TIPS AND TRICKS: WHAT WORKED FOR ME :)

PuppyFat44

Anyone who read my first "NEED FRIENDS!!" post will know it's my second time back here after a junk food relapse. Mourning the diet that once was, I found myself openly consoling an ice cream tub way too often. Was going to write this down privately to remind myself what worked for me at my best (59kg/130 pounds) - thought I may as well share it.

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- Get up when you wake up.
You know sometimes you over sleep and end up feeling MORE tired? (I know, how the hell does that work.) I would say I enjoy that but most of the time if I'm still in bed at 11am I'm not even sleeping. just rolling around like some large land mammal in the sun. Sleep is SO important to diet and weight loss. My habits left me on a vicious cycle that saw me become almost nocturnal: sleep all day, huge energy surplus all night. The hardest part was just getting up some days, but when I did, my sleep habits improved so much. I stopped craving junk food, slept with no problems, woke up refreshed, and felt totally energised.

- Ditch the coffee habit
Recovering coffee addict here. Usually I needed the energy, and while it helped, I really felt the crash after a little while. My dentist also noticed it was staining my teeth and causing bad breath, and my doctor attributed my raised cholesterol to my coffee habit (I didn't know that could happen either...) I phased it out and started with two cups of green tea each morning instead. The difference was almost instant. I felt super energised but without the crash, and as green tea naturally stimulates metabolism, I'm sure it helped my weight loss.

- SLOW DOWN!
Remember that old wives tail about how you should chew each piece of food 42 times? I could never figure it out, but turns out it's partly to stop you eating too fast. Makes sense! The reason I ended up over eating is because I didn't give my body enough time to recognise it was full. That's why so much of the time I didn't start feeling bloated and sick until a little after the damage was done. Keep some water on the table and take a few sips in between every few mouthfuls. It will help you slowly feel fuller without actually eating too much. Depending on the meal size, aim to drink a certain amount of water - This will help stop you wolfing your food down and you'll be surprised how you might feel full with food left over! - I definitely was.

- Miracle Noodles
Maybe you've heard of these, maybe you haven't. I'll tell you now, they're not for everyone, but if your serious about weight loss they're worth a try. "Miracle noodles" (or shirataki noodles) are 100% fibre and no starch, wheat, carbohydrate, gluten, sugar, or calories. Noodles? 0 calories?? Yes. They're made from a natural fibre called glucomannan that is shaped in to noodles and consists literally of just fibre and water. They are flavourless and take on whatever you cook them in - If you love pasta serve them with pasta sauce, if you crave asian food use them in a stir fry, add them to soups.. you name it. There are a few differences - the texture is slightly different and a little chewier, and the smell is a little odd at first. But at 0 calories they are SO handy if you want to splash out on your favourite higher calorie sauce.

- Don't always make exercise feel like exercise
God, it was so much harder venturing out the door in sweats and running shoes knowing the arduous activity ahead of me.. After a little while I started counting every step and although I felt good afterwards, I didn't enjoy it. In fact I dreaded it. That's not the kind of exercise I could maintain. Sure, I lost weight, but I would have put it right back on when I undoubtedly stopped. I noticed a fast paced, casual, bare foot walk along the beach with the dog or friends did so much better. Not only did I look forward to it, but I didn't even realise how far we would walk. We'd turn to walk home and go, wow, we walked for ages! Was much nicer concentrating on chatting to a friend then counting each painful step - and although less vigorous, I know it's something I can realistically maintain. with that....

- Be realistic and inspire YOURSELF!
If you're 300 pounds and have a picture of a victorias secret model on the back of your door for inspiration, think carefully. That's not to say you won't get there, have absolute faith that you will! But at my heaviest, I lusted after picture of girls in skinny jeans and vacation photos of friends sun bathing on the beach.. On my good days it inspired me. On my bad days, it just made me feel hopeless. I went from "I'm going to look like that!" to "What am I thinking, I'll never look like that." This time around, my inspiration is not someone else's skinny bikini body, but my own. Working hard and slowly watching your own body transform is better motivation than any tandoori tanned runway model that resembles a stick insect.

- Look at the mirror, not the scale!
This is something I say sometimes to my friends here when I see a "scale says I just put on 2 pounds!" status. If you hadn't weighed yourself, would you notice the difference? Would you see that looking in the mirror? Of course not! Don't let a little speed bump stunt your progress. Likewise, if your happy with what the mirror says, tell the scale to get lost! Hope some of this has helped and feel free to add me.

captainsuperpants

Thanks so much puppy, lots of handy info there. I've never heard of miracle noodles, will have to get some!

youmfpnow

Awesome advice, thank you! I'm a big fan of shirataki noodles. Not sure if you have one by you, but Curry House allows you to substitute traditional pasta dishes with shirataki noodles. Very cool!

ephemerata

OP, i enjoyed your post! it was very well-written and so true. your advice on "skinny inspiration" definitely struck a chord.

PuppyFat44

deleted by moderator

OP, i enjoyed your post! it was very well-written and so true. your advice on "skinny inspiration" definitely struck a chord.

thanks for being nice, like I said, I would have written it anyway to get myself back on track, but thought I'd put it out there for others anyway - i didnt know what 'tl;dr' was, but seems kind of nasty since i was only trying to help.. oh well!

valeriewxy

Really awesome advice there! Not sure I'm going to be able to do the no coffee thing ^_^;;; I like it and I'm not I want to give it up But I'll definitely look up on those shirataki noodles. They sound amazing!

PuppyFat44

Really awesome advice there! Not sure I'm going to be able to do the no coffee thing ^_^;;; I like it and I'm not I want to give it up But I'll definitely look up on those shirataki noodles. They sound amazing!

Thanks, i know.. my coffee relationship was a hard one to end.. def try the noodles though, think there's a rice version now too

valeriewxy

Really awesome advice there! Not sure I'm going to be able to do the no coffee thing ^_^;;; I like it and I'm not I want to give it up But I'll definitely look up on those shirataki noodles. They sound amazing!

Thanks, i know.. my coffee relationship was a hard one to end.. def try the noodles though, think there's a rice version now too

There's a rice version too? *_____* I hate falling into asian stereotypes, but damn I love my rice XD Thanks for the tips, and ignore Mr Douchebaggery. I was just looking into the other forums and it seems he's been making the rounds with the rude comments.

cortrad

thanks for the tips, OP! I hadn't even heard of those noodles!

PuppyFat44

thanks for the tips, OP! I hadn't even heard of those noodles!

That's ok! Didn't mean to be rude, just went to such a lot of effort to write this down.. probably it is a bit long for some people to read, but it hurt my feelings for someone to post just a silly meme.

AnneC77

thanks this is awesome advice. I have heard of the noodles but they are so hard to get here I will keep looking though. I know what you mean about sleeping patterns as that was so me before I started this, it was horrible and very lonely.


Anyway OP thank you so much for taking the time to post and try to help so many people, I for one appreciated it x

Tebbspcad

Great tips & advice, well done you for sharing - I didn't think it was too long & I read it all :happy:

jessiica_xo

bump! love this post.

PuppyFat44

thanks this is awesome advice. I have heard of the noodles but they are so hard to get here I will keep looking though. I know what you mean about sleeping patterns as that was so me before I started this, it was horrible and very lonely.

Why do people write tl:dr? I hate that it just seems so ignorant and rude. If you think the text is too long and you didn't read it why do you need to post that, that is what you did? No-one cares that you was too lazy to read a post so jog on! Seriously!

Anyway OP thank you so much for taking the time to post and try to help so many people, I for one appreciated it x

Thanks so much, was starting to feel like I should have done a private diary post after all! i couldnt find the shirataki in stores either, try checking any asian supermarkets near you if there are some. i got mine online from the actual "miracle noodle" brand, if you get stuck give that a try!

Smuterella

Thank you for this - it is just what I needed today. If I can just start doing the getting up thing I think it will make ALL the difference

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Queen of Snoozeland

PuppyFat44

@LisaSmuts it really will.. so hard to get out of a bad pattern but if you make all the right changes and don't sleep well, everything can come undone. good luck

amsy_777

Awesome post!
Love love love the noodles tip; and I definitely need to work on the sleep.. basically an owl!
And don't let that rather rude guy get to you; everyone else is loving this post!!
Hope we're both successful on our journey to lose those extra kilos!

KeriW626

Thank you for sharing, this will stop me from putting up the pictures to lust after... I will have to look for the noodles.

Pinzog

Thanks for the tips. I thoroughly agree with all of them (even if I don't stick to them!), I've given up walking on my own at the moment, my dodgy back means I can't go fast, and if I can't walk fast with my dance music then it's just no fun! I do also arrange to meet friends in the daytime at the weekend when we can do an activity, even if it's just very slow wandering by blackberry picking. It's much better for both of us than going round in the evening and downing a few bottles of wine (I'm not giving up the wine evenings, they're fun, just limiting that to once every month or so).

I find having a shower wakes me up tremendously. Sounds obvious, but at the weekend I'm likely to slouch around and leave it till later, and then of course not feel like doing anything. I quite liked the Flylady tip of getting showered and dressed and putting lace-up shoes on, to make you feel more like doing things.

bufger

Good post OP. I've never heard of Shiritake noodles so i'll see if we have them over here in the UK, im sure i'll find some somewhere. I also do a similar thing with exercise, i change it up loads and i've just recently got back into basketball and its a great workout! 6 of us had an hour long game last night and it was the biggest cardio workout i've done yet. Keep going and mix it up, you'll be back to where you want to be in no time.

lilkayaker

bump