Weight Loss "Rules" - Which Do You Not Use?
 

Another thread about the "don't eat right before bed" rule brought this topic to mind. There are tons of "rules" out there about weight loss, how you should do it, etc...everything from drinking 8 glasses of water a day, to not eating between meals, to skipping dessert, to eating smaller portions. We talk a lot here at 3FC about how we're all different, and what works for one of us may not work for another. In the spirit of that, which "rules" do you NOT follow?

I don't...

Skip dessert! I just make it healthier and low-cal, or buy something portion controlled. I love my dessert.

Set a "cutoff" time for eating. I usually eat something right before bed (and it is usually the dessert mentioned above)

Eat smaller portions the majority of the time (at least, for anything I cook at home). I cook differently so that the foods I eat have less calories for BIG portions...I don't do hungry!

What rules don't work for YOU?

I never eat low or no fat foods... I just don't like them I just use less of the real stuff, I still put cream in my coffee...

I don't do cut off times either. I'm also not a slave to the 5-6 small meals concept. I mean, sometimes I do, but a lot of times I'm just a 3-squares kinda gal.

I eat large portions of foods too. Big salads of mixed greens, spinach, shredded carrots, with a portion of lean chicken breast, turkey, or turkey chili on top. I like to eat big, so my foods are not calorie-dense.

I have no time cut-off, either. Often, I'm so hungry by 9 pm that I know I won't get to sleep and I won't have any energy to get up early to do my workout. Before bed I usually have a little bit of cottage cheese mixed with a few tablespoons of Danon Fit and Light yogurt. That's my version of dessert.

Other than that, I have lots of self-imposed rules that work for me. Lots of food that I just don't go near because it would be day over after one bite :dizzy:

Mel

Diet rules that I break:

Moderation: I don't do "all things in moderation". Many, many foods are on my personal forbidden list. For me, some foods ARE bad.

Coffee/caffeine; I drink a pot of coffee a day. :whoo:

Diet soda: Just try to pry it out of my fingers. :lol:

Food variety: Nope, I eat pretty much the same food every day, for years at a time. My Fitday has 10 - 15 "recent food" that are pretty much all I eat.

Not feeling guilty after a slip/not beating oneself up: Actually, fear of regain and guilt are two of my most useful emotions for weight maintenance. I never want to lose the guilt. For me, forgiving myself for messing up is the first step to regain.

:chin: Hm, I'm sure I can think of more ...

wow I saw ur before and after pics and also read your story, AMAZING. I don't even know you, but I must say I'm proud of you. I also decided to shed some pounds. Hope you mind if I asked for a lil encouragement once in a while.
Thickmadame

What a cute thread... never really thought about this specifically ^^

Hrm. What "rule" am I okay with not following?

"Watch your sodium intake." In horrible honesty, I don't look at sodium at all.

:welcome3: Thickmadame and congratulations on your decision to get fit and healthy. You've found the best place on the web for support and encouragement, so post a lot and let us get to know you! :)

* I have no cut off time for food, I've always eaten a later dinner and then a snack after dinner if I really want it

* I don't drink lots of water, just 2 glasses a day, usually (lots of tea though)

* I don't exercise as much as I should (although this is one rule, I need to follow!)

* I eat tons and tons of carbs (whole grains and sweet potatoes, mostly)

* I don't eat a lot of sugar free or fat free products

* I only weigh once a week

* I also completely ignore sodium (but I have very low blood pressure and don't eat a lot of packaged foods)

* I don't do moderation, I literally can not open a package eat 2 cookies and stop, I just don't have a cookie (I do have desserts/treats in carefully controlled situations - like splitting in a restaurant)

* I gave up a lot of foods forever - soda, fast foods, fried foods, packaged baked goods, cream-based sauces

[Charlton Heston] FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS! [/Charlton Heston]

Me too, I need my diet soda

I don't watch my sodium either. I try to keep packaged foods at a minimum, and have no blood pressure issues. If it becomes an issue, maybe I'll do something about it.

I also keep my diet sodas and coffee...you can't have em!

I was just talking about this topic with my SIL. I break a lot of the same "rules" I don't drink water. I always snack at night. It is still my favorite time to eat. After I put the kids to bed, I sit down for my yummy night time snack that I love so much! Which means I also break the rule of comfort eating! I do exercise portion control with a lot of foods, But I can eat 2 cups of veggies at time with my portion controlled dinner. Sometimes it is too much food and I can't finish! Almost nothing is off limits. I even drink some of my calories by having very creamy coffee!! But it all works for me!! I do have to watch my sodium, though. Jelly

I love this thread! It's like I can share what I thought were my "dirty little secrets" with no shame. ;)

I drink coffee everday...with cream!

I drink almost no water (not proud of that).

I need aspartame or splenda to survive.

I have dessert every day after dinner (always allow for those calories...it keeps me sane!)

I cannot fully give up frozen entrees...although I do read the labels carefully.

Every now and then I have to really let loose...have a burger and fries or pizza. Otherwise, life's just not worth living

:D

I don't drink a lot of water

I don't watch sodium at all

I have no "cut off" time before I go to bed

I drink diet pop daily and tea & coffee with sweet & low

I do not have ONE forbidden food

I cooked maybe 3 or 4 times last year (and on the rare occasion I do cook, it's definitely not healthy)

I eat a lot of frozen dinners

I still eat fast food

I don't always order the healthy option at restaurants

I don't journal or use fitday at all (I did at the beginning -- it lasted a couple of weeks; I keep my rough calorie count in my head)

I forgot about aspartame sweetner! I couldn't get through a day with out it!!!!! Jelly

Splenda here too. Plus, I drop my calories below 1200 if I need to lose a few pounds.

I don't cut out sodium either...

I absolutely love my coffee...

I'm a splenda lover ^^ (One or two in my morning coffee ;))

Another Splenda lover here.

Also - I am never as strict on weekends as I am during the week.

And just look at the hundreds of pounds all of us "rebels" have lost. :rofl:

Great thread, Amanda!

Oh I'm right with you all on lots of these.

I have never had a cut off time. I eat right before I crawl in the bed many nights.

I don't do small portions either. I have big portions that fill me up, but they are foods that will keep me full.

I use Splenda often, with no guilt.

I eat fast foods a couple of times a week.

I don't watch my sodium either. No blood pressure problems here either, I pray I never have it because I like my food on the salty side (especially my morning oatmeal!). :o

I weigh every day, sometimes 2x a day.

~ I keep lots of rich dark chocolate in the house and eat some at least 3 times each week

~ I drink 1-2 glasses of red wine most evenings

~ I eat full-fat cheeses daily (in moderation)

~ I don't purchase fat-free products (unless they are naturally fat-free)

~ I sometimes go below 1200 calories in a day (not too often)

~ I do whatever I feel like for my exercise routines. I don't follow a set schedule or worry about balancing weights and cardio

-I don't watch the sodium
-I drink a couple of beers at night-switched from Bud Light to Miller Light
-I don't exercise like I should
-Once a week I eat a fat steak (lean, but 2 portions of protein) and 2 portions of starch (Oven fried potatoes)
-now that I've been on maintenance since Sept., I also have a 3 ounce hamburger and oven fries once a week. I love red meat and taters!

Ah, I'd forgotten about splenda....I use about a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar-free flavored syrup and a portion pack of 1/2 and 1/2 in my giant mug of morning coffee. And then there's that Danon Fit and Light yogurt :o

I also occasionally go under 1200 calories, but not often.

I don't really pay attention to sodium, but I have low blood pressure and cook about 98% of the food we eat from scratch, no or very little salt added. I'm sure that most of my sodium comes from things like cottage cheese and fish.

I don't do moderation either. There is no such thing as moderation for a lot of foods for me. There's either a closed container or an empty container. I'm better off never opening it.

Welcome to 3FC, Thickmadame!

I love this thread! But I don't feel like such a rebel seeing so many other people breaking the rules! :lol:

- I don't worry about my water intake

- I don't set evening cutoffs

- I use splenda (though a lot less than I used to)

- No food is forbidden (though some can't enter the house)

- Big portions rock!

- I don't always eat breakfast shortly after I get up. Give me my coffee and I can go a couple hours without eating. I nearly always eat breakfast, though.

- I've never worried about sodium

-

--No moderation here. I just can't do it, it's not right for me. This means I have a "Bad Food List". Some foods ARE bad for me.

--I regularly forget to drink water. I know I should, I just forget.

--I don't use substitute foods. If it's something that is on my Bad Food List and my option is something sugar free/fake, I just don't even try. I HATE SPLENDA. If that's my option, I'll just skip it.

I like this thread, mainly because it's a reminder that (even among the big losers here) nobody does everything "by the book"...especially because there is no ONE BOOK.

I'd been seeing a lot of posts that said "I know I shouldn't eat after 8" or "I know I should be cutting out diet sodas" and was thinking to myself...I did BOTh of those things and still did OK. Weight loss isn't a game of "this is OK, this is not"...it's a game of figuring out what works for each of us and working at as best we can.

Hooray for rebels!

Hooray for rebels!

I...

eat WHAT I want WHEN i want..no cutoff times here, or serious restrictions.. there is only ONE food on my forbidden list (fried chicken..i have a serious problem with it. i also don't go out to eat very often, but i've always preferred home cooking)

don't buy LF or FF foods, except FF yogurt (stonybrook farms.. it still tastes like "real" yogurt to me). for me it seems like whole, unprocessed foods "work a lot better"

use REAL FULL FAT butter when I cook if that's what the food needs or top a piece of toast.

don't drink soda but if you dare try to take my coffee from me, you're in trouble - my 2-6 cups a day with real cream (no sugar, but only because i don't like it my coffee) you're in trouble. i firmly believe the caffiene HELPS my weight loss.. i tend to stall if i cut out the caffiene completely.

drink alcohol. not on a regular basis, but a glass of wine with dinner a couple times a week and friday nights is "drinking" night. hasn't seemed to hurt me in the least. the only time i cut out alcohol completely was the first two week i did atkins (which did help me lose 50 lbs)

am not seriously counting my calories or on any other plan. i am listening to my body and feeding my cravings when i have them, and only eating when i am hungry and stopping when i am FULL and it is working incredibly well (20 lbs since november!)

don't exercise as much as i should. i have a VERY physical job - 8-10 hours a day on my feet, lifting and moving and walking and there's a part of me that KNOWS that if i exercised more on top of this I could more than likely be at goal already, but i am honestly too lazy. that being said, i AM going to start running if it EVER gets warm outside. i have been blessed with a very muscular frame and i am starting to realize an incredibly bizarre metabolism. i always thought i had a slow metabolism but that doesn't seem to be the case. i'm VERY muscular for my size and the two years that i was maintaining my weight and not losing, i figure i consumed somewhere around 4000 calories a day. (of junk! and i didn't gain a lb! i would often have a yogurt and granola bar for breakfast - 300 cals if not more, cheese and fruit for a snack - somewhere around 200 cals if not more, a Fast Food lunch that was at LEAST 1200-1400 calories, snacks throughout the afternoon and a dinner that was at least 800 calories. while i'm not officially counting now, i'm losing 1-2lbs a week on what is probably 2000 calories a day if not more. i never realized how much i ate and how thankful i should be of my metabolism because i should honestly have a lot more problems than i have)

-I eat many of my calories after 7 p.m. Like 600 of my daily 1300 are within a couple hours of bed.
-I have a cheeseburger at least 3 times per week, the other nights are a turkey cheesburger.
-I hate veggies.
-I weigh every single morning (and most evenings too)
-I eat just about the same menu every single day (makes planning and calorie counting exceptionally easy!).

It would be easier for me to simply state which rules I DO follow. And that is to eat less (calorie-wise) and move more. Other than that, I follow no rules.

If I'm hungry enough, I eat. If that's 1 hour before bed or 1 minutes, I don't care. If I want a desert badly enough, I may get it, realizing that I don't get it all the time nowadays and know how to get smaller portions or share it instead of eating the entire thing myself. I try to drink MORE water, but I don't add up how many glasses and make sure I'm meeting a certain number.

Pretty much every rule out there goes with the "rules are made to be broken" mantra for me. I simply eat better and make sure to get in exercise and it worked. Rules are what always made me fail before. So they're not for me.

My mom and I were discussing the "latest" diet books, of which I've been reading a bunch of. Most say eat 5-6 meals a day, but my mom's right, it's not realistic if you are busy. And small meals don't satisfy. So then I went to the library, checked out French Women Don't Get Fat, and my mom could have written the book although we are Swedish not French. The plan: three large meals a day, lots of fresh produce, "real" butter, limited bread, small portions, red wine, some chocolate, and informal exercise (usually walking)... my mom at 68 is much thinner then me who studies the "latest" what to do's. My point: it's not about following the RULES but doing what works. One book admitted nutritionists don't like the French because what they do doesn't fit into their "formulas." They are the skinniest women in the world, and like my mom, it's working.

Yeah. Hmm..

I don't pay any attention to sodium (actually, if anything, I overconsum sodium because my bp can get really low) I don't pay any attention to protein, carbs, fat, etc. Really, I only pay attention to calories, and if it's not balanced enough, I know because I don't feel good.

I don't have a cut-off to stop eating.

If I'm not hungry, I don't eat. Even if I should.

If I'm hungry, I eat. Even if I shouldn't.

I'm not always good about getting in my water.

I use Splenda and all of that jazz as much as I want.

Sometimes I eat breakfast 3 hours or more after I wake up.

On weekends, I either graze all day or only eat one huge meal.

I don't buy the argument that water is better than caffeine free diet pepsi.

I believe that servings of splenda and healthy breakfast cereals are just about the same size. After spending decades obese, worrying about the effects of artificial sweeteners seems a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.

I'm going to eat my nonfat frozen chocolate yogurt as a reward for going to the gym. Sure, exercise is its own reward but isn't chocolate a better one?

Hmm, let's see.

I don't have any 'forbidden' foods. I'm aware that focusing on veggies, lean meats, fish etc. is better, but if I feel like having pizza sometimes, I will (I'll just eat a smaller portion).

I also don't do the 5-6 mini-meals a day. I'll have a snack sometimes, but it's a light snack (a fruit, a yogurt... never more than 100-150 cals). 6 small meals is just unrealistic when you have to deal with school & work and are not home/in an appropriate place to 'do things the right way'.

I haven't set a cut-off time either, although I naturally have one (I usually can't be bothered eating after dinner. Seriously). But if I'm at friends', for instance, and we have something to eat late in the evening one hour before I go back home, I sure won't fret about eating-past-7-pm-OMG-it's-bad.

I exercise in the morning. I don't eat before I exercise. That means some "mornings" I don't eat breakfast until noon or a little later. Kids need to be fed. Homeschool needs to be started. Dishes need to be washed. I do get around to eating, but very rarely within two hours of waking up.

Kara

Well, I don't eat before bed, but that's because I have acid reflux....

But I eat truffles and ice cream! I have really small portions of both, but it is soooooo worth it.

Hmmm...lets see..

I don't: Watch my sodium, I have extremely low blood pressure and i work out like a fiend.

I don't: eat 5-6 meals, I eat like 8-10 times a day


I do: Forbid certain foods from myself due to relapse of purging. If I feel guilty eating it...it goes on my list of things not to eat.

I do: Drink as much diet soda and flavored waters as I want

I do: Eat right before bed because I wake up and workout.

I do: Eat chocolate everyday in small portions

I do: Eat a TON of food, but not calorie dense foods

I drink coffee and diet coke but not as much as I used to.
I drink more water but not lots.
If I must have special coffee, it has to have real sugar and cream.
I eat in bed, in the evening, watching TV.
I do the 1200 calorie thing if I must, as well.

:rofl: True that! That is soooo me sometimes!

I don't really have a cut off time at night. If I'm still hungry and I have room in my plan, I will eat something

I don't have any forbidden foods. I will eat anything I want, its the portion size that matters.

I don't eat a salad when I go to a restaurant. I get whatever I feel like, as long as it fits in my day.

I don't eat salads every day (some people perceive this as a "rule" - that is most people I've talked to who have never "dieted" before) but I do get at least 5 servings of fruits/veggies a day (I think I average 7 a day).

I use Splenda too, although I really would like to cut it out.