Easiest dietary changes that you made

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sueami1
sueami1 Posts: 15 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
After reading some of the great advice here about making small changes that can both be sustainable and add up over time (which I did not exactly do -- I freaked out over some blood work and made a whole bunch of dietary changes at once and have lost about 15 pounds in two months now) I decided to write down all of the small changes that I had made, and then note which ones were easy and which ones were hard, to give myself a blueprint of sorts for maintenance (figuring I could drop the hardest dietary changes and keep the many easy ones.)

I have been wondering for a while what substitutions and shifts other people have found surprisingly easy to incorporate into their new lives and thought it might be useful to start a thread on this.

Here is my list of easy dietary changes:

--hardboiled egg whites for breakfast instead of whole eggs
--high-protein bagels, high-fiber tortillas and breads instead of other bread products (whole wheat flour and greek yogurt bagel recipe found on-site here, santa fe whole grain tortillas from costco, and any whole grain artisan bread)
--cutting back on half and half with coffee (2 tbsp to slightly lighten it up, rather than going for a pale cup)
--switching to low-fat and low-sodium cheeses
--measuring and limiting butter
--getting a few veggie servings in at lunch and dinners
-- swapping lower-sugar fruits for higher sugar fruits (blackberries, strawberries, melons)
--limiting sauces and dressings with sugar and fat (and measuring out 1 or 2 tbsp for salad dressing)
--eating to satiety only
--choosing protein or fiber-rich snacks (I am limiting carbs because of pre-diabetes blood sugar numbers)
--measuring out other snacks (one ounce of lower-salt potato chips is about as satisfying as 3 or 4 ounces, if I choose to stop and notice)
--eliminating sugary drinks
--reducing added sugars generally
--choosing smaller portions of sweets (100-150 calorie frozen yogurt bars or biscotti)
--swapping gin or vodka or scotch for beer and wine, and limiting myself to 1.5 ounces in an evening
--tracking calories in (and out)

The harder things for me to do are keeping carbs under 30 per meal (I can keep them in the 100-125 per day range pretty easily though), get more than 3 servings of veggies in per day (I still think this is one of the best things I can do for my dietary health though, so I will continue to pursue it), eliminate pizza (I do have a slice once a week or so, now that I've gotten most of the weight I need to get off), eliminating french fries, and eating small dinners when dining out with others (although that has gotten easier too and it's satisfying to spend less $.) I thought it would be hard to say no to really yummy desserts, but so far, a bite or two of someone else's (with permission!) has brought about 60 percent of the satisfaction of eating a whole dessert and keeps me from feeling that deprived.

What other small changes have felt easy to you all?
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Replies

  • Poisonedpawn78
    Poisonedpawn78 Posts: 1,145 Member
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    Eating all the same foods including junk and treats. Just less if it .
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,136 Member
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    Weighing all non-portioned products/produce to get accurate portion sizes was one of the biggest changes I made for successful weight loss.

    I haven't really substituted or restricted much, I just watch my intake of things that are low in nutrients most of the time. Ensuring my plan is sustainable in the long term is my priority.

    I'd say over time I've improved my diet by making small changes to the portion sizes and the way I cook, for example, before 2016 (when I started using MFP properly) I would have thought nothing of making roast potatoes with olive oil sloshed all over them a couple of times per week, guesstimating a portion at 100 grams and not logging the oil. Now I know most of the potatoes I pick up from the supermarket weight around 250-300g and I use spray oil instead of sloshing oil all over them. That difference alone is around 300 calories per day that I had them.

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    edited April 2018
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    Stopping buying bags of candy to snack on throughout the day (boredom was my culprit)
    Switching to diet soda
    Trying new vegetables...turns out spinach and asparagus are good
    Only getting a sandwich at fast food places, as their fries aren't worth the calorie hit
  • Fitnessmom82
    Fitnessmom82 Posts: 376 Member
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    Ditched soda for water. Hard at first but easy now. Soda was a big calorie drain for me!
    Weighing all my food. It's second nature now.
    I skip fast food now. If I need a quick meal I will buy some precut veggies and a whole roasted chicken at the grocery store.
    I am mindful of the carbs I eat. I'm not keto or anything like that, but I cut out a lot of bread and rolls that I ate for the heck of it. I will swap out hamburger buns for lettuce wraps sometimes ect...
    I eat way more veggies and really make sure to have some with every meal. Instead of an extra big portion of pasta I may have a small amount of pasta and a large amount of veggies or no pasta at all and a huge amount of veggies.
    All these little changes have paid off physically and mentally. I have really learned about portion control and making smart choices.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    The easiest small change I made was to buy and use a digital food scale.

    It was long after I started weighing my food and losing weight when I made the food changes that have me consuming smoothies and pizzas with sugar-free ice cream.

    I am having a rough patch lately with too-frequent excessive calorie excursions, but they only get out of hand when I decide to stop weighing and logging.
  • LifeWithPie
    LifeWithPie Posts: 552 Member
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    Seriously limiting how often I eat out. and I bring my lunch to work which is something I never used to do.

    Buying those giant bags of chips at BJs (warehouse store) and using my food scale to portion out single servings into ziplock bags. I have 1 a day. I used to mindlessly eat copious amounts of chips. God I love them!

    Skipping the fries at fast food places unless I have a lot of calories left over.
    Bulking up meals with veggies to feel fuller.
    Almond milk in my cereal instead of cow milk. Saves a lot of calories.
    Oh..and measuring out a serving of cereal instead of eyeballing it into the bowl. What a difference calorie wise!
    Sugar free flavored syrups and a stevia packet in my coffee with almond milk instead of flavored creamers.
    I still use mayo and bottled salad dressings because I love them, I just use the light versions. Usually 1/2 the calories.
    Plain non-fat Greek yogurt instead of sour cream on potatoes and in recipes.



  • Momepro
    Momepro Posts: 1,509 Member
    edited April 2018
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    No fries, (unless I'm totally craving which is uncommon) No mayo or sauces on most fast food sandwiches
    Skipping pasta or sauces on my own plate when I serve dinner
    Half the amount of whatever I used to eat at fast food places.
    Little plastic condiment dishes all over the kitchen and a very visible scale to keep down snack portion sizes.
    Often just eggs or a grilled chicken fillet by itself and a drink, without the sandwich stuff at fast food places.
    Reminders to treat calories like cash when buying goodies at the store. "Is this cake worth the cash, calories and probable mild nausea when I pig out on it?"
    Actually looking at calorie counts on menus.
    Wholer substitutes for various conveiniant foods like peanut butter, jam, bread.
    Finding ways to fit in extra gym time, or steps and stretches during the day.

    All of these happened slowly, one or two habits at a time, and some if them are still works in progress, meaning I backslide much easier on them. But they are also easy to catch and fix when I do.

  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    Reading serving sizes, weighing what I can and logging everything. Everything else just flowed from that because I stick to my limit
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
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    I've had various ones over the years...
    1. Switching to black coffee with about 1/3 tsp sugar per cup
    2. Eating by 1pm--I used to do Fast 5 IF, but waiting until 5 or 6pm made me too obsessed with food and I'd end up overeating. I've found that eating my first meal by 1pm works perfectly for me.
    3. Food scale
    4. Pre-logging my food!! This has helped a lot!! I had read and read about people doing this, and thought it sounded too planned out for me. Then I tried it and love it! Even if I end up eating something different, at least I have calories set aside for late evening, and I can see how I need to balance things out.
    5. Eating more volume of vegetables to fill out a meal.
    6. Zoodles!!
  • lightenup2016
    lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
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    I forgot a few...limiting butter, and weighing out what I do use. I can eat a *kitten* ton of butter!

    And, as part of pre-logging, it's helped me a lot to be sure I leave about 300 calories for after dinner. This allows me an alcoholic beverage and small snack, or a larger snack if not drinking.

    Having two days per week that I give mysel a higher calorie allowance. I.e., 1450 five days a week, and 1850 two days a week (usually Fri and Tues). This allows me to enjoy some of our family's favorite high calorie meals, or to go out to dinner, with less risk of going over my calorie goal. I love this change I made! I change up the days as needed.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I didn't really make a ton of dietary changes. I already cooked a lot and ate relatively healthy. Probably the top changes:

    1) more veggies as I rarely came close to the recommended servings.
    2) stopped drinking multiple regular sodas everyday.
    3) cut back on eating out.
    4) started eating a more diverse selection of protein instead of red meat all of the time.
    5) using less oil in my cooking

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    I didn't really change much. I cut out items that weren't worth the calories, like sub-par donuts. But I still eat donuts, pizza, ice cream, etc. I just eat it less often and in smaller quantities.

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