What food/fitness/health "hack" has made a big difference for you?

2

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  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    hometeamwins wrote: »
    seltzermint555 wrote: »
    I'm not trying to say meal prep is a bad thing (far from it) but I do think it varies by person/household. I would be much more likely to say "forget this" and just go out to dinner if I was on day #3 of a prepped-ahead-of-time meal that I just had to heat up. It would have long lost its novelty. I see the lovely prepped meals on Pinterest and all I can think is how much I would hate eating the same thing every night or even every day for lunch.

    I'm sure not every person does it that way (same items every day of the week) but I definitely wouldn't like that.

    Finally I know I’m not the only one!! The rows and rows of the same thing every day for a week?! I’m good with leftovers once, twice if it’s spaghetti... but four days of it??

    Yeah, more meal prep hate...few times I've tried it, I would wind up eating twice as much (lots of readily available food is not good) & it's just not as satisfying as straight out the oven food. Different stroke for different folks
  • kirstyfoy
    kirstyfoy Posts: 139 Member
    Booking my free gym reviews (every 4 weeks) with a PT in advance to motivate me x
  • Dani9585
    Dani9585 Posts: 215 Member
    Definitely meal planning, especially for lunches at work!
  • spzjlb
    spzjlb Posts: 602 Member
    I work out for at least 30 min everyday - usually quite intensely. It took me a long time, but I’ve learned that the self-disappointment I feel when I skip a work out is worse than any inconvenience, difficulty or discomfort that might happen during exercise. So, skipping a work out is worse than squeezing one in!
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    hatsyyy wrote: »
    Eat raw red onions. Seriously. You're welcome.

    What, just like an apple?
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    crabbybrianna wrote: »
    seltzermint555 wrote: »
    I'm not trying to say meal prep is a bad thing (far from it) but I do think it varies by person/household. I would be much more likely to say "forget this" and just go out to dinner if I was on day #3 of a prepped-ahead-of-time meal that I just had to heat up. It would have long lost its novelty. I see the lovely prepped meals on Pinterest and all I can think is how much I would hate eating the same thing every night or even every day for lunch.

    I'm sure not every person does it that way (same items every day of the week) but I definitely wouldn't like that.

    I feel the same way. I also don’t like reheated food (unless it’s something like soup or a meat sauce for pasta), so the thought of reheated food for an entire week is really offputting. I have to have meat and vegetables freshly cooked.

    I do pre-plan my meals in advance, though. I’ll usually plan what I’m going to eat 3 or 4 days ahead of time so I can have everything ready and I know what I’m going to be having.

    Yes! We do that in my home too. What works best for me and my husband is to come up with x number of breakfasts, lunches & dinners to fit the week. We buy the stuff and then eat the "quickest to go bad" things on the first couple of days (iffy produce selections for example) but for the most part, we have flexibility in choosing what we'll make each night. We don't eat meat at home so there's really no thawing concern most of the time. If we have an easy day at work we might do a pretty ambitious meal that night, and when we have something going on in the evening we'll make it an easy night with a really simple stir fry, or something like that.
  • geneticsteacher
    geneticsteacher Posts: 623 Member
    I don't pre-plan or meal prep in the usual way, but I do large batch cooking and freeze in individual or family serving sizes (and import multiple ingredient dishes into the recipe builder). Currently I can choose from broccoli-cheddar soup, vegetable soup, pork and sauerkraut, spaghetti with homemade sauce, chili, cooked ham, cooked turkey, and various other meals. We never eat the same thing 2 days in a row. Makes it easy to defrost and reheat on the days I don't feel like cooking.
  • jefamer2017
    jefamer2017 Posts: 416 Member
    sunshine84841 wrote: »
    I have started cutting up vegetables I buy at the grocery store as soon as I get them home, before putting in the refrigerator. I am far more likely to eat them when they are ready to snack on. Before, I would buy vegetables, let them sit in the fridge all week, and then throw them away since they'd rot before I could motivate myself to eat them.

    That's a good idea.
  • jefamer2017
    jefamer2017 Posts: 416 Member
    AllSpiceNice wrote: »
    First thing in the morning, I pre-log my evening treat of a BIG bowl of Greek yogurt and frozen berries.

    Knowing I have a big delicious dessert helps me keep unplanned night time snacking at bay. Pre-logging it helps me make smarter choices earlier in the day, so I can eat that dessert and stay within my calorie budget.

    Yes, I've been doing this. I love my evening dessert. I tend to eat when bored so this has helped me.
  • mazcor536
    mazcor536 Posts: 115 Member
    hatsyyy wrote: »
    Eat raw red onions. Seriously. You're welcome.
    Doesn’t that make you feel really gassy!? I have once eaten a whole raw onion (for a dare) and I remember how uncomfortable I felt after! It repeated on me for hours. Same with radishes. I can see how it’s a hack though, you won’t want to eat anything for a fair while afterwards! :D

  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    Most of my meal prep is fresh foods measured out for easy assembly rather than cooking and reheating things all week. I do find it easier to be repetitive with my foods because it makes counting calories easier, but it's only for the work week. On weekends I just figure it out as I go.
  • hapamama23
    hapamama23 Posts: 233 Member
    Meal prep for me means planning our menu for the week, defrosting meats, gathering all the ingredients (i hate when I go to make something and don't have what I need. I just say screw it, order pizza.), pre-cutting or marinating anything that needs it and having everything ready for each meal during the week. It doesn't really mean cooking one thing for the whole week. I do have left overs for lunch the next day.

    Hacks: making double of any recipe that can be frozen and putting it in the freezer for a busy day. Pre cutting on my fruits and veggies for the next day. Keeping a list on the outside of the fridge of all the healthy things that I can choose from so I don't get tempted by the bad things when I open the fridge. Eating protein for breakfast.
  • takemetosingapore19
    takemetosingapore19 Posts: 86 Member
    Sparkling water. I no longer want soda and it actually fills me up while increasing my water intake. I find I crave it now
  • Packerjohn
    Packerjohn Posts: 4,855 Member
    Eating nutrient dense foods for 80-90% of my calories, lift weights on a regular basis and include some intentional movement daily.
  • skinnyheather
    skinnyheather Posts: 38 Member
    Whipped cream cheese on my sandwiches. It replaces mayo AND cheese and tastes delicious. Saves so many calories! And seltzer.
  • emcclure013
    emcclure013 Posts: 231 Member
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Useful hack: I used to be a hardcore fridge surfer. Putting all the lower calorie items up front and the higher calorie items hidden in the most uncomfortable to reach corners helped me handle my calories while I was getting that habit under control. This trick still helps me. I now snack in a controlled manner, but it's much easier to manage calories when the things that are easy to reach and look enticing are lower in calories.

    I second this! One of my big issues was snacking while making dinner. I'd come home from work starving, would eat a bag of potato chips while I made other food, then I'd eat dinner. Now I keep a bag of baby carrots right in the front of the fridge. If I need something while making dinner, I grab a few carrots and continue on. I also keep all of our snacks in a closed cupboard. For me, out of sight means out of mind. I tell myself I can't even open that cupboard unless I have leftover calories at the end of the day.
  • endermako
    endermako Posts: 785 Member
    eating less food?
  • madlibs75
    madlibs75 Posts: 5 Member
    Giving up aspartame has been huge for me. I used to use equal in coffee, tea, and had at least one diet soda per day. I gave it up and am amazed by how much more in control of my eating I am now.

    I do use stevia in my first cup of coffee each morning, so I am still getting some sweet, but I don't use any the remainder of the day.

    I'm also monitoring portion size and logging my food. For me, that helps a lot and it's been pretty eye opening to see how much I used to be eating and now I UNDERSTAND my weight gain. I was eating decent foods, just too much of them!
  • Will_Run_for_Food
    Will_Run_for_Food Posts: 561 Member
    Find an activity you genuinely enjoy. Sure, you may be content with going to the gym and running on the treadmill for 30 minutes, but maybe you have an unconscious, dormant love for a particular activity that you don't even realize yet.

    For me, dodgeball as an adult is a ton of fun and a killer workout. The hour flies by and I always want to play more.
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