•Always think positive even before you have seen results.
•If you like the food, you will be more inclined to eat it. You should learn how to prepare foods that are good for you, in a way that tastes good.
•Remember when you are on a fat loss diet, you should only lose about two pounds a week. Since one pound of fat contains 3 500 calories, if you decrease your daily caloric intake by five hundred calories a day and incorporate more aerobic training in your overall exercise program, you can comfortably lose two pounds each week.Divide your plate: 3/4 with vegetables, grains, beans and fruit; 1/4 with extra-lean meat or low-fat dairy products.
•Increase your fiber, beans, veggies, fruits, whole wheat, bran and oatmeal are good sources.
•Try a new food each day. The flavor will save you from dietary boredom.
•Learn how to calculate fat grams. Fat is 9 calories per gram. Multiply the amount of grams times 9, look at the total amount of calories and take the larger number and divide it into the smaller number. 2 percent milk 120 calories, 5 grams x 9 =45, 120 divided into 54 = a whopping 38 percent fat.
•Pat yourself on the back for good days, and don't be mean to yourself on bad days. On a bad day, STOP, drink water and say that is enough. Continue with your good habits, don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
•Look at past failures at dieting and evaluate why you failed. We can learn from failures and turn them into success.
•Slow down your eating pace every way you can. For instance, if you are righthanded, eat with your left and vice versa. Put your fork down after each bite and don't pick it up until you have completely swallowed the last bite.
•Don't keep junk food snacks around the house. Eat healthy snacks like carrots, celery, even beef jerky. Avoid eating lots of fruit, which are high in carbohydrates; reasonable quantities are ok.
•Chew every bite at least thirty times. Your food will taste better and you will be much more satisfied. Don't swallow until all the flavor is gone from of each bite. Don't get discouraged when you plateau. Realize this up front. A Plateau is healthy and necessary. During these times, focus on drinking more water and a little extra walking each day.
•Keep an eating diary. Carry a piece of paper folded up or an index card in your pocket, purse or wallet and write down everything you eat during the day. Look up the foods in a reference book at home in the evening and add up the calories actually consumed. This is a great learning tool. You don't have to do this all the time, but it's good to do during the early stages and when you plateau.
•Don't starve yourself: When you deprive yourself of food, your body reacts protectively against famine. Your resting metabolic rate, the calories you burn just to keep your body going drops to a lower level to conserve energy. Your body works harder to preserve the food it gets by storing it as fat. That's why people who regularly diet have higher percentages of body fat than non-dieters do. Instead of counting calories, focus on cutting back on the fat and sugar in your diet.
The evidence is that women's bodies burn more calories between ovulation and menstruation. That's why sugary snacks look so good then. Don't starve yourself, but if you can resist the cravings for high-energy foods, your body will burn fat stores for energy. It's hormones! I always know exactly what time of the month I am going to overeat. It has to do with your estrogen or progesterone levels. You just have to anticipate your weak periods and plan for them and make absolutely sure there is no food around. Control your environment so that it cannot control you.
•Weigh yourself once a week at the same time. Your weight fluctuates constantly and you can weigh more at night than you did in the morning, a downer if you stuck to your diet all day. Make dining an event. Eat from your own special plate, on your own special placemat, arranging everything to make your meal, no matter how meager, look lovely. This is a trick that helps chronic over-eaters and bingers pay attention to their food instead of consuming it unconsciously.
•If you drink, do so in moderation. Alcohol is high in calories, it increases one's risk of high blood pressure, and it increases triglyceride levels. Avoid Alcohol and Smoking; both inhibit the burning of abdominal fat. That's why drinkers and smokers tend to be bigger around the waist than abstainers.
•As often as possible, replace high-fat animal foods with low-fat foods i.e.; have cereal and nonfat milk for breakfast, instead of buttered toast, bacon, and butterfried eggs; choose fruit instead of ice cream or chocolate.
•Be happy, and make time to relax. Anger and hostility have been linked to heart disease more often than any other emotion or personality trait.
vGet enough sleep. Take regular breaks from your routine. Learn stressmanagement techniques. Spend some quiet time alone each day.
•Snack every 4 hours. Try oranges, apples, carrot sticks, pretzels, air popped popcorn.
•Buy pre-cut fruit and veggies: You'll be more likely to munch on them for a snack or make a salad for dinner.
•Include two fruits or vegetables in every meal or snack. You'll feel fuller and cut back on calories from other foods.
•Soups are a great meal; they are filling, tasty, and healthy. Be sure to watch the sodium content as it will hold water weight. Opt for the low sodium varieties or make your own.
•Go spicy. Get a hot flavor boost with chilies, salsa and curry instead of by overeating.
•Cut down on fat, keep it to less than 25 percent, somewhere around 20 percent is nice.
•Write down your goals. Make them reasonable and think only 10 lbs at a time. If you have to lose 80 think in 10's this gives you a win at the end of each month.
Brush your teeth after every meal. You will be less tempted to eat if you do. Brush and floss after your evening meal; many people agree this helps avoid late-night cravings for snacks.
•Don't think that just because you are eating low fat/low calorie foods that you can eat all that you want. The calories still add up and must be burned off regardless of what kind of food you eat. Balance is the key.
•Don't think of yourself as being fat. Think of yourself as you will look when you reach your target weight goal.
•Try to do at least 30 minutes of low impact, moderate exercise (walking, etc) at least three times per week. Start off easy, and gradually increase over time.
•Eat things you like, fit them into your calories for the day. Just try to learn to eat less of them.
•Ask your partner to join you on your new healthy habit changes.
•If you are going to a restaurant, decide ahead of time what you will be eating and stick to it.
•Don't deprive yourself! If you really enjoy eating a certain food, plan for it. Make it a reward for doing extra sit-ups or for spending more time on cardiovascular exercise. This helps to avoid binging and will give you something to work a little harder for.
•Try to work out as much as possible, but at your own pace, and reward yourself. But not with a snack, by putting a certain amount of money in a jar, for every time you work out. The more you work out the more money you save. Then go on a shopping spree, and buy yourself a new wardrobe for your new thin and trim body.
•Ask yourself how many times have you started a diet & where would you be now if you had just stuck to one of them?
•If you think you can you will. If you think you can't, you won't.
•Lose weight for yourself, not to please your husband, your parents or your friends. As long as somebody else is pushing you, no matter what you do or what you try, it'll never work. You must lose weight for your own reasons. I think the best advice is to do it for yourself, there is no need to do it for your family, friends or career. The only way you will be happy about yourself is to love yourself, size or shape does not matter.
•It takes time to gain weight; it takes time to lose weight. Be patient with yourself.
•Concentrate on your goals, not your limitations.Always go to sleep picturing your goal.
•Take it slow. We all want to lose it yesterday, but slow is the way to go if you don't want to see those pounds again.
•Eat regular meals. Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in overeating. When you're very hungry, it's also tempting to forget about good nutrition. Snacking between meals can help curb hunger, but don't eat so much that your snack becomes an entire meal.Find the right support person. A nag won't do. Neither will a partner in crime. Look for someone who can empathize and support you in a positive way.
•Remember, foods are not good or bad. Select foods based on your total eating patterns, not whether any individual food is "good" or "bad." Don't feel guilty if you love foods such as apple pie, potato chips, candy bars or ice cream. Eat them in moderation, and choose other foods to provide the balance and variety that are vital to good health.
•Eating too late at night. A good rule of thumb is not to eat less than 3-4 hours before you are going to sleep. Food needs that time to digest and if you are sleeping the digestion process slows way down and instead of weight loss during the night, you can actually be gaining more fat.
•Promise yourself that when you feel the urge to snack, you will engage in some activity that will distract you away from food. For example, go for a walk, brush your teeth or phone a friend. If you eat out of boredom, find some new hobby or interest that gets you out of the house; even enroll in adult education classes.
•Processed meats are a no-no. That includes bacon, baloney, corned beef, hot dogs, liverwurst, pastrami, pepperoni, Salami, and sausage.
•Although you can enjoy limited quantities of dairy products, discard your whole milk, dairy creamer, whipped cream, regular cheese, and regular yogurt.
•If other people in your life must keep food in the house that's not good for you, rearrange your fridge and cupboard to keep them out of sight. You can also store tempting foods in containers you can't see through.
•Just because something is "fat-free" doesn't mean it's good for you! Fat is not the only "bad guy" when it comes to putting on weight. Don't forget about calories! If you indulge in the wrong fat-free goodies you're bound to eat more calories than you need and you're going to end up storing the excess calories as fat. Take a good look at the nutritional label before you start your fat-free snacking... it may say "only 90 calories per serving", but what's the size of the serving? And how much are you really going to eat? Cutting down on fat is essential to a healthy body, but be careful not to ignore the calorie content of the foods you eat and their nutritional value. If it's high in calories, it's not doing your waistline one bit of good even if it is fat-free! |
