1
    keezo1 Posts: 204 Member
    I love to cook and i eat mostly homemade and i drink mostly water so for years i wondered why i kept gaining weight when i rarely ate "bad" foods. When i decided to lose weight i did a lot of research and realised it was not what i was eating but how much. I had no idea what a "serving" was. Once i figured it out the weightloss just started to happen naturally.
  • conor937
    conor937 Posts: 40 Member
    So nice to read all the positive changes people have made

    For me the most effective lifestyle change was tracking down delicious low cal recipes for dinners that i can batch cook and freeze in portions. Makes getting a healthy dinner so easy as i hate cooking a full on meal every night which used to result in eating nothing but junk. Now i do all the cooking in one go and day to day just stick a portion in the microwave and boil up some rice or pasta.
  • irishhealthy
    irishhealthy Posts: 2 Member
    edited January 2017
    I've a long way to go but what keeps me going is the goal of better health. Ive suffered badly as a result of being obese, inactive and making poor choices in life. Ive gone past the desire to look good and what really keeps me going now, is the thought that everything I put in my body, feeds every cell. So I'm logging and making healthy choices. Im in a mindset that putting rubbish in my mouth, has given me too many issues. Its a learning curve but the results are coming in with healthy choices, within my food diary limits. The weight is now coming off and my health is slowly improving.
  • KpopGrad92
    KpopGrad92 Posts: 93 Member
    I think with a lifestyle for me, I learned I cannot be in control of everything regarding my weight loss. Moving abroad really helped me with this. I can't control that most the restaurants here do not have calorie information, I can't control my boss having us work long hours and me not always knowing so I don't have something healthy. I can't make the people I travel around with have the some dietary guidelines for picking a place to eat. What I can do is make the best choices for me, plan for what I can, and enjoy my life in Korea regardless. I guess adaptability has been the key for me. I know this works because my first 4 months here I did not focus on weight loss and I maintained easily between 186-191 lbs. If you want it to last you have to adapt and if something goes wrong (binge eating, gain a few pounds, meal plan falls apart) you can bounce back and move on.
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