Feel free to print it out and post it prominently in your kitchen
USA Today just ran its annual week-long Weight-Loss Challenge, with different articles on the subject each day. One feature article was a list of dieting tips from the paper’s health reporter, Nanci Hellmich. There’s nothing groundbreaking on the list, but it’s an excellent encapsulation of the consensus wisdom of a number of experts in the field of health, nutrition and fitness. Here is a summary.
- As much as you can, clear all the bad, sugary, fat-laden food items out of your kitchen, pantry and fridge. If you need to indulge yourself, make a special trip to purchase your treats.
- The fewer sugary beverages you drink, the better. The ideal number is zero.
- Increase your physical activity as much as possible, not so much to lose weight as to keep it off once lost.
- When dining out, split or share entrees or consume just half and take the remainder home, and ask for the salad dressing on the side and apply it sparingly.
- Limit the size of portions at home; for example, 3-ounce servings of meat, poultry or fish as entrees, and at breakfast, pancakes no larger than CDs.
- Emphasize protein; it seems to keep the body feeling full longer.
- Buy some clothing one size smaller than you presently wear and make it your goal to fit into it.
- Manage your hunger attacks by not going more than five or six hours between meals and by keeping low-calorie snack items on hand.
- Get your zzzs; sleep deprivation triggers hunger hormones.
- Whenever you get a craving for a treat, wait 10 minutes before acting on the impulse; often, it will have passed.
- Try to pal up with a weight-loss partner and/or supporter for morale boosting and encouragement, ideally a member of your household.
- Keep a weight-losers journal and write down everything, repeat everything, that you eat, including fluids. Statistically, you’ll lose twice as much weight as you would with no journal.
- Weigh yourself regularly, several times a week, to monitor how you’re doing and minimize backsliding.
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)
Annual refresher course: Basic success tips for weight-losers