Weight Loss Strategies
Maybe you feel you are in the position of knowing what would help you to lose weight - whether that is simply eating less, or eating fewer fatty and sugary foods - but you are finding it difficult to implement these sensible healthy eating choices. Here are some ideas and points to bear in mind:
Strategies for Reducing the Amount You Eat
You should only reduce the amount you eat if you are eating more food than your body actually requires to meet its needs. Crash dieting is not usually sensible because your body may respond to a shortage of essential calories by conserving body fat. However if you are overweight and are aware that you are eating too much - for example, because you eat when you are not genuinely hungry or you eat too quickly - then the following are some strategies you might try in order to reduce the amount you eat:
- Reduce the size or number of portions you give yourself
- Use a smaller plate to eat from so that it doesn't have so much on it
- Cook slightly smaller amounts in the first place
- Split a large meal with someone else instead of eating it all yourself
- Remember it's OK to leave some food at the end of a meal if you are full
- If you have left some food on your plate because you are full, then clear it away as soon as possible, to avoid being tempted later to start eating again when you don't really need to!
- Put your eating implements down between each mouthful to slow down the speed at which you eat
- Take a sip of water between mouthfuls of food to slow down the speed at which you eat (NB Make sure this is water not a fizzy drink or orange juice or another drink which could add calories to your intake)
- Have a break of 5-10 minutes between courses to allow your food to digest
- Cut down the number of times you have dessert in a week
- Focus on what you are eating and savour it - make a conscious effort to concentrate on the taste, smell and texture of what you are eating, rather than stuffing it down your face unconsciously!
- Remind yourself that a small reduction in what you eat may make a significant difference - for the average adult, if you eat 500-1000 calories per day less than your body needs to stay the same weight this should result in a loss of about
1-2lbs per week which for most overweight people is a reasonable level of weight loss to aim for.
Strategies for Avoiding Temptation to Eat
At the risk of stating the obvious, if you are surrounded by tempting food it's likely to be hard to avoid snacking unhealthily, so make a conscious decision to limit the availability of fattening food in your environment in order to remove temptation:
- Keep fattening foods out of sight - if you must have them in the household, then maybe let someone else (e.g. your partner) have sole knowledge of where they are - If you think you have sufficient self control then allow yourself a treat once in a while but plan this rather than having sweets or cakes or chocolates around all the time
- Try to have healthy snacks such as fruit rather than biscuits or other sugary foods or crisps (see Cutting Down on Fatty and Sugary Foods for related suggestions)
- If possible, go shopping when you are not hungry and when you are in a positive frame of mind - not when you are stressed - and follow a written list of items to help avoid browsing down aisles of alluring but fattening foods.
- Alternatively, let someone else in the household do the food shopping - maybe you can do something else in return.
- If there are people who - for whatever well-intentioned reasons - offer you food to eat when you don't really need it, ask them not to!
- Decide in advance what you are going to do if you are offered gifts of food such as chocolates or sweets - are you going to refuse to have them altogether or give them away, or are you going to limit yourself to a certain reduced level, perhaps allowing yourself the luxury of one chocolate and then being firm and giving the rest away? You may well be the best judge of whether it is easier for you to abstain completely or to allow yourself some treats but on a strictly limited basis!
- Eat 3 regular meals a day - You need to follow a balanced nutritious diet. If you don't, then the temptation to snack on unhealthy luxuries may be even greater.
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