The pressure from society to look thin and healthy and to feel better pushes many Americans towards weight loss. It is not an easy transition, however, as it requires a change in eating habits, dieting and exercise. Nevertheless, with enough pressure and personal motivation, you can develop new routines and be on your way to losing weight.
Smaller Portions
One of the problems with eating is we tend to listen to our bellies instead of logic when it comes to serving sizes. As the Mayo Clinic puts it, our judgment about proper serving sizes is skewed by food packaging and American restaurants, which overdo the amount of calories per serving. To correct your plating decisions, keep in mind that a deck of cards represents about a serving size, or 3 oz., of meat; pasta should be served at about the size of a hockey puck, or ½ cup, and most meals are significantly smaller in serving size than we dish---check the nutrition panel for reference. Eating smaller portions of food more often in the day will help you cut back on overeating and prevent your metabolism from shutting down to conserve energy as when you are hungry.
Eat More Low-Density Energy Foods
The goal of losing weight is to intake fewer calories than you expend on exercise and metabolism. Eating meals that are greater in volume, or size, are more likely to fill you up, even if they contain fewer calories. For instance, a study in the "Journal of the American Dietetic Association" found that having a low-density-energy salad before meals could reduce total caloric consumption by 7 to 12 percent. In contrast, salads that are loaded in extra calories from dressing and toppings can increase total caloric intake by 8 to 17 percent. Using the same logic, if you substitute fruits as snacks, you can prevent yourself from over-snacking during the day, or while watching television, because the excess water volume in fruits will fill you up without overloading you with calories.
Eat Healthier
Learn to cut out foods high in saturated fats and empty calories. Ice cream, cookies, red meat, chips and other unhealthy items can skyrocket your calorie intake without providing much satiation. Discover healthier alternatives such as microwavable oatmeal with cut up fruit as dessert, tenderized, baked skinless chicken breast or grilled seasoned fish as a dinner, or whatever else you can find that provides you fullness without the extra calories.
Exercise
Exercise expends the excess energy from high-calorie meals. According to the Mayo Clinic, even walking briskly for 30 minutes can burn more than 150 calories; it depends on how fast you go, if there are any inclines and what your current body weight is. Also, the Mayo Clinic says that for most normal, overweight adults, cutting calories will benefit you more than exercise. If anything, walk harder, faster and further whenever you slip up with your diet and worry about intense cardio and strength training if you want to lose the weight faster.
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