Best lifestyle change

michelle_boucher15

What is the better diet lifestyle change for you? Dairy free? Sugar free? Carb free? Or something else? Go!

TavistockToad

Eating in a calorie deficit when I need to lose weight...

My lifestyle change has been mainly about adding in regular exercise rather than cutting out a food group

diannethegeek

Learning to eat foods I like in portion sizes that fit my goals.

Getting plenty of fats & protein for health and satiety.

Getting plenty of fruits & veggies for the micronutrients.

And learning to fill in the rest of my calories with carbs, sweets, and treats as I see fit.

katzenfluff

Moderation in all things. The important thing is making a lifestyle change you can live with long term. Following a plan like Diannethegeek spells out is more likely to be something you can follow than making life difficult for yourself by depriving yourself of things you like.

lemurcat12

For me it was getting active again. Also, just being conscious of what I ate.

michelle_boucher15

I have been going to the gym with sister so activity isn't my problem it's just finding something I can stick with as far as diet goes

lemurcat12

For that, again, mindfulness about portion sizes/snacking, and eating a healthy balanced diet with plenty of protein and vegetables.

STEVE142142

The one thing you have to learn is this is not a diet and don't refer to it. The reason that diets fail is that they suck. You give up food that you enjoy your constantly miserable and you can't maintain that diet for a long long time.

This has to be a total lifestyle change. By looking at this as a total lifestyle change you're not sacrificing anything that you enjoy. Where I am currently Now versus where I was 6 months ago,i am two totally different people. I could never imagine doing the things I can do now 6 months ago. I haven't given up anything. I still enjoy the occasional Wendy's hamburger slice of pizza or beer on the beach if I had to give those up I couldn't do it. You have to look at it this way there are no good foods there are no bad foods it's just a simple matter of caloric intake As simple as it sounds it's just a matter of calories in vs. Calories out.

malibu927

The one that you believe you can stick to for the rest of your life. Since I can't see myself cutting out those foods for good, moderation is my choice.

cwolfman13

Eating a well balanced diet that is chalk full of nutrition...and having some pizza now and then. I still eat dairy, I still eat sugar, I still eat carbs...there's no reason any of that can't be included in a healthy, balanced diet.

AnnPT77

Eating at a reasonable calorie level to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, with plenty of protein, healthy fats, veggies & fruits, while weighing/logging my eating to find a good track, and reviewing my diary regularly to improve satiation, satisfaction, tastiness & nutrition.

I was already active, and reasonably fit, while fat/obese, for about the past dozen years. That was a pretty major change in its time, too, but it's old news now.

All that gimmick stuff - low this, high that, cycling levels of whatever nutrient, eliminating "demon" foods, offbeat eating schedules, expensive supplements - can be fine within reason if it makes a new way of eating more achievable and sustainable, but it just plain isn't necessary for most folks.

SamanthaLouiseMence

I still eat the things I like, just within my calorie goal for the day, and moving a lot more

I call it the ELMM diet (eat less move more diet) to my friends and family (as a joke lol)

KECrawford71

I don't believe in the gmicks. I think portion control and more healthy foods combined with greater amounts of activity. Like spence said

VividVegan

Dairy-free, grain-free, gluten-free, and low-fat (all together). But I kinda have to. I'm currently being tested for Crohn's. Then again, it's actually not that bad. I get a lot of my energy from fruits, and seafood keeps me pretty full.

DresdenSinn

Alcohol free...I pretty much drink from September to March then I'm alcohol free from March to September with the exception of my Bday/Vacation week which comes to a end tomorrow : (

subakwa

Thinking.


That's the biggest change.

Thinking...

...do I really want to eat that.
...will I enjoy eating that.
...will that fit in my planned calorie intake.
...is there a better option.
...am I actually hungry.

Plus many other things! But thinking is my key.

kommodevaran

The best diet for anyone is one that provides all the nutrition you need, but not too much of anything, nothing you are allergic to, and one that is in line with schedule, preferences and ethics. In short, one that you can stick to.

For me, it has been helpful to lose all the arbitrary rules (don't eat this, don't eat that, don't eat after midnight (am I a gremlin??), eat this, eat that, oh, I'm sorry, don't eat that either, it will kill you), and instead find an eating structure that is both sturdy and flexible enough to grow and change with me and my needs. I enjoy planning my meals, food shopping, cooking and eating. I eat anything I like, but not everything at once, and not all the time.

Wolfena

Less fat - I used to eat a LOT of fatty (delicious) food.
Now I choose lower fat meats, use less or no oils & butter for cooking, choose fruit over cakes (most of the time), etc - I think if I didn't make that change that I would be about 450 pounds right now.

RoseTheWarrior

Unless you have a medical issue, there's just no reason to give up whole food groups or macro groups.

Calculate your calorie goals. Eat within the goals. Lose weight. It's not rocket science.

Machka9

michelle_boucher15 wrote: »

What is the better diet lifestyle change for you? Dairy free? Sugar free? Carb free? Or something else? Go!

Losing weight.

scoii

Deficit during the week
Maintenance at weekends

helene4

Sugar free most of the time. And I stay away from foods I'm allergic too (happens to include wheat and diary - lactose intolerant)

I feel great!

I honestly believe in the blood type diet too. When I eat according to that my skin just GLOWS! Love it! And pounds drop off. One cool thing about the blood type diet is that it suggests foods that make you gain weight (to avoid) according to your blood type, and foods that help you lose weight. I know a lot of people are probably skeptical, but it's worked great for me on my food journey

kitkatlp

michelle_boucher15 wrote: »

What is the better diet lifestyle change for you? Dairy free? Sugar free? Carb free? Or something else? Go!

I strongly concur with what other members have posted. There is no rocket science to it. Don't give up any type of food unless you do it for ethical / religious reasons. As far as your day-to-day diet is concerned, your body needs (1) everything and (2) a certain number of calories depending on your BMR.
We get fat / obese usually because we do not comply with these rules. If you want to lose weight, you just need to eat fewer calories than what you burn (the CICO rule!), and that's pretty much it.

And if your diet makes you really hungry, then something's wrong.

sijomial

michelle_boucher15 wrote: »

What is the better diet lifestyle change for you? Dairy free? Sugar free? Carb free? Or something else? Go!

Hell no - arbitrary and unnecessary restriction is counter productive.

I gave up eating too much.

JDixon852019

The best "healthy"changes are the ones you will actually do and stick to. It is the small consistent changes that make the largest impact.

VintageFeline

The best lifestyle change is the one you sustain.

So for me I cut out nothing, I'm not going to do it for life so why do it now. So just tracking and being as consistent as possible with my calorie goal.

And refinding my love of exercise, I can't wait to see what's hiding under this last layer of fat!

rachel29hart

I haven't yet lost a whole lot, but I can already see the effects of more exercise. My usual process if I get anxious or bored would be to eat everything in sight. This past weekend I challenged myself and worked out every time I wanted to eat but wasn't hungry. It was incredible! I pushed myself more than I have since I was an athlete in high school. I my muscles are sore again, which is a feeling I love. So, I haven't made the true lifestyle change yet, but if I can keep up replacing emotional eating with even the tiniest amount of exercise, then I will feel truly confident that I can do anything.

amusedmonkey

I don't like changing my lifestyle. I feel attempting to completely overhaul my eating style would not be something that I could realistically do permanently. My best lifestyle change is that I stopped trying to change my lifestyle and learned how to tweak it here and there to fit my goals.

nvmomketo

Low carb high fat. It improved my health and my appetite.

stephenearllucas

For me, it was finding and logging my daily BMR, then setting my daily calorie budget at BMR +20% (i.e., at the "sedentary" level), then exercising two hours a day (cardio, weights, and stretching). Using FitBit and MFP to consistently measure and log calories out and calories in. Doing this since January 1 of this year I have lost 42 pounds as of today (started at 262). In sum: being very consistent on burning more calories than I eat each day.

caroldavison332

I thought about what made me fat (emotional eating in response to divorce and the loss of 10 family members in six years). Specifically it was Pepsi, pizza, hamburgers, sour cream and onion soup dip and chips, and chocolate, or carbs. I ate my way into diabetes and duh! I just stopped stuffing my face with these and eating as an anesthesia from pain and found other things to do like cooking, going to festivals, book reading, dog parking, exercising, etc. Also I eat first to maximize strength on Dr. Joel Fuhrman's GBOMBS diet (bitter greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries and seeds). I lost 24 pounds this year, and went from 4 upper respiratory infections a year to 1 and didn't even miss work.