Never EVER give up. If you eat bad at one meal, don't eat bad for the rest of the day, or the rest of the week. Get right back on track, assess the damage and move forward.
*Realizing that I NEED exercise MOST days
*Not allowing trigger foods into my home
*Not wandering around outside with an empty stomach This just means that I eat before leaving for a night out on the town
*Researching restaurant menus in order to have an idea of what I should order
*Knowing what I'm going to eat for every meal throughout the week and shopping accordingly
*Weighing myself everyday because it's really easy to "forget" that number as I'm going for another cookie...
*Understanding that there are about a billion reasons as to why weight stalls and that if I am patient it will work itself out.... and I can't give up in the meantime!
I believe I just broke through a plateau, but I shall wait till next week to be sure the numbers are indeed heading down. I think what did it was being a lot stricter with my calories (ww points). Like I would think things like well one or two more points can't possibly hurt... every day! They do!
-Buying only foods compatible with my diet (Fat Smash Diet, which I would recommend to ANYONE) and learning how to cook and SEASON food I never ate before correctly so I don't get discouraged about eating it
-Exercising for an hour as many days I can out of the week (cardio and weights)
-Eating at least 4-5 times a day - never feel hungry
-Pushing myself as hard as I can
-Don't eat within about 3 hours of going to bed
-Get sleep!!
I usually analyze a restaurant's menu before I go there.
Instead of missing out on a pizza night, I'll buy healthy pizzas (right now I get Earth Pride's Organic) and have a pizza night once a week. Half a pizza is only 300 calories and yummy! Plus you save a lot of money and calories not buying from a pizza shop.
Well, I simply cut my calories, no real exercise plan. I average 1500 calories a day.
Five months, 65 pounds. I'm happy with the results.
My most recent plateau- I was able to get over it by lowing my calories (I'll most likely up them again later) and adding in Alli.
i will try not to repeat too many of the things that others have said.... here are some of the things that have helped me:
- no food after 8pm. period. no matter what. after 8pm, i only allow myself to drink hot tea -- or water -- (yogi tea is my favorite - love their bedtime tea! i also love to read the nice little thoughts on the tag for each tea bag). i aim for 7pm as the cutoff but most days that doesn't happen.
- tofutti chocolate popsicles - they are 30 calories each, no dairy (vegan), sweetened with nutrasweet -- saves me when i'm craving sweets. even if i eat two, i'm still not sabatoging my diet. they are really good!
- meditation. it really helps and i should do it every day. 10 mins each morning and evening too if you have time.
- grapefruit in the fridge. i love grapefruit and it is a good snack when i feel like eating even though i should not be hungry, sometimes i eat a grapefruit and drink the juice and feel satisfied. if i was ever desperately hungry after 8pm, i would eat this as a rare exception.
- drinking hot tea - again - when you feel hungry anytime during the day but don't think you should be eating, drink some hot tea. it takes a while to finish the cup of tea and by then you've had time to think if you are really hungry or not and can make a better decision. i like constant comment green tea, and chai green tea for daytime. peppermint tea is supposed to help suppress appetite and i drink it a lot, too. i always use 2 teabags for more flavor in my tea.
- accountability. some regular weigh in that you do, in front of someone else. be it a doctor, a friend, whatever. very important! if you know you have that weigh-in coming up you want to work harder so you do well.
- sticking to exercise no matter what you feel like - don't let yourself talk yourself out of it. ever. when i am in that mindset, i do well. also - don't take a day off. ever. if you need to rest your body after a particularly hard workout the day before, at least do a non-strenuous exercise like a leisurely stroll for 20 mins. do SOMETHING because if you skip a day, it's waaaay too easy to skip the next, and the next, and then getting back on track is much harder. to sum up, always have an easy workout backup plan for days when you just don't have it in you to do a tough workout.
- for me in particular - don't visit my family! every time i visit my family i screw up my plan, i either don't exercise as much or i eat too much, and i have to work on that. but when i do visit my family, i am sure to bring my own food with me, including salad supplies and fat free dressing. so i won't be as likely to mess up.
- be a homebody. ok so this is maybe not practical for most people, but when i don't go out to eat, or to bars, or to parties, or travel, and i spend a lot of time at home, i do REALLY well with my diet and exercise. no outside influences to tempt me. i lean towards hermit-like tendencies so i actually don't mind being a homebody, but i realize it isn't practical for most people.
- bring your lunch to work. i take stuff to make a salad and put it together at my desk and bring light/fat free salad dressings. my favorite right now is kraft light balsamic vinagrette. another good choice is the wal-mart brand italian -it's very strong though but only 10 calories per serving and fat free. i have tried many fat free / low fat dressings and i have a few standbys that i always keep on hand.
ok i could go on.... but i won't.... those are the ones that help me most, and writing this has reminded me of a few things that i need to start incorporating again into my daily life in order to jump start my weight loss.
Okay, I broke my plateau... I could gain it back tomorrow but I'd still be happy because even a dip down for the day means that I'm no longer just ping-ponging between 160-158.
These last few days, I eased up on exercise, doing 50/55 minutes instead of 60-80 mins, and yesterday I DIDN'T EXERCISE! I had worked out for almost 3 weeks straight.. I was busy running around my house but no real exercise. I ate 1375 calories and for the past few days I've been trying to keep my net calories up higher. And it worked.
I lost weight by eating healthy, drinking more water, and working out. I worked out like at least 6 hours per week. Now.. I just got back on the wagon and trying to break the plateau and get under the 170's..so we will see how that goes.
By the way, I noticed that you are in S. Korea. Whereabout in South Korea are you?
well for starters I've had many diets 'work' temporarily. I have decided on no more 'fad' diets. I am just eating more healthy and watching my cal intake. I track on www.thedailyplate.com, have real life diet buddies who keep me on track, TRY and remember to drink lots of water (I am on a med that causes decreased thirst! augh!), the calorie counting thing really is key. it's simple math basically and most times it works as it should.
THe most important thing to me, is eating enough. You eat enough, you wont' binge, you eat enough, you wont' feel deprived and give in, you eat enough, you keep your metabolism up, you have somewhere to "go" once you stall. (if you are eating 1500 cals a day and you stall just drop down to 1400 and see if that picks up the loss for you.) but if you start out at 1200 you can't go any lower (safely) and you stay stuck (like my friend who is doing exactly that and experiencing exactly that.)
Above all else make healthy choices eating in and out and treat yourself sometimes or else you'll seriously crack. ha.
knowing what im eating BEFORE i eat it, ie looking up things before i go out to eat them, not buying and eating things on a whim- planning, generally. Not drinking calories. Never giving up! And when all else failed- posting on 3FC. People on here seriously know the answer to everything
Identifying my bad trigger foods and getting used to them being in my life only on my birthday. Harsh, but it's what I need.
Always trying out lots of new on-plan recipes so I don't get bored with my food choices.
Exercising every other day and taking really good care of my body afterwards (sauna, shower, any necessary grooming, good smelling perfume, delicious post-workout snack).
Weighing myself every day, but only recording/counting one day a week.
This just means that I eat before leaving for a night out on the town
