What's the single most effective change you've made?

Jayeskay
Jayeskay Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just curious!

For me, it was taking a pot of porridge to work and having breakfast later, rather than eating a breakfast that I didn't want at the crack of dawn...it seemed to make me hungry all day! Now I have breakfast around 9.30am and don't feel hungry between meals, so no snacking. Sounds pretty basic, but it was a revelation to me!

What's yours?
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Replies

  • sa11yjane
    sa11yjane Posts: 491 Member
    bump as very keen to see what everyone puts!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    regular exercise... i can more or less eat what i like (maintenance of net 2000 cals) as long as i am working out 4-5 x a week...
  • Kayla_292to165
    Kayla_292to165 Posts: 249 Member
    Joining the gym! I've never had a gym membership before and it keeps me motivated...Especially now that I'm almost 2 months in and certain people EXPECT me to be at the gym each morning.
  • mizzie1980
    mizzie1980 Posts: 379 Member
    Probably having a small, low calorie, snack every 2-3 hours. It keeps me from feeling like I'm starving, which always leads to overeating at the next meal. I typically try to make it something high in protein, fiber or both.
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
    Greatly reducing the amount of sugar (except) from my everyday life.
  • DeMarraDontStop
    DeMarraDontStop Posts: 342 Member
    Practicing portion control & measuring everything!!
  • BamsieEkhaya
    BamsieEkhaya Posts: 657 Member
    currently...reducing my carbs from pastas/rice etc...fruit carbs I'm really not fussed.

    No...I'm not saying carbs are the devils spawn....just that reducing how often I eat my pasta/rice dishes and mix it up a little has helped with my plateau
  • janatarnhem
    janatarnhem Posts: 669 Member
    Breakfast = every day...... This helps me start the day in a more healthy manner,...before this change, I'd tell myself I couldn't face it and would wait 'till much later to eat and then be so starving hungry, that I'd stuff myself full of all the wrong things!:smile:
  • getup25
    getup25 Posts: 119 Member
    Controlling how many and what type of carbs I have. For me this works.
  • PurpleTina
    PurpleTina Posts: 390 Member
    Weighing pasta. The difference between what we thought was a healthy portion and what IS a healthy portion are ever so slightly different :bigsmile:

    Is that another Moonwalker I see? I did it in 2008 to celebrate being 40!
  • Izzwoz
    Izzwoz Posts: 348 Member
    Weighing my food and controlling portions, understanding how many calories I was eating vs. needing.
  • glahlstedt
    glahlstedt Posts: 308 Member
    Trying as hard as I can, and on days that I fail.....not beating myself up!!!!

    negu!~never ever give up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    Portion control. I was out the ballpark with the sheer volume of food I was putting down at every meal.
  • fourtyandflirty
    fourtyandflirty Posts: 4
    Exercising at least 4 days a week. Always coming on here and tracking my food..helps alot
  • krisbeaver
    krisbeaver Posts: 41 Member
    Going to the gym consistently.
  • GlorianEversea
    GlorianEversea Posts: 22
    I lost 10 pounds in two weeks and I believe it started the EXACT moment I stopped eating out for two meals a day!!!! Portion size control is so important....as is knowing the content of your meal.
    I'd guess I was averaging 700 calories per meal.

    Secondly, i cut out the junk snacks. Now that I understand caloric intake much better, I understand I get that I was basically nuking my fitness with stupid comfort snacks, like Ms Debbie cakes and Starbucks junk and the like. I was easily adding 300-600 calories to my diet with these snacks.

    Third, daily exercise.
  • michellelemorgan
    michellelemorgan Posts: 184 Member
    cutting out starches was the best thing for me... and exercise everyday of course.
  • SamanthaClarexo
    SamanthaClarexo Posts: 353 Member
    Planning my meals in advance.

    I never used to do this, so when I got hungry I just wanted something that would fill me up quick. The generally led to bad choices.

    Now I plan my meals and know exactly what I'm having everyday, it's worked great for me :drinker:
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
    Eating more!
  • Maris_Swan
    Maris_Swan Posts: 197 Member
    Portion control and actually being aware of caloric intake! :)
  • dovetail22uk
    dovetail22uk Posts: 339 Member
    Logging EVERYTHING. Made me realise that I don't need to eat as much as I was previously eating.

    I used to wonder why I got fat - now I've faced up to the fact that I'm a glutton!
  • SoViLicious
    SoViLicious Posts: 2,633 Member
    Eat more and watch my sodium
  • GlorianEversea
    GlorianEversea Posts: 22
    I lost 10 pounds in two weeks and I believe it started the EXACT moment I stopped eating out for two meals a day!!!! Portion size control is so important....as is knowing the content of your meal.
    I'd guess I was averaging 700 calories per meal.

    Secondly, I cut out the junk snacks. Now that I understand much more about caloric intake, I can see that I was basically nuking my fitness with stupid comfort snacks, like Ms Debbie cakes and Starbucks junk and the like. I was easily adding 300-600 calories to my diet with these snacks.

    Third, healthy snacks between meals to stop the gorge fest caused by being too hungry!

    Fourth, daily exercise.
  • USMC1968
    USMC1968 Posts: 62 Member
    Eat less, move more, drink water...
  • Rockstar_JILL
    Rockstar_JILL Posts: 514 Member
    Not eating as much prepackaged foods, upping my protein, lowering my sodium and most of all REGULAR exercise. Guess that is more than one change...but it works for me! :)
  • kitigonkukoo
    kitigonkukoo Posts: 218 Member
    Planning the next day's meals out the night before thru this site!

    If I stray from the plan, no problem- I just adjust the rest of the day. If it's too late, then I rethink straying, because I feel that I won't have time to adjust my food intake to balance it out... so I just don't do it. Plus, as a side effect, it made me much more aware of the portions I was eating, and how many "sneaky calories" were in my food that I didn't realize...
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    Accepting that I have to log everything I eat. I fought it for years, and stayed in denial of just how few calories my body really needed to maintain after I quit working, and how much I needed to cut everyday, consistently, to be able to lose weight. But once I accepted the reality that I will need to log for the rest of my life, and I am ok with that, now I can really see me getting back to a healthy weight again and keeping it off.

    If only I would have learned this lesson 14 years ago when I started down this road of weight-gaining, but I guess better late than never!
  • Taraanne76
    Taraanne76 Posts: 111 Member
    Eating less than 30g of sugar 90%of the time as well as only eating slow digesting carbs.
  • nautiigirl
    nautiigirl Posts: 4 Member
    Logging my food every day. I have never been good at keeping up with this because I thought it would make me feel more restricted, but I have found the opposite to be true. I find I can eat more because I am planning my meals and am able to make any food fit within my calorie goal. Instead of not eating food I enjoy that is higher in calories, I just budget for it, eat it and move on! I don't feel restricted at all, and every time I get on the scale I am a little bit lighter!
  • AmyMgetsfit
    AmyMgetsfit Posts: 636 Member
    I have been a coke drinker for longer than I can remember, probably at least 35 years. I would drink 3 or 4 cans a day. I drink water now and iced tea. I have never been a water drinker. Before I go to bed, I fill 4 mason jars with water and berries or citrus fruit slices and herbs and put in the fridge. It is my water for the next day. It has been a month now with not even a sip of coke.

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