Easy Dieting

Want to lose weight..?

Whats your motivation?

Have you been told by the doctor that you need to lose weight for health reasons? Or do you have a friendly competition going with someone from work or home? Or maybe you just want to do it for yourself or some loved ones, like your family.

Your motivation or reasons as to why you want to weight or start dieting is just something to get you on the right track. No matter what your motivation is, everyone can agree that loosing weight is hard. Food is good and it seems that all the good food is bad for you in one way or another. When we are dieting, it seems that we have to deprive ourselves of all that good food. Well in a sense that is correct, but at the same time it’s not.

Here are some tips that just might help....

1.       Stop drinking soda's, especially diet. Sodas have a ton of sugar and are almost all chemicals. Diet sodas are even worse. When you get thirsty, drink water. Water can get old, so add a lemon or a dash of fruit juice. Once you stop drinking sodas, you will lose the craving or taste for them. After a just a few weeks of not drinking sodas, if you go back and just take a sip of one, you will be able to taste all the chemicals. If you want to treat yourself to a soda every so often, stick to those that are clear, such as 7-up, Sierra Mist, etc.

2.       Cut down or even eliminate on simple sugar. Some of us like candy, cake, pie, cookies, brownies, chocolate, etc. or whatever satisfies your sweet tooth. If you can eliminate your sugar intake, that is even better. However, almost everyone has a sweet tooth which sometimes can feel like its driving us crazy. If you must have something sweet, try a super small portion such as just one (1) Hershey's kiss, or a miniature sized or sample size piece.  If its cake, brownie, cookies or even pie that you must have, instead of having the big piece, just have a tiny slice. A lot of times, just a small portion will satisfy you. If it doesn't, try eating a small spoon of peanut butter. If that doesn't work, try chewing on a piece of gum, preferably not sugar-less. 

3.       Switch from ground beef to ground turkey. Ground turkey is much leaner than ground beef and it is much better for you. It can make all the difference in the world when you are dieting or watching what you are eating.

4.       Reduce your carbohydrates (carbs). Many people do not realize that your body turns carbs in sugars. When you are dieting (or watching what you are eating), you want to keep sugars to a minimum, so that your body burns fat. Reducing carbs is quite easy. Everyone likes bread, however it’s one of the biggest sources of carbs. So, if you eliminate or greatly reduce your bread consumption, it’s a huge plus. Everyone likes pasta too however it too is another source of carbs. If you can eliminate pasta it too will help.

Simple carbs are something the dieting person wants to avoid. Simple carbs are found in the highly processed foods such as bread, white flour, crackers, pasta, etc. Complex carbs are much better and something the dieting person can have in moderation. This is because it takes the body a long time to digest complex carbs which helps to speed up your metabolism. Plus, the fiber content is higher which is a benefit.  So, try whole grain pasta, or spaghetti squash. Its best to stay away from bread altogether since it all has simple cabs in it. However, if you must have some, get the grainiest kind that you can and limit your intake.

5.       Limit your portion sizes.  If you read the back of any food label, it tells you how many portions there are for, that particular item. Normally, this is based on a cup size or just about 4oz. Most of us pay no attention to this.  Trying to follow this portion size is almost impossible and would leave just about everyone starving. So, when you go to eat, try reducing your portion size, first to maybe ¾ of what you would normally take. Then you can progress to about ½, if you would like. The biggest thing to remember, DO NOT GO BACK FOR SECONDS.

6.       Reduce or eliminate the alcohol consumption, especially beer. Alcohol is consumed by many and there isn’t many calories in it. However, most of us cannot limit the consumption. We all like

7.       Exercise and stay active. This is one of the most important things for anyone who is dieting. You want to exercise and stay active to that you get your heart rate up, so you can burn that fat. As most everyone has probably heard, exercise is important for everyone which includes the person who is dieting (watching what they eat), kids, adults, even a fit person.  For those that are dieting, concentrate on cardio and minimize the weight lifting. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you hit the weights too much, you can actually gain weight, which can be discouraging. Once you get down to your ideal weight, then you can hit the weights to firm up.

8.       Don’t eat anything after a certain time. Everyone likes to have a snack a few hours after dinner which seems to be a short time before you go to bed. That snack needs time to digest, and if its consumed shortly before going to bed, your body turns it into fat, which is not a benefit to anyone, especially someone who is dieting. You should allow at least three (3) hours, or more between the time you eat and the time you go to bed.

9.       Avoid the munchies. This can be tough however, the munchies usually lead to junk food. If you get the munchies, try chewing a piece of gum. If it’s not too late, try eating a piece of fruit.

Basically, you want to burn more calories than you consume. Doing this will helping anyone who is dieting lose those extra pounds.

Sounds easy doesn’t it..?

For the most part, dieting (watching what you eat) is simple. Breaking your habits is the hard part which usually happens in the first week. Once you get past the first week (or maybe the second for some), it seems to get a lot easier.