What’s the most important thing you learnt about your weightloss?
Iffiormana
Posts: 244 Member
The title says it all.I have been fat my whole life,I have lost up to 70lbs in college and then again few years back I lost tons of weight.
I have done all kind if fad diets,drank all the apple cider and green teas, starved myself or became bulimic but at age of 28 I realized teo most important things that how could I loose weight.
1) keeping my calorie intake less,starving never helps but you can go a long way if you eat but eat less than the required caloric amount.
2) don’t be a couch potato and hope that you would loose weight.Now I’m walking minimum of 10K steps daily and my weight is melting off.
It took me so dang long to realize this but I’m glad that I’m on the right path now.
What did you learnt while being on this journey? What helped YOU the most?
I have done all kind if fad diets,drank all the apple cider and green teas, starved myself or became bulimic but at age of 28 I realized teo most important things that how could I loose weight.
1) keeping my calorie intake less,starving never helps but you can go a long way if you eat but eat less than the required caloric amount.
2) don’t be a couch potato and hope that you would loose weight.Now I’m walking minimum of 10K steps daily and my weight is melting off.
It took me so dang long to realize this but I’m glad that I’m on the right path now.
What did you learnt while being on this journey? What helped YOU the most?
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Replies
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Things I learned
(.) you can lose weight eating over 2700 calories, ( as I’m doing right now flawlessly )
(.) more cardio in the gym doesn’t necessarily mean more weight loss
(.) you can still eat your favourite junk food and lose weight at the same time, if you’re craving feed the craving but control yourself
(.) healthy fats are our friend 😂8 -
I learned that when people achieve a certain level of weight loss and fitness success, some of them think they've discovered some universal secret and begin proselytizing. There is a lot of variety among people and each person's genetic makeup matters.10
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I've learned that weight loss comes down to calories.
You don't need to go low carb or whatever the fad diet of the week is. Just create a calorie deficit.22 -
I learned that it's a lifetime commitment that I will have to stay on top of for the rest of my life. (2 lbs from goal) It's all too easy to go back to old habits. I learned you don't need to workout like a beast if you put more focus on the food side of it. I learned working out can be fun if you find the right thing for you. I learned that mixing up exercise works best for keeping my boredom away.
I learned that if I can do this, anyone can!12 -
People do treat you differently depending on your weight.
Stores will never carry your size, no matter what you weigh.
You can't win for trying. Doctors told me for decades to lose weight, so I finally lost it. My current GP thinks I have an ED.
Weight loss will not fix your problems.17 -
That losing weight doesn't always go the way I "think" it should. I've learned to be patient, don't rely only on the scale to judge your progress!8
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That losing weight is not the focus and should never be the motivation. Getting healthy and feeling healthy is the goal. The numbers on the scale are only a plus to the journey.4
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For me:
Eating some foods make weight loss much harder for me. It's easier to avoid them.
Don't expect to stop doing whatever led to weight loss without weight regain. If you go back to how you ate before, you will regain.
YMMV4 -
It's a lifestyle change. Never stop goal setting. Be prepared to lose friends & be ok with it. It is a LIFE LONG process.5
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For me, prelogging is one of the top things I need to do.
Also, looking back at younger, super thin me and my habits was a real eye opener. As I got heavier, I was like 'but I'm eating the same things and I never worked out!' But I DID just not officially- I'd walk several miles a day, do cheerleading, hiking, always moving or I'd eat junk but I was honest about what I liked (frosting but no cake, or roasted veggies but not bready stuff) instead of eating whatever was offered. I'm getting back into that lifestyle and I think that'll make it feel like less 'effort' and more fun.3 -
This was me few months back,oh I was doing ok in university life but now I’m gaining weight,I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.But in university I used to walk a lot with tons of stairs, won’t eat anything all day long with hectic schedules or eat under my caloric goal.Now I’m just lying in my bed,eating chips,watching Netflix and expect my body not to store fats.generallyme2 wrote: »For me, prelogging is one of the top things I need to do.
Also, looking back at younger, super thin me and my habits was a real eye opener. As I got heavier, I was like 'but I'm eating the same things and I never worked out!' But I DID just not officially- I'd walk several miles a day, do cheerleading, hiking, always moving or I'd eat junk but I was honest about what I liked (frosting but no cake, or roasted veggies but not bready stuff) instead of eating whatever was offered. I'm getting back into that lifestyle and I think that'll make it feel like less 'effort' and more fun.
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Diets do not work. While on them, sure you'll drop weight, but when you stop (reach a goal), u less you've changed your lifestyle - the weight comes right back on.6
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iffsandbutts wrote: »
This was me few months back,oh I was doing ok in university life but now I’m gaining weight,I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.But in university I used to walk a lot with tons of stairs, won’t eat anything all day long with hectic schedules or eat under my caloric goal.Now I’m just lying in my bed,eating chips,watching Netflix and expect my body not to store fats.generallyme2 wrote: »For me, prelogging is one of the top things I need to do.
Also, looking back at younger, super thin me and my habits was a real eye opener. As I got heavier, I was like 'but I'm eating the same things and I never worked out!' But I DID just not officially- I'd walk several miles a day, do cheerleading, hiking, always moving or I'd eat junk but I was honest about what I liked (frosting but no cake, or roasted veggies but not bready stuff) instead of eating whatever was offered. I'm getting back into that lifestyle and I think that'll make it feel like less 'effort' and more fun.
Exactly! It's easy to think nothing has changed but then you notice that all those little things add up. We live in a city now but it's highly unwalkable so I have to drive to a place to walk/run or drive to the gym (or workout in my garage) so it's an adjustment.1 -
Don't join any weight loss or dieting cults and food religions. Deprogramming the overfed head from dieting propaganda will take a long time. Slick marketing techniques will get you nowhere good.
Honor your body every step of the way. Don't wait until all of the weight releasing is done before you start living your life. Practice, practice, practice long before you get there. You'll have a much better chance of getting there and staying there.
Hold your head high and walk into the room with a lion tamer's confidence even if you're the only one there. The brain is the beast. The brain is the greatest mountain we will ever have to climb in our lifetime.
Show the brain you're in charge. It will scream and fight against you like a wildcat. Override it and tell it to shut the hail UP when it tries to drive you back into eating all the things in the unconscious autopilot mode.
Happiness is a state of activity. All of the planning and introspecting in the world doesn't mean anything unless you go do something. The couch is the speed of zero. You don't have to jump out of helicopter onto a snowboard. Simply take it back outside and start moving.7 -
Mostly I learned to eat better and I learned that I cannot eat in the amounts I did in my 20s when I was very active.6
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That it's a transformation, a process, and it takes time.
That overcoming the mental part is far more difficult than the physical mechanincs of weight loss.
That there is no finish line, so whatever changes you make you have to be able to live with for life.
That I really am doing the best I can, and I need to be able to give myself GRACE to allow that to keep happening.
That the only opinion that matters is MINE (well, and my doc's, truthfully). But really, it only matters what I think of me, what I think of what I am doing, and how I define success. That is all up to me.
That support from others is nice, but support from ME is essential. (Again, it really only matters what *I* think of me.)
And I completely agree that
Stores will never carry your size, no matter what you weigh.
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Weight loss and weight maintenance mean different things at different ages of your life. It does get harder to lose and maintain weight loss as you age because your body starts changing. You can't fight those changes. You can only learn to work around/with them.1
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Find a physical activity you love. I loathe traditional gyms - bore me to death. Hence I had an on-again off-again with them in my 30s. Went to a non-traditional gym and love it. I train my butt off because other than spend time with the kids, it's all I want to do. It doesn't feel like a "workout" because it is not - I just happen to get a workout while doing it. I would not have lost and maintained otherwise.3
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Trust the process. There will be ups and downs, problems you have to work through and self-examination to do. Put the work in and it will pay off. I weigh myself every morning and put it into a spreadsheet (I realize some may see this as overkill) and stick to the plan even if I can't see the end. As long as the overall trend is downward, it's all good.5
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It's all me. No one force feeds me, nor forces me to eat less. My choices led to weight gain, and now lead to my weight loss.
Taking responsibility for my own actions. I stopped using life as an excuse for myself.8 -
That being healthy and losing weight are separate and mutually exclusive. Being one does not always mean the other. To lose weight, you need a calorie deficit-plain and simple. To be healthy, you need a sufficient macro and micro nutrient mix and should exercise regularly and maintain a healthy weight.
Also, that it’s okay to take a short (or long) break from losing weight if you need to refeed. It’s okay to eat over maintenance some days and enjoy the food in life. I have been more successful since applying these principles and allowing myself breaks as I needed it. I have gained enough discipline that after my break is sufficient i can return to CICO easily. I think that’s been my biggest win of all.8 -
Exactly planning and determination is important.I used to beat myself up in the past for eating a donut or pizza but now I just enter my calories in MFP & even after eating a pizza I remain under my caloric goal because then whole day I eat healthy & low calories.GemstoneofHeart wrote: »That being healthy and losing weight are separate and mutually exclusive. Being one does not always mean the other. To lose weight, you need a calorie deficit-plain and simple. To be healthy, you need a sufficient macro and micro nutrient mix and should exercise regularly and maintain a healthy weight.
Also, that it’s okay to take a short (or long) break from losing weight if you need to refeed. It’s okay to eat over maintenance some days and enjoy the food in life. I have been more successful since applying these principles and allowing myself breaks as I needed it. I have gained enough discipline that after my break is sufficient i can return to CICO easily. I think that’s been my biggest win of all.
We often mistake starvation with dieting which leads to sudden weight loss but you can’t do that forever.
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The most important thing?
It's NOW or never ...
Just plunge in and stay on track until you reach your goal
Maintaining for 2 years now after losing 100 lbs.4 -
The most important thing for me has been to realize it is going to take time, and I have to be patient. I have lost 45 lbs in six months, but I have another 45 to go to reach my ideal weight. Faithfully counting calories and posting them on MFP everyday is THE most important thing for me to stay accountable. I also go to the gym 3 to 5 times a week and find that trying new classes is fun, especially the ones with upbeat music. Keeping the 80-20 fact (diet 80 versus exercise 20) is the key to weight loss for me. I also do not deprive any food, but always strive to eat healthy with an occasional sensible treat (all counted in the daily caloric allowance) works best for me. I remind myself daily how posting to MFP and always being honest about how much and what I have eaten is key. And last, I am always on the lookout for new motivation, new recipes, new ideas, new thoughts that we all share here.2
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Weight loss is simple; eat less. It's the mental part that needs the most attention. I refuse to jump into the rabbit hole of a generalized food X vs food Y, HIIT vs LESS, or some other trivial minutia and keep my food intake as simple as it gets - eat not too much food. The things that occupy 99% of my effort is mentality, strategy, learning about myself, and habit building.5
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That I didn't have to eat rabbit food or do intense workouts to lose weight.
Before I found online forums I would read women's health magazines and watch those diet and fitness segments on talk shows.
Almost always they would show these small plates of food I wouldn't enjoy or would still be hungry eating or doing exercise moves I couldn't do at the time.
I did it my way (not being hard on myself and losing on the slower end) and I lost over 80 pounds and kept it off for 5 years literately eating what I wanted (while being mindful of my calorie intake) and doing no overly intense workouts without a gym membership.9 -
However long you think its going to take .... double it and up the units.
ie .. if you think you will have visible abs in 6 weeks ... the reality is 12 months5 -
consistency beats perfection
simple beats optimal
honesty beats appearance
hard work beats quick fixes
every single time10 -
Do not cut out the things you love...but use them as a treat or sparingly. Have a day once in a while where you just have a "you" day. You think people will complement you all the time, while they will actually do the opposite. Your body is gonna do weird things at certain stages, but trust the process and be true to yourself. Also, girls do not flock to you like in your day dreams, LOL4
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I learnt that I am not “dieting”- instead, I am focusing on sensible eating habits, including some of the foods I love, while staying in a calorie deficit. I can not sustain a “diet” for the rest of my life. But my new sensible eating habits, that I can do.
I learnt to trust the process. If I’m weighing and logging my food correctly and hitting my calorie target, the weight will come off. Sometimes the number on the scales can be a bit weird (higher sodium days, hormones, water retention can all account for this), but I’m losing consistently, and that’s what matters.
I also learnt to listen to my body- I’ve learnt about what foods satisfy me, and to eat when I’m hungry, so that I don’t feel deprived and be more likely to make bad choices. It’s ok to eat at maintenance for a day or two if I’m sick, away for the weekend, or just having a hungry day. As long as I’m consistent with my logging and eating at a deficit, a day or two isn’t going to make much difference. Life happens, and I’m in this for life, so it’s important to handle all situations that life throws at me!!!2
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