What tip/rule has helped you the most in your weight loss journey?

~ Take progress pictures! They tell you the truth even when the scale doesn't seem to be telling you what you want to hear/see.
~ Drink LOTS of water
~ Weigh & Log your food
~ Pull out a serving when you eat something... don't grab the entire package.
~ Move more
~ Read others success stories and keep yourself motivated
~ Do it for you... not for anyone else.

As many have pointed out, a food scale for weighing, MFP logging and daily exercise have been critical to my success. I am in maintenance and continue to weigh, log and track making daily adjustments to calories and exercise to maintain a healthy margin. This is a lifelong commitment to success and not simply an end goal until achieving the desired weight. It is a lifestyle change. I have essentially been in maintenance since 2011.

In getting there, I think the single most important thing I learned to achieve desired results is to eat simple. Recipes can literally be a recipe for failure. If you want an apple, eat an apple, don't turn it into apple pie or apple crumble. If you want a potato, eat a plain potato (not loaded), not scalloped potatoes or French fries. If you desire a piece of cheese, make it a single piece and avoid the higher caloried mac and cheese or grilled cheese. If you are aching for a chocolate chip cookie, have a few chocolate chips instead. If the thought of pizza is making you salivate, try a Caprese tomato mozarella salad. There are always lesser calorie alternatives, The choice is yours and you are the only one with the power to make a positive change in your life.

I also eat 6 times per day, the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner plus healthy snacks between meals. This seems to work for me so I'm never feeling deprived or hungry. I am aware of the calories I consume as well as those I am expending. A good monthly group challenge on this forum is the UAC (Ultimate Accountability Challenge). It is an encouraging and motivating group of like-minded participants. There is still time to participate in this month's challenge. You might check it out.

Not cutting food I love out of my diet, but figuring out ways to make it fit. When I started working with a trainer and he was looking at my food diary, I was upset with myself because I had pizza and fries in one week. He told me to work on eating the way I plan to eat for the rest of my life, not just for right now. So, can I have pizza...sure, just not as often or as much of it (if I want to lose the weight and keep it off)

The most important thing I've learned in this journey is that weight loss is NOT linear. There are going to be good days, bad days and days in-between. What makes you a success or a a failure is how you react to them.

Check in here on MFP every day. Especially after a bad day.

Had to learn to be patient. Had to teach myself that losing weight wasn't a quick but a life change. That this life change is a marathon not a sprint.

The thing that helped me the most was to stop fixating on single items or incidents and just look at the big picture:

- One higher calorie day wouldn't make me fat, I log it and move on if it happens. I just need to be within my calories more often than not to lose weight. The stress of a guilt trip is more detrimental than helpful to me because it makes me prone to switching to "I don't give a *kitten*" mode.
- One unenjoyable exercise session I force myself to do wouldn't make me fit. If I can't keep it up it's not going to benefit me. I need to find something that I will be able to keep up.
- One less nutritious food means nothing in the scope of my whole diet. A cookie will not undo the nutrients of other foods.
- One very nutrient dense food is not going to make a difference to my health. I don't need to force myself to eat something I don't like just because it's nutritious.
- One higher number on the scale doesn't mean I'm gaining weight. Not fixating on natural fluctuation makes weight loss less stressful.
- Trying to force a rule on myself that is beneficial but requires too much effort is unnecessarily stressful and will make me more likely to quit. An example of this is protein intake for me, I can't sustain optimal intake, so I go for the highest level sustainable for me - about 80 to 100 grams.
- Introducing "low hanging fruit" changes that require very little effort is worth it, even if the difference they make is small. That small difference accumulates with no extra effort on my part. An example of this is switching from regular soda to diet. I don't drink soda often so the change may not make a significant difference, but I like the diet variety just as much, so why not?

utahjulia wrote: »

To me, I'm on a quest that I DECIDED to go on, not a journey. It's important to me in life generally to keep commitments, and completing this quest is a commitment I've made to myself. With that in mind, every choice of caloric intake and caloric burn is based on a committed decision I've already made.

Love your approach to weight loss. "Journey" always sounded too wishy-washy and not indicative of what I am trying to achieve. Commitment, quest, decided - action words that denote purpose.

Andia15 wrote: »

<snip>..."you can either let time pass and continue to do what you're doing and being miserable or you can let time pass while making changes and being happier in yourself but either way time is going to pass so make it count." <snip>

This reminds me of a quote I saw on somebody's profile, I don't recall who it was, but it said "A year from now you are going to wish you started today." Like you said, time will pass and it matters not what decision you make, so why wait.

I know I am glad I dropped the excuses, quite procrastinating, and thinking I was "just fine" and "i'm not THAT obese". 35 days ago I started, and I am glad i'm not sitting here wishing I would have started a month ago. Well said.

Recognise why you are overweight, get down to the very core that's making you eat non-sensible amounts of food that made you need to lose weight.

For me it was emotional eating and addiction, so my cravings worked around how I felt, and like an addict the worse I felt and the longer I went without bad food the more I wanted it. Then you get into a routine and your body wants bad food whether or not you've had a good or bad day, then you decide to make Fridays take away day and then you have 2 days a week you get take away. Then you realise you have no money for takeaways and get a giant bar of chocolate and ice cream and you can get a lot of that for around £15-£20.

The one thing that started my weight loss and I've lost 35lb so far is admit I was an addict, then researched the hell out of addiction and how to treat it.

I have just started ketosis diet or cold turkey as I call it, using shakes from exante with their total solution plan. I am not advertising them at all Its just who I use.

I am new to myfitnesspal and I have over 100lb to lose if you want to add me as a friend please do I look at this site daily for motivation.