My number one dieting tip- what is yours?

candy is not a four letter word

My number one tip would be try not to think of it as a temporary diet and instead think about it as a healthy lifestyle change

^^This...no food is banned...just learn to balance things out...work out a little more...nothing is off limits!

Drink a huge glass of water if you feel like you want food, but your stomach isn't growling. In all likelihood, you're not hungry.

WATER! Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I replaced all my drinks (save almond milk, green tea, and coffee) with water.

I (and a lot of others) do a gallon of water a day. Have a big glass first thing when you wake up. You start the day out right, get your metabolism going right away, and it actually does wake you up some.

If you don't buy it, you won't eat it:
Clear out the junk from your fridge and cupboards and fill them with good healthy options and variety. If you do have a craving, chances are you'll grab something that's available...

General BIG HEALTH Tips (for people without specific health issues:

1. Diet alone is not enough (as mentioned by others).

Several reasons for this and it's been proven by study. After losing 12 lbs in a year, people gained an average of 6 back in three years when the study was halted. Diet alone was not enough. This is because your brain trys to maintain it's set point and slows your metabolic rate below it's normal BMR.

2. Resistance Training is better, but both Resistance and Aerobic Training are beneficial, espeically when combined.

People who just diet tend to also lose muscle mass. Having too little lean muscle mass was associated with a higher degree of illness and metabolic synrome (diabetes, hypertension etc) than being obese. That is people who lost lean muscle mass actually had a higher degree of illness. Strength training helps build muscle mass and improve insulin sensitivity. Adding aerobic activity makes the benefit even better. Have a program that alternates both types of activity.

3. Limiting calories are only part of the story. Make your calories count. Realise that fats actually have more health problems associated with them than carbs. With high protein comes higher fat content generally and higher cholesterol. Eating healthy means look at what's in the calories. Saturated fat is not good, but some polyunsaturated fats are not good either. There is a lot of omega 6 in American Diets. Too little Omega 3. If you think this is essocteric look at the ratios and risk for heart disease>

American Diet: Ration of Omega 6/3 =50 Risk of heart disease was 45 percent
Japanese Diet: Ratio of Omega 6/3 = 12 12 percent risk of heart disease
Eskimo Diet: Ration of Omega 6/3 = 1 Risk of heart disease = 7 percent

While keeping fat percentage as low as 30 (MFP) is good, lower is better.

4. Eat foods with lower Glycemic Loads

5. Check your kidney function with your doctor before consuming high protein diets (great than 1.0 mg/kg or more than 15 % of your calories).

6. Read Labels....Read Labels....Read labels...

7. Fiber is a positive.

8. Don't eat back all your exercise calories (going to take heat on this one) but listen, I've spoken to many educated licensed dietitions about this one too who looked at and used MFP. They had many things to say about MFP. Mostly good. It doesn't separate out good sugar from bad, good cholesterol from bad, ....but all in all...science shows that your BMR when dieting slows.....and your body tries to maintain a setpoint from before....So what is used by formula here works for people trying to maintain that weight...and not necessarily for dieters. The other thing is we don't accurately log all the calories correctly, nor do we get completely accurate burn numbers. I've been eating under my calorie allotment and exercise allotment by 500-1500 calories for nearly 9 months and have gained 8 lbs..some of it I wanted to gain back. People still think I'm too thin...but I've been under my calorie count the entire time. Eating more isn't going to solve that problem....exercising and getting my metabolic rate back up can.


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter

My only tip: it's not a diet it's a lifestyle.

Mine is not to feel guilty if you sometimes have what I call a 'fat day' but to be honest about it. Honesty is very important. Oh and finding an exercise you ENJOY.

My tip is that if a food is bad for you - don't even buy it at the store! Then it won't be around your house tempting you later.

Patience!

The weight will come off... but chances are it's not going to come off quickly or in large amounts throughout your entire weight loss process.

I've been using a Fitbit for a month before coming here (yes, I've linked it to this site) and it's the first thing that's ever worked for me in terms of losing weight. When I go hiking in the mountains it automatically lets me eat more calories so I can have that beer or chocolate. If I spend the day in front of the computer then it scales down the calories. That means that I get a reward for exercise, and the reward is in proportion to the exercise. It really is helping me keep motivated, both to exercise (I get treats) and to stick to the diet (I get treats).

bump

My tip is to find good, healthy food for you that you LOVE. I don't need cupcakes since I've found Jamie Eason's cinnamon swirl protein bread! Keep finding subs like that and your diet will be overhauled in no time, and you won't miss the bad food.

I have learned the hard way more water is the key. It's not the ideal drink with everything you eat. But it works and as long as it work that is all that matters at this point.

The ones I have discovered are:

1. Weight loss is about 70% diet and 30% exercise. so watch what you eat, and don't exercise yourself to death.

2. Calories are important, but what makes up your calories even more. Read your nutrition facts and ingredients. Keep it fresh and natural if you can.

3. Don't be afraid of muscle! Building muscle revs up your metabolism and keeps it going that way longer.

4. Eat 5-6 times a day, small meals and healthy snacks.

5. Watch your carbs, you always burn carbs before you burn fat. And if you love carbs like me, make sure they come from whole grains, and fiber rich lentils.

Don't be discouraged, keep going, don't feel bad about reaching out for support and motivation. If you have kids, always remember that they will grow up with the same eating habits as you, so make the right lifestyle change if you realize you don't want them to be like you. It's hard, but the end result is always so well worth it!