General Discussions > Health, Fitness, Nutrition, and Medicine
Weight loss tips and tricks--- From the Obvious to the surprising
quirk3k:
--- Quote from: RyanSchwieger on May 02, 2012, 06:47:40 AM ---eat from smaller plates/smaller bowls/smaller glasses
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: Cognoscento on Apr 25, 2012, 10:36:03 AM ---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.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: quirk3k on May 04, 2012, 09:35:48 PM ---
--- Quote from: RyanSchwieger on May 02, 2012, 06:47:40 AM ---eat from smaller plates/smaller bowls/smaller glasses
--- End quote ---
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.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: Cognoscento on Apr 25, 2012, 10:36:03 AM ---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.
--- End quote ---
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.
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