patience

Lose the weight out of love for yourself, not out of hatred for yourself.

Beware of weight loss myths...

Learning how to prepare my own diet food and come up with my own healthy dishes. Helps so much that I know what i'm preparing is a major contribution to my weight loss successes!

I don't have to lose weight; I want to lose weight

All of the above & NEVER EVER EVER reward myself with food, sets up a reward for everything, ie, making it through pain, happiness, sorrow, etc. Set little rewards for staying in your healthy lifestyle, but don't make it food.

:)

Learn from your mistakes.

One tip that i read over and over and over on the Maintainer's Forum, but somehow it never really clicked with me until just a week ago, is that i will ALWAYS have to watch what i eat. I will NEVER be "done." Of course, i will be more relaxed with my diet after a certain point, but i will ALWAYS have to stick to a plan.

I thought i could reach a point where i was neutral--not gaining and not losing--without watching what i ate. And i did...for a few months. But then, slowly, the pounds started to creep on. So i learned that i will NEVER be able to just eat whatever i want.

I like this one that is what I try to do, also I belive mistakes are a moment to learn and grow.

Not losing or even gaining some weight is not failure. Giving up is failure.

The world will not run out of cookies/ice cream/beer/Mac & cheese/pizza while I am losing weight. It will all still be there when I allow myself a small portion in the future. Now the future may be tomorrow, but if I have a chance to eat something that isn't on my plan, my goal is to tell myself "not today."

Patience.
I've learned that for me there is no quick fix...well there is, but its not sustainable in the long run.

For me, a couple things:

Any loss, even maintaining during loss -- is a success. Don't set unrealistic goals or even "I have to lose ___ lbs by ____ date". Any loss is a success and should be celebrated, imo. Any week, month, year that you begin lighter than the last is moving you closer to your goal.

The second biggest for me is to hop RIGHT back on 'the wagon' after a slip-up. Start again the next meal. I used to have a very all or nothing approach that went something like, "oh I've already messed up today, might as well eat whatever I want because the whole day is RUINED." That would turn into days, weeks, and then BAM I'd gain back.

Oh one more BIGGIE was learning to love and like myself where I am. To celebrate who I am and what I've come through. To believe in my strength and worth and beauty EVEN AT THIS WEIGHT. Not to wait until I was a magical slim weight to live life, dress cute, have a high self-esteem and love myself. I am no less valuable because I am overweight.

So, patience, persistence, moderation, and being gentle with myself. Those are my best 'tips'. :)

If you only eliminate one thing from your diet, make it GUILT.

We all overeat on occasion for various reasons - stress, habit, tiredness, cravings, depression, hormones, whatever.

Certainly learn from the times you don't do quite what you'd intended, but don't use those times as a stick to beat yourself with. Weight loss can be hard enough without us being our own worst enemies.

I'd have to say that the best tip is to not let your current mood affect what you do. There are just some days where, for example, I just don't want to work out, and nothing I can say to myself will make me want to get in the gym. But I know that, beyond my mood, I do want to go to the gym, and so I do. . . . Most of the time. :-) I admit I'm not perfect here.

To rephrase maybe, don't do now what you want to do, but rather do now what you will want later to have done.

I just joined yesterday and must say this is an awesome site. Lots of great tips and support. I can do this...I will do this!

Take baby steps. Sometimes, we try to change too many things at once or go too hard and our minds and bodies cannot keep up. I think making incremental changes to our diet, exercise and lifestyle, say every month or so, is a good way to build consistency and develop good long-term habits that will make us successful in our journey and maintenance.

Look at all this wisdom...I'm really amazed !

I like this saying. Especially since I feel like I will NEVER lose weight. ;)

A healthy gut = a slimmer gut

Patience and perseverance are most important.

:dance::dance::dance:

Make SMALL goals
and avoid cheat DAYS. They don't work for me personally and my friend too. I will allow a cheat "meal" or "snack" but, cant do the whole day.

Try to stay away from your trigger foods, as one often turns into ten.

I agree, I only do cheat meals...

Always remain optimistic, no matter what!

And what shiv said, which is Ditch. The. Guilt. VERY sage advice.

I agree with Berry . . . SLEEP is VERY important to weight loss.

For me, it is the difference between losing weight and hitting stalls. I have to get a minimum of 6 hours sleep to have a chance of any type of weight loss to show the next morning.

And I can have a night where I get less than 3 hours sleep (fairly common in my job) and be up 2 lbs when I weigh in the next morning!

I simply do not weigh if I have had less than 6 hours sleep, it's a totally artificial number, and sabotages my efforts.

Sleep is king.