wanting to lose weight

Question
hello laurie, im in a dilemma right now. i have a bloated abdomen that doesn't seem to go away. now i know my diet is bad. my typical day would be bacon eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast, banana for a morning snack, chicken and potatoes for lunch, popcorn for an afternoon snack, and fish and rice for dinner. i have carb cravings and a big appetite as well. i also have prediabetes probably from eating too many carbs. i exercise a little and i drink lots of water. what can i do to fix this problem.

height 6'
weight 326 pounds
age 41

Answer
Hi Christopher,

It sounds like you have all the answers you need: you tell me so in your question...
Your diet is bad, you have a big appetite, you eat too many carbs, and you exercise little.

My advice is to tackle one problem at a time. What could you change this week that would be easiest? Could you change your breakfast? reduce your portions? stop eating at a certain time in the evening? Become active for another 15 minutes a day?

When people try to change everything at once it becomes so difficult to overcome all the resistance that these diets often fail ("Grapefruit and oatmeal for breakfast, cottage cheese and fruit for lunch, salad for dinner"--come on, how long can you keep that up?!)

Every change in 100 calories you can make each day will bring you 1 pound per month weight loss.
If you ate 2 fewer strips of bacon/1 fewer egg/no hashbrowns at breakfast--not all 3, just pick one--there's one pound (if you can do 2 of these things, it's 2 pounds); 100-calorie popcorn bag instead of 300-calories for a regular bag... another 2 pounds; a 15 minute walk each evening and you have another pound burned that month. You get the idea, and by the time you tweak your diet just a little here and there, you can find yourself losing 6 pounds a month (keep in mind, that's 35+ pounds in 6 months!) or more without making major changes and being starving.

The BEST diet tip is to keep a food diary. It make you constantly aware of what you're eating. It's free, simple, and takes just 3 minutes with each meal or snack. Sometimes it takes 0 minutes because you decide that 300-calorie vending-machine cookie isn't a good idea.... the writing of your intake keeps you aware, and that can lead to changes.

Get a goal for the week, get started, and let me know how you're doing :)
I'll bet that bloated feeling will leave you as soon as you eat a little bit less, and you'll feel so good you won't want to go back to that old "bad" diet!!

Good luck!
Laurie

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