Originally Posted by CagneyDog
When people need to lose weight they think they need to make drastic changes, start eating lettuce and carrots and will starve.Instead, the reality that maintains your ideal weight for long periods of time are portion control, eating as naturally as possible and moving your body!
Some basics to get you started. You don't even have to do all this at once, try some of these things 3/4 days of the week and go from there.
*The first step is to start keeping a food journal. Write down everything you eat and when you eat and do this for a 2 week period. Examine the findings....what types of food are you eating? Are they healthy?
When do you eat? Do you go for long periods without eating and then eat fast food or preprocessed food because it will fill you faster? When is your weakest time when it comes to eating unhealthy? In front of the tv or computer in the evenings? In the afternoon before dinner? Once you see what you're eating and when you are eating you can start taking some control.
* As finn's mom noted the body is better controlled when you eat smaller meals throughout the day. Eating good carbs,protein and fibre will fill you for longer periods of time.
* Eat as naturally as possible. This means try to avoid anything that comes prepackaged. Anything that is prepackaged has preservatives, extra sodium and sugar that your body does not need. Try to prepare as many meals as you can from scratch. Morning cereals are the worst...loaded with sugar and sodium.
*Try to stay away from empty carbs. Anything like bagels, muffins, doughnuts, white bread, potatoes, rice, white pasta etc. If you are going to have these carbs, eat them either at breakfast or lunch and avoid them at the end of the day. Replace your typical pototoe or rice at dinner with a double helping of veggies and salad.
*Snacks...again stay away from processed foods. Instead have nuts, whole fruit (not fruit juices), cheese, etc.
* Proportion control has gone crazy in North America....we are eating way too much food and the wrong types of food. Reduce your proportions that you eat. 1 serving of rice/pasta should be 1 cup (not 3 cups), 1 serving of protein should be the size of the palm of your hand etc. I just read that one bagel equals 4 pieces of toast.
* Drink, drink, drink as much water as you can. I personally don't believe every single person needs 8 glasses of water a day. Drink as much as you feel comfortable with in a day. Also, if you are hungry, drink one glass of water and wait 15 minutes. If your still hungry at that time, then eat but usually our body sends us a hunger signal when really we are dehydrated. Stay away from soda, fruit juices etc. Loaded with sugar, empty calories that will not fill you with what you need. This month I totally stopped purchasing fruit juices and am drinking water, green tea and eating whole fruits for their added nutrients and fibre.
* Move your body! What do you like to do? Run, walk, swim, play sports, yoga? Pick something you would enjoy and participate in that at least for 1 hour 3 times a week to start.
Wow, I wrote a novel!
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