What small changes made a BIG difference?
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I found workouts that I enjoyed and learned to be more flexible. Fitness is fun now and something I look forward to as a part of my daily life, rather than a chore I have to do to burn calories. I don’t do the same thing every time so it stays interesting and fun for me.6
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Keeping low calorie snacks around helps me tremendously.0
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More fiber! Helps me actually stay full til dinner, and side benefit of better gut health. And pre-logging also made logging WAY easier to keep up.1
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^I agree with the above! Finding exercise I actually liked made a huge difference from sporadic jogging and Pinterest challenge charts to a set weekly schedule that I always show up for. My favorite exercise is expensive as hell and worth every penny because pretending I'm ever going to love the treadmill is just lying to myself.7
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Considering what I actually want to eat first and foremost before calories, nutrition, or anything else. After a short while of thinking I only want to eat low nutrient high calorie foods, food just became food and calories became a non-issue. Nutrition followed because I enjoy nutritious foods and I was just rebelling against dieting.
If I want to eat something that is easy to fit in, great, if I want something higher in calories, I try work my calories around it. Sometimes I discover I don't really want the high calorie item as much as I thought because working around it is less appealing, and I just have something else I want. Other times it really is what I want, and I enjoy it within calories. Shifting focus from "have to" to "want and enjoy" mage a big difference for diet sustainability.
this is a great idea. THANK YOU!0 -
I stopped leaving such a big gap between meals. I fell into the whole IF and insulin trap where I thought it would benefit my pcos to just eat 2 times a day so I would avoid ‘insulin spikes’. Bad idea. Especially for premenopausal women (I’m 26 and I want to have kids!) because our bodies are more sensitive to hunger signals. So now I make sure to eat every 3-4 hours and balance my meals out. No more saving calories for dinner or that kinda stuff. I feel much better now that I’m not spacing my meals out so much. Still eating the same calories and hunger has gone! I still IF but only for 12-14 hours a few times a week. I think it’s called cresendo fasting.1
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I stopped leaving such a big gap between meals. I fell into the whole IF and insulin trap where I thought it would benefit my pcos to just eat 2 times a day so I would avoid ‘insulin spikes’. Bad idea. Especially for premenopausal women (I’m 26 and I want to have kids!) because our bodies are more sensitive to hunger signals. So now I make sure to eat every 3-4 hours and balance my meals out. No more saving calories for dinner or that kinda stuff. I feel much better now that I’m not spacing my meals out so much. Still eating the same calories and hunger has gone! I still IF but only for 12-14 hours a few times a week. I think it’s called cresendo fasting.
I agree! I tried skipping breakfast early in my weight loss journey and was always starving by lunch and would overeat a lot more easily. Now, I have three meals and at least two snacks. IF is just a fad, I find it does not work for me and many others.4 -
Being moderate so I could easily be consistent, plus treating the whole thing like a fun science fair project for grown-ups, not a measure of my self worth as a human.
If I was hungry one day, I'd look at my food diary (and think about things like stress, sleep, exercise load), form a hypothesis about the reason, then test alternative possible solutions. If I wasn't hitting calories or my personal macro targets, I'd review the diary to look for tweak opportunities that would gradually improve the situation. Along the way, I was collecting data that could help the "science", like careful food and exercise logs, daily weights, etc.11 -
Planning food the day before or prepping for the week if I have time. If I already have my day laid out it's infinitely easier to follow because I feel like I'm breaking the law I've set for myself if I don't.
This is true of life activities in general. I've written everything in a planner for 2 or so years now, and it's made me so much more conscious of how to manage my time well and productively. As an example, I started recording how much time I spent on TV, laptop, phone etc. That made me realize how much time was being wasted and I ended up replacing it with more exercise and outdoor activity.3 -
I decided to stop putting a "time frame" on my weight loss journey. No longer thought: I must lose twenty pounds by this event, or this holiday or this season. Once I eliminated that needless pressure and just accepted my weight loss as it came - slow, steady, one step ahead, two steps back (sometimes) - it became much easier and was very liberating...17
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Buying more expensive cheeses.
I used to buy bricks of cheddar because they were more economical, but then I got into a habit of going to the fridge every night and slicing off a small chunk to snack on. Then I'd keep going back for more, because nothing about it was particularly satisfying. Now I invest in good quality cheeses like blu or cotija or brie -- I'm way less likely to snack on them, but I don't have to give up having creamy, decadent cheese in my meals. I love crumbling some cheese on my soup or over my veggies. They're also way less calorie dense when crumbled. I'm usually very satisfied with a half oz or less, so it ends up being cheaper than when I was buying big blocks of cheese at Costco.12 -
I love lobster rolls and now use celery to scoop up the lobster salad instead of putting it between two halves of a buttery roll. Less carbs and more fiber, and I don't have to look longingly at lobster rolls anymore!7
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changing my goals from 1200kcal to 1300kcal a day.. I know it's only 100kcal but it's the difference between uncomfortably hungry and feeling fine for me8
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Not beating myself up about it all. And not having any kind of time frame.
Ignoring 90 per cent of what is said about weight loss on the internet.
Eating a lil bit of what I fancy and trying to eat a balanced nutrient dense diet most of the time
Lifting weights in a structured way. Finding cardio I enjoy doing.
Not caring what other people say or think.6 -
My biggest small thing was eliminating the nonsense calories. Those stupid things add up fast!
Example, I do stop for an egg sandwich most work mornings (it’s easy and fits in may cal count) I used to get an OJ, but realized I was getting it and drinking it out habit. One day I got an apple juice and realized it was just the right serving size and only 35 calories...so I saved about 100 calories with that one change.
Another example is my G&T’s. Switched the tonic for various sparkling water flavors and eliminated those calories. There are some great flavor choices these days.
I’m about 6 weeks in to my calorie tracking experiment and have lost 6 pounds with changing my food choices drastically, but changing small things.7 -
More water about 1 gallon a day helps, plus I work out what I used to eat and reduce it, say use to have 200g of potatoes now I have 170g. Do this for all of your food and it makes a huge difference.3
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Realistic goal setting and positive self talk. I also record calories.
Not taking myself too seriously.
Sorry hope that helps2 -
Resolutioner bump. Happy New Year everybody!4
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Cutting out sodas....simply because I couldn't moderate them. I'd go through a six pack of MTN Dew in a day and the calories would add up. Replaced that with water and caffeine pills.1
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Planning meals in advance, making a shopping list, eating something filling before shopping, and sticking to that list.2
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