Had a doctor's vist the other day, he complimented me on my appearance , I said " I try to take care of myself." His response ? "It pays, doesn't it ? " I loved his reply !
I've been asked this a lot over the last year. It's funny because I never asked anyone how they lost their weight - because common sense told me eat less/move more. For me, it took more than just that, so to serious inquirers, I do the following run down:
Usually, that first item bugs people. OMG MY SODA? Yes, your soda. Your Coke. Your whatever is the empty liquid crack you currently imbibe too much of. Either learn to better portion it and make it fit your calories, or banish and replace with water, tea, or other polite beverage of your choice.
Walking 2 miles? Yes, 2 miles. It is doable. It is possible. My thighs rubbed raw for months, and I couldn't even get up to half a mile until after 3 weeks. You will get there. I started with Monday - Friday and worked up to every day of the week. People balk at this with "I don't have time". You have it. 2 miles takes me 25 minutes these days. It used to take one hour. You can find the time.
Portion control, calorie counting and avoiding emotional/boredom eating is difficult. I still have a bad day here and there with this and this is where remembering you're human comes into play. Start slow, exchange one item for another, make healthy realistic goals and you will get there.
I still eat desserts. I still get my Starbucks with no substitutions. I factor in the calories and make allowances and subtractions from the rest of my day. I have no shame in cutting that slice of cake or pie down to a laughable half or fourth of what I used to eat and be completely fine with noshing that around everyone. It sates me these days. You'll find your appetite changes over time.
It took me a year to lose 110 pounds. Yeah, that is an awesome achievement. It took work. Nothing excruciating, but work indeed. You stay honest, you keep trying and you work through the things holding you back - you will get there.
Most people are very receptive to that answer. Some people really just want to hear I did some whacky 4 day cleanse and everything flushed away. Those are generally the people who whine about it being too hard. Losing weight is the easy part. Keeping your fire burning and staying committed to keeping it off is the bit that gets tricky.
This question is starting to irk me - EVERYONE asks it. My answer is that there is no secret, "diet and exercise" or "counting calories" depending on who's asking.
Lately I am getting "are you still losing weight?" more and more often. I tell them yes, I would like to get to a size 8 and they say - but you are already, aren't you? And then don't believe me when I say I'm a 12.
I always tell them "diet and exercise...sorry to disappoint." Everybody is looking for that magical "oh I just woke up, took 2 breaths, and 80 pounds fell off" answer. Yeah...don't we all wish???
I think that whenever someone asks 'what's your secret' the last thing they want to hear is 'calorie counting and exercise' because that's what they've been trying to avoid. For so many years, i wished there was something other than exercise
Whenever I have lost a ton of weight, and I get asked that, I usually just tell them whatever I was doing. Right now, I tell people that the secret is to love your body. Love your body and it will be nice to you!
Someone asked me just this evening how I've done it. All I said was "sweat and vegetables", and then the conversation moved on. But when it's a lengthier conversation, rather than a quick catch-up with someone I haven't seen for a year and just bumped into coming out of a pub toilet, I say "sweat and vegetables, and a **** of a lot of work sorting my head out first". Because the sweat and vegetables are shifting the weight now, but it took me a long time to get my mind in such a place that I could stick to it. Truthfully, it took me a lot of work on my mental state before I was able to care about myself enough to start this journey. But I find few conversations about what my secret is are ever in-depth enough to really get that across.
I've been asked this a lot over the last year. It's funny because I never asked anyone how they lost their weight - because common sense told me eat less/move more. For me, it took more than just that, so to serious inquirers, I do the following run down:
Usually, that first item bugs people. OMG MY SODA? Yes, your soda. Your Coke. Your whatever is the empty liquid crack you currently imbibe too much of. Either learn to better portion it and make it fit your calories, or banish and replace with water, tea, or other polite beverage of your choice.
Walking 2 miles? Yes, 2 miles. It is doable. It is possible. My thighs rubbed raw for months, and I couldn't even get up to half a mile until after 3 weeks. You will get there. I started with Monday - Friday and worked up to every day of the week. People balk at this with "I don't have time". You have it. 2 miles takes me 25 minutes these days. It used to take one hour. You can find the time.
Portion control, calorie counting and avoiding emotional/boredom eating is difficult. I still have a bad day here and there with this and this is where remembering you're human comes into play. Start slow, exchange one item for another, make healthy realistic goals and you will get there.
I still eat desserts. I still get my Starbucks with no substitutions. I factor in the calories and make allowances and subtractions from the rest of my day. I have no shame in cutting that slice of cake or pie down to a laughable half or fourth of what I used to eat and be completely fine with noshing that around everyone. It sates me these days. You'll find your appetite changes over time.
It took me a year to lose 110 pounds. Yeah, that is an awesome achievement. It took work. Nothing excruciating, but work indeed. You stay honest, you keep trying and you work through the things holding you back - you will get there.
Most people are very receptive to that answer. Some people really just want to hear I did some whacky 4 day cleanse and everything flushed away. Those are generally the people who whine about it being too hard. Losing weight is the easy part. Keeping your fire burning and staying committed to keeping it off is the bit that gets tricky.
THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I usually tell people it's diet and exercise, and if they really seem interested and keep asking questions, I ask them if they want me to help them, I ask for their height and weight, and start calculating and sending them an email with eeeeeeeeeeverything that I did that helped me.
Honestly, this question didn't come up much before, or it did but the interest wasn't as pronounced. But now, it's become really apparent to everyone that I basically just shrank, and the one's that need whatever plan I put myself on, they REALLY wanna know how.
I currently have about 4 friends on my plan, and they text me everyday to let me know how they're doing. It's great
If I'm feeling silly, I'll say "Actually, I found this magical pill!" sometimes, their eyes get wide and they're entranced by every word that comes out of my mouth and then there's major disappointment when I tell them it's all diet and exercise and trying to control my emotional/binge eating. Usually, I just skip the little joke and just get to the boring stuff.
Everybody is looking for that magical "oh I just woke up, took 2 breaths, and 80 pounds fell off" answer. Yeah...don't we all wish??? 
