Oh, and I think the 'always eat breakfast' tip is bogus, too. I'm not much of a morning person and often don't feel like eating until lunch time. If I force myself to eat breakfast when I'm not hungry, that just adds to my calorie total without actually affecting my appetite for other foods throughout the day. Wasted calories, for me at least.
Drink water to curb hunger, or it's alternate, drink water when hungry in case you misunderstand your body and are actually dehydrated. Pfffft. If you already drink enough water being hungry is being hungry and drinking water to curb hunger does nothing but make you pee in 30 to 45 minutes.
I occasionally have a taste for chocolate and for me keeping large bars of really, really high quality chocolate around (I'm talking Green & Black, Theo, Endangered Species, etc.) is the best cure. About two or three squares of super dark chocolate, consumed mindfully, and the craving is totally satisfied.
When I was younger I will say sometimes my carb cravings would be completely insane ... I've since learned that estrogen and serotonin are linked, which makes complete sense (estrogen drops = serotonin levels drop; carbs increase serotonin, i.e., eating cake before your period is self medicating).
Haha, I had a feeling someone would ask, but my post already felt too long. It's nothing all that exciting really - I just cook a lot on the weekend so that I have a healthy, on-plan main dish waiting for me when I get home during the week. At most, I'll have to cook an extra vegetable in the evening which takes about 15 minutes. But a protein - fish, chicken, dal, whatever I cooked during the weekend - is always there waiting for me. This is huge for me, because the worst state for me to be in is tired, hungry and thinking "hm, what sounds good for dinner? Maybe I'll just order in...."
I don't know how I could have lost the weight I lost without this. Yet, lots of people don't feel it would work for them - some folks don't like eating the same dinner two nights in a row or have spouses who complain about this; others have a lot more people to cook for than I do and have a hard time making enough food in advance to last more than a day or two. Some folks just don't want to cook at all. But for me? It's the single most important tactic I use to stay on plan.
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I have a friend who's "trick" is to sit down at a restaurant and promptly divide her meal into 2 and box half of it right away.
There is one restaurant in particular where I do this. The portions there are quite huge and so tasty that it is impossible for me to stop eating if it is there in front of me. So half of it gets put away before I take a single bite.
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Originally Posted by BigChiefHoho
Cleanses are generally pretty bogus, IMO. You might lose a couple pounds, but it'll all come back as soon as you start eating again, and there's honestly no reason that any person with a functioning liver should have to "flush out toxins." Seriously, people, we have organs for that.
I am inclined to agree with this.
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Originally Posted by ReNew Me
Drink water to curb hunger, or it's alternate, drink water when hungry in case you misunderstand your body and are actually dehydrated. Pfffft. If you already drink enough water being hungry is being hungry and drinking water to curb hunger does nothing but make you pee in 30 to 45 minutes.
I take your point, but this one works for me in certain circumstances - especially when I am sitting my desk and trying to hold off on a meal or a snack for just a little while. For instance, if it's an hour before I go to lunch, and I have to decide whether to eat a snack or just wait it out, drinking some water (or some black coffee, or anything) helps me wait it out.
It's not that the drink curbs hunger in any permanent way; I'm not sure what the mechanism is, maybe just giving my mouth and stomach something to do is enough to buy a little time.
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I occasionally have a taste for chocolate and for me keeping large bars of really, really high quality chocolate around (I'm talking Green & Black, Theo, Endangered Species, etc.) is the best cure.
What is this "keeping chocolate around" of which you speak? I'm teasing - I so envy people who can do this. Any candy kept around me is candy kept IN me, unless I eat absolutely none of it at all. But the moment I taste it, it's gone.
Thanks for sharing that tip carter, I can see how that would definitely work for some people. Me, not so much! I'm a foodie, I've got a toddler and I like to cook different things every day because I enjoy cooking. I also shop every single day, it's one of my stay-at-home-mommy activities I do with my son to keep me active and I get to stare at fresh veggies every day. THIS is MY tactic that works for me but I know it will not work for many other people, aka people who work during the day.
My hubby works during the day and his tactic is to have a home cooked meal on the table every night by his wifey. Lucky b****rd!
Haha, I had a feeling someone would ask, but my post already felt too long. It's nothing all that exciting really - I just cook a lot on the weekend so that I have a healthy, on-plan main dish waiting for me when I get home during the week. At most, I'll have to cook an extra vegetable in the evening which takes about 15 minutes. But a protein - fish, chicken, dal, whatever I cooked during the weekend - is always there waiting for me. This is huge for me, because the worst state for me to be in is tired, hungry and thinking "hm, what sounds good for dinner? Maybe I'll just order in...."
Me too! I even make breakfast and lunch for two weeks ahead of time, and I definitely have cooked over 60 meals in one day. Not only does it make it easy and cheaper for me, but I don't have to cook and clean my kitchen every day
Bulk cooking is great. And count me as one where drinking water before eating has definitely helped. Not always, but it's a good start.
Bogus diet tip? Eating small OR clearly defined meals. I do better grazing some days, eating epic feasts with long fasts others, and occasionally with equally divided and sized meals, too. There is NO rule on eating frequency or portions that has fit me a majority of the time, it varies throughout a given month based on food availability, the choices I make, my hormones, activity level, waking time, you name it.
Yes I suppose bogus might not be the right word because people love to do what they do. I suppose no fruit works for me as a snack because all fruit makes me hungry. I must be sensitive to the fructose or something. If I do have fruit it must must must be accompanied by protein. Eating an apple makes my stomach churn in 10min flat. Eating an apple with peanut butter is quite satisfying.
A trick that has actually worked out for me is drinking tea in the late afternoon. I drink a very heavily spiced cinammon tea that is so gratifying that it literally qualms my late afternoon munchies. To someone else this will definitely not work.
I have a friend who's "trick" is to sit down at a restaurant and promptly divide her meal into 2 and box half of it right away.
What tea do you drink? The teas that I've tried just taste like very mildly flavored hot water but I'd love to find something that I like.
Looking through all the 'bogus' diet tips that have been posted here, gosh, we're all so different:
apple test - never heard of it before!
salad test - hmmm, won't work for me. Don't exactly like particular types of salads and even if I'm starving (physically hungry), I'd rather go out to buy other food.
cut out sugar soda - nope, won't work too as I hardly ever drink them.
cut out fruits - nooo.. love fruits too much to cut them out.
drinking tea in late afternoons - I actually do this but not with tea. I drink coffee with sugar and milk. Gotta have the caffeine kick.
cleanses - yeah, I was fooled by this one in my dieting days. Never again.
eat breakfast tip. I do this. But I eat breakfast because I'm hungry.
drink water to curb hunger. Drinking water is good for your skin and that's my no. 1 reason for doing so, not to curb hunger.
cook during the weekends to stock up for the week. Really good idea actually. Might try this one.
eating small or clearly defined meals. I eat clearly defined meals. I used to graze but have now changed my habits, though I must say that I go through periods of defined meals and grazing anyway.
The diet tip that I have found to not work for me - avoid artificial sweeteners as they make you put on weight round your tummy.
Well, I've avoided artificial sweeteners but still had a bit of a belly. It was not until I got to a lower weight (combined with doing heaps of crunches) that my belly became flatter.
I called bullcrap on the one where it says to visualize in detail eating the thing you want, and that that will reduce your craving for it. What a load of BS. Also, there is evidence that visualizing yourself doing something in a given situation can contribute to forming a habit of doing that thing. Not good.
Otherwise...
1. Always eat breakfast.
Nope. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I eat it when I'm hungry, though - I don't muscle through without food (which would fail epically).
2. Drink water when you're hungry b/c of dehydration
Yes! This works for me, because I do get those signals crossed. Sometimes I think I'm starving, even right after a meal. Nope, just thirsty.
3. Many small meals a day.
Most often this fails me. I get so tired of finding things to eat 6 times a day. My meals vary from 2-4 times a day, generally (more meals = smaller meals). I try to eat when I'm hungry and not just when it's mealtime. And also, a bunch of tiny meals doesn't fill me up at all - but neither can I eat only huge meals. So, it varies.
Oh yes the several small meals a day. I tried to do that for years! The only thing that has accomplished is to make me think about food all day long. I only eat when I'm hungry now and that's usually 2-3 meals a day, and maybe a snack but usually not. It's so nice to eat and then stop thinking about food for a few hours.
I couldn't do the 6 small meals a day, either. I found it too hard trying to come up with enough satisfying combinations and keep it around 250 calories. Three meals and maybe a snack works so much better for me.
The portions there are quite huge and so tasty that it is impossible for me to stop eating if it is there in front of me. So half of it gets put away before I take a single bite.
but I'd love to find something that I like.
