Tips: That worked for me

So far I have lost 41 lbs. I just wanted to share a few things that helped me and are still helping me.

1. Eat smaller meals as the day progresses trying to match your level of activity. When I wake in the morning and I am ready to start my day, my body needs FUEL! I feed it. Breakfast is the biggest meal of my day. I start off by getting my internal, metabolic furnace cooking! Lunch is modest in size. Here is the kicker IMO. Dinner. It seems that my whole life I have always looked forward to a nice big dinner after a long hard day at work. WRONG! That is the worst time to eat big. I usually sit in front of the TV at night and wind down my day. My body does not need tons of fuel for that. When I lose weight steadily, it is when I eat 300 calories or less at about 5-6pm. The rest of the night, my body burns that off and doesn't seem to store it. In the beginning, I found myself, "saving calories" for my supper. I would eat as little as I could without being hungry and then I would end up with 700-800 calories left for suppertime. I thought "Woohoo, I did it! Now I can have a nice dinner." Now, instead, I have been eating "Breakfast as a King, Lunch as a Prince and supper as a Pauper".

2. Break up the time between meals with a small protein bar (80 calories). I eat Breakfast at 6am, a small protein bar at 9am, lunch at 12noon, another snack at 3pm and supper at 6pm. I am eating every 3 hours most days. My metabolism is cooking all day and I am never starving. The key is not try to fill up on a snack bar. It's not a meal and you won't feel FULL from it. It's just some extra fuel for the day. It also helps by not feeling so very hungry when mealtime rolls around. When I am super hungry going into a meal, I tend to order more food or eat more portions to satisfy. Not good. Having the in between snacks allows a modest lunch and dinner to be quite satisfying.

3. Treat yourself once per week. Once a week, I will exercise a bit more, mow the yard or some activity during the day and burn a few extra calories. That night, I can have a beer or 3 and some of my favorite foods. Ribs, Chinese food, pizza etc. I still have to stay in control and be reasonable but just knowing that I can eat a plate of ribs that go beyond my daily limit of calories, is a relaxing feeling. So nice to not think too much about numbers for a night. Like I said, I am still reasonable about it but that treat makes the rest of the week easier. Actually, since having lost so much weight and since I have been eating better, I do not seem to want 4 slices of pizza or a full rack of ribs as much. I am more than fine with 2 slices or a 1/2 rack. I still feel that is a treat. I still seem to lose weight on some of those "treat days" as long as I have my treats before 5-6 pm and give my body a chance to do something with the extra calories other than store it.

I hope these tips help someone. It is working for me!