Two additional diet tips I forgot to mention in my last post:
1. Eat five or six small meals a day. Or, to put it another way, eat all day long. Graze.
I definitely eat out of boredom and to comfort myself. But if I plan out what I am going to eat - counting calories and coming up with a reasonable total - it’s possible to be constantly eating. This stops me from snacking, binging, getting bored, stress eating, etc.
If I’m not eating right now, I know that in an hour or so, it will be time to eat again. I can wait.
What to eat? Nuts, raw vegetables, protein bars, granola bars, fruit cups, protein shakes… Or even junk food. As long as you’re keeping track of your calories (such as by using MyFitnessPal) you can eat ANYTHING you want. Just don’t go over your numbers for the day.
It was my experience that, as time went on, I would automatically switch to healthier choices. Why would I eat a few high calorie candies when I can eat WAY MORE raw veggies?
A co-worker, unaware of my weight loss, saw all my food for the day piled on my desk.
“If you eat like that you’re going to get fat!” she said.
I had to laugh. I lost weight because I know exactly what I'm eating, how much of it I am allowed to eat, and spread food throughout my day.
2. If you’re trying to keep track of your calories, you’re going to need to measure your portions carefully. Get a good set of measuring spoons and cups. That’s a good start.
Even better: invest in a digital kitchen scale. These are surprisingly cheap. I got one on sale for less than $20 at Canadian Tire.
Long ago, I used to pour a huge amount of cereal into a bowl and douse it with as much milk as looked right. No more. I weigh a cereal serving as listed on the box (a serving of No Name brand granola is 45 grams, for example) and I measure out one cup of soy milk.
Getting my veggies ready for the day, I weigh them and note the numbers into MyFitnessPal. Same with everything else I eat.
The more accurately you track the calories you eat and burn, the better your chances of losing weight - or maintaining the weight you’ve lost.
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2 comments:
Two of my rules:
If there's a food I can eat even when I'm not hungry (e.g., cookies!) then I don't keep it in the house.
There's no point in making any changes to your diet that aren't permanent. Temporary changes = temporary weight loss.
Great info, Nik, and to tell you the truth I’ve heard a lot of this before. However, reading it again (and again, and again) only reinforces what one needs to do, so again, it was a great post with great ideas. But (fat butt) here’s the rub: “Okay, sure, yeah, I know what to do, however I just can’t do it! Or, I do it for a day or a week, or even a month maybe, but I can’t ever stick with it”
This is the problem of all problems: Putting your wish bone where your back bone (will power) should be.
Solve this problem, and market it, and you become a wealthy person.
Even Jesus couldn’t get people to do the right thing when he was talking directly to them! So many of us are hearers of the word, but not doers. And like I said, I did once before in my forties, but now...
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