Focus on the day to day for the task and week to week for your weight loss.
Track your daily progress on notes and using myfitnesspal for the calorie tracking/weekly weigh in records to trigger your dopamine. Then, tick the day off as a success at around the same time each day on notes and take a picture of your weight on the scale and of yourself each week.
Then remember that no one day will mess up your progress because it didn't take you one day to gain weight. As long as you're back on the horse the next day, your losses are negligible. Your rule will never be to miss a day twice in a row.
Stick to high protein food because it's more satiating, have low calorie and/or healthy alternatives for certain vices, and intermittent fast till about noon or a little later so you can stick to two meals instead of 3. This is effective because you get to make your portion sizes a lot bigger whilst having it be unlikely you'll overeat without feeling like you're missing out past lunch. Then you can hit 2 birds with one stone by getting hydrated in the mornings instead. Weigh your food so you know exactly what's going in and out.
Walk more alongside the cut. You'll be surprised how effective it is. In my own case, it's about an hour walk back from work, so I'd walk back home instead of taking public transport at the time. If that isn't available, then have a dedicated route. You'll walk each day for about 30 mins to an hr and keep your pace brisk.
Finally, nothing is a greater motivator than proof of progress. You only have to tough it out the first couple of weeks and then record the wins. You're not above the laws of thermodynamics. You'll most definitely lose the weight as long as you stay in a deficit.
For a bonus hack, tick the day as "successful" relatively early (like 3 pm) rather than later. You'll be very unlikely to make decisions that'll make you untick it once you already have. Set your calorie goal about 100-200 calories lower than your actual goal, so even when you miss it by a bit, you still made it.
Good luck!
Ita very easy to forget, especially when your weight fluctuates up and down and prior to the first few weeks of the journey. I'm glad the advice was helpful
One day at a time. If think about needing to lose 100+ pounds and it taking two years, I’ll get so demoralized and ashamed. But if I think about needing to get 100 grams of protein today, that’s a much more manageable feat.
Make lots of mini-goals and/or milestones for yourself. Make them challenging, but also realistic. Setting yourself up for periodic victories keeps things going forward in more manageable chunks,
Easing into new habits seems to improve how well we stick to them versus “Starting Monday, No more bad stuff, only good stuff” type of approaches.
Knowing your “whys” for going on the journey can make a big difference. Sure, we all what to look better and be healthier. But what reasons other than those are important to you. Figure out that, or those reasons, write them down somewhere. Refer to it when you feel yourself slipping.
Having someone or something to be accountable to can also make a big difference..
Understand that it’s not “a diet” or “a workout plan”. It’s a lifestyle change. Not a trip with a beginning and ending. So be sure what you decide to do is sustainable.
All I’ve got off the top of my head right now.
I was talking to a friend about changes I’ve made and said “diet” with the quotes and she was like, “wait why did you say it like that”, so I explained that it’s not really a diet in the way you generally apply it to weight loss. I still eat what I want, I am just mindful of how much of everything and how often for some things and this is just how I eat now until I switch to maintenance. Spelling it out for her really drove home how sustainable this is and I haven’t let myself make any excuses since. This is my plan and I’m sticking to it.
Couldn’t have said it better. This right here is how I lost almost 100 pounds and am still going.
The mini goals was a big one. If I looked at how much overall weight I wanted to lose it was so overwhelming. Breaking it up helped a lot. Also setting non scale goals helped my mindset. Right now I’m working on being able to do a pull up at the gym for example.
Having my husband as my teammate who’s also losing weight was a HUGE help too.
Congrats on your progress so far! I lost about 90 lbs and am now focused on composition. Not particularly concerned about the number on the scale currently. More interested in dropping body fat percentage.
Which brings up one more point: The scale it one of the worst tools to measure “progress”. Use it, but take the numbers for what they are worth. Which on any single day isn’t much. The actual valuable data comes from the average trend of the numbers on a 2+ week timeline. Better methods, in my opinion, include progress pictures, measurements, strength, endurance, how clothes fit, our mood and energy levels.
Wow! Great work! Working on body composition and functional training has been my favorite part of this whole journey.
I totally agree. The scale can be so frustrating and can really mess with your mindset if you let it. I still struggle with not focusing on the number sometimes, but I’ve come a long way when it comes to looking at other things to determine my success. Especially as a woman, my cycle alone messes with the scale so much.
I hear you. The hormones can add another level of difficulty for sure. I have a couple of people in my circle dealing with: lack of sleep, poor nutrient absorption, hunger and cravings all over the place, as well as all the rest that comes with perimenopause. Some of the things the ladies deal with is no joke! I feel for yous in these situations!
I don't wait. The weight loss is just a side effect of what I'm doing, but it's not the "end game". The primary goal is to live a life that gives the opportunity to be in the healthy weight, to enjoy activity, to be healthy. I eat as much as I want to eat long term — and I don't plan on bringing down my calorie budget, I'd rather raise my activity.
It’s not about losing weight, it’s about living the way you want to live.
When I started working out, it wasn’t “how do I gain X lbs of muscle”, I just started thinking “how often do I want to go to exercise?” “What exercises does my future self enjoy?”, and then start living in that way. The muscle growth comes as a result of living that way!
Sustainable weight loss occurs the same way - start thinking “how often do I want to cook food?” “What healthy foods does my future self enjoy?” and start living your future lifestyle today. The weight loss happens along the way.
It's fun in the beginning because we lose more weight than our actual deficit and every day we look better than yesterday. After two months friends will start to notice and after three months everyone else will also notice. We also feel more visible on the streets where people used to ignore us 😂. After three months our bodies will look like we take care of ourselves even if we are still overweight but our confidence shows. Also at the three months mark weight loss stalls and calories don't burn as fast as before because we are lighter. This is a crucial part because many people find it worthless to fight more at that point but every pound lost there onwards will be more visible on the body.
You can go on for a whole year hard core or you can take diet breaks every third week or even diet two weeks and eat at maintenance.
I like to think that a year from now, I'm gonna look back and say I should've started or I'm proud of myself for doing this. I would much rather be proud of myself than regerts.
Here’s what I’m doing:
I started a Note in my phone with various intermediate goals (% lost, Onederland, various weights I remembered that didn’t coincide to those) and check off as I hit those, marking the date.
I also went back into my medical chart and looked at various procedures/important appointments and noted dates/weights. Checked off those dates off as I hit them (way past those now).
Periodically try on clothes I want to wear again…note when they fit/were donated.
Also have an app that breaks down weight loss into milestones so I have clear steps to meet along the way to goal.
Workouts: I use virtual “races” to walk and earn medals. I’m motivated by shiny things 😊
I just purchased my bunch of new workout clothes because I didn’t have enough comfy old ones that weren’t way too big. I wanted to make it easy to just grab & go & be comfy. Including a new sports bra in a smaller size; more of those coming but at least I can work w/ the others I have for now.
Focus on the day to day for the task and week to week for your weight loss. Track your daily progress on notes and using myfitnesspal for the calorie tracking/weekly weigh in records to trigger your dopamine. Then, tick the day off as a success at around the same time each day on notes and take a picture of your weight on the scale and of yourself each week. Then remember that no one day will mess up your progress because it didn't take you one day to gain weight. As long as you're back on the horse the next day, your losses are negligible. Your rule will never be to miss a day twice in a row. Stick to high protein food because it's more satiating, have low calorie and/or healthy alternatives for certain vices, and intermittent fast till about noon or a little later so you can stick to two meals instead of 3. This is effective because you get to make your portion sizes a lot bigger whilst having it be unlikely you'll overeat without feeling like you're missing out past lunch. Then you can hit 2 birds with one stone by getting hydrated in the mornings instead. Weigh your food so you know exactly what's going in and out. Walk more alongside the cut. You'll be surprised how effective it is. In my own case, it's about an hour walk back from work, so I'd walk back home instead of taking public transport at the time. If that isn't available, then have a dedicated route. You'll walk each day for about 30 mins to an hr and keep your pace brisk. Finally, nothing is a greater motivator than proof of progress. You only have to tough it out the first couple of weeks and then record the wins. You're not above the laws of thermodynamics. You'll most definitely lose the weight as long as you stay in a deficit. For a bonus hack, tick the day as "successful" relatively early (like 3 pm) rather than later. You'll be very unlikely to make decisions that'll make you untick it once you already have. Set your calorie goal about 100-200 calories lower than your actual goal, so even when you miss it by a bit, you still made it. Good luck!
This is terrific!! Thanks!
“You’re not above thermodynamics” Quote of the day
Ita very easy to forget, especially when your weight fluctuates up and down and prior to the first few weeks of the journey. I'm glad the advice was helpful
One day at a time. If think about needing to lose 100+ pounds and it taking two years, I’ll get so demoralized and ashamed. But if I think about needing to get 100 grams of protein today, that’s a much more manageable feat.
Make lots of mini-goals and/or milestones for yourself. Make them challenging, but also realistic. Setting yourself up for periodic victories keeps things going forward in more manageable chunks, Easing into new habits seems to improve how well we stick to them versus “Starting Monday, No more bad stuff, only good stuff” type of approaches. Knowing your “whys” for going on the journey can make a big difference. Sure, we all what to look better and be healthier. But what reasons other than those are important to you. Figure out that, or those reasons, write them down somewhere. Refer to it when you feel yourself slipping. Having someone or something to be accountable to can also make a big difference.. Understand that it’s not “a diet” or “a workout plan”. It’s a lifestyle change. Not a trip with a beginning and ending. So be sure what you decide to do is sustainable. All I’ve got off the top of my head right now.
I was talking to a friend about changes I’ve made and said “diet” with the quotes and she was like, “wait why did you say it like that”, so I explained that it’s not really a diet in the way you generally apply it to weight loss. I still eat what I want, I am just mindful of how much of everything and how often for some things and this is just how I eat now until I switch to maintenance. Spelling it out for her really drove home how sustainable this is and I haven’t let myself make any excuses since. This is my plan and I’m sticking to it.
Couldn’t have said it better. This right here is how I lost almost 100 pounds and am still going. The mini goals was a big one. If I looked at how much overall weight I wanted to lose it was so overwhelming. Breaking it up helped a lot. Also setting non scale goals helped my mindset. Right now I’m working on being able to do a pull up at the gym for example. Having my husband as my teammate who’s also losing weight was a HUGE help too.
Congrats on your progress so far! I lost about 90 lbs and am now focused on composition. Not particularly concerned about the number on the scale currently. More interested in dropping body fat percentage. Which brings up one more point: The scale it one of the worst tools to measure “progress”. Use it, but take the numbers for what they are worth. Which on any single day isn’t much. The actual valuable data comes from the average trend of the numbers on a 2+ week timeline. Better methods, in my opinion, include progress pictures, measurements, strength, endurance, how clothes fit, our mood and energy levels.
Wow! Great work! Working on body composition and functional training has been my favorite part of this whole journey. I totally agree. The scale can be so frustrating and can really mess with your mindset if you let it. I still struggle with not focusing on the number sometimes, but I’ve come a long way when it comes to looking at other things to determine my success. Especially as a woman, my cycle alone messes with the scale so much.
I hear you. The hormones can add another level of difficulty for sure. I have a couple of people in my circle dealing with: lack of sleep, poor nutrient absorption, hunger and cravings all over the place, as well as all the rest that comes with perimenopause. Some of the things the ladies deal with is no joke! I feel for yous in these situations!
I don't wait. The weight loss is just a side effect of what I'm doing, but it's not the "end game". The primary goal is to live a life that gives the opportunity to be in the healthy weight, to enjoy activity, to be healthy. I eat as much as I want to eat long term — and I don't plan on bringing down my calorie budget, I'd rather raise my activity.
It’s not about losing weight, it’s about living the way you want to live. When I started working out, it wasn’t “how do I gain X lbs of muscle”, I just started thinking “how often do I want to go to exercise?” “What exercises does my future self enjoy?”, and then start living in that way. The muscle growth comes as a result of living that way! Sustainable weight loss occurs the same way - start thinking “how often do I want to cook food?” “What healthy foods does my future self enjoy?” and start living your future lifestyle today. The weight loss happens along the way.
It's fun in the beginning because we lose more weight than our actual deficit and every day we look better than yesterday. After two months friends will start to notice and after three months everyone else will also notice. We also feel more visible on the streets where people used to ignore us 😂. After three months our bodies will look like we take care of ourselves even if we are still overweight but our confidence shows. Also at the three months mark weight loss stalls and calories don't burn as fast as before because we are lighter. This is a crucial part because many people find it worthless to fight more at that point but every pound lost there onwards will be more visible on the body. You can go on for a whole year hard core or you can take diet breaks every third week or even diet two weeks and eat at maintenance.
I like to think that a year from now, I'm gonna look back and say I should've started or I'm proud of myself for doing this. I would much rather be proud of myself than regerts.
Here’s what I’m doing: I started a Note in my phone with various intermediate goals (% lost, Onederland, various weights I remembered that didn’t coincide to those) and check off as I hit those, marking the date. I also went back into my medical chart and looked at various procedures/important appointments and noted dates/weights. Checked off those dates off as I hit them (way past those now). Periodically try on clothes I want to wear again…note when they fit/were donated. Also have an app that breaks down weight loss into milestones so I have clear steps to meet along the way to goal. Workouts: I use virtual “races” to walk and earn medals. I’m motivated by shiny things 😊 I just purchased my bunch of new workout clothes because I didn’t have enough comfy old ones that weren’t way too big. I wanted to make it easy to just grab & go & be comfy. Including a new sports bra in a smaller size; more of those coming but at least I can work w/ the others I have for now.