I know we all know these but a review never hurts.
1. Portion Control
Know correct portion sizes. See our Sparks portion guide for your favorite foods
Swap your dinner plates. A polite dinner guest will clean their plate, no matter the size. Beat the bulge head-on by using dessert plates (usually 9 inches wide) instead of dinner plates (11 inches wide). You could eat as much as 30 percent less food as a result.
Grab the measuring cups. It’s simply too easy to underestimate how much you’re eating. Use measuring cups to check your portions as you dish out dinner. Look for pre-measured purchased consumables, too. Those 100-calorie packs are a great start.
Order a kid’s meal or kid-size portion. When dining out, kid’s meals are actually the correct portion size for an average-weight woman.
Order the appetizer instead. At restaurants, try an appetizer or a side dish (and have it delivered with everyone’s dinners) instead of a full meal. The size is more appropriate for your dieting needs.
2. Be Active
Whether you can dedicate an hour or just a commercial break to a fitness activity, you’ll be burning more calories than resting alone.
Average calories burned per 30 minutes for a 160-pound person:
Walking 138
Hiking 210
Jogging 280
Running 490
Aerobics, high impact 250
Aerobics, low impact 175
Basketball game 275
Bicycling, leisure 150
Bowling 100
Golfing, carrying clubs 160
Skiing, cross-country 250
Softball or baseball 175
Stair treadmill 325
Swimming 250
Tennis 290
Volleyball 150
Weightlifting 100
3. Keep a food diary
Start with one week of entries. Write down everything you ate and drank and how you were feeling when you did. Were you actually hungry when you ate or was it just mindless TV snacking? Did you have time to enjoy the meal or were you eating in a hurry?
A food diary can help you get to the root of your eating. And it may surprise you how much you consumed.
Our meal tracker here is a great and easy way to do this.
4. Drink Water
Especially if you drink a glass right before a meal, water can give you a sense of fullness without the calories. Have a glass by your side at the office and at home; keep it convenient and you’re more likely to drink it.
Drinking water when you feel hungry is the key. Often the feeling of hunger is really dehydration
5. Make Food Swaps
Subbing some not-so-healthy foods for better (or smaller) versions can make a big difference.
The following choices can save you big-time on calories:
½ cup grapes instead of ½ cup raisins, save 165 calories
Diet soda instead of regular soda, save 245 calories per 20-ounce bottle *People with a two-soda-a-day habit would save enough in a week to lose a pound.
Small fries instead of medium fries, save 130 calories
Hot dog instead of a 1/4 pound hamburger, save 150 calories
Large skinny coffee without syrup or cream instead of a large cafe mocha with whipped cream, save 400 calories
6. Shop when full
Avoid the aisle-allure with a full stomach instead of a hunger-heavy daze when you go to the grocery store. Plan a healthy snack before you head out and you may even avoid the tempting samples. Stick to your shopping list to avoid extra temptation. You’ll save money and possibly a pant size.
7. Eat smaller and more often
You’ve heard this one before, but smaller, more frequent meals boost your metabolism and keep hunger from striking near the pop machine. Shoot for five or six small meals instead of the usual large breakfast, lunch, and dinner routine
8. Burn calories in your day to day routines
It’s easier than you might think to sneak some a calorie burning into your day-to-day life:
Get off the bus one stop earlier
Walk an extra lap around the mall
Tidy your house
Prepare dinner—without snacking
Use the stairs (try using the restroom the floor above you at work for a start)
Park far away from the store entrance
9. Brush teeth
You know that squeaky-clean feeling you get after brushing your teeth? Use it as a motivator by doing it when you feel hungry. Instead of grabbing for food during a mid-afternoon crunch, brush your teeth. You’ll be less likely to mix that minty fresh taste with an unhealthy snack.
10. Wait
It takes your brain 20 minutes to register that you’re full. If you wait just a few mins. before grabbing seconds or ordering dessert, you’ll be just as fulfilled on way fewer calories.
11. Eat breakfast
Yep, that all-important meal really does get your day off to a healthy start. People who don’t eat breakfast are more likely to overeat later that day. When you’re hungry, your body goes into starvation mode; it burns less fat and conserves energy until you fill it up again.
12. Get Dressing on the side
When the waitress asks about salad dressing, order your favorite but have it delivered on the side. Dip your fork in the dressing before diving into each bite of salad. You’ll eat less of it and still get the flavor on every bite.
13. Keep Moving
Be that fidgety gal you used to make fun of at school (but keep it to non-annoying social situations). Tap your feet, drum your fingers, stretch constantly. Dance around while your pasta’s water is boiling—it burns more calories than sitting even if it looks a little funny.
14. Drink less alcohol
You can still be social, but alcohol is a major weight-gain culprit. It slows down your metabolism, plus contains many empty calories. You’re best off avoiding beer (which averages 110 calories per can), opting for a dry wine over a sweet one, and staying away from sugary cocktails.
15. Spice it up
A little extra spice makes foods taste richer without loading on calories. Additionally, research shows that certain spices can actually raise your metabolic rate for hours after you’ve finished a meal.Great spice choices: ginger, spicy mustard, chili, cayenne pepper, or jalapenos.
16. Skip the butter
It’s yummy, but a little bit of butter comes with big calories. Just a tablespoon has 110 calories and gives you no nutrients.
Tip: When cooking instead of coating the pan with butter, coat it with cooking spray
17. Increase your fiber
Not only is fiber great for heart health, fiber is also a good filler-upper. Fiber makes you feel full so you’ll be less likely to grab a snack mid-day. It also takes your body more time to chew and digest so that satisfied feeling will really last.High-fiber foods:Raspberries: 1 cup, 8.0 g fiberPear, with skin: 1 medium, 5.1 gApple, with skin: 1 medium, 4.4 gBran flakes: 3/4 cup, 5.1 gSplit peas, cooked: 1 cup, 16.3 gBlack beans, cooked: 1 cup, 15.0 gLima beans, cooked 1 cup, 13.2 gArtichoke, cooked: 1 medium, 10.3 gBroccoli, boiled: 1 cup, 5.1 g
18. Read the labels
Whether you’re in the process of purchasing a food item or you’re about to indulge, look at the nutrition label. Consider the total number of servings (prepare to be surprised!), and calculate that in before grabbing 15 crackers when the 140-calorie count is for 10.
You may also be shocked to see how many low fat foods are high in sugar and have more calories than expected. Just because a food is reduced fat doesn’t make it a freebie to eat at your leisure.
Edited by: LARAINE at: 12/31/2008 (16:14)
Nothing great was ever achieved without God!!!!
.•*´¨ ) ¸.•*¨) -:¦:-
(¸.•´(¸ ;.•La Raine.•*¨) ♥
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