Simple Changes that Last?

Drinking a ton of water. I know some people say it doesn't matter but it works for me! :drinker:

Plants plants plants! Eat lots of them!

I have to limit my breads and pastas and rice because they make me want more. I'm never satisfied with one portion of them, so I avoid them. That doesn't mean I never eat them, but I try to use lower calorie bread, whole grain pasta, and brown rice - all sparingly. Good luck and I hope you stay motivated.

This helped me the most: Don't get discouraged if you go over your target... one day won't mess things up, and since you're most likely at a deficit, going over the MFP target likely won't mean anything. Plus, you can always make up for it by working out.

Edited for typo.

Other than an occasional glass of wine, I don't drink any calories. I drink lots and lots of water. I log everything into MFP. And I agree, if I don't like it, I don't eat if even if it's "good" for me. It's a journey!

in order for any physical lifestyle changes to be "easy", you have to make changes to your mental approach. people underestimate, or don't think about, that part of the journey....but its the part of the journey that determines if you succeed.

sooooo....write down the things that you HATE about being overweight. dig deep and write down those things that really gnaw at you. read that list every day .... and every time that you are struggling. Its not exactly a simple task, but its one that will help make the physical lifestyle changes easier to follow for the long term.

as for the physical changes, you need to adopt a plan that you believe YOU can follow. There are a ton of ways to do the physical part. You have to do something that you think you can stick with. I will tell you some of the things that work for me. Doesn't mean that any of them will work for you.

1. drink 12-16 cups of water. it makes a difference because when you're properly hydrated, your liver doesn't need to help your kidneys...meaning the liver can focus on digesting food. when it comes to fat loss, that's a pretty important function.

2. I don't cut out processed foods, but I limit them ... sometimes pretty severely. I aim for lean protein, healthy fats and carbs with a low glycemic index value (and not because I'm diabetic...I'm not....its because low GI carbs don't trigger an insulin spike...read my blog about insulin vs. glucagon to understand why you want to limit insulin spikes).

3. I believe in the mental and physical benefits of intermittent 24 hour fasting. Read my blog about my experience with it. Its not for everyone, but its something most people can do if they believe that they can. I wouldn't fast if I allowed myself to struggle with it. Wouldn't be worth it.

4. I have found relatively short, very efficient workouts...and most of them could be categorized as HIIT. I also do metabolic resistance training (which is supersets with non-competing muscles). I like bodyrock.tv (now dailyhiit.com)...and I like Craig Ballantyne's Turbulence Training principals. Saying this, I know that roughly 90% of my fat loss mission depends on what I eat so I try to focus on the food part mostly. There are benefits to exercise....but there can be drawbacks (like not giving your body proper time to recover). Saying this, I believe in rest and recovery days.

Make junk food from scratch. You can still have it, but now it takes more effort to snack on, and home made versions are generally healthier than store bought. Take, for example: Whole wheat pizza with skim milk mozz at 150 calories per slice instead of 300. Or black bean brownie with banana instead of oil at 158 calories per piece. I no longer WANT pizza more than once a week, because it's so much work to make the dough... But when I do, it's good, and still actually pretty good for me. Because it's real food without a bunch of extra sugar and salt that are only in there to make me eat more.

For me it is smaller portions and walking at least 10,000 steps a day.

My tips are to learn, learn, learn, by doing/trying, reflect what works for you and your journey. Make small changes. We have built up habits that we need to replace with healthier ones. Also have patience. We all want to see the immediate rewards and get that gratifiation of seeing the number go down on the scale but sometimes we just have to be patient. Also the scale will fluctuate due to lots of reasons, sodium, time of the month. digestion.
My tips are First and foremost "Trust in the process, because it does take time, but if you feel like your doing all the right things which are the items below then you will lose in time.
1) drinking plenty of water 64 oz or more
2) cutting the sugar/ eating less processed/ eating more whole foods
3) working out 3-5 times a week ( different videos, exercises keep your body guessing " because if it doesnt challenge you it doesnt change you "
4) watching portions/calories if body is not reacting cant budge the pounds dont restrict too low of calories maybe up the calories.
Also we won't be perfect on this journey so to stay on track when you feel discouraged. I am like a mad woman collecting inspirational quotes and read them over and over.

Everytime I hear or read one I type it in a word document and list them so I can reference them for extra motivation when I am down. Here they go

"Tough times don't last, tough people do. "

"Being overweight and out of shape is difficult; losing weight and getting in shape is difficult. Pick your 'difficult.'"


"IF it doesnt challenge you it doesnt change you "

"Begin while others make excuses. Do it while others are wishing. Persist while others are quitting."

"Nice bodies aren't given, there earned. You don't wish for them, you work for them "

"your mind will quit a thousand times before your body will
dont give up because the end results will be worth it turst me"

"if your tired of starting over stop giving up"

"If i dont change than nothings going to change"

"the question is not can you its will you"

"successful people are not people who never failed its people who never gave up"

"your body is a reflection of your state of mind lazy mind lazy body"

"no one said it was going to be easy but it will be well worth it. "

"Weightloss is not temporary unless I do something about it!"

"only the same person will become obese again"

"nothing is guaranteed except change"

"we are all a work in progress"

"everything in life worth having is worth fighting for"


"don't give up on something you can't go a minute without thinking about"

"keep fighting for your happiness because everyone deserves to be and feel happy"

"comparison is the theif of joy" ellanor roosevelt
as soon as you start comparing your self to others you start self doubting. it diminishes that light that success, from the scale
the people your close too you might question yourself am I good enough? Will I get there/to goal?

I Don't know the authors, sorry but I have borrowed many from profiles on here, and youtube people I follow.


Just don't give up because quitters never win, and winners never quit.
You can do it! Take and seek advice try it but at the end of the day do what works for your journey.

I stopped drinking sweet tea and soda all the time -- I have a glass or two of tea now and then, soda very rarely if ever. We try to eat home cooked meals more often and are cutting out or cutting down on boxed foods and frozen convenience foods. Eating out still happens but not nearly as often as we used to. We focus on whole foods, not cutting out anything really, just watching portion sizes when we indulge in some things. More veggies. And if nothing else, I walk most days. Focus on one or two things at a time till they become second nature, then work on another area.

To stop myself going over my carb macros, I've replaced portions of pasta / rice / potatoes in an evening meal with an extra side of vegetables - root veggies particularly like carrots and parsnips give me the carbs I need without going way over.

I know it sounds small, but its made a huge difference to how I feel and helped me stick to my macros.

I've got a crazy sweet tooth and I've just starting being healthy again after a few weeks of completely abandoning any healthy eating/working out so I'm currently limiting myself to one unhealthy thing a day. If I go to Starbucks and get a latte in the afternoon then I won't have some chocolate after dinner, things like that.
If I do give in to cravings such as Starbucks, I give in as healthy as possible, for example, ordering the smallest size drink, splitting something with a friend, having sorbet instead of ice cream etc.
I'm not a big fan of water and sometimes, mostly with my main meal, I can't stand to drink just water (I'm working on it though!) so I have water with a sugar free squash (or barley water squash because the barley is really good for you). For anyone who lives in the UK (I'm not sure if they sell it in other countries): Ribena's new 'Plus' range is really good because it's got no added sugar, they're in interesting flavours and they contain extra vitamins, minerals etc.
I've also been recently trying the '15 minutes' tactic. If I'm craving something I say 'If I'm still craving in 15 minutes, I'll have something to eat'. 15 minutes later, if I'm still craving, I think exactly the same thing and so on!
One of the biggest problems that I've had is finding healthy meals that are easy to make, interesting and something that my whole family will eat and enjoy (we never have separate meals and very rarely eat different things so I have to consider the fact that the rest of my family aren't losing weight like I am) but I've found that the recipes on Skinnytaste fit all of that criteria.