Eating "Best practices to lose weight"

[YojanaFitbit]

What are some of your the best practices to lose weight?

Losing weight can be tough 😑 and it's not because you or anyone else is lazy or just not trying hard enough. It's because, for many of us, everything from our biology and our environments to our emotions make weight loss an uphill battle against both nature and nurture.

Let's share our experience and some best practices that has helped us to lose weight: 

In my case these small changes were very useful... 

1. Use a smaller plate 🍵 Using smaller plates can help you eat smaller portions. By using smaller plates and bowls, you may be able to gradually get used to eating smaller portions without going hungry. It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain it's full, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full.

2. Do not skip breakfast 😣  Skipping breakfast will not help you lose weight. You could miss out on essential nutrients and you may end up snacking more throughout the day because you feel hungry.

Do yo have any thoughts about this? @Ali.G @thedigitalchic @gomezcarsonk @swiming @hayleerw6 @BWGrace @JulieRise @EastsideDick @imranjones @Bigmac86 @rbobcat1 @cathm @tedroco @Moore-cox 

😎 ✍️

[NellyG]

I agree about the smaller plate. I switched a out 10 years ago and hardly noticed the smaller portions. It an easy way to 'trick' your brain into eating less and it works!

[ishpadina]

Hi YojanaFitbit;

Try removing grain and high starches from your diet.  This is a lifestyle change.    Hope this helps.  Next, if you can limit sugar in your diet.  These changes helped me shed about 7 to 8 pounds.  Lots of water and green salads, using some extra virgin olive oil.

[YojanaFitbit]

Exactly!! @NellyG I started doing this a few years a go and it has been a great option to control my weight. 😄

@ishpadina Thanks for adding those tips. What do you suggest to eat instead of bread, pasta or rice? Any suggestions?

[DramaQueenDiva]

I follow Weight Watchers.  It's more like an "Eat This Not That" type of deal.  No food or portions are off-limits, but the more unhealthy the food or larger the portion, the more "points" it's worth.  There's no calorie counting.  Here's how it works:

Your "points" daily allowance is based on your weight and height, which will be determined when you sign up for the program.  There's 3 different diets, but they all work the same way. 

Each day, you get a daily allowance of points.  These are applied to the foods you eat.  You can spend them however you want.  If you go over, you have floater point each week to make up the difference, and you earn bonus points for exercise.

There are certain "zero points foods" you can eat.  These are mostly vegetables and fruits, although there are a few others.,,,over 200 to be exact!  However, these foods can gain points by adding extra things to them.  For example: a salad is mostly veggies, at its base, it's a zero point food.  However, if you add dressing, that's 1 point.  If you add cottage cheese, that's another point, and so on.

The goal is to stay mostly within your points range.

If using the Weight Watchers app works for you, fine.  There's an online community with 24/7 coaching, in addition to podcasts and virtual meets to offer support.

If you feel more comfortable meeting face to face with people, they offer in-person workshops.  

If you want to do a combination of both virtual and workshops, go for it!  

I chose this plan because of the flexibility it offers.  My schedule is always changing, so I like the idea of being able to go to the virtual meetings on my schedule.

[YojanaFitbit]

Wow that sound really interesting @DramaQueenDiva, I didn't know they have an online community with 24/7 coaching. That's fantastic, since when have you been that group?

[cathm]

I try to eat 5 small meals a day with adequate protein at each meal. Spacing these meals 3 hours apart seems to be helpful. 

Chewing sugarless gum between meals , especially mint gum also seems to help.

[DramaQueenDiva]

---

@YojanaFitbit wrote:

Wow that sound really interesting @DramaQueenDiva, I didn't know they have an online community with 24/7 coaching. That's fantastic, since when have you been that group?

---

Officially, 3 weeks ago.  Unofficially, since I was a little girl.  My mom is a Lifetime member of the program and explained to me how it works when I originally started to diet.  I was scared to try it because I didn't want to starve myself.  My mom said "Don't worry, you love food too much!"  I then used her materials to lose 80lbs!  

Then COVID hit and my diet went by the wayside.  I'm a frontline worker in a nursing home and my mother is a frontline worker in a hospital.  Both of us kicked the diet to the wayside because of the stress of COVID, but now that we're all vaccinated in my house, we decided it's time to take our lives back!  This time, we're doing it together!  Last night, we went to a virtual workshop together, two weeks before that, we went to an in-person workshop.

Their community is called "Connect" and it works a lot like our "Feed" community.  

You do have to weigh in every week, but I'm self-conscious about having to weigh in in front of another person, so I asked if I could weigh myself at home to get credit for all their rewards (yes, they have actual rewards you can earn...every time you log something, you get points towards them).  It turns out that you can use your Fitbit scale (or another Smart scale) to track your weight on the app and just show them at the workshop.  I've been using my Aria 2 to assist with this.

You can also track all your activity using your Fitbit to get bonus points for your diet.  Last week, I used my Sense to get an extra 40+ bonus points, in addition to the Floater and Smart Points.

[alexthecat]

I decided a few weeks ago to give up drinking sugary soft drinks. I've switched to flavored seltzer or just plain water. I must have been drinking more calories than I realized, because I already lost three pounds. 

[YojanaFitbit]

@cathm Good piece of advice! According to many experts, eating breakfast jump starts fat burning and 5–6 small meals per day prevent your metabolism from slowing down. 🤔 Interesting!!!

@DramaQueenDiva I love the "unofficially part ", 😍 you're really lucky to have the help of your mom. Thank you for sharing the name of the community, it might be helpful to other people around. I didn't know you can use your Fitbit Scale with them. 

Congratulations🎉🎉🎉! @alexthecat Great suggestion, though I think that if you're used to drinking several cans of soda per day, you may experience symptoms of caffeine withdrawal, as most popular soda brands contain caffeine too. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include headaches, fatigue, anxiety, irritability, and low energy. In this case it's best to stop drinking them gradually.

[emili]

you have to give yourself guardrails. Figure out your deficit and set up food rules you can live with without feeling like you are missing out on anything. These are your guardrails. If you stay in them, you won't drive your good intentions off the road. different things work for different people. My way of eating would be appalling to some and may work for others. Years ago I shared my guardrails with my best friend. Wrote everything out for her. She stayed in the guardrails for 2 months and lost 15 pounds. She was so happy and excited and missing all her favorite food. Because none of those things are in my guardrails. So she drove off the road and gained back everything and then some. Every few months she tries to create a version of her guardrails but can't stick to any of it. She loves junky food. She balances it with good choices and has come to terms that she will always be overweight, but healthy in all other aspects and most important- happy. People make "diet" into restricted eating, when really diet means nourishment on a daily basis- it is the food you choose to eat. I think people should give themselves guardrails of this over that, if this then not that. Anything else just creates short term loss and misery. At the heart of it is your heart- so just be sure you are treating your body and your ticker fairly with the choices you make. 

[YojanaFitbit]

@emili I usually really like your comments, they are so accurate 🤗. I also think we must respect ourselves as much as we respect what others do, it is okay to ask for advice, to read about what others do and try to make a plan with that information, but nothing is set in stone. Learning about our own bodies is something that only we can do, with patience and love. Loved your phrase...balance with good choices 😻

[BarthdeRosa]

I must appreciate your post because you shared the best practices of weight loss which would be really beneficial for me. That's amazing, and I also share this with my family member's! Thanks!

[YojanaFitbit]

@BarthdeRosa You're always very nice! Thanks for letting me know this has been helpful to you. If you would like to have more details about any other topic, feel free to let us know. We're open to ideas!! 😘

[iVeritas369]

A ketogenic diet is a diet in which most of the calories come from fat (70-75%). A moderate number of calories come from protein (20-25%). Only a small number of the calories come from carbohydrates (5%).

The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates for energy. Normally, the carbohydrates you eat are turned into glucose in the body, which is used for energy around the body and in the brain. But, if you don't eat enough carbohydrates, your body has a back-up system of burning fat instead. The liver can use stored fat and the fat you eat for energy. Stored fat is broken into two parts, fatty acids, and ketone bodies. Ketone bodies power the brain instead of glucose. This state of having a lot of ketone bodies in your blood is called "Ketosis." The liver can also make or release its own glucose through two processes as glucose is still needed for normal body function.

The regular ketogenic diet has two to four times more fat by weight than protein, and very little carbohydrates every day. This means not eating foods that are made from starch or sugar. High-carbohydrate foods are foods like fruits, bread, pasta, grains, cookies, and ice cream. Also, you must increase your intake of fatty foods, like oils (usually from olives, avocados, or coconuts), butter, and fatty meats. It's also important to not eat too much protein. You should only eat just enough protein, so you don't lose muscles. Too much protein reduces the ketone bodies in your blood and blocks fat burning.

The number of ketones in the body can be measured from the blood or urine.

I know weight loss can be a very difficult thing with there being so many options out there. I’ve tried so many of them with little to no results, until I found this amazing Keto diet that came with so many guides and over 100 options of recipe’s in under 20 minutes. My mother and I did this program together to keep each other encouraged and I saved the link to the product to share with other’s struggling to lose weight. Here is the link. >>CLICK HERE<<

Here is a short description of what you will be getting and with the attached link there is a short video that will give you a better understanding of everything included with the promise of a 60-day money back guarantee which is where I was sold.

1. Comes with a 30-Day Guarantee Meal Plan
2. Ketogenic Diet Checklist Food Journal
3. 77 Keto Biggest Mouth-Watering Dessert Recipe’s
4. 100 Keto Carp Swap Alternative Cheat Sheet
5. Intermittent Fasting And The Ketogenic Diet
6. 25 Best Thanksgiving Meal’s
7. 5 Top Christmas Dinner’s
8. Pizza Classic’s
9. 100 Keto Recipe’s In 20 Minute’s Or Less

· BIGGER than Paleo

· BIGGER than Atkins

· BIGGER than EVERYTHING else!

60 DAY MONEY BACK GAURENTEE & YOU GET TO KEEP THE PRODUCT’S!

                                                    >>CLICK HERE<<

[DavideFitbit]

I have a bad habit of eating when I'm bored and it has been difficult to stop doing that, but I was able to resolve it by having some healthy snacks always available on my fridge, so now I'm mostly eating carrots or celery when I'm bored. 😅

[Heather-S]

I totally agree with @emili that "guardrails" are absolutely necessary.  I cannot live without ice cream.  It is my favorite "food" on the planet.  However, if I buy a half gallon or even a pint of ice cream, I will eat it all in a day or two.  So for me, buying pre-portioned ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, or the adorable and delicious mochi ice cream helps me incredibly.  I get to eat my ice cream, but it is pre-portioned and I rarely go back for seconds.  So that is my guardrail.  Buy ice cream bars or sandwiches instead of the big tubs of ice cream.  🙂

[SydneyWaters]

This is a great piece of advice. Losing weight needs a proper understanding of nutrition. Losing weight without missing important nutrients is more important than just losing weight. I went from 165 pounds to 140 pounds just by trying the herbal diet I found in iahas.com and I am at the most healthy phase of my life.

[Rich_Laue]

I made smaller portions. Held back on seconds. 

I kept my cooking the same, but now have leftovers for the next day. 

Used my fitbit to monitor an increase in activity. 

My most healthiest and lowest weight, 155 lbs, when caring for, with no help, 18 horses. 

Typical days meal. 

• Breakfast 2 cups of oatmeal with fruit, juice, tea. On weekends a huge stack of pancakes or waffles. 
• Lunch 2 cups, before cooking, of rice, pound of veggies, and meat. Might be a whole can of spam. 
• Dinner, a couple of bake potatoes with veggies and cheese, add a couple of hamburgers.. 

After I left the farm within 10 years my weight hit 195. 

I'm now at 168. 

[DavideFitbit]

Welcome to the Community forums, @SydneyWaters! 

What a coincidence, I also went from 165 pounds to 140 pounds. My focus was definitely nutrition, because I can't do intense workouts. It's definitely the most important part of the weigh loss journey. 😀