What are some "tricks" you use to lose weight?

Hi Regina,

I eat 8 meals per day. Every two hours. The reason is because if you wait too long between meals your body goes into starvation mode and stores fat.

At the moment I am eating 2000 calories per day, which means I eat as close to 250 calories per meal as possible. However, when I was losing weight quickly I was eating 1500 calories per day (180-190 calories per meal). Just divide the total calories you want to eat by 8.

Also, drinking a glass of water (or a cup of tea) with every meal makes it easy to get your 8 cups of required water per day.

I also walk quickly on the treadmill every day for 30-60 minutes.

I lost a total of 50 pounds in about 7 months.



Pierce

here are some things I'm doing:

Add everything I eat to my diary before I eat it that way I can see if something isn't such a good idea after all

Eating every 2 hours but staying in my calorie budget really really works for me, even if it's just a tiny snack

3 to 4 bottles of water everyday (or 6-8 cups)

Cutting out meat as often as possible (it's been grossing me out lately anyways)

No more 200 calorie coffees. Either milk and splenda or just tea instead

20 minute walk/jog in the morning, strength training at night

No alcohol. This isn't a big thing for me because I hardly ever drink anyways

No juice or soda. Just the daily coffee/tea and water with lemon

I will pack as many lunches as possible


Tips from Prevention.com:

-Water yourself. Guzzle plenty of H2O.

-Halve at it. Divide your normal portion by two and save the rest for later. You are likely to feel full on less food than you think.

-Go meatless. A few days a week. In general, vegetarians have lower body weights than their meat-eating peers. Follow their lead -- at least until you drop a few pounds

-Get fresh. Eliminate all packaged foods and eat only fresh ingredients you've prepared. No bags, boxes, cans, or cartons allowed.

-Not so sweet. Everyone knows sugar isn't healthy, but when you start reading labels, you find it in unexpected places, like pasta sauce and frozen entrees. Cutting the sugar out of your diet will mean healthier meals overall.

-Cut the flour. The short-term elimination of floury foods like white bread and pastries can efficiently kick-start your weight loss plan.

-Be virgin. Alcoholic beverages are some of the emptiest calories out there. Replace them with water, and the weight comes off

-Eat at home. Meals eaten away from home have 134 more calories, on average.

-Tweet your weight. Some call it the #humiliation diet, but many credit the accountability for their weight loss success. Use #tweetyourweight.

-Veg out. Fill two-thirds of your plate with vegetables, which are less calorie dense and more nutritious than any other type of food

-Swap your supper for soup. Soup's high water content makes it a low-calorie and filling option. Just steer clear of the creamy kinds.

-Stop dieting. Yo-yo dieters don't tend to get thinner--they get fatter. Instead, make a serious lifestyle change.

-Go gluten free. It isn't a miracle diet, but it can be a useful short-term experiment that often leads to weight loss and ultimately a less bread-heavy diet.

-Spice it up! Cayenne pepper really can rev your metabolism, according to recent research.

-Drop the potato chips. At the top of the list for foods that make you add pounds? Potato chips. *Try Popchips, Beanitos, or VeggieStix!

Something I do:

1. I switched my coffee creamer out for 2% skim milk and a little Splenda. It's the ONLY thing I use artificial sweetner for. After a few days creamer is WAY TOO SWEET for me anymore.

2. If I'm craving a sweet drink I put some frozen blackberries or raspberries in diet 7up or Sprite to satisfy it. It's soooo good!

3. I put my calorie goal a little lower then I really need to. Usually I forget that I can eat more, and reach my goal anyways

4. My healthy pizza (I love this) : 1 flat out low cal bread, pizza sauce (only 30 cals for 1/4 cup) and a shredded mozerella cheese stick (70 cals or less depending) Then you can add mushrooms etc. POP in toaster oven or oven until cheese is melted. I love pizza and this satisfies me without all the extra grease and calories.

What are some tricks you guys use???

1. I agree with switching out to skim milk, but don't use ARTIFICIAL sweetner...the word ARTIFICIAL just is not good for you..its fake. An alternative I would try is STEVIA...its a natural plant based sugar.

2. As far as sweetening a drink..try HINT water ...obviously good old plain water is the best for you.

3.Good idea with tricking yourself with the calorie thing.

4. Make sure your low cal bread is whole wheat or whole grain but great idea with making your own.

For me my willpower is running at 110% from morning till my afternoon workout. After that it fades, so i make sure to save 80% of my calories for night time so i have a large buffer to eat all the junk i want.

A couple things that I am currently trying (adapted from successful weight loss between my 2 kids)

1 - I take smaller bites/cut smaller pieces. So, for instance an apple, instead of cutting it into say quarters, I half each of them and cut it into 1/8ths. I'm still eating the same amount, but I'm taking a bit longer to eat it and it has be feeling a bit fuller.

2 - If we happen to go to a restaurant, after the food is served I ask for either a takeout container, or a second plate. I put 1/2 of what I ordered to the side/in the box. I'm often satisfied before I finish the 1/2 I kept on the plate, but for me if it is all out there, I'll eat it.

I have microwavable pork rinds for my afternoon snack. They fill me up like nothing else for 60 calories. If only they had even a smidgen of nutritional value!

My trick: eat less.

Oh, mine is to eat more and on a regular basis.

My trick: eat less.

Guys like to keep it so simple =P Here I am posting a huge list of "tricks". I always like to over complicate things!

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If you learn anything from that class, then the take away is that even your instructor/prof can be full of it. Do your own research.
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I have done my own research and I've used it to lose 50 pounds. Either take my advice or don't. Somebody asked for weight loss tips and I answered it in my first post. You can choose to ignore any or all of it, but it works.

Agreed

move more, eat less . . . and lift heavy *kitten*

This.

my tricks are eat healthy and exercise more

For me my willpower is running at 110% from morning till my afternoon workout. After that it fades, so i make sure to save 80% of my calories for night time so i have a large buffer to eat all the junk i want.

i kind of do the same. really light breakfast and lunch and no snacking, then i usually have a good 800 or so calories for dinner and snacks because i used to be up until 3-4 am. still in the habit of light breakfast and lunch though, so i've been way under goal lately

I eat 8 meals per day. Every two hours. The reason is because if you wait too long between meals your body goes into starvation mode and stores fat.

Your body doesn't go into starvation mode if you wait more than 2hours to eat...lol People overuse that phrase soooooooooo much. But eating often does keep your blood sugar stable. This helps keep your metabolism going.

I come from decades of grazing all the foods all the days. So my "trick" is absolutely no eating between meals. Only water (sometimes a mug of tea instead). I have 4 meals per day 3 hours apart starting in the 8:00 AM hour, plus a small bedtime snack (usually a reduced-fat frozen bar, like Skinny Cow chocolate truffle currently).