What item did you cut out that made a difference?

RSEC75

Soda and sugary drinks like others have said, and snacking on whole packets of sweets. Found that most of the meals I like eating fitted in my goal easily just by cutting out the drinks.

I still have them occasionally, but only on days I'm planning quite light meals, and with sweets I only have a couple of sweets instead of a whole packets. I don't believe in giving up anything completely as I won't be able to sustain that.

jeanlake

snacking items

lavaughan69

I actually didn't give up anything in particular, I just ate certain things less frequently. Like pasta and rice. If I do have them it's just a small portion. Sometimes I'll swap things like potatoes for cauliflower. It's an easy substitution and if you take cauliflower and saute it thinly sliced with onion and garlic it's like having fried potatoes! yum.

I'm not a milk drinker, only in coffee so I switched my milk to unsweetened almond milk.

I guess the biggest change I made overall was that I don't go out to any fast foods at lunch anymore, I always bring a lunch. It made a huge change in calorie intake and because I'm not eating all the processed foods/carbs it really reduced my cravings. I still eat out from time to time, but not that often.

Try to create an eating plan that you could envision 10 years down the road. So what are the things you NEVER want to give up? Now figure out which foods you could reduce and it wouldn't even bother you. Now create a diet plan that allows you to incorporate those items you absolutely love the most and reduce the things you enjoy less.

e.g. I reduce potatoes, rice and pasta which means I have room for RUM! :drinker:

tawnywest

I drink a lot of tea with skim milk and when I counted up the calories in the milk I was using I was pretty shocked. Every mug had 1/2 cup of milk which I mix up thicker than the instructions say. I have decided to cut out the pot of black tea I used to drink at lunch time and replace it with herbal or green tea. That is saving me over 100 calories right there. When you have a 1200 calorie limit it all counts!

gzus7freek

Candy, Cake, Pie, muffins, Buffets, Milk, Soda, Bread, Pasta, etc......listing it all makes me sad!!!

sigsby

breakfast

RSEC75

pastry. too many pies and nightime danish.

for all those that said soda, were you all still drinking full fat coke etc?
i dont know anyone in the uk over age 14 that still drinks that stuff.

i use diluted juice concentrate. robinsons barley etc. to consume gallon of water daily.minimal cals.

Really! I wouldn't touch the diet stuff. Horrid artificial sweeteners that taste awful and have so many reports of the dangers of the chemicals. Yuck!

I've mostly cut out soda recently, but would still drink the full fat stuff when I have it. (And yes like many people in the UK I refer to it as "full fat" even though I don't believe it actually contains fat.

Jenna9797

Wheat!!!

But I'm a food addict... When I don't eat wheat, I can eat like everyone else. When I have wheat based products, I get food cravings.

mjohemme

McDonald's Mocha Frappes, seriously, I got a large one almost every day during their happy hour on my way home from work. That's like 700 calories a day, a pound a week. I actually just replaced them with a java chip frappuccino light from Starbucks, but those are only 200 calories.

Schtroumpfkin

Self-loathing

USMCGunny

My wife and I were sitting in a Max & Erma's Memorial weekend when I decided then to cut out all carbonated soda/pop for one year. Not much of a pop drinker anyway it hasn't been hard at all. Water with most of my meals, my wife does the same and even my 11 year-old daughter has jumped on the 'water with meals' bandwagon. It's very cool turning a healthy decision like that in to a way of life. Rule of ours now: "Drink no calories"

slr90

Flavoured water

AShannon54

I cut down on the amount of milk I was drinking. Before I started counting calories, I was drinking almost a gallon of milk a day. I thought because it was skim milk, that it was ok. I should have been drinking water. I will still have a glass of milk (just not 16!)

And of course alcohol! Obviously it makes the calories rack up quick but also it made me not want to work out - And more likely to eat excessively or bad food choices. I still enjoy an adult beverage occasionally but I am now drinking maybe 3 drinks in a week instead of 4 drinks a night!!

eswane

Cigarettes/Carbonation

Riffraft1960

Mine was simple, I stopped eating out for Lunch at work. I bring a frozen lunch or leftovers.

stephe1987

Soda... although the first few weeks (especially the first few days) were not easy at all.

GrannyCrayCray

No more soft drinks. Also, eliminated artificial sweetener and powdered creamer (MOUNTAINS of 'fake' creamer :laugh: ) from my 2 cups of coffee each morning. Now I drink TONS of water, but basically still eat the same. Logging everything on MFP does make me more conscientious about my eating though. Haven't lost many lbs., however I feel and look much better.

Sweettirana

Added sugar in drinks (tea/coffee etc) / soda

I reduced everything to the light version where I could - so things like butter, cheese, cooking oil and just used slightly less and less. I was a fiend for toast dripping in butter.

scjl1321

Sugar. For me there is no moderation, it's all (causing me to eat sugar laden junk until I'm sick) or nothing (which makes me feel much better). With a family disposition towards diabetes 2 I need to do all I can to avoid the disease.

MelsAuntie

Procrastination!