Small Tips that WORK (when losing weight)

Hello, I lost 20 pounds since May....and I find that the smallest things make the biggest difference when it comes to losing the fat...here are some things I picked up thanks to reading literature (esp. women's health mags)

 - When you drink Green Tea before a workout, you burn up to 17% more fat...due to opening of fat cells and blood cells.

- When drinking hot drinks (anything really) after meals, you digest faster and it cleans out your body and prevents the hardening of arteries. Japanese people are an example of this statement; they always have tea after a meal.

- Adding citric acid (a lemon) to tea will allow to you absorb more anti-oxidants. These prevent free radicals.

- Toxins in your body STORE FAT!!! Push these toxins out with consumption of anti-oxidants and salt baths...running and sweating helps too.

- Drinking only skim milk, water, green tea, and V8 (low sodium) are the only really beneficial drinks. I stayed limited to them.

- Chewing makes you feel fuller than drinking. So avoid juice that provides lots of sugar without the "feeling full satisfaction" and stick to whole fruits instead.

- 2 Eggs a day for breakfast is ideal if you have good cholesterol. The protein builds muscle and it keeps you fuller longer. This may be a bad idea if you are prone to certain conditions, but for healthy people it’s strongly recommended.

- NO EATING 2 hours before bed.

- If you're hungry, you may just be dehydrated. You can tell by the clarity of your urine. Gulp down water till it fills your stomach and see if you are satisfied. If not, then eat...

- VEGGIES ARE FAT SOLUABLE! In order to get those lovely vitamins, add a little butter (I use "I can’t believe it’s not butter spray" it’s zero calories but provides the oils necessary to help absorb the vitamins.

- I LOVE CHOCOLATE. So instead of cramming a snickers bar, I eat one Hershey kiss and I let it sit in my mouth for as long as possible.

- I eat no potatoes. I took a tip from the south beach diet and mashed up cauliflower and it added butter and pepper. Oddly enough, it was close enough to mash potatoes to do the job.

- 2 and half servings of whole grains are ideal for your waist line.

What are your helpful tips?

 

These are all GREAT!  I follow several of these myself.  A few of mine would be:

• Find tasty treats you can enjoy that are low in calories (my favorites are fudge pops and chocolate teddy grahams)
• Shoot for 80-100 g of protein/day (might need to adjust for your age/gender/weight) to give yourself enough energy
  
• If you're splurging on a special dinner treat like pizza or a burger, have lots of veggies on the side instead of breadsticks, fries, or potato chips
• Never skip breakfast or you'll gorge at lunch
• Keep healthy, low calorie snacks on hand
  
• Don't let yourself stay in bed more than 8-9 hours (unless you're ill); GET UP even if you don't have to
• Sit on a exercise ball when watching tv
• FIDGET!  If I'm sitting at the computer, at work, riding in the car, or lying in bed watching tv, I try to do even a little something to burn a few more calories.  This includes expanding and contracting my stomach muscles in a slow, controlled manner, tapping my toes, and doing leg lifts.
  

Love all the info!!! I will have to use some of it!!

My only good advice is hmmm lol keep motivated!! lol yeah sorry I dont have much hehe!!

when you say 2 1/2 serving of whole grains do you mean each day or each meal?

Some of these are excellent, but as far as I know, some are rumors as well.  Things like fidgeting (according to Nutrition Action magazine, fidgeting does absolutely nothing—however they mean fidgeting like twiddling your thumbs, so your ab workouts are probably beneficial) and not eating before bed (I've heard it makes no difference when you eat), for example.  But great tips! ^^

I read an article that had helpful tips, here they are:

• Ice added to your water burns 10 more calories a day (which doesn't seem like much but it's an extra pound a year)
• People who drank 8-12 8 oz waters, lost 20% more than those that drank 4 8-12 oz waters a day
• Every pound that you loose lowers your resting metabolism 10 fewer calories/per pound lost
• Spicy food  (1 tbs) burns 23% more calories each meal
• More protein (20-30% more ) burns 200 extra calories a day
• Muscle burns 4X more calories than fat... so start that weight training!

I read until "the opening of fat cells and blood cells."

 

...

 

 

Congratulations on your success.

I agree with some of that except for the butter and potatoes, better to add olive oil to veggies or an avocado. Sweet potatoes are very beneficial in many ways. Red potatoes also in moderation.

Some things I do to cut calories and eat healthy are

Drink enough water. Keeps you hydrated and full longer. I drink a bottle before my meals and with my meals and a bottle as soon as I wake up.

Cut out the really bad stuff that your body can live without. Transfats, fried and fast food, sugary drinks including juice, mayo, butter, processed foods, pop or anything with artificial sweeteners.

Eat a salad before dinner.

Chew slowly and enjoy your food.

Don't let yourself get hungry or you will overeat.

Make sure you get enough of everything. Well balanced diet. Eat "clean" when you can.

Plan and prepare your meals ahead. I pack a lunch for work everyday. I make it for Mon, Tues and wed on Sunday night. Mix tuna with beans and put in individual dishes, or egg beaters, chicken. I love a baked sweet potato mixed with cottage cheese and jalapeños or olives. Very good.

Eat a hot pepper almost everyday. Huge health benefits including speeding up your metabolism.

Rinse all canned food, tuna, beans, veggies in a strainer to remove extra sodium.

Have a cheat meal once a week.

Exercise 5-6 days a week. Strength train at least 2 days a week. I do 3. Never work the same set of muscles 2 days in a row.

Mix up your cardio. Don't do the same thing everyday. Sprinting has huge benefits. 2-3 days a week.

When walking on the treadmill move  your arms a lot and change the speed often. Burns way more calories and gets your HR up.

Don't waste calories on drinks.

 

1. Don't pretend that those cooking sprays have 0 calories in them. In fact, don't even use cooking sprays, use olive oil (unless frying, in which canola is not a bad idea) and then get a kitchen a towel and wipe off the excess oil till your pan is nicely oiled.

Funny you say that because I use canola and olive oil in everything I fry. Sometimes I'll gain like 5 lbs if I use alot or I binge but I just go veggies for about 5 days and it comes back off. If I eat like my fried chicken thighs, I limit it to one protein that day and eat lots of veggies the rest of the day. Rice is definately a weight control food. I eat tonssssssssssssssssss of rice. But one would get really weak if thats all they ate. At least one serving of protein and lots of veggies every day would be good. I love rice organic rice crispies with rice dream or skim milk, little splenda or sugar and fresh strawberries. Organic rice crispies can be blended up to make a flour that fries fish great. Regular flour is so fattening, I cant stress this enough. When I was experimenting, I found that even if I added a tbls of wheat flour to my frying, my weight loss stopped.

Original Post by okgo:

Some of these are excellent, but as far as I know, some are rumors as well.  Things like fidgeting (according to Nutrition Action magazine, fidgeting does absolutely nothing—however they mean fidgeting like twiddling your thumbs, so your ab workouts are probably beneficial) and not eating before bed (I've heard it makes no difference when you eat), for example.  But great tips! ^^

I beg to differ with you there.  I'm not suggesting fidgeting be substituted for an actual workout but it will burn some extra calories each day.  I'm going to defer to Mayo on this one.

Ok one more thing I wanted to add then I promise im done typing lol. I am just so excited that I found out about gluten free is all. My son had ADD since he was very little, He is now 16, when I found out that I had gluten allergies I not only changed my diet to gluten free, but also my kids. Well, I have had him on the gluten free diet for about 5 years now. He has been completely different since. His ADD went away and he no longer requires medication. To back this theory up. (this is for people who COMPLETELY omit gluten, not just a little bit and cheat here and there.) Well, like I said to back this theory up, my cousin had a son who was omg this kid was horrible! He had ADHD so bad and ODD. He was just a handful. She saw the difference in my son so she took her son to the doctor and got an allergy test. Come to find out he was also allergic to, corn, wheat, rye, oats, beef, pork and a few others. If this boy ate cheese he'd curl into a ball screaming sometimes. But now he eats cheese like no tomorrow because she has omitted all the glutens and preservatives in his diet. This kid is a complete turn around. He is sooo good now. He does ten times better in school and he can focus now. I am telling you, if one is meant to be gluten free, It works!! I haven't gained hardly any weight since. I weigh 120-125 lbs consistanly eating this way. I would recommend it for everyone.

If you dont believe me here are a few links to back this up:

http://members.cox.net/harold.kraus/gluten/an no_symptoms_files/ADHD.htm

 

http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/adhd

 Glutens linked to obesity and death in cattle. Including humans,

http://ezinearticles.com/?Wheat-Pasture-Bloat -Kills-Cattle---Wheat-Gluten-Linked-to-Obesit y-and-Bloating-Epidemic?&id=506420

I'm not fond of the no eating two hours before bed stuff.  Most mornings I'm eating within half an hour of going to bed because the cafeteria doesn't open until 6:30 AM, when I get off, and I'm ready for bed by 7:00 AM, after I get home and get into my pajamas. 

Doesn't hurt my weight loss one bit.

Really great tips guys! I really dont have anything to add to them, but I have a quick question.

I really love eggs and sometimes eat a fried egg and toast for my dinner. What should I be frying it in??? My family has always done it with butter, but Im really trying to limit how much butter I use, so what should I be using?

and brush your teeth after dinner. it helps discourage snacking. really well, for me at least.

Read Skinny Bitch. Don't walk to the book store -- RUN.

Original Post by keb1984:

Really great tips guys! I really dont have anything to add to them, but I have a quick question.

I really love eggs and sometimes eat a fried egg and toast for my dinner. What should I be frying it in??? My family has always done it with butter, but Im really trying to limit how much butter I use, so what should I be using?

 Don't fry them in anything!  Get a good frying pan that doesn't stick and the egg will just slide off.

Don't screw around with 100 calorie packs. It's better just to cut things out of your diet and eat a piece of fruit than to always be craving the real thing. (In my not so humble opinion. I am doing MUCH better at this dieting attempt but not giving into the peer pressure of diet foods.)

forgive me if i cant completely remember what the article said, only the fact..not the reasoning... stuck with me.

to anyone who is interested in the "small stuff" the womens health mag's really have a lot to offer. its good stuff.

I fry my eggs in a non stick skillet. If I use anything it is non fat olive oil cooking spray just a tiny bit.

Interesting post about the food allergies thank you for sharing that. Also the ADD. I bloat with almost each meal. It is horrible. I have OCD and my son has epilepsy and I believe ADD. Do you go to an allergy Dr. or just your family Dr. for food allergy testing?

How can there be a non-fat ANYTHING oil?