The little things add up

As many of us know, losing weight / living a healthy lifestyle requires one to be intentional with life while making changes to their habits and behaviors.

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Many times I see advice in this sub suggesting massive change in a persons life. Though often times the comment might provide a good example of where you want to end up, often times they lack room for progression or guiding a person in how to get to this 'goal state' through changing their habits and behaviors.

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In this post, I figured I'd list out some small changes people can make which will add up over time and ultimately drive them towards living a healthy lifestyle.

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1. Trade out your candy bars for protein bars
   A candy bar such as a Twix bar has both more calories and less protein than a protein bar yet they have a similar cost basis. Making this change will allow you to still feel like you're getting a treat without wrecking your diet and protein bars also tend to have a better satiating effect.
2. Trade out your milk(regular milk, almond milk, oatmilk, whatever) for Fairlife milk.
   Fairlife's milk is lactose free and it has the most balanced macro nutrient profile you will find in almost any beverage.
3. No more traditional cake / brownies - eat ice cream
   Your traditional cake / brownie is carb intense with minimal fat and protein. Quality ice cream on the other hand has a good macro nutrient profile. This doesn't mean every ice cream is great you still need to read the nutrition label to make sure it has protein / fat. Quality ice cream will have protein and fat - trashy ice cream will have too many carbs. Please note that there are some exceptions to this like peanut butter brownies and things of the like - use your best judgement.
4. No more chips / popcorn while watching tv or movies
   Often times, binge snacking while watching tv can lead to one consuming over 500 calories and still feeling hungry / bored when they are done. There are a few ways to approach this such as:chew gum, drink sparkling water, eat salad (healthy dressing), drink water, diet soda (debatable but generally better), eat a bowl of broccoli, asparagus, edmami, whatever. Personally I'm a fan of sparking water / something green.
5. Watch Netflix / HBO / Amazon Prime/ other while on a treadmill
   Fairly simple concept. Basically buy a tablet, download a few episodes of your current show and then go watch your shows on your tablet while walking on a treadmill for an hour or so. Do this several times a week.
6. If you're a gamer, take breaks for exercise
   Depending on what you're playing you should adapt your exercise to fit appropriately. It could be something like taking a 5 to 10 minute walk between games of LOL, doing 10 body weight squats between rounds of Halo / COD, etc. The basic idea here is gamers are going to game - we just need to introduce some breaks for both positive mental and physical health.
7. Use less sugar in your coffee / tea
   Various ways to do this, personally I like mixing low calorie green tea with sparkling water and I also like cold brewing my coffee and then mixing it with Fairlife chocolate milk to make a cold brewed mocha.
8. Drink water when you wake up and before going to bed
   This helps with energy, hydration, digestion, satiation, etc. Probably the easiest thing to do that so many people don't do.
9. If you're a male, eat 1 brazil nut a day
   Fat men have issues both producing and gaining the benefit of testosterone in their bodies. This lack of efficiency leads to lower metabolic rates, increased fatigue, and increased weight gain. Essentially, the fatter a male gets the more whack their T levels get and it becomes a 'doom cycle'. One easy way to combat this is by eating foods which provide your body with the right nutrients to produce testosterone. One of these nutrients in selenium and eating a single brazil nut a day can address this issue as it is one of the highest natural sources of selenium. This being said, like any nutrient you can consume too much so definitely don't eat 30 of them a day.
10. If you watch a lot of tv at night - try to add in some floor stretching
    Basically, get on the floor and do some stretches while you're watching TV - you won't regret it.
11. Look at the condiments you frequently use and replace them with lower calorie condiments
    For example, Ranch dressing has the potential to make anything that is healthy become unhealthy. Find alternative salad dressings and dips which have a lower calorie basis.
12. Stop driving to your mailbox
    It's a great reason to get out an walk. For some this is 1 minute, others 5 to 10 minutes. In any case, it's a good excuse to take a 'mental break' from whatever you're doing and go on a walk.
13. Get involved in a hobby which promotes a healthy lifestyle
    This could be something sporty like golf or lifting, it could be walking around down town, it could be hiking, biking, whatever. Have at least one hobby in your life that you enjoy which relates to physical activity
14. Discover healthy 'no-prep' food items that you enjoy which you can use to replace all of your junk food with
    Most of us are fat because to some degree we are lazy. Often times that means we opt in to eat easily accessible foods over the healthy foods that require prep time. This could be a hot pocket, chips, cookies, whatever. Spend some time identifying foods you currently buy which act as your 'crutch' when you're looking for a quick fix and start to substitute them out for healthier alternatives.

Hope this helps some of you to address your issues in a more sustainable way.

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If you have additional suggestions please drop them below.

submitted by /u/SecureDropTheWhistle
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/wggusc/the_little_things_add_up/