Fix Your Worst Diet Habits
Ask yourself, is it worth the guilt?
When it comes to food, the wrong habits can be disastrous. Here's how to help yourself eat better and have more energy.
Bad habit: Skipping meals
Letting yourself get too hungry is one of the worst things you can do if you're trying to lose weight. When you finally do eat, you're likely to gobble down too much. It's also much harder to make good choices if you're ravenous.
Fix it: Eat breakfast and then refuel every four to five hours. If you rarely stop once your day begins, plan what you'll eat. Consider easy options like microwaveable healthy meals, low-fat cottage cheese and fruit, or a high-fiber nutrition bar and a container of nonfat Greek yogurt. The healthy carbs and lean protein will provide long-lasting energy.
Bad habit: Eating out all the time
Restaurants are a caloric minefield. Portion sizes can be huge, and chefs often have a heavy hand with salt, fat, and sugar.
Fix it: If you can't cook at home, limit the damage. Avoid alcohol, which contains empty calories and loosens inhibitions, making it tougher to order wisely. Stick with water or have a glass of wine or a light beer if you really want a drink. Tell the waiter not to bring the bread basket, and order a salad instead. This will help curb your appetite. Ask for olive oil and vinegar on the side and go light on the oil. Next, pick a lean protein entrée, such as fish or chicken, and choose preparation methods that use little fat, such as poaching, grilling, or broiling.
Bad habit: Using food as comfort
Most people who struggle with their weight use food to help them deal with negative emotions or stress. When the food is all gone, the problem is still there, and it's been compounded by guilt over having eaten too much.
Fix it: Try labeling your feelings ("I'm sad, not hungry"), and remind yourself that eating won't solve things. Visualize how you'll feel after eating, and ask yourself if it's worth it. Then choose an alternative activity, such as calling a friend, taking a walk, or reading. Over time, these activities, not food, will be the first things you think of when you need a pick-me-up.
Bad habit: Eating when you're not hungry
Snacking even though you are full makes the pounds add up.
Fix it: The next time you're about to pop something into your mouth, assess your hunger level. If you're not truly hungry, don't eat. If you're a little peckish, allow yourself to get a bit hungrier. When you do sit down to eat, adhere to the Japanese saying hara hachi bu, which means "eat until you are 80 percent full." Chances are that in 15 to 20 minutes, you'll be perfectly satisfied.
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Emotional Eating can sabotage your diet in a big way. You have to observe your reactions when and why you eat by keeping a Food Journal.
One really important step in weight-loss is to have a realistic Goal and maybe the most important thing is to know WHY do you want to loose weight - Find YOUR real reason.
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How to Cope With Hunger
If you have ever found yourself alone and not able to get food for a while, you will know what it's like to be so hungry. Maybe if you are camping out in the wild and you run out of food you could start going hungry. Besides trying to find food, there are things you can do to fight hunger.
How to Avoid Eating When You're Bored
These are excellent tips for all of us!! They seem a bit obvious but how many people really take the time to think about it? Not many, including myself. I personally eat for comfort, especially during finals week, and I do end up just feeling worse about myself in the end. This is very helpful! I will think twice before committing any of these not so good ideas anymore.
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There's no surefire way to lose weight, but there are surefire ways to stall in your weight loss or even gain more and it has nothing to do with eating too much!
If you're planning on keeping the weight off permanently, the best way to keep an eye on what you're eating is to keep a food diary (like signing up with The Daily Plate at LIVESTRONG.COM). That way, you can keep track, not only of what you eat, but your fiber intake, protein, fat and sodium.
Exercising is incredibly important. Even if you're just taking walks everyday and doing moderate workouts two-three times a week. For women, I would even suggest picking up The New Rules of Lifting for Women. It dispells some of the rumours about women and weightlifting and I can tell you from personal experience that it REALLY WORKS.
And the most important part of losing weight: EATING. We all know those women who insist on cutting their calories down to 1200 (or lower!) despite their weight, age or height. Women should be eating - on average - 1500 calories a day. 1200 is ROCK BOTTOM and will gaurantee a weight gain the minute you start eating like a normal human being again. It can also destroy your metabolism. And if you're exercising, you might even need to eat more. Remember, the calories you burn do need to be eaten back. Think of it this way - you don't use the gas in your car and then not replenish it, do you? Your body is the same way. Don't eat donuts to fill the calories, mind. Maybe buy some protein shakes to help with your muscles or eat some fish/fruits/veg.
And women, stop saying you don't want to bulk up. You've got nothing to be afraid of. We cannot physically bulk up like men. Be good to your body and love it whil you have it, regardless of its shape.
BONSOIRBeing skinny is a state of mind. It starts there first. When you are about to eat, ask yourself what a skinny person would eat. When skinny people eat any of cakes, cookies, candy or chips, it's usually a treat and only bought once if they are outside of the house. Here are my number best tricks for losing weight.
1. Do not keep your greatest tempting foods in the house at all.
2. Do not drink sugary drinks. It just helps the pounds pile on and stick to you like glue. If you must have a sugar drink, grab a bottled water and swig and swallow. If that doesn't do the trick, try adding a crystal light single to your water. Need carbon too? Add a crystal light single to a seltzer water.
3. Sweet snacks can only consist of fruits. No bananas! That will just make you more hungry. You can have a jello or pudding cup if it's that bad.
4. When you go to the kitchen to grab a food, always always ask yourself why you are about to eat. If you can assess that your stomach is truly about to start growling then grab some water to drink first and then think about what you can eat that's not fried and can fit on a saucer.
5. No cream soups. Absolutely no creamy anything. That includes ice cream.
6. Eat breakfast, eat lunch and eat dinner. Breakfast should include protein, albeit non-fried protein.
7. No seconds and do not double up your foods. No two of anything. No two slices of toast. No two eggs. Think in singles.
8. When we sleep, we are fasting. But, did you know we should fast 10 to 12 hours a day? That means you cannot eat after 8pm at the latest. 6PM if you are an early riser. If you absolutely must have a quick snack at night or it will drive you crazy, try an apple with a bit of peanut butter on it. Need a snack that's more soothing, try a pudding with a bit of real whip cream (not Cool Whip).
9. Vitamins and protein supplements. You may be hungry because your body is trying to get the vitamins it needs. Try vitamin and protein supplements daily.
10. Safflower oil. Two tablespoon three times a day burns the belly fat. Try it on an empty stomach. Hard to fit in three times a day? Try twice a day. Morning and bedtime.
11. Occupy your time. Keep yourself busy. Take a walk around the block sometimes. It aids the digestion. Once you get used to going out more, you will build up your stamina and can't resist the urge to go out. I make myself walk 20 mins to work and back everyday because I sit at work all day. I can't allow my ass to spread to fit my chair. So, perhaps you want to fit in a walk twice a day.
12. Are you upset? Stay away from the kitchen when you are in this mood. This is where you need to retrain your thinking from emotional eating to working through mental and spiritual healing. Join a support group of some sort to help you connect with more people.
13. Eating at a restaurant. Eating at a restaurant is usually more of a convenience than a treat. Don't do it unless you really don't feel like cooking. And if that's the case, you know what you have to order. A salad with low-fat dressing. Or any very small non-fried item on the menu like broiled or grilled fish.
14. Get to know your food. Get in the habit of reading the packages to know what's in your food and how many calories are in your food. You will be surprised at how easily you will be turned off from eating it.
15. Stay at or below 1200 calories. Yeah, extreme dieters will do 900 or less, but that's not reasonable. A 2000 calorie intake is for a tall person who has the height and more muscles than you to burn it off. Short people unfortunately have to eat for their size and not what they deem "normal" people can eat because "normal" people to them are 5'7 in height and taller.
16. You messed up today, well, get back starting that moment and keep going. No one is perfect and to chuck all your hard efforts because of a mistake is stupid.
Change your environment a bit. Buy a bike, walk or bike for groceries and other stuff. Remember how you were younger and you moved around a lot more, you got to start doing that combined with not eating junk. By the way, exercise is an excellent hunger suppressor ! Feel hungry? Go for a run ,you'll burn more fat this way too!
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