One of the keys to eating less is knowing what it feels like to be full and what it feels like to be hungry. We tend to eat at the same times every day, and eat the same amount of food. But we don’t consume calories the same every day. You may mow the lawn one Saturday, but the next it rains and you sit inside watching TV. If you eat the same amount on both of thoe days guess what happens. Oh, I forgot, it already has.
When you are really hungry your stomach will rumble, you’ll feel sluggish, you get irritable. But think before you eat. How long has it been since you last ate? How much did you eat? How much are you planning to eat? Then get a nice big drink of water. Thirst and hunger are very similar to our brains. It’s not that you are filling your belly with water, you may be giving your body what it wants. The calories would have been bad. You would still be craving, and you would be craving that drink that you should have had in the first place.
TODAY: HAVE AN 8 OUNCE GLASS OF WATER BEFORE YOU EAT.
Subway seems to have finally moved on from having Jerrod star in all their spots, but we all know the story. He was way overweight, ate Subway subs and lost weight. I’m not sure of his sanity though. I mean I like Subway, but I like variety better. But you can add a sub to your meal plan and really reduce your calories while enjoying a filling meal. Stay with mustard instead of oil or mayo and ask them to stuff it with the veggies. Get all of the veggies. With the six inch ham sandwich (on a whole wheat roll please) you can even add their oatmeal cookie for dessert and stay at 423 calories. Or have a whopping foot-long turkey for 666 calories and walk for 15 minutes to take it back down to about 500.
Are you seeing how this is working? Who knows, you may star in your own commercial someday.
TODAY: HAVE HALF A SUB INSTEAD OF YOUR USUAL FOOT LONG.
I love french fries. I really love GOOD french fries. The ones from fast food restaurants just don’t do it for me since they stopped frying them in lard. Hey, it’s the fat that makes a steak taste good too! So dropping fries from a fast food meal won’t really matter much. It does add up though. A small serving of fries has 210 calories. That’s about the same as a burger and you get hardly any nutritional value. If you supersize them it’s 610 calories!
So choose your fries wisely. If they’re real fries, cut from fresh potatoes and fried in peanut oil. (Like at 5 Guys) Go for a SMALL ORDER (Unless it’s at 5 Guys where you will SHARE a “small” order… and have the single patty burger!)
TODAY: RESOLVE TO EAT ONLY THE GOOD FRIES. DON’T WASTE CALORIES ON THE ORDINARY ONES.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that drinking just a pint of water increased the study participants’ metabolism for about a half hour. They actually burned an extra 25 calories. That means that by drinking your eight glasses (4 pints) you will burn 100 calories! Researchers think that most of the effect comes from warming the water in the stomach. In guys the calories came mostly from stored fat, in women it came from stored carbohydrates. So that’s just another reason to drink up.
TODAY: BURN 100 CALORIES JUST BY DRINKING YOUR WATER.
I told you about the pedometer exercise plan where you add steps to your daily routine, but you don’t need a pedometer. You can use your watch and still have your exercise add up..
If you’re finding it hard to get motivated or it seems like you’ll never get that 30 minutes of walking in each day, start with just 5. But do it 5 minutes out of your front door and then 5 minutes back. That’s easy isn’t it? It even sounds easier. Come on… you can walk for five minutes and turn around and come back. Do that three times a day and you’ve met your daily goal. Then when you’re ready add a couple of minutes. It will just get easier and easier. It’s simple math that even a diet dummy can figure out.
TODAY: PUT ON YOUR WATCH AND WALKING SHOES.
They have now found that the benefits of any aerobic exercise lasts for an amazing 72 hours! It turns out that studies show that it helps your glucose levels and gets your metabolism revved up for three full days. Don’t get it in your mind that you can just skip a couple of days. But it means that if your schedule only gives you three days a week to ride your bike, run, fast walk, do a stepper, etc. you will be in much better shape but if you do more than that you’ll see more results. It also explains why on your day off you still feel better and feel better about yourself.
TODAY: WORK UP A SWEAT.
Yesterday I told you to dig out that pedometer you have. I know one is around your house somewhere. McDonald’s even gave them away just a few months ago. The reason to use the pedometer is to find out how much you usually move around each day just doing what you normally do. They say that we take an average of 5,000 steps. I think that’s a bit low. Or maybe the average person is really sedentary. It may be revealing for you to find out this benchmark for exercise.
The next goal is to simply step it up. Add 1,000 steps to your total. Then the next day add some more. You get the idea. Think of the little device as giving your fitness a treat. Maybe you could call it a “peds dispenser”.
TODAY: TAKE MORE THAN YOUR AVERAGE NUMBER OF STEPS.
Daily Nag, Healthy Recipes, Tips & Tricks | Diet Nag | 
August 19, 2010 6:04 am | 
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