I hate keeping a food journal, but when I do it helps me THINK before I inhale whatever is tempting me. I carry a planner around anyway since I am too bust to keep track of my schedule without it. This year I ordered one that has blank pages between the weeks for notes, and I use those for my exercise/food journal. It works for me because I remember to write in it since it's always with me anyway, and it is also really convenient when it's time to analyze my mistakes because my activities, exercise, food intake, and weigh-ins are all there in the same place.

I have another trick I use: I have a tendency to keep grazing throughout the day, so I brush my teeth immediately after meals. Somehow food never tastes the same with that minty toothpaste taste in your mouth. I also keep mint-flavored gum in my purse for the times when the cravings are stronger than the toothpaste. My after-dinner cravings are the worst, so if the gum is not working, my next step is to bleach my teeth. Those bleach trays have to stay in for an hour and a half, and most of the time that's plenty of time to forget about whatever was tempting me. And if all else fails, I give in to the craving. If it is that stubborn, I will feel deprived if I continue to deny myself so I have a LITTLE of it.

Note that none of the above works on true hunger, only on random cravings and mindless grazing. That's one of the ways I can tell the difference between real hunger and fake.

Interesting. Thanks for the new nontraditional tricks and new ideas.

my top 5 easy diet tips:)
 

My top diet tips:
1.Take close up pictures of your face (as well as body) for inspiration. If you are looking younger, your diet is providing all the nutrition you need, as well as detoxing your cells. If you have dark circles, or your face looks like it's sliding, your body is setting nutritional priority on your vital organs. Skin, hair and nails come last for importance. If you're getting all your needs, you will look better and better! Weight loss will be easy.
2.Sounds gross, but pay attention to your bodily fluids. If you drink alot of warm water before breakfast (4 or 5 cups), your pee should have very little color or smell. If you get enough liquids, your kidneys and liver will work at their best, and start the detox process. This will make you look younger.
3.Now for the poo. If you keep a food diary, you can identify what constipates you. The more you poo, the cleaner your colon. If you get plenty of fiber, you should empty your whole colon at least once a day. Most people just pass one section instead of all three. Pay attention to bad smells as well. It will smell strong for 2 reasons: first- the food was in you too long a time. Remember, raw fruits&veggies and soaked nuts&seeds pass through you in 8 hours. Bad smells could be from many days old food. second-You have more bad bacteria than good bacteria. Bad bacteria is anaerobic, so you may be eating too many cooked foods and animal products (they contain little or no oxygen, whereas raw foods are full of oxygen).
4.Buy PH strips at a health food store or aquarium supply store. Test your saliva every morning before you brush your teeth. A healthy, alkaline body has a 7.2 PH. If your PH is acidic (6.8-5.0) you are running low on magnesium, potassium, calcium, and sodium. It will become harder and harder to lose weight. All toxins are stored in fat cells. Toxins are acidic and need to be neutralized with those minerals. Your body won't open fat cells because without neutralizing those toxins, your body becomes more and more poisoned.
5.Understand your food cravings. Without this step, you can't control what goes in your mouth. I was genuinely hungry at 8pm every night. I started juicing green and purple veggies every day, my cravings went away. And people have parasites! They eat the
best of our food and sugar, making us crave more and more food. Parasites are anaerobic, so increasing your oxygen, kills them off.
And that's it! A healthy, svelte body is highly alkaline, and highly oxygenated.

Thanks for all the great tips!

Thanks, this stuff is interesting :)

Extra Tips from Chris Powell
 

Just read this, thought it was interesting enough to share.
~enjoy!!


So you lose weight pretty fast in the beginning of your new diet/exercise routine... but as you lose weight, it seems to "slow down" - Your body begins to adapt after repeated exposure to the same type of exercise and weight loss slow or even stop, but you can outsmart your body and continuously lose weight. Here's how:

Simply increase ONE of the following F.I.T.T. components every six to 10 workouts:

F is for Frequency. For example, if you typically exercise three days a week, increase to four days.


I is for Intensity. For example, if you typically walk at a 3.0 on the treadmill, increase to a 3.5. Or if you run a mile in nine minutes, aim for 8 minutes 30 seconds.

T is for Time. For example, if you typically exercise for 30 minutes, increase it to 35 or 40 minutes.

T is for Type. For example, if you typically jog for exercise, try a different type of exercise like swimming, cycling, or kick-boxing.


This should "keep your body guessing" and keep you from getting too bored!

Muscle Confusion™ FTW! :dizzy:

Exercise has nothing to do with fat loss except that it burns calories and not that many.

Our bodies do not get confused by new exercises nor do we need to keep our bodies guessing to keep losing fat.

If you want variation - awesome. If you like what you're doing there is no need to switch it. Yes your body adapts to movements but the number of calories you burn doesn't change much as a result.

I am only talking about the context of fat loss.

To increase your strength or endurance over time things are different.

I'm just really getting into a higher focus on a six pack abs diet of sorts. For years I'd eat junk just because I was hungry-Lately I've been reading stuff such as ezinearticles.com What-Is-a-Good-Six-Pack-Abs-Diet for better ideas and to be quite honest celery with Sabra's Chipotle hummus has been my go to for some carbs and good protein.
Changing up intensity of workouts will burn more calories and help with toning-I do several HIIT workouts a week and then Tai-Chi and weight training twice a week. Seems to work well.

Do you have a reference for this? I already know the answer.

Why I am correcting faulty information? Because people reading this might think "Oh THAT'S why my weight loss has stalled. My body needs to become confused".

It is NOT true. Keep it simple people! All these so called experts just want you to buy their stuff. If you like the exercise routine you're doing and you're not trying to become a performance athlete there is no reason you need to change it.

diet tips
 

First, everybody is different. It's important to find a diet that you can live with without feeling deprived. How old are you? What do you weigh? How much are you trying to lose? Has your doctor said you are fit enough to diet at this time? Could you be pregnant? All these things are important, so be sure to get a checkup.

I lost about 55 pounds last year. (One pound for every year of my age). I did it with the help of a friend who went on the same diet with me. We had 1000 to 1200 calories a day. Our diet included protein shakes for breakfast and dinner, with snacks of fruit in the morning and afternoon, and a lunch that was 400-600 calories. We ate a lot of salads from a local market that had the calories listed, and we threw away the dressing. We also drank 8 glasses of water a day. I lost an average of 10 pounds a month.

For me, having the protein shake for breakfast was a big help. Do Not skip breakfast, or any meal for that matter. It makes one too hungry late in the day, and that's when I personally get into trouble.

There are lots of diets out there. Find one that is not too extreme, and set reasonable goals. Only weigh yourself once a week, because women's weight can vary dramatically from day to day, even when you are being careful. And keep a bunch of those baby carrots around for when you just have to have something!

Same here. I'm 55 and lost 55 pounds last year, though at a slower pace than yours. I ate 1,500 cals per day and lost just over 1 pound per week, on average. As you say, we're all different. I would never want to have protein shakes for breakfast because I love real breakfast foods like fresh bread and scrambled eggs.

F.

1000-1200 calories of mostly salad with no dressing and a shake for breakfast sounds extreme to me. I really like delicious food though.

These very "formatted" posts show up every once in a while. Is Claire a real person or is this our equivalent of "spam?"

Lin

Exactly. Waiting for a return post suggesting a certain company's suppliments.

What's your weight loss tips and tricks? Please Reply
 

So far I have lost 35 pounds and I have 15 more to go. I was wondering if you have any good and effective tips that I could use?

One of the tips that learned from this ebook was that you should break down the amount Of weight you'd like to lose into 10 pound increments. This way every time you reach a 10 pound milestone you'll feel achieved and you will feel capable of going for the next 10 pounds. Also you should take a week of break between each milestone so you won't frustrate your body.

So if you have 40 pounds to lose break it down into 4 ten pound increments.

I would loge to know your weight loss tricks.

Hmm this is tough because it is so different for everyone!! For me, planning ahead is CRUCIAL. If I don't know what I'll be eating that day- I freak out and eat everything I can get my hands on. If I plan everything out (seriously- to the last bite) I do a lot better. :-)

Calorie counting has been working for me :-)

Plan and prepare! I plan all my calories 7 days a week.

Find workouts you like, i started karate and joined a gym two weeks ago.
Karate is 4hrs a week, so i don't really need to go to the gym. I also love karate so i put more effort into it.

This. It has been extremely important for me. I'm a virgo so I go above and beyond..but I actually create spreadsheets of meals that includes all the ingredients with their calorie counts, carbs, fat, protein, sodium, how that computes into percentages and the grocery lists to go with them lol. Yeaaah, I'm an organized nut but it works for me :D

@angieand2girls, you are very inspiring. I'm not an organized nut...lol no, not that, I mean your weight loss journey. Good for you!!!!

Weight loss tips
 

Hello everyone,

I'm new here (obviously). I've actually been reading posts every now and then, but I never registered as I didn't feel I had much to contribute.

These days... well, overall my life has changed for the better. I got a job, I'm reasonably happy with my appearance, and I've dealt with the slight anxiety problems I had as a young adult. Weight-wise I've decided that I'm fine so long as I stay under 60kg, though I try to stay closer to 55kg. Usually I hover between 57 and 59 anyway.

I've been thinking for a while about writing here a list of weight loss tips. I don't know why I decided to do it tonight, but here we are. I know these tips can be very specific and won't help everyone ; I know many of you will already be familiar with them. But when I was struggling to lose weight, I'd have been happy if someone had given them to me, and if it can help even one person, that's all the motivation I need.

Sooo, here goes.

1. Find a low-cal food you like and can eat almost as much of as you like. For me, spinach is one such ; it is so low in cal that I can even afford to put some sour cream in it. Tasty and healthy. Mushrooms work too, they're mostly water (well, most vegetables qualify). Even carrot sticks dipped in low-fat cream with vinegar and a spoonful of mustard could work. These work as "hunger controllers". Someone posted about always being hungry on 1300 cals a day. With vegetables - heck, even mashed potatoes are not THAT caloric - you don't have to be hungry. Then you have to decide if you'd rather be hungry but have some sweets, or not be hungry and give up the sweets in favour of a large helping of vegetables and/or rice. And I've heard a ton of things about rice and noodles but they're actually great, IMO. 100grams of uncooked rice is only about 330cals (considering that a normal portion size for an adult is 80 grams). You can even afford to add a little butter to it for a 400cal meal (unless you eat meat with it, which I don't always - sometimes I just have rice and nothing else for the meal). Or have less rice and more meat if you need the proteins. You can also add a spoonful of cream and mushrooms, for instance. Spices are also a great idea to help make an otherwise bland meal a good experience.
In the same line, having apples or other fruits on hand can be very convenient if you want something sweet to appease your hunger.

2. Don't tell yourself "I can't have this". It only makes you want it more. If you're past your calorie quota for the day, you can tell yourself "I can have it, but in a few hours". "In a few hours" can also translate as "tomorrow", but hey, so long as you're sleeping you're not hungry. The waiting may be tough, but at the end of it you get your reward in the shape of a slice of cake or piece of chocolate that you can eat free of guilt.

3. Think positively about the weight loss. In other words, don't tell yourself "I'm so ugly and disgusting, no-one could possibly like me". Tell yourself "I'm now on the path to look awesome, and if I stick to it I will in a few weeks or months." Always look ahead.

4. If you feel you simply must have a piece of chocolate now or you will die, don't let the desire rule you. First of all, if you can't reign it in, have a SMALL piece. I'm talking one mouthful, two at most. Often, the urge will be satisfied with that much (yes, surprising but true, at least for me). If not, you can always have one more, until you feel you can control yourself. It's easier to eat more than to "un-eat" something, so always aim for a smaller helping, and just have more if you're really hungry.

5. Wait a while after the main course. It does take about 15 minutes for the feeling of hunger to go, especially if you're a fast eater (I am). Wait with a glass of something, talking with other people, it's a nice way to end a meal - and then if you feel you're not hungry anymore, skip desert. If you feel no longer hungry but you long for something else to end the meal, have some coffee for instance, or a small piece of chocolate (that'd be about 50cal, nothing dramatic).

6. Don't eat too much early in the day. Well, it really depends on what sort of diet you're following. I did mostly the calorie-control thing, so eating too much early in the day meant I'd have to go with very little for the rest of the day, or go over the limit (which doesn't exactly work in favour of losing weight, and you CAN get sick of even spinach). Plus it's nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the day. It's easier to go hungry in the afternoon if you tell yourself, "tonight I'm having this great meal".

7. This one is more for people who don't live on their own and live with someone who's a big eater. Often, you have this piece of cake in your fridge, and you tell yourself : "I don't really want it now, but if I don't have it X is going to eat it, and then I'll have nothing." And you end up eating when you're not hungry, and feeling bloated. There are several solutions to that... one is to have separate sections of the fridge (works with a roommate, inconvenient if you're with your family). Another solution is to label whatever food you covet with a "don't eat, property of X". Yet another solution is just tell yourself, "well, who cares if X eats it, I'll just make/buy some tomorrow".
And for anything that doesn't go in the fridge, it's nice to have your own little stash, to eat as much or as little as you like without fearing that other people devour it before you have any (hey, I grew up with too brothers). That's if you can control yourself not to binge it. If you can't, you can also have your personal stash under lock and key and give the key to someone else.

8. This one is going to seem obvious, but it's surprisingly hard to assimilate. Do. not. eat. if. you're. not. hungry. Simple, eh ? Well, it took me years to assimilate. These days I so much hate that bloated feeling (almost as much as hangovers) that I avoid over-eating like the plague. When I indulge, it's more in the nature of the food than in the quantity. Thing is, when you're eat as fast as I do, you often find yourself bloated before you even know what hit you. Everyone will say, don't eat so fast. Yeah, I probably should. I don't. So my solution is, eat however fast I please but take a break now and then to evaluate just how hungry I still am. At the very least wait between parts of the meal.

9. Diet soda can save your life. I know, I know, blablabla, unhealthy, blablabla. Well, I don't smoke, I rarely drink and I never did drugs, so to each their own poison. I'm not telling anyone "you can't lose weight without diet soda". All I'm saying is, it helped me a lot. It does a lot to stave off the hunger and it gives you something sweet you can have almost as much of as you like.

And finally, counter-tips. Things everyone say to do but I don't. There aren't too many of these, actually...

- Do not skip meals : how often do you hear that one ? Personally, I consider that my body knows best, in the same way that I get tired of sweets if I indulge too much. If I'm not hungry, I don't eat, and that's the end of it.

- Breakfast is the most important meal of the day ! Yeah, I heard that one so much I got sick of it. I don't care what it's supposed to be, everyone's different. I can't stomach a big breakfast early in the day, I just can't. At most I have coffee and maybe a little piece of chocolate to go with it.

Well, that's about all I can think of at the moment, it's already a very long post... once again, these are the methods and tips I assimilated through the years. I'm not claiming it to be healthy ; I'm not saying it's the best exemple to follow. I'm not a doctor and I'm not making anyone do anything. I'm only sharing what helped me through the ordeal of weight loss. And I'd be interested to hear any tips you guys may have.

Hey!

I am not sure of your background, or the amount of weightloss you have done- but I whole heartedly agree. We know that weightloss isn't linear, and we know that maintaining a certain "figure" is a method of living your life- your suggestions are actually what I use to keep weight off.

The only time that I would add is, it's okay to indulge, and you don't absolutely have to run out and pickup whatever you're craving every time. Sometimes it's okay to have ice cream for dinner, but it might mean that you'll be having spinach salad for lunch the next day! As for the spinach- it's pretty much a staple in my fridge, it's a excellent low-calorie way to bulk up almost any meal!