What is the one change you've permanently made?

Drinking mainly water instead of soda
Consistency with food and exercise, not perfect but huge change with this since 2013.
Doing what I want to do. -this may sound selfish but I used to be too much of a people pleaser, and took A Lot to change this

Not eating directly from the container (things like chips, nuts, snack crackers, etc.) But that was always the case with me and didn't keep me from becoming overweight, so it's really more of a pet peeve than anything, I guess!

Most foods you would normally munch directly from the bag or box are fairly calorie dense (which makes eating measured portions even more important).

I have not been on Mfp long, I just use it to count calories for our program at work. I used to use LOSEIT.

Changes made many years ago? Exercise. Every day. Intense cardio plus strength training. Been doing that regularly for 30+ years. Weigh every single morning. No excuses.

Changes made in the last couple of years? Water. Lots of water.

Weighing and logging - changed my life for the better. Its the tool I need to keep me on track - I cant eyeball stuff, I dont have that skill.

Exercise, good food choices, all of that. But, the biggest change I have made is to change the way I think about food and exercise. I now exercise and eat a healthy diet so I can live a long happy life. The other stuff, like fitting into a smaller pair of jeans is secondary.

Oh man, I've made a lot of permanent changes. Hard to name just a few.

Daily exercise

I eat Greek yogurt for a snack every afternoon

I eat several homemade salads a week

I eat out just as often, but make informed decisions and usually end up splitting a meal with my toddler so I keep my calories lower

I stopped eating Mac and cheese with my kids (even though it was previously one of my favorite foods) because such a small serving was too many calories and I was hungry all day

I eat popcorn and m&ms every evening for a snack, but they're weighed out carefully so a bag lasts me for a long time instead of a couple days

I can't think of a permanent change I've made since joining MFP.


I have been exercising since I could walk, and still do. Losing weight with MFP allowed me to get back into long distance cycling.

I've been eating a reasonably healthy diet with a reasonable number of calories most of my life. I gained a little bit of weight in the few years just prior to joining MFP because life was very unsettled and diet was the least of my worries, but when things settled down again, I joined MFP, resumed my normal diet, and lost weight.

Back in the late 1980s, I made the decision that I would rarely drink my calories. I was working for a donut shop then, and had gone up one uniform size. So I simply stopped drinking my calories, and lost enough weight to drop a uniform size.

My mother started feeding us kids "brown bread" back in ... oh, I don't know ... late 70s/early 80s. It wasn't the popular thing to do, but she was a nurse and had studied some nutrition and it seemed that brown bread was healthier than white. So I've eaten grainy breads since then.

Weighing and logging my food ... well, I've been logging my food on and off since the mid 1980s. Weighing it is a more recent thing, but not permanent because, after I lost the weight in 2015, I stopped weighing my food for 2016. I've only just started weighing my food again recently.

Not ordering soda at restaurants. I never really have any at my house, but I used to drink soda every time I ate out. Now I almost exclusively order water. When I do crave soda, I end up only drinking about half of it and not wanting the rest. Usually, I'll steal a sip of my husband's soda if I want any and that's enough for me.

Banking calories. When I know I have bigger meal coming I simply eat less during the day (or few days before) to have spare calories and truly enjoy food without worrying about weight gain. Seems very simple but it was game changer for me.

Lots of things. But one that will stick is no deep fat fried foods ever. After I stopped eating fried food, I realized how sick they had been making me.