What food/fitness/health "hack" has made a big difference for you?
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I don't pre-plan or meal prep in the usual way, but I do large batch cooking and freeze in individual or family serving sizes (and import multiple ingredient dishes into the recipe builder). Currently I can choose from broccoli-cheddar soup, vegetable soup, pork and sauerkraut, spaghetti with homemade sauce, chili, cooked ham, cooked turkey, and various other meals. We never eat the same thing 2 days in a row. Makes it easy to defrost and reheat on the days I don't feel like cooking.3
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »
However you like. Should be raw though. The first day I ate some I felt a major boost by eating a couple slices. Should work up to maybe a whole onion a day is my understanding.8 -
sunshine84841 wrote: »I have started cutting up vegetables I buy at the grocery store as soon as I get them home, before putting in the refrigerator. I am far more likely to eat them when they are ready to snack on. Before, I would buy vegetables, let them sit in the fridge all week, and then throw them away since they'd rot before I could motivate myself to eat them.
That's a good idea.2 -
AllSpiceNice wrote: »First thing in the morning, I pre-log my evening treat of a BIG bowl of Greek yogurt and frozen berries.
Knowing I have a big delicious dessert helps me keep unplanned night time snacking at bay. Pre-logging it helps me make smarter choices earlier in the day, so I can eat that dessert and stay within my calorie budget.
Yes, I've been doing this. I love my evening dessert. I tend to eat when bored so this has helped me.4 -
Eat raw red onions. Seriously. You're welcome.
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Most of my meal prep is fresh foods measured out for easy assembly rather than cooking and reheating things all week. I do find it easier to be repetitive with my foods because it makes counting calories easier, but it's only for the work week. On weekends I just figure it out as I go.1
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MelanieCN77 wrote: »
However you like. Should be raw though. The first day I ate some I felt a major boost by eating a couple slices. Should work up to maybe a whole onion a day is my understanding.
I eat red onions often nowadays because it's Lent and I have raw days. There are days where I eat a large one in one setting (makes an amazing salad with just tomatoes and unrefined sunflower oil). I haven't noticed any kind of boost. What type of boost are you talking about?
Re: meal prep.
I rarely do it. I will log in bulk sometimes if I make something no one else likes or if I really want something that I want to eat it every day for 2-3 days, but I don't purposely meal prep. I tried freezing things once, but the food tastes very different after reheating I didn't like it. Plus I'm not the only one who cooks here, so I will log whatever whoever decides to cook makes. I always have a rough plan for the next day logged, but I find myself changing things often when mealtime comes.
Useful hack: I used to be a hardcore fridge surfer. Putting all the lower calorie items up front and the higher calorie items hidden in the most uncomfortable to reach corners helped me handle my calories while I was getting that habit under control. This trick still helps me. I now snack in a controlled manner, but it's much easier to manage calories when the things that are easy to reach and look enticing are lower in calories.5 -
Meal prep for me means planning our menu for the week, defrosting meats, gathering all the ingredients (i hate when I go to make something and don't have what I need. I just say screw it, order pizza.), pre-cutting or marinating anything that needs it and having everything ready for each meal during the week. It doesn't really mean cooking one thing for the whole week. I do have left overs for lunch the next day.
Hacks: making double of any recipe that can be frozen and putting it in the freezer for a busy day. Pre cutting on my fruits and veggies for the next day. Keeping a list on the outside of the fridge of all the healthy things that I can choose from so I don't get tempted by the bad things when I open the fridge. Eating protein for breakfast.4 -
Sparkling water. I no longer want soda and it actually fills me up while increasing my water intake. I find I crave it now3
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Eating nutrient dense foods for 80-90% of my calories, lift weights on a regular basis and include some intentional movement daily.0
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Whipped cream cheese on my sandwiches. It replaces mayo AND cheese and tastes delicious. Saves so many calories! And seltzer.3
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Useful hack: I used to be a hardcore fridge surfer. Putting all the lower calorie items up front and the higher calorie items hidden in the most uncomfortable to reach corners helped me handle my calories while I was getting that habit under control. This trick still helps me. I now snack in a controlled manner, but it's much easier to manage calories when the things that are easy to reach and look enticing are lower in calories.
I second this! One of my big issues was snacking while making dinner. I'd come home from work starving, would eat a bag of potato chips while I made other food, then I'd eat dinner. Now I keep a bag of baby carrots right in the front of the fridge. If I need something while making dinner, I grab a few carrots and continue on. I also keep all of our snacks in a closed cupboard. For me, out of sight means out of mind. I tell myself I can't even open that cupboard unless I have leftover calories at the end of the day.1 -
Focusing on maintenance over weightloss.
I’m building the skills and habits to help me maintain my weight. Don’t get me wrong, I’m losing weight, and have a long way to go, about 120 more pounds. But the 33 I’ve lost isn’t going to come back like it has in the past. I have a different skill set and mindset now.9 -
eating less food?4
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When I lost my 70 or so pounds five years ago it was just CICO and adding in movement but the biggest thing was identification of calorie bombs and elimination of them. I'm a HUGE PB&J fan. I would eat, literally, 2 or 3 of them every single night as a night time snack! Over the years that really added up in a terrible way! Just eliminating that and moving more was responsible for me losing the 70 or so pounds over a year.
Three years ago, my wife developed Fibromyalgia and we went to a Holistic doc that strongly recommended she give up gluten/dairy/vegetable oils and drastically limit sugar. I did it along with her. Honestly, that's when I stopped logging. When you can't eat dairy/gluten, there goes 99% of the garbage that we eat in the US -- pizza, cheeseburgers, ice cream, processed foods. I lost all the weight before I went dairy/gluten free, but if I had a trick to keep it off, it's simply that. We make nearly all our own meals and without the cheese, cream, etc. (along with moving more), it's been extremely easy to keep the weight off. Ironically, I've added back in Peanut Butter at night just to keep the weight on!8 -
I felt a lot more informed when I learned about TDEE and how small differences can make the difference between an ideal weight (for me) and carrying extra pounds. I've known about CICO since I was a kid, but I didn't learn the specifics about TDEE until my 20's.
For most of my life, I've been at my normal/ideal weight. However, a few times I've become inactive for extended periods of time, and I gained 20-40 pounds. (Forty pounds seems to be the limit where I stop gaining bc I don't intuitively eat enough to pass that point. I'd have to make a deliberate effort to gain more.)
Looking at TDEE data, I see the difference between my "normal" weight and the weight I gain to when I'm inactive is about 200 calories a day. That's not much at all! Seeing how little the difference is really drives home for me how easy it is to gain/lose, and what matters is patience and consistency at the right calorie and activity level.
The sense of knowing the numbers felt like a health hack to me when I first learned it because it then helped me know what I needed to do.6 -
Giving up aspartame has been huge for me. I used to use equal in coffee, tea, and had at least one diet soda per day. I gave it up and am amazed by how much more in control of my eating I am now.
I do use stevia in my first cup of coffee each morning, so I am still getting some sweet, but I don't use any the remainder of the day.
I'm also monitoring portion size and logging my food. For me, that helps a lot and it's been pretty eye opening to see how much I used to be eating and now I UNDERSTAND my weight gain. I was eating decent foods, just too much of them!3 -
Always Be Training.
Signing up for recreational athletics sets off a domino effect of healthy behaviors for me. I exercise consistently, which acts as an appetite suppressant for me, and I start thinking of food as fuel, which heads off emotional eating. I’ve competed in running, triathlon, and indoor rowing over the last few years, and I’m 65 lbs down. 15 lbs to go.6 -
Find an activity you genuinely enjoy. Sure, you may be content with going to the gym and running on the treadmill for 30 minutes, but maybe you have an unconscious, dormant love for a particular activity that you don't even realize yet.
For me, dodgeball as an adult is a ton of fun and a killer workout. The hour flies by and I always want to play more.3
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