Eating Healthy To Help You Lose Weight

     Fad diets can help you lose weight quickly, but won't help you keep it off because often you'll fall back into your same unhealthy eating habits. One of the best ways to lose weight and keep the weight off is to change your eating habits to healthier habits.

Evaluate your diet before making any changes to it. For three of four days, keep a food journal and write down everything that you eat during the day and when during the day you ate. It may also be a good idea to keep try of why you were eating. Finding out exactly what you eat, when you eat and why you eat will help you make healthier changes to your eating habits.

After realizing what you eat decide what you need to change. Do you eat a lot of food containing high amounts of fat or calories? Consider cutting down on refined carbohydrates like cakes, cookies, biscuits, sweets and candy. This can be especially helpful if you are trying to lose belly fat. Replace this type of food with whole grains, fruits and vegetables. If you are eating these kinds of foods as snacks try replacing them with fruits or vegetables. Fresh or dried fruit has natural sugars that will help your sugar craving, but are a healthier alternative to candy.

Next evaluate when you are eating. Do you snack constantly during the day or do you eat three specific meals? Are you eating breakfast and are you eating late at night. If you are snacking on candy or some other sweet treat all day, consider changing your habits to have just three specific meals and don't eat any time besides those three meals. If you need to eat more often than that, consider having more meals through the day, but smaller meals. The time of day that you eat is important to consider as well. Eating meals late at night or right before you go to bed doesn't allow your body time to use the energy from those meals and will store the energy as fat.

Last, consider why you eat. Do you eat a lot of comfort foods to help make you feel better after a stressful day? Do you eat out a lot with your friends and your family socially? If you are eating a lot of fatty foods to help relieve stress, consider finding different ways to relieve stress. Meditate or do deep breathing exercises. Find ways to unwind after a stressful day through different hobbies and try to cut stress eating out of your diet entirely. Also, if you are eating out a lot with friends and family, find healthy options on menus. Before going to a restaurant look online and find information about how many calories the dishes contain and choose healthier food. Also, consider sharing your meal with a friend or family member to cut down on the amount of food you are eating. Restaurant portion sizes are often much larger than necessary. You can also eat all of the salad before the meal to take the edge off your appetite and help you to eat less of the main course.

While changing your eating habits to create a healthier diet remember that your body needs energy from food to accomplish your daily activities. Starving yourself is not a healthy way to lose weight. Instead change your eating habits to help you accomplish your weight loss goals.

1. Prev:6 Tips For Rapid Fat Loss
2. Next:Best Way to Lose Weight - Which of these 7 Ways to Lose Weight Works Best for You