What's your secret?

I guess people want to discover a magic way that sheds pounds and takes zero effort. I don't understand why now that I have lost weight people feel compelled to explain to me why they haven't and how they need to do so. I don't care. I'm not your doctor or your wife!

It's funny, I get this from time to time at work. So I tell them. I weigh my food. I log my food, EVERTHING I put in my mouth. I read nutrition labels. I bust my *kitten* in the gym 3x a week lifting, and 2-3 times a week at home doing cardio. I drink LOTS of water.

As I go through the list, I see their eyes progressively glaze over. Their shoulders slump. It's like they were waiting for me to reveal the magic pill, the brand name of snake oil I was taking to magically make the pounds disappear.

Followed inevitably by, "I don't have time to work out 6 days a week, or count calories, or drink that much water"...

i know there is no secret to it but i do ask people who are shifting weight quicker than i am what their routine is how much exercise they are doing how often and what kind so i can get tips to improve my own

My husband is always asked "what's your secret?" or "what diet are you on?". He has started to roll eyes. Honestly, he stopped shoving massive amounts of potatoe chips in his mouth and got off the couch!! No secret. No special diet with a name. He's moving his buns and eating less!

Or maybe convince them to drink their own urine?

[forms a cunning plan and stores it away, just in case i need it one day]

LOL! Reading this post and the first reply made me laugh a lot, basically because I am totally there with you all the way. People are always asking me how I do it. And CK is so right. People are just looking for a quick and easy fix. I think also that, certainly in my case at least, they don't think I can do the healthy eating and exercise, so it MUST be some new quick and easy secret I have gotten hold of and they want it too. So much for having faith in me eh?
And yeah, I get the whole, "yeah I need to lose some weight too but..."
A lot of people say things like " I've tried to lose weight but it didn't work." It didn't work because they didn't do it right. I know because I was one of these people. I actually kidded myself that eating a massive bowl of pasta was healthier than a cheese burger and that I can eat more crisps because they say low fat on them. I am one of the lucky ones, it has finally permeated my thick skull that the only way to do this is through hard work and self control.

Well, I kind of understand the question. If only it were as simple as "eat less, excercise more". I know for me, my body goes into starvation mode pretty quickly. I've gone for weeks (possibly months) on end with a negative calorie intake and have had little or no weight-loss. I just couldn't get through my head that less (food) doesn't always equal more (weight-loss). It's taken me a long time to realize that balance is the key....learning to maintain that balance is taking even longer.