What's your secret weapon?

[Guzzi]

3 hours ago, streem26 said:

 As far as my diet, my two secret weapons are: cottage cheese and green tea.

 

 

I have a confession to make.  I only tried cottage cheese for the first time a couple of years ago.  The look of it put me off so much that I just couldn't bring myself to try it.  You gotta admit, it looks kinda gross.  

 

Its a really useful ingredient though and a brilliant option for getting some protein added into your diet without adding fat. 

 

[CheshireCrab]

3 hours ago, streem26 said:

 As far as my diet, my two secret weapons are: cottage cheese and green tea. Both of these items have helped control my cravings tremendously. I don't go a day without eating cottage cheese or drinking green tea.

As far as my exercise, my secret weapon is: cardio. Without my elliptical http://jonsguide.org/best-proform-elliptical-reviews/ , I wouldn't have dropped my body fat down to where it is now. Plus, my heart is thanking me as well. 
 

 

With you there on the tea! Since learning the benefits of drinking black tea it's been black tea for me every morning instead of coffee.

[Morgana]

My headphones.

 

It's actually embarrassing how many times I've had to leave the gym because I forgot my headphones. I can't work out with no music. I refuse! 

[Luds]

Great idea for a thread. Stuff I found really useful over the last months:

 

Proper running shoes. Makes a real difference when you lug around extra weight.

Waterproof MP3 player (incl. a good collection of Goa Trance for running and NY Hardcore for being mean to barbells)

Baby Rice cakes. (small, crunchy, apple flavoured...)

Ice popsicles (mostly water wrapped around a few cals)

 

[Stonie]

Finding a motivating reason to keep getting fitter and eating properly. I tried to consistently workout and eat better with mixed results for over a year but "just doing it because I should be fitter and healthier" wasn't motivation enough. I wasn't ridiculously overweight or unfit, just tired and depressed and had low self esteem all the time and I thought exercising would help that (to be fair, it did.) I just had no solid goals to work towards.

 

The reason I ended up finding was joining Roller Derby. All of a sudden I was learning to skate hard and fast and hit people and balance on one toestop - all while juggling that with a physical job as well. The only way I was going to be able to balance the two (and get better at derby which I desperately wanted to do) was to get fitter, and fuel myself with good food so I stopped crashing during the day and hurting while at work. Having a sport to play instantly gave me a list of goals I wanted to accomplish (skate this many laps in 5 minutes, learn this list of skills, play in a real game) and then when I got on the team and started getting pushed around by the stronger, faster girls; well, I reaaaally wanted that to stop. That feeling of being crushed on the derby track overrode my social anxiety about walking into the free-weights room at the gym.

 

Also, dropping cash into my first set of roller derby gear made me put some real effort into trying out the sport. I didn't want to be that person that wasted her money on an expensive hobby and dropped out after a week without giving it a red-hot go. 

 

TL;DR - 

Spent money to try out a thing; didn't want that investment to go to waste.

Found a sport that I actually loved and knew that improving in said sport would only be accomplished by getting fitter. 

Need to balance out energy expenditure between newfound sport and working forced me to eat better. 

 

[Jord]

Small incremental change... never try to change too many habits all at once.

 

For my challenges I'm learning to pick one thing I want to work on that is new, and then the rest have to be things I'm at least mediocre at so it's not an entire struggle for the challenge. 

 

And picking goals I WANT to work on, not ones I think I SHOULD be working on. This means identifying my TOP priorities. Everything else is just fluff "nice to be doing" but not necessary. Don't try to live my pinterest pipe dream. 

 

Also this: the best fitness program/diet is the one you can stick to. not the one that worked for someone else.

 

Tangible secret weapons:

powerlifting

vegetables to keep you full
MFP

NF

data (google sheets  ) 

 

[RobPeriod]

Right now, because I am new, Nerd Fitness is my secret weapon. Got me moving, and got me looking at diet and exercise differently.

 

I actually do not like the phrase "diet and exercise". Too many negative connotations to either word.

 

I have started using "Food and Movement". How I use food and body movement, to get me through my Quests and earn my XP and Levels, is the whole game.

 

I'm sure I will have a very different answer to this question in 6 months, a year, when I'm 64. But, it was this site that got me off the couch and in the adventure, conquering the easy quests now, aiming for the tougher quests later.

 

I suppose my other secret weapon is: wanting to see my 15 year old and my 2 year old grow up and reach adulthood.

[Wobbegong]

On 2/24/2017 at 0:18 PM, Taddea Zhaan said:

Small incremental change... never try to change too many habits all at once.

 

For my challenges I'm learning to pick one thing I want to work on that is new, and then the rest have to be things I'm at least mediocre at so it's not an entire struggle for the challenge. 

 

This is great. I typically over-extend myself every challenge, to the point that I've never finished a full four weeks. I'm currently doing a two week challenge (I was away from NF for a while and came back halfway through a 4WC... so I decided to just jump in) with pretty embarrassingly attainable goals, and I still sort of floundered for the first week. I'm back on track now and looking to finish strong, but I really like your idea of doing one new thing and having the other things be "improve on"s instead of "learn how to"s. I might try that next time. 

 

My secret weapon is... my calendar! Yes, I too am an underpants collector, and the only way I will do anything new is if it is on my schedule and beeps at me. Most of my discipline comes in the form of compliance; that is to say, I can get in the habit of doing something regularly as long as I'm regularly instructed to do it. I can't tell myself. But if I tell my calendar, and then my calendar tells me, for some reason that works. In lieu of paying someone to text me every day reminding me to work out, it's proven to be a very convenient tool. 

[Guzzi]

I might have said this before but frozen food is an absolute life saver for me.  And a well stocked larder!

 

Today, despite our fridge being completely bare I was able to make Vietnamese style salmon stir fry with noodles, and it was goooooood!  I buy individually wrapped, frozen salmon filets which can be cooked in the micro in just 7 mins, and lots of different frozen vegetable.  Today's veg was a "stir fry mix" with onions, peppers, baby corn, mange tout, bean sprouts, and water chestnuts, which I simply fried.  

 

I used some quick-cook noodles and made up a dressing with lime juice, garlic, chillies, fish sauce, sesame oil and chopped mint.  Having the ingredients to hand to make something healthy AND tasty in less than 10 mins is just awesome. 

[IslandGirl_Becks]

Therapy. My attitude towards food (and as a result, my binge impulse) has changed. 

[Guzzi]

Yeah, it's amazing how different life is without all the bagge, huh?  I'm honestly a completely different person than when I was in my (early) 20's.  

[Butternut]

Trusting myself and getting over myself. 

 

I know what's good for me, I know what foods steal my energy, I know that working out gives me positive thoughts and energy. 

 

But I drown my thoughts with too many lists, how to's, rules and down right too many excuses. 

 

When I take a step back, and just trust myself, I get results. 

 

This is also helps when I wake up not wanting to work out but feeling I should because it's on my agenda. When I trust myself, I don't have to work out. because I trust myself knowing if I don't workout today or tomorrow I will then next day