Little Helps for Those of Us with No Self Control
Ways to Make Weight Loss Easier
I know I’ve already posted an article very similar to this but I had to write it all out again for a friend and figured I may as well post it again because I honestly and truly believe that these ideas will help you in your weight loss goals. Repetition will help you to remember and hopefully it will help inspire you to make small lifestyle changes to keep you healthy and to help you to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
- Switch to low fat/fat free versions of anything you can:
- fat free milk, sour cream, and cheese (fat free cheese tastes fine but it doesn’t melt well so if you’re using it on something that requires it to be melted – like pizza – go for the reduced fat version)
- Substitute the butter on your toast, potatoes, whatever you like to butter, for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray. You can’t really tell the difference and it’s got barely any calories and fat at all.
- Eat frozen yogurt instead of full fat ice cream.
- Search for recipies that allow you to substitute applesauce for oil in baking (lots of breads and cakes can be adapted to use applesauce instead of oil).
- Low fat/fat free yogurt and cream cheese (cream cheese isn’t that great fat free but you can’t really taste too much of a difference with low fat versions).
- Fat free, sugar free pudding is awesome! I love it as a snack and when made with skim milk, it’s still fat free and tastes so good.
- Switch to whole grain breads, pastas, and cereals to help you feel full quicker and longer.
- Buy snacks already portioned out or portion them out as soon as you get home from the grocery store into individual serving sizes so you don’t over eat your favorite snacks. This also allows you to eat some of your favorite foods but in a more sensible way.
- Clean and prepare (chop, peel, shred, whatever you do) your produce as soon as you get home from the grocery store and store it in the fridge in such a way that it’s easy for you to grab and eat when you’ve got the munchies. Fruits and veggies have few calories so it’s better to munch on an apple or carrots than potato chips.
- DRINK LOTS OF WATER! Drink water before every meal, drink water when you start to feel hungry (in case you’re body is confusing thirst with hunger which happens quite frequently), and sip water throughout the day. Find yourself a nice, 32oz. water bottle and shoot for 2-3 of these a day.
- Don’t store food on your table or counter tops (unless it’s fruit or veggies) and keep snacks where you can’t see them. This cuts down on cravings, grazing, and impulse eating.
- Eat breakfast: 1 cup of cereal and ½ cup of skim milk should be enough and if it isn’t, drink more water and add a piece of fruit, not more cereal.
- Plan lunch and dinner menus (this saves you money at the grocery store too!) and plan to have salads or vegetables with ever meal. Try to have more poultry than beef on your menu (though meatless nights are good too – your body doesn’t need as much meat as we tend to think it does).
- Have a list of approved snacks hanging on your fridge or pantry with snacks that you’ve okayed yourself to eat. Include next to the name of the snack the correct portion size to be eaten and how many calories and fat grams are in that particular snack. This can help you keep track of calories consumed on snacking (hint: it should not be a lot…).
- Don’t eat your kid’s leftovers. Save it for later or toss it (and don’t feel bad).
- Try to eat the least processed versions of fruits and vegetables. Lots of processed versions have added sugar or are fried.
- Keep a food journal.
- Check nutrition labels at the grocery store. Some brands have less fat and calories than another brand of the same food. Case in point: I looked at nutrition labels on my daughter’s fruit snacks because I snack on them too and I found that the ones we were eating had more fat and calories than another particular brand that had about 30 less calories and no fat.
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