What did you buy that helped you lose weight?
Replies
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Healthier food, a co-pay to see my doctor and a body scale. I found a discarded gram scale in the garage.
Edited to add--I also bought the yearly premium membership to MFP.1 -
CX bike...then a road bike...then an indoor bike trainer as to have no excuses for bad weather, etc.
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I purchased a few products to help - food scale, personal scale, Fitbit, smartphone gym membership. None of this helped me until I realized that I had a fundamental misunderstanding of food and activity.
Check out the book "Everyday Millionaires" by Chris Hogan and apply these concepts to weight management. Simply replace the concept of money with food/activity.
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A digital food scale, fitness watch-Fitbit has new lite versions which are more cost friendly, body weight scale and measuring tape to track inches lost.0
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hjohnso5
You don't need to buy anything new...you said 3 yrs ago you lost 66lbs and gained it back. Just do what you did three years ago.3 -
I bought a set of stainless steel tiffins to put my work lunches in! I love them so much that I'm always excited to make my healthy lunches and fill them with yummy things. With those and a little mason jar for homemade salad dressing, I'm set for success.2
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In my experience what's made the journey easier is habits. Yes, having a scale and weighing everything going into your body is a sure way to lose weight. That being said, it's never been sustainable for the long run for me. What has been extremely helpful to the long-term journey though has been a few basic habits I've cultivated. I workout 6 days a week. No excuses. It helps if you can find a good gym with group workouts or someone who will workout with you. Social accountability is a real thing... Pick a consistent time to workout. This doesn't mean you have to have an extremely hard workout every day. I have days where my body is sore, I'm tired and just can't seem to do a hard workout. On those days I'll do a light cardio workout for 30 minutes and then stretch. The trick is I do this at the same time every day. Inertia is also a real thing. Another habit is removing things from your diet. For example, I removed sugary drinks, then flour, then processed sugar and finally binge drinking. These two habits of working out regularly and removing bad things from my diet carried me 90% of the way on my journey.5
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The only thing I bought was a scale to weigh myself on in the bathroom and new sneakers for walking. I was fortunate to win a free Fitbit Zip through work, but other than that and the MFP app, that's all I really need. The Fitbit helps to ensure I am moving around enough throughout the day to prevent being sedentary, and MFP helps me track all the important stuff like calories, water intake, exercise, and if I'm getting too close to my daily sugar and sodium limits.
It's up to you if you want to buy stuff like a food scale, it certainly wouldn't do any harm. But to lose weight, you don't really need extra equipment. There are plenty of free apps on smartphones, free workout videos of every kind on YouTube, and tons of free information at your local library on how to live a healthier lifestyle. Your library might even offer free/low-cost exercise programs. Or you could just go for a walk around your neighborhood or local park.
I lost 125 pounds, and I did it without food scales and extra equipment. Just me, eating healthy, drinking water and exercising every day. That's it. The rest is really just a bonus. Best of luck to you.0 -
very sad for those who regain weight. Dairy Maintenance is a good choice.1
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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.
I'm sure YMMV, but OMG....I hated my wife's gazelle. I never felt like I got much of a workout from it and it hurt my knees.
I'd take our elliptical over 10 out of 10 times.3 -
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?
Depends...
Bearing in mind heart rate monitors count heart beats and not calories then I would say unless you have fairly serious cardio goals and are going to use it as a training aid (its real design purpose) then no.
If you are of average fitness and have an average exercise heart rate (not the same thing) and for some types of exercise only then yes, a HRM can provide somewhat reasonable calorie estimates.
If it motivates you to exercise more then go for it, if you want it to estimate calories only then I would say no don't bother and save your money.2 -
I can't add anything other's haven't said but that I've also started buying less of certain foods. I do eat a little bit of everything, but certain foods like cereal and certain breads - not bad in and of themselves - are trouble spots for me. That convenience + taste + instant gratification...I'll eat a whole box of certain cereals in one sitting, so it's best to not have them around.
And while I don't have to exercise to lose, I do it for the fitness (ok and the vanity too
) so I have a fairly nice and inexpensive set of equipment in the basement. 2 -
Anything you buy is just a tool to help weight loss. Weight loss happens when you eat fewer calories than your body burns, so you don't need to buy anything unless it helps you do that.
Absolutely necessary:
- Food scale. Make sure you're actually eating in a deficit by weighing your food.
Useful, but not required:
- Bathroom scale
- Tape measure for taking your measurements.
- Any equipment/membership fees/etc. needed for exercise you like to do.
- Weight trend app, like Happy Scale or Libra. The free versions are fine.3 -
Anything you buy is just a tool to help weight loss. Weight loss happens when you eat fewer calories than your body burns, so you don't need to buy anything unless it helps you do that.
Absolutely necessary:
- Food scale. Make sure you're actually eating in a deficit by weighing your food.
Useful, but not required:
- Bathroom scale
- Tape measure for taking your measurements.
- Any equipment/membership fees/etc. needed for exercise you like to do.
- Weight trend app, like Happy Scale or Libra. The free versions are fine.
Yes! Seeing the trend during weeks when it feels like I've stalled helps quite a bit.0 -
Two things:
Good running shoes. I lost weight walking - i went through a pair of shoes every 10-12 weeks. Never underestimate the value of good shoes.
Kitchen scale. Twas a sad, sad day when i learned what a tbsp of peanut butter really looked like11 -
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yep, i'm all aboard the scale train! and running shoes, as someone said. i was killing my normal sneakers.1
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I'm going to add another vote for the food scale. Some say it isn't necessary - to each their own - but for me it has been truly eye-opening and extremely useful.0
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digital food scale and my Fitbit!0
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When I lost my first 40 lbs, I would say the best buys were a food scale to help my tracking and a fit bit to help monitor my activity. I wasn't setting any step records, but tracking helped me up my game a bit.
So much else depends on your kitchen and your diet. I could see a George Forman grill being handy. I tried juicing but it wasn't for me, so Vitamix wasn't a good purchase.0
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