What small changes made a BIG difference?
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Drinking more water.
Eliminating animal products.
Overcoming food cravings.
Learning to think of food as medicine and fuel instead of just for pleasure. I do love to eat but I don’t live to eat.
Eating way more vegetables.8 -
peachvine29 wrote: »jenncornelsen wrote: »I do not watch tv in the evenings in the living room. Was for whatever reason a major trigger it mindlessly eat. Since stopping i almost never nightly binge
Nice! Care to share what do you do instead? I'm having trouble structuring my evenings and am curious what people do besides watch TV.
I usually don't get home from work until around 6 most days. It's still light out right now at that time so I either take a road ride or trail ride on my mountain bike...get back around 6:45 or 7. Then it's help with the kids homework and getting them baths/showers and ready for bed. I usually start making dinner around 8 and my wife and I eat around 8:30...right now we are enjoying sitting on the patio outside to eat. After that, we watch about 30 minutes of t.v. and go to bed around 9:30 or so. That 30 minutes or so of t.v. is pretty much all we watch most nights unless there is a football game we want to watch.1 -
The one that has surprised me the most was adding a low calorie protein bar. I generally had a piece of fruit between lunch and dinner but have been substituting with a low cal (110 cal) protein bar and that crazy hunger I was experiencing has gone away. I guess I wasn't getting enough protein daily.11
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Learning to keep off-days limited to maintenance calories (2500 in my case) has been a huge advance for me. I haven't always succeeded but even when I don't, just having the idea in my head that a "break even" day is more or less the limit has prevented things from spinning out of control.15
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Closing the kitchen after dinner and getting in a walk instead of snacking.
Replacing sodas and juice with water and unsweetened tea.
Eating good-sized, balanced meals spaced out throughout the day instead of eating small meals and snacks all day. (Calories are the same, but I just feel better eating this way).
Planning my meals out in advance and tracking my meals, exercise and other info in my journal everyday.11 -
drinking a lot more water whether I feel thirsty or not...making it a habit
splurging & dining out on Saturdays but usually NOT on Fridays or Sundays (I can handle one day over my calories but not 3, which is what weekends sometimes used to turn into)
ordering black coffee, espresso, Americano, etc, instead of lattes & mochas
not having dessert all the time
eating plenty at lunch (typically 400+ calories and ample protein) instead of a tiny/light lunch and then getting hungry in the afternoons
this is a strange one, I know...but lately I feel like switching over to actual pajama sets that are in my size has improved my posture over lounging in baggy t-shirts and stretchy shorts.13 -
Not snacking in the evenings has been a big one for me. I'll usually have a mug of tea, but that's about it.5
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Honestly, I have closed out my diary before going for a walk and then decided to go for a 3.5 miles walk just for giggles and even at a slow, moseying with my dog pace, when I reclose my diary for the day, I will see a significant difference in the “What I will weigh in five weeks” section.
Just getting out for a walk is enough to move the needle on that rotten scale! Plus, it is helpful to destress at the end of the day and I find that I sleep better too.13 -
Not keeping snacks in easy to get places.
The girlfriend buys loads of snacks and sweets, but I insist she keeps them in a cupboard instead of plain sight. That way when I'm hungry, I actually stop and think about what I'm going to eat, instead of grabbing the first thing I see.
In a similar thread, maybe keep healthy low-cal snacks in easy to reach places while hiding the chips.7 -
Preparing meals in advance definitely helps. Especially on days where I work and have less time to cook, it helps to have meals ready to go!6
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Considering what I actually want to eat first and foremost before calories, nutrition, or anything else. After a short while of thinking I only want to eat low nutrient high calorie foods, food just became food and calories became a non-issue. Nutrition followed because I enjoy nutritious foods and I was just rebelling against dieting.
If I want to eat something that is easy to fit in, great, if I want something higher in calories, I try work my calories around it. Sometimes I discover I don't really want the high calorie item as much as I thought because working around it is less appealing, and I just have something else I want. Other times it really is what I want, and I enjoy it within calories. Shifting focus from "have to" to "want and enjoy" mage a big difference for diet sustainability.10 -
What protein bars do you like/find at that calorie level?cheryldumais wrote: »a low cal (110 cal) protein bar
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peachvine29 wrote: »jenncornelsen wrote: »I do not watch tv in the evenings in the living room. Was for whatever reason a major trigger it mindlessly eat. Since stopping i almost never nightly binge
Nice! Care to share what do you do instead? I'm having trouble structuring my evenings and am curious what people do besides watch TV.
Walk
Cycle
Work out in our home gym
Do homework ... I'm working toward a Master's degree part-time
Work on one of many home projects
Housework
Photography
The TV might be on in the evenings at times, but I can't imagine just watching TV.
If I am watching a show, I'll get up during most commercials and do something ... laundry, tidying the kitchen, taking pictures of the flowers in the yard, a few exercises, cleaning the bathroom ...3 -
peachvine29 wrote: »Anyone care to share any small changes that made a big difference for them?
Nuts are good for you, right?
But a handful of cashews at 3 pm is a lot of calories!! So I stopped eating them. That knocked 400-500 calories off my total.
Also, not drinking my calories.7 -
Prepping my breakfasts and lunches for the week on Sunday, so I can just grab them from the fridge on my way to work instead of rushing like a lunatic in the morning and perhaps making unhealthy choices
Brushing my teeth between 7-8 pm instead of right before I go to bed- Keeps me from late night snacking plus allows me to go right to bed when I'm ready7 -
What protein bars do you like/find at that calorie level?cheryldumais wrote: »a low cal (110 cal) protein bar
Built bars. You have to order them online. You will find they are very different. The center is sort of like turkish delight, very sticky. I love them but at first it was a bit of a shock as they aren't as sweet as expected.4 -
For me, it was the realisation that I could boost my relatively low calorie budget with exercise. Trying to eat at under 1200 was quite difficult for me ... Once I realised that exercise could boost it and I could use an exercise-created deficit, it made life sooooooooooo much easier and I was able to lose a lot of weight - plus be happy because I could eat all the foods I love to eat. In moderation of course.7
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Prelogging my food for the day but leaving enough for a random 100cal "treat" so if I fancy something then I don't feel I have to deny myself.
It's all psychological for me.7 -
I play piano! I get so wrapped up in practicing I don’t even think about snacking. Plus I learn pieces way faster when I actually put effort into thempeachvine29 wrote: »jenncornelsen wrote: »I do not watch tv in the evenings in the living room. Was for whatever reason a major trigger it mindlessly eat. Since stopping i almost never nightly binge
Nice! Care to share what do you do instead? I'm having trouble structuring my evenings and am curious what people do besides watch TV.
6 -
more fiber, more water5
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