Things are going pretty well for my weight loss to date. According to HappyScale, and thanks to CICO and this forum, I've lost 0.2 pounds in seven days, 6.6 in 30 days, and 17.0 in 90 days. Though I've been on a plateau for more than two weeks, I'm in this for the long term (i.e., Healthy BMI for Life) and I'm trusting the process. That said, I do keep a list of the best advice I've found in this forum and in books, and I turn to it whenever I wish my weight loss was progressing more quickly. Here's my list, and please add to it in the comments.
[1]
Remember the Four Ds: Distance, Distract, Delay, Decide what's important.
[2]
Write out and review your list of reasons for the weight loss at least once a week.
[3]
Keep a list of smaller rewards for 5- and 10-pound goals, and larger ones for larger goals. So far, I've used the savings from lunches out and junk food to buy a new bag and a new pair of sneakers. When I reach my next milestone, I'm buying a chin-up bar, and the next one after that will be an elliptical machine. When I reach my final goal and enter Maintenance, which will be sometime next year, I'm getting my first nice watch and first nice swim trunks in my life.
[4]
One day a a time. Practice consistency over perfection. If you have one bad day, go right back to business as usual.
[5]
Anticipate life’s certain though tragedies in the future so they don't throw off our nutrition/fitness/logging goals. "We cannot change the wind, but we can adjust our sails”.
[6]
Track and journal for six months after meeting your final goal to train yourself what the new and right way feels like, after a whole adult life of wrong. Join the national weight loss registry after one year of Maintenance for accountability.
[7]
Love food or love your body. It’s up to you!
[8]
Select only Premium fuel for my roaring inner bonfire.
[9]
By not giving in right now, I’m strengthening my resolve.
[10]
Big satisfying meals. Hunger between is NOT emergency or starvation. Appropriate hunger for each meal. Body well equipped to go WEEKS without food. (Georgie Fear)
[11]
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 starving and 10 overstuffed, aim to go from a 3 to a 7 at any given meal. Eat just until satisfied. "More food isn’t more fun."
[12]
You can have the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Your choice.
[13]
Think about the last 10 pounds as practice for maintenance. When you are in maintenance you will still have to stick to a calorie goal (your TDEE), without the reward of seeing the scale change. And you will have to do it for the rest of your life. So what's the rush all of a sudden?
[14]
Be careful about monitoring your intake of foods with natural sugars like fruit, and simple carbohydrates that act metabolically like sugar in your body, namely flour and white rice. Limit to 30g a day or less.
[15]
It became a question of sugar-or my life. I chose life.
[16]
Sugar is not love. Keep the fun; omit the sugar.
[17]
Make your food boring and your life interesting. Lose the weight.
[18]
The pain of pushing through? Or the pain of giving up?
[19]
There is always chaos (in my case, yo-yo weight loss/gain) before order. See the last two years as a setback, nothing more. Even necessary.
[20]
You’re coming home to your true self.
[21]
I fight at the table instead of at the fitting room or closet.
[22]
Motivation starts this thing. Discipline gets you through to the end.
[23]
Weight loss and maintenance as a permanent “practice” instead of as a profession or learning of trade.
[24]
I’d rather wear whatever I want than eat whatever I want.
[25]
“I’m as happy with my lean habits as I am with the way my smallest jeans fit.”
[26]
4.2 grams of sugar=1 teaspoon of sugar (easier to visualize)
[27]
Need to wait six MONTHS for real results (i.e., April 2019), with mini monthly goals in interim.
[28]
Live on an "energy of the spirit" more than on an overabundance of calorie-dense food. “Now I eat mostly fruits, nuts, vegetables and grains (preferably organically grown), and perhaps a bit of milk and cheese. That is what I live on and walk on.” - Peace Pilgrim
[29]
Get psyched! It's SOUP SEASON!!!! I love soups so much. Soup is life. Soup is everything. Craving a loaded baked potato? Turn that craving into a lower calorie soup! How about lasagna? Soup to the rescue! Macaroni and cheese? SOUP IT UP BABY! And You can get tea that smells like anything. ANYTHING. Get stoked. The season of yummy warm things that are like 70% water and 30% actual calories is upon us! losers rejoice!
[30]
Brown rice, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta.
[31]
Every meal, for nutrition and satiety: Grains, Greens, Fats, Fiber, Protein. Hydrate with fresh cold water all day.
[32]
I have a chronic health issue. My obesity is in remission.
[33]
Slip-ups are not give-ups.
[34]
Up and down on the scale? Bad day? Trust the laws of thermogenics. It’ll go down. Anything higher than your lowest weight is water.
[35]
If I want to weigh X pounds, then I need to eat like a X-pound person.
[36]
Hungry? Eat an apple. Doesn’t sound good? Then you’re not hungry.
[37]
The incorrect 95-98% obesity recidivism rate is from 1959, and it was debunked by the study author in the NYT.
[38]
Either this food choice will help advance my goals or it will slow me down.
[39]
Decay is optional. Body does default to it in your 40s and 50s, but we can still fight against it and grow. (Younger Next Year)
[40]
The keys to overriding the decay code are daily exercise, emotional commitment, reasonable nutrition, and a real engagement with living. But it starts with exercise. (Younger Next Year)
[41]
Thing is, you need to do something every day to tell your body it’s springtime. That’s the key. It isn’t complicated, but you have to work at it every day. (Younger Next Year)
[42]
Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life. Sorry, but that’s it. No negotiations. No give. No excuses. Six days, serious exercise, until you die. You have to put a strain on the lines of your life so that your anchor will hold in that tide we talked about. (Younger Next Year)
[43]
This is not a diet; it's a lifestyle change. Slow and steady. You didn't gain all of the extra weight quickly, so you shouldn't lose it super quickly, either. Your new way of living is sustainable and permanent.
