What has worked best for you?

I want to lose weight and keep it off. I'm so sick of yo yo dieting and gaining it back. What has worked for you the best?

Replies

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,096 Member
    Weighing food to the gram on a scale. It helped me find the sweet spot where I was still eating at a deficit but not such a severe one I burned out and gave up. Not everybody needs or wants that level of precision, but I have found it works really well for me.

    For me, mostly this ^^ combined with learning over time how much estimating from meals away from home I could get away with and still be in the ballpark of getting the results I was aiming for. Weighing and logging meals I cooked myself has made me a lot more confident when I have to estimate, and my results suggest that confidence is not misplaced.
  • laurad1978
    laurad1978 Posts: 22 Member
    All of the above applied to me, plus realising this isn't short term it's how I should have been eating all along. Making it sustainable by enjoying meals out and having dessert. If I have a weekend with a lot of extra calories I make sure to get extra exercise in to account for it.
  • azuki
    azuki Posts: 38 Member
    “alternate day fasting” lol
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,309 Member
    Thinking more terms of making the weight loss process easy, not worrying too much about making it fast.

    Using the weight loss process to experiment, find habits I thought I could continue long-term, ideally forever, in order to stay at a healthy weight once I reached there. Thinking of weight management as a set of permanent new habits, not a project with an end date after which things would "go back to normal".

    Focusing on finding ways to be more active that were fun (ideally) or at least tolerable, so I'd be more likely to do them regularly, vs. seeking out theoretically perfect fat-burning, fitness-amping exercises (even if doing them made me miserable so I'd back burner them as often as I could rationalize).

    Thinking about how to move more in everyday life in small ways, to create a bias toward movement rather than toward limiting movement or so-called "efficiency". (This got easier and almost automatic as I got lighter, because it was easier and more fun to move, at closer to a healthy weight.)

    Figuring out how to achieve my calorie and nutrition goals, and feel adequately full, while eating foods I enjoy in rational portions/proportions, rather than going all in for "diet foods", "superfoods", etc. or arbitrarily thinking of foods as inherently "good" or "bad" without reference to context/portioning/frequency.

    Science + Common Sense > Hype or Trendiness.

    (I'm in year 5+ of maintaining a healthy weight, after around 3 previous decades of overweight/obesity.)
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    edited August 2021
    Consistency.
    Making one small sustainable change at a time and then that becomes the normal. Then make another small sustainable change.
    Tracking what I eat. I find this especially important when I’m doing a cut.

    Eg., I was tracking what I was eating and my breakfast was ‘using up’ too many calories. I had been eating a bowl of cereal with some yogurt. I made a small change of swapping to proportions —- a half serving of cereal with a big bowl of yogurt. This change increased my protein intake at breakfast, I felt fuller longer and had fewer calories.
    My new ‘standard’ breakfast is:
    1tbsp each of chia seeds, hemp & ground flax
    30 grams of Dorset(1) cereal
    170 grams of Greek yoghurt

    (1) I like Dorset cereal - Simply Delicious Muesli: a blend of rolled and toasted flakes with dried fruit, sunflower seeds and nuts. https://www.dorsetcereals.co.uk/
    https://dorsetcerealscanada.com/
    With Covid we were have some difficulty getting it, then found it on Amazon and have done a subscription for it. https://www.amazon.ca/stores/DorsetCereals/Homepage/page/A6DC127C-A5DA-47EF-88B6-4D8A4E3270F6

    FitOn has this article on other healthy cereals. I’m sad that they didn’t include Dorset cereal in their top 10 list. Could be because they are American. I’m not sure Dorset cereal is sold in the USA. https://fitonapp.com/nutrition/healthy-breakfast-cereals/
  • StellarIam38
    StellarIam38 Posts: 9 Member
    I want to lose weight and keep it off. I'm so sick of yo yo dieting and gaining it back. What has worked for you the best?

    Weighing food helps immensely! Also, making homemade and healthy options at home. A proper diet and exercise routine, and experimenting with macros and eating times.

    You got this! Feel free to add to add as a friend and I'll help all I can!

    Isaac
  • yweight2020
    yweight2020 Posts: 591 Member
    Getting in control of portion sizes and that's mostly by weighing and measuring.
  • ridiculous59
    ridiculous59 Posts: 2,908 Member
    It took me three years to lose 90 pounds. I didn't do it quickly, but I did it in a way that worked best for me. I needed to be able to enjoy holidays, family events, wine, and delicious meals. And then get right back to counting calories when the event was over. Like someone else said, I can still have the things I enjoy, just not every day and in the quantities I used to have.

    Exercise is also a key component for me. I "move" every day and can't imagine a day where I would choose to do nothing. I do things I love, like hiking and cross country skiing with my dogs, or paddling a dragon boat. I do things that are okay, like yoga and strength training (because they are both good for my overall health). And I do lots of other stuff in between, like walking with friends three times a week, running, kayaking, snowshoeing, HASfit workouts, etc. Exercise improves my physical and mental health. It makes me feel younger (I'm 62) and boosts my confidence. It's just something I need to do and has played a huge part in my weight-loss journey.
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
    logging and keeping honest with my self. Changing the mindset this is for life. Each little change adds up. I have bad days, but more often good days. Ive been in maintenance for 8 months keeping off 100 pounds. I did a small deficit. I learned what foods kept me full and what didn't.
    Things i did in the past that led to yo-yo'ing. Thinking the weight would stay off, diets are temporary etc
    I lost and gained weight every year. Changing my mindset has been the ultimate game changer.

    Maintaining is not as exciting as losing. Im trying new workout, new adventures to keep my mind engaged.
  • Clairin
    Clairin Posts: 95 Member
    I think learning the calories in what you are eating can be eye opening and helpful. For example this morning I had 13 grams of granola with my yoghurt and it was 60 calories. Thats interesting to know as this is a tiny amount of granola. Before I weighed food I would easily have consumed way more calories than I realised or in fact needed.
  • frannyupnorth
    frannyupnorth Posts: 56 Member
    edited August 2021
    Regular recalculation of the MFP Goals/Weekly Goals for my current weight.
    I lost a reasonable ammount of weight and then my weight loss had slowed down. I was still weighing and logging, but seemed to be approaching a plateau. Turns out I hadn't recalcuted the MFP Goals/Weekly Goals and at my lower weight I needed nearly 200kcal less per day to keep up the initial rate of weight loss. Going forwards I'll recalculate on at least a monthly basis so the calorie drops will be smaller.
  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
    ...because I don't ever want to have to lose weight again. It's not fun. Fun is eating the food I like, in smaller quantities and knowing that it's okay to have it - just not all of it and not every day.

    This! Also, for me, a bad day meant restricting the next day. I’ve learned, you exercise normally, eat regularly, and move on. This has been important for me to be successful. Although I usually weigh every day, if I know I’ve really gone overboard, I might wait about three days. I don’t go longer than three days without weighing. (Currently losing quite a bit of pandemic weight.) Hoping I’ve learned a few things!





  • dwanejoshua171
    dwanejoshua171 Posts: 8 Member
    I have lost my weight by doing exercise and follow my diet plan which I have bought from My Diet Master and now I have lost 4 kg weight within 3 weeks.