The most important weight loss advice?

I have posted about this topic before. But for me the answer is the same.
A year or two ago I read a news article about a medical study on diets.   It looked at the different types of diets.. (fad and otherwise) and gauged their effectiveness.  But what I took out of the article is this.

Doctors found that the people who are most successful at losing weight are the ones who MOST CONSISTENTLY  ADHERE TO THAT DIET.

That really seemed to change my life. I knew I could no longer take unlimited "vacations" from my eating plan.  I also knew that I needed weight loss surgery to help me along. I needed WLS to help relearn healthier habits.  I have a meal you might consider "a feast" only occasionally.. (I try to shoot for only once a month).  I also enjoy those "special" foods more when I only eat them occasionally. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Do you have one weight loss tip that's helped you more than others?

Good morning Hercules!  This journey is so different for me than my  previous "attempts" at losing weight.  I, too, always looked at is as a "diet" ..... and when I would take a "vacation" from it I would binge big time, thus the yo-yoing effect.  Since surgery my mindset is different.  I no longer feel like I am on a diet .... I simply eat different types of foods, less of them, and restrict my carbs, sugar and fats.  This is something I will have to do for the rest of my life.  It's a lifestyle change and this is the first time I have really felt like it was for a lifetime.  They say that this surgery isn't "brain" surgery, but it certainly changed my head and the way I think about food.  When I feel like I have a day of higher carbs (which we will have those occasional days), I cut back the next day and up the protein. 

I've had a hungry two weeks.  But not once did I "binge" and give up and eat everything in sight like I used to when I would "vacation." 

Just different for me .........

Gay

Losing weight is like quitting smoking - if you ain't ready in your head for it to happen then it ain't gonna happen!

NEVER drink with meals!  Makes me throw up every time!

Herc, you are like an "old soul" but you're also a WLS "old soul" too.  I do exactly the same thing with the monthly thing and you're right, you can appreciate it more. For me I think it's so important to plan what you do and make that commitment 100% because sometimes we don't realize that it's easier to stick to a plan that to go off it.  That might sound strange but if you know 100% the plan, it 's black and white and there's no decisions to be made.  If you go off the plan you are constantly faced with did I do too much? Will I do it again? Did I mess up?  Then you get the beating yourself up stuff.  Does that make sense?  When you commit 100% there's no gray area.  I hope this is not confused with someone trying to be perfect....that's not what this is about.  When you commit to your husband or wife to be monogamous it is a black and white thing.  You may look and you may even lust but if you commit it is just something that is not an option....to be with another person. 

The actual tip though is doing damage control when the problem is small.  Respect your surgery and tool and it will respect you.  Again, I'm so proud of you.
hugs, Y

 My biggest rule is skip the refined carbs.  I have a cracker fetish.  I love, love, love crackers.  Actually, my favorites are low-fat Triscuits.  Can't get much more whole grain than that, can you?  Well, I need to stay away from them totally.  At one point in my post-surgery journey, I was up nearly 20 pounds from my all-time low.  Why?  Crackers!  I went back to yogurt and fruit, my home-made stews (well-cooked meat and vegetables) and an occasional protein drink, and the weight came right off.  If we eat the right things, the weight comes off.  

Oh!  Another thing about those crackers?  They seem to slowly increase your pouch's capacity.  Getting rid of them will help the pouch to go back to its smaller size.

Linda

Rules, having them, yes that has to be it.
In my old world this would be a "diet".  In my old world, rules equaled not living well.   In my new world I call it "eating right" (psychologically thinking of being on a "diet" forever is a downer).  My friend in Spain wrote me that she doesn't understand Americans and how we eat.  No one around her would THINK of having an ice cream shake and pizza at midnight (GUILTY),  people enjoy a variety of foods but not the types she saw in this country (processed, sugared up, fried up, in huge portions, in the car, on the couch, while walking around on a stick, etc).  I NEED rules, I come to this site every day to hear them over, and over again and call it "eating well".

My mind set now is with my rules I AM living well!  
Second important weight loss advice came from someone else on this site to me early in my eating learning - "don't eat things you don't like".  Thanks for that.
Anne 

My doctor told me that this is the most important rule to follow; do not eat more often than every three hours.  No grazzing.  He told me that this simple rule alone can almost always determine who will keep their weight off, and who will struggle. 

yes eating at 3 hr intervals, and protein b4 carbs. Watch out for the sugars and artifical sweetners.  They tend to let your guard down. Shop the outside isles and skip bakery, deli, soda,chips,  And very important for me is fluids, fluids

Stay off the scale!

It will drive you nuts.

I am not weighing. I am tracking my progress by my clothes. I weighed at my 3 mo appt and will weigh again at my 6 mo.