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Stupid question!

20 replies

tobee · 21/07/2016 13:04

Sorry about this daft question but if you had to give only 1 piece of advice to anyone embarking on a diet/healthy eating would you say that it would be keep it up!

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Bails2014 · 21/07/2016 13:05

Don't diet!

Dieting makes you think that you are stopping yourself from having something nice, have something nice, just a little bit of it. Don't deprive yourself.

Get yourself a good cook book and make cooking fun again, Jamie Oliver Superfoods is mega easy and so tasty.

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DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 21/07/2016 13:12

"If you don't buy it, you can't eat it."

I used to buy lots of junk food in the big shop then eat it ridiculously quickly and often buy more when out and about.
When I started losing weight and generally being healthier I would start to go up the crisp/biscuit aisles and mentally kick myself and say 'You don't need this,' 'Put the chocolate down, fatty!'
Then when I was at home I didn't have it in the first place to snack from.
I soon learned some healthier snack foods that I could eat and not feel like I was martyring myself.
(Chocolate rice cakes, lovely sweet fresh fruit, frozen grapes, frogurt - this all sounds quite rank but it's a little change that softens the blow of a sudden change to 'no nice food.')
Good luck OP

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Maverick66 · 21/07/2016 13:15

Three P's
Preparation - fail to prepare, prepare to fail
Plate size
Portion size - using a smaller plate will lead to smaller portions

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Puppymouse · 21/07/2016 13:48

Good advice above. I have lost and gained weight a few times since the age of about 14 (a long time ago!) and what I know I need to be able to do is:

  1. find a reason or many reasons why I'm doing it and how much I want it and tell myself that as I reach for the junk
  2. be able to have a bad day eating total crap and just calmly get back on the wagon to sort it out the next day
  3. finding a way of cutting back that works for me. I'm currently doing slimming world and really struggle to stick to the limit for syns. I have accepted I will have days I eat too many but overall I'm eating better and if I have a big treat I balance that with a bit of MFP and calorie counting so there's always a check in place to stop me going nuts!
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tobee · 21/07/2016 17:32

Thank you for the advice. That's interesting. Dd and I are going to have a summer of healthy living as a kick start to living like that forever!!

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DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 21/07/2016 19:16

Summer is a great time as there is so much nicer, juicier fruit around, I'd happily eat a juicy mango than a nasty melty bar of chocolate kind of
I wish you well, once you change your habits and develop a new way of thinking about food it's easy, well I found it easy, it's just breaking your habits and kick starting it.

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60schild · 21/07/2016 22:15

Learn to love melon and prawns!

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Snazarooney · 21/07/2016 22:18

Buy a Fitbit or use MFP

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FiveShelties · 21/07/2016 22:58

Don't try to be perfect, make better choices, not always the best choice but not the worst.

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PassTheSatsumas · 21/07/2016 23:03

I agree on planning : planning my meals, and preferably preparing a bit on the weekend (making chilli, roasting some veggies) helps me eat better all week. If I have planned out what I am going to have that day then I have a rough idea of what I need to stick to to lose the weight!

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Beanzmeanzcoffee · 21/07/2016 23:12

It's a bit trite but one of the motivational pics doing the rounds on FB at the minute is something like 'you don't slash the other 3 tyres on your car just because you have a puncture in one'.
It resonates with me because I do have s tendency to eat one thing I shouldn't and then write off the rest of the day. You of course might be a better adjusted adult than me.

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lougle · 21/07/2016 23:16

My Fitness Pal.

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tobee · 21/07/2016 23:33

I just don't understand my fitness pal. But I know it helps loads of people.

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lougle · 22/07/2016 08:11

I like MFP because it sets you a calorie goal, it has a huge database of food and a barcode scanner, so you can easily enter food into it to track your eating, and it gives a breakdown of your nutritional content.

I spent the first two weeks just logging what I ate without making any changes. I saw that I was eating about 2300-2500 calories per day. That showed me just how many calories were in the snacks I was having. Then I was able to adjust my diet to sensible foods.

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DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 22/07/2016 14:44

Oo yeah when I lost my weight MFP massively helped me.
It was just good to see what I was actually taking in, in comparison with what I needed. eg if by lunchtime you've already had 1500 cals then you really need to have a light dinner!
It just made my appreciation of 'healthy eating' dawn a little bit quicker.
Nearly all store bought foods are on there and once you get the hang of it you can give yourself a rough estimate or use a similar cal item.
I definitely recommend it.

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tobee · 22/07/2016 14:51

But I just find it a massive fag! At the least. I think I'm just stupid.

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tobee · 22/07/2016 15:21

Btw don't need to learn to love melon and prawns!!

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lougle · 22/07/2016 17:13

It is at first, but if you eat some things quite regularly, it becomes a ten second job to log your meals.

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tobee · 22/07/2016 18:00

I don't really but that's my problem!!!

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FlopIsMyParentingGuru · 22/07/2016 18:17

Cook from scratch as often as possible.

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