Just found this on my Yahoo! home page. And since I'm on my eight week challenge....I thought this might be handy. I'm adding in my thoughts on some of these too....
Here are five simple food swaps that can help you lose more than 10 pounds in the next six weeks.
1. Stick to one serving of cereal. For most people, a typical pour of breakfast cereal is equal to two servings. If you're trying to lose weight, trim calories by accurately measuring one serving into your bowl (usually that means ¾ - 1 cup, however, cereal serving sizes vary so you must regularly check the package labeling on your favorite brands and varieties).
For those who eat a daily bowl of breakfast cereal, follow my lead, and you'll save about 150 calories by cutting back on cereal and at least 50 calories in extra milk every morning. That's 8,400 calories saved and 2.5 pounds lost at the end of six weeks!
1. Stick to one serving of cereal. For most people, a typical pour of breakfast cereal is equal to two servings. If you're trying to lose weight, trim calories by accurately measuring one serving into your bowl (usually that means ¾ - 1 cup, however, cereal serving sizes vary so you must regularly check the package labeling on your favorite brands and varieties).
For those who eat a daily bowl of breakfast cereal, follow my lead, and you'll save about 150 calories by cutting back on cereal and at least 50 calories in extra milk every morning. That's 8,400 calories saved and 2.5 pounds lost at the end of six weeks! Watch your cereals too. Those that appear to be super healthy are heavy on the fat grams per serving. Regular granola has about 8 grams of fat per 1/2 cup serving! When you're only allowed 50-60 grams of fat per day, that can add up. Low fat granola only has 3 grams of fat per serving and still tastes super yummy! The Blueberry Kashi cereal is a really good one too. Give those a try.
2. Skip your late night snack. We all feel the need to munch in the evening, and although a p.m. snack can be perfectly appropriate (diet-friendly p.m. snacks should not exceed 150 calories), for many people, the evening tends to be the time of day we blow it on calorie overload - comfort food central; ice cream, cookies, potato chips, popcorn and more!
On average, people gobble down way more than 250 calories after 8 p.m. Exercise some willpower and skip your nighttime snack altogether. Sip an herbal tea, floss/brush your teeth and
close down the kitchen for the evening. You'll save at least 250 calories each day and after six weeks, you'll have cut 10,500 calories and dropped three whole pounds!
Evenings are the worst for me. I just want to munch on stuff. it's easy to just say to grab a sack of baby carrots, but that doesn't take care of my cravings AT ALL. And, as we have all learned about me, I have absolutely no will power. Try sucking on a lifesaver or jolly rancher. Yes, it's sugar, but not nearly as bad for you as the EXTRA BUTTER popcorn, or hot fudge sundae treats. If you need a chocolate fix, try a handful of tootise rolls.
2. Skip your late night snack. We all feel the need to munch in the evening, and although a p.m. snack can be perfectly appropriate (diet-friendly p.m. snacks should not exceed 150 calories), for many people, the evening tends to be the time of day we blow it on calorie overload - comfort food central; ice cream, cookies, potato chips, popcorn and more!
On average, people gobble down way more than 250 calories after 8 p.m. Exercise some willpower and skip your nighttime snack altogether. Sip an herbal tea, floss/brush your teeth and
close down the kitchen for the evening. You'll save at least 250 calories each day and after six weeks, you'll have cut 10,500 calories and dropped three whole pounds!Evenings are the worst for me. I just want to munch on stuff. it's easy to just say to grab a sack of baby carrots, but that doesn't take care of my cravings AT ALL. And, as we have all learned about me, I have absolutely no will power. Try sucking on a lifesaver or jolly rancher. Yes, it's sugar, but not nearly as bad for you as the EXTRA BUTTER popcorn, or hot fudge sundae treats. If you need a chocolate fix, try a handful of tootise rolls.
3. Scratch the butter/margarine. Cut out a total of one tablespoon of regular butter or margarine from your toast, veggies, potatoes, dinner rolls, etc. each day. At 100 calories per tablespoon, you'll save 4,200 calories and drop over one pound in six weeks. What if you can't give up the butter or margarine? At least switch to a soft tub spread that says "reduced fat" and "trans-fat free" on the label - it's half the calories of the full fat versions, so you'll still drop over ½ pound.I'm not a fan of margarine. It's SO not good for you. When I bake, I bake with butter. If I need to put butter on a piece of bread or on a pancake....I use the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" fat free spritzer. It's in a little squirt bottle. There is absolutely NO nutritional value to it, BUT that means there is no fat or calories involved either. No, it's not anywhere near as tasty as a slathering of butter, BUT at least you get something.
4. Lose the mayo and cheese on your sandwich Omit the slice of cheese and mayonnaise on your sandwich (use mustard instead - only five calories per teaspoon) and you'll save about 200 calories per sandwich. If you eat a sandwich a day, you'll end up saving 8,400 calories and find yourself 2.5 pounds lighter after just six weeks.
I eat a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich every day for lunch. Boring...I know. BUT! since mayo is bad for you and the fat free stuff doesn't taste very good, making it a warm sammy makes it possible to lose the mayo without sacrificing that good sammy flavor. I have done the cold sammy with mustard {that's how I take it at Subway}, but it's just not the same. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't get rid of my cheese. It's too good. BUT! They do make fat free sliced cheese. So, if I buy the 98% fat free sliced turkey and use 100% fat free cheese and put it on a 1.5 gram of fat bagel and spray it with my fat free butter.....it's a very low fat lunch indeed!
I eat a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich every day for lunch. Boring...I know. BUT! since mayo is bad for you and the fat free stuff doesn't taste very good, making it a warm sammy makes it possible to lose the mayo without sacrificing that good sammy flavor. I have done the cold sammy with mustard {that's how I take it at Subway}, but it's just not the same. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't get rid of my cheese. It's too good. BUT! They do make fat free sliced cheese. So, if I buy the 98% fat free sliced turkey and use 100% fat free cheese and put it on a 1.5 gram of fat bagel and spray it with my fat free butter.....it's a very low fat lunch indeed!
5. Delete the extras: It's amazing how much extra food we can munch on without realizing it - a grab of this/that off our kid's plate, an extra packet of ketchup or salad dressing, a bite of your co-worker's dessert... before you know it, you've consumed an extra 800 calories!
Be super mindful and delete the "extras" and you'll be able to trim a significant amount of calories off your weekly total. Also, pay attention to your beverages (alcohol included) - as well as what's going into your coffee and tea. By trimming 1000 extra calories off each week (about 150 per day), you'll save a total of 6000 calories and drop 1.75 pounds at the end of six weeks!
This is where I struggle. The "extras". I'm a muncher. I love sweets. I try to keep lots of bananas on hand so that if I get a craving for something sweet I can eat one of those. As far as condiments go...use ketchup instead of fry sauce. Salad dressing is BAD for you! Too much fat. Try Fat Free Catalina. It's good! I can't handle fat free Ranch. yuck!
Be super mindful and delete the "extras" and you'll be able to trim a significant amount of calories off your weekly total. Also, pay attention to your beverages (alcohol included) - as well as what's going into your coffee and tea. By trimming 1000 extra calories off each week (about 150 per day), you'll save a total of 6000 calories and drop 1.75 pounds at the end of six weeks!
This is where I struggle. The "extras". I'm a muncher. I love sweets. I try to keep lots of bananas on hand so that if I get a craving for something sweet I can eat one of those. As far as condiments go...use ketchup instead of fry sauce. Salad dressing is BAD for you! Too much fat. Try Fat Free Catalina. It's good! I can't handle fat free Ranch. yuck!
Follow all five tips and you'll potentially lose more than 10 pounds at the end of six short weeks. Here's the math: 2.5 pounds + 3 pounds + 1 pound + 2.5 pounds + 1.75 pound = 10+ pounds lost!
It sounds easy right? I don't foresee me losing 10 pounds in the next six weeks. BUT! I'm not looking at my scale remember? I'm looking for less jiggle! I've got my exercising in for yesterday and today! I ate a naughty lunch, so that means less naughty dinner than what I had planned. But, when the hubby calls and wants to take you on a lunch date you can't say no right? :0)
How are the rest of you doing? I know there were a couple of you that wanted to participate. have you started yet? What are your goals?
12 comments:
i must say, ashlee...i fail to see why you're doing this challenge. i'd kill to be your size! but i appreciate the tips and salute your endeavor! :) now if only i could get up off my bum and work out...
Great tips! I'm a big fan of the spray butter. The cereal thing had never occurred to me. I eat HUGE bowls!
This is going to kill me! I have excercised every day so far(only 3 days), but not as long as I should have. Lastnight I ordered pizza cuz my hubby was out of town, but today I have resolved to do better on that. (As long as they don't serve dessert at mutual tonight)
I read this same article. I totally agree on Fat Free Ranch...YUCK. I love the FF Catalina. One word of warning on the ICBINB spray, or any food labeled fat free, the FDA let's manufacturers label something fat free as long as it has less than .5 gram per serving. So if something has .4 grams of fat per serving and you eat 3 servings you are over 1 gram of fat and it all adds up!
Here is another tip, my sister in law introduced me to the Kraft Salad spritzers, love them, they taste great and ten sprays is 1 calorie. Great find!
Those are great tips. I feel like at this point I am trying everything. I have even cut cheese out of my turkey sandwich at lunch. I have about ten extra pounds since having my last two kids. I am really wondering if it is just never going to come off. GRRRR....I keep trying though.
Lucky bridget....only 10 pounds. I have about 50 to lose. Woohoo. I love tootsie rolls. I also love butter. I can't give the butter up. And Ashlee, you're skinny. What are you, like a size 2? But, I applaud your goal to get healthier. I need to do that. And, I will. I learned about the Wasatch Back from Alicia's blog, and I've talk my family into doing it next year.
Bonnie....thanks so much for making me smile...but seriously. A size 2? I have never in my entire life been a size 2. Skipped right from the little kids section to a 5, I believe. I'd kill to get back into a size 5! :0)
There are somethings that I could do better on but I don't know about the fat free cheese. I can barely drink 2% milk. I guess that it what happens when you grow up on the dairy. The same goes for the butter.
Rachelle
These are such great tips! Keep posting them so I can stay motivated. Gotta get these last ten off ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Really great tips. I am a total believer in not eating after 7:00. I'll allow myself a cup of diet hot chocolate during AI but that is it. I'm with Alicia...those salad spritzers are amazing.
I'm impressed with your 8 week challenge and the advice you shared. I know the little things add up, but they are also what makes eating fun. It is hard to go without them.
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