Simple Weight Loss Tips

As women, as we get older, our bodies change yet again on us. As they change, our bodies do not want or need as many calories as when we were teenagers. Yet we still love cheesecake, cheeseburgers, and milkshakes. So how can we have these foods while still keeping those extra pounds off?

I’ll share some of my own personal tips and secrets.

Living each day for just that day is really important. If yesterday, you overate, you can not undo that. No matter how upset you get, how much you want to change what happened yesterday, we can’t. So, forget about yesterday and think about just today.

I try to be very aware of what I’m eating. It’s so easy to eat food mindlessly, either while watching T.V., or while talking on the phone, or even while reading. When we eat mindlessly, it means that we really are not tasting or enjoying the food. Instead, take a short break and enjoy the food and become conscious of what you are eating.

Cut white breads out of your diet. When I eat bread, I eat either grain or whole wheat bread. I am a white bread lover, so it did take some getting used to, but I actually much prefer 12 grain bread over white bread now.

I am very careful how many “low fat” items I buy. Low fat products almost always have higher sugar content. When you put more sugar into your body, your body naturally craves sugar. The more you reduce the sugar going into your body, the less your body will crave it. Because of my love for chocolate, I could never be sugar free, but again I make very conscious choices. If I have a slice of chocolate cake, I try to stay away from other sugars that day.

Don’t deprive yourself. When we know we “can’t” have something, or know we “shouldn’t” have something, we want it. We think about it. We crave it. Instead of deprivation, instead think of moderation. I love Snickers bars. A trick I learned was to cut one bar into 4 pieces and then freeze it. When I want a Snickers bar, I take one piece out of the freezer and see if that satisfies my craving. Very often it does. When I want ice cream, I never put it in a bowl. Instead I take one of two spoonfuls from the container. Again, almost always I feel satisfied. I also love Starbucks. I go there twice a week. I feel very satisfied and there are some weeks I only go once a week. Again, moderation, not deprivation.

Eat more fruits and vegetables.. I have tons and tons of different salad dressings. This is one area where I do buy both fat free and low fat. I also buy tons of ingredients for the salad, lettuce, tomato, zucchini, cucumber, bell peppers, raisins, olives, broccoli, carrots and more. Oh my gosh, if it’s in the vegetable section, I buy it for salads. I do not eat salad every day, but I do enjoy salad several times a week. We do buy a lot of fruit. I love melons, peaches, grapes and cherries.

Rotate what you eat. Variety is important is not feeling deprived. Plan menus a week in advance. Most weeks, I never have the same thing twice for dinner. When you cook nice meals, you often have leftovers for lunch the next day. This premade lunch is yet another way to lower your calorie intake. A piece of chicken with vegetables is much lower in calories than the lunchmeat sandwich.

My last suggestion is about exercise. I think I’ve only met a handful of people in my entire life that say “I love to exercise”. Most of us would rather do anything other than exercise. So, turn exercise into something fun. Dancing is exercise. Bicycle riding is exercise. Swimming is exercising. Golfing is exercise. Yoga is exercising. Do you have dogs? Walk them, but go a bit longer. Walk with them for 30 minutes. There are just so many ways to turn exercise into something fun. If working out at a gym is not your thing, save your money and try swimming or biking instead. Instead of meeting a friend for lunch, meet for a walk.

Combining all of the above tips helps me be very conscious of what I’m eating and how much exercise I am getting.

Audrey Okaneko can be reached at [email protected] or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com

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