What is your strategy to a healthy lifestyle?

Hi all. I am new here and have made some progress in losing weight but I am taking things one step at a time. I was wondering what your journey to losing weight/becoming healthy has been like.

Did you decide one day to change all your eating habits and go from a sedentary lifestyle to going to gym six times a week? Or did you go more slowly and made small changes every month/week, if so what what changes have you made and when?

In my case, my diet wasn't too far away from a good one... it was just the portions that were too large.  So  from Day 1 I started measuring foods more carefully and tweaking the diet.... that was a wholesale change because I wanted to start as I meant to go on.  If I'd left things like takeaways and alcohol in the mix - even in a small way -  I'd have struggled!    Exercise I built up a little more slowly.   I don't like gyms whatsoever and couldn't afford one anyway so there was no point me launching into that kind of thing.  Instead I've had to find other ways to be active that I a) enjoy and b) fit my budget/lifestyle.  Four years on it's a constant challenge to keep it interesting.

For me it was gradual. Started watching what I ate but still eating too much crap. Looked into counting calories and clean and balanced eating and try to stick to that. Workout 6 days a week, lift 3, HIIT 3-4 mixed with regular cardio/walking. I just keep active in general. Don't lay around a lot. Drink tons of water. Don't drink my calories. Pay attention to everything I put in my mouth. Keep educating myself as I go. Try to stay away from artificial sweeteners and a lot of processed foods. Eat slowly and chew my food thoroughly. Drink a huge bottle of water before each meal. One during, a half or one full after and many more throughout the day. Stretching, massage and try to get enough rest but for me the rest part is a tough one.

Don't snack on junk laying around. Don't keep junk food in the house. Keep veggies and fruit cut up in the frig for easy access. Pack my lunch for work and plan lunches and meals ahead that are healthy. I plan my snacks to be healthy and nutritious. Have a cheat meal once or twice a week. Try to keep that healthy too. For example grilled chicken instead of fried, half of the cheese instead of all, no mayo, salad dressing or other fatty condiments. Just common sense.

Will power is key. If you don't have that you are in trouble.

I started to watch my food intake, then slowly began exercising but I have stopped for four months or so. Like many people have mentioned, water is very important in hydrating your body too. I only drink water and nothing else.

I think with everyone fitness and healthy diet is a learning process.  I remember when I first started going to the gym everyday I really had no clue what I was doing.  Even though I had done sports all my life and thought I knew a lot about fitness I still had a lot to learn! The key is to just do the best you can, strive for long term consistency and keep educating yourself about health and fitness :) 

I joined CC over a year ago to lose weight. I tracked what I ate and tried to make healthier choices. I lost some weight in the first 8 months. Then I decided to start walking since I am 55 and never exercise. I started with a mile 3-4 times a week. Suddenly the weight really started to drop! I really got into it after that and now I walk 30-60 minutes 6-7 days a week. I use a treadmill in bad weather. I also started doing situps/pushups, etc. Recently I started some simple small weight dumbell stuff to tone my arms and upper body. I went from 235 in Dec 2007 to 205 now. Shaved my old beard which also made a big change in my appearance.

People have noticed a huge change. I feel great. I also stopped all soda and caffine. The best day in years was last week when I shopped for new jeans. I have always been a 40" waist for years. My wife said to start with 38"....to my surprise they were still loose so I'm in 36" size now.  So..I'm totally sold on taking care of myself from this point on.

For me it started about two years ago- I have always been trying to lose weight and exersise but I decided for a whole month I would focus on two words: HEALTH and BALANCE.  So that's what I did- paid attention to the health content and portion size of the food for the whole month without worrying about losing weight and it helped me to get into it.

Then I started counting calories and working out more- key word MORE- I decided if I was paying for a gym membership I would need to go 5 times a week, and I made myself stay there about an hour each time.  Key for me in losing weight has been weights and cardio- whenever I did cardio I did it for 45 minutes no matter what or how slow I went.  When I first started I could barely jog for 5 minutes and working my way up minute by minute now I can jog/run 45 minutes.  Measuring your progress not only by pounds but by how your workouts are improving really helps!  I'm still not at my goal weight but it took me about 6 months to lose 20 pounds and I am super proud of myself :)  Of course I've gained 5 back since then and am trying to get back into the calorie counting aspect!!!!  It's a lifelong battle!

For me, it's about listening to myself. I ask myself questions like: Am I physically hungry? If so, what exactly do I want? If I'm not physically hungry, why do I want to eat? Am I full? Or am I eating for another reason?

I try to be honest with myself about the answers to these questions, and I make sure not to put too much pressure on myself. If I want sugary food, I have that food. But I find that when I'm being honest with myself about my physical hunger, I usually want the healthy stuff.

I also have tried to work out not because I HAVE to, but because I want to- otherwise, it will never be a lasting part of my life. If I need a day off, I take it. I found that following programs has helped me stay motivated- I recently completed the couch-to-5k running program and am in Stage III of the New Rules of Lifting for Women.

For me, it was a gradual, learning process.  I started 2.5 years ago and I've lost 57 pounds.  It started with joining a gym and making a commitment to myself to work out 3 times a week.  A couple months later, I joined a weight management class at the gym which was very similar to CC.  As I started logging food and watching the nutritional contents, I gradually began learning how to eat better, and how to eat in ways that I can maintain for the rest of my life.  After all, if you can't eat this way for the rest of your life (whatever way it is that you are eating, to lose weight) you'll only gain it back once you stop eating that way.

All my life my mother has lived a healthy lifestyle and I never believed her when she told me I was fattening & killing myself by eating pop-tarts, pizzas, etc... Then when I turned 15 and went off the boarding school everything change and I realized that living & eating healthfully truly makes a difference. I gave up all junk foods slowly but surely and now I eat only lean meats, fish & poultry & non-starchy vegetables. I have been living this way fully for 6 years now and I have never felt better. Granted I have off days & fat days & gain a few pounds here and there when I come home for vacations (my dad cooks with LOTS of olive oil & I think it is delicious so I eat LOTS) and I do eat extremely large portions but of healthy foods. I do not eat bread, dairy, sugar, wheat, hydrogenated oils, etc - I stick to unprocessed natural/wild foods & healthy fats from fish, oils (olive, flax, hemp & macadamia) & sea vegetables. 

When I went away to boarding school I adopted a very active lifestyle as well... I was active prior but when I attended this school we were to snowboard 7 days a week for at least 4 hours - It was a school that focused on winter sports (where we competed, etc)... It was great and I got very fit and since then I have kept up the strict exercise regime and continue to work out 2 hours a day 7 days a week! 

I don't snowboard very much anymore (I got pretty burnt out) but when I come home (I live in Jackson, Wyoming) I try my hardest to get to the mountain to hit the slopes! 

At the moment I am drinking Flavored Black Coffee (cinnamon crumb cake from Black Mountain Gold Coffees) sweetened with Stevia and plan on eating ostrich, elk, bison or beef for lunch (all of these meats are free ranged) - I look forward to eating my red meats because they are absolutely delicious and the best part is that since they are grass-fed they are nutritionally equal to wild king salmon! 

Man, it feels like it happened all at once, but it really was gradual.

Straight up: my family has been a big influence in my life, and eating was no different. Being homeschooled means I get to spend time with them.. 24/7, so I picked up a lot of bad habits including playing video games for hours at a time, eating for emotional reasons, and eating large portions. Yeeah. It didn't help that I was depressed because I'm not a social butterfly and could never make friends easily, even when I was in school.

I hated the way I look (I was 204 lb at 5'5" frame in January of '07!), so when I finally made new friends, we played games outside from. That was where it started. I started getting more into nutrition. Next thing, I found a fitness video I enjoyed doing, Turbo Jam. I started doing that when I felt like I had the energy. Before I knew it, I was doing it daily. I didn't start logging or changing my diet until 15 pounds later, when in summer I decided I REALLY wanted to lose alot of weight and impress my friends after summer break.

Exercising and dieting later, they were impressed, and I continued. Here I am. I got to warn you, this diet and fitness thing.. don't get too obsessive about it. If I could go back and stop myself from getting worked up about eating ice cream with the family, or starting the habits that caused me to go through a trainwreck time of nonstop binging, I would.

The point is to work at your own pace, the way you want to, however you'd like to do.. for the rest of your life. If you can't eat cabbage soup for the rest of your life, don't. Be realistic, and try to make this more about the journey then the destination. :3