What did you buy that helped you lose weight?

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  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    Food scale, a couple of cookbooks, and Powerblock weights (well, I didn't buy them, I asked Santa for them).
  • Hungry_Shopgirl
    Hungry_Shopgirl Posts: 329 Member
    Another vote here for a digital food scale. Everything else is a nice bonus to add down the road.
  • sundaylouwho
    sundaylouwho Posts: 112 Member
    Espressocycle wrote: »
    I'll chime in with the absolute best cardio machine for a home gym - the Tony Little Gazelle. They're $130 new but you can always find one on Craigslist or wherever for $30. No motors, no computers - just a drop dead simple full body workout. Home elliptical machines are garbage and getting to the gym is hard.

    How long have you used yours? It looks interesting, but we had a bulky elliptical for a while that I barely used.
  • hjohnso5
    hjohnso5 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks everyone - I truly appreciate the responses! I plan to buy a food scale ASAP. Would anyone recommend a heart rate monitor to track calories burned?
  • poisonesse
    poisonesse Posts: 572 Member
    An accurate food scale that weighs ounces to the second decimal place and grams. It is SO eye opening to find out how many calories you're really eating, and you won't get that with measuring cups and guesstimating!!! My second purchase was an accurate body weight scale. Yes, you can lose weight and reach goal without one, but you can't really judge on a day to day basis how well you're doing, not just by looking at yourself in the mirror. So for the mental aspect, the feel good aspect, a good body scale is a must. Other than that? A good data base on foods, such as MFP, FatSecret, or FitBit.
  • poisonesse
    poisonesse Posts: 572 Member
    @sundaylouwho I owned one of Tony's Gazelles for over 20 years, just tossed it a few months ago. At the time I tossed it, it still worked perfectly, but from keeping it outside on a lanai (porch) for years the electronics in it died, so no idea how hard I was working or how much burn I was getting. And... to be honest, I live in central FL now, it was just too danged HOT! lol Now I use recumbent exercise bike, set up INSIDE where it's cooler. (Couldn't do that with the Gazelle, I'd put one of those foot thingies through tables/furniture/etc with my furniture set up.)
  • Cassandraw3
    Cassandraw3 Posts: 1,214 Member
    hjohnso5 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone - I truly appreciate the responses! I plan to buy a food scale ASAP. Would anyone recommend a heart rate monitor to track calories burned?

    The best way to figure out if calories burned are accurate is to monitor progress. All heart rate monitors are just taking a guess based on formulas. They are not able to tell you the exact calorie burn.

    I have a smart watch (Samsung Gear Sport) and a separate heart rate monitor strap (MyZone). My Samsung watch has been fairly accurate in guessing my daily calorie burn. The MyZone strap grossly overestimates calorie burn (by 150-300 calories for an hour workout). I monitored the accuracy by entering calories out vs calories in for estimated weight loss in an excel spreadsheet for a few months and my progress was right in line with what the numbers said. Neither are necessary, but it was fun for me gathering more data.
  • poisonesse
    poisonesse Posts: 572 Member
    @hjohnso5 FitBit! If you just want to know steps/mileage/calorie burn, you just need the little Zip, that's all I have because it's all I need. If you need something to also track heartbeats, sleep, etc, then you'd need one of the more expensive wrist bands.
  • AJB1014
    AJB1014 Posts: 1,380 Member
    A nutri bullet, a scale, and a high quality protein powder.
  • kodiakke
    kodiakke Posts: 379 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    Food scale - very educational where my calories were coming from.

    Gym membership (OK, a few gym memberships) - made a huge difference to my strength and fitness.

    Bicycles (OK, a few bicycles) - made a huge difference to my fitness.
    Garmin bike computer (OK, two of them) - lets me explore beautiful countryside without getting lost.
    Membership of a long distance riding association - inspires me to challenge myself.

    Couple of books (Lean Muscle Diet by Alan Aragon & Lou Schuler, Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters) - knowledge is power.

    I sense a trend here... okay, a couple of them.
  • kali31337
    kali31337 Posts: 1,048 Member
    Food scale
    Human scale
    Instant Pot
    FitBit
    I have a gym in my apartment building but if I didn't a gym membership that I'd feel guilty with not using
  • suziecue25
    suziecue25 Posts: 289 Member
    A digital food scale with a tare feature
    Bathroom scale
    Cookery books
    Smaller dinner plates
  • lovefrenchies
    lovefrenchies Posts: 29 Member
    Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »
    Another vote here for a digital food scale. Everything else is a nice bonus to add down the road.

    Not trying to be dumb, but what do you weigh - meat portions? Do you count calories, too? I have been following keto for a month and although I track macros, I don't weigh and measure and don't count calories.
  • RivenV
    RivenV Posts: 1,667 Member
    hjohnso5 wrote: »
    Thanks everyone - I truly appreciate the responses! I plan to buy a food scale ASAP. Would anyone recommend a heart rate monitor to track calories burned?

    I can't speak to a heart rate monitor because I've never had one, but I did find that some kind of daily activity tracker was helpful to me. It was easy to see an approximation of how many calories I burned each day based on general levels of activity, and then just consume fewer calories than that, on average. CI<CO=weight loss. Took a lot of the guess work out for me.

    I don't know how accurate fitness trackers/HR monitors are, so I just went with a FitBit One for a while. It lasted a couple years before it quit working, and then I got a MisFit Shine to replace it. That one has been going strong about five years. Gives me a good estimate of how many calories I burn a day through activity (or lack of it), syncs with MFP, and keeps me on track.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    lovefrenchies wrote: »
    Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »
    Another vote here for a digital food scale. Everything else is a nice bonus to add down the road.

    Not trying to be dumb, but what do you weigh - meat portions? Do you count calories, too? I have been following keto for a month and although I track macros, I don't weigh and measure and don't count calories.

    How do you track your macros without weighing or measuring anything?
  • njitaliana
    njitaliana Posts: 814 Member
    The best tool I've found is paying for visits to a registered dietitian every other week. I've lost 66 lbs since July 1.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    lovefrenchies wrote: »
    Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »
    Another vote here for a digital food scale. Everything else is a nice bonus to add down the road.

    Not trying to be dumb, but what do you weigh - meat portions? Do you count calories, too? I have been following keto for a month and although I track macros, I don't weigh and measure and don't count calories.

    Like pp asked-how do you know you're accurately tracking your macros if you're not accurately measuring out portions?
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
    Food Scale, bathroom scale, and a gym membership.

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