What's worked, what hasn't worked?
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I month in...and 12 pounds lost, but so far:
-taking my breakfast and lunch to work (rather than buying anything there as I used to do)
-going to the gym and doing something (even when motivation to complete a full workout is lacking)
-not going off the rails food wise when the scale nudges in the wrong direction
-recognising my losses will likely be smaller going forward and trying to pratice patience
-listening to my body and doing research. Sometimes I'll eat less than my 1200 and sometimes more, but I pay attention to how I feel and don't let myself go hungry2 -
For me what didn't work was all the "magic" diets I tried. Even having a lapband failed. What has worked was finding my own diet through counting calories, logging and learning what I could live with permanently. Getting rid of the "I'm on a Diet" attitude. I finally lost the weight and am maintaining. Walking most days helps not only with giving me a few extra calories but it reduces my appetite and clears my mind. The biggest adjustment was learning I wasn't ever going back to my old habits.10
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A consistent low calorie diet is what works for me to lose weight (1200 calories). I tried intermittent fasting twice for a two month period each time, and didn't lose any weight. It's too hard for to eat moderately on 'normal' days. LOL It might be a useful tool for maintenance, but does not work for losing for me.0
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This is highly individual for sure! but here's my contribution:
What didn't work:
- Starving myself
When I was a teen I thought only anorexics could lose weight, what a weird idea!
- Cutting out foods I love entirely
Telling myself I could never again have something like poutine would always lead me to bingeing. Instead I now just have those foods less often and in smaller portions.
- Doing tons of cardio/doing workouts I hated
I just really hate most forms of steady state cardio, HATE! Actually jogging isn't too bad but I only do it in winter as I only jog outside and hate any kind of warmth!
- Intuitive eating
In 2010-2011 I lost weight down to my goal weight and decided that now that I knew so much about calories I could eat intuitively and keep a tally in my head. Yeah no that did not work!
- Relying on motivation
Motivation is fickle and fleeting I had to just DO it, get up off my butt and decide to workout even if I didn't feel like it.
What DID work:
Tracking my Calories/weighing my food with a food scale
- Seriously though this is the only one that really matters for me, being able to indulge in my favourite foods and still lose weight is the only way I could stick to any weight loss plan! I will probably have to count pretty much forever and I am ok with that. It only takes me 5 minutes a day (I eat the same things everyday for 5 days at a time) and it helps SO much.
Pre logging
- Logging my calories in the night before or the morning of helps tremendously in keeping me on track! I always keep a few calories in case I want a treat, I never run out of calories for dinner, and I've learned how to distribute my cals throughout the day so I never feel like I'm starving (for me it's keeping the bulk of my cals for dinner).
Finding a workout that I enjoy
- Seriously finding a workout that you enjoy or at least don't hate with a passion will make a difference! For me it's yoga and lifting weights, I don't super enjoy lifting weights but I love the results so that is also something that can keep you going with an exercise.
Giving myself a break
- Eating at maintenance for a weekend or a week helps so much in the long run! There's tons of info about diet breaks on this forum, I suggest everyone reads about it!
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RollTideHusker wrote: »For me- just realizing that this is a long process. I am not patient so this has been a learning experience 😉 Slow and Steady is my motto.
Yup! It's a marathon, not a sprint.4 -
What didn't work:
- Keto
- Crash diets
What did work:
- Intermittent fasting (basically just eating breakfast later in the day)
- Calorie counting with a moderate deficit
- Staying accountable (taking ownership of bad days, always weighing in regularly, getting back on the horse)
- Finding ways to be more active every day (joining group fitness classes, walking a lot)
- Focusing meals around high-protein and high-fiber content
- Enjoying 'unhealthy' food in moderation
- Meal-prepping8 -
cheryldumais wrote: »For me what didn't work was all the "magic" diets I tried. Even having a lapband failed. What has worked was finding my own diet through counting calories, logging and learning what I could live with permanently. Getting rid of the "I'm on a Diet" attitude. I finally lost the weight and am maintaining. Walking most days helps not only with giving me a few extra calories but it reduces my appetite and clears my mind. The biggest adjustment was learning I wasn't ever going back to my old habits.
Thinking back - this could be #1!3 -
Planning ahead. Making lists and at having in my head the meals and snacks I plan to eat for the next day, better still a couple days out so that when I hit the store it's not a "what do I feel like?" trip and a good forage for what I actually need.
Second is never letting myself get very hungry, as for me that's when the "screw it!" takes over. If I'm an hour out from a planned meal time now I will snack if hungry, whether or not I budgeted the calories and work them out in the meal.6 -
Getting rid of the diet attitude is huge. As I mentioned in another thread it is helpful for me to focus on eating a healthy number of calories and let the weight loss be a side bonus instead of being weight goal oriented all the time.
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What has worked for me:
-Being totally honest with myself. I think in the past, I would follow some sort of plan and "be on a diet," but then I'd nibble the kids' leftovers or have a bite of a cookie or grab a latte and then be outraged when the scale didn't move. I also felt pretty mad when I would see that other people seemed to eat a lot more than me but were thinner. I actually think these two things are related--I'd be sabotaging my own dieting efforts because I thought it wasn't fair that I couldn't eat more. This was clearly disordered and illogical thinking. So, I got real with myself and basically told myself: "LOOK. You're you, and you can't eat the same way your friends do and be the weight you want to be, and that is life. Deal with it." And now I have ZERO surprises when I weigh in because I am honest when I ate more than I intended to.
-Bringing my own food. I travel a lot and bring my own protein muffins, turkey jerky, little Atkins chocolates and packets of almonds everywhere. Eating these foods helps me control the calories I'm eating at breakfast and snacks and also is a good reminder that I've got goals.
-I fell in love with running about a decade ago and I run about 3-5 x a week. I know that weight is lost in the kitchen not the gym and agree with that, but I also can tell you that gaining a few pounds makes me feel sluggish and that's a deterrent from letting the scale creep up. Plus, my social life largely revolves around exercise, and my friends in recent years are all either on a similar plan (I am keto, my good friend is Whole 30, and most of my other friends just generally are light on carbs/high on protein--we do have fun and drink wine on occasion, but in general, we have similar goals and approaches to food.) This means when we go out, I don't have any food pushers to deal with.
-Standing up for myself. I used to feel really uncomfortable about disclosing that I am watching what I eat. (I can't really say I am "on a diet" as I am in maintenance now, but I always am careful about what I eat and do follow a low-carb/high-protein lifestyle.) I was worried people would judge me--either that I shouldn't be dieting, as I have never been technically overweight, or would stare at my body to see where I needed to lose. I tend to be a little self-conscious about being looked at in general and didn't want discussion of what I ate to elicit that. But now I just decided to sort of suck it up and tell people what I eat/don't eat and to SAY NO when someone tries to persuade me to eat their cake. It's caused a few moments of discomfort but would rather experience that than regretting what I ate.
-Keeping it fresh. I know that the theme of this board is "CICO is all that matters" and there's some sentiment against "fad diets." I agree that technically, CICO is all that matters. But, I love trying NEW approaches. I like the Mediterranean diet, am kicking major calorie butt right now on Keto, enjoyed Weight Watchers back when it was the "Momentum" plan a decade ago, and have a drawer full of colorful containers. I get bored eating the same foods and I get bored doing the same (non-running) workouts. So on occasion, after a big vacation or holiday when my weight's crept up, I will try a new eating program. For a while a trainer friend at the gym told me what she ate, and I just followed her plan. I see nothing wrong with this, do not see it as a "fad" anything. I think it's just fun, and I have an amazing arsenal of healthy, moderate-calorie recipes I've collected over the years that my family loves, so score 1 for having kids that grew up on lean turkey chili from the South Beach Diet cookbook and my amazing 2007 WW "zero calorie Mexican soup" and enjoy a "blender pancake" made from a banana and egg whites from some plan my trainer friend created.
What doesn't work for me:
Shakes and meal replacements. "Intuitive eating" (snort.) Taking a bad weigh in personally. Lying to myself. Eating when stressed, bored or sad. Oh, and yoga. I don't like yoga.10 -
For me, the thing that works is also the thing that doesn't work: tracking/logging what I eat.
In the past few attempts at losing weight, I tracked calories like a fiend. I measured, I weighed, I re-weighed, I stressed about using the right entries, I panicked when I saw that I was over my calories. I obsessed over the scale, and became incredibly frustrated when I plateaued because I knew I was eating less. I would decline going out to eat because I wouldn't know how much I was eating. I even refused to go see a movie because I didn't want to risk buying movie theater popcorn (a weakness for me). Usually after I hit the 4 month mark I'd get so stressed about everything that I'd call it quits to "give myself a break", and would just give up.
This most recent time around, I'm using what I know about portion control, but I'm not tracking anything. It helps that I eat the same thing most days of the week, and a lot of pre-packaged foods, because I can keep a mental tally. I guess many would call it intuitive eating, but I feel it doesn't quite fit. I don't "eat when I'm hungry". I plan my meals throughout the week with the mindset on eating within a ballpark range of calories.
This has caused my weight to come off slower (I'm about 2 months in and down about 8lbs), but I'm ok with that. I'm not stressed, I don't feel tethered to my phone to enter every morsel of food, I don't have any qualms about going out to eat on a whim. I weigh myself daily so I can keep an eye on things, but I don't mind if I miss a day here and there (there was a time where going to spend the night somewhere else meant I packed my scale and brought it with me).3 -
Pre-logging as much as possible
I try to pre-log breakfast and dinner, then i know how many calories i have left for lunch/snacks
Realising it's ok to be hungry. I don't starve myself by any means, but i can hold out for an hour until dinner if that's all the calories i have left.
I don't log any walking etc that is part of my daily life, like if i walk to work, or at work, i don't count it. I log any walking/hiking/biking i do for fun/exercise.
Lift weights. I don't do anything super heavy yet(previous injury/surgery makes me kind of a one-armed bandit), but i range from 30-50 pounds for most of what i do. Makes me feel strong& sexy.
And the thing i am doing differently this time: logging even when i am in maintenance. I've hit goal a few time, thought 'i'm good, don't need to track anymore' and ended up gaining a lot.
I am 40 pounds down from my all-time high, about 40 more to go.1 -
what worked for me:
counting calories, eating what i want within those calories and regular exercise
what didnt work:
everything else.7 -
This is fantastic. Thank you so much for all these amazing and helpful responses. As I'm reading everyone's stories I realize I'm curious about what you are dealing with right now even more than what you have done in the past. So let me rephrase the two questions and see what we come up with. 1. What is really working for you right now in dealing with your health?, and 2. What is really not working for you right now?
I understand that sharing what's not working in the present can be a bit daunting but I know it can be helpful as a way to shift into a new approach. I'm going to have to think about this for myself.
What's really working for me right now? This forum. I got a big lift from all your responses. I haven't participated in anything like this before and I can see how it's a great avenue for support and connection.
What's really not working for me right now? This is going to be a bit of a rant. I'm at my limit with helpful friends who insist that I'd be healthier if I would just change my thinking, my beliefs, and my attitudes, as though my body is just a reflection of my mind. I could go on but I'd like to hear from you.3 -
I'm right at the beginning of tweaking my diet a little more, I've been getting really REALLY hungry right after lunch which is the need for refueling kicking in after my morning workouts and my body saying hey I didn't get enough yet. I am taking my cravings for pastries and sweets and trying to see if a higher fat morning and lunch helps at all. Volume eating has taken me a long way but I am finding the nutritionally null sweets and treats less and less satisfying so am switching those out for things I avoided in quantity before like avocado, olive oil, pasta (though that latter is going to be a mental hurdle).
Secondly I am trying to not restrict as much after high calorie days or meals - previously I've eaten at a deficit after going over maintenance and after a couple of days I'm ready to overeat again. This week I had a lot of volume/water weight after a fun Sunday of eating but kept to maintenance last two days instead of being under by 2-300 cals like I would usually have done and what do you know, things sorted themselves out just the same but I'm not having that crazy feeling of needing more cals again already.
Maintenance is weird.3 -
-Prelogging food for the week (and being flexible during the week to make adjustments AKA not freaking out if things don't go as planned)
-Weighing food instead of measuring food
-Sticking to pretty regular meal choices (same 3 rotating breakfasts/lunches; leaving wiggle room for more creative dinners)
-Cutting out "cheat meals" entirely for periods of time and then reintroducing slowly (helped prevent "cheat meals" from turning into "cheat days")
-STRENGTH TRAINING (the only form of exercise that I truly enjoy)
ETA (what didn't work): food enablers (had to cut those ppl off), gimmicky diet food2 -
What worked for me was looking at the things I was doing at a point in my life where I successfully maintained a healthy weight and then applying some of those actions that I could to my life now. My life’s different as I now have kids and work part time compared to my early 20s no kids and full time work but some still translates.
I rejoined a gym as I forgot how much I’d enjoyed lifting. I planned my meals ahead of time. I make room/allowances for higher calorie foods/days at social gatherings by either eating less during the days ahead or eating at maintenance on the day of the event.
I only eat foods I find enjoyable, I don’t push my self to eat ‘healthy’ or ‘clean’ but my overall diet is well balanced and I meet my nutritional goals. Eating more protein had helped me feel full longer.
Patience is something I’m working on. Using happy scale to help me accept daily weight fluctuations as a normal part of life. I’m still on a downwards trend
I rarely eat milk chocolate now as I can not master moderation with this 1 food! But I love a small piece or two of dark chocolate. Alcohol has been reduced as I would prefer to ‘spend’ my calories on food most days but once a week or so I’ll have some wine1 -
What worked? I focus on what matters to achieve my goals. Initially this was weight loss and I focused on my intake and output. I cared about protein intake to preserve muscle and I cared about carbs to ensure I had the energy to fuel my workouts. I returned to being brutally honest with myself and others.
When I lost the weight and achieved my goal I shifted to endurance and strength and put more focus in my workouts, rest, and fuel. I'm more in maintenance now and cycling between bulking/cutting. Also moving these successes to other aspects of my life - marriage, parenthood, work performance, etc.
What doesn't work for me: wastes of time, distractions, dishonesty, free lunches2 -
What has worked for me:
-logging every day and trying to stay in a moderate deficit and/or maintenance level
-regular walking
-not eliminating treats but incorporating them into my allowance
What hasn't worked for me:
-Crash diets
-Eliminating whole food groups
-Doing exercise I hate
-Starvation diets
I have maintained a 70 pound loss for almost 3 years. I am now absolutely convinced that there is no other way for me to keep off the weight forever.
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What's worked for me:
- doing step and hula hoop for my cardio, and a walk when I feel like it (but it's Winter, so I don't always feel like it just yet).
- weight lifting at home with dumbbells.
- getting some cardio in most days, simply so I can eat more than the measly 1200 calories a 5'1 woman is given.
- tracking my food no matter what, and 99% of the time, staying within my calories. What works even better is if I don't eat back all of my exercise calories, only some.
- meal prep. I just need to do it more often, because it truly does help!
- yoga.
What hasn't worked for me (but might work for others)
- pilates. I really wanted to love this, but I tried it and I have learned, I really, really hate pilates. But hey, you don't know until you try, right?
- resistance bands. It didn't work as well for me as lifting weights. I used these for a little while, until I could get some dumbbells. Being short, often I couldn't get the band to stretch, because I wasn't tall enough. It also just didn't do much for me when I could get the band to stretch on a small number of exercises.
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