Help! Your best weightloss/healthy lifestyle change advice!

SuggaD

Find an activity that you love and pursue it with gusto, lift weights, and eat healthy. That's what works for me.

taylorannff

Protein bars, protein shakes, etc..

Thoughts on those?!

taylorannff

protein bars, protein shakes..etc??
Thoughts...

WeddedBliss1992

there is nothing wrong with protein bars & shakes as supplements but try not to exchange those for whole foods on a routine basis.

taylorannff

they just seem to be high in calories, sugar, etc.

SueInAz

taylorannff wrote: »

Protein bars, protein shakes, etc..

Thoughts on those?!

Not needed for weight loss but they have their time and place.

I eat protein bars for breakfast most days because I'm lazy and don't like to eat before 9am. I eat a protein bar at my desk at work. I'll sometimes have a protein shake after a run because it's freaking hot here right now and food doesn't always sound good after a long run. Otherwise, if you're getting enough protein from food you don't need a shake to get more.

WeddedBliss1992

taylorannff wrote: »

they just seem to be high in calories, sugar, etc.

you can find some that are not. read labels and become educated. my husband loves to have a protein bar after he works-out. he has found some that are 20+ grams of protein with as little as 2 or 3g of sugar. they are quick and easy to stick in his gym bag. sometimes, that is the best he can do.

jgnatca

I blame media. @taylorannff , this is the image you've got, isn't it?



All good stuff, but it's not directly related to weight loss.

Weight loss is more like this:

EmmaFitzwilliam

Elevate the experience.
Don't make choices that are a miserable second-best.
When you have the "good stuff", take time for it. Experience it, savor it. Make it count.
Find the humor in the process.

SueInAz

WeddedBliss1992 wrote: »

taylorannff wrote: »

they just seem to be high in calories, sugar, etc.

you can find some that are not. read labels and become educated. my husband loves to have a protein bar after he works-out. he has found some that are 20+ grams of protein with as little as 2 or 3g of sugar. they are quick and easy to stick in his gym bag. sometimes, that is the best he can do.

Agreed, they all aren't. I'm picky. I want high protein and low sugar.

My favorite bar for breakfast is an Atkins Peanut Butter Granola. 210 calories, 15 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar and it doesn't have that chemical taste many of them do.

Search around for protein shakes if you want to use them. I'm using a Cytosport product that is 140 calories for 27 grams of protein and only a couple of grams of sugar. I bought it at Costco after doing a lot of research to find one that fit my needs.

IndiaGuerita1983

While others are saying you can lose weight without exercising I will throw this out there just for sh**s and giggles:

My sister and I started on the same day, with approximately the same amount of weight to lose (120 lbs). She chose to be more lenient in her food choices and she chose not to exercise consistently. In 10 months she lost 45 lbs.

I chose to eat 1400-1600 cals a day of food that I weighed and portioned out. For 10 months I did not have a single cheat meal/cheat day. I also exercised 4-6 days a week. (10-15 minutes of cardio when I first started and then by the end of the 10 months I was doing about 45 minutes of cardio and some type of strength exercises.) I lost 80 pounds.

Food for thought...

ASKyle

IndiaGuerita1983 wrote: »

While others are saying you can lose weight without exercising I will throw this out there just for sh**s and giggles:

My sister and I started on the same day, with approximately the same amount of weight to lose (120 lbs). She chose to be more lenient in her food choices and she chose not to exercise consistently. In 10 months she lost 45 lbs.

I chose to eat 1400-1600 cals a day of food that I weighed and portioned out. For 10 months I did not have a single cheat meal/cheat day. I also exercised 4-6 days a week. (10-15 minutes of cardio when I first started and then by the end of the 10 months I was doing about 45 minutes of cardio and some type of strength exercises.) I lost 80 pounds.

Food for thought...

Congrats! But, your higher rate of loss was due to you being a greater caloric deficit... most likely thanks to your 1400-1600 weighed out calories.

115Everest

Here's a tip for when temptation strikes:

If unhealthy or high calorie food is at the office or being offered to me, I will absolutely not do it if it is something that I could go out and buy for myself anytime I wanted to. It almost always keeps me from indulging "just because it's there." The only time I will indulge is if it is something amazing looking that I will either never see again or it will be a long long time before I'd have access to it again.

tomatoey

Exercise was the hook for me - the nutrition part came after that (like a couple of months). But exercising put me in the mindset that I was doing stuff for my health. And it energizes me, and also calms me down. I set a goal to do 30 minutes of any kind of exercise every day. On crappy / low energy days, walking counts Main thing was to develop a habit of activity.

lemurcat12

Weight loss is about having a calorie deficit that you can maintain over time (too low is usually not sustainable, as well as having other negative effects).

How people can best achieve and maintain a deficit depends on the individual.

For me, exercise was enormously helpful, in part because I could (and can) eat more, but even more significantly because it tends to motivate me to want to eat better (and within my calories) and to be excited about the overall healthy lifestyle. When I can focus on improving my stamina or running speed or strength it gives me something to care about when I might be feeling less resolve on the weight loss thing, and if I'm frustrated with the scale one day or week it again gives me something else to think about so I don't decide it doesn't matter and go over my calories. Or at least that's how it's worked for me on average.

For exercise, I'd say don't be too hard on yourself at first, just get more active and find something you enjoy. I started again last year in the middle of a bad winter, but knew I wanted to get back into running and cycling, so I started by just increasing my walking (I decided I would not drive/cab anywhere I could walk and started intentionally incorporating walking into part of my commute). I also did 3 days/week for 30 mins of pretty easy intentional exercise (mostly stationary biking at an easy setting) and gradually increased that as my fitness improved. Somehow I realized this time that taking a long approach would be better and I'd still make consistent improvements but not burn myself out or get frustrated by pushing too hard at first or making it unpleasant so I wouldn't want to do it.

For the food part, I thought about my habits and where I was getting extra calories and changed that. Basically I didn't have a sensible breakfast (I'd grab a bagel and then be hungry mid morning and snack on the numerous snacks that always appear at my office), so I decided to have a regular breakfast with protein and veggies and cut out all snacking. Without the snacking my usual lunches and dinners weren't bad, except I had a bad habit of calling for Indian food whenever I was tired and had worked late (which was lots), and decided I needed to be more consistent about cooking something quickly even then. Once in the habit that wasn't so hard. I go out to eat with friends at least once a week and continued that, but stopped seeing going out as an excuse to ignore calories and restraint. I'd also make sure I fit the extra calories into my day by eating lighter at other meals or saving up exercise calories.

gothicfires

I've lost weight two ways: eating what ever I wanted but counting calories and overhauling what I ate while counting calories. The clear winner is overhauling what you eat. When I finally got over the hurdle of 'i can't exist without having ____' it was really a no brainer. I get more volume of food and better energy eating 4oz chicken 1/2 cup rice and 2/3 cup of veggies verses a slice of pizza and they are pretty much the same calorie value. There isn't a food that is worth my health. That doesn't mean I won't eat pizza but pizza will be at someone's birthday or the one time a month that I eat at a restaurant.

I view calories on the same vain as money. When you get paid you have x amount of dollars to buy what you need and what you want. You buy what you need first and if you have money left over you buy what you want. If you buy the wrong thing then you might not have the money to buy what you need later.

whmscll

115Everest wrote: »

Here's a tip for when temptation strikes:

If unhealthy or high calorie food is at the office or being offered to me, I will absolutely not do it if it is something that I could go out and buy for myself anytime I wanted to. It almost always keeps me from indulging "just because it's there." The only time I will indulge is if it is something amazing looking that I will either never see again or it will be a long long time before I'd have access to it again.

I do this, too.

whmscll

cwolfman13 wrote: »

taylorannff wrote: »

How about exercise?

you should start wrapping your head around the idea of fitness for the sake of fitness, not just weight loss or weight management.

I'm an avid cyclist and ride 60 - 80 miles per week and I also lift a few days per week and do a bit of hiking, some swimming, and I walk my dog most days...I have lost weight, maintained weight, and gained weight while doing all of these things...the difference between those three weight management goals wasn't the exercise, it was my energy (calorie) consumption.

+1. I'm an avid hiker and backpacker, I backcountry ski in winter, and I work out regularly at the gym. I still gain weight if I don't watch what I eat.

taylorannff

Ok!! Thanks all for the advice... Now, what about a drink every once in a while? What is a good choice for alchohol?

115Everest

taylorannff wrote: »

Ok!! Thanks all for the advice... Now, what about a drink every once in a while? What is a good choice for alchohol?

I'm gonna vote for red wine. You sip it slowly and it has at least a reputation of having some health benefits and the glycemic index is low. And I'm a hiker too and agree with the others - you burn a bazillion calories on the hikes I do sometimes, but that is no match for a cheeseburger and fries if I were to have that afterward....