Silly (but effective!) Rules

1. At work, I only eat my food. This means, if it's in my lunch bag, it belongs to me and I eat it. If it's not in my lunch bag, it belongs to someone else and I don't eat it. (referring to all the high-calorie treats that are always abundant at work)
2. Don't drink my calories.
3. As much as possible, exercise early in the morning before work. It energizes me and sets my whole day up for optimism and successful choices.
4. Try to hit my protein goal every day. Protein keeps me satiated.

Rule #1: leave room for beer.
(or pizza, or whatever it is you really enjoy)
The absolute best part about a calorie-centric diet is that you never have to deprive yourself of what you really crave. You just need portion control and proper planning. When I want a beer, I start planning for it at breakfast, and hopefully I've got room left for it on my log by dinner. Then it's not just a beer, it's a reward for a job well done!

SeikoMonster wrote: »

Set meal times.
Knowing its only x amount of time till the next meal has cut my snacking down to nothing.

I do that for snacking at work. I won't let myself have my AM snack until 10am and my PM snack until 3pm. Sometimes I end up not snacking at all or at least sticking to only 1 snack. (It's 3:14pm right now and I haven't had my snack yet!)

Don't eat a piece of chocolate while walking - wait till you arrive at the destination - sit down and eat it slowly

Chew more. It sounds silly, but I had braces for years as a teenager, which made me not want to chew at all (it hurt!), so I would do the bare minimum. I really didn't notice how quickly I scarf down my food because I don't chew nearly as much as one should. Looking back, me eating must have looked like it looks when I throw my dog scraps- chew SWALLOWGONEMORE??? Taking the time to chew has made me feel more satisfied when I'm done eating and helped me be less hungry overall.

Snack. The chewing thing makes me less hungry, but I still have a brain and my brain still wants things like peanut butter crackers, a square of chocolate, olives, and those pickles I found in the back of my fridge. That's fine! When I said that I was going to be trying to lose weight, my very science-minded boyfriend immediately said that I should cut out snacking and spewed some statistics about how people that don't snack have keep the weight off X% of the time compared to snackers and backed up the benefits of not snacking with lots of medical journals. I tried it. I really did. But not snacking really just made me snippy and anxious about all of the food I couldn't eat because cooking and food are my biggest hobbies / passions. Instead, I let myself snack all I want as long as the calories are budgeted into my day. It keeps me from melting down and falling off the wagon, so snacks are in my life to stay, even if it's just an orange or handful of olives.

I have a rule of not keeping sweets, chips, or bread in my house. If I keep any of that, I literally can't stop and have to consume all of it. I find that I will usually pick something healthier if I dont have the bad stuff in my house. For example, I so wanted to order a pizza tonight but I'm on a budget...so instead I made sweet potato fries and now I am satisfied and not craving that pizza anymore. #win

dunlol wrote: »

1. I'll probably screw up my diet at some time, don't hate myself
2. Don't make more rules - they just provide extra stress

I have some casual rules, all of which I break at various times, and all covered here already by others. I've never thought about "don't hate myself" as a rule, but I guess it is. Perhaps the most important one. Have to add it's corollary, "just keep trying".

Lots of great ideas here. I have a water rule - I aim for 12 8oz glasses per day minimum, so to help with this, I drink 16 oz when I get up (unless I'm hitting the 0545 class, then one of those and coffee because, hey, it's 5AM!). I bring a 32oz water bottle to the gym, so I have to finish it all before I step back into my house - sometimes involves me drinking while in the driveway if I did less sweaty activities.

I also have a rule about not buying what I cannot control, right now it's ice cream, I can polish the 1.5L container in an evening or two. I've had problems with other foods in the past and try to work them back in when I think I can handle it.

Also a rule about good quality foods. I'm a transplanted New Yorker so to me bagels and pizza are so-so everywhere but home. There are a few places here, run by transplanted NYers so those are fine, but no pizza from chains that have commercials and no store bought bagels. The calories are worth it if the quality is there.

I guess my biggest rule is just try to do the best I can and make improvements.

I don't have any rules per say but how I moderate...

- No big bag of chips or saltines for the house.
- Friends/family take your pies and yummy leftovers home.
- Homemade bread only when company comes over to help me eat it.
- Be grateful

Rules if you must call it that are always flexible:)

I weigh myself naked only once a week, for the record. Beyond that, I can step on the scale 50 times a day if I want, but I have to be clothed so that the normal fluctuations don't drive me crazy. I just write them off to the fact that I'm wearing jeans rather than shorts, or whatever.

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Only rules I follow are: Eating within your calorie allotment

Be consistent with your calorie burn (I exercise 7 days a week for at least an hour).
Get enough sleep and don't stress out.

Been about the same weight for over 20 years.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

fubarfornow wrote: »

I also look at calories like a banking system, but one where I have no credit privileges. I can save up to spend later in the week, but I can't "borrow" to spend now, and pay it back later in the week (because I don't do it). Calorically, I'm a bad credit risk.

That's a good approach. Mine is similar, in that I can work to earn calories in advance, but I don't exercise to "make up" for things I already ate. If it's in the past, it's in the past. Generally what I'm aiming at is your "no credit" situation but can't avoid the odd day when I'm over. Basically I forgive those debts.