15 simple changes for long-term weight loss!!
Nana_Booboo
Posts: 501 Member
Here are four really simple, fun and delicious changes in habit that will get you there easier.
15 simple tricks for lasting weight loss: lose 5-40 pounds this year by making just one of these easy changes - or more!
1. Beware the burger blast. Make your own burgers at home with a cut of beef called round or a round steak (the butcher can grind it into hamburger for you). The best part? It's as low cal as skinless chicken. Or use lean ground beef (95 percent lean or better) for a skinny burger with 400 instead of about 500 calories for standard ground beef.
2. Add the whipped cream. Instead of ice cream (350-500 calories per cup), combine a cup of fresh or frozen sweet pitted cherries with 1/4 cup canned whipped cream for a sweet, creamy dessert with just 140 calories.
3. Eat more pizza. Instead of ordering takeout pizza (two slices of Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza pack 720 calories, 32 grams of fat and 2,240 milligrams of sodium!), fill your freezer with healthful frozen pizzas containing no more than 600 calories and 10-15 grams of fat per pie (e.g., Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice brands).
4. Drink up. Have a glass of water with lunch or dinner every other day instead of a soda or an alcoholic drink and you can lose 7-15 pounds a year. To stay full, eat plenty of foods high in water, including fresh fruits, vegetables and healthful (lowfat, low-sodium) soups. 5. Fish for health. Instead of a 6-ounce steak (550 calories), enjoy tuna (250-300 calories) or salmon (350 calories). If you eat fish instead of red meat four times a week, you'll save 200-300 calories each time, or up to 1,200 calories a week. Besides being lower in fat, seafood is also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which lower cholesterol and reduce risk for heart disease. Choose grilled, broiled or steamed fish and avoid fried or blackened versions, which pack in extra fat.
6. Snack more for fewer calories. People who snack all day find it easier to lose weight because they actually take in fewer calories. Enjoy healthful snacks like apple slices spread with 1 tablespoon peanut butter (about 160 calories) or 1 ounce lowfat cheese with a piece of fresh fruit (about 130 calories.) Both snacks provide natural sugars to satisfy your sweet tooth plus fiber and protein to keep you full. Opting for healthful, filling snacks that keep you away from vending-machine versions packing 250-500 empty calories each will save you thousands of calories a month.
7. Mine sweep for calorie bombs. Losing weight is not about discipline or willpower, it's about taking charge of your environment. So get rid of all that high-fat, high-calorie junk in your kitchen and replace it with healthful, lowfat fare.
8. Cook with nonstick pans and spray. Make every meal in a nonstick pan, and you'll automatically save 100 calories every time by eliminating the butter, margarine or oil used to grease the pan. When sauteing or frying, simply coat nonstick pans with a spritz of vegetable oil cooking spray (0 calories). Always use fresh, full-flavored ingredients, and you wont need fattening butter or oil to add flavor. Talk about a painless way to lose weight!
9. Savor each bite. Eat more slowly to let satiety register -- it takes your stomach 20 minutes to send "full" signals to the brain. You'll save 100 calories each time you stop eating when you're almost full instead of eating until you're stuffed (about 200 calories a day).
10. Eat by the clock. Believe it or not, the biggest cause of Believe it bingeing is undereating. Your body gets hungry every three to five hours, so you need to eat five to six healthful, lowfat mini meals daily to stay full and curb cravings. Cut nighttime snacks and say adios to 15 pounds a year; have a fruit snack instead of a vending-machine snack and subtract 20 pounds; plan meals ahead and knock off 22-30. (For a complete guide on grazing via mini meals, including yummy recipes, see next month's issue.)
11. Use the dilution solution. Love regular soft drinks but hate the pounds the sugar packs on? (A 32-ounce soda has about 400 calories!) Do as my friend Linda does and cram your cup with ice every time you have a soda, and you'll drink at least half as much. For Linda, that meant consuming about 200 fewer calories every other day. After a period of time her taste buds adapted. so all she really wanted was sparkling water. By making this one simple shift from soda to sparkling water, she cut 400 calories a day.
12. Defrost the freezer. Forget all the nasty things you've heard about frozen dinners! Supermarkets stock hundreds of lowfat and delicious frozen meals -- from meatloaf and mashed potatoes to Thai and Indian cuisine. Just add vegetables and fruit to boost nutrients. You'll save 300-500 calories every time you prepare a frozen dinner instead of ordering fast food or cooking a high-fat meal. Enjoy four frozen dinners a week and lose a minimum of 18-30 pounds a year.
13. Shop by the book. Make weekly shopping a habit by setting a specific day and time when you can always go. Without healthful foods on hand, you may be tempted to improvise by hitting fast-food and convenience stores, where nearly everything is high-fat and high-calorie. Good grocery-shopping skills are the flip side of good meal-management skills. One of my clients saved at least 400 calories per meal by incorporating just this one change and lost 30 pounds in less than a year!
14. Keep "happy hour" at home. Spend a few hours at a bar on Friday night, and you could easily consume 3,000 calories in drinks (300 calories per mixed drink) and snacks (an order of nachos has 2,100 calories). For a healthy happy hour at home that has just 750 calories (you'll save 2,250 calories a week), stock up on sparkling water or wine and create a lowfat feast. Chef Patrick O'Connell's Charcoal-Grilled Salmon in a Mustard Crust (see next page) can be turned into hors d'oeuvres.
15. Satisfy your sweet tooth. Deny your sweet tooth and binging is sure to follow. Satisfy your cravings with a low-calorie treat -- a bout 120 calories -- that you can enjoy every single day. My faves are Starbucks' frozen Mocha or Java Fudge Frappuccino Blended Coffee Bars. Limit rich desserts (most have about 500 calories) to once a week, and you'll save about 380 calories a day for six days, or 2,280 calories a week.
15 simple tricks for lasting weight loss: lose 5-40 pounds this year by making just one of these easy changes - or more!
1. Beware the burger blast. Make your own burgers at home with a cut of beef called round or a round steak (the butcher can grind it into hamburger for you). The best part? It's as low cal as skinless chicken. Or use lean ground beef (95 percent lean or better) for a skinny burger with 400 instead of about 500 calories for standard ground beef.
2. Add the whipped cream. Instead of ice cream (350-500 calories per cup), combine a cup of fresh or frozen sweet pitted cherries with 1/4 cup canned whipped cream for a sweet, creamy dessert with just 140 calories.
3. Eat more pizza. Instead of ordering takeout pizza (two slices of Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza pack 720 calories, 32 grams of fat and 2,240 milligrams of sodium!), fill your freezer with healthful frozen pizzas containing no more than 600 calories and 10-15 grams of fat per pie (e.g., Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice brands).
4. Drink up. Have a glass of water with lunch or dinner every other day instead of a soda or an alcoholic drink and you can lose 7-15 pounds a year. To stay full, eat plenty of foods high in water, including fresh fruits, vegetables and healthful (lowfat, low-sodium) soups. 5. Fish for health. Instead of a 6-ounce steak (550 calories), enjoy tuna (250-300 calories) or salmon (350 calories). If you eat fish instead of red meat four times a week, you'll save 200-300 calories each time, or up to 1,200 calories a week. Besides being lower in fat, seafood is also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which lower cholesterol and reduce risk for heart disease. Choose grilled, broiled or steamed fish and avoid fried or blackened versions, which pack in extra fat.
6. Snack more for fewer calories. People who snack all day find it easier to lose weight because they actually take in fewer calories. Enjoy healthful snacks like apple slices spread with 1 tablespoon peanut butter (about 160 calories) or 1 ounce lowfat cheese with a piece of fresh fruit (about 130 calories.) Both snacks provide natural sugars to satisfy your sweet tooth plus fiber and protein to keep you full. Opting for healthful, filling snacks that keep you away from vending-machine versions packing 250-500 empty calories each will save you thousands of calories a month.
7. Mine sweep for calorie bombs. Losing weight is not about discipline or willpower, it's about taking charge of your environment. So get rid of all that high-fat, high-calorie junk in your kitchen and replace it with healthful, lowfat fare.
8. Cook with nonstick pans and spray. Make every meal in a nonstick pan, and you'll automatically save 100 calories every time by eliminating the butter, margarine or oil used to grease the pan. When sauteing or frying, simply coat nonstick pans with a spritz of vegetable oil cooking spray (0 calories). Always use fresh, full-flavored ingredients, and you wont need fattening butter or oil to add flavor. Talk about a painless way to lose weight!
9. Savor each bite. Eat more slowly to let satiety register -- it takes your stomach 20 minutes to send "full" signals to the brain. You'll save 100 calories each time you stop eating when you're almost full instead of eating until you're stuffed (about 200 calories a day).
10. Eat by the clock. Believe it or not, the biggest cause of Believe it bingeing is undereating. Your body gets hungry every three to five hours, so you need to eat five to six healthful, lowfat mini meals daily to stay full and curb cravings. Cut nighttime snacks and say adios to 15 pounds a year; have a fruit snack instead of a vending-machine snack and subtract 20 pounds; plan meals ahead and knock off 22-30. (For a complete guide on grazing via mini meals, including yummy recipes, see next month's issue.)
11. Use the dilution solution. Love regular soft drinks but hate the pounds the sugar packs on? (A 32-ounce soda has about 400 calories!) Do as my friend Linda does and cram your cup with ice every time you have a soda, and you'll drink at least half as much. For Linda, that meant consuming about 200 fewer calories every other day. After a period of time her taste buds adapted. so all she really wanted was sparkling water. By making this one simple shift from soda to sparkling water, she cut 400 calories a day.
12. Defrost the freezer. Forget all the nasty things you've heard about frozen dinners! Supermarkets stock hundreds of lowfat and delicious frozen meals -- from meatloaf and mashed potatoes to Thai and Indian cuisine. Just add vegetables and fruit to boost nutrients. You'll save 300-500 calories every time you prepare a frozen dinner instead of ordering fast food or cooking a high-fat meal. Enjoy four frozen dinners a week and lose a minimum of 18-30 pounds a year.
13. Shop by the book. Make weekly shopping a habit by setting a specific day and time when you can always go. Without healthful foods on hand, you may be tempted to improvise by hitting fast-food and convenience stores, where nearly everything is high-fat and high-calorie. Good grocery-shopping skills are the flip side of good meal-management skills. One of my clients saved at least 400 calories per meal by incorporating just this one change and lost 30 pounds in less than a year!
14. Keep "happy hour" at home. Spend a few hours at a bar on Friday night, and you could easily consume 3,000 calories in drinks (300 calories per mixed drink) and snacks (an order of nachos has 2,100 calories). For a healthy happy hour at home that has just 750 calories (you'll save 2,250 calories a week), stock up on sparkling water or wine and create a lowfat feast. Chef Patrick O'Connell's Charcoal-Grilled Salmon in a Mustard Crust (see next page) can be turned into hors d'oeuvres.
15. Satisfy your sweet tooth. Deny your sweet tooth and binging is sure to follow. Satisfy your cravings with a low-calorie treat -- a bout 120 calories -- that you can enjoy every single day. My faves are Starbucks' frozen Mocha or Java Fudge Frappuccino Blended Coffee Bars. Limit rich desserts (most have about 500 calories) to once a week, and you'll save about 380 calories a day for six days, or 2,280 calories a week.
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Replies
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thanks!!0
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This is Super Helpful ... I LOVE your suggestion on #2, you can bet that i will be trying this.
Keep on Truckin' girl!0
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