Tips and tricks to do it easier

[h90]

I think it would be a good idea, to have a kind of list of tips and tricks that makes life easier.

But without a long discussion about every topic. I think a short "I don't believe that xxxx works" or "this might be very unhealthy" is OK, but no epic fights if it is better this or that way. And also keep in mind, what helps John might not help Jeff...

Should be something someone can read to pick up some ideas.

So here my tipps:

1 ) set it like stop smoking. Don't start if you are not sure you really want to do it. Else you start, stop, start, stop and get more fat than if you wouldn't do it AND torture yourself for nothing.

2) For me it helps to eat only very little carbohydrates, but it needed a few days to get used to it.

3) Not eating all the day is for me easier than several small dishes. Others recommend exactly the opposite...please no discussion about it.

4) When hungry a protein shake on zero % fat milk, helps good with relative low calorie.

5) Drink a lot of something without calories (I use water and green tea)

6) Some people say, if you eat too less vitamins you get hungry as the body hopes to see some vitamins with the food. Sounds logic, but I can't confirm or decline it. I eat a lot vitamins, just in case.

7) Don't have high calorie food at home. If you don't have chocolate you don't eat it.

8) If you have a weak time, look at fat people and slim people and think to which group you want to belong.....

9) small pieces of meat eaten with a lot cucumber and tomatoes tastes very well and is from my body accepted as a lot food, while it is only a lot in volume.

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your ideas....

[Jingthing]

I like this topic!

1. Eat MORE of your meals at home, cooked by yourself. Then you are in control of exactly what is in the food and the portion you serve. Some may say cut out restaurants entirely and that would be better, but personally I love restaurants too much to do that. With awareness, there are strategies of knowing what to order to have reasonably health promoting meals in restaurants, but it takes experience and is a challenge, and sometimes there will be errors, like ordering something you thought was OK that turns out not to be.

2. Try to get enough SLEEP. Definitive research is now showing too little sleep is directly linked to obesity.

3. Definitely increase fresh vegetables and fresh fruit and cut the portions on starch carbs.

4. Eat some nuts! Not too many, but some daily. Studies show those who eat some nuts daily have less obesity and also decreased major disease risk.

5. Olive oil, Olive oil, Olive oil!

6. Set an exercise program of some kind and make it a priority to not skip it. Mine is very modest but I don't skip it, even if that is sometimes a major pain.

7. Yes, green tea. I also take green COFFEE extract which I make myself (details on this are on another thread)

8. SPICES! If you like spices, as I do, go crazy with them. They have so much flavor and almost no calories. Also of course HOT CHILIES which are known to increase rate of METABOLISM. I eat spicy food and hot chilies every day.

10. Do NOT let yourself get TOO hungry. Some natural hunger is good, and it's good to feel hunger before eating rather than just eating because the CLOCK says eating time. HOWEVER, typically obese people if they get too hungry, their blood sugar goes whack and they end up eating in an unhealthy way the next meal and even often going on a binge like an alcoholic but with food.

9. Sorry -- here goes -- garcinia cambogia -- it works for me, it may not work for you, I think it's worth a try.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Jingthing

[h90]

Jingthing thanks.

don't want to start a discussion but some small add:

8. When I make the food spicy, I get a lot more appetite for it. I guess my stomach just gets more active. But could be that it just tastes better

1a) And to add: no alcohol, when I drink alc I later get very hungry and can't control myself well enough.

[Jingthing]

That's interesting. I never noticed that myself with spice eating even before starting with the Garcinia Cambogia, which cuts my cravings radically and also allows small portion sizes without pain regardless.

[h90]

one more that I forgot:

don't think about food. Might be a bit difficult to control what you think about, but with limits the thoughts can be reduced.

[MrHammer]

Cooking your own food, I've found severely limits how much I eat. I think it is a psychological thing, even the smallest effort in finding and making food will make you appreciate more, where as if it is freely available you just gorge like a caged zoo animal.

For easy excercise try walking on the treadmill with an incline. I have a knee injury so can't run, row, swim or anything else that requires kicking or weight on the knee, so I walk on the incline. It is very effective. One hour can burn as much as 600 calories. The treadmill in my condo only go to 12% and I walk at 4.5 mph. The benefits are many, you will not get muscle cramps or joint pain or get as winded as when doing real sport or running, and therefore you can keep going for longer. Half an hour is EASY and it still burns around 300 calories.

I drink and don't plan on stopping. I stay away from beer and prefer a good single malt. A bottle of wine is 500 calories which is quite a lot but also takes a lot of time to drink, the same with whisky, beer go down fast.

Bread and carbs is the real bastard though.

What kind of vegetables do you buy and eat?

[JSixpack]

Cooking your own food, I've found severely limits how much I eat. I think it is a psychological thing, even the smallest effort in finding and making food will make you appreciate more, where as if it is freely available you just gorge like a caged zoo animal.

For easy excercise try walking on the treadmill with an incline. I have a knee injury so can't run, row, swim or anything else that requires kicking or weight on the knee, so I walk on the incline. It is very effective. One hour can burn as much as 600 calories. The treadmill in my condo only go to 12% and I walk at 4.5 mph. The benefits are many, you will not get muscle cramps or joint pain or get as winded as when doing real sport or running, and therefore you can keep going for longer. Half an hour is EASY and it still burns around 300 calories.

I drink and don't plan on stopping. I stay away from beer and prefer a good single malt. A bottle of wine is 500 calories which is quite a lot but also takes a lot of time to drink, the same with whisky, beer go down fast.

Bread and carbs is the real bastard though.

What kind of vegetables do you buy and eat?

MrHammer, you've come very, very far. You kept an open mind and were able find the way thru all the smoke around here. My congrats! (FWIW)

So I hope you've indeed lost some weight and are making progress towards your goal.

I don't intend ever to stop drinking. Ah, single malt. Wine. Bourbon. In moderation, of course. Hated to give up beer--but then there's always the occasional splurge--the odd pint of Old Speckled Hen at Witherspoon's . . . . Some of the go-go's offer spirits (cheap spirits, ha!) at only a modest premium over discounted draft, so now I usually choose whiskey and soda with my visuals.

Edited December 7, 2013 by JSixpack

[MrHammer]

Well, I lost 5 kgs, but then my knee injury immobilised me for a month, so I gained 2-3 kg there. Now going low cal to get back into it again, a couple of days a week with 1000-1500 cals until back where I was before, then normal diet again.

[robblok]

For me cooking my own food is the nr one reason i lost my weight.

Drinking water or green tea definately helps.. sugary drinks are just empty carbs (does not mean I never ever drink it but i really limit it)

I was on a holiday recently and I did not gain a kg but it was hard at times but one of the things was only drinking water (and i had a few mango lassi shakes i know bad but totally depriving myself is also not the way to go)

Exercise is really important.. not really for weight loss but to keep the weight off. I read many studies about how it helps to keep the weight of and like JT says dont skip it the more you skip it the easier it becomes to skip it.

For me eating less carbs also helps, i read Garry Taubes his books on carbs, I don't totally agree with it as he goes on how you don't need any exercise and can eat all you want. I do find some points interesting, too bad that his book is a lot about historical things that fit his views and little about scientiffic test nowadays as the examples could be explained in a different way too. I had expected more of this. Jsixpack was the reason I read it because i wanted to know more before burning it.

The thing about the insulin response on carbs is interesting to say the least and i really like that part as it is science. I have read many different things about insulin and how it influences other hormones and fat storage. Its a good thing to read into if you want to loose weight and are like me interested in science behind things. Garry Taubes has a bit about it but there are other views on it that you should read too. In my opinion the book was interesting but had little hard science to back it up just a lot of stories to back his one up. In the book he starts how other books are not bias but he does exactly the same. Still it was a good holliday read. Low carb definately has its value and it MIGHT even combat hunger a bit but I am not yet 100% convinced about this.

My brothers gf (Romanian) girl that was also on holiday fasts for 40 days meaning no meat dairy fish breads ect) according to her the hunger never goes away. However this might be caused by the lack of protein in the diet then.

The remark of not buying the bad stuff is a real valid one.. once i got chocolate in the house i will finish it.. My parents brought it over from Holland... (wish they had not but was a good gesture) but its my kryptonite.. i just need to take it when its there. My general rule is don't by it so you don't have it when you want it.

Edited December 8, 2013 by robblok