20-Somethings - What is your "Key to success"??

I am trying to get more involved on 3FC in hopes that it will keep me motivated since i just started my diet. So i think that i will post discussion questions everyday. I hope lots of people participate and I hope everyone enjoys reading others opinions as I do!! My first question was about "Scale Rules" today is about "Key to Success". To ME, this means "what needs to happen on any given day/week to keep me successful with my diet?" Here are my top 3...

#1 Drinking all my water +64oz. This keeps me satisfied during the day and i feel better the next day too!!

#2 PLANNING MY MEALS. i am an OBSESSIVE PLANNER. I have an entire binder full of calendars, daily to do lists, exercise calendar, weight calendar, food logs, grocery shopping lists, ETC, ETC ETC!! Pretty much the day before i will plan my meals (3 meals) plus 3 snacks. I usually have a couple extra points (i am doing WW) which i can do what i want with. I usually stick with breakfast and lunch, dinner always seems to switch but it all depends on what i am feeling like at that time!

#3 Having food in the house. I find that if i am limited on food choices that i get discouraged and when i eat that meal it is not as SATISFYING. I try to keep 3-4 different meal options ( this included breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals) so that if i don't feel like eating that meal i had planned, i have other choices that will satisfy me.


What needs to happen to make your day successful???? And you can measure success however you want.. it could be seeing a drop on the scale, feeling satisfied with the day after its over, or waking up feeling energetic and motivated for the coming day!! maybe that will be the next question hehe

During the week, the menu for breakfast/lunch doesn't change much. KISS...keep it simple stupid...that is the rule I follow. I eat salad for lunch nearly daily, usually a greek salad. Today I am not at work, and I stopped and bought feta so I could make it at home....go figure! Breakfast is either a smoothie, fruit/yogurt/cereal, or a slice of toast/tomato/cheese.

Dinner, I feed 3 people. I try to keep it as "diet" for me and as "normal" for them. Sometimes, that is as easy as me having a 1/2 a potato with the rest of the pickings, while they can have as much as they like. I can easily skip butter, etc. Or having 1 serving of spag/meatballs while they pig out. I can do it!

This time around, I was <--- I write past tense - very obsessed with the scale. I think that has a lot to do with having joined WW and having the weekly weigh in. In recent years on my own, I'd weigh maybe every 5 weeks or so, and for the longest time didn't even own a home scale; I'd have to weigh at work occasionally on an old doctor's scale on a another floor (such an effort...lol), or weigh literally at my doc's office. Since just reaching this week a milestone of 179.8 (YES, I'm in the 170s) I feel less inclined to drive myself crazy. I was getting mad at myself for the obsessive weighing! Now, I know I've done well, I know I'm on the way to reaching more goals, and I feel unstoppable. I had to switch up the WW program a little to feel more successful, but now that I am not in the 190s (and I was 2 pounds from 200) I feel like success is going to happen. I can do this. I will do this.

Good luck to us all.

Planning ahead.

I also have to say that being on 3FC is a huge key to success for me. Here I can discuss whatever I am thinking with those that understand. I don't feel so judged--and I guess just safely supported. Not to mention, the answers here are absolutely rockin' most of the time.

To the OP, it's like you stole my top three! :) Somehow if even one of those things are off, I struggle. When I've planned ahead, have options, and drink lots of water, I feel unstoppable!

I agree with keeping it simple! Stop eating the junk and give up the sodas! Be accountable. Know this journey is going to be life changing, if you do not change your life style, you will gain the weight again.

Getting good sleep so when I'm waking up I make wise decisions about what I want to eat.

Being able to tell my friends "no, I'm not ok with eating/drinking that"

Try to fit in vegetables every chance I get... I go out to eat often and it helps to just ask for vegetables to be the main part of the food.

My key to success is following a structured plan that goes beyond calorie counting. With just CCing I would succeed for a time, weeks or months, losing weight, but eventually lose concentration, take too many diet breaks, and gain the weight back. I wasn't able to resist the temptations of potluck parties, eating out with friends, or free food and even though those didn't happen all the time they broke my resolve and it would take a while to recover.

I have found that I am sensitive to carbs and I was on the way to prediabetes at the start of my weight-loss journey. Going low-sugar and low(ish)-carb has worked amazingly well for me. I don't even feel hungry or deprived ever now that I have adjusted to the diet. I feel like I can eat decadently or lavishly without repercussions as long as I stay within the guidelines of my plan. I honestly feel like I could eat this way or similarly for the rest of my life!

- My key to success is actually NOT planning anything, but being aware of how much and what I eat (portion sizes and guesstimating calories).
- I also MUST eat a variety of veggies and fruit every day.
- If I'm busy and don't think about food all that much it very easy! When it's time for food I look at my options and pick the best one for me.
- I come to 3FC for motivation and wise words of all the amazing people on here.
- Drinking abscene amounts of water and tea :D
- EXERCISE or just being active everyday, not sitting on my *** all day

Determination. Set your mind to changing your lifestyle (eating). I do want to have to be playing these games of losing weight and regaining the weight

yay you should definitely keep the discussions coming. it helps get me focused when i wake up in the morning and read some 3FC :)

this is my second time losing this weight, and ive done things a little differently this time in regards to food. I have a very "all or nothing" mentality and so when i would slip up and have a cookie, i would eat 3 since i had already eaten one. Now, an important part of success is letting myself have that one cookie, or a handful of candy because while it may slow my weight loss right now, it will make my weight loss be a lifestyle change, not just a quick fix.

So with needing to be more lax about my food, i also have to have some sort of daily workout to keep me focused. I have now downloaded a running app (c25k) a push app (just called push up) and a butt workout app that i do daily. I also take my dog on a walk every morning. No matter what other working out i do i try to do these things every day because once i miss one day one turns to two, two turns to three, on and on just like the cookies cept with working out its a lot harder for me to go back to push ups after a week than it is to stop eating cookies once the plate is empty lol

1. Don't be afraid to admit that something isn't working. There are things that work really well for lots and lots of people, but may not work for me. For example, the several small meals a day rule is tried and true and pushed by many professionals, but it doesn't work for me. That's ok! If what works for you goes against the diet world's grain, so be it.

2. Plan, plan, plan. Before I got the hang of restaurants, I would scour the menu online to determine what I should get before I got there (I actually still do this out of habit). Sunday is still my meal planning day. I typically know what my meals are going to be for the week. If I don't, I go back to my "staples". For me, winging it spells trouble.

3. I have embraced certain truths about myself. I can't tolerate carbs well. It used to make me mad that I couldn't eat the same foods as everyone else until I just accepted it and moved on. There's a lot I CAN eat and my diet is more diverse than most people's. This sort of ties in to rule 1.

4. My goal is to work out MOST days. I don't need a rigorous schedule- some weeks I exercise 3 times, others 6-7. It all needs to average out to MOST days in the end.

So interesting to read all of these! Mine are...

1. Write everything down! I keep track of calories, grams of protein, workouts, and anything else that seems relevant that day.
2. Eat enough protein. When I don't, I tend to eat a lot of carbs and get hungry really fast. The protein helps keep me feeling balanced and is helping me build those sexy muscles!
3. Sweat! I feel SO much more motivated, energized and focused when I get a really hard workout in. And burning calories is nice too ;). The whole world seems better when I'm walking out of the gym. Maybe that's just the endorphins talking...

Looking forward to today's question. :)

myfitnesspal.com is one of my main keys of success. Having something that not only calorie counts for you, but counts carbs/fat/protein as well as tracking how much exercise you do has really helped me to stay on track.

Another one is planning ahead (like other people have said) if you plan meals and food shops then you can make sure you're not caught out at any point.

I'm another advocate for myfitnesspal. I was a guesstimator of my calories for the first 6 months of my diet while working out pretty hardcore. As you can imagine....not very successful. I finally have figured out exercise makes you healthy and contributes to weight loss, but you really have got to keep your cals low.

I also need to take my multivitamin and cinnamon/chromium supplements. The cinnamon/chromium keep my sugar cravings in check and apparently help with insulin spikes. I haven't had it confirmed but based on my own research I believe I was showing signs of insulin resistance and since adding them I feel so much better and the symptoms are starting to disappear.

Water, water and more water! I carry a water bottle with me at all times so I can stay hydrated without it being "work." Anytime I have something a little salty I make an extra effort to drink a few extra glasses.

Stay positive and stick with it.

Don't get too caught up in the ups and downs, just keep trudging ahead.

WOW Keep this going. All thats been listed so far has been amazing. Im still in the middle of my weight loss journey but what I find to be my "key to success" are these (and most have already been listed :) Oh well)

-LOTS and lots of water. If I dont drink my water I slack off.

-Keeping a positive attitude. The less I berate myself the better I do. If I try to remind myself that Ive come THIS far then I can usually keep myself from grabbing that extra cookie. Just picture yourself how you want to be and remember how worth it this all will be.

-The knowledge that just because you mess up or it takes you 5 months to lose 10 pounds does not mean you are a failure. And dont think of it as a diet think of it as a lifestyle change. Letting my body change at its own speed has been a nightmare and a blessing for me. Of course I just want the weight to melt right off but deep down Im glad its taken a while too. When I fall off track for WEEKS, my body doesnt retaliate as much because Ive conditioned myself not to binge as much as I used to. SO while Im eating more and less nutritionally, I realize that I dont go straight for the fast food like I used to.