Folks who tried to lose weight many times over the years but finally succeeded, what was your main mindset shift?

[WildFox2020]

I'll go first. For context, I tried for the past 5+ years to lose weight, and would lose up to 50 lbs at a time, but always gained it back. I finally lost it all (125 lbs) over the past year using a calorie tracking app (I found one called ChowTracker - really simple and easy to use, on days where I cant be bothered to weigh my food they have a calorie food scanner thing too which is helpful) and exercise, and feel like I truly changed my lifestyle permanently.

I think my biggest mindset shift was not caring if I missed my calorie or exercise target on a given day, and instead focusing on averages. Because of that, I could have the occasional celebration or binge, and still know that I was succeeding. I think that helped me have a positive relationship with the diet and myself, which meant I had a much easier of a time keeping with it for a long time.

In particular, I had a 7-day, 30-day, and all-time calorie average I was tracking. I didn't worry about day-to-day calories too much, but if my 7-day average went above 2,000 calories, I knew to pull back a little bit (regardless of how my weight looked).

But even then, I didn't get upset about my 7-day average being high. I knew as long as the 30-day and all-time averages were <2,000 calories, I was still trending in the right direction and hitting my goal was just a matter of time.
Did you have a similar mindset shift? Different one? Curious to hear!

That if I’d been eating too much before, it made sense that I had to eat too little for a while to balance it out. If my body needs X amount of calories a day, well that’s that. If I have too much it rests on my body instead of being used and get I fatter.

I lost 5 stone intermittent fasting.

Not letting one thing ruin the whole diet. If I have a meal or day off, just get back on it the next day because it’s not the end of the world.

I’ve only ever succeeded in losing half a stone before and now I’ve lost nearly 2 stone since May. I’ve had a bit of a rubbish week but I’m back on it tomorrow and letting the past week go.

The motivation for me this time was holding up a pair of 16 shorts and knowing they would be too tight and not do up. Had to do something about it.

I stopped listening to the advice that we HAVE TO HAVE 1200 CALORIES AND NO LESS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EVER (sorry about caps but that is the way I feel I was being lectured) because it meant that I would be a 'normal' weight by the time I was 99 years old even by the calculations made by these advisors.

Congratulations on your successful weight loss!!!!!! The journey is hard work but so rewarding!

I realised that weight loss is a by-product of a healthy lifestyle, not something to chase by itself. This let me set up goals that I could control around sleep, exercise, water, eating etc. In tandem with that, acknowledging that a healthy lifestyle isn't the same as a perfect one, and all I had to do was make healthy choices more often than not.