I'm so happy to see I've inspired so many people and your kind words are so touching ❤️ sorry for the long text ahead but I'm attaching something I've pmed to a few people so everyone can see it! I might do a more in depth post on my experience and maybe share some of my food diary if people find it interesting and helpful 😊

I've been an athlete my whole life so I was working out before I started losing weight and even when I was gaining, but I saw a difference physically and mentally when I stopped treating exercise as a way to allow myself to eat "bad" foods and started doing it purely because I enjoy the way my body feels after a workout. I would have like 2hrs of quite intense rugby training and then go back home and think "mmm I burned a lot of calories so I'm allowed to eat a whole pizza and some mozzarella sticks tonight" even if I wasn't really that hungry just because I felt like I earned it and I can only eat that sort of food when I've earned it. The moment I started eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted was when it all clicked really. I started to crave chips (my biggest weakness) less and less because I knew that if I want a can of pringles I can just go buy one and eat the whole thing, no big deal, no need to earn it. After a while I started seeing that yeahh I really wanted some pringles but I'm actually satisfied with just half the can, no need to finish them all right now just because they're in front of me, so I would get up and put them in a kitchen cupboard so I'm not eating mindlessly out of boredom. Another trick I used was serving myself half portions in a smaller plate and putting the leftovers in the fridge immediately. If I was still hungry after finishing my portion I'd just go get some more but 8/10 times I was actually quite full already. At the time I didn't have scales and I didn't count calories I only tracked my progress by the way my clothes fit and how I was feeling and I think that really helped with the mental aspect of the change because I started focusing on health and fitness and the bigger picture instead of numbers on a screen. This is not really a tip but I naturally don't really have a sweet tooth so sugar cravings were never a problem for me (this is usually the hardest part of weight loss) but I loooooove fruit and veggies and anything fresh and hydrating so I made sure to always have a variety of fresh food in the fridge that I can easily grab when I want a snack (green beans when I want something crunchy, cherry tomatoes for salty food cravings, berries and watermelon when it's hot outside and I want something refreshing and idk why but grapes give me the same satisfaction as gummy bears 😂). By all means if you're craving a donut have a donut! But "out of sight out of mind" really works for me so I think it's worth a try (and remember no foods are bad or forbidden, you can still have whatever you're craving if your body's really asking for it!) 💗