I am indeed asking for some diet hacks, do tell…
I'm not a big believer in crash/ultra disciplied dieting. I do it sometimes but I don't view it as a sustainable way to diet. I've tried paleo and atkins, etc. and saw good results but decided that's no way to live.
So with my diet, my goals are to maintain or lose weight while eating the variety of foods that I like, with little sacrfice. This is more like portion control. If you enjoy what you're eating and it's not too much trouble to prepare it, then dieting is a lot easier. The two biggest tips I can give anyone are:
Count your calories - it's so much easier to get a handle on your diet when you are fully aware of intake. I counted calories for a month and figured out that with my habits and normal diet, I can eat about 2200-2400 calories a day and not gain or lose weight. A lb of fat is 3500 calories. That means if I want to lose a lb of fat in a week, I need to run a calorie deficit of 500 per day. Knowing how the math shakes out for you allows you to plan your diet and also have a better idea of what that extra cheeseburger is really costing you.
Prioritize food items - There are several components to this.
Figure out what your favorite cheat desserts and meals are and don't have them in your house.
Give up a few of your favorite things. My sacrifices (when I'm dieting) are no drinks with calories, no cereal, and no chips. When I'm tempted to eat one of my kids stupid snacks, like Teddy Grahams, I think to myself "I didn't give up chips to stay fat on Teddy Grahams." and then I go and eat the **** out of CC cookies on cheat day.
This is the most important part of happy dieting, IMO, figure out where you can
make smart substitutions. If you are clever, you will find all kinds of great opportunities to substitute. Instead of eating 4 eggs, eat 5 with the yellow removed from 3 of them. You won't notice much difference in flavor or how full you are, but it's about 100 calories less and the same amount of protein. I went from 120 calorie slices of bread to 60 (Sarah Lee whole wheat) and I can barely tell a difference in how full I feel and the bread tastes good. I'll eat one or two sandwiches a day when I'm dieting hard, so that little substitute saves me 120-240 calories a day. No mayo, just mustard.
So between the eggs and the bread substitution, I'm losing 1/2 lb a week and I feel like I sacrificed nothing. That shows you right there how powerful the right substitutions can be.
I do a trick where I'll put a slice of roast beef on the bottom piece of bread so it hits my tongue and then the other slices are turkey. You feel almost like you're eating a full roast beef but you cut out a lof calories.
Finding out that sweet potatos > regular potatos (for dieting purposes) was one of my favorite substitution discoveries.
I'll try to think of more.
