Do you set yourself any guidelines?

[Thisismytime]

I've gone from calorie counting to just focusing on healthy eating (at the moment, I am over counting/weighing everything, so going to try a new appraoch and see how I go). Here are my guidelines, for now ......

1. Eat when you want and as much as you want, as long as:

· You MUST be hungry.

· It MUST be healthy.

2. You are allowed 2 treats per day, from the following list:

· 1 small bag of cookies

· 2-3 cookies (depending on variety).

· 1 row of rice crackers with a little low calorie dip

· 1 fun size bar of chocolate

· 1 small cake/bar

· 1 small bag of crisp

· 3 pieces liquorice

· or something similar to the above

3. Drink only water, tea or coffee, during the day (save a Pepsi max til the evening (and only if you REALLY have to have it) and limit to 1/2-1 can only per day maximum, if any).
4. A MINIMUM of 30 mins exercise per day.
5. Save alcohol intake until the weekend and maximum of ½ bottle wine and 1 beer, in one evening.
6. You are allowed to have one cheat meal, per week, where you don’t need to ‘think’ about what you are eating … but this isn’t allowed to continue into the next meal, or day, or week!
7. If you feel you are going to overeat, go for a walk, make a cup of tea, or sip on a glass of water, take a shower, go read or lay down.. But do not go down the path of overeating!

Here's to the beginning of a successful journey!

[shelley0363]

I like these guidelines, think I will use them too! X

[linski24]

Brilliant guidelines ..!! I eat low GI/GL ... Which is healthy ... But I'm still putting everything on MFP and counting calories :-( my head won't seem to let me not count ..!! However if .. Like today.... I go over my calories I don't worry tooooo much ..!
Iv planned today and will have gone over by 200 cals .... But I'm an A/E nurse so hopefully work that off running around like a headless chicken ..!!!

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

[juicygooseface]

good rules! it helps to write it down sometimes
how much are you losing per week doing this? xxx

[Phoenyx]

Hello! I'm new to healthy eating thread, I was on paleo but am introducing a handful of non paleo foods and don't want to feel like I'm cheating so moving to healthy eating!

My rules are simple (simple mind, you see!)
1. Between 2-3 litres water a day
2. Eat clean. For me this is not processed, no artificially low fat food, mostly based around veg, fruit, nuts, meat and eggs. I haven't totally cut out grains and dairy but eat them sparingly.
3. Exercise. I'm currently on day 4 of p90x and run a couple of times a week too.
4. Cheat! But no more than 3 x weekly and no more than 500 cals extra.

I'm currently trying to hover around 2000 cals a day, because I do about 600 cals of exercise a day, and have struggled in the recent past with eating too little then bingeing. Have followed this for 4 days and feel great. Long may it continue!

[tekniicolor]

I tend to start off with rules but they change depending on circumstance etc. I find if I just listen to my body it tells me what to do. For example- I start of with pretty strict calorie and exercise goals but as time goes on I find that on certain days I'm not as hungry and on others I'm ravenous or with exercise some days I really feel my body needs a rest day or that I should do some yoga instead of weight training or jogging.

Other than that I don't tend to have more than 100g of unprocessed complex carbs a day and I try to drink loads of water and eat lots of veg.

[SuperGroovy]

My rule is...'listen to my slimpod every night and complete my success journal'. Oh, and drink plenty of water, get enough sleep and feel good But those are more choices rather than rules. I don't like 'rules', the word 'rules' makes me want to break them

Hope you're all going well with yours!!

[Cherry-Blossom]

My guidelines are:
Eat slowly and mindfully - Don't have my next mouthful lined up before I've finish my last one and listen to my body. If it says I'm full then stop.
Leave something on the plate - I've always felt I had to clear the plate so I now want to always leave something, however small, to stop this.
Ask myself if I'm really hungry - I'm an emotional/boredom eater. So if I want to eat I need to ask myself if I'm actually hungry.
Only eat at meal times, and if I need something extra it must be healthy - I've always been a grazer so struggled to eat healthy meals. However, I'm now in a routine of not grazing and I want to keep it that way!
If I want something naughty wait 20 minutes - That way if it's a craving I will have gotten over it, if not then look at allowing myself a small amount.

[Bellelardie]

I have written for myself five golden unbreakable rules I want to live the rest of my life by.

1) Eat three meals a day.
2) Practice portion control.
3) Snack when hungry and only when hungry.
4) Get up and move for at least 15mins without stopping everyday.
5) Drink plenty of fluids.

[bethmaj]

i like the guidelines!! especially phoenyx and bellelardie's :-) think i'm going to follow something similar. thanks for the ideas. bx