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

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Replies

  • SRH7
    SRH7 Posts: 2,037 Member
    Eating to my TDEE-20% and not following a specific diet plan.

    It has trained me to realise that I can eat at any time of the day and don't need to exclude foods in order to lose weight (which I'm doing successfully - still eating bread, drinking alcohol etc etc). By forcing structure on myself I was setting myself up to fail. Now I eat when I want - usually lightly during the day so I can have a massive dinner with snacks afterwards. I exercise (running, hiking, weights) and eat back every single exercise calorie. And my body seems happy about that!
  • miriamwithcats
    miriamwithcats Posts: 1,120 Member
    Realizing that a lot of the gluten free cookies, chips, crackers, breads were just not worth the calories. They don't taste very good, AND are high in calories. So now I don't buy them. When I do need a treat, I eat one that is worth the calories, so it is more satisfactory.
  • cassiegal724
    cassiegal724 Posts: 63 Member
    Hands down - establishing my workout regimen. I lost almost 60 pounds before really committing to fitness, but that took 1 1/2 years to get off. This last 30ish pounds have flown off in less than 6 months and I'm starting to see that I can look good naked, plus I feel sooooo much better overall and haven't been sick (knock on wood!!) for MONTHS! that is all :)
  • SRH7
    SRH7 Posts: 2,037 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!

    :flowerforyou:
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Counting calories - as simple as that.
    Always eaten heathily and have been both fat and fit for many years - counting revealed the simple truth that I was eating too many calories.
  • Q2208
    Q2208 Posts: 3
    I stopped smoking.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
    It's tough to pick one, but I think I was overdoing at dinner way too much. I live with my boyfriend who loves things like chicken broccoli fettuccine, chicken parm, steak and mashed potatoes, etc. He somehow readily agreed to eating dinners with less carbs and sauces and using more herbs and spices. Now we usually just have lean meat and a veggie and I think it made a huge difference. It's insane how fast the calories add up in pasta, rice, heavy sauces, etc.
  • abibrand
    abibrand Posts: 10
    Not so much a weight loss thing as a 'how I feel' thing, but eating enough protein. Before I started actually keeping track of what I ate, I had no idea how much protein I needed and wasn't getting and I feel different, better now.
  • K_Serz
    K_Serz Posts: 1,299 Member
    Eating habits! Period!

    Workouts are still the same, no issues there. Depending on what I eat is what changes things.
  • iLoveMyPitbull1225
    iLoveMyPitbull1225 Posts: 1,690 Member
    Making myself work out. absolutely the biggest change for me, because I dont have a problem eating healthy. Close second would be pre planning my meals and snacks so that I can keep myself on track.
  • Topsking2010
    Topsking2010 Posts: 2,245 Member
    Being more consistent with workouts. Also eating out less than before.
  • bobbie1965
    bobbie1965 Posts: 32 Member
    tracking my food... makes me think twice befor i put it in my mouth!! lol
  • 10kaday
    10kaday Posts: 177
    My revelation: If you eat healthy 90 to 100% of the time, you don't really need to count calories. Nobody gained excessive weight by eating to much broccoli. lol. Although I still count because --ironically-- I don't eat enough otherwise!
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
    Weighing bits, or counting stuff, instead of just sticking it in my mouth

    Also me not eating 4 bowls of cereal a day, or munching late at night!!
  • moonsforeyes
    moonsforeyes Posts: 228
    Keeping snacks in my bookbag/purse! Man did this do wonders for me. I am a college student that is on campus a majority of the day and keeping a Clif bar, a small bag of almonds or a banana really made a world of difference. I would get so hungry and wouldn't have to try and find something remotely healthy on campus to eat.
  • relentless_hope
    relentless_hope Posts: 15 Member
    Meal Planning on Sunday for the entire week.
  • ingeh
    ingeh Posts: 513 Member
    Moving over to TDDE minus 20% method. Having my exercise included in activity level is so much easier now for me.
    Also I have 2 kids and am up at 6-630am every morning, so I get the baby a bottle, give the 2 yr old some porridge oats then get my workouts in. Usually the 2 yr old watches tv for an hour then when Im done we'll play. So Im making my self workout soon as I wake up then eat breakfast about 9-10am
  • rfsatar
    rfsatar Posts: 599 Member
    Pre-logging, once I had truly become much more aware of how many calories were in the usual things I eat.
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
    picking the exercise i thought to be the hardest,most pointless and most punishing.

    I am due to run my first Marathon in May. Everybody can do easy stuff.
  • tsimmons5918
    tsimmons5918 Posts: 3 Member
    Avoiding the impulse to grab food while I am out (i.e fastfood, workplace cafeteria, vending machine, ect..) I eat what I cook at home and pack & take it with me when I am on the go.
  • Amazon_Who
    Amazon_Who Posts: 1,092 Member
    Digital scale and working out.
  • Athena53
    Athena53 Posts: 717 Member
    My revelation: If you eat healthy 90 to 100% of the time, you don't really need to count calories. Nobody gained excessive weight by eating to much broccoli. lol.

    Yeah, I allow myself unlimited snacks of low-calories veggies (that would exclude the starchy ones such as potatoes and vnavy beans, which I still watch).

    The biggest change for me was 5:2 fasting, which I developed on my own. I learned ot ignore mild hunger paings, or snack on veggies, and those good habits carried over into the other 5 days.
  • kdroppo
    kdroppo Posts: 19 Member
    Weighing and measuring my food intake. It makes me accountable and honest with myself everyday
  • tsimmons5918
    tsimmons5918 Posts: 3 Member
    Wow! Congrats on your weight-loss and I agree working out makes all the difference.
  • WAHMto5
    WAHMto5 Posts: 375 Member
    Portion control and exercise.
  • Eyesblu
    Eyesblu Posts: 60
    cutting out the junk food( cakes, chocolates, pepridgefarm cookies..)yum... and replacing it with clean food.
  • cannonfury2006
    cannonfury2006 Posts: 27 Member
    Not drinking cokes..helped get rid of empty calories plus my heart doesn't palpitate anymore..unless I eat too much or run...
  • OfficerMcFly
    OfficerMcFly Posts: 4
    Switched from Sodas and Sweetened Tea to low/no calorie beverages (Vitamin Water Zero, Water, Unsweetened Tea, and Lipton's Tea and Honey drink mixes)
  • raiea
    raiea Posts: 1
    Finding a personal trainer who used to be overweight but is now fit and healthy. She can sypathise and offer advise for something she actually went through and it gives me a clear goal to aim for "5 more squats and I'll be closer to looking like her" or "would Donna eat this?":tongue:
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    Portion control

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