Dieting Tips and Tricks

[KattyKatie]

OK admit it, most people want to lose weight. Whether it's 5 or 500 pounds, most people are pretty stuck right? Well try sharing your dieting success stories and tips so that noone should ever be lost again on that long hard road. Some tips of mine are:
* When you need something sweet, grab a popsicle instead of chocolate, they have WAAY fewer calories and they last longer
* Don't weigh yourself every week, its too discouraging! Progress comes over time so limit your scale time to once a month at the most
* Try not to compare your weight to the weight of your friends, everyone is built different! Chances are your skinny little friend has a different body shape than you
* Don't go to extremes! Not only is it not healthy it can cause you to *gain* weight! When you take in too many calories your body goes into starvation mode and when you start to eat normal again it will cling to every calorie you consume
* Don't do it on your own. Most dieters aren't sure of what's healthy and not healthy. Try websites like www.ivillage.com/diet for advice on what diet is right for you, how much weight you should lose and just how many calories you should take in!

[Cassiopeia]

When I first saw this thread, I was worried that you'd be posting unhealthy advice. But I was glad to see that all of your tips were very healthy. They are things that everyone should do, regardless of whether or not they are trying to lose weight. Also, you are right that most people want to lose weight. However, a lot of them don't *need* to lose any (some even would be better off if they gained weight). You probably know this, but I just thought I should add it.

[KattyKatie]

^^ Thank for adding that, it's something that most people don't really think of. I usually go by my body fat percentage to see if I need to lose weight or not, but BMI is also pretty accurate unless you're very muscular or very busty.

[Cassiopeia]

^^^ BMI's can be misleading. For example, my body mass index is like 24, because I weigh a lot. It's on the high side of average. But my body fat percentage is 22-23 (20-25 is considered healthy). The reason for this is that I have a large bone frame, D-cup boobs, and a lot of muscle.

[julinka]

And for the love of god, stay away from those "herbal diet supplements", especially ones with ephedrine (ma huang) in them. I know people addicted to methamphetemines (crank), that won't touch those because they're so nasty to your body.

[Cassiopeia]

^^^ Thank you for adding that. I was addicted to those things for a while. I even overdosed on them and made myself very sick. And I didn't really even lose any weight.

[iNsAnE.cAnAdIaN]

I am very glad that all of these suggestions have been positive.
I used to be on this "healthy diet" I made up myself, but over the summer I began to eat less healthy and be more lazy, so now I am starting up on it again and it has been sooooooo hard.

Basically, what I am trying to do is run at least 2times a week, do strength work-out about 4 times a week , and my ski-machine once. (I have been building up to this point, I actualy took a learn-to-run course haha)

For the food part, I am just trying to make healthy decisions. I eat a healthy breakfast (half a bagel with jam and orange juice) a small lunch (simply becase I am not hungry at lunch) and a hearty dinner, usually of pasta and salad and some kind of protein like beans cus Im a veggie. At lunch, if I bring money I buy the "vegetable and fruit tray" instead of fries or something. I am bringing trail mix with raisons, dried fruit, peanuts, and cherrio's to school and munching throughout the day- I find that helps to stop my "cravings". I am also bringing water with me. At home, I have cheese and crackers instead of cookies, and drink chocolate milk instead of pop. If I really want to have something like cookies or something- I have it! I just don't base all my meals around that.

Well...thats the basics of it.Hope Ihelped somebody haha.

iNsAnE