Small things you do to help you loose weight?

[SherlockGnomes]

Have realised I've just crept into my danger zone, from Look a Fabulously Curvy Person to Hmm bit of a Tubber so am reigning myself in a bit, am not starting a major diet or excercise regime as feel I should be able to do it by just living a bit more sensibly (not scarfing biscuits while heating DDs bottles at 3am may help). But just wondered what helpful day-to-day little things people do to help keep their weight down?

Drink lots of water. At least 1.5l a day. It cuts down psychological hunger.
A pint of water at the time when you'd normally have a glass of wine/beer. Quite often the urge for alcohol is just thirst.
3 or 4 alcohol-free nights a week and cut down what you'd drink on other nights. I have lost a good stone over a month doing the above.

I don't do it on purpose but apparently I am constantly on the move.
I fiddle and I can't keep still.
Dh reckons my high levels of nervous energy are what keep me slim and him overweight.
Also, i rarely eat anything sweet apart from fruit. I've lost the taste for it.

How old is your baby OP?

If v young, I'd recommend going with the drinking at least 2 litres of water a day, walking lots, get some fresh air and sun (if you can find it) every day and you'll see the weight shift

and avoid the booze, biscuits and chocolate - just give yourself one small treat a day (you chose what it is) and plan a nice treat when you reach whatever the goal it is you want to get to

I am also trying to lose weight gradually with small changes, I just think I would never stick to a diet so it really is the only way it will happen.

I've switched to brown bread and shredded wheat for breakfasts (one or the other!). I don't have sugar in any drinks and low fat spreads on bread. I only buy biscuits like 'light' rich tea (which I think taste the same anyway!) and low fat crisps. Lunch is salad and egg, jacket potatoes or beans on toast; things that are low fat. Evening meals are the tricky bit because DH isn't a fan of 'healthy' but I've started cooking everything from scratch so I know what is in it, for example bulking out spag bol with mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes and only using the leanest meat I can get.

I think it's just about small changes and using a lighter version of products wherever possible.

i'm with you on the knitting vvviola

Cut out carbs, more exercise try and cut out a lovely glass of white wine

Stop eating when you feel full, don't feel you have to clear your plate.

Before having a snack, ask yourself if you're actually hungry (rather than bored, tired, anxious, whatever). If you're not hungry, leave it until you are.

Sounds obvious, but it's easy to get in the habit of eating when you don't need or really even want to, just out of habit. If you can stop doing that, it's a fairly painless way of cutting back.

I always have boiled sweets around - if I feel the urge for something sweet I just suck one or two and it takes it away. Zero fat and only about 60 calories...better than gorging on a pkt of biscuits or a bar of chocolate.

Wow guys great response! In answer to your question dinky DD is 9mo, my weight came off quite quickly because I was breast feeding and then has gradually crept back up. Struggling a bit at the moment, you might remember the thread, a man with priors for similar tried to snatch her in ASDA and have had real trouble leaving the house by myself with her since, which isn't helping - but that may well be another thread entirely!

Lol my DD is not dinky, was just responding to poster called dinky just to clarify!!

One thing dp and I did which makes a big difference is that we put our usual (not low cal crap which we don't like) sunflower oil in an oil spray thingy - this is drastically reduced the amount of cooking oil we use - just a quick spray in the pan rather than a glug.

Add vegetables to everything. For example, my Chili con carne used to be onions, garlic peppers, mince and tinned tomatoes. Now it's all of those, plus courgette, carrot, sweetcorn and cherry tomatoes. Makes it go further too.

Have salad, again with as many different things in it as possible.

Sit exams - I've lost a stone doing degree finals! (or maybe not)

Sherlock - I actually found keeping weight off when DS2 was 9 months miles harder (I'd lost all the baby weight doing as I'd set out above then gone back to work and rediscovered the biscuit tin at times of stress - and DS2 was a crap sleeper to add to it - and bam, suddenly put on a stone from nowhere). The water trick really works brilliantly and I made sure I exercised every day, ate mindfully (so i thought about what I was eating, made healthy choices and enjoyed it) and walked wherever possible and the weight came off again. And I really had to make a concerted effort to make sure I got to sleep at a decent hour so I had an ok night's sleep despite the numerous wake ups.

So sorry to hear about what happened at ASDA - your concerns following that experience are understandable. If you want to exercise at home, and your pelvic floor is up to it, the shred is a good dvd to try (only 20 minutes a day so should be able to get it when dd is napping) and good for toning up.

Get yourself onto BIWI's thread. I've lost a stone, feel much better in myself I have more energy, no more PMT and now have a healthy BMI. I'm sticking with it as a way of eating now as I feel so much better regardless of the weight loss.

Off to swan about in my size 12 jeans and chuck the size 18's in the charity shop pile.

I'm counting calories and logging everything on MyFitnessPal. I've got RL friends on there, so knowing that they can see what I'm eating keeps me on track; I'm a secret binger if left to my own devices.

I've only been doing it about 6 weeks, but I've lost 10lb and feel thinner and better already.

OK, the main things which have helped my DH lose an impressive amount of weight this year (almost 4 stone since Jan) are:

1. Don't waste calories on drinks
2. Stop eating as soon as you're full, rather than necessarily clearing your plate
3. Cook without adding any fat
4. No snacking in the evening whilst watching - if he needs a snack, he makes it a fat free yogurt or piece of fruit
5. Avoid sugary things like cakes and biscuits

He has also curbed the amount of bread he eats (but still eats loads of pasta/rice etc) and is never hungry.

OP I came to exactly the same conclusion last night.

I lost 2 stone several years ago (pre children) doing strict calorie logging, but I just can't face doing that again. And I've not got so much to lose this time, so I'm just going to try and be less complacent and make small changes. And I've started a weight spreadsheet so I know exactly how I'm doing each week.

I decided that I need some rules. I've tried to be realistic as I know that once I break one they will all go out the window. Here they are:

• No alcohol during the week. (Unless I'm out with friends)
• Stop buying cake at work. (Unless I can honestly say I've had the worst day in the last month :) )
• When serving up food, always put a bit of the carb back in the pot.
• Never have takeaway more than once a week
• No snacks after 9pm

Brush your teeth. Seriously, I brush my teeth when I put my kids to bed and it helps prevent me from snacking in front of the telly in the evening.

Absolutley don't go food shopping - online or otherwise, hungry. Eat a meal before you go, and take a list.

Another water-advocate here too!

I always limit bread, couple of slices of Nimble wholemeal per day - impossible to do without completley, especially if you just want to lose a few pounds. But any more than that a day bloats my face/decolletage and immediately makes me feel bigger.

Avoid artificial sweeteners and any 'diet' or 'low-fat' food. If you want a treat, eat the real sugary, full-fat version, just less of it!

Linky please not. ok so I think overall message is more water and stop eating when full. The water thing I'm doing but the second is surprisingly hard! Had leftover thai green curry for lunch and got to the stage I knew I was full, stood up to get rid of it but kept thinking 'but its such a nice curry' and end up eating it out the bowl stood over the bin which I'd been about to scrape it into!! Oh the shame! I think my mother's 'always clear your plate' message is doing me more harm than good!

If you're full but don't want to waste nice food, you can sometimes put the leftovers in the fridge for later. You'll enjoy them more when you're actually hungry for them.

Maybe not in this case if it was already leftovers, obviously you don't want to be storing/reheating the same stuff an indefinite number of times! But as you get more used to 'listening' to your body, knowing what you need to be full and what that amount looks like, you'll be more able to serve yourself the right portion size to begin with and not put more on your plate than you can comfortably eat.

I always think that stuffing food into yourself when you're full is just as wasteful as throwing it in the bin. It's not very nice or respectful towards yourself to treat your body like a waste bin. And I find that when you really think about it, overeating isn't fun or a pleasure, it actually makes you feel physically uncomfortable, as well as making you fat in the long term.

I have about 1.5 stone to shift and have only been really serious about it for a couple of weeks, but here are my plans:

Same as many have said, smaller portion size/plate size.

When food shopping, only go down the aisles with meat/fruit and veg/bread etc. Just avoid the crisp, chocolate/sweet aisles. If I don't see all this interesting tasty looking stuff I wont buy it!
I literally just keep thinking what food do I actually need to survive on?
My body does not need angel delight or muller yoghurts, crisps etc.
Just stop buying this stuff then I can't eat it! Saving money on the food bill too which is a bonus!

Out of habit I always do rice/pasta/potatoes/bread with dinner, but I don't actually need them! Protein with plenty of veg is fine!
I read on MN about doing bolognese with Broccoli instead of pasta and it was lovely!

Buy mini loaves of bread - there are about half the calories in a slice than a standard slice as long as you still use eg 2 slices for a sandwich & not 4 because they are smaller!
I went swimming last night for an hour, burned off most of the calories I'd consumed during the day! Nice, gentle and enjoyable exercise which gave me plenty of time alone with my thoughts!

We have just got a dog and moved to a small town which has been great for me - all the shops are a nice walking distance, in fact it'd be more hassle to drive and park, so whereas before I would hop in the car to the shop/takeaway, I now walk. Walking the dog every day is all helping too.
I am pre-paying for body combat classes twice a week and just making that my routine, so I know now that Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings are combat, Tuesday evenings are swimming followed by puppy training class.

I didn't think about how many calories were in drinks, but 300 calories plus for a coffee from Costa or similar! so now its a couple of instant coffees a day instead of milky lattes, and water but not juice etc.

I'm not religiously using myfitnesspal but I use the app to check how many calories are in things, which really makes me think about what I am eating and particularly snacking on.
Things I would consider a healthier option eg. cereal bar instead of chocolate are almost as bad!

Sounds very shallow but as I reach for a snack I think 'am I actually hungry? Do I need to eat this whilst thinking of having a nice bikini body for my next holiday/skinny friends with flat tummies etc.
Which do I want more, this bag of crisps or to look like that whilst visualising myself all slim and toned in a bikini lying on a beach somewhere exotic!

Setting goals, big and small - eg, if I eat well and do my planned exercise through the week, I will allow myself a couple of treats a week - eg. Friday will be fish and chips and I might allow myself a Starbucks or Costa Latte over the weekend!
Long term goals, if I manage to get to my desired weight/size, I will re vamp my wardrobe and book my exotic beach holiday where I will be proud to show off the results!

Sorry for the massive post!

We freeze nice leftover curries! Naan bread, the lot! It's a lovely surprise finding one tucked away in the freezer....mmm

rushes to empty freezer

Hi, we've moved this out of Chat and into Big/slim/whatever weight loss club, just so we don't lose it!