I have a question to those ladies and gents who've made it to or close to their goal:

What is the one inportant thing that you know now, but wish you knew back when you were just starting out on your weight loss journey?

Feel free to elaborate if you feel like you have more than just one important thing.

There are four little pieces to the puzzle that works for me ... eat less, eat clean, cardio and weights.

I wish I had known to start all of those at the beginning.

Ok, I'm not at goal yet (this time), but I've been there in the past. the MOST important thing I know now, that I didn't know all the other times I dieted, is that I don't have to starve myself to lose weight. It's really possible to lose weight and still eat food regularly. Whoda thunk it??

When I could exercise and work out, I wouldn't. Now that I can't (medical reasons), I wish I could. That's the one thing I would change right now if I could, but oh well.

When I was in Junior high I had no understanding of calories in/calories out. I would have real intense cardio sessions which I cluelessly followed with a can of soda pop.

Aside from that embarrasing factoid, one thing I wish I had learned sooner is that fitness and sports can be fun. I was definitely one of those girls in school who hated GYM class, was always chosen last and always berated for my poor skills. That sort of experience can really turn people off from fitness.

Now I can't imagine not being active.

Well, I'm only halfway to goal, but already feel 100% better, so here goes anyway:

1. I now think of losing weight as a lifetime commitment instead of a short term goal.

2. I wish it hadn't taken until I was 55 for me to realize I would never be 'thin' and look like a fashion model . Now, I'll be happy with good health and looking ok when clothed - I've accepted the fact that I will never look good in a bathing suit - at least in this lifetime .

I know now that:
1. neither exercise nor diet ALONE will help. Both must go hand in hand. I lost a good 30 lb 2 years back with diet only but gained almost 25 lb back...I did not exercise then. But now I do both and in good proportion: not too less not too much!

2. rigorous and specific diet plans or rigorous exercises wil help you lose weight but you will gain it back once u are back to ur normal routine. So doing diet and exersice in a quality and quantity (like calorie counting/portion size control and aerobic exercises) which you can maintain always is the slower but more effective and long term way to go!

3. Diet pills can kill you/make you depressed.

1. Veggies are NOT inherently yucky
2. Working out is a great stress reliever
3. Its how you feel not the number on the scale...
4. Working out during TTOM helps not HURTS!

The most important thing I have learned is that it's for a lifetime, not just for a specific number on the scale. I had lost 90 lbs. before and gained it back. I wish I had known this then. This time the weight is staying off because I have no intention of stopping exercising or changing my new eating habits.

Took the words right out of my mouth-

Here's what I found out-

1) exercise is never the enemy. In fact, do it everyday or consistently and you'll feel like it's a treat. I even look forward to it now. I love it, and doing it consistently, making time for it (yes, even through hard, busy and stressful times!) will allow you to never fall into a fitness rut.

2) Eating til I stuffed myself full was a HORRIBLE feeling. I still do it, but only once in a blue moon (this is something I cannot help nor beat myself over it- ancient homosapiens did this for survival, at least I'm convinced). But now I eat consistent meals, I make SURE I'm NEVER STARVING.

3) NEVER STARVE. You'll fall right back to bad habits or even worst. Straving yourself is the dumbest thing I've done in my teenage years, and looking back, I wished I wouldve smacked myself silly for it.

4) BE annoying if you must- your friends cannot persuade you to eat whatever they're eating. I have a friend that constantly forces me to eat her food and leftovers because she wants me to eat it before she considers for seconds. That, and if I ate it, it wouldn't make her feel so guilty if I ate it with her. NOw, I'm saying the final answer, and i WON'T be nice, "NO."

5) Enjoy yourself once in a while before your mind is convinced that its been deprived of goodies. Life requires a bit of spontaniety, some sort of tomfoolery, and just a lot of rewards, but occasionally. You know? Don't go crazy or complusive- a healthy lifestyle shouldn't make you feel like you're in prison. Have fun! Eat colorful foods and then some!

I wish I knew that it wasn't so hard, and that I would ENJOY the journey getting here.

I wish I knew how to cook veggies and lean protein so that I liked them.

I wish I tried healthy foods earlier.

I wish I knew that 1 packet of Haribo sweets a day and nothing else was not really the best way to lose weight

I wish I knew that I was capable of running

I wish I knew about protein earlier!

I wish I knew ice-cream and cakes were full of hydrogenated vegetable oil and that they don't taste as good as fresh strawberries

I wish I knew that people wouldn't make fun of me for exercising, or if they did I wish I'd had the nerve not to care.

I wish I knew that no-body will be offended if you don't eat food they offer you (except my Grandma but she's a b!tch!)

Mine is very similar to many of the posts above.

I started dieting when I was 15, when I felt "chunky" compared to my ultra thin classmates. I weighed 140 lbs and in retrospect, I wasn't fat at all (even though I thought I was huuuuge). That first failed diet led to 20 years of yoyo dieting, restrictions and binges and really just feeling awful about myself. Wondering why I had no willpower, feeling like a failure, feeling like I was "just big" and destined to be fat.

I always thought, if I could restrict some calories and lose some weight, I could restrict MORE calories and lose MORE weight. All I wanted was the weight OFF as quickly as possible. I had all these daydreams about being thin. I hated dieting, hated the restriction, it felt like punishment. All I wanted was to get to my goal weight so I could STOP dieting and eat whatever I wanted to again.

20 years later, I was a depressed, 200 lb 35 year old who was so lethargic, I fell asleep every afternoon in my office at work. I quit wearing nice clothes, quit doing anything with my hair (even coloring it), quit caring about me.

I had lost weight a few times in my life (50 lbs once) but I couldn't keep the weight off. The weight always came back, with more weight. I realized the problem wasn't losing weight, it was maintenance and THAT lightbulb moment made all the difference this time. Before I lost 1 lb, I was planning how to keep that 1 lb off.

What I would have done differently:

1. Understand that starving myself triggers a response from the body that is a good thing. My body responds the way I would WANT it to respond if I were truly in a situation with a limited food supply (slow down metabolism, consume muscle mass, hold onto fat reserves). Understanding my body is just trying to help made a big difference, I started working with my body instead of fighting. NO MORE STARVING - eat for health, foods are cancer fighters, disease preventers.
2. Accepting that I had to make a permanent change. I can't eat a plain salad with a squeeze of lemon for 4 weeks and then go back to eating nachos, pizza and mint milanos. I ate too much of the wrong foods. I had to accept that I had to change the way I ate forever.
3. Find some sort of exercise that I liked and could stick with. I wish I had joined track or the volleyball team in high school.
4. Plan for long term health. Abandon quick weight loss schemes and settle in for the long haul. This is not a quick fix, this is forever.

I wish I had known much earlier in my life that I have a low stomach acid problem and that poor digestion was causing my blood sugar instability and near constant hunger.

Now that I'm getting a full range of nutrients from my food, I don't get near so hungry anymore. Stomachs NEED a decent amount of acid to process fats and proteins. Without it I was malnourished on a health food diet.

Everything else is fairly simple after getting past that hurdle. Self control isn't so hard when your body has what it needs.

I wish I had started weight training earlier...

I wish it hadn't taken me 10 years to decide I was really fat. Its amazing how easily I had accepted my body as "this is just the way I'm supposed to be".

Bump cuz it's a goody!