What are some of your ‘rules’
trirun703
Posts: 3 Member
What are some of the rules (for want of a better word) that help keep you on track
4
Replies
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To never eat more than my daily net calorie goal29
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1. Workout more so I can eat more
2. Workout so I can eat my popcorn at the cinema
3. Try to eat healthy most of the time and dont beat yourself up when you eat a little over your calories some days. Being healthy and happy is a lot better than being restricted, skinny and miserable.15 -
Don't drink my calories.
Unless I'm on a really long bicycle ride.24 -
If I don’t feel like doing my run, just get dressed to do it. Then usually I feel like I’m already half way there so I do it anyway. And if I’m running and feel like giving up, think to myself ‘just do 20 minutes, then you can stop’, then I’m only 10 minutes away from completely my run so I just finish it anyway.32
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1. Try to stay close to my net calorie allowance every day
2. Don't eat food I don't enjoy
3. Eat food I do enjoy
4. Meet minimum amounts for protein and fat and then the rest of my macros fall where they fall
5. Don't make any changes that I will not be able to sustain for life.24 -
Log as completely, honestly, and accurately as circumstances allow. In other words, be honest with myself and amass the best data I can.27
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Eat until satisfied, not full or stuffed. This means eating slowly, putting fork down inbetween bites etc so as to give time for the stomach to send the satisfied message to the brain.8
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Lillymoo01 wrote: »1. Try to stay close to my net calorie allowance every day
2. Don't eat food I don't enjoy
3. Eat food I do enjoy
4. Meet minimum amounts for protein and fat and then the rest of my macros fall where they fall
5. Don't make any changes that I will not be able to sustain for life.
Love #5, it kind of says it all.
Mine is less calories in than calories out = weight loss. How badly do you want it? Is It really worth it?
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What are some of the rules (for want of a better word) that help keep you on track
Set reasonable realistic goals. If I struggle to stick to it the goal is probably not reasonable and realistic for me.
Eat in a sustainable way for me. No diets just eating normal foods in the right portions.
Look at calories first then protein, fats and fiber.
Use tools like my food diary and food scale to help me determine appropriate portion sizes and meet my nutritional needs better.
Plan snacks into my day. I save 100-300 calories for snacks usually.
Put more vegetables on my plate as a low calorie way to bulk out meals.
Stay active. Increase activity gradually. Do not use excess exercise to punish myself or make up for my diet.
I am not low carb but if I am going to have a meal with rice, pasta or a bread I try to have less of that kind of stuff at other meals that day.
Don't freak out over what the scale says. Look at the change over weeks or months not hours and days.
Don't talk about weight or weight loss with people unless I am open to advice, criticism or opinions. (I'm not so I don't.) No posting on facebook about it.9 -
Keep it simple.12
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Don't eat because I'm bored.
Don't eat foods that I don't really enjoy.
Make room in my calorie budget for the things that I do truly enjoy.13 -
Mine are all just for me, and usually things I do naturally at this point.
Log honestly (or find some other way to be mindful of what I eat and honest with myself -- I don't always log but am now, and found it helpful when losing). Eat (usually) 3 meals per day, no snacking (I will often have a little dessert after dinner if I have calories). Be somewhat active every day, and walk as many places as possible rather than driving. Pay attention to what I eat and try to have a good amount of protein and lots of veg with all meals. If I don't follow these rules at times (harder around Christmas), don't beat myself up, just be aware that I'm eating more than usual.
I do other things too, like follow a training plan for different exercise/running goals, but that's not about weight loss and isn't something I always do.3 -
I only have 1 real rule and that is to not stop logging. Everytime I stop logging, I end up in a weight gain cycle. If I want to lose this weight and keep it off, then I cannot stop logging.26
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1. Don't waste calories on food that doesn't taste great.
2. Try to maintain or lose when averaged over a month.
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Log food.
Weigh body.
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My rules are a bit... odd... but I am also trying to cut back on meat (due to costs) and trying to figure out what has been causing my stomach issues.
Meat free at breakfast and for snacks
No red meat at lunch (so either meat free or with poultry/fish)
Whatever I want for dinner (within calories of course)
Limit snacking at night (I have a bad habit of late night snacking I am trying to get under control)
Try to walk every day (depends on my physical limitations due to medical reasons)
Meal prep on Sundays (SO much cheaper and I get a "real" meal for breakfast and lunch)
Enjoy life... this means not worrying about a cookie or a hot chocolate here and there
So far these have worked for what I am trying to do (except for the week I did steel cut oats for breakfast and then chickpeas at lunch... my body was not used to that much fiber). My digestive issues have calmed down a ton and my grocery budget is a lot less.8 -
Don't get so caught up in the minutiae that you lose your perspective or sense of humour.
Oh, and be mindful that no one is as interested in your weight management 'journey' as you are. Don't be that person that assumes they are.18 -
lalalacroix wrote: »I only have 1 real rule and that is to not stop logging. Everytime I stop logging, I end up in a weight gain cycle. If I want to lose this weight and keep it off, then I cannot stop logging.
This!4 -
- Don't exceed my weekly calorie goal.
- Log all my food as accurately as I can, including weighing all food that can be weighed.
- Weigh myself daily, if possible, and log my weight.
- Don't panic over water fluctuations.
- If my weight stays outside my maintenance range for no apparent reason, then go back into a deficit until I'm back in my range.
- Try to hit my protein goal every day.
- Don't waste calories on foods I don't enjoy.
- Don't pass up experiences that I will later regret missing out on. Having a special meal with loved ones is more important than my calorie goal.
I would not call my workout schedule a "rule," but I do have a set workout schedule that I follow each week as much as possible.12 -
The only hard and fast rule I have for myself is to log everything every day.8
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Calories are precious. Make sure they are all delicious.
In practice, for me, this means having full fat milk or none at all rather than horrible skim milk. Using sugar in my tea rather than detested artificial sweeteners.18 -
* Eat a reasonably balanced/nutritious diet consisting of foods that I enjoy.
* Do a reasonable amount of exercise.
* Log honestly and accurately.
* Weigh daily and track my weight in a trending app.
* Hit/exceed my protein goal every day.
* Stick to my calorie goal (whether losing or maintaining) most of the time, allowing occasional off-track days.
* Don't make it any more difficult or complicated than it has to be.7 -
lthames0810 wrote: »Calories are precious. Make sure they are all delicious.
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lthames0810 wrote: »Calories are precious. Make sure they are all delicious.
In practice, for me, this means having full fat milk or none at all rather than horrible skim milk. Using sugar in my tea rather than detested artificial sweeteners.
Same here. I refuse to drink blue milk.4 -
Log every bite.
Weigh every morning. But I only record weight once a month.
At least 10 minutes of bodyweight stretching and calisthenics every day no matter what. If I'm not ill, at least 15 minutes of vigorous activity which leaves me sweaty. Usually I get a lot more but this is the bare minimum.
Never eat above my maintenance calories. If I have to, I bank calories from other days.
I'm a diabetic, so most of my other rules have to do with managing my blood sugar. As a side effect, limiting carbs in order to control my glucose levels also helps me stay within my calorie limit. I try never to go over 130 after meals. If I do, I exercise in order to bring my numbers back down.
One of my major rules is no being willfully ignorant. If I think, "I bet this food has a lot of calories, I just won't look it up," then I make myself look it up. If I think, "I feel like maybe my glucose is high right now, if I don't take my blood I can pretend it's fine," then I make myself check it.3 -
Don't drink my calories.
Don't talk about what I'm eating or why.2 -
Cookies, cakes and desserts are fine but have to be home made from scratch. It slows my roll and they're usually more satisfying anyway.1
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My rules:
1. Log everything I eat honestly. I’m only hurting myself if I don’t.
2. Walk at least 250 steps every hour for 12 hours a day. I read somewhere that even if you exercise regularly, being sedentary is super bad for you so I track this with my Fitbit and make sure I hit this goal every. damn. day.
3. Always hit my step goal (15000 steps right now but I increase it like every two weeks).
4. Weigh myself every day (log it weekly).
5. Portion my food/snacks. I used to have a big binge eating problem so now I need to portion things out and leave the box/bag in the cupboard.
6. Don’t let Foods I Love be off limits. I need something sustainable and not being allowed to have cookies or cupcakes wouldn’t work for me. I just make it a treat now instead of a staple.2 -
lalalacroix wrote: »I only have 1 real rule and that is to not stop logging. Everytime I stop logging, I end up in a weight gain cycle. If I want to lose this weight and keep it off, then I cannot stop logging.
Same for me. I don't log on trips and usually come out ok, but when I've stopped logging for a month or more I find that I ultimately gain because I have poor hunger cues and tend to undereat and then find myself craving weird high calorie foods...stuff like that. I need to log.
The main "rule" I can think of is when I go to any type of buffet or potluck situation, I do one plate only. That might mean I have a plate that is 1/3 meat, 1/2 vegetables, and a piece of cake with tons of frosting...I'm not saying it's a well balanced healthy plate. But I think situations like that, for me, are a recipe for disaster because I used to think "well I need a plate of salad, and a bowl of soup, and a plate of entree type food, and a plate of dessert" and by the end it was probably an insane amount of calories. Works well for me.
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Never eat when I am not hungry. Don’t eat after 6 pm. No added sugars. No calories in drinks.12
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