We all know the simple equation that burning more calories than we take in will make us lose weight. Sounds super easy on paper but why do we struggle sooo much when trying to drop the first or last ten, twenty, or thirty pounds?
Losing weight and keeping it off is about a lifestyle change. Crash diets are great… when you need to lose twenty pounds by your wedding or your Mexico trip. But let’s be honest, that weight is going to make its way back onto your body if you revert back to your old ways.
I’ve worked with countless clients over the years who have lost hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds. Here are three very simple weight loss tips that can truly change your life.
1.Track your food/food journal
I am a huge, HUGE fan of keeping a food journal. It’s something I recommend to every one of my clients. Why? There are two huge reasons why the food diary is the bomb-diggity and I’ll break ‘em down for you here:
- accountability: when we record every meal and snack, we have unmistakable proof about our bad habits right in front of us. Many of my clients come to me and THINK they eat “pretty good”, when in reality their diets are reasonably terrible. Seeing the proof of your eating habits (cereal twice a day, three or four cookies six days in a row, or eating out multiple times a week, etc, etc) really hammers home our problem areas.
- learn what’s in our food: we might think we know how many calories and fat and sugar is in the food we eat, but for the most part I’ve found people really have no clue how many calories are in their food. Foods that can add up in big ways around the waistline, like soda for example, really show up like a red flashing light when you see you are drinking over 300 calories a day of sugar water.
Keeping a food diary is easier than ever these days, with apps that we can use on our smart phones (myfitnesspal is a current favorite). These apps allow you to take pictures of barcodes to enter in your food automatically. NICE!
2.Portion control – learn it!
So in the past I’ve had people that I have worked with show me amazing food journals. Week in and week out they are eating so clean and healthy I just can’t figure out why they aren’t dropping any weight.
What was the problem? Portion size!
Many food portions are measured by the cup. A good idea, at least until you are comfortable with what a cup looks like, is to keep a 1 cup measuring cup near your food staging area (or kitchen heh) at all times. When you are plating up your food glance over at your measuring cup and make sure you are using the correct portion.
Having double the amount of healthy cereal for example can really add up when you are doing it day in and day out.
veggie baby tee-hee!
3.Vegetables – every meal every day!
This one I can’t overstate the importance of. There are so many great reasons to eat veggies. You wanna lose weight? You can bet I’m going to be crooning on and on about eating more vegetables!
Veggies are going to help fill you up. Veggies are great for you. Veggies help you poop. If you eat more veggies you are going to feel fuller, longer, thus making you want to eat less of the bad stuff.
A Tupperware container of veggies and humus is the ultimate crunchy go to snack.
If we could elect a bucket of vegetables into public office our country would enter an age of unparralled prosperity!
Snack? Add veggies.
Meal? Add veggies.
Going dancing? Take veggies.
Street fight? Veggies!
Having veggies for a snack? Eat more veggies.
See how easy it is? Seriously, add veggies, I can’t say it enough!
Remember the changes you make in your life need to be sustainable and easily worked into your daily life. We are lazy. We want to take the shortest path with the least resistance to meet our goals. Making small, easy changes in our behavior is the best way to help build success! Try adding in some of these changes to your normal routine and let me know how it goes.