If your going to FORCE me ;) to pick just one, I would say Exercise. But I would be lying. For me it's complete commitment.

What got me here? Being lazy, not paying attention to portions, etc. etc. habits that contributed to my gaining weight!!!

It's a way of life. The exercise does me no good if I am eating without counting my calories, and making sure what I put in my mouth is unprocessed as possible, whole grains, high fiber. But eating right may show some weightloss, but without exercise (for me) it will stall in just a few weeks, and then I get defeated. I need both - food control, exercise discipline.

BUT..if I miss daily exercise, then I don't feel like I am committing to myself. I actually love to exercise, the euphoria is GREAT! I miss it when I don't.

Remember: It takes 4-5 repetative times before something sticks in your head for you to remember. To do that thing for 21 days straight becomes habit - second nature. That's hard, but worth it.

The single most important thing I do is to be aware of my weight at all times via daily weigh-ins. I will never again turn a blind eye to my weight because, when I'm not looking, it gets out of control.

Consistency and commitment. I'll admit it, I like to splurge, but no matter what the next day or next meal I'm back on plan, I'm committed to this lifestyle.

Definitely consistency. Shmead said it, picking a plan and sticking to it 100%, day in and day out.

I've been losing pretty fast, but after a short stall that scared me into changing my eating habits I've been committed to drinking more water and getting at least 2 cups of veggies a day. I also cut out aspartame and that seemed to help a lot too.

Portion control/daily weighing- I over estimate and roughly count calories, weighing daily keeps me good during the day.
*eeek sorry I couldn't decide between the 2*

One of the biggest things for me is to compare calories, whenever I feel like 'treating' myself.

Example:
1 skor candy bar = 200 calories
3 medium apples = 210 calories

I canNOT eat 3 apples in one sitting :dizzy: but you get the idea ;)
99% of the time, I choose to go with the lesser evil, and 'save the calories' so that I can eat more food throughout the day.

I stay committed. If (rather, WHEN) I screw up and go off plan, I don't let it spiral. I get back on plan with my next meal or whatever. I stay focused on the long term goal.

Since I have to pick just one, I will choose portion sizes. It is very important that I eat smart and portion sizes fall into that catagory for me. I've steadily been losing weight since becoming more aware of exactly how much I put in my mouth.

I wan't sure what my answer really was... until I read this. I think this is my number one and everything else follows.

The most important one, to lose weight, is to record all my food and keep my calories under a certain amount. I usually alow myself a maximum of 1500, but I try to keep it nearer to 1300.

There are others, but I would say without that one, I would not lose weight.

I think a few months ago I would have said dancing, because I did it a lot and lost weight. This past week it's been about counting calories. But still, I think I have to say having a support system is the most important thing. When I'm feeling like I want to binge or give up, my boyfriend encourages me to stick with it and helps me stay focused.

I treat the simple, processed carbs like the poison that they are for me! Now that I have been on plan for 4 1/2 weeks I am actually beginning to look at stuff like cake and remember how sick eating it made me feel. And my blood sugar levels aren't going nuts ( not that I actually take blood samples...just by how I feel...)

Exercise and plenty of movement. Whenever I fall into a rut and I'm not as active and slack on exercise, my weight stalls. Conversely, when I really get in a groove with workouts, the number falls. I'm fairly consistent about food, as I mostly cook from scratch, there's not a lot of fast food around here, and we budget our grocery money. So it basically comes down to the exercise.

I've read in people's signatures that you can't outexercise poor eating habits, but for me, without exercise, I'd basically be looking at maintenance, which I'm not sure I'm ready for just yet!

For me, it was taking away the deadlines (ignore the one in my signature - I keep meaning to delete it). I know how to lose weight, and I've successfully lost weight many times. However, each time, I grew frustrated at the "slow" speed of my weight loss. I would use that frustration as proof of failure, and then give up entirely.

Using these boards on a near-daily basis has also been a huge factor in my success this time around :D