What are your best HABITS for losing weight?

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  • AubreyEliMommy
    AubreyEliMommy Posts: 1
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    Using my food scale.
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
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    Logging my food every. single. day.
  • onefortyone
    onefortyone Posts: 531 Member
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    Meal planning has been absolutely my best habit. Hubby & I used to be like, so what shall we have for dinner? And we'd discuss it, and think about it, and come up with half-baked ideas (because we didn't have all the foods necessary to make a specific meal, or I didn't feel like eating what we did have), and then it turned 7pm and we were starving so we just ate whatever - either going to the store to buy $10 worth of 'groceries' for one meal, or stopping by McDonald's.

    Now, we know what we're having, we buy all the stuff on Saturday so we have the ingredients to make it, and we know how many calories it'll be. It saves us money, time, and calories. And it just makes life a lot easier!
  • rosietown54
    rosietown54 Posts: 5 Member
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    Ditto....scale, logging & exercising!
    Amazing to find out how many calories are in the things you LOVE..
  • laurenthecarts
    laurenthecarts Posts: 41 Member
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    It's a weird one, but I eat with chopsticks as often as I can. It makes you concentrate on eating and allows you to eat slower so that you don't overeat.

    Also, pre-weighing and freezing ingredients like chicken breast means I won't be tempted to throw in an extra lump when I'm cooking.

    Brushing your teeth mid evening instead of right before bed can prevent the temptation of late night snackings.

    Always weigh yourself in the morning, doing it at a different time of day can be so demotivating!
  • tjsoccermom
    tjsoccermom Posts: 500 Member
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    Preplanning...if there is only junk to eat then what choice will you have?

    Packing my lunch everyday and filling it with healthy foods, which usually means cooking something that I can pack all week, this week is chicken and rice soup or greek yogurt chicken salad.

    Eating breakfast...usually including greek yogurt for the protein.

    Logging everyday, including the good, bad and the ugly.

    Forgiving yourself if you fall off the wagon.

    Allowing yourself to occasionally fall of the wagon by either making it "fit" for the day or by just doing it and getting back on track the next day.

    Exercising plenty so you can have more calories and your body looks better as you lose weight.

    Having support...nothing keeps you going more than having others tell you how great you are looking!

    Leaving yourself "notes" with reminders as to why you are wanting to lose weight to start with.

    Having a "goal" piece of clothing.

    Measure yourself, sometimes the scale doesn't move but you are losing inches.

    Hope those help someone!
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
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    I guess I don't have any good habit because I haven't been able to losing much.
  • BrownEyedBetty
    BrownEyedBetty Posts: 85 Member
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    - 80% diet, 20% exercise
    - log everything you put in your mouth
    - have a support system to stay motivated
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Using a food scale
    +logging accurately

    + pre logging
  • tjsoccermom
    tjsoccermom Posts: 500 Member
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    One more thing that has helped me is I try to eat half or less of my calories for breakfast and lunch and leave the rest for dinner and snacks. Feels like I have more wiggle room that way.
  • 13suzie
    13suzie Posts: 349 Member
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    I love this thread! Great habits!!! Thanks everyone!
  • bizgirl26
    bizgirl26 Posts: 1,808 Member
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    Logging every day

    For me though eating clean is what helps. Although you should be able to eat whatever you want as long as there is a deficit , I find when I eat foods that are unprocessed the weight comes off faster and if you cant weigh it, the calories are more forgiving.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    It's a weird one, but I eat with chopsticks as often as I can. It makes you concentrate on eating and allows you to eat slower so that you don't overeat.

    I've been using chopsticks so long that they don't slow me down at all. Everything becomes finger food! :smile:

    I'd say the most useful habit I have developed while losing weight is eating slowly and, before getting seconds, thinking about whether I am really hungry. That, and regular logging.

    Most of my other healthy habits - getting lots of exercise, cooking mostly from scratch, packing a lunch, eating lots of veggies and whole grains, avoiding added sugar, etc. - did not prevent me from gaining about half a pound per month over the course of a decade, though they probably contributed to my having been a fairly active, strong, and healthy fat guy.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
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    Walking, Simply walking. Single best way for the very unfit and/or very overweight to condition themselves to larger amounts of exercise and burn calories. You burn almost as many calories walking as running the same distance. Though running is far superior for aerobic conditioning for obvious reasons some of us can't really run long distances. Either because we are unfit or because we are covered in dead weight ... i.e fat.

    Note : I am talking about a walk fast and long enough to make you sweat. A leisurely stroll won't do much. For added benefit swing or pump your arms while you walk.
  • Fit_Chef_NE
    Fit_Chef_NE Posts: 110 Member
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    Patience with myself is a big one, and one I never really had before. Also I have found the right balance of food instead of trying to get by on small amounts of junk as I have in the past. I have played around with my macros in the last few months and found a balance that makes me feel great and gives me steady results. I'm never stuffed but I'm never starving.

    The biggest change is just being honest with myself. I log in every calorie religiously. I plan out my meals the night before. I make it something to look forward to and I keep experimenting with new recipes to change it up. When I know I have a meal ahead that is both delicious and good for me, I can't wait to get cooking and I leave the table feeling energized instead of guilty.
  • 13suzie
    13suzie Posts: 349 Member
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    Any more tips out there?
  • 13suzie
    13suzie Posts: 349 Member
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    13suzie wrote: »
    Any more tips out there?

  • JordisTSM
    JordisTSM Posts: 359 Member
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    Nothing I can really add that others haven't. I pre-log every day the night before. Sure, I allow some tweaks, but I wont change overall meals. Not only does it make it so much easier to stick to my calories, it means I get the meat out of the freezer well in advance, and have time to shop for any ingredients I'm missing. That and weighing everything but liquids so I know precisely how much I'm eating.

    Oh, booking a tattoo for the 20 kilo mark (44lbs) is really motivating right now (7lbs to go!). And I will get another one at goal weight (173lbs away - eeep).
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
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    Going food shopping more often. So you don't end up Saturday night with a choice between beef noodles or takeaway pizza or Chinese.

    So you have something nice and healthier to eat and not leave it up to your hunger or boredom to decide on what to eat.

    Prelogging a day or two in advance works together with this.
  • JordisTSM
    JordisTSM Posts: 359 Member
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    Merkavar wrote: »
    Going food shopping more often. So you don't end up Saturday night with a choice between beef noodles or takeaway pizza or Chinese.

    So you have something nice and healthier to eat and not leave it up to your hunger or boredom to decide on what to eat.

    Prelogging a day or two in advance works together with this.

    Yes. This. Making sure I've always got a crisper full of fresh vegies, and a fully stock freezer and pantry. Much faster to cook something up than have to go out somewhere for drive through.

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