Any quick weight loss tips?

Labels on foods - not so easy to read - I feel that this label is hard to understand 1/4 of recipe for serving size.  Why can't they put in bold letter - THIS IS FATTENING DON'T EAT IT!!
United States
November 5, 2006 11:15am CST
I have been fighting with my weight for some time. I'm not lazy, I'm just addicted to soda and chocolate during that time of the month (LOL). Does anyone have any weight loss tips for someone like me? Oh, and don't say Atkins because I love and NEEEEED my pastas:)
1 person likes this
19 responses
@lilycool (135)
• United States
5 Nov 06
I learned this from a Chinese doctor: Drink a cup of jasmine tea right after you eat pasta or fatty foods.
1 person likes this
• United States
5 Nov 06
Well that's good, I love tea, I think I can handle that one. I also heard green tea is good to drink.
• Mexico
5 Nov 06
The best way to lose weight is follow a healthy eating plan. And before you think of raw vegtables and just fruits and water STOP. You can still eat everything you want to. The key is portion sizes and moderation. Places like weight watchers and slimming world let you eat any type of food you like.. however in moderation. you have lists of free foods where you can eat as much of those a day as you like. Then you have things like bread, pasta, potatoes which come into a low points value so you can still eat them but not 15potatoes a day!! on average your allowed up to 15points a day. stuff yourself with the free food and all your favs like chocolate and soda have a points value. Think of it as shopping you have 15points a day to spend on your fav foods and still lose weight! Exercise is also the key, you dont have to spend hours in the gym just go to the park for a walk once a day and increase your walking duration each day. Another good thing is to say ok i want to walk 5000 steps today and get a pedometor and then walk around the house, office, park until you reach your daily goal. 1lb of fat is around 3500 calories. so by cutting back on only 500 calories a day would result in a 1lb weight loss per week! cutting back on 500 calories isnt hard at all! it could be not eating an extra slice of pizza, switching to low fat mayo from regular. All these little changes soon add up and you can still enjoy all your fav food. Good luck :)
• United States
5 Nov 06
No way could I count calories. That is such a killer to your ambition.
• United States
5 Nov 06
Wow, I love all these great responses. Thank you. I tried the calorie diet.....wait, I attempted the calorie diet.....and I didn't feel I was able to do it because I would keep track of my calories all day, but when it got to dinner where there is like: Chicken, potatoes, and green beans I didn't know how many calories I was intaking. So, getting frustrated I quit.
• United States
5 Nov 06
I heard it works well for people, but you're right, it's an ambition killer and I feel it's hard to keep a definite track of.
@tammytwo (4298)
• United States
5 Nov 06
Throw out the soda and chocolate and drink lots of water. Make sure you exercise and eat plenty of protein.
• United States
5 Nov 06
If you can go walking in your neighborhood do so. It does help with weight loss.
• United States
5 Nov 06
Yes, walking is a good idea. I have a dog so I guess I could probably take him for walks, I'm sure he'd love that.
• United States
5 Nov 06
What are the best exercises though? I do admit, I don't exercise, but I do do situps each day. Only 10 though :(
@ChewySpree (1832)
• United States
5 Nov 06
You could try Medifast. Their website is www.medifast1.com if you want to read about their plan. I had great success with it, and I found the plan easy to follow and stick to.
• United States
5 Nov 06
Yes, it worked great for me. I lost 14 pounds in 3 weeks and then I found out I was pregnant and had to stop it. Although, I wasn't hungry while I was on it because you eat every 2 - 3 hours and you have a variety of foods to choose from. My baby is due in April and as soon as I can, I'm going back on Medifast to lose the baby weight.
• United States
5 Nov 06
Congrats on the new arrival!!! Thanks again for sharing your experience with me.
• United States
5 Nov 06
From this I'm assuming that you were doing medifast. How did it work for you? How much did you lose if you don't mind me asking. I'm going to check out the website right now, thanks.
• United States
5 Nov 06
You can still have chocolate, I do and I have lost weight. You just need to watch your portions. I have found this to be the best weight loss tool. I thought I was being bad for eating potato chips, chocolate, and an occasional serving of mashed potatoes, but when I was weighed I found I lost weight. It is not all about what you eat, but how much. I now read labels and choose items with lower carbs and fats. At first it takes more time to shop, but once you get the hang of it you don't have to read so much because you know which products are lower in fats or carbs, and calories. You don't have to give up the pastas. I love pasta, I just don't eat so much of it and add a lot of roughage like salads when I have pasta.
• United States
5 Nov 06
Do you have a Curves in your town? This was the first time I had been able to exercise. No mirrors!!! I also joined their 6-Week Solution. That was such a great part of my success. Give em a call
• United States
5 Nov 06
That's a good idea. I absolutely love salads. Portion control is probably one of my weaknesses. I don't get like heaping plate fulls, I just east until I'm full, as opposed to eating and waiting for my food to digest before I have seconds. Thanks for the information!
• United States
5 Nov 06
Yes, I have a curves around here. I told my husband I was going to sign up with my next check, and never got a next check because I lost my job. So, right now I'm just trying to figure out the nonexpensive way of losing weight as I'm only working 2 days a week until I find a full-time job.
@nvtellan (1907)
• Philippines
7 Nov 06
Please do stop drinking sodas or any soft drinks........they will only build fats (yuck!) instead try drinking low fat milk, juices or maybe an ice tea will do. As for chocolates, yes dark chocos is good to take than white chocos but please watch out for your in take :) Also, do exercise regularly and take small in takes of carbo foods i.e. rice, bread etc. and if you can do the after six diet :)
• United States
8 Nov 06
Actually, pop isn't that much worse than juice. The only reason pop is so bad for you is cause it's loaded with sugar, and sugar turns to fat. So if you want to avoid the whole sugar route, drink water or Crystal Lite. That's what I'm gonna start doing. People always told me to give up pop and drink juice. It's like, are you aware that juice isn't that much better for you?
• United States
7 Nov 06
I prefer dark chocolate. I'm not a chocolate fan, it's just I get that craving once in a while and who doesn't? lol....actually, I was shocked to have not bought chocolate for trick-or-treaters and instead bought sugar free stuff :D
@navinshan (3933)
• Canada
5 Nov 06
Stop drinking cola, avoid going to fast foods like mc donalds, wendy etc, and buy foods seeing the nutritional contents specified in it, too much of trans fat is bad for ur body, avoid it if possible, go for fresh fruits and vegetables preferably vegetarian diet, then see the results u would reduce the weight
• United States
5 Nov 06
I have found that by cutting out the fast foods and bringing healthy foods to work with me was a good thing. I planned out my lunch and the snacks that I would need to get me through the day. Eating 5 times a day was a good thing. I had breakfast, a snack, lunch, a snack, dinner. If I wanted a sweet I would have a sugar-free fudsicle. That took away my needs for sweets and gave me that chocolate fix I craved.
• United States
5 Nov 06
See, that could be another problem of mine. I only eat twice a day. I'm starting to eat a bigger lunch and less at dinner because I've read on diet sites to not eat after 6 p.m.
@vhenwood (1061)
• United States
5 Nov 06
Cottage Cheese - yummmy, dairy, cottage cheese, works well in crash diets
STOP the soda . . .chocoalte isn't really that bad for you, but dark chocolate is better for you. Watch your portions, especially with high carb foods. Drink a lot of water, drink a lot of milk too. Cottage cheese works too:) Make sure you exercise regularly too.
• United States
5 Nov 06
Mountain Dew - Most addicting pop I swear!
I love cottage cheese. I know the soda is definitely bad! I read somewhere that by just cutting soda out of your intake you'd lose like 17 pounds in a year...just by cutting out soda and continuing with your average diet....crazy! It's just hard. It's like smoking, you can't stop.
• United States
7 Nov 06
Cutting out pop is definitely hard. I'd know. I've been a Mt Dew drinker since I was about 17 and I'm 22 now, so it's really hard to cut it out. But it's psychological than anything. I actually had given it up before for about 2 weeks, but then I just had an urge one day to drink it. I'm going to try drinking Crystal Lite in place of pop. I couldn't just drink straight water everyday. I need some flavor. That could be why it's been so hard for me to give up pop, cause it actually has flavor. Good luck!
@oresal (1350)
• El Salvador
5 Nov 06
the healthiest way to lose weight is to follow a heatlhy diet and lots of exercise. avoid eating fast food or chips or any other greasy food. remember that the problem is not to be fat, the problem is not to do exercise
• United States
5 Nov 06
Thank you. I do admit to having a problem with not exercising. After reading everyone's response I'm thinking that's the best way to go beside the portion control. Thank you for your input.
@smughal (1026)
• Pakistan
5 Nov 06
First of all tell me ur weight and how many pounds u wanna loose? U can add me i'll tel u some gud diet plans n tips according to ur taste.. As u said u cant stop drinks then why dont u drink diet sodas like diet 7up, diet coke. One tip that really works is " squeeze half lemon in luke warm water and drink it as the first thing after u brush then take breakfast aftar 10mints. For more. Add me
• United States
9 Nov 06
I have read that consuming diet drinks can actually make you crave sweets. I am not sure of that myself because I don't consume diet drinks. I do love lemon in my water. Drinking hot tea is also helpful, especially if it is green tea....high in anti-oxidents (I drink it w/o sweetener or milk).
• United States
5 Nov 06
I do drink diets but I also drink nondiet sodas. Yet, drinking diet drinks are not beneficial either. One, they have caffeine and caffeine holds fat. Secondly, diet drinks make you crave sweets more often then regular colas do, so that's why I switch between the two.
@MrsAdvice (623)
• United States
6 Nov 06
Ashlee, You must not have read my profile on myspace because it mentions the best diet ever! You can eat whatever you want, no restrictions! How it works is by lowering your "set point". A set point is like a thermostat in a house. If your set point is 200 lbs., for example, anytime you get under 200 lbs. you are gonna feel hungry and all you will think about it food and you will eat your way back up to 200 lbs. in no time . . . the good news . . . you can lower your set point a half point a day by doing the Shangri-La Diet (by Seth Roberts) which is basically by eating a zero set point food twice a day, being oil. Not just any oil, it has to be tasteless oil, not virgin olive oil, it has a strong taste, but extra light olive oil (eloo) or refined walnut oil or even sugar water if you are adverse to oil. The trick is that you don't eat or drink anything with a taste, no gum, cough drops, toothpaste, or anything for one hour before and one hour after the oil. Depending on your weight, but most people are a tablespoon of oil twice a day. I put a little water in a glass, add my oil to it, and plug my nose to be sure I don't taste anything, and drink it down. It is not going to happen overnight, but as your set point lowers, your appetite lowers too and you will eventually reach your goal weight, effortlessly! Also, if you are a mountain dew addict, the new diet mountain dew is so good you would not know it was diet unless you read the label! The Shangri-La Diet book is available on the website http://www.shangriladiet.com and if you join the website you get lots of online support. I've made two really good friends from the website! Good Luck!
• United States
7 Nov 06
So does the method of putting olive oil in water and drinking that twice a day help you to lose weight, or control your hunger/shrink your appetite once you have dropped below your normal weight?
• United States
7 Nov 06
Interesting. I still have to check that website out. I think I did once, and it didn't come up because I typed it wrong or something....can't remember. I will get to it though this week :)
@arriannan (169)
• United States
5 Nov 06
Try birth control. Certain types get rid of you period all together. Maybe that would stop the cravings for chocolate and soda.
• United States
5 Nov 06
I've been on birth control since I was 16 and I'll be 23 in a few days, so that hasn't helped. Unless I tried a different birth control such as the one you are speaking of that gets rid of periods. Yet, I'm kind of skeptical about those ones. Thank you!
• United States
7 Nov 06
I tried the Slim Fast thing once.. I actually lost 20 lbs in two weeks. Of coarse I was walking about half mile every day. Swimming laps for 15 minutes and doing a few crunches mid day. But it was worth it =)
• United States
7 Nov 06
I was doing the slim fast thing for a while, but do you see the calories and carbohydrates those have in them? But I definitely give you a thumbs up for losing, congrats!
@mslena75 (561)
• United States
12 Apr 07
I will tell you something that works quick, I can vouch because I used it...get Suzanne Somer's book "Get Skinny on Fabulous Food". No foods are off limits, it works because of how you combine the foods that you eat. As long as they are in the right combinations, you can eat as much as you want. I lost 10 pounds the first week that I did this.
• United States
20 Apr 07
Wow, that's amazing. Thanks for sharing the information with me. I do have to ask: Were you wakling and exercising too? Drinking soda? Oh, for everyone who has followed along with me, I have COMPLETELY cut out the soda! Wooo!
• India
5 Nov 06
Soda+chocolate+pasta+4 hours workout in a gym everyday.
• United States
5 Nov 06
Hahaha, yeah I know, that's my problem I like all the bad stuff. Yet, I don't each chocolate often, only one week a month lol. Soda is hard to cut out because I get headaches for lack of caffeine. But, I've tried only drinking a cup of soda in the morning and water the rest of the day. That way I have the day to work off the soda.
@reneous (716)
• United States
5 Nov 06
I think you're my long lost twin.... haha... The best thing I've found is Weight Watchers. I can still have my chocolate and pasta fix EVERY DAY! The key is keeping it in moderation - I'm fine with that! I use the online version because I don't have time to go to meetings. I've lost 56 pounds, so I know what I'm talking about ;)
• United States
5 Nov 06
Congratulations! You're like me, you don't have time for the meetings. But, there's one difference, I don't have the money lol. I recently lost my job and now I work 2 days a week. But, that gives me more time to exercise, so I can't make too many excuses up. I heard weight watchers worked for a lot of people I know. I checked out their website and stuff, and hope to one day purchase a membership. Thanks for sharing your experience with me.
• Malaysia
6 Aug 07
I have a tip for you. Maybe it will work for you too. When I am on diet, I will always make sure that I avoid eating my lunch or dinner with cold drinks. If we drink cold water (with ice, of course), our body metabolism will drop and the food we eat could not be digested to the fullest. This leaves it inside and turn into body fat. We can get fat easily if we eat and drink iced water at the same time. Another thing is, try to avoid being in an air conditioned room immediately after eating. This too, will drop down your metabolism and resulting you in having body fat unexpectedly. Even if you only eat a little, the food will not burn effectively if you do this two things. To me it works, and I hope it works for you too. So good luck in your diet, and have a nice day.
@deepakchp (341)
• India
25 Apr 07
it is a very difficult codition if your wight is going to be increased.it causes so many deseases to happend.so you are very careful with your weight
@sabwinner (499)
• China
25 Apr 07
Ummmmm, my friend, I think I have the similar problem with you. For many year I've struggling with my weight. I just can't get away with chocolate! But I do beter these days because I swim and skip rope every day.I have to say these two exercise really make people exhaused. But you have to keep on. I lose 5 pounds this week! Good luck to you!