This is not a post about the temptations of Halloween candy, or how I’ve overcome my Reese’s addiction.
Now that I’m hooked on high-quality dark chocolate, this is just not that appealing.
Instead, I thought I’d share my thoughts about common diet tips, and whether after 10+ years of maintaining a 40+ pound weight loss, I think that they are “tricks” or “treats.”
Order salad dressings and sauces on the side.
This habit has become engrained, and I don’t even think twice before customizing my restaurant orders. I don’t enjoy salads that are drowned in dressing and a little sauce can go a long way. I have become a pro at dipping my fork into the sauce to get just the right amount of flavor on my food.
When you eat out, take 1/2 of your meal home in a doggie bag.
I used to follow this advice, and it makes sense to some extent. Restaurant portions are huge, and most restaurant meals have 2-5 times the calories I usually budget for a meal. But lately I’ve realized that bringing a portion home to enjoy another day turns one indulgent meal into two or three. Those leftovers are still going to have more calories, fat, and sodium than I usually would have in a home-cooked meal. Better to leave the leftovers behind.
Don’t drink your calories.
I used to be a Coke addict, and had a six-pack-a-day habit in college. Even after I switched to Diet Coke, I still drank a lot of calories without thinking about them, mostly bottled juices or flavored “teas.” Since I learned that our bodies don’t “register” liquid calories very well (the calories we drink don’t stave off hunger as well as calories in solid food), I think twice before drinking anything but water.
Eliminate carbs from your diet.
I started my weight loss journey on The Atkins Diet. The quick results were enticing–cutting out carbs meant that I was no longer snacking on cereal, chips or cookies, so I did lose weight–but the deprivation was not sustainable. I had no energy, often felt light-headed, and lost muscle tone. Since then, I’ve learned that being choosy about my carbs (focusing on whole grains, cutting back on processed snacks) is a healthier and more nutritious approach.
Try new healthy foods.
So many diet books emphasize what you “can’t” eat while following their meal plans. When I starting focusing on what I could eat, and tried new foods, it became a much more enjoyable process. I now enjoy vegetables like jimica, brussels sprouts, and beets, have made greek yogurt a staple food in my diet, and could never go back to mushy white bread since I’ve gotten used to the texture and flavor of whole grain breads.
What diet tips have worked for you?
What proved to be bad tricks?
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bad tips? For ME it was following a plan or mapped out "program"
I rebel.
Im a misfit.
Intuitive or mindful eating is the only thing which works for me.
I was just having similar thoughts about the candy the other day. The typical Halloween stuff just doesn't cut it. Bad advice: low fat, low carbs. I like the try new foods approach. There are so many things out there, taste is a learned process.
Happy Halloween!
Having maintained most of my weight loss, I think I've done most everything here. I still usually eat what I want, just less of it. When I first lost weight, I usually ordered veggies instead of fries on the rare occasion I ate out, a habit that I need to get back into.
I'm with you on 1) the salad dressing/sauces (most of the time, anyway), 2) drinking only water (I feel like you, why bother drinking something else? Though I do drink masala chai -with agave nectar- often! But that's on top of my usual 2+ L of water), 3) Trying healthy foods (love quinoa, so easy to cook too! I think my share of the student farm is helping learn how to cook with more vegetables, which is fun!), and 4) being choosy about carbs (I'm still learning about this though, I do feel like you about Atkins, a bit too extreme for me!)…
However, because of my background, I cannot bring myself to leave food behind to be thrown away. I just can't do it… so I usually do take the leftovers home and either eat them, give them to my husband to eat, or have several meals out of it for my son (it does help that I try to get mostly the healthy options at restaurants, nothing too indulgent!)… Sigh.
What worked for me (and I'm trying to avoid right now because it was too much work and I already keep track of a million things) was counting calories and measuring things as I cooked. That and training for a marathon did wonders, ha! Being that I don't train for marathons these days, keeping an eye on the food is key… and hard!
I can't remember the last time I had the dressing on my salad! Years ago it used to embarrass my husband but I think he's finally used to it:)
Excuse me, but this post is giving me ADD, because I can't keep my eyeballs off the pumpkin faces. teehee
I hope you appreciate what a pain in the a$$ those were to get right! 😛
Oh I'm so bad at drinking my calories in my fruity rum drinks. What I do when I order at a restaurant is order an appetizer for the smaller portion, or split a meal with the husband.
I never order a salad because I think it's a rip off that they charge like $9 for LETTUCE. I can do that at home.