Share What Worked for YOU

cmurphy04722

A common request on the before and after pictures thread was that people post some of their "tricks" or advice for others looking for similar success.

Let's hear from those who feel that they have healthy advice to share!

cmurphy04722

For instance, what is your workout schedule like? What exercises do you find to be most effective? What do you munch on? Do you space your meals out, have a big breakfast, use protein shakes?

Tell us! :-)

barbiecat

What worked for me was to never trade what I wanted at the MOMENT for what I wanted MOST.

That has resulted in my saying no to birthday cake, bringing my own food to occasions where food is served so I don't have to eat the high calorie, low nutrition stuff that is served, planning ahead so i don't make bad choices, and not eating for recreation. I invite my friends to do things that don't involve food instead of meeting for lunch, dinner, coffee, or drinks.

The fact that I exercise at every opportunity is far more important than what exercise I do.

Bretto

I workout first thing in the morning for 60-90 min. Cardio3-4 times a week, weights once a week & boot camp 1 day a week. One of my favorite workouts is what I call 1000 calorie day. I pick 1-3 cardio machines & do each on for at least 30 min until I reach a total of 1000 calories burned. Then I go home & eat a 3 eggwhite omlet with green peppers, mushrooms, spinach and 1 piece of light toast with I cant belive its not butter spray. This breakfast is around 150-175 calories and is great for you. This gives me lots of calories for when I am hungry throughout the day, but I try to only choose health snacks.

Make it a great day.

havingitall

I work out pretty much daily. I go to the gym 5 - 6 times per week and when I don't go, I do walk. Variety in exercise is key, I have gone swimming, belly dancing, biking, hiking and am now taking a water fitness class.

When I eat, I make healthy choices most of the time. Since I have totally changed the way I eat and do not just consider this a diet, I have to make room for the occasions that come up. If I know I will not be eating well ( Thanksgiving dinner) I work out a lot mor eto make sure their are extra calories.

I drink lots of water and do not waste calories on pop or coffee.

vanimami

I workout first thing in the morning for 60-90 min. Cardio3-4 times a week, weights once a week & boot camp 1 day a week. One of my favorite workouts is what I call 1000 calorie day. I pick 1-3 cardio machines & do each on for at least 30 min until I reach a total of 1000 calories burned. Then I go home & eat a 3 eggwhite omlet with green peppers, mushrooms, spinach and 1 piece of light toast with I cant belive its not butter spray. This breakfast is around 150-175 calories and is great for you. This gives me lots of calories for when I am hungry throughout the day, but I try to only choose health snacks.

Make it a great day.

wow, how often do you do this 1,000 calorie workout??

CasperO

"What's your secret?"

"2-thousand calories a day and half an hour every morning on an elliptical machine".

Now, that quit working when I got to about 50 pounds lost, and I had to change it up and add exercise and play with calorie percentages and et ceteras. And what I'm doing now is a lot more complicated than that,,, but for the lion's share or my progress it was just that simple. :bigsmile:

34at35

My "plan of action" which made it possible for me to lose 108 lbs in one year is just that: "Action!" No "gonna get started tomorrow", no "I don't feel up to it today", no "what's one more (drink, helping, donut, [insert your own vice] today , I'll work it off tomorrow" - You get the picture.

Here's the changes I've made:

Exercise every day and get my heart rate up for at least 1 hour. I'm lucky that my employer provides an exercise facility that I can use after work each day. (I'm in law enforcement)

Stop going out for lunch at work - I have to give my wonderful wife the credit for helping me on that by her agreement to do the shopping for good foods and pack them in a healthy lunch for me to take to work.

Practice portion control and don't eat because I'm bored, tired, depressed, etc. Eat when I'm hungry, take small bites and chew my food slowly. Put the fork down between bites. Don't eat and read, watch TV, or otherwise not pay attention to the food I'm eating and the person(s) I'm eating with.
Generally that is my wife and that means we talk at meals. Not eat and run.

Record everything I eat and all of my exercise on MFP. I didn't hear about MFP until my company had an "Exercise - Minute by Minute" program this summer and the coordinator publicized it in his monthly newsletter. BTW I won the prize for the most minutes by an individual. It has made me a believer in keeping track of calories in vs. calories out on a daily basis

And finally, because I had so much trouble during my first month (hunger headaches, nausea & dry heaves, and general grouchiness and nasty attitudes) I asked my doctor for help because I knew I wasn't going to make it that way. He told me about Meridia and prescribed it. And it has been wonderful! I now get full fast, don't find myself craving anything between meals - in fact I force myself to have little snacks every couple of hours - and am a much nicer person to be around - ask my wife.
He intends to keep me on it for 6 months after I reach my goal to give my body time to rebuild the proper amount of Leptin (the "fullness" hormone) needed to maintain my goal weight. He says my body is going to try to put the weight back on and this plan should prevent that. He says that's why so many dieters regain the weight - because the body depresses Leptin production during weight loss because it thinks it is being starved and does everything it can to prevent that.

Anyway, that is all I have done. Nothing fancy - except maybe the Meridia.

Naokoheart

Some really good points being discussed here. =]

LittleEva44

1. Vitamins/supplements
2. Stop eating 2-3 hours before I go to bed
3. Drink 64 oz of water daily
4. Eat whole wheat products
5. Use EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
6. Fruits
7. Vegetables
8. Raisin Bran for breakfast
9. One apple 30 minutes before working out
10. Drink my Slim Fast after I work out (once a day; lunch)
11. Work out during my lunch hour M,W,F (Tuesdays do weights at gym; lunch time) 1 hour
12. ANY nut
13. NO dressing, but EVOO
14. Eat chicken, fish, seafood, turkey, and ONLY red meat (Hamburger Happy Meal)
15. Organic Glenn Muir pizza/spaghetti sauce
16. Pizza Stone
17. Banana smoothie for breakfast (M-F)
18. Weigh-in ONCE a month
19. Chew gum
20. Use peanut butter w/a knife (on banana INSTEAD of teaspoon)
21. Drink ONE Diet Coke for dinner as my reward
22. Eat a chocolate peanut butter ice cream sandwich from Skinny Cow (yum!)
23. Eat for a mid afternoon snack Slim Fast bars
24. Use Plain Vanilla yogurt w/live cultures for smoothie
25. Get TONS of comments thus my motivation meter is over the top!
26. GOT MY WILLPOWER BACK, yippie! (Eva doing a jig)
27. Drink black chai/green tea instead of coffee
28. NO margarine/butter
29. NO sour cream (yuck!)
30. NO cheese (cream cheese, etc)
31. NO hyro oil foods like cakes, cookies, pies, muffins, cheese cake (yuck!) etc.
32. Soy milk and/or Skim milk
33. Fiber one products: cereal, muffin mix, pancake mix, etc.
33. UNSWEETENED tea
34. Honey instead of pancake syrup
35. NO pork (chops, sausage, etc)
36. Organic pepperoni (for pizza stone 0% fat)
37. Refrain from drinking alcohol (I don't like wine....yuck!)
38. Stretch 5 minutes before and after I work out
39. LISTEN to my body when it's achy (give it a rest)
40. Eat 1,250 calories a day
41. Work out by myself wearing a Sony walkman (training myself to run)
42. Baked Lays
43. Oreda French fries (oven baked)
44. NO Fried foods
45. NO salt

The rewards are UNBELIEVABLE!

Amy_B

~At least 96 ounces of water daily.
~Only whole grains/wheats instead of refined sugars whenever possible.
~Lowfat dairies instead of whole dairies (including cheese).
~ No high fructose corn syrups or partially hydrogenated oils.
~Lots of fruits and veggies daily.
~Leaner cuts of meat.

~Realize that this is a lifestyle change, but plan for those times when I don't know what I'll be eating (out or at someone's house). Have a few treats here and there. We're only human.

~As far as exercise: 5-7 days/week, trying for at least 2 strength in there. I do lots of exercise videos (Turbo Jam, Biggest Loser, Gilad, Cathe Step, etc.), and I use the exercise bike/stepper. I've also started running.

mtweety33

Here's what works for me. Hope it can help someone else :happy:

FOOD

I have a hard time depriving myself of "yummy food" plus I have a hectic schedule (full time college student & work) so finding time to eat and eat healthy is hard!!!

I found what works best for me is to eat oatmeal for breakfast and have only fruit throughout the day if i get hungry until 5 o clock which is dinner time!!! MFP recommends I eat 1200 calories daily so usually by 5 o clock I've only eaten about 400 calories or so.

So at dinner time I have 800+ calories left to pig out!!! If I want lasagna or pasta alfredo I have it with no regrets because I still stay within my calories. I do try to to still eat healthy though but by doing it this way I don't have to feel left out when my friends go to eat, I can go and eat with them. I can't have all of the the fried fattening foods but I can still eat with them comfortably without it being obvious that I am watching what I eat.

EXERCISE

I LOVE my exercise program. I bought the Wii game My Fitness Coach and I absolutely adore it!!! It's a virtual personal trainer that creates a workout plan just for you!!! I also have to do physical challenges in the game every now and then so it can track my progress and after every physical challenge my workout routine is recalculated so that I never hit a plateau!!! This game focuses on a new area each workout, core,upper body, lower body, and flexibility. It's absolutely perfect, it's worked wonders for me. I've lost weight, I'm stronger, and more flexible. I HIGHLY recommend My Fitness Coach for the Wii.

SaritaChiquita

Here's what is working for me so far:

Cut out refined sugar
Limit natural sugar
Limit carbs to 100g on non-exercise days/ 125g with 30 minutes of cardio
Eat no less then 30g fiber a day
Don't drink Diet Coke!!
Drink at least a half gallon of water a day
7-9 Servings of VEGETABLES a day
Cardio 5-6 days a week
And................. Don't eat junk with your excercise calories! Plan a day ahead and work them into your daily menu. Eat an extra couple ounces of protien with dinner, or an extra egg with breakfast, ect.

I hope this helps! :happy:


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Diet Plans

Hannah_Banana

Great topic! :happy:

- Limit carbs to 80/day and no more than 30/meal
- Eat 5 times a day, spreading calories out evenly
- Limit sugar to under 20g per day
- Drinking plenty of water
- Making exercise FUN (I do DDR, take dance classes with DH and run around with my son)
- Planning out meals for dinner by the week and assigning each a day - I never had to think about what we were having for dinner and I never had to worry if it was healthy!
- Entering all my food BEFORE I ate it. My diary is a negotiation table, and if I mess up in the middle of the day, like I did yesterday with Cheezits, I just eat less of whatever I was going to have otherwise (or just have green beans for dinner!)

It took me 12 months on MFP, through trial and error, to find a formula that worked for me. I can say now that it is extremely individual, and everyone's body is unique. Mine might be more unique than most. :laugh:

Amy_B

Oh, I forgot to add that I plan out meals too. It depends on my mood, but I do either weekly or monthly. It not only helps to save on calories and cravings, but it saves a lot of $$$.