The little things we do to trick ourselves into being successful...

I buy boxes of Quest bars and put them on a pedestal... I treat them as a scrumptious and decadent dessert, and I have to earn them with a workout. This makes it very easy to turn down other desserts.

Pre-loading the diary is probably the simplest and most helpful thing I do. Definitely agree with others that mentioned it. Then you can see what will and won't fit ahead of time.

Some awesome ideas int his thread so far! I’m 20lb+ down in 2 months, so loosing at similar pace more or less.

• I eat ice-cream every day. Up to 3 times a day. My fav dessert cup can hold from 30 to 50 grams of ice-cream, so although I feel like I’ve never had as much ice-cream in my life as I do now, it actually never totals to more than 100g a day. Makes my 1200 cal diet feel like a cheat day every day.
• Chinese teas and Tieguanyin in particular. Those deceivingly small 50ml cups that go empty in a couple of gulps. You have one, then another and suddenly you find that your 1.5 litre kettle is empty. Very tasty, energising, lots of water in, lowered appetite and a number of health benefits.
• Pre-meal water and veggies damage control. I’m a big fan of sushi for example, but such food doesn’t make me full in a nice way. It goes from ‘want more of that’ right into ‘so full I can’t walk’ for some reason. But a glass of water followed by a big veggie salad with no dressing or one big full bell paper and suddenly 1 small slice of pizza or 3-5 pieces of a roll are both tasty and satisfying.
• There are grocery stores near where I live but I shop at a nicer one that also conveniently happens to be good 5km (3.1mile) away. I walk there and buy my food fresh and in small amounts. I constantly run out of something and bread is the nicest when it’s freshly baked, so I end up walking there pretty much every day. It makes my walks have a purpose and harder to skip.
• Spontaneous exercise. I work from home and spend a lot of time at my computer. I don’t do any proper workouts (other than cardio on elliptical on days I don’t walk). But I have light dumbbells on the window still and I see them the moment I stand up from the table to do some stretching. I pick them up on auto-pilot and do 10-20 reps of this exercise or another before I even realise it’s happening. I also have a sheet of paper with a printed table on the wall that I walk by many times a day. I get to draw a dot for every set of push-ups I do and an x for every set of sit ups. I just do them randomly throughout the day. It may not be as effective as a proper workout session but it makes a game out of what could be an obligation and I prefer it this way for now.
• Listening to music as I workout or walk. It may be an obvious thing for majority of people but it was not for me. I always liked my silence. When it comes to pushing the body to its limits music works wonders, I have to admit.
• ‘This burns calories’. Every time I feel lazy to wash dishes, walk somewhere or help my mother in the garden I just think that and it’s often enough to beat my laziness. Helps in areas not related to weight loss actually.
• Yes, accountability on this site and this whole ‘not breaking the chain’ business does work. I can’t remember last time I went over my calorie goal. It just doesn’t seem like an option at the moment.

I tell myself I will exercise for 5 minutes and then another 5 and so on...til my hour is done.
I put a smiley face sticker on my calendar (which is on the fridge) as soon as I complete my exercise. I love to see the calendar fill up.
I have tootsie roll pops on hand for when I crave something sweet. They are only 60 calories and last a long time.
I just bought fire balls for 20 calories each and those also last a long time. Since they are hot, it helps me to curb cravings for high calorie junk.
Before I allow myself a glass of wine, I tell myself I have to have all my water in.

- I get on the scale every day, twice a day actually. But official weigh in is Friday morning. I start my "week" with the weekend. That where I do the potential damage and I have a few days to set the record straight, get rid of water weight and so on. The numbers on the scale are way "nicer" now than when I went on it on Monday mornings.

- I used to aim for 5 workouts a week. 45 minutes each time. It felt impossible to do it and I always came short. Now, I aim for 225 minutes (wich equals 5*45min) a week and I substract all my exercise time from that amount, regardless on what it is. 20 minutes streching here, 20 minutes lifting there, an hour long walk and so on. And I always reach the 225 minutes goal!

For me it's been habit development. At first I was just talking myself *down* from snacks rather than *out* of them -- like, "I'm hungry, but instead of a piece of cake, I'm going to have a boiled egg, and I'm going to log it." And I was rigorous about reviewing my logs any day that I went over and working out what I could have cut that day, what choices I could've made differently. It helps me not order the glass of wine with dinner the next time if I remember that it's empty calories and it put me over my limit on a past occasion.

Now I've gotten to the point where I usually don't even register the option of eating at non-meal times, even if I'm hungry and there's food nearby. (My remaining struggle: when I'm out to eat with friends, I'm hungry, there's not much on the menu that is suitable for my diet, and I just have to sit there smelling/watching the meal go by... that's still tough.

Something that really helps me is a brain trick I found on Pinterest. I use a smaller plate for all of my meals; like, the salad plate or whatever it it's called. On a dinner plate, there's a lot of empty space since my serving sizes are so small. But, when using a tiny plate, the food fills the entire plate and makes my brain think I'm eating SO MUCH, when in actuality I'm just eating what I'm supposed to. I've tested myself and my boyfriend, and we both eat way less when using a tiny plate. Weird, but helpful!

What would you have for a 150 cap dinner?

bbontheb wrote: »

What would you have for a 150 cap dinner?

100-120 grams of greek yogurt or soft cottage cheese, 1/4-1/3 of a banana mashed with a fork on the top of it and then some chopped strawberries or full blueberries to complete the picture. It's both my dinner and dessert usually. Or today I had 60g of zander fish, 63g of baked potato and over 100g of pickled cabbage. A big plate for 130 cals total.

Great thread idea. So far I've...

I walk as my main source of cardio so I calculate how many times I'd have to circle my neighborhood in one hour, or how many songs need to play by the time the hour is over. So if I know at this time it takes me 10 min to walk full circle I push myself to walk around it 6 times.

I stash my both my tennis shoes, sunglasses, and ear phones at the bottom of my stairs so that I'm reminded to work out everyday. In order for me to get to my kitchen, I have to walk down my stairs.

I buy bottled water in bulk and stock my fridge with it. I don't like drinking water much but once I work out my body craves it so a cool bottle of water helps keeps me hydrated and focused. Also, it makes my skin look great!

I also have adapted the plate rule that poster @ChickenLittle1121 mentioned. It really does trick your mind into thinking you're eating more than you are.

I don't deny myself anything as long as it's within moderation but I also allow myself to have an unlimited servings of veggies if I want. I love steamed broccoli so if I want seconds, I aim for them.

I'm single so I'll either meal prep for the week and freeze my meals or I'll cook ONE serving size meal for myself. Once I've cooked and done I'm satisfied and if I want more I'll have to cook again. 99.9% of the time I'm sedated and can't be a$$ed to cook again.

I let my inner child go wild while daydreaming as I work out. I picture myself being able to do things easier like running, and or going on a shopping spree or having a make over. This helps me want it more and keep pushing.

I paste post it notes all over my bedroom and office to encourage myself to keep going.