How many of you will be joining me on Monday morning to begin our New Year’s resolution to lose weight? Yet again. Wouldn’t you like to have a dollar for every pound you’ve lost and gained back in your lifetime, Then lost and gained back. And lost and gained back yet again. I know I would because I have repeatedly lost and gained the same pounds over and over. It is indeed hard to take the weight off and even harder to keep it off. We have to do away with the word diet and replace it with the word lifestyle. We can’t diet and then just stop. If it is only temporary we WILL gain the weight back. We can’t “diet” and then go back to the old way we were eating and keep the weight off. It has to be a change in eating habits and lifestyle to lose it and keep it off. A new and lasting mindset in our relationship with food. Splurge once and a while of course. But then go right back to the rules. Let’s face it at last. There is no magic pill. No magic diet. In order to lose weight we must consume fewer calories than we burn. We must eat less and move more if we want to keep the weight off. Moderation, balance, self control are key.
WEIGHT LOSS TIPS AND RULES
ONE CARB PER MEAL
Carbohydrates are also called starchy foods. They consist primarily of breads, potatoes, noodles or pasta, cereal, and rice. Typically, carbohydrates are high in calories and break down into sugar. Some popular diets would have you eliminate carbs all together. Not a healthy option, particularly long term. Cut back on carbs instead. One per meal. If you have spaghetti, no garlic bread. If you have a burger, no fries. The bun is your carb. Have a side salad instead. If you have a steak and baked potato, no rolls. You get the idea. Also watch portion sizes. One carb does not mean a super sized McDonald’s fry. That is about 3 carb servings.
Ole Flaxseed wraps have 50 calories per wrap. I often use them instead of bread. I have also brushed them lightly with oil, added pizza sauce, low fat mozzarella cheese and my favorite toppings. Baked for 5 minutes to melt the cheese and it’s a delicious low calorie meal. There are many lower calorie breads. Find one you like and use that brand. Potatoes? Have one baked potato (portion control), top with light margarine and Daisy Light sour cream. Or broccoli and Velveeta sliced cheese (35 calories a slice). This is a lower calorie version than french fries or mashed potatoes.
READ NUTRITION LABELS
Make this a habit. Food labels will first tell you how many servings is in a container and how much is one serving size. For example, a jar of salsa has 16 servings. Two tablespoons equals one serving. The label then continues to tell you how many calories, carbohydrates, fat, sugar sodium etc, are in one serving. When you start reading labels and realizing the calories, sodium, fat, carbohydrates you’ve been eating without knowing it, you will be shocked.
DON’T DRINK YOUR CALORIES
I prefer to eat my calories. I drink one diet soda, one diet green tea daily and the rest water. Water is always the better choice. Regular soda often has 2.5 servings in one bottle and greater than 60, yes, sixty grams of sugar. Not to mention 2–3 hundred calories. Read the label! Unfortunately, there is nothing of any nutritional value when it comes to soda. If you are a milk or juice drinker add those calories into your total for the day. Ocean Spray Diet 5 has a variety of delicious juice flavors. They have one gram of sugar and 5 calories. Try those in place of regular juice.
AVOID SWEETS
You can still have sweets but go for lower sugar content. Avoid sugar laden cake, pies, pastries, snack cakes, and cookies.
Try sugar free desserts. Cool whip and whipped cream in a can is low sugar and low calorie. Use sugar free when possible such as sugar free pudding etc.
Crumble vanilla wafers in the bottom of a 9x13 dish. Top with banana slices. Mix a container of cool whip and a large sugar free banana cream pudding (prepared). Pour and smooth over bananas. Crumble a cookie on top to make it pretty. You’ve just made a low calorie, low sugar dessert that everyone will love.
A Fiber One chocolate brownie with canned whipped cream, yum! Hits the sugar spot for less than 100 calories.Try looking at recipes with the thought, how can I make this low calorie, low sugar? Quite often you can make substitutes and changes and the dish is just as good.
If you read your labels you will see the sugar content. Less is definitely preferable.
Learn to love sugar free syrup. Try different brands. At the very least mix it half regular and half SF and wean yourself down to SF. The difference is hundreds of calories. Two tablespoons of regular syrup is 200 calories. Who uses two tablespoons? The pancakes absorb the syrup and we just add more and more until we saturate them. SF syrup has 15 calories per two tablespoons. Another tip, put syrup in a small cup and dip each bite. You get the syrup taste with each bite and you are actually eating less syrup.
AVOID FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS
Google their nutrition guides. Ahhhh! Death by fat and sodium. The amount in some of these burgers etc. is unbelievable. Eat more fresh meats, fruits, salads, and vegetables. Less processed food. If you must fast food it once and awhile choose salads, items that have the least breading, no mayo, and are not deep fried in oil.
TRACK INTAKE
Use an app on your phone to track your eating and calorie intake. If you don’t keep track of what you eat and plan your meals you tend to just mindlessly eat whether you are hungry or not and the wrong things. I use the Sparkpeople app. It is free and I record everything I eat. That way I know how many calories I have eaten and how many I have left. I can pretty much, within reason, eat what I want if I include it in my calorie intake. This app has definitely helped me more than anything else. It holds me accountable and keeps me aware of what I am doing with food. When I am not tracking what I eat I just eat what I want without thought or planning. The other rule that has helped me most is ONE CARB PER MEAL.
EXERCISE
Yes, gotta eat less, eat healthier, and MOVE MORE. Whatever you can do, do it. Join a gym. Walk. Ride a bike. Exercise videos. Just move. Don’t sit all the time. I love the Body Groove videos. They are fun and low impact. Whatever you can do, whatever you enjoy…just get moving.
OTHER TIDBITS
Do not eat while driving.
Use less butter, margarine, grease, and mayonnaise. Bake instead of fry.
Eat smaller meals and 3 small healthy snacks in between meals and at bedtime. Such as an apple, banana, handful of pretzels, 2 peanut butter crackers. This keeps your metabolism revved so you burn more calories. You cannot starve yourself and lose weight. Your body goes into starvation mode and saves every calorie you take in. You have to eat but eat healthy and smaller portions to lose weight.
Write down your reasons for wanting to lose weight. Yes, of course we want to be healthier, fit and look better in our clothes. My main reason is that I WANT TO BE HERE. I want to still be here to see my grandchildren grow up. I want to be at their graduations. I want to be escorted down the aisle at their weddings. I want them to have pictures of me with their babies. I want to be healthy enough to live to be a great grandma of several. Maintaining a healthy weight and staying active are things I can do to help make that happen.
While changing your lifestyle (remember it’s not dieting) you should weigh every 2–3 weeks. This way you see larger losses and have greater motivation. Weigh every day once you reach your goal weight and give yourself a 5 pound leeway. If the scale goes up you know immediately and can go back to your weight loss strategies for a day or two to get your weight back down.
I lost 40 pounds in 5 months following these rules and tracking my intake with the Sparkpeople app. Even though I kept it off for quite some time the pandemic and staying home has been a challenge. Cooking at home much more than usual and not getting out as much, I am now up 14 pounds. Time to get back to the rules, time to start again. Monday morning here I come. Happy New Year to me!
Remember life is full of do overs, start overs, and try agains. If you mess up, start over immediately with the next meal. Get right back to the rules and tracking your intake. Don’t let a mess up become permanent. Don’t give up and good luck!
Disclaimer: I am not a dietitian or a physician. I am simply sharing weight loss tips that have helped me. If you have any concerns about these suggestions consult your health care team.
I have not been compensated for mentioning any brand name products. These are products I have taste tested and used that have worked for me.
