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Don't deny yourself anything - just deny yourself having it all the time.

When you go out to eat, wear really tight clothes...you'll probably stop sooner. Ha.

Keeping positive sayings in mind and empowering statements like "don't eat your gains" and I "don't" eat that versus I "can't" eat that.

Journal, journal, journal. I'm sometimes horrified when I'm sure I've been good, then reality hit once I wrote it all down and calculated calories.

I agree with positive statements. I love "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels" and "One should eat to live, not live to eat." I really try to pay attention to when I'm actually hungry verses when I just feel like putting stuff in my mouth.

And chewing gum... gum has been a life saver.

Take care of your emotional self. It'll make it easier to break from past bad habits. It will be such a struggle to change "on the surface" food and health habits if you don't address the root causes (what's going on inside). Not such a concrete tip but one that's working for me!

Also, write it down. I write down calories, feelings, meal ideas, reactions to food, etc. Might not work for everyone but it's helped so much to be able to go back and re-read. Also keeps me accountable.

I know its been said, but it bears repeating by as many people as possible: WRITE IT DOWN. Every bite, every time. Even if you know its been a really terrible, no good, very bad day, lol. The only person you're cheating is yourself - and you'll be surprised how much less likely you are to have that bad day again when you've seen it in black and white...

...but also, don't beat yourself up. We are all human and this is a process that takes patience and, most of all, time. It's ok to go off plan occassionally, real life goes off plan occassionally :)

Educate yourself

I have several. First,...don't punish yourself. You have to care for yourself and start loving yourself, even when you don't feel like you deserve it. Go outside of yourself and care for yourself like someone who really loves you would. Second, JUST DO IT. Third, if you mess up, its not over. Don't have an all or nothing attitude. Even if you are 50% better than last year, it will eventually show!

The top 4 things that worke for me:

Keep a food journal/track calories on my fitness pal or daily plate

Cut out all drinks except water

Find healthy food that you really enjoy eating

Eat plenty of fiber and protein

Don't look at obstaining from unhealthy food as deprivation.

Look at eating garbage as deprivation to your health!

Oh and I have to agree with everyone else who said journal. I count my calories religiously. I have no concept of what eating normally is like. I MUST do this. Its just a way of life now and habit and I don't even really think about it anymore.

one that i'm currently learning.

don't push yourself. don't over aim. if you need a break? take it. if you're exhausted? nap. if you're hungry? eat. if you're upset- cry.

Why? because if you ignore all of these, they come back five fold. I ate too little calories for too long? Started Binging. Exercised too hard and pushed too far? Injured spine (WHICH SUCKS), Was exhausted and went to work out? Didn't give it my all. Didn't eat when I was hungry? Binged.

Self respect and moderation are the keys.

Originally Posted by JohnP:
Educate yourself

yes, yes, a thousand times yes :D

I would add, be self-aware. Don't lie to yourself, don't cheat yourself, don't bury your head in the sand. And be aware of the good things too, how you feel and how your body is changing. I think a lot of us become overweight by closing our eyes to our own actions.

Plan ahead! Weighing your options and making informed decisions is the most important thing to keep me on track. Even planning to go off-plan is important when you need it.

My no. 1 weight loss tip: DON'T DRINK YOUR CALORIES :)

Originally Posted by JohnP:
Educate yourself

This but I'd like to expound. It's just not educating yourself about healthy eating and exercise but learning about yourself so you're not frustrated trying an eating regimen that everyone else seems to losing a lot of weight on but you're not. Case in point, many people have been successful with mini-meals (5-6 per day). I would get so frustrated because I wouldn't lose weight with this approach. It was hard for me to be consistent with my schedule, I was often eating when I was not hungry and felt bloated, and it was overall harder to avoid going over my calorie allotment because I was eating more often (and eating a little extra each time). I found that my schedule and most notably my body responded better eating 2-3 larger meals (no I don't do IF which typically requires a more formal schedule of fasting) so rather than try to make the "more popular" approach work, I just went with this approach for me. The same is the case for Atkins which I didn't respond well to but through trial and error I developed the right balance of protein, fat, and carbs for me by tracking food against weight loss over a period of time (need about 3-4 weeks to see a pattern). There is so much debate about what's good for our bodies and weight loss (i.e. dairy vs. no dairy, should we eat fruit, how much fat is too much, vegetarian approach versus meat eaters, etc.) that you have to really take the time to read a variety of data and then develop an educated eating plan based on your lifestyle, personality, and other factors specific to you. This will increase your chances for success.

Drink a lot of water with dinner. It helps you feel fuller faster and helps me stay fuller longer. Drinking water all the time is generally important, but I always eat less if I drink more.

1. Weigh and measure (with a food scale!) every gram you eat and log it!

2. Don't make a single change you cannot happily maintain for the rest of your life!

I have another one! Don't make excuses!

Originally Posted by ValRock:
I have another one! Don't make excuses!

The cake made me do it.

Originally Posted by Dottington:

2. Don't make a single change you cannot happily maintain for the rest of your life!

Totally.

1. Give tweaks to your plan at least three weeks to work. Some changes show up slowly.
2. GET ENOUGH SLEEP. It is ridiculously easy to confuse the messages your body sends your brain when you aren't rested. A 20-minute power nap can often defuse a craving or binge. Sometimes all it takes is a 5-minute close-your-eyes-and-breathe. But naps rock!
3. Don't eyeball portion sizes. Measure, measure, measure.

Originally Posted by Prim2012:
This but I'd like to expound. It's just not educating yourself about healthy eating and exercise but learning about yourself so you're not frustrated trying an eating regimen that everyone else seems to losing a lot of weight on but you're not. Case in point, many people have been successful with mini-meals (5-6 per day). I would get so frustrated because I wouldn't lose weight with this approach. It was hard for me to be consistent with my schedule, I was often eating when I was not hungry and felt bloated, and it was overall harder to avoid going over my calorie allotment because I was eating more often (and eating a little extra each time). I found that my schedule and most notably my body responded better eating 2-3 larger meals (no I don't do IF which typically requires a more formal schedule of fasting) so rather than try to make the "more popular" approach work, I just went with this approach for me. The same is the case for Atkins which I didn't respond well to but through trial and error I developed the right balance of protein, fat, and carbs for me by tracking food against weight loss over a period of time (need about 3-4 weeks to see a pattern). There is so much debate about what's good for our bodies and weight loss (i.e. dairy vs. no dairy, should we eat fruit, how much fat is too much, vegetarian approach versus meat eaters, etc.) that you have to really take the time to read a variety of data and then develop an educated eating plan based on your lifestyle, personality, and other factors specific to you. This will increase your chances for success.

Excellent points. I was trying to stick with the "rules" of the first post but I agree completely.

In my case when I read that eating every 2-3 hours was critical to keeping your metabolism humming along I figured if every 2-3 hours was good every 2 hours was better. I'd wake up at 6 am to eat, and every 2 hours I would eat until my last meal at 10:00 PM. What a pain in the butt! Plus I was always hungry because I was never full due to eating these tiny mini meals.

At the same time I had read how important working out was so I was working out six days a week and doing HIIT 3 times a week on top of it. Didn't lose a single lb in the first month dispite eating very "clean" because I was very hungry and needed to fuel all the working out. A massive amount of effort was expended in those 30 days with very little result other than getting into much better shape. I was sooo sore every day and looking back I am lucky I didn't injure myself.

I figured I was just genetically predisposed to being fat after all my entire family is fat.

Everything I was doing at the time was based around the book NROL which had come hightly reccomended but unfortunately is not a great book as far as nutrition goes...

That said - I kept reading and got educated.

So ya ...

"Educated yourself" :D

Mine is the classic "eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a rich person, and supper like a pauper." I realize this wouldn't work for everyone, but it's an excellent fit for my physiology and psychology.

F.

1. Prayer

2. Never, ever, EVER give up. It's not an option for me.

I look at all the clothes in my closet that I want to wear that are too tight. I refuse to buy clothes that are a bigger size, but I will definitely buy something new when I hit my goal weight!

I love this thread.

Here's my little suggestion: avoid eating at potluck/buffet style parties. Often you have NO IDEA of the ingredients of the dishes (or the cleanliness of the kitchen in which the food was prepared!). I always eat beforehand and only eat fruit or vegetables at the event. Yeah, I'm hungry when I go home, but at least I know what I've eaten!

Jen

Make a plan that suits YOU and YOUR lifestyle
Don't be afraid to say NO
Plan ahead
Be truthful with yourself
Face the scale
Drink water
Talk about/discuss your feelings about your weight loss. If I hadn't had the wonderful advice of several 3fc members, I would have given up.

Get support from someone.
Keep a log of choices.
Don't eat in between meals( I did this a lot just because I was bored or lonely)
Find out why you are eating ( bored,lonely,sad)
Drink 64 oz. of water.
Carry dressings and diet things you'll need ewhen you go out to eat.
Always plan ahead
Never eat in the car
Always refuse dessert...if you have to have some just eat a few bites
Weigh once a week

I am giving a lot of advice...but I have only been on a diet for 5 days..so maybe I listen to my own advice and yours

1) Be Patient. You may not have the same success as other people as fast as other people. You are unique. It's different for everyone.

2) Plan ahead as much as you can. There are a lot of things we cannot control in this life, but what you eat and when you eat it CAN be controlled.

3) Stop making excuses. Do or do not. It's very simple.

4) Log your food / drink intake somewhere every day. Make a commitment to yourself to do that.

5) Be willing to try anything and everything (healthy - I'm not talking about using wacky weight loss "drugs" or stuff like that). Stop saying I can't/ I won't/ and I don't. You are as limited as you make yourself be (this is for people without food allergies)

6) Relates to number 1 - do not compare yourself to others. There is no added value.

7) Be positive. Celebrate your daily victories. Don't be so hard on yourself - this is the ONLY life that you get, take the time to ENJOY it as well (and I don't mean with food, but birthdays, weddings, holidays are meant to be enjoyed; it's possible to have that happiness without overdoing it).

what PinkyPie said #2 " This is something I can control, so I need to" There are so many things that we can't control in life.

I also agree with, educate, journal, uncover triggers & don't totally deny one's self. Good Luck all :)

Originally Posted by GotothegymOKAY:


2) Don't kid yourself at the grocery store and convince yourself that you can buy those [crackers/chips/cheese/etc] and eat them in moderation. If you weren't able to not binge on them last week, chances are you won't be able to have the control this week!

This is so me right now omgg. I have so much "low calorie" diet snacks that I end up eating so much more than I used to. I need to stop buying them for good.

Accept yourself for what you are now. After 80+ pounds of weight loss so far, I have realized that losing the actual weight off of my body is not going to make me happy- it is my perception of myself that makes the difference.

Also, don't use one binge as an excuse for another binge. Pick yourself up and start again!

There is more to life than eating.

Wear form fitting clothing as much as possible! I spent the last few years hardly wearing anything but yoga pants, sweatpants, comfy shirts, etc. and the result was a 30+ pound weight gain that I didn't even notice. :o

First and foremost: doing a total 180 on my approach to food. Before, I had a kid's mentality: "I don't know that food, so I don't like it." This included pretty much every fruit and vegetable... :rolleyes: I conditioned myself to think differently. (Now people hate me because I always want veggies at every meal, and eat pretty much everything, including apalling stuff like durian. :rolleyes:)

Also: getting the negative talk out of it all (that was after I started developing ED... yeah, dieting made me sick in my head, sooo nice...). No internally yelling at myself and abusing myself with self-talk of "you fat cow, why can't you stop?". No more words like "forbidden foods", "I've been bad", "I'm not allowed to eat that". And no more self-defeating thoughts such as "it's the week end, I'm bound to binge since there's no school/work to keep me busy". That negative thinking would just make me feel even more frustrated, and then I'd binge in turn. I did my best to turn it into something at least neutral (it's food, mere fuel—not the Antichrist made bagel) or positive ("I can have bread... it just has to be the *best* bread in town, not some crappy ersatz... aw, only low supermarket-bakery breads around? Well, nevermind, it's not what *I* want now, so I don't see why I should eat it."

And I think it's something Krampus mentioned? But it's probably worth only when you're starting to reach an 'only overweight' BMI, because I'm not sure if those exist in the largest sizes: corsets. (I wer those because I really like Goth, Victorian and Steampunk-influenced clothing, btw, not to torture myself. :)) You just can't overeat *at all* when you're wearing a corset.

I, too, love this thread. So much of it rings true, and some of these things do not work for me at all. It's like John said about the nutrition advice in The New Rules of Lifting books. They are clearly not written for severely obese women. I love the work - outs, and I have really increased my protein percentage intake as a result of reading it, but fat loss is way more important to me than muscle gain right now, so I will not be eating the recommend 3000 daily calories or so that the formula in his book suggests.

So - my tip is unapologetically doing what I believe is right for me right now to aid my weight loss. And if I'm wrong? I have learned more about what does and doesn't work, and have avoided the true disaster that is mindless eating.

1. Stop making excuses.

You are not too old. You are not too sick. You do not have "fat genes" or "big bones." You do have time to work out. You can buy healthful food instead of junk for you and your kids. You are not special when it comes to weight loss. There is no magic pill. Hoping and praying are not enough. Will power does run out, and you have to work past it. You ARE strong enough.

2. Stop comparing yourself to others.

There will always be someone losing faster than you. Who cares? The goal is to lose the weight forever, so concern yourself with you, not someone else.