Weight loss tips this aren't shit

[RubyRoo2016]

OK we've had household, parenting and mental health tips that aren't shit. Please can you share how you avoid eating rubbish and keeping trim.
Thanks💋

Make sure your meals are highly flavoured- apparently you eat less of strongly tasting foods (I agree with this - chili with everything including omelette ).

Take time to make your packed lunch the night before if you're going to be out at work all day. I make an omelette or a big salad. The chopped apple trick also works for snacking - takes ages to eat and is filling.

If tempted to snack at home, put your coat on and leave the house if you can.

Drink only water or tea without milk or sugar. I love a cappuccino, have a big one with sugar when I have it and count it as a meal, not a drink.

I do all of these things and I'm not overweight, nor trying to lose weight but like to keep on top of it.

No snacking between meals. If you are really hungry, have fruit or veg, or low cal hot chocolate, which at least stops the munchies until the next meal.

At meals times small portion of chips, roast spuds etc, large portion of veg. Small portion of pudding.

I've been doing this for about 2 weeks and can see a small difference, I have given up weighing, but my waist looks a bit smaller and stomach does not stick out so much.

Diets don't work for me. At all. Foodwise - as soon as I'm told what to do, I don't do it

Don't get into the mindset that you're depriving yourself when you don't eat the pizza or whatevs.

Remind yourself that your priorities have changed in the long term. Treat yourself to losing weight successfully, so that you can enjoy life in a healthy body that looks good in the clothes you'd really like to wear.

I spread my breakfast and lunch out across the day. so rather than eating breakfast then waiting hours til lunch then eating and waiting hours until dinner I will spread the same amount of food over as long a time as is practical so i get low level hungry thats easy to ignore and just carry on, rather than periods where I'm ravenous and can't think straight.

We have all three of the hairy bikers diet cook books, every single recipe is a complete winner, we have eaten much tastier food since we've been dieting using their books then we ever did when we were piling all the weight on.

Although the best thing I've learned is...

It's ok to feel a little bit hungry, nothing bad happens.

I don't take money to work so that I only eat what I have brought with me.
I love houmous and could eat loads of it so I try to have it with healthier (but less tasty) things like Ryvita rather than crisps to minimise the damage.

I have lost 2 stone by eating better and going to the gym. I stay away from processed food as much as possible, I try and eat things that have grown or have once been living , so meat, fish, veg, fruit, grains etc..etc.., I rarely touch bread, rarely touch pasta, no cake (except on my birthday or dd's birthday), chocolate on rare occasions.

I try and meal plan, most of my meals consist of meat/fish, lots of veg, potatoes (twice a week), rice once a week, lots of sweet potato instead of real potatoes. Breakfast is usually porridge or granola with natural yoghurt, lunch is usually fruit (half a melon or a banana and some berries), boiled egg and cold meats. I try not to snack but will have something after the gym, either a cereal bar or a banana.

I would say 75% of my diet is fruit and veg.

I'm a strong believer that to lose weight and maintain that a good diet (long term) and exercise is essential.

I hate crash diets, yes you might lose weight but when the diet ends you will pile it back on. It's about changing your eating habits for life not just for a few weeks. I do have the odd protein shake if I'm exercising a lot but I don't have it as a meal substitute.

3 meals a day, no snacks.
Homemade food, fresh ingredients.
Porridge for breakfast.
Don't drink calories.
Carbs at breakfast and lunch only.
Smaller plates and smaller cutlery.
Apple if you are hungry.
Fast as long as possible overnight (I have tea at 5pm and eat nothing til breakfast at 7pm - suits me perfectly).

Thecolonel, we have book 2 and currently cooking the Rich Beef in Red Wine for Valentines Day great books and loads of recipes that you will definitely do unlike some other cook books (the lamb kebabs in book 2 are gorgeous!)

Autumn the kebabs are our favourite too!

Define what healthy means to you, make sure it's realistic and stick to it - it might be cutting out carbs, it might be joining slimming world, it might be the 5:2 diet or it might just be cutting down on some of the finer things in life I've often struggled in the past with people commenting that what I'm having isn't healthy (eg a jacket potato with salad) when actually I'm doing really well on my health kick... all because they're a no carb follower. It can be demoralising!

Define some sort of goals for yourself and weigh/measure yourself regularly - if you can't see success then you're unlikely to continue with something

On a practical level...

STOP picking little bits of food while you cook (my crime). Once saw this on secret eaters and the lady was eating an extra 1-200 calories a day because of this

Drink bucket loads of water

Build in times to cheat a bit, it's important to be able to go out for a meal or on holiday without guilt

Similar one - learn how to pull yourself back up again if you fail. Ultimately that's the only difference between succeeding with your goals and not as everybody has a slip or two on their way

dcrxcm you've hit the nail on the head about picking little bits of food while cooking. Cheese is my downfall.

I've just eaten what is essentially half a block of cheddar doing the packed lunches for tomorrow

It's ok to feel a little bit hungry, nothing bad happens

Agree with this. And it's something children need to learn too, instead of expecting a snack whenever they feel the slightest bit hungry.

My tip is (if you're a wine drinker) buy some of those little bottles of wine, like you get on planes. That way I can have a glass a week, rather than opening a normal size bottle which I end up drinking the lot over a couple of evenings.

Find something you can stick to long term. So realistic. Which means including all foods, just some will be in much smaller quantities than before.

Snack on fruit &veg or protein (boiled eggs or cooked meat are ideal)

When you have a bad meal don't give up on the whole day. When you have a bad day don't give up on the whole week. When you have a bad week don't give up on the whole month.

Don't have it in the house.

Don't eat the obvious shit. Triple caramel latte and double blueberry muffin from Starbucks. You know what it tastes like. Just... keep walking.

Greek yoghurt mid afternoon, chuck a banana in, bit of honey, cinnamon.

Pasta and rice create water retention. Don't feel too bad at the scales the next morning. It all gets peed out.

Oh, yeah, and alcohol counts, so don't be all about the lettuce leaves during the day and down a bottle of wine or a 6 pack of lager at night.

My mother constantly bangs on about never losing weight, apparently forgetting she starts on the wine about 4pm, going through a bottle or more a night, has a pasty 'for a little snack' every time she passes Greggs and bites chunks of cheese straight from the block every time she visits the fridge.

Don't be that person. You don't need to be told that is not conducive to weight loss, so just... don't be that person ;) If you know one of your habits is calorific, focus on it.

Smaller plates really helps with portion control.

Take photos regularly to track your progress. Only you will see them and they can be motivating.

Charity shop clothes as soon as they become too big.

Plan snacks as well as meals and prep the day before as much as you can so it's already there for you.

Do the 'fruit' test if you feel like grazing - if you don't want to eat an apple you're not really hungry, you're bored.

Good advice here.

Yy to no processed food - I lost a huge amount of weight by just cutting out anything from a factory

I have found 5 days of low-calorie breakfast and lunch, plus a minimum of 20 mins of decent excercise on those days has helped me lost a pound a week since Sept. Then I eat whatever for tea. No snacks. And watching the portion size on tea.

Breakfast - poached egg on 1/2 a sandwich thin plus coffee (c175 cals but fills me up)
Lunch - ham, chicken or salmon salad, a few nuts, a bit of grated cheese (c300 cals - again fills me up)

Leaves me 1000 cals for tea. Add in the exercise and I am slowly dropping weight.

Work out the calories of your favourite snacks - 2 biscuits really will make a difference. Ditto a packet of crisps a day. Have them - but not every day.

I gave up sugar on 3rd January and have lost a stone. More than that I no longer snack, but I'm not hungry between meals. I eat full fat, in processed foods.

Avoid low fat stuff, it's full of sugar and messes with your insulin levels

I lost a stone and a half last year by doing these thing:

Drinking lots of water.

Cutting out Alcohol at first to kick start myself the sticking to Gin and Slimline tonic. You would be surprised how many calories are racked up through drinking, especially wine!

Not eating between meals.

Not eating after 6/7pm or whenever dinner was.

Walking more and keeping myself busy.

I didn't make any special diet dinners/meals etc. I just ate a normal family meal and had a sensible size portion.

Cut out sweets and biscuits at first, then was sensible with them as little treats rather than gorging on big chocolate bars etc.