What do you do... (dieting tips)

[Miranda]

...to keep from over-eating? :confused:


Yes, I know there are some of us :rolleyes:that just have incredible will power. But, others of us :o need a wee bit of help.

For me I've concluded (as I was home mindless eating junk on the see-food-diet, aka see food = eat)... it's getting out of the house.

A good ole mall shopping trip yesterday helped the diet plan beautifully...
A) I wasn't home to eat eat eat,
B) something about a lot of nekkidness in store dressing room lights:eek: has a way of kickin up your motivation.

The other day I survived my ice cream withdrawl cravings by using my GFs xmas gift... a new journal. When I re-read the entry, it sounded like "diary of a mad-man" (or one crazy woman dieing for Moose Tracks). But, it worked.

Next, I think I might re-visit crocheting. It kept my hands busy at home, vs using them to stuff un-needed food in my mouth.

So, what's your trick or tip? :)

[Grog]

I buy really high-quality food.

Somehow, I don't feel like binging on 75% dark chocolate or fancy cheeses with strong flavours. I do have some, but in reasonable amounts (or even less).

[deedolce]

Mine is wanting a second bowl of food - (I eat to fast, and I'm HUNGRY!!!) so what I've been doing is filling the bottom of the bowl with plain old lettuce. THEN I put my food on top, and eat it together. Then if I have a second bowl, and do the same thing, I've really only had 1 bowl of the 'main course'...well, it works for me. :rolleyes: :D

[channlluv]

Mine is wanting a second bowl of food - (I eat to fast, and I'm HUNGRY!!!) so what I've been doing is filling the bottom of the bowl with plain old lettuce. THEN I put my food on top, and eat it together. Then if I have a second bowl, and do the same thing, I've really only had 1 bowl of the 'main course'...well, it works for me. :rolleyes: :D

That's a really superior idea. I made homemade chili tonight and had it on a bed of organic white corn chips...wish I'd thought of lettuce now. Next time.

:)

Roxy

[redrhodie]

If I'm watching my weight, which I always need to do in the winter, I try to chew each bite of food 40 times. It's really hard, but it makes me more conscious of what I'm eating. It's also better for digestion.

[tulip]

Eat slowly and do nothing else while eating (NO watching TV or reading the paper). Be mindful of what, how, and how much your are eating.

Plan ahead so you don't get really hungry and pig out.

Eat an apple every day.

Drink alot of water.

Brush your teeth.

[indysteel]

I try to avoid buying the foods that I have a habit of bingeing on. If they're not in the house, I can't eat them.

[Susan Otcenas]

I drink alot of tea. Especially fruity ones, as that seems to help when I have a sweet craving.

Sugar free gum. Keeps the jaws moving.

Air-popped popcorn! The real thing, not Jiffy Pop, or the like. 1/4 cup of unpopped corn yields a big bowl of popped corn, and is only 120 calories (2 WW points). It really satisfies the munching craving I get from time to time, without much guilt.

[Aggie_Ama]

Sugar free gum.

Drink water- it often curbs the urge to eat.

Do something non-sedantary. Sitting in front of TV or at my computer for work often makes me think I am hungry but really I am just bored. :rolleyes:

I oddly can kill the urge to eat by running. I am anything but hungry after a run. A bike ride? Not so much. After a long bike ride I will eat anything in sight.

[GLC1968]

Do something non-sedantary. Sitting in front of TV or at my computer for work often makes me think I am hungry but really I am just bored. :rolleyes:


This is a big one for me, too.

I also 'close' the kitchen at night. We eat, I clean up, and then the kitchen is closed for business. Helps with the night-time munchies.

Getting all 'trigger' foods out of the house helps, too. There are certain things that I have no will power to resist...so I just don't buy those things. And not shopping for groceries when I'm hungry also helps.

I have identified when my bad 'trigger' times of the day are, so I puposely plan to do things to avoid eating during those periods. When I get home from work and am preparing dinner is a bad time for me. My solution lately? I put bleach trays in my mouth! 45 minutes is about how long it takes to make and serve dinner...and thats how long they stay in. White teeth and no munchies...can't beat that! ;) I don't know what I'm going to do next week when the bleaching is done though. :p

[crazycanuck]

I had an aha moment in terms of food whilst on our road trip. We carried alot of fruit(dried is best on a road trip in Aust due to agricultural checkpoints), raisins & yoghurt. We drank tons of water(the pee stops were quite frequent..:rolleyes:)..

Ya know what...even without much exercise over a week, we didn't gain a ton of weight!!!

I guess what i'm trying to say is..fruit, water, salad etc is the way to go!

[Miranda]

Thx ladies, those are great replies! :)

Here's one I just decided to revisit on analyzing when I'm munching extra calories...

Riding in the car. I've always been a closet drive-thru junkie car eating person:o.

When I ride outside, the choices are limited when I roll in back home. When I'm leaving spin class at the gym, my fav coffee house is a block away. I usually do black coffee (zero calories). BUT, somehow I got started "treating" myself to baked goods out of their pastry case. Then it became routine. I felt like I'd die if I didn't have my food in the car. I could pass out from starvation and drive off the road:eek::rolleyes:.

Soooo... today, I made sure I took a healthier choice with me from home. A bannana. It was hard not to go to the coffee shop pastry case, but I just gripped my bannana for morale support;).

[Andrea]

I just finished training camp with my new team... now whenever I eat something, I think about being yelled at over the team radio while getting dropped on a climb... I've lost two pounds since I got home :D

[badger]

maybe you can look into Relora? it's an adaptogenic herb that supposedly works to suppress overeating. I use it for anxiety and stress, and it really does work!

http://www.vitabase.com/articles/weight-loss/relora-control-weight.aspx

[Hill Slug]

A few things:

Cut out non-essential sodium, yeah I know :rolleyes:......sometimes I do have some chips and salsa though when I have a craving. I definitely feel it when I have too much salt.

Stop eating 3 or so hours before going to bed. I have stopped eating anything after about 7:30-ish. When I eat late, it makes me feel more sluggish.

By journaling what I eat, I have to write it down. If really don't want to write down that I had some candy, I make myself not eat it.

This seems to work for me.

[Smilie]

I need to lose a few pounds before my trip to Mexico, so I have started writing down what I eat. Sparkpeople is a great place for recipes and for logging on all you eat. If anyone wants the site, let me know. It's free, and it helps me. Quite the bummer when you look and see what you ate adds up to in calories! Very annoying.

But when I crave sweets as in chocolate, I grab maybe 5 chocolate chips, and that is my treat, or a chocolate kiss works too. I just stop at one. *subliminal message there*:D

[ny biker]

Eat when you're hungry.

Pay attention while you're eating and stop as soon as you think you might be full.

If you're not hungry, find something else to do. Go for a walk around the block, drink a big glass of water, take up knitting, whatever. Close your eyes and picture yourself in a bikini. Just don't eat.

[DebTX]

Eat when you're hungry.


I'm always hungry...:eek:

[spokewench]

If you are hungry all the time and you can't resist; cut up a bunch of veges, i.e. sweet yellow, red and orange bellpeppers, cucumbers, carrots, celery, and whatever else you like; and put them in bags after you come back from the store. Put them in your crisper and when you feel the need to munch, eat away

spoke

[Smilie]

I'm always hungry too! I crave protein a LOT too. So I have boiled a few eggs, and pop one (or two) to help the protein craving and the hunger pains. With about 77 calories, and 6 grams of protein, I think it helps.

[ny biker]

You mean, literally your stomach is always rumbling because you're hungry? I would think that is a sign of a problem, like your body is telling you that you need to eat more, or some kind of medical problem.

[Smilie]

Mine is literally hungry, not all of the time but at least every 2-4 hours. I have a high metabolism, so I tend to eat often. I would like to lose about 5 or 6 lbs, so you wouldn't think my body would be hungry that often. :rolleyes:

[ny biker]

I agree re: breakfast. Eggo nutri-grain low fat waffles work for me.

I usually get hungry in the late afternoon so I'm used to having a snack then. But last summer I realized that everyday when I was eating lunch I would be full before I was done with the whole lunch, but ate it all anyway. So I started eating half the sandwich (or salad or whatever) at lunchtime and putting the other half in the fridge. And when I get hungry for an afternoon snack, I eat the second half of lunch. This has cut a couple hundred calories out of my diet every day, without making me more hungry or feeling deprived or anything.

Similarly I realized that I tended to eat everything that was on my plate for dinner even if I was full before I was done. So now I put less on the plate to start with, and it's usually enough to get me through until breakfast. If I do get hungry at night, I either have a very small snack (e.g., a 50-calorie piece of cheese) or I just drink lots of water and that does the trick.

I've also found that prunes make a very filling snack, and they taste good and are a good source of potassium and anti-oxidants. And you will never let yourself go crazy and overeat when you're snacking on prunes.

[Karma007]

Start Streakin'! See how many days in a row you can go without eating improperly. I'm pretty competitive, and have found this to be pretty motivating. I don't cave to temptation simply because I don't want to 'lose'.

[crazycanuck]

What about drinking at least 1.5L of water a day?

If i don't drink enough i feel hungry.

[Tuckervill]

Similar to ny biker...I'm a member of the Clean Plate Club. So, I started using smaller plates! I even started a collection of beautiful handmade plates, in the salad plate size, and I use them for every meal (except Thanksgiving!). My husband does it, too.

I had the idea that I should spend a morning cooking up an entire day's worth of food. Food that I would normally eat on a typical day, all measured out, like on the Today show or something. And then just visually stimulate my mind to realize how much food that is in one day! Then I could play with volume of the good veggies and other things to see how I could increase the amount of food without increasing the calories.

What can I say? Sometimes you need to draw me a picture for me to understand!

I'm going to do it....I'll take a day from my food diary. If I take pictures, I'll post them.

Karen

[GLC1968]

Another thing that we all often forget is that a little hunger is ok. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. You are trying to lose weight, so to do so, you are eating less than your body needs so that it burns off the fat of the land, right? So when you aren't eating every single calorie your body is used to having, it cries out. It wants more. That's a growling stomach.

It's nothing to go running to the fridge about! Just learn to recognize when hunger is ok and when it's a real problem. If your head is spinning, you feel weak or shakey, you can't concentrate...that's different...that's not the kind of hunger to ignore. If your stomach is grumbling and your sensible food plan doesn't have you eating right now, then just tell it to shut up! :p

[Miranda]

Another thing that we all often forget is that a little hunger is ok. If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. You are trying to lose weight, so to do so, you are eating less than your body needs so that it burns off the fat of the land, right? So when you aren't eating every single calorie your body is used to having, it cries out. It wants more. That's a growling stomach.

It's nothing to go running to the fridge about! Just learn to recognize when hunger is ok and when it's a real problem. If your head is spinning, you feel weak or shakey, you can't concentrate...that's different...that's not the kind of hunger to ignore. If your stomach is grumbling and your sensible food plan doesn't have you eating right now, then just tell it to shut up! :p

Bawahaaa...

Thx, I really needed that support and inspiration right *NOW*! OK, stomach...

SHUT UP!!! :mad:


:D

Btw, good adds, ladies:).

[mumbles]

I think there is a difference between my stomach being hungry and my mouth being hungry. My mouth gets hungry for certain tastes long before my stomach ever gets hungry. Chewing mint or cinnamon gum should help as it makes everything taste funky.

[Reesha]

As I sit here eating breakfast-- a couple egg whites and a whole egg with some Bragg's liquid aminos for extra yums-- I realize that it's the chopsticks that I use to eat them that slows me down and keeps me from eating too quickly and still wanting more. It especially works if you're not very adept with the chopsticks ;) Think Beatrix Kiddo with her mangled hands at Pai Mei's place in Kill Bill vol 2 :D

[shootingstar]

Seems the general rule of thumb, is to eat so that you feel approx. 80% full per meal. Especially true for dinner where one would be burning the least amount unless you're doing a 50+ kms. ride after supper.

I seem to break that rule too many times. Of course, I drink alot of tea throughout the day.

[lph]

I have a high metabolism, get hungry fast, and am a creature of habit. So what works for me is to eat often and light, and follow routine. If I buy a latte on my way to work 3 days in a row I have a new habit, and can't imagine what I did without it. If I drink green tea and a couple of wholegrain biscuits once I get to work, that's my new habit instead. I can pass the latte place without blinking an eyelid. Getting used to being hungry is not an option, it drives me nuts.

So I try to stock up on stuff that is healthy, and only fattening if I take the time to make it :p like muffins or cake or something, and keep sweets and munchy stuff just out of the house. Or that will be what hits my mouth when I'm grazing after a ride. I buy cookies to have with coffee weekend mornings, but don't buy them til the end of the week. I buy candy I don't like for my son ;)

[malkin]

Cake is fattening?
Say it isn't so!

[surgtech1956]

Choc cake is not fattening.;)

[lph]

Cake worth eating is fattening ;)

[solobiker]

One time I convinced a friend that if you freeze fattening foods such as candy bars or cake a chemical reaction occurs which decreases or at times eliminates that fat content in the particular food. I started to rattle off a bunch of technical jargon and she believed me. I wish it was true.:p

[deeaimond]

I eat alot. people who have hung around and observed my eating habits over a few days remark how i should be obese. It gets worse during certain times of my monthly cycle. If i don't eat when I should, tummy growls and I get gastric pains for real, then I'm just miserable (coz the pain gets worse when u eat from the gas and the bloating). So I snack alot (in terms of quantity), eat wholegrains, lots of fruit and vegetables, very little sugary foods, try to eat less fried food. I don't eat much meat. As it is I will only put on weight if I get really sedentary because I am too busy to go walking or exercising. (I did in the last one year, so i'm trying to lose weight by exercising more) But I can't not eat because if i'm hungry I can't do anything else except think about food.. So yup. Lots of wholegrain stuff/ fresh fruit/ veggies/ boiled eggs. I still eat junk but I have food preservative allergies, so i can't eat alot of the things I really like, so that helps. I just need to control the carbs such as rice and noodles, which are really predominant around here. oh and yes drink alot of water. seems like a combination of all the tips given so far!

[roadie gal]

If I get a craving for something bad: chips, chocolate, etc. I'll let myself have a small amount of whatever that is rather than try to suppress the craving. If I try and suppress it, I end up munching on everything else in the house until I finally give in. This way I end up eating less overall.

[PamNY]

This author's book about mindful eating (http://www.eatingmindfully.com/index.html) is worth reading.

Pam