Rules - Got Any?

trejon

Do you make diet and weight loss RULES for yourself :noway: ?

My RULES
1. I do not eat after 8 pm :yawn: .
2. Desserts allowed but only 3 bites :sad: .
3. Limit myself to 2 prepackaged/processed items per day :indifferent: .
4. Must have breakfast - PERIOD:grumble: !

AsaThorsWoman

I try to eat yogurt every morning. For some reason it really sets the pace for healthy eating all day.

AsaThorsWoman

Probably because I despise it, and after facing yogurt, ANYTHING tastes good.

superwmn

I TOTALLY have rules:

1 – Love myself. (every other rule is an extension of this)
2 – Eat what I love. Eat when I’m hungry. Stop when I’m full.
3 – DO what I love. If exercise isn’t fun, I won’t do it.
4 – Relax and DO NOT OBSESS.
5 – The past is the past. I do not let what happened in the past dictate what will happen in this moment.
6 – When I break rules 2 – 6, see rule #1.

Charmagne

ntp0826

My rules:
1. No matter what I must work out 6 days a week (and if that requires hitting the gym at 5 in the morning, I go)
2. Limit sodium intake to 2500 mgs a day
3. Allow myself one cheat meal on my weigh in day
4. Eat out as less as possible and if I have to, make wise choices!

GingerDarlene

Probably because I despise it, and after facing yogurt, ANYTHING tastes good.

Be careful with yogurt, some yogurts are high in sugar, I didnt realize either. A nutrition class at my gym pointed this out to me. Take the number of sugar grams and divide by 4, that will give you the number of teaspoons of sugar. Example Yoplait orginal Strawberry has 27 grams of sugar divide that by 4 and you get 6.75 teaspoons of sugar. I had know idea.

themyriadthings

I don't really have any hard and fast rules. Setting them only makes me want to break them, so I just have goals instead.

Rynatat

Exercise: 5-6 days p/wk (usually I'm at 6 :happy: )
Minimum time of 45-50 mins (usually I'm over 50 :happy: )
Eat!!!!! I love food and must eat to stay healthy
Breakfast EVERY morning; Lunch every day, Dinner every evening and healthy snax when I'm hungry between meals
(I'm hungry every 2-3 hrs now )
Trick with eating: measure/weigh out portions so EVERYTHING is logged
Accountability is key: if I eat more than 1 serving, I log more than 1 serving
Limit Junk food: I hardly eat sweets, chocolate, chips anymore since I really don't "crave" them like I used to.
Everyday focus on something about me that has improved and something that makes me happy: the more I smile, the better I feel, the more I want to be healthy, stay healthy and make healthy choices.
This is "4-Life"! 5, 10, 15 years from now, can I keep this up? YES!!!!! :flowerforyou:

trejon

I am a rules person. Just something about holding to a self imposed standard that offers more of a challenge - FOR ME.

jsecret

My rules

1. 8 glass of water a day minimum - this is EXTREMELY hard for me unfortunatly
2. EVERYTHING gets checked for calories before it hits my plate and logged into MFP before it hits my mouth.

simple and successful

kayemme

I don't really have any hard and fast rules. Setting them only makes me want to break them, so I just have goals instead.

thisi s my philosophy, too. i can't have rules because i'm really good at obeying them until they're broken once, then it's off. like being late for work, i won't be late for work, and then something will happen where i'm accidentally late for work, then i'm late for work all the time. it's part of a pattern.

kayemme

I don't really have any hard and fast rules. Setting them only makes me want to break them, so I just have goals instead.

thisi s my philosophy, too. i can't have rules because i'm really good at obeying them until they're broken once, then it's off. like being late for work, i won't be late for work, and then something will happen where i'm accidentally late for work, then i'm late for work all the time. it's part of a pattern.

Natural

not many rules

i do need to eat breakfast
don't skip meals
drink even more water if i have too many sweets
don't flip out if the scale goes up.
have fun!

stroutman81

I don't really have any hard and fast rules. Setting them only makes me want to break them, so I just have goals instead.

thisi s my philosophy, too. i can't have rules because i'm really good at obeying them until they're broken once, then it's off. like being late for work, i won't be late for work, and then something will happen where i'm accidentally late for work, then i'm late for work all the time. it's part of a pattern.

I'm sure many will not like this, but I definitely agree. I firmly believe most weight loss endeavors fail because of rules. It's basic human nature to want what we can't have. Most of today's dieters (lifestyle or otherwise) fall into a pit of rigidity. And it might work for a while because it forces you to adhere to the basics principles that drive fat loss. Eventually they cave.

The rigidity simply stirs up too much dichotomous thinking and too much guilt.

Professionally, I persuade my clients to ditch the rigidity or rules mentality. In my opinion, there are better ways to apply the basic principles and therefore achieve the results they're after. I've also instituted this in my own life successfully.

Just my 2 cents.

SharonsJetSet

no real rules for me

However I try to:

eat breakfast every morning
eat 5 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 small snacks)
drink lots of fulids
be positive all day

redefiningmyself

My rules:

1: Eat breakfast lunch and dinner every day. Snacks if still hungry.
2: Eat 50% veggies at every meal.
3: Drink between 11-14 glasses of water a day.

And most importantly:

Don't beat myself up if I screw up. Everyone makes mistakes and has bad days. I tell myself that this is a marathon not a sprint, so one bad day is not the end of the world.

Supa817

I don't have rules per se but there are a few "guidlines" I've given myself.

1. "Because I don't feel like it or don't want to go" are NEVER good enough reasons not to go to the gym. Scheduling issues, transportation issues, or things beyond my control are one thing but if there's a day that I say to myself I don't feel like it, I go anyway. I can count on one hand the number of times I've missed a workout in the last 7 months.

2. I do not deprive myself... Now that it's a habit, I've been able to shift my mindset to thinking that I workout so I can eat what I want. If I don't workout I don't get to eat "bad stuff". I keep my portions in control so if someone brings a box of Krispy Kreme donuts I can have a taste of one and not obsess over it. If I go out to eat I may have a peice of bread or a few tastes of dessert but keep my main entree on the healthy side.

3. I do not obsess over the number on the scale. It took me years to get fat so it's going to take me a while to get it off.

If I'm going to do this for the rest of my life, i have to be flexible with myself and realistic .

stroutman81

I'd also suggest a book I recently reviewed in my blog regarding this topic. It's called Intuitive Eating... highly recommend it.

Here's the review:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/stroutman81/view/my-review-of-intuitive-eating-45337

bjerkins

Always have something for breakfast
no sugared drinks including juice
no white bread
no white rice
exercise 5 days a week

LilynEdensmom

Not to many rules

Don't buy snack food and avoid temptation...if I am tempted allow myself alittle
atleast 8 glasses of water a day
Some form of exercise everyday

AmandaR910

1) Stay under SODIUM!
2) 12 glasses of water a day.
3) Some kind of cardio everyday and at least 5 days a week of strength training.
4) Don't eat exercise calories unless not doing so would go below 1200 net calories.
5) No cheese.