What life lessons has losing weight taught you?

To take it one day at a time. Being aware of my body - I weigh myself every day due to CHF - it is a must - Love yourself enough to do what is good for your body. I love food - and have changed my eating habits. Recently, I went to lunch with a friend. I ordered a Summer Salad with grilled chicken - due to low sodium diet, I asked for it to be non seasoned and cooked in foil to prevent salt getting on it from the grill - no croutons - my friend replied, You are really rough on your body - and I said, no, I love myself enough to not eat things I shouldn't be. Best of luck! I think we are all in it together.

Great question! I have enjoyed reading the responses.

For me ...

. Its consistency. Not perfection that counts.

. I really can do anything I really put my mind to.

. The real goal us not losing weight. It is to establish and maintain healthy habits forever.

1.) Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

2.) Eat WHATEVER you want to, WHENEVER you want to, just much much smaller portions than you did when you were obese/overweight and less frequently (sometimes maybe just 1 or 2 meals per day and keep a watch on snacking thru-out the day. Example: You can eat whatever you want to, just include your snack/dessert with your meal. Eat and be done with it. Perhaps skip breakfast and lunch and have a nice big dinner (with dessert) or a nice big breakfast and skip lunch and dinner or skip breakfast have a big lunch (with snacks) and skip dinner or skip breakfast and have a large lunch and small dinner, or sometimes you may choose to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner--just not all the time...there are a million combinations, the bottom line in cals in and cals out--eat less and less frequently and smaller portions when you do eat thru out the day and you will not only forever blast the weight off but keep it off too, because nothing will be off limits--except for portion sizes. Pretty soon, you will grow to LOVE eating whatever you want, just smaller portions and less frequently and see snacking thru-out the day as counter productive to reaching your goals. If you're done eating for the day, and wants something more...tell yourself you can have whatever you want, just not now and drink some water. Patience and self-control is something we must learn/train ourselves to do/be. Water drinking is a fabulous way to deter excess snacking AND will help you to determine if you're really hungry or thirsty. This may not work for everyone, but it super worked/works for me. REMEMBER...what works for some won't necessarily work for others. The "business" of weight blastification is NOT a "one size fits all", no matter how much it may seem to be. Everyone is different.

3.) Have FUN getting this excess flab and unhealthy fat offa/outta your mind, body and soul. The ONLY person you must compare and compete with is YOU. Take your everloving time and do it right and righteously. We didn't get the way we are overnight and it's not going to leave overnight. Haste makes waste. Hurry is of the TAKE YOUR TIME reaching your goals.

4.) There are hundreds, maybe thousands of people here on Mfp that have got it (the flab/fat/excess/unhealthy pounds ounces and inches) off and kept it off...including me. We're NO better or worse than you--if we can do it, you will too--I PROMISE. It's just going to take time! Let patience have it's work and do it's thing in and thru you.

5.) {{{{{ HUGS }}}}}

1. Excuses are for people who don't want to change. (I used to make plenty)
2. Moderation in all things.
3. Massive change is the result of countless small changes.

It can really bring out the true feeling of others, especially jealousy. Then someone who should have been in your corner cheering you on turns on you and tears you down because of your success.

Discipline
Patience
Dedication
Self Control

must_deflate wrote: »

That getting older does not necessary equate to getting fatter.

This too!

Going slowly--really slowly--works for me. For the first year in a decade or more, I lost weight and then kept it off. I didn't worry about losing during the winter months--I aimed at maintaining the weight I was. It worked pretty well, in part b/c I had better habits from the weight-loss months. Go, me.

Figure out why you failed (to lose or maintain) in the past and make a plan so it doesn't happen again.

That I had a scarcity mentality (programming from childhood) and that it would take time to undo that. And to be gracious to myself while I worked to undo and temper it.

That I don't have to clean my plate. If I'm full, I can stop. Anyway it's not like I can actually send the food to dying children in Africa. My dog will eat it and be perfectly happy.

That I don't have to be perfect ALL THE TIME. That I have to be good enough most of the time and the weight will come off slowly and naturally.

That it will take time for my health markers (BP, cholesterol, triglycerides) to improve. And that I'll have to work at those for the rest of my life, due to genetics.

That most of the time 2-3 bites of something will satisfy. They say after 2-3 bites the craving is gone and the bites after that are just trying to repeat the pleasure of the first few bites, though, of course, it cannot really be recreated like this.

That I don't have to eat what my husband cooks. He's a good cook and great griller, but his diet is soaked with saturated fat, high calorie, high sugar, high sodium options. He burns off all his calories at his job and his health markers are good, so he can do that. I don't work them off and my health markers aren't so good, so I can't. And furthermore, I don't want to eat all that all the time. Fish and avocado and cucumber and peaches and oatmeal are pretty damn good. So I'll taste what he makes (have one hot dog, no bun) and then go fill up on salad.

I used to tell my kids that when a problem comes about, use it as a challenge. Be a detective. Try to make it a fun adventure. Figure out the goal, what it takes to get there, possible interferences and possible solutions to those interferences, use any failed scenarios as a tool to achieve success. Trial and error are great resources. Problem solving can be self-motivating and fun. Try not to dread it, enjoy the process along with the results. Now it's my time to listen to myself. I've learned that failed attempts do not make me a failure. Even great men/women in history had failed attempts on their roads to success. I can get there by picking up one foot at a time to reach my destination.

I am responsible for my own actions and whether or not I reach my goals. I can blame my setbacks on everyone and everything else, but at the end of the day no one has control over the decisions that I make. I am the one who chooses to accept a temptation or to not do something I should.

A big lesson was that losing weight doesn't fix everything. I am still the same person on the inside.

peachvine29 wrote: »

I wanna know! I think it will be healthy for us to think about what positive lessons being overweight and trying to lose weight has taught us.

So, what has this journey taught you?

Calories are like money. Be mindful where you spend them, they go fast!