What *good habits* have you made?

In my opinion the best way to maintain is to not have to actively think about it, like when you diet, and calorie count, and obsess over it. So what habits have you made to make sure you STAY healthy slim?

For me I've:

*got hooked on unsweetened tea -  I drank mostly Diet coke before, but it was more of a "partner in crime" since I used to guzzle it down while eating junk, so I could eat more. At first unsweetened tea tastes pretty....crappy. Then I started to like it. Now I find sugar in tea an abomination. To me it feels like a perversion of the actual taste. Teas I drink: roaster barley (no caffeine, has a toastey coffee taste), white tea (delicate flavour, less caffeine then green), chai (as in, green tea with spices, not liquid cholesterol a la Starbucks)

* a salad at each meal - I feel WEIRD if I don't start off my meals without a big fat salad made from tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, radishes, peppers, plus apple cider vinegar, and a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

*cooking with no or little oil - you really don't need it all that much. I never add fat to stuff like soups, or vegetable stews. You can't taste it afterwards, so it's just empty calories.

* healthy snacking - binge/crash/binge was the old way. eat 6 times a day - leaves me hungry constantly. Eat just 3 meals a day - leaves me hungry between meals. solution? A handful of nuts/seeds, or GASP 25g of quality chocolate, or a handful of pretzels between lunch and dinner. A fruit/nuts usually as a mid morning snack.

 *reduced treat portion size - you know how you have a certain quantity of chocolate/chips/junk etc that satisfies you? Well, before I needed a Big Mac menu, extra large for junk. A 100g chocolate. A 100g bag of chips, or 1-200g prezels or the like. I stopped them cold turkey for a month, to readjust myself. Now all I need is 25g chocolate tops, usually just a tablet or two. A small/medium McD fries. With a salad of course. The Big Macs seem too fatty tasting to me now. I don't like chips anymore (they taste too fatty). 25g of pretzels is quite enough.

And the latest:

*exercise in the morning, everyday for just 20 min. I admit, I'm lazy. I "binge" on exercise. I go for 2-3 months without, then 1 month going 1-2 hours everyday. Then off it again. But lately, I just wake up, open the window, turn on my mp3 player, and immediately do 20 min of a combo of strenght training and cardio (jump rope, jumping jacks, crunches, lunges, etc.) with stretching before and after. It wakes me up, it's like a morning coffee. And it's a reflex in the making. And I can do it every morning, no problem, since wth, 30 min I used to spend browsing my mail.

Share your own!

breakfast, every day, no exceptions.

(exercise isn't so much a habit as a necessity, since i got the dog.)

Smaller portion size overall -- except vegies!  I find I am truly satisfied with 3 ounces of meat rather than the 5 or 6 I used to eat.  If I have a high calorie special treat, I only eat about half of a normal serving.

Keep homemade vegie soups (no fat, no starch, no meat, low sodium) in 1-cup portions in the freezer.  Almost always start lunch with a bowl of this (I eat at home) before I start making the "main" event.  Full of nutrition, and keeps my eyes from being bigger than I want my stomach to be.  Also, if we are going out where I don't know what food choices I will have, I have a bowl about an hour before we go -- makes it easier to resist those yummy finger foods/appetizers.

Eat at least 2 pieces of fruit a day.  I always ate lots of vegies, but often skipped fruit for days on end.

Keep food in the kitchen so that I don't serve myself "just a little more pasta" at the table.  Also, only eat at the dining room table, not while reading, not while watching a movie, not while I am cooking.

Trade off special treats -- do I want a glass of wine or a dessert?  I don't let myself have both.

Move everyday, at least an extra half hour over "normal" for me.

ETA:  I just noticed that this is a "maintaining" thread -- I am still losing!

turn errands into exercise opportunities (being broke helps)

high fiber breakfast

cooking ahead of time in big batches so that I'm not tempted to eat out or junky (being broke helps pt II)

Not falling back to food when I've had a bad day, to make me FEEL better. Now, I'm a big advocate of "Don't keep it in the house if you don't want yourself to eat it", but I work at a grocery store! The Reesey Pieceys stare at me. They say "Novi... That mean lady yelled at you and your co-workers are incompetent! But we love you and want to make you feel better!"

Then I realize that I don't want to eat something that knows me so well. *g*

So many people only eat healthy to stay slim. This usually leads to starvation diets (which I hate witnessed a lot in a lot of women) Anyways, whats more important is health and fitness. Eat for strength. Everytime I eat, I ask myself, Is this going to help me be more efficient?

Its important not to drop your calories too low. Even when trying to lose weight/fat. Its unhealthy to go below 1200 and 1500 if your active.

Develop healthy habits and although portion size is important, if your super active, you dont need to count calories and worry if what your eating is exceeding a cup. Just watch the foods you eat and learn to listen to your body.

The most healthy habit I came up with after doing a lot of research was to start my morning with a high protein breakfast (from egg whites, elk, bison, red beans, 95% lean beef, turkey, or something similar).  The rest of the day I try to space out 5 more meals of apples, walnuts, almonds, red beans, red potatoes, 85% dark chocolate, popcorn popped in EVOO, raw cabbage salad, dried fruits, egg whites, veggie pizza with whole wheat crust, or something similar.  I drink a large glass of water to start the day and follow it with the high protein breakfast.  I think the single most important thing I have done to lose weight is to start with a healthy breakfast.  I used to eat no breakfast besides a pot of strong coffee and maybe cookies or doughnuts.

My biggest tip that worked for me is not to be bored.  Bored triggers a lot of snacking so if you start getting cravings sometimes its bored, get off your butt and go for a walk or start doing a household chore - usually my craving stops abruptly.

Also I plan my meals out where possible at the start of the day while having breakfast or after dinner the night before so I don't get to any  point during the day when I don't know what i am going to have and therefore am tempted to grab something easy but probably higher in calories.

If I feel really hungry in the morning I have 2 cups of cereal instead of one and only eat a low GI, high fibre cereal that prevents you from feeling hungry during the morning.

Agree with the chocolate tip, I eat 20grams every day because I love chocolate and find that 20 grams is enough and doesn't through my calories out for the day

Eating smaller portions...after all, i'm a small person and i don't need to eat as much (or nearly as much) as my husband!

Incorporating more veggies and fruits throughout the day.

Avoiding most packaged foods...especially in order to watch my sodium levels. So I mostly cook from scratch, or buy low sodium items.

Eating more fish and chicken and eating less red meats.

Eating less sweets in a day. Usually only about 20 grams of chocolate.

Avoiding most foods that are high in refined sugars.

Eating when I'm hungry rather than when I feel like it (unless I'm way below my calorie limit and have to eat).

If I know i'm going to a barbeque or out to eat, I eat less beforehand, such as only fruit and veggies.

Healthier snacking...fruit, veggies, yogurt, hummous, etc.

Cooking with little or now fats, depending on how much I need in my day...and I do, it's usually olive oil.

When I go out to eat, I look for healthier entrees.

Usually my salads' dressing is a small portion of a vinegarette or a teaspoon of olive oil with my own spices added to it.

Sometimes using healthier substitutes when I bake.

Exercising almost every day for at least a half hour (except weekends unless my husband wants to play tennis with me).

Original Post by miss_heavyweight:

So many people only eat healthy to stay slim. This usually leads to starvation diets (which I hate witnessed a lot in a lot of women) Anyways, whats more important is health and fitness. Eat for strength. Everytime I eat, I ask myself, Is this going to help me be more efficient?

Its important not to drop your calories too low. Even when trying to lose weight/fat. Its unhealthy to go below 1200 and 1500 if your active.

Develop healthy habits and although portion size is important, if your super active, you dont need to count calories and worry if what your eating is exceeding a cup. Just watch the foods you eat and learn to listen to your body.

I think this is great advice! I am a pretty active person, so I can mostly judge how I`m doing food-wise by the signals my body gives me during exercising. Low energy and quick exhaustion = not eating enough; discomfort and sluggishness = eating too much.

However, miss_heavyweight, I`d gain a little if I were you. You`re clinically underweight, even with all the lean mass you have (which weighs more than fat). While you might feel fine now, trying to sustain a low weight makes you more susceptible to health hazards in the long run.

1. I walk everywhere feasible

2. I cannot stand most fast food

3. I don't like milk chocolate

4. I don't like regular sodas (they taste weird!)

5. I weigh almost everything--you'd be surprised how quickly stuff adds up, and how inaccurate measurements are

6. I plan out my calories for the day in the morning

7. I eat a lot of fiber

8. I drink a lot of water