What Other Factors (Besides Nutrition) Help You Succeed?

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.

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.

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.

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."

I was transformed by a health scare. A year ago I suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage - bleed in the middle of my brain, I almost died - but didn't. It wasn't until then that I realized one cannot take life for granted and I wanted to live longer, I woke up to my whole family surrounding me and realized they weren't ready to let me go. I totally changed my eating habits, my triglycerides were off the charts, bad blood, etc etc etc. After about six months I believe I had lost 47 pounds and all of the bad blood, all counts completely normal without medication. However I have lost so much and I am within a normal weight range, that my blood pressure medicine is really lowering my blood pressure, I may be taken off of that as well. I feel like I have accomplished something which I could only wish I could help everyone do. I never eat unhealthy foods, always only healthy stuff, no grease, cholesterol, etc.
Good luck to everyone in your journey - your health is worth the change

The nsv ( non scale victory) thread. I find it inspiring and reading that thread when I want a snack mindlessly helps me make better choices.

Periodic, short, dog walks. As they are Pomerainians.
Walking around Walmart or another store after having eaten.
I know many people see things as. "You have to burn heavy for progress." But the little things count as well. Mini walks helps with joints and aids in proper digestion.
And thanks to mini dog walks, our very old Pom of 13+ years was given about three months to live. That was roughly three years ago. Our vet is SURPRISED he's still living and healthy. He's had a type of mini stroke a few weeks ago, and his back legs are now stiff because of it, but he still insists on having his daily walk.