Dieting Problems & Tips
Dieting tips – Do’s and Don’ts
“Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not!” ~Author Unknown
Ok, this is actually one of the hardest things that we face from time to time, shedding off extra kilograms/pounds. I myself have been struggling for years and finally I found a solution for them, that worked for me at least, but I hope that it will also work for you. It’s a hard and long process, so be warned. Also if it works for me does not mean that it would be 100% perfect for anyone else, since an important thing is that we all have different bodies that respond to different thing, but I hope this would help you along the way anyhow.
First I’ll introduce some of the things specialist say about dieting tips and then I’ll introduce my little tweaks.
* Weight yourself weekly
* Consume 1200 kcal daily
* Cut back on saturated fats (butter and processed foods, among others) by consuming instead more healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats (olive oil, cold water fish, tofu, avocado, and small amounts of nuts)
* Drink water before meals (it helps fill you up and also makes you eat less)
* Don’t skip meals no matter what (makes you less energized and less likely to exercise, plus it might make you even hungrier later thus the possibility of snaking is higher)
* Eat slowly (eating should usually take you about 30 minutes, if you can’t take as long just chew as slowly as possible. People feel full about 15-20 minutes later from the actual point where they filled up, so eating slowly makes you brain have time to register you full point)
* Plan your meals and snacks to make sure they fit into a well-balanced diet plan
* Keep a food diary (it helps you: keep track of your overall calories; plan low-calorie substitutions; notice eating patterns)
* Avoid carbs in processed foods (non-diet sodas and junk food and animal fats). Carbs from whole grains, fruits, and veggies are healthier
* You can eat as many plain vegetables as you want, they won’t endanger your diet (they’re low in calories, packed with fiber and nutrition, and help you feel full so you eat less overall)
* You can still eat your favourite foods (pizza, ice cream, chocolate etc.), but in moderation. If you banish them completely you are more likely to give up in face of pressure and snack on them in weak moments
* Sleep more (it helps regulate you body’s metabolism, makes you less hungry, as well as help you burn calories during sleep) – adults need from 7 to 9 hours of sleep
* Exercise
There are a few of the tips experts give us taken from a site called WEBMD, but I found out that many of them, I for one can’t achieve or they are just too time consuming. There are a few of my own tips that may be considered healthy or otherwise.
* Weighting yourself is important, do it!
* I try to find substitutes for my meals. For example instead of high fat cheese I found a substitute in soft cheese with 125 kcal per 100g, it’s delicious and lower in calories. I stock up on veggies and fruits as much as I can. Important is to find low calorie substitutes for everything you eat, even pizza (there are low calorie snacks such as pizza – veggie pizza I think – and ice cream among others). This way you can eat all your favorite foods and worry a little less about gaining. Just don’t splurge on them, just because they’re low fat doesn’t mean you can eat them by the ton.
* While soup helps you lose weight, cream soups don’t. They usually contain oil, butter and even mustard, so they are high in calories.
* Salads are your friend. You don’t have to eat just veggie salad, you can eat it with chunks of chicken, cheese or whatever, just make sure the chicken is broiled and the cheese low fat. Aka make healthier and lower calorie choices.
* Green tea helps, as well as coffee, just again don’t splurge on it. Also drink you coffee, preferably, with no sugar and cream. If it’s too much/bitter make it weaker.
* Replace pork with chicken and beef. When it comes to meat try not to fry it and broil it instead, if you cannot do that grill it, but do so without the excess of oil or such some recipe require. Natural oil the meat itself produces is healthier. You can condiment it any way you want (spices, vinegar, salt – just preferably no sugar, oil, butter or any high fat ingredients).
* While not healthy or recommended I try to limit my desire for snacking by either eating sugar free candy (11 kcal per piece) or splurging on cola zero/pepsi light (don’t recommend this to many people, as it may actually be more damaging for some than helpful). The whole point is to find something very light that you actually like to snack on any time without it causing you any damage in your diet.
* Walk from 30 minutes to 1 hour every day. If you don’t have the time to exercise, make sure to walk, be it to and from work, picking up the kids from school, grocery shopping or just a simple walk in the park, it’s an exercise you can simply input in your daily life.
* When you exercise I found that stretching helps more, in my case, than aerobics or anything similar. Also dancing and ballet help just as much. Dance any time you can, even just the 30 seconds you prepare a meal, move your hips from side to side. Ballet, lifting your foot at a 90 degree angle is good forstretching and exercise, also a lot of ballet steps and moves help keep fit. Yoga is also good for weight loss, so I highly recommend it.
* Aerobics and such is good, I’m not saying it’s not, but it’s just too time consuming and that’s why I advised the exercises above as you can do it any time. You can move/dance a little bit when you go from one room to another without stopping to do so.
* Specialist say you should exercise 500 kcal more than what you eat daily to shed 2 pounds a week, in my mind it’s impossible with little time, thus the things I mentioned above help.
* Some people retain water in their bodies, so there is an excess of it. Good foods for this are: onions; watermelons, tomatoes (didn’t help in my case), celery (and a few other but I don’t remember); drinking 2 liters of water daily; consume less: salt, alcohol, coffee, diuretic teas; consume more vitamin B; exercise.
* Muscle helps lose weight. For me it does just that, but I gain this manly body builder arms that scare the heck out of me. I cut down on the fitness part of my exercise since, but if it does you any good do it. This is a fact I recommend for men, fitness, weight lifting and all these help you lose weight as well as obtain a beautifully muscled body, so do it. Don’t consume powders or stuff like that though, when you cut back on them and exercising or you just get older, you obtain granny/fatty arms instead of muscles.
I hope these help, so I wish you much luck and success in your diet (don’t do extreme ones, it would just be more damaging than helpful as you gain 2 times as much when you start eating normally again)! Also while writing down what you eat is good, you can also see the rate of what you ate and what you exercised all the while consulting how much you have to eat and exercise to lose weight by creating an account on: www.webmd.com , it’s free so no worries. This also helps girls that want to conceive by creating a special calendar for them. Best of luck!
WEBMD tips to dieting:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-no-diet-weight-loss
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/exercise-and-weight-loss-five-truths?page=3
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/best-weight-loss-advice-youve-never-heard
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/lose-weight-dangers
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/how-stop-gaining-weight
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthy-kitchen-11/quick-meal-solutions
