Why are these ideas not terrible?
Because they don’t involve you completely changing your diet or completely removing every food you love from your life. It’s all about finding moderation and creating awareness of what you put in your body.
The fancy stuff that most people focus on only matters once you master the basics 🙂
No more chitchat – on to the list:
- Drink (none) as little of your calories as possible – limit soda, juice, booze, creamers, etc.
- Leave one or a few bites of food on your plate at the end of every meal.
- Always have a vegetable at a meal.
- Load your plate once per meal – no going back for seconds
- Choose mini servings of desserts at restaurants (or only order one and split it!)
- Don’t eat anything that is free at restaurants (bread, chips, etc…) <— TOUGH!
- Always get the steamed veggies as a side dish at the restaurant – and still get whatever you want for the main dish.
- Try to avoid cream sauces, stick to lighter red sauces on pasta.
- Never eat anything directly out of a bag or container – make yourself put it out on a plate first.
- Have a big glass of water before you eat.
- Eat your salad or vegetables before your main course.
- Sub a 30-50 gram protein shake for one of your snacks or meals
- Buy the low-calorie version of the foods you eat (check the labels, it’s not always the low-fat version!)
- Choose grilled/baked versions over fried or breaded versions of chicken/fish.
- Mustard over mayo on sandwiches
- Plan your meal before you eat it – log it or write it down prior to actually eating
- Eat fruit for your main carb at breakfast – Oranges over orange juice too!
- Order salad dressings on the side, and only add what you need to the salad
- No calories in the coffee – either drink it black or use a zero cal option
- Do you eat appetizers at home? Then stop eating them at restaurants
- Stop eating when you are satisfied
- Don’t order anything with the word “double” or “triple” in it
- Always choose thin-crust
- Eat with your non-dominant hand
- Learn how to cook
- Learn about calories, and what foods are sneakily high in them
- Eat protein at every meal
- Use diet mixers/sparkling waters with your booze
- Always get water or diet soda at restaurants
- Just say no to supersizing or jumbo options
- Try not getting cheese on sandwiches (do you REALLY taste it?)
- Eat fresh fruit instead of dried fruit
- Choose leaner cuts of meat
- Pick one part of your meal and eat half of what you usually would
- Start tracking your food
- Write out a list of trigger foods that you can’t seem to control yourself around (yes, just becoming aware of it will help in the long haul)
- Place high-calorie foods higher up in your fridge, and closer to the floor in the pantry
- Stop giving food morals – it’s just food
- Eat 20-30 grams of fiber per day
- Use a teaspoon of oil/fat instead of a tablespoon
- Do you put butter and jelly on your toast? Skip the butter
- Make your own salad dressing or use zero calorie brands (Walden Farms)
- Don’t get the combo meal – just get the sandwich and water
- Get a fruit side at fast-food restaurants – most have them
- Swap plain Greek yogurt for sour cream
- Use a food scale
- Use a smaller plate than normal
- Ask for a take-home container with your meal – and bag up anything more than your normal portions.
- Don’t eat snacks at movies.
- Cut yourself some slack. Maybe you don’t need to cut more calories…maybe you need to be more patient. Maybe you are going through a stressful time and holding onto water weight – and in that case, cutting calories will only hurt you by adding MORE stress. Are you confused yet?
Here is the deal: lists like this pop up everywhere, and they can be helpful, but many people will just blindly follow them or pick a random a few things to try. Instead, be aware of your body.
WHY are you where you are right now? What do you really need to focus on? Maybe one of these tips will make the biggest impact on you, so focus on that and ignore the other 49.
You might get stuck. You might take a few steps backward. And that’s OKAY!
Consistency > Perfection – and enjoying the process is what it all is about.
If you need help getting started, building these habits, or having someone to be accountable to… look no further than online coaching. Training and nutrition! Let me help you find the best plan for you – from anywhere in the world.
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