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Tips and Tricks I’ve Learned

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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14 Comments

  1. Marc

    I don’t know if its a tip or trick, but for me, trying to stay positive everyday helps. If negative feelings or thoughts enter my mind, I try and recognize them for what they are. Why am I having these feelings? How will they help me be a better person or improve my day? The answer is always they will not. So I banish them by forgiving and forgetting, go for a walk, listen to upbeat music or some other activity that requires motion. Doing this creates a healthy mindset to keep focused on the goal. In this instance it is going from fat to fit. It doesn’t happen in a day. It takes continual vigilance. But I’m preaching to the choir:)

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s a great tip, Marc. I think staying positive is really important. There are so many ups and downs in a weight loss journey and staying positive definitely helps when the road gets tough!

  2. Marilyn @ Lipgloss and Spandex

    AWESOME tips. Those are all things I do also. When it comes to fruits and veggies, I try and make them as easy as possible to serve up (roast them in the oven, dice and then put a little greek yogurt dip on them, etc). When it’s easy and available–as a snack, or as a side dish–I’m more likely to eat it. Which is also why I don’t keep chips around the house! They’re my kryptonite. If I have a whole bag of them, I’m pretty much guaranteed to eat multiple servings. Pickles really help satisfy my salty cravings.

    I’d add that looking at nutrition labels is really important. Many products that are *marketed* as being *healthy* or *good for you ingredients* also have extra sugar, extra calories, or a whole bunch of additives. It’s ideal to cook a lot of your own food, but it’s not always practical. So taking a look at nutrition labels, and keeping healthy options in the freezer makes it easy to whip up a meal quickly.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      You make two great points. Yes, it has to be easy and convenient: i.e. grapes you grab a handful of, carrots already chopped and ready to snack on, etc. Having chips or crackers on hand make that my go-to snack when I don’t have quick, easy options for healthy stuff. And yes! Read a label! It’s so important. Those labels can often be deceptive!

  3. John

    These are great tips! Especially the one about “misery loves company”.

    My tips would be: never have any junk food at home. If you have a family member who needs/loves it politely request that they keep it in a container which is not see through, and they never offer you any.

    Weigh daily, but use caution when interpreting the numbers. If you gained 500g in one day, that doesn’t mean you gained fat, similarly if you lost 500g in one day it doesn’t mean you lost that amount of fat, and you shouldn’t celebrate (yet).

    If you’ve lost your mojo, maintain rather than gain. I’ve only read one WL blogger who didn’t lose their WL “mojo” at least once. It will come back, and you don’t want to have to lose the same kilogram/pound twice.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      YES! If junk food isn’t in the house, I rarely eat it. The only place I eat treats and junk like that is at work. That’s my downfall. I am so good at home because I never have temptations around.

      What do you mean exactly by losing your mojo? Do you mean plateaus or stopping althoughether?

      1. John

        Yeah, that’s what I mean. Just stopping and having that “can’t be bothered feeling”.

        1. Lisa Eirene

          Gotcha. I never had that. I was 100% in and going to reach my goal. Definitely has setbacks and plateaus that were hard but I wasn’t quitting!

  4. Alex @ Brain, Body, Because

    These are great tips! Not stopping home between work and the gym is huge for me.

    The “surround yourself” tip is also good. I like MyFitnessPal a lot.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Do you have a pretty good support system?

  5. I ❤ 2 Eat

    What an awesome post with great tips! When I was regularly going to the gym (now working out at home), I used to go directly from work, and always kept a gym bag in the car. Now, it’s to schedule a time right after my at-home work schedule. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

    1. Lisa Eirene

      It’s so easy to choose “lazy” over “gym” and keeping the bag in the car helps me so much!

  6. Carrie @ Season It Already!

    Since we have gym equipment at home, I have no excuse. However, my tip is that when I get home from work, I have to change into my gym clothes *right away*. I can’t sit down or do anything else… otherwise I won’t work out. Very similar to going to the gym right after work!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s an excellent suggested. It’s really hard to find motivation when you go home to workout and the couch looks really good. It’s easy to get distracted with chores, or laziness. 🙂 That’s why I go to the gym right after work, no stops along the way, and get it out of the way asap.

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