After twenty years of fighting with my weight and trying every diet under the sun, I finally feel like I have a handle on my eating habits.
My grandfather summed it up once by telling me that I needed to find an eating level. Well, I found mine so I thought I would share a few things I learned along the way.
Plan Ahead: plan meals, snacks and shopping lists so you're not just shoving food in when your starving.
Don't Eat Out: stay home and cook the food yourself that way you control the ingredients and the portion size.
Know Your Portions: until you know what a cup, tablespoon and ounce are use measuring cups, spoons and a scale.
Drink water: cut down on sugar, diet and caffeinated drinks.
Be Mindful: eat slowly and turn off the TV and the computer.
Eat: 3 meals a day (and one snack) every 3 to 4 hours and don't skip meals.
Healthy Snacks: get rid of those 100 calorie snack packs for a natural snack (apple with almond butter; hummus and carrots).
Beware of Fat Free Foods: they can have tons of sugar, cut down the portion and go for reduced or full fat.
Avoid Unhealthy Ingredients: don't eat anything if it has more than 5 ingredients or you can't pronounce them or if you don't know what they are. (hydrogenated = bad)
Know Your Food: read labels and be aware of serving sizes. That drink might be 50 calories but if there are 4 servings in it, that bottle is 200 calories.
Avoid Processed Sugar: instead of juice have a piece of fruit; use raw or turbinated sugar instead of the white kind, avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup.
Balance Your Meals: try to eat a healthy carb, lean protein and good fat at each meal
Not All Carbs are Bad!: eat your fruits, veggies and whole grains (in moderation) daily.
Not All Fat is Bad!: eat nuts, avocado, and olive oil in moderation.
Know Your BMR: learn how many calories you need to live, by knowing your Basal Metabolic Rate. This is the amount of calories you need to live if you sat on the couch all day. If you're trying to lose weight you may want to reduce this amount but never go below 1200.
Track Your Calories: I know this part really stinks but in the beginning you do need to learn how much you can eat so you don't overeat. Once you know what 1300 or 1400 calories looks like each day then you don't have to be so meticulous. Try http://www.livestrong.com/myplate.
Don't Eat After 8pm: Let your body really break it's fast in the morning by not eating too late. Your metabolisim slows down at night so let it rest.
Get Rid of the Scale: pay attention to how you feel. Incessant weighing is unhealthy and you want a lifestyle change not a quick fix.
Live a Little: splurge once a month if you're really craving something. We only have one life and if you feel like having a piece of cheesecake or a Ben and Jerry's ice cream do it! Just don't do it every week.
Move: (more on this in my next post)
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