What is your secrets to success?

The thing is, there is no secret. The thing that helped me shed something like 80lbs was moving more (ok, a hell of alot more:) and eat under my energy requirements. Oh and I wasnt afraid to ask for help (even if it meant paying for it) from people that either have done it or are knowledgeable about it.

Persistence.
I think just about any (sensible) diet strategy can work, the trick is that you need to find something that you can keep doing for the rest of your life.

I started by reading up about metabolism and how the body deals with the various macronutrients. Then I read "Wheat Belly".

I then promptly quit grains (i.e. bread, pasta, rice, corn, etc) and sugar (in all it's forms) and upped my calorie target to get my metabolism firing again after yet another calorie-restricted low-fat crusade failed to yield the expected results.

I also permanently mentally stored the Food Pyramid and My Plate guidelines under 'fiction'.

Worked for me anyway ...

Eat less, move more! Be accountable for what you put into your body. Don't "diet". Change how and what you eat, taking out the negative foods and adding positive ones. Get support from those around you.

Persistence.
I think just about any (sensible) diet strategy can work, the trick is that you need to find something that you can keep doing for the rest of your life.

This is the best answer. Consistency and persistence. You don't freak out when you see the daily fluctuations, even when you KNOW you're doing good. Just keep on keepin' on.

Patience. You can't lose 100, 50, or even 10 pounds in one week. I'm sure you can't even gain that much in one week either. Every little positive change to your body is a step closer to your goal, whether it be dropping a half of a pound or losing an inch off some body part. Hard work will always be given a reward in the end. It's just up to you to decide how hard to push yourself, how long to change, and how much you want to be happy with your body.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS ONE THING I NEED MORE OF!!!!!!!

Baby steps.... very slow, very small baby steps... and just keep going.

That and letting go of the need to be perfect... I don't have to be perfect, but I can do a little better.
(once doing better was habit... i tried to do a little better still... and so on, and so on and so on.)

^ That's it right there. Do not give up just because you do not see the scale moving, you are making the best choices for yourself right now, it might not show, but have faith that it will.

1. Tracking every thing every day - don't lie to yourself put it in there

2. Mixing it up- Go high go low, meet your calories for a few days go up and down. It works for me.

3. Work out but not to hard. I see a lot of people here that put out like crazy 2k calorie burns and they have not lost much at all. I am not going to argue calorie starvation because this is an internet forum and inevitably stupid people will respond. Don't be one of them.

4. Don't lie about your work outs so you can eat a cheeseburger. Punching a punching bag intermittenly for 20 minutes is not 2 hours of boxing. An hour of boxing is an hour of boxing, not many boxers box straight for 2 hours at a time...

5. Eat bad food every once in a while, if you crave it, make it work for you.

# 2 seems to be the best for me, Sometimes I go over sometimes I go over I always stay under on weekly but the variation in days in and days out seems to help a lot.

I agree with everything you've said. In the end you're only cheating yourself. We owe it to ourselves to be honest and work hard.

Much to many of my friend's disappointment, there is no secret as such.

For me the key was doing a huge amount of research for myself and putting together my own plan, rather than using someone else's plan.

I agree with the others there really is no secret. Just eat less than you burn but I will add to set realistic goals from the beginning. -1 pound per week is healthy for MOST people. When I did the math of how much I wanted to loose and multiplied it by that many weeks I had a realistic timeline. Then I knew the journey would be a long one and that prepared me.

A LOT of people think the can just take a short cut and lose 10 lbs in a month. While that is possible it is definitely not sustainable for the vast majority of us and I dont think is healthy for anyone.

Taking it one day at a time like they do in AA... don't think about tomorrow and don't think about yesterday. Concentrate on making choices just for today and make them good ones (regardless of which plan you subscribe to).

1. Cutting down on the alcohol.

2. Cutting down (practically eliminating) bread, pasta, white rice. Starting to add back some carbs now that I'm getting closer to my desired weight and exercising much more. But being quite careful....

3. Drinking a lot of water. No more soft drinks, diet or otherwise....

4. Becoming more active. I've started to run, etc.

5. I travel a lot on business. So making sure I hit the hotel gym almost every day I'm on the road. Even if it's just for a short run. But doing something....

6. Quick wins, especially NSV's. The weight will come off, but it's only one of many metrics. Just looking better naked is a huge motivator. Or dropping down in pants size. Getting nice comments from friends and colleagues. Etc. So don't fixate on weight only.

7. Take the long view: it's a lifestyle change, not a quick loss fad that you can stop one day and go back to your old ways. So find food and exercise that you enjoy, since it's forever....

Taking it slow, not sweating the small stuff, and being honest with myself. I only weigh myself once every few months (it feels more rewarding to see the pounds come off in bigger chunks rather than look at a scale once a week and see teeny tiny changes), I don't beat myself up over slip-ups (if you make yourself feel guilty, you'll be more inclined to throw yourself farther off because of how badly you think you've already done), and I don't let anyone else dictate what I eat or do (I have roommates, so a big problem I had before I committed to eating healthy was blaming my bad food choices on that there were no clean dishes or that they were just going to throw out their leftover takeout [I have always hated to see things a lot of people don't even have access to, like food, water, or clothing, go to waste]. Also, I turn down rides to places I could easily walk to, every time.)