What are your favorite diet hacks?

Antiopelle

Afternoon snack: 400 cl of soy milk heated with 25 gr of vanilla pudding powder and stevia. It makes a big bowl of hot vanilla custard with exactly 175 kcals. This satisfies my sweet tooth and keeps me full until dinner.

After dinner / tv time snack: a fresh pomegranate: supertasty and low cal and it keeps my hands and mind busy for a good half hour.

springlering62

That’s some brilliant thinking @Antiopelle I love pomegranates but always end up looking like I have the pox when I eat one. They just get everywhere.

Maybe I could invest in a case of lobster bibs.

dailyzey

Antiopelle wrote: »

Afternoon snack: 400 cl of soy milk heated with 25 gr of vanilla pudding powder and stevia. It makes a big bowl of hot vanilla custard with exactly 175 kcals. This satisfies my sweet tooth and keeps me full until dinner.

After dinner / tv time snack: a fresh pomegranate: supertasty and low cal and it keeps my hands and mind busy for a good half hour.

i love this idea. I will have to try it. Sometimes I just want chocolate pudding or a chocolate muffin. Maybe this will help.

AshHeartsJesus

One of my favorite with lunch treats is strawberries and bananas cut up together and topped with reddi whip
2 protein pancakes with 1tbs of pumpkin spice cream cheese
I don't do sugar or creamer in my coffee just stevia and almond milk

Antiopelle

springlering62 wrote: »

That’s some brilliant thinking @Antiopelle I love pomegranates but always end up looking like I have the pox when I eat one. They just get everywhere.

Maybe I could invest in a case of lobster bibs.

I'm covered in an easy to wash small blanket when eating one

LunaTheFatCat

- Fries and roast potatoes from the air fryer. What a difference in calories
- I don't drink any calories, except alcohol and I've cut down on that too. So just water, black coffee or tea
- Cauliflower rice with my curry, or no rice at all with my curry, I might just have a small naan bread instead
- Preplanning (as someone else mentioned above) is major for me as well

Athijade

wunderkindking wrote: »

Online grocery shopping - I started because of the pandemic but the longer I do it the more I realize how much it has cut down my impulse buying of calorie dense/low nutrition food. I still have those but now they're a DELIBERATE choice and just a little. Instead of "oh look there's a candy bar by the checkout and the bakery made brownies and it smells delicious". Meaning my grocery orders are so much heavier on things I, you know, cook and are good for me.

I don't shop online (bad experiences with allergy issues) but I did start going to smaller grocery stores. I used to do Meijer along with Aldi. Now I do Aldi and Fresh Thyme for my weekly stuff and then ethnic markets when I need something special. By cutting out Meijer, I am buy so much less! There simply are not as many options to impulse buy on. So it's been great for my weight AND for my wallet.

Tea is a big one for me. A hot cup of tea with a bit of sugar at night seems to take away those snacking cravings at night. After dinner is when I have the hardest time staying on track because once I start eating, I keep going. But the tea, even with the sugar, is much lower in calories and doesn't make me feel yucky.

I also try to aim for half my plate being veggies so I can bulk up my food without bulking up the calories. I have to be careful though. No raw veggies. They tear my stomach up.

And I don't fear carbs. Carbs keep me full for a long time, especially when paired with lean protein. This is pretty much to say, listen to your body. Another person's diet may not be the best for you. I could NEVER do Keto or low carb. My body doesn't like it. So I do what works for me.

jeannemarie333

I have been using the "stop, wait, let some time pass" then have some water, or a bowl of vegies, then decide if I really want that candy bar or unhealthy treat/meal. It's a mindfullness technique I learned about and it works for me. Good luck everyone!! Great thread

hezaa777

Thanks for all the awesome ideas! You all rock!

Marcus_Eating_Donuts

Tea all day. I have an electric kettle in my office and at noon I switch to caffeine free. I have a drawer full of black, green, oolong, ginger, and assorted herbal.

It forces me to get up frequently to walk to the bathroom, and I take the opportunity to go to the restroom one floor up.

That is while I was working on-site.

Diatonic12

Take a shower and Flip the Switch.

It aids in breaking all kinds of habits.

https://castlecraig.co.uk/blog/2018/03/09/cold-showers-fight-addiction

https://www.addictioncenter.com/community/4-steps-breaking-bad-habit-forming-new-one/

Replace Your Old Habits with New Similar Ones

Finding something similar to your bad habit can help you easily replace it. If you only have the choice to give into your habit or stay at an equilibrium, your habit will likely influence your choosing. If you have two choices, one new choice and one old choice, you have a better chance at picking the new choice that will help you form a positive habit since it puts you at an elevated level compared to where you were before.

Wendyanneroberts

Weighing condiments ie onion chutney or low fat mayo, in sandwiches or rolls etc. I've found the happy ground between having enough and being tasty. Without going overboard and adding unnecessary calories. Even saving 50 calories a day, while barely noticing the difference, means another 5lb lost in a year.

tihi18

I cut a a carb lean tortilla in half and use that as my burger bun(I'm keto).

mmcgov01

springlering62 wrote: »

That’s some brilliant thinking @Antiopelle I love pomegranates but always end up looking like I have the pox when I eat one. They just get everywhere.

Maybe I could invest in a case of lobster bibs.

Cut the pomegranate open and have a big bowl of water ready. Hold the halves under the water while you separate the arils from the skin, then drain the water away. Works like a charm to keep the mess down!

springlering62

Diatonic12 wrote: »

Take a shower and Flip the Switch.

It aids in breaking all kinds of habits.

https://castlecraig.co.uk/blog/2018/03/09/cold-showers-fight-addiction

https://www.addictioncenter.com/community/4-steps-breaking-bad-habit-forming-new-one/

Replace Your Old Habits with New Similar Ones

Finding something similar to your bad habit can help you easily replace it. If you only have the choice to give into your habit or stay at an equilibrium, your habit will likely influence your choosing. If you have two choices, one new choice and one old choice, you have a better chance at picking the new choice that will help you form a positive habit since it puts you at an elevated level compared to where you were before.

@Diatonic12 I love you honey, but nothing on Gods’ green earth could compel me to take a cold shower.

Period.

Diatonic12

@springlering62 Right back you, woman. Hugs and bu## smacks all around. I don't always take a cold one but I hop in there, flip the switch and when I come out my goals are intact. I am not willing to give up any of my progress. Ahhhh, hail to the no. There's someone else on here who does the same thing to keep things really sharp. It works for me, too.

thelastnightingale

Honestly, one of the best things I've done is spend ages poring over the nutritional information when grocery shopping online to find healthier swaps for things I really like. It's an initial dump of time, but if you can swap one food for another (and still enjoy it), it then becomes a recurring super easy win. Saving a few couple of hundred calories here and there really adds up over time.

When I'm having a bad time food-wise, the way I recover is to food prep the entire day into boxes. I get one for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinner. No thinking, no snacks. Once the box is empty, no more food left for that time of day. Being rigid like this helps me shake the habit of mindlessly eating and racking up more calories than I can afford, and gives me that push back up onto the healthy wagon.

I initially swapped bread products, but now I've really cut back on it. Rather than a cheese burger in a bun, now it's a corn fritter with a slice of cheese. The bread is gone. I found it was easier to balance my calorie allowance for the day when I cut out the bread one day, and I realised I didn't miss it anywhere near as much as I thought I would. It's all about priorities.

Eat the things that make you healthy, and eat the things you really like. There's no room for things that don't have much nutritional value and you only mildly like. If you're to fit something unhealthy into your daily allowance, it has to be something you really enjoy.

Oh dear, I think I've Marie-Kondo'd my plate. Does this food spark joy? No. OK, does it at least help me with my macros? No. Right, not eating it then... Next!

follycat

I eat pretty healthily on the whole but the one thing that really helps is a sprinkle of ranch dressing powder or low salt bouillon powder, particularly on veg such as savoy cabbage or spinach, good as a seasoning for grilled chicken etc too.
I like intense flavours and they are not the healthiest of additions but I use a small amount and it makes a big difference for me, upping flavours, making 'boring' foods enjoyable.

alexmose

1. Protein at every meal, esp breakfast 25-30g
2. Add fats and protein with carbs in snacks. Just carbs is not filling.

The_Movie_Chair

The 5-minute rule. I was an overeater, a binge eater, still think like one. Cravings roll over me like waves. When I think I have to order the food, even though I am not hungry, or when I want to open the box of pralines, even though it was supposed to be a present, I tell myself I can have it all...in 5 minutes.

And then I wait and find myself not wanting anymore what I craved so desperately just five minutes before.