What are your best HABITS for losing weight?
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Using my food scale.0
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Logging my food every. single. day.0
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Meal planning has been absolutely my best habit. Hubby & I used to be like, so what shall we have for dinner? And we'd discuss it, and think about it, and come up with half-baked ideas (because we didn't have all the foods necessary to make a specific meal, or I didn't feel like eating what we did have), and then it turned 7pm and we were starving so we just ate whatever - either going to the store to buy $10 worth of 'groceries' for one meal, or stopping by McDonald's.
Now, we know what we're having, we buy all the stuff on Saturday so we have the ingredients to make it, and we know how many calories it'll be. It saves us money, time, and calories. And it just makes life a lot easier!0 -
Ditto....scale, logging & exercising!
Amazing to find out how many calories are in the things you LOVE..0 -
It's a weird one, but I eat with chopsticks as often as I can. It makes you concentrate on eating and allows you to eat slower so that you don't overeat.
Also, pre-weighing and freezing ingredients like chicken breast means I won't be tempted to throw in an extra lump when I'm cooking.
Brushing your teeth mid evening instead of right before bed can prevent the temptation of late night snackings.
Always weigh yourself in the morning, doing it at a different time of day can be so demotivating!0 -
Preplanning...if there is only junk to eat then what choice will you have?
Packing my lunch everyday and filling it with healthy foods, which usually means cooking something that I can pack all week, this week is chicken and rice soup or greek yogurt chicken salad.
Eating breakfast...usually including greek yogurt for the protein.
Logging everyday, including the good, bad and the ugly.
Forgiving yourself if you fall off the wagon.
Allowing yourself to occasionally fall of the wagon by either making it "fit" for the day or by just doing it and getting back on track the next day.
Exercising plenty so you can have more calories and your body looks better as you lose weight.
Having support...nothing keeps you going more than having others tell you how great you are looking!
Leaving yourself "notes" with reminders as to why you are wanting to lose weight to start with.
Having a "goal" piece of clothing.
Measure yourself, sometimes the scale doesn't move but you are losing inches.
Hope those help someone!0 -
I guess I don't have any good habit because I haven't been able to losing much.0
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- 80% diet, 20% exercise
- log everything you put in your mouth
- have a support system to stay motivated0 -
+logging accuratelyUsing a food scale
+ pre logging0 -
One more thing that has helped me is I try to eat half or less of my calories for breakfast and lunch and leave the rest for dinner and snacks. Feels like I have more wiggle room that way.0
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I love this thread! Great habits!!! Thanks everyone!0
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Logging every day
For me though eating clean is what helps. Although you should be able to eat whatever you want as long as there is a deficit , I find when I eat foods that are unprocessed the weight comes off faster and if you cant weigh it, the calories are more forgiving.0 -
It's a weird one, but I eat with chopsticks as often as I can. It makes you concentrate on eating and allows you to eat slower so that you don't overeat.
I've been using chopsticks so long that they don't slow me down at all. Everything becomes finger food!
I'd say the most useful habit I have developed while losing weight is eating slowly and, before getting seconds, thinking about whether I am really hungry. That, and regular logging.
Most of my other healthy habits - getting lots of exercise, cooking mostly from scratch, packing a lunch, eating lots of veggies and whole grains, avoiding added sugar, etc. - did not prevent me from gaining about half a pound per month over the course of a decade, though they probably contributed to my having been a fairly active, strong, and healthy fat guy.0 -
Walking, Simply walking. Single best way for the very unfit and/or very overweight to condition themselves to larger amounts of exercise and burn calories. You burn almost as many calories walking as running the same distance. Though running is far superior for aerobic conditioning for obvious reasons some of us can't really run long distances. Either because we are unfit or because we are covered in dead weight ... i.e fat.
Note : I am talking about a walk fast and long enough to make you sweat. A leisurely stroll won't do much. For added benefit swing or pump your arms while you walk.0 -
Patience with myself is a big one, and one I never really had before. Also I have found the right balance of food instead of trying to get by on small amounts of junk as I have in the past. I have played around with my macros in the last few months and found a balance that makes me feel great and gives me steady results. I'm never stuffed but I'm never starving.
The biggest change is just being honest with myself. I log in every calorie religiously. I plan out my meals the night before. I make it something to look forward to and I keep experimenting with new recipes to change it up. When I know I have a meal ahead that is both delicious and good for me, I can't wait to get cooking and I leave the table feeling energized instead of guilty.0 -
Any more tips out there?
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Nothing I can really add that others haven't. I pre-log every day the night before. Sure, I allow some tweaks, but I wont change overall meals. Not only does it make it so much easier to stick to my calories, it means I get the meat out of the freezer well in advance, and have time to shop for any ingredients I'm missing. That and weighing everything but liquids so I know precisely how much I'm eating.
Oh, booking a tattoo for the 20 kilo mark (44lbs) is really motivating right now (7lbs to go!). And I will get another one at goal weight (173lbs away - eeep).0 -
Going food shopping more often. So you don't end up Saturday night with a choice between beef noodles or takeaway pizza or Chinese.
So you have something nice and healthier to eat and not leave it up to your hunger or boredom to decide on what to eat.
Prelogging a day or two in advance works together with this.0 -
Going food shopping more often. So you don't end up Saturday night with a choice between beef noodles or takeaway pizza or Chinese.
So you have something nice and healthier to eat and not leave it up to your hunger or boredom to decide on what to eat.
Prelogging a day or two in advance works together with this.
Yes. This. Making sure I've always got a crisper full of fresh vegies, and a fully stock freezer and pantry. Much faster to cook something up than have to go out somewhere for drive through.0 -
logging is number one for me.
Shopping to ensure I have enough protein.
Planning most of the day in advance and ensuring enough protein in the first few meals that I don't have to eat 500g of meat for dinner.
Still being flexible enough that I can sub out things that I had planned to eat if need be and not stressing about it.
Realising that muscles don't fall off overnight if you miss your macros by a bit
Regular strength training.0 -
Going food shopping more often. So you don't end up Saturday night with a choice between beef noodles or takeaway pizza or Chinese.
So you have something nice and healthier to eat and not leave it up to your hunger or boredom to decide on what to eat.
Prelogging a day or two in advance works together with this.
Yes. This. Making sure I've always got a crisper full of fresh vegies, and a fully stock freezer and pantry. Much faster to cook something up than have to go out somewhere for drive through.
I used to go shopping like once a week, stock up. Now I aim for Sunday and Wednesday. That way if I do run out of something like milk it's only like 1 day till I get more etc.
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I pack my gym bag the night before and weigh all of my food out for the day as I'm eating breakfast. I also stopped carrying around change so I can't use the vending machine at work even if I want to!
Basically if I have my gym bag with me I have no excuses and I'll just go to the gym. It helps that I bought new gym clothing because I feel a bit more confident about being there as well.0 -
Logging food and using a food scale - keeps me aware of whats going in my body.0
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Lots of good tips here already. To add:
a) Work on healthy boundaries. Neither saying no or yes to everything works. Long term fat loss and staying in maintenance is not a black/white relationship. Substituting works as a strategy too.
b) For sanity: Don't get too obsessed over details. Have some mental flexibility. Forgive mistakes. Learn lesson. Move on.
c) Exercise. Accept your noobness. We're all noobs at something. It's not enjoyable. The body needs more or less ca 3 trials to transport a movement to muscle memory. When the body remembers what to do, it feels effortless. Until then, suck it up.
d) Stay curious. If stalled or adapted to current level, up your game by trying something new. It doesn't have to be big. Try a new flavor or new exercise, try on hilarious clothes just to have a laugh.
TL;DR Forgive mistakes. Learn lesson. Move on.0 -
This
quote="JakeNJ95;19673450"]Every time I get hungry I have a glass of water to make sure that I am not thirsty. Your brain likes to play games with you and make you think your hungry when you are thirsty and you keep eating when in reality you are thirsty not hungry. This has helped me a lot.[/quote]
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Taking my younger brother out for walks and bike rides - helps me AND him!
Using skim milk instead of whole saved quite a lot of adding up calories!
Finding sports that I ENJOY such as skateboarding, badminton, netball and biking rather than forcing myself to go to the gym or run! 0 -
*Weighing food
*Planning meals in advance 0 -
Lifting. Logging. And not letting setbacks sideline me.0
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