My Weight Loss Tips

amywhiteley85

I reached my target, and I just wanted to share some of the things that helped me get here. Hopefully they can help others:

1. Firstly, it is important to identify between physical hunger and the emotional desire to eat. In order to get in touch with the former, you have to allow yourself to get really hungry by going without food for at least half a day. Learn how genuine physical hunger feels, and how it feels to satisfy that hunger. Once you are in tune with that feeling, you will be able to discern between the physical need to eat and the emotional desire to eat.

2. Each time you go on an emotional eating binge, or give into a food craving, think about the feelings and events that occurred beforehand. Were you feeling stressed, upset, bored, lonely??? Why did you want to eat? Most people eat because food is comforting. Even if you are not feeling in a particularly negative mood, it is still comforting to seek food. Work out what events and emotions trigger you to eat.

3. Identify some other things that you find comforting that you can use as a replacement for comfort food. A cup of tea, a bath, a book, music. Start using these things more, and you will naturally seek them out when you need comforting. Slowly, new habits can replace bad ones, with just a little bit of effort.

4. TRACK what you eat. Do you go into a shop and blindly spend money, without knowing how much you've got or what you're spending?? That's a good way to get into debt! Most people can't live like that without getting into trouble. Its the same with food. Know how many calories you need to sustain your weight, and try calorie counting for a while, so that you learn how much you should be eating. Eat what you want to eat, just track it!!

5. Weigh yourself regularly, and take body measurements. By regularly, I mean weekly. Keep track of your weight and measurement changes.

6. Set small, achievable targets. Write them down, and reward yourself when you reach them (the reward has to be a non-edible one! Like a new item of clothing, a haircut, a manicure etc)

7. No one changes overnight. Bad habits don't just disappear. You will still have bad days where you revert to old habits, and then you feel like a failure. It's important to accept these days as part of the journey, to forgive yourself for them, and start again the next day. Don't let a bad day turn into a bad week because you think you've "ruined" it. You haven't ruined anything, trust me.

8. Focus on adding healthy nutritious foods IN to your diet, rather than taking the bad foods out. Try adding more wholegrains, fruits and veg into your diet. If you add more good stuff in, the bad stuff naturally decreases. Use google to find out what nutrients are in different foods and how they benefit your body. Knowledge is power.

9. It's not a diet! Don't tell yourself or anyone else that you are on a diet. Because you are not. You are simply changing your eating habits for the better. Temporary diets only result in temporary weightloss, which is why you have to make permanent lifestyle changes to maintain weightloss on a permanent basis. Similarly, any method you undertake to lose weight has to be a method that is sustainable. So don't go on a fad diet where you can only eat cabbage soup, or where you have to cut entire food groups out of your diet. They are very hard, if not impossible, to sustain.

10. Just because you are eating healthily and making permanent changes, doesn't mean you have to deprive yourself of the things you like. Follow the 80/20 rule - be good 80% of the time, and treat yourself 20% of the time. You don't have to cut a single thing out of your diet to lose weight, you just have to restrict the frequency of your treats. It's ok to have treats sometimes. What's more, it's important! Deprivation usually results in rebellion, so don't deprive yourself completely. Allow a treat, and enjoy your treat :-)

11. Don't keep junk food in the house. While it's fine to plan treats into your week, having junk food sitting in your cupboards will often result in unplanned binges. DO NOT BUY IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! If you have kids, DO NOT BUY IT FOR THEM EITHER! Your kids do not need crisps or biscuits or sweets. If you are changing your habits to healthier ones, then try to do the same for your entire family. You will be doing them a favour in the long run, and they will be healthier adults because you've made healthier choices for them as children.

WannabeStressFree

thanks for your tips!
I find that as I incorporate healthier foods into my daily meals, my binges have decreased.
I used to try starvation diets and always ended up bingeing.
I'm in this now for the long haul, though I do miss those diets where I'd lose 5lbs in 1 week- lol not really.

Congrats on your loss and thanks again!

Faery_Dust

I like your tips, thanks for sharing!! I think I am already doing most of this stuff so hopefully I will one day get to my goal like you too Good luck with your maintainance :flowerforyou:

nielsonfam

Thanks for posting and congrats on your goals!