It's often the little things that can make the biggest difference...

What baby steps / small changes have you made that have impacted your weight loss the most? I believe it is much easier to make small changes and stick with them, so maybe we can give each other some little tips. My best baby steps include:

1) Eating fruit and veggies at every meal and every snack.

2) Leaving at least three bites of food on my plate at every meal.

3) Denying myself nothing as long as the portion is reasonable and within my calorie budget for the week.

4) Moving more at work, even if it's just fidgeting at my desk or standing while on the phone.

Thank you in advance for any little tippy-tips :-)

learning more about the food that goes into my mouth and knowing how it effects my moods, ability to think clearly, health, etc.

Increasing my fiber!! that was a big one that helped me :)

Learning more about portion control through the tools here on CC and measuring

Christins73, I completely agree with you about how adding more fiber can make all the difference in the world. Not only does it help with calorie control, but it helps with energy and keeps my belly feeling healthy.

Love Fiber 1! It's the be-all-end-all of cereals in my opinion :-)

There are so many changes that I have made since I started, and its only been 2 months since I started,

-       &n bsp; Not killing myself over going a little bit over my calorie limits for a day. Which by the way, I no longer feel like killing myself, because of the fact that when I eat a little more than my allowed calories for the day, I actually lose weight if I hit a plateau.. Something about Leptin levels going way down that doesn?t help plateaus. And eating well for a day or two brings it back up, and my weight goes down in the process.

-       &n bsp; I am a vegetarian, but I used to not eat fruits or fresh uncooked veggies. So I started adding those to my lunch and dinner meals.

-       &n bsp; Snacking on fruit, or Kashi TLC granola bars, unbuttered popcorn, or just making some oven grilled veggies to snack on.

-       &n bsp; Going for a 10 minute walk during lunch time when at work.

-       &n bsp; Adding just a tsp of oil to curried veggies (Indian vegetable dishes)

-       &n bsp; Learning to cook healthier.

-       &n bsp; Going organic and adding more whole grain to my diet.

-       &n bsp; Going for low-fat options wherever possible.. like sour cream, yogurt, milk or soy milk.

-       &n bsp; When I feel like eating chips.. I buy the ones fried in expeller pressed oil.. .which doesn?t add trans fat.

-       &n bsp; Checking my portions and calorie intake at every meal?

-       &n bsp; Cooking breakfast at home everyday.

-       &n bsp; Taking honey in my diet everyday, has actually curbed my cravings for sweets.

-       &n bsp; Adding lemon to my salad, instead of dressing.

-       &n bsp; Looking at the nutrition information when I shop.

I just started, so I haven't seen any drastic changes in weight. However, I already feel better.

- cut out pop

- eat healthy snacks

- scheduled time to eat breakfast

- incorporating exercise into my day. it's amazing how fast i could tell this was making a difference. i hate being out of shape.

- my school has a decent salad bar line at lunch, and i've been choosing it over the pizza line

- cooking more meals instead of eating out

- reaching for fruit when I crave something sweet. i was suprised when this worked.

i didnt even realize how many little changes id made untill i read all these replies, thinking 'ooh i do that too!'

-drinking lots and lots of water

-increasing my fruit intake (which was non existant before)

-eating bran flakes every morning to keep me full (now i cant live without them)

- not denying myself anything - just making sure i exercise portion control

-not worrying if i go over my cals and trying to counter balance it all by eating less the next day....for me this is the biggest change ive made...its more to my mindset than anything else....starting cc has made me understand and appreciate that we cant be good EVERY DAY...for me one bad day spelt doom, but know im amazed when i wake up the day after a binge and dont feel stressed/guilty about it. That is HUGE for me. Its a liberating feeling, i tell ya......another point is coming onto cc and reading all these posts...i guarantee that without cc i would not be doing well- i could not do this by myself..everyones support is unbelievably appreciated....thank u !!!!!!

1. not depriving myself of anything. i eat everything that i want, but eating in moderation. If I want that piece of cake. Have it. But I only have a taste. If I eat a little more, I exercise a bit more.

2. drinking 4 bottles of water every day.

3. getting enough sleep.

and MOST IMPORTANTLY: making a list of everything that I ate for the day and putting an estimate of the calories next to each food item. Even if it's not listing the calories, just making the list lets me see what and how much I've consumed. Also, I tend to make smarter eating choices just because I know in the back of my mind that I'll be writing it all down later.