How do you motivate yourself?

The hardest part for me is dieting. I just love eating food. I know the consequences of my over eating but something inside me just doesn't care.

I go to the gym pretty regularly so I'm not too unfit, but even with that I'm taking in too many calories and have body fat that I want gone

I go through phases of doing really well on weight loss, and then I'll mess up and undo all that progress

The best I've done for weight loss was last year for my siblings wedding, I got the closest to what I wanted to look like at that point. I counted my calories and kept at a semi large deficit. I also tried keto around that time. But now they're married and I don't have that kind of motivation

I've already cut out all drinks but water / green tea (sometimes I'll have a hot chocolate) But basically it's just water and tea.

Breakfast is just Greek yogurt, and then lunch is usually chicken with quinoa or salad. Dinner is whatever my mom makes (in which I tend to eat too much of)

I also have a problem of eating something (like a bowl of sugary cereal) when I get home from work. And snacking throughout the day. I just love food! And when I'm enjoying my downtime playing videogames or watching movies, I like having some type of sweet, salty or greasy snack beside me.

Sorry for the long post, I just don't know how I can motivate myself, and I know if I don't make a change soon it'll get worse. A shallow reason that gets me semi motivated for limited periods of time is attractive girls.

Tldr: having trouble finding motivation for weight loss , and keeping it off due to a love to eat

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Top 11 Gifts to Put on Your Wish List This Year

The holidays are upon us, which means loved ones are probably starting to ask what’s on your wish list this year. And whether you’re a full-on foodie, or you’d just like some healthy help in the kitchen, consider adding these basics to your top holiday picks this year, so you can make 2018 your healthiest year yet.

1. Measuring Cups
If you don’t own a good set of measuring cups, you should add them to your wish list this year—especially since incorrectly estimating portion sizes is a quick way to sabotage your slim-down. Already own a set? Consider adding a second set to your list. That way you can leave them in your desk drawer at work and beat portion distortion wherever you are. Just make sure you ask for dishwasher-safe options so cleaning them is a breeze.

2. iPad Fridge Mount
No more dripping ingredients on your iPad while cooking. Play music, watch a movie or read through a recipe while you cook with this handy device that lets you mount your iPad directly on your fridge. Tools like this will help make your kitchen a pleasant place to spend time—so you’ll want to keep up on your healthy cooking habits.

3. Dehydrator
Although you can create dried fruits and veggies in your oven, it can tie it up for several hours and you will have to keep checking on your treats. Dehydrators are great ways to have some fun with your fruits and veggies. From dried strawberries, apples and pineapples, to healthy fruit roll ups and sun-dried tomatoes, you can create all kinds of snacks and add-ons. And the best part is, you can just load it up and let it go, just like you would a crock-pot. No babysitting needed.

4. Herb Garden Starter Kit
There’s nothing better than having fresh herbs on hand—especially in the colder months. With an indoor herb garden, you’ll be able to help yourself to all your favorites whenever you’d like to spice things up.

5. Popcorn Maker
Skip the microwave in favor of a good old-fashioned popcorn maker. The little ones in your life will love watching the kernels pop, plus you’ll be able to top your treat with healthier extras you choose (think cinnamon, sugar-free chocolate syrup, hot sauce or black pepper).

Survey Says: Americans Gain Weight Over Holidays

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6. A Good Blender
There’s no better way to squeeze fruits and veggies into your day than to pile produce into smoothies. Look for options powerful enough to crush ice and harder fruits like apples.

7. Julienne Peeler or Spiralizer
If you love pasta, than this one is a no-brainer. Both of these tools help you make delicious noodles out of your favorite veggies like zucchini, sweet potato, carrots and more. Some spiralizers even come with additional blades so you can create a variety of “noodles.”

3 Delicious Recipes to Make with a Spiralizer

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8. A Self-Timing Slow Cooker
Whether you’re extremely busy or just feeling a little lazy, this convenient kitchen tool makes meal prep a breeze. Just toss a bunch of veggies and some chicken or veggie stock in the slow cooker in the morning along with some seasonings, and let it cook all day while you’re at work or running around. You’ll love the way your house smells when you return. The best part? You’ll have leftovers for days!

9. A High Quality Knife Set
Although perhaps a bit expensive, a good set of knives will last you a very long time, and will help you stay healthy, slicing, dicing and mincing your own foods. Tip: Before you buy a knife, always hold it in your hand—it should feel natural.

10. Cutting Boards
To prevent cross-contamination you should have one cutting board for raw protein and one for produce and cooked foods. Request two different colors for yours so that you can distinguish between them. You can choose extremely affordable plastic cutting boards made of polyethylene plastic. Polyethylene plastic is non-porous, meaning potential bacteria can’t penetrate the surface. Just be sure your boards are dishwasher safe.

11. A Salad Spinner
To stay healthy and lose weight, you’ll want to add in all kinds of greens. The salad spinner makes cleaning greens like lettuce easy and quick. After washing lettuce from the garden, farmers market or grocery store, just place it in the salad spinner to quickly and efficiently dry the lettuce and serve up a fresh salad for lunch or dinner.

The post Top 11 Gifts to Put on Your Wish List This Year appeared first on The Leaf.

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The Truth About Cheat Days

There are benefits to “behaving badly on occasion.” That was the finding—and part of the title—of a study published in January in the Journal of Consumer Psychology that issued a license to cheat (sometimes) to anyone on a diet.

The researchers, from universities in Portugal and the Netherlands, came to that conclusion after 26 people followed a 1,500-calorie diet for two weeks. Those with built-in cheat days were able to exercise more self-control than those who didn’t have them.

The scientists said that cheat days—when you allow yourself the foods you avoid when dieting—help you beat the “failure cascade” that occurs when you go off your diet. You know the routine: You ate one cookie, decided you blew your diet and then finished the box.

How to Beat a Binge

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But not all science supports the benefits of cheat days. Turns out, those “cheats” can sabotage your efforts to get back on track when the day is over. Dr. Deborah Clegg of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found in animal studies that high-fat foods trigger the brain to send messages to the cells in your body, telling them to ignore the appetite-curbing hormones leptin and insulin. In other words, your “cheat” shuts down the system that prevents you from cheating nonstop. Result: You undo all the hard work you’ve put into losing weight.

Other studies suggest that when you eat certain kinds of foods, it can be tough to not let one lead to another. Using high-tech brain scanning equipment, scientists have found that when people eat highly palatable foods such as chocolate, the regions of the brain linked to pleasure and reward “light up,” just as they do in people addicted to opiate drugs. When you stimulate your brain’s pleasure center with, say, a handful of M&Ms, chances are you’re going to come back for another hit. In susceptible people, that can lead to bingeing.

How to Bounce Back After Overeating

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And as a binge goes on, says research from Virginia Tech University, the way your muscle tissue metabolizes glucose—the form of sugar your body runs on—changes in a way that could lead to weight gain and health problems.

Your muscles are the primary clearinghouse for glucose, which can either be used for energy or stored. In their study with college students, the Virginia Tech researchers found that after only five days of a high-fat diet, the students’ muscles no longer processed glucose as well. One potential result: As the results of the University of Texas study suggested, eating lots of cheat foods could make your body less responsive to appetite-suppressing insulin. Not only will you not get the “you’re full” signal, insulin resistance, as it’s called, can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

5 Steps to Take Now to Avoid Diabetes

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A better idea? Don’t cheat. But don’t create a list of no-no foods either because there’s really no need to deprive yourself of pleasure when you’re trying to lose weight.

Instead, incorporate some of those foods into a healthy diet—in moderation. Even better? Take advantage of all of the healthier versions of your favorite “cheat foods” Nutrisystem offers. We’ve got treats for sweet lovers, pizza for pie-lovers, pasta for carb junkies, ice cream for your frozen treat fix and so many guilt-free versions of all your guilty pleasures.

Or, check out our awesome Recipe Center, which is packed with hundreds of healthier recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and dessert time!

Turn to options like these to feed your cravings and need for pleasure. And you can do it on a daily basis, so you don’t really need a cheat day. Why limit it to one anyway, when there’s a way to have your cake and lose weight, too?

The post The Truth About Cheat Days appeared first on The Leaf.

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Discouraging vent

It is so discouraging sometimes. It seems like every time I have a maintenance day my weight spikes up a good 2-5 pounds and then for whatever reason takes a week or more to come back down. Why I don't know. This wasn't always the case, my weight would usually stay the same or go up a pound and come back off in a day. Lately though maintenance has been fucking everything up and it's really discouraging. I'm a 31/M/5'10.5/lowest weight 176 so my TDEE is about 1800. I eat 1500. I get 10,000 steps in about 4 times a week and if not then usually 7K which means I'm also burning several hundred calories on top of that yet my weight has only gone down about 1.7 pounds in the last month. October 28th I was 178.8. Yesterday I was 176 but I was also 176 on November 21. The day before Thanksgiving I ate at maintenance and then on Thanksgiving I ate my 1500 plus one plate of food (so I'm guessing like 3000 Max not too much, maybe not even that). It's taken me until yesterday to go back down to where I was before that. Yesterday I hit 10K steps by jogging so I figured I'd eat maintenance since I burned so many extra calories. Had 2 pieces of pizza on top of my 1500. Was exactly my maintenance. Today I'm up 2 pounds. I understand it'll come back off but the discouraging part is that no matter what I do it'll take another week or at least few days to recover from that. But Why? Because I ate 2 pieces of pizza?!??! That's insane to me. I also don't understand why my weight has come off so slowly despite the cardio I've been putting in. That's the most discouraging part more so than the maintenance spikes. I've only even been doing it because it's starting to get to the point in my weight loss where 1500 is not enough of a defecit for the rate of loss I want to achieve but despite my legs hurting or feeling tired from it it's like it's having 0 effect at all. Yes I am weighing foods correctly and logging them correct. I'm meticulous. I do seem to have a problem with constipation but that also feels irrelevant because when I do have a good day with that nothing seems to change the next day. Also I drink good amounts of water. I'm not looking for answers. Just wanted to express how frustrating this can be sometimes. It's a lot of work for very little reward sometimes and makes very little sense. The extra work in the cardio feels so pointless but what would happen if I didn't do it? Nothing?!?! Ugh.

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Tips for petite women?

As a smaller woman with a relatively sedentary job, I have trouble sticking to a low cal nutrition plan, especially when my maintenance level is around 1500 calories. Now, I’m 5’1” and 128 lbs, so just a few extra pounds will bring me to the “overweight” section of the BMI (and I am definitely not a bodybuilder so I will assume the BMI is accurate for me).

I have extra fat on my stomach and thighs and could also benefit from general overall toning up, so I’ve started P90X3, which I’ve successfully completed before. I think it’s a good balance of weight training and cardio and the nutrition guide is IIFYM, which I love. I’m eating veggies, fruit, yogurt, protein powder, etc and tracking all my macros to hit them as best as possible. Are there any additional tips you can give me to be as successful as possible? I know weight loss is slow for someone of my stature, and I’m not going to weight myself for a few months since NSV are just as important. Should I incorporate more cardio or something? I just don’t want to overdo it and burn out, especially when I’m already not eating much.

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Thursday, 29 November 2018? Start here!

Today is your Day 1?

Welcome to r/Loseit!

So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. r/Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.

Why you’re overweight

Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.

Before You Start

The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.

Tracking

Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends an app like MyFitnessPal, Loseit! (unaffiliated), or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.

Creating Your Deficit

How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. r/loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.

The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.

Exercise

Is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.

It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel awesome and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.

Crawl, Walk, Run

It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.

Acceptance

You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.

Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.

Additional resources

Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.

• Quick Start Guide - Build your foundation!
• Loseit Compendium - Frame it out!
• FAQ - Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions!

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I think I’ve hit my weight plateau and now I’m falling backwards!

Hi guys! I am on my 2nd year of my weight loss journey and in the last 2 years I have lost about 16-17kgs. I started at 94kgs in 2016 and now I am 67-68kgs. My goal is 60-62kgs But for the last 8 months I’ve hit my plateau and no matter what I do my weight just seems to fluctuate between 67-68kgs. Without me even realising I have been giving my self a ‘pass’ almost everyday now to eat junk or eat out with the thought of just for today. I’ve also noticed I get super hungry mid day and with my stomach growling like a lion (very very loudly) so I tend to continuously much on something to not make the sound of my stomach heard. Does anyone else had experienced something similar? Any suggestions or ideas to help me get back on my healthy/weight loss path would be helpful!

Thank you!

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