Most helpful thing someone has told you about health/diet??
lightenup2016
Posts: 1,055 Member
There is an amusing thread going on right now about "strangest thing someone has told you about health/diet". Pretty funny stuff there! Now I was just wondering what HELPFUL advice has someone given you, that actually was sound advice, and made a real difference in your health or diet?
One thing for me was when my mom told me what a difference protein made for her. She suffers from hypoglycemia, and gradually over the years came to realize that even a small protein snack of a handful of almonds during the day could help keep her from crashing. At the same time, my sister, who is a nutrition coach, told me about how sugar can affect you as well, but in a negative way. Not that it's the devil, but that it can give you a sugar high and then crash if you have too much of it. Putting these two pieces together, we finally figured out a solution for our 4-year old daughter's terrible tantrums and fits. As it turns out, she also suffers from hypoglycemia, and increasing her protein and reducing her sugar during the day made her a completely different child. It was like night and day, overnight, and really saved us from traumatic nightly tantrums. Since then, I've also found that making sure I have enough protein in my diet helps me with my appetite control. Don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of sugar in the house, but we try to limit it to some degree, and make sure we have plenty of snacks with protein in them for the kids and myself! Bottom line, what you eat really can affect how you feel!
The other thing for me was reading about intermittent fasting on the internet. I know it's not magical or anything, but just the partitioning of calories during the day has really helped me with my weight-loss efforts. Of course, I still have to log and be careful, but it definitely helps!
One thing for me was when my mom told me what a difference protein made for her. She suffers from hypoglycemia, and gradually over the years came to realize that even a small protein snack of a handful of almonds during the day could help keep her from crashing. At the same time, my sister, who is a nutrition coach, told me about how sugar can affect you as well, but in a negative way. Not that it's the devil, but that it can give you a sugar high and then crash if you have too much of it. Putting these two pieces together, we finally figured out a solution for our 4-year old daughter's terrible tantrums and fits. As it turns out, she also suffers from hypoglycemia, and increasing her protein and reducing her sugar during the day made her a completely different child. It was like night and day, overnight, and really saved us from traumatic nightly tantrums. Since then, I've also found that making sure I have enough protein in my diet helps me with my appetite control. Don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of sugar in the house, but we try to limit it to some degree, and make sure we have plenty of snacks with protein in them for the kids and myself! Bottom line, what you eat really can affect how you feel!
The other thing for me was reading about intermittent fasting on the internet. I know it's not magical or anything, but just the partitioning of calories during the day has really helped me with my weight-loss efforts. Of course, I still have to log and be careful, but it definitely helps!
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That I don't have to eat rabbit food to lose weight. That I can eat what foods I like, including pizza etc., and keep it within my calorie goal and lose weight. I've learned what foods work to keep me full and which ones I do need to pass on, but the thought of living on salalds with no dressing was keeping me from doing what I needed to do.
And I thank MFP for this.22 -
The analogy of a financial budget for calories worked really well for me. Just like I shouldn't be spending more than I earn, I shouldn't be consuming more calories than I burn off. And if I want to splurge for a high calorie item, I need to find a way to "save" for it by either eating less elsewhere, moving more, or a combo.22
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That 1200 calorie diets aren't suitable for everyone, i.e. understanding how MFP calculates the NEAT calorie allowance3
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That a healthy diet is different for everyone.4
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Don't lose the weight in a way you can't sustain for maintenance.
Pretty much everything the MFP veterans (aka, meanies) repeat ad nauseum day in and day out.16 -
@lightenup2016 - thanks for sharing all of that. Really useful and interesting. One of the best bits of advice I've ever read is from Martha Beck (I think!): Being fat is hard. Losing weight is hard. Pick your hard.11
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Not to eliminate anything from my diet that I want to eat again. If I expect to eat it again, learn how to incorporate it now since it's not realistic that I will never eat those things again.11
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That I can still eat things that I like and enjoy as long as I manage to fit them into my calories. I don't have to cut out anything. I can still have that pizza on the weekend and it won't ruin my weight loss or suddenly put all of the weight back on again.8
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Eat to fuel your body, don't diet to deny your body. Your body needs fuel.7
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To find changes that I could live with forever because there isn't an end date.10
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Learning about Flexible Eating and Watching Macros.1
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Without your health, you have nothing. Don't take it for granted!7
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Eat with what you can endure for a lifetime. Exercise goes along the same lines.
Yes you may exercise like a maniac or eat like a refuge child and lose weight but can you do it for a lifetime? If you cannot think along these lines your lifetime will be a on again and off again cycle of nonsense!5 -
Eat with what you can endure for a lifetime. Exercise goes along the same lines.
Yes you may exercise like a maniac or eat like a refuge child and lose weight but can you do it for a lifetime? If you cannot think along these lines your lifetime will be a on again and off again cycle of nonsense!
I agree, I have especially had to think about how much exercise I think I can manage once I'm at maintenance. I can be all gung-ho and work out 5 times a week while I'm losing weight. But I know that over time, life is going to get in the way with busy schedules, kids, work, etc. So I'm trying to keep the exercise in moderation and what I think will be sustainable.6 -
About weight management - "It's just simple math".
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lightenup2016 wrote: »Eat with what you can endure for a lifetime. Exercise goes along the same lines.
Yes you may exercise like a maniac or eat like a refuge child and lose weight but can you do it for a lifetime? If you cannot think along these lines your lifetime will be a on again and off again cycle of nonsense!
I agree, I have especially had to think about how much exercise I think I can manage once I'm at maintenance. I can be all gung-ho and work out 5 times a week while I'm losing weight. But I know that over time, life is going to get in the way with busy schedules, kids, work, etc. So I'm trying to keep the exercise in moderation and what I think will be sustainable.
Yes....sustainable not just till the weights gone but for life!! People just don't get that!1 -
Refeeds and diet breaks. But then I would say that
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Weighing every morsel and taking a diet break when necessary.0
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PapillonNoire wrote: »The analogy of a financial budget for calories worked really well for me. Just like I shouldn't be spending more than I earn, I shouldn't be consuming more calories than I burn off. And if I want to splurge for a high calorie item, I need to find a way to "save" for it by either eating less elsewhere, moving more, or a combo.
That is exactly what I was going to say. And often do say, lol.0 -
This forum! I never really dieted before I decided to lose a bit of weight. Yes, I tried to get my weight down by workout out too much (resulted in overtraining) and by 'eating healthy' things such as smoked fish and black grainy bread. Next to my normal food
Only when I really thought about what weightloss entails, and ended up here did I realise what's important and how to do it. And the kind people of this forum have helped me with that.4 -
Oh, all sorts, there are so many. But I'll pick one that has been amazingly enduring and helpful, despite being so basic:
Use a smaller plate!4 -
I second this. I never heard of a refeed before MFP. It just makes so much sense. Eating at a deficit for months can be so danged tedious. It's good to know that taking a break from it periodically will make me more successful in the long run.Nony_Mouse wrote: »Refeeds and diet breaks. But then I would say that
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I have hypoglycemia too and learned that the hard way in college in which I ate a lot of easy carbs then would crash at really inopportune times like in class or at work. So I learned to always bring nuts or cheese with me.
I think being a nurse helped me learn why it’s so bad to be obese. I’ve struggled a lot because life and anxiety issues but I’ve never been morbidly obese. Being in the hospital and seeing what it eventually does to people is eye opening. It’s the really ugly side of obesity that no one sees or wants to think about. Out of control diabetes resulting in amputations, heart disease, blood clots (which my grandmother died from because she ate and never exercised and was very stubborn and didn’t listen to the doctors). So I know genetically what will happen to me if I let myself go otherwise the people in my family live a long time (my grandpa is 92!).1 -
Learning and practicing IF has made a world of difference for me. It is sustainable for me.2
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A friend's daughter lost weight starting every day with an egg. Bit scared of cholesterol to begin with and don't eat them everyday but an appetite suppressant for me. Due to MFP portion control for carbs. Seeing cals over a week instead of over a day. Unlearning "starvation mode" and "low fat" Still wouldn't start eating full English due to calories!2
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That it is more harmful and wasteful to consume the extra food than to throw it out. My husband doesn't need any weight loss tips, but even he finds this attitude liberating at times.1
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A friend's daughter lost weight starting every day with an egg. Bit scared of cholesterol to begin with and don't eat them everyday but an appetite suppressant for me.
Me too, if I ever want a really low calorie breakfast that will keep me going (say I'm going out for a big blowout meal that night), I'll go for a fried egg and a piece of wholemeal toast. Excellent calorie value.1 -
That my family and a couple of friends weren't right when they told me I couldn't eat dinners and still lose weight, and that I should eliminate whole food groups... one friend for example swore she could only lose weight on some weird lettuce, grapefruit, egg diet?... (dinner is something I still argue about, skipping them is how my mother always lost weight)
For reference, I was a clueless 200lb 18 year old and I ended up unknowingly eating only about 700-800 calories a day for ... probably 3+ months? I lost 40-50lbs between september and new years... and I regained about 3/4 of the weight within a year
Then I came across a calorie counting website/forum with a bunch of friendly people willing to help me out and that's when I started my food/calorie diary
Basically - the importance of actually eating *enough*, to not feel sick and tired and deprived all the time2
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