We've all made some pretty big changes in how we eat, exercise, etc.
Just out of curiosity, what has been the easiest change for YOU to make? And the hardest?
For me the easiest has been drinks. All I drink anymore is water and tea. And it's been surprisingly easy. I don't even think about drinking anything else anymore. It's also been surprisingly easy cutting out the fast food.
The hardest.. is when someone at work has a birthday or is leaving and they bring in treats. It's so so so hard to resist all the pizza and cookies and brownies and ice cream. *Sigh*
Easy - I NEVER thought i'd say this but cutting back on sugar.
Hard - Getting enough water and veggies. I'm just not a big drinker. I cut out sodas and try to have 64oz a day but sometimes I'm lucky if I fit a few glasses in. Veggies is always an effort. I'm better then I used to be but probably a few servings short most days...
Easiest - Gotta agree, giving up the fast food was easy. The nearest fast food joint to me is 18 miles away.... and Subway is right next door to that place. Easy choice.
Hardest - Definitely portion control. That, and coming up with meals that I can have but that don't cause my husband to emit the little, sad sigh when he sits down at the table and realizes his dinner has -- ugh -- VEGETABLES in it.
Oddly enough, the easiest change for me was eating far, far fewer calories. When you're only eating 20-30g/day of carbs, it's really hard to go overboard on calories. For example, I feel like I was kind of piggy today, but I still only ate 18g/1120 cals! Now, when I bbq half a dead cow for dinner it can go up quite a bit, like 1800 if Ihad other caloric stufff during the day, but even then it's usually about 1500-1600, not all that high.
Keeping the carbs down is pretty easy too, since lo-carb has eliminated all my craviings. For me, now, an outrageous splurge is 1/2-1 cup of sliced strawberries with Splenda and a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream. I always did like pouring cream over strawberry shortcake a lot more than I liked whipped cream.
Of course I'm not perfect every day with the carbs. But I'm very mindful, and my slack is in having an occasional 1/2 whole wheat pita (15g) with tuna salad in it, or sauteed beef & nonions with chili powder iin a carb smart tortilla (10g).
Hard? Like lots of people, consistent exercise. Going to the gym helps, cuz I'm getting to know the regulars. Another hard: not snacking at night. Some days I save something for a late snack, like a low-carb muffin (4g), or some strawberries with cream. I was having an Atkins bar at night sometimes, but I'm not doing that anymore. Giving up coffee wasn't hard at all, since I've refused to even consider it. They can pry my full cup of coffe from my cold, dead hand. And even then, the corpse may fight back.
I'm watching carbs because I'm a diabetic, and I agree with you Shellie, it seems to really cut calorie intake.
The hardest part for me is snacking wisely, including stopping grazing all night long. I also find it hard to resist snacks at work, although I've done a decent job of it so far.
The easiest part has been watching my portions at supper.
For me the easiest is water, and eating fruits and veggies, always have always will,
The hardest is when I have to start exercising, the first 10 minutes I am like, I don't want to do this, I am tired, ect.. Once I get those 10 minutes in, I feel better, and am able to finish all my exercises.
The easiest has been transitioning from eating the wrong foods to eating the right foods. I now love cooking and experimenting with healthy recipes to discover new taste. Drinking enough water has been easy. Learning how to weigh and count every calorie has been pretty easy as well.
Hard has been exercise. I have really embraced it this last month and it makes it much more bearable. Sometimes I even say I like it!
It occasionally is still hard when we go out to nice restaurants and I need to make wise choices and not having something I love; like a Bloomin' Onion.
The hardest has been finding an eating plan that works for me. I've tried bunches of them and finally found combining all I like about different diets seems to be working the best for me.
Easy - EXERCISE! I love going to the gym for classes. I like looking at my pretty face in the mirror and imaging the new physique that is on its way. Exercise makes me feel sooo darn good.
Difficult - Eating late.... yikes I can't seem for the life of me to stop after 6:30.
Hellokitty, you are SO right about that first 10 minutes! If I can just get started, I can continue. If I can just get to the gym, I can start. If I can just get in the car, I can get there. So put those workouy clothes on, girls -- we only have to do this one baby step at a time, and that baby step seems to lead to the next baby step, and before we know it, we've just exercised. I don't like exercising, but I LOVE having exercised. Go figure.
The hardest part for me is resisting temptation. I'm at my parent's house and they have no less than 2 buckets of moose track ice cream, various cookies, a cake, chips, little chocolates, hersheys kisses, and cheese.
I'm fine at my place. But this is killing me!
Right now the easiest part is exercise. Getting up is hard, but once I'm out I really enjoy myself.
Easy and hard changes
