Tricks to Help You Lose That Weight: It Is All In the Mind

Not only do we need to be careful of what we eat, but how much we eat. Portion controlled eating is a good habit to get into. We also need to be able to recognize when we are full and be able to stop ourselves when we get that feeling. We need to exercise our willpower and be aware of our bodies for our own health’s sake. One of the easiest ways to drop pounds is to trick your mind into it, to psych yourself into it. Regular Size Dinner Plate vs. Kiddie Plate When serving yourself use the smaller … Continue reading →

Let’s Talk Calories – The Bagel

Do you consider the calories in what you eat? Do you have any idea how many calories you may be consuming? When you stop and count the calories you may just be surprised. Many people trying to lose weight don’t realize that the serving sizes they are having are more than one serving and the calories involved are multiplied. If you’ve read my blogs for any period of time, you know that it isn’t about the calories for me. It is really about the starch. (The bane of my existence!) Although I tend to focus on starch and sleep, weight … Continue reading →

Snacking to Lose Weight

Usually when someone wants to lose weight, he or she will immediately start cutting out foods and even meals. However, hundreds of studies show that while you do want to reduce the amount of calories and eat healthy foods, cutting out too much could actually have the opposite effect. You see, the body needs its metabolism to be working strong to help burn fat and calories. When a person begins to dramatically, reduce food intake, the body sees this as a warning sign that the person is starving, which then slows the metabolism way down. Again, to lose weight, it … Continue reading →

More on Pastries and Weight Loss

Continuing with our recent discussion about weight loss and pastries, I came across a list of some of my favorites that also had the amount of fat in each. This could be important information if you keep close tabs on the fat and calories you eat in your weight loss program. For example, a Danish-style pastry (serving size 2.5 ounces) with cheese has 16 grams of fat, while plain Danish has 12 grams of fat. In addition, a strawberry Danish shows 12 grams of fat, while the apple Danish has 13 grams. One of the factors I did not think … Continue reading →

Portion Control

No, portion control is not a “dirty” word. Portion control is a necessary part of losing weight. If you’ve gained weight, it’s likely because your portions were too big and your choices were too fat-filled, carbohydrate-laden, or sugary (or a combination of all three). Losing weight is never easy. It takes a strict combination of portion control and exercise. But portion control doesn’t have to be about weighing and measuring. For some people, the mere idea of weighing and measuring their food sends them running in the other direction. For these people, and for anyone else who is simply too … Continue reading →

Don’t Diet: Eat Consciously

I saw a show recently where a woman had lost a ton of weight following the “French Women Don’t Get Fat” diet. Surprisingly, she drank wine every day and even ate cheese. The theory behind the diet is that the French utilize a little tool Americans seem to have lost: portion control. Yes, they indulge in sinful treats, but they adhere to the three-bite rule. Only take three bites then put it down or push it away. It makes sense. Think about your mother. Another blogger, Heather, commented on this. Our mothers didn’t crash diet. They ate what they wanted. … Continue reading →

Control Your Portions

Controlling portions is a great way to create a commitment to healthy eating habits. Long-term weight loss is often achieved through portion control because through portion control you can still eat several things that you like and enjoy. So here are some ways you can size up your servings and control your portions in order to help you achieve the weight loss you want. Portion Your Leftovers – Instead of storing your leftovers in a huge container, break it down into individual meal portions that you can easily take out and reheat as one meal Invest in Salads – Salads … Continue reading →

The Hunger Junk Food Path

A huge stumbling block in any weight loss program is hunger. While that may sound a bit hinky, consider that when you are hungry – your concentration is reduced and distractions are increased. When you are hungry, you begin to think about food – I daresay obsess about it. Hunger leads to mistakes like picking up junk food when you have to run in and pick up a gallon of milk. Grocery stores don’t help in this equation because most of them feature candies, chips and other sugar heavy foods at the checkout stands. They are there because grocery stores … Continue reading →

The “Eight Glasses of Water a Day” Myth

Many of us can’t remember when we first learned about the importance of drinking water. The eight glasses a day is a recommendation that has been made by doctors, parents, as well as numerous dieticians. Like most sayings; there is more to it than the saying itself. If you ever wondered how you could possibly drink eight glasses of water daily without standing in front of the sink and never drinking anything but water, you are not alone. Especially, when eight glasses is the minimum daily amount. Men, according to the standard rule, are supposed to drink ten or twelve … Continue reading →

Dining Out on Portions

Do you enjoy eating out? Do you hate the idea of going out to eat while you are on a diet? One of the fastest ways to sabotage a diet is to eat out at a favored restaurant. However, many restaurant menus including TGI Friday’s, Chili’s and Ruby Tuesdays are now offering diet alternatives on their menus. Atkins is increasingly popular at all of these locations. The menus are also more weight loss oriented as they list ingredients and nutrition information like fat grams, calories and carbohydrates. If you’re thinking that’s great – but you’re not doing Atkins and you’ve … Continue reading →