Strategy #9: Weigh yourself

Weigh yourself

     Weighing yourself can be nerve wrecking but it is a necessary component of a healthy lifestyle. I know there were times I intentionally avoided the scale because I did not want to see the number that would show up on it. I remember going to the doctor's office and getting shocked over my weight. I can remember my palms getting a little sweaty because I knew my doctor was going to discuss the issue. Low and behold, he always did! Anyway, one day I realized knowing how much I weigh now was the beginning of a journey of self love. I went and bought an analog bathroom scale for about $6, stepped on that baby and with a lot of love reassured myself that from here onward it was just going to get better! I must say, this will go down in my personal history book as one of my best "under $10" purchases.

           So if you do not have a bathroom scale go and buy one today.When you are trying to get and maintain a healthy weight you need to know where you stand now. Weigh yourself at least once a week so you can visualize your progress. Weigh yourself at about the same time every week and jot it down in your food diary or on a calendar. Don't panic over weight increases of less than 5 lb, seriously you cannot weigh the same exact weight everyday. There will be some fluctuations sometimes. However, if the increases are above 5 lb check what you have been eating. Most of the time that is where the issue is if you are an otherwise healthy individual. 

             When you decide to buy a bathroom scale you may become inundated by all the options there are out there. If you are on a shoe string budget stick to the small, analog kind. I have graduated from this kind to the digital one but I still didn't spend more than $20 on it (here is a similar one). It still does the basic job I bought it for. If you want one that has other bells and whistles, there is one out there for you. Basically, there is no excuse for not having one because there's a scale out there to suit every kind of budget.

 

Strategy #8: Shun Seconds

Shun Seconds

     When food is good you just want to have more but resist the urge because if it is really good, you may not stop at just the second round. You may serve up a third and fourth time! If the meal you just had was loaded with calories, going for seconds will just make it worse because you will double up on the calories.
     You may be thinking, okay I'll just eat from a big plate so that I don't have to go for seconds. Uhhh, not a good idea. I have seen some humongous dinner plates that may be mistaken for platters; you definitely want to stay away from serving yourself in these kind of plates. Grab a small plate and load up your food on it. Eat slowly so you can savor your food-mmmm yum! Pay attention to whether you feel full yet. Unfortunately the body's mechanism to tell you that you are full takes a while to get to the brain so it's important to just slow down. Your brain may start signaling that you are full before you even finish up the food on the small plate if you start eating slowly. Rushing through your meal may leave you with an upset stomach and by the time you finish you may think you are still hungry.
     If savoring your food is a foreign concept, try to incorporate it slowly. Try it with one meal first then spread it out to other meals. Chew your food slowly for about a minute, while you are chewing put your spoon/fork down. Give yourself about 25 minutes to enjoy your meal. It is hard to concentrate on just eating because there are so many distractions around. Sometimes you may even eat while you are chatting on the phone and after you get off the phone you start wondering where all that food went to! So savoring your food will also help prevent mindless eating, which in my opinion is responsible for a lot of excess weight.
   Make the most of that first and only serving-eat it slowly so you can enjoy every bit of it!!

Strategy #7: Avoid eating after 7PM

Strategy #7: Avoid eating after 7PM

      My thought process with this strategy is if you eat good all day you shouldn't have hunger pangs at 10pm and if you do, that is a signal that you are lowering your calories a little too much. I notice that when I get back late and eat around 9pm I tend to wake up not even craving breakfast. But when I eat my last meal before 7pm, when I wake up in the morning the first thing I want to do is fuel up!
    I know you could be thinking, avoid eating after 7pm? I don't even get back in the house til 10:30pm! That is true for me too so I make sure I carry my food with me. This involves a little effort in the morning but it is always worth it. Home cooked meals are always hearty and taste way better than fast food.
    In order to stay away from the kitchen after 7, I try to stick to an eating schedule. I love breakfast so I have that every morning. I have asked some people why they don't care for breakfast and most have told me that they are just not hungry in the morning. When I didn't have an eating schedule, anytime was eating time so sometimes I did wake up and didn't even feel like eating because I was just not hungry. The problem with this was instead of filling up early in the morning, I started later in the day and ended much later at night-most people are usually not active later in the day so the calories you eat at night may end up being stored (think extra weight).
   Sticking to a schedule will definitely help you to cut off by 7pm. I normally have 3 meals and 2 snacks. Breakfast by 9am, snack around 11am, lunch between 12-2pm, snack around 3-4pm then dinner between 5-7pm. Sometimes you will crave to chew on something after 7pm, but avoid having a real meal. If you ate well all day I guarantee it is not real hunger so just quench those tiny cravings with something that doesn't break the calorie bank like green tea or a cup of Greek yogurt.
   This is a pretty easy strategy to follow. Follow this and the other strategies and you will be feeling a little lighter by the end of the week!

Strategy #6: Sleep

Sleep

      One of my favorite things to do in this world is to sleep! And thank God, it helps with weight loss and weight maintenance. Who doesn't love getting some sleep in? People pay lots of money for sleep aids so yes, everyone gotta love it. Oh, that wonderful feeling of waking up well rested-I feel like jumping into bed right now.
      Getting enough sleep helps in achieving your weight loss goal because the more you sleep the less you eat. If you are up more hours of the day you are likely to eat more.
Sometimes getting enough sleep is hard, so it's important to protect your sleep time. Waking up well rested offers many benefits which I know you will love-glowing skin, increased focus, better memory, improved digestion, improved mood, less stress and it curbs irritability.
Here are a few suggestions on protecting your sleep time:
1. Have a curtain to block sunlight early in the morning especially if your room faces the east
2. Avoid caffeine at least 6 hours before your bedtime
3. Get into a regular sleep routine and avoid scheduling activities around the time you are supposed to be asleep ie late night or too early in the morning
4. During the weekends avoid sleeping in because this will affect your circadian cycle. On Monday  you will wake up groggy (this is probably why a lot of people resent Mondays).
5. Drink warm milk or chamomile tea  if you are having trouble going to bed
6. Avoid using the computer at least 30 minutes before bed because the light affects your falling asleep
7. Avoid loading up on liquids just before bed because this will have you waking up many times during the night
8. If you take diuretic pills make sure you follow the dosing strictly because taking them just before bed will mean you will be waking up during the night too
9. Turn the cellphone to silent mode
10. Move the TV out of the bedroom
11. Make sure the room is cool enough to sleep in
12. Take out strong smelling bedroom deodorizers

Protecting your sleep time will help you lose weight but the benefits will not stop there! So count sheep if you have to, gotta get those zzz's in. Sweet dreams....
     

Strategy #5: Eliminate the Sugar

Eliminate the Sugar

    You will be surprised how many foods in your fridge and pantry actually contain sugar-the main culprit here is high fructose corn syrup (HCFS). HFCS is a by-product of corn and is used to sweeten foods; basically the way I think of it is: It is used to make overprocessed food taste edible. Yikes! What's crazy is that HFCS has been showing up in food that isn't even supposed to have added sugar to it like canned fruit! Why would you add sugar to a fruit, it's inherently sweet ain't it? Once you start checking the ingredients you will be shocked to find HFCS in almost everything.
    When I decided to eliminate HFCS I got frustrated a bit because it seemed like everything I had been buying before had it and most of the choices available in the grocery store had it too. But I was determined to eliminate it so I always searched high and low. Like I said earlier, checking ingredients is only cumbersome the first few months. Once you figure out your go to products you will not have to read through the labels because you already know what is in them.
     The corn industry is aware that some people are boycotting products with HFCS; they even made a commercial about it to make people who don't understand all the HFCS facts look stupid. Don't buy into it. Foods with HFCS are not nutrient-dense, they are cheap and overprocessed-in my opinion it's not food. To top it all off food with HFCS does not even taste good. It will also spike your blood sugar and leave you craving for more food just a few hours later. It is better to spend an extra $0.50 for good food that will leave you feeling satisfied and not put you at risk of overeating.
    So right now the corn industry's argument is that table sugar is SIMILAR to HFCS. Is that supposed to convince me to buy foods with HFCS? Uhhh, not gonna work. Similar does not mean the same, in this case table sugar is metabolized differently from HFCS. There was a Princeton University study that I read about some time back that showed that rats fed a diet with HFCS gained more weight than those fed a diet with table sugar. This really convinced me to kick HFCS to the curb.
    I know sometimes we do all this great stuff to lose weight and sometimes we just can't figure out where we are missing it. Try eliminating HFCS and other added sugars which add unnecessary calories. Treat your calories like money-you wouldn't want to waste it on crap right?

Strategy #4: Become a Flexitarian

Become a Flexitarian

       At one point I thought about becoming a vegetarian because I had learned about all the benefits. However, I thought it was going to be hard and also I just didn't see myself following a diet of total exclusion of meat and animal products. Later I decided I could just have diet with plenty of veggies and a little bit of meat-what do you know they had a word for that: Flexitarian! A flexitarian diet is mostly plant-based but has the flexibility of adding in meat into it. I love it! You will be surprised how many new vegetables you will learn about just by following a mostly plant based diet. Meat tastes good but having a predominantly meat based diet has shown to increase the risk of heart disease, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cholesterol problems and some proteins found in animal products actually turn on cancer genes (we all have cancer genes). You may be feeling as fit as a fiddle today but the saturated fat from excess meat consumption is slowly building up in your arteries. I have met people who have had heart attacks before the age of 40 and all I can think about is the food they were eating before the attack. If only someone would have told them to cut down on the meat and eat more veggies right? It's really sad.
      There are many benefits to eating a plant-based diet:
1.Lower cholesterol (LDL)
2. Healthy weight
3. Fiber in plants aid in digestion
4. Antioxidants in plants lower risk of some cancers
5. Gorgeous skin
6. Plants are cheaper than meat
7. Lower risk of diabetes
8. Lower risk of heart disease
9. You will feel lighter and have more energy
10.Lower risk of developing high blood pressure
  It may be mind boggling  how you could honestly have a meal without meat but it is possible. When I started, I picked one day out of the week that would be a meat-free day. I did that for a while and I discovered it was not too bad so I extended that to most days of the week. Ease into it and I promise, you will surprise yourself.

Strategy #3: Keep a food diary

Keep a food diary

       When I started to pay more attention to my health some years ago, I decided to get the help of an expert. I signed up to work out with a personal trainer. I would work out with her three times a week then the rest of the week I would work out on my own. I would do everything I did when I was with her-the workouts were gruesome but I was hardly losing weight. I expressed my frustration to her and she told me to start writing down what I ate. I thought it was absurd and a total waste of my time. However, I respected her as the expert so I just went home and did the exercise for a week. After one week I showed her and we started going over my list, I'm sure she was disappointed by some of the food I had on there but she didn't show it. Instead she directed me on which foods to eat less of and which ones to eat more of. Oh, she also highlighted the fact that I was just eating a lot of food. Really? I thought. This girl has got to be kidding me! I don't even eat that much. So putting all my trust in her I asked her to give me a sample of meals for a day. She emailed a sample to me. I looked at the sample and I thought, dang this girl wants me to be starving. But anyway, I'm sure you already know now that I trusted her so I tried to follow her instructions. Finally, the weight started coming off. Eureka!! I wrote down everything I put into my mouth for the next six months. Nobody else knew because you know, people can be nosy. Why did I do it for half a year? Because the weight was coming off. I felt like I had finally discovered the missing piece of the weight loss puzzle.
     Keeping a food diary trained me to watch my calories and deterred me from nibbling between meals. Everything I put in my mouth had to be written down so if I didn't want it in my diary I stayed away from it. The food diary also made me realize that sometimes we eat mindlessly but still wonder why we are overweight. I love the food diary concept because it really tells you the truth about your eating habits.
     I'll be honest, I do not keep a food diary now because I kept one for a long time so now I can pretty much ballpark the calories in my food.
     Have you tried keeping a food diary?

Strategy #2: Follow the Sunday Program

The Sunday Program

    You can pick any day of the week that you are free or off work to do the "Sunday Program". What I call the Sunday program involves grocery shopping, cooking and getting organized for the rest of the week. Sometimes after grocery shopping I'm too tired to do anything else, I end up just eating a snack. But that is okay. Having the healthy food in your house is the main challenge. Once you have good food in your house, you are bound to just eat that.
    I'm sure you have already heard that when doing grocery shopping you want to stick to the perimeter of the store. The perimeter of a grocery store will have produce, milk/dairy products and the meat section. Of course you may pick a few things within the aisles but if you are spending most of your grocery shopping time in the perimeter of the store you are getting the most nutrient dense foods.
    It is also important to look at the ingredients of the food you are buying. When I first started doing this it would take me a while to do groceries but once I learned what to look for and established my go-to foods, it no longer takes me a long time to shop. After this "Lose Weight by Premeditation" series I will definitely talk about what to for when shopping.
    Before you go to the store, make a meal plan of what you will be eating all week then make a grocery list from your meal plan-stick to the list. Sticking to the list not only saves money but it saves calories that you didn't include in your meal planner.
   When you get back home, you can prep the vegetables and meat. Cook some of the meat and some of the vegetables. Freeze some of the cut meat. Refrigerate some of the cut vegetables. Knowing that the meat/vegetables are already cut or already cooked saves a lot of time and frustration. Starchy foods like rice, pasta, quinoa and beans can also be cooked and refrigerated in nice tupperware. So when you get back from work during the week, you may just spend twenty minutes in the kitchen whipping up some vegetables to add to your meal or just five minutes reheating your dinner.
   Below is a simple meal planner I use to plan my meals. Hope you can find it useful too!

Meal Planner

	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday