Diet and Nutrition Tips

27karateerin

So I was thinking that if anyone has diet tips that they find useful in helping them lose weight post them here and hopefully everyone can benefit! It can be anything really -- from healthy foods that you love, or ways you stay away from junk food, or even how many meals you eat per day.

Here's my little diet tip Recently I decided to try spaghetti squash (it looked sooo disgusting at first :P) but I actually really loved it! And it's pretty low cal too -- about 40 cal per cup I think? It's not for everyone but I would recommend it! What I do is I put some olive oil on a pan with a little salt, cut the squash in half, bake it in the oven, then scoop it out and pan fry it (about 5 mins). So delicious!

l_ashley

Use a pedometer. They definitely give you a realistic view of how much you actually walk a day. You don't have to buy something too fancy. Just get something that will be accurate enough to track what you walk and help motivate you to try to walk more a day. I use the OMRON brand. It is like $15 on ebay.

Lynn_babcock

Homemade salsa, and alfalfa sprouts are some great, easy, low-calorie go-to's to add flavor to food. I buy about 10#'s of seeds at a time for the alfalfa off Ebay.. works out to be about $9/# for organic. I have a friend I split them with. The salsa I make comes in at 55 calories a cup.

I was doing the calorie counting thing this time last year and keeping it at 1200 a day. Now, I have no idea how we did that! I remember the sprouts, and salsa. Oranges, nasty smoothies, egg whites, low-calorie mozzarella cheese, pre sliced fat free cheese, home made egg McMuffins, shrimp, BACON, and LOTS of vegetables. When you have so few calories to work with in a day preparing each one was special.. so the food always tasted amazing! If you REALLY want to love food, eat on restricted calories My husband and I were doing it together. We lost so much weight so fast we had skin 'flaps'.. yuck.

What I don't remember is how I kept from snacking on what the kids didn't eat off their plates!

jennegan1

Homemade salsa, and alfalfa sprouts are some great, easy, low-calorie go-to's to add flavor to food. I buy about 10#'s of seeds at a time for the alfalfa off Ebay.. works out to be about $9/# for organic. I have a friend I split them with. The salsa I make comes in at 55 calories a cup.

I was doing the calorie counting thing this time last year and keeping it at 1200 a day. Now, I have no idea how we did that! I remember the sprouts, and salsa. Oranges, nasty smoothies, egg whites, low-calorie mozzarella cheese, pre sliced fat free cheese, home made egg McMuffins, shrimp, BACON, and LOTS of vegetables. When you have so few calories to work with in a day preparing each one was special.. so the food always tasted amazing! If you REALLY want to love food, eat on restricted calories My husband and I were doing it together. We lost so much weight so fast we had skin 'flaps'.. yuck.

What I don't remember is how I kept from snacking on what the kids didn't eat off their plates!

What type of "nasty smoothie"? Home made or store brought packaged ones? Cuz ive been trying new ones recently and all of the ones Ive tried arent nasty tasting

jennegan1

I really dont got any tips just yet as this is really my first time in many years that Im finally paying attention to my food in take again. So definitely moderation is key. Ive given up my daily glass or 2 or 3 of wine lol and daily small bag of chips. When I first went thru puberty and gained alot of weight I started to exercise and stayed away from all sugary and starchy snacks. I see that following again especially with the starchy snacks. Eating more whole grains. Try new things like couscous or quinoa or a new fruit or veggie that you might like

kawookie

I wrote a blog post about this very topic a few months back if anyone is interested in reading it:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/kawookie/view/new-to-eating-healthy-some-tips-to-get-started-596944

AmandaTerry11

The only tips I have are:

Drink lots of water.
Eat plenty of fiber
If you're lifting weights, get plenty of protein.

It's best to plan your food for the day and stick to it.
Brush your teeth right after eating so you'll be less likely to eat again.
Chew gum.

stormnv

Hot Green Tea and a piece of very dark chocolate, helps with after meal sugar cravings!!

jennegan1

Hot Green Tea and a piece of very dark chocolate, helps with after meal sugar cravings!!

I love green tea, it took me a long time to get used to more of a blander taste of it but I do 2 tea bags a 16 oz cup and 2 table spoons of honey

jennegan1

The only tips I have are:

Drink lots of water.
Eat plenty of fiber
If you're lifting weights, get plenty of protein.

It's best to plan your food for the day and stick to it.
Brush your teeth right after eating so you'll be less likely to eat again.
Chew gum.

I dont lift weights often matter of fact less lately and more cardio. Some days I just forget and other days I say to my self ok Im doing more cardio today so dont need to exactly lift the weights today....But I do get plenty of protein and think that plus more fiber is helping me lose weight. I read a diet high in protein will help some one lose

GKSTcoach

My regular lunch (this may sound gross, but it is good) includes granola in Greek yogurt with some blackberries thrown in for added fiber.

I have 4 mini-meals and 2 bigger meals a day to keep the metabolism up during the day:

a breakfast shake for bkfst as I hate getting up early enough to make something;
a snack or meal bar for a mid-morning snack...sometimes a handful of almonds, cashews, and macadamias;
my cereal mixture, some baby carrots, and a mozzarella stick for lunch;
a pear (fiber) with some almond butter for an afternoon snack;
and at night it is usually something like scrambled eggs with cheese, green peppers, ham, and tomatoes, or rice with chicken tenders and cheese, or bbq chicken tenders with romaine lettuce and tomato slices, or chili etc...protein mixed with veggies, basically;
and dessert is fruit or a snack bar.

I also take in at least 64 oz of water each day.

I am looking for plateau-buster ideas if anyone has any! Being stalled for a month really isn't fun!

ScientificExplorerGirl

I wrote a blog post about this very topic a few months back if anyone is interested in reading it:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/kawookie/view/new-to-eating-healthy-some-tips-to-get-started-596944

Hi Kawookie great tips there at your blog, thanks! I have been looking into water filtration units and many seem to have bad reviews regarding bacterial growth in filters, plastic or other "off tastes" etc. I'm wondering how the filtrete station is working for you? Do the filters really last for 3 months? are there any unpleasant tastes? I am on well water and have been buying either jugs or bottled water and it does add up!

Tips that have been most helpful to me are:
1. Make sure I am eating enough protein
2. Don't be afraid to include some fat in the diet
3. Drink more water or tea/coffee to fend off the munchies
4. If I am having a difficult day with my diet do some extra activity walk/run/jog; anything really

kawookie

I wrote a blog post about this very topic a few months back if anyone is interested in reading it:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/kawookie/view/new-to-eating-healthy-some-tips-to-get-started-596944

Hi Kawookie great tips there at your blog, thanks! I have been looking into water filtration units and many seem to have bad reviews regarding bacterial growth in filters, plastic or other "off tastes" etc. I'm wondering how the filtrete station is working for you? Do the filters really last for 3 months? are there any unpleasant tastes? I am on well water and have been buying either jugs or bottled water and it does add up!

Tips that have been most helpful to me are:
1. Make sure I am eating enough protein
2. Don't be afraid to include some fat in the diet
3. Drink more water or tea/coffee to fend off the munchies
4. If I am having a difficult day with my diet do some extra activity walk/run/jog; anything really

We are on city water that sometimes gets a metalic taste, which the filtrete does fine filtering out. We have purchased a bunch of spare water bottles to avoid putting a dirty water bottle back on the station (to avoid germs). If you activate the indicator bar the filter sometimes tells you to replace it sooner than 3 months, but my husband didn't activate our current one and we have been using it longer than 3 months. I don't taste a difference, but then our water might not have a lot to filter out so YMMV.

We get extra filters auto delivered from amazon because they are only sold at a few places (eg. Walmart) and I generally shop more a local grocers and Aldis. The autodelivery program is a little cheaper too, especially if you have other items auto delivered (vitamins, toiltries, pet supplies).

I hope this helps!

ScientificExplorerGirl

I wrote a blog post about this very topic a few months back if anyone is interested in reading it:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/kawookie/view/new-to-eating-healthy-some-tips-to-get-started-596944

Hi Kawookie great tips there at your blog, thanks! I have been looking into water filtration units and many seem to have bad reviews regarding bacterial growth in filters, plastic or other "off tastes" etc. I'm wondering how the filtrete station is working for you? Do the filters really last for 3 months? are there any unpleasant tastes? I am on well water and have been buying either jugs or bottled water and it does add up!

Tips that have been most helpful to me are:
1. Make sure I am eating enough protein
2. Don't be afraid to include some fat in the diet
3. Drink more water or tea/coffee to fend off the munchies
4. If I am having a difficult day with my diet do some extra activity walk/run/jog; anything really

We are on city water that sometimes gets a metalic taste, which the filtrete does fine filtering out. We have purchased a bunch of spare water bottles to avoid putting a dirty water bottle back on the station (to avoid germs). If you activate the indicator bar the filter sometimes tells you to replace it sooner than 3 months, but my husband didn't activate our current one and we have been using it longer than 3 months. I don't taste a difference, but then our water might not have a lot to filter out so YMMV.

We get extra filters auto delivered from amazon because they are only sold at a few places (eg. Walmart) and I generally shop more a local grocers and Aldis. The autodelivery program is a little cheaper too, especially if you have other items auto delivered (vitamins, toiltries, pet supplies).

I hope this helps!

Thanks--I'm going to look into this!

27karateerin

I was ready through some of these tips and they sound really great! I definitely saw a few ideas that I'm going to try (like brushing teeth after eating-I love this one!). Something I've been trying to do for the past week is cutting up a giant plate of veggies ahead of time and putting them in bags for work and school. This way when I'm craving something that I really shouldn't eat I can easily grab some veggies. I'm a lot more likely to skip the chips or chocolate when healthy food is cut up and ready to go!

kawookie

Tip of the week: Change up your routine

We all get into routines where exercise turns into going out for a run, taking a long walk, or spending 45 minutes on an elliptical. Try something new this week to change it up. The problem with getting into a routine is that your body gets too efficient and it burns less calories. You may get faster, but you also might not see a change in results on the scale.

Make this week the week that you force yourself out of your comfort zone at least twice this week. Take a different class at the gym, try a different work out video, or pick a new machine to work out on at the gym. Perhaps it is time to add weights to your routine.


Last week I added weight training to my circuit. This week I am going to try kickboxing and perhaps Zumba. What will you try?