What's your secret weapon?

faithsimmons526
faithsimmons526 Posts: 162 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
A lot of people have a go-to food, exercise or tip that helps keep them on goal. Some don't ... pretty sure most of us could use a few more weapons in our arsenal.

My go-to 'food' is vegetable cocktail. Both V8 and President's Choice are only 50 calories for an 8 ounce glass, and they're more satisfying than many foods that are 3 times the calories. Not only that, it's good for you.

My little exercise tip is this: when you go ANYWHERE by vehicle, park on the other side of the parking lot. Adds 4 minutes or so of walking to your day every time you do it ... and you won't even break a sweat.

Please share yours ...

Replies

  • momzeeee
    momzeeee Posts: 475 Member
    Mine is IF :) I did a calorie restricted version for weight loss and now do a different version for maintenance. I love it and will do it for life!
  • royvor
    royvor Posts: 271
    My tips are to keep foods for snacks like applies, grapefruit, and almonds, and 32 oz of water in my water bottle in your purse. I carry them whenever I am out and about just in case I can't get home in time to eat the meal that I am supposed to. I have to get something in me every 2-3 hours or I will feel so hungry at my meals and over eat.

    Also for working out my tip is do something you love. THat is the way to want to make yourself workout without making it feel like a chore.
    Hope these help.
  • faithsimmons526
    faithsimmons526 Posts: 162 Member
    I'm just new at this ... what's IF? The only thing that I could think of is infant formula and I highly doubt that's what you meant.:noway:
  • leeanneowens
    leeanneowens Posts: 319 Member
    I love sweets so I try to satisfy my sweet tooth without using too many calories. My favorite thing that I've found is Healthy Choice greek vanilla bean yogurt. It's smooth and creamy and I love it. It only has 100 calories a serving. I know its not really a healthy food but it's better than eating a candy bar and I like it just as much.
  • floridachikk
    floridachikk Posts: 41 Member
    I'm just new at this ... what's IF? The only thing that I could think of is infant formula and I highly doubt that's what you meant.:noway:

    Intermittent- Fasting?
  • KAYRRIE
    KAYRRIE Posts: 201 Member
    My secret is to keep my fridge stocked with must haves such as fruits (especially oranges, and apples cause they're cheaper), and my cabinets full of healthy snacks like nutri-grain bars, fiber one snacks, special K. Healthy choice frozen yogurt ice cream in the freezer along with frozen yogurt bars. Dannon light and fit greek yogurt in the fridge. Honey roasted deli turkey meat. Whole wheat bread in the bread box. I also stopped frying anything and baking everything. Eating Turkey burgers at cookouts and going the extra mile to bring my own to cookouts because everyone else eats beef (which is ok, but if I want more, Turkey it is). As for working out, it takes alot for me to get started so I start the Zumba dvd and once I hear that music I'm up and working out. When I go shopping I take at least an hour or 2 walking around so I count at least half as walking very slow paced. You'd be surprised what you can burn in that time. Oh and my biggest secret, dreaming of the day I hit my goal and what I will look like.
  • faithsimmons526
    faithsimmons526 Posts: 162 Member
    Sounds good Kayrrie. I think I could handle one or two of those. Especially the frozen yogurt -- sometimes you just have to feed the inner child. I've had her either in a corner or grounded ever since I started this journey ...
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Baby plum tomatoes, roast chicken breast, greek yoghurt and dark chocolate.
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    Making regular dates with the squat rack.

    Food wise, eggs, eggs, and more eggs. Egg whites for when I need a protein boost.
  • drosen32
    drosen32 Posts: 23 Member
    Cycling. It burns calories like crazy, I get to see the countryside, and it allows me to eat more than I would normally. Win-win.
  • momzeeee
    momzeeee Posts: 475 Member
    I'm just new at this ... what's IF? The only thing that I could think of is infant formula and I highly doubt that's what you meant.:noway:

    Intermittent fasting :)

    The plan I did for weight loss is in the book, The Alternate Day Diet by Dr. James Johnson

    and for maintenance I do 8:16 IF, which means I eat all my calories in an eating window between 11am-7pm. This has health benefits associated with it, but it's also a great way to avoid mindless snacking/grazing.
  • RCottonRPh
    RCottonRPh Posts: 148
    I've been at this 5 months...here are some things that are working for me....

    1) My fitbit--It has turned activity and calorie burn into a game and I'm always trying to improve and earn more steps. While MFP tells me how much I'm eating, the fitbit gives me the other half of the picture--how much I am burning

    2) I have "go-to" places and go to dishes for eating out---be it 'fast food' or 'sit down dining'. If I am going somewhere new, I check out the menu online beforehand and make sure I am ready to make a good choice.

    3).Green smoothies--they help me make my veggie quota and seem to give me lots of energy

    4)Eating breakfast...something I've never really did...now I make it a must every day!

    5) Allowing myself to have a little less healthy treat every day. I build it into my calorie budget and it keeps me from feeling deprived.

    6)Trying new healthy recipes and working to make old favorites more healthy. I have found great things on Pinterest, in health magazines, and I've got a mini healthy cookbook library starting to form.
  • jennhls
    jennhls Posts: 32 Member
    Living the Eat to Live lifestyle. I get to eat huge amounts of food that have little calories because my meals are made up of mostly veggies. I just had a veggie pizza on a whole wheat pita that was literally 3-4 inches deep in veggies. It tasted so good, was very satisfying and only cost me 400 calories. Normally a plate that packed with food would be 1000-2000 calories. I also love that fruit is not off limits, I can satisfy my sweet tooth without candy or those disgusting protein bars that I don't think are very good for you anyway. My favorite in the summertime is watermelon, I eat several cups a day, keeps me hydrated and my sweet tooth at bay.

    For those of you afraid of the carbs in fruit, I've lost 30 pounds eating 4-10 pieces of fruit everyday. I am 3 pounds away from my goal weight. Low carb high protein diets will get you a quick loss but it is not sustainable (at least for me). And I always worried about the high amounts of fat I was consuming.

    That said everyone needs to find what works for them. But I love ETL and plan on eating this way for the rest of my life. Not that I won't have days off here and there but on a daily basis. My food pyramid looks like this:

    fuhrman-food-pyramid.jpg
  • mherna31
    mherna31 Posts: 3
    Flexible Dieting. And counting macronutrients. Look it up :)
  • Lrdoflamancha
    Lrdoflamancha Posts: 1,280 Member
    Bump
  • Skyblue90125
    Skyblue90125 Posts: 2 Member
    I have frighteningly disgusting ( before ) pictures of myself as my computer's background.

    That alone keeps me in line.
  • TheDarlingOne
    TheDarlingOne Posts: 255 Member
    BABY SPINACH! I put that stuff on EVERYTHING! - breakfast smoothies, sandwiches, pasta dishes - etc.
    It's something in the neighborhood of 4CUPS=20CALS....i realized early on, i like to eat a lot.
    HAHAHAHA
    (duh)
    But later on I realized, I could still eat a lot of LOW CAL stuff - such as the magical BABY SPINACH :)
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    My secret weapon is to simply have a plan. I pre-log my food for the day, I plan a time to go to the gym and use the Jefit app to plan and record my exercises and progress as well as time my rest periods between sets. I also make a goal to walk at least 12,000 steps a day in order to increase NEAT.

    Without a plan, I eat too much, don't workout (or if I do workout, I just mess around and don't do much), and I am too lazy to even walk 3,000 steps.
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    Commitment. The goal is too important to me to allow myself to over indulge other than rare special occasions. Even on those rare occasions I will try to squeeze in an extra long run within a day or two so it's like it never happened.
  • faithsimmons526
    faithsimmons526 Posts: 162 Member
    Loving these responses. The scary 'before' picture is a great idea ... I'm so unhappy with my body that I won't allow anyone to take a photo of me ... perhaps if I did?

    As to flexible dieting ... wish I was disciplined enough. While dieting it's kind of 'all or nothing' for me, because if I mess up I can SO EASILY tell myself I was too bad, so what the heck, give up. I know I know ... it doesn't have to be that way.

    The baby spinach and veggie pizzas are definitely my thing. What's really cool is to make your own pizza shells, adding frozen chopped spinach and/or grated zucchini. Not sure how many calories it kills, but it sure helps get those veggies in.

    Oh yes, forgot to mention two other of my 'secret weapons'. One is to put on the tunes and dance my heart out when nobody's around. The other is my daughter ... having someone to lose weight with keeps me strong. Thank you mommyofX2. :flowerforyou:
  • hezro
    hezro Posts: 12 Member
    I find that drinking lightly sweetened tea often helps with sugar cravings.
  • ladytinkerbell99
    ladytinkerbell99 Posts: 970 Member
    I'm just new at this ... what's IF? The only thing that I could think of is infant formula and I highly doubt that's what you meant.:noway:

    Intermittent fasting :)

    The plan I did for weight loss is in the book, The Alternate Day Diet by Dr. James Johnson

    and for maintenance I do 8:16 IF, which means I eat all my calories in an eating window between 11am-7pm. This has health benefits associated with it, but it's also a great way to avoid mindless snacking/grazing.

    bump - helpful tips. Thanks. :flowerforyou:
  • RepsnSets
    RepsnSets Posts: 805 Member
    Heavy lifting.

    At the moment Im trying 5:2 ADF (IF) so cant really comment too much on that cause Im a newbie at it but am surprised how well I have done thus far with IF
  • RepsnSets
    RepsnSets Posts: 805 Member
    I find that drinking lightly sweetened tea often helps with sugar cravings.

    I agree! I have one at night time and I always dont feel like reaching for more food afterwards.

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