The holidays are winding down. The resolutions have been made. But this is NOT the day to go on a hard core diet. You’ll fail and give up entirely by mid week. Sure you rip of the Band Aid and dive into the cold pool, but you need to make a lifestyle change or one year from today you’ll be reading this and starting over again. (Like you have before.) I’m not giving you justification to eat as much of whatever you want. Today you start reducing your food intake and purging your house of bad stuff.
Here’s today’s plan: Use up the snacks, cookies, candy and high calorie foods. If you have guests around, send them home with a goodie bag. If you have unopened snack foods, return them to the store. (Yes they take returns too.) Don’t binge on the stuff! Just don’t replenish the pantry.
Oh… GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND TAKE A WALK!
TODAY: WEIGH YOURSELF AND MEASURE YOUR WAIST. IT WILL GIVE YOU A BENCHMARK STARTING POINT FOR THE YEAR TO COME.
This wraps up Half Week. I hope you have seen a difference from cutting down on portions. If nothing else you may no understand that you can be “full” when you eat less. That’s half of our goal! To lose weight you need only to eat less and exercise more. Just because our dedicated Half Week has ended doesn’t mean you stop. Keep eating half portions. That may take some help. Because people around you can unknowingly undermine your efforts by enticing you to eat more, or have a tasty snack. “You’ve been so good, it won’t hurt.” Yes it will. That’s a step backward.
Let those around you know that you are dieting. Have them understand that they can help you with encouragement and by not leading you into temptation. (Sounds familiar.) Without them on your side as well, you don’t have a prayer.
TODAY: ASK THOSE CLOSE TO YOU TO HELP KEEP YOU ON A DIET AND EXERCISE PLAN. YOU CAN EVEN INVITE THEM TO PARTICIPATE AS WELL. TO START, ENCOURAGE THEM TO SIGN UP FOR THE DIET NAG or
TOO.
We’re half way through the first month of the year. So this week we’re going to revisit the “Half Week” diet and go “halfsies”. Eat half as much at half of your meals. Don’t make up the difference at those FULL meals though! If you can reduce portions at those meals as well, you’ll be that far ahead. It should be a lot easier than denying yourself anything. Remember that you should eat several small meals a day. Not full size, high calorie, large order of fries meals. These should have protein and veggies. You can have the carbs you crave if you have a small amount. Just cut back on your portions, drink plenty of water and eat slower. By the end of the week, those smaller portions will start to look normal. Keep it up and your waistline will too.
TODAY: EAT HALF, EXERCISE THE FULL AMOUNT.
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!
I’ll start the week with a short bit of advice. If you watch what you eat 80% of the time the other 20% is not problem.
TODAY: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU EAT!
A calorie reduction diet doesn’t involve buying anything special. Replace those bags of snacks with more fruits and vegetables and you have spent the same amount for better nutrition.
Then invest. Invest time for your walking exercise. Just a half hour a day is all it takes.
The big return will be a smaller you and significant savings in medical bills.
Can you afford to diet? Can you afford not to?
TODAY: BANK ON BETTER HEALTH.
The holidays are winding down. The resolutions have been made. But this is NOT the day to go on a hard core diet. You’ll fail and give up entirely by mid week. Sure you rip of the Band Aid and dive into the cold pool, but you need to make a lifestyle change or one year from today you’ll be reading this and starting over again. (Like you have before.) I’m not giving you justification to eat as much of whatever you want. Today you start reducing your food intake and purging your house of bad stuff.
Daily Nag | Diet Nag | 
January 2, 2019 6:08 am | 
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