Setting Some Weight-Loss Rules
Each and every person will find different
ways to control their food intake. It helps to create a set of rules
to live by. In this section, I give you some that you can incorporate
into your plan to help you on the road to reduction.
Plan your meals and snacks. Write all
foods down ahead of time if you need to. Then you will know what to
buy and what to prepare.
Don't skip meals. Eat at regular times
each day. Eating haphazardly leads to impulse snacking and
increased opportunities for failure.
Sit down when you eat. Pick a
spot, most likely at the kitchen table, where all your meals and
snacks will be eaten. When you grab an impulsive snack, you may
then ask yourself, is it worth it to sit down and enjoy this now?
Avoid outside distractions. Turn
off the television, push the newspaper aside, and hang up the
telephone. Any outside disturbance will cause you to consume more
than you realize.
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Measure and portion out your
foods at the stove and carry them over to the table. This will help
control second portions—and who needs two meals at one sitting,
anyway? To be sure you don't go back for more, wrap up the
leftovers before you begin to eat.
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Take your time eating. Enjoy
the good taste of food. It takes about twenty minutes from the time
you begin eating until the time your stomach can signal your brain
that you are full. By eating slowly, you will often consume less,
because you begin to feel fuller.
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Don't worry about cleaning
your plate. We no longer expect you to be a member of the "clean
your plate club." If you are full, stop eating. Save the rest of
your food for later, if you like.
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Try filling up on a cup of
broth or some raw vegetables to curb an
excessive appetite at the beginning of a meal. These "free" foods
are filling.
- Keep your diary. When you jot down the
foods you eat, you tend to eat less overall. Keeping track of your
intake is a sure way you will be aware of what you are eating. It
also can help professionals, like registered dietitians, evaluate
your downfalls and problems you may encounter along the way
Seeing How Small Changes Add Up
There are so many ways to cut excess calories
from your daily intake that you may be surprised how easy it can
really be. At first cutting back 500 calories or so each day may seem
extreme, but 50 or 100 calories at a time might be a cut you can
easily accomplish. (That's just one cookieor the savings from
substituting skim for whole milk.) Here are some other smart
alternatives:
- Eat an open-faced sandwich (1 slice of
bread, for savings of 70 calories)
- Drink black coffee (1 tsp. sugar and 1
Tbsp. cream, for savings of 36 calories)
- Choose steamed white or brown rice over
fried rice (savings of 100 calories)
- Substitute light mayonnaise over regular,
or better yet no mayonnaise (savings of 65-100 calories)
- Crunch on ten carrot sticks instead of ten
potato chips (savings of 70 calories)
- Drink skim milk over 2 percent or whole
(savings of 20-50 calories)
- Try plain low-fat yogurt with added fresh
fruit in place of fruited yogurt (savings of 50 calories)
- Make a banana smoothie instead of a
milkshake (savings of 50 calories)
- Snack on a vanilla wafer over a chocolate
chip cookie (savings of 75 calories)
- Treat yourself with angel food cake, not
devil's food cake (savings of 200 calories)
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