The Secret to Losing Weight

Great graphic and very true for me.

My situation is not typical since I am a wheelchair user, but I have lost over 90 lbs and kept it off for a year by eating carefully and using some arm weights. Several doctors did not think I could be successful since my activity level was so different from their other patients. I heard, "why do surgery for the sake of doing surgery?" more than once. However it was years of poor eating that got me so heavy not the wheelchair. I do need to challenge myself to be as active as possible, but do not underestimate the power of clean eating and the right attitude. 

Very inspiring. Congrats. You are the NO EXCUSES hero of the week!

I could not agree more, this is very true and I even remember reading a journal article about how the belief system around what is needed to lose weight is highly correlated with people's actual weight; those that believed that exercise was more important than clean eating weight substantially more than those that believed clean eating was the most important part of weight lose.

It frustrates me so much lately when people say they can't join a gym or don't have time to go to the fume and they have 50 to 100lbs to lose. I just want to shout at them to drop the Cheetos and go for a freaking walk instead. Just walk, that's all you have to do.

I think the first triangle will work great if you need to lose 5-10 lb

for the rest of use it's the second triangle

Sorry, misread your response at first. 

I've always said weight loss and maint is 90% diet (not dieting, but diet.. this is for life, not a month or a year.. better make it something you enjoy!) Exercise is great for mental health, mobility etc. Lifting some heavy stuff once in a while certainly helps the metabolism, and moreso, your ability to function w/o injury too.. muscle mass has a direct correlation on your ability to survive a major health crisis as well.

Even if you just stay off your ass most of the day and stroll around at a slow pace, you are leaps ahead of someone who sits all day long, and runs on the treadmill for an hour a day. Not being a "sitter" is the second biggest thing that will keep you healthy.

I try to chat with a friend who is a big cardio-queen.. she's wondering why she can't lose, doing all her workouts- she's slowly losing muscle and not losing any excess as she's prob getting to the point of over training from all the hours in classes every week.. She really just needs to take a break, eat some freaking fat and protein and after her body recovers a bit from the stress, pick up some weights once or twice a week and take a walk in the woods for her "cardio."

 

Surgery for me was three years ago this past June. I've been maintaining for a little over 2.5 years. What works for me, may not be for everyone. For over three years I have:
Weighed every morning
Weigh and/or measure my food when I'm at home
I log it all on line

It's what I call my dashboard, just like in my truck. I look at my weight, I know how much I can hold, and I weigh or measure that amount, actually, a little less. When I FEEL full, it is too late. I'm uncomfortable. I watch my calories and protein on MFP. These things let me know what is going on "Under The Hood" and if something is off or I go up or down more than 3 lbs. I know something needs to 'be changed'. I adjust. I KNOW I need 1300 calories per day to maintain. Give or take 50. If I am at 1200 for more than a couple of days, I lose, if I am up to 1400 for more than two or three days, I gain. This is my new life, as natural to me as breathing. I couldn't possibly be someone who weighs once a week or every two weeks. I know how quickly I can gain, 5 - 10 lbs. I know that five to ten pounds is much harder to lose than 2 or 3!!! I also attend support group meetings. Some would say I'm an addict. There are several of us that attend three or four different ones. All different people, different ways of running them. It's fun and it's fun to pay it forward, answer questions for the new kids on the block!!! this is my story!!