1. Try to avoid eating by yourself. Most of us do not binge in front of other people in fear of embarrassment.
2. Chew sugar-free gum. It keeps your mouth occupied without inhaling calories.
3. Keep yourself busy, and spend less time watching TV. When was the last time you watched TV without munching?
4. Drink more water than you think you should. If you feel like eating for no reason, then drink a glass of water.
5. Eat more fruits and veggies. If you want to eat more, then eat what has the least calories and the most nutrients! For example, you finished your supper (1 meat, 1 vegetable and 1 healthy starch), but you want something else. So have another serving of the vegetable.
6. Icy Pops. I lived on these in grad school (when I lost 20-25 pounds). If you tend to snack a lot, then this is one of the lowest calorie snacks I can think of. You could eat 10 of them and not feel guilty.
7. Keep your weakness foods out of the house! Whether it is chips, ice cream, candy or donuts, DO NOT KEEP THEM IN YOUR HOME! Do not flirt with temptation; chocolate wins every time. If you have a craving, go out for dessert and order 1 serving (small or kids size).
8. Eat slowly at mealtimes. Try to finish your meal when everyone else does. Otherwise, you may want to go back for seconds.
9. Stick to an eating schedule of 3 small meals and 2-3 small snacks per day. Try not to eat unless it is one of these times.
10. Exercise more. It will motivate you to eat well. What is the point of working out so hard if you are going to consume the same or more calories that you just burned?
11. Keep healthy options at hand. Be sure you always have fresh fruits, nuts, healthy granola bars, yogurt, etc. in your refrigerator/pantry. Take a healthy snack wherever you go so you are prepared for your between-mealtimes snack.
12. Avoid staying up too late. Late-night snacking is detrimental to your weight loss goals.
Showing posts with label overeating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overeating. Show all posts
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Weight Loss Struggles
As you get on board the weight loss train, give yourself a break sometimes. It is not easy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise routine! I am not overweight, but I struggle with snacking, as I suspect most of you do also. When I am home and the kids are asleep, it is so easy to find something to munch on even though I truly have no reason to eat. I'm not hungry, and it's not time for my mid-afternoon snack; I just feel like going to the pantry and finding something sweet to snack on. Chips don't tempt me at all. I could have 3 bags of potato chips in my pantry for years and I would not open them. But put some Oreos or Snickers in my pantry, and they will disappear in hours or days. Or put turtle tracks ice cream in my freezer, and it will be gone by midnight.
All this is to say that everyone struggles with healthy choices. Exercise is something I love, so it is not hard for me to go to the gym. Actually, it's harder for me to stay home instead of working out (I'm a little hyperactive). But maybe exercising is the part of your diet that you have struggled to maintain. Or maybe you struggle with an active lifestyle because all your hobbies involve sitting. You sit at work and you love movies and video games. Whatever your problem area is, you can overcome it! You might need a friend to help or a support group. But don't keep your feelings inside. Probably there are people all around you that struggle with the same thing. See if you can find someone who has the same difficulty so that you can help each other.
Some things are struggles in the mind; you want to eat but your mind says not to. Often, food wins because you do not even go to battle with it. You are not willing to fight against your cravings; you simply give in to them as soon as they appear. Next time you are tempted to eat when/what you shouldn't, see how long you can fight. If it is 1 minute, that is better than yesterday. If it is 5 minutes, it is better than ever before. And if you go all day without it, you have learned the secret of self-control.
What is your biggest weight loss struggle? Post in comments below!
All this is to say that everyone struggles with healthy choices. Exercise is something I love, so it is not hard for me to go to the gym. Actually, it's harder for me to stay home instead of working out (I'm a little hyperactive). But maybe exercising is the part of your diet that you have struggled to maintain. Or maybe you struggle with an active lifestyle because all your hobbies involve sitting. You sit at work and you love movies and video games. Whatever your problem area is, you can overcome it! You might need a friend to help or a support group. But don't keep your feelings inside. Probably there are people all around you that struggle with the same thing. See if you can find someone who has the same difficulty so that you can help each other.
Some things are struggles in the mind; you want to eat but your mind says not to. Often, food wins because you do not even go to battle with it. You are not willing to fight against your cravings; you simply give in to them as soon as they appear. Next time you are tempted to eat when/what you shouldn't, see how long you can fight. If it is 1 minute, that is better than yesterday. If it is 5 minutes, it is better than ever before. And if you go all day without it, you have learned the secret of self-control.
What is your biggest weight loss struggle? Post in comments below!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
The Difference Between A Diet And A Healthy Lifestyle
Most diets work (at least temporarily) if you stick to them. But why don't they work in the long run? Because they are unrealistic! Eating no carbs or no sugar or counting every calorie is not something most of us can do for a lifetime. It is tempting to do a crash diet because the results are faster. You may actually lose 10 lbs in 1 week. But years from now, which weight loss technique will put you at your target weight and keep you there?
A healthy lifestyle "diet" is the best way to lose weight and to maintain the weight loss. It is not really a diet at all but a modification of your eating, exercising, activity levels and thinking.
Eating is obviously the first thing that changes with a healthier lifestyle. My recommendation is to eat 6 small meals per day. Breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, supper, evening snack. This is realistic because you probably enjoy snacking and do not want to feel hungry all the time. It is easy to divide up your larger meal in order to save some of it for your next snack. For example, instead of having a sandwich, apple, and yogurt for lunch, just eat the sandwich for lunch and save the apple/yogurt for a few hours later. Other areas to modify are eliminating sodas and sugary drinks, decreasing portion sizes, drinking more water, decreasing fried foods, and the list goes on.
Exercising must be added to your life in order to have a healthier lifestyle and to lose weight. Start with 20-30 minutes per day of cardio in order to start a new habit of daily exercise! It will become a habit if you do it regularly for several weeks. Pretty soon you will add in more strenuous cardio workouts and strength training. Both cardio and strength training are key to losing weight and boosting your metabolism.
Your general activity levels must increase if you want to lose weight and keep it off. So take a look at your daily routine and see how much sitting you do. If you sit most of the day, then your lifestyle is too sedentary, and you need to add in more standing/walking activities. The sky is the limit on what you can do standing up. Almost anything you do seated can be done standing. So see what you can modify in order to be up on your feet more throughout every day!
Lastly, your thinking must change in order to improve your eating, exercising and activity levels. What has your attitude toward these been? Do you eat because you are hungry or just because it is there? Do you eat too much because you are lonely or upset? Do you watch too much TV when you know there are other things that are better for you? Why do you make excuses for not exercising? Take control of each of these areas in order to have control over your own weight!
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" -Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
A healthy lifestyle "diet" is the best way to lose weight and to maintain the weight loss. It is not really a diet at all but a modification of your eating, exercising, activity levels and thinking.
Eating is obviously the first thing that changes with a healthier lifestyle. My recommendation is to eat 6 small meals per day. Breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, supper, evening snack. This is realistic because you probably enjoy snacking and do not want to feel hungry all the time. It is easy to divide up your larger meal in order to save some of it for your next snack. For example, instead of having a sandwich, apple, and yogurt for lunch, just eat the sandwich for lunch and save the apple/yogurt for a few hours later. Other areas to modify are eliminating sodas and sugary drinks, decreasing portion sizes, drinking more water, decreasing fried foods, and the list goes on.
Exercising must be added to your life in order to have a healthier lifestyle and to lose weight. Start with 20-30 minutes per day of cardio in order to start a new habit of daily exercise! It will become a habit if you do it regularly for several weeks. Pretty soon you will add in more strenuous cardio workouts and strength training. Both cardio and strength training are key to losing weight and boosting your metabolism.
Your general activity levels must increase if you want to lose weight and keep it off. So take a look at your daily routine and see how much sitting you do. If you sit most of the day, then your lifestyle is too sedentary, and you need to add in more standing/walking activities. The sky is the limit on what you can do standing up. Almost anything you do seated can be done standing. So see what you can modify in order to be up on your feet more throughout every day!
Lastly, your thinking must change in order to improve your eating, exercising and activity levels. What has your attitude toward these been? Do you eat because you are hungry or just because it is there? Do you eat too much because you are lonely or upset? Do you watch too much TV when you know there are other things that are better for you? Why do you make excuses for not exercising? Take control of each of these areas in order to have control over your own weight!
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" -Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)
Saturday, December 31, 2011
The common sense DIET
1. Eat smaller portions. You may be surprised at how little food can fill you up and hold you over until the next meal. Learn to listen to your body to tell you when to eat and when to stop eating.
2. Keep yourself busy. That gives you less time to sit down and munch on junk food. Fill your free time with productive tasks, activities and hobbies. I know that if I am alone for very long and turn on the TV, I then start and continue munching indefinitely.
3. Eat slowly. My husband is naturally good and this, and he usually ends up eating much less volume than the rest of us who eat fast.
4. Replace juice with fresh fruit. 100% juice is ok, but the best choice is the fruit itself. It is packed full of nutrition and fiber!
5. To eat your 5 servings of fruits/vegetables each day, plan them into your meals/snacks. For example, have 1 serving with breakfast, 1 for a morning snack, 2 servings with lunch, 1 with supper and 1 for an evening snack.
6. Cut out soda (even diet soda). Replace it with water!!!
SAMPLE MENU
Breakfast: cereal, skim milk, 1 large banana (counts as 2 fruit servings)
Snack: yogurt
Lunch: Turkey on whole wheat with tomato/lettuce/cucumber
Snack: apple
Supper: grilled chicken, whole wheat pasta with sauteed vegetables and marinara sauce
Snack: almonds
2. Keep yourself busy. That gives you less time to sit down and munch on junk food. Fill your free time with productive tasks, activities and hobbies. I know that if I am alone for very long and turn on the TV, I then start and continue munching indefinitely.
3. Eat slowly. My husband is naturally good and this, and he usually ends up eating much less volume than the rest of us who eat fast.
4. Replace juice with fresh fruit. 100% juice is ok, but the best choice is the fruit itself. It is packed full of nutrition and fiber!
5. To eat your 5 servings of fruits/vegetables each day, plan them into your meals/snacks. For example, have 1 serving with breakfast, 1 for a morning snack, 2 servings with lunch, 1 with supper and 1 for an evening snack.
6. Cut out soda (even diet soda). Replace it with water!!!
SAMPLE MENU
Breakfast: cereal, skim milk, 1 large banana (counts as 2 fruit servings)
Snack: yogurt
Lunch: Turkey on whole wheat with tomato/lettuce/cucumber
Snack: apple
Supper: grilled chicken, whole wheat pasta with sauteed vegetables and marinara sauce
Snack: almonds
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