Name one weight loss tip that worked for you besides tracking

GoRun2 · April 2022

What's one weight loss tip that worked for you besides tracking. It would be good to know what people actually do.

AnnPT77 · April 2022

Personalization: Figuring out how to lose and maintain weight eating in a way I enjoy, that's practical for me. Figuring out how to get fitter that are relatively fun for me, ideally so fun that I'd do them even if they weren't good for me. Happy habits FTW, habits that can become almost autopilot, so they are sustainable when life gets complicated . . . which it will, sometimes.

Tracking helped with that, of course: Reviewing my food diary, it was easy to see which foods "cost" more calories than they were worth to me for their tastiness, nutrition, etc. I could reduce or eliminate those, choose others that better met my goals.

On the exercise side (or really activity side, because it's not just about formal exercise), trying things that sounded interesting, giving them a fair try to get past the "newbie blues" phase where almost anything can seem impossibly awkward at first. (Things that are easy from day 1 get boring fast, IME. Things that seem more difficult at first can better hold my interest, be enjoyable long term. YMMV.)

JMC3Terp · April 2022

Finding a sustainable schedule. Both for eating and for exercising. Find things you can do daily. Not just some of the time.

Absolutely finding what works for YOU in both diet and exercise.

Figuring out my hunger schedule. Some people get hungry in the morning. Some in the evening. Figuring out when your hungry and saving a chunk of calories for then is always good.

Getting more sleep. Sleep is so important for all things.

Figuring out my own personal weaknesses. Like for me I realized I get triggered to snack when just sitting. So I sit less and make myself busy or get myself a drink of low cal snack in those situations. I also learned that I can't personally put off my exercising til later in the day. When I did, I often wouldn't do it. Once I made it my first thing in the day, I haven't missed a day sense.

I'm sure there are dozens more... but just a few I can think of.

Sand_TIger · April 2022

Two things - one, always having portion controlled snacks around so if I need something to eat, there's something ready to go. That has helped a lot. Two, having a variety of sugar free beverages (for me this includes all kinds of different teas) so I always have something interesting to hydrate with. Both those things have really helped me out a lot.

I also do a lot with keeping my hands busy in order to reduce boredom eating, having things like popcorn or vegetables when I know that I will be nibbling, and making sure that the exercise I do is something that I don't hate.

beautyandababe · April 2022

Avoiding drinking my calories. Even if "healthy" like a smoothie. This has prevented me from getting as hungry from blood sugar spikes (even with green smoothies). However, I allow myself to drink as much decaf coffee / flavoured waters / carbonated waters as I like.
Avoiding foods that trigger me to binge (so pretty much avoiding any high-fat foods; following a low-fat diet + no grain products (I easily overeat these) besides rice or rice cakes (I need a bit of carbs before bed to sleep / feel okay)).
Chewing gum if I want a sweet treat or I'm hungry between meals and not able to access food right away.
Avoiding protein powders - eating whole protein sources instead.
Making sure I only eat what i LOVE --> so making a lot of healthy, low-calorie, low-fat, high-protein versions of cookies, bread, bagels, candies, etc. Having fun with my food! Enjoying /being creative with / and looking forward to my "healthy treats" makes the calories that much more special! I think of the calories for the day like a "budget" and HATE wasting "money" on food that wasn't worth it in terms of taste and satiety!
On that note, always bringing ENOUGH / EXTRA enjoyable food to work so I don't have to eat some free cookies or donuts or chocolate (or whatever else people bring in) if I run out of food and am starving. Plus they are way less tempting when you know you have something equally as delicious but only a fraction of the calories.
Avoiding following a religious-type of mentality towards diet, and instead continually reminding myself I need to do what works for ME - no matter what ANYONE ELSE says/thinks or what I've done in the past. Before I would think I need to eat only certain foods or to follow a certain diet and would hold myself under that pressure even when it was clearly not decreasing my calories to an adequate level for my goals / not making me feel the greatest physically.
Taking my VITAMINS daily! Especially iron, B vitamins, and vitamin D.

KL1887 · April 2022

Having enough patience not to quit. People don’t become overweight/obese overnight, don’t expect overnight results for losing weight

kjratliff55 · April 2022

Walking 10,000 steps (5 miles +/-) per day.

nsk1951 · April 2022

Don't eat as often ... I went from 3 meals and a couple of snacks throughout my day ... pretty much from shortly after getting up until right up to bedtime. I didn't start eating less often to lose weight, I did it to see if I could get my blood glucose under better control ( Type 2 Diabetes) ... it took some doing, but now a days I eat just twice a day. And I don't eat for several hours after waking up as well as very rarely anything after about 8 PM ... it got easy to do after some time slowly lengthening the time span where I relied on non-caloric drinks ( water or tea for me) instead of reaching for something to nibble in between meals. My a1C went from 7.9 to 5.4 ... and I have lost weight as a side benefit ... about 50 pounds just from eating less often.

yukfoo · April 2022

putting down my fork.

JBDreads · April 2022

Visualization and meditation.

LiveOnceBeHappy · April 2022

nsk1951 wrote: »

Don't eat as often ... I went from 3 meals and a couple of snacks throughout my day ... pretty much from shortly after getting up until right up to bedtime. I didn't start eating less often to lose weight, I did it to see if I could get my blood glucose under better control ( Type 2 Diabetes) ... it took some doing, but now a days I eat just twice a day. And I don't eat for several hours after waking up as well as very rarely anything after about 8 PM ... it got easy to do after some time slowly lengthening the time span where I relied on non-caloric drinks ( water or tea for me) instead of reaching for something to nibble in between meals. My a1C went from 7.9 to 5.4 ... and I have lost weight as a side benefit ... about 50 pounds just from eating less often.

Funny, what's helped me is the opposite! I eat 3 meals a day and at least 2 snacks. I eat breakfast around 8:00 am at work and finish dinner around 7:00 pm. I've lost 45 lbs. I would love to see blood work, but that'll have to wait. Fun how we each find what works for us.

Congrats on getting healthier!

sijomial · April 2022

My main tip would be to think and plan before executing. It's so common for people to leap straight to executing someone else's diet plan......
I reflected on what did and didn't work in previous attempts and then made a plan taking that experience plus my strengths and weaknesses into account.

Main points of my plan were:
Not having an everyday calorie deficit, I had a very uneven eating pattern with the majority of my days eating at maintenance levels. (I'm good at maintenance but everyday deficit kills my motivation.)

Picking a personally sustainable and suitable weight loss rate (1lb a week for me). Don't make a hard job harder.

Making my diet fit my lifestyle rather than the other way round. Being miserable isn't helpful for compliance.

fitness_goals_007 · April 2022

Drinking lots of water especially while having my meals.
Having my stomach full of water tricks my body in to thinking I've eaten a lot more than I actually have!

JustRamona · April 2022

looking for reduced the calorie of everything I eat. Yes, have the bread-but the 40 calorie/slice. Yes have the mayo-but light mayo. yes have the salad dressing--choose fat free. yes have the xxxxxxxxx saves hundreds of calories per day

estherjellybabe · April 2022

- Using smaller plates for better portion control.
- Not having breakfast and instead eating my first meal at around 12pm.
- Doing the exercise that works for ME, not what society thinks is good for me. For example, most people encourage me to go to the gym. I find it extremely boring, to the point where I end up not going or not doing enough while there. Instead, I go walking - I enjoy it much more and therefore I do it much more consistently.
- Caffeine keeps my appetite at bay, so that's very useful
- If you need to go somewhere which is within 30 min walking distance, don't take the car if you can avoid it.
- Don't weigh yourself every day.

Jan1936 · April 2022

Staying away from empty calories, drinking more water and an evening walk most days. It sounds so simple when I write it down but it has taken almost ten years to actually implement and maintain.

poisonesse · April 2022

2 things... putting my fork down between bites which slowed me down enough to let my mind realize my belly was full, and drinking lots of water/fluids during the day. Often, when we think we're hungry we're actually just thirsty!

MsWendie · April 2022

I'm doing IF with keto. My biggest breakthrough came when I followed the tip not to snack in between meals while in my eating window. Game changer! I still eat snack and dessert foods, but simply include them right before or after my main meals. Snacking throughout the eating window spikes insulin up and down too often and thus slows down fat burning progress, despite our being consistent with fasting times. Not snacking in between meals also low key causes us to eat less because when we focus on filling ourselves up at meal time we tend to realize we snack out of habit. So often, I anticipated my sweet dessert or salty snack but after eating my lunch or dinner, I lost the craving for it because I was fully satiated.

kstarallen · April 2022

When I’m hungry at night after dinner I have what I call “nutritious dessert”. Fills me up and tastes like dessert so that I don’t go HAM on candy/cookies etc. It’s been vanilla Greek yogurt, vanilla almond granola, diced strawberries and a drizzle of honey. OMG yum. So yeah that’s my tip. Make your dessert nutritious.

MsCzar · April 2022

1. Making eating a deliberate activity with zero distractions -no more mindless grab and go whilst walking or other activity food. I can easily scarf down 400 calories on the two minute trip from the kitchen to my computer desk. Now I take all my meals and snacks mindfully at the table.
2. Declaring no-food times during they day. It's very tempting to boredom snack between my first meal and dinner. So I set aside 1PM-4PM as a no-food time. I also don't eat anything after dinner, but that's more about keeping my acid reflux in check.

aginghealthier · April 2022

Just like others here, I only eat 2 meals a day (lunch and dinner). I also limited total fat calories to be 10-15% of total calories for the day, depending on how fast I wanted to see the scale move. Now that I'm near maintenance, I have increased fat calories to 15-25% daily, while still keeping my total calories below 1200 (most days). I lose much more slowly this way, but I'm determined not to gain. Time will tell where my calorie "sweet spot" is. I do 3 group exercise classes a week to keep my heart healthy.

Name one weight loss tip that worked for you besides tracking

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