Topic: Weight loss tips and tricks--- From the Obvious to the surprising

[quirk3k]

eat from smaller plates/smaller bowls/smaller glasses

TRUTH!!

In my house, we've shrunk from 12" plates to 10" plates to 9" plates. I'm hoping that the next set will be 7" salad plates only. My small IKEA bowls are too large also. A single serving of cereal doesn't look like it fills the bowl, so I pour too much cereal if I don't measure.

Added:

Also, we have two sizes of glasses. Large 24 oz. ones for water only and small 12 oz. ones for pop and juice. I'm thinking about downsizing those to 8 oz.

[Cowtown Cody]

When you boil it down, all I did was eat less and exercise more (a lot more LOL).

 That being said, when I started my weight loss quest, my biggest problem wasn't will power, it was unconcious impulse.  I would conveniently forget that I was restricting my diet and just eat out of habit.  To combat this I did two things:

1. I wrote a contract out specifically stating the "rules" and signed it. I taped it to the fridge. Believe it or not this really helped because there were clearly defined limits with no grey areas.  Also, everytime I would restlessly head over to the fridge to grab a snack, the contract would be right there to snap me out of it.

2. My mantra for this quest was HTFU (acronym for Harden The F*#K Up).  I attached that acronym to the mental image of myself being lean and muscular - an image of myself running unashamed along the beach with my shirt off.  I wrote HTFU on my forearm with indellible marker so that every time I was feeling "weak" and wanted to grab a chocolate bar or skip a workout, I would glance at my forearm and instantly, my resolve would return.   

Needless to say, it worked.

I think all of this is awesome.  Since I moved to Japan I've lost the 20 lbs that I put on in my last few years at college using pretty similar methods.  Motivating my own compliance to the plan has always been the hardest thing.

[Karyn]

eat from smaller plates/smaller bowls/smaller glasses

TRUTH!!

In my house, we've shrunk from 12" plates to 10" plates to 9" plates. I'm hoping that the next set will be 7" salad plates only. My small IKEA bowls are too large also. A single serving of cereal doesn't look like it fills the bowl, so I pour too much cereal if I don't measure.

Added:

Also, we have two sizes of glasses. Large 24 oz. ones for water only and small 12 oz. ones for pop and juice. I'm thinking about downsizing those to 8 oz.

We've done this, too.  Only the tiny bowls and salad plates get used, except for the one big weekend meal.  We also drink a lot of Talking Rain carbonated water (no salt, no sweeteners artificial or otherwise, no calories).  I put it in a wine glass and it keeps the cravings for wine way down.  I also make sure I never buy any snacky type food at the grocery store.  It's pretty much only fruits and veggies in the fridge.  If I want a snack, it's gonna be baby carrots.

[seaotter]

My new favorite snack is pickled garlic. My wife drove my car the other day and asked me if I'd just bought onions. 

[AQB24712]

1. I wrote a contract out specifically stating the "rules" and signed it. I taped it to the fridge. Believe it or not this really helped because there were clearly defined limits with no grey areas.  Also, everytime I would restlessly head over to the fridge to grab a snack, the contract would be right there to snap me out of it.

Related to this fine idea, I've discovered that I respond better to telling myself "you don't do that" as opposed to "you can't do that."  There are lots of things I don't do—drink, smoke, be nasty to people, run red lights, run around nekkid—so if I think I want to eat brownies in the middle of the afternoon, well, I remind myself that other people might, but I don't.  I dunno, saying "can't" just tends to make me grumpy, like I'm being deprived.

Related to eating brownies in the middle of the afternoon:  Know your triggers/weaknesses, and deal with them accordingly.  Lots of people say that they are prone to munching on snacks all evening while watching TV or reading.  I generally don't want anything to eat after dinner (and I don't like to eat after 8:00), but man, I could sit in my office and stuff my face with pretzels and York Peppermint Patties all damn day long.  My office is tiny and windowless, and sometimes I just...chafe.  I seem to struggle especially with wanting to snack in the morning, for some reason.  I managed to not do that all through Lent (non-religious Lent) by reminding myself that I don't eat between breakfast and lunch.  Some people might, but I don't.  I need to regain my adherence to that rule.  **sigh**

One more:  A lack of variety might work for you.  I don't like to go out to lunch (and I really don't like to do during the school year, when the box office is open), I don't like to eat a large or heavy lunch, and I can't be arsed to think up varied menus and prepare stuff.  I have a little fridge in my office; every day I eat an apple, some carrots, some snap peas, a string cheese, some nuts, and some pretzels.  (There's variety on the plate, anyway.)  I'm still working on a good standard breakfast; current experiment is a schmear of peanut butter on a toasted whole-wheat English muffin and a glass of skim milk.

[Plastique]

Related to this fine idea, I've discovered that I respond better to telling myself "you don't do that" as opposed to "you can't do that."  There are lots of things I don't do—drink, smoke, be nasty to people, run red lights, run around nekkid—so if I think I want to eat brownies in the middle of the afternoon, well, I remind myself that other people might, but I don't.  I dunno, saying "can't" just tends to make me grumpy, like I'm being deprived.

I can relate to that. I deeply resent "can't", and instead put things in terms of "I choose to". It's a small thing, but it does contain a useful element of empowerment.

and I can't be arsed

Are you English?

[AQB24712]

and I can't be arsed

Are you English?

Nope, just temporarily pretentious.    Also, it's more fun to say than "I can't be bothered."

[Karyn]

I love using the term arsed.

[341gerbig]

I love using the term arsed.

+1

+Wanker

[Plastique]

It's a high quality term, but sounds a bit funny to me when Americans say it because of the pronunciation of the R. It's said more like "ahsed" with a British/Australian/NZ accent.

[AQB24712]

"Looks like arson!"
**gasp** "Arson??"
"Someone's been arsin' around!"

[seaotter]

Fixing my coffee this morning. I like cream. So anyway I noticed that the creamer lasts me about a month. Add it up that's 2000 calories a month extra. An extra day of calories each month for creamer!

[Swagomatic]

Here are mine, that is, ones that I haven't seen so far:

1) Weigh yourself "officially" once a week.  Keep a log of your progress.
2) Keep an exercise log as well.
3) give yourself a cheat window.  Mine is Friday after softball.  We go for Mexican take out at out favorite taqueria.
4) If you don't have a bike, get one.  It's a fun, low impact exercise that's easy to do regularly.  If you're sore from the previous day, just go a little slower.  Also, you can ride your bike on off days between your tough workouts.
5) have a handful of nuts or an apple for a snack.  Keep apples in your fridge at all times.

[AQB24712]

Related to eating brownies in the middle of the afternoon:  Know your triggers/weaknesses, and deal with them accordingly.  Lots of people say that they are prone to munching on snacks all evening while watching TV or reading.  I generally don't want anything to eat after dinner (and I don't like to eat after 8:00), but man, I could sit in my office and stuff my face with pretzels and York Peppermint Patties all damn day long.  My office is tiny and windowless, and sometimes I just...chafe.  I seem to struggle especially with wanting to snack in the morning, for some reason.  I managed to not do that all through Lent (non-religious Lent) by reminding myself that I don't eat between breakfast and lunch.  Some people might, but I don't.  I need to regain my adherence to that rule.  **sigh**

I've been doing pretty well lately at this "know your weaknesses/triggers" thing in the past few weeks.  I came to the unhappy conclusion that I can no longer be trusted to have York Peppermint Patties at my office or at home; they sorely test my commitment to sensible portion control.  I've halved the amount of nuts I have for lunch (hush, you) without really noticing, and I haven't been snacking at my desk in the mornings.  An hour or two after lunch, I have a Nature Valley Granola Thin, which gives me a li'l chocolate, and sometimes later in the afternoon I have some red grapes.

I feel good and have lost a couple of pounds without really increasing my activity level.  But I really notice that when I'm tired, as I am today because I unaccountably woke up about 3:00 and lay awake until almost 6:30, I WANT TO EAT ALL THE TIME.  I'm trying to fill up on water, and get up and move around, but man, at times like this, it's a good thing that there are no Peppermint Patties within reach.

Not that you asked. 

[Johnny Slick]

Ok. I know this sounds really weird, but eat from smaller plates/smaller bowls/smaller glasses(especially if drinking juice or soda and not just water. Doing this helped me to confront how much I was eating, and I ended up being more aware of what a serving is.

I try not to drink much of anything that has calories in it, but yeah... just bringing in an Eating Right style TV dinner for work every day (those run from 250-350 calories) helps me not balloon up all by itself.