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- Write down what you eat for one week & you will lose weight.Study
found that people who keep food diary wind up eating about 15 percent
less food than those who do not. Watch out intended for weekends: A
University of North Carolina study found people tend to consume an extra
115 calories for every weekend day, primarily from alcohol & fat.
Then cut out or losing calories from spreads, dressing, sauces,
condiments, drinks, & snacks; they could build the difference
between weight gain & loss.
- Add 10 percent to the amount of daily calories you think you are eating.If
you think you’re overwhelming 1,700 calories a day & do not
understand why you’re not weight losing, add another 170 calories to
your calculate approximately. Chances are, the new number is additional
correct. Correct your eating habits accordingly.
- Get an online loss weight buddy to lose more weight.A
University of Vermont learns found that online weight-loss buddies help
you keep the weight off. The researchers follow volunteers for 18
months. Those assign to an Internet-based weight preservation program
sustained their weight loss improved than those who met face-to-face in a
support group.
- Get a mantra.You have heard of a self-fulfilling
prophecy? If you keep focusing on things you cannot do, like resisting
junk food or in receipt of out the door for a daily walk, chances are
you would not do them. Instead (whether you believe it or not) do again
positive thoughts to yourself. “I can weight lose.” “I will get out for
my walk in our day.” “I know I can resist the pastry cart after dinner.”
Repeat these phrases and before too long, they will become right for
you.
- After breakfast, stick to water.At breakfast, go
ahead & drink orange juice. But throughout relax of the day; focus
on water instead of juice or soda. The average American consumes an
extra 245 calories a day from soft drinks. That is nearly 90,000
calories a year—or 25 pounds! And researches show that in spite of the
calories, sugary drinks do not trigger a sense of completeness the way
that food does.
- Eat three fewer bites of your meal,one less treats
a day, or 1 less glass of orange juice. Doing any of these can save you
regarding 100 calories a day & that alone is enough to prevent you
from in advance the two pounds most people mindlessly pack on both year.
- Watch 1 less hour of TV.A study of 76
undergraduate students found the additional they watched television, the
more frequently they ate and the more they ate overall. Sacrifice one
program (there’s probably one you do not in reality want to watch
anyway) and go for a walk in its place.
- Wash something thoroughly once a week.Whether
that’s a floor, a couple of windows, the shower stall, bathroom tile, or
your car, a 150-pound person will burn about four calories for every
minute spent cleaning. Scrub for 30 minutes and you could work off
approximately 120 calories, the same number in a half-cup of vanilla
frozen yogurt.
- Wait until your stomach rumbles before you reach for food.It’s
stunning how often we eat out of boredom, nervousness, habit, or
frustration—so often, in fact, that many of us have actually forgotten
what physical hunger feels like. If you’re hankering for a specific
food, it’s probably a craving, not hunger. If you’d eat anything you
could get your hands on, chances are you’re truly hungry. Find ways
other than eating to express love, tame stress, and relieve boredom.
- Sniff a banana, an apple, or a peppermint when you feel hungry.You
might feel silly, but it works. When Alan R. Hirsch, M.D., neurological
director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in
Chicago, tried this with 3,000 volunteers, he found that the more
frequently people sniffed, the less hungry they were and the more weight
they lost—an average of 30 pounds each. One theory is that sniffing the
food tricks the brain into thinking you’re actually eating it.
- Stare at the color blue.There’s a good reason you
won’t see many fast-food restaurants decorated in blue: it functions as
an appetite suppressant. So serve up dinner on blue plates, dress in
blue while you eat, and cover your table with a blue tablecloth.
Conversely, avoid red, yellow, and orange in your dining areas. Studies
find they encourage eating.
- Eat in front of mirrors and you’ll lose weight.One
study found that eating in front of mirrors slashed the amount people
ate by nearly one-third. Having to look yourself in the eye reflects
back some of your own inner standards and goals, and reminds you of why
you’re trying to lose weight in the first place.
- Spend 10 minutes a day walking up and down stairs.The
Centers for Disease Control says that’s all it takes to help you shed
as much as 10 pounds a year (assuming you don’t start eating more).
- Walk five minutes for at least every two hours.Stuck
at a desk all day? A brisk five-minute walk every two hours will parlay
into an extra 20-minute walk by the end of the day. And getting a break
will make you less likely to reach for snacks out of antsiness.
- You’ll lose weight and fat if you walk 45 minutes a day, not 30.The
reason we’re suggesting 45 minutes instead of the typical 30 is that a
Duke University study found that while 30 minutes of daily walking is
enough to prevent weight gain in most relatively sedentary people,
exercise beyond 30 minutes results in weight and fat loss. Burning an
additional 300 calories a day with three miles of brisk walking (45
minutes should do it) could help you lose 30 pounds in a year without
even changing how much you’re eating.
- Don’t buy any prepared foodthat lists sugar,
fructose, or corn syrup among the first four ingredients on the label.
You should be able to find a lower-sugar version of the same type of
food. If you can’t, grab a piece of fruit instead! Look for sugar-free
varieties of foods such as ketchup, mayonnaise, and salad dressing.
Also, avoid partially hydrogenated foods, and look for more than two
grams of fiber per 100 calories in all grain products. Finally, a short
ingredient list means fewer flavor enhancers and empty calories.
- Put your fork or spoon down between every bite.At
the table, sip water frequently. Intersperse your eating with stories
for your dining partner of the amusing things that happened during your
day. Your brain lags your stomach by about 20 minutes when it comes to
satiety (fullness) signals. If you eat slowly enough, your brain will
catch up to tell you that you are no longer in need of food.
- Throw out your “fat” clothes for good.Once you’ve
started losing weight, throw out or give away every piece of clothing
that doesn’t fit. The idea of having to buy a whole new wardrobe if you
gain the weight back will serve as a strong incentive to stay fit.
- Close the kitchen for 12 hours.After dinner, wash
all the dishes, wipe down the counters, turn out the light, and, if
necessary, tape closed the cabinets and refrigerator. Late-evening
eating significantly increases the overall number of calories you eat, a
University of Texas study found. Stopping late-night snacking can save
300 or more calories a day, or 31 pounds a year.
- Walk before dinner and you’ll cut calories AND your appetite.
In a study of 10 obese women conducted at the University of Glasgow in
Scotland, 20 minutes of walking reduced appetite and increased
sensations of fullness as effectively as a light meal.
- Make one social outing this week an active one.Pass
on the movies and screen the views of a local park instead. Not only
will you sit less, but you’ll be saving calories because you won’t chow
down on that bucket of popcorn. Other active ideas: a tennis match, a
guided nature or city walk (check your local listings), a bike ride, or
bowling.
- Buy a pedometer, clip it to your belt, and aim for an extra 1,000 steps a day.On
average, sedentary people take only 2,000 to 3,000 steps a day. Adding
2,000 steps will help you maintain your current weight and stop gaining
weight; adding more than that will help you lose weight.
- Put less food out and you’ll take less in.Conversely,
the more food in front of you, the more you’ll eat—regardless of how
hungry you are. So instead of using regular dinner plates that range
these days from 10 to 14 inches (making them look empty if they’re not
heaped with food), serve your main course on salad plates (about 7 to 9
inches wide). Instead of 16-ounce glasses and oversized coffee mugs,
return to the old days of 8-ounce glasses and 6-ounce coffee cups.
- Eat 90 percent of your meals at home.You’re more
likely to eat more—and eat more high-fat, high-calorie foods—when you
eat out than when you eat at home. Restaurants today serve such large
portions that many have switched to larger plates and tables to
accommodate them.
- Serve food on your plate instead of on platters.If
you eat your dinner restaurant style on your plate rather than family
style, helping yourself from bowls and platters on the table, you’ll
lose weight. Most of us tend to eat an average of 150 percent more
calories in the evening than in the morning. You’ll avoid that now
because when your plate is empty, you’re finished; there’s no reaching
for seconds.
- Don’t eat with a large group. A study published in
the Journal of Physiological Behavior found that we tend to eat more
when we eat with other people, most likely because we spend more time at
the table. But eating with your significant other or your family, and
using table time for talking in between chewing, can help cut down on
calories.
- Order the smallest portion of everything.If you’re
out and ordering a sub, get the 6-inch sandwich. Buy a small popcorn, a
small salad, a small hamburger. Again, studies find we tend to eat
what’s in front of us, even though we’d feel just as full on less.
- Eat water-rich foods and you’ll eat fewer calories overall.A
body of research out of Pennsylvania State University finds that eating
water-rich foods such as zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers during meals
reduces your overall calorie consumption. Other water-rich foods
include soups and salads. You won’t get the same benefits by just
drinking your water, though. Because the body processes hunger and
thirst through different mechanisms, it simply doesn’t register a sense
of fullness with water (or soda, tea, coffee, or juice).
- Bulk up your meals with veggies.You can eat twice
as much pasta salad loaded with veggies like broccoli, carrots, and
tomatoes for the same calories as a pasta salad sporting just
mayonnaise. Same goes for stir-fries, omelets, and other veggie-friendly
dishes. If you eat a 1:1 ratio of grains to veggies, the high-fiber
veggies will help satisfy your hunger before you overeat the grains.
- Avoid white foods.There is some scientific
legitimacy to today’s lower-carb diets: Large amounts of simple
carbohydrates from white flour and added sugar can wreak havoc on your
blood sugar and lead to weight gain. While avoiding sugar, white rice,
and white flour, however, you should eat plenty of whole-grain breads
and brown rice. One Harvard study of 74,000 women found that those who
ate more than two daily servings of whole grains were 49 percent less
likely to be overweight than those who ate the white stuff.
- Switch to ordinary coffee.Fancy coffee drinks from
trendy coffee joints often pack several hundred calories, thanks to
whole milk, whipped cream, sugar, and sugary syrups. A cup of regular
coffee with skim milk has just a small fraction of those calories. And
when brewed with good beans, it tastes just as great. You can also try
nonfat powdered milk in coffee. You’ll get the nutritional benefits of
skim milk, which is high in calcium and low in calories. And, because
the water has been removed, powdered milk doesn’t dilute the coffee the
way skim milk does.
- If you’re going to indulge, choose fat-releasing foods.They
should help keep you from feeling deprived and binging on
higher-calorie foods. For instance: honey has just 64 fat releasing
calories in one tablespoon. Eggs have just 70 calories in one
hard-boiled egg, loaded with fat releasing protein. Part-skim ricotta
cheese has just 39 calories in one ounce, packed with fat releasing
calcium. Dark chocolate has about 168 calories in a one-ounce square,
but it’s packed with fat releasers. And a University of Tennessee study
found that people who cut 500 calories a day and ate yogurt three times a
day for 12 weeks lost more weight and body fat than a group that only
cut the calories. The researchers concluded that the calcium in low-fat
dairy foods triggers a hormonal response that inhibits the body’s
production of fat cells and boosts the breakdown of fat.
- Enjoy high-calorie treats as the accent, not the centerpieceMake
a spoonful of ice cream the jewel and a bowl of fruit the crown. Cut
down on the chips by pairing each bite with lots of chunky, filling
fresh salsa, suggests Jeff Novick, director of nutrition at the Pritikin
Longevity Center & Spa in Florida. Balance a little cheese with a
lot of fruit or salad.
- Eat cereal for breakfast five days a week.Studies
find that people who eat cereal for breakfast every day are
significantly less likely to be obese and have diabetes than those who
don’t. They also consume more fiber and calcium—and less fat—than those
who eat other breakfast foods. Make oatmeal, or pour out a high-fiber,
low-sugar cereal like Total or Grape Nuts.
- Try hot sauce, salsa, and Cajun seasoningsThey
provide lots of flavor with no fat and few calories, plus they turn up
your digestive fires, causing your body to temporarily burn more
calories. Choose them over butter and creamy or sugary sauces.
- Eat fruit instead of drinking fruit juice.For the
calories in one kid-size box of apple juice, you can enjoy an apple,
orange, and a slice of watermelon. These whole foods will keep you
satisfied much longer than that box of apple juice, so you’ll eat less
overall.
- Drop your milk type and you cut calories by about 20 percent.If
you drink regular, go to 2%. If you already drink 2%, go down another
notch to 1% or skim milk. Each step downward cuts the calories by about
20 percent. Once you train your taste buds to enjoy skim milk, you’ll
have cut the calories in the whole milk by about half and trimmed the
fat by more than 95 percent.
- Snack on a small handful of nuts.Studies have
found that overweight people who ate a moderate-fat diet containing
almonds lost more weight than a control group that didn’t eat nuts.
Snacking once or twice a day helps stave off hunger and keeps your
metabolism stoked. You can also pack up baby carrots or your own trail
mix with nuts, raisins, seeds, and dried fruit.
- Get most of your calories before noon.Studies find
that the more you eat in the morning, the less you’ll eat in the
evening. And you have more opportunities to burn off those early-day
calories than you do to burn off dinner calories.
- Brush your teeth after every meal, especially dinner.That clean, minty freshness will serve as a cue to your body and brain that mealtime is over.
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