First and foremost, know that I am not on a diet. I am changing my lifestyle. I am also changing old habits and how I look at food. I don't know why I all of a sudden snapped and decided to lose weight. I guess I just got sick of being so fat. Everyone has their own breaking point. You have to do this for yourself and your health. I do not believe in losing weight just to make someone happy or just to fit in to a wedding dress. You have to want this for YOU!
With that said, here you go:
- Most of the time I drink nothing but water. I try to drink at least 64oz a day. If you don't like drinking tap water, there are plenty of drink mixes and flavored water out there. Make sure you get a zero calorie, sugar free or diet version. I don't waste a lot of points on sugary drinks, I can eat more that way. A large Wendy's Lemonade is enough points for a meal. I don't drink a lot of soda, even if it's diet
- Eat small. As my leader says "Don't eat gobs, eat gobettes". You can always eat more if you're hungry. If you're putting food on a plate from a big serving spoon, use half of the serving.
- Frozen meals can be great portion control. Meals like Healthy Choice and Smart Ones are great way to deal with portion control.
- Get away from processed foods. If you eat something with little nutritional value you're bound to eat more of it. Here is a good article about processed foods.
- Try new foods and experiment until you find foods that are good for you that you'd eat. I heart brussel sprouts and those are zero points on WW so I can eat lots of them.
- Eat foods that are high in protein and fiber, they will leave you feeling fuller longer. My favorite way to get my fiber is Fiber One Chocolate and Oats bars. Fiber will actually reduce the amount of calories you absorb.
- Portions portions portions! Here is a good article about portion control
- Lower your carb (sugar, pasta, starchy veggies) and fat intake. On weight watchers one cup of regular spaghetti and a half a cup of sauce is a meal. I stopped going to Starbucks every Saturday to get a large hot chocolate. One of those is enough points for an entire meal and it's mostly sugar.
- Take a daily vitamin.
- If you are prone to emotional eating just keep telling yourself "Eating is not going to change anything or make anything better"
- Make small changes, go from fried to grilled, regular to diet, normal cal to low cal, regular pasta to whole wheat, if you eat regular potato chips, switch to baked, etc. You'd be surprised how much of a difference that can make. One of the big changes I made was going from a foot long to six inch at Subway and not eating two cookies each time I ordered a sub. I still eat cookies from time to time. I can have an entire meal for the amount of points one Subway cookie is!
- Make changes slowly. One week you cut out fried chicken in favor of grilled. The next week you cut out regular soda. Keep on building until you change everything you can.
- Learn to listen to your body and trust it when it tells you when you're hungry and full. Then, eat accordingly. You might be surprised how little food the body needs.
- Eat as slowly as possible. It will make you feel more satisfied to enjoy and savor your food. The way I used to eat I barely tasted what I ate. It takes twenty minutes for your body to recognize it's full
- Eat what you crave. I can eat anything on Weight Watchers. In fact, in the seven months I've been on the plan I have eaten four pints of ice cream and/or frozen yogurt. Each pint in one sitting. I still lost weight each week I did it. The last time I did that it was almost the only thing I ate all day because I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day and I didn't have a lot of points left! One pint of Ben and Jerry's regular ice cream is a little more than three meals worth of points. Frozen yogurt can be half of that.
- Follow the food pyramid, it's what Weight Watchers is based on:-)
- Read labels! Sometimes it is surprising what is in food as far as fat, calories, carbs, etc. Servings is very important when you are reading labels too!
- Eat on a smaller plate. Another thing you can do, if you can't get a smaller plate, is don't go over on to the outsides of the plate, that is the flat part on the outside of the plate that usually has decoration. Just keep it in the indentation in the center. For example, at a buffet leave spaces on your plate. If I get dumplings at a Chinese buffet, I put the dumpling sauce cup on my plate. I also like to leave a little air between my food
- Downsize. If you get two or even three refills of a sugary drink at a restaurant just drink the first one and drink water the rest of the meal. If you go to a fast food restaurant and you HAVE to get fries, get a small. Etc.
- Educate yourself. At one point in my 20's I lost a lot of weight after reading "Nutrition For Dummies" and changing what I ate. I also highly suggest "Breaking Free From Compulsive Eating" by Geneen Roth
- Take stock of what you eat. Whenever I would go to an Italian restaurant I would gorge myself on bread, or worse, garlic bread, and even worse, garlic bread with cheese. I would also order Fettuccine Alfredo. Now, I will eat a few pieces of bread, equal to two slices of regular bread at max. I even dip it in oil! No more than a tablespoon though! I also eat spaghetti with marinara. If I get spaghetti with marinara I can eat more than if I could if I had Alfredo. One cup of Fettuccine Alfredo is equal to two cups of spaghetti with marinara when it comes to points.
- Take really small bites. It will help slow you down.
- Don't totally deprive yourself. Deprivation does not work! Just keep everything in moderation. If you eat a lot in one sitting then eat light the rest of the week or, god forbid, EXERCISE! People don't realize that skinny people can eat anything at any time. It's just a question of how much and how often they eat it and how they compensate for it the rest of the week.
- Don't grocery shop when you're hungry. It's a money saving tip and a diet tip.
- If you're hungry between meals, EAT! Just eat something small. If you go into a meal really hungry you'll eat more!
- Eat your Veggies and fruits! They're high in fiber and *GASP* GOOD FOR YOU!
- If you're at a buffet sit for a few minutes before you go back for more and I'm talking a good five minutes. Have a conversation or play with your cell phone if you have to keep yourself distracted.
- At a sit down restaurant eat half of your food and bring the rest home
- At a restaurant if you don't want to skip the appetizers, start with a salad or a brothy soup. They both can fill you up.
- Underestimate when you're using things like butter, cream cheese and salad dressing. Think "use sparingly". Use the minimum! I used to glob on the cream cheese on bagels. Now I barely use any cream cheese. Start with a little bit and if you need more you can add it.
- When you go out to eat, PLAN AHEAD! Most of the big chains have nutritional information on their websites. Menus are also available online for the big chains and even some mom and pop restaurants. For example, Panera has a meal planning gadget on their website.
I still eat fried food, I still eat ice cream, I still use regular butter and salad dressing. Just in moderation and not every day. My ultimate weight loss tip would be to join Weight Watchers. I can lose weight much faster with WW and my diet is more realistic than it would be when I was doing it by myself. The meetings are great support. too. I also love the tracking method. It's like a budget for what you eat! It really makes you think about what you eat. I suppose keeping a food diary can have similar results. You can still lose weight on your own! Good luck! Hope this helps.
