What Other Factors (Besides Nutrition) Help You Succeed?

gradchica27 · January 2017

Lost my pregnancy weight after my 4th baby the same way I did before--weighing and logging my food, being more active.

I lost an additional 10 lbs to be smaller and lighter than I've ever been as an adult by shifting my exercise focus from running to weight lifting (with cardio as a support, not main activity). To compensate for reduced cardio, I try to be more generally active--I aim for 20k steps a day. I like seeing my "earned" calories go up as the day progresses.

thoughtfulnest · January 2017

For me, exercise is the #1 element. So I want to feel and look better in my clothes? Yes. But at 42 and being a mom and role model, my priorities have shifted. I have a responsibility to let go of the habits of learned self-hatred and self-abuse and show the kids around me what it looks like to love my body right now, in this moment, the way I am.
I have suffered with anxiety and depression for much of my adult life and I've now found a naturopath who has put me on serotonin and dopamine and a natural Thyroid supplement instead of the synthroid that caused more problems had it fixed. This combination of supplements has enabled me to get off the couch and make exercise a priority and I have to tell you, once I'm doing regular, high intensity cardio, the other decisions start to change naturally after a few weeks. I drink more water, I make better food choices, and I'm mentally in so much better a place that I find myself getting excited and making plans for the future, as well as enjoying the "little things" that can seem grey when depression is not dealt with properly.

Exercise is the best antidepressant. Do some of us need other help? Yes. For me it's serotonin, for someone else it might be prescription mess or therapy or both...but exercise has been the catalyst for my 18 lb loss (so far) and I'm so happy to feel positive about the future again.

thoughtfulnest · January 2017

Sorry, that should have said "prescription meds," not mess!

scraphappysteph · January 2017

This app, my trainer and my fitbit.

grocksout · February 2017

I started drinking this detox tea and I really love it! I wrote a review about it on my blog... https://yourhealthyfriend.wordpress.com/2017/02/01/lose-weight-best-detox-tea/

smellwelsh · February 2017

Hi this is new to me but my brother absolutely swears by it. After doing ww and sw for many years and now realising these aren't for me! I hoping this is going to be more realistic for me!

yessie916 · February 2017

Consistency, consistency, consistency! Since I have made it a goal to exercise 4 days a week, I have stuck to it consistently for more than 6 months. Even when I have a bad workout where I just wasn't able to get into it, it makes me feel good knowing I stuck to my goal. Consistency is what has pulled me through and helped me lose 70+ lbs! This time 2 years ago, I was never exercising regulary so to me, making exercise routine is a big freaking deal.

clepant · February 2017

THE 12 principles I learned on my journey to a healthy lifestyle.
1. Diets don't work. If you go on a diet, you have to go off of it. Who wants to stay on a diet their entire life. If you change what you eat and how you live, it ibecomes a way of life.
2. Hold yourself accountable. Get a person to tell it like it is and won't buy your excuses. Fitness Pal is a great tool if you use ithonestly.
3. Good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones. Once you establish them they become a part of your life. Like brushing your teeth. You don't really think about it but you do it anyway.
4.The best piece of exercise equipment you can own is the one you will use. If you don't use it what good is it. My equipment is my walking shoes, running gear and my bike. I have a gym membership for lifting weights two times a week.
5.Portion distortion. Don't be tricked by size. We are a society of bigger food amounts are better. This where My Fitness Pal will help. It made realize that I was consuming too much food. Once I changed that my stomach shrunk and I could not eat as much. A new habit.
6. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! Drink lots of water. You are mainly composed of water. Your skin is the biggest organ on your body and it needs hydration. It also keeps you feeling full. I need it for running now too.
7. You have to walk before you can run. Take things in baby steps. Your changes, your weight loss goals, your exercise habits. You did not gain weight over night so you need to take it off slowly. You are more likely to keep it off.
8.Make time for you. You have to take time in your day to exercise. I squeeze it in, early morning, late at night, immediately after work.
9.Sleep is healing. When I am tired, I go to bed, when I feel a cold coming on I go to bed, when I ache, I go to bed. Science proofs that we do most of our healing while we sleep and rest.
10.Don't sweat the small stuff. Most of time stress truckers eating and bad habits. You can only control what is in your personal circle.
11. Abuse it and lose it. If you don't take care of your body with nutrition and exercise you will be heading for major health issues later in life. Diabetes, heart disease, arthritis all result from an unhealthy diet. If you go out to fast exercising, you only create injury and you will be put out of action until you heal.
12. Good health is empowering. It gives you lots of energy, it sharpens you brain, it gives you new freedom.

__TMac__ · February 2017

clepant wrote: »

THE 12 principles I learned on my journey to a healthy lifestyle.
1. Diets don't work. If you go on a diet, you have to go off of it. Who wants to stay on a diet their entire life. If you change what you eat and how you live, it ibecomes a way of life.
2. Hold yourself accountable. Get a person to tell it like it is and won't buy your excuses. Fitness Pal is a great tool if you use ithonestly.
3. Good habits are just as hard to break as bad ones. Once you establish them they become a part of your life. Like brushing your teeth. You don't really think about it but you do it anyway.
4.The best piece of exercise equipment you can own is the one you will use. If you don't use it what good is it. My equipment is my walking shoes, running gear and my bike. I have a gym membership for lifting weights two times a week.
5.Portion distortion. Don't be tricked by size. We are a society of bigger food amounts are better. This where My Fitness Pal will help. It made realize that I was consuming too much food. Once I changed that my stomach shrunk and I could not eat as much. A new habit.
6. Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! Drink lots of water. You are mainly composed of water. Your skin is the biggest organ on your body and it needs hydration. It also keeps you feeling full. I need it for running now too.
7. You have to walk before you can run. Take things in baby steps. Your changes, your weight loss goals, your exercise habits. You did not gain weight over night so you need to take it off slowly. You are more likely to keep it off.
8.Make time for you. You have to take time in your day to exercise. I squeeze it in, early morning, late at night, immediately after work.
9.Sleep is healing. When I am tired, I go to bed, when I feel a cold coming on I go to bed, when I ache, I go to bed. Science proofs that we do most of our healing while we sleep and rest.
10.Don't sweat the small stuff. Most of time stress truckers eating and bad habits. You can only control what is in your personal circle.
11. Abuse it and lose it. If you don't take care of your body with nutrition and exercise you will be heading for major health issues later in life. Diabetes, heart disease, arthritis all result from an unhealthy diet. If you go out to fast exercising, you only create injury and you will be put out of action until you heal.
12. Good health is empowering. It gives you lots of energy, it sharpens you brain, it gives you new freedom.

I'm quoting this in its entirety so we can all read it again. Excellent post.

domeofstars · February 2017

Using my exercise bike for one hour every day, no matter what and also doing 10000 steps each day (tracked on my fitbit).
Calorie counting- weighing all my foods and measuring all fluids so that I am taking in about 500 calories less than what I need per day.
Logging everything i consume on myfitnesspal
For the most part I am following the healthy food pyramid- which means five serves of vegetables and 2 fruits per day, low fat dairy, lean proteins like chicken, fish and eggs and low-glycemic index carbs.
HOWEVER if there is a food i am really wanting i will have it and incorporate it into my calories, or go a bit below my usual calories for the next couple of days.
Focusing on health is a big one. I don't want diabetes, heart disease or a heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol etc
Also fat photos of me at my heaviest has been a big motivator.

drabbits2 · February 2017

going to bed earlier--that way I am not up inhaling crummy food AND I make better choices when I am well rested!!

ValkyrieFury79 · February 2017

Taking the time to form good habits. 2 weeks makes a habit and I always say, "if I can at least stick with it for two weeks, it becomes so easy!" - that goes for anything - food, diet, or exercise.
I also need accountability. An online tool such as MFP and or WW - whatever- just something where I have to write down and see my food intake every day helps.

brookielaw · February 2017

-Tools: My fitbit reminding me to move every hour has been a definite helper. My competitive nature that makes me want to smoke my husband in weekly steps. A food scale (well, two--one that I carry in my purse and one that sits on the counter at home) definitely helps with portion control.
-Goals: Setting realistic smaller goals and writing them down so I can check them off as I achieve them has helped me get to 193+ lbs down to be half the size I once was. Saying "you've got to lose over 200 lbs" seems like an insurmountable challenge, but smaller amounts were easier to deal with and check off as I went.
-Qualities: My determination and refusal to give up when faced with challenges certainly help. Introspection to figure out why I am making a certain choice.
-Acknowledging that small choices add up
-Rewards: Sometimes for little milestones, sometimes for big events. I finally got my ring finger sized since I had to change my wedding band to my index finger. I have a sneaking suspicion my Valentines Day/Anniversary (day before) gift is also acknowledging the fact that I'm half the woman I once was.
-MFP. My MFPeeps are a huge help, as are these boards.

runawaysockppt · February 2017

I actually implement a bunch of very minor life hacks when I need to lose weight that consistently work for me. None of these make the weight go away super fast but they work over time and I'm a big believer in small, sustainable changes.

Diet
-Use many small plates for meals rather than one big plate. I actually found this incredibly helpful for portion control, way more so than measuring and weighing my food which always left me feeling kind of depressed and hungry. I learned this trick after living in Japan for a number of years. Of course, the downside is that then you have a lot of dishes to wash, but you can think of the after dinner clean up as a chance to burn a few more calories.
-Always have a small cup of broth based soup with meals (at least dinner if nothing else).
-Include one cooked veggie side and one raw veggie side in most/every meal. This can count for fruit too and is a great way to up fruit and veggie intake without thinking about it too hard.
-incorporate a variety of probiotic food, I usually go with yogurt, brined olives, sauerkraut, kimchi, salt-fermented pickles, and miso soup
-invest a day in making healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks for a week of eating. It's a pain, but it makes the rest of the week so much easier.

Exercise
-When I first start working out after a long time off the wagon (say, more than a month) I give myself a week to two week grace period where my only goal is to work out somehow everyday. The idea is just to remind my body what it's like to workout and get back in the groove, no crazy workouts that leave me feeling worse than when I started. Every time I do this my workout routine later on is much more successful.
-Strength training is key for me, it makes a huge difference in how much fat I burn over all.
-Find a fun/addictive TV show and only watch it when you are on the exercise machine of your choice.
-get up and move a little every hour, using a timer if needed.

saigrundy · February 2017

besides going to orange theory fitness every day it was meal prepping, honestly. once i got paleo meal prepping into my week the weight started coming off in new "stair step" decreases. meal prep was my portion control, but also kept me from starving through lunch and then eating a big dinner. I now eat a bigger lunch and smaller dinner. I wasn't losing that quickly when I was eating late, even if it was clean eating. meal prep containers gave me portion control.

follow some fitness and paleo meal prep folks on IG. it's so so easy and economical. i LOVE my prepped lunches!

i've lost 25 lbs net in a year.

Hello_its_Dan · February 2017

Over the past few years I've learned that unless you address the underlying habits that caused the current state, you cannot make long term change. So using Hebbs law, you find that when an impulsive thought pops into your mind triggering a negative habit, you recognize the thought then interrupt it with something that creates a positive habit. One that would replace the negative habit.

Hebbs law "Neurons that fire together, wire together."

"This clever phrase was first used in 1949 by Donald Hebb, a Canadian neuropsychologist known for his work in the field of associative learning. Hebb's axiom reminds us that every experience, thought, feeling, and physical sensation triggers thousands of neurons, which form a neural network."

AFGP11 · February 2017

I've learned that in my case this is all mind over matter. I just make myself stick to what I have planned even if I really don't want to in the moment. I spent so much of my life thinking that instant gratification is somehow a right and that it was soooo unfair that I couldn't live for it and also look and feel the way I want to. I had to break a lifetime of bad habits and bad nutritional education (provided by the US government in health class and college classes). Most of all, I had to stop thinking I was a special snowflake and start listening to the people who have actually been successful and maintained their goals. I used to be the one reading comments and rolling my eyes saying "Maybe for you, but I NEED to do it (insert diet myth here) this way because I am special and not like everyone."

Nope. I am. You are. Human bodies are not as varied as the ad industry wants you to believe. How you look is a reflection of what you put into that body and what you physically put out. Being overweight is a symptom of a larger lifestyle problem though. It's not a moral issue like some make it out to be and it is so liberating when you finally realize that weight, health and looks actually are in your control. Once you put in the work, you realize that it is also an accomplishment no one can take away from you. You can't beg, borrow or steal a healthy body. You must work for it so it will always be 100% your accomplishment. That drives me forward as well. I like being proud of myself.

Christylee76 · February 2017

My Fitness Pal and My Fitbit. Life Changers. Also getting down to the emotional reason behind the food binges...

rgrossma2016 · February 2017

Determination, daily excercize, and premium plan

What Other Factors (Besides Nutrition) Help You Succeed?

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