Salads can hide calories with the mask of eating healthy. All that green crunch has to be good for you right? Well, just 2-tablespoons of the salad dressing you drizzle on top can contain up to 140 calories if it’s creamy. A lot of times you don’t even realize how much you put on, especially when it’s at a salad bar. You really don’t need to drench every bit of salad with goo. Vegetables really do have flavor. The dressing is supposed to just add to the flavors, not mask them.
Here’s a tip to help you use a LOT less dressing, yet still enjoy the flavors you savor. Put a small amount of dressing in a cup on the side. Then dip the tip of the tines of your fork into the dressing before gathering a portion of the lettuce and veggies. The flavorful dressing will dance on your tongue before mingling with the cool stuff. It’s that easy. Use less dressing and cut calories with your fork.
TODAY: REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF DRESSING YOU USE ON SALADS.
Dear Diary,
Today I ate…
That might be how you start keeping a food diary. It’s the first step in figuring out the rest of your diet. It’s also key to long-term weight management. Don’t lie though. A study showed that women can tend to have some “inaccuracies” when keeping a food record being short by about 1,000 calories. But why go to the trouble of keeping a diary if you aren’t going to be honest? Nobody is going to see it but you.
Include:
- What you ate
- How much you ate
- When you ate it
- Your cravings
- How much water you drink
If you don’t want to track fat and calories that’s fine. Just writing down how much you eat over the course of the day. You may find that you’re overeating and don’t know it. After a few days, go back and read your diary to see where you might want to change your habits or reduce calories. Remember you should also make sure you’re eating something every four hours. It keeps your body from slowing your metabolism.
TODAY: WALK, WALK, WALK!
You may be tempted to step on a scale a lot. You’re anxious to see how well you’re doing. But checking your weight every day can actually make it harder to stay on your diet. Once a week is sufficient for you to track your progress, because there should be real progress to see. On a day to day check you might see fluctuations that can be up as well as down. That leads to frustration and failure.
They say to weigh yourself at the same time of day but the day you select can be important too. I’ve found that Monday is the most representative and provides the most satisfaction and motivation. Monday means you are through the temptations of the weekend. Monday sets the direction for the week. Monday is after the weekend, which may have motivated you to stay good during your free time. If you do it any other day you run the risk of deciding that you need to “reward” yourself and indulge a little. That’s especially true of a Friday weigh in. If you’ve been good, the return to routine on Monday will keep you going. If you succumbed to temptation over the weekend the Monday weigh-in might make you feel guilty and give you motivation for a fresh start.
So make Monday the first day of the rest of your diet.
TODAY: START A CHART TO TRACK YOUR WEIGHT. MEASURE YOUR WAIST TOO.
It’s the weekend and you’re in a different routine. I know we just started the year and a fresh look at our eating habits but don’t deny yourself a little snack from time to time. It may not only keep your hunger in-check between meals, but can reduce your desire to overeat at mealtime. Some research shows that snacking instead of just regular meals may lead to greater weight loss and keeps your metabolism from going into a survival mode that stores food (fat) the next time you eat. Of course don’t use that to justify chips, cookies and other low value foods. Try cheese, nuts or hard boiled eggs which are high in protein or raw veggies. Both will make you feel fuller than snacking on foods that are high in carbs and sugar calories.
TODAY: MAKE AN EXERCISE PLAN FOR THE COMING WEEK.
A little parody of the old Ernie Ford song “16 Tons” works well to remind you to drink eight glasses of water a day. Don’t feel intimidated by how much “8 glasses of water” is. Those are 8 ounce glasses, a cup. A 16 ounce glass is two cups. (Gee, now I’m a math wizzard.) Get a pint glass, it holds sixteen ounces (that’s a pint). Just drink two of those glasses of water in the morning and two in the afternoon. But don’t ignore this! You DEFINITELY need this water to help curb your appetite and flush the proteins out of your system to keep your kidneys healthy.
Sure Ernie Ford was known as the “Ole’ Pea Picker”. Until your body adjusts to it you may be just an “Ole’ Pee er”.
TODAY: FIND A 16 OUNCE GLASS TO USE WHEN DRINKING YOUR NO CALORIE WATER.
British scientists have found that women who skipped breakfast ate more calories during the rest of the day and also had higher fasting levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol compared with the women in the breakfast-eating group. The researchers found that skipping breakfast could lead to weight gain. So get your metabolism revved up and quell those hunger pangs early. Just make sure breakfast isn’t the famous British “bangers and mash”.
TODAY: EAT A SMALL PROTEIN FILLED BREAKFAST AND TAKE A WALK.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently talked about a team of nutrition researchers that concluded that whether you are eating the “three” or “six” meals daily, weight loss ultimately comes down to “how much energy (or calories) is consumed as opposed to how often or how regularly one eats.”
Okay I’ve talked about this before, It’s the same equation for weight loss and maintenance: Calories “in” = Calories “out”. So this means that eating five or six small meals a day helps us to:
- Burn more total calories by the end of the day
- Eat fewer total calories at the end of the day
So keep the “meals” small and frequent.
TODAY: CONTINUE GRAZING THROUGH YOUR DAY.
Daily Nag, Tips & Tricks | Diet Nag | 
January 12, 2016 6:19 am | 
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