I know I’ve mentioned before on the blog that I’ve been losing weight. Today I thought I’d share some of the things that have been helpful for me. Read on to find my weight loss tips.
My health care team
My doctor and dietitian have been invaluable in helping me change my diet and make healthier choices. Having people that I can trust to give me accurate advice that is personalized for my body and lifestyle has been so helpful. It’s definitely worth it to find people that you can trust – there’s so much misinformation out that on social media.
Food scale
A few months ago I bought a food scale and it’s been so helpful in keeping myself accountable with it comes to portion sizes. It makes tracking my food so much easier now that I know exactly how much I’m eating. Even things like protein powder can vary quite a bit – even if I’m using the scoop that came with the protein powder, it can be 3 or 4 grams different.
I use this one (affiliate link) from Amazon and have been really happy with it. It has a tare function so I can weigh food in containers like bowls and not have to do any math to distinguish the weight of the food from the bowl. It’s those little things that make it easy to use so that I’m more likely to use it.
Knowing your why
I think I’ve all experienced a time in our lives when we’ve run out of willpower – whether that was with making healthy eating decisions, working out, or even studying at school. We may have good intentions, but it’s hard to actually do it sometimes.
Something that I’ve found healthy is having a clear idea of my why. If I know that my motivation is to be as healthy as I can be, then I’m much more likely to stay on track instead of eat an entire pint of ice cream. The same goes with any kind of change that you may be making – meditating before bed, being more physically active, or reading more. If you know why you want to make that change and why it’s important to you, you’re more likely to do it.
My Fitness Pal
I’ve written about My Fitness Pal before on the blog (you can read those posts here and here), but I wanted to make sure that I included it in this post too.
I’m one of those people who likes objective measures to know if I’m staying on track. I’m all about the numbers and being able to measure my progress, which makes My Fitness Pal perfect for me. My Fitness Pal allows me to personalize my goals and each day I can see how well I’m doing when I track food with it. It has a huge database of foods so I’ve been able to find just about everything I’ve needed in it. And if I haven’t, there’s been something similar that I’ve subbed in instead to at least get an idea of something close to what I ate.
While it definitely did take some time to get back into the habit of tracking what I was eating, it’s honestly pretty easy once I’m back at it for a few days. It only takes a few extra minutes each day but it helps so much in making sure that I’m eating the right things every day.
Enjoy life
There have been times so far and I know that there will continue to be in the future when I’ll want to enjoy events and celebrations that involve food and not worry about tracking every single bite or staying on track 100% of the time.
Date nights, birthday parties, vacations, and celebrations with family and friends are all times that I know that I won’t be making the choices that I usually would, but that’s okay. I would much rather enjoy those times with the people that mean the most to me and not stress about my food.
I know that 80% I’m making the healthiest decisions that I can for myself, so that I can enjoy that 20% when I’m just enjoying life. Knowing that I don’t have to be perfect all the times takes a lot of pressure off as well. It doesn’t seem as limiting.
Fitbit Charge 2
I had to include my Fitbit Charge 2. I’ve had it for two and a half years now and still really love it and use it on a daily basis. It tracks everything from my steps, workouts, heart rate, and sleep. It’s been great at keeping me accountable when it comes to how active I am each day.
The Fitbit app on my phone also syncs with My Fitness Pal so it’s great to have both of those two things working together. It’s one of those integrations that makes such a big difference.
Accountability tips
Being accountable is such a big thing for me. It can be to myself, someone else like my doctor or dietitian, or even seeing my steps, workouts, or calories I’ve eaten on an app. Knowing where I am throughout the day in terms of activity or food keeps me mindful of those things throughout the day. Staying on track with them and seeing those numbers is a good reminder when I see them during the day.
Being accountable is probably one of my biggest weight loss tips. If I don’t know where I stand then it’s really hard to make it a priority. I need to have that information and someone asking me how I’m doing.
If you’re looking for more info on weight loss tips, be sure to check out the posts I’ve written about My Fitness Pal here and here. I also have some great posts about healthy living in general on my Fitness page.
What’s something that you use or have used in the past to help you lose weight? I’d love to hear about your best weight loss tips in the comments below.
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